Search Documents

By P. V. Amosov, V. A. Masloboev, D. V. Makarov, S. G. Seleznev, A. A. Baklanov

"The development of industry and intensive use of natural resources leads to a significant decrease in the share of reserves of rich ores, deposits of which have nearly all been exploited. Large amounts of displaced rock mass are accumulated, significant emissions of gas and dust from mining, dust from dumps and tailing pits, ingress of chemicals and toxic elements in surface and groundwater all can have negative effects on existing ecosystems and human health. Especially dangerous is the impact in Arctic regions with extreme climate conditions. The maintenance of overburden dumps and tailings dams requires significant capital and material costs. In this paper, some mining enterprises of the Murmansk region, in the Russian Federation, consider the environmental problems of the industry and propose some solutions.INTRODUCTIONThe safety of environment during the extraction and processing of minerals is a very acute problem throughout the whole world. The problem acquires a specific character in the Russian Federation. There, rather poor minerals, often existing in unconventional forms and including several mineral components are processed. The Russian mineral base has a specific geographical location; most of the deposits under operation are located in the Subarctic or Arctic regions, as well as in Siberia and in the Far East. Vast amounts of rock waste and tailings pose serious economic and ecological problems in mining regions. The operation of overburden heaps and tailings requires considerable capital and material costs. The dumps withdraw vast lands from potential commercial use. Large amounts of mined rock disturb the existing geological balance; emissions of gas and dust which accompany the mining operations, dusting of waste heaps and tailings, emissions of reagents and heavy metals into natural surface and ground waters all can produce negative effects on existing ecosystems and human health."

Jan 1, 2016

Post--Crunch Financial Management -An Overview A. The Industry and the Capital Markets B. .The SME -De-risking the Current and New Assets Followed by: C. The Lender?s Perspective on Re-financing?Jeff Stufsky, BNPParibas, NYCD D. .The Agency/Export Credit Lender Perspective?Doug Macaulay, EDC, Ottawa E. The Foreign Political Insurance Perspective?Pierre Vieillescazes, Carrick-Bend, Washington, DC ?Four Fundamental Metal Models No Longer Prevail. ?Mining is in new ?waters?: so be prepared (next page). ?Capital markets are uncertain-so be your own financier first ?If tight capital may remain, prepare to triage based on cash-flow production (not oz, lbs, tonnes, etc) ?Know your banker/financier(and it should know mining) ?In the past, it was ?know your borrower? ?The climbing team can fall if one climber carries too much ?Constantly re-assess the risk matrix (and j/v?s), and ?De-risk/diversify both the asset and the capital base

May 1, 2010

By W. G. Hubler

History The Aldermac mine is situated on the Nipissing Central railway near the ' centre of the township of Boischatel, Quebec, and is about ten miles west of Noranda. Aldermac Mines, Limited, is a subsidiary company of Towagamac Exploration Company. The property was staked by Messrs. Alderson and MacKay and McMartin, during the winter of 1922-23. During October, 1925, a copper discovery was made by K. W. Fritzsche, who was in charge of exploration work at that time, the first trench on this discovery averaging 8 per cent copper over a width of ten feet. This led to the discovery of another body 200 feet to the north, with an average of 3 per cent copper over fifteen feet in width. A magnetic survey was then carried out which led to the location of the large pyrite ore-bodies which have been developed in the past few years. Development work was carried on to a depth of 1,125 feet, and approximately three million tons of massive pyrite ore was indicated. Extensive metallurgical tests were conducted in the laboratories of the Mines Branch of the Department of Mines at Ottawa to determine the proper metallurgical treatment and the economic possibilities of the ore. Owing to the comparatively low copper content, and the uncertainty of the copper market, it was doubtful if the mine could be profitably operated for the production of copper alone. Messrs. Alderson & MacKay, however, realized the possibility of utilizing the large tonnage of pyrite as a substitute for native sulphur, 'which in past years has been imported into .Canada for the manufacture of acid and sulphate pulp in paper mills. They therefore organized the Sulphite Research Corporation with the object of developing an economical process of utilizing the pyrite.

Jan 1, 1932

By G. W. Neumann, J. R. Schnarr

The lead-zinc-copper-silver ores mined by Brunswick Mining and Smelting Corporation Limited at their No. 12 underground mine and No. 6 open-pit operation, and treated by distinct concentration processes in separate plants, present difficult metallurgical problems because of the extremely fine dissemination of the valuable minerals with pyrite and pyrrhotite. The problem of concentration is further complicated, in the No. 12 ore, by the presence of a varying content of graphitic carbon. This paper describes the milling of No. 12 ore and the production of copper, lead and zinc concentrates by differential flotation.

Jan 1, 1971

By W. A. Parks

Stone that may be applied to purposes of construction is available in nearly all the inhabited parts of Canada, the most important exception being the prairie region, but, even here, the deficiency is overcome in many parts by a wealth of glacial field-stones. In many parts of the country, also, the accessible stone is of a quality so poor that brick is more generally used. There is a great difference, however, between stone that 'may be used' and stone suitable for buildings of a monumental type or even for 'trimmings' on the better class of dwelling in the cities and towns. It is in the latter sense that the expression 'building stone' is commonly used. Thus restricted the term includes varieties of sandstone, limestone, and granite, using the latter word in the custom of the quarryman, not only for the true granite of the geologist but for many other igneous rocks as well. Building stone of high quality grades imperceptibly into stone suitable for monuments, particularly in the case of the granites. The present review will deal with building and monumental stone in this restricted sense and will omit marble, although that material has been used to some extent for building. For instance, the Great West block in Winnipeg is built of marble from British Columbia.

Jan 1, 1925

By Marco Quirion

The Daniel-Johnson dam, formerly named Manicouagan-5 (Manic-5), is located 800 km northeast of Montreal (Quebec) in Canada. This is the largest multiple-arch concrete dam in the world consisting in 13 arches and 14 buttresses. Since its construction in 1969, various type of cracks have appeared on both downstream and upstream faces of almost all the arches of this concrete dam. As a part of the Daniel- Johnson’s dam safety assessment program, Hydro-Québec is currently performing structural analysis of the dam with advanced numerical models to better understand and predict the dam behaviour. Because the buttresses transmit all the arch loads to the rock mass, determination of the properties of the dam foundation should not be neglected in dam global safety analysis and also to insure that reliable input parameters are used in the dam numerical simulations. This paper summarizes the past and the more recent investigations of this foundation used to assess its safety and stability. Moreover, the use of rock mass classification to estimate the deformation modulus, based on empirical equations, gives values in the range of 30 to 40 GPa that are higher than expected values. Using those values in the numerical simulations for dam structural analysis gives an excellent correlation with displacements monitoring of the buttresses.

Jan 1, 2015

By M. Mahdi Aboutalebi, Roderick I. L. Guthrie, Mihaiela Isac

"A preliminary computational fluid flow model has been developed to simulate the flow field of liquid steel in the mold region of billet mold casting. This study reports the effect of different Submerged Entry Nozzles (SEN) on the fluid flow in round and square billet, curved mold, casters. In this study, ANSYS Fluent 14.5 software was used to model the 3-D turbulent flow of liquid steel. The standard k-0 model was used to simulate turbulence in the mold region. Similarly, the species transport equations were discretized to simulate the dye injection test into the mold cavity. The behavior of flow in the mold region was validated against previous experimental work. Predicted results showed that different nozzle types plus the slight curvatures in the molds can significantly influence the flow patterns generated within the mold region, and thereby affect the finished quality of the billet products.INTRODUCTIONConventional Continuous Casting (C.C) processes are presently used to solidify more than 95% of the 1.5 billion tons of steel now produced in the world annually (World Steel in Figure, 2014). This overwhelming contribution of C.C processes for steel production is the prime motivation for this study, in order to understand and optimize the casting processes and thereby reduce internal defects and minimize energy consumption. The primary objective of all C.C processes is to maintain liquid metal purity during the casting process and to create a uniform flow within the caster so as to avoid internal and external defects. In this regard, studying fluid flows in the mold region of continuous caster has attracted many research groups, in both academia and industry, in recent years. The mold region is one of the most critical parts of the C.C. process, in which the transport phenomena associated with this region can significantly affect the quality of the final products. Thus, proper control of fluid flows within this region can be expected to greatly decrease both internal and surface defects such as Oscillation Marks (OM), inclusion entrapment, and Mold Powder Entrapment (MPE). In the casting process, the fluid flow in the mold region can be affected by a number of variables, such as; the flow control system (stopper rod or slide gate), nozzle geometry, SEN (Submerged Entry Nozzle) depth, casting speed, mold dimensions, gas injection, and the application of electromagnetic fields. One of the most influential and easily-changed fluid flows are the jets of steel issuing from the SEN. Nozzle geometries are variable, consisting of a number of exit ports, different port angles, and/or port sizes, the bottom shape of the nozzle, and the SEN immersion depth (Thomas, 2001). The SEN characteristics can markedly affect meniscus surface velocities, surface level profiles, and turbulence levels that can vary in terms of the frequency and the magnitude of their fluctuations."

Jan 1, 2016

"With the plethora of cable bolts on the market, geotechnical engineers can be baffled by the differences in performance claims from the manufacturers but perhaps more importantly they are sometimes at a loss in making an optimal selection matching behaviour with a particular site condition. To this end a new testing methodology has been developed that can cater for the varying types of cable bolt behaviours. The methodology is based on the laboratory short encapsulation pull test (LSEPT) as recommended in the British Standard and overcomes several deficiencies such as cable rotation. Of most significance however, is its inability to measure the post-peak residual performance of high load transfer capacity cables and consequently, there is an inference that these cables may be susceptible to sudden anchorage failure with relatively little yield. This paper details the results of anchorage performance tests of a range of cable bolts and the differences in performance with rock strength and drill hole diameter.INTRODUCTIONA research project was undertaken to develop a new laboratory-scale test apparatus to study the axial performance of fully grouted cable bolts that are used in the Australian underground coal mining industry. Work by Thomas (2012) and others in recent years found there were a number of deficiencies in the testing methodologies making it difficult to determine and compare the performance of the dozen or more different types of cable bolts on the market. This has meant that geotechnical practioners have been hamstrung in optimizing the design of ground support systems in underground environments that are increasingly more arduous.A cable bolt is a flexible tendon consisting of a quantity of wound wires that are grouted in boreholes at defined distances between holes in order to provide ground reinforcement of excavations (Hutchinson & Diederichs, 1996). They were initially introduced into the underground hard rock mining industry in the 1960s (Thorne & Muller, 1964) and since the early 1970s have been brought to coal mining operations."

Jan 1, 2015

By A. E. McIlhinney, I. E. Puddington, C. E. Capes, A. F. Sirianni

"Two main problems are associated with the removal of pyritic sulphur from coals. The first is due to the fine state of dissemination of pyrite, which requires grindin1 to a very fine size to accomplish liberation. The second problem is caused by the similar surface chemical characteristics of coal and pyrite, which complicates separatio11 methods based on this property. In the work described here, the problem of fine particle size was overcome by using the selective oil agglomeratioa method developed at the National Research Council of Canada. Recovery of more than 90% of the combustible values was possible, even with particles only a few microns in diameter. Experiments using conventional chemical depressants for pyrite met with little success. It was found, however, that pyrite may be rejected during coal agglomeration through treatment with the iron.oxidizing bacteria, thiobacillus-ferrooxidans. The conditions for maximum pyrite separation are described and possible mechanisms by which the bacteria act are discussed."

Jan 1, 1973

By S. Kaiman

This paper describes flotation test work conducted over the past several years at the Mines Branch, Ottawa, on the radioactive quartz-pebble conglomerate ores of the Elliot Lake area of Ontario. The purpose of this work has been to produce a uranium flotation concentrate for sub-sequent leaching operations. The results of earlier investigations are summarized and correlated with the results of mineralogical studies of the ores and flotation products. The results of recent pilot-plant investigations by flotation, as well as by gravity concentration followed by flotation of the gravity tailings, are given. The principal collector used for uranium flotation was a tall oil fatty acid, and the indicated total cost of all reagents ranged from 21 to 31 cents per ton of ore treated.

Jan 1, 1966

By Boris Yacksic, R. W. Bruce

"The flotation of a cassiterite ore with oleic acid will recover primary or rougher concentrates assaying over 10 per cent Sn, with a recovery of 80 to 90 per cent. These rougher concentrates cannot be up-graded to a marketable grade by normal reflotation. Experiments were conducted on low-grade tin ores, and a process was developed for up-grading the rougher flotation concentrates by a reverse flotation technique. The process was tested on a number of samples of ore from the Catavi mine in Bolivia. The results of these tests showed that a concentrate assaying 40 to 60 per cent Sn could be readily produced, with a recovery of 60 to 75 per cent of the tin in the ore."

Jan 1, 1967

By Amir Karami, Derek Kinakin, Catherine Schmid

The Mathews Stability Graph Method (Mathews et al., 1981) has been used by geotechnical engineers and mining engineers for over 40 years to estimate the performance of longhole open stopes in underground mines. The method is widely used and accepted by practitioners because it is relatively simple to use and can be modified to account for observed performance at a given mining operation. While the simplicity of the method increases its accessibility and utilization, it does not intrinsically account for variability in the various inputs, including rockmass quality, structure, stress, or stope orientation. This paper presents a modified approach for the Stability Graph Method, whereby Python scripts are used to process available geotechnical datasets and combine them with actual or potential distributions of Q parameters, induced stress, structure, or stope orientation. The resulting Stability Numbers are then plotted as a contoured distribution on the Stability Graph.  This allows the practitioner to quickly incorporate large datasets into the analyses, while also developing an understanding of how variability in rockmass quality, induced stress, structure, or stope orientation could affect stope stability.  This paper presents the fundamental principles of the Stability Graph method, the Python script and workflow, and two case studies to demonstrate the utility of the tool.

Oct 1, 2024

By W. Holdsworth

The flotation mill of Dentonia Mines, Limited, at Greenwood, B.C., went into operation on April 20th, 1934, and by October 11th a total of 15,000 tons of ore had been treated. It is intended in this paper to describe briefly the operation and to give some of the operating data which have been gathered. The metallic minerals in the Dentonia ore are pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and, occasionally, native gold, and the gangue includes chloritic material, vein quartz, and calcite. Pyrite makes up about 90 per cent of the metallic content of the ore, in which it is disseminated as irregular grains and well-formed cubes. An average analysis of the ore is: gold, 0.27 oz. per ton; silver, 1.73 oz. per ton; copper, 0.12 per cent; lead, 0.31 per cent; and zinc, trace. From the mine ore-bin, situated near the portal of the tunnel at the mine, the ore is hauled by motor truck to the mill, a distance of three-quarters of a mile, and there dumped into the receiving bin, which has a capacity of fifty tons. The hauling is done during one eight-hour shift, commencing at 7 a.m. The maximum size of the ore fed to the mill-bin is ten inches. Lumps larger than this are broken by sledge hammer to pass through grizzly bars, spaced ten inches apart, installed above the bin. The ore is drawn from the bin by a 30-inch, 6-ply conveyor belt, 18 feet 6 inches long. In the near future, when the cross-cut tunnel is completed, the ore will be trammed to the receiving bin. This will effect a considerable saving in cost. At the same time, the bin will be set back several feet, so that the length of the conveyor belt may be doubled. This will make efficient ore-sorting possible, and so ensure a minimum of waste rock in the mill feed.

Jan 1, 1935

By F. M. Waldie

THE 2,538-foot belt conveyor recently installed underground at the Sullivan mine hoists ore from the 3,350-foot level to the 3,900-foot or main haulage level, a vertical distance of 680 feet. The design and planning of development work, under the direction of Mr. R. H. Stewart, Consulting Engineer, was begun in the spring of 1941. Development work was started in July of that year from the 3,350-foot level, and headings were started on the 3,650-foot and 3,900-foot levels later in the same year. It was the intention at that time to keep three headings going on development work necessary for the installation of the system: two on the conveyor incline, and one on the 3,900-foot level. This programme was modified in 1942 when there was some doubt whether the material for construction could be obtained. This problem of supply was eventually solved and the development work was pushed to completion in December, 1943. Construction was started in December, 1943, "'under the supervision of Mr. G. H. McKay, Superintendent of Construction and? Maintenance, and was completed in November, 1944.

Jan 1, 1945

By S. Fabich

Since the very beginning of Polish copper mining, special consideration of sink shaft techniques through highly saturated Cenozoic rocks was required. Shaft freezing has been chosen as a method to consolidate these rocks. Due to the rock mass structure and water inflow potential, shaft sinking without freezing was considered dangerous. In the course of time, rock mass freezing technology and experience were evolved and this technology became safer and more reliable. New techniques appeared not only in the technical method of freezing, but also in the matter of designing. Computer aided techniques allow engineers to make a detailed analysis and view of freeze wall development. Nevertheless it is important to determine basic thermal rock properties. In this paper, the evolution of knowledge and engineering experience taken in Polish copper mines and current knowledge level in that matter were shown.

Aug 1, 2013

By K. Kawagishi, J. Ang, A. Sato, H. Harada

"We have recently proposed a new ""EQ Coating"" bond coat system to solve the problem of secondary reaction zone (SRZ) formation caused by bond coats applied on the hot section components of modem jet engines. A viable EQ coating alloy was previously found for a representative znd generation superalloy, TMS-82+. It would be ideal if the same could be done for a representative 5th generation superalloy, TMS-173. In this paper, we will show that the coating with the best oxidation resistance in the EQ system of TMS-173, although possessing considerably better resistance than TMS-173, did not have sufficient oxidation resistance. In order to improve the oxidation resistance of the EQ coating for TMS-173, we have ventured into ""Pseudo-EQ coatings"". A diffusion couple between the Pseudo-EQ coating and TMS-173, after 300hrs at 1100°C, had a 0-15µm IDZ, but no SRZ. A diffusion couple between a conventional coating and TMS-173 formed a 80-150 µm SRZ. After a 1 hr oxidation test at 1100°C, the PseudoEQ coating formed a thinner oxide layer than the EQ coating, but still contained NiO and spinel. Aerospace"

Jan 1, 2006

By J. R. Fisher

"Uranium may be leached to some extent in situ from the Blind River conglomerate uranium ores by using the products of bacterial activity from the bacterium Thio-bacillus ferrooxidans his paper describes some of the laboratory techniques used to investigate the characteristics of the bacteria, and to utilize their properties in uranium leaching. The application of some of the laboratory results underground at the Milliken mine of Rio Algom Mines Limited are de-scribed, along with the method of uranium recovery from the mine waters."

Jan 1, 1966

By L. B. Tsymbulov, L. Sh. Tsemekhman, A. N. Golov

Gipronickel Institute, JS is developing a process of continuous converting of Nicontaining copper matte and concentrates resulting in the production of blister copper and fluid NiO-containing slag in a two-zone Vaniukov furnace. The process under development is an alternative for the existing technology of blister copper production in converters, the latter being characterized with insufficient sulphur utilization, low direct copper recovery and the production of inconvenient for further processing solid slag on the basis of NiO and NiFe20 4- The results of pilot testing on processing of copper concentrate obtained from high-grade matte (HGM) separation in the two-zone Vaniukov furnace with the hearth area of 11.4 m2 are presented.

Jan 1, 2007

By Roger Lacroix

L?arrivée de nouvelles technologies sur le marché des foreuses portables combinée au besoin des mines à mieux consommer l?énergie électrique ont permis d?identifier le potentiel de deux nouveaux type de foreuses présentement utilisées en Afrique du Sud, à savoir les foreuses électriques et les foreuses hydrauliques actionnées à l?eau. Grâce à la collaboration de mines Niobec et Géant Dormant de Cambior Inc., ainsi que d?Hydro-Québec, le potentiel réel d?économie énergétique des foreuses portables hydrauliques et électriques par rapport aux foreuses conventionnelles à air comprimé a été évalué pour des roches dures et moles. Ainsi, cet article a pour objectif d faire ressortir ces potentiels d?économie énergétiques. En outre, les résultats pour une mine mécanisée et une autre mine de type filonien, dans lesquelles on retrouve des conditions de terrain différentes, seront présentés. Les résultats montrent un potentiel d?économie énergétique d?environ 70% pour la foreuse électrique et d?environ 50% pour la foreuse actionnée à l?eau. Ces résultats montrent qu?il est possible d?obtenir une meilleure efficacité énergétique par mètre foré. Ainsi, il apparaît maintenant intéressant de poursuivre les travaux de développement des deux technologies pour les applications de forage vertical et de tensionnement des boulons, et de viser à accroitre le taux de pénétration de la foreuse électrique pour le rendre équivalent à celui de la foreuse à air comprimé.

May 1, 2007

By S. W. Marcuson

In the late 1960's concerns about the natural environment reached high levels within North America and provided activists with suitable platforms for exerting influence over the general public and politicians. In response a host of regulatory mechanisms were developed, statutes, voluntary measures, land grants, codes of practices etc. Emerging environmental awareness from the era provided impetus for rapid technological change that encompassed all industries, especially the base metal business. The resulting clean up impacted all aspects of copper production, dealing with issues such as waste disposal, water and air quality with specific impact on emissions of sulfur dioxide and particulate. This paper provides a perspective of these changes reviewing the macro-economic impact of environmental movement in mining with its specific implications to the copper smelting industry. The fundamental challenges that were faced by the old, but capital-intensive North American plants and the approaches taken to deal with the changing times are reviewed with special emphasis on the conceptual approach to smelter S02 abatement and different paths taken in the USA and Canada. The role of economics, sustainable R&D and presence of technical infrastructure that facilitated the change process is elucidated, and speculations are made about the future state of pyrometallurgy and the natural environment. Cu2007 -

Jan 1, 2007