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By H. Salamanca

Recently, the mining industry has become one of the leading target markets for the technology industry as they need to innovate in their productive processes in order to boost productivity, reduce operation costs, increase operation safety, and improve the quality of life of their workers. This work presents the technological developments that HighService has done in different stages of the mining productive processes to include robotic manipulators in their automation solutions as well as the development of new equipment and sensors. The robotic technology integration is presented in different applications such as handling and selection of cathodes in E-W machines, automation of base plate maintenance, automation of cathode stripping machine, and multi-tools handler for liner bolt replacement in SAG mill liner maintenance activities. The proposed solutions show technical and economical viability with low initial investment and short implementation period of six (6) to ten (10) months. The results have been validated in plant, obtaining higher production rates and availability.

Jan 1, 2007

By P. Tracy

An advanced real-time monitoring system, called a "Tapblock Diagnostic System" is under development to help furnace operators manage the operation and maintenance of their tapblocks. The life of a water-cooled tap block in a smelting furnace ranges from several months to several years, depending on the operating conditions. Tapblocks are typically replaced at regular maintenance intervals; a strategy based largely on historical records and not on the actual condition of a particular tapblock. The Tapblock Diagnostic System monitors the tapblock throughout its life and accumulates probable wear events to help the operator assess the residual integrity of the tapblock. Benefits of this system include the ability to provide early warnings of tap block wear to provide improved safety and maintenance planning. Using cooling-water flow together with copper and water temperature measurements, the system performs calculations that compare the present tapblock performance with the expected operating envelope using a multivariate statistical method (Principle Component Analysis). The operating envelope is pre-calculated for a wide range of operating conditions using transient thermal modeling (Computational Fluid Dynamics). A state indicator in the form of a green, yellow and red light is used to inform operators of the tapblock performance and health status.

Jan 1, 2007

By D. G. Eskin

"It is well known that it takes some time for the solid phase to completely dissolve upon melting, especially inside the defects of insoluble particles, e.g. oxides. Until then the oxides remain active solidification substrates in the case of subsequent solidification. It is also known that ultrasonic melt treatment causes grain refinement through activation and dispersion of solidification substrates (one of the mechanisms) and also accelerates the dissolution of solid metal in the melt. In this study we combine these effects and demonstrate that the introduction of an alloy rod into the matrix melt of the same composition results in significant grain refinement, this effect being increased by the ultrasonic vibration of the rod. The achieved grain size is comparable to that obtained by a standard Al–Ti–B grain refiner. All samples were cast using a standard TP-1 mould to enable correct comparison. The effect of the temperature range of the rod introduction, as well as the effect of ultrasonic vibrations are discussed.INTRODUCTION The fact that by introducing solid metal into the melt one can achieve structure refinement is rather well known. As early as in the 1930s–1950s a series of papers and patents have been published, showing the benefits for grain refinement when dissolving solid metal in the melt before solidification (Danilov and Neimark, 1938; Scheil, 1956). Later on this way of structure refinement was developed further and dubbed “suspension casting” or introduction of “internal chills” (Madyanov, 1969; Zatulovsky, 1981). The solid metal was added in a form of cut wire, cut sheet, or powder, with the resulting grain refining, elimination of columnar grain structure in ingots and castings of steel, copper and aluminium alloys. The underlying mechanisms have been suggested as (1) rapid cooling of the melt due to the latent heat consumption upon melting of the solid metal with the resultant melt undercooling and (2) introduction of many solidification substrates in the form of crystal fragments and active non-metallic inclusions (Danilov & Neimark, 1938; Balandin, 1973). A number of patents have been filed where either the same solid alloy or a master alloy with additions (e.g. Ti for Al alloy) is introduced in the amounts up to 50% (typically less than 10%) into the melt close to the liquidus temperature (Schmidt, 1966; Talbot & Soller, 1973, Krupp, 1974; Bondarev, 1979). The main reason that this technique is not widely used in industry is the possible incomplete dissolution of the solid parts introduced into the melt with ensuing inhomogeneous as-cast structure and potential defects. Also the selection of the temperature range where the technology works the best is not clear."

Jan 1, 2018

"In numerous meetings, conferences and discussions over the past year, the Conference Board of Canada has been impressed with the efforts of Canadian organizations to improve their competitive position. The attempt should be made to try to pull together and synthesize what has been heard. The topic of this paper, however, is even more daunting. The task is not only to analyze and discuss what is happening now, but also to look into the future—to the year 2000.The future seems to have an endless capacity for surprises, often unpleasant. This is one of the lessons learned in the twentieth century, particularly over the last 15 or so years.This paper covers three areas of managing in a changing com¬petitive environment: (1) the major global and domestic trends that will influence the ways in which Canadian organizations are managed (2) how Canadian companies are responding or will need to respond to these trends; and (3) the implications of the preced¬ing for human resource management and human resource professionals."

Jan 1, 1991

By Shuji Owada

Scrap electrical and electronic appliances, so called "E-waste", are not a present target to be collected and recycled under Japanese regulations. This material, however, contains considerable amounts of base, precious, and rare metals and it is necessary to recover these elements for maintaining stable supply and establishing "the society of environmentally-sound material-cycle". This paper describes recent trends of rare metals recycling in Japan and technological approaches to achieve the above objective. Also a research work to concentrate rare metals from the printed wiring boards by combining brand new comminution and physical separation methods is discussed.

Jan 1, 2011

By Northeastern University, B. Y. Cui, B. Y. Wang, D. Z. Wei, W. G. Liu, Z. C. Guan, S. L. Gao

To recover iron values from low grade ores by reverse froth flotation method, further research on cationic collectors used in reverse flotation of iron ores is launched to promote the utilization efficiency of iron ores. In this paper, one new cationic surfactant, bis(2-hydroxylethyl) dodecylamine (BHD), that could be dissolved in water easily was used as collector for quartz flotation. Flotation results indicated that BHD shows stronger collecting performance on quartz than hematite. The maximum recovery of 96.30% to quartz is obtained at a collector concentration of 20.0 mg/L in the pulp pH range from 5 to 7. This collector can be used to float quartz from hematite. And optimal separation results with 86.59% iron recovery and 66.60% iron grade to synthetic sample were achieved at a collector concentration of 20.0 mg/L and pulp pH of 5.02 when hematite and quartz were mixed at a mass ratio of 3:2. The adsorption mechanism of the collector on quartz surface was investigated by XPS analysis, infrared spectroscopic analysis and zeta-potential measurements, which revealed that electrostatic attraction and hydrogen bonding adsorption occur between collector and quartz surface.

Jan 1, 2016

By M. Maleki-Moghaddam

At the concentration plant of the Gol-E-Gohar Iron Ore Company (Iran) three 9 m × 2.05 m AG mills (fixed speed) are used in parallel in a dry operation. The performance of AG mills has been lower than the target value indicated by an increase in the product size (P80) from 450 µm (target) to 515 µm and low power draw (50% of nominal). By simulation it was found that increasing the liner lifter face angle from 7 to 30o while keeping the original lifter height (i.e., 22.5 cm) could provide an appropriate charge trajectory. When the proposed liners installed in one of the AG mills, the throughput increased by 27%; when 5% (v/v) balls were added the throughput increased by 40%. The product size also decreased from 515 to 501 µm.

Jan 1, 2012

By James Ransford Dankwah

High sulphur carbonaceous materials like petroleum coke and rubber tyre are unsuitable as reductants in ironmaking because part of the sulphur is transferred to the reduced metal. Globally, while large amounts of petroleum coke are produced annually from the industrial processing of crude oil, billions of end-of-life rubber tyres are held in landfills and stockpiles. This work therefore investigates the potential feasibility of utilising these high sulphur carbonaceous materials as reductants in ironmaking without transferring the sulphur into the reduced metal. Composite pellets of iron oxide containing end-of-life rubber tyre (RT), petroleum coke and blends of RT/petroleum coke and petroleum coke/high density polyethylene (HDPE) were heated under argon atmosphere in a horizontal tube furnace. Reduced pellets were analysed after 10 minutes of reduction for their sulphur content. The results showed that sulphur-free metallic iron can be successfully synthesized using RT and petroleum coke as reductants. The level of desulphurisation depends on the nature of blending of the carbonaceous materials.

Jan 1, 2014

By G. W. H. Norman

INTEREST in the mineral possibilities (gold, copper) of northern Quebec, north of the Quebec-Cochrane branch of the Canadian National railway, has centred for many years in the Chibougamau district (see Figure 1). Since 1934, however, promising gold discoveries in the Rose Lake-Florence River section, 115 miles southwest of Chibougamau lake, have widened the interest, and prospectors have examined other parts of the country between Chibougamau lake and Bell river and the surrounding districts. The object of this paper is to !resent an outline of the geology, and to describe the mineral deposits, o part of this region, or, more specifically, of the part embraced by the Opawica-Chibougamau and Waswanipi map-areas(l), which include the districts about Chibougamau lake and Rose lake-Florence river, where mineral deposits are now in course of development either by surface or underground work. Early discoveries, developments, and explorations in the Chibougamau district are well summarized in the report of the Chibougamau Commission, published in 1911(2). The Commission discredited previous optimistic accounts of mineral discoveries in the area, made initially in 1903, but at the same time they expressed the opinion that, from a geological standpoint, the district promised a reward to diligent and intelligent prospecting. Their general conclusion-that prospecting in the area was not then (1911) commercially advisable in view of its inaccessibility and other handicaps shifted interest from the district until, some years later, valuable discoveries were made in the Rouyn area, and aircraft widened the field of successful exploration. During the past ten years or so, considerable energy has been spent in promoting the development of the district. The net result has been the discovery of a number of prospects, the majority of which have been explored only by trenching and, in most cases, diamond drilling.

Jan 1, 1936

By V. L. Eardley-Wilmot

Diatomite as prepared for the market is a fluffy, white powder, remarkably light in weight-it weighs only 10 to 15 pounds per cubic foot, or one-tenth as much as sand. Being extremely porous and inert, it is in large and increasing demand for insulation and filtration purposes, as general filler, and for many other uses. Structure Structurally, diatomite is quite different from any other known commercial material. It is composed of myriads of microscopically small, siliceous shells of diatoms which belong to a group of flowerless aquatic plants called algae. When these plants die, the siliceous remains sink to the bottom of the water and form beds of diatomite. Over 8,000 species of diatoms are known, named, and tabulated. The intricate scroll-work and patterns on many of these are one of the marvels of nature, and yet so small are they that from 40 to 70 million separate diatoms may be contained in one cubic inch of material. However, the size and shape of these diatoms, which vary greatly (compare Figures 5 and 6), have an important bearing on the commercial use of the diatomite. The diatoms in the majority of the known deposits are so typical of that deposit that, after a micro-examination, an expert can usually tell not only from what part of the world, but also from what particular deposit, the sample has come.

Jan 1, 1931

By Corby G. Anderson, Caelen D. Anderson, Patrick R. Taylor

"The United States contains a variety of domestic rare earth element mineral sources containing such as ancylite, bastnasite, monazite, and xenotime. Research has been performed to investigate the fundamental surface chemistry involved in the froth flotation of these minerals, and apply the knowledge gained to substantiate the results through experimental testwork on a domestically sourced rare earth ore. This paper will outline the fundamentals and literature of rare earth mineral flotation, review its industrial applications and provide some recent research updates.THE RARE EARTH ELEMENTSRare earth elements (REE’s) are a unique family of elements with nearly identical physical and chemical properties. They account for approximately 1/6th of all naturally occurring elements, but the entire group occupies only one position on the periodic table. These 15 elements make up the lanthanide series (atomic numbers 57–71), and all but one (promethium) occur naturally. In addition to these 15 elements, yttrium and scandium are also considered rare earths since they tend to occur in the same deposits as the rare earths and share similar physical and chemical properties as seen in Figure 1. In particular Figure 2 denotes, a cartoon of the subtle differences in each caused by the 4f atomic sub shell (Gschneidner Jr., 1964). These subtle differences result in very difficult challenges in the selective concentration and final separation of each rare earth. (Anderson, 2015, Kronholm, Anderson, Taylor, 2013)Rare earths are separated into two different subsections; the “lights” or LREE’s (lanthanum57 through europium63) and the “heavies” or HREE’s (gadolinium64 through lutetium71). Yttrium is generally considered a heavy rare earth since its ionic radius is close to that of the HREE’s, while scandium is not considered either a light or a heavy."

Jan 1, 2016

By V. Labiouse, M. Souley, N. Lafrance, C. Auvray

"Chalk rocks have been used for centuries as a strong building material and for the production of lime. The shallow underground room-and-pillar quarries where the chalk was extracted are now abandoned and endure the effects of time and weathering, increasing their risk of collapse. The risk of instability, involving natural or anthropic underground structures, is an issue for more than 10 000 towns in France.In order to investigate the causes of underground quarry collapse and to aid prevention strategies, we carried out a study of the physico-mechanical behaviour and ageing of chalk in abandoned pillars in two underground quarries, in situ-instrumented by INERIS, in the Parisian Basin, France. Core samples were drilled horizontally from pillars in the Saint-Martin-Le-Noeud dolomitic chalk quarry (Oise, France) and the Estreux glauconitic chalk quarry (Nord, France).Uniaxial tests were performed on dry and saturated cylindrical plug samples extracted perpendicular to the cores at regular distances along their lengths. Physical and mechanical properties were obtained. The dolomitic chalk (Saint-Martin-Le-Noeud) exhibits variation in mechanical and physical properties with horizontal pillar depth. Both density and compressive strength seem to increase outwards from the pillar-core to the pillar-wall. This is the opposite of that would be expected from a purely mechanical point of view. SEM analysis revealed progressive degradation and homogeneity of the grains from the edge to the inside of the pillar. At the pillar wall, the crystal faces are well-defined, almost euhedral, and the grains are of variable size. In contrast, at the inside of the pillar, crystals are finer-grained and are anhedral with highly degraded edges. In the physico-mechanical tests and SEM analyses performed on the Estreux samples, no significant variation was observed between the pillar-walls and pillar-core. However, dissolution marks were observed along the entire length of the half-pillar core."

Jan 1, 2015

By W. A. Bain

"AbstractProduction from the Excelsior Reservoir has amounted to approximately one million barrels. This production has caused a 'Pressure •drop of 10 p.s.i. from the original pressure of 1,245 p.s.i.g. Volumetric balance calculations indicate that the pool as being produced by a water drive whose strength is •probably unsurpassed in Western Canada. It has also been shown by 'unsteady state' calculations that the reservoir will still be above the saturation pressure of 915 p.s.i.g. at the time of depletion. The average permeability of the producing formation is approximately 1,000 millidarcys and, consequently, well draw-downs are very low. The field is essentially a bottom-water drive and calculations have shown that gravity drainage will greatly assist the recovery of oil. Water flooding data on several cores •have placed the flushing efficiency at •approximately 50 per cent, which indicates a recoverable oil-in-place of 17.7 million stock tank barrels. Calculations and field data indicate that the MER for the early life of this field is probably as high as 8,000 to 10,000 stock tank barrels per day.IntroductionTHE EXCELSIOR NISKU oil reservoir is located about twenty miles northeast of Edmonton. The field was discovered in November, 1949, by Imperial Excelsior N.o.1 well, in Lsd. 13, Sec. 3, Twp. 56, R. 22, W. 4, at a depth of 3,850 feet.Since discovery, development has continued on a 40~acre spacing pattern. At the end of 1951, drilling over approximately 80 per cent of the estimated productive area of 1,680 acres had established 32 we1ls capable •of production. The field •has been fairly well delineated by dry holes on all but the eastern flank ."

Jan 1, 1952

By Arthur Notman

In view of the alarm expressed in many quarters over the increased production of copper to come from Canada and Africa in the future, it is of interest to study the history of the principal producing districts of the world and to attempt to forecast the future part to be played by them. Tables 1 and 2 record the world production and that of the United States, together with their respective rates of increase, both in percentage and actual amounts. The important point in this record is the decline in rates of increase for both the world and the United States, but more particularly in that of the latter, since 1881. The increase for the United States in the last decade is less than that for any decade since 1881, and is only 20 per cent of that for the decade 1911-20. The increase for the world is less than that for the two preceding decades, and is only about 65 per cent of the war decade 1911-20. Referring to Table 1, the decade 1871to1880 showed an increase of 32.l per cent in the world's production, which was the low until the last decade, ending 1930, which shows an increase of only 24.5 per cent. These decades both represent periods of economic stress following wars. In the first case the recovery was very sharp, the percentage increase in 1881-90 reaching a high of 86.4 per cent. It would seem dangerous, however, to assume that a similar high will be reached in the next ten years, because of the severity of the depression brought about by the Great War and the probability of its influence extending well into the next decade.

Jan 1, 1931

By M. Kamyab

Transportation of fluid and slurry (fluid and solid particle mixtures) in a pipe and annulus space has been the focus of numerous studies. There are different parameters to be considered when studying slurry transportation. These include slurry velocity or flow rates; fluid properties such as density and rheology; and solid particle properties including concentration, density, shape and size. Also the angle of the flow conduit, rotation of the pipe and possible eccentricity of the annulus are other factors which influence slurry transport characteristics. Although a number of analytical, numerical and empirical equations as well as numerical simulations have been developed for studying the flow and slurry transport characteristics, the results need to be validated against either field or lab data. As performing field tests is costly and time consuming, conducting simulations at the laboratory scale appears as a good alternative. Different flow loops have been designed to study slurry transport behaviour in different science and engineering disciplines including oil and gas and mining. However, few of these consider, in particular, cuttings transportation in small size annulus space. The flow characteristics appear to be very different when slurry travels within a small size annulus, in particular when the fluid velocity is high. In this study, a review of some of the existing slurry flow loops will be conducted. Then the details of a slurry loop, which has been designed and commissioned for the purpose of studying cuttings transport in a small size annulus space for applications in drilling mineral exploration wells using coil tube technology, will be presented.

Aug 1, 2013

By S. S. Yuan, Q. Z. Zhu, J. F. Shao

"This paper aims at enriching a homogenization-based anisotropic damage model for hard rocks under complex loading. A new damage criterion is proposed to capture material strain softening. Within the framework of irreversible thermodynamics, we are particularly concerned with two strongly coupled dissipative mechanisms: frictional sliding and damage by microcracking, which usually take place at cracks within cohesive geomaterials under compression. Focusing on the representative elementary volume containing multiple crack families, the free enthalpy of the matrix-cracks system is obtained. Importantly, a back-stress term is involved in the local stress applied to microcracks. This back stress plays the hardening/softening role in the friction criterion which is formulated at local scale. Strain hardening owns to the accumulation of frictional shearing and dilatancy while strain softening is caused by crack growth. The multiscale damage model is used to simulate laboratory tests on the Westerly granite under true triaxial compressions. INTRODUCTIONWhen subjected to compressive loads, hard rocks present nonlinear mechanical behaviors and induced material anisotropies. In that process, two main dissipative mechanisms have been largely identified: damage by crack growth and frictional sliding along closed crack faces, which are usually strongly coupled to each other on crack scale. Theoretical investigations have shown that the damagefriction coupling analyses allow explaining a large number of experimental phenomena involved in brittle or quasi-brittle materials. Concerning constitutive modeling, the standard Eshelby’s solution-based homogenization procedure for heterogeneous materials was recently applied successfully to describing the mechanical and poromechanical behaviors of cracked frictional solids."

Jan 1, 2015

By G. Mousavian, R. Bagheri, N. Dalili

Polypropylene (PP) and its composites have an increasing use in automobile and domestic industries. Since the published results on strain rate effect on yield behavior do not match, and there is a high attention paid for effect of nanometeric fillers on deformation behavior of composites, in this research the strain rate effect on yield behavior of PP and the effect of nanometeric fillers on deformation behavior of PP have been studied. Microscopic observations and tensile tests in different strain rates on neat PP samples and on samples filled with 5, 10 and 15 %wt have been used. A dramatic change in behavior for the modulus and post-yield slope curves when the strain rate is between 0.0433-0.05 s-1 has been observed. Microscopic observations on PP indicate a change in deformation mechanism from shear yield to crazing at the same strain rate that the change in behavior of curves occurs. It has been observed that in PP nanocomposites with higher amount of calcium carbonate, fracture in early stages of deformation occurs in lower strain rates. In other words for a fixed stain rate there is a critical filler percentage such that if the filler percentage is higher then early-stage fracture will occur. Similarly for a fixed filler percentage there is a critical strain rate and in higher strain rates early fracture will occur. The critical stain rate will decrease as the filler percentage increases and vice versa.

Jan 1, 2006

By J. W. Cox, W S. Jones, A E. Chase

For a long time the Oil Industry has been looking for a logging tool which can determine the quality of the cement job behind casing. Older methods such as Temperature Surveys and Radioactivity Surveys might detect the presence of cement behind the casing, but short of production tests, it was impossible to tell that the producing zones were adequately sealed off from adjacent zones. A new logging method, which is called the •Cement Bond Log, operates on the principle that a sonic pulse transmitted by the casing is greatly attenuated when the casing is strongly bonded to an outer annulus such as cement. The down-hole tool consists of a source of sonic energy which is detected by a receiver situated a few feet away from the source. The amplitude of the detected energy is measured and the resulting signal transmitted to the surface where it is recorded versus depth. Amplitude is a function of attenuation and thus the log is readily interpreted.

Jan 1, 1961

By E. L. Martheleur

Introduction In October, 1945, the Coal Division of the Institute appointed a Committee on The Use of Electricity in Coal Mines, with the following terms of reference: ?To study under which conditions in each deposit the use of electricity can be brought closer to the coal face and which types of electrical machinery can be recommended?. It was not until the beginning of this year (1946) that the Committee had a chance to convene and .discuss the conclusions which are embodied in this report. Mr. McLeod, as Chief Electrician of the Dominion Coal Company, is intimately concerned with that Company's installations, and Mr. McIsaac, as Electrical Inspector of Coal Mines for Nova Scotia, is well acquainted with installations in all coal mines in the Province. The knowledge of both has been very valuable in helping to draft this report.

Jan 1, 1946

By N. E. Nelson

"The Hidden Creek mine is about l~ miles north of the north end of Granby bay; a nearly landlocked body of water on the west side of Observatory inlet; 90 miles north of Prince Rupert; British Columbia.The main haulage way of the mine at 385 feet above sea-level has been driven north into the somewhat precipitous end of a north-south ridge that rises from the tide flats between the east and west forks of Hidden creek. The outcrops of the principal orebodies, two prominent bluffs of stained rocks and sulphides, were higher on the face of the ridge and extended from about 530 to 850 feet elevation. North from the bluff tops, the ridge comb rose gradually to about 1,200 feet elevation. The name of the discoverer and the date of discovery of the Hidden Creek orebodies are probably unknown, but the discoverer is believed to have been an Indian from one of the reservations along Observatory inlet. The deposit was brought to the attention of John Flewin, Government Agent at Post Simpson, near the beginning of the present century. Mr. M. K. Rodgers, developer of the Nickel Plate mine at Hedley, did the first organized work on the deposits. Next the Hidden Creek Copper Company prospected the property. Rodgers acquired the prospect a second time, did more work, and finally in 1910 optioned the property to the Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company, Limited, at that time operating at Phoenix and Grand Forks in the Boundary district of British Columbia. The optionees stepped up the development work and brought the property to production in 1914. The ores were direct smelted until 1924. In that year a mill was built. From 1930 until the end of the productive life of the properties in 1935, all of the ore was milled and the concentrate smelted. From March 17, 1914, until July 31, 1935, the production from the Hidden Creek mine was, in round numbers, 18,000,000 tons of 1.70 per cent copper ore and 6,000,000 tons of low grade dilution rock. The Hidden Creek mine ""died with its boots on"". During 1934 the average monthly production was 146,377 tons of 1.06 per cent copper ore. For 7 months of 1935 the average was 161,750 tons of 1.03 per cent ore, and for the final month, July 1935, the production was 156,950 tons."

Jan 1, 1954