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By G. Lipsett, S. Dessureault

Information technology (IT) initiatives in the past have tended to be sold on their ability to maximize resource output and return on capital by allowing assets to be used more effectively and efficiently. Many IT projects fail, not delivering return on their investment. This is known in the IT industry as the “productivity paradox,” where increasing investments in IT do not result in comparable increases in productivity. Experiences and studies of most business sectors reveal that this paradox is rooted in the false assumption that more IT spending automatically results in financial benefit, whereas the benefits are in how effectively IT is used. Most business sectors have accepted that re-engineering of processes is required to gain the full benefits promised of IT. A mining operation has organizational processes similar to most business sectors, but unique operational processes. The lessons of changing business practice in more common business processes, such as inventory control and customer-supplier relationships, can be adequately transposed into a mine setting. The unique operational processes in mines, in turn, require unique redesign efforts. Several enabling information technology opportunities have recently become available, such as more integrated mine production management systems and tactical manager training simulators. This paper reviews some of the latest IT products and outlines the processes and kinds of change that will be required in order to benefit from these new investment options.

Jan 1, 2009

The Autogenous milling of ores holds an increasing attraction as the focus moves towards reducing energy usage, both direct and embodied in grinding media. However, most of the early AG mills were converted to SAG for improved stability and increased throughput. This imposes a huge penalty in steel grinding media consumption. The LKAB iron ore operations in Sweden process highgrade magnetite through fully-autogenous milling lines to a final product P80 of about 45µm. The outcomes of P9O AMIRA research surveys, covering a wide range of mill fillings and throughputs and with different feed blends, are presented. Insights are provided on operational strategies, opportunities, the influence of feed size control and balancing the blend of competent gangue and softer magnetite. Areas of importance in the successful operation and control of energy-efficient autogenous circuits are highlighted.

Jan 1, 2012

By G. Frithum

In the present paper a new and highly economic route for Fe-separation from HCl leaching processes in hydrometallurgical applications is described. In most ore leaching processes, Fe is involved and needs to be separated; HCl has become an interesting leaching agent, because it can be recycled. Usually a mix of Fe2+ and Fe3+ is obtained which can be hydrolyzed directly (in case only Fe3+) or roasted via pyrohydrolysis (in case of Fe2+) to ferric oxide. Economic oxidation of Fe2+ to Fe3+ is described, and potential technologies for regeneration of HCl with separation of Fe are shown and compared.

Jan 1, 2014

"Pilot plants for pressure hydrometallurgy represent special design and project execution challenges. Over the past twenty years, Zeton has designed and fabricated a variety of world-class pressure hydrometallurgical pilot-plant facilities, and this paper discusses design considerations and strategies related to such projects. Project execution methods are also discussed, and guidance is given for the selection of materials of construction and for the selection of appropriate pressure and temperature design points for pressure hydrometallurgical pilot equipment. The paper concludes with a discussion of the need for process similarity with future commercial operations and the realities of pilot-scale equipment.INTRODUCTIONThe process technology developer or owner and the designer/fabricator of a new pilot-plant facility are faced with some difficult technical choices even after the decision to build a dedicated plant has been taken. A pilot-plant project is usually on the critical path of a large commercial project involving investments many multiples greater than the capital cost of the pilot plant. Schedule savings in the design, manufacture, and commissioning of the pilot plant or in a rapid completion of the experimental program can be disproportionately beneficial to the overall development project. However, inappropriate shortcuts resulting in major oversights can be disproportionately problematic.A number of considerations and suggestions for both the project execution approach and the process engineering design of pressure hydrometallurgical pilot-plant facilities are presented as a guide for potential owners and operators of new pilot-plant equipment and facilities."

Jan 1, 2012

By J. H. . MORGAN

Talc-soapstone deposits exist in Patton Township of Quebec and have been mined by Bakertalc Inc. or its predecessors since 1938. The company produces products ranging from purified and micronized talc through to soapstone lumps. The deposits are found within serpentinite dykes and are zoned. Zoning grades from a serpentine core through zones of talcmagnesite, schistose talc and talc-chlorite schist be/ ore reaching the wall rock of quartz-sericite-chlorite schist. Talcmagnesite zones generally comprise 80 to 90% of the mined rock. The serpentinite dykes containing the talc probably were originally post-Ordovician peridotite of the same series that hosts the Eastern Townships asbestos deposits. Alteration of serpentine to talc-soapstone and magnesite apparently resulted through addition of silica and carbon dioxide along shears and fractures. Talc concentrations occur also at the intrusive contact between dykes and wall rock. The present Bakertalc Inc. operation at the Van Reel Mine is being worked from an inclined shaft 200 m below surface. The talc rock undergoes a variety of milling processes, depending on its particular market, be/ ore being bagged and shipped.

Jan 1, 1984

By W. B. Boggs

The Noranda smelter was built by Noranda Mines, Limited, from the designs of A. E. Wheeler, consulting metallurgist, New York, for the reduction of ores and concentrates from the Horne mine, and to treat, on a custom basis, ores and concentrates from other mines in the Rouyn district. The smelter is situated at Noranda in western Quebec, about 330 miles directly north of Toronto. Ground was first broken for construction in November, 1925, before the completion of the branch railway into the district, which was not finished until October, 1926. After many difficulties and delays due to the Jack 'of transportation and the severe weather during the winter months, the smelter was started in December, 1927, and the first blister copper was poured on December 17th. The smelter was built throughout in two duplicate units, each with a rated capacity of 500 tons of ore per day. Operations were started with only one unit, and after several months it was found that one unit alone would smelt 1,000 tons of ore per day. At this time only one shaft, No. 3, existed, and its hoisting capacity and the capacity of the original crushing plant were insufficient to supply ore for two units at the increased tonnage. Accordingly No. 4 shaft was sunk and a new crushing plant provided to handle the ore hoisted there. This work was completed in the latter part of November, 1929, and since that time both smelter units have been operating.

Jan 1, 1930

"Pilot plants for pressure hydrometallurgy represent special design and project execution challenges. Over the past twenty years, Zeton has designed and fabricated a variety of world-class pressure hydrometallurgical pilot-plant facilities for the nickel industry, and this paper discusses design considerations and strategies related to such projects. Project execution methods are also discussed, and guidance is given for the selection of materials of construction and for the selection of appropriate pressure and temperature design points for pressure hydrometallurgical pilot equipment. The paper concludes with a discussion of the need for process similarity with future commercial operations and the realities of pilot-scale equipment.INTRODUCTION The process technology developer or owner and the designer/fabricator of a new pilot-plant facility are faced with some difficult technical choices even after the decision to build a dedicated plant has been taken. A pilot-plant project is usually on the critical path of a large commercial project involving investments many multiples greater than the capital cost of the pilot plant. Schedule savings in the design, manufacture, and commissioning of the pilot plant or in a rapid completion of the experimental program can be disproportionately beneficial to the overall development project. However, inappropriate shortcuts resulting in major oversights can be disproportionately problematic. A number of considerations and suggestions for both the project execution approach and the process engineering design of pressure hydrometallurgical pilot-plant facilities are presented as a guide for potential owners and operators of new pilot-plant equipment and facilities. These suggestions are particularly applicable to the nickel industry, where the majority of our firm’s prior hydrometallurgical experience was obtained. This paper is an update to an earlier publication (Martin, 2004), offering an opportunity for a new generation of metallurgists and engineers to learn the specialist requirements of pilot- and demonstration-scale plant design, which are key functions in the development and commercialization of new processes."

Jan 1, 2017

By S. H. Ash

No single factor in modern civilization has played a more important part in the lives of our people than mechanization in industry and to it civilization owes much of its progress. In no industry has mechanization met more opposition than in coal mining, where ?the introduction of mechanical equipment has been opposed on many fronts for economic and social reasons. The term 'mechanization? as used in this report refers to the application of machinery to cutting, loading, and transporting coal from the face to the mine cars. During 1933, 84.7 per cent of the underground production of the bitu-minous-coal mines of the United States (1) was cut by machines, while in Washington only 17.6 per cent was machine-cut. Information in this report has been obtained from personal observations and from operating officials in the Roslyn-Cle Elum coal fields, especially D. R. Swem, manager of coal operations, and Thomas Murphy, superintendent, of the Northwestern Improvement Company, to whom the author is indebted for assistance. INTRODUCTION Although Washington coal-mining problems relating co mining methods, ventilation, drainage, and preparation of coal have been discussed in many publications, little has been published on mechanization in this region, principally because it has not been accepted generally that mining machines, mechanical loaders, and conveyors are necessary or economically adaptable to the variable and steeply inclined coal beds of Washington. Production of coal in Washington reached its maximum in 1918, when 4,128,424 short tons were produced; from that year, the trend was downward until 1934, when production was 1,383,103 short tons, the lowest since 1898; for the past two years, production has risen steadily.

Jan 1, 1937

By Keith Haddock

"The Sheerness Mine, a new surface coal mine located near Hanna, Alberta, went into full production in mid-1995. The mine, which is operated by Luscar’s subsidiary Forestburg Collieries (1984) Ltd., has the design capacity to supply up to 2.1 million tonnes of sub-bituminous coal per year to the adjacent Sheerness Generating station under a 30-year contract. This paper documents the construction phase of this project and highlights the major equipment purchases as well as the construction of the mine facilities. The paper also focuses on some of the areas where cost savings have been achieved that have allowed the mine to come on stream six months ahead of schedule, and under budget. Project ReviewMine DescriptionThe Sheerness Mine is located 25 km southeast of the town of Hanna in southeastern Alberta (Fig. 1). The mining property occupies the western portion of the Sheerness CoalField and borders the Montgomery Mine, operated by Manalta Coal Ltd. in the east, and Highway 36 in the west. The Montgomery Mine and the Sheerness Mine exclusively supply the total coal requirement of the adjacent Sheerness Generating Station. The station is owned jointly by Alberta Power Limited (APL) and TransAlta Utilities Corporation (TAU). APL is the operator. Manalta’s Montgomery Mine has supplied coal to the Sheerness Station since its opening in 1986. Coal is shipped by truck from the mines over a network of haul roads to the coal receiving hoppers located on the east side of Highway 36."

Jan 1, 1997

By H. W. Manley

SULPHUR, like the minerals of coal, iron and petroleum, is one of the essential materials in our modern expanding industrial civilization. Before discussing the salient features of the production of sulphur from the Canadian sour gas, it seems appropriate to outline the historical past and probable future utilization of sulphur. The ancient Greek writer Homer spoke of its "pest-averting sulphur" and the "divine purifying fumigation". Ancient alchemists found sulphur to be a fascinating and baffling material. The discovery of gun powder in the year of 1250, and its application to the art of war a, century later, made sulphur an important commodity in the progress of mankind. The initial manufacture of sulphuric acid in the year of 1736 by the Englishman Joshua Ward, established the basis of a chemical industry that today utilizes 80 per cent of the consumption of elemental sulphur. Commercial production of the chemical soda ash ( N a2C03) discovered in 1787 by the famous Leblanc Process, in-creased international demand for the element sulphur and marks the birthday of the Sicilian sulphur industry.

Jan 1, 1961

By H. J. McQueen

Aluminum was hot worked at 400 - 500°C and strain rates (e ) of 0.004 -0.1s-1, under reversing strains (c) of 0.5 to 0.2 or 0.5 to 0 and also advancing from 0.5 to 1 or 0.5 to 5. Under similar test conditions for different parts of the strain paths, the average measured flow stresses are found to agree with each other. In the forward and backward strain path tests, the almost identical steady state plateaus affirm the occurrence of dynamic recovery (DRV). On reversal of strain direction at constant e , there was generally negligible Bauschinger effect. In specimens annealed at 400°C, static recrystallisation (SRX) was followed microstructurally. mainly by disappearance of elongated grains with serrated boundaries because the new grains were only little a finer than the old due to low strain energy. The only influence of reversing strain path observed was the effect of change of grain boundary area as grains elongated or returned towards equiaxed. In optical microscopy, elongated grains with serrations and deformation bands confirmed DRV in forward path specimens. In reverse path specimens, equiaxed grains were gradually restored with retention of serrations and bands. In low magnification polarized optical microscopy, grain alignment increased with strain for forward path specimens; whereas it decreased in reverse path ones, supporting DRV. Orientation imaging microscopy (OIM/SEM) revealed that elongated grains are broken up as deformation bands rotate during the forward path and that grains return to equiaxed appearance on backward straining. Comparative studies using optical microscopy in polarized light (POM), OIM/SEM and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that while subgrains remain equiaxed and constant in size and character during the forward and backward paths, the fraction of low angle facets decreased while that of high angle grain facets increased with increasing strain; these are coupled with a fairly low fraction of medium angle boundaries. The results contribute to the understanding that dynamic recovery in aluminum maintains sub-boundaries with low misorientation but as grains elongate and more subgrain become adjacent to grain boundaries the fraction of high angle boundaries rises (with backward straining it was vice versa).

Jan 1, 2007

By C. E. Rodgers

WHEN I was asked to prepare, for presentation at the 1938 Annual Meeting of the Institute, some data concerning low-discharge grinding at the Sylvanite mill, it seemed entirely reasonable to expect to have at my disposal the results of at least four full months' operation after the last unit, as then proposed, was installed. Delays in delivery of equipment, nevertheless, shortened the interval, as will be shown herein. In submitting the data contained in this discussion, I wish distinctly to state that the intention is not to claim that final conclusions can be reached at this time concerning our operation. Test periods, in certain instances at least, have been too short for this purpose, although some, where so stated, have been extended through March and April. It is hoped, however, that an advantageous trend in practice can be shown and that the experience related may be of interest to others who are now operating, or who are considering the operation of, low-discharge grinding mills. In the plant under review, four mills are in use: one primary and three secondary. Present mill capacity (grinding, as shown by screen test, about 99 per cent through-200-mesh and approximately 88 to 89 per cent minus-325-mesh with infrasizer giving about 90 per cent of the latter) averages about 525 tons per day. A brief description of each unit will be given and comments will also be made relating to operation. This will be followed by certain test data from which, in conclusion, operating results are summarized.

Jan 1, 1938

By H. Aaltonen, T. G. Robinson, M. Morimitsu

"The energy required to plate pure zinc can be the most significant operating cost for an operator in the production of electrolytic zinc. This paper reports on developments on low energy Outotec coated titanium anode process technology with fully amorphous coatings, MSA®, and its application to brownfield zinc electrowinning operations around the world. This technology aims to reduce the operating cost and increase productivity for zinc producers.INTRODUCTIONZinc electrowinning is an energy-intensive process using more than 3,000 kWh/t of electric energy [1-4], and the reduction of the energy consumption is one of the key issues. The high energy consumption is due to a high cell voltage during electrolysis, which is mainly caused by a high overpotential of oxygen evolution reaction on lead alloy anodes which have been widely used in commercial zinc electrowinning processes. The overpotential of oxygen evolution is 0.6 V or more and which is approximately 4 times higher on average than that of the cathodic reaction (zinc deposition) [3,4]. Therefore, the reduction of oxygen overpotential is significant to reduce the electric energy consumption, and this will become more significant with increasing demand in metal production and rising energy costs.Oxide coated titanium anodes have been widely investigated for the oxygen evolution anodes in order to replace the lead alloy anodes [5-9], because it is known that the oxygen overpotential strongly depends on the material and structure of the anode. The most typical example of such anodes is an IrO2-Ta2O5 coated titanium anode, which is usually prepared at thermal decomposition of a precursor solution containing metal salts at 450 oC or more and obtained mixed oxide coating consists of crystalline IrO2 and amorphous Ta2O5. On the other hand, one of the authors of this paper, Professor Morimitsu, Doshisha University in Japan, has developed a novel oxide coated titanium anode, MSA® [10-25]. The most specialized point of MSA® is that the catalytic coatings are prepared at low thermal decomposition temperature and amorphous IrO2 or RuO2 is contained as the components in the coatings. Such amorphous coatings have high catalytic activity for oxygen evolution compared to lead alloy or crystalline coatings. Outotec acquired the international specialized MSA® patent licensing rights from Doshisha University and has produced and commercialized the amorphous oxide coated titanium anodes. These anodes have already been utilized mainly in copper electrowinning plants worldwide and have demonstrated a significant voltage reduction, a cost-efficiency, and a long lifetime. This novel technology is also effective to zinc electrowinning process, thus this paper presents the characterization and performance of amorphous IrO2-Ta2O5 coated titanium anodes and amorphous RuO2-Ta2O5 coated titanium anodes for oxygen evolution in zinc electrowinning."

Jan 1, 2016

By S. McPherson, M. Chalkley, R. Ellenwood, W. Nicot

"The Moa JV was formed in December 1994 as a 50/50 joint venture between Sherritt Inc. and General Nickel Company S.A. of Cuba. The joint venture consists of the mine and Pedro Sotto Alba processing plant in Moa, Cuba and the Corefco refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada. Throughout its now nearly 23-year history, the Moa Joint Venture has faced a number of global, operational and process challenges. Global challenges have included high input costs such as for fuel oil and sulphur, as well as low nickel prices. Operational and process challenges have included increasing ore haulage distances, decreasing ore Ni + Co grades, and increasing ore impurity contents. For example, increases in impurities such as Mg and SiO2 in the ore result in increasing acid demand in leaching and decreasing solids content of preheated leach feed slurry, respectively. In spite of these challenges, the mixed sulphide production capacity from the Moa Joint Venture has increased from 12,500 to 37,000 t/y Ni + Co since 1994 by judiciously targeting expansion projects and by continuously performing process and operational improvements.INTRODUCTION The Pedro Sotto Alba high pressure acid leach (HPAL) plant at Moa Bay, Cuba has a long history (Maslenitzkiy, 1969; Chalkley, 1996; Carlson, 1960; Roy, 1961; Carlson 1961). The plant was constructed by Moa Bay Mining Company and started up in late 1959 after several years of process development by Freeport Nickel Company, including operation of a 10 t/d plant in Hoskins Mound, Texas and a 50 t/d plant in Port Nickel, Louisiana (Southwick, 2004), as well as development work by Chemical Construction Company (Chemico) to precipitate metal sulphides (Roy, 1955a; Roy, 1955b). The Moa plant had an original reserve of 50,000,000 t of ore, graded at 1.35 wt% Ni, 0.146 wt% Co, 3.70 wt% Si, 1.00 wt% Mg and 4.5 wt% Al. At original design rates of 2,000 kt/y of ore, the design capacity of the plant was around 25,000 t/y Ni + Co as a mixed sulphide product, which would be shipped to the Port Nickel Refinery in Louisiana for processing. In 1960, the plant changed ownership and was restarted in 1961 under Cuban management. Between 1961 and 1989, the plant was also supported by involvement from the former USSR, supplying spare parts and consumables. In 1994, Sherritt Inc. partnered with the General Nickel Co. S.A. of Cuba and formed the Moa Joint Venture. This joint venture includes the mine and Pedro Sotto Alba HPAL processing plant in Cuba and the Corefco refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada. Under this partnership, ore is processed in Cuba to produce a nominally 55 wt% Ni and 5 wt% Co mixed sulphide product that is shipped to Canada and processed by Corefco to produce class 1 nickel, high grade cobalt and byproduct ammonium sulphate fertilizer."

Jan 1, 2017

The purpose of this paper is to present the methods used in ground water control and the considerations that affected the development of these techniques. Production at Knob Lake is currently proceeding at depths which may be as much as 200 feet below the original standing water table. In order to produce a more saleable product and to improve operating and maintenance conditions, it is necessary to depress the water table below the mining level. Considerable success has been achieved by drilling deep wells in strategic locations and installing vertical tur-bine pumps at depths of up to 400 feet. This method is especially suitable for operation under severe winter conditions and has reduced the detrimental effects by a far greater extent than other methods of water control, Spring runoff is handled in open sumps, but all other water from four mines, with flows exceeding 16,000 g.p.m., is pumped all year 'round from about thirty-five wells. T HE Knob Lake operation of the. Iron Ore Company of Canada is located on the Quebec-Labrador border, 320 miles north of Sept Iles,

Jan 1, 1965

The purpose of this paper is to present the methods used in ground water control and the considerations that affected the development of these techniques. Production at Knob Lake is currently proceeding at depths which may be as much as 200 feet below the original standing water table. In order to produce a more saleable product and to improve operating and maintenance conditions, it is necessary to depress the water table below the mining level. Considerable success has been achieved by drilling deep wells in strategic locations and installing vertical tur-bine pumps at depths of up to 400 feet. This method is especially suitable for operation under severe winter conditions and has reduced the detrimental effects by a far greater extent than other methods of water control, Spring runoff is handled in open sumps, but all other water from four mines, with flows exceeding 16,000 g.p.m., is pumped all year 'round from about thirty-five wells. THE Knob Lake operation of the. Iron Ore Company of Canada is located on the Quebec-Labrador border, 320 miles north of Sept-lies, a seaport

Jan 1, 1965

By A. Pawelczyk, D. Hreniak, E. Zych, W. Strek, K. Grabas, A. Ostrowski

"Nowadays recycling became an important rare earth elements (REE) source, which allows to reduce their demand for extraction from natural deposits. At present, the used fluorescent lamps and old type TV or computer monitors kinescopes are selectively collected and undergo processing in the system of recycling. It has been estimated, that utilization of such waste would be sufficient to cover the REE demand for the next 5-8 years. In the developed process, the luminophores were separated from the electronic and electronic waste materials, and processed by hydrometallurgical methods to obtain concentrated REE in form of oxides. INTRODUCTIONInternational Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) defines the rare earths as a set of seventeen chemical elements, specifically the fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium. They are considered the most important indicators of the developed technologies and techniques. Rare earths are used, amongst others, for the production of magnetic and superconducting materials, ceramics, lighting, catalytic converters, advanced electronics and alloys. The demand for RE continually increases, similarly to many other primary raw materials. Globalization, the growing demand for limited resources of raw materials, the policy of the countries controlling the raw material market and the economic crisis became a spur for new programs of socio-economic development of the European Union (EU), with particular regard to EU safety for commodities in intermediary as well as long-term horizons (COM 2008), COM 2011).EU countries import most of metallic and chemical raw materials important for their economy. In 2008 a detailed program named Raw Material Initiative was announced. The increase in demand for most raw materials having special importance for the development of technology, and access to of raw materials security of supply affect the future economies of the UE member states and other developed countries."

Jan 1, 2012

By A. O. Sfriso

"Numerical modelling is becoming universal in rock engineering practice. Most applications focus on the prediction of failure loads of 2D problems, where the numerical models are useful extensions to analytical methods and experience-based design criteria. For 3D problems and problems where the assessment of serviceability indicators – displacements, ground-structure response, etc. – are of importance, the selection of the constitutive models themselves and the implications of the selection of material parameters may have a very heavy impact on the reliability of the model outcome and its predictive capability.This paper overviews basic common aspects of constitutive equations used in practical rock engineering and summarizes some challenges that are frequently observed when reviewing numerical models performed for routine problems in rock engineering. INTRODUCTIONNumerical methodsFrom a philosophical perspective models, either analytical or numerical, are idealizations of a perceived reality. For us engineers, models are just tools we use to guide our judgement and understanding of the problem in hand. When dealing with problems in rock engineering, we resort to a wide range of techniques:1. Closed form solutions like confinement-convergence methods for circular tunnels: these methods satisfy equilibrium and compatibility requirements at the cost of a crude simplification of the material behavior and geometry;2. Limit analysis methods, like bearing capacity formulas: lower bound methods satisfy equilibrium but sacrifice compatibility, and upper bound methods do the opposite. Material behavior must be simple, geometry admits limited freedom;3. Limit equilibrium methods, like method of slices for slope stability: they satisfy restricted forms of equilibrium, do not satisfy compatibility requirements, require simple material behavior but have a much greater flexibility on geometry;4. Numerical methods, where a mesh is employed to discretize the problem geometry: when properly formulated, these methods satisfy equilibrium and compatibility requirements and give reasonable approximations to the behavior of very complex geometries and construction sequences. Very little restrictions remain on geometry and material behavior, but the cost of calibrating the material parameters can be very high."

Jan 1, 2015

By G. D. Bateson

"The Low NOx/SOx (LNS) Burner is a technology which, in pilot-scale tests, significantly reduces acid rain-forming emissions from the burning of coal. The precursors of acid rain are nitrous oxides (NO) and sulphur dioxide (SO:;) . TransAlta is currently planning two demonstration projects.Esso Resources Canada and TransAlta are undertaking a project to demonstrate how coal can be burned cleanly for steam raising in heavy oil operations by using TransAlta's LNS Burner on a steam generator at Esso's Cold Lake Production Project. The $10.7 million project started up in mid-J990, with testing to be completed in mid-I99J. The province of Alberta and Western Economic Diversification Canada, along with other private industry, are contributing funding to the project.The other demonstration project that has been selected for funding under the United States Department of Energy's Innovative Clean Coal Technology Program is a retrofit of LNS Burners to a 33 MW cyclone unit at Southern Illinois Power Cooperative's Marion generating plant. The US$13.6 million project is scheduled for completion 18 months after final funding arrangements are made.TransAlta believes that these demonstrations will lead to the development of a commercial ""clean coal"" technology. Other demonstration projects being planned will further broaden the base of applications.IntroductionTransAlta has recognized an increasing concern worldwide for the environment, and in particular the acid rain problem. Increasing public concern and the need to meet either current or possibly more stringent emission regulations have prompted them to explore various emission reducing technologies - despite the low sulphur content of its coal.The flue gas desulphurization (FOD) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology currently available to reduce sulphur and nitrous oxides from coal burning power plants is very costly. Having to incorporate FGD technology, or ""scrubbers"", greatly adds to the cost of producing power. Having to add such high costs to electric customers' bills is something TransAlta is striving to avoid.There are many research programs now underway which are evaluating ways to provide electricity from coal in a clean manner. TransAlta has been observing or participating in a variety of these programs. However, there is one new technology which the company has identified as having the potential to control acid rain causing emissions at a fraction of the cost of conventional systems. That technology is called Low NOx/SOx, Burner - or LNS Burner."

Jan 1, 1990

By M. Savella

The Runruno Gold Project is located on the island of Luzon, approximately 200 km north of Manilla in the Philippines. The mine is a surface mine operation and use the proven BIOX® and carbon in leach processes to recover gold, and the ASTER™ process for detoxification of the CIL residue prior to discharge to the Residue Storage Impoundment (RSI). Work to date has defined a mineral resource of 1.39 million ounces of gold, and the operation will produce 96,700 ounces of gold per annum over a mine life of 10.4 years. The BIOX® circuit is designed to treat 140,000 tpa of concentrate with a design capacity of 404 tpd of concentrate at a design sulphide sulphur grade of 17% S2-. The Runruno project is the first BIOX® plant to implement the Generation III BIOX® design principles. As part of the Generation III BIOX® program Outotec supplied a turnkey, containerised metallurgical laboratory to facilitate the first four stages of the BIOX® and ASTER™ inoculum build up requirements. BIOX® inoculum build-up was started during early January 2015 with 5 litres of stock cultures shipped from South Africa. The BIOX® culture was successfully adapted to concentrate produced from the mini plant during March 2015. The ASTER™ inoculum build-up commenced during early August 2015 utilising 27 litres of ASTER™ bacterial inoculum already adapted to similar process conditions expected during commercial operation. This paper will detail the various stages of inoculum build-up through to commissioning and ramp-up of the BIOX® and ASTER™ Processes at the Runruno Gold Project. The paper will highlight some of the factors affecting the commissioning process as well as the improvements seen through the introduction of the Generation III BIOX® design principles.

Jan 1, 2017