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By A. Lam

The use of a liquid fed direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) as a power source for micro and small portable applications is attractive due to its system simplicity, low temperature, etc. The aqueous methanol is directly oxidized and does not require additional fuel processing steps as in reformate based PEM fuel cells. In addition, the use of a liquid fuel is advantageous with respect to humidification, stack cooling and system energy density. The DMFC however, has technological issues that must be addressed before it can be widely adopted, particularly in larger applications such as small utility and transportation. At present, the crossover of methanol from the anode to the cathode is a major limitation on DMFC performance and fuel utilization efficiency. In this paper we discuss the influence of fuel modification on the control of crossover. This involves the use of different fuel additives and concentrations to minimize crossover. This appears to be the first reported case of the use of fuel modification (additives) to reduce methanol crossover. The rate of methanol permeation under passive conditions is discussed with respect to the different conditions.

Jan 1, 2005

By I. S. Thompson

A program of geochemical till prospecting, carried out by Derry, Michener & Booth in 1974, was instrumental in t~ e discovery of a copper deposit in Currie Township, Ontario, beneath thick lacustrine deposits of the Abitibi Clay Belt. The prospecting system involved the continuous collection of glacial sands and gravels beneath the clays, using a track-mounted, dual-tube rotary drill, and the separation and geochemical analysis of the heavy mineral content for Cu, Zn, Pb, Ag and Au. In one of 22 holes drilled down-ice from nine Canadian Nickel airborne EM conductors, fragments of chalcopyrite-bearing graphitic argillite, assaying 12% Cu, were recovered from a 14-foot gravel section beneath 83 feet of clay. Ultimately, mineralization was identified in 10 of 11 additional holes drilled up to 3,000 feet down-ice from the Currie deposit. The glacial fan, when compared to the 1,200- by 165-ft area of the subcropping mineralization, is at least 20 times the area of the deposit and is the result of glacio-fluvial reworking of the mineralized ground moraine. The Currie deposit is contained within a Keewatin succession of graphitic argillite, dacite tuff and graywacke, which is intruded by dacite and feldspar porphyry sills and dykes and truncated by a Keweenawan diabase dyke. Grade and thickness of the mineralization, which lies chiefly within the argillite, is related to felsic intrusives and hydrothermal alteration, and to fold hinges.

Jan 1, 1979

By A. Galibois, H. Monette, J. L. Collins

This paper deals with the problem of caving, which occurs in varying degrees in blast holes before loading. It is shown that the distribution of the amount of caving in materials may be described by a gamma density function. A decision model to determine the optimal depth of over-drilling 'in order to minimize the expected additional cost per hole is described. Two different policies are discussed. In addition, charts which permit the mine operator to realize significant savings have been drawn for different actual situations.

Jan 1, 1971

By A. M. Simons

Cyanide destruction by Caro’s acid is one process commonly employed by gold operations to meet regulatory requirements and/or the International Cyanide Management Code compliance for weak acid dissociable (WAD) cyanide in cyanidation tails or waste water from such operations. Typically smallscale bench tests to evaluate and assess the suitability of the Caro’s acid destruction process are conducted. Additionally, the experimental procedure used during these preliminary investigations may also differ from that implemented at the full-scale. This paper presents the results from a fundamental investigation of the Caro’s acid process to establish a more detailed understanding of the impact that the experimental procedure has on the destruction of cyanide. In particular, it was found that the control of pH was important to avoid copper(I) cyanide precipitation at low pH and maximise WAD cyanide destruction. Residual peroxide in the preparation of Caro’s acid has the potential for subsequent cyanide destruction and could be exploited.

Jan 1, 2014

By M. Neven, R. A. Steane, E. Lam

"The Key Lake uranium mill is located in Northern Saskatchewan. It treats a high grade, complex uranium and metal sulphide ore. The plant and process are in many respects unique, because commercial treatment of this type of uranium ore had never been done before. The process and engineering design was based on extensive laboratory test results. A pilot plant testing stage was omitted because of confidence in the test results and time constraints to bring the plant into production.The bench scale testwork on exploration drill core samples along with preparation of the feasibility study and environmental impact statement were carried out between 1976 and 1979. The contract for detailed engineering was awarded to Wright Engineers of Vancouver in late 1980 and in August of 1981 following a public inquiry, approval to proceed with construction was granted.Construction began immediately, and during the winter the foundations for many of the plant buildings were poured and by the beginning of the following winter the buildings had been erected and installation of equipment began. Despite a six month construction worker strike in 1982, the crushing plant started up in June of 1983 and ore processing commenced in October of that year, approximately 3 months behind the original schedule.This paper describes the mill design and compares the expected performance, with the operating experience. Emphasis is directed towards flowsheet and equipment changes made since start-up, operational difficulties encountered and further improvements envisaged. Auxiliary systems are only discussed where they directly affect mill operation."

Jan 1, 1986

By M. Hosseinzadeh

By changing the quality of consumed refractory bricks in burner zone of sarcheshmeh copper complex anod kiln removing of carbon precipitation phenomenon was studied. For blister deoxygenation LPG is blowing in anod kiln and cause destoring microsturcture and bonding of refractory bricks. Studies are shown that in a part of the bricks which have a temperature of 800 - 1000 °C , iron content phases in magesia - chromite bricks are like catalist and cause increasing the rate of carbon precipitation reactions . In a way that in comparsion of two bricks with best and medium quality with different analysis, this problem is more critical in best quality bricks containing high iron oxide. Therefore special magesia spinel bricks suggested and installed in burning zone.

Jan 1, 2004

By M. L. Smith

"In the Phosporia formation of SE Idaho, ore quality varies by depth, seam and distance along strike; phosphorus recovery is sensitive to these variations. Plant ore feed can be blended over time to minimize this fluctuation by using a combination of mine production and inventory stockpile scheduling. Mixed-integer and goal programming has been used to optimize short-term mine production, but the seasonal nature of mine haulage requires the use of stockpiles both at the mill and the mine. The contents of the stockpiles can also be optimized as part of the production scheduling problem, but introducing inventory control introduces a nonlinear term into the formulation. A solution using a piecewise linear formulation is modelled and solved using AMPL/Cplex, and solution strategies are discussed for similar large-scale problems. IntroductionIdaho’s minable deposits of phosphate rock are found in the Meade Peak member of the Phosphoria Formation; two separate zones of this formation are mined with a combined thickness of 30 ft to 60 ft. A generalized stratigraphic section of the Phosphoria section is shown in Figure 1, illustrating the degree of complexity encountered when scheduling mine production. Alteration of the formation results in higher grade ore zones near the surface and variable in P2O5 levels between seams and along strike. This variability is seen as well in other quality characteristics critical to the production of acid and elemental phosphorus. Further, plant recovery and nodule quality are sensitive to variations in ore feed; variability in SiO2, carbonates, moisture, organics (carbon), P2O5 and other constituents of the ore can strongly affect plant recovery. Because ore quality characteristics can vary as a function of the alteration zone (or seam) being mined as well as the depth and distance along the strike of the formation, scheduling of mine production can have a highly significant effect on recovery in the plant. As illustrated in Figure 1, there are nine seams containing 20% to 35% P2O5. Phosphoric acid and elemental phosphorus production requires an ore content of 30% and 25% P2O5, respectively. Variability between numerous beds that are mined and quality variation within a seam due to alteration greatly complicates production scheduling with the result that erratic mill feed characteristics greatly decrease recovery."

Jan 1, 1999

By Geoffrey Gilbert

Rossland is in the West Kootenay district; 5 miles north of the International boundary and 4 miles west of Columbia River at Trail. The first claim in the district was located in 1887; but there was little activity until 1890; when the showings that later became important were staked and development began. Production increased rapidly from 1; 800 tons in 1894 to a peak of 360; 000 tons in 1903; and averaged 286; 000 tons for the next 13 years. It declined sharply in 1917; and continued to decline until the closing of the main mines in 1928. Between 1933 and 1941 leasers mined a further 137; 000 tons. Total output has been about 6; 200; 000 tons; with average recovery of 0.47 oz. gold; 0.6 oz. silver; and 1 per cent copper. The total value was $82; 500; 000; of which aboµt three-quarters was in gold; the camp still leads the province in total gold produced. Ninety-eight per cent of the tonnage came from a small compact area worked by four inter-connected mines : the Le Roi (39 per cent); Centre Star (25 per cent); War Eagle (24 per cent); and Josie (10 per cent); all now owned by the Consolidated Mining and Smdting Company of Canada; Limited.

Jan 1, 1954

By Larry T. Yano, Gerald T. Handford

"Tailings Engineering has the responsibility for planning and coordinating tailings disposal and for ensuring the stability of the tailings dyke. The inclusion of both the planning and geotechnical functions in one team has resulted in greater efficiency in the design and planning process. Major challenges in tailings disposal facing Syncrude are in the areas of: (1) sludge disposal; (2) instrumentation and monitoring; and (3) liquefaction. Meeting these challenges will have a significant effect on the cost effectiveness and reliability of the mining operation.IntroductionThe size of the tailings disposal operation has led to the establishment of a large engineering team devoted solely to the disposal of tailings. This paper discusses: the tailings disposal operation, the role of tailings engineering, the organization, inter faces, and the present and future challenges with respect to tailings disposal."

Jan 1, 1990

By Engineering Staff

"This paper briefly describes the surface mining operations at Smoky River Coal Limited (formerly McIntyre Mines Limited, Coal Division) near Grande Cache, Alberta. Geology, mining methods, equipment, manpower and reclamation and environment topics are discussed. Introduction Smoky River Coal Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of McIntyre Mines Limited of Calgary, Alberta, produces a high quality, low sulphur, low volatile bituminous coking coal from its minesite located at west central Alberta, approximately 20 km from the town of Grande Cache and 360 km west of Edmonton (Fig. I). Most of the coal property is contained within a 30 km long by 20 km wide block lying in a northwest-southeast direction in mountainous terrain. Elevations vary from 920 m above sea level ·at the plant·site on the Smoky River to 1,600 mat the upper levels of current and proposed mining operations. A total of 11 coal seams have been identified. Only two seams, No. 4 Seam and No. 10 Seam are currently considered of major commercial value. These seams are recovered by both surface and underground mining. Approximately 650Jo of the plant feed coal is obtained from a conventional shovel/truck surface mine; the balance is mined underground by room-andpillar methods. Background In 1921, McIntyre Mines Limited acquired some 26,300 hectares of coal leases at Smoky River. Since then the leases were explored intermittently by different companies including McIntyre. In the mid-l 960s exploration activities increased and several feasibility studies were completed. Development of the area was undertaken by McIntyre in 1968 and, in August of the same year, a long-term contract was signed with a consortium of Japanese steel mills for delivery of 2 x 106 t of clean coking coal for 15 years commencing in 1970. Production was focussed on underground mining, using longwall methods."

Jan 1, 1985

By G. Fuentes, J. Viñals

"The nature and basic kinetics of the hydrothermal reactions of bornite, covellite pyrite and enargite with copper sulfate solutions were investigated, as a previous study on the behavior of the bulk Chilean copper concentrates. The reaction of bornite produced digenite at 160 °C and djurleite above this temperature. Covellite was transformed to digenite at < 200 °C and to chalcocite (Q and M) at > 200 °C. The pyrite reaction was significant at > 200 °C and extensive at 240 °C, enargite reacts only above 240°C and produces digenite. The hydrothermal treatment of Chilean Codelco-type copper concentrates with hydrothermal reactions was similar to those obtained from pure mineral samples.INTRODUCTIONStudies on the hydrothermal enrichment of chalcopyrite concentrates were begun by MacGauley and Roberts (1951), Roberts et al. (1953) and MacGauley and Schaufelberger (1956). In the 1970's these processes were reexamined by McKay et al. (1972), and Johnson and Coltrinari (1976), but it not was until the 1990s when the kinetics, mechanisms and full engineering aspects were studied by Barlett, (1992), Jang and Wadsworth, (1994) and Peterson and Wadsworth (1994). The main objectives were to solve some important problems in the copper pyrometallurgy: The increase of the smelting capacity, the reduction of the iron slag – and associated copper losses – as well as the reduction of sulfur emissions. The present rise in copper demand and price implies the production and subsequent treatment of very impure concentrates. Thus, a significant increase of environmental problems can be expected in the copper pyrometallurgy. The previous purification of concentrates can reduce the processing of wastes containing hazardous heavy metals in the copper refineries and the hydrothermal treatment can be an alternative which combines both enrichment and purification. On the other hand, Chuquicamatatype concentrates (Viñals et al., 2004a) contains digenite (Cu1.8S), pyrite (FeS2), chalcopyrite(CuFeS2), b ornite (Cu5FeS4), covellite (CuS) and sphalerite (ZnS) as the main mineral components, with minor amounts of enargite (Cu3AsS4), galena (PbS) and molybdenite (MoS2)."

Jan 1, 2012

By F. Lindroos

A cornerstone in the LKAB Green Pellet concept is to produce pellets with a small footprint in terms of energy con-sumption, CO2 emission and emission of other elements harmful to the environment, like dust, sulphur dioxides, nitrogen oxides, chloride and fluorine. The concept also encompasses our determination to make pellet products that contribute to low environmental impact and low energy consumption in our customer?s processes. The presentation will focus on the pelletizing process. It will describe both how we have attempted to decrease the generation of unwanted components in the process gas, and how we have tested or evaluated equipment for external gas cleaning. We will discuss and give examples from recent and on-going efforts and outline some of the future challenges we see, to meet our own environmental standards and also the tough demands imposed by EU and national legislation, while striving to boost production.

May 1, 2011

By Manqiu Xu, Pete Winn, Steve Wilson

"In the flotation of ultramafic ores at Thompson mill, Inco Limited, CMC is used as both a floatable rock depressant and electrostatic serpentine slime dispersant. CMC, being a high molecular weight polymer, creates a serious handling problem in its introduction into the flotation processes. Typically, it is added as a 1-3% solution. This requires an enormous handling facility and makes its metallurgical gains uneconomical.Laboratory studies have shown that dry CMC addition as opposed to wet addition is feasible, as long as sufficient conditioning time is provided. Dry CMC addition into the grinding mill is also possible but its effectiveness is slightly reduced as compared to dry addition after grinding mills. Dry CMC addition using a vibratory feeder into the mill discharge is successfully applied in the treatment of ultramafic ores at Thompson mill.INTRODUCTIONManitoba Division MineralogyAt Inco’s Manitoba Division, two distinctly different sulphide ores are processed at the Thompson mill - primarily by froth flotation. The Thompson and Birchtree mines are both located within the Thompson Nickel belt. Sulphide mineralogy is relatively simple and includes both hexagonal and monoclinic pyrrhotite, pentlandite and minor chalcopyrite hosted in metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks. The significant difference between the two mines is the amount of ultramafic rock associations in the host material. Increasingly, more of the ultramafic associated ores from the Birchtree mine are being processed through the mill with a characteristic poor metallurgy."

Jan 1, 2000

By Jason J. Crowder

Presentation Outline ? Introduction ? Costs of ground support and rehabilitation ? Why post-failure rock mass properties are necessary ? The Rock Mechanics Problem ? Present State of Modelling and Instrumentation in Mining ? Case Study Background ??Williams Mine ? Deriving Parameters for Modelling from Instrumentation ? Results from Case Study ??Back Analyses ? Discussion of Research Impact t Summary

May 1, 2006

By Hamidreza Soltanzadeh

The injection of CO2 into a reservoir or aquifer can potentially result in deformation, induced fracturing and fault reactivation in the injection zone and/or the rocks that surround it. This paper reviews the data collection and geomechanical analyses performed to assess these potential hazards for the Heartland Area Redwater Project (HARP), in which CO2 sequestration is being considered in a carbonate (Leduc Formation) reef. A three-dimensional mechanical earth model (3D MEM) was developed using available geophysical log data from several wells. The geomechanical response to CO2 injection was studied using a finite element numerical model based on the 3D MEM and pore pressure distributions predicted using a reservoir simulator. The modeling results suggest that the potential for induced fracturing and fault reactivation is low and the maximum predicted ground surface heave is less than 2 cm. Sensitivity analyses conducted with a 2D geomechanical model that was extracted from the 3D model confirm that this conclusion holds true even when a reasonable measure of uncertainty in rock mechanical properties, ambient pore pressures and horizontal stress magnitudes is accounted for.

Jun 1, 2012

By Pierre Bénard

To achieve penetration on the energy market, hydrogen must overcome obstacles in the areas of storage, safety and infrastructure. One of the most important is the onboard storage of hydrogen for transportation applications, where large performance gaps exist between the current state of the technology and user expectations. In order to develop and demonstrate viable hydrogen storage technologies for cars, a set of gravimetric and volumetric system targets have been proposed by the US Department of Energy, based on achieving a driving range of 500 km for a hydrogen powered vehicle. A factor of 2 to 3 improvement in both hydrogen storage capacity and energy density is needed along with several other performance goals. Another key issue is safety. Although some of the safety issues can be arguably assigned to misperceptions, hydrogen has specific properties that have to be addressed, particularly in confined geometries where the risk of hydrogen detonations becomes an issue.

May 1, 2007

By L. I. Kiss, S. Perron, S. Poncsák, A. Perron

Aluminium industry has an increasing interest in the diminution of the energy consumption of the Hall-Heroult process by the reduction of the anode bottom covering with gas. Electrically isolating carbon-dioxide bubbles, produced at the anode, increase the ohmic resistance of the cell. As the gas production rate is determined by the applied current density, anode covering can be decreased only by a faster evacuation of the gas from the inter-electrode space. Among others, the inclination and curvature of the anode bottom promotes the release of the bubbles and thus decreases the mean value of the covering. Indeed, anode, insert in the molten cryolite bath has a square shape with horizontal bottom. However, inhomogeneous anode consumption, electro-erosion, bath circulation and the inclination of the bath-metal interface modify this shape gradually during electrolysis. Anode bottoms become inclined with rounded comers. This concentrates the gas generation to the center zone of the anode. As the bubble layer cannot be observed directly because of the hostile environment and the opacity of the bath, real scale air-water systems are used to study the impact of the anode geometry on the anode covering and the bubble induced flow. However, the physical properties of such a system are different than that we can found in the real cells. A simulator using the Lagrangian description of the bubble layer has been built and presented in earlier papers. This tool was used to investigate the effect of the anode inclination on gas covering and bath velocity, for both C02-cryolite and air-water system. Results obtained for the second system were compared to experimental data .

Jan 1, 2006

By J. X. Guo, A. Pindred, J. Moore

"Two modified centrifugal flotation cells (CFC), Q2 and Q3 models, have been developed for froth flotation. The operating mechanism of Q2 uses a rotating bowl to create a centrifugal force on the feeding slurry. Froth concentrate is collected on the central top of the cell and tailing is discharged along the top edge of the rotating bowl. The Q3 utilizes a vertical rotating feed pipe to introduce the feed slurry into a stationary flotation column cell. A centrifugal force is also created by a rotating pipe for the feeding slurry. Froth concentrate floats over the cell and tailing discharges through the bottom of the cell. The centrifugal force causes the flotation recovery of fine particles from CFC to be higher than from the conventional cell. The major operating variables of CFC are the rotating speed, air flow rate into feed slurry, and slurry feeding rate etc. Flotation tests have been carried out on synthetic mixtures of galena-silica and chalcopyrite-silica, as well as some natural base metal ore samples. Parallel tests were also conducted on a conventional flotation cell. The comparative test results demonstrated that both Q2 and Q3 have the advantage of higher recovery of finer than 10 µm mineral particles, which are very difficult for the conventional non-centrifugal flotation cell to recover. The grade-recovery curves produced from CFC are equivalent to or better than the conventional flotation cell. There is a potential in the future for the CFC to be employed in slime flotation.1. IntroductionA centrifugal flotation cell (CFC) was originally developed by Clean Earth Technologies [I] to separate oil from water and was subsequently applied in froth flotation. Figure 1 illustrates the design of the original CFC, in which a vertical feeding pipe is attached to the center part of a rotating drum and a stationary shell encloses it to direct the float froth and tailing discharge. The slurry flows down to the bottom of the spinning drum, gets in touch with a screen of air bubbles and then migrates outwards under the effect of centrifugal force. After the mineralized froth enters the rotating cell, it is pushed back to the inner surface. The overflowing froth is collected in the froth launder while the tailing slurry is discharged through orifices along the outer rim of the drum."

Jan 1, 1998

By Raymond Philippe

Background ?Hatch Water has worked with most major mining companies in Chile on water supply and optimization projects ?Many(copper) mining projects are located in Northern Chile, which hosts the driest desert on earth Water supply options in Northern Chile ?River ?Availability/Rights ?Well(Brackish) Water ?Availability/Rights ?Municipal Wastewater ?Water rights ?Volume ?(Desalinated) Seawater ?Infinite source ?Cost depends on distance and altitude ?Recycling/Reutilization ?Water losses All these options present water quality issues

May 1, 2009

By A. Flemming

"As the next century draws near, new mine properties must be brought into production to replace existing operations that are approaching their economic life. This paper presents some of the critical technical issues being addressed by Manalta Coal Ltd. as they strive to bring the Telkwa Coal Project near Smithers, BC into production during the year 2000. The mine is planned to produce between 1.0 to 1.5 million tonnes per year of medium volatile coal for export to overseas thermal and PCI markets. IntroductionManalta Coal Ltd. (Manalta) is proposing the development and operation of a surface coal mine and associated infrastructure approximately six kilometres southwest of the village of Telkwa, British Columbia (Fig. 1). The infrastructure consists of a coal washing facility, tailings disposal area, clean coal haul road, access road and rail loadout facility. Over a 25-year period, the mine is expected to produce between 25 and 37 million clean tonnes of coal primarily for the export market.To achieve public and governmental approval for the development, the project will be reviewed under British Columbia’s Environmental Assessment Act. Manalta entered the formal Assessment process in February 1, 1997 with the submission of an Application for a Project Approval Certificate for the Telkwa Coal Project."

Jan 1, 1997