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By L. C. Galloway, G. L. Tiley

"Mine hoist brakes must meet the following statutory performance criteria:- There should be two independent braking systems; at least one should act directly on the hoist drum.-If one brake fail s, the others should be able to retard and stop the hoist safely before the descending conveyance, carrying the rated load, reaches any obstruction.- When all brakes apply, decelerations should not be so violent that men travelling in the conveyance are injured.- The brakes shall not overheat and fade during an emergency stop.This paper discusses design principles and capacities of caliper and disc type brakes, when applied to double drum and friction hoists of equivalent capacity.IntroductionThis paper is about the brakes that are used on mine hoists; their functions, especially in emergencies, typical design, and how they are operated, controlled, tested, and adjusted.There are two basic types of mine hoists:1. Drum hoists, where the ropes are attached to, and coil on drums. The simplest system has only one drum. Most such hoists, however, have two drums, attached to a common shaft. Ropes are wound on each drum in opposite directions, so that when one conveyance is being raised, the other is lowered. The conveynaces may travel in vertical or inclined shafts. In the latter case, the hoist s are referred to as slope hoists.2. Friction hoist s, where the headropes are not attached to the wheel, but are in contact with it for an angle of lap of, typically, between 180 and 195 degree s. Forces are transmitted from the hoist wheel to the head ropes by friction.The lower ends of the conveyances are connected to balance ropes , approximately the same weight per foot as the headropes."

Jan 1, 1986

By R. A. (Dick) McIvor

"It is important to ensure that the basic mine hoist plant design fundamentals are incorporated into any new mine hoist plant project before detailed design engineering is commenced. Some of the basic design fundamentals to be considered are: hoist rope fleet and flight angles for good hoist rope coiling, hoist rope harmonic frequency study to ensure that the hoist rope does not run at full speed at a rope resonance frequency, head frame and shaft clearance diagrams to establish the optimum positions for the loading and dumping of the shaft conveyances, access in the head frame and shaft collar for hoist rope and shaft conveyance installation and removal. Failure to consider the hoist plant fundamentals before detailed engineering commences will result in extra costs for hoist plant redesign or a significant increase in operating and maintenance costs for the mine due to increased hoist plant downtime to perform tasks and a lower mine operating efficiency. INTRODUCTION The mine hoisting plant is the most critical single line component in the operation of a shaft sinking operation or a permanent installation. Bad decisions in the design and selection of the hoist plant equipment can significantly add to the operating costs and up-time in the operation of the mine. Mine hoisting plant equipment installed costs represent approximately 5 to 8 percent of the capital cost of a new mine, yet price sometimes becomes the deciding factor for procuring the hoist plant components, sometimes selecting used equipment that may compromise the design and maintainability of the mine hoist plant. Mine downtime can cost upwards of $100,000 per hour and it will not take a very long time to eat up all the so-called savings on hoist plant equipment purchases. This paper will provide guidelines for the design, selection, installation and maintenance of mine hoist plant equipment with the objective to having the right mine hoist plant with the highest operational availability and best maintainability. PRELIMINARY DESIGN INFORMATION Before any engineering commences, the following information needs to be obtained to allow the preliminary sizing of the hoist plant equipment: • Shaft depth: The shaft depth will influence the hoist rope selection based on the material and personnel loads anticipated for the mine design. The shaft depth will also influence the maximum speed of the shaft conveyances. • Annual production: The desired annual production will influence the required payload sizing with allowances for maintenance and inspections of the hoist plant equipment."

Jan 1, 2019

By B. Galy, L. Giraud

"This paper compares Canadian provincial mining safety regulations addressing hoist safety, automatic hoisting, and shaft obstruction. The regulations are quite similar among provinces, with only slight differences. Risk-mitigation strategies used in other industries are discussed, including their applicability to mine hoists. The specific case of software safety is introduced through examples. The mitigation of software failure is based on the use of the software lifecycle as recommended by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61508 standard. Finally, ways to improve hoist safety are proposed.RÉSUMÉ Le présent article compare entre elles les diverses réglementations provinciales canadiennes concernant la sécurité des machines d'extraction, le levage automatisé et les obstructions dans les puits. Les réglementations sont assez semblables entre les provinces, mais elles comportent de légères différences. Les stratégies d’atténuation des risques utilisées dans d’autres industries sont abordées, incluant la possibilité de les appliquer aux treuils de mines. Le cas spécifique de sûreté des logiciels est abordé par des exemples. L’atténuation de la défaillance des logiciels est basée sur l’utilisation du cycle de vie du logiciel, comme cela est recommandé par la norme 61508 de la Commission électrotechnique internationale (CEI). Des moyens d’améliorer la sécurité des treuils sont également proposés."

Jan 1, 2016

By J. M. Whatley

"IntroductionFEW COUNTRIES equal Canada in the diversity of its mineral output, the range of size of its mine operations, and the extremes of climatic and topographic conditions under which its mining is carried out. Camps large and small are scattered over thousands of miles, some served by excellent communication lines, many in remote regions of the north. Common to most of the deposits is that they are worked by underground methods, and rely on adequate hoisting installations for the success of their operations.Hoisting in some form •pre-dates all other mechanical operations in mines and the hoist remains one of the most important pieces of equipment at the average mine. It provides the single line of communication along which must pass the men and materials to mine the rock, and in turn carry the ore to a place for refinement.Development of Mine Hoists in CanadaCanadian designed hoists were first built and •placed in operation about the year 1880 and have since developed in pace with the rapid growth of the Canadian mining industry. Early machines were all of the steam or compressed-air driven types, of light construction and driven by two duplex slide-valve open-frame type engines. As their application and size increased, designs became more rugged and more efficient."

Jan 1, 1955

By Leslie B. English

"HistoricalWHILE DIGGING caves and underground passages for living quarters, primitive man must have had some means of illumination. Most likely he used pieces of wood or slim bundles of reeds or grasses as torches, perhaps steeped in animal fats to give more light. If this is so, we may accept these as the first means of underground illumination. Very little was clone to improve lighting devices for many generations, but slowly there was developed a fount holding fatty oils, with a spout in which was inserted a form of wick.Actual mining. for metals first of all, was started about 3,000 B.C. Some of the old Greek and Roman records refer to the use of torches underground, and some evidence of clay lamps has been found. Candies came into use some time during the first century A.D. When coal mining began about the 14th Century in England, candles were used for illumination because of the ease of manufacturing and handling them. Open oil-lamps came into use early in the 16th century -Agricola, in his De Re .Metallica, written about 1540. pictures a miner with such a lamp. However, the expense of these was so great that candies still continued as the general means of underground lighting.Unfortunately, as miners went deeper underground, they encountered a mysterious gas which. upon coming in contact with open lights, flamed violently, resulting in explosions and accompanying loss of life. The first reference to the results of these gas explosions appeared in 1621. No help seemed to be available. The gas was given off when the coal was mined and the miners could not see without lamps. Attempts were made to use the phosphorescent glow from partly decayed fish, fish skins, and fungus, also to bring daylight clown into the workings by means of a series of • mirrors; •but these means of illumination proved to be impracticable."

Jan 1, 1955

By Paul-Henri Girard

La Mine Agnico-Eagle division Laronde situé à Cadillac, est un producteur d?or, d?argent, de cuivre et de zinc. Cette propriété est situé dans les cantons Bousquet-Cadillac le long d?une des ceintures géologiques les plus productives au monde. La mine Laronde a débuté la production en octobre 1988 à un rythme de 1360 tonnes par jour. Ensuite, elle a augmenté son rythme de production successivement à 1800 TPJ en 1990, 3300 TPJ en janvier 2000 et 4500 TPJ en octobre 2000. Agnico-Eagle, fondé par feu Paul Penna, a toujours eu comme politique la participation des employés aux décisions de la compagnie pour le déveleppement de celle-ci. Cet écrit va permettre de mieux comprendre la façon dont la division fût développé.

May 1, 2001

By R. S. Douglas

Introduction The operations of The Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company, L1mited, have always been concerned with the mining of low-grade copper ores. In the fifty years of this Company's existence, nearly 60,000,000 tons of such material has been successfully mined and treated. During these years, many changes in mining practice took place. However, at Copper Mountain, due to the large tonnages of very low grade material, it was realized that something more than changing mining methods would have to take place if these low-grade orebodies were to be mined at a profit and the Company and. its employees enjoy many years of successful operation and employment. Production costs were mounting commensurately with rising taxes and the increasing cost of supplies, labour, freight, and smelting, while the value of the product on the market was not increasing in price to compensate for the higher costs of production. A survey of the mineable ore in 1944 indicated that, of the 12,000,000 tons in the reserves, only 3,500,000 tons was now profitable ore. This reduction in the commercial ore reserves was a serious matter, as it meant that the mine had only two years of life at the profitable shipp1ng rate of 4,800 tons per day. Further, the location in the mine of the orebodies making up the 3,500,000 tons was not suitable for such high production.

Jan 1, 1950

By L. K. Daneshmend

The mine of the year 2020 will need to be based on a new way of mining. It will employ technology in a paradigm that assumes responsibility for sustainable development: taking account not only economic but also ecological and social issues. This will require a holistic approach to mine design and planning, considering all controlling factors and impacts (technical, economic, environmental and social). A national collaborative strategy is required to address the several options that exist for the development and application of 2020 mining technology. Key issues in implementing 2020 mining technology will also relate to human resources, in terms of employment, skills and education. A need exists to proactively prepare for 2020 through development of a comprehensive education and training strategy.

Jan 1, 1998

By Chris Carr

This paper describes the process employed and the work undertaken to enable the surrender of the mine permit relating to the two tailings deposits at the abandoned Red Mountain Mine site near Rossland, BC. The first phase of the work undertaken was to provide urgent remedial work for protection of the environment, primarily through rehabilitation or replacement of surface water drainage systems. The second phase was to up-grade the water management systems to the appropriate level given their consequences of failure. The final phase of work is to ensure long term geotechnical stability of the facilities to the same level of risk. Establishment of a sustaining fund will facilitate long term monitoring and maintenance of the facilities.

May 1, 2002

By G. Scott Zimmer

Mine planning at Cassiar consists of an annual cycle of projection, control, evaluation and revision following completion of annual diamond drilling during the summer months . The inherent difficulty in evaluating fibre grade and distribution, combined with a high-wall phase or push-back mining system, requires continuous modification to designs and schedules based on a cumulative evaluation of equipment performance and prediction versus production. To expedite the planning sequence, a mini-computer system has been introduced which allows emphasis to be placed on optimizing designs, exempting personnel from manual calculations and tabulations.

Jan 1, 1978

By Earl Gebhardt

The planning and design of mining panels in the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc., Lanigan Division mine Block B involved a number of investigative techniques. The techniques utilized to gain insight into the viability of mining included 2-D and 3-D seismic surveys, longhole drilling, exploration wells, photolineament, magnetic and gravity surveys, and actual room excavation.

Feb 1, 1993

By Earl Gebhardt

"The planning and design of mining panels in the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc., Lanigan Division mine Block B involved a number of investigative techniques. The techniques utilized to gain insight into the viability of mining included2-D and 3-D seismic surveys, longhole drilling, exploration wells, photo lineament, magnetic and gravity surveys, and actual room excavation.IntroductionPotash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (PCS) owns and operates four potash mines in the province of Saskatchewan. The Lanigan Division mine is located 110 Ian east of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, near the town of Lanigan.The Lanigan Mine commenced production in August 1968under the ownership or Alwinsal Potash of Canada Limited. The mine was purchased by PCS in 1977.Lanigan Division's productive capacity is 3.4 million tonnes of product per year. Ore is extracted from the "" B"" zone or Layer III or the Patience Lake member of the Prairie Evaporite, more than 1000m below surface . The Patience Lake member (approximately 20 m thick) consists of potash interbedded with salt. The average run-of-mine ore grade is 21070 K20 (Fig. I).The mine was initially developed using the room-and-pillar technique. Improvements in mining resulted in the use or extensible conveyors in long panel rooms."

Jan 1, 1993

By Alan D. Curtis

A standard planning block model for Phelps Dodge North America Operations has been developed to improve mine planning efficiency and performance in a skill starved environment. The model saves time on software management and training, consolidates data and standard information/output, enhances evaluation and strategic process, and improves communication between sites.

May 1, 2007

By John G. Henning

Unplanned ore dilution has a direct and large influence on the cost of a stope, and ultimately on the profitability of a mining operation. This paper presents results of a study on the influence of a variety of factors on ore dilution in a blasthole stoping environment. A series of 3-D numerical models were developed and analyzed to examine the effect of mining depth, stope geometry and stope setting within the orezone extraction sequence. To quantify modelled ore dilution from the three-dimensional simulations, the ore Dilution Density (DD) is a term introduced in this study to denote potential hanging-wall overbreak. It was found that hanging-wall overbreak is not significantly influenced by depth alone, and that stopes with large or small axial ratios are more stable than large rectangular stopes. It was also demonstrated that, in addition to stope dimension, the amount of unplanned dilution differed according to stope type. Five stope types were identified, based on their position within a tabular blasthole mining sequence. The methodology presented in this paper can be adopted to develop mine-specific design tools for the estimation of ore dilution associated with a proposed mine design. This can prove extremely helpful in the process of underground mine planning and optimization.

May 1, 2007

By Leslie F. Sawatsky

Failure of drainage works is one of the principal threats to the sustainability of mine closure facilities but the risk can largely be remedied by appropriate design of mine closure drainage facilities. The feasibility of sustainable mine closure facilities that avoid failure of drainage systems needs to be established during the early stages of mine planning, before mine disturbances make sustainable closure uneconomical. Experience in mine development shows there is often enough latitude in mine plan development to incorporate measures with neutral economic consequence and positive environmental benefit. Project managers need to resist the temptation to develop mine plans and closure drainage plans independently. Integrated mine planning with effective inputs by environmental specialists and drainage designers may affect the overall mine configuration, footprint and schedule. Key issues pertain to the end pit location, waste dump configurations, pit infill elevations, fluid impoundments, diversion channel routing and preservation of flows to receiving waters. Guidelines with illustrations of suitable practices are presented to assist mine planners.

May 1, 2004

By D. Nikols, G. Caraghiaur, P. C. Roxburgh

"IntroductionThe Highvale Mine is located 70 km west of Edmonton , Alberta on the south side of Lake Wabamun. It has been developed by TransAlta Utilities Corporation as a captive mine to supply fuel to two genera ting power plant s. The mine is owned by TransAlta and operated under contract by Manalta Coal. Within the mine permit area, TransAlta own s the right to mine 80% of the recoverable surface mineable coal.The planning process starts with the annually produced 25-year energy forecast which is provided by the Electric Utility Planning Council (EUPC). A 1983 forecast predicts an average annual increase in energy requirements of 4% over the next 25 years. Put another way, the requirement will double before the end of the century. A lar ge part of the base load generation of the Province of Alberta is provided by th e plants fueled from Highvale Mine. The Highvale Mine is therefore expected to maintain a high output over a long period of time.Mine PlanningMine planning is an ongoing, interative process that draws from many sources. All levels of planning draw from the same sources but du e to the different processes and objectives of each planning class, the degree of influence may differ. The planner becomes then a coordinator bringing together data and excerpts from several disciplines in groups. Generally, there are four classes of mining plan s; these are all used at the Highvale Mine (Table I)."

Jan 1, 1986

By J. B. Mitchell

Many of the pre-production and plant startup problems that we regard as inevitable are actually caused by poor organizational methods. Traditional methods of organization can be modified to provide clear definitions of responsibility, continuity and depth of involvement of key personnel in order to overcome these problems.

Jan 1, 1966

By D. H. Wilson

"This paper examines the increasing need for mechanical-electrical people within the industry and some of the reasons why such a shortfall exists. It is suggested that, in part, it is image related. The present industry-education relationship in addressing the situation is examined and some thoughts are expressed on how these may be built on, in order to help solve the problem of attracting people to this critical area.IntroductionAs a long-time proponent of plant engineering and maintenance as a management function, I would like to review the progress made by the industry/ educational approaches in satisfying the needs in that area. In doing so, I would like to make the following points:1) that there has been an accelerating shortfall of mechanical-electrical people relative to the needs of the industry;2) that the condition will probably get worse before it gets better; ,3) that the past industry I educational approaches to alleviate the problem have met with limited success; and finally4) I would like to review some of the things being done and consider how these efforts might be extended."

Jan 1, 1981

By David H. Searle

This paper will discuss the common trends existing in various Canadian jurisdictions for the closure and reclamation of mines. Included will be a discussion of the requirement to post security as well as its form and how security is calculated and refunded. Reclamation can no longer be left to the end of mine life. Progressive reclamation must occur throughout mine life and must be part of the mine plan from the beginning.

May 1, 2006

By Rayleen Riske

Why do we look for better reconciliation when times get tough? Why wait? Mine reconciliation should be a priority throughout the good times too. In fact, with good reconciliation, those good times are going to be even better and will help pave the way to success through those preventable bad times. Reconciliation throughout the entire mining value chain requires the capture, validation, and analysis of copious amounts of data. This task can be daunting for a team in a small mine, let alone reconciling across a suite of large mines. This paper will outline the different ways we can reconcile across the value chain, why we should reconcile over differing periods of time and how Snowden?s solution to proving reconciliation can be a simpler, reliable and transparent process. Snowden?s Reconcilor is proving to be a valuable tool on any mining scale, by capturing, validating, sorting and reporting data for timely decision making by the site geologist through to corporate management. By instigating vigorous reconciliation, you are setting your mine up for the future. Not only will you have the means to analyse your current processes and measures, but you will have the opportunity to identify and improve your mine?s performance from the resource model through to the final product.

May 1, 2010