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By N. Kubo

Sumitomo Toyo Copper Smelter and Refinery was commenced in 1971, and its production capacity of sulfuric acid was 550tpd at the beginning. In 2001 Toyo Copper Smelter and Refinery projected to expand its copper production capacity to 450,000tpy, and now the project is still in progress. To achieve this expansion project, 4,000tpd of sulfuric acid production capacity is necessary to the acid plant. So as a part of this project, the construction of the new converting and absorbing line and the improvement of the existing converting and absorbing line were carried out from 2001 until 2005. Then the production capacity of these 2 lines has already reached the target, 4,000tpd of sulfuric acid. Moreover, at the design of the new line, we adopted several latest technologies and materials in order to construct the world's leading acid plant. Basing on the operation performance of the new line, we have improved the existing line in 2005. Both of these 2 converting and absorbing lines are working quite well and contribute to big energy saving and excellently stable operation. Cu2007

Jan 1, 2007

By R. W. Wein, L C. Bliss

Northern ecosystems are dominated by a harsh physical environment which dictates a need for biological adaptation. As yet, it is unknown just how these adapted plants and animals will tolerate industrial development. Our work, sponsored by university, government and industry, is part of an effort to evaluate this developmental impact. Our present studies and the results to date will be discussed. Other problems to which the environmental student may address himself in the future to ensure against environ-mental degradation will be suggested.

Jan 1, 1971

By Walter S. Bergholz, Michael L. Schreder

"Since Escondida began operations in fiscal 1991, a series of aggressive expansion projects have enabled market share to be increased and ever larger profits to be realized. This was possible due to the very large size of the ore body and its high grade - averaging 2.7% copper from startup through fiscal 1997. The situation has now changed: ore grade is falling rapidly and is projected to be only 1.55% by 2003. Since revenue is directly proportional to ore grade, while costs are proportional to quantity of ore processed, profits will begin to fall dramatically. The Phase IV Expansion Project is intended to forestall this drop in profits by increasing ore processing capacity by over 85%.The Phase IV concentrator is designed for a nominal capacity of 110,000 MTPD and the key to achieving this value is through the proper design of the grinding circuit. This paper presents the general design criteria for the grinding circuit, as well as a description of the facility.INTRODUCTIONThe Phase IV Expansion Project consists of a new copper concentrator located 8.5 km south of the existing operations, a new tailings disposal and water reclaim system, a new concentrate slurry pipeline to the coast, and added concentrate handling capacity at the port of Coloso. The new concentrator has a nominal capacity of 110,000 tonnes per day (MTPD), compared to the existing concentrator’s capacity of 127,500 MTPD. The Laguna Seca concentrator is based on using the largest and most efficient ore grinding mills now available.The concentrator has been designed for a 110,000 MTPD nominal capacity. The process design criteria for the Phase IV project were established from in-house operating information and from test work. Unlike a green field project, Escondida already had an operating plant and it processes ore from the same pit that feeds the Phase IV plant. It is expected that the current mineralization will be similar for the first 6 years of operation of the new project. Therefore, some of the current plant operating conditions were incorporated directly into the design criteria."

Jan 1, 2004

By K. J. Fair, G. Van Weert, J. E. Schneider

"IntroductionCyanidation is the principal process for extracting gold from ores . Many primary gold ores, however, are partially or totally refractory in the conventional cyanidation process.Considerable success has been achieved with new gold leaching techniques, such as intensive cyanidation, pressure cyanidation, carbon-in-leach cyanidation, etc. These techniques however, do not offer substantial gains in gold extraction from refractory pyrites.The more drastic pretreatment processes such as roasting, chemical oxidation, autoclave oxidation, and bacterial oxidation all utilize oxidation to break down the structures of pyrite and arsenopyrite. This generally renders the gold amenable to cyanidation.Comparative cost studies indicate that the oldest commercial pretreatment method, i.e. high temperature roasting, is currently the least expensive option if the sulphuric acid can be sold. It operates with air at atmospheric pressure and is characterized by fast reaction rates. For an alternative hydrometallurgical con centrate treatment method to be competitive, it too should operate with air at atmospheric pressure and with fast reaction rates. The NITROX process meets these conditions."

Jan 1, 1986

By John J. Laffin

"Nova Scotia Department of Mines and Energy Throughout the history of Nova Scotia, trends in the production and use of its coal resources have resulted in major impacts on the economy and society of the province. Current trends in coal demand locally, nationally and internationally are having and will have an increasing positive effect on Nova Scotia over the next twenty years-in terms of energy supply, job creation and general economic development. Coal for electrical generation is an immediate and key objective of Nova Scotia's energy plan; and, in the long term, coal-derived fuels will meet the province's needs for transportation fuels. Demand for metallurgical coal is also expected to increase, especially if the merchant coke plant currently under investigation becomes a reality.Meeting these coal supply and utilization objectives in the face of increasing environmental, social and economic constraints poses a tremendous technical challenge. Work has begun on projects to expand coal production capacity and to adapt new technologies for coal preparation and utilization to the specific needs of Nova Scotia; much more work will be required in the coming decade in order to succesfully tap this resource.IntroductionThe energy problem facing Atlantic Canada has a few unique features not found in the rest of the country. Canada, as a whole, has access to a diverse mix of energy resources, including crude oil, natural gas, coal, hydro and uranium, with the result that crude oil supplies only about 40 per cent of Canada's primary demand. In contrast, foreign crude oil dominates Atlantic Canada's energy mix, supplying over 70 per cent of the primary energy demand.This results in important differences in various sectors. Nationally, about 5 per cent of the electricity is generated from oil whereas last year in Nova Scotia approximately 40 per cent of the electricity generated was from imported oil. Residential, commercial and industrial space heating, and industrial process heating in Atlantic Canada was almost 100 percent dependent on foreign oil. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in central and western Canada, which have access to secure domestic natural gas, oil and hydro electricity."

Jan 1, 1982

"In the present study, the reduction behavior of composite pellets comprising of iron oxide, synthetic graphite and slags were investigated in a laboratory-scale horizontal tube furnace. Two different types of slags indicating silicate base and aluminate base slags were chosen to examine the effect of slag chemistry on the reduction behavior of pellets. Slag composition of binding materials has influences on the reactions occurring in composite pellets during direct reduction. In-situ high temperature visualization approach was used to observe the slag / iron / carbon interactions at 1773K (1500°C). The off-gases were measured by means of infrared analyzer to determine the reaction rates of the pellets. Different physical appearances during the in situ reaction inferred a strong correlation between the slag composition and internal reactions. In addition, compression tests were conducted to examine physical strength of the pellets. This investigation was carried out to establish feasibility of physical property control of pellets by selecting optimum slag compositions of binding materials INTRODUCTIONCurrently, most of the iron ore mines have facilities that make an ore more usable for the blast furnace operation by improving its physical properties (e.g. pelletizing and sintering). However, during the process, a large amount of fuel is supplied to indurate materials which consequently deteriorate energy efficiency and produce more CO2 emission. Along with increased interests, direct reduced iron (DRI) making process; simply without coke oven or sintering process, has opened the era of clean and environmental friendly iron making process. While some of the established DRI technologies such as Midrex and HYL were restricted to certain locations where natural gas is abundant, coal based technologies using Rotary Hearth Furnace (RHF) such as FASMET and ITmk3 have been developed with regardless of expensive fuel deposit. In addition to the direct use of pulverized non coking coal and fine iron ore, RHF process also has advantages of utilizing waste materials such as EAF dust, biomass and recycled plastics. Nevertheless, there are still many challenges in the coal utilizing technologies as the unprocessed coal and the waste materials contain huge volatiles and ashes. Although recent investigations on volatiles in a RHF process (Sohn and Fruehan, 2005, 2006) have indicated the benefits of coal in terms of iron oxide reduction and have shown feasibility of multi-layer process, carbon composite pellets still have disadvantages because of its weak mechanical bonding strength. As the mixed system with carbon and oxides generates intermediate gases (e.g. CO and CO2) between solid particles, it is difficult to keep its physical state without the help of binding materials. In this reason, industries have been tried to use various binding materials such as bentonite, kaolinite and Portland cement. However, they are still struggling to find out new materials that provide not only sufficient mechanical strength but also metallurgical properties, such as porosity, reducibility and swelling throughout the reduction reaction. Recently, Canadian researchers (Aota et al, 2006) observed enhanced mechanical strength of pellets by using high alumina cement as a binder and concluded that the method could be used to recycle EAF dust as well, but in depth mechanism of reinforced strength has not been concerned. Most of the ashes coming from binders formulate certain type of slag during the reduction process due to its incombustibility. Thus, observation and regulation of slag property is an essential for the control of carbon composite pellet. Yet, only a little thermodynamic consideration from the perspective of slag chemistry has been adapted in the iron and steel making industries as ash has been easily ignored for its tiny proportion. In this study, effect of CaO-SiO2- Al2O3 slag system on the reduction of iron oxide was investigated in terms of"

Jan 1, 2012

By R. Lepsoe

THE basic products of the Company are lead and zinc. Around 950 tons of these metals are produced each day. In the last decade, the production of by-products has increased to such an extent that they are now nearly as large an operation as that of the base-metals. Of the many by-products, the most objectionable, and up to a few years ago the most useless, was the sulphur. The sulphur comes in the ore from the Sullivan mine. It is in the ore chiefly as lead, zinc, and iron sulphide. By selective flotation, these three sulphides are separated into the lead concentrates, the zinc concentrates, and the mill tailings. These mill tailings contain the bulk of the iron and the sulphur. Of the 6,5CO tons of ore treated per day, about 5,000 tons are wasted to the mill tailings dump, and, while now valueless, will in future years undoubtedly be used as a source of iron and sulphur. There are about 1,500 tons of sulphur and 2,200 tons of iron per day in the tailings, and about 400 tons of sulphur left in the total concentrates. In the recovery of lead and zinc in the pure form, the first step is the roasting operation. Here, most of the sulphur is driven off as sulphur dioxide in the gases. It has always been apparent that this sulphur should be. recovered and utilized if possible. At the same time, this would cure the smoke nuisance. Because, in spite of the low concentration of sulphur dioxide and the fact that it was discharged from stacks at an elevation of 400 feet above the plant, some damage to vegetation close to the plant had been experienced.

Jan 1, 1937

By Walter E. Montgomery

ACCIDENT-PREVENTION work in years gone by has been carried on by many mine managers as a philanthropic movement, but in recent years they have come to realise that Safety is good business and pays tangible dividends. Let us begin with the word itself. We are told that an accident is "any-thing occurring unexpectedly, undesignedly, or without known or assign-able cause'. It is further explained that it is any 'unpleasant or unfortunate occurrence involving injury, loss, suffering, or death", and, finally, "any unintentional or non-essential circumstance". We admit that accidents are unfortunate, unpleasant, unintentional, and they generally happen undesignedly and to a great degree unexpectedly, but to say that they happen "without known or assignable cause" leads us to believe that the word 'accident' is often misused. Would it not be more correct to say that a man suffered a "personal injury"? The word 'accident' in its proper sense implies something over which no one has any control, but when the majority of all so-called accidents are analysed we arrive at the incontestible fact that some act or action, previous or present, was the underlying cause. As long ago as the year 1556 this fact was mentioned by Georgius Agricola, who, in writing a paper on metallurgy, aptly stated, "It remains for me to speak on the ailments and accidents of mines, and of the methods by which they can guard against these, for we should always devote more care to maintaining our health, that we may freely perform the functions of our body, than to making profits". Farther on, Agricola relates in more detail, "Sometimes workmen slipping from ladders into the shafts break their arms, legs, or necks, or fall into the sumps and are drowned; often, indeed, the negligence of the foreman is to blame, for it is his special work both to fix the ladder so firmly to the timbers that they cannot break away, and to cover so securely with planks the sumps at the bottom of the shafts, that the planks cannot be moved nor the men fall into the water; wherefore the foreman must carefully execute his own work. Moreover, he must not set the entrance of the shaft-house toward the north wind, lest in winter the ladders freeze with cold, for when this happens the man's hands become stiff and slipping with cold, and cannot perform their office of holding. The men, too, must be careful that, even if none of these things happen, they do not fall from their own carelessness'.

Jan 1, 1938

By Kuwauchi. Y., M. Barati

Recycling of dust using a rotary hearth furnace (RHF) has gained considerable attention in the past two decades for the sustainable production of steel with less environmental impact. In order to further promote the recycling of electric arc furnace dust and carbonaceous wastes using the RHF process, a mathematical model was developed to predict the reaction behaviour of dust-reductant composites. The reduction kinetics of zinc and iron oxides as well as the volatilization behaviour of volatile matter in the reluctant were considered. The modeling approach and some preliminary results are presented in this article.

Jan 1, 2011

By B. Yu, Y. O. Oyediran, M. Robart

"This paper presents the latest flotation development testwork conducted in 2015 on the ‘B Zone’ samples from the Strange Lake Alkalic Complex (SLAC). Since the discovery by Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), metallurgical development has been under taken by a number of mining companies targeting various value metals, including yttrium, zirconium, niobium, and rare earths.Most recent, Quest Rare Minerals Ltd. (Quest) completed a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) in 2013 where the flowsheet was relatively complex and led Quest to explore alternative options. In 2014, the PFS flowsheet was simplified and one of the features introduced was pre-concentration by rougher flotation. The combined rougher flotation concentrate and slimes successfully recovered >90% TREE in 60% mass thus reducing capital cost and technical risks of the downstream hydrometallurgical processes. The latest flotation development testwork focused on achieving a pre-concentrate in which >80% TREE are recovered in 20% mass. Two separate reagent schemes, based on an ester phosphate collector (Clariant 1682) and a benzoylhydroxamic acid collector (Florrea 7510), were developed. Parameters evaluated in the development testwork included desliming, secondary yttrium and zircon collectors, depressants, temperature, conditioning temperature, time, and density, pH, sodium silicate type, cleaning, and flowsheet configuration. Both developed reagent schemes achieved the targeted metallurgy.INTRODUCTIONThe Strange Lake Alkalic Complex (SLAC) was discovered after geological survey and mapping studies by Geological Survey of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources between 1967 and 1980. Subsequent exploratory drilling programs by Iron Ore Company (IOC) in the 1980s found that the REE and high field strength element (HFSE) mineralization were within the central region of the SLAC which was named A Zone by IOC and later renamed Main Zone by Quest Rare Minerals Ltd. (Quest). Additional exploratory drilling outside the Main Zone by IOC and later by Quest, led to the discovery of B Zone, which was recognized as the most significant deposit of rare earth elements, yttrium, and zirconium in the SLAC. The B Zone Indicated Resources are estimated at 278.13 Mt at 0.93% total rare earth oxide (TREO) and Inferred Mineral Resources are estimated at 214.35 Mt at 0.85% TREO (Oyediran et al., 2014)."

Jan 1, 2016

By R. O. Burt, D. J. Ottley

"SYNOPSISRecent developments in the use of the Bartles-Mozley table and the Bartles CTS screen are described for the gravity preconcentration of fine heavy mineral and metal particles present in low grade pulps. The B-M table is a relatively new device used for the recovery of particles of up to 100 micron size down to 5 microns or in the case of gold and platinum, down to 1 micron. The CTS screen is a wet screening device used for feed preparation ahead of the Bartles-Mozley table and will size effectively down to about 300 mesh. Results and operating data for a number of different materials are given including outline flowsheets; the effects of the major variables on the performance of the table are briefly discussed. The potential of the B-M table to treat a variety of different ores, coal, tailings, and waste products are considered. The utilization of the B-M table in association with other unit processes to improve overall results as well as to improve the economics of design and performance of plants are also mentioned.INTRODUCTIONA number of new gravity concentration devices have been developed in recent years for the recovery of fine heavy mineral and metal particles but for reasons which include low capacity, high capital or operating costs, competition from other and better processes, the absence of simplicity or reliability in operation etc., only a few which include the Bartles-Mozley table, have been proved to be of commercial application.The name of the machine is derived from the inventors name, Richard Mozley, who developed the B-M table at the University of Bristol in England. The table was subsequently taken up and patented, world-wide, by the National Research Development Corporation a British government agency. An exclusive license to manufacture the table was granted by NRDC to Bartles (Carn Brea) Ltd. in Cornwall, England."

Jan 1, 1973

By John Hansen

This paper has been written for presentation at the 103rd Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum, April 29 to May 02, 2000. The paper addresses blast pattern fragmentation and diggability versus the blasting technique used. RESUME The author is the Vice President for Thunderbird Mining Systems. In this capacity he manages the mine site installation of surface mining mobile equipment monitoring and navigation systems. These systems are onboard instrumentation and software systems designed to: ??measure and log mobile equipments? production and health; and ??direct the equipment operators via onboard displays that show comprehensive maps and engineering instructions. The author is a mining engineering graduate from the Royal School of Mines. His work experience includes front line supervisor and mining engineer for Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting, mining engineer for Teck Corporation, and mining consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

May 1, 2001

By Leonardo Flores

"Minera Escondida operates two open pits on a porphyry copper district, southeast of Antofagasta, Chile. During 2005, ore will be delivered exclusively from one pit to two concentrators, while from 2006 both pits will provide ore to these plants. Annual testing programmes on drillhole samples, have allowed for the construction of hardness block models since 2000. These models have delivered two main hardness descriptors, the Bond work index and the SAG power index. These parameters and plant operational specifications have been used as input information to forecast, the expected throughput and ball mill product size (P80) for each block of ore. Two forecasting techniques have been used, an in house model, strongly dependant of bond work index and MinnovEx´s CEET2, dependant of Bond work index and Sag power index and other parameters. Model performance has been evaluated from reconciliating on a monthly basis, the forecasted throughputs against a recalculated plant throughput which accounts for losses in tonnage not caused by ore hardness but instead by unscheduled plant operation problems. The model performance for 2003 was ± 2% yearly and ± 5% quarterly, well within the expected ± 3% and ± 10%. INTRODUCTIONThe Escondida porphyry copper district is located 140 km SE of Antofagasta, Chile at 3150 m.a.s.l, at 24°16’ South latitude and 69°04’ West longitude (figure 1)."

Jan 1, 2005

By Rodolfo Espinosa Gómez

"Industrias Peñoles, S.A. de C.V. – Mining Division, has initiated in the last ten years, six Mining Operations (Bismark, Tizapa, Ciénega, La Herradura, Rey de Plata, and Francisco I. Madero) and it has expanded several of their existing Operations (Sabinas, Fresnillo, Tizapa, Ciénega) one or more times.This work aims to share the experiences learned on this growing process. Some of these lessons are: 1) Project leaders must have a leadership that fosters good communication and team work; and this leadership style must come from top management. 2) A good communication must exist between the personnel from Engineering, Construction, and Operation. Also, this good communication must come from top management. 3) Starting the project with a solid Engineering Study. 4) Do not misunderstand cost with cost/benefit; always look at the cost/benefit. 5) Selecting good Contractors and good Suppliers. 6) Good training before the project commissioning is essential to reduce the learning curve period, this is even more important in areas where local people do not have any background in mining activities. 7) Recognizing that any project has a learning curve and it must be reflected on the production budget. 8) Avoid an over optimistic Mine preparation time schedule.BACKGROUNDIndustrias Peñoles S.A. de C.V.The mission of Industrias Peñoles, S.A. de C.V. (Peñoles) is to add value to non-renewable natural resources in a sustainable manner. Peñoles seeks to build long-term shareholder value; provide their customers with the highest quality products and services; maintain productive longterm relationship with their suppliers; develop and promote the capabilities of their personnel; foster mutually beneficial relationship with the communities in which it operates, and preserve the environment.Peñoles was established on 1887. It is a Mining Group with integrated Mining, Smelting and Refining operations of non-ferrous metals, and also produces inorganic chemistry materials. Peñoles is the main World producer of refined silver, metal bismuth, and sodium sulphate; Latin American leader in the production of refined gold, lead, and zinc.The Mining Group is made-up of nine mining operations producing concentrates with high gold, silver, lead, zinc, and copper contents. It produced in 2002, 365,900 ounces of gold; 52.7 million ounces of silver; 86,820 tonnes of lead; 266,000 tonnes of zinc, 11,840 tonnes of copper; with a total values of 3,780.6 million of Mexican pesos (~ $ 378.0 million U.S. Dollars)."

Jan 1, 2004

By Y. Guglielmi, C. Gout, P. Henry, P. Dick, C. Nussbaum

For a decade, observations and experiments conducted in underground environments worldwide (mines, underground research laboratories - URL) made it possible to bridge the scale gap between laboratory scale and large scale faults. Indeed, underground rock laboratories allow developing decameter scale relatively well constrained experiments at the smallest distance from the hypocenters. URL’s experiments allowed developing new monitoring technologies coupling pressure-strain-seismic measurements and reproducing complete earthquakes sequences analogous to natural ones. They also allowed exploring past movements of faults and sometimes also paleofluids in three dimensions and characterizing different fault architectures and hydromechanical properties in unaltered conditions. This is particularly important in the study of faults affecting clay formations which could not be observed at the Earth’s surface because of the high alteration. Here we show how examples from the Mont Terri (Switzerland) and Tournemire (France) The URLs may help in (i) defining the concepts of fault architecture in shales, (ii) estimating fault hydromechanical properties from field decameter scale experiments. Some key results are that faults which are critically stressed or at the rupture limit can reactivate for stresses variations within the range of those produced by shallow underground excavations, and that slight micrometer-to-millimeter scale reactivations may lead to large factor-of-10-to-1000 permeability increases. Such promising results show that URL’s experiments may bring new insights on some key processes that control the relations between fault stability and permeability evolutions in very permeable layers.

Jan 1, 2015

By A. J. Ouellet, A. Coulombe, B. Salmon

The no. 7 vein system cuts the Ventures gabbro which has undergone folding and fracturing; the latter, in response to movement on the nearby Campbell Lake fault. It fills a shear fracture which pinches and swells in the upper mine levels but has a more uniform width in the lower levels. The best copper and gold grades in the upper levels occur in the widest parts of this structure. The vein is richer in quartz on upper mine levels and in carbonate on lower levels. The north wall of the vein is more affected by major and minor element wallrock alteration than the south wall. The isocumulative ci;rves for gold and copper show a direct correlation between the two metals in the upper levels and their increased concentration in the wider parts of the vein. Gold grade decreases in lower levels. A proposed structural model identifies the no. 3 and no. 7 veins as second order conjugate fractures, related to the Campbell Lake fault. The fractures pattern suggests that a conjugate system developed between these two parallel veins as a consequence of rock competence and a relatively low confining pressure.

Jan 1, 1984

By B. J. Clauzier

"The Falconbridge Limited approach to employing communication equipment is first, to determine what is required in a given situation, second, to evaluate the possible alternatives, third, to select the most suitable hardware and, fourth, to determine what modifications, if any, are required to ensure not only successful implementation but continued low-cost reliability. Two examples are examined.The first situation required remote video monitoring of an acid loadout station. Several alternatives for linking to theremote site were investigated, including hard-wired, slow-scan and microwave. A comparison of these alternatives is shown and an appraisal of the performance of the selected microwave link is presented.The second situation required direct voice contact between the two members of an underground tram crew. Alternative solutions are described and an evaluation of the selected system- SHF portable radios - is presented.ObjectivesIn general, projects must have four main objectives: (1) to improve the safety of its operations; (2) to reduce its operating and capital costs; (3) to increase the efficiency of its work force; and (4) to increase its productivity. ScopeCommunication, when used wisely, can be a good tool to achieve these objectives. Projects can be kept simple using existing technology and adapting it to a particular task. To ensure the success of the project, it was necessary: to determine the project objectives; to evaluate the possible alternatives; to select the most suitable hardware; to adapt the hardware to the application, if required; and not to provide more than is necessary.Application at FalconbridgeTo illustrate this approach, two examples of actual installations at the Sudbury Operations are presented, sulphuric acid loadout, and the Falconbridge Mine haulage system."

Jan 1, 1987

By S. Esmaeili

The yield strength model developed by Esmaeili, Lloyd and Poole [1] has been adapted to model isothermal aging in Cu-containing AA6xxx alloys, with (a) a moderate and (b) a very low Cu content in the solution-treated, as-quenched, condition, Isothermal calorimetry has been used to analyze the kinetics of precipitation in these alloys, While the kinetic parameters for the low Cu alloy has been derived from the present experiments, the previously determined kinetic parameters for the high Cu alloy AA6111 has been used to model the precipitation kinetics in the moderate Cu alloy. The age hardening responses of both alloys have been well predicted by the model.

Jan 1, 2005

By M. Gaumont, F. Robichaud

"Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM) is a Canadian-based gold producer with operations in Canada, Finland and Mexico. In 2010, AEM produced its first gold bar in Nunavut, Canada as it started its Meadowbank operation. It is also in 2010 that AEM acquired the Meliadine property, which is located 25 Km North of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Canada. The Meliadine gold project is an advanced exploration and development project, comprising of workers camp, underground and open mines, a processing plant and all the services facilities and infrastructures required to sustain operation in a remote arctic environment.Pending formal board approval, production start-up is planned for Q3 2019 and the process flowsheet is based on an ore processing rate of 1.1 million dry tonnes per year (3,000 dry tonnes per day from underground mining) for the first three years, and 1.98 million dry tonnes per year (5,000 dry tonnes per day from both underground and open pit mining) for the remaining years at 92% process plant availability.To the end of 2015, more than 45 metallurgical test programs have been conducted on the Meliadine deposits. Based on the results of these programs, an optimal gold circuit was designed, comprising of crushing, grinding, gravity separation and cyanide leaching with a carbon-in-leach circuit (CIL), followed by cyanide destruction and filtration of the tails for dry stacking. The assumed gold recovery for the reserves averages 96.0% at a 7.44-g/t gold average mill feed grade."

Jan 1, 2016

By M. Muinonen, R. Pandher

Royal Nickel Corporation is developing the Dumont Nickel Project, a large nickel sulphide deposit located near the town of Amos, Québec. The nickel occurs as pentlandite, heazlewoodite, and awaruite. The relatively low grade ore can be processed to a very high grade nickel concentrate, containing 29% Ni. The absence of copper and precious metals in the ore renders this concentrate amenable to processing by dead roasting in a fluid-bed roaster and smelting in an electric furnace to produce ferronickel for sale to stainless steel producers. Laboratory test work and conceptual engineering design was completed to demonstrate the amenability of Dumont concentrate to produce ferro-nickel.

Jan 1, 2015