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By N. Thompson

The Right Hon. Viscount Long, late Secretary of State for the Colonies, in his inaugural address to the Empire Mining and Metallurgical Congress in London last June said: "I am more and more? convinced by every day experience that the development and strengthening of the Empire must depend upon individual effort and action, and that it is useless to look to Governments for assistance." I am inclined to agree with Viscount Long, to this extent, that the initiative must come from individual effort, but Government assistance is necessary to put the results of that effort and action into effect. It is perhaps fitting at a gathering of this kind to remind ourselves of the part the mining industry has played, not only in the development of the British Empire but in the world at large, in the promotion of modern civilization. We do know that all human progress has been coincident with the early discoveries in the recovery and treatment of metals and, as the centuries have passed, the human race has become more and more dependent on these sciences as factors of all progress, and no nation has ever become powerful and prosperous that has lacked adequate mineral supplies, or having these, has allowed them to be exploited by other nations.

Jan 1, 1925

By Hans Lundberg

The magnetometer which was developed during the war for detecting submarines has proven exceedingly valuable in outlining deep-seated structures in oil exploration, and will be useful also to geologists in outlining regional structural features in the Precambrian. Our magnetometer has been developed to outline local and detail structures. 1 am quite sure that all geophysicists and geologists would agree with me that, in ore prospecting, it is important to obtain as much detailed information as possible. We know that, as we ascend from the ground and get away from the magnetic ore-bearing structures and orebodies, the magnetic intensity decreases rapidly, but, worse than that, we lose the details even faster. Figure l shows two strong, very sharp, magnetic 'highs' over two orebodies which, as our distance increases, rapidly merge into one fairly broad, moderately strong anomaly. If we drilled on this maximum, we would not encounter any of the orebodies. Therefore, we should fly the airborne magnetometer as close to the ground as possible in order to duplicate the results of the magnetic ground surveys. The first chance to accomplish this came with the helicopter, which is an exceedingly maneuverable aircraft. It can be landed in a cleared space not much more than fifty feet square. With floats, it can be landed anywhere, even in a swamp, on thin ice, or on soft snow. It can stand still in the air, hovering over a given point. It can ascend and descend vertically, fly sideways and even backwards, at the will of the pilot. It flies forward at any speed up to l00 miles an hour. The helicopter can be taken to any desired position at a given time. It can fly at any useful altitude from a few feet to several thousand feet above the ground. It can fly very close to the ground with safety. In bare areas, the survey flight may be performed a few feet above the ground. In forested areas, however, the flights, to clear the trees, must be made at l00 to 150 feet. To mark out a certain point, a small parachute-like marker may be draped over a tree or laid on the ground. This can be done from the helicopter without touching the ground.

Jan 1, 1947

By L. C. DeCory

"Concrete is a common denominator to the building process and portland cement is an integral and necessary component of concrete. The cost of portland cement is nominal and its cost comprises, in most instances, a small portion of the total cost of ""put-in-place"" concrete.The domestic demand for portland cement in Canada is projected to be slightly less than 11 million short tons in 1980. In order to achieve this projected goal, stabilization or lowering of the cost of put-in-place construction is necessary. This enhancement of the cost of building can be achieved by:(1) improving the building process;(2) refining and improving design techniques; and(3) developing improved and economical concrete products.Some of the techniques and materials that will lead to building cost stabilization include systems building in its broadest sense, slipforming, precasting, prestressing, computer design, lightweight aggregates, fibrous concrete and integration of building components."

Jan 1, 1973

By K. Ogawa, T. Yokoyama

Hydraulic fracturing technique, an applied technique to cause tensile fractures to rock by injecting water pressure to a certain closed section of the borehole, is a measurement method of in-situ rock stress. This technique has the highest track record for techniques used in sub 1000 meter. A feature of this technique is comparatively simple and easy for in-situ stress measurement, because the measurement is applicable when a drilled borehole is available. The predominant advantage of this method is that elastic constants such as Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio are not required for determining the value and direction of initial stress. The factors to determine the stress state are the water pressures of re-opening and shut-in of fractures around the borehole wall and its directions. With conventional methods, however, the accuracy of the derived stress states from the observation equations was often adversely affected by the lack of consideration of the remaining water pressure in fractures and insufficient stiffness of the pressurization system. We have developed a new hydraulic fracturing system based on a new test method concept overcoming these defects, and applied to a 300 meter deep borehole in granite. The most important improvement of the new system is an employment of a syringe pump which enables an accurate flow control of fluid with less than 1ml/min in the pressure of 30MPa. Therefore the new test system has a quick response for pressurising in the interval zone, and the measured data was confirmed extremely accurate.

Jan 1, 2015

By R. L. Brown

The burning sulphide ores in the Sullivan Mine generate sulphur dioxide gases. This paper is concerned with a description of the environmental impact of SO2 on air quality in the mine and on the surface in the vicinity of the mine. As a result of surface caving, SO2 has been able to vent to surface and winds have carried it into one residential area of Kimberley. Monitoring practices are described.

Jan 1, 1977

By P. Personnet, D. Wheaton, E. Couzinie, V. Demetriou, Brooks. W., G. Girault, M. Meyer, L. Charbonnel

A common problem in Gas Treatment Centers (GTC) from primary aluminium smelters is the temperature of the gas to be treated : above a threshold, filtering media are irreversibly damaged. The traditional way of dealing with high gas temperature is to dilute with fresh air, which implies over sizing - and therefore higher cost for - the GTC in order to have the capacity to treat this dilution air without compromising on pot suction. A system was developed which decreases gas temperature without having to use dilution air. This system is based on water pulverization in gas collectors. The water vaporization leads to a temperature decrease of the gas. A pilot system was trialed in our R&D unit. Satisfactory results led to the development of an industrial system based on Envirocare equipment (partnership), which was trialed in our production plant in Tomago (NSW, Australia). This patented system was then generalized in this plant, which is now using it with success during austral summer.

Jan 1, 2006

By M. Romana

"RMR geomechanics classification is being used all over the World as a useful tool for tunnel predesign and construction. Bieniawski (1989) provided guidelines for tunnel excavation and support, according RMR numerical values; guidelines which are now included in almost all tunnelling books, regulations, and Internet portals. But in the last 25 years tunnelling techniques have changed and some of the guidelines have become obsolete.. The conditions of tunnels for the 1989 guidelines application were: horseshoe shape; 10 m width; vertical stress < 25MPa; construction by drilling and blasting. Actually a substantial number of tunnels are mechanically excavated. The tunnel themselves are now bigger: a span of 14 m. is very common for transportation tunnels. The guidelines included the following concepts: excavation method, rock bolts (20 mm diameter, fully grouted), shotcrete, steel sets. There is an increasing gap between the 1989 guidelines and the practice: in many tunnels different to-the-case excavation and support requirements are established. Bieniawski himself has published a paper (Lowson & Bieniawski, 2013) with different guidelines based in Lowson’s practice, with no explanations and/or justification.In this paper a new set of RMR tunnelling guidelines is proposed taking account of the actual industry conditions, and increased safety regulations. The 5 classes’ limit RMR:values (80,60,40,20) are no more useful actually: Values of RMR (70, 50, 30) are used in practice to define quite different tunnelling techniques. Consequently a 10 subclasses system is proposed. Each subclass covers a span of 10 RMR points. As the number of mechanically excavated tunnels has increased a new correction factor is necessary, according the excavation method.The proposed 2014 RMR guidelines are for tunnels 10 to 14 meters wide, the world practice for new roads/railways tunnels. Many tunnels for water/ services are smaller with smaller support needs. Wider than 16 m caverns are out of the RMR system.It is not possible, nor desirable, to propose only a value for support in each subclass. The new guidelines propose an interval of values for certain types of support. More pessimistic values must be chosen for wider tunnels, tunnels with lower RMR values in each class and cases when a higher safety factor is asked for. More optimist ones are chosen for narrower tunnels, and higher RMR values. Some alternatives are almost complementary, others are contradictory. Sometimes several different techniques are proposed Guidelines are not automatic options. Good engineering judgment must be used when choosing between the different alternatives. Guidelines are not mandatory suggestions."

Jan 1, 2015

By M Reza Afshar

In this work a mathematical model was developed to study the effect of electromagnetic force on the magnesium melt containing nonmetallic inclusion in an electrical isolated channel. The electromagnetic force exerted on the inclusion induced by DC current field was calculated. A three dimensional turbulent flow equations were solved numerically to compute the velocity field within the channel. On the basis of computed velocity and magnetic fields, the trajectories of inclusions were calculated using the equations of motion for inclusions. Parametric studies were carried out to evaluate the effect of various parameters such as current density, channel diameter and particle density on the removal efficiency of inclusions from magnesium melts.

Jan 1, 2004

By D. R. Wright

"The modest thermal efficiency of the steam turbine cycle essentially determines the heat required and, therefore, the coal consumption and ash production of pulverized-coal-fired powerplants. This paper emphasizes how some properties of coal and its ash can crucially affect the operation of a steam generator and its flue gas cleaning equipment. A brief reference to some siting factors and economics reaffirms the all-pervasive influence of the properties of coal and ash and establishes the importance of a firm supply of cooling water. The economics of scale remains a compelling factor in selecting the size of units, despite disappointing performances by some of the larger units. Environmental considerations suggest that smaller units still have a role to play. IntroductionCoal fuelled one industrial and economic revolution, beginning two hundred year s ago . It was the precursor of competing fuels, notably natural gas, oil and uranium, which eclipsed it in terms of convenience and rate of growth.The turmoil that now exists because of rapidly dwindling supplies of no-longer-cheap oil and the concerns about nuclear energy-justified or unjustified-exacerbated by an operating incident at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Powerplant, prompt speculation for a resurgence of coal, especially where it cangenerate electricity to replace energy from imported oil.The world&apos;s reserves of coal are not inexhaustible, although they are ample for several decades. Of greater import is the fact that the world&apos;s coal reserve s are more widely distributed than its oil reserves, and they appear less convenient as instruments of economic and political persuasion by opportunist powers. The crux is whether or not the world will accept all that a massive, if temporary, return to coal implies.Combustion of pulverized coal in steam generators to pro duce electricity is a 50-year-old, well-understood technique; it is undergoing continuous refinement to meet evolving environmental and economic criteria and is not found wanting. It is certainly the only technique available and technologically advanced enough to replace oil immediately on a large scale. Although it may take a decade to bring a new coal-fired powerplant into service, this delay is a reflection on nontechnical and administrative processes. Capital and operating costs of coal-fired powerplants are significant and subject to inflation, but, because of the accumulated experience in this field, the ability to control costs is better than for those energy processes which are less mature or still in embryo form. More exotic, soft energy systems, touted as the panacea for world energy problems, have still to prove themselves on the scale they are needed and under the stringent climatic and operating conditions coal-fired powerplants have already mastered."

Jan 1, 1980

By J. A. Finch

Samples of feed and product from a closed grinding circuit treating a heterogeneous lead-zinc ore were taken. The feed was subjected to laboratory batch grinding in a rod and ball mill with the objective of simulating the closed-circuit size distribution. It was concluded that the batch rod mill can closely simulate this product if only the over-all size is considered, but mineral-by-mineral large differences occur. If, as is suspected, the mineral sizes are the important factor in flotation, the differences could lead to problems in interpreting flotation results. An example of mineral recovery as a function of size is described to illustrate the potential problems.

Jan 1, 1979

By I. C. Brown

Introduction Many tables of nomenclature for igneous rocks have been introduced from time to time, and each has its strong proponents. As a result, any discussion of igneous? rocks is apt to prove confusing unless the names used for these rocks are defined. This ?became so obvious to a discussion group, formed by the members of the Geological Survey of Canada in 1948, that an attempt was made to establish a scheme of nomenclature that could be used by any member mapping anywhere in Canada. The writer was asked to co-ordinate the ideas presented by individuals in the discussion group, to arrange them in tabular form, and, later, to distribute copies of the resultant table to Canadian universities, provincial geological surveys, and some other geological discussion groups. Many useful suggestions and criticisms were received, were studied ?by members? of the original group, and, so far as practicable, were incorporated in the scheme of nomenclature. The result is the table presented here. This nomenclature of igneous rocks is at present being used by most members of the Geological Survey of Canada who are working with igneous rocks, and by some Canadian universities. We hope it will be found useful and be more widely accepted. With this idea in mind, certain principles were adopted in drawing up the nomenclature.

Jan 1, 1952

By JAMES E. TILSLEY

Veins at St. Lawrence near the tip of the Burin Peninsula in southeast New/ oundland have been the major Canadian source of fluorspar. Some 2.8 million tonnes were shipped during the period 1933-1977, mostly from five of the more than forty veir.s known. Most of the veins occur in granite. individual veins may be several km in length, comprising a number of mineable lenses up to 760 m long and 25 111 thick. Fluorite content averages about 50 per cent, but may exceed 90 per cent locally. Quartz, calcite, barite and a few sulphides are the other vein constituents. Jn recent years, gravity concentrates were shipped to a flotation plant at Arvida, Quebec, where the fluorspar concentrate was used as a flux in the making of alum in um. Competition f rom Mexican fluorspar was a major factor in the closure of the mines. Ample reserves are available should economic conditions improve.

Jan 1, 1984

By T L. Horsley

This paper deals with the drilling and blasting methods employed at the Cassiar mine, which is located just south of the B.C.-Yukon border. It covers both the "pit" and "peak" mining operations. Specific problems, such as working in frozen ground, are discussed, and the breaking characteristics of the various rock formations are outlined. The paper concludes with a brief mention of the equipment used in the operation, as "~ell as an outline of the breaking costs. Introduction T HE Cassiar asbestos mine is located just south of the British Columbia -Yukon border high on a spur of McDame mountain. Chrysotile asbestos fibre occurs in a faulted enlargement of a serpentine sill lying conformably be-tween a series of sedimentary beds and volcanic flows which dip at 45 degrees into the mountain. One end of the orebody is eroded by a cirque in which a layer of permanently frozen ore and waste talus lies at the end of the mining benches. The topography at the mine is steep, with no flat areas. Roads, dumps, and areas for crushing,

Jan 1, 1965

By Andrea Lisjak

The mechanical behaviour of Opalinus Clay, an indurated over-consolidated argillaceous rock, is heavily influenced by the presence of preferably oriented bedding planes. The objective of this study is to illustrate a new modeling approach aimed at capturing the bedding-induced anisotropy of Opalinus Clay as observed in the laboratory and in situ. The combined finite-discrete element method (FEM/DEM) is employed as the main simulation tool. FEM/DEM is a numerical method that models material damage processes by explicitly considering fracture nucleation and propagation. A transversely isotropic elastic constitutive law is used to account for different elastic property values in the direction parallel and perpendicular to the layering, while strength anisotropy is captured using a directional cohesive fracture model. Quantitative calibration and validation of the model is based on laboratory results of indirect tensile tests and uniaxial compression tests. Emergent strength and deformation properties, together with the simulated damage mechanisms, are shown to be in good agreement with experimental observations. Preliminary results relative to the analysis of a circular tunnel show that the approach is able to reproduce the main Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) formation mechanisms as observed in the field.

Jun 1, 2012

By S. E. Malouf, R. Hinse

"The Mineral possibilities of the Chibougamau area were first recognized by Richardson in 1870 and Low in 1885, both of the Geological Survey of Canada. The first record of interest by the Quebec Bureau of Mines is in 1904, when J. Obalski reported on the discovery of copper and asbestos by Peter McKenzie in the previous year. Reports of 1906 and 1907 covered the McKenzie Gold Mine find and other deposits. In 1908 Prof. Dulieux described the quartz vein on Merrill Island and the mineralized zone on the near-by mainland. In 1910 the Chibougamau Railway Commission, though commenting favourably on the possibilities of the area, concluded that a railway was not then warranted.In spite of this, prospecting in the district continued. The main Campbell Chibougamau deposit, the Blake showing on Merrill Island in Dore Lake, was found in 1920, and other discoveries were made soon after. Between 1927 the work of Mawdsley, Retty, and Norman tor the Geological Survey and the Quebec Bureau of Mines stimulated further interest. In 1934 Consolidated Chibougamau Goldfields Ltd., a subsidiary of Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. of Canada Ltd., acquired the Merrill Island and Cedar Bay holdings of Chibougamau Prospectors Ltd. They embarked on an aggressive campaign, directed essentially at the gold quartz veins at Cedar Bay. Exploration there included a 522-foot shaft, 4,732 feet of drifts and crosscuts, and about 34,000 feet of surface and underground diamond drilling. Thirteen holes were also drilled on the replacement sulphide lens at Merrill Island. Operations were suspended in 1936, as the occurrence was too low grade for development at the existing metal prices and under difficult operating conditions.The completion of the Quebec Bureau of Mines highway from St. Felicien to Chibougamau in 1950 was followed by a project of detailed geological mapping by the Bureau. It also encouraged Campbell Chibou-gamau Mines to acquire the assets of Consolidated Chibougamau Gold-fields and commence a program of surface exploration. Between August 1950 and April 1951, 41,183 feet of diamond drilling was done on the Cedar Bay and Merrill Island holdings. The Blake showing off the west shore of Merrill Island developed at depth into a major orebody. A lease was obtained on adjacent ground from Merrill Island Corporation, and underground work commenced in November 1951. Development at Merrill Island to June 1st, 1955, included a four-compartment shaft to 1,225 feet, with 8 levels at 150-foot intervals, 5,317 feet of raises, 16,709 feet of drifts and crosscuts, 52,514 feet of surface and 96,593 feet of underground diamond drilling."

Jan 1, 1949

By P. Hajiani

"Feasible and sustainable separation of lanthanides outside of China has been a dilemma for the past few years. The present technique uses REE electrophoretic mobility (Ui) variation in an electrical field to separate them. The present invention relates to a system and a method to separate and refine rare earth elements/compounds produced in hydrometallurgical processes while they are dissolved in an acidic medium, without any intermediate precipitation step. This process uses free-flow electrophoresis to isolate REE from the concentrate simultaneously without any pre-treatment or intermediate steps related to the nature of elements.INTRODUCTIONRare earth elements (REE) invariably occur together in nature, and any given mineral contains several or most of them. Production of high purity individual rare earth (RE) elements/compounds from their ores generally requires two stages of processing, including mineral processing and hydrometallurgy.Depending on the ore, mineral processing and hydrometallurgy treatment of the ore before REEs purification is relatively simple and quite achievable though conventional methods. However, producing individual REE from mixed REs compounds is tremendously tedious. RE processing often requires dozens of steps, each resulting in minute improvement in the complex RE streams. Separating and extracting a single REE requires a great deal of time, resources, and expertise. Today, advanced RE refinery facilities cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build. The high purity RE concentrates are separated into individual REE using solvent-based or ion exchange methods. Although there are several techniques to separate REEs, most of them suffer from different types of drawbacks. For instance, solvent extraction requires a great number of steps to achieve high purity REEs. The process which uses ion-exchanger for separation and refinery operates with low REE concentration in solution which leads to very large liquid volume quantity, bulky tanks, dehydrators, pumps, etc. The low concentration will adversely affect the water consumption as well as other chemicals. Similar chemical properties of those three valent elements do not allow them to be isolated easily one from one another using conventional separation techniques. Solvent extraction has been successfully applied for rare-earth refining (lanthanide, scandium and yttrium) for the past few decades in China. Since then, efforts have been dedicated to develop other techniques which could be applied industrially around the world."

Jan 1, 2016

By R. Lodha, C. Oprea, G. Oprea, H. Zargar, T. Troczynski

"The basic refractories used in non-ferrous industry contain chrome ore for improving the thermal shock resistance, thus reducing the penetration of molten metal and fayalite-type slags into the lining. The current study aims to replace chrome ore with Me4+ ions along with Fe3+ ions in order to form MgO-Al2O3- FeOx-Me4+O2 based complex spinel systems that could perform similar to the complex chromia-bearing spinel in the magnesia-chrome refractories. This system allows for lower temperatures of synthesis and sintering. In our study, compositions with 60% MgO were fired below 1500°C and resulted in complete formation of complex spinel, and open porosity less than 5%. The in-situ formation of the complex spinel from the fine mix of oxides in the MgO-Al2O3-FeOx-Me4+O2 system offers a suitable alternative of binding system to produce basic refractories at lower temperatures and of similar physical and mechanical properties with magnesia-chrome bricks fired above 1750ºC. INTRODUCTIONThe synthesis of magnesium aluminate spinel (MgAl2O4) (Maschio, Fabbri, & Fiori, 1988) or magnesium chromate spinel (MgCr2O4) from their respective oxides is diffusion controlled resulting in a sluggish reaction even at high temperatures. For instance, the diffusion of Mg2+ and Al3+ ions in the intermediate spinel layer during reaction is slower than the diffusion of Mg2+ in corundum and Al3+ in periclase. The interfacial layer of spinel formed during the reaction increases the diffusion path for the spinel forming cations. This accompanied by ~8% volume expansion retards further reaction resulting in incomplete spinel forming reaction during sintering and hence densification during the reaction cannot be achieved. In order to assess sintering studies with fine particulate oxides that would result in a lower diffusion path, a mechanical mixture of the hydroxides of aluminium and magnesium calcined at 1400ºC to 1600ºC for 1 hour does not result in complete spinel formation (Sarkar, Das, & Banerjee, 2003), which indicates that reaction sintering of stoichiometric magnesium aluminate spinel is retarded by initial reaction forming the interfacial spinel layer. The basic bricks used as linings in non-ferrous pyro-metallurgical convertors are manufactured using magnesia and chrome ore, the sintering of which produce spinel solid solution. This solid solution is a mix of both normal and inverse spinel structures that sinters at temperatures in excess of 1800ºC in air."

Jan 1, 2012

On the recent trip from Vancouver to Calgary with the President, Mr. C. C. Huston, and yourself, I had the opportunity of outlining a plan based on the following: Among the aims of the Institute are, obviously, the fostering of the confraternity of those engaged in the technical and management fields of the mining and petroleum industries. This may be achieved in a number of ways, of which, to me, the interchange of ideas and experience between different parts of Canada and different sections and divisions of the Institute appears to be one of the most important. I think you and the membership as a whole are, and have been, well aware of this. The annual tour of the President .and Secretary, particularly their visits to Branches, shows this to be true. The interchange of ideas through the medium of the BULLETIN also illustrates the point; indeed, most Institute activities are directed along these lines. I am convinced that much more could be accomplished if it became financially possible to do so. Many able and fine men are, I think, willing and anxious to give their time and energy to furthering these phases of Institute activity, but it is unfair to expect them to assume as well the financial obligations involved. Specifically, I would suggest that the following could be done if sufficient funds were available:

Jan 1, 1952

By H. Lee

Recently, the effects of global climate changes have become top concerns for governments? decision making regarding infrastructure investments. Extreme weather events that exceed the capacity of existing systems have considerably increased in frequency, and the potential effects of changing trends in temperature and rainfall on infrastructure are difficult to ignore. It is essential for governments to estimate the costs and benefits of adaptation to climate change to properly assess the financial feasibility of infrastructure adaptation strategies. This paper proposes a framework for estimating the economic aspects of infrastructure adaptation to climate change. The framework is composed of three steps of implementation: establishment of alternatives for infrastructure adaptation, performance prediction of infrastructure using future climate scenarios, and asset valuation based on costs and benefits. The first step specifies target assets, their adaptability to climate change, and applicable adaptation technologies. The second step evaluates the effects of climate change on the performance of infrastructure. The last step determines the optimal adaptation strategies among various alternatives based on their net benefits. The framework reasonably incorporates future climate scenarios into the estimation processes for climate change effects and provides a basis for budget allocation for governmental infrastructure investments. The framework is expected to assist government decision makers in establishing adaptation strategies in a rational manner under uncertain future climate change.

Aug 1, 2013

By R. D. Brown

Manitoba has now joined Ontario and Quebec in providing for new incentives and lower tax rates for the mining industry. A single rate of tax (to replace the former two-tier royalty), an investment tax credit and a relatively straightforward set of rules for calculating taxable mining profits are the main features of new mining tax legislation announced by Manitoba&apos;s Finance Minister Donald W. Craik in his May 15, 1979 budget address. On introducing amendments to reform The Metallic Minerals Royalty Act, the Finance Minister indicated that the new tax regime is intended to restore the Manitoba mining tax system to a competitive position in Canada, and should result in renewed investment in the province&apos;s mining industry. 1n this regard, the government could be right-there is little question that the new tax regime will produce greater incentives for the mining industry than the two-tier royalty system introduced by the New Democratic government in 1975. The proposed changes, contained in Bill 57, would largely be effective January I. 1979.

Jan 1, 1979