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By T. P. Kostek

"Historically, gear pumps and motors have been popular in the mining industry because of their competitive cost, simple yet rugged construction, ease of rebuild, and relative long life and insensitivity to contamination. However, with the ever increasing ""popularity"" of fire-resistant hydraulic fluids, both users and manufacturers of gear equipment must make special considerations to enable the equipment to continue giving satisfactory performance even with the water-containing fluids.The paper discusses 60-40 invert emulsions and waterglycolsIntroductionMuch information has been published on the specific characteristics of the various types of fire-resistant hydraulic fluids. Fluid manufacturers' literature and other publications have dealt with such specifics as fire resistivity, seal compatibility and wear rate characteristics. Gear pumps and motors have been, and will continue to be, applied successfully in hydraulic systems employing both the ""invert"" emulsions (60-40) and water-glycols as the hydraulic fluid.Because most external spur gear equipment has been designed to function with petroleum oil as the fluid medium, certain guidelines must be followed to ensure satisfactory service life. FluidsThere are a number of different types of fluids which fall in the category of"" fire-resistant"" , the most common'being phosphate esters, water-in-oil emulsions, oil-in-water emulsions and water-glycols. The two in most prevalent use today as hydraulic fluids are the water-in-oil emulsions and the water glycols"

Jan 1, 1980

By Scott K. Palm, Neil D. Pearson, Jr. Read

"Uncertainty is an important feature of many investments, but it is especially important for mineral properties. Mine properties often entail large investments and fixed commitments. Managers in the mining industry often view price uncertainty as undesirable, due to the possibility that the price of the mined commodity will fall to a level that prevents the firm from recovering its investment and fixed costs. This paper identifies pitfalls in conventional valuation methods and outlines a new approach to valuation based on option pricing theory and dynamic programming. In the process, it identifies generic strategies for organizing mine production in ways that allow the owner to benefit from the uncertainty in mineral prices. IntroductionRisk is pervasive in the mining industry. The operation and maintenance of a mine may involve high, and unavoidable, fixed costs. A mine owner can only begin to recover these fixed costs if the price of the mined commodity is greater than the incremental cost of production. But the prices of many minerals are extremely volatile. The price volatility of copper has been significantly higher than the price volatility of a typical stock, for example. A mine owner cannot be sure that the price of the mineral product will remain high long enough for the firm to recover its capital and fixed costs.Mine owners are able to minimize their losses during periods when the output price is below the incremental cost of production by temporarily closing operations. During these periods they incur only fixed costs. While shut-downs help minimize losses, the y do not help the firm recover its initial investment. If output prices remain low long enough, the fixed costs and original investment may never be recovered. High fixed costs, therefore, lead to substantial downside risk."

Jan 1, 1986

"One of the workhorses of the minerals industry is the autogenous grinding (AG) mill and its derivative the semi-autogenous (SAG) mill. These are relatively well understood, but not so Scrubbers. Scrubbers are mechanically of the same appearance/function, so what is the difference between an AG mill and a scrubber? When, or under what conditions should a scrubber be used and when should an AG mill be used? Can the processes within be mathematically modelled?In the past decades, the minerals industry has focused most of its attention on the modelling of unit processes such as cone crushers, HPGR’s, AG/SAG mills and ball mills within conventional processing circuits. Less attention has been placed on the modelling of scrubbers. This paper reviews the difference between scrubber and AG mill modelling, highlighting some of the similarities, with a view to confident comminution circuit designs.Engineering practitioners should be comfortable with these circuit designs and not shy away from considering AG mills for both small and large scale plants. AG mills can treat both harder or softer ore and scrubbers are for only softer ores. This paper differentiates scrubber and AG mill modelling in a similar way that overflow ball mills and grate discharge ball mills are analysed. Smaller scrubbers (600 kW) are suited to small scale soft ore (100-300 t/h) operations. Larger scrubbers up to 2,500 kW have the capability of very high throughput, in excess of 1,750 t/h with soft fine feed ore. AG mills are scalable up to 28 MW and are capable of treating harder ores at rates exceeding 2,000 to 4,500 t/h. Observations are that the specific energy requirements for the mill grinding duty is wide and varied. This is to a large degree the crux of the matter in sizing, as well as, differentiating, scrubbers from AG mills.INTRODUCTIONAG milling is a mature technology that has been used in minerals processing applications for more than 100 years. In the last 50 years, harder metalliferous ores have seen the introduction of steel balls to assist in the grinding/milling action. Tumbling mills used in such a configuration are called semiautogenous mills (SAG). The greater minerals industry is no newcomer to the use of fully autogenous (AG) mills. Perhaps scrubbers are. What is the difference? When should a scrubber be used versus an AG mill? How are they mathematically modelled?"

Jan 1, 2016

By R. C. Hartviksen

"The Drumbo Mine is a new gypsum mine located at exit No. 32 of Highway 401 between Woodstock and Kitchener, Ontario. The flat-lying 6-foot (1.8-metre) bed of gypsum is near the base of the Silurian Salina Formation, about 380 feet (116 metres) below surface. The mine is owned and operated by Westroc Industries Limited. A shaft, 12.5 feet (3.81 metres) in diameter, was drilled and then lined with a liner-sinking technique new to this continent. The shaft was completed in the fall of 1977. Gypsum production was started in December 1978, employing a conventional room - and - pillar method of mining.Historical BackgroundA brief mention of gypsum in the Drumbo area is included in a survey of the Ontario gypsum industry by Guillet. This occurrence was discovered in 1958 when National Gypsum conducted some widespread diamond drilling. Western Gypsum Products Limited acquired leases in 1960 and concentrated a drilling program in Blenheim Township near the village of Drumbo; 79 holes were drilled in an area of 1900 acres (770 hectares). Mining rights were then acquired for 170 0acres (690 hectares). A test shaft, 44 inches (1.1 metres) in diameter, was drilled to obtain a 50-ton (45-tonne) bulk sample. This opening will be used as an emergency escape way and for ventilation.Westroc Industries Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of BPB Industries, has its head office at Mississauga, Ontario and operates gypsum board plants at Mississauga, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg and Montreal. Other gypsum mines are at Windermere, B.C. and Amaranth, Manitoba."

Jan 1, 1983

By J. W. Smith, J. G. Eacott, D. H. Napier

"Three hydrometallurgicat processes (Noranda chloride leach, B. C. Research biological leach and Sherritt-Cominco activated oxygen leach) and the Noranda pyrometallurgical process have served as the basis for design projects in the final year of the chemical engineering program at the University of Toronto. Each member of a team of five or six students devotes about 200 hours to the project and the final report is expected to include an economic analysis.None of the processes has been developed to full- scale plant, nor, in the case of the B.C. Research and Noranda processes, were pilot plant data available. Nevertheless, the designs developed provide a useful basis for a preliminary estimate of capital and operating costs and for a preliminary assessment of project feasibility.This paper discusses the approach used in the design projects with respect to engineering and economic aspects, and outlines the educational features and benefits of such a program as well as some of the problem areas that arise.IntroductionAs part of the undergraduate degree course in chemical engineering at the University of Toronto, students devote some 200 hours to a design project in their final year. Hydrometallurgical processes, not yet proven at the commercial scale, have been selected for study. The students are required to develop laboratory and / or pilot scale results into a conceptual plant design, using sound engineering principles. Capital and operating costs are then determined and a preliminary feasibility study and economic analysis are carried out."

Jan 1, 1986

By C. Lara-Valenzuela, R. Perez-Garibay, F. López-Saucedo, A. Uribe-Salas, L. Magallanes-Hernandez

A relationship between gas dispersion parameters, namely gas rate (Jg), gas holdup (Eg), average bubble size (db) and bubble surface area flux (Sb), with the metallurgical performance (e.g., grade and recovery) has been established.. Results of eleven columns operating at five concentrators of Grupo Pefioles (Mexico), ranging between 1.52 to 3.35 min diameter and performing in the cleaning stages of lead and zinc circuits, are presented and discussed. The results showed that the effect of gas dispersion parameters was consistent and that both, Sb and Eg, correlate well with recovery particularly when the influence of feed pulp density is also considered.

Jan 1, 2009

By Orlando Rojas, Javier Pizarro, Romke Kuyvenhoven, Francisco Soto

"The concept of geometallurgy has been extensively mentioned and used in the mining industry in the past years. However, each mining firm has a different understanding of what geometallurgy means, and its actual value varies significantly from site to site. Even in the case of properly constructed geometallurgical models, it is fairly common to observe a sub-utilization of the model in the actual operation, because of its low production forecasting capability on the short term. This disconnect between the geometallurgical model and operations is typically caused by a lack of tuning between the original model and the actual plant operation. Also, the absence of procedures and other standards for reconciliation, affects the confidence and the predictive quality of the model. The geometallurgical model should consist of three different levels: (I) adequate capture of information, (II) data analysis and modelling, and (III) development of the block model. Once the geometallurgical in-situ model is finalized, a process model should be developed of the plant at industrial scale, in order to scale up the in-situ geometallurgical parameters from their base or standard condition, to the actual operating reality of the plant. Finally, the stage of reconciliation will close this process, assuring that any deviation between the geometallurgical model and the actual plant operation is not due to lack of tuning, but due to operational issues such as unattended maintenance requirements or poor process control in the operation. The methodology as described in this paper has been applied at several large mining sites in Chile. The paper presents the characteristics of the proposed methodology, and quantitatively describes its benefits with examples from actual operations.INTRODUCTIONIt probably is fair to say that geometallurgy became widely used in greenfield projects in the Andes region during the mining boom of the 90’s, when massive orebodies were studied and developed, and upfront metallurgical characterisation proved its use for accurate economic evaluation including estimates of plant throughput, energy consumption, final product quality and overall recovery. A few examples of such greenfield studies for concentrator plants in the 90’s are Minera Los Pelambres (Antofagasta Minerals, Chile), Minera Escondida, Laguna Seca (BHP Billiton, Chile), and Rio Blanco (then Montterrico Metals, Peru). Large size hydrometallurgical operations such as Cerro Colorado, Quebrada Blanca and Lomas Bayas (all in Chile), also recognised early on the importance and value of relating ore mineralogy, geological characterisation and metallurgical behaviour."

Jan 1, 2016

By K. Bunney, R. Pleysier

The deportment of a suite of elements through representative gold ore processing unit operations in cyanidation has been investigated. Chromium and lead are not soluble in alkaline cyanide solutions. Arsenic, antimony, cobalt, molybdenum, selenium, tellurium and vanadium are soluble, but typically do not adsorb onto activated carbon to any appreciable extent. Silver, copper, cadmium, mercury, nickel and zinc to varying extents report along with the gold to the carbon eluate. Cadmium, mercury and zinc can report to the carbon regeneration kiln off-gases. Strontium is soluble and adsorbs on carbon where it remgins.

Jan 1, 2011

By G. A. Maki, P. J. Fullman, R. G. Roden

"In October 1984, Rocanville Division began using a stacking system to handle potash mill tailings. Previous to this date, mill tailings were slurried to the top of the tailings pile and allowed to debrine while flowing down the pile. With the new stacking system, slurried tailings are fed to mobile stackers. The stackers consist of cyclone packs to debrine the tailings and drag conveyors with screw discharges to deposit the tailings onto the existing pile. This paper deals with the various aspects of the project from conception to its present state.IntroductionPrevious to 1984, when the stacking project was first implemented, potash mill tailings were handled as follows. Mill tailings were first debrined to approximately 65010 solids using a cyclone cluster. The cyclone underflows were then introduced onto a vacuum scroll filter table. Here the tailings were further debrined and discharged into the disposal tank where the tailings were reslurried with reclaim brine and pumped to the tailings disposal site. At the disposal site the slurry was discharged onto the tailings pile and by a natural settling process the tailings were debrined with the brine ultimately collected in the reclaim brine ponds. The shape and profile of the tailings pile was controlled by building salt dykes to control the flow of the discharged tailings slurry. As the tailings pile grew in height, booster pumps were added to the disposal system."

Jan 1, 1990

By G. Kachaniwsky, M. Bédard

"The Noranda Continuous Smelting Process at the Home smelter was commissioned in March 1973. The ability of the process to handle a wide variety of feed materials and a steady stream of technical innovations in recent decades has served to maintain the Home as an efficient and versatile custom smelter. This paper reviews recent technological development and capabilities in areas such as sampling and preparation of secondary and complex materials, as well as the smelting and related environmental control issues. Future trends and improvements are also addressed.IntroductionThe Noranda Home smelter commenced operations in 1927. It was originally designed to treat 910 tonnes per day of copper concentrates and ores coming from the new Home mine site. In the 19305, the company opened its doors to other mines in northwestern Quebec. Treatment of feed materials on a custom basis has, therefore, always been an important factor in the operation of the Home smelter. Throughout the years, the Home gradually increased its custom smelting capacity, while maintaining its production from the Home mine. By the early 1950s, 65% of the materials processed was from outside customers, and by 1974, this figure had increased to more than 85% . With the closure of the Home mine in 1976, the company extended its smelting operations beyond ore and concentrate, and began to treat more scrap metals and residues rich in copper and precious metal content.Corresponding with the ever-changing pattern of feed sources, the Home smelter has adopted technological improvements to meet new and challenging business conditions. The technology of the original smelter of 1927has been completely replaced over the years in the quest for improvement. One of these major changes occurred in 1973 with the start-up of the Noranda Process Reactor. This extremely efficient smelting system has been exploited to treat a wide variety of copper and precious metal (PM) containing custom materials. This paper reviews recent developments and improvements achieved at the Home smelter, in the receiving, sampling and treatments of copper and PM scrap and secondaries, with particular emphasis on the development of new technology and equipment in complex feed materials treatment."

Jan 1, 1991

By Al Hoffman

During the period May 15 ? 17, 2006 four fatalities occurred at #1 Waste Dump, at Teck Cominco?s Sullivan mine located at the city boundary of Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada. The fatalities occurred in the sump of a water monitoring station. The Chief Inspector of Mines and his staff immediately responded to the incident. The team worked collaboratively with the Teck Ltd. Trail Hazmat team, a consultant group from Rescan Ltd. and other Teck operation and technical staff. Sampling in and around the water monitoring station in the days following the fatalities showed that exposure to a depleted oxygen environment was the immediate cause of the fatalities. The sump located at the base of the shed was hydraulically connected to a French (coarse rock) drain, located at the toe of the covered waste dump. This presentation will briefly review the immediate cause of the accident, the investigation, a brief introduction to the work of the Sullivan Technical panel and the British Columbia government?s response to the incident and the recommendations of the Coroner?s inquest.

May 1, 2010

By Z. M. Zavodni, C. D. Broadbent

"Major rock slides in open-pit mines are rare, but they can develop in spite of sophisticated slope engineering design practice. Experience has shown that, except under high seismic load conditions, the serious slope instability condition is almost always accompanied by the gradual development of one or more tension cracks behind the slope crest, allowing for time-displacement monitoring. Continuous surface displacement measurements with attendant prompt analyses are usually adequate for the prediction of slope behaviour.This paper describes efforts that have been made to quantify parameters associated with slide movement, and compares the displacement records of several large-scale open-pit porphyry copper mine slope failures. Two principal failure stages are recognized in the typical slope failure leading to total collapse: (a) REGRESSIVE STAGE, during which the failure will re-stabilize if some disturbance external to the rock and structure is removed; and (b) PROGRESSIVE STAGE. during which the failure will gradually displace at an accelerating rate to the point of total collapse unless active control measures are taken. Over-all displacement records in both failure stages are apparently of simple exponential form. with a definite break occurring at the onset-of-failure point.Certain common empirical relationships are suggested for the large-scale slope failures analyzed in this study. Based on plots of displacement rate vs time prior to collapse, a semi quantitative empirical relationship is presented for failure collapse prediction. The comparison of historical slide displacement records furnishes the operating engineer with practical guidelines to estimate the characteristics of future large-scale slope failures."

Jan 1, 1980

By N. Lecuyer

"During early 1980, pre-production work commenced at the ""Les Mines Gallen"" project, north of Noranda, Quebec. As a result of the acid mine water associated with this property, a major pre-production phase included the installation of a water treatment plant to render the water environmentally suitable.This paper emphasizes the planning, installation and operational factors of the treatment plant necessary to the success of the mining operations and the maintaining of a clean environment.Introduction,T he Gallen Project is a zinc, gold and silver open-pit mining operation approximately 10 kilometres north of Noranda, Quebec. This property has a long history, with initial diamond drilling done in the early 1930s and underground mining taking place between 1953 and 1962. This property was reactivated in 1980, with production scheduled a t a rate of 45,000 ton s per month.Included in the reactivation plans for the property was the installation of a water treatment plant to treat the acidic mine water.Plant DesignThe requirements for the Gallen water treatment plant were two-fold. Firstly, it was necessary to neutralize the acid water and secondly to produce a sludge containing metal hydroxides and sulphates which would be stable when stored, and a clarified overflow meeting governmental regulations to be discharged to the environment.The flow sheet (Fig. I) will explain the process in treatment of the acid water.Acid mine drainage is treated with lime to increase the pH to 9.50. Metals in solution are precipitated as metal hydroxides and the 504 as calcium sulphate. The precipitate slurry is then aerated to convert ferrous iron to ferric iron, which is more stable for storage and disposal.The precipitate is next flocculated with a polymer flocculant and settled in the thickener to produce a sulphate/Hydroxide sludge and a final effluent discharged to the environment."

Jan 1, 1983

By T. Saksala

In this paper, the embedded discontinuity approach is applied to finite element modeling of rock fracture. A rate-dependent constitutive model based on the embedded displacement discontinuity theory is developed to describe the mode I, mode II and mixed mode fracture of rock in tension and compression. The bulk material is described as linear elastic until reaching the elastic limit. Beyond this limit, a ratedependent exponential softening law governs the evolution of the embedded displacement jump. The present approach incorporates the rock heterogeneity by random description of the mineral texture of rock. Moreover, the inherent initial microcrack populations of natural rocks are accounted for as randomly oriented embedded discontinuities. Numerical examples demonstrate the model behavior in uniaxial compression and tension. The effect of loading rate and confining pressure is tested as well in 2D numerical simulations. These simulations show that the model captures the main features of rock in confined compression and uniaxial tension. The developed method has the computational efficiency of continuum plasticity models. However, it has an important advantage of accounting for the orientation of introduced microcracks.

Jan 1, 2015

By M. Scobie, T. Atkinson

"This paper reviews the development of new designs in extensible and high angle conveyor systems. These aim to overcome the limitations of prior alternative concepts in design. The application of such systems in strip, terrace, open pit and mountain mining is reviewed. IntroductionTruck haulage costs have tended to escalate in recent years. This has been primarily due to operations generally moving to greater depths with associated increases in haul distances . Periods of high inflation rates have also been experienced for diesel fuel oil, tires and other petroleum based products. Recent international political events have tended to regenerate concerns over future oil supply and price stability. For such reasons, conveyor based transport is becoming increasingly attractive. Truck haulage maintains an inherent flexibility and improvements continue to be made in performance and capacity. Doubts must exist, however, over the extent to which further economies of scale may be made. Conversely, belt conveyor systems do not suffer this constraint and have the following advantages:• Electrical power is used and the specific energy consumption is at least half that required for truck haulage.• Operating costs and skilled labour requirements are lower.• Equipment has superior longevity and is ""inflation proof"" .• Access roads can be steeper and narrower in most mine environments, reducing construction and maintenance costs.• They are less prone to breakdown and bad weather delays .• In long haul, high capacity operations conveyors can save substantially on capital cost.• Environmental impact is improved with reduced noise level, dust and atmospheric pollution. Although conveyor systems are less flexible in operation than truck haulage and although a breakdown in any part of the system can immobilize the total system, mechanical availabilities of + 80% are constantly reported by large operators. There would appear in the past to have been some prejudice against conveyor systems in hard rock mines due to lack of experience. Apparent reservations would apply equally 10 underground coal mines, yet practically all of these mines (and some underground hard rock mines) find conveyor systems more economical than other transport systems."

Jan 1, 1991

By H. Bannach

"This paper focusses on what seem to be the leading indicators of prosperity in the minerals industry during this decade: the geographical distribution of deposits, environmental impact, capital allocation and acid consumption. There is a potential for meeting environmental criteria at a reasonable profit margin, but those with limited acid demand within economic range will face hard times to meet growing environmental concerns, resulting in additional mine closures. At the other end, those with old waste dumps who are thinking about smelting capacity additions will need capital influx at a much larger rate than ever before. All things considered, a change should be made in the way the world's copper reserves are computed, because there is a growing need to internalize these effects back to the ore blocks before a meaningful estimate of reserves becomes available.IntroductionThe copper industry has undergone several changes during the past decade, many of which were expected to take place because they rel1ect the economics of ageing mines. However, many others took place that shocked the industry because they were not completely under control. The focus of this paper is to rel1ect on those changes, and on market expectations for this decade that somehow depend on their impact.To review the prospects for new mine developments and expansions from an industry perspective to a full extent, it would be necessary to consider not only the deposits themselves, but also geographical constraints, environmental constraints, labour composition, technology development and use, the availability of capital, ownership issues, and integration within the industry. This paper, however, will concentrate on only some of the key elements that are believed to playa major role in shaping the market in the decade that has just begun. These elements, all interconnected, are:"

Jan 1, 1992

By R. P. Taylor

"This paper covers the development of the property to its present production level of20,000 tonnes per day from the Valley Mine. It will also review the analysis of various case studies for the expansion of the project to its full potential, and discuss the impact of the recent structural change in the copper market on the development of a large low-grade deposit such as Valley.IntroductionIn 1964 Cominco participated, along with a number of other companies and individuals, in the formation of Valley Copper Mines Ltd. This company was formed in order to facilitate exploration on a large number of mineral claims held by these parties in British Columbia's Highland Valley, approximately 400 km northeast of Vancouver (Fig. I). Cominco 's ownership of Valley Copper was gradually increased over the years bot h through shares gained for exploration expenditures and through shares purchased on the open market. By the mid- 1970sCominco' s interest in Valley Copper exceeded 80%.ExplorationExploration from 1964 to 1969 led to the discovery of a massive porphyry copper depo sit now known as the Valley orebody. A claim boundary divided the deposit with 80% of it on Valley Copper claims and 20070 on claims held by Bethlehem Copper which was already mining adjacent copper orebodies. During the period when the Valley ore body was discovered, exploration by other companies resulted in the discovery of the large Lornex and Highrnont deposits nearby. The stage was now set for the Highland Valley to become an important copper-producing area (Fig. 2)."

Jan 1, 1986

By J. Bensabat, B. Figueiredo, A. Niemi, J. Rutqvist, C. F. Tsang

"A hydro-mechanical model was developed to study the interaction between mechanical deformation and fluid flow in the fault zones during CO2 injection and storage at the Heletz site which was chosen as a test site for CO2 injection experiments in the framework of the EU-MUSTANG project. The potential reservoir for CO2 storage at the Heletz site consists of three sand layers separated by lowpermeability shale layers. The potential consequences caused by fault reactivation, focusing on the shortterm integrity of CO2 storage, are evaluated. The difference in the results obtained by considering the three-layer as an equivalent layer storage formation is analyzed.INTRODUCTIONLarge-scale storage of CO2 in deep underground reservoirs may cause considerable pore-pressure perturbation as well as flux migration and concern has been raised over whether shear slip displacements may be induced in nearby faults, as a consequence of their reactivation. A state-of-the-art review can be found in Rutqvist (2012), which describes the various possible effects resulting from CO2 injection into a deep sedimentary basin, including those involved in reservoir stress–strain changes, micro-seismicity, caprock sealing performance, and potential fault reactivation. Moreover, several studies have recently shown how CO2 injection may produce seismic events both on major faults (i.e., large faults with large initial shear offset) (Cappa & Rutqvist, 2011a, b, 2012), and on minor faults that might have gone undetected during the site characterization, e.g., faults less than 1 km long and without detected initial offset (Mazzoldi et al., 2012).The present paper is concerned with the Heletz formation which was chosen as a test site for CO2 injection experiments in the framework of the EU-MUSTANG project. The Heletz site located at the southern Mediterranean coastal plain of Israel and the structure is an anticline fold with a crest of about 4 km by 2 km. The structure is gently dipping to the east, truncated by a pinch-out line to the west and subdivided into a number of blocks by transversal normal faults with small displacements. The water table is located at 300 m below the land surface. An areal sketch of the site with the elevation of the caprock and the location of the borehole that has been chosen for the CO2 injection experiment is presented in Figure 1."

Jan 1, 2015

The total current inventory of mature fine tailings is estimated to be nearly 850 million m³. Pressure has come to bear on the industry to accelerate its tailings management practices and prevent this inventory from steadily growing. The present paper describes the treatment, management and reclamation of fluid fine tailings. New technologies being evaluated include: i) Thin layered - fines dominated deposits, ii) Deep - fines dominated deposits, iii) Fines enriched sand deposits, and finally iv) water capped disposal in end pit lakes. A brief overview for each of the methods of treatment and disposal for fluid fine tailings is provided.

Aug 1, 2013

By M. Thérien, M. Rémillard

"Data from two industrial plants are treated by mass balance package BILMAT. The first application concerned a base metals/precious metals (PM) producer and the second, implementation of a hydrocyclone for the recovery of iron chips in the granite industry. Also LOTUS 123 software can easily be adapted for laboratory test mass balances using an IBM-PC computer. INTRODUCTIONThe present paper deals with two different BILMAT program applications. The first application concerns a copper-zinc-gol d-sil Yer producer based in North-western Quebec and the second, concerns the iriplementation of a hydrocyclone for the recovery of iron chips in Quebec granite company.Afterwards, we deal with some LOTUS 123 software applications for laboratory test mass balances using an IBM-PC.1. Base metal and P.M. producerNoranda Inc, Mattagami division, which operates mines in North Western Quebec, produces copper and zinc concentrates from a sulphide ore. Small amounts of gold (0,34 g/t) and silver (20 g/tl are present. At the time of the study, only 30% of the silver content was recovered in the copper concentrate. The main objective of this study is, to evaluate the metallurgical behaviour of silver in the flotation circuits, to increase its recovery in the copper concentrate and therefore to improve its final economic value. It is then worthwhile to identify the silver bearing minerals and to determine the critical flotation stages where they are lost. The methodology proposed is based on the coupling of a mineralogical study and a detailed mass balance ca1cu1ation in the flotation circuit performed using the BILMAT mass balance package (1, 2, 3).The results are discussed with respect to the distribution of silver in the circuit. The recoveries obtained at the various separation stages for the minerals present in the ore are also discussed."

Jan 1, 1987