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By C. Fleming, J. R. Goode

ABSTRACT: Data were produced from two uranium project studies that were conducted in 2008, both involving uranium recovery from leached slurry by resin-in-pulp (RIP) with strong base resins. In both studies, excellent metallurgical results were produced. The loaded resins were eluted with strong sulphuric acid and recycled through RIP circuits in an integrated process. Resin losses by either abrasion or mechanical breakage were immeasurably low. Metallurgical results from these two campaigns are presented, along with a case study economic analysis of RIP versus the alternative processes of counter-current-decantation or filtration and solvent extraction.

Jan 1, 2011

By A. P. E. Dirige

The stability design of cemented backfills is normally conducted using conventional approaches. Analytical or numerical models, backed by trial-and-error methods, are the primary means used to describe or predict the support performance of backfills during mining. The stability of paste backfill free-standing faces is a major concern due to potential consequences to production, ore dilution and safety. Available analytical or mathematical models are developed based on assumptions of the failure modes that may occur when vertical fill faces are exposed during adjacent mining. Numerical modeling serves to provide an understanding of backfill strength and deformation behaviour. Such approaches offer inherent limitations and generally result in conservative designs. In this paper, centrifuge physical modeling was conducted not only for performance evaluation studies, including stability analysis, but to develop an understanding of the strength and deformation behaviour of paste backfill exposed faces when the adjacent ore zone is removed. The failure mode and mechanics of failure observed in the centrifuge model of a given prototype situation are discussed in detail. Centrifuge model results were compared to numerical modeling and it was concluded that a sliding block failure mechanism that resembles a circular slip appears to be the predominant failure mode.

Aug 1, 2013

By James B. Templeton

"IntroductionWith the steady rise of the cost of coal and freight, the time is now ripe for an investigation into the feasibility of using the heat pump for heating purposes in fairly remote industrial areas.The gold mines of northern Ontario seemed to be a most likely place for the application of the heat pump.It was decided that the first step in the investigation would be to determine what economic advantage was to be gained by using the heat pump and thereby determining whether a further and more detailed research programme was warranted.If we can use the heat pump with economic advantage, we can reduce our mining costs and make a worthwhile contribution to our national economy by reducing the import of U. S. coal.The investigation was conducted under the auspices of the Nipissing Fellowship and directed by Professor R. E. Barrett of the Department of Mining Engineering, University of Toronto.With the able guidance of Mr. C. S. Gibson, of the Mines Accident Prevention Association of Ontario, the author visited the following mines: Mcintyre-Porcupine, Delnite, Dome, Lake Shore, Wright-Hargreaves, Kirkland Lake, Macassa, and Kerr Adcliso11.In all cases, the management and technical personnel of these mines were most co-operative and helpful in supplying information and ideas.It should be emphasized at the outset that the design and operation of the heat pump itself is by no means complicated or even new. The reason we hear so much about it today is because there have been improvements in compressors, motors, and heat exchangers in the past few years, and because fuel and freight rates have risen to such a point that, in some cases, the heat pump now has an economic advantage over other methods of heating."

Jan 1, 1950

By Harry F. Weaver

WHEN 1 was assigned by the Director of the United States Bureau of Mines to present a paper at this annual meeting of the Mining Society of Nova Scotia, 1 was grateful, honoured, and elated to realize finally a life-long desire to see your beautiful land and visit with you who have the good fortune to live and work here. Naturally, in preparing for this important event, 1 wanted to give you something of special interest within the limits of the subject so I chose an area dose to my heart -the operation of our Federal coal mine inspection service, which has, as its fundamental purpose, the prevention of accidents in and around ?Coal mines. In 1957 the United States had 10,879 active coal mines scattered throughout 28 States and the Territory of Alaska. The production of coal for the year was about 515,472,000 tons, including 2.5,472,000 tons of anthracite and 490,000,000 tons of bituminous coal and Hgnite. Anthracite is mined principally in a comparatively small area of one State. AU the 28 States and the Territory produce bituminons coal and/or lignite. The beds mined range from 18 inches to more than 100 feet in thickness and from the horizontal to the perpendicular.

Jan 1, 1958

By Jean Descarreaux

"The Rexspar uranium deposits are located near Birch Island in central British Columbia. The property lies within the Omineca crystalline belt of the Cordilleran Orogen. Gneiss, schist, tuffaceous and porphyritic trachyte are the main rock types encountered on the property. These rocks are of pre-Late Triassic or probable Mississippian age.Lenticular bodies of mica and pyrite-rich rock are the host of three closely spaced uranium deposits and are found close to a fluorite deposit. The altered trachytic rock as well as the fluorite and uranium deposits are found in the upper part of the trachyte unit. The latest tonnage estimates are 1,441,820 tonnes averaging 23.46% CaF, for the fluorite deposit, 490,966 tonnes of 0.084% U10afor the 'W' deposit, 164,290 tonnes of 0.074% UP8 for the ""B"" deposit and 459,124 tonnes of 0. 071 o/o UP8 for the ""BD"" deposit.A hydrothermal replacement origin was first proposed for the fluorite and uranium deposits. The mineralizing and altering solutions would have been genetically related to a felsic batholith outcropping a few kilometres south of the property. Another hypothesis has been proposed more recently. A volcanic centre has been tentatively identified in the upper part of the trachyte unit, close to the mineral deposits. The fluorite and uranium deposits could possibly be volcanogenic, rather than related to the Cretaceous felsic batholith.IntroductionFluorite and uranium mineralization occur on the property of Consolidated Rexspar Minerals and Chemicals Ltd. in central British Columbia. The exploration and development works executed over the years are summarized in this paper. The deposits and their geological environment are described but the origin of the mineralization has not been definitely established."

Jan 1, 1986

By B. R. Hart, S. S. Dimov, J. Fournier

Carbonaceous matter (c-matter) in sulphide ores can adversely affect the process of gold recovery during cyanidation due to its ability to adsorb, or preg-rob, gold from a cyanide leach solution. This paper describes a standardized procedure for characterization of c-matter in an ore sample providing detailed information on its composition, maturity and preg-robbing capacity. The procedure utilizes the following complementary analytical techniques in conjunction with several chemical tests and assays: SEM/EDX Raman spectroscopy and TOF-SIMS. Results of the test can be used as a predictive tool to estimate the impact the c-matter will have on the gold recovery process. A comparison between predicted preg-robbing behaviour and cyanidation test results are presented.

Jan 1, 2011

By Robert D. McKellar, Luke Frawley, Richard Okrasa

"The resource industries in Canada are facing increasing global competition and stringent environmental regulations. This has made it essential for companies to lower operating costs wherever possible. Electrical energy rep-resents one variable cost that may be better managed and utilized, providing the user with lower operating costs, improved productivity and better yields.The utility industry is also facing changes in the way it must do business. Utilities in North America are facing the prospect of deregulation that will eliminate the monopoly they have traditionally held. This will force them to strive for lower operating costs, to maintain a competitive position and to improve customer ser-vice so as to maintain their customer base.Ontario Hydro has been working with industry for several years. Many opportunities for cost savings have been identified involving energy efficiency, process improvements and the use of new electro technologies. One useful service that the utility can offer industry is to increase the awareness of potential opportunities suited to their operations. This paper will provide an overview of some of the projects that have been implemented and those that are presently being evaluated. An electronic data-base of electro technology applications that is under development will also be described."

Jan 1, 1996

By H. W. Fleming

In 1955, the results of a regional, geological interpretation of the northern portion of New Brunswick were used as a basis for selecting, for intensive exploration, three areas in which structural and stratigraphic conditions were believed to be favourable. Airborne electromagnetic work, in one of these areas, provided the justification for acquiring the Murray group. Even though the initial results were discouraging, this geological interpretation, combined with the fortuitous discovery of cop• per-bearing float, was sufficient reason for carrying out further work using geochemical methods. This work finally resulted in the discovery of the Murray massive-sulphide deposit, after about eighteen months of coordinated exploration on the property. While this deposit is a typical New Brunswick-type base-metal occurrence, extensive leaching has produced a fossil gossan that rendered it an elusive target for exploration techniques of limited penetration Full credit for localizing the target area is given to the geochemical techniques, but geophysical surveys were needed to provide the necessary

Jan 1, 1961

By D. A. Riva

"The Line Creek Project is located in southeastern British Columbia, approximately 25 kilometres north of Sparwood. The design is to produce a total of2.7 million tonnes of coal annually. This is made up of1.4million tonnes of thermal coal and 1.3 million tonnes of metallurgical coal.Construction commenced in the spring of 1980 and mining operations began in July 1981. The thermal processing plant, maintenance and dry facilities, as well as extensive road and bridge construction, were completed in early 1982. A collective agreement was signed with the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 115, in June 1981.The first unit train left Line Creek on February 18, 1982 with a load of thermal coal bound for the Ssangyong Corporation in Southern Korea. It was the start of a ten-year contract to supply 350,000 tonnes annually to fire their cement kilns. Additional contracts for 750,000 tonnes will fuel the boilers of Korea Electric Company's San Chon Po and Go-Jeong power stations. Metallurgical coal shipments are scheduled to leave the Roberts Bank port in Vancouver in April 1983.Tracking an introductory presentation given at the 1981 CIM Annual General Meeting in Calgary, this paper highlights the salient developments by which ""The Line Creek Project"" has progressed during the past year to the"" Line Creek Operation"". Line Creek has com e on stream as scheduled and will meet all contractual commitments pertaining to timing, volumes and quality for thermal coal. The first train load left the plant in mid-February, and the first boat load to Korea departed Roberts Bank in mid-April. Metallurgical coal deliveries will commence in April 1983."

Jan 1, 1982

By D. R. Hatton

To obtain sufficient material on which to perform copper-molybdenum separation testwork a variability set of drill hole reject samples amounting to several tons was put together to include the different ore types proportions expected in the copper circuit. The samples were treated in a copper circuit pilot plant and enough mass of bulk concentrate was recovered to conduct copper moly separation tests in the laboratory. Tests consisted of stage flotation reactor (SFR) rougher pilot plant tests, conventional laboratory rougher, cleaner and 4 stage open circuit cleaner tests. The mineralogical liberation analysis of the feed and concentrate was used to model the effect of liberation on the grade-recovery relationship of the different samples. Mineral kinetic parameters for the various samples were determined by calibration to the test data. The copper concentrate results as simulated from previous studies on the same deposit were used to simulate the variability in head grade and throughput expected for the feed to the copper molybdenum separation circuit for each of the first 10 years of production. This variation in feed was then simulated through the separation circuit to obtain optimised molybdenum grade recovery curves to forecast the circuit production for each of the first 10 years. INTRODUCTION Incorporating Geometallurgy into the design for a copper molybdenum separation is especially challenging due to the low mass of final concentrate typically produced during testwork. This is due to the low molybdenum head grades and high overall molybdenum upgrading expected. With molybdenum head grades of around 300 ppm, 1 tonne of copper circuit feed is expected to produce around 300 g of molybdenum concentrate in the plant. In the laboratory however, this may end up only resulting in a few grams. Obtaining sufficient mass for laboratory testing therefore requires starting with a large initial sample and careful testwork planning to maximise the utilisation of this mass. A testwork program was designed to investigate the effect of ore variability on the copper molybdenum separation circuit (here after referred to as the molybdenum circuit). Composite samples were selected to represent the various ore types, copper content, moly content, pyrite content and clay contents expected in the copper circuit feed. These samples were run through a bulk copper pilot plant to create the feed for the molybdenum testwork. The molybdenum testwork consisted of rougher kinetic flotation tests, rougher cleaner kinetic tests, rougher cleaner kinetic tests with regrind, stage flotation reactor (SFR) pilot plant tests, open circuit cleaner tests. These tests were used to calibrate the ore kinetics in the IGS-FLEET model for simulation of the molybdenum circuit performance.

Jan 1, 2019

By C. W. MacLeod

LOCATION The Goudreau gold area in Ontario extends from a point a short distance south of the main line of the Canadian Pacific railway, at Lochalsh, in a south-westerly direction to the Magpie river. It crosses the Algoma Central & Hudson's Bay railway at Goudreau station, 177 miles north of Sault Ste. Marie. The area is roughly 25 miles in length by 6 miles in width. The potential gold formation is much more extensive but little prospecting has been done outside of the limits mentioned. The actual continuous area of Keewatin formation, in which gold has been found, is one of the largest in Ontario. ACCESSIBILITY Probably no mining area in a similar stage of development has had the excellent transportation facilities which Goudreau enjoys. This field is traversed in part by the main lines of the Canadian Pacific and Algoma Central railways. The Provincial Government has constructed 22 miles of road through the heart of the camp. Sixteen miles of this road is suitable for motor car traffic and several cars and trucks are in constant service.

Jan 1, 1926

By D. J. Houlahan

ABSTRACT Sorting has the potential to massively improve the pro?tability of mining base metal, hard-rock ores. However, several barriers to the increased application of sorting have been identi?ed, including a lack of mineral-speci?c sensors available to the industry. This paper presents the outcomes of acollaborative project to develop an induction-balance sensor speci?cally for low-grade copper and nickelores. A review of the basic principles of induction-balance sensing and of the sensor-rock interaction is presented. Early development and testing of the sensor on ores from the Thompson nickel belt in northern Manitoba is discussed. Shortcomings of the prototype identi?ed in early testing have now been over-come, leading to improvements in design and construction, as well as sensor accuracy. The improve dsensor has now been tested on additional ores from the Sudbury Basin, with good results. A discussion of potential applications is presented and recommendations for future development are made.

Jan 1, 2010

By R. F. Neider, W. R. Bain

"Expanding upon one aspect of a recent paper on ""Fluid Column Roasting at Sherbrooke Metallurgical Co. Ltd.,"" the present paper deals with the operation of the fluid column process to achieve substantial elimination of cadmium and lead during the roasting of pelletized zinc concentrates. Designed to meet the need for additional feed for Matthiessen and Regeler Zinc Company's vertical retort zinc smelter in West Virginia, without recourse to a sintering operation, the plant is capable of simultaneously attaining very low lead and cadmium levels on demand, through operation in the manner described. Fluidizing air admitted via the wind box is supplemented by natural gas admitted via a tuyere bank 15 ins. above the hearth, in quantities adjusted to maintain a reducing atmosphere within the interstices of the bed. In addition, careful attention is paid to bed temperatures, which run from 1,080° to 1,100°C. Under these reducing conditions, 90 per cent of the cadmium and 92 per cent of the lead in the feed are eliminated, the sulphate sulphur content is decreased by 0.5 per cent, sulphide sulphur is held at 0.6 to 0.08 per cent, and the zinc content correspondingly in-creases. The fuel value of the natural gas is recovered as extra steam, which carries a credit. There are some added difficulties with fume accretions, gas conditioning and gas -cleaning, some of which have yet to be overcome."

Jan 1, 1967

By G. Morin, F. Chiesa, B. Tougas, B. Duchesne, Jocelyn Baril, N. Giguère

"An aluminum A356 compressor impeller was sand cast using the Low Pressure technique. The casting was limited in size (170 mm in diameter, 1.2 kg in weight) and very intricate in shape thus making 3D mold printing particularly favorable; indeed, producing this part by the traditional pattern-core box route would involve mounting 12 cores inside the mold while stringent dimensional tolerances are required as the impeller blades are only 2 mm thick. Consequently the molds were produce on the X-One MFlex printer of Quebec Metallurgy Center - CMQ. A dozen castings were produced with different casting temperatures and filling times so that it was possible to assess under which conditions complete filling of the mold cavity would be achieved. Filling and solidification modeling allowed predicting misruns and metallurgical properties inside the A356 (AlSi7Mg04) casting.INTRODUCTION Recent advancements in additive manufacturing enable foundries to produce molds without the tooling (pattern and core boxes) necessary when conventional technology is used (Eyad, 2016). This is particularly advantageous when dealing with intricate shapes and/or when a limited number of parts must be produced within a few days rather than in 5 weeks. An additional advantage is gained when producing prototypes (Johnson, 2016) as changes are much less costly and time consuming when made on a numerical 3D drawing rather than on patterns and core boxes. 3D printing is normally economical for a small number of parts; however, if the part is not too big and very intricate in shape such as the part that will be studied in the present work, 3D printing can be economical even for an important number of castings to be produced. On the other hand, low pressure casting is a high integrity casting process in which the mold cavity is filled from the bottom via a transfer tube in which the liquid aluminum rises under the pressure applied at the surface of the melt as illustrated in Figure 1. The filling can thus be precisely controlled, eliminating the turbulence created when the mold is filled from the top (gravity casting). Also, the pressure applied on the melt during solidification results in excellent feeding of the casting when conditions of directional solidification are met. In the present work, the compressor impeller shown in Figure 2 will be sand cast by low pressure."

Jan 1, 2018

By R. R. Culbert

Several thousand parts per billion of uranium are present in some alkaline lake and ground waters of the Okanagan region, British Columbia. To a major extent the uranium content of these highly anomalous waters is controlled by their levels of dissolved bicarbonate. In lakes, dissolved bicarbonate and the organic content of the sediment largely control the partitioning of uranium between sediment and water. This relationship is found to a lesser extent in alkaline creeks, and transported geochemical anomalies in soils appear where uranium-bearing alkaline ground waters have encountered organic materials. There is a possibility that young, near-surface deposits (with very low radioactivity) are forming from these uraniferous waters.

Jan 1, 1978

By H. J. McQueen

The modeling of the extrusion of 6061 alloy and its composites with 10 to 20 vol% Al203 or SiC by two techniques. The uniaxial finite element method FEM (DEFORM" ) provided force-stroke curves and temperature rise over the range 450-500 °C, 2.6-5mm/s and extrusion ratios of 31 and 64. The traditional technique considers ideal work and redundant work as well as friction and uses average temperatures and strain rates. The two techniques are used to clarify each other and to extend the analysis to 400 and 350 °C. The calculated efficiencies are compared to measured values in extrusion trials and to values derived for 7075 extrusion analyses. The analyses are based on constitutive equations determined by torsion testing tests.

Jan 1, 2004

By H. J. White

Haynes International, a world leader in the manufacture and production of nickel, and cobalt base alloys has invented and developed a low cost high temperature material, with a unique combination of superior oxidation resistance and weldability/ fabricability. HAYNES® HR-224TM (Ni ? 27.5Fe ? 20Cr ?3.8A1 ? 0.3Si ? 0.3Ti) forms a planar/ continuous/ adherent aluminum oxide film at high temperatures which has been shown to effectively limit chromium poisoning in solid oxide fuel, cell, systems. A 20,000 pound vacuum induction melted (VIM) + electroslag remelted (ESR) heat has been melted and converted into various product forms: sheet, plate, bar, welded tubing, wire, etc. The alloy was designed for service in severely oxidizing environments recuperators, automotive catalytic converters, wire strand annealing furnace tubes, etc. and has been of great interest to solid oxide fuel, cell, manufacturers as a materials of construction in balance of plant (BOP) design. This manuscript presents the physical, properties, mechanica, properties, and oxidation resistance of the alloy compared to other materials being considered for solid oxide fuel, cell, design

Jan 1, 2010

"Block caving is the preferred underground mining method to profitably extract massive, low-grade orebodies; however, lack of cave access inhibits understanding the rockmass response to mining, which is needed for safer, more productive operations. Combining large datasets from multiple sources with virtual reality scientific visualization (VRSV) is an alternative method for understanding complex cave behaviour, by providing virtual access to the cave. A customized VRSV module was developed at UNSW Australia to investigate rockmass response to undercut developments at a case-study block caving operation. Time/sequence effects are investigated in rockmass response to blasting, which is an important factor in hard-rock mines.RÉSUMÉ La méthode d’extraction souterraine par blocs foudroyés est la méthode préférentielle pour extraire rentablement des gisements massifs à faible teneur. Toutefois, le manque d’accès à la chambre restreint la compréhension de la réponse de la masse rocheuse à l’exploitation, ce qui est nécessaire pour obtenir des opérations plus sécuritaires et plus productives. La combinaison de grands ensembles de données de multiples sources avec la visualisation scientifique par réalité virtuelle (VRSV) constitue un autre moyen de comprendre le comportement complexe de la chambre en fournissant un accès virtuel à la chambre. Un module de VRSV sur mesure a été développé à l’Université de Nouvelles-Galles du Sud (UNSW) en Australie afin d’étudier, dans une étude de cas d’une exploitation par blocs foudroyés, la réponse de la masse rocheuse aux développements de galeries de sous-cavage. Les effets de temps/séquence sont étudiés dans la réponse de la masse rocheuse au sautage, ce qui est un facteur important dans les mines de roches dures."

Jan 1, 2016

By Floyd B. Bowen

Pumping methods are used, almost exclusively, to transport materials in the mining, beneficiation and chemical processing of phosphate rock in the Florida phosphate pebble field. Matrix pumping systems capable of pumping 15,000 g.p.m., transporting 15,000 long tons (dry) per hour, are now in use. They utilize 16-by 48 Yz -in. pumps, driven by 1.250-h.p. motors, discharging into pipelines 20 inches .in diameter .and sometimes several miles in length. As an average, it is necessary to pump 3 tons of matrix to the beneficiation plants, and to dispose of 2 tons of sand tailings and clay as waste, in order to produce 1 ton of shipping-grade rock. The washers and flotation plants, where the clay and phosphate and silica particles are separated, require the movement of large volumes of slurries with densities ranging from 2-3 per cent to 45 per cent solids, by weight. Extensive waste disposal systems require the pumping of dilute clay slurries in quantities of up to 50,000 g.p.m.,

Jan 1, 1963

By A. Hekmat-Ardakan

Conventional hypereutectic Al-Si alloys such as A390 are used principally for the casting of components used in wear applications requiring abrasive resistance such as in engine or compressor blocks. A comprehensive study was undertaken to investigate the potential of improving the mechanical properties of these alloys by the addition of magnesium. A thorough thermodynamic study of the effect of the addition of Mg to the conventional A390 alloy showed that Mg2Si starts to form as a primary phase at 4.2% Mg as well as in the products of the binary and ternary eutectic reactions forming the matrix. Experiments were carried out in producing castings with different cooling and solidification rates of alloys with up to 10% Mg. Mg additions were found to increase the hardness over the as cast alloy due to solid solution strengthening. Also, T6 heat treatment greatly improved the tensile properties of these alloy compositions due to the strengthening effect of the theta-Al2Cu phase. The elongation of these alloys generally decreases marginally with Mg content. The most significant property improvement of the alloys with higher Mg content is the substantial increase in wear resistance. This is attributed to the dispersion of smaller particles of Mg2Si and their coherence with the matrix as compared to the large Si particles in the conventional alloy. A new rheoforming process for A390 is presented that improves the processing of the semi-solid slurry. Structure modification elements were also added to refine the primary and eutectic silicon greatly improving the processing of the semi-solid slurry.

Jan 1, 2011