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By J. Frostiak

"This paper describes some energy reduction measures Implemented at the Griffith Mine. Before proceeding, I will give you a brief overview of the operation.The Griffith Mine is an iron ore mining, concentrating and Pelletizing complex located in the red lake area of northwestern Ontario. The operation is owned by Stelco Inc. And is managed By Pickands Mather & Co. of Cleveland, Ohio. Operation of the concentrator commenced in 1968 and it has been producing at a nominal capacity of 1,500 ,000 tons annually.The plant flow sheet is illustrated in this slide. Run of the mine ore is crushed in a single stage 54"" gyratory crusher. Reclaim ore feeders draw from an open stockpile to feed two 32' diameter by 12' long autogenous mills, each driven by 6800 hp. Two s·rages of wet magnetic separation, roughers and cleaners, and primary cyclones complete the primary circuit. Cleaner concentrate is then ground in four 14' diameter by 28' long pebble mills rated at 2000 hp. The secondary grinding circuit is closed by cyclones and fine screens. Secondary cyclone overflow is further upgraded through hydro-separators, finisher magnetic separators and flotation.The magnetic concentrate produced is then thickened, filtered, balled and fired in three vertical shaft furnaces to produce a high quality hematite pellet."

Jan 1, 1983

By F. Flynn, P. Downey, G. Ritson

"Bell Creek Mill which has been in continuous operation since 1987 has undergone numerous operational changes in the past three years. The addition of over 2. 5 million tons of resource at over 13 git from Hoyle Pond Mine precipitated an expansion program for the Bell Creek Mill. This paper discusses the major changes that have occurred over the past two years to increase throughput and efficiencies. In addition, the refractory ore treatment options are also discussed.IntroductionThe Bell Creek Mill is located in the Timmins Goldcamp approximately 8km NE of porcupine Ontario. (Fig I.)The mill was originally constructed by Camamax in 1987 to treat the Bell Creek ore at a design throughput of 350tpd. The flowsheet (Fig 2.) consisted of two stage crushing, grinding, thickening, leach and drum filtration with gold recovery by Merrill Crowe.As ore depleted at Bell Creek, the Mill was purchased by Falconbridge to process ore from their Hoyle Pond property. Kinross purchased the Hoyle Pond property and Bell Creek Mill from Falconbridge in 1992.The successful exploration program at Hoyle Pond has led to several expansions and process design changes, with further changes planned over the next twelve months.In 1994, the mine produced 61,865 oz. of gold at an average cost of 197US$ per oz. In 1995 production was 91, 611 oz. at a cost of 187US$ per oz. Projecting the nine months ended September 30, production for 1996 will be 155,000 oz. at a cost of 165US$ per oz.In early 1997, the CIP expansion will be complete, with a target of 175,000 oz. at a cost of 176US$ per oz for 1997. The mill throughput will have increased from 400tpd to 1500tpd between 1994 and 1997.The changes to Bell Creek since 1994 have been numerous with very little of the existing equipment still in operation. The total cost of the expansion to date is 15 million C$. This paper discusses the major projects carried out during in this time. The focus will be to highlight the justification of each project, the design and engineering, some of the initial start-up problems and solutions.Figure 3 shows a plan of the existing mill facility together with the various additions that were carried out."

Jan 1, 1997

By Fidelis T. Suorineni

The Ashanti mine, located in Obusai, Ghana, West Africa, has been in production for over 100 years, and is currently the second largest single gold producer in Africa. The mine covers a concession area of 434 square kilometers with four main ore types: the quartz vein type, disseminated sulphide type, supergene sulphides and transition ore, and granitoids stock works (visible gold and quartz veinlets). Various mining strategies and methods have been employed for the mining of the narrow-vein ore at Ashanti. In recent years, the mine owner: Ashanti Goldfields Company Ltd. has embarked on a mine-wide expansion program to boost production to a target of one million ounces per annum. With the rapid depletion of its high-grade ore, a suitable mining method was required to produce a high tonnage at low cost to meet production objectives. This paper discusses how the Ashanti mine applied Canada experiences in mining technology to boost production, and the impact that the differing geological settings between the two countries had on the stope performance at the Ashanti operations. Experience developed at the Ashanti mine led to innovative modifications for stope layout and design methods in relatively poor ground conditions.

Oct 1, 2001

By Jérôme Girard, Shiu Kam, Sue Longo

"Historically, tailings management in a northern climate has involved the deposition of tailings into the Tailings Management Area (TMA) as conventional slurry. This type of system is obviously viable but presents challenges that are difficult to manage as circumstances change over the life of mine. These issues can include:? Increases in mill throughput, and? Life of the TMA for the life of mine.This case study will present how thickened, high-density, non-segregating tailings are used as an alternative to conventional slurry disposal to achieve greater storage capacity and enhanced environmental performance for a gold tailings facility in a northern climate. This paper will focus on how this change in deposition strategy accommodated the increased throughput of the mill and the increased life of mine. Specifically, the paper will discuss the addition and integration of new processes to the exiting mill system to accommodate the tailings management issues. It will highlight the challenges from laboratory testing to pre-feasibility to the engineered design of the thickened tailings system implemented at Musselwhite Mine.BACKGROUNDGoldcorp Canada’s Musselwhite Mine, in Northwestern Ontario (120 km north of Pickle Lake), is an underground gold mining operation that began production in 1997. The current mill throughput is about 4000 tpd (1.4 Mtpa). Gold extraction is based on a CIP process with cyanide destruction.The existing tailings management area (TMA) is located about 2 km southwest of the mill complex. The TMA is contained by high ground to the north and to the west and flanged by a moraine ridge along the south side. A number of dams have been constructed along this ridge. The dams were first built in 1996 and subsequently raised in 2000 and again in 2005. Excess tailings pond water is discharged to a polishing pond then released to the environment via a wetland.The TMA was originally designed to contain 13.7 Mt of tailings under a ponded surface for closure. The water cover was to inhibit adverse long-term environmental effects because the tailings contain pyrrhotite and other sulphide-bearing minerals that are potentially acid generating. The design was modified during Stage 3 Construction in 2005 to expand the storage capacity to 17.3 Mt (Golder, 2005). As of end of 2009, over 16 Mt of tailings had been deposited in the TMA. The slurried tailings were historically deposited at 50% solids."

Jan 1, 2011

By Louis J. Cabri

"Mineralogical evaluation of ores containing platinum-group elements (PGE) is fraught with difficulties because of the low grades (often 1-3 g/t PGE), dispersal of PGE (usually as finegrained platinum-group minerals [PGM]), as well as occurring in solid solution in some base metal sulphides (BMS) such as pentlandite and pyrrhotite. Mineral processors not only need to know how the PGE are distributed, that is, their mineralogical distribution, but the grain sizes of the PGM, and especially the associated minerals.After obtaining a representative ground sample, common approaches include studying a large number of polished or polished thin sections, concentration of the PGM and sulphides by different gravity methods (e.g., heavy liquids, elutriation, micro-panning) and study of the produced concentrates. Unfortunately, these methods often do not produce concentrations that are sufficiently representative of a particular ore. The newly developed patented technology of hydroseparation (Rudashevsky et al., 2002) is especially effective at making concentrations of PGM over a wide range of concentrations (down to <300 ppb Pt+Pd+Au) and size fractions, including <45µm (down to a few micrometres in size), a size range not possible by other techniques. This water-based environmentally friendly laboratory technique provides a large amount of data from samples, which can range from 5 to 1000g, giving confidence to extrapolation of results to bench-scale and larger test work, especially when combined with quantitative image analysis to determine modal percent of major minerals and mineral liberation data, needed to predict the minimum (K80) and optimum (K40) grinds. INTRODUCTIONThe invention of the electron microprobe in the early 1960’s and scanning electron microscopes (SEM) with energy dispersive spectrometers (EDS) in the 1970’s presented mineralogists with powerful tools permitting them to obtain chemical and surface area data on minute amounts of minerals in situ, in a non-destructive manner. An area of process mineralogy that has very much benefited from this new technology was the characterization and understanding of PGM species, resulting in rapid growth of newly characterized species (Figure 1). Recognition of the first PGM may be ascribed to the Spanish explorer Ulloa in 1748, who described native platinum from South America. The second PGM (laurite, RuS2) was only recognised in 1866 by Wöhler in placer samples from Borneo (now Kalimantan) and the third (sperrylite, PtAs2) by Wells in 1889 from the Sudbury Ni-Cu sulphide deposits. The discovery of the important Pt-Pd deposits in the Bushveld Igneous Complex led to the characterization of the important Pt-Pd sulphides (cooperite, PtS2 in 1928 and braggite, (Pt,Pd)S2 in 1932). By the early 1960’s, only about 20 PGM were recognised, and many later proved to be poorly or incompletely characterized. Thus, the introduction of electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) led to a 50% increase of known PGM, as shown in a 1972 review on PGM (Cabri, 1972). At the time of the next review in 1981 (Cabri, 1981) the number of known PGM had grown to 75 and as of 2002, it had increased to 109 (Cabri, 2002). However, it is the author’s experience that less than about 25 PGM may be considered to be “common”, i.e., found in many different deposit types, as shown in Table 1, but usually only some of these occur in any one particular deposit."

Jan 1, 2004

By Paul Voigt, Mike Hourn, Glenn Stieper

Sable Zinc Kabwe Limited ("Sable") is a base metal processing plant, two kilometres south of Kabwe Town in Central Province, Zambia. The region has a rich history in mining and minerals production, being a major lead and zinc producer from the 1900s up to the mid-1990s. In 2006, a copper plant was built at the Sable processing site to treat third-party copper and cobalt oxide ores and concentrates. The oxide leaching plant included whole ore leaching, solvent extraction and production of 8,000 tpa LME Grade A copper cathode. The plant was placed on care and maintenance in 2014, and Glencore Plc ("Glencore") took the opportunity to convert the plant using a minimal budget, to an Albion Process™ plant to treat local refractory copper concentrates unsuitable or uneconomic for smelting. The Albion Process™ plant comprises an M100 IsaMill™ operating in acidic conditions such that raffinate from the downstream process is recycled back to slurry the concentrate delivered to site thus maximising copper tenor in solution and reducing water consumption. The finely ground concentrate feeds an oxidative leaching plant using the existing stainless steel oxide leach reactors converted to Albion Process™ duty by fitting HyperSparge™ supersonic oxygen injectors and gas dispersing agitators. The leached slurry is then directed to the existing solid/liquid separation equipment, and the PLS is then sent to the existing SX/EW plant. The plant also allows for cobalt recovery from the raffinate. The plant was designed based on testwork on regional copper concentrates. The plant was designed to toll treat a range of concentrates, and so the design was flexible With the flexibility of the Albion Process™ being one of its distinct advantages, the plant was ideally suited for tolling regional concentrates. The plant was commissioned and ramped up in six weeks using low-grade Zambian copper concentrate, and produced exclusively LME Grade A copper with over 99% leach recovery in the Albion circuit. INTRODUCTION The Sable Zinc Kabwe Limited ("Sable") process plant is located 2 km south of Kabwe town and 140km north of Lusaka in Central Province, Zambia. In 1902, rich deposits of zinc and lead were discovered with mines and processing plants operating in and around the town until mid-1994. In 2000, the Kabwe Mine tailings dams were sold to Sable, a newly established company, as part of a purchase deal for other plots and facilities. Up until 2004, Sable produced zinc cathodes in an SX/EW plant treating wash plant tailing material. In 2004, Sable was acquired by the South African mining company Metorex Limited ("Metorex"), and in 2006 a copper/cobalt SX/EW plant was built to produce copper cathode from malachite ore supplied from the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2011, Jinchuan Group International Resources Co. Ltd acquired Metorex and Sable was in turn sold to a subsidiary of Glencore Plc ("Glencore").

Jan 1, 2019

By O. A. Ojo, R. G. Ding, M. C. Chaturvedi

In this study, the fusion zone microstructure of tungsten inert gas weld of a directionally solidified NhAl-base alloy was examined by the standard metallographic techniques involving the use of optical, analytical scanning and transmission electron microscopes equipped with energy dispersive spectrometer. Fusion zone cracking was observed to be closely associated with interdendritic secondary solidification microconstituents identified as consisting of y, y&apos; and NiMo (Y) phases. Depression of solidification temperature to the terminal ternary eutectic reaction temperature of the system during cooling is suggested as an important factor contributing to the fusion zone cracking.

Jan 1, 2006

By S. Tuttle, R. Sisson

"Suncor Energy Inc. has proposed a 2.2 billion dollar expansion to the current oil sands operation, which will more than double the productive capability of the facility. As part of the application for this expansion, a comprehensive closure plan had to be developed and filed.Closure planning includes a systematic evaluation of the area to be developed, the development activities planned, the goals and objectives of the corporation in re-establishing landforms and ecosystems at the same time as running an effective operation. As early as is practical during the mine development, surface contouring is completed, soil is reconstructed, and vegetation, surface drainage and wetlands are re-established. Once active reclamation is complete and vegetation has been re-established, Suncor monitors maturation of landscapes and ecosystems to provide the submission basis for reclamation certification"

Jan 1, 1999

By P. Toscano

The objective of this investigation was to determine how the losses of nickel, copper and cobalt in fayalite slags could be controlled for nickel mattes with iron contents below 5 wt%. Laboratory-converting and slag-cleaning experiments were carried out at 1250°C. Several variables were investigated during and after converting to help minimize the amount of nickel and cobalt that reports to the slag. The variables used were oxygen concentration in the blast, coke breeze addition and nitrogen injection stirring. In all the experiments, slag and matte co-existed. Coke additions during converting have little effect on the losses of nickel, copper and cobalt. In fact, coke additions retard the converting process by consuming some of the oxygen injected. On the other hand, coke additions and nitrogen injection applied after converting was completed resulted in decreased slag losses.

Jan 1, 2004

By P. Toscano, T. A. Utigard

"The objective of this investigation was to determine how the losses of nickel, copper and cobalt in fayalite slags could be controlled for nickel mattes with iron contents below 5 wt%. Laboratory-converting and slag-cleaning experiments were carried out at 1250°C.Several variables were investigated during and after converting to help minimize the amount of nickel and cobalt that reports to the slag. The variables used were oxygen concentration in the blast, coke breeze addition and nitrogen injection stirring. In all the experiments, slag and matte co-existed.Coke additions during converting have little effect on the losses of nickel, copper and cobalt. In fact, coke additions retard the converting process by consuming some of the oxygen injected. On the other hand, coke additions and nitrogen injection applied after converting was completed resulted in decreased slag losses."

Jan 1, 2004

By D. Getzlaf

"Oilfield cementing has been utilized in the industry since the turn of the century. Originally, wells were shallow and criteria for well integrity were somewhat limited. Since that time, wells have stretched the envelope in depth, temperature, and pressure. Environmental regulations have also become more stringent, thus, the importance of hydraulic isolation between permeable zones, and between these zones and surface has become more and more important.Initially, oilfield cements were comprised predominantly of construction cement and very limited additives. As time progressed, additives were incorporated to control pumping time or placement time and little effort was placed on optimizing actual components within the cement chemistry. This paper presents issues and concerns created by adding just one new component to the fundamental chemistry of an oilfield cement."

Jan 1, 2004

By Matthew Violot

Introduction ?Located off highway 6, approximately 5 km, SW of Thompson, Manitoba ?Base metal mine: Nickel? Maximum Depth: 4100 ft ?Started Production in 1966 (INCO, 2006)?Halted in 1978?Re-opened in 1989 ?Two types of mining:?VBM (vertical block mining)?Cut and Fill 1.1 Problem ?Birchtree mine is experiencing failures and undesirable dilution in some of their stopes. ?Time can have a large effect on open stopestability. ?Birchtreeis interested in how time is affecting the stability of their stopes. ?The study focuses on the lower 84 complex, which extends from 2750 to 4100 foot level.

Nov 1, 2011

By M. W. Franklin, D. W. Hendriks

"Changing ore types, feed grades and c1rculat1ng loads are some of the many factors that can make flotation feed-back control difficult. To control a flotation circuit using conventional fixed-parameter control algorithms, one must either tune the controllers very often or tune the controllers to the middle of the normal operating range. The former approach is very time consuming, while the latter approach can lead to long periods of either very sluggish responses or highly reactive responses which can lead to instability. The problem becomes compounded if feed-forward variables are introduced, creating even more variables to tune. An alternative to a fixed-parameter control algorithm is an adaptive control algorithm. An adaptive control algorithm continuously retunes itself based on previous reactions to its changes. Feed-forward control also becomes much more viable because the algorithm will tune the feed-forward parameters and the feed-back parameters simultaneously. Using the combination of feed-forward and feed-back tuning is an effective way to decouple the loops needed in flotation circuits where one circuit feeds into another. The advantages of adaptive controllers over conventional controllers will be introduced through the use of a simulator. Also discussed will the be the implementation of adaptive controllers at Brunswick Mining and some of the modifications that are available to help solve more difficult control problems.Brunswick Mining is located just outside of Bathurst, New Brunswick. The concentrator processes approximately 10250 tonnes per day of ore that assays at approximately 8.9 %zn, 3.6 %Pb, 0.3 r.cu and I 00 gram/tonne of Ag. The four products produced are zinc concentrate assaying 51 %Zn, lead concentrate assaying 34 %Pb, copper concentrate assaying 21 %Cu, and a bulk concentrate assaying 32 %Zn and 18 %Pb."

Jan 1, 1986

By H. McSorley

"I note that many of you are involved in the production of zinc, lead and copper concentrates and metal, which I am the most familiar with among the non-ferrous metals. This afternoon, I will describe briefly the responsibilities of a commercial manager within a mining/metallurgical company, the basic framework of a non-ferrous metals concentrate agreement and lastly, a brief discussion of the copper, zinc and lead concentrate and metal markets.I hope this talk will contribute to a better understanding of the business between all of us and look forward to a discussion after the presentation.First of all, I work for Noranda Sales, which is the marketing and sales agent for Noranda Minerals' three operating units: Noranda Copper, Noranda Zinc and Mining Corporation. In addition, Noranda Sales acts for other mining companies in the marketing of their raw materials and metals. Noranda Sales is responsible for procuring all raw materials for Noranda's metallurgical plants, such as the Copper Group's Forne and Gaspe smelters, as well as the sale of surplus concentrates and by-products and metal products. In addition, Noranda Sales trades metals and concentrates and owns a metal brokerage business, Rudolf Wolff, a founding member of the London Metal Exchange. It does $3 billion of business in 60 countries, exporting some 80% of Noranda Minerals' output to the world.What are the responsibilities of commercial management in resource marketing to the mine and metal producers?Resource marketing and commercial administration involves assistance in establishing exploration priorities, contributing to feasibility studies, pre-production planning, product promotion and realization of income for many properties and metallurgical plants through completion of supply and sale agreements with other companie"

Jan 1, 1988

By D Reddy Chinnasane

Outline Location of BirchtreeMine and Layout of 124 OB Cut and Fill Mining Background Purpose of the Studies Methodology Results and Analysis Conclusions and Recommendations

Oct 1, 2010

By F. Lindroos

A cornerstone in the LKAB Green Pellet concept is to produce pellets with a small footprint in terms of energy con-sumption, CO2 emission and emission of other elements harmful to the environment, like dust, sulphur dioxides, nitrogen oxides, chloride and fluorine. The concept also encompasses our determination to make pellet products that contribute to low environmental impact and low energy consumption in our customer?s processes. The presentation will focus on the pelletizing process. It will describe both how we have attempted to decrease the generation of unwanted components in the process gas, and how we have tested or evaluated equipment for external gas cleaning. We will discuss and give examples from recent and on-going efforts and outline some of the future challenges we see, to meet our own environmental standards and also the tough demands imposed by EU and national legislation, while striving to boost production.

May 1, 2011

By S. Rajeswari, D. Gopi

"Pitting corrosion inhibition of 304 stainless steel (SS) in groundwater with a ternary inhibitor mixture (phosphonic acid + bivalent cation + various surfactants) was studied with different environmental variables such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen and chloride ions. Critical pitting potential and corrosion potential were calculated for these test media using electrochemical techniques. Under the tested condition, the localized corrosion resistance of 304 SS was determined and the results are discussed. IntroductionPitting corrosion of metals and alloys is a major cause of failure in chemical processing desalination plants, scrubber for flue gas desulphurization (FGD) plants, water storage tanks and pipelines, petroleum refineries, etc.Heat exchangers and condensers in inland thermal and nuclear powerplants utilize groundwater as a coolant, but materials of construction are generally prone to localized corrosion.Localized corrosion attack can be initiated when the passive film on the metal is disrupted. The presence of certain aggressive anions such as chlorides (Cl-) can migrate to the actively corroding area and stabilize pitting corrosion. Attention has been focussed on improving the resistance of stainless steel against localizedcorrosion in aqueous environments.One of the most accepted methods of avoiding corrosion is by the addition of chemicals (inhibitors). Over the past two decades, some phosphonic acids have been explored due to their good corrosion inhibition efficiency and low toxicity (Fang et al., 1993; Karman et al., 1998; Rajendran et al., 1998; Gopi and Rajeswari, 2000a). Bivalent cations like Zn2+ are often applied as additives to inhibit the metal dissolution (Sekine and Hirakawa, 1986; Aruna Bahadur, 1998)."

Jan 1, 2003

By J. W. Baker

"The Kerr-Addison mine is on the northeast shore of Larder Lake in the township of McGarry, District of Timiskaming, Ontario. It lies just south of the highway leading to the town of Kirkland Lake, 25 miles to the west.The property was first staked in the summer of 1906, by a party of prospectors led by a Dr. Reddick of Ottawa. Subsequent assessment work resulted in the erection of a 20-stamp mill in 1908. Gold from this mill was used in the first gold coins to be minted in Canada. The operation did not prove successful, however, and mining was suspended. In 1914 a consider-able amount of underground development was undertaken by the Associated Goldfields Co., without success.In 1936 Kerr-Addison Gold Mines Co. carried out large-scale sampling from four adits driven into the hillside at the mine. Results were not satisfactory, but it was decided to drill one last deep diamond drill hole from surface. The hole cut a wide section of gold ore. With this encouragement, further development outlined a large tonnage of ore, and a 500-ton mill was put into production in May, 1938. In 1939, its first full year, the mine produced 54,480 ounces of gold and 2,732 ounces of silver. By 1955 the mill had been expanded to a rate of 4,549 tons daily, and in this year 427,193 ounces of gold and 23,490 ounces of silver were produced.From 1938 to the end of 1955 the total production, from 17,473,797 tons milled, has been 3,607,462.74 ounces of gold (0.2064 ounces per ton), and 182,278.56 ounces of silver, with a total value of $131,073,037."

Jan 1, 1949

By A. Sinha, N. K. Babar, H. R. Kalihari, A. K. Chakraborty, M. R. Saharan, C. P. N. Pathak

A case study is presented on the optimization of cable bolting patterns in cut-and-fill stopes at the Chikla Mine, MOIL, India. Rock mass characterization, using Bieniawski’s RMR and Barton’s Q, indicated that the stopes lie in the “no supports required” to “spot bolting required” support categories. In contrast, the current practice of cable bolting in a 2.0 m by 2.0 m grid pattern for stope widths less than 12 m displays different results. Numerical modelling results are in line with the rock mass characterization study. It can be affirmed, as well, that no cable is carrying rock loads greater than 5 t. This fact is derived from observational behaviour of the crown pillar of an experimental stope with open stoping operations and hanging cables in the cut-and-fill stopes of the mine. An increase in the cable bolting grid spacing is, hence, recommended for implementation by mine management, based on the study described in subsequent sections. It is also suggested that the mine adopt the open stoping method, provided results of a rock mechanics instrumentation program in an experimental stope with a cable bolting grid of 2.5 m square are favourable.

Jan 1, 2007

By 12670

The Cigar Lake project will develop the world’s second largest high-grade uranium deposit. The Cigar Lake Phase 1 orebody contains approximately 226 million pounds U3O8 at an average grade of 20.7% U3O8. The mine, to be operated by Cameco Corporation, will use a unique water jet boring mining method to cut previously frozen ore. A distinctive ore handling design is required to handle the highgrade ore slurry exiting the mining machines. The ore will be crushed and ground underground, with the ore slurry then pumped to surface. Loaded into purpose-designed containers on tractor-trailer units, the ore slurry will be trucked to Cogema Resources Incorporated’s McClean Lake mill. McClean Lake will leach all of the ore. Forty-three percent of the resulting uranium solution will remain at McClean Lake for processing into yellowcake. The other 57% of the uranium solution will be shipped to Cameco’s Rabbit Lake mill for processing into yellowcake there. Detailed design for the Cigar Lake project is now underway. Barring regulatory or market delays, production could start up as soon as early 2006.

Jan 1, 2004