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By Thomas R. Larson

"Many concentrators use re-circulating “plant” water for dilution in their flotation circuits. However, if crusher dust suppressants, ball mill grinding aids, or even agitator bearing grease are introduced into this water, and the water itself is not subject to cleaning steps, then sufficient quantities of these chemicals may appear in the flotation cells and begin to impact the flotation separation. A bench flotation procedure has been coupled with statistical analysis in order to estimate the impact of small quantities of non-flotation chemicals on flotation performance.INTRODUCTIONCleveland Cliffs produces iron oxide pellets for blast furnace feed, and is developing the capability to produce ferrous metallic products to supply a wider customer base. Cliffs manages five North American iron mines, including the Wabush mine sites in Labrador and Quebec. Based on various characteristics of the ore bodies, the flow sheets of the five mines are diverse. For example, Hibbing Taconite uses magnetic separation alone as their primary upgrading method, but Northshore and Empire use magnetic separation followed by flotation, and Tilden uses flotation alone. Last but not least, the Wabush concentrator upgrades primarily with gravity and electrostatic separation techniques.At Northshore, concentrate from the magnetic separator circuit is fed to a reverse flotation circuit. By design, the magnetic separators operate at the highest possible recovery of magnetite, as the separator tails are discarded, and relatively high silica content was acceptable to Northshore’s customers. As the steel-making industry moved toward lower and lower slag volumes, the silica content in the magnetic separator concentrate became a problem. The flotation step was added in the late 1980s in order to decrease the silica assay of the magnetic separator concentrate to meet the current customer requirements. In this setting, the flotation feed stream contains very little silica that occurs as liberated quartz particles. As the degree of liberation of the flotation feed stream is then a limiting factor for silica removal, the online grind control then was linked to flotation in the overall plant control system so that grind can be adjusted to achieve improved liberation if necessary for the flotation process."

Jan 1, 2002

By Andre L. De Vegt, Cees J. N. Buisman

"For the past eight years Paques has been engaged in the development and installation of treatment systems based on biotechnological processes to remove sulfur compounds from water, air and gaseous streams. Metal and sulfate can be removed from mine waters using two biological steps:1. Sulfate reducing bacteria convert sulfate to hydrogen sulfide (H2S). The H2S reacts with the dissolved metals to form insoluble metal sulfide precipitates.2. Sulfide oxidizing bacteria convert excess H2S to elemental sulfur.Paques has designed and installed a groundwater treatment system for the Budelco zinc refinery in the Netherlands to remove metals and sulfate as described above. The system has been operating since May 1992 treating a flow of 5000 m3/d. A test program, utilizing a large scale pilot plant, will commence in November 1995 at a copper mine in the U.S.A. to remediate groundwater contaminated with sulfate and heavy metals. Biological reactor performance and selective metal recovery will be studied. Sulfur dioxide (S02) can be removed from fluegas using a combination of scrubber technology and the two biological steps. The end product is elemental sulfur. A commercial size biological desulfurization plant has been in operation since July 1994 treating 50,000 Nm3/h of fluegas. Sulfide can be removed from mining waters or anaerobic wetlands using a THIOPAQ® Sulfide Oxidizing reactor.lntroductionSulfur can be present in various water and gaseous streams in a mining operation. In many cases the sulfur compounds have to be removed because of toxicity, corrosive properties and contribution to acid rain. Mine waters can contain dissolved heavy metals. An efficient way to remove dissolved metals removal is the precipitation as metal sulfides. Paques has developed and installed treatment systems based on biotechnological processes to remove sulfur compounds from water, air and gaseous streams. These treatment systems biologically convert sulfate to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) which can be used in heavy metal precipitation. Excess H2S is biologically converted to elemental sulfur. This paper provides an overview of these newly developed biotechnological treatment systems."

Jan 1, 1997

By K. Gie Tan, Frank Wright

"Misty Mountain Gold Limited (MGL - TSE VSE, MGLCF - NASDAQ) of Vancouver, owns the Harmony Gold Project located in the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia. The deposit contains a mineable reserve of 2.3 million ounces of gold, at a 1.2 g/t cut-off and an average grade of 2.1 1 g/t Au.Discovered in 1970 and frequently investigated by previous owners, full-scale production has not yet occurred because of the complex metallurgy of the deposit. Recent process studies that were completed in six months at Process Research Associates Ltd. (PRA) of Vancouver resulted in significant improvements to the project viability. The work involved detailed mineral processing studies aimed at achieving a marketable concentrate. An option for bio-oxidation and cyanidation to allow on-site dor6 production was also investigated.The main findings at PRA followed the front-end recovery of finely divided free gold (Au) by gravity concentration. Approximately 20% of Au reported to less than 0.2% of the mass, resulting in a grade exceeding 500g/t Au. The resulting gravity tailing provided a uniform feed for flotation evaluation. The optimization of this step allowed for a reasonable primary grind size of 80% passing (&) 50pm. Efficient slime’s rejection was made possible by flotation at a reduced pulp density, and pre-oxidized sulphides were reactivated with Na,S. The regrinding of the bulk flotation concentrate followed by up to five stages of cleaning resulted in a combined gravity + flotation product of 50g/t Au with 82% recovery in less than 4% of the feed mass.Further studies indicated that the flotation concentrate was amenable also to tank bio-oxidation. At 65% sulphide oxidation the gold recovery improved from less than 70% to 90% by cyanide extraction using CIL (carbon in leach). This compares to less than 45% gold recovery from whole-ore cyanidation in several previous studies. Heap leaching may also be considered for lower grade material. PRA’s methodical approach and consistent results dispelled the uncertainty about predicting the material behavior for the Harmony Property."

Jan 1, 2000

By J. Peck, M. J. Scobie, M. D. Pollitt

"IntroductionOne aspect of current research in the Canadian Centre for Automation and Robotics in Mining (CCARM) involves the automatic identification of different rock types based on particular drill performance parameter responses. In this paper, the four drill performance parameters of torque, pulldown pressure, rotary speed and penetration rate, were measured from an instrumented rotary blasthole drill during field investigations undertaken at the Fording River Mine, Elkford, British Columbia. The variations in these parameters were subsequently correlated with the corresponding rock types using the results from gamma, neutron and core logs in the same or adjacent boreholes. Work to date has sought to understand the relationships between drilling performance parameter variation and rock properties. Using the results of these studies, the present research is aimed at developing techniques whereby classical statistical pattern recognition methods are applied to drill data to permit the discrimination of different rock units. A monitoring system incorporating such a capability would greatly enhance the quality and amount of geological information on a per borehole basis while drilling. This data in tum could be used economically and directly towards explosive loading, geological exploration and reserve estimation. Background and PhilosophyThis work is an extension of equipment monitoring studies at the Fording River Mine. At this site over a two-year period, 5180 m of data was acquired on an instrumented Bucyrus-Erie 60R drill during routine production blasthole drilling. Throughout these studies, a 311mm diameter S8M Security tungsten-carbide tricone bit was used. The mine, located in southeast British Columbia, is a large-scale, open pit coal operation. The means of excavation revolves around a drill-blast-muck cycle and employs a standard shovel-truck system of transport. Four main rock types are present: sandstone, siltstone, mudstone and coal, with average compressive strengths ranging from 10 MPa to 150MPa respectively (peck 1989). However, based on the field studies, very few differences in terms of strength and compositional properties were seen between the sandstones and siltstones at the site. Therefore, they are referred to as sandstone/siltstone in all further discussions."

Jan 1, 1991

By J. Koponen, K. S. Stadler, A. Fuerst, S. Gaulocher, Th. von Hoff, R. Veldsman

"Gearless mill drives (GMDs) are the workhorse in the mineral processing industries, more specifically when it comes to grinding crushed ore and cement (in various production stages) in semiautogenous (SAG) mills and large ball mills. They are renowned for their excellent reliability and robustness, long lifespan, and little need for maintenance, and thus yield a low total cost of ownership (TCO).A GMD represents a major investment for a mineral processing plant, and its availability is pivotal for the grinding process. As a basic rule, shut-down periods are to be minimized, but even much more important is that unscheduled shut-downs be avoided. In this contribution, we will present a portfolio of innovative remote diagnostic that consist of the following three key components:1. Trouble shooting is a form of corrective maintenance and is based on state-of-the art remote access technology, thus enabling highly skilled engineers to access the current sensor readings anytime and from anywhere in order to resolve urgent problems together with the GMD user.2. Periodic maintenance reports are a form of preventive and predictive maintenance and aim at continuous improvement based on long-term historical records and analyses of multiple measured signals. These detailed reports highlight the health and operational status of the GMD and are periodically (e.g. 3 months) submitted to the customer.3. Remote condition monitoring spans across preventive and predictive maintenance and is based on continuous recording and automatic analyses of relevant signals using advanced algorithms. The main issue is how to handle the enormous flood of data in an intelligent manner. The results of these analyses are made available to both the GMD user and supplier in real time in order to increase the availability and reliability of the GMD.In this paper, we consider various parts of the GMD, e.g. the cycloconverter, the ring motor, the auxiliary devices (e.g. cooling and lubrication systems), and also phenomena related to the mill itself (e.g. state and quantity of charge). The signal analysis techniques range from simple threshold-based analyses to complex time and frequency domain analyses. We will illustrate the benefits of the proposed approaches with some selected examples."

Jan 1, 2012

By Yongteng Dong, John P. Quinn, Bradford Wesstrom, Guikuan Yue

With increasingly low-grade copper ores being mined, it is difficult to handle growing concentrations of As, Sb, Bi and/or Fe in the whole flowsheet, especially during copper electrorefining. To better elucidate the effects of those impurities on the quality of cathode deposit and/or current efficiency, a detailed speciation study of the electrolyte under industrial conditions is required to quantitatively describe their distribution in the solution, thereby facilitating their effective control and removal. In the present study, a thermodynamic model of complicated iron-arsenic-copper-sulfuric acid electrolyte under industrial conditions was developed. The main species of those elements involved in the electrolyte were first identified, and their thermodynamic data were collected and critically assessed. Those data were then used to estimate the activity coefficients of species, and to calculate the equilibrium constants from 25°C to 70°C. The developed model provides a mathematical tool that is capable of quantifying the concentrations of free ions and complexes in terms of temperature and solution composition. Finally, oxidation-reduction potential measurements were employed to validate the model. INTRODUCTION In copper electrorefining, impurities like arsenic, antimony, bismuth and/or iron can partially dissolve in the electrolyte and accumulate gradually, and eventually cause problems such as bad cathode deposit (co-deposition with copper or mechanical inclusion from the floating slime), lower current efficiency, etc., which eventually increases the operating costs. The presence of impurities may substantially reduce properties of copper products such as conductivity, corrosion resistance, mechanical properties, and leads to more energy consumption (Schlesinger et al., 2011; Jafari et al., 2017). To remove these impurities, various methods have already been proposed and applied in industrial copper production, such as solvent extraction, ion exchange, chemical precipitation, absorption by activated carbon, etc. (Cunningham et al., 1997; Navarro et al., 1999; Toyabe et al., 1987). In addition, adding reducing agents such as sulfur dioxide and trivalent arsenic could also precipitate arsenic, antimony and bismuth from copper electrolyte, by changing the distribution of impurities with various valence (Braun et al., 1976; Xiao et al., 2007). The disadvantages of those methods include high energy consumption, serious contamination, lower selectivity and efficiency, and so on.

Jan 1, 2019

"In the UK, Ireland, and Western Europe, the mineral resource and reserve reporting standard is the PERC Code, developed and maintained by the Pan-European Reserves and Resources Reporting Committee, which is a standing committee set up under the auspices of a number of professional organisations which include the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (loM3), the Geological Society of London (GSL), the European Federation of Geologists (EFG) and the Institute of Geologists of Ireland (IGI) to develop a Pan-European reporting code. The PERC Code supercedes the old IMMM Reporting Code 2001 and is recognised by the UK securities regulators and stock exchanges.""FOREWORD1 The Pan European Reserves and Resources Reporting Committee (PERC) Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (further referred to as 'the Code') sets out minimum standards, recommendations and guidelines for Public Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe. The history of development of this code is summarised in Appendix 4.This 2008 edition supersedes all previous editions of The Reporting Code and the IMM Reporting Code.INTRODUCTION2 In this edition of the PERC Code, important terms and their definitions are highlighted in bold text. The guidelines are placed after the respective Code clauses using indented italics. They are intended to provide assistance and guidance to users in interpreting the application of the clauses in the Code. The same indented italics typeface formatting has been applied to Table 1, and to Appendices 1 and 2 which form part of the Guidelines.3 The Code has been adopted by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (loM3), the Geological Society of London (GSL), the European Federation of Geologists (EFG) and the Institute of Geologists of Ireland (IGI), and is therefore binding on their individual members.Appendix 1 contains a table of generic terms and their equivalents, designed to avoid unnecessary duplication or ambiguity in the textAppendix 2 provides Rules of Conduct for Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimators that should be considered in addition to the Codes of Ethics normally applying to members of professional institutions."

Jan 1, 2003

By T. Kho, W. Zhang, M. E. Reed

The control of flash furnace heat balances is critical. Suspension smelting control and stability comes from stable operation of the heat balance, and this leads to a stable reaction shaft exit temperature. A number of flash furnace operations have been reviewed to determine if the application of this approach is beneficial for their operation. The cause and effect relationship between reaction shaft exit temperature with uptake and throat buildup is being enhanced with this work program. Our operating personnel are exposed to the operational hazards of cleaning this buildup from the throat and it is imperative that as an industry we continue to look for repeatable solutions. WorleyParsons has reviewed operational data from a number of flash furnaces and looked at the possible improvements that can be made to decrease variation in the reaction shaft exit temperature. The data assessed for each operation illustrate the need to fully understand the process inputs to the particular operation and to ensure that the control changes are correctly impacted. In the plant data that have been assessed for a number of operations combinations of feed changes and inappropriate process decisions have lead to changes in reaction shaft exit temperature which impact the overall furnace operation and the uptake shaft condition, and ultimately the boiler. INTRODUCTION In 2016 WorleyParsons jointly prepared a paper outlining the effects of heat balance control on the Olympic Dam flash furnace (Reed et al, 2016). That paper investigated the importance of heat balance control in flash furnaces and demonstrated the changes made at the Olympic Dam operation to control the heat balance in the furnace and the impact that change had. The operation is still using the tool to assist in trouble shooting performance and pinpointing problems that may lead to issues in the furnace throat and Waste Heat Boiler (WHB). As a result of the interest in the methodology and due to the issues surrounding safety and process performance caused by WHB throat buildup and damage, WorleyParsons approached a number of flash furnace operators to discuss the application of the approach at their operations.

Jan 1, 2019

By David deVries, James Rajith, Paul Mascrenhas, Nurzhan Dyussekenov, Lawrence Hanschar

Kansanshi Copper Smelter commenced operation in March 2015. The smelter features four Peirce- Smith Converters (PSCs) operated in a three hot, two blowing configuration. This paper describes some of the process automation and design features implemented to maximize operational and environmental performance. To ensure that the converters were easy to operate, efficient, and were protected in emergency situations such as power failures or loss of tuyere air supply a significant focus was placed on automated sequences initiated by “one button” operator commands or otherwise automatically by the Distributed Control System (DCS). Examples include: main converter roll-in and roll-out sequences; emergency roll-out in the event of power failure; and the charging sequences for reagents (silica and reverts). Other automated features configured for the PSCs were specifically aimed at maximizing converter capacity and reducing the environmental impact from fugitive emissions. These features include: “one button” in-stack charging; automated restriction of blowing rate based on the available acid plant capacity; and fully-automated control logic for the Secondary Ventilation System. In-stack charging allows anode furnace oxide slag to be poured into the PSCs while the converters are still blowing and still sending off-gas to the acid plant. PSC Secondary Ventilation control logic was configured to require minimum input from the operators while ensuring maximum utilization of the available draft from the ventilation system. Highly automated PSC controls contribute to high utilization, averaging 41.2 in-stack hours per day. INTRODUCTION Kansanshi Copper Smelter (KCS) is located near Solwezi at Kansanshi copper mine in Zambia's Northwestern province. The smelter treats concentrate produced at Kansanshi mine as well as Sentinel mine located 150 km west of Solwezi. Four Peirce-Smith Converters (PSCs) are installed at KCS. The nominal capacity of each converter is to treat 350 t of copper matte and produce up to 250 t of blister copper per batch. Normally three PSCs are hot, with two able to operate (produce off-gas), and the third converter on hot standby. The fourth converter is normally under cold repairs. The blister charge size is relatively low for the matte charged due to the unavailability of tank house or other high copper scrap.

Jan 1, 2019

By C. R. Edwards, D. R. G. Watt

"Equity Silver Mines Ltd. a member of the Placer Development group of companies operates Canada's largest silver mine near Houston in north-central British Columbia. Initially, the silver-gold-copper flotation concentrate contained excessive levels of antimony and arsenic, so a leach process was installed to remove undesirable metals and provide improved smelter terms for the leached concentrate. The leach plant which has been fully described elsewhere (1, 2, 3), was forced by deteriorating process economics to shut down in April 1984. Equipment was mothballed and alternate uses sought.The Endako Mines Division of Placer Development Limited, located some 150 kilometres east of the Equity mine site, shut down its molybdenite mining and milling facilities in the spring of 1982. Endako has continued to produce molybdic oxide (molybdenum trioxide or MTO) via intermittent roaster runs, and also a high purity, lubricant grade molybdenum disulfide in the Ultrapure Plant. With the steel industry in the doldrums, molybdenum chemicals present an alternate and growing potential for molybdenum sales. In 1982 Placer Development began testing this market. Molybdenum chemicals were produced in the United States on a toll basis using Endako MTO as process feed. The transfer of this production to Canada was being considered when Equity's leach plant shut down, and it was noted that most of the equipment and skills necessary could be provided by the leach plant. See Figure 1.A careful investigation of process requirements was completed by engineering and production staff at Equity and Endako. A provisional capital and operating cost estimate was made, and it was decided to perform a test run during July 1984. There were strong reasons to proceed with this project. A positive cash flow was expected for both Endako and Equity. Endako would have product to continue to expand in the molybdenum chemicals market with the added selling point that now the complete production process would be under direct control of Placer Development companies. Equity would further benefit since a portion of the leach plant would continue in operation thus maintaining and exercising our hydrometallurgical engineering and operating skills. Finally, Equity would have a base from which to search out other processes adaptable to the idled leach plant equipment."

Jan 1, 1986

By G. W. Toop

"The Cominco smeller in Trail, British Columbia, is a large integrated lead-zinc production facility. In the plant description, emphasis is given to the pyrometallurgical operations including zinc concentrate roasting, lead singer-blast furnace processing and silver refining. Production figures for the main metal products - zinc, lead, silver and gold - are provided.IntroductionIncorporated in 1906, Cominco Ltd. is an integrated natural resource company with principal activities in mining, smelting and refining, mineral exploration, fertilizer production and electrical power generation.Cominco is one of the world's largest producers of zinc and lead, accoW1ting for about 10070 of mine production in the western world. The company also produces and sells copper concentrate, copper sulphate, copper arsenate, sodium antirnonate, silver, gold, cadmium, bismuth, indium, and germanium dioxide and a range of fertilizers and sulphur products.Zinc OperationsRoastingThe roasters currently treat about 1400 t/d of zinc concentrates. Over half of the total concentrate treated originates from the Red Dog Mine in Alaska. During the summer, concentrate is shipped from Alaska to Vancouver where it is loaded into rail cars and hauled inland, transferred to trucks and delivered to Trail. The remainder of the roaster feed is made up of Sullivan concentrate and various custom concentrates. These arrive either by train or by truck.There are three roasters available for roasting the concentrate. The two major roasters are Lurgi fluid bed units. Each Lurgi roaster can process concentrate at about 1:7 tonnes per hour (tlb). A smaller Cominco suspension roaster with a capacity of 10 tlb is also used. The flowsheet for the high temperature section of the fluid bed circuit is shown in Figure 1.Concentrates fed to fluid bed roasting are conditioned with 7 1/min water to give 8% moisture in feed. Two slinger belts throw the mixture into the fluidized bed. The fluid bed roasters are 10.4 m in diameter with a bed depth of 1 m. Grate area is 84 m2• Normal operating conditions include bed temperatures of 930°C to 950°C, fluidizing air at 750 Nm3/min and a wind box pressure of 2000 mm H2O."

Jan 1, 1994

By T. Gerritsen, T. Plikas, K. Ochoa, M. Loveless, R. MacRosty, J. Reichart, R. Pula

Sidewall accretion in a smelting furnace plays an important role in furnace integrity as it provides protection to the sidewall cooling elements and thereby extends the furnace campaign life. The extreme thermal and mechanical stresses in the furnace and changes in the slag chemistry can cause the sidewall accretion to melt or break away decreasing the lining protecting the cooling elements. Thin accretion is highly undesirable as it increases the risk of exposing the cooling elements to the molten bath and in the worst case may lead to a failure. Therefore, monitoring the sidewall accretion on an operating furnace is extremely important to manage furnace integrity and to support safe furnace operation. Operators often generate estimates for sidewall accretion and refractory thickness using either copper cooler temperatures or heat load into the cooling water circuits. Multivariate statistical models, on the other hand, have the capability to consider all the process measurements simultaneously to provide a more reliable estimate. This paper describes the application of multivariate statistical models for sidewall integrity monitoring on a Flash Converting Furnace (FCF) and also discusses the online implementation of these models as the Sidewall Accretion Monitoring System. INTRODUCTION Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Utah Copper (KUC) smelter located near Salt Lake city, Utah operates a Flash Smelting Furnace (FSF) and a Flash Converting Furnace (FCF) to produce high-grade matte and blister copper respectively. Since the commissioning of smelter in 1995, several improvements were made to these furnaces to increase their efficiency and operational safety. At present, Kennecott smelter is known to be among the lowest-emission and highest energy recovery copper smelters in the world. Since the smelter start-up, Kennecott has invested in several advanced furnace monitoring practices to evaluate the integrity of the furnaces and improve their campaign life. An example is their temperature monitoring system installed for the smelting and converting furnaces, which continuously monitors the furnace sidewall temperatures and notifies the operators during temperature excursions. During an investigation on the converting furnace, it was revealed that there were frequent temperature excursions in the settler sidewall area towards the reaction shaft end of the furnace that caused significant furnace downtime. The reason for the sidewall temperature excursions was not clearly known.

Jan 1, 2019

By B. Hilscher, P. Nayak, N. Yoon

"The mining industry is currently facing challenges with declining feed grades and is struggling to find solutions to improve the project’s economic value. By means of pre-concentration, ore sorting aims to separate the barren material from the valuable ore to reduce energy consumption and tailings generation, while increasing the feed grade, concentrate grade, mill recovery, and revenue. In addition, ore sorting allows the modification of deposit geometallurgy in order to allow the creation of an optimal mill feed.This paper evaluates the applicability and challenges of ore sorting by utilizing the results from four different mines, and reviews them in detail. The mines include two underground and two open pit mines that are base metal and precioius metal operations. In order to understand the applicability of ore sorting in these operations, initial rock-by-rock test results and different types of assays (atomic adsorption [AA], inductively coupled plasma [ICP], and fire assay) are utilized. Using the assay results, the grade recovery curves for ore sorting are generated and they are further improved by using and developing an ore sorting algorithm, which is discussed in this paper. The application and evaluation of ore sorting in greenfield and brownfield properties will also be discussed.The state of the art ore sorting technologies for both rock-by-rock and bulk sorting are reviewed in this paper. The future technologies on the horizon, including different combinations of sensors, are explained. The sorting technologies include, X-ray transmission (XRT), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), colour, infrared, electromagnetic, and laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS).IntroductionOre sorting is a sensor-based sorting technique introduced between the excavation stage and processing stage, where the unwanted waste is diverted to the waste dump and only the ore is sent to the mill for further processing. As a result, the quality of the material entering the mill is improved and the dilution of the ore is reduced. In greenfield projects, sensor-based ore sorting provides an opportunity to reduce the capital cost of the project and increase the return on investment (ROI). With most operations currently facing the challenge of finding a high grade deposit, having a sorting unit provides several advantages while keeping the cost at minimum."

Jan 1, 2017

By N. E. Chaouai, M. Lavigne

"Indicator kriging is one of the non-parametric geostatistical techniques, ideal for estimating the reserves of irregular mineralizations (e.g. gold, uranium, platinum, diamonds, etc.). Such mineralizations are characterized by variograms which are very sensitive to extreme values (outliers) and very difficult to model.The classical approach to this problem in the industry is to trim off these high grades using arbitrary empirical upper limits established either from practice or subjectively. Contrary to this simplistic approach, indicator kriging discretizes the histogram of the grades (usually log normal) in several classes and carries out interpolation separately for each class. This paper gives an overview of the differences between ordinary and indicator kriging along with the steps required to carry out indicator kriging. The paper concludes with a case study involving a gold deposit estimation.IntroductionParametric geostatistics (ordinary kriging) has given us satisfactory results over the years in estimating the reserves of well behaved deposits with coefficients of variation close to 1 (e.g. sedimentary and porphyry type deposits). However, numerous problems have been encountered in estimating irregular mineralizations (e.g. small vein deposits of precious metals) with high coefficients of variation in the range of 2 to 5. Such deposits are characterized by a very small proportion of extreme values (outliers) which create distortions on the variograms (pure nugget effect) and render them useless(1,2).The solution often followed by the mining industry today is to trim off these values based on empirical limits. These limits are derived either by comparison with production results (or bulk samples) or by geological interpretations. Needless to say that such manipulations can lead to serious errors in estimating ore reserves (usually underestimation of total metal quantity), especially when production results or bulk samples are absent.On the other hand, the solution followed by the geostatisticians in the past was to smooth out the data using transforms (e.g. normal-score or natural logarithms). Such transforms are nonlinear and they required non-linear estimation techniques such as disjunctive kriging (DK) or multivariate gaussian kriging (MG) which require normal related hypotheses, not necessarily true in geology.Nonparametric geostatistics (indicator and probability kriging) have been -developed in order to handle these problems related to highly skewed distributions."

Jan 1, 1990

By B. Jena, M. Rigaud, S. C. Panigrahy

"The influence of flux addition on the structure and properties of pellets produced from low silica specularite with peat moss and bentonite as binders was investigated. Specific pellets basicities in the range of 0.4 to 3.2 were obtained by the addition of limestone or a combination of dolomite and limestone as flux. A t basicities < 1.6, the bonding in the pellets was provided by a glassy silicate phase. At basicities =1.6, calcium ferrites were the predominant bonding phase. When dolomite was added as a flux, presence of magnesia-ferrite was noted. The reduction behaviour of pellets at different basicities was found to be influenced by the type of flux and binder. The pellet compression strength and swelling characteristics were improved with increased basicity.IntroductionThe properties of iron ore pellets are influenced by the type and nature of the ore or concentrate, additives and their subsequent treatment to produce pellets. The interaction between various constituents of the concentrate and additives, i.e. iron oxides, gangue and fluxes etc. result in the formation of various mineralogical phases which affect the degree and nature of bonding achieved in the pellet and the structure and distribution of pores. The pellet properties such as pellet strength and reducibility are influenced by the extent and type of bonding achieved between the ore particles. In view of the present emphasis on the production of high quality pellets to meet progressively stringent quality control requirements, it is essential to investigate the effect of additives on the bonding mechanism and properties of the pellets.In the past, the effects of additives on the bonding mechanism of pellets have been investigated. It is important to note that the conditions and parameters to be controlled are typical of a given concentrate/ore. In this paper, the results of the investigation on characterization of fluxed pellets produced from a low silica specularite concentrate are reported.This investigation was also aimed at assessing the suitability of peat moss for use as a binder for the production of low silica fluxed pellets. Peat moss is abundantly available in the vicinity of iron ore mines in Quebec and encouraging results have been obtained du ring the production of high silica acid and fluxed pellets."

Jan 1, 1992

By G. F. Raymond, W. P. Armstrong

"At the time of this study, the Valley mine was producing 23 000 tonnes of ore per day from a large, low-grade porphyry copper orebody. Sulphide mineralization, principally bornite and chalcopyrite, occurs in a stock work of quartz veins in one phase of the Guichon Creek batholith. The property was explored from 1967 to 1982, and was placed in production in 1983.Using a three-parameter lognormal approximation developed by G.F. Raymond at Similkam een and Mount Isa Mines, a geo- statistical conditional probability ore reserve was estimated prior to mining. Comparisons with blasthole kriging and milled ore for the first 17 months of production showed close agreements at all cut-offs between conditional probability estimates and mineable ore. This was not true of either kriging or polygon estimates. An important part of this work was identifying and correcting for bias in both exploration and blasthole samples.IntroductionCominco&apos;s Valley lake deposit is a large, low-grade, porphyry copper orebody in the Highland Valley of British Columbia. Total indicated plus inferred ore reserves are 700 M tonnes at ore grade of 0.47070 Cu. At the time of writing, ore milling is at a rate of 23 000 tI d through the old Bethlehem mill. Mining is in 10m horizontal benches using 9.8 m3 shovels and 90 tonne trucks. Since this paper was written, Valley and nearby Lomex have been combined into Highland Valley Copper with a combined oreproduction of about 120 000 tI d.Copper mineralization, principally bornite and chalcopyrite, is regularly distributed throughout the deposit as disseminated low-grade within a granodiorite host rock, and as higher grade veinlets within a stock work of near-vertical quartz veins generally 10 cm or less in width. It is likely that problems with sample variability and sample bias are mainly related to mineralization within quartz veining. Valley geology has been described in detail by Allen and Richardson and by Osatenko and Jones (2). The exploration sampling program and identification of diamond-drill sample bias have been discussed by Armstrong and Newman&apos;»."

Jan 1, 1988

By J. M. Menacho, J. M. Reyes

"Batch and continuous regrind tests were conducted in 3 kW and 15 kW tower mill units, respectively. Single particle size classes of a chilean copper sulphide concentrate were employed in the batch tests, while a fraction of the plant stream was deviated to the continuous unit operated under different conditions.Results are interpreted in terms of the simplified grinding kinetic model energy-based and conveniently adapted to this application. Based on the above figures plus some industrial data supplied by MPSI Inc., a scale-up relationship was developed for the apparent specific rate of breakage siE, as a function of the net power draw P, i.e.siE = siE text (P/P test) 0.089This equation fit very well the available data at the three scales and its application to regrind 4400 t/day of rougher copper concentrate from 70% below 325 Tyler mesh to 95% below same mesh, involves around 30% energy-saving compared to standard ball mill for same grinding task.INTRODUCTIONImpact and abrasion-attrition breakage are two extreme mechanisms present in any grinding system in a proportion defined by specific design and operating conditions. Impact breakage is generally efficient for coarse grinding, while abrasion-attrition is adequate to produce fine particles. Efficiency of conventional tumbling mills decreases as fineness of the product increases, even though distribution of applied stresses is always much stronger than internal force distribution in the particles. On the other hand.in a vertically stirred ball mill like the tower mill, distribution of applied stresses and particle strengths are in the same order of magnitude, making possible nearly ideal abrasion conditions (1).Tower mill configuration includes a cylindrical body vertically mounted and provided with a central screw with flights to produce circulation of balls moved up through the inner region to return down by the external space. Fresh material can be fed into the top , center or bottom in order to assure appropriate agitation of suspended particles. Size reduction and evacuation rates should compensate settling of coarse particles to avoid sanding of the screw. Detailed description of the tower mill and its operation have been given elsewhere (2),(3)."

Jan 1, 1989

By K. D. Watson

"THE Mindamar zinc-lead-copper mine, owned by Mindamar Metals Corporation Limited, is at Stirling in Richmond County, near the south-eastern shore of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia (Figure I). It is connected by several roads with the Canadian National railway at Sydney and St. Peters.The deposit is said to have been discovered around 1895 as an outcrop in the bed of Copper brook, but the details are obscure. Not until 1925, when it was optioned by American Cyanamid Company, was it developed underground. Between 1927 and 1938, the 1-nine was operated intermittently by The British Metal Corporation (Canada) Limited, and yielded approximately 200,000 tons of ore averaging about IO per cent zinc, 2 per cent lead, I per cent copper, and small quantities of silver and gold. In December 1950, Dome Exploration (Canada) Limited made an agreement with Mindamar Metaî Corporation Limited, which was exploring the old mine, to assume management and prepare the property for production. Production started in April 1952 with a new mill and a new four-compartment shaft, and between that time and the end of 1954 it has totalled 545,347 tons of ore averaging 5·89 per cent zinc, 1·35 per cent lead, 0·66 per cent copper, 0·032 oz. gold, and 2 151 oz. silver.The Mindamar orebodies are irregular lenses and large veins lying within a wide, almost vertical shear zone of remarkable persistency. The shear zone consists mainly of well-foliated sericite schist derived from siliceous siltstone, and it contains a vast amount of dolomite and magne-site of hydrothermal origin. Most of the ore is extremely fine-grained and some of the high-grade material has a conspicuous thinly layered structure. The metallic minerals, in order of decreasing abundance, are pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, and tennantite; the gangue minerals, in the same order, are dolomite and magnesite, quartz, sericite, talc, chlorite, barite, albite, and alunite.The geological setting of the deposit is shown in Figure 2. Except along streams and lake shores, almost all of the bedrock is concealed by glacial drift. The group of rocks in which the deposit occurs consists principally of greywacke, siltstone, tuff, brecoia, and Javas, and has been correlated lithologically with the Bourinot group of Middle Cambrian age. A short distance west of the mine, these rocks are in contact along the Stirling fault with conglomerate, arkosic sandstone, and quartzite belonging to the Middle River group of Silurian or Devonian (?) age, which elsewhere in the area overlies the Bourinot group unconformably. The large bodies of granitic rocks in the region, and the large lenticular masses of diorite and quartz diorite associated with them, have been assigned by Weeks (5, pp. 68-69) to the Devonian."

Jan 1, 1949

By Barry Hope, Javier Rico

"Goldcorp’s Hoyle Pond mine has recently completed several projects which have impacted the overall ventilation system. The project includes extending the Fresh Air Raise (FAR) to depth, development of a new Return Air Raise (RAR), and the installation of new sensors and ventilation controls throughout the mine. Two years after the completion of #2 Winze, the mine is ramping up its ore production to 1,300 tpd (up from 1,100). To ensure safe and profitable production, a reliance upon technology has been needed to provide the required ventilation to the work areas according to the mine plan. To systematically assess the mine’s ventilation in real-time, a significant increase in remote monitoring was required. This included installing additional flow, pressure, temperature and gas sensors. The first step in upgrading the existing monitoring was to purchase airflow and differential pressure monitors and install them in key areas of the mine. This paper presents the process of expanding the monitoring capability at Hoyle Pond mine, the selected equipment and the results of the implementation. The intended goal was to improve safety while minimizing capital and operation costs. The monitors were installed in strategic locations to provide immediate feedback on the impact of changes to the primary ventilation airflows. Comparing the available sensor technologies, installing them and systematically monitoring the ventilation served as a first step towards developing a mine wide Ventilation Control System. In addition, the initial state of the monitoring and control system, with final results and the chosen solution for the mine site, are presented. INTRODUCTION The Hoyle Pond mine is located in the City of Timmins, within the Porcupine mining district, Ontario, which has produced more than 70 million ounces of gold since 1910. Currently, approximately 60% of Porcupine Gold Mines gold production comes from the Hoyle Pond underground mine. Mechanized cut and fill and long-hole mining methods are used to extract the ore. The remainder of the ore comes from the Hollinger Open Pit mine. The Dome Underground mine ceased operations in 2017. Hoyle Pond is currently mining at 1820 meters below the surface and plans to go deeper. The average dry-bulb as wet-bulb temperature underground varies according to the depth and surface conditions which has extremes of –40°C in winter to +30°C in summer. The total airflow volume pushed down from surface is 240 m3/s to accommodate the diesel-powered equipment needed for normal operations. In order to improve the quality of air underground a program has been implemented to use diesel particulate filters, starting with the truck fleet and 6-yard scoops, followed by the intention to implement the rest of the functional diesel-powered equipment and eventually move to electric equipment."

Jan 1, 2019

By Donald S. Cameron

By dispersing gold in high surface area form supported on metal oxides, its inert character can be transformed to make economical, effective catalysts. Gold has already been demonstrated in a number of fuel cell applications such as gas phase catalysts, electro-catalysts, and electrical connectors. In this paper, the various types of fuel cell systems are reviewed, and several opportunities for gold identified. Low temperature fuel cells, including alkaline and solid polymer electrolyte types rely on high surface area platinum group metal catalysts which are highly susceptible to poisoning by low concentrations of carbon monoxide in the fuel supply. Hydrogen is frequently obtained by steam reforming hydrocarbons, followed by the water gas shift (WGS) reaction. A promising initial use for supported gold catalysts is in catalysing this WGS reaction. Research has shown that gold supported on iron oxide (Au/a-Fe2O3 ) WGS catalysts are more active than the current commercial copper oxide / zinc oxide catalysts, and effective at temperatures as low as 120oC. Products from reformer/ water gas shift reactors can be further purified by removing traces of carbon monoxide. If a small proportion of oxygen is introduced into the fuel gas stream, carbon monoxide can be preferentially oxidized to carbon dioxide even in the presence of hydrogen. Gold nanoparticle catalysts on iron oxide support (Au/a-Fe2O3 ) have exhibited higher activity than commercially available platinum on alumina (Pt/?- Al2O3 ) preferential oxidation catalysts. The low temperature of this reaction may make it feasible to incorporate these catalysts within the fuel cell itself. Proton exchange fuel cells provide several possible applications for catalytically active gold and its alloys. Carbon supported platinum group metals would benefit greatly from improved electrical conductivity if gold replaced some or all of the carbon support material. As electrode current densities are raised, electrical resistance constitutes an increasing proportion of voltage losses within the fuel cell. Dramatic reductions in cell stack voltage losses have already been demonstrated by reducing inter-cell contact resistance using gold plating. The low temperature oxidation properties of gold catalysts have been investigated in controlling gaseous emissions from direct methanol fuel cells, and gold also provides essential catalysis in building direct borohydride oxidation fuel cells. The prospect of a range of other applications for gold in fuel cells to contribute useful improvements in corrosion resistance and conductivity is assessed. Globally, fuel cells have been developed for a wide range of applications including stationary generators, cars and buses, industrial vehicles and small portable power supplies, each of which represents a substantial market. Hence there are likely to be many and varied opportunities for gold catalysts to contribute to the performance and economics of the systems being commercialized.

Oct 1, 2003