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By J. Kochhar, Robert G. Cooper

"The Cape Breton Development Corporation is a federal Crown corporation which was formed in 1968. Initially, the Corporation had two divisions - the Industrial Development Division, whose purpose was to stimulate Cape Breton Island's economy, and the Coal Division with a mandate to phase out the operating coal mines. However, that strategy changed in the early 1970s with the Middle East oil crisis. As a result of that crisis, Nova Scotia Power Corporation adopted an ""off oil"" policy. Today, approximately 700/0 of Nova Scotia power needs are met by generation of electricity from coal. Therefore, since the early 1970s, emphasis has been on the rehabilitation of the Cape Breton coal mining business with the opening of three new mines.Today, Devco is solely a coal mining company which employs 3300 people.Physical DescriptionThe mines operate in the Sydney coal field which is located on the eastern tip of Cape Breton. The Corporation leases the deposit from the province of Nova Scotia and its leases cover all coal from the outcrop to the 4000 ft depth. The seams outcrop along the shoreline and dip beneath the ocean floor at dips varying between 5% and 100%.There are eleven seams, of which three - the Harbour, Phalen, and Hub - have been extensively mined."

Jan 1, 1990

By G. Girard, A. Larouche, J. Colbert, G. Doyer

"The Direct Chill (DC) casting process uses water to extract heat from molten aluminium and helps to control the solidification process. Many factors such as the water flowrate, water distribution around the mould and water impingement angle have significant impacts on the solidification process. It has been noted that the chemistry variation of the cooling water is also an important factor that has a major impact on the presence of defects on the ingot. A significant change in the water quality can produce defects on the ingots such as cracks, bleedouts, or runouts. Understanding the impact of water quality variation on ingots is therefore essential to ensure good ingot production and reduce defects. This paper aims at describing a new approach to follow the variations of process water quality over time. It is an original and innovative method, which is still under progress. A water quality and stability index (WQSI) is under development to evaluate changes in the water composition based on water physico-chemical parameters. The index is calculated by comparing each of the actual parameters with historical values previously modeled by a statistical law. It is a dimensionless number having an adjustable weight factor for each parameter. The positive or negative contribution of each parameter, with respect to the water cooling capacity, is taken into account to calculate the WQSI. The current selection of parameters is based on knowledge from the literature as well as on empirical experience. When the developed tool will be mature, it could be used to track water variations upon time and anticipate problems, enabling proactive actions to ensure good ingot production.INTRODUCTIONFor many years, the impact of water chemistry on heat transfer, during DC casting, has been of great interest in the aluminum industry. Several papers have been published to demonstrate the correlation between water chemistry and heat transfer (Yu, 1985), (Gildemeister, 2014). Although numerous studies do present the effects of water parameters (i. e. hardness, conductivity, oil, and grease…) on cooling capacity under controlled experimental conditions, they do not reflect the strong interactions between the parameters and variations present in a casting center. Wells and Cockcroft also demonstrated that laboratory based studies are not fully representative of real heat transfer in an industrial casthouse, there are too many factors involved (Wells, Li, & Cockcroft, 2001). In this context, it becomes very difficult to obtain a quantifiable relationship between the capacity of water to cool the ingot and ultimately the performance of the cast."

Jan 1, 2016

By E. Faria

"The Santa Rita mine is located in north eastern part of Bahia in Brazil and is owned and operated by Mirabela Mineração do Brasil Ltda. Typical SABC circuit was designed as the preferred option for the 4.0 mtpa (500tph) to produce a P80 of 125um for flotation. Although the SAG was originally designed to operate with conventional radial pulp lifters, later it was fitted with Outotec’s Turbo Pulp Lifters – TPL (Latchireddi, 2005). The milling circuit commenced commissioning on the 24th of October 2009 and the milling circuit achieved the nameplate capacity within days. with small and relatively simple measures to rectify. Since commissioning, the SAG mill has been working in fully autogenous grinding (FAG) mode with no balls (in contrast to the estimated 10% ball charge) and has been consistently treated up to 650tph.This paper examines the comminution design process, the operating philosophies, start-up experiences, post commissioning optimization and future development works. An evaluation of mill performance relative to the design criteria for the project life to date is also included."

Jan 1, 2012

By Rocky (Yaokun) Wu

Rock burst is one of the biggest challenges to ground control in the mining industry. With increasing mining depth and mining scale, there are more and more industry requirements on yielding rock support. Since 2008, Jennmar has been conducting large scale research and development works to develop a technically reliable and cost effective yielding rock bolt. This paper introduces a new yielding rock support - Yield-Lok bolt. The bolt is characterized by the designed yielding ability to produce 150 ~ 250 mm of deflection at 8 ~ 10 metric tons (Mt) loads for every 16.4kJ energy input. Its performance characteristics are consistent through multiple and varying amplitude of impacts. In this paper, the design criteria of the bolt and the principle of performance are described, the dynamic testing results are discussed; and the features and application of the bolt are presented.

Oct 1, 2010

By Yan Germain, Université Laval, Bernard Dallaire, Jocelyn Bouchard, Peter Radziszewski, Gilles LeBlanc, Michelle Levesque, Nicolas Tremblay

"The comminution process is estimated to be only 1% efficient, resulting in waste energy dissipated as heat, noise, and vibration. Energy recovery from grinding circuits has not been implemented mainly because recovering heat from the surface of the grinding mill or from mill slurry can impede operation, increase maintenance requirements, and prolong plant shutdown time (and production). However, currently very little information is available in the public domain regarding the amount of waste energy and that potentially recoverable in the grinding circuit of a mineral processing plant. Availability of such information could drive innovation and improve decision-making regarding opportunities for waste energy recovery. The Canadian Mining Innovation Council (CMIC) has initiated a study with CanmetMINING and mining industry partners to develop a model to map the energy flows in grinding circuits and to quantify the potential for energy recovery. The paper outlines the underlying fundamentals and data requirements for use in the model and then focuses on quantifying the energy recovery potential of the semi-autogenous grinding and ball mill circuits at the Agnico Eagle Goldex Division. Results show that most of the electrical energy (over 75%) is used to heat the slurry, leaving only a relatively small amount of it to achieve mechanical work (~9%). INTRODUCTIONCanmetMINING commissioned a study in 2013 to better understand the barriers for adoption of new technologies in the mining industry (MNP, 2013). The conclusions highlighted the importance of enhancing industry/regulator engagement and communication to raise awareness and improve the industry’s comfort level with new technologies.In November 2014, the Green Mining Innovation Advisory Committee (GMIAC) held a workshop to explore the possibility of accelerating the uptake of green mining technologies by bringing together key stakeholders among the mining value chain to address industry priorities. Participants included representatives from mining companies and associations, academia, provincial governments and federal departments and organizations. Two key priority areas emerged at the workshop: i) energy saving, and ii) water management."

Jan 1, 2016

By Jacque Turgeon, Gontran Foy

"The Mineral Research Centre of the Quebec Department of Energy and Resources has worked extensively on the development of a dry process to extract pure mica flakes from a phlogopite ore. The liberation of mica from the gangue is effected basically by impact crushing, and the ground ore is screened into several fractions, each having a fairly narrow range of grain size. Each sized fraction is then fed to an air separator where heavy grains are separated from light flaky grains. Heavy fractions are returned to hammer mills where gangue minerals are ground finer and blocky mica particles are exfoliated. A second stage of screening is performed and each fraction is sent to an air separator. This sequence is repeated until mica products are virtually free of gangue. These different fractions are then treated in a cage mill in which mica flakes undergo a more orderly exfoliation along cleavage planes. The ground mica is again submitted to a final screening stage, after which each fraction constitutes a final commercial product.This process permits the recovery of about 70% of the mica contained in the ore. The over-all process will be described along with technical details of each unit operation. Recent work on a wet grinding method to produce very fine mica will also be discussed.IntroductionRecords of production of mica in Quebec date back to 1886. Production has been more or less continuous since that time, with peak activity during the war years. Production was interrupted in 1966, but started again in 1972 when Marietta Resources and Laviolette Mining and Metallurgical Corporation started their joint operation in Canton Suzor, northwestern Quebec. Mica deposits of more or less importance exist in different parts of Quebec, of which three have attracted attention in recent years: the Canton Suzor deposit, the Canton Lamy deposit and the Canton Chasseur deposit. The Suzor orebody was first identified by Carl Faesler in 1936, who described the rock as ""brown biotite in flakes half an inch in diameter, with interstitial augite, apatite and feldspar""."

Jan 1, 1982

By W. Petruk

A study was undertaken to determine whether interrelations between mineral grains affect ore breakage during grinding, and to establish a correlation between ore breakage and mineral liberation. A base metal ore from the Brunswick No. 12 deposit in New Brunswick was ground for different periods of time in a laboratory ball mill, and both the unbroken ore and the ground products were analysed by image analysis. The results show that the mode of breakage is strongly influenced by the behaviour of pyrite. Similar size distributions were obtained for material from the 15 minute grind in a laboratory ball mill, for the grinding circuit discharge from a commercial mill, and for pyrite grains in the unbroken ore. This similarity indicates that a 15 minute grind breaks poorly bonded pyrite grains along grain boundaries, and represents the limit of easy breakage for the ore. Such a grind liberates both large separate grains of ore minerals and poorly bonded mineral grains that occur in interstices among pyrite. On the other hand the 15 minute grind does not separate moderately bonded mineral grains nor release moderately bonded interstitial minerals from pyrite; a 45 minute grind in a laboratory ball mill is required. It is assumed that, for Brunswick No. 12 ore, a 45 minute grind in a laboratory ball mill is equivalent to regrinding in a commercial mill. Grinding beyond 45 minutes in a laboratory ball mill breaks the ore by fracturing pyrite across grain boundaries and by chipping grain edges. Such intense grinding does not markedly increase sphalerite liberation from Brunswick No. 12 ore, because most of the sphalerite that can be released was liberated at the 45 minute grind. In contrast the intense grinding increases galena liberation because a significant proportion of the galena occurs as minute inclusions in pyrite. These findings show that ore breakage and coincident liberation depend upon size distributions, intergrowths, and mode of occurrence of the minerals in an ore.

Jan 1, 1988

By R. A. Parra, Fuentes, C. Godoy, L. E. Arias, C. A. Toro, M. Marin, E. Balladares, V. Parra, G. Reyes, S. N. Torres, D. Sbarbaro

In this paper, we report on the detection of spectral molecular emission of iron oxide (FeO) and copper oxide (CuxO) emitted by reactions occurring in a laboratory scale flash smelting process of pyrite (FeS2) as well as copper concentrate. The novelty of the technique is that, the molecular spectral emission sensing is achieved by using a low spectral resolution and low sensitive radiometer, enhanced with signal processing and matrix factorization techniques. The method was validated using a highly sensitive spectrometer, with a high spectral resolution; achieving a similar FeO spectral pattern as the one obtained after signal processing techniques over low resolution spectral signals. INTRODUCTION Visible-near infrared (VIS-NIR) spectroscopy is an optical contactless sensing technique commonly used to capture information about the emitted, absorbed, transmitted or scattered radiation in a physical or chemical process, with the presence or absence of an excitation light source such as a laser or a broad spectral band source. These techniques coupled with signal processing and machine learning algorithms, sometimes referred as chemometrics (Pisapia et al., 2018), can be found in processes such as: pharmaceutical (Kandpal et al., 2016); food (Coelho et al., 2016); combustion (Ballester & García-Armingol, 2010); siderurgy (Strakowski et al., 2014) industry, among others. In the extractive copper industry there are several technological developments using optical sensing techniques aimed to retrieve information about copper ore and concentrate mineralogical composition such as X-Ray Fluorescence, Qemscan® (Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscopy) and X Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis, however, because of the manual procedures to analyze the samples with these laboratory instrumentation, only discrete information during a daily based operation can be retrieved, making impossible for the operators to take decisions over the involved processes in real time. The aim of our research work presented here is to contribute with sensing and data analysis procedures based on VIS-NIR spectroscopy for the flash smelting process characterization, particularly in this paper, with the detection of FeO and CuxO molecular emissions in a laboratory scale setup.

Jan 1, 2019

By D. H. Wilton, C. I. Godwin, A. J. Sinclair

"A computer-based drill core logging system used to examine computer-based drill core logging system used to examine copper mineralization hosted in volcaniclastic rocks at the Sustut deposit, in north-central British Columbia, has many advantages over conventional logging. A relatively simple format for recording geological information allows complex, but significant, geologic parameters to be recorded consistently, accurately and quickly. This allows graphical presentations and statistical interpretation of the data that lead to rapid and detailed analyses of the control and distribution of copper mineralization at the Sustut deposit.Ore mineralization is concentrated in lens-shaped bodies and is zoned from native copper cores through chalcocite, bornite and chalcopyrite to a margin containing pyrite. Chalcocite, the principal mineral, occurs mainly in volcaniclastic agglomerate characterized by a specific grain size, a narrow range of matrix and fragment proportions, and a specific sorting.IntroductionWe report here a case history of the practical application of a detailed computer-based drill core logging system applied to the Sustut copper deposit of Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd. The Sustut deposit, containing a few tens of millions of tons of ore grading slightly more than one per cent copper (Church, 1975), is in north-central British Columbia about 875 km north of Vancouver. The deposit is contained in volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks of the Upper Triassic Moosevale Formation, which is within the upper part of the Takla Group (Monger and Church, 1977) of basic volcanic and associated sedimentary rocks. Takla rocks occur along the eastern fringe of the Intermontane Belt in the Canadian Cordillera (Sutherland Brown et al., 1971). The deposit consists of concentrations of copper sulphides, native copper and pyrite within pods and lenses parallel to bedding in the host sedimentary rocks. These sheet-like deposits exhibit a mineral zoning from pyrite at the fringes successively through chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcocite to native copper at the core (Wilton, 1978; Wilton and Sinclair, 1979)."

Jan 1, 1980

Adaptive processing is often related to the mineral composition of the mining block currently processed. The portions of waste, ore and secondary product minerals considered are always positive and typically sum to 100% (i.e. a composition). A typical solution to predict block averages of spatially dependent quantities would be block kriging. However, kriging is based on spatial correlations and it has been repeatedly shown that correlations of compositional data are spurious and blurred by the constant sum constraint. Aitchison (1982) proposed a general solution for compositional problems, based on transforming the compositional data to a set of logarithms of ratios of components, and analysing the transformed scores. The transform is chosen to be invertible to ensure that no information is lost in the process. This methodology avoids spurious correlation problems and ensures coherence between results obtained with different subcompositions. Pawlowsky-Glahn and Olea (2004) adapted the approach for point-support geostatistics, allowing the prediction of point compositions from spatially neighbouring data, without the artefacts induced by standard multivariate cokriging. Unfortunately upscaling the results of this approach with block cokriging is not straightforward, because of the nonlinearity of logratio transforms. Furthermore, we have to consider those nonlinearities created by the dependence on the block composition of extraction efficiency and processing costs of the possible processing choices. This paper proposes a solution for predicting the conditional expectations of the benefit of processing the block with each processing choice using geostatistical simulations of the local values of the composition and the resulting block integrals. The computation for a large number of blocks can be done efficiently using Cholesky decomposition. The approach also allows the calculation of prediction errors for expected compositions and expected benefit at almost no additional computational cost. Such compositional approach is necessary, for example when processing choices depend on proportions of certain minerals after other components have been removed; or if processing alters the composition in a multiplicative way, by partially removing a portion of some components.

Aug 1, 2013

By Peter J. Franklin

"Short-term mine planning of open pits is an activity that has historically been carried out by hand. Typically, the use of computers has played little part in this type of mine planning. This paper describes the objectives and the procedures involved in short-term mine planning, comments on the type of computer systems available, and describes in detail a computer-aided short-term planning and scheduling system known as STEPS.IntroductionThe mine planning department of any o pen-pit mining operation performs a wide variety of different tasks. However, their primary concern is the preparation of detailed long-and short-term mine plans. These mine plan s will define the long-term operating strategies and definitive everyday working plan s for the ongoing development of the open pit.In this day and age, when operating costs have spiralled upwards due to inflation , and product revenues have decreased due to depressed economies and poor markets, it is vitally important for all aspects of the mining operation, including mine planning, to be efficient and cost effective.There are numerous options available for planning engineers when generating a mine plan. A cost effective mine plan must investigate all these options and select the optimum. When using manual planning techniques, it is often impossible to evaluate all the available options. To do this, and to produce an optimum mine plan, a computer is required.This paper discusses mine planning, with emphasis toward the short-term plan and comments on how the processes may be computerized. It also describes in detail, a computer software system called STEPS, which has been designed as an interactive graphics, computer-aided short -term mine planning and scheduling tool."

Jan 1, 1985

By J. Lu, M. Mohammadi, C. Pelletier, B. Wassink

Chemical reduction of selenate by chromous ions is proposed as a novel method to remove selenate from sulfate-bearing solutions Chromous ions were generated by electrochemical reduction of chromic ions using an electrochemical cell. The investigation was conducted in sulfate medium and under various concentrations of chromous ions (0.0062 to 0.05M), pH 1 to 2.2 and temperature 10 to 60°C. Selenate ions were rapidly reduced by chromous ions to hydrogen selenide. The overall reaction at a chromous/selenate molar ratio of 8 or higher can be expressed by the following reaction. At an initial chromous/selenate molar ratio below 8, the products are hydrogen selenide and elemental selenium. At a lower chromous/selenate molar ratio and pH, more elemental selenium and less hydrogen selenide are produced. The reduction kinetics is controlled by both chromous ion and hydrogen ions concentrations. The reaction rate is first order with respect to selenate, hydrogen ion and chromous ion concentrations. It was found that the selenate reduction rate with chromous is independent of the concentration of sulfate present in the solution. The general rate equation was proposed and the rate constant was calculated as k= 0.38 M-2s-1. An activation energy of 58.7 kJ/mol was obtained in the temperature range from 10 to 50°C. Nearly 100% of selenate can be reduced to H2Se from solution containing 17 ppm selenate in less than 30 minutes at pH 2.2 and 60°C. Various strategies have been tested to remove the produced H2Se from solution. INTRODUCTION Selenium in nature is mostly associated with metal sulfide minerals such as copper, iron, zinc, and lead sulfides (Zingaro & Cooper, 1974). The extraction of metals from ores has the potential for selenium contamination of ground and surface water which can pose an environmental and health concern. Therefore, selenium contamination in the receiving environment is a key issue for many industries (specifically copper industry) and the treatment of wastewater contaminated with selenium is a growing challenge. The effective removal of selenium from contaminated water is very important to support sustainability in the copper industry and the other industries with selenium pollution issues.

Jan 1, 2019

By G. Gabra

"A process of leaching niobium oxide from pyrochlore concentrate using hydrofluoric acid is described. Variables such as acid concentration, temperature, reaction time, solid/acid ratio, agitation speed and particle size are correlated to the recovery of niobium oxide.The relatively low activation energy (1,86 Kcal/mole) and the dependence of reaction rate on agitation suggest that the process is diffusion controlled. The optimum conditions for extracting niobium oxide from the leach solution, using either methyl isobutyl ketone or tributyl phosphate have been determined.IntroductionMost of the commercial production of niobium and tantalum has been derived from the treatment of columbite - tantalite minerals.In recent years (1960) , pyrochlore mineral has been found to be an alternate source of niobium . This mineral varies widely in composition and contains in addition to the main elements of calcium , sodium and niobium, some tantalum, fluorine, rare earth elements, titanium, alkali an d alkaline earth elements.It is well known that the province of Quebec possesses several pyrochlore niobium deposits totalling approximately 151 million ton s at an average 0.45% niobium oxide(1). One of the deposits, the St-Honor carbonatite, was brought into production by Niobec Inc. in 1976. Flotation o f this material produces a concentrate of about 60% Nb205(2).In view of an expanding niobium market in recent years and the presence of large niobium deposits in the province, a research and development program was initiated at the Centre de Recherches Miner ales to evaluate known processes for the separation of niobium and tantalum from each other as well as their purification . Some work has also been undertaken at the CRM to develop an improved extraction process. T his work will be the subject of further communication s."

Jan 1, 1985

By Simon C. Dominy, Ian M. Platten, Garry F. Johansen, Alwyn E. Annels, Brian W. Cuffley

Abstract - Coarse gold-bearing veins are characterized by high grades that are localized and erratic. Effective sampling of coarse gold-bearing veins is difficult because of the low concentration and erratic nature of the gold particles. Diamond drilling is an effective measure of geological continuity, however, grade distribution can only be reliably obtained from underground development (including close-spaced sampling, bulk sampling, and trial mining). Comparison between surface and underground drilling, underground linear/panel and bulk sampling indicate that drilling and linear/ panel samples generally understate bulk sample grades. Bulk samples are likely to be the closest estimators of true grade. It is unlikely that anything above an Inferred Resource category can be estimated from surface drilling alone, and at best the grade will only be a global estimate. Underground development, in-fill drilling and bulk sampling/trial mining will be required to delineate Indicated and Measured Resources. Closely spaced development and bulk sampling is likely to be the only way to determine Reserves. The resource estimation process must driven by a clear geological model that should attempt to understand both geological and grade continuity. Traditionally, grade interpolation has been undertaken using classical methods, though more recently, computer-based block modelling techniques have been used with some success. Three case histories are presented, documenting the problems of estimating resources in coarse gold-bearing veins and the practical ways in which they were approached.

Jan 1, 2000

By Liu Yulin, Zhao Yi, Tan Qi, Liu Lei

"Hydrotalcite is one kind of layered double hydroxides, and has special crystal chemical characteristics. Due to its good thermal stability, hydrotalcite used as the PVC heat stablier has attracted scientists’ attention. In this study, nano-hydrotalcite was synthesized by the method of mechanochemistry/crystallization, using brucite, Al(OH)3 and Na2CO3 as raw materials, and added into PVC to investigate the effect of hydrotalcite on thermal stability of composites. The synthesis mechanism was suggested by virtue of XRD, FE-SEM, FT-IR. It has been indicated that at the first of dry milling process, the parical sizes of brucite and Al(OH)3 decrease, while specific surface areas of them increase by the action of mechanical force, until produced amorphous particles. In the process of wet milling, metal ions in the amorphous body, which has high surface energy, can easily react with H2O, and produce the precursor of Mg6Al2(OH)18•4.5H2O, which has the same crystal structure as hydrotalcite. Under the hydrothermal condition, anions of OH- in the interlamination of precursor are exchanged by CO32- in the solution and nano-hydrotalcite is generated at last. The thermal stability was characterized by Congo red method. The results have revealed that hydrotalcite is one kind of long-term heat stabilizer, and residual stability time increase with the rise of added hydrotalcite amounts.INTRODUCTIONHydrotalcite, one kind of anionic clays, has been attracted a great interest for researchers because of their unexpected physical and chemical properties. The general formula is Mg6Al2(OH)16CO3·4H2O, where Mg2+ and Al3+ occupy octahedral positions in the brucite-like layers, and CO32- is an interlayer anion (Hoyo, 2007). Hydrotalcite is widely used in the fields of chemical engineering, materials engineering, environmental protection, medicine, and so forth, owing to its unique capability of adsorbability, ion exchange and thermal stability (Rozov, Berner, & Taviot-Gueho, 2010; Iwasaki, Yoshii, & Nakamura, 2012; Ay, Zümreoglu-Karan, & Temel, 2011; Cavani, Trifiro, & Vaccari, 1991; Li & Duan, 2005; Lin, Wang, & Evans, 2006). As a result, the study on synthesis and application of hydrotalcite has received considerable attentions."

Jan 1, 2016

By Å. Partapuoli, M. Henriksson, P. Wikström, J. Worth, G. Adolfsson

The control of AG mills fed by ores with harder and softer components can be challenging due to the sensitivity of the mill to the ratio of hard to soft components. The mills at LKAB’s iron ore operations are generally well controlled, but there are periods when the throughput falls off dramatically, due to a loss of mill filling. As the ore is upgraded in the sorting plant through magnetic separation prior to milling, this presents an opportunity to manipulate the feed blend in advance. In order to assess this opportunity, a fullscale mill charge was dumped and assayed by size to quantify the build-up of competent waste in the mills. This was supplemented by pilot and locked-cycle laboratory tests at a wide range of feed blends in order to facilitate the development of an appropriate multi-component AG mill model. This paper reports the experimental campaign requirements and methodologies, as well as the major outcomes from analysis and modelling exercises using the industrial, pilot and laboratory multi-component data.

Jan 1, 2012

By X. X. Wu, Q. Zhang, R. H. Fan, Y. J. Feng, J. D. Liu, P. Z. Zhao

In the present study, AA6016 automotive sheets with different grain size were fabricated through changing fabricating parameters, and the effects of grain size on the bendability were studied by bending test and optical microscopy. The results showed that the sheet with coarse grains exhibited poor bendability, and some micro-cracks were revealed at the surface of the bending samples. While the sheet with fine grains exhibited good bendability, and the bending samples showed smooth surface. Shear bands on the cross section of bending samples were observed. It was found that samples with coarse grains had more shear bands. These shear bands distributed in bundles, which facilitated the formation of continuous neckings and micro-cracks. However samples with fine grains had less shear bands, which distributed uniformly. The decrease of grain size could not only hinder the formation of shear bands, but also improve the homogeneity of its distribution during bending. On the other hand, refining grains could increase the amount of grain boundaries, which impede the propagation of shear bands. Hence the decrease of grain size could hinder the formation of continuous neckings and micro-cracks during bending, resulting in the significant improvement of the bendability.

Jan 1, 2015

By T. Gerritsen, T. Plikas, K. Ochoa, M. Loveless, R. MacRosty, J. Reichart, R. Pula

Sidewall accretion in a smelting furnace plays an important role in furnace integrity as it provides protection to the sidewall cooling elements and thereby extends the furnace campaign life. The extreme thermal and mechanical stresses in the furnace and changes in the slag chemistry can cause the sidewall accretion to melt or break away decreasing the lining protecting the cooling elements. Thin accretion is highly undesirable as it increases the risk of exposing the cooling elements to the molten bath and in the worst case may lead to a failure. Therefore, monitoring the sidewall accretion on an operating furnace is extremely important to manage furnace integrity and to support safe furnace operation. Operators often generate estimates for sidewall accretion and refractory thickness using either copper cooler temperatures or heat load into the cooling water circuits. Multivariate statistical models, on the other hand, have the capability to consider all the process measurements simultaneously to provide a more reliable estimate. This paper describes the application of multivariate statistical models for sidewall integrity monitoring on a Flash Converting Furnace (FCF) and also discusses the online implementation of these models as the Sidewall Accretion Monitoring System. INTRODUCTION Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Utah Copper (KUC) smelter located near Salt Lake city, Utah operates a Flash Smelting Furnace (FSF) and a Flash Converting Furnace (FCF) to produce high-grade matte and blister copper respectively. Since the commissioning of smelter in 1995, several improvements were made to these furnaces to increase their efficiency and operational safety. At present, Kennecott smelter is known to be among the lowest-emission and highest energy recovery copper smelters in the world. Since the smelter start-up, Kennecott has invested in several advanced furnace monitoring practices to evaluate the integrity of the furnaces and improve their campaign life. An example is their temperature monitoring system installed for the smelting and converting furnaces, which continuously monitors the furnace sidewall temperatures and notifies the operators during temperature excursions. During an investigation on the converting furnace, it was revealed that there were frequent temperature excursions in the settler sidewall area towards the reaction shaft end of the furnace that caused significant furnace downtime. The reason for the sidewall temperature excursions was not clearly known.

Jan 1, 2019

By R. S. Boorman, L. J. Surges

"Ore reserves at Brunswick Mining and Smelting totalled 101(106) tonnes grading 97 grams tonne-1 silver at the end of 1981. Silver is recovered as a byproduct in the copper, lead and bulk concentrates and is lost to the zinc concentrate and plant tailings. Recovery of silver for the year 1981 was 58,5%. The loss of potential revenue is in excess of Cdn $50(106) year-1 at current silver prices and milling rates.Silver is known to occur in solid solution in galena and as tetrshedrite. Evidence indicating the identity and significance of a third silverbearing mineral assemblage is reviewed and the distribution of silver losses is detailed. Characteristics of each the carrier which may be responsible for observed distribution, including size, surface quality, liberation and composition are considered, and the third carrier is shown to have possible implications for improved silver recovery by other Canadian producers as well as by Brunswick Mining.Silver tetrahedrite tailings distributed tailings and losses occur as coarse, free and as very fine unliberated galena in losses of the third carrier are between the zinc concentrate and are concentrated in the finest size fractions. Process alternatives for enhanced silver recovery by physical and chemical means are reviewed."

Jan 1, 1983

By Dillon. Patricia

Business Growth ?Coal ?Targeting 30 million tonnes by 2013 compared to 19 million tonnes produced in 2009 ?Expanding Energy Business unit (Oil Sands) ?Copper -Strong growth potential for existing operations and development projects ?New gold strategy recently launched ?New markets for zinc Need to retain existing and attract new employees to support growth Engaged Employee ?Has a positive attitude towards the organization and its values ?Is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work Engaged employees are more likely to stay with the organization.

May 1, 2010