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By D. A. Riva

"The Line Creek Project is located in southeastern British Columbia, approximately 25 kilometres north of Sparwood. The design is to produce a total of2.7 million tonnes of coal annually. This is made up of1.4million tonnes of thermal coal and 1.3 million tonnes of metallurgical coal.Construction commenced in the spring of 1980 and mining operations began in July 1981. The thermal processing plant, maintenance and dry facilities, as well as extensive road and bridge construction, were completed in early 1982. A collective agreement was signed with the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 115, in June 1981.The first unit train left Line Creek on February 18, 1982 with a load of thermal coal bound for the Ssangyong Corporation in Southern Korea. It was the start of a ten-year contract to supply 350,000 tonnes annually to fire their cement kilns. Additional contracts for 750,000 tonnes will fuel the boilers of Korea Electric Company's San Chon Po and Go-Jeong power stations. Metallurgical coal shipments are scheduled to leave the Roberts Bank port in Vancouver in April 1983.Tracking an introductory presentation given at the 1981 CIM Annual General Meeting in Calgary, this paper highlights the salient developments by which ""The Line Creek Project"" has progressed during the past year to the"" Line Creek Operation"". Line Creek has com e on stream as scheduled and will meet all contractual commitments pertaining to timing, volumes and quality for thermal coal. The first train load left the plant in mid-February, and the first boat load to Korea departed Roberts Bank in mid-April. Metallurgical coal deliveries will commence in April 1983."

Jan 1, 1982

By W. A. Jankola, M. T. Martin

"The world's first zinc pressure leaching plant at Cominco's Trail operations started production in 1981. Sullivan zinc concentrate is leached at the rate of 190 tpd in a four-compartment autoclave at elevated temperatures and oxygen pressures to produce a zinc sulphate solution and elemental sulphur. Zinc extraction exceeds 98% and sulphide to elemental sulphur conversion exceeds 95%.The sulphur is recovered from the discharged slurry in the underflow of a hydrocyclone, and is upgraded as a flotation concentrate. The concentrate is dewatered, melted and filtered to produce a polished sulphur product of better than 99% purity. An alternative sulphur recovery process employs an unique sulphur separation method that recovers over 90% of the sulphur in the molten state. The remaining sulphur is recovered by flotation following flash discharge of the slurry. The product slurry containing the zinc sulphate solution and the iron-lead residue joins the existing roast-leach zinc plant for purification and zinc electrowinning.IntroductionIn 1981, Cominco Ltd. commissioned the world's first commercial zinc pressure leaching plant at their Trail operations in British Columbia. As part of a $700 million modernization and expansion program for lead and zinc started in 1977, the company installed the first o f two autoclave trains.Prior to pressure leaching, zinc production was closely tied to acid and fertilizer production. Sulphur dioxide produced from roasting the concentrates had to be converted to sulphuric acid. Thus, any expansion of zinc operations with the roast-leach technology would have required extensive modifications to the acid and fertilizer plants as well as to the roasters. Zinc pressure leaching, on the other hand, offered a one-step dissolution of zinc from the concentrates with high extraction, and production of elemental sulphur. The associated dust and sulphur dioxide generated in the roasting process are both eliminated from the working environment of the pressure leach facility. The flexibility allowed by producing elemental sulphur, and the opportunity to break the sulphuric acid link for about 25 per cent of the targeted 272,000 tonnes per year zinc production was very appealing. The process was successfully demonstrated at a pilot plant in 1977(1-6)."

Jan 1, 1985

By Andrew J. Troop

"VAUGHAN THOMPSON designed the Thompson retrievable diamond drill wedge and reaming assembly in 1948. Since 1950, the Hudson Bay Exploration and Development Company, Limited has used the method extensively. The wedge, setting tool, and reamer have been modified slightly since they were first introduced. In 1951, Mr. Thompson designed the Thompson arc cutter. The purpose of this tool is to decrease effectively the diameter of the arc cut, using standard drilling tools. This directional drilling device is usually employed when a branch hole is desired. The Thompson arc cutter has been used with success at Birch Lake, Saskatchewan, at the property of Cuprus Mines, Limited, Manitoba, and at Thompson Lake, Manitoba.UsesThe Thompson retrievable wedge provides a simple method for:(1) Re-drilling lost core sections(2) Re-sampling sections of old holes(3) By-passing lost tools Correcting the direction of a hole(4) Drilling a branch hole to obtain intersections at a higher elevation than the original holePrevious to the spring of 1951, the wedge was used only for the first four of these purposes. Recently it has been employed extensively for drilling branch holes."

Jan 1, 1953

By A. Warczokand

The cleaning of copper smelting slag requires magnetite and cuprous oxide reduction. The slag reduction with coke, injected coal powder or bunker oil is strongly endothermic and requires heat generation by fuel combustion or the use of electric energy. The reduction of fayalitic slag with calcium carbide is slightly exothermic and the formed calcium silicate modifies the slag. Thus, the additional energy is required only for covering furnace heat losses. Results of crucible scale tests showed the rate of slag reduction approximately five times higher in comparison of the slag reduction with coke under the same conditions. It seems that the effect of exothermic reaction and slag modification with CaO at the reaction interface results in very high rate of slag reduction. Industrial scale tests carried out in the Anglo-American Chagres Smelter demonstrated the possibilities of effective reduction and cleaning of the slags from a flash smelter and Peirce-Smith converters in a Teniente Slag Cleaning Furnace. The slag reduction was carried out without any reductant or stirring gas injection, simply by calcium carbide charging through a furnace mouth, and was very fast.

Jan 1, 2007

By S. Kashani-Nejad

The formation of oxides during the dehydration of MgC12,6H20, Bischofite, was studied by heating the bischofite over a range of time and temperatures in ambient atmosphere. Using a methanol-leaching technique developed by authors, the oxides that formed were isolated, identified and assayed. Three distinct regions of oxide stability were identified. The oxide produced at dehydration temperatures less than 300 °C was Mg2(OH)3C1,2H2O; at 300 °C, mixtures of MgOHC1 and Mg2(OH)3C1.2H2O were formed and at 400 °C, MgOHC1 was the only oxide produced. The presence of MgO observed in the products of the dehydration of bischofite at temperatures above 400 °C was due to the thermal decomposition of the MgOHC1 that was formed while the sample was heating to over 400 °C.

Jan 1, 2006

By A. Mitura

The paper presents the initial investigation of possible energetic applications of chosen wastes from groups: 06, 03, 05 and 01, including coal slimes being secondary product of hard coal processing. These categories of wastes are catalogued according to the polish law, where 06 ? wastes from production, preparation, purchasing and application of products of non-organic chemistry; 03 ? wastes from wood processing and from plates and furniture, celluloid mass, paper and card board production; 13 ? oil wastes and wastes from liquid fuels; 01 ? wastes produced by searching, extracting, physical and chemical processing of ores and other mineral raw materials. The change of combustion heat value was evaluated in produced energetic mixtures containing these types of wastes together with the change of their individual components. All combinations of ingredients were taken into consideration giving 256 various mixtures, from which 36 were selected to investigation. This allowed the performance of statistical factor analysis. For such prepared materials the application of regressive method was proposed in purpose of calculating combustion heat value and then the comparison of empirically determined and theoretically calculated heat values was performed. The change of regressive coefficients can be determined by the nature of Hess law (eq. 1) what was investigated and the attempt of its explication and validation was done.

Aug 1, 2013

By Maurice Séguin

The primary aim of all ground geophysical work has been, of course, to locate orebodies. As with any geo-physical method, its success depends on a proper mastering of the types of surveys and equipment used and their application to the physical properties associated with the orebodies. The Schefferville deposits are iron ores subjected to enrichment by the process of leaching. Although some ore types are porous and low in demiity, most of the ore zones have had a net increase in density brought about by enrichment. In the course of their formation, the magnetic characteristics of the rocks have usually changed, as much of the magnetite was altered to relatively non-magnetic iron oxides and hydrous iron oxides. Ali drift-covered areas underlain with iron-formation are potential ore-producing areas. From these first two physical proper-ties and a determination of the thickness of the over-burden, a combined gravity-magnetic-seismic and/or resistivity survey allows for the detection and sorting out of iron-formation and potential ore zones from the country rocks. If the iron-formation possessed relatively uniform physical and chemical properties, the problem of locating areas underlain with ore, using geophysical methods, would be greatly simplified. Unfortunately, the iron-formation is a complex assemblage of rock types, each having different physical and chemical characteristics. In spite of this, qualitative and semi-quantitative correlation between the results of the surveys and the geology and structure of the area could be established. In addition, a semi-quantitative to quantitative correlation of the values of the residual gravity anomalies with the specific gravity, the iron content, the porosity factor, the dimensions of the under-lying orebodies and the values of the ground magnetic intensity above a reference lithologie unit, with the per cent weight Fe304 recovery and the susceptibility, led to the discovery of a direct-shipping iron ore deposit in the Schefferville mining district of Canada.

Jan 1, 1968

By Raj Rajamani

In general, many past works examine mill load, mill power, shell lifter design etc with a view to improving the mill capacity. On the contrary, only a handful of papers have addressed the transport of fine slurry through the pulp lifters. We present the flow dynamics of pulp lifters via laboratory scale experiments, high speed photography and modeling with computational fluid dynamics. Next, the flow behaviour in ArcelorMittal?s Mont-Wright autogenous mill discharge flow is examined. In an effort to improve mill throughput, a comprehensive simulation and plant scale study of the mill was taken up with a focus on the shell and pulp lifter design. The shell lifter was found to be at its optimum limit for breakage of ore particles given the constraints of wear life and occupied volume. Next, the pulp lifter study was taken up with computational fluid flow code and discrete element code. The simulations directly showed that there was considerable carry-over of slurry. This effect was traced to the area restriction in the pulp lifter channels. Further, crash-stop studies confirmed slurry pooling within the mill. Thus it was readily apparent that mill throughput can be increased if the pulp-lifter could be redesigned. Consequently, the discharger section of the pulp-lifter was redesigned. First, this paper outlines the modeling in laboratory scale studies and plant scale studies leading up to the discharger design. Next, the discharge flow in seven different published mill surveys is predicted with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methodology shown here. Finally, Mont-Wright mill circuit performance before and after the discharger redesign is described. The usefulness of fluid flow simulations in the design of pulp-lifters is emphasized.

Jan 1, 2012

By W. Fergusson

This paper takes a look at the use of rubber to provide corrosion resistance and wear resistance in the mining industry. The longer life and reduced down time involved with the use of rubber are stressed, and examples are given of applications in grinding mills, skips, discharge chutes and screens.

Jan 1, 1979

By H. F. Maulson

For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the history of the western Provinces-Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta-as regards our natural resources, a few words of explanation may be in order before taking up the consideration of the Mines Act of 1930. In 1867, The British North America Act was passed by the Imperial Parliament. That Act, which is our constitution, created a union between the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Upper and Lower Canada (now known as Ontario and Quebec respectively) under the name of the Dominion of Canada. Provision was made therein for embracing other parts of Canada from time to time. That portion of Canada which today comprises the Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta and the lands to the north of them, was then known as Ruperts Land and the North West Territory. In the year 1670, King Charles II had granted by Letters Patent to Prince Rupert and his associates, known as ?The Governor & Company of Gentlemen Adventurers of England, Trading into Hudson's Bay?, commonly known as the Hudson's Bay Company, the lands and territories therein described, being roughly all the lands adjacent to and west of Hudson's bay; also the gold and silver to be found or discovered therein and other rights as more fully described in said Letters Patent. The land so granted was called 'Ruperts Land'.

Jan 1, 1930

By K. Maruyama, T. Nagasaka, R. d. Chairaksa-Fujimoto, T. Miki

Electric arc furnace dust or EAF dust is considered as a hazardous waste but contains a significant amount of economically attractive non-ferrous metals especially zinc as zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) and zincite (ZnO). The hydrometallurgical process is one alternative choice because it has the advantage of low energy consumption. The leaching of ZnO from the dust is very easy. However, the complex major zinc compound in EAF dust is ZnFe2O4, which is very stable and insoluble in alkaline or acidic media under delicate conditions, and causes the low zinc recovery yield by hydrometallurgical process. Moreover, halogens and heavy metals in the dust are also problematic. In order to develop a new effective EAF dust treatment process, the authors have proposed "CaO addition process" as pre-dust treatment to transform all of ZnFe2O4 in the EAF dust to ZnO and Ca2Fe2O5. In this study, the selective zinc leaching from the CaO treated EAF dust with NaOH and NH4Cl solutions was carried out. The effect of temperature, reaction time and solute concentration were systematically investigated. All of zinc in CaO treated EAF dust was successfully leached into both solutions.

Jan 1, 2014

By L. Dubourg, H. Habibi, D. Rasmussen

The combination of laser welding with Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMA W) forms the hybrid laser-OMA W welding. This process is an attractive tool with a high potential in welding lightweight structures, especially for aluminum alloys. For five years, this technology has increasingly attracted interest in both, industry (aeronautics, automobile, metal industries producing large structures) and academia (universities and research centers). Hybrid laser-OMA W welding process is generally accepted for its robustness, efficiency and flexibility. Coupling of a deep-penetrating laser beam with the heat and molten metal feeding of GMA W significantly expands the original welding application range of lasers. Its main advantages compared to the two individual components are deep and stable weld penetration, gap-bridging ability improvement, low distortion and easy filler metal addition. Hybrid welding allows a much wider groove tolerance compared to laser welding, especially for aluminum welding. Moreover, the reduction in distortion decreases the post-welding rectification needed and makes the assembly easier. In addition, if metallurgical factors are critical, the weld composition can be balanced with filler metal, decreasing the hot cracking susceptibility of some aluminum alloys. The combination of these two welding processes can also improve the weld bead shape quality (including the elimination of undercut), possibly reduce the porosity and increase the welding speed. This article reviews the recent works about the laser-OMA W hybrid welding of aluminum alloys. After a brief presentation on the interaction mechanisms between a laser beam and an electric arc, the paper depicts the typical welding parameters and experimental methods along with their characteristics.

Jan 1, 2006

By Xueyi Guo

The total production of nonferrous metals in China is 31.35 million tons in 2010, which ranks first in the world for the past ten years. Large quantities of solid wastes including slag, residue, ash, and dust are produced every year in the production of nonferrous metals. These secondary resources are renewable, not only contain abundant valuable metals which can be recycled by metallurgical processing, but also could eliminate the pollution to the environment. In this paper, the status quo of the main nonferrous metals recycling in metallurgical industries in China was summarized, and the future development of waste processing and resource recycling was prospected.

Jan 1, 2011

By P. N. Calder, D. B. Apel, S. D. Butt

Mine-wide (MW) microseismic systems use widely spaced transducers to determine the source location and parameters of stronger microseismic events, while high frequency (HF) systems use fewer transducers to monitor local areas for the weaker events that can precede stronger events. Previous monitoring at the Creighton Mine indicated that an HF transducer located 120 m away from an active stope recorded two types of activity in response to production blasting: the first occurring at the same time as the production blasts and associated with the passage of the direct seismic waves from the blast through the local area, and the second occurring several hours later and associated with the arrival of a slower moving stress change through the rock mass (which was identified by the mine’s MW system). Interpretations of locally increased stress levels, based on analysis of the recorded HF events, correlated with the nearby occurrence of two strong seismic events. These results were applied to a similar monitoring trail at the Kidd Creek Mine where the transient stress changes induced by several development blasts were monitored. It was observed that increases in HF activity corresponded with the occurrence of MW events near the transducer location, and that fewer HF events were recorded the longer this occurred after the blast. Local geological features appeared to influence the number and occurrence of both HF and MW events.

Jan 1, 2000

By M. W. Bates, A. L. Mular

This paper, based on work carried out at Queen's University, describes the development and use of mathematical models of the parallel cyclone classifiers being used in the Strathcona mill of Falconbridge Nickel Min.es Ltd.

Jan 1, 1971

By A. F. Buckham

Introduction Several basins of the Nanaimo series, a group of coal-bearing sedimentary rocks of Upper Cretaceous age, underlie parts of Vancouver island and the adjacent gulf islands. One, the Nanaimo basin, occurs on the southern half of the west shore of the gulf of Georgia. About fifty square miles at the north end of this basin are known to be underlain by productive coal seams, this area being known as the Nanaimo coal field. Coal has been mined from two horizons- that of the Wellington seam, fairly low in the series, and that of the Newcastle and Douglas seams, about the middle of the series. Coal has been mined here since the fall of 1852. About fifty million tons have been produced, almost half the total production of British Columbia. About seventy-two years ago, James Richardson of the Geological Survey made a reconnaissance of the coal measures on Vancouver island, and thirty-five years ago C. H. Clapp mapped and reported on most of the Nanaimo coal field. Twenty-four years ago, J. D. MacKenzie extended the work to those areas not mapped by Clapp. MacKenzie died before the results of his work could be published, but did issue a revised estimate of the Goal Resources of Southern Vancouver Island. Work by the present writer is a further contribution by the Geological Survey to knowledge of the island coal measures. Having spent more time in the field, and having had more data at his disposal than were available to his predecessors, the writer has been able to throw additional light on the Nanaimo, and other, coal fields on Vancouver island. He is indebted to Canadian Collieries (Dunsmuir), Limited, and to its officials for access to much valuable information in their possession.

Jan 1, 1947

By A. A. McCloskey

APPROXIMA TEL Y 95 percent of Waite-Amulet's Lower A orebody will be mined by diamond-drill stoping. This method of stoping was developed, and has been successfully applied, at the Noranda mine in recent years(1) and is now used in several base-metal and gold mines in north-western Quebec and in other parts of Canada, South Africa, and Australia. The purpose of this paper is to deal with the features of the Lower A ore-body which led' to the adoption of this method of stoping, and in addition to give a general description of stope layout, stope development, main haulage development, chutes and grizzlies, diamond drilling for stope blasting, diamond drilling and equipment, primary blasting, secondary blasting, haulage and loading, ore pockets, pumping and drainage,. and shafts at Waite Amulet. Figure 1 is an isometric projection of the orebody, illustrating the mining system. The factors that led to the adoption of diamond-drill stoping of Lower A orebody are as follows: (1) Safety.0 (2) Size and shape of the orebody, and depth of the orebody below surface. (3) Strength of the hanging-wall, footwall, and sulphide ore. (4) Continuous ring-drilling from sub-level drifts, with no delay for blasting. (5) Large-tonnage blasts at the end of Saturday afternoon shift, after ali men are out of the mine. (6) Sub-levels may be retreated from top to bottom simultaneously, or lower sub-levels may be retreated first without any change in the ring-drilling la yout. (7) Large stopes up to 100 feet wide can be mined, leaving substantial pillars up to 60 feet in width, which may be partially recovered by âiamond~drill stoping or by other stoping methods. (8) A large tonnage may be drilled-off in advance of blasting, but only a supply of unoxidized ore for flotation treatment is blasted. (9) Better ventilation during working shifts. (10) Gravity flow of all broken ore to grizzlies located in the footwall of the orebody. (11) Electric blasting by a crew of two men.

Jan 1, 1941

By J. Ander

About fifteen years age some mines in western Canada commenced using Diesel engines, partly for development work but also for operations on quite a large scale. In the Eastern mining field, the Diesel engine made its appearance some eight years ago and has since, at quite a number of mining plants, proved to be a reliable and economical prime mover. As a result, it is today used more extensively than could have been foreseen only a few years ago, and it is reasonably safe to predict that the next few years will see the Diesel engine utilized to a still greater extent in the Canadian mining industry. It is not much more than thirty years since the first Diesel engine was put in operation. During the early years of this century, the Diesel engine took, so to say, its first faltering steps in public service. Since then it has reached a high state of perfection, and its importance has grown in a most remarkable way, until today it is used in practically every field where power is required. It is slowly but surely superceding steam for a great many purposes, as, for instance, for ship propulsion. While in 1921 only about 8 per cent of all tonnage launched was motor-driven, the proportion had grown to 38 per cent in 1927, and for 1929 it was slightly over 45 per cent. Some of the finest passenger liners afloat are Diesel-driven. In the early days, Diesel engines were built only in comparatively small units. Today engines with a capacity per unit of up to 10,000 horsepower, or even more, are being built for marine and stationary purposes.

Jan 1, 1930

By G. C. Bateman

Canada is a very large country with a small population which is growing very slowly. We have great natural resources, but with our limited population we are continually looking afield for new capital to develop these resources. Our mining areas are among the most important fields offering opportunities for new capital and because of the wide-spread appeal which mining makes this industry commands a great deal of attention. While we are glad to see new capital from any source, we welcome it particularly from Great Britain, for, although we offer equal opportunities to the nationals of any country we would be glad to see the development of our natural resources financed as far as possible within the Empire. However, when we invite ne capital we must accept certain responsibilities, and while we have opportunities to offer, we should ask ourselves how these opportunities are taken advantage of and what sort of treatment the foreign investor receives.

Jan 1, 1925

By S. E. Wolfe

AKNOWLEDGE of the density of a pulp or suspension is frequently required by the millman, to whom fluctuations in density, which occur in all mill circuits, are of importance and interest. There ,are many w.ays currently in use to determine density and probably the most common method is to take samples of the pulp. The proper sampling of the material is no easy matter, particularly when the pulp contains a sand fraction which settles rapidly. For example, when filling a liter container from the overflow of a classifier, it is al-most impossible to fill the can completely and yet prevent overflow. If there is an overflow, the pulp remaining in the can invariably has an excess of sand and the indicated density will be too high. To surmount such difficulties, and to obtain a continuous indication of the density of a pulp at any desired depth, the simple indicator shown diagrammatically in Figure l was designed by the writer in 1951. Its component parts, numbered as in Figure 1, are as follows.

Jan 1, 1958