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By K. Nagy

To support the implementation of its integrated SHEQ Policy, Cameco has undertaken an environmental leadership initiative with the goal of moving beyond regulatory compliance and significantly reducing environmental impacts in five key areas: air emissions, treated water quality and quantity, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, and waste generation. To ensure environmental leadership becomes routine business practice, it was necessary to integrate the initiative into Cameco?s programs and management systems at the corporate and operational levels. Operations based environmental leadership strategies and action plans have since been developed, as well as a corporate reporting system to monitor Cameco?s environmental performance.

Aug 1, 2010

By J. Shanks

In 1920 the writer presented some notes, embodying his experience with storage-battery locomotives as main under-ground haulage-motors at Brazeau collieries. (1) Since that date these motors have stood up well to the test of maximum output and heavy overloads, having accomplished all that was expected of them. The notes presented in 1920 gave a brief description of the conditions under which these motors were working at Brazeau collieries, also the cost, per ton mile, of operating them. The cost per ton mile has since then been appreciably reduced, by working the locomotives nearly to capacity and under more ideal haulage conditions, on both shifts. It is not the intention of the writer to repeat what was written in 1920, but rather to give members the benefit of his experience in operating different types or designs of locomotives; to draw their attention to the drawbacks of some designs, and to the improvements made in some of the more recent storage-battery locomotives put on the market, as regards efficiency, upkeep, and safety. Because of their flexibility storage-battery locomotives have advantages over any other type of haulage, where grades are suitable to their use. The number in use in the mines in the United States has increased enormously during the past few years, and this method of haulage is, at the present time, attracting the attention of British and Continental mining engineers.

Jan 1, 1924

By V. Ushakov, P. Bogdan

Daily production scheduling in a highly dynamic smelter environment has always been a great challenge for the operation management due to a significant amount of uncertainties. Planned and unexpected equipment failures, various energy outages, inaccuracies in flow and mass balancing, manpower availability conflicts and other constraints make the job of daily production planning exceptionally difficult. This paper discusses a general scheduling approach utilized by the production management of the Phelps Dodge Miami Smelter (the Smelter). It also describes logical assumptions and some practical software solutions that have been exploited by the Smelter managers to assist the front line supervisors in dealing with daily planning activities for several years.

Jan 1, 2007

By W. E. Oching, M. M. Ghomshei

Attracting and retaining workers in mining industry has become an uphill battle to many mining companies. As workers with significant experience retire, it is getting more difficult to attract not only new workers but also top talent to the mining industry to replace professionals exiting the workforce. To make matters worse, students’ enrolment in the post-secondary mining programs in Canada and USA is continuously declining year after year for reasons not directly linked to job market. This raises a question of how can the future needs of mining be met? This paper focuses on avenues for collaboration of industry and educational institutions to meet the current and future needs of mining. It provides effective approaches that mining institutes can engage with program advisory committees, role of the mining industry in supporting both faculty and students, how to harness the benefits of diverse workforce in the country and use of innovative technologies to attract young workers in mining. This work presents Human Resources (HR) professionals with tools that they can use to hire and retain skilled workers with strong interest to work in the mining industry. It also provides HR professionals with an opportunity to re-evaluate their restructuring practices during economic downturns as they reduce number of employees on temporary or permanent basis. The paper stresses the need of working together of the mining stakeholders including mining industry, academic institutions, First Nations’ communities and provincial(state) and federal governments to meet the current and future demands of mining as the industry experiences shortage of labour and low students’ enrolment in post-secondary mining programs. It is shown that mining educational institutes can enhance their programs and recruitments through establishing a better communication with all stakeholders. This communication can be facilitated by creating a national advisory board, to work with all mining programs at the national level for sustainable mining.

Jan 1, 2023

Operating and Social Considerations from a Contractor?s Perspective

May 1, 2013

By Keith C. Hendrick

"Metal prices are frequently the most critical and least predictable element in determining the profitability of mining operations. Short -term fluctuations can be offset in varying degrees by hedging or other market actions. Such solutions are not practical for the longer term, The paper investigates the nature and extent of metal price risks and evaluates methods to reduce them.IntroductionIt is management's responsibility to improve the odds by managing the-risks by identifying them clearly, assessing them accurately, minimizing them where possible-and, then, timing decision s success fully.In determining the profitability of current operations, preparing forward plan s or developing feasibility studies for new projects or expansions, pr ices are usually the most critical input. Being market determined rather than cost based, they can also be the most unpredictable As a result, commodity prices are frequently the greatest of all risk factors.Nature of Commodity PricesThe cyclical nature of commodity prices is well known. They are stable only when supply is in balance with demand and forecast to remain that way. An imbalance on either side of the equation can lead to a price reaction completely out of proportion to the actual or perceived surplus or shortage.This exaggeration arises through the cumulative effect of market forces. When the market senses an uptrend, consumers buy for the expected increase in activity. They also seek additional quantities for inventory before price s rise. Merchants defer spot sales anticipating higher price s, speculators go along for the same reason, and producers raise prices in response to demand. Events tend to confirm the expectation of each party and strengthen their reaction causing prices to move higher."

Jan 1, 1983

By Mark B. Thorpe

Golden Star Resources started gold mining operations in Africa in 1999 after 15 years of exploration in South America. At the time, the approach to local assistance was through "alternative livelihood" programs and the donation of infrastructure to local communities. This was initially successful with local community support. However, with time and on reviewing the implemented projects, it became evident that the success was limited and many if the projects were either poorly used or in disrepair. Through a review of the options, we decided to develop a community assistance model driven by the communities themselves, while keeping control of the finances and the actual construction of the projects. Through the formation of the Golden Star Development Foundation, we began to support community driven projects for local economic development. The evolution of economic development projects continued over the next several years with the addition of project requirements for partnerships with government, and finally an evolution to a partnered turn-key piece of infrastructure that we hand over to an agency for operation and ongoing maintenance. We are currently working with outside partners to further our economic development activities in Ghana to the benefit of our stakeholders.

May 1, 2011

By Ralph L. Rutherford

Introduction During the past twenty-five years we have seen considerable exploration for oil on the plains of southern and east-central Alberta. This exploration has to some extent gone on in cycles, with periodic starts, stops, and occasionally some reversals. Each major attempt is usually supplemented by the application of some new method of exploration and, following each period of exploration, drilling tests are made. Whereas oil-bearing horizons are the ultimate objective of these explorations, the preliminary investigation frequently aims at a discovery of structure based on the long accepted belief that accumulations of oil and gas are to a marked degree structurally controlled. At the inception of this general exploration for oil, it was natural that attention should be directed to areas where there was surface evidence of deformation of the underlying strata, but, as the programme progressed, it was found that these surface manifestations of structure were often deceptive when attempts were made to project them to depth, to involve the deeper strata. Drilling of test wells was the only satisfactory method of obtaining exact information.

Jan 1, 1946

By Michio Okada

Dissociative adsorption of hydrogen (deuterium) on thin gold films grown on Ir{111} surface has been studied with temperature-programmed desorption using a quadrupole mass spectrometer and nuclear reaction analysis. Thin Au{111} films are epitaxially grown on Ir{111}. Surprisingly, H2 (D2) can dissociatively adsorb on these Au{111} films, although it is well known that Au surfaces are noble enough not to dissociate hydrogen molecules [B. Hammer and J.K. Nørskov, Nature 376, (1995) 238]. We attribute this to the sensitivity of hydrogen to changes in the local surface properties, e.g., electron localization (the narrowing of the s-band, the s-band center model), which could explain the upto now unexpected high for the reactivity of a thin Au{111} surface. Moreover, we found that H (D) atoms can be confined into a Au thin film and/or the interface between an Ir surface and the thin Au film. We demonstrate how anomalously reactive thin Au films grown on an Ir surface are, and also compare the Au films with Ag films grown on Ir to test the validity/generality of our proposed s-band center model.

Oct 1, 2003

By Walter K. (Cory) Conrad

Two pumping tests in the Chilson Member of the lower Lakota Formation were completed at nearly the same location in 1979 and 2008. The 1979 test consisted of a pumping well and several surrounding observation wells penetrating the full 55-m thickness of the aquifer. The 2008 test consisted of a pumping well and three surrounding observation wells screened over 10 m in one of the known uranium ore horizons in the lower portion of the Lakota penetrated only about 3 meters of the more than 55-m thick lower Lakota aquifer. The average transmissivity and storativity values determined from the 1979 tests were 17.6 m2/day and 1.8 x 10-4, respectively. Comparing median transmissivity of 13.9 m2/day and storativity of 1.2 x 10-4 determined in the 2008 test to the 1979 test, the new aquifer parameters for the lower Lakota are respectively about 80 and 70 percent of the 1979 results. Because transmissivity and storativity depend on aquifer thickness, comparing the results suggests that there may be some scaling effect between the tests due to the differing lengths of screened intervals. However, the effect cannot be predicted by calculations such as relative screen lengths or open intervals to the formation, or sandstone versus shale thicknesses on geophysical logs. The scaling effect is attributed to partial disconnection between the lower and upper portions of the Lakota Formation aquifer by locally continuous shale interbeds. Suggestions to resolve this scaling issue are presented.

Aug 1, 2010

By L. W. Krahenbil

The programmable Logic Controller (PLC), at its present stage of evolution, is now considered as a mature control system. The PLC combines the solid-state reliability of hardwired logic and computer control systems with the simplicity of a relay ladder logic. Relay symbolic programming through a function-oriented keyboard provides a means which plant personnel can easily become accustomed to work with. In a large coal facility, it is shown that the control engineer can provide improved control flexibility with the advanced capabilities of the PLC.

Jan 1, 1979

By A. E. Aho

"The material presented in this paper will be subject to modification as new data become available, but it is presented in the hope that it will inspire more intensive mineral exploration and geologic studies of what appears to be one of Canada's richest mineral provinces. A metallogenic province 400 by 150 miles in extent, lying mostly northeast of Tintina trench, encompasses most of the base metal deposits of Yukon, as well as deposits of other metals. Its main features are northwesterly trending arcuate fold belts, with several orogenic axes, which include most of the metamorphosed rocks, granitic intrusives and mineralization; and which are modified by regional uplifts, northwest-striking fault trenches, and lesser transverse folding and faulting.The main base metal occurrences and their regional controls are summarized briefly. Most of the replacement-type deposits are localized in late Proterozoic to early Paleozoic rocks, particularly Lower Cambrian -probably because these are the most physically and chemically favourable hosts encountered in an appropriate temperature and pressure environment; perhaps because of early age of deposition. Most of the deposits also occur near heat sources or intrusives with associated structural uplift, which has, moreover, served to expose the older rocks. They also tend to occur near known or suspected regional fault trenches, such as Tintina, Macmillan and Hess, although this relationship may be fortuitous. In detail, they may be localized in fold axes, flat-lying beds or other appropriate structural traps. Vein-type deposits are fracture-controlled and localized by dilational localfties, the competence of wall rocks and ""damming"" effects.In the Anvil district, large stratiform iron-zinc-lead replacement deposits lie parallel to gently plunging flex-ures in phyllite in a zone parallel to the Tintina trench, along the southwest flank of the arch-like Anvil batholith. About 80 million tons of massive sulphide ore probably existed before erosion of the Faro orebody, the Vangorda deposit could have been of similar magnitude before erosion and much more tonnage probably remains to be discovered in the district. The Anvil deposits may differ from others found to date in Yukon, but resemble the Sullivan orebody of southeastern British Columbia in their large size, localization in essentially non-limy peptic to arena-ceous host rocks of Proterozoic or early Paleozoic age and proximity to the Rocky Mountain -Tintina trench sys-tem. These features suggest an origin from primordial subcrustal sources.More major ore deposits, not only of lead, zinc and copper but probably of other metals as well, will no doubt be found in similar environments in Yukon or Alaska. Thus, the base metal province of Yukon offers challenging opportunities for prospecting, development, field studies and basic research."

Jan 1, 1969

By B. Van den Bogaert, K. Binnemans, T. Van Gerven

Europium is one of the most critical rare-earth elements due to the limited supply of this element combined with a high demand for red lamp phosphors. Therefore, the recycling of europium from end-oflife lamp phosphors has become increasingly important. Photochemical reduction of europium(III) to europium(II) and subsequent removal from rare-earth mixtures by precipitation as EuSO4 is a very selective and efficient method to recover europium from binary europium/yttrium solutions. It is shown that full separation of europium and yttrium is feasible from laboratory prepared non-equimolar Eu/Y mixtures up to a ratio of 1/20, which reflect the composition of red lamp phosphors. Optimal conditions were determined at pH 4 with isopropanol as a radical scavenger, which is a less harmful and toxic compound than the commonly used formic acid scavenger. Europium removal efficiencies of more than 95% were achieved, with a purity of 98.5% of the EuSO4 precipitate. The irradiance of the used light source, expressed in mW/cm2, has a large impact on the illumination time needed to remove europium from the solution. It is observed that higher irradiance results in a shorter induction time, i.e. a period during which virtually no europium is removed, and a faster removal rate once the induction time has passed. The photochemical separation technique was applied to recover europium from leached industrial red lamp phosphor (YOX) powder, with a Eu/Y ratio of 1/30. Europium recovery of 50% was reached with a purity of 96%, proving the feasibility of this method for the recycling of europium from end-of-life lamp phosphors.

Jan 1, 2016

By R. W. Pauls

"Many tens of thousands of hectares of forested land will be disturbed and reclaimed in the surface mineable Athabasca oil sands area during the next few decades. The surface area disturbed by Syncrude’s Mildred Lake development alone exceeds 10 000 ha to date. It is not clear that reforestation of disturbed areas will best accommodate the aspirations of all stakeholders, particularly traditional users of the land. A five-year research program by Syncrude Canada Limited and the Fort McKay First Nations has examined the feasibility of raising bison on land reclaimed after disturbance by oil sands development. Forage productivity and carrying capacity for bison was comparable to that of grasslands elsewhere in Alberta. Concerns regarding compaction of newly rebuilt soil by bison traffic proved unfounded. Bison demonstrated weight gains typical for ranched bison and calving rates averaged 90%, a value typical for ranched bison. The animal husbandry problems encountered were typical of those occurring on bison ranches elsewhere in Alberta. An economic analysis indicates that a 1000 ha bison ranch on reclaimed land has a net present value that compares very favourably with a similar area supporting commercial forest. Subject to approval by Alberta Environmental Protection, the current research project will be expanded as a pilot commercial ranching venture in order to explore its commercial viability as a business venture by the Fort McKay First Nations. At the same time, measures will be implemented to resolve various regulatory issues associated with commercial bison production in the oil sands area.BackgroundSyncrude Canada Ltd. (Syncrude) is proposing, in its land reclamation strategy, a feature that is, depending on one’s background and perspective, regarded as an innovative approach to land reclamation, a threat to the regional forest industry, a creative response to aboriginal stakeholder concerns, a reneging on reclamation commitments, an opportunity to provide an ongoing economic base for postoil sands regional economy, or an environmentally unsound use of the land. These diverse and sometimes strong reactions have been generated by the proposal to introduce bison, either free-ranging or commercial ranched, to the reclaimed landscape."

Jan 1, 1999

By Jae-sang Ahn

As the amount of construction information used in the growing construction field increases, the importance of efficient construction field management has been growing. Therefore, construction industry have been tried to introduce and conjugate various software and IT technology such as PMIS, Web Camera, RFID, GPS, PDA. However, existing IT technology especially PMIS have not been performed systematically because of difficulty of real time information collection and decision-making from the insufficient handy equipment. These problems make construction manager cannot efficiently respond to diverse condition occur in construction sites. In addition, after the completion, individual who use PMIS have to move another site and use another system so than cannot use information from previous sites. On the other hand, development of IT technology transmute PDA phone for text-based work like schedule management, internet research to smart phone for network based multimedia service. In other words, smart phone is not just IT equipment but new way for overall industry and it can satisfy the demand IT technology on construction sites. Therefore, the purpose of this study is introduce mobile based individual unit PMIS system using cloud computing and SNS which is in development progress. It is expected to be possible to collect and record the real-time information that occur at the site and make rapid decisions based on the recorded information, by converting the office works that are managed based on the site PC or Web, if the site management system that is based on the smart phones and Cloud computing that will be constructed through this research are utilized. After this study, it is necessary to research about interwork with project unit PMIS system and test on real construction site.

Aug 1, 2013

By Jos. Kalbhenn

MR. G. G. BOWSER: Mr. Kalbhenn's paper is an excellent one and is a concise description of a very interesting piece of work. It is well known that a great deal of preliminary study was given to this job before the final plans were made. It is due to this thorough preparation .chat the work progressed so satisfactorily, smoothly, and safely. The ideas carried out in the construction of the hardwood pack, timbered compartment, inclined raise, loading chute, and steel-boomed room, all contributed to a successful conclusion of the work. The extra care in being certain that the compartment shafts were well timbered was especially necessary on account of the difficult blasting conditions. In other words, the foundations .of this job were well and truly laid. The blasting in this work was very difficult due to the nature of the Strata. Working under an ever precarious roof condition and completing .this job with only two lost-time accidents is a record of which to be proud. The shaft men engaged on this work are also due for praise. I regret I did not visit this work while it was in progress. It was not in lack of interest. This, however, more or less proves that the blasting end .of this job went along with practically no trouble. I have seen the nature of the rock, as I made several visits to the tunnels while they were being put through from the Phalen to the Harbour seam. According to figures in Mr. Kalbhenn's paper, the explosives consumption works out to 1.61 pounds per cubic yard of rock in the solid, or 0.8 pounds per ton. The explosives consumption in the tunnels ran from 2.86 to 3.46 pounds per cubic yard or an average of 1.58 pounds per ton of rock. Of course, the rock in the shaft was blasted in the most economical way possible, as far as powder costs are concerned, as the face advanced at close -wright angles to the strata and gravity was acting with the explosive. The tunnels were driven nearly 'end on' the strata and bottom holes had to be lifted, and I believe there was some re-drilling of ribs left in the floor. I would like to congratulate Mr. Kalbhenn on his very fine paper.

Jan 1, 1944

By P. Wanjara, M. Xiao, M. Jahazi, C. Poon

Using a robotic 4kW Nd:YAG-laser system, Inconel 718 (1 mm sheet) was welded with and without filler wire to investigate the effect of processing parameters, including power input and welding speed, on the weld geometry, microstructure and mechanical properties. By means of both nondestructive testing and microscopic examination, the weld quality was studied to determine the nature of the welding defects (porosity, cracking and bead shape) over the processing range of 3-3.5 kW for the power input and 4.5-6 m-min-1 for the welding speed. Application of the design of experiment methodology permitted the examination of the relationship between the process parameters and mechanical properties, from which the optimized laser welding conditions could be determined for joining Inconel 718. In particular, the research results indicate that Nd:YAG-laser welding technology can achieve defects free, mechanically sound welds with narrow fusion and heat effected zones.

Jan 1, 2006

By Curtiss O. Ehrsam, M. Naseem Mian

Alaska’s Red Dog Mine is strengthening its position within Cominco’s “Vision 2000”strategic plan by continually improving quality and quantity of production while reducing costs. Red Dog has evolved into a stable and mature operation, after six years of milling experience. A high grade, partially oxidized orebody in the severe Arctic environment, along with competing producers in a volatile metals market, are the continuing challenges facing Red Dog. The Red Dog Mine is striving to meet these challenges with emphasis on operator training combined with creative systems development and increased production. This paper describes developments in operations along with future plans.

Jan 1, 1996

By P. R. Warner

This paper reviews the development of certain aspects of the electrical specifications of Anglo American’s suite of specifications for gearless mill drives (“GMDs”). These specifications are based on experiences in both Anglo American’s and others’ operations, benchmarking against large hydro generators, the advice of industry and university experts, and continuous close co-operation with OEMs. To achieve a step change in availability additional final testing and electrical protection have been implemented, insulation requirements have been specified for machines to be operated at high altitude and clean area and access control systems have been developed.

Jan 1, 2012

By V. Taylor

"THE petroleum industry in Canada has been experiencing considerable difficulty in filling its manpower requirements during the last few years, and because of the rapidly expanding nature of the industry it is concerned about the supply that will be available to fill the needs of the future. As the oil industry is one of the more technically oriented industries, the most acute problem exists primarily in the field of profession-al/technical personnel. This is particularly true in the production and exploration side of the business, because it employs the highest percentage of this type of personnel. Let me illustrate this by giving you some figures reported by the Alberta Bureau of Statistics as of December, 1965 -out of a total of 9,641 male employees engaged in oil producing and geological and geophysical operations in Alberta, 3,021, or 31 per cent, were classified as engineers, geologists, geophysicists, managers and other professional personnel. No figures are available for 1946 to make a direct comparison of the expansion of the industry over the past twenty 466 years, but it is doubtful whether more than 100 professional/technical people were engaged in producing in Alberta at that time"

Jan 1, 1967