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By J. D. Aitken

"DEFINITION OF THE REGIONTHE REGION considered in this paper is bounded on the south by the 60th parallel, on the north by the Beau-fort Sea and Amundsen Gulf, on the east by Archean rocks or by highly deformed Proterozoic rocks of the Canadian Shield (certain weakly deformed Proterozoic strata being regarded as belonging to the Great Plains), and on the west mainly by the Mackenzie and Richardson Mountains.Only the unmetamorphosed strata of the region are considered; that is, the geology of the crystalline basement is ignored.SIGNIFICANCE OF THE REGIONThe region is significant from three points of view -namely, the economic, the scientific and the social. It constitutes 46 per cent of the area of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin."

Jan 1, 1970

The demand for minerals will grow strongly to satisfy the needs of an increasing world population for materials and energy. The technical problems involved in producing these minerals will be daunting and the engineers who will have the responsibility for designing and controlling the mineral production processes must have a high level of skills. This will place a heavy responsibility on the education system. A small number of large, well equipped university departments dedicated to mineral processing and having a close working relationship with the mineral industry, and an international orientation, will be much better placed to meet the needs than a large number of small ill-equipped departments which find it difficult to remain viable in modem universities. Courses in mineral processing must be designed to meet the scientific and technological needs of industry and full use must be made of innovative educational techniques such as video conferencing in delivering the courses. The concept of a major international network of major mineral processing departments which is designed to make best use of scarce academic resources is important and should be considered by the International Committee of the IMPC.

Jan 1, 1993

By S. K. Nicol, A. R. Swanson, J. C. Day

Addition of oil to a suspension of hydrophobic coal particles can influence its dewatering characteristics. An agglomeration process occurs in which coal particles are held together by negative capillary pressure at particle/oil/water contacts. Consequently, the units round which flow can occur are enlarged and this improves dewatering parameters such as drainage rate, solids recovery, and equilibrium moisture content. This paper discusses processes which attempt to use this principle, in terms of metallurgical and economic efficiency. The discussion is augmented by results of recent experiments on the effect of oil addition to centrifuges and vacuum filters.

Jan 1, 1980

By Peter F. Weiss

INTRODUCTION Austro-American Magnesite Co. of Radenthein, Carinthia, Austria, is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Refractories Company, Bala Cynwyd, USA, and has been incorporated since 1908. The raw material basis is the magnesite mine on Millstatt Alp, located in the mountains near Radenthein at an altitude of 1500 m above sea level. The mined crude magnesite is crushed in a surface crushing plant to minus 35 mm and consequently hauled to the processing plant in the valley by means of a cable conveyor of 7.5 km length. The annual production of 350,000 mt is accomplished with 20 supervisors and 122 workers (of those 60 are in the mine). The labor requirement for block caving is 0.2 man hr/mt, corresponding to an output of 40 mt/man/ shift. GEOLOGY The rock in this area mainly consists of crystalline type schist. There are mostly coarse crystalline garnet mica schists with varying mineral concentrations, and to a lesser degree, some deposits of amphibolite and marble. This petrographically rather homogeneous rock is divided into numerous different tectonic units (covers and scales). The magnesite deposit itself is a foreign body that also has been tectonically inserted. The ore body has a length of 600 m, is 450 m deep, and has a thickness of 60 m on average, varying substantially however, The contact with the accessory rock is very precise. The deposit 1 = ore body, 2 = previous open pit, 3 = caved in area, 4 = block under excavation, 5 = land slide consists of coarse crystalline magnesite in excess of 90 per cent. The few impurities consist of dolomite and talc. The lower part of the deposit is inclined parallel with the schists at approx. 40 degrees. In profile it can be seen, however, that the upper part of the deposit has been tilted over. This is a result of a post-glacial land slide reaching from the bottom of the valley at 1400 m above sea level to the peak of the mountain at 2100 m above sea level. Due to this land slide, with horizontal movements of up to 100 meters, as well as older tectonic events, the rock was crushed to a vast extent. Through mining, the land slide was reactivated; about 40 million cubic meters of rock slowly flow downhill almost like a plasticized mass. Near the surface, the rock is completely crushed and resembles a glacier rupture zone. This renders the originally impermeable rock completely water permeable so that practically all of the annual quantity of 1000 to 1100 mm of precipitation permeates the rock and flows down into the mine. The carbonate rock turns into the preferred aquifer. From 1700 to 2600 cubic meters of water have to be pumped from the mine daily. On one hand, additional problems are caused by the water in the mine, on the other hand we have learned to make use of the down- hill pressure forces to improve the crushing process during block caving. The boundary of the downhill shearing zone moves downward as mining goes deeper.

Jan 1, 1981

K. W. Turner, Sail Francisco, Cal. (communication to the Secretary*): The recent papers in the Transactions by Vogt,' Lindgren2 and Weed: on ore-deposits that have formed as a direct result of igneous intrusions, show that deposits of this class are widely distributed over the world, and are occasionally of commercial value. This is especially true if we consider under this head all deposits in the zone of contactrnletamorphism, the origin of which may be ascribed to the gases and vapors generated by the heat of the intrusive rock. Mr. Smith's description of the Chillagoe garnet-formations containing copper, leads one to regard these depoaits as of contactrmetamorphic origin, although he gives certain reaeons for supposing them to be of igneous origin.

Jan 1, 1904

By Seth Hamblin, Bill Oder, Les Chernauskas

Thermal Integrity Profiling is a non-destructive test method used on cast-in-place concrete deep foundation elements such as drilled shafts.  The method has progress steadily over the last 15 years with improvements to the equipment, data acquisition and analysis of the data. Current analysis of TIP data incorporates temperature vs depth and temperature vs. time. The current acceptance criteria for TIP includes using reductions in effective shaft radius and concrete cover (Piscsalko, et al. 2016).   However, these criteria are heavily based on knowledge of concrete volume and can be significantly affected by the lack of good concrete volume data.  An additional criterion using temperature is proposed for potential use in the industry, which can supplement the existing effective radius/cover criteria and will be less dependent on volume knowledge. However, the relationship between temperature reductions and defect size and position are not well known for various reasons.  The major reasons for this include; not a lot of studies/data available, variations in mix designs, variations in shaft sizes, and variation in defect types. Research was recently performed by the Authors on three drilled shafts with manufactured defects under grants from DFI and ADSC.  The study included running theoretical simulations to predict the sensitivity of temperature reductions to the defect size and location. Data was collected and the temperature with depth was compiled for various defects. The results show a promising relationship between temperature reduction and defect cross sectional area.  When considering local temperatures and average temperature changes, the criteria can consider location and size.   When including data from other recent research studies for similar size shafts and defects, we found the relationship to be consistent with our data.  The findings of this research provided a better understanding of the relationship between temperature reductions and defect size and location and provide the basis of the proposed temperature criteria.  

Oct 7, 2024

By K. E. Hjelmstad

Solution mining operations often encounter difficulty maintaining adequate leach solution flow into the ore formation because of loss of formation permeability near the injection well. Permeability loss caused by swelling and breakup of clays and fine particle migration can often be the cause of the problem.

Jan 1, 1989

By M. Gunter, M. Buzon, B. McNamee

"A Google search on talc asbestos will yield over 500,000 hits – the reason being the growing number of civil lawsuits in this area. Historically the litigation was centered on amphibole-containing industrial talc. There was no debate these talcs contained amphiboles, but the issue was the definition of asbestos. Ultramafic hosted talcs, however, are formed in such a way as to not favor the formation of amphiboles in the talc; they can occur in the surrounding black-wall, also the serpentinite host rock is in direct contact with the talc. Thus allegations can be made non-asbestiform amphiboles or non-regulated serpentine group minerals can occur in the final products. INTRODUCTION Gunter (1994) wrote the following in regard to the question “What is asbestos? “The question yields different answers depending upon the audience. To a mineralogist, asbestos is a mineral form. To an engineer, it is an industrial material with several useful properties. To a medical doctor, it is an agent that might cause certain diseases. The third answer invokes several more issues: to a lawyer, a possible lawsuit; to a news reporter, a story; to an asbestos abatement worker, a job; and to a public school administrator or a parent, a nightmare.” The main function of that article was to try and provide background information to be taught at the college level to help students understand some of the issues associated with the use of asbestos in our modern society, and especially its use as a fireproofing agent in schools and public buildings. At that point in time one of the main issues was asbestos abatement as the mining and use of asbestos was waning as its health risks became more clearly known in the occupational setting. Now over 20 years later the current issue we are dealing with herein is “asbestos” occurring naturally in talc. This is a well know concern for those in the talc industry and they have been working on methods to ascertain if their products contained “asbestos” since last century. As such our articles will focus more on issues emerging from recent litigation, and the confusion that occurs, especially in the “asbestos” nomenclature as the mineralogist, engineers, doctors, and lawyers previously mentioned try to communicate. And lastly we need to remain cognizant of the fact that people are still dying of mesothelioma in the US. As a last resort to recoup expenses as they are dying they often respond to the TV advertisements we’ve all no doubt seen."

Jan 1, 2016

In 2004, a total of 4,401 stone mining operations reported employment to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Stone mines comprised 30.4% of all mining operations.

Sep 1, 2007

By Martin McKinnon, Guy Reed, Russell Frith

"It is arguable that the development of reinforcing roof bolting systems has largely stagnated in recent times, primarily due to the prevailing industry view that few, if any, further improvements can be made to what currently exists. However, this paper contends that reinforcing roof bolting systems can be further refined by considering both the specific manner by which horizontally bedded roof strata loses its natural self-supporting ability and the specific means by which reinforcing roof bolts act to promote or retain this natural self-supporting ability. The Australian coal industry insists on minimising bolt-hole diameter to maximise load transfer and on targeting full-encapsulation by any means necessary. This has led to a significant, albeit unintended, consequence in terms of overall roof bolting effectiveness, namely increased resin pressures during bolt installation and the associated potential for opening bedding planes that may have, otherwise, remained closed during the bolt installation process. Given that the natural self-supporting ability of roof strata is strongly linked to whether bedding planes are open or closed, logically, minimising resin pressures should be a significant benefit. This paper focuses primarily on three key issues that relate directly to the function of the roof bolting system itself: (i) the importance of proper resin mixing in the context of maximising load transfer strength and stiffness, (ii) the importance of minimising resin pressures developed during bolt installation, and (iii) the importance of maximising the effectiveness of the available bolt pre-tension. All mine operators should be invested in improving the individual effectiveness of each installed roof bolt, even by relatively small incremental amounts, so this is an important topic for discussion within the mining community."

Jan 1, 2017

By Xianjun Lu

This paper presents gold occurrence investigations on the altered rock gold deposit from Jiaodong area of China, and comparisons of gold occurrence in the ore samples from different mining levels. According to the results, the chemical and mineral compositions of raw materials from different mining levels are quite similar. However, the relative content and grain size of gold minerals are quite different between the two mining levels of -130m~-340m and -550m~-650m. In the ore of upper mining levels of -130m~-340m, electrum is the dominant gold mineral and accounts for about 80% of the total gold minerals, while native gold is minor and accounts for about 20%. As for the ore of deep mining levels of -550m~-650m, the major gold mineral shifts to native gold which accounts for 67%, while the ratio of electrum drops to about 33%. Coarser gold grain size was observed in the upper mining level ore with a mean size of 33.05µm while the gold grain size was much finer in the ore of deep mining levels with a mean size of 22.85µm. Furthermore, the gold mineral associations also show different patterns between the upper mining level samples and the deep mining level samples. Of the three observed gold association types such as inclusion gold, fissure gold and interparticle gold, more inclusion gold was found in the ore of deep mining levels. The inclusion gold accounts for 62% in the ore of deep mining levels, while that in the ore of upper mining levels accounts for about 56%. Further study revealed that the dominant gold associated minerals are pyrite and sulphides and only a small amount of gold is associated with quartz and silicates. It was shown that the altered rock gold ore from Jiaodong area can be regarded as a free milling gold ore, but the processing parameters should be optimized for the ores in different mining levels according to the different gold occurrence. In addition, it was predicted that enhanced gold liberation is necessary for the ore in deep mining levels.

Sep 1, 2012

By Adriano Soares, Dennis Mercado, Danilo Zuasnábar

En el 2017, Nexa registró 7 accidentes en todo el mundo, de los cuales 4 sucedieron en el Complejo Pasco. Para contrarrestar la situación en dicho complejo, se implementó el Programa de Preveneción de Fatalidades como estrategia principal. Este programa tiene como premisas reforzar las barreras de protección, aumentar el involucramiento del liderazgo, enfocar los esfuerzos y herramientas de control para la prevención de fatalidades, aumentar la visibilidad para peligros, riesgos y controles específicos, así como reforzar la idea de que la seguridad no es ausencia de accidentes, sino presencia de controles. Como resultado, se logró reducir a 0 las fatalidades y el TIN (tasa interna Nexa) disminuyó de 34.4 a 2.43.

Sep 20, 2019

By L. Shasko

Deliberative mapping is a method of public engagement designed to bring citizens and specialists together to inform policy decisions in conflict-laden areas of science and technology (Stirling and Davies 2004a). Citizens and specialists participate in the process both separately and together. A deliberative mapping study was held in Regina, Saskatchewan in October and November of 2019. Participants in the study assessed options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in small, remote or off-grid communities, including assessing the role of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) in climate change mitigation. Deliberative mapping is designed to facilitate direct, two-way conversations between citizens and specialists through both formal and informal discussions. The relationship building component of this process may increase trust. Public consultation processes that lack two-way dialogue or are seen as obligatory rather than meaningful can worsen public opposition or lead to negative public perceptions. Public education alone is not enough to change public opinion. Providing people with more information on topics they already hold opinions on can work to reaffirm previously held biases, but building relationships can provide new pathways to overcome divisions and turn close-mindedness into open-mindedness.

Jan 1, 2020

The members of the Institute will recall the account given in the March Bulletin of the inauguration exercises of the Engineering Foundation which was inhibited by an initial gift of $200,000 by Mr. Ambrose Swasey, to be administered by the United Engineering Society as trustees. The Engineering Foundation Board is now constituted as follows: GANG DUNN, Chairman, EDWARD D. ADAMS, Vice-Chairman FREDERICK R. HUTTON, Secretary, JOSEPH STRUTHERS, Treasurer, American Society of Civil Engineers. J. WALDO SMITH, CHARLES WARREN HUNT.

Jan 12, 1915

By J-P Franzidis, M. C. Harris

Increasing costs, falling grades and a low gold price have caused severe problems for many of South Africa's gold mines. The need to maximise efficiency is extremely urgent. This paper describes the use of column flotation cell s to scavenge significant quantities of additional gold from flotation plant residues; in particular, very fine particles of free gold not recovered by conventional flotation. Experimental gold- specific collectors enhanced gold recovery significantly. The paper also reports the results of other plant trials, carried out on a variety of ores.

Jan 1, 1991

By K. A. Natarajan, I. Iwasaki

With a platinum electrode the Eh-pH response in aqueous systems follows an empirical relation [Eh = E- 0.059 pH](1) where E usually carries a value between 0.8 and 0.9 v. The same potential (E) is observed with a number of other noble metal electrodes in the absence of surface poisoning and of other well-defined redox couples. Many sulfide mineral electrodes also respond in a similar manner in solutions containing their respective ions over wide pH ranges, especially in the alkaline pH region. Such a parallelism between noble metal and sulfide mineral electrodes points to certain implications of their surface conditions, and the flotation and leaching behaviors of sulfide minerals under aerated conditions may be inferred with respect to the foregoing Eh-pH response. Comparison of Sulfide Mineral and Noble Metal Electrodes [Fig. 1] shows the Eh-pH response of pyrite, galena, chalcocite, and pyrrhotite electrodes, reported by Sato, and some experimental points obtained with a platinum electrode in distilled water. [Eq. 1] is seen to be followed by all these electrodes. It is interesting to note that the response of the pyrite electrode as shown is identical to

Jan 1, 1973

By T. R. Cass

THE renewed interest in titanium, resulting from its increasing application as a structural material, has stimulated basic deformation studies on this metal. In the course of our work, we have developed a dislocation etchant and applied it to a perfection study of melt-grown single crystals as well as to a preliminary investigation of plastic deformation in titanium. The etchant, Keller's etch (21 cu cm HF, 64 cu cm HC1, 106 cu cm HNO3, and 160 cu cm H20), reveals the emergence of both grown-in and fresh dislocations on pure titanium and a-phase Ti-Al single crystals. Pits are produced only on surfaces within a few degrees of the basal plane; the more exactly parallel to a basal plane the surface is, the more distinct are the pits. The observed pit density, however, does not appear to depend on the surface orientation; the pits simul- taneously become less distinct as the misorientation from a basal plane increases. Etch times are short, a few seconds, for pure titanium; longer times are necessary for alloy crystals.

Jan 1, 1968

By B. R. Satio, P. G. West-Sells, D. B. Dreisinger, B. J. Y. Leong, G. A. Kordosky

Electrolytic techniques have historically been used to remove arsenic, antimony and bismuth from copper refining electrolytes. However, both solvent extraction and ion exchange techniques have been heavily researched and in a number of cases commercially introduced. In this study a large number of solvent extraction reagents and ion exchange resins were screened to determine the selectivity of the reagents for impurity removal. Solvating extractants were found to efficiently remove arsenic from electrolyte. The extent of arsenic extraction increased in the following order: TBP < DBBP < DPPP < Cyanex 925 < Cyanex 923. Antimony and bismuth extraction from electrolyte were demonstrated with the reagent 2EHAP04. The ion exchange resins UR-3300 and Duolite C-467 were found to strongly extract antimony and bismuth from electrolyte. C-467 appeared to be superior to UR-3300.

Jan 1, 1993

By D. Gorc, T. M. Fraser, Z. T. Nikic, R. Pesalj

"Mount Polley is an alkalic porphyry copper-gold deposit of Lower Jurassic age within the Quesnel terrane in south-central British Columbia. The silica-saturated Mount Polley intmsive complex is assumed to be coeval with volcanic rocks of similar composition in the Nicola Group in which it was emplaced. Other intmsions and some of the volcanic rocks in the Mount Polley area are silicaundersaturated and contain feldspathoids.The Mount Polley deposit is characterized by multiple intrusions that vary from diorite to crowded plagioclase porphyry to monzonite. Intmsion breccias are associated with some of the intmsive phases. Abundant hydrothermal breccias occur on the margins and above plagioclase porphyry intmsions. These breccias provide the main host for mineralization and are associated with the highest concentrations of copper and gold. The breccias are subdivided into four distinct types based on the dominant hydrothermal mineral in the matrix. Actinolite breccia is developed in an elongate zone within the core of the Central zone and grades laterally and vertically into biotite breccia to the southeast. Magnetite breccia is irregularly distributed and is relatively sparse throughout the deposit and albite breccia is dominant in the West zone. Pervasive and vein-related alteration correlates with the breccia types. The core of the hydrothermal system at Mount Polley is subdivided into three zones: actinolite, biotite and K-feldspar-albite. The margins of the core zone are overprinted by a discontinuous zone of calc-silicate minerals. This intermediate zone passes outward into propylitic alteration. Mineralization is most prominent within hydrothermal breccias and is generally present as disseminations, blebs within the matrix and abundant veins. Mineralization is associated with a chalcopyrite-magnetite-bornite assemblage in the core of the deposit passing out into magnetite-pyrite-chalcopyrite. Relatively constant copper to gold ratios suggest that both metals were precipitated under similar conditions.Hydrothermal breccias are genetically related to the emplacement of the crowded plagioclase porphyry melt. Crystallization of the melt was probably accompanied by volatile/aqueous exsolution, forming a water saturated carapace. Decompression of the chamber in response to magma withdrawal, fracture propagation and possible fault movement allowed hydrothermal brecciation to occur at the apex and margins of the intmsion. Alteration and mineralization appears to have been controlled by fluids migrating away from the plagioclase porphyry."

Jan 1, 1995

By P. C. Miller

The paper reports laboratory results from the bioleaching of chalcopyrite ores and concentrates using a mixed moderate thermophile culture. Copper dissolution in excess of 95% was achieved in all cases with the majority of tests indicating copper dissolution in excess of 98%. Aspects of downstream processing are discussed in relation to iron rejection by precipitation. The laboratory results indicate the need for careful control of the pH value to prevent co-precipitation of the copper with iron. A comparison of capital and operating costs is given indicating potential differences between the use of toll smelting and bacterial leaching on site. A discussion is given highlighting the sensitive cost areas of these two process routes.

Jan 1, 1997