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This paper aims to increase our understanding about existing capacity-building approaches and their implications for obtaining a social license to operate in the mining industry. The notion of ?capacity building? is gaining increasing currency in the mining sector in developing countries due to a rapid rise in the globalisation of mining operations. Capacity-building is conceived here as a process that lasts after the mine-cycle, intended to provide local mining communities with tangible skills and knowledge to gain meaningful employment in mining or other industries relevant for the local economy. Building community capacity to understand and effectively respond to these transformations is vital for obtaining a social license to operate, as it promotes sustainable and locally relevant development. Accountability mechanisms such as global norms and international standards increasingly highlight the need to build capacity among stakeholders, particularly among local communities adjacent to mining operations. International frameworks and mining companies have embraced the notion of capacity-building as a driver to assist corporate social and operational performance. However, this narrow understanding of capacity-building through the prism of corporate social responsibility and ?best practice? is preventing the industry from meaningfully impacting communities and maintaining a social license to operate. This latter notion is being widely embedded across multiple industry sectors, as a social and economic reward from mining companies to compensate communities for natural resource extraction and gain social acceptance. Although both concepts are widely recognised in the minerals industry, insufficient attention has been paid to the implications of applying a top-down (mining-orientated) or a bottom-up (community-orientated) capacity-building approach for obtaining a social license to operate, or indeed how these two concepts are linked and applied in practice. At times, communities lack the necessary capacities in the form of education and skills to deal with mining-led livelihood transformations. This is preventing both mining companies and communities from forging sustainable livelihoods and responding to mining-led livelihood transformations, a situation that is creating discontent among communities and reducing the possibility of obtaining and renewing a social license to operate for the industry. Based on a review of current scholarly debates, accountability mechanisms in the mining industry and fieldwork findings in Colombia, this paper will contribute to an understanding of the implications of existing capacity-building approaches that support a social license to operate.

Aug 1, 2013

By J. Keith Haddock

"Introduction The Luscar company, Forestburg Collieries Ltd., operates the Diplomat Mine located 14 km south of Forestburg, Alberta. Production is now at a declining rate from the 1 million tonnes achieved in 1978 as the reserves are being depleted. Three pits are operated at this prairie strip mine utilizing draglines and stripping shovels to uncover the coal. The coal is hauled to a tipple on site for shipment by rail or highway vehicles or is hauled directly to the adjacent Battle River Generating Station. Geology The mine is currently extracting the Battle River seam on the north side of the Battle River. This is the lower-most seam in the Horseshoe Canyon Formation and is the only one present in the area, the upper seams having been eroded by glaciation. The seam lies generally flat and varies from 2.0 to 5.0 metres thick. It lies under glacial till overburden varying in depth from 5.0 to 12.0 metres. The mineable coal extends from the side of the Battle River valley where it outcrops, to approximately 2.5 kilometres to the north. The mine is spread out over a distance of 8.0 kilometres in an east-west direction. Reserves and Coal Quality After over 30 years of mining at Diplomat, there are now less than 1 million tonnes of mineable reserves remaining on the property. With the commencement of coal production from the Paintearth Mine in 1981, supply to the Battle River Generating Station, formerly Diplomat's biggest customer, is being transferred to Paintearth. Rail shipments and domestic supply will continue until reserves are depleted. The coal has the following specifications:"

Jan 1, 1985

By Stanley G. Hutton, Robert Brubaker

"It has long been recognized that mining workers subjected to high levels of hand-transmitted vibration may suffer from vibration-related complaints. Prolonged exposure to whole-body vibration may also result in adverse effects. In this study, the effects of vibration on mining workers are examined. Previous work documenting the occurrence of vibration-related disease is reviewed. From this work, it is apparent that operators of hand-held pneumatic rock drills are exposed to a significant risk of developing vibration disease. Vibration levels recorded on the rock drills now in use are presented and shown to exceed levels recommended by a proposed ISO standard.IntroductionThe possible harmful effects of exposure to excessive vibration levels have long been recognized, particularly among operators of hand-held tools. Numerous cases have been reported of a vasospastic disorder commonly known as vibration white finger disease (VWFD), which was a term coined by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council in Scotland in 1970(1 ), Those suffering with the disorder have frequent vasospastic attacks in which the fingers, hand and, in advanced cases, the lower arm turn white and numb, usually after a cold stimulus. Advanced stages of VWFD have been reported in which the skin becomes ulcerated and gangrenousm. The incidence of the disease has been particularly serious in the forest industry due to the extensive use of chain saws. However, in recent years, the introduction of antivibration saws has resulted in a significant reduction in the occurrence of the disease.In a recent report for the Canadian Department of Supply and Services - Energy, Mines and Resources, Hutton & Brubaker considered the effects of vibration on workers in the mining industry. In this report, the physiological and medical effects of vibration were considered, relevant vibration standards were discussed, previous vibration measurements were documented and field measurements carried out. In the present paper, the results recorded in this study will be summarized, together with results that have been previously published relating to vibration levels existing in the mining industry."

Jan 1, 1982

By M. C. Harris

The past twenty to thirty years have seen unprecedented research activity aimed at understanding the performance of flotation froths. In 1990, Finch and Dobby coined the term froth recovery factor, Rr, to represent the efficiency of the froth in delivering particles from the pulp-froth interface to the concentrate. Originally defined for flotation columns, Rr has also been found useful in modeling mechanical flotation cells, and a number of techniques, based on quite different approaches, have been developed for measuring the froth recovery in industrial flotation cells. None of these techniques is universally successful. This paper reviews the concept of the froth recovery factor, and the basis of each of the techniques that have been proposed to measure Rr, and examines the reasons for this parameter being so difficult to pin down. Advances in Mineral Processing Science and Technology Proceedings of the 48th Annual Conference of Metallurgists of CIM Sudbury, Ontario, Canada Edited by

Jan 1, 2009

By A. Galibois, M. Fiset, T. Vo Van

"RÉSUMÉUn groupe de 22 objets prov enant des Forges du St-Maurice a été étudié de façon systématique par analyse chimique et examen métallographique afin de préciser leurs caractéristiques et d'en évaluer la qualité métallurgique.La plupart des échantillons de fe r forgé et d'acier sont hétérogènes tant au niveau structural que composition chimique. L'examen de quelques produits fin is a mont ré qu 'on appliquait des traitements superficiels bien que le contrôle métallurgique fût plutôt empirique.AbstractA group of 22 specimens originating from ""Les Forges du St Maurice"" has been systematically studied by chemical analysis and metallographic examination in order to determine their characteristics and to evaluate their metallurgical quality.The bulk of the forged iron and steel samples are heterogeneous from both their microstructure and their chemical composition. Observation of a few finish products has permitted to establish that surface heat treating was applied although its metallurgical control was rather empirical."

Jan 1, 1984

By Tad Crowie, Victor Delgado, Nick Katsikaros, Tim Hughes

"A number of silver producers have identified a need for a system to recover silver and gold from base metal flotation concentrates on site rather than sending the concentrate to third party smelters to improve mine economics. Historically intensive cyanidation has only been used for coarse gold gravity concentrates in batch machines but Gekko have applied the InLine Leach Reactor (ILR) to these difficult to leach concentrates.The ILR’s unique ability to operate at various solid to solution ratios, high mass capacity, the ability to handle fines, the use of peroxide to aid silver leach kinetics and simple operation has resulted in significant economic benefits to Hochschild PLC’s Selene and Arcata operations. This paper describes the commissioning phase of the ILR5000BA intensive cyanidation reactors on concentrates from the Selene mine at the Ares Concentrator.INTRODUCTIONIntensive leaching of high grade concentrates in gold ore treatment is now commonplace and is considered an essential feature of most gold circuits (Lane, Fountain and LeBrooy, 2008). The devices commonly used for intensive leaching (InLine Leach Reactor, Acacia Reactor, etc) are specifically designed for the typical coarse nature of the concentrate.In some of these intensive leach applications, significant amounts of silver are co-recovered with the gold. In fact, the intensive leaching conditions of 1 to 2% NaCN in solution and high dissolved oxygen levels, overcome the issue with silver’s slow dissolution rate in traditional CIL/CIP circuits and avoids the formation of insoluble silver sulphide minerals on the surface of the gold (Marsden, 2006).There are a significant number of mine operators producing silver in the form of mixed base metal sulphides flotation concentrates. Typically the mine operators are paid for the silver after processing of the concentrate by the base metal smelter whom recovers the silver during the refining process."

Jan 1, 2010

By B. Benmokrane, G. Ballivy

"RésuméLe mécanisme de transfert des charges et le processus de décohésion le long des scellements d'ancrages scelles dans des massifs rocheux sous des charges de tensionnement peut être examine par instrumentation de l'ancrage à l'aide de jauges de déformation. Dans ce contexte il est présente ici les résultats d'une étude, en vraie grandeur sur chantier, ayant porte, d'une part sur des essais d'arrachement conventionnels et d'autre part sur des essais déflagrée barres d'ancrages instrumentées et scellées à l'aide d'un coulis de ciment dans un massif rocheux sain et compètent. Les résultats décrits ici, particulièrement les profits de contraintes de cisaillement le long de l'ancrage, obtenus à partir des valeurs de déformations relevées sur les jauges, ont permis de préciser le niveau de chargement correspondant à la décohésion initiale du coulis de scellement, d 'examiner l'effet de la décohésion sur la distribution des contraintes et de caractériser le fluage du système barre d'ancrage/coulis de scellement.ABSTRACTThe load transfer mechanism and the debonding process along grouted rock anchor, subjected to tention loads, can be examined through the instrumentation of the anchor with the aid of strain gauges. In this context, the resultsof a full-scale site investigation including classical pull out tests and creep tests are presented in this paper. These tests were performed on instrumented bars which were cement grouted in a competent rock mass. Results presented in this paper concern, among others, shear stress pro/ties along the grouted anchors which were determined from strain values obtained from the strain gauges. These results have been used to: (1) predict the load level corresponding to initial debonding of the grout; (2) study the effect of debonding on shearstress distribution along the anchor; and (3) characterize the creep behavior of the bar anchor/cement grout system."

Jan 1, 1991

By H. Ito, T. Takasu

Effects of a mechnochemical treatment to oxide Ni ores have been investigated to enhance the extractive ratio of Ni from them in acid leaching process. High intensity grinding by a planetary boll mill showed strong effect to enhance the extractive ratio of Ni, for example , 10% of extractive ratio of Ni in sulfuric acid leaching(0.05mo1/1,at room temperature) increased to more than 90% with 60min. of planetary boll milling. Effects of additives(sulfur and some oxidants) on the mechnochemical treatment have also studied. Sulfur showed almost no effect to enhance the total Ni extractive ratio but increases the selectivity of Ni extraction. More than a half of Ni could be extracted by water when Ni ore was grinded at addition of Na2S207 in the milling treatment. Some effects of mechnocemical treatments to Ni ore are summarized in this paper.

Jan 1, 2005

By K. Schimann, H. D. Knipping, J. P. Fouques

"RESUMELe gisement d 'uranium de Cigar Lake, dans la région de l'Athabasca au nord du Saskatchewan, fut découvert en mai 1981 par Cogema Canada Ltée, opérant pour Ie compte de la ""Waterbury Lake Joint Venture"".Le corps minéralisé. qui est dépourvu de toute expression directe en surface, est situé a la discordance entre les met sédiments du wottaston Group (Protérozoïque inférieur ou Aphébien) et les grès de l 'Athabasca (Protérozoïque moyen ou Hélikien), à une profondeur de 410 a450 m.Fin 1984, Ie gisement était reconnu par 105 sondages minéralisés repartis sur une longueur de 1800 m, pour une largeur comprise entre 25 et 105 m. 11 se présente sous forme d’une lentille aplatie de 5 a30 m de puissance, et montre une remarquable continuité d'ensemble. Une ride ou bombement topographique de la discordance est associée au gisement surtoute sa longueur.A l'échelle régionale, le corps minéralisé à est associe à un corridor structural d’orientation est-ouest, a l'intérieur duquel des facies particuliers aténdance blast mylonitique sont développes dans les formations métapolitiques agraphite du socle métamorphique. Il est entouré par un halo d'altération très important, caractériser Ie développement de minéraux argileux alumino-magnesiens (illite-chlorite).La minéralisation est située, pour la plus grande part, dans les grès d'Athabasca, et se compose essentiellement d'uraninite et de sulfo-arseniures de nickel et de cobalt,De nombreux levés géochimiques et géophysiques ont été effectues dans la région de Cigar Lake. Aucune anomalie ne peut être associée directement au corps minéralise, mais la combinaison des données en provenance de plusieurs sources s’est révélée fort utile au niveau de l’interprétation géologique régionale et de la définition des cibles de sondages a l'intérieur des zones reconnues favorables.Le gisement de Cigar Lake présente de nombreuses analogies avec plusieurs des gites classiques de la région de l'Athabasca; il est caractérise en particulier par l'intensité des phénomènes d’altération et la présence de minéralisations extrêmementriches.En 1984, les réserves géologiques globales estimées par géostatistique sur I ‘amas minéralise principal s 'élevaient a 110 000 tonnes d'uranium, aune teneur moyenne de 12.2%, avec une précision de 25% à l'intervalle de confiance de 95%.ABSTRACTThe Cigar Lake uranium deposit, in the Athabasca area of North Saskatchewan, was discovered in May 1981 by Cogema Canada LId., as operator of the Waterbury Lake Joint Venture. The deposit, which is devoid of direct surface expression, is located at the unconformity between the Lower Proterozoic (Aphebian) Wollaston Group meta-sediments and the Middle Proterozoic (Helikian) Athabasca sands tone, at a depth of 410 m to 450 m below surf ace.AI the end of 1984, the deposit had been defined by 105 mineralized holes over a length of 1800 m and a width of between 25 m and 105 m. It has the shape of a flat-lying lens 5 m to 30 m thick and shows a remarkable longitudinal and latera continuity from the information obtained to date. A well-defined bulge of the unconformity underlies the mineralized zone over its entire length.The deposit appears to be controlled by an east-west-trending structure within which a particular rock facies (""augen gneiss"") has developed in the graphitic metapelites of the Wollaston Group. It is surrounded by a strong alteration halo affecting both sandstone and basement, characterized by extensive development of Mg-A I rich clay minerals (illite-chlorite).The mineralization is hosted principally by the Athabasca sandstone, and consists mainly of uraninite and sulfo-arsenides of nickel and cobalt.Numerous geochemical and geophysical surveys have been carried out in the Cigar Lake area, and no specific geochemical or geophysical anomaly can be directly associated with the mineralized body, although there may be locally a good coincidence. However, a combination of several methods proved extre"

Jan 1, 1986

By M. H. Attia

The concept of sustainable development has been evolved into a working framework for sustainable manufacturing, in which the environmental requirements are introduced into product development at the design stage. This keynote paper is discussing a number of issues pertaining to the impact of manufacturing on the environment. The conflicting requirements of sustainable development, sustainable manufacturing (SM) and economical growth are presented in the light of successful case studies that were able to convert conflicts into opportunities. Integration of SM into the product life cycle is also presented. A number of concepts that are related to Ecoefficiency, e.g., inverse manufacturing, demanufacturing and re-manufacturing are also discussed. The paper underlines the fact that the positive impact of this new philosophy is equally applicable and beneficial to both; developed and developing countries. The paper concludes with an overview of Global trends in environmentally benign manufacturing (EBM); e.g., product-take back and emerging material and processing technologies. The state-of-the-art approach to Life Cycle Impact Assessment and integration of design for the environment DfE principles are demonstrated through some case study.

Jan 1, 2006

By Johnny Zhang, Yang Anguo, Li Weifeng, Xueyi Guo

"SKSTM oxygen bottom blowing smelting technology was developed by SKS-ENFI at SKS Smelter, Hunan in the 1990s to replace the conventional sintering process and thus to meet the high national EHS standard for lead.Since then, two major milestones have been achieved:1. Since 2002, the SKS oxygen bottom blowing smelting-blast furnace reduction has been in operation at SKS, YGL, Chizhou smelter etc. Now in China, about 50% of the lead (4.2 millions t/year) is produced using SKS process; and2. Since 2008, the blast furnace has been replaced by direct reduction of molten rich lead slag at YGJ smelter, which is more energy-efficient since no slag cooling is required. This two stage process (SKS Oxidation- Direct Reduction) is named as the YGL process.Since 2008, numerous technological innovations have been implemented in the furnace design, process control, and maintenance at YGL. The plant has been successfully demonstrated its unique excellent performances on all aspects from processing capacity, product quality, energy reduction, cost reduction and emission reduction. The purpose of this report is to update all the improvements with proven tracks.Meanwhile, a preliminary comparison on the following aspects between the YGL process and other similar technologies has been discussed:1. Plant design and operating conditions;2. Mass and heat balances, metal (Pb, Ag) recovery;3. Consumables, oxygen gun and refractory lining life;4. Energy consumption and operating costs;5. Sulfur capture and emission reduction etc.It is concluded that the modified SKSTM process is a clean SO2-free emission process. The process is characteristic of other features such as no extra fuel addition, low capital with a small foot-print design, low OPEX, high throughput, easy operation, long refractory lining life and high productivity (95%+ on line time annually). It offers an alternative cost-effective technology for lead smelting industry."

Jan 1, 2014

By P. T. Craddock, H. V. Paliwal, L. K. Gurjar

The Indian cultural heritage of mining, smelting and the use of minerals and metals dates back to ancient times. Although the exact date of the commencement of such activities in India is not certain, Indians are known to have been familiar with gold, silver, copper, tin and lead and to a lesser extent with iron at least since the Vedic period (Table 1).

Jan 1, 1999

By C. H. Bertoni, A. Vachon

The Corner bay copper deposit is the first significan discovery on the south limb of the Dore Lake Complex, located at the eastern end of the Detour Lake-Chibougamau greenstone belt, Quebec. The deposit was discovered in March, 1981, after 26 years of intermittent work in the area. Mineralization is found in a shear zone cut ting rocks ranging in composition, from gabbroic anorthosites to anorthositic gabbros which have been intensely altered and deformed by at least two tectonometamorphic events. Both the copper-bearing shear zone and its host rocks are cut by a large NE-striking gabbro dyke. Most of the known mineralization is found east of the dyke, but two deep exploration holes have shown that the down dip extension is present to the west of the dyke. The mineralized shear varies from one to 15 metres in width, strikes around 010° and dips from 70° to 80° to the west, and has been tested for a length of 700 metres. The wall rocks are usually chloritized and silicified. Mineralization is characterized by chalcopyrite, pyrite, molybdenite, magnetite, and sphalerite occurring mainly as the matrix to quartz-carbonate breccias in the "main" shear zone. The predominant sulphides are pyrite and chalcopyri te as crystals or fragments. The brecciated mineralized shear shows evidence that there was at least one remobilization of the shear and it is suggested that copper-bearing fluids invaded the shear during its remobilization. The exact timing and source of mineralization are not known. Up to February 1984, 38 holes had been drilled to outline indicated reserves to a depth of 450 m of 1,5 million tonnes grading approximately 4% copper, 0.34 gm, gold and 13.71 gm silver per tonne. It is believed that there is considerable reserve potential in the block west of the gab bro dyke, the down dip extension of the main zone.

Jan 1, 1984

By Paul Billingsley

NICKEL Plate mountain coincides closely with that portion of the Hedley mining district which is of economic interest. From it has come almost the entire past production, and the active mines of the present epoch, Nickel Plate-Sunnyside and Hedley Mascot, lie in a compact group near its summit. The Hedley district, which is 210 miles due east of Vancouver, is situated in the Okanagan range of southern British Columbia, where this rather gentle uplift is deeply dissected by the canyons of the Similkameen and its tributaries. The region is essentially part of the Interior Plateau of the Province (Figure 1), but is adjacent to easterly elements of the Coast Range. The Similkameen canyon, 4,000 feet in depth and frequently less than 4 miles from rim to rim, traverses the district from northwest to southeast. The deepest and narrowest portion of the canyon lies between Hedley and Keremeos, 18 miles to the southeast. At Hedley, an important tributary, Twenty Mile creek, enters from the north in a bold canyon, making a focus of unusually rugged topography. Nickel Plate mountain occupies the sector to the east of this junction (see Figure 2) and its flanks are ringed by the cliffs of Twenty Mile canyon on the west and by those of the Similkameen canyon on the south. On the east, it slopes gently to the hanging valley of Eighteen Mile creek, and on the north, with only slight loss of elevation, it merges into the moderately hilly surface of the plateau.

Jan 1, 1941

By C. O. Swanson

CALCULATING the average grade of a gold deposit is a problem that presents certain unique difficulties. Particularly troublesome is the fact that the average of the samples taken from a deposit is likely to be higher than the grade of the ore that is eventually mined, even when allowance is made for dilution and other factors resulting from the mining operations. It would seem that this situation is due to the presence in the deposits of structural peculiarities which have not been properly taken into account, since estimating the average grade of the broken ore produced from the deposits does not present the same difficulty. It is therefore evident that structural considerations are of prime importance in estimating the grade of a deposit. This fact is clearly realized and taken into account in cases where the boundaries of the orebodies and the variations within them are easily recognized. But in many gold deposits this condition is not satisfied, a circumstance which can be regarded as the main source of difficulty. Lacking definite information concerning the structure, we are apt to use certain procedures which are either empirical or based on general probabilities.

Jan 1, 1945

By Denis Labrie

Résumé Cent soixante (160) câbles d'ancrage ont été installés au toit de la rampe à la Mine-laboratoire de CANMET à Val-d'Or, Qué bec, Canada, pour prévenir toute dégradation suite à l'élargissement de la voie de roulage dans un secteur tournant à 180 degrés, communément appelé Virage Santa Barbara. Le roc à cet endroit est de nature bloqueuse et stratifiée, et son épaisseur au toit de la rampe est limitée à environ dix (10) mètres, le tout sous une couche de terrain meuble saturée en permanence. Le soutènement mis en place a été conçu pour former une zone de compression et supporter une strate de roc d?environ quatre (4) mètres d'épaisseur. Les critères de conception et les méthodes d'installation sont présentées. Un contrôle de qualité rigoureux a été effectué au moment de la mise en place du support, notamment en ce qui concerne la mise en tension des câbles eux-mêmes et la qualité du béton utilisé lors de l'injection. Des instruments de mesure seront mis en place sous peu pour dépister tout mouvement éventuel au toit de la rampe. Abstract Design and installation of an active mine ground support using tensioned cables at the Experimental Mine, Val-d?Or, Québec, Canada. One hundred sixty (160) cables were installed at the back of the ramp at the CANMET?s Experimental Mine located in Val-d?Or, Québec, Canada, to prevent any degradation of the ground after the enlargement of the roadway in a sector turning at 180 degrees, usually called Virage Santa Barbara. The nature of the rock mass in this area is blocky and stratified, and its thickness above the ramp does not exceed ten (10) metres. Eight (8) metres of soil, mostly saturated, cover the bedrock on top of the ramp. The ground support was designed to form a compression zone at the back, aimed to carry a strata of rock of around four (4) metres thick. The design criteria and the methods of installation of the ground support are described in the paper. A strict control of the quality of the grout used for injection and the tension placed in the cables was carried out during the installation of the support. Ground monitors will be installed soon, to detect any movement that could take place above the ramp.

May 1, 2001

By F. Habashi

The pioneer work on pressure hydrometallurgy was conducted in Russia at the end of the nineteenth, and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, by Karl Josef Bayer (1847-1904) and Vladimir Nikolyevitch Ipatieff (1867-1952), both working independently in Saint Petersburg. Bayer was studying pressure leaching while Ipatieff was studying the precipitation of metals and their compounds by hydrogen under pressure. Gradually, industrial applications took place first in the aluminium and later in the nickel industry. Today, the technology is well established in a large number of industries, such as uranium, gold, zinc, titanium, tungsten, and more recently copper.

Jan 1, 2004

By V. Aprahamian, T. Cheng, M. Tangen, R. Beauprie

The Royal Canadian Mint has implemented significant process additions since 2005. Installation of a whole new highly automated silver refining circuit has allowed recovery of physical silver from gold and silver dorés . To complement this change, a small Top Blown Rotary Converter has been in operation. On the gold refining side, a new hydrometallurgical process to recover precious metals from Miller Chlorination slag has been developed. Finally, new systems have been put in place to improve treatment of waste water, wet and dry fume and dust.

Jan 1, 2011

By J. G. George

A brief review of the silver industry is presented to set the stage for the analysis of the distribution of silver production by source from various types of mines in Canada and of the changing relationship between the total output of silver and the total output of base metals. The decline in the average grade of the Canadian mines is also discussed and a trend for the future is proposed. The report then examines in broader aspects the world primary silver production and concludes, in the section on outlook, that the effective supply in primary silver will grow at a rate significantly lower than the growth rate expected for base metals. A cumulative deficit of some 900 million ounces is projected for the period 1975-1980 and a further deficit of some 1,100 million ounces if projected for the 1980-to-1985 period.

Jan 1, 1977

By Michael L. Wayman

Archaeological and ethnographic work during the last century has shown clearly that metals have played a small but important role in prehistoric Arctic cultures. For at least the past several millenia both iron and copper have been used in the North, primarily for blades, projectile points, knives, awls, engraving tools, fishhooks, scrapers and axes. In addition they were used for joining purposes as staples and rivets. It is of great interest to enquire into the origins of these metals. In this connection one begins with the observation that to date there has been no clear evidence for the smelting or melting of metals in the Arctic prior to the arrival of Europeans. This can be explained partly by the absence of traditional pyrotechnologies such as the high-temperature firing of ceramics and the heat treatment of bone and wood. Another factor which surely inhibited the development of smelting/ melting operations is the relative absence of wood in the region. The production of charcoal for smelting requires large quantities of wood, to the extent that the desertification of a number of areas in the Old World is believed by some to have been at least partly caused by charcoal production. In the North this was obviously not possible. Thus the Arctic peoples were restricted to using native (naturally occurring) metals and metals obtained by various direct and indirect forms of contact with areas of the world where smelting was practiced. Both of these sources were important in the case of iron; we know that meteoritic iron, telluric (native) iron and smelted wrought iron were all used in the Arctic. These three types of iron will be considered in tum.

Jan 1, 1999