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By J. F. Wright

During the last three years prospecting has been active in southeastern Manitoba and a number of interesting gold, nickel and copper deposits have been discovered within an area 90 miles north of the international boundary, and extending about 40 miles westerly from between mileage 60 and 110 on the Manitoba-Ontario boundary. As known at present, two-thirds of this area of 2,000 square miles is underlain by pre Cambrian granite and granite gneiss and is not likely to contain mineral deposits of economic importance. The remaining one-third is underlain by metamorphosed sediments and lavas (greenstones), penetrated by the granite and granite gneiss and, at various localities, cut by bosses, sills, or dykes of gabbro, diorite, granodiorite, and other types of intrusives. The nickel, copper, and gold mineralization accompanied or followed the intrusion of these different rock types. The gold deposits are limited in distribution, so far as known, to the northern part of this prospecting area and occur along Manigotagan and Wanipigow rivers. These deposits have recently been described in some detail, (3) and therefore only the copper and copper-nickel deposits of the southern part of this area, along Oiseau and Maskwa rivers, will be described in this paper.

Jan 1, 1925

By W. H. Coghill, F. D. DeVaney

"Introduction Numerous investigators have studied grinding. Each has contributed his bit to a literature that is difficult to correlate. Too many of the results have been transformed into curves with no many ""inflection points"" and ""counterflexures"" that they obscure the issue.Some of the investigators have neglected the very essence of the problem, namely, the power and the amount of material to which a known amount of work was applied. The purpose of this paper is to show the ease with which results can be interpreted when these quantities are duly recognized. Some grinding tests will be given for illustration.Grinding studies are of two kinds: (1) Study of the character of the ore and (2) study of the performance of the machines. Several ores may be crushed by a given machine, or several machines may be used on a given ore. The illustrations given in this report cover both objectives.Grindability Characteristics When the ores are being studied the information sought is grindability characteristics (grain-size distribution) and the grindability (work required to produce new surface) of a group of ores.When the study is of the machines, several machines are used for a given ore or given types of ores, and the grinding performances of the machines are compared by a grain-size study.Table 1 gives the grindability characteristics and grindability of six substances, one of which is coal. The substances are arranged from left to right in progressing order of tons per horsepower-hour. Curves and graphs are not needed for elucidation. The secret of the ease of interpretation is the order mentioned and the similarity of the sizing analyses. Power records must be complete in grinding studies.The grinding device was a ball, plunger, and mortar called the drop weight.' It may be used to advantage when the amount of material to be tested is too small for the orthodox machines.The upper part of table 1 shows the grindability characteristics by the cumulative-sizing analyses. Note how closely the percentage weights agree for a given sieve size. The lower part shows the grindability in terms defined elsewhere. The present paper should be read in conjunction with that paper."

Jun 1, 1934

By A. J. Weinig

NEED for some simple method of determining tonnages in mill circuits has always been felt by operators and consultants alike. To meet this demand the following method was evolved and has been found accurate and practical after considerable testing on various mill flows. The essence of the method is to add a chemical at a uniform rate to a mill flow, such as a launder conveying pulp, and then determine the concentration of the added chemical in a sample of the pulp. From this procedure the tonnage can be calculated. Common table salt has proved the most satisfactory chemical for ordinary conditions. It has many decided advantages for use in tonnage determinations, among them being the following:

Jan 1, 1933

By G M. Zhomin, A S. Arkhipin, A Kondratiev

Viscosity of multicomponent slags is one of the crucial physicochemical properties for many industrial processes and technologies. While the viscosity-temperature relationship of completely molten slags can well be described by an Arrhenian-type law, the compositional dependence of viscosity is still not fully understood, especially in compositional regions with the lack of experimental data (eg at the glass-former concentration of 90 molar per cent or higher). In the present work major compositional relationships of the activation energy of viscous flow have been revised for numerous binary and ternary slag systems on the basis of experimental data collected and stored in the viscosity database OxiVis. For example, it has been found that the activation energy relevant to the polymerisation effect in binary systems of the MO-GFO type, where MO is the modifier oxide (ie monovalent K2O, Na2O, Li2O and bivalent CaO, MgO, BaO, MnO, PbO etc) and GFO is the glass-forming oxide (SiO2 or B2O3) is not always proportional to the third power of XGFO (contrary to the Urbain formalism) and can vary significantly dependent on the slag system. Also, the activation energy of the charge compensation effect has been revised for ternary systems of the AO-MO-GFO and AO-MO type, where AO is the amphoteric oxide (Al2O3, Fe2O3 or other). A simple polynomial model has been proposed on the basis of the carried-out analysis for estimation of viscosities of multicomponent slag systems. The model has been optimised against the experimental viscosities in the selected binary, ternary, and higher-order oxide systems and has been shown reasonable agreement with the experimental data.

Aug 21, 2024

By Kenneth J. Miller

The Federal Bureau of Mines coal-pyrite flotation process has been modi¬fied to produce a concentrated final clean coal slurry underflow that could be dewatered more effectively by filtration or centrifugation. This change was accomplished by redesigning the Bureau's two-stage flotation pilot plant facility and running the second-stage flotation step with undiluted or only partially diluted first stage coal froth concentrate. Results of the pilot plant flotation tests showed that substantial sulfur reduction could be achieved by flotation with undiluted pulp but some dilution is recommended for maximum selectivity. For example, coal-pyrite flotation in slurry of 25 percent solids yielded clean coal products analyzing as low as 0.7 percent pyritic sulfur and froth reject products containing slightly over 3.0 percent pyritic sulfur. In comparison, coal-pyrite flotation with pulp diluted to about 12.5 percent solids yielded clean coal containing as low as 0.4 percent pyritic sulfur and froth reject of 5.6 to 6.7 percent pyritic sulfur. Despite the need for some dilution, it was concluded that excellent coal-¬pyrite flotation selectivity could be achieved without diluting to 6 or 7 per¬cent solids as done in the earlier work. Thus the economics of coal-pyrite flotation would be improved by easing clean coal dewatering problems and by reducing second-stage flotation cell volume requirements.

Jan 1, 1977

By T. Beamish, I. Vasilev, T. Nikolov, E. Marinov, D. Kirilov, P. Barrios

In April 2005, Umicore Copper de-merged from Umicore Group and created a new independent Copper company called Cumerio. As a separate company, Cumerio is a major European copper smelter and refinery and a leading producer of copper products such as wire rod, billets, cakes and specialty rod with a total production capacity of copper products in excess of 500,000 tpy with production plants in Belgium, Italy and Bulgaria. The Pirdop Smelter is the only state-of the-art smelter in South East Europe and it makes Pirdop the natural hub for the copper industry in the region. In order to be competitive in the international market the main challenges facing Cumerio are to maintain its low cost structure and to achieve higher production volumes while reducing its impact to the environment and striving for continuous improvement of the production process. Cumerio's state-of-the-art smelting facility in Pirdop has recently increased the anode production capacity to 250,000 tpy by the installation of the third evaporative cooler on the converters section that allows operating with three-hot converters. In April 2007 a general shut-down for repair and modification on the Flash Smelting Furnace and Waste Heat Boiler is envisaged. At this time a revamp of one of the existing Sulphuric Acid Plants is planned, resulting in a further copper capacity increase to 275,000 tpy with modest Capex. In 2005 Cumerio received from the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water the Complex Permit under the EU IPPC criteria. Accordingly an Environmental Compliance Program was defined targeting a large reduction in the secondary emissions. The system will be commissioned in May 2007. In order to better integrate the smelter and refinery in Pirdop and to respond to the growing demand for cathodes in the region, a new state-of-the-art Electrolytic Refinery with an installed capacity of 180,000 tpy will replace the existing refinery. The new refinery is expected to be fully operational as from early 2008. This paper describes the challenges and the projects.

Jan 1, 2007

By Evgueni Jak

Pyrometallurgy is an important sector of modern industrial society actively participating in solving current environmental, economic, materials scarcity and other challenges. Recent advances in analytical methods, experimental techniques, thermodynamic, phase equilibria and process modelling tools provide new opportunities to increase the productivity of pyrometallurgical reactors, the treatment of complex feeds and metal recoveries. Fundamental theoretical models can now be used to make a significant next step towards the development and implementation of computerised models describing real industrial processes—Virtual Reactors, and computer-aided smart-decision-making systems that may be called Pyro-GPS by analogy to GPS; these developments can facilitate knowledge-based improvement and optimisation strategies. The implementation of these improvements require ongoing collaboration between researchers, industry and government.

By Evgueni Jak

Pyrometallurgy is an important sector of modern industrial society actively participating in solving current environmental, economic, materials scarcity and other challenges. Recent advances in analytical methods, experimental techniques, thermodynamic, phase equilibria and process modelling tools provide new opportunities to increase the productivity of pyrometallurgical reactors, the treatment of complex feeds and metal recoveries. Fundamental theoretical models can now be used to make a significant next step towards the development and implementation of computerised models describing real industrial processes—Virtual Reactors, and computer-aided smart-decision-making systems that may be called Pyro-GPS by analogy to GPS; these developments can facilitate knowledge-based improvement and optimization strategies. The implementation of these improvements require ongoing collaboration between researchers, industry and government

Systemic process mineralogy study on Baerbulawu refractory hematite ore in Kazakhstan has been carried out. The ore contains Fe 41.34%, and 87.26 % of which exists in hematite. Most hema-tite occurs as fine or ultrafine grains and its average size is only 0.015mm. The gangue is mainly composed of quartz, mica, chlorite, kaolinite and other clay minerals. The liberation of hematite is only 66% when the ore is grinded to 75% ?0.074mm, while part of gangue is already liberated from hematite under this grinding condition, so these gangue can be cast away by magnetic separation in advance. Hematite will not liberate completely from gangue untill grinding fineness reaches 86% ?0.038mm, at the same time, free particles of ultrafine hematite tend to coagulate randomly with quartz and clay minerals, so appropriate dispersant is necessary to pre-vent hematite and clay minerals from coagulation. Based on the process mineralogy research, final technology flowsheet is high-intensity magnetic separation by coarse grinding?rough magnetic concentrate regrinding?inverse flotation, and an ideal index is achieved. The yield of final iron concentrate is 43.46%, and its grade and recovery are 66.76% and 70.55% respectively. The research result is also useful to other similar iron ores.

Jan 1, 2014

By R. S. Fowkes

A study was made by the Bureau of Mines of the penetration of selected granular materials in an unconfined state by wedge-shaped tools having dimensions comparable with the dimensions of the particles composing the materials. The output force for larger particles fluctuated radically. A custom-designed integrator was used to obtain work as a function of depth of penetration in the form of smooth curves. The influence of wedge angle, depth of penetration, penetration rate, entry angle, compaction state, and particle size on the force required and the work performed was ascertained. Empirical equations describing force and work as a function of penetration were obtained for each set of experiments.

Jan 1, 1973

By Simón Díaz‑Quezada, Ernesto Arancibia, HUMBERTO ESTAY, Tomás Vargas

In situ leaching (ISL) is an attractive technique that enables copper recovery from copper oxide ores that are either low-grade or located at depths too great to be economically exploited through conventional methods. At present, in situ leaching (ISL) has been applied to intact copper oxide ores, in particular, those which (i) present a good natural permeability and (ii) do not require preconditioning. Many copper oxide ores present low natural permeability. These are located above the water table and need preconditioning for the ISL application. The present work shows an economic assessment of the application of ISL to this type of copper ores. The preconditioning technique considered here involves the application of partial mining by sublevel stoping by removing a small fraction of the ore. This technique results in forming an ore bed with good permeability and good solution collection at the stope base. The economic assessment of this approach suggests that it can be implemented with positive net present values to copper oxide ores located at depths in the 100–300 m range, with copper grades above 0.4%. The maximum acid consumption values are below 52.5 kg/t, with blasting procedures designed to produce an ore bed with an average particle size below 6″. The breakdown of operational costs indicates that the mining cost is still very high, accounting for up to 60% of the total operating costs. Therefore, optimizing mining procedures is still necessary for improving the economic outlook of this approach and thus expanding the application field of ISL.

Feb 4, 2023

By T. Brozell

"Communities near sand mines and processing facilities in Wisconsin have raised concerns regarding possible exposure to ambient respirable (PM4) crystalline silica. Fenceline PM4 (particulate matter captured with a 50 percent cut size of 4 micrometers aerodynamic diameter) crystalline silica concentration data were compiled at Fairmount Santrol Inc., Mathy Construction Inc. and U.S. Silica facilities. The long-term average PM4 crystalline silica concentrations ranged from 0.05 to 0.45 micrograms/m3 when sample values below the limit of quantification were treated as zeros. All of the long-term average concentrations were less than 20 percent of the Minnesota Department of Health’s and California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s PM4 crystalline silica chronic reference exposure level of 3.0 micrograms/m3. The measured concentrations were consistently within the local background concentration range.Air Control Techniques P.C. compiled the sampling data using Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Partisol 2000i PM2.5 samplers meeting the requirements of 40 CFR Part 50, Appendix L. These samplers were adapted to capture particulate matter with a 50 percent cut size of 4 micrometers. The use of polyvinyl chloride filters allowed for crystalline silica X-ray diffraction analysis by NIOSH Method 7500. The combined use of adjusted PM2.5 filter-based samplers with Method 7500 crystalline silica analyses provided for a highly sensitive limit of quantification of 0.31 micrograms/m3 of PM4 crystalline silica.BackgroundIn 2005, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA, 2005) adopted a 70-year chronic reference exposure level (REL) for PM4 (particulate matter having aerodynamic diameter of 4 micrometers or less) crystalline silica. The REL was extrapolated from occupational hygiene epidemiological studies, essentially all of which were based on in-plant PM4 crystalline silica measurements. No well-established ambient sampling technique for PM4 crystalline silica was available at the time that OEHHA adopted its REL. The personal samplers used for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Method 0600 in-plant sampling of employee exposure were designed for concentrations higher than ambient levels. The limit of quantification (LOQ) of PM4 crystalline silica on NIOSH 0600 filters was too high for the effective sampling of ambient air."

Jan 1, 2015

By A. Sinha, C. Sawmliana, P. Pal Roy

Using the newly developed and permitted explosive Pentadyne-HP (Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd., Hyderabad), the Blasting Department of the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad experimented at the GDK-5 Incline, RG-1 Area of the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd. (SCCL) to establish one modified angular cut blasting pattern as an alternative to conventional solid blasting in India to obtain longer pull, as well as to achieve at least 40 t of coal in a single blast round for the deployment of diesel load-haul-dump units at the face. This permitted explosive satisfied the statutory requirements of incendivity characteristics applicable to P5 explosives of the regulatory agency Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) of India. The present paper summarizes the development of this new blasting pattern and its possible use in Indian coal mines.

Jan 1, 2010

By W. A. Eardley

FIFTEEN years ago the world's deepest oil well penetrated the earth about 7300 ft. That depth has now been more than doubled. Why has such deep drilling become necessary and how has it become possible? Three factors have had an important bearing: (1) Depletion of shallow zones, making it necessary to search for deeper producing measures. (2) The perfection of prospecting methods, which have been success- fully used to locate favorable buried structures, many at great depth. (3) Improvement in the quality of steels used for drilling.

Jan 1, 1940

By W. W. Adams

With greater production of coal per man-hour of work than ever before achieved, the coal-mining industry of the United States established a better safety record in 1941 than in any year since 1930, the earliest for which complete reports of nonfatal as well as fatal injuries were collected by the Bureau of Mines, United States Department of the Interior. In only one year (1933) of the 12-year period 1930-41 was the fatal-accident rate better than in 1941, whereas the rate for nonfatal accidents was better in 1941 than in any previous year. Accident and employment reports received from mine operators, together with fatal-accident reports received monthly from State mining departments and inspectors, showed that 546,692 men were employed in and about the coal mines of the United States during the calendar year 1941. This number does not include office employees or coke-oven workers. The increase of 1.3,426 over the number of employees in 1940 was accompanied by a gain in man-hours of work performed at the mines and an increase in average number of hours worked per man during the year.

Jan 1, 1944

By Maurice C. Fetzer, Charles R. Austin

It has long been known that plain high-carbon steels may be susceptible to graphiti-zation below the A1 critical, but no data have been available to indicate what factors cause and tend to inhibit graphite formation. Two recent publicationsl,2 have shown that the factors controlling graphitization below the A1 are different from those operating above the A1 inversion where commercial graphitization of malleable iron begins. Furthermore, for plain high-carbon steels graphitization below the critical point does not appear to be related to ordinary chemical analyses. Many years ago it was recorded3 that the rate of graphitization at subeutectoid temperature is not a maximum just below the A1 critical, but at some lower temperature, which Austin and Norris have shown to be about 670°C. Indeed, work done in our laboratory has demonstrated that it is impossible to spheroidize certain steels in the temperature range of 650° to 710°C. without the formation of considerable amounts of graphite. However, if the temperature is maintained just below the A1 (720°C.) these same steels may be completely sphe-roidized at constant temperature. In previous studiesl,2,4 on I per cent plain carbon steels graphitization was encountered during prolonged tempering. The limited number of steels studied did not provide sufficiellt data to permit adequate study of the factors controlling this graphitization. Accordingly, a limited statistical investigation was undertaken, utilizing 18 steels of similar chemical analyses, furnished by four steel companies, who also supplied information regarding the history of manufacture. An extensive program of research is being carried out on these steels, including the effect of pretreatment and atmosphere on the nature and extent of graphitization, and the possible correlation of graphitization with such characteristic properties as hardenability, grain size and mechanical behavior. In the present paper discussion is restricted to a study of the correlation between graphitizing tendency at 670°C. after quenching from several temperatures above the critical, and (I) the minor variations in the chemistry of these steels of "similar" chemical composition, and (2) the deoxida-tion practice employed. The state of the lead bath, oxidized or protected from oxidation by charcoal, used in the tempering treatments is also considered. Materials Eighteen plain carbon steels of about I per cent carbon, and containing similar amounts of each of the other common elements usually found as impurities, were obtained in the form of rods % in, in diameter from four steel manufacturers. The analyses for ordinary and special elements of all the steels were made on the rod stock as received in the laboratory, and the re-

Jan 1, 1941

By Maurice C. Fetzer, Charles R. Austin

It has long been known that plain high-carbon steels may be susceptible to graphiti-zation below the A1 critical, but no data have been available to indicate what factors cause and tend to inhibit graphite formation. Two recent publicationsl,2 have shown that the factors controlling graphitization below the A1 are different from those operating above the A1 inversion where commercial graphitization of malleable iron begins. Furthermore, for plain high-carbon steels graphitization below the critical point does not appear to be related to ordinary chemical analyses. Many years ago it was recorded3 that the rate of graphitization at subeutectoid temperature is not a maximum just below the A1 critical, but at some lower temperature, which Austin and Norris have shown to be about 670°C. Indeed, work done in our laboratory has demonstrated that it is impossible to spheroidize certain steels in the temperature range of 650° to 710°C. without the formation of considerable amounts of graphite. However, if the temperature is maintained just below the A1 (720°C.) these same steels may be completely sphe-roidized at constant temperature. In previous studiesl,2,4 on I per cent plain carbon steels graphitization was encountered during prolonged tempering. The limited number of steels studied did not provide sufficiellt data to permit adequate study of the factors controlling this graphitization. Accordingly, a limited statistical investigation was undertaken, utilizing 18 steels of similar chemical analyses, furnished by four steel companies, who also supplied information regarding the history of manufacture. An extensive program of research is being carried out on these steels, including the effect of pretreatment and atmosphere on the nature and extent of graphitization, and the possible correlation of graphitization with such characteristic properties as hardenability, grain size and mechanical behavior. In the present paper discussion is restricted to a study of the correlation between graphitizing tendency at 670°C. after quenching from several temperatures above the critical, and (I) the minor variations in the chemistry of these steels of "similar" chemical composition, and (2) the deoxida-tion practice employed. The state of the lead bath, oxidized or protected from oxidation by charcoal, used in the tempering treatments is also considered. Materials Eighteen plain carbon steels of about I per cent carbon, and containing similar amounts of each of the other common elements usually found as impurities, were obtained in the form of rods % in, in diameter from four steel manufacturers. The analyses for ordinary and special elements of all the steels were made on the rod stock as received in the laboratory, and the re-

Jan 1, 1941

By R. J. Wasilewski

Elastic constants have been determined on single crystals of maximum-melting-temperature NiAl compound (50.6 at. pct Al) at 25°C. Temperature variations of Young&apos;s modulus in the three principal crystal directions between -150°C and +800°C exhibit no anomalies similar to those repovted for the isomor-phous compounds brass and AuCd. It is concluded that the ordered CsCl structure is stable throughout the temperuture range investigated NICKEL aluminide is a congruently melting inter-metallic compound of CsCl (B2) structure, stable over a rather wide composition range (40 to 54 pct Al). It exhibits a lattice-parameter maximum of a. = 2.883A at 50.6 pct 1,&apos; at which composition the excess aluminum atoms are randomly distributed on the vacant nickel sites;&apos; at higher nickel compositions the excess nickel atoms replace substitutionally in aluminum sites, while at higher aluminum compositions vacancies are present in the nickel sublattice.&apos; For compositions close to NiAl no significant variation in order has been observed at temperatures up to 900°C.3 At high nickel (65 pct) compositions the existence of a martensitic structural transformation has been reported.4 NiAl is isomorphous with the ordered B-brass structure and with the high-temperature structures of AuCd and TiNi alloys close to equiatomic composition. All of these exhibit anomalous elastic behavior as the temperature of their diffusionless transformation to lower-symmetry structures is approached.&apos;-&apos; This behavior has been explained as indicative of low stability of the CsCl structure in these compounds.8 The present paper reports the experimental determination of the elastic compliances of single-crystal NiA1. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 1) Specimens. Polycrystalline NiAl was prepared by induction melting of carbonyl nickel and high-purity aluminum and casting into solid copper molds in gettered helium atmosphere. The castings thus produced were canned in mild steel and impact-extruded at 1100 to 1200°C to 38-in.diam rod. After the steel sheath was pickled off, the rods were converted to single crystals by repeated high-frequency satisfactorily produced the desired orientations in the form of crystals 38 in. diam by 8-12 in. long. These were subsequently center less-ground to 7 to 8 mm diam by 12 cm long, electropolished (in 80 pct methanol, 20 pct HzSO, at 25°C and 15 v), and their axial orientation determined to 1 deg by the Laue back-reflection technique. The rod dimensions were determined to 0.01 mm and the densities determined from geometrical dimensions and the weight of every specimen. The average density was 5.905 0.005 g per cu cm. 2) Elastic Data Measurements. Room-temperature elastic compliances Sii were obtained by determining to 0.1 cps the fundameGtal resonance frequencies in the longitudinal and torsional vibration modes. At these frequencies the following relations hold: E =p(2lfif =pvl= Sn- 2r[Sll- S12- -£„«] g -P(2iftf = pvf = (s<« - fr(sii - sw - ±s»y where vl and vt are the velocities, and f andft the resonance frequencies of the longitudinal and torsional waves, respectively; 1 is the length of the specimen, and r is the direction cosine factor—{cos2 a • cos2 0 + cos2 a . cos2 y + cos2 0 ¦ cos2 Y}. Given three crystals of orientations (loo), (110), and (111)) i.e., F = 0, 14, and 13, we can obtain six equations for the three unknown compliances, thus providing adequate internal check. Mode mixing can readily occur in the relatively long wavelength resonance utilized here. This could cause a significant error in the torsion wave velocities calculated from the apparent resonance frequenies. Therefore, throughout the present work, a method, described previosl,&apos; was used to ensure that no significant mode mixing took place at resonance. The apparatus used was originally designed for the Elastomat, Magnaflux Corp.. Chicago, 111. determination of flexural vibration resonance frequencies. At room temperature torsional vibration mode could be established by suitable positioning of the thin wires from the input and pick-up transducers, and longitudinal mode by cementing thin magnetic foils at the ends of the specimen, and inducing the vibration by means of electromagnetic transducers. Only flex-ural resonance frequencies could, however, be obtained reproducibly over the temperature range of -150 to 800°C. These data are considerably less accurate, the error in the modulus being estimated at -0.6 pct from the specimen dimensions and the room-temperature Poisson&apos;s ratio. The reproducibility of the resonance frequencies in repeat runs was, however, to better than l in 15,000, hence the relative elastic modulus error less than 0.02 pct. Therefore, the temperature variation of the principal Young&apos;s moduli obtained by flexural resonance, relative to room-temperature values, is believed to be satisfactorily accurate.

Jan 1, 1967

By R. R. Bassermann

THE property of Howey Gold Mines, Limited is situated at Red Lake, Ontario, one hundred and seventy-five miles east of Winnipeg and eighty miles north of the Canadian National Railway line. The mine has been a continuous producer since April, 1930, and at present is hoisting 1,350 tons of ore per day. The shaft consists of three compartments (see Figure 1, sketch B). Hoisting is done by two skips in balance, one of which is interchangeable with a cage. Sinking had been carried out at three different periods. From the surface to the 550-foot level, the sets had been spaced at seven-foot intervals, from the 550-to the 1,060-foot level at six feet, and from the 1,060-to the 1,500-foot level at five feet. During the five years of operation, the shaft had become so badly worn, due to spill from the tipples and, to a certain extent, from the loading pockets, that re-timbering was considered necessary. It should be explained that no crushing is done underground because of the ad verse effect this would have on the efficiency of the sorting. The grizzly rail clearance above the ore pockets is fourteen inches and consequently the ore hoisted is extremely coarse. More than average spill from the loading pockets and tipples under such conditions is inevitable, and it is debatable whether underground crushing with consequent increased sorting costs would not be justified. The cost of complete re-timbering according to standard practice would have been prohibitive both directly and indirectly: A lengthy shut-down of the shaft, with the consequent disorganization of the staff and workmen, could not be considered. Accordingly, it became necessary to devise some method of repair that could be carried to completion in a very limited period of time. The shaft timber for the first 250 feet was not in need of repair. From the 250-foot to the 1,060-foot level the wall plates, posts, and blocking were in good condition. These had been protected by a one-inch plank lining put in at various periods during the past three years without interfering with hoisting operations. The end plates and dividers, however, could not be protected in this manner because of the lack of skip clearance. It was decided that, if the dividers in this section could be replaced, the shaft would be as satisfactory as if completely re-timbered. Several factors had to be taken into consideration in deciding on a suit-able method of repair. In the first place, the tipple plates had to be re-designed. To complete the job in a reasonable time, not only had work to be done on the tipple, but simultaneously from several points in the shaft itself. Since all power cables, pipe lines, etc., were in the manway compartment of the shaft, this compartment had to be left undisturbed.

Jan 1, 1935

By Benoit Gagnon

Mining of the Schefferville iron deposits began in 1954 on completion of the 574 km railway linking the mines and the St-Lawrence river port of Sept-Iles. Apart from crushing, no treatment of these ores was required before smelting. In the late 1950&apos;s, testwork began at Schefferville to develop a process for upgrading the extensive lower grade deposits containing 5l% iron with 15% silica (natural analysis). Engineering for 6.1 million tons per year Beneficiation Plant using cationic silica flotation and the A-C Grate kiln began in 1970 and the first pellets were produced in mid 1973. Production requirements and operating difficulties have restricted capacity to approximately 85% of design but ongoing improvements are being made continuously to attain design capacity.

Jan 1, 1980