Search Documents

By Farzad Mohammadi, Patrick Littlejohn, David Sanguinetti

Arsenic levels in metal concentrates are increasing as mining companies turn to developing low grade and complex ores. When arsenic bearing minerals are smelted, arsenic deports as gases which must be neutralized by a scrubber system. The resulting scrubber effluent is high in dissolved arsenic and requires treatment before the wastewater can be discharged or re-used. Conventional arsenic removal relies on lime addition followed by calcium arsenate formation and precipitation as hydroxides. As an alternative, arsenic removal with sulphide precipitation is receiving more attention due to potential advantages of the technology. Process streams high in arsenic often contain concentrations of dissolved metals that may be selectively recovered during sulphidization, producing a product that can be reprocessed and reducing waste generation. This paper will review laboratory testing completed for arsenic removal through sulphide addition and precipitation of arsenic (III) sulphide in combination with metals recovery to offset arsenic removal costs.

Jan 1, 2014

By H. M. Howard

"The subject of Grinding Media is perhaps still quite controversial. Many people will state today that the spherical ball is the only way, and also will state that this was settled long ago others are not so sure, and I am in this second category. Over the years there have been many changes in grinding and in our evaluation of grinding media we should always be ready to review the overall situation at regular intervals. There is quite a lot of inertia in all branches of Hineral Dressing and this is particularly true of grinding or, more correctly, comminution.In order to understand some of the things which are done today, and to understand some of the thinking on grinding, it is desirable to go back some sixty years and trace the developments in comminution. In doing this we should consider perhaps three general categories with respect to daily tonnage. An arbitrary division would be under 500 T.P.D., 500-5000 T.P.D., and large operations which might have several parallel units, each with a capacity of about 5000 T.P.D. For the future, in the broad picture, this last category will be the important one because we will be more and more dependent on large-tonnage low-grade operations for most of the metals of the future. Some such division is necessary because the daily tonnage will have a very great effect on what we can and cannot do. It is also necessary to consider the entire flowsheet, and to remember in particular that grinding is not merely to make small particles but is also a conditioning process, to prepare the materi.al for the process which follows. The relationship of crushing to grinding must also be considered. It is logical to include the liners as part of the grinding media and we should try to distinguish between the wear of grinding media and the consumption of media by corrosion. Finally, the whole question of grinding media should be examined in relation to the possibilities of using some form of autogenous grinding."

Jan 1, 1970

By C. Juers

Laboratory chromate coating was applied on AM50 and AZ91D alloys and compared to phosphate-permanganate one. Evaluation of the corrosion behaviour was performed using electrochemical DC and AC methods in ASTM water D1384-87. This electrolyte was chosen because it was moderately aggressive and found to give generally good correlations with long period exposure results in atmospheric conditions. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used to determine more accurately the corrosion rates from the analyses of the high frequency capacitive loop. Anodic polarization was applied in order to evaluate the pitting resistance of the different coatings. These results were correlated with weight loss data evaluated from experiments performed by immersion tests in ASTM water D1384-87 and climatic cyclic chamber tests.

Jan 1, 2006

By A. F. Gregory

"AbstractA resumé of aerial radiation survey studies performed by and for Eldorado Mining and Refining, Limited, since 1943 is presented. Flight tests were initiated in 1947 and were followed .by intensified use and study of Geiger counters and other radiation detectors. Development of an aerial scintillation counter began in 1948, but •a sensitive large crystal unit was not available for exploration purposes until 1950. Modifications of this unit have been used in all subsequent surveys.For the Eldorado detector, several limiting conditions were established for successful radioactivity detection, the most important being that natural vein exposures can only be assuredly detected .at distances less than 150 feet. Sedimentary and pegmatitic radioactive occurrences can be detected at much greater distances. A helicopter investigation technique appears to •have •a useful prospecting potential.IntroductionAerial radiation surveys were first proposed in the early 1940's. However, it was not until 1949 that airborne detectors were extensively used in the search for radioactive minerals. Eldorado has flown about 50,000 miles of exploration flights, exclusive of tests, using a variety of •detectors and aircraft. Considerable data have •been gathered for .the evaluation of the several techniques employed. Much of the early work was performed with the co-operation of the National Research Council of Canada ( 1). More recent work was done in conjunction with the Commercial Products Division of Atomic Energy of Canada, Limited. The Development Department of this latter corporation designed and built the scintillation counter used in recent Eldorado surveys."

Jan 1, 1955

By Ahmad Abdollahi

Many factors affect mechanical properties of hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys. As examples the presence of impurities such as Mn and Fe due to the formation of intermetallic phases, additions of small amounts of alkaline earth metals and cooling rate in consideration of Si formation, they all have an impact on mechanical properties of hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys. In this investigation, the effect of Fe content into the specification range of A357 alloy, the addition of different modifiers consisting of Na, Sr and Ca for the alloy of A356 and different mounting techniques for separately cast test coupons of hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys using the lost wax method were studied. The results showed that using material with lower Fe content and addition of modifiers improve mechanical properties. Also different mounting techniques resulted in different mechanical properties.

Jan 1, 2004

By Bob Rappolt

Discussion Points Part 1: Global Mining Industry/Related Issues ? Historical Metal Price Trends. ? Historical LME Metal Stockpiles. ? China?s Demand for Metal. ? World Population Growth, Demands and Development. Discussion Points (cont?d) Part 2: Canadian Mining Industry ? Where are we? And where are we going? ? What progress have we made in the past 20 years regarding: ? Safety -Employee Levels ? Labour -Relative Compensation ? Productivity - Technological Advance ? Where do we stand regarding mineral production? ? What does the future hold for us?

Apr 1, 2005

By N. Dave

"IntroductionIn the mineral processing industry, certain minerals such as uranium, thorium and vanadium, etc., are selectively extracted with high degree of purity from solutions containing variety of other impurities by solvent extraction process. This separation process consists of bringing two immiscible or partially soluble liquid phases in contact, where mass transfer of one or more components takes place by ion exchange under certain controlling parameters such as pH, salt concentration and temperature. The processes taking place are primarily physical because the solutes being transferred are ordinarily recovered without chemical change. For efficient extraction more than one stage is required and the solutions are recycled counter currently through other stages. A multi-stage counter current solvent extraction plants essentially consist of four circuits namely: extraction, water wash, stripping, and solvent scrubbing. In extraction circuit the desired mineral is extracted at a certain pH from an aqueous solution onto an organic solvent by bringing them in contact with mixing in large mixer-settler units. The mixed solutions are allowed to settle and separate into component organic and aqueous phases in horizontal settlers by providing sufficient residence time. The solutions are then moved counter currently to other units- the aqueous from the underflow and the solvent organics from the overflow of the settler. The solution streams coming out of extraction circuit are loaded organics and barren aqueous or raffinate solution. The loaded organics are washed with water in a water wash circuit to remove transported impurities from extraction circuit. In the stripping circuit, the desired mineral is stripped selectively from the solvent phase back into an aqueous phase with a stripping agent at a selected pH. The solution stream leaving, stripping circuit are stripped organics and pregnant strip (aqueous) solution. The stripped organics are scrubbed off other loaded impurities with a conditioning solution in, scrubbing circuit and the cleaned solvent is re-used in the extraction circuit.A typical solvent extraction plant for uranium extraction and purification at Agnew Lake Mine is described in this chapter."

Jan 1, 1989

By Shinji Shirakawa

The gold wire bonding technology is widely used for electrically connecting aluminum pads on IC devices to external terminal of semiconductor. In 1960?s, the tensile strength of gold bonding wire was about 100 MPa only. However, recently the wire with 300 MPa in strength has been developed. Since the gold bonding wire was started to use for IC package in early 1960?, the many types of gold bonding wire has been developing continuously in order to meet market?s needs, such as high density, small size and thin type of IC packages. Moreover, electronic equipments were used in automobile applications and also demanded good reliability under severe temperature environment. Thus Au-Pd alloy wire has been introduced instead of the wire with 4N(99.99wt%) purity gold to provide excellent reliability in Au-Al bond interface. The phenomena at Au-Al interface in the high temperature storage have been already explained by several studies as follows. There are five phases of inter metallic compound (IMC) between gold and aluminum. Just after bond gold ball on aluminum pad, Au5Al2 phase was formed and occupied almost all of IMC area. During high temperature storage test, Au5Al2 phase transformed to Au4Al phase, then this phase was corroded by Bromide (Br) ion that was isolated from molding resin. Thus the reliability between Au and Al degraded. In case of Au-Pd alloy wire, the concentrated palladium phase (Au-Pd-Al) was formed at the interface between Au alloy ball and Al pad. The Au-Pd-Al phase prevented from transforming between Au and Al, therefore Au5Al2 phase was hard to transform to Au4Al phase. Consequently the reliability at the interface between Au alloy ball and Al pad was less degradation. However, in recent study using several advanced analysis technique, Au4Al phase was found at the interface between Au alloy ball and Al pad same as the case of conventional gold wire (4N purity gold bonding wire). It was suggested that the formation of concentrated palladium phase (Au-Pd-Al) related the excellent reliability at ball bonding process.

Oct 1, 2003

By Chris J. Pritchard

Pumpable, two-component resins for anchoring rock bolts provides significant advantages over traditional cartridge resin and cement grout systems where fast and easily adaptable support is required for difficult ground conditions. Cartridge resin anchoring with rock bolts is often ineffective in oversized, fractured and washed-out holes. Cement grouting of cable bolts is frequently plagued with QA and QC issues related to the grouting process. Installation of cable bolts with resin injection techniques is routinely completed in cycle allowing blasting immediately after cable bolting. Xstrata Nickel has evaluated the Minova Resin Injection System since 2007. The Nickel Rim Mine and partner Minova have tested and validated the Resin Injection process for bolting procedures including Hollow Fiberglass Bolts, Rebar, Modified Cone Bolts and Cable Bolts. The resin injection process is adaptable to most bolting processes and equipment. Currently, Nickel Rim Mine use 2 resin injection products with different set times to grout deep cable bolts and development support in highly variable ground conditions. The product predictability and adaptability in application along with a high crew acceptance continues to make this support process part of an adaptable ground support system. Product consistency and quality significantly reduce the quality control concerns for ground support in highly variable ground conditions.

May 1, 2011

By A. Miura, R. Winarko, D. B. Dreisinger

Chalcopyrite leaching in acidic ferric sulfate media at ambient temperature exhibits slow kinetics and poor leaching efficiency, which is typically attributed to surface passivation. Recently, the presence of small amounts of iodide in the leaching media has been reported to significantly accelerate chalcopyrite dissolution. To further explore the behavior of chalcopyrite leaching in the presence of iodide, it is essential to determine the factors that control the leaching kinetics. In this study, we investigated the effect of initial solution potential, iodide concentration, particle size, and temperature on the kinetics of copper extraction from chalcopyrite. The key in the experimental setup was to minimize iodide loss by iodine evaporation and precipitation as cuprous iodide. The former was achieved by performing the leaching tests in fully sealed leaching systems. The latter was achieved by maintaining the solution potential higher than 420 mV (versus Ag/AgCl electrode), where formation of CuI precipitate is possible. The experimental results show that higher solution potential and higher iodide concentration had a pronounced positive effect on the rate of chalcopyrite dissolution. There was no effect associated with particle size, which might be due to the narrow size range tested. The positive effect of increasing temperature only manifested itself when the solution potential was sufficiently high. INTRODUCTION The main challenge of chalcopyrite leaching using ferric ions as the oxidant at ambient temperature is the slow kinetics and poor extraction. The reason for this leaching behavior has been attributed to passivation resulting from formation of insoluble passivating layers on chalcopyrite surfaces, which could be metal-deficient sulfides, elemental sulfur, polysulfides, and iron precipitates (Klauber, 2008). To overcome passivation, technologies using higher temperature and pressure have been developed to leach chalcopyrite concentrates, such as the CESL process (Mayhew, McCoy, Mean, & Woeller, 2013), FLSmidth Rapid Oxidative Leach (ROL) process (Mulligan et al., 2017), Galvanox (Dixon, Mayne, & Baxter, 2008), Albion process (Hourn, Turner, & Hourn, 2012), HydroCopper (Hyvärinen & Hämäläinen, 2005), TPOX (Dreisinger, 2006), and AAC/UBC process (Dreisinger, Dempsey, Steyl, Sole, & Gnoinski, 2003). Even though they are effective in accelerating copper leaching kinetics, those technologies typically have higher capital and operating costs associated with production of concentrates and application of autoclaves. This makes them unsuitable for treating low grade primary copper sulfide ores.

Jan 1, 2019

By Laxman M. Amaratunga, David N. Yaschyshyn

"In the mining industry several types of fills are used for backfill operations. They are broadly categorized into three basic types: rock fill, hydraulic/slurry fill, and paste fill. Recently, paste fill has become the popular alternative for backfilling because of its many environmental and operational advantages including its ability to use total tailings, both fine and coarse fractions.Amaratunga and Annor (1989) first presented the concept of agglomeration of fine tailings, which are otherwise excluded from backfilling, for utilization in backfill as a readily available supplementary fill material. Previous experimental work investigated the use of agglomerated fine gold mill tailings in low density slurry fills (60 -70% pulp density), consisting of varying agglomerate and tailings compositions.This paper presents the ongoing research into utilizing these agglomerates in a high density paste fill (70 -85% pulp density). Various binder dosages, curing period and combinations of pellet to tailings ratios were studied. Slump of the raw fill and compressive strength of the cured fill were examined. Results from the above study indicate that agglomerated tailings paste fill (ATPF) has superior strength characteristics when compared to total tailings paste fills.IntroductionThe Canadian mining industry produces more than 500 million tonnes of tailings and waste rock annually. These tailings consist of a coarse fraction and a fine fraction and can be either reactive (acid generating) or non-reactive. Most mining operations utilize the coarse fraction for backfilling while the fines have been traditionally disposed of in surface tailings ponds. Recently, paste fill has been developed which uses a fraction of the fine tailings (10 - 30% w/w of >45 µ,m) in the fill. This development allows a mining company to use a portion of the fines for backfill, but still requires surface impoundment of the unused portion of fine tailings. Reactive tailings have the added problem of generating acid after being oxidized in the presence of air and water. Treating acid mine drainage (AMD) seepage from these ponds has proven to be a costly environmental problem and long term liabilty.One practical method to reduce the environmental impacts associated with the tailings pond and to modify the physical and chemical properties of the fine mill tailings so that they can be utilized and disposed of in an environmentally safe manner through surface or underground applications is through agglomeration using the Cold-Bond Tailings Agglomeration technology (CBTA). Amaratunga and Annor (1989) first presented the concept of agglomeration of fine tailings for use as coarse aggregates for underground backfill, gravel or surface covering material. CBT A reduces the necessity of impounding tailings on surface while providing a suitable coarse aggregate resource material for practical use. Although the CBT A technology has been mainly limited to pelletization agglomeration alone, other forms of agglomeration like pressure agglomeration which include the techniques of briquetting and extrusion have also proven successful (Amaratunga, 1995)."

Jan 1, 1996

By C. -K. Fang, T. H. Chuang

"Temperature effects on the erosion of the 6063 aluminum alloy were investigated. Erosion experiments were performed by sandblasting silicon carbide particles of 80 grit size. The target volume loss, and worn depths of the eroded material were investigated at different temperatures. It was found that the temperature had only a minor impact on the peak attack angle. The effect of temperature on erosion damage depended on the relative humidity (RH) of the environment. IntroductionThe synergy of wind and sand or dust may result in the erosion of materials. However, the severity of erosion damage in different areas and in different seasons might be varied, depending on environmental variables such as temperature and humidity. As a result, determining the effect of environmental variables on erosion damage is important in selecting or ranking materials for their suitable applications in diverse areas.The relationship between erosion wastage and temperature is governed by many factors including temperature dependent properties of the material (strength, ductility, toughness, and dynamic hardness, etc.), mechanical erosion characteristics, the rate of oxidation, and the mechanical properties of oxides. Although the effect of temperature on erosion has been studied for engineering materials (Smeltzer et al., 1970; Gat and Tabakoff, 1978; 1980; Levy et al., 1986; Levy and Man, 1986; Chinnadurai and Bahadur, 1995; Howard and Ball, 1997; Colclough and Yeomans, 1997; Suckling and Allen, 1997), published literature dealing with aluminum alloy is rather limited."

Jan 1, 2000

By Tong Qin, Jinxia Zhang, Fusheng Niu, Limei Bai

"The interaction between a deformable bubble and a rigid particle in viscous liquids under microgravity conditions is studied by direct numerical simulation via an Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method. Due to the microgravity, the bubble will stay as a sphere in the fluid without external forces and its deformation is caused by the moving particle. In this study we assume the flow field is axisymmetric and the motion of the gas inside the bubble is neglected. The particle equations and the Navier-Stokes equations for the fluid are solved in a unified finite element framework. The particle obtains an impact velocity by an external force and the impact velocity is varied over a wide range. A ‘critical time scale’ T0 was identified for the interaction process. For successful contacts between particle and bubble, the time scale of their relative motion must be less than T0.INTRODUCTIONThe particle-bubble interaction is an important process in many applied industrial domains such as water treatment, froth flotation and liquid steel purification. It is a complex three phase process in that it embraces many research areas: fluid hydrodynamics, interfacial forces, particle and bubble behaviour and solution chemistry.Derjaguin and Dukhin(1961) clarified the particle-bubble interaction by introducing three-zone model for small and medium size particles. When the particle is far away from the bubble surface, the hydrodynamic forces are dominant. The particle is driven toward the bubble surface by the particle inertial and gravity. This region is regarded as Zone 1 and the interaction in this zone is a collision subprocess. As the particle gets close to the bubble, it exits a zone where the liquid flow around the bubble surface creates a tangential stream from the upper surface of the bubble toward the rear of the bubble. This is Zone 2 which is called the diffusiophoretic zone. In Zone 3, the particle is very closed to the bubble, surface forces like van der Waals, electrostatic and structural forces are considered. Contrast to Zone 1, Zone3 can be regarded as an attachment subprocess."

Jan 1, 2016

By P Kovacs, D. L. Flock

For the purpose of reservoir-performance calculations a balance can be made between the materials with-in the reservoir and the production from the reservoir. The material balance equation, a relationship which holds under or near equilibrium conditions, has been used in many forms by the Petroleum Engineer for the determination of initial oil-in-place in the reservoir and the calculation of performance into the future. One of the more recent methods developed by Tracy, utilizes a modified form of the Schilthuis material balance. In the latter case, values of incremental production are assumed for a particular pressure drop, a value of the gas-oil ratio found and a check of this estimate made by calculation"' the initial oil-in-place. Tracy's method utilizes an estimation of the instantaneous gas-oil ratio and by trial and error a value of the gas-oil ratio is

Jan 1, 1961

By G. R. Guillet

Important resources of kaolin, refractory clay and lignite, not found elsewhere in Ontario, occur with quartz sand of glassgrade quality in unconsolidated Mesozoic sediments of the Moose River Basin in northeastern Ontario. These materials comprise the Mattagami Formation of Lower Cretaceous age, which overlie in some places a thin Jurassic unit and a thick Paleozoic section, and underlie as much as JOO m or more of glacial and marine sediments and a uniform capping of muskeg. The Mallagami Formation is known from deep boreholes to exceed 100 m in thickness and to consist of two phases: an earlier Type A unit of dark-coloured carbonaceous clays and lignite, and a later light-coloured (Type B) unit of kaolin-bearing quartz sands and bright-coloured refractory clays. Remoteness, poor access, and difficult physical environment have inhibited the exploration and development of these resources.

Jan 1, 1984

By Ning Yu

There are about 1.341 trillion tons (t) of proven coal reserves in China, of which 279.58 billion t are available for mine well construction basis. Thick coal seams are 44% of the reserves. The production of thick coal seams exploitation is over 45% of the total coal production. Full-seam mining and fully-mechanized mining for large mining height is the technology development direction of thick and extra thick seam mining. It is also the important way to achieve efficient and intensive mining with the characteristics of high production, high mechanization, high efficiency and low energy consumption, etc. Complete set of technology and equipment of fully-mechanized top caving for large mining height of full-seam (7m) mining and extra thick seam ( 14-20m) has been gradually mature and for demonstration application by the joint research of government, enterprises, universities, scientific research organizations and users. It has solved some technical problems of coal face for large mining height (over 7m) such as the coal wall spalling control, stability of support, wall rock coupling, cooperation work of mining and caving, full roadway support for super large section, end support, equipment matching of coal shearers, hydraulic support and scraper conveyor. It has developed key equipments including powerful hydraulic support of fully-mechanized mining and fully-mechanized top caving for large mining height, electrically-driven coal shearer with high speed and reliability, scraper and belt conveyer with big capacity, soft-start and high reliability, automatic control system of coal face with the core of electric-hydraulic control, bolting drill boom large section coal roadway shearer, heavy auxiliary transport equipment. The operation rates of fully-mechanized top caving equipment for full-seam and large mining height are 94% and 92.1%, and recovery ratios are 93.6% and 88.9% respectively. The annual raw coal production of single work face is over 10 Mt. The automation and intelligentization level have been clearly improved. The exploitation of thick and extra thick coal seam that is safe and efficient has been achieved in China.

Aug 1, 2013

By P. H. J. Mercier, M. Couillard

Aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) allows for the nano-scale exploration of materials at unprecedented resolution and sensitivity. In this paper, we combine this approach with electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) to analyze the carbon distribution in residual solids found in solvent-diluted bitumen product extracted from Alberta oil sands. Major components of these contaminant solids are ultrafine clays. Biwettable clays have been associated with the formation of solid-stabilized water-in-oil emulsion, which are known to increase the content of both water and mineral solids in the final bitumen product. We demonstrate that the residual solids present in bitumen product contain carbon intermixed with mineral particles of various size and shape. By probing the carbon content at the nanometer scale with the high chemical sensitivity of EELS, we provide direct evidence of carbon intermixing with clay platelets. This clay-organic association at the nanometer-scale will contribute to the biwettable, hydrophobic character of the platelets, and will therefore play a crucial role in the bitumen extraction process

Jan 1, 2014

By C J. Coveney

This paper, after a brief introduction to the mineralization and structure in the mine area, outlines the methods now being employed for grade control at Bethlehem Copper Corporation. Sampling, subgrade drilling, blasting and the actual outlining of the ore are among the topics covered. The paper concludes with a summary of the results obtained, showing a reduction in dilution and an improvement in the grade of the copper ore going to the mill. Introduction T HE Bethlehem property is located in southern British Columbia in the Highland Valley about 30 miles southeast of the town of Ashcroft. The property is located within the Guichon batholith. The rock comprising the batholith is a massive, coarse-textured diorite, which, at Bethlehem, has been intruded by a younger quartz diorite, porphyries and breccia, referred to as the "Younger Complex." Mineralization, consisting of chalcopyrite and bornite with minor pyrite and molybdenite, occurs as disseminations, fracture fillings and coarse blebs. The ore zone lies close to the Guichon -Younger Complex contact where, prior to the development of the breccia, the rocks were shattered and jointed. Subsequent mineral

Jan 1, 1965

By L. I. Kiss, A. Larouche, V. Dassylva-Raymond

Control of the quenching capacity of the cooling water is of primary importance for maintaining the quality and recovery rate of ingots produced by direct chill casting. Industrially, this can be done using a cylindrical metallic probe undergoing rapid quenching by direct immersion in a reservoir filled with casting water. Such a test rig originally developed at Alcan Arvida Research and development Centre was modified and used to assess the role of key parameters affecting the boiling heat transfer. During the tests, the probe of the instrument undergoes the effects of different heat transfer mechanisms. An experimental study was performed in order to clarify the details of the probe-water heat transfer during rapid quenching. The heat flux along the surface was determined by mathematical modeling using the measured temperature signals, while the corresponding heat transfer regimes like stable and unstable film boiling, nucleate boiling and natural convection were identified by the analysis of high-speed video recordings. Aluminium

Jan 1, 2006

By John Porritt, Alain Dorval

"TioMin Resources Inc. is evaluating the feasibility of exploiting the heavy mineral sands deposit at Natashquan on the north shore of the Gulf of St-Lawrence, Quebec. TioMin holds the exploration rights to 180 square kilometres, on which 1.6 billion tonnes of sands grading approximately 6% heavy minerals were outlined. The heavy minerals of value include magnetite, ilmenite/hematite, garnet, and zircon. An important part of this evaluation is the development and testing of a mineral separation flowsheet. Under a comprehensive mandate from TioMin, the Centre de recherches minerales (CRM) provided technical assistance to build and operate an on site primary concentrator pilot plant. This plant produced a 93 tonne concentrate, providing over 60 % heavy minerals. This concentrate was shipped to the CRM pilot plant in Quebec City. It was used for further flowsheet testing and for preparation of products and concentrates of heavy minerals with regard to marketing possibilities. This paper presents the flowsheet developed to produce these concentrates.IntroductionIn late 1992, an 11 tonne bulk sample of sand was collected from within the mineralized zone of the Natashquan deposit. This sample was processed over conventional spirals and wet tables at the pilot plant facilities of the Centre de recherches minerales (CRM) in Quebec City. A primary concentrate was produced, from which several 20 kg samples were forwarded to five research laboratories in North America and in Australia. Their tasks were to determine the mineralogical composition of this concentrate and the potential for recovery of marketable minerals from the heavy mineral sands. Satisfactory results obtained from this approach encouraged TioMin to proceed with a more detailed pilot plant program."

Jan 1, 1995