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By Hiwa Salimi, Foley. Stephen R, Loghman Moradi

Common water-miscible organic solvents including DMSO, DMF, methanol, ethanol, acetone and THF in combination with HCl and low concentrations of H2O2 were investigated for dissolution of gold. THF showed the best result demonstrating that gold powder could be completely dissolved in 1.5 hours in 1.0 mol/L HCl and 0.2 mol/L H2O2. No complete gold dissolution was observed for the rest of solvents even after 24 hours. The rate of gold dissolution was measured by dissolving gold wire in THF/HCl/H2O2 mixture. The rate of gold dissolution in optimised condition was 75 g m-2 h-1 at room temperature and significantly increased to 590 g m-2 h-1 by raising the temperature up to 60 oC. Although a THF/HCl/H2O2 mixture showed a slower dissolution rate in comparison with aqua regia, however the applied conditions are considerably milder which is highly promising for gold leaching in an industrial scale.

Jan 1, 2015

By P. E. Davidson

The management of solid waste is known to be a large and increasing problem in high-population areas throughout the world. It is not necessary here to add further definition to the nature and magnitude of the problem. Instead, it is the purpose of this paper to describe a new process, called the Andco-Torrax System, which will be of use in converting municipal solid waste into useful energy forms and a granulated slag by-product. The paper includes a description of the first commercial plant for the process.

Jan 1, 1977

By M. F. Goudge

MAGNESIA refractories and magnesium metal are both essential war commodities. The need for magnesium, which had just made its debut as a commercial metal a few years before the outbreak of the present war, is widely known because this new and valuable light metal has already received much publicity. Less widely known but equally important in the war effort are magnesia refractories. They are indispensable to the efficient functioning of the great metallurgical plants producing steel, nickel, copper, and other metals, where, because of their resistance to extreme high temperature and chemical attack, they are used in lining the furnaces, which are operated at a white heat. The demand for refractories in the metallurgical industries rose rapidly upon the outbreak of war, and now, in consequence of the continued great expansion under way in the manufacture of steel, nickel, copper, and other metals, the need for magnesia is greater than ever. Since 1915, part of the Canadian requirements of basic refractories has been supplied from the deposits of magnesitic dolomite in Argenteuil county, Quebec. The products from these deposits are excellent for many uses, but the magnesitic dolomite has too high a content of silica and lime to be used in making a type of magnesia brick required in nickel converters, and in the roofs of reverberatory furnaces used in the copper and steel industries. There is now a large and growing demand in Canada for bricks and shapes for these uses. This demand has always been supplied from the United States. Makers of these products in the United States, in turn, formerly imported most of the necessary high-grade, dead-burned magnesia from Austria and Manchuria. Not only are these sources closed, but refractory chrome ore from the Philippines is no longer available and chrome refractories may have to be in large part replaced by magnesia.

Jan 1, 1942

"Adopted in 2003, theses guidelines are intended to assist the Qualified Person(s) in the planning, supervision, preparation and reporting of mineral resources and mineral reserve estimates. The report is divided into two broad sections “General Guidelines” appropriate for most metals and “Guidelines Specific to Particular Commodities” for potash, industrial minerals, uranium and coal. “These guidelines are reference in the Companion Policy of NI 43-101 with a statement that a qualified person classifying a mineral deposit as a mineral resource or mineral reserve should follow them.”Executive SummaryThe following is a summary, in table format, of the main elements of the Estimation Best Practice Committee's report ""Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Best Practice Guidelines"". While the summary table is provided for convenience, the Committee recommends that the report be read in its entirety and the table summary not be used as a stand alone document. These guidelines are not intended to be either prescriptive or exhaustive. They do not preclude innovation. Preamble: These guidelines have been prepared by the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) led Estimation Best Practices Committee. They are intended to assist the Qualified Person(s) (QP) in the planning, supervision, preparation and reporting of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve (MRMR) estimates. All MRMR estimation work from which public reporting will ensue must be designed and carried out under the direction of a QP in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) and related forms. A QP is defined in NI 43-101 as ""an individual who is an engineer or geoscientist with at least five (5) years of experience in mineral exploration, mine development, mine operation, project assessment or any combination of these; has experience relevant to the subject matter of the mineral project and technical report; and is a member in good standing of a professional association"". Disclosure of MRMR estimates is to be made in accordance with industry standard definitions approved by the CIM (the CIM Standards adopted by the CIM Council in August 2002) which have been incorporated by reference into NI 43-101."

Jan 1, 2003

By L. M. Lowe, D. B. Chambers, D. G. Feasby

"Potentially economic deposits of rare earth elements (REE) often contain elevated levels of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), primarily thorium and uranium and their associated radioactive decay products. The concentrations of NORM usually exceed typical background levels of natural radioactivity, sometimes by factors of ten or more, and can be of concern relative to occupational radiation protection and the management and disposal of REE mineral processing and metallurgical wastes. This paper provides a summary of the radiological issues normally encountered in the REE concentrate production industry. In addition to an introduction to background radiation and radioactivity, including the thorium and uranium radioactive decay series, radiation levels expected to be encountered in REE concentrate production are outlined. The occupational, environmental and regulatory aspects of REE production related to NORM, including radiation dose limits, radioactive waste disposal guidelines, and threshold VALUES (for the application of transport regulations, are presented.INTRODUCTIONConcurrent with the increasing demand for new sources of rare earth elements (REE) to meet modern industrial needs, there is also an increasing awareness of the radioactivity associated with the REE ores and resources. This is an especially important consideration in addressing questions from the public and local communities who are often concerned about “radiation” and “radioactivity”. Public concern is heightened by reference to legacy issues that arose during times of less regulatory oversight; as well, the benefits of modern technologies, practices and regulation are overlooked. Such concerns are also often inflamed by unfounded claims by non-governmental organizations (NGO’s). Thus, it is important that all concerned have a full understanding of just what the potential risks from radiation associated with REE are, or are not. This paper provides an overview of the sources of radioactivity, the potential implications of radiation and radioactivity in the REE industry, and a brief discussion of established and reliable methods of managing exposure to radiation and radioactivity."

Jan 1, 2012

By Forrest A. Kerr

Northern British Columbia is a term which probably conveys to various individuals quite different meanings. To the average person it signifies an area of indefinite size and indefinite position which may start at Prince Rupert, Stewart, or somewhere else, and end at Alaska or .the Yukon. Many people, in their conception, fail to encompass in their mind's eye that vast tract of land lying ~o the east of the panhandle of Alaska. Few realize that the area north of an east-west line through Stewart represents more than one-third of the Province and is, of course, the part most appropriately designated as northern British Columbia. This section, more especially the northernmost 100,000 square miles, from political, geographic, and economic viewpoints stands isolated perhaps more than any other part of British Columbia. Unlike the rest of the Province, it has no coast line, being cut off from the Pacific ocean by a narrow strip of Alaska. It is bounded on the north by the Yukon, and on the east by Alberta. In the south this northernmost 100,000 square miles is limited by a divide of rugged mountainous country separating the drainage basins of the Stikine and Liard rivers from those to the south.

Jan 1, 1929

By Sunil Koppalkar, Guillaume Noel, Ahmed Bouajila, Makni Sami, Claude Gagnon

"Gold gravity recovery circuits utilizing enhanced gravity separators have become an integral part of many of the modern gold processing plants. Thus, efforts to improve the operating efficiency have been a topic of interest for metallurgists for many years. As part of this endeavour, a methodology to estimate the portion of gold in the ore that could be recovered by gravity separation (gravity recoverable gold or GRG) was developed at McGill University. It has been reported in the literature that the gold content estimated with this methodology is the theoretical maximum that is available for gravity recovery that could only be approached but never achieved. A comparison of GRG recovery obtained in the laboratory with the actual recovery in the plant shows that plants recover between one-third to two-thirds of the value predicted by the laboratory test.Research conducted at COREM shows that particle shape transformation during grinding is a major cause of the discrepancy (even though the bleed percent processed, the quality of cyclone classification and the operating conditions of the gravity separator also contribute to the difference). To analyze the gold particle shapes and their deportment, samples were collected from different streams of a grinding-gravity circuit in a gold plant and compared to a concentrate sample from the standard GRG test. A particle characterization methodology based on gold morphology was developed. GRG mapping in a conventional grinding-gravity circuit and the transformation of GRG into non-GRG, as mainly explained by gold particle reshaping, will be discussed. The knowledge gained from the shape analysis will be used to develop shape distributions and partition curves for the classification of shapes.INTRODUCTIONGravity concentration using centrifugal concentrators has gained increasing popularity since the invention of the enhanced gravity concentrators in the nineteen eighties. Among these, the semicontinuous centrifugal gravity concentrators are most commonly used for recovering gold and platinum group minerals (PGM) from grinding circuit streams. The benefits of gold gravity recovery are now well understood and the acceptance by the mining industry is overwhelming. The occurrence of reasonable amounts of gravity recoverable gold (GRG) in an ore prompts gold mills to install gravity circuits. Thus, the increased use of gravity concentration has necessitated a better understanding of the behavior of gold in grinding circuits and of the factors affecting the performance of the gravity concentrator (Laplante et al., 1995). Due to its high density (19.3 g/cm3 when pure) and malleability properties, gold tends to accumulate in circulating streams making it attractive for gravity recovery. The gravity recovery units are typically installed on a bleed stream of the cyclone underflow, mill discharge or cyclone feed."

Jan 1, 2011

By S. D. A. Hannot, H. Knapp

"High pressure grinding rolls (HPGR’s) are an energy efficient solution for comminution of industrial minerals and metal ores. The technology is successfully applied in an expanding field of applications throughout the minerals industry. HPGR’s compress and grind the particle bed in the operating gap between two counter-rotating rolls. The equipment provides a high capacity, low energy alternative for applications with conventional tertiary and quaternary crushing and grinding, with size reduction reaching from 100mm down to 25 microns product. In this process, maintaining a controlled and evenly distributed operating pressure between the rolls is very important. Due to feed segregation, the pressure distribution along the roll’s length can become uneven, resulting in a coarser product. This paper will show that the best approach to compensate and adapt for the uneven pressure is to allow the rolls to skew relative to each other. Coarser products are also caused by an inadequate pressure distribution: the much-discussed edge effect. To minimise the consequence of the edge effect, an optimised ratio for the roll length to diameter will be calculated. Furthermore, the design philosophy behind a cheek plate will be detailed. This cheek plate is used to retain the material between the rolls, reducing the edge effect while still allowing roll skew. Together these design considerations help optimise HPGR’s performance.INTRODUCTION Initially developed for the cement industry during the energy crisis in the 1980’s , high pressure grinding has been an accepted technology for many years. It has been successfully implemented throughout the minerals industry, with applications in base and precious metals, as well as industrial minerals processing. The comminution process relies mainly on size reduction through to compression and inter-particle crushing in a particle bed in the operating gap between two counter-rotating rolls. The equipment typically has a high unit capacity and low energy consumption, and is increasingly used as an alternative to conventional tertiary and quaternary crushing and grinding, in particle size ranges reaching from 100mm down to 25 microns. It can be applied to moist ores and dry material, in open circuit arrangement or in a closed circuit with dry or wet classification (screening, air classification)."

Jan 1, 2019

By A. Ockewitz, A. Trondl, D. -Z. Sun

"Numerical simulation of extrusion processes offers an efficient method for tool design and optimization of geometries and properties of extruded parts. However, until now there are few systematic investigations about influences of material model and different parameters e.g. for friction and thermal processes on calculated local and global responses. Since extrusion processes are essentially influenced by friction between billet and extrusion tools, new friction tests were performed in this work to develop a reliable friction model. Compression and torsion tests were performed at different temperatures and velocities to calibrate the material model for extrusion simulations. Extrusion processes for circular rods and U-profiles were conducted at TU Berlin with backward and forward extrusion for different extrusion ratios, billet temperatures, product velocities and cooling conditions. This work focuses on numerical simulations of the extrusion tests with the FE code HyperXtrude. Based on the calculated distributions of local strain, strain rate and temperature the recrystallized volume fraction and grain sizes were calculated with empirical models and compared with the experimental results from optical micrographs and EBSD scans. The calculated total and friction forces and temperatures were compared with the experimental results and the deviations between experiment and simulation were analyzed.INTRODUCTION Extruded aluminum components are widely used in vehicle constructions due to light weight and manufacturing consideration. Local mechanical properties in the components are inhomogeneous as a consequence of the spatial distribution of microstructure which is influenced by numerous factors like material composition, temperature, tool design, friction, extrusion ratio and speed during the extrusion process. For the optimization of the extrusion process with regard to all these factors numerical simulation can be an essential tool. Based on results of finite element simulations of the extrusion process the microstructure in the extruded components can be predicted and then the resulting mechanical properties can be numerically determined instead of by costly trial and error methods. The aim of the work presented in this paper is the development of a numerical method for the simulation of extrusion processes with modeling of microstructure."

Jan 1, 2018

By Mory Ghomshei

As fossil fuels become depleted over the next century, it is imperative that Canada and other countries examine ways to transition to other sources of energy, particularly renewable resources. A critical obstacle to developing Canada?s renewable energy resources is the scarcity of infrastructure to wheel the generated electricity to a viable market. For each megawatt of renewable electrical power, a maximum of 1 km of connecting power line is typically feasible. This means that hydropower, geothermal, and wind power projects with capacities up to 100 MW must be located within a maximum of 100 km of a main power line in order to be economically viable. With a total length of about 1200 km, the proposed Northern Gateway oil pipeline project creates an excellent opportunity to become a corridor that can seed renewable energy projects in Northern British Columbia and Alberta. Utility companies must build new infrastructure to provide the electricity for constructing and operating the proposed pipeline. The pipeline and linked power line infrastructure therefore, should be designed and built with consideration to create an energy highway to the significant renewable energy resources, such as hydro, wind, and geothermal, in the vicinity of the proposed pipeline. Some of the important renewable energy resources in northern British Columbia can be developed in connection with the proposed pipeline. It is estimated that close to 2,500 MW of commercially viable wind, geothermal and run-of-river power resources are present in the proximity of the proposed pipeline corridor. While oil flows westward from the Alberta bitumen fields, the generated green power can flow eastward to help the Canadian oil sand industry to offset as much as 10 Megatons of carbon emissions per year. The generated carbon credits are equivalent to 75% of the emissions associated with extraction of the 525,000 barrels per day of oil from oil sands, intended to be carried by the pipeline.

Aug 1, 2013

By E. Uzun

"In this study, H2SO4 and HCl leaching behaviour of an ore sample containing 1.87% of Ni, obtained from the Karaçam (Eskisehir-Turkey) lateritic deposit that started operation recently was investigated. Acid concentration, temperature and reaction time were investigated as variables by comparative leaching tests and the optimum leaching conditions were selected on teh basis of Ni, Fe, Co and Mg behaviour. For H2SO4 leaching, optimum leach parameters were 95°C, a 12 normal H2SO4 concentration and 90 minutes of reaction time, and under these conditions Ni and Fe dissolutions were 97.6% and 95.4% respectively. On the other hand, 70°C, an 8 normal HCl concentration and a reaction time of 90 minutes were found to be the optimum parameters for HCl leaching, and Ni and Fe dissolutions found were 97.1% and 97.8%, respectively.INTRODUCTION Today, nickel and various nickel compounds are obtained from sulphide and lateritic nickel ores (Moskalyk & Alfantazi, 2002). Even though about 72% of the world's nickel reserves constitute lateritic ores, only about 42% of nickel is produced from these ores. The decrease in production from sulphide deposits, on the other hand, and increases in the use of nickel in the iron and steel, and battery production sectors, and especially the production of nickel cast irons in recent years, have accelerated the importance of making use of lateritic deposits (Luo et. al., 2010; Chang et. al., 2010). In the beneficiation of sulphide nickel ores, mostly pyrometallurgical methods are used. On the other hand, about 39% of lateritic ores are beneficiated by pyrometallurgical, and 61% are beneficiated by hydrometallurgical methods (USGS, 2009). In laterite beneficiation, the ore properties are of significance; that is to say, limonitic ores are eneficiated by high pressure acid leaching or via the Caron process, nontronitic ores are beneficiated by high pressure acid leaching or heat treatment (smelting), and ores containing serpentine by pyrometallurgical methods (Berezowsky, 2004; McDonald & Whittington, 2008a; Dreisinger et. al., 2015)."

Jan 1, 2017

By M. Lahtinen

Traditionally, there have been three main methods for iron removal in the hydrometallurgical production of zinc. These methods are atmospheric precipitation of jarosite or goethite and pressurised precipitation of hematite. Jarosite precipitation is without doubt the leading and the most commonly used technology for iron removal. However, jarosite precipitation has some drawbacks, such as a low iron content (and, thus, high residue volume), high moisture content after filtration and often a high zinc content. These features make any environmentally acceptable way of using or disposing of jarosite more expensive, as compared to hematite and goethite. The importance of environmental regulations has grown in the zinc industry during the last decade, which will have an increasing effect on new investments. Hematite has several advantages over jarosite, such as a high iron content, low moisture and low zinc content. An important advantage of hematite is that it is suited for further use in the cement industry. However, until now the need for autoclave equipment has limited the spread and implementation of hematite precipitation in the zinc industry. Outokumpu Technology Oy has recently developed an alternative method for iron removal, which is the atmospheric precipitation of hematite. A patented method for precipitating hematite at atmospheric pressure is presented and compared with conventional methods for iron removal. The process conditions, the quality of the hematite precipitate and the environmental aspects are also discussed.

Jan 1, 2006

By J. Gotor, C. Frias, E. Delgado

The Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) is one of the world's largest reserves of primary sulphides containing base metals (Cu, Zn, Pb), precious metals and some special metals such as indium. Estimated resources are over 1,500 million tonnes of volcanogenic massive sulphide ores. From 1980´s Europe lives the decline in its mines mainly motivated by the low price of the metals. One aspect that contributed equally to this was the ecological disaster produced by the discharge of more than seven million tonnes from the tailings dam of Boliden-Apirsa (Aznalcollar) in 1998. Today the situation is different; the companies present in the IPB have given evidence that it is possible to reconcile mining projects and care on the environment, and the regional authorities are opening a public tender to re-start Aznalcollar mine. A new challenging era has been started at this Spanish/Portuguese mining area. This paper presents the results and preliminary economics of a project devoted to IPB primary sulphides processing through different technology approach, e.g. conventional selective flotation against bulk flotation or mixed metals flotation combined with hydrometallurgical processing.

Jan 1, 2014

By Thomas. L. O.

Apart from a few sketches and incomplete maps, mainly topographical, and one or two detailed maps of placer-creeks, there is little information on the topography and geology of most of the country adjacent to the sections of the Alaska Highway in the Liard River area, particularly that part east of Kechika river. In 1943, the Geological Survey of Canada made a recon-naissance from Fort Nelson clown the river of that name to the Liard, thence up the latter to Hell Gate, and also up Beaver river for a distance of fifty miles. The whole of the area covered was found to be underlain by sedimentary rocks, not a single igneous dyke being seen. The British Columbia Department of Mines began reconnaissances near the highway both in and north of the drainage basin of Prophet and Muskwa rivers with a view to finding structures favourable for the accumulation of oil. In Liard River valley near the mouth of Smith river and at intervals from there clown to Devil' s Portage occur warm springs whose character and origin are not definitely' known, since they have not been investigated (21, p. 38A). Similar springs are said to occur at several localities over a broad belt extending from Muskwa river across the Liard to the Nahanni River country (26, p. 11). On Liard river below the mouth of Dease river, stratified sands, gravels, and clays of Pleistocene (?) age are constantly met with and in one or two places are underlain by sandy clays. The distribution of the latter, however, is very limited in the section cut by the river west of the Rocky mountains. The only range of these mountains that reaches the Liard is the high limestone ridge which approaches the mouth of Vents river from the southeast and then almost vanishes a few miles to the northwest of it (27, pp. 43-45). In general, the ranges of the Rockies in the area under consideration have been but little explored, but they are undoubtedly very largely sedimentary and, with the exception of some volcanics and intrusives on their western flanks, are probably almost entirely so. Unlike the high, deeply incised ranges in southern British Columbia, they dwindle in elevation north of Terminus mountain to low-wooded ridges separated by wide swampy valleys, and practically lose their identity between it and the Liard. The foothills, which, along the Liard, have a width of 38 miles (from near the mouth of Trout river to Hell Gate) are composed of a great series of alternating shales and sandstones, with some limestones, all folded closely together, which resemble those found in the foothills farther south (27, pp. 50, 19-20).

Jan 1, 1944

By Zdenek D. Hora

British Columbia is an important producer of a variety of industrial minerals for both domestic and export markets. Some commodities such as limestone, dolomite, gypsum, calcium carbonate, silica, barite and magnetite are raw materials for well-established industries located in British Columbia, Alberta and northwestern USA. Others, like magnesite, sulphur, jade, asbestos, dimension stone and clay products, are mainly exported in processed form to overseas customers. Companies are developing markets for relatively new mineral products, including pumice, volcanic cinder and zeolites. A number of attractive geological targets have been identified by industry while research by government geologists has outlined the potential for refractory minerals, gemstones, garnet, nepheline syenite, carbonatites, residual kaolin, igneous apatite and peat.

Jan 1, 2001

By Hyung Sup Choi

The preparation of high-purity zirconyl compounds was studied in order to develop an economical process for obtaining pure zirconium via the caustic fritting of zircon sand. The direct dissolution of caustic frits with concentrated hydrochloric or nitric acid at 80c. followed by the addition of a small amount of acidified gelatin, gave high-purity zirconyl chloride or nitrate. The addition of a small amount of gelatin caused a mutual flocculation between colloidal silica and gelatin. The precipitation of this silica floc markedly lowered the content of silica in the product. The silica content of the compounds (or solution) so produced, generally less than 100 ppm., was sufficiently low for tributyl phosphate extraction for nitrate solutions. It was found that the degree of purification de-pends not only on the procedures employed but also on the nature of the frit itself. Silica was more effectively eliminated from the fritted product produced at higher temperatures, and less silica was present in the com-pound prepared from the frit produced in a shorter heating time. In order to ascertain the nature of the

Jan 1, 1965

By T. H. Peters

The historical development of this program, dating from the construction of Nickel Park at Copper Cliff in 1917 to the various current projects carried out in the Ontario Division's program, is reviewed. Practices used to grow vegetation on stressed areas, the beneficial aspect of the improved aesthetic appearance of company properties from the point of view of public relations and the improved approach to the workplace by the employee are discussed. The revegetation of the tailings area and its gradual transformation into a Wildlife Management Area is reviewed.

Jan 1, 1978

By Ralf M. Kleine

THE property of Consolidated 1 Discovery Yellowknife Mines Limited, (Figure I) is situated in the Northwest Territories, approximately 50 air miles north of the town of Yellowknife. The mine is reached by a shaft which extends from surface to a depth of 4,000 feet, with working levels established at 1 50-foot intervals. Stopping operations are carried on throughout a vertical range of 2,000 feet, with both shrinkage and cut and fill methods being used, depending on the ground conditions. Production started in 1950 and milling is done in a 1 65-ton per day cyanide plant. During ten months of the year, the property is serviced entirely by air, utilizing charter aircraft from Yellowknife. A 4,000-foot runway near the mine was constructed from mill tailings. This strip is adequate to receive Bristol freighter planes carrying heavy loads. Other servicing is done by Otter aircraft, equipped with skis or wheels for winter and with pontoons for summer operations.

Jan 1, 1962

By André van Wageningen

Long term mine scheduling is one of the most difficult optimization problems. The problem is said to be NP-complete in that the best possible solution cannot be found any quicker than checking all possible permutations and combinations. In current mining operations, it is important to report changes in long term plans as soon and as accurately as possible. Where geological data can change rapidly, such as in narrow vein deposits, the need to quickly identify and optimize different long term alternatives becomes a difficult task and can lead to many permutations of the long term mine plan. The question arises, is the new plan optimal or not? Can the company objectives be met while adhering to operational constraints? Although a number of optimization techniques have been used in the past, many include significant simplifications or fail to produce acceptable results within the required timeframe. Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are among the most promising optimization techniques within operations research. They are based on natural selection and evolution of solutions to complex problems. They have been known to quickly converge within a few percent of the optimal solution by examining only a fraction of the possible permutations. The GA itself contains very little problem specific information and, as such, in this study, has been linked to a discrete-event simulation (DES). The DES is able to evaluate each sequence proposed by the GA and determine the effectiveness and value of each schedule. The DES feeds information regarding the feasibility and quality of the solutions back to the GA during the optimization process. In this paper, GAs and DES are described and the coupling of the two methods is outlined. The GADES module is then used to ?optimize? a narrow vein theoretical case study and the results discussed in a broader mining context.

Oct 1, 2004

"9.1. IntroductionThe application of the electron microprobe for in-situ analysis of platinum-group minerals (PGM), first reported by Borovskii et at. (1959) and Genkin (1959), has resulted in a large and growing number of analyses of unidentified PGM. Figure 9.1 charts the increase in the number of reported unnamed PGM from 3 in 1959 to a total of 140 by 1979. All these minerals, with the exception of UN1968-5 and UN1976-1, were analyzed with the electron microprobe.There has been no recognised or consistent manner for reporting these unidentified PGM. The term ""unnamed"" has been used for PGM that are considered to be new species without a name as well as for PGM which have not been exhaustively compared to named and unnamed PGM in order to determine whether they are unique. Many of the so-called unnamed PGM are only unnamed because of poor microprobe analyses or because larger than usual elemental substitutions (e.g. Bi for As) made it difficult to calculate the true stoichiometry. Some of these unnamed minerals have been unnecessarily reported with non-stoichiometric formulae, as discussed by Cabri (1980). Better analytical data should reduce the number of such proposals.Another unfortunate practice, possibly used to by-pass the scrutiny of the Commission for New Minerals and Mineral Names, I.M.A., is to report a ""new"" mineral by referring to it by a name made up of its constituent elements. This has been deplored on a number of occasions (cf. discussion in Fleischer et at., 1976, p. 179), but some journals continue to publish such material. The Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names has not recognised such ""names"" and these PGM are therefore included in this chapter with other unnamed minerals.A further example of inconsistency in reporting unnamed minerals is the report of a specific ideal stoichiometry with no further details (not even an analysis!); sometimes with a note that this will be reported in greater detail in due course. I have also been guilty of similar optimistic statements and, unfortunately, it is not always possible to follow through. Some authors give data on unnamed minerals in such a discrete manner that their reports are sometimes missed in literature searches."

Jan 1, 1979