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By Scott Honan, Tassos Grammatikopoulos, Mike Johnson, Kelton Smith, Niels Verbaan, Ernesto Bourricaudy, Eric Larochelle, Rick Sixberry

"NioCorp is developing the niobium/scandium/titanium Elk Creek carbonatite resource deposit. The carbonatite phase contains significant niobium (0.71% Nb2O5), titanium (2.68% TiO2) and scandium (72 g/t) and is composed predominantly of calcite, dolomite and ankerite. Niobium is mostly (80%) contained in the pyrochlore and the balance in various Fe-Nb-Ti oxides, which also host most of the titanium. Scandium is distributed homogeneously throughout the ore mineral assemblage. The process flowsheet recovers separate niobium, titanium and scandium products. Scandium is extracted from whole ore hydrochloric acid leach solutions through solvent extraction, and is further refined through a re-leach and precipitation process. Scandium leach residues are treated with sulphuric acid to recover separate niobium and titanium precipitates. Both hydrochloric acid and sulphuric acid reagents are recycled within the flowsheet. This paper will discuss key bench and pilot test results (focusing on the scandium flowsheet) and will present a conceptual flowsheet developed by the project team for NioCorp at SGS Minerals.INTRODUCTION NioCorp is developing North America's only niobium/scandium/titanium project. The Elk Creek project is located near Elk Creek, Nebraska, and is the highest grade niobium project in North America and the largest prospective producer of scandium in the world. These elements are unique and valuable superalloy materials that are strategic and critical to many industries and national defense technologies. The project includes the Elk Creek Carbonatite (the Carbonatite) that intruded older Precambrian granitic and low to medium grade metamorphic basement rocks. Both the carbonatite and Precambrian rocks are interpreted to be unconformably overlain by approximately 200 meters (m) of Paleozoic marine sedimentary rocks of Pennsylvanian age. As a result of this thick cover, there is no surface outcrop within the Project area of the carbonatite, which was identified and targeted through magnetic surveys and confirmed through subsequent drilling. The available magnetic data indicate dominant northeast, west-northwest striking lineaments, and secondary northwest and north oriented features that mimic the position of regional faults parallel and/or perpendicular to the Nemaha Uplift."

Jan 1, 2017

By Michael Harley, E. Guy Charlesworth

"Abstract - Bedding-parallel thrust-hosted gold veins are developed in the Sabie-Pilgrim's Rest goldfield, eastern Transvaal, South Africa. The reefs display a complex history characterized by temporally and spatially overlapping events of similar mineralization and deformation. Recognition of the episodic reactivation of these low angle (5° to 10°) thrust faults implicates high fluid pressures (equalling or exceeding lithostatic pressures). Geochemical constraints limit the amount of fluid-rock interaction and the occurrence of transgressive mineralization within the Archaean granitoid basement suggests that the high pressure fluids originated at depth beneath the Transvaal Basin.Similarities exist between gold deposits of Sabie-Pilgrim's Rest and Telfer, Western Australia as well as Passagem de Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brazil. All deposits are sub-parallel to the enclosing bedding which is shallowly inclined. Furthermore, they are also hosted by contractional deformational structures and are clearly epigenetic in origin."

Jan 1, 1994

By H. A. Hamza

An experimental study of the settling characteristics of a washery effluent originating as tailings from a froth flotation circuit was undertaken by using a systematic approach to select the most appropriate flocculant(s) under predetermined conditions. Selection and evaluation procedures which greatly reduce the effort required to select flocculants are described. The results show that, although different flocculants display superiority at different ranges of dosage. Separan MG 700 (Dow) is the most suitable on absolute economic grounds. Flocculant evaluation is based on a Cost Performance Index (CPI) which expresses the cost of flocculant (¢/ton) required to produce a unit settling rate (in./hr). From experiments carried out with a number of flocculant aid and flocculant combinations, it was concluded that the use of flocculant aids can be economically justified only if the settling rates required are higher than those obtainable at the optimum flocculant dosage. Otherwise, the value of the flocculant aid appears to be limited largely to the reduction of supernatant turbidity.

Jan 1, 1979

By D. J. Bowen

"Abstract -The Great Dyke extends for 540 km along strike, to unknown depth, and varies in width from 3 km to 11 km. Rb/Sr age determinations gives values of approximately 2470 Ma.The Dyke consists of a variety of mafic and ultramafic rocks, many altered to serpentinites. These include, from top to bottom, successions of gabbro/norites, pyroxenites, peridotites/harzburgites, and dunites/picrites.The layers dip in from either margin, steepest at the edges (20°) and flattening toward the central sections. Four separate complexes are present. From north to south these are termed the Musengezi, Hartley, Selukwe and Wedza Complexes, and are described as 'boat-shaped' or 'pig-troughed'. All are similar in petrological sequences. Physiographically, the Dyke is spectacular in the north, where as a mountain range it meets the Zambezi Escarpment. Elsewhere in the central parts there is little surface expression and wide open treeless vleis. Dyke rocks cut through granite and schist belt terrain and are termed 'The Magnesia Belt'.Vast mineral resources exist. These include chrome, asbestos, platinoids, nickel, copper and gold. Up to eleven chrome seams numbered from top to bottom occur in the lower ultramafic sequences. Seams are narrow at 10 cm to 30 cm but of high grade. The platinum occurs 10 m to 40 m below the norite/pyroxenite contact.A 60 m wide zone of Light Sulfide Mineralization (LSM) of Jess than 1% sulfides extends from the lower gabbronorites into the upper pyroxenites. In this LSM, four enriched zones carry up to 5% sulfides. The most widespread is termed the Main Sulfide Zone (MSZ), below which is No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 Sulfide Zones. The MSZ carrying pyrite, pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite is a multi­ element ore with components of PGE (Pt-Pd-Rh), nickel, copper and cobalt, and gold and silver.Extensive exploration programs have been carried out and the intention is to begin large-scale mining. However, with Russia supplying metals to the western markets, South Africa's cutback on production, and an end to the Cold War, delays have arisen."

Jan 1, 1994

By Seppo Haapamaki

"Since it started production in 1970, Anderson Lake Mine has experienced several radical changes in mining methods as a result of the physical characteristics of the ore zone along with the need for improved productivity. This paper examines the transition from longhole open stoping to mechanized cut-and fill then to vertical crater retreat at Anderson Lake Mine. The reasons for the need to change mining methods is analyzed taking into consideration the impact of such criteria as improved productivity and ground conditions and how these criteria affected the over-all economic viability of the mine. IntroductionAnderson Lake Mine is one of five producing copper mines in the Snow Lake area and is situated approximately 3 km southeast of the townsite of Snow Lake (Fig. I).The mine production rate at Anderson Lake is 700 tpd and all ore is trucked from the mine to the mill located approximately 2.5 km from the mine site . The mine is serviced by a three-compartment shaft sunk to a depth of 3300 ft with level spacings at 175 ft and 150 ft intervals from the 600 ft level to the 3000 ft level. .The shaft was collared in 1965 and, a year later, the hoist and compressors were installed. By 1969, a crusher system had been built and actual production began in 1970. During 1978, production was suspended for the year to allow for 430 ft of shaft deepening."

Jan 1, 1988

By I. P. Barbosa, P. S. M. Soares, I. O. C. Masson

"Permanent magnets have been applied extensively to several electronic products such as printers, TV sets, microphones, microcomputers and headphones, presently manufactured in large scale by industrial economies. Sm-Co alloys represent about 20% of the world market for permanent magnets and their industrial processors generate 20-30% of magnetic scraps which can be recycled. This paper discusses a process route to recycle SmCo5 using acid treatment, solvent extraction of Sm and electrowinning of Co. The results confirm the feasibility of the alternative proposed. Basic operational variables are suggested as guidelines to design a plant for recycling magnetic scraps.The use of hydrometallurgical processes to recycle scraps from the industry of permanent magnets has been suggested in some recent papers related to recycling of metallic alloys [ 1 ]. These research efforts might be understood as a worldwide tendency towards the development of self sustainable metallurgical processes which mean the reduction of environmental impacts.CETEM -Center for Mineral Technology leads in Brazil several research programs concerning recycling and treatment of industrial residues. The work on samarium purification and concentration by solvent extraction, producing also a solution of cobalt sulfate as partially reported here is one of these programs. Previous results related to the sulfuric acid digestion of SmCo5 are presented somewhere else [2]"

Jan 1, 1997

By L. D. Smith

"Those who submit competing proposals for projects seek to present senior management with complete and fully supported material that will not fail under questioning. Hopefully, misleading notions and omissions will have been minimized and there will have been testing of the assumptions regarding the economic, social and political environments. A capital project evaluation team can do management and itself a service by including a sound approach to the impact of inflation (and its twin problem, interest) on a project and a great disservice with an inappropriate approach to inflation.InflationHandled deftly, inflation can alter a project evaluation to show almost any result the handler desires. It must be a constant source of frustration for design people and cost estimators to spend weeks perfecting the technical aspects of a project in order to minimize costs, only to have all of their efforts set awash in a sea of financial and economic assumptions that submerge all of the detail. In all of this, inflation is perhaps the largest offender, with inflation criteria often being brought to bear at the last minute, almost as an afterthought. Perhaps this tardiness reflects the difficulty of the subject and the belief that senior management will take its own approach to the problems of inflation. Such a belief is unfair to senior management, for it is entitled to not being misled by omission. It is entitled to the full use of the skills of the evaluating team, including respectable assumptions of the impact of inflation.Working in a consulting context, one has the opportunity to participate in the evaluation of a large number of projects. Reflecting the observation of a wide range of views regarding the subject of inflation, this paper will-address the impact of five different approaches to inflation on the evaluation of a single Canadian mining project."

Jan 1, 1987

By Oy Leuangthong

Red Dog mine is the world's largest Zn producer. The deposit consists of sulphide ore zones in sedimentary exhalative (sedex) deposits, and is characterized by the presence of multiple metals and multiple ore types. The objective of the case study is to characterize seven different minerals, Zn, Pb, Fe, Ba, sPb, Ag and TOC, within eight different rock types. Geostatistical models were constructed for each variable within the eight rock types, and subsequently assembled to give 40 realizations for six 25ft benches. The stepwise conditional transformation was used to account for the complex multivariate relations. In addition to reproducing the input data, histogram and variogram, the resulting models also respect multivariate relations locally and globally. This paper documents the methodology to construct these models. A thorough validation procedure was implemented. Comparisons with blasthole data show that the conditional simulations and the long-term models agree in expected value. The main advantages of the conditional simulations are (1) the explicit accounting of multivariate relations between the data in model construction, and (2) the ability to quantify variability and uncertainty at any scale. A small exercise comparing the profit from a kriged and a simulated model is also examined. Results show that the simulation approach showed a 3% increase in profit, relative to the conventional estimation approach.

May 1, 2004

By D. Duff, R. A. Cameron, R. E. S. Whitehead

"Although CO2 content indicates the quantity of carbonate in altered basaltic rocks, it does not measure the intensity of carbonate alteration. CO/CaO molar ratios, which correlate with the relative proportions of individual carbonate species, measure the intensity of carbonatization. The Timmins gold area is characterized by pervasive carbonatization, with large parts of the area having CO2/Ca0 ratios greater than 1, representing C02 supersaturation relative to CaO. The mean CO/CaO in the Timmins area is0.67, compared to 0.13 in two unmineralized control areas. Regional arsenic abundance in the gold-bearing area averages 4 ppm, compared to about 0.35 ppm for the non-mineralized areas. The average K20 and Rb abundances are similar in both mineralized and non-mineralized areas (about 0.30% K20 and 7 ppm Rb). Although there appears to have been no wholesale addition of K20 or Rb to the mineralized area from external sources, these alkalies have been redistributed internally, resulting in patterns of local enrichments and depletions which are characteristic of the mineralized region.Local target anomalies associated with known mineralization consist of CO2/Ca0 > 1.5, As > 10 ppm and K2O > 0. 75%. Not all three values are required to be above these thresholds in order to identify local targets. Combinations such as C02/ Ca0 > 1.5 and As < 10 ppm, CO/CaO 1-1.5 and K20 > 0. 75 or K20 > 0. 75 and As > 10 ppm are equally indicative of proximity to gold occurrences. Gold-bearing veins and associated anomalies occur throughout the entire volcanic succession and are not restricted to any particular stratigraphic horizons. The levels and patterns of alteration and occurrences of gold appear to be structurally controlled."

Jan 1, 1982

By R. G. Burn

"A brief outline will be given of the concept of risk and its implications with regard to investment in exploration. The relationship between risk and decisions under uncertainty will be examined as a prelude to identifying those factors which contribute to exploration risks:consideration of the effects of corporate objectives (e.g. survival, expansion, diversification) on exploration strategy and ultimately on success or failure, exploration and mining as an investment (the relationship between risk and reward) and the desired return on investment; exploration odds, funding levels, staying power, financial exposure and the concept of gambler&apos;s ruin;origins of uncertainty in exploration decision-making-man-made risks and natural hazards; the nature of introduced constraints at each exploration decision stage and their effect on the rate of success;improving the chances of success and the invest reduction of risk through sound exploration strategy, effective project generation and efficient target detection capabilities."

Jan 1, 1984

By E. Herrera Alarcón, L. Mariscal Samaniego

The Teniente Converter (wet charge type) was commissioned in august 1995 and was designed to smelt 744 tpd (metric tons per day) of dry copper concentrates. Its products are white metal (73% Cu) that is sent to the Peirce Smith converters, slag that is cleaned in Reverberatory Furnaces and the process gases that are sent to the Sulfuric Acid Plant. Since its start up, the Teniente Converter smelting capacity was increased 1.6 times, from 800 tpd to 1,280 tpd using 33% oxygen-enriched air, and reaching an operative availability of 97%. By the other hand its campaigns have reached a record duration of 530 days without hot patching tuyeres and a partial refractory lining repair in the last four campaigns. This paper describes the most relevant improvements, as well as the strategies that had been used to reach these achievements.

Jan 1, 2007

By L. Boyd, A. Charland, G. Potts, D. Fragomeni, N. O. Lotter

"The Raglan orebody and concentrator has been the subject of study in Process Mineralogy at Falconbridge since 1998. (Lotter and Tuzun, 1998) The orebody is classified into three distinct textural groups, or end members. These are referred to as disseminated, net-textured, and Massive Sulphides, and differ in terms of mineral grain size, nickel grade, hardness, and mineral association. In this paper, it will be shown that the sampling and characterisation of each end member on an individual basis develops a higher-level understanding of the processing requirements and behaviour of the mixture of ore as presented to the mill.The end members have been used in robust prediction of recovery at various grind size p80 from laboratory scale High Confidence Flotation Tests. Weighted mean mixtures of the end members have been mathematically combined to determine impact of textural distribution on metallurgical performance as a function of grind size.The ore end members also vary in hardness and breakage mechanism and have been used to model throughput capability for existing, optimized and retrofit grinding circuits. This modeling has provided a range of expected throughputs as the relative proportions of each end member varies.Finally, the differing grinding requirement per end member has led to the development of grinding and flotation strategy that increases rougher flotation recovery and provides flowsheet options for a concentrator expansion. This leads to further understanding of the plant performance as a function of ore mixture."

Jan 1, 2005

By Chuck Edwards

"Cameco operates the high-grade McArthur River uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan, and is constructing the high-grade Cigar Lake uranium mine. Cameco has studied the concept of underground milling of high-grade uranium ore. Compared to conventional milling on surface, the underground milling scheme appears to offer significant cost savings and a lower environmental impact. This paper describes the underground milling scheme, presents process flowsheets and plant layouts, and provides an assessment of potential benefits from underground milling.INTRODUCTIONCameco CorporationCameco is the world’s largest uranium producer, with three operations in Saskatchewan (Rabbit Lake mine/mill, McArthur River mine, and Key Lake mill), two in the United States (Crow Butte and Smith/Highland ISL operations) and two new mines being developed in Canada (Cigar Lake project) and Kazakhstan (Inkai project). Cameco provides uranium fuel refining and conversion services at its Blind River and Port Hope facilities in Ontario. Cameco is part owner (31.6%) of Bruce Power that leases eight nuclear power plants located in southern Ontario. Cameco is the majority shareholder in Centerra Gold Inc., which operates gold mines in the Kyrgyz Republic and in Mongolia.Global Uranium Production RequirementsCentral to Cameco’s view of future uranium supply requirements is the belief that the world is experiencing a nuclear renaissance. This belief is supported by a number of developments, including:•,?Countries representing half the world’s population are now constructing new nuclear power plants. Many countries without nuclear power have begun to plan for it, seeking reliability, clean air and energy independence.•,?Accelerated growth for this industry is also becoming much more likely. In Asia, primarily in China and India, 92 reactors are under construction, on order or planned to help meet rapidly expanding economic needs. Other Asian countries, such as Vietnam and Indonesia, with large populations and rapidly growing economies, are also expected to follow.•,?In the United States the “Energy Policy Act of 2005”, the first energy legislation introduced in over a decade, was signed. This legislation includes provisions recognizing, for the first time at a national level, the clean air contribution of nuclear energy and its critical role in meeting energy security. Upon signing this landmark legislation President Bush stated, “We will start building nuclear power plants by the end of this decade.”"

Jan 1, 2007

By J. D. Jorgenson

?? U.S. domestic production peaked at 120 Mt during years of the Korean Conflict120 Conflict ?? Pellet production increased, as highPellet high-grade ores decreasedores decreased ?? Until 1982 recession, most U.S. iron ore mines owned by steel companiesmines companies ?? Large Canadian iron ore mines brought into production after 1950into 1950

May 1, 2011

By S. Bellec, P. Champagne, J. Châteauneuf, A. Berton, S. Fortier

"The start-up of new plants, extending from the commissioning of equipment to the production ramp-up, is a critical period where the processing circuit operation must be done in a structured and well controlled way to enable the gradual, safe and rapid achievement of production targets. The magnitude of the many risks associated with this pivotal period is accentuated in the actual context of low commodity prices. However, the implementation of a method that analyzes risks associated with a start-up, their probability of occurrence and their impacts leads to the identification of a series of preventive actions that can be applied in order to reduce potential negative impacts.Soutex has been involved in numerous start-ups over the last few years and has developed a structured methodology to assess this crucial period, maximize the pre-start-up preparation, ensure a smoother and safer ramp-up period and minimize the time needed before reaching commercial production.This paper describes a method to identify preventive actions to apply in order to reduce risks related to a plant start-up. Then, the various steps of the method are demonstrated using the industrial case study of the Canadian Malartic gold plant situated in Abitibi, Québec. The specific preventive actions, during start-up, the organisational measures and the ramp-up plan are detailed as they were effectively achieved. Finally, the post start-up actions are presented as well as some key results illustrating the achievement of their prior defined objectives.IntroductionPlanning a new plant or new circuit start-up in a mine installation involves various risks, both at the economical and safety levels. Unprepared staff and equipment can lead to safety issues that could threaten plant staff as well as the environment. Moreover, a poorly prepared start-up could often lead to equipment break-down, production stoppages and delays, leading to important economic impacts, delaying commercial production and therefore affecting directly the profitability of mining projects.It is common in the industry to have structured commissioning procedures for major equipment taken separately. Technical personnel from the equipment manufacturing company would usually come on site in order to perform the pre-operation verification, dry runs and the first hours of operations. This kind of assistance is usually focussed on one piece of equipment and neglects the interactions between the various equipment of the production chain. The commissioning phase is usually maintenance oriented and the information given by the manufacturing representative seldomly flows through the operation staff (in the case of this paper, the denomination “staff” refers to both managing and operating employees). The global process is usually not taken into consideration by the technical personnel sent on-site by the manufacturer during the commissioning phase. Many papers can be found describing the commissioning of new equipment focussing on the technology (Côté and Adante (2009), Wells et al (2007)) but without dealing with its integration process in the complete production chain."

Jan 1, 2016

By J. G. Peacey, G. Csicsovszki

The target of this study was to clarify the role of lead on the dissolution of gold in the (NH4)2S2O3-Cu leaching system via chronopotentiometry, linear sweep voltammetry and chronoamperometry. It was found that the dissolution of gold was significantly increased with lead concentration up to 10 mg/1 Pb in the system of 0.1 M (NH4)2S2O3 and 50 mg/1 Cu. \/oltammograms suggested that the anodic dissolution of gold was virtually independent of lead concentration in the range of 1-10 mg/1 in 0.1 M (NH4)2S2O3 solution while in solutions containing copper as well, addition of lead increased the anodic dissolution of gold.

Jan 1, 2011

By Hamid Mahmoudabadi

In the present paper, the performance of four approaches based on neural networks and geostatistical method for grade estimation are compared and analyzed their performance to find a proper method. Four methods, Multi Layer Perceptron neural network (MLP), Radial Basis Function (RBF), General Regression Neural Network (GRNN) and Ordinary Kriging (OK) are selected for ore grade estimation of variable Fe in an iron deposit located in Iran. For each method, two diagnostic statistics are calculated: Mean square error (MSE) and correlation coefficient. The results show the superiority of the General Regression Neural Network.

Oct 1, 2009

By André Desbiens, Jocelyn Bouchard, René del Villar

"The metallurgical performance of the column flotation process is determined by the concentrate grade and recovery. Although the former can be continuously measured using an on-stream analyzer, the latter must be estimated by a material balance calculation based on seldom verified steady-state assumptions. Consequently, the automatic control and optimization of flotation columns should be performed using secondary variables having a strong influence on the metallurgical performance, such as froth depth, gas hold-up or bubble surface area flux and bias. The aim of this paper is to present a model-based automatic control strategy using froth depth and bias measurements obtained from virtual sensors developed at Laval University. Preliminary pilot plant results on two-phase (water– air) and three-phase system (water – minerals – air) will be presented and eventual industrial implementation of such a strategy as well as the possibility of achieving effective real-time optimization from bias and froth depth measurements will also be discussed.INTRODUCTIONFlotation columns have been widely studied and used in mineral processing for about twenty years. Although a great deal of work has been accomplished to understand the influence of different variables such as froth depth (H), bubble surface area flux (Sb) and bias (Jb) on the metallurgical performance, the measurement of some of these variables is still difficult to be performed – except at the laboratory level – because in most cases, no commercial device yet exists.As a result of this, it is almost impossible to achieve neither efficient control nor optimization of the process at the industrial level, even in open-loop operation. This paper aims at presenting a simple control strategy of froth depth and bias. Description of the sensors used to achieved measurements, preliminary pilot plant results for froth depth control, eventual industrial applications and possibilities for process optimization are also treated."

Jan 1, 2003

By Luis Bernal, Pertti Lamberg

"SkimAir®, Outotec’s Flash Flotation unit, is placed in the grinding circuit to float the valuable liberated mineral particles from the circulating load of the grinding process while still relatively coarse. Esperanza copper-gold deposit located near Sierra Gorda, Chile, hosts 535 Mtn ore grading 0.57 % copper, 0.27 g/t gold. A series of laboratory and pilot flotation tests were conducted to find out the flotation performance of different ore types both with and without the Flash Flotation. This data was used in modeling and simulating to find the optimal flow sheet for the highest Au and Cu recoveries with required Cu concentrate grade. Simulations with the HSC Chemistry 6.1 software showed that with the SkimAir® and Flash Cleaning it is possible to achieve the required copper grade of 27% Cu with 5% higher recovery for gold and 2% higher recovery for copper compared to the circuit without the Flash Flotation. The pilot tests with simulations were the back up for the installation of four Outotec SkimAir® SK 2400 Flash Cells in the Esperanza circuit for the processing 95.000 tpd of copper-gold ore.INTRODUCTIONEsperanza copper-gold deposit is located near the town of Sierra Gorda, 2nd Administrative Region in Chile. Deposit hosts 535 Mtn ore grading 0.57 % copper, 0.27 g/t gold. The main copper minerals are chalcopyrite and bornite. Gold is carried by native gold and solid solution of copper.Antofagasta Minerals S.A. conducted a series of flotation studies at SGS Minerals Services. The studies included both laboratory and pilot scale work. In the pilot scale study the applicability of the Flash Flotation technology was studied with High-grade Andesite and High-grade Porphyry samples (SGS Mineral Services). The Flash Flotation technology gave significantly higher recovery for gold than the conventional flotation circuit. The recoveries for copper were slightly higher using the conventional flotation."

Jan 1, 2009

By R. L. Amelunxen

"In January 1983, Gibraltar Mines Ltd. started an exploratory program on Column Flotation with hopes of improving performance of the Molybdenum Cleaning circuit. The encouraging results led to a column test trial in the Bulk Copper Cleaner circuit where the test unit has per¬formed well. A program was undertaken to understand the mechanics of column operation. A year and a half later, Gibraltar is considering the replacement of existing Bulk Copper and Moly Cleaning flotation cells with a fully computer con¬trolled Column Flotation circuit.BRIEF SUMMARY OF TESTWORKInitial testwork was done with a home made 20 inch diameter x 31 foot high column, equipped with a doppler flow-meter at the tail line and automatic level conrol. This loop maintained constant level in the column by throttling the tail valve. This column was placed in a variety of locations around the Moly circuit as shown on Figure 1 a, b. Test re¬sults indicated that the column could achieve much higher grades than the conventional cells, but recovery wise, the performance was low. Spillages from overloaded pump boxes were a common frustration during this time.Column control strategy was reviewed; and, in light of information received from McGill University, changed to conform with the methods that had been employed by D. Wheeler, of the Column Co. of Canada4 and Gaspe Copper Mines3.The column was tested replacing a portion of the bank, figure lc. The results obtained were more or less equal to the circuit. However, as we had Nitrogen gas connected to the column and not the regular cells, the column was kept in service. With the use of Nitrogen in the column, the usual copper depressant, Sodium Cyanide could be replaced with Sodium Hydrosulphide, hence lower operating cost.As time went on, a 10 inch diameter column was added in series to re-treat the concentrate of the 20 inch diameter column with hopes that the copper content would decrease from 0.6% down to 0.3% in order to save on subsequent leach¬ing costs. So far, results indicate there has been some im-provement, hut we are not achieving 0.3% copper. (See figure 1d)."

Jan 1, 1985