Search Documents

By J. F. Adams, V. G. Papangelakis

Chemical modelling is becoming increasingly useful in the development, analysis, design, and control of hydrometallurgical processes. The paper presents the development of reliable databases for chemical modelling of selected hydrometallurgical systems using state-of-the-art software, such as OLI. The modelling strategies are also demonstrated. The high pressure acid leaching (HP AL) of laterites, oxygen solubility in the oxidative leaching process of zinc sulfide, gypsum solubility and lead chemistry in mixed sulfate-chloride solutions are presented as case studies. This on-going work attempts to bridge the gap between theoretical research and industry needs. Computational Analysis in Hydrometallurgy 35th Annual Hydrometallurgy Meeting held in conjunction with the 44th Annual Conference of Metallurgists ofCIM Calgary, Alberta, Canada Edited by

Jan 1, 2005

By N. R. Thote, J. L. Porathur, C. P. Verma

Highwall mining is a highly mechanized coal mining method associated with several advantages, such as a very high production rate (approximately 3,000 t/d) and low production costs. There is no requirement for underground support, ventilation, or blasting. Production leads to added recovery, which is otherwise lost in the ultimate pit. The use of highwall mining can bridge the gap that exists between supply and demand in the energy sector. This paper presents a brief review of highwall mining technology, including current status, analysis tools, and design techniques. In addition, it identifies important parameters from the analysis of failure case studies.

Jan 1, 2014

By Ralph H. Cleland

GENERALLY speaking, the Industry lost ground in 1941 in its accident experience. Though the frequency of compensation accidents was but slightly higher than in the previous year and well below past experience, our fatality rate shot up to that obtaining in 1938, and the average cost per man employed was the highest for some time. The number of fatalities was 56 in 1941 as against 33 in 1940. The average cost of compensation per man employed was $34.25 in 1941 as against $28.43. There was but a slight increase in the number of men employed. Accident prevention efforts were maintained, as shown by our frequency, but our accidents were of a more serious nature. In a period of considerable labour turnover, with many new men entering the Industry, especially the base-metal division, and much mental distraction, we might well have expected a high rate of accidents. That this did not occur is a tribute to managers, supervisors, and workmen alike. We all regret the high fatality rate and one must consider why this occurred. So far as it is possible to determine, there is no apparent explanation. There were no disasters. The accidents occurred to the same class of work-men, both in respect to jobs and age groups, and from the same age-old causes that we all know so well. Luck is a big factor in the seriousness of an accident; the solution lies in preventing accidents, even first-aid cases. Generally speaking, if minor accidents do not occur, major accidents do not occur.

Jan 1, 1942

Why A Friction Hoist? B EFORE discussing the equipment, it would be instructive to review the factors that influenced the management of Opemiska Cop-per Mines to purchase a friction hoist rather than a conventional double drum hoist. The mine required that 250 tons per hour be hoisted from a depth of 2,100 feet. They also specified that the top speed should not exceed 1800 feet per minute. Eight ton capacity skips in balance and a maxi-mum hoisting speed of 1725 feet per minute would meet the required <Output on a duty cycle as follows: Loading time Creep away from loading pocket Accelerate (at 2.5 ft/sec2) 10 seconds 5 seconds 11.5 seconds Full speed run Decelerate (at 2.5 ft/sec2) Creep into dump Cycle time Trips per hour Tons per hour 72 seconds 11.5 seconds 5 seconds 115 seconds 31 31x8 = 248

Jan 1, 1962

By R. W. Lawrence

"The management of acid rock drainage( ARD) to prevent impact when tailings are disposed of in the environment requires understanding of the phenomena giving rise to acidic drainage, a rigorous evaluation of the weathering characteristics of the tailings, and the successful implementation of control measures that will be effective in the long term. This paper provides a brief theoretical background to the complex reactions taking place in mill tailings containing residual sulfide minerals which must be appreciated to enable waste characterization program to be effective in predicting the future behavior of the tailings and in designing control methods which will work. The principals and practice of prediction and control as part of an ARD management strategy will then be discussed.Paper Not Available at Time of Publication"

Jan 1, 1997

By R. C. A. Thurston

INTRODUCTION THE deleterious effect of stress raisers or notches on the resistance to fatigue of machine components, and other parts subjected to repeated dynamic loading, has been well known for many years. Most engineers in the mechanical field have, at one time or another, encountered a shaft which fractured due to a poor transition fillet, a holding-down bolt which failed due to insufficient tightening or inferior thread form, or a fitted member which broke through a combination of fretting corrosion and clamping stresses. All of these are examples of the damaging influence exerted by stress raisers in fatigue. Other common forms of stress raiser which have taken their toll of dynamic components are: keyways, oil holes, splines, quenching oil grinding cracks, tool marks, and sharp changes in section; some are the result of the design, others of poor execution of the design. It is our experience in the Mines Branch1 and I feel sure this will be corroborated by other fatigue investigators, that the majority of failures are due to incorrect design or faulty preparation of the part concerned, rather than to the use of inferior material. Quite frequently, it is true that the operating conditions necessitate the presence of a &apos;notch&apos;, but even in such cases methods are generally available by which its adverse effect on the life of the component can be reduced or annulled. The purpose of this paper is to discuss a few typical stress raisers, and to provide information on various processes for mitigating their effects in fatigue.

Jan 1, 1951

By H. J. McQueen

About 1973 the abrupt decrease in crude oil shipments due to political action by Middle Eastern suppliers, caused a shortage and a steep price rise. In response, Canada had to develop strategies of diminishing consumption and increasing production in both traditional and environmentally friendly resources. To clarify the situation in Canada, there are brief histories of energy (discovery, pipelines), manufacturing and science development, 1800-1970. Energy strategies, both nationally and in Quebec, succeeded in curbing consumption and in expanding production while fostering research in renewable sources. The industry-sector committees provided free exchange of conservation techniques through the federal energy ministry, with progress reports issued annually. Pipeline history in North America is reviewed along with manufacture and construction plans in Canada. Considerable success in all the aspects provided long lasting benefits, but after the embargo was lifted, many research initiatives were gradually abandoned for political reasons. Sustainability is the goal; society must conduct conserver analysis, legislation and action to enhance it.

Jan 1, 2015

By Lawrence D. Meinert

Most large skarn deposits are zoned in both space and time relative to associated intrusions. Zonation occurs on scales from kilometers to micrometers, and re?ects in?ltrative ?uid ?ow, wall rock reaction, temperature variations, and ?uid mixing. The most spectacular examples of skarn zonationusually occur at the skarn-marble contact, where transitions between monomineralic bands can be knifesharp. Other small-scale examples occur in zoned veins and individual mineral crystals. Although,visually striking and scienti?cally interesting, in mineral exploration these small-scale variations areless useful than deposit- or district-scale zonation. In most skarn systems there is a general zonationpattern of proximal garnet, distal pyroxene, and vesuvianite (or a pyroxenoid such as wollastonite, bustamite, or rhodonite) at the marble front. As well, individual skarn minerals may display systematic color or compositional variations within the larger zonation pattern. Such patterns are reviewed for 14well-studied examples of Cu, W, Sn, Au, and Zn-Pb skarns. In addition, many deposits have endoskarnor other alteration of the associated intrusion, and recrystallization or other subtle changes have occurred in the surrounding wall rocks. Copper skarns, such as Mines Gaspé in Quebec and Big Gos-san in Irian Jaya, have high ratios of garnet:pyroxene and are zoned outward from the intrusion, to gar-net, to pyroxene, to massive-sul?de replacement and vein deposits. Garnets in Cu skarn are Fe-rich and change from dark red-brown near the intrusive contact to paler brown, green, or yellow in distal loca-tions. Pyroxenes in Cu skarns are pale and diopsidic near the intrusion, and become darker and more Fe- and Mn-rich away from the intrusion. Tungsten skarns, such as Salau and Costabonne in France and Pine Creek and Garnet Dike in California, have intermediate ratios of garnet: pyroxene, are more extensive vertically and along strike than perpendicular to the intrusive contact, and have zonation pat-terns commonly complicated by overprinting of metamorphic lithologies. In W skarns, garnet is com-monly subcalcic and the pyroxene is Fe-rich, re?ecting particularly reducing wall rocks or great depth of formation. Tin skarns, such as Dachang in China and Moina in Australia, also can have subcalcicgarnet and Fe-rich pyroxene, but this reduced mineral assemblage typically is due to an association with reduced S-type granites. Tin skarns differ from most other skarn types in having a late greisens stage that may replace earlier Sn-bearing calc-silicate minerals, thus liberating Sn to form cassiterite.Many high-grade Au skarns, such as Hedley in British Columbia and Fortitude in Nevada, have low ratios of garnet: pyroxene and are associated both with reduced plutons and reduced wall rocks. Gold-rich zones occur in Fe-rich, pyroxene-dominant, distal skarn. Zn-Pb skarns, such as the Yeonhwa-Ulchin district in Korea and Groundhog in New Mexico, have low ratios of garnet: pyroxene and generally form distal to associated intrusions. These skarns also are zoned from proximal garnet to distal pyroxene and pyroxenoid (bustamite-rhodonite), with signi?cant zones of massive sul?des within and beyond skarn. Manganese enrichment of most mineral phases, particularly pyroxene, is characteristic of distal zones. Fundamental controls on skarn zonation include temperature, depth of formation, composition and oxidation state of associated plutons and wall rocks, and tectonic setting. Most W skarns form at relatively great depth, 5 km to 20 km, with extensive high-temperature metamorphic and meta-somatic mineral assemblages. In contrast, most other skarn types are relatively shallow, <10 km and mostly <5 km, with limited, lower temperature metamorphic aureoles. Differences in oxidation state correlate well with different skarn zonation patterns, particularly garnet: pyroxene ratios and compositions, and can be used in both classi?cation of and exploration for skarn deposits

Jan 1, 1997

By S. Oppenheimer, P. Au, R. M. Kearsey, J. Tsang, E. McDevitt

A new superalloy, ATI 718Plus® Alloy (718Plus), has been developed to have a 55oC higher temperature capability over the traditionally used Alloy 718, while maintaining favourable processing characteristics and intrinsic raw material costs. The fatigue and dwell-fatigue behaviour of four microstructural variations of 718Plus are evaluated and compared to Waspaloy: 1) standard heat treated condition (HT1), 2) standard heat treated condition with thermal exposure at 732ºC (1350ºF) for 1000 hours (HT2), 3) fine grain condition with a modified d phase (HT3), and 4) fine grain overaged through modified heat treatment (HT4). The results show that the steady-state fatigue crack growth rates of each microstructural variation and both alloys are identical, with all of the 718Plus variations showing a clear advantage over Waspaloy in the fatigue crack threshold regime. Dwell-fatigue results show that Waspaloy has better resistance to crack propagation under dwell conditions; however, optimization of the precipitate phase shows vast improvement in the dwell-fatigue resistance of 718Plus.

Jan 1, 2010

By W. G. Mine

In September, 1953, seismographs were installed in the Crowsnest Pass area of Alberta and British Columbia to study the &apos;bumps&apos; which were occurring in the coal mines at Fernie and Coleman, and to investigate the possibility that they might be related to minor earthquakes in the area. During the initial phase of the work, three seismographs were operated at widely separated stations, two in the region of coal mines at Coal Creek and Coleman and one at Turner Valley, distant from any mining operations. Some earthquakes were recorded at all three stations and, in addition, many small disturbances were recorded by the seismographs located near the mines, especially -by the instrument at Goal Greek. A closer network of radio-linked seismographs was then in-stalled near Fernie, the records of which definitely established that the small disturbances were occurring in the mine workings, both active and inactive. No relationship was established between bumps and local earth-quakes in the area. This work was initiated as a -co-operative effort with the Fuels Di-vision of the Mines Branch, Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, which has undertaken a study into the phenomena of ground stress relief in underground mine workings.

Jan 1, 1958

By Rodnei Graça, Jorge Silva Bettencourt, Lena Virgínia Soares Monteiro, Baruch Spiro, Tolentino Flávio De Oliveira

Abstract - The Vazante Mine is located in the Vazante District, the largest zinc district in Brazil. The Vazante deposit consists dominantly of an unusual willemitic ore. Small sulfide bodies are tectonically imbricated with the willemitic ore, within the Vazante shear zone. Structural styles of deformation and petrographic and isotopic evidence indicate that willemitic mineralization and deformation occurred synchronously during the Neo-Proterozoic. Various generations of hydrothermal veins and hydraulic breccias may pre-date, accompany and overprint the mineralization. Ore-formation temperatures are deduced from stable isotope geothermometry and mineral chemistry of both sulfide bodies and willemitic ore. Temperatures during the main stage of mineralization range from 206°C to 294°C (willemitic ore) and 317°C (sulfides), and reflect the prevailing metamorphic conditions within the shear zone. The fluid from which the gangue minerals of the sulfide bodies precipitated (at 250°C) had an oxygen isotopic average value of ?18O = +19.4‰. This value appears to reflect the interaction of metamorphic fluid with the carbonate rocks of the Vazante formation. At 250°C, the fluid in equilibrium with the vein mineral phases and willemitic ore assemblage exhibits a uniform oxygen isotopic composition, with an average value of ?18O = +11.5‰. The positive linear covariance of ?18O and ?13C ratios of the carbonates is most likely due to the mixing of metamorphic and meteoric fluids. The ?34S values of sulfides indicate a direct crustal origin for the sulfur. It is suggested that the sulfur is largely derived from pre-existing sulfide bodies and has been transported by metamorphic fluids. The willemitic ore may have originated from the precipitation of metal in sulfur- poor fluids under oxidized conditions, within the Vazante shear zone.

Jan 1, 1999

By K. Muehlenbachs, J. U. Stemler

"Abstract - The Boston deposit is a recently discovered Archean lode-gold deposit located approximately 700 km northeast of Yellowknife, in the southern portion of the Hope Bay volcanic belt. Primary H2O-CO2-NaCl fluid inclusions associated with gold mineralization at Boston are of low salinity (4.6 ± 1.4 eq. wt.% NaCl, n = 182) and contain pure CO2. Homogenization temperatures of liquid-phase inclusions average 270° ± 33°C (n = 141), but some fluid inclusion assemblages contain coexisting liquid- and vapor-phase inclusions that homogenize near critical conditions, suggesting phase separation. In these groups, liquid-phase inclusions homogenized at 299° ± 25°C (n = 24), and vapor-phase inclusions homogenized at 338° ± 28°C (n = 18). These temperatures overlap within error, and a median temperature of ~320°C is taken as representative of trapping conditions within the veins. An approximate pressure of 2-3 kbar was estimated from fluid inclusion isochores at this temperature. Stable isotopic compositions of carbonate minerals from the mineralized zones range from -4.7‰ to -3.1‰ in d13C, and from 11.2‰ to 12.8‰ in d18O; quartz ranges from d18O = 12.8‰ to 14.9‰; and pyrite ranges from d34S = 2.1‰ to 3.5‰. The d18OH2O, d13CCO2, and d34SH2S values of the fluid calculated from these minerals at 320°C are 6‰-9‰, -2.4‰ ± 0.6‰, and 1.5‰ ± 0.5‰, respectively, and are intermediate between metamorphic and magmatic compositions. A unique source for the fluids cannot, therefore, be constrained from these data. Petrographic and geochemical data for the Boston deposit are consistent with data from other Archean lode-gold deposits worldwide, implying that the Boston deposit formed in a similar environment and from similar types of fluids. These results suggest that the Hope Bay volcanic belt may represent a major new mesothermal gold belt in this part of Nunavut. Sommaire - Le gîte Boston a été récemment découvert à environ 700 km au nord-est de Yellowknife dans la partie sud de la ceinture volcanique de Hope Bay, il s’agit d’un gîte d’or filonien d’âge Archéen. Les inclusions fluides primaires de H2O-CO2-NaCl associées à la minéralisation aurifère du gîte Boston présentent une faible salinité (4.6 ± 1.4 eq. pds.% NaCl, n = 182) et contiennent du CO2 pur. La température d’homogénéisation des inclusions à phase liquide est en moyenne de 270° ± 33°C (n = 141), mais certains assemblages d’inclusions contiennent des phases liquides et gazeuses coexistantes qui s’homogénéisent dans des conditions quasi critiques, suggérant qu’elles résultent d’une séparation de phase. Dans ces groupes, les inclusions de phase liquide s’homogénéisent à 299° ± 25°C (n = 24) et les inclusions de phase gazeuse s’homogénéisent à 338° ± 28°C (n = 18). Ces températures se recoupent à l’intérieur des limites de l&apos;erreur de mesure, et nous considérons qu’une température médiane de ~320°C est représentative des conditions de piégeage dans ces veines. Les isochores permettent d’estimer une pression d’environ 2-3 kbar à cette température. La composition des isotopes stables des carbonates dans les zones minéralisées s’étend de -4.7‰ to -3.1‰ pour d13C et pour de 11.2‰ à 12.8‰ pour d18O; les valeurs de d18O pour le quartz varient de 12.8‰ à 14.9; et les valeurs de d34S dans la pyrite vont de 2.1‰ à 3.5‰. Les valeurs de d18OH2O, d13CCO2, et d34SH2S du fluide calculé à partir de ces minéraux à une température de 320°C est de 6-9‰, -2.4‰ ± 0.6‰, et 1.5‰ ± 0.5‰ respectivement, reflétant des conditions intermédiaires entre des compositions métamorphiques et magmatiques. Il n’est donc pas possible d’identifier une source unique pour ces fluides à partir de ces données. Les données pétrographiques et géochimiques du gîte Boston sont similaires à celles d’autres gîtes d’or filoniens ailleurs dans le monde, ce qui implique que le gîte Boston s’est formé dans un environnement similaire à partir des mêmes types de fluides. Ces résultats suggèrent que la ceinture volcanique de Hope"

Jan 1, 2006

By W. P. Campbell

Introduction OWING to the necessity of curtailing the length of this paper, nothing like an exhaustive treatment of the subject will be attempted. Instead, merely a few aspects will be considered, viz., water trouble in wells, sampling of waters, analysis, methods of reporting analysis, and the comparison of a few typical waters. The waters discussed will not be confined to those occurring in areas where oil or gas has already been found, but will include samples from areas in which drilling is being carried on in the hope that oil or gas may be found, i.e., from unproved fields. The Water Problem The problem of dealing with water encountered in oil and gas producing areas has engaged the attention of petroleum engineers from the early days of the industry. Water was not always considered a menace to oil sands; indeed, a certain amount of it was considered beneficial in some areas, but if such exist today they are very exceptional. In some fields, the problem is more acute than in others, and at times has baffled all attempts to solve it satisfactorily. Wells have been brought-in with promise of good production, but after a brief period have &apos;gone to water&apos;. Whether ?it has always been a case of poor engineering in the form of unsuccessful water shut-off of &apos;top&apos; or &apos;bottom&apos; water, or because &apos;edge&apos; water was present and water and oil were in such close contact it was impossible to remove the one without the other, is hard to say.

Jan 1, 1929

By Da-Qiang Cang, Qingde Wang, Wei Wang, Wen-Bin Dai, Min Guo, Yu Li

Utilization of both slag and its heat for hot slag is a great challenge for iron and steel industry. Many methods of hot slag modification for directly converting hot slag into value-added materials were researched in recent years, and waste heat of hot slag could thereby be transformed into inner energy or chemical energy of the materials. In this paper, an experiment of converting hot slag directly into glass ceramics by hot slag modification method was conducted. A cooled modifiers mainly composed of fly ash were firstly heated though a cyclone furnace and then fell into a molten bath to mix with hot steel slag. Half of hot slag was used as raw materials and accordingly about half energy consumption, about 5MJ/kg for melting raw materials was saved in the process compared with that of traditional producing method. Frit quenched from the modified hot slag had a higher basicity of 0.6-0.7 than traditional frits in order to reduce the needed amount of cold modifiers and accordingly utilize more hot slag and its waste heat. Glass ceramics were further prepared from the frit and a heat treatment of one-stage method is more suiter to such frit than that of two-stage method. The glass-ceramics with basicity of 0.6 and heat-treated by one stage method had the best performance with bending strength of 146.46 MPa, Vickers hardness of 6.79 GPa, water absorption rate of below 2% and shrinkage rate of around 10%.

Jan 1, 2015

By I. L. Sills

Introduction So many minerals and mineral products are used in the glass industry that it would require an unduly long paper to deal adequately with all of them. Only those that go to make up the batch for the more common types of glass will be discussed here, and even with these only, the list is a lengthy one. It is true that for the body of the glass comparatively few materials are required-as silica sand, soda-ash, lime, and feldspar. The others are used mainly to colour or decolorize the glass, or to give it some other desired characteristic, such as high lustre, greater physical strength, or opalescence; but, although they may be present in very small quantities, they are just as in-dispensable to the glass industry as are the main constituents of the batch. Sand Sand is essentially quartz, the dioxide of silicon, Si02. Most glass contains from 71J to 75 per cent silica. Sand for use in the glass industry, or &apos;glass sand&apos;, is obtained both from deposits of unconsolidated material, commonly referred to as &apos;sand&apos;, and from solid rock-sandstone, quartz, or quartzite. For the manufacture of glass, the material must possess a high degree of purity, as noted below, so that, although sand is widespread in most parts of the world, and sandstone, quartz, and quartzite are not at all uncommon, it is only in certain places that suitable deposits are found. At the present time, most of the glass sand used in Canada is imported from France, Belgium, and the United States. The French material, from Fontainebleau, near Paris, is known the world over as a very high quality glass sand. That from Belgium is nearly as good and is lower is price.

Jan 1, 1934

By Ernest Davis

WATER power, until developed, produces nothing, but when harnessed it continues to produce, it might be said, indefinitely. Hence the importance of developing all feasible water powers. British Columbia, like the western states of America, is subject to variable meteorological conditions which cause most streams to be erratic in their flow. The wet season, usually commencing in October and continuing to March or April, together with the melting of the snows during the early summer, produces a heavy run-off which diminishes considerably during the later s1.1,mmer months, with the result that storage is essential on practically every stream in order to regulate the flow to obtain a discharge which will meet the requirements of the load of the markets the power is to serve. Storage sites of sufficient capacity to equate the flows are not always present and it follows that, where such a deficiency exists, the difference must usually be met by burning fuel in steam plants. Fortunately, there are within the Province deposits of high-grade coal, suitable for the operation of such auxiliary steam plants. One of the strongest reasons for the development of water powers is the conservation of fuel. All use of coal or oil depletes resources that can never be renewed. Every water power developed means a saving in fuel and, even if at first it does not possess an over-powering financial advantage, it must become of ever increasing value as fuel resources become depleted. However, sight must not be lost of the inter-relation which should exist between the two methods of generating electrical energy, as each makes an admirable supplement to the? other with respect to suitability for carrying different types of load. In general, it can be said that the fixed charges of a water power development are usually high in relation to the operation costs, while those of fuel power plants are usually the reverse, so it is sometimes possible to combine the two methods of generation for the more efficient production of energy.

Jan 1, 1942

By Wm. Snow, J. R. Wallace, E. P. Duchemin

"GeneralA NOT INCONSIDERABLE proportion of the Canadian economy is dependent on the coal mining industry. This is particularly true of the eastern portion of Canada and especially so of the ( authors') province of Nova Scotia. Much has been said about the trying economic straits of the coal industry in Nova Scotia ( 1), faced, as it is, with difficult mining problems, with considerable distance from large markets, and with •competition from other (and usually foreign) fuels. It is of particular interest, at this time, therefore, to discuss one of the larger outlets for coal -that of the production of metallurgical coke.Scope of PaperWhile the title of this paper indicates that it deals with Metallurgical Coke in Canada, the authors beg leave to treat the Canadian industry very briefly and to deal specifically with coal, •coke, and smelting problems with which they are familiar, namely, the operation of the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation in the Sydney, N.S., area. No mention is made of metallurgical coke for use in the •many foundries in Canada or in the non-ferrons metallurgical industries.Coal and Coke StatisticsA few statistics of the total output of .Canadian coal, production of metallurgical coke, and similar figures for the Dosco holdings (Sydney area only) are shown in Table I."

Jan 1, 1955

Delivering Our Products On any given day in North America, 80 kilometers of rail cars are engaged in moving our product. Global Customer Base Our business accounts for more than 30% of all bulk goods moved through the Port of Vancouver

May 1, 2006

By Gordon Jackson

"There are two accomplishments of air and gas drilling: a new series of economic and mechanical challenges; and, acceptance as a standard drilling and completion tool.The new challenges are related to the concept of using a gaseous circulating medium in drilling for oil or gas. For purposes of discussion, a two part division has been made: the challenge of fluid invasion control and that of equipment and tools. Great strides have been made in the development of materials and techniques to combat formation fluid invasion. Chemicals and the ""mist drilling"" technique, now in use, have the versatility to cope with a wide range of downhole fluid entry conditions.Equipment and tools have been developed to meet the challenges of better, more economic drilling and completion possible with a gaseous circulating fluid. Economic and operational challenges remain.Acceptance of air and gas drilling as a normal operating tool was reached with difficulty. It is now established as a means of reducing costs in exploratory and develop-mental well drilling, exemplified in a recent study of 226 wells covering 419,407 feet of hole in the United States. Air reached the projected depth in 85 per cent of the operations, although formation water was encountered in 48.7 per cent of the holes. Slim hole bit performance and cost all compared for overall bit averages as part of analysis."

Jan 1, 1961

By P. Kobylin, K. Haavanlammi, K. Valkama

"Base metals and precious metals can be recovered from a nickel matte or nickel concentrate using the Outotec nickel chloride leaching process. The raw material is leached with hydrochloric acid and the metals are recovered by solvent extraction, where ammonia is used to control the pH. Ammonium chloride is regenerated to ammonia and the side product of this step is calcium chloride solution. The regeneration utilizes either calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. The calcium chloride solution is used to convert sulfuric acid into a hydrochloric acid solution while producing pure gypsum as a side product. The regeneration and reuse of ammonia and hydrochloric acid in this process will have a positive impact, from the point of view of both operating costs and environmental sustainability. This paper concentrates on the test work and technical concept development performed by Outotec to implement and develop chemical regeneration and recycling into a vital part of the nickel chloride leaching process.INTRODUCTION According to a nickel market analysis, the nickel market is expected to grow in the future. Main driver for this growth is the increase in stainless steel consumption as the living standards are equalizing globally. The expected increase in the amount of electrical cars and the need for nickel in the batteries of electrical cars also gives potential for the increased need for nickel in near future. At the moment the use of nickel in nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA) Li-ion batteries is in the range of 14 ktpa. It is estimated to increase to the level of 90 ktpa by 2025. In every era of the nickel industry, Outotec has been constantly developing new processes to create environmentally sustainable and economically viable processing routes. The Outotec® Nickel Matte Chloride Leaching process is a great example of a process that is flexible regarding raw material and could also treat nickel raw materials that are difficult for smelters. Outotec’s main options for pyrometallurgical nickel treatment include the Outotec® Direct Nickel Flash Smelting process (DON) and the Outotec® Ausmelt TSL process. The DON process is operated in Boliden Harjavalta Nickel Smelter in Finland. Ausmelt process is in use for example in Daye nonferrous plant in China. In the Outotec® Direct Nickel Flash Smelting Process, a sulphide nickel concentrate is processed in an Outotec Flash Smelting Furnace (FSF). Producing concentrates and processing them by Outotec Direct Nickel Flash Smelting to matte followed by hydrometallurgical refining offers a reliable route from concentrate to product. In the DON process, high-grade matte with low Fe content is produced in the FSF and the valuable metals in the slag are recovered in an electric furnace (EF). The Outotec® Ausmelt TSL process can use a large variety of raw materials (concentrates, secondary material and scrap metal) as feed. Fuel and oxygen are injected into the furnace through TSL (Top Submerged Lance) and this enables efficient smelting. Both Flash Smelting and TSL plants produce nickel mattes, which can be refined with Outotec hydrometallurgical processes."

Jan 1, 2017