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By A. Piche, J. Nantel

"This paper describes the recent developments in Canada toward the establishment of a Canadian Centre for Mining Automation and Robotics, at McGill University and École Polytechnique in Montreal. The role of the Mining Association of Canada (MA C) and of the National Advisory Committee on Mining Automation will also be reviewed. IntroductionIn order to remain competitive, the mining industry must increase its productivity and reduce its costs. In the last two decades, this objective has been achieved through mechanization. From now on, any further improvement in productivity will be gained through increasingly more automated mining equipment.Recent international developments following the Versailles Economic Summit in June 1982, having given rise in Canada, to a renewed interest in applications of robotics and automation to mining.The mineral industry in Canada is at a crossroads. Competition in emerging from everywhere: lower grade ore bodies, increasing distances between viable mines and markets, third world massive production of certain commodities, substitution of "" space age"" materials (ceramics, plastics, composites, etc.) for metals.On the positive side, it is generally believed that present mineral commodities, i.e. base metal, gold, iron, industrial mineral s, etc ., will continue to be in high demand for centuries to come despite substitution. New applications for conventional metals will be found and the enhancement of certain properties of these conventional metals mean continued demand. For some mineral commodities, there will never exist an y substitute."

Jan 1, 1988

By A. C. Drost

The mining industry has been put under closer scrutiny in recent years, which has led to the adoption of a plethora of initiatives in countries around the world and by international organizations, some voluntary and others mandatory, governing economic, ethical, social and environmental practices of this industry. In order to plan appropriately, secure project financing, build value and manage risks, it is imperative to identify and understand the application of this new and evolving regime, which can be described under the general label of corporate social responsibility (?CSR?) law, and to incorporate compliance policies into the day-to-day operations of mining companies. Our paper and presentation will describe this new legal framework, which includes both ?soft? law and ?hard? law adopted at the international and domestic level that governs the actions of mining companies, particularly when operating in developing countries. While the notions of hard and soft law may seem abstract and grounded in legal theory, this paper shall demonstrate how these concepts concretely apply to companies in general, and to mining companies in particular. An analysis of the recent case law in this area as well as examples of corporate ?best practices? will illustrate the application of this body of law. As will be demonstrated through the case law, non-compliance of CSR law (both ?soft? law and ?hard? law) can lead to economic penalties, difficulties in accessing capital, loss of social licenses and even the withdrawal of permits and concessions. This confirms that now more than ever, ethics and sustainable practices in mining are fundamental to building a successful business model.

Aug 1, 2013

By E. Y. Dougherty

Introduction As practised during the last two years at the Vipond Consolidated gold mine, mining geology has meant the application of geology to the problem of finding, developing, and mining ore. This article reviews the results attained in Vipond mining geology as thus defined. Most effort was directed toward clarifying and interpreting the tangible physical causes of vein and ore localizations, and in the following pages these questions are dealt with in considerable detail. Discernment of the influence of rock folding and deformation on the localization of veins, and of the influence of certain structures and rocks in or near carbonaceous zones on the localization of ore-bodies, have been the main practical results of the studies. Consideration of some of the geological features of the Porcupine area, and of the geology and mining experience of the principal producing mines, has helped toward a perspective of Vipond's ore-finding problems. These features are first discussed. The background and procedure for Vipond mining geology, and the major results of the geological mapping, are then summarized. Then follows a résumé of tangible factors that influenced vein, ore-body, and gold localizations; and, next, explanations of the facts ascertained. Because they were found of little utility, many fascinating problems, such as the origin and mode of emplacement of the veins and lodes(l), the ultimate source of the ore, and the physico-chemical and mechanical agencies affecting vein and ore formation, are treated cursorily or are neglected in these notes.

Jan 1, 1934

By M. Coleman, M. E. Reed

The control of feed delivery quality to the flash furnace remains an unsolved problem. Many operations around the world still have limited control of feed quality to their flash furnace. Schenck Process and WorleyParsons continue to work towards the ‘holy grail’ of simple quality feed delivering both radial feed distribution and pulseless feed delivery. Ten years ago they joined forces to offer a system based on then Clyde Process RotoFeed system which could deliver ground level installation, online mixing of materials, pulseless feeding direct to the burner, with good radial distribution. Unfortunately, this proved to be too large a step for the Flash Smelting community and met with resistance from the process owners. Since then the community has developed a range of options some of which have been implemented over this period. Despite these improvements there are still areas of concern including safety issues associated with concentrate leaks and spills, uncontrolled variations in feed rate including massive flooding events, intermittent distribution improvement and set up of the burner continues to be trial and error and hard to repeat the success in each burner campaign. These continue to impact flash furnace performance globally on a daily basis. Following the community reticence to pursue the complete solution a number of interim steps are now available to pave the way to the ultimate feed system. The mixing of material has been installed and is delivering line blended materials on a daily basis. This paper will investigate the developments over the last 10 years and discuss the pros and cons of this incremental step process for overall furnace control. INTRODUCTION Schenck Process and WorleyParsons have continued to interact and observe changes in the flash smelting industry and to consider application of the Clyde RotoFeed now incorporated in the Schenck Process ProStreamTM range for delivery of feed directly to the concentrate or matte burner. Schenck Process pneumatic injection from the Clyde Process range, ProStreamTM, utilises two types of volumetric feeders to accurately control the feed of material into an injection pipeline. These are referred to as the RotoFeed and RotoScrew technologies and the choice of feeder type is dependent on the characteristics of the material to be handled. The RotoFeed is generally used for finer, granular and powdered materials which cannot be accurately handled with a screw such as pulverised coal and copper concentrate, whilst the RotoScrew is particularly suited to coarser lump materials, particularly abrasive of cohesive materials like zinc powder, electronic scrap and metal ashes. Both units can operate at high pressures and many systems work at 3 to 10 bar with the occasional system working at 20 or 30bar for carbon to gasifiers. For the Flash furnace the ProStreamTM units can be used to deliver each of the furnace feed materials into a single line, mixing the materials homogeneously and live to the burner.

Jan 1, 2019

By M. P. Filion, K. Ferguson, L. L. Sirois

Acidic drainage is the largest single environmental problem facing the Canadian mining industry today. Technologies to prevent acidic drainage from occurring in wasterock piles and tailings sites, and on the walls of open pits and underground mines, need to be developed and demonstrated. There are two groups in Canada which have accepted this challenge: the national Mine Environment Neutral Drainage (MEND) program and the British Columbia Acid Mine Drainage (BCAMD) Task Force. This paper summarizes the activities of these two organizations.

Jan 1, 1990

By Trygve Høy

"Important stratabound lead-zinc deposits in southeastern B. C. occur in rocks that range in age from Proterozoic Helikian to Middle Cambrian. The Sullivan deposit, and similar but smaller deposits in the Sullivan area are the only important deposits that occur in clastic rocks with little carbonate content. The highly deformed and metamorphosed Shuswap deposits, of probable Hadrynian to Helikian age, are in mixed marble, calc-silicate gneiss and pelitic schist assemblages, rocks transitional between clastics and carbonates. Deposits in younger rocks, such as the Kootenay Arc deposits in the Lower Cambrian Badshot-Reeves Formation and the Monarch -Kicking Horse deposits in Middle Cambrian dolomite, are hosted by platformal carbonate rocks.An important regional control for the distribution of deposits appears to be a northeast-trending tectonic zone that crosses the Rocky Mountains and the Purcell Mountains just south of the Sullivan area, and projects southwestward toward the Salmo camp at the southern end of the Kootenay Arc. Pronounced northeast-trending gravity and magnetic anomalies, basic volcanism of Hadrynian age (the Irene volcanics west of Creston) and a preferred alignment of Mesozoic granitic rocks indicates that the zone coincides with deep crustal structures. Within the zone are dramatic and abrupt thickness and facies changes in Hadrynian Windermere rocks and lower Paleozoic rocks, and on the east side of the Rocky Mountain Trench in Helikian Purcell Supergroup rocks, indicating that block-faulting was active intermittently within the zone from Helikian through to lower Paleozoic time. Right-lateral and reverse movements occurred on northeast-trending tear faults within the zone in Mesozoic time."

Jan 1, 1982

By K. Woo

"With ever-increasing global demand for mineral resources, mining companies are considering developing deeper, more complex and lower grade ore bodies. Recent years have seen the transition from surface to underground mass mining operations to access deeper resources, with mass mining methods such as block and panel caving being favoured due to the tonnages and economics achievable when dealing with lower grade ore. However, the rock engineering interactions involved with such plans are complex and challenging given the significant disturbance caused to the surface environment. If not properly accounted for, the unexpected propagation of a cave breaking through to surface or the differential surface displacements otherwise produced may threaten the safety and integrity of overlying mine and civil infrastructure.This paper reports the findings of a comprehensive research programme focussed on investigating and integrating new developments in remote sensing characterization and monitoring technologies with state-of-the-art numerical modelling to better manage the challenges and geo-risk associated with the transitioning from open pit to underground mass mining. Procedures were developed to integrate discrete fracture networks (DFN) into finite-element/discrete-element analyses to simulate the influence of rock mass fabric on cave propagation and the evolution of caving-induced surface subsidence and step-path failure of large open pit slopes through the progressive failure of rock bridges. The results clearly showed that caving-induced surface deformations tend to be discontinuous and asymmetric due to large movements around the cave controlled by geologic structures, rock mass heterogeneity and topographic effects. Although parallel investigations of empirical design charts used to predict caving-induced deformations were found to be moderately sufficient for assessing the extent of macro deformations directly above the undercut (i.e. caving collapse features), numerical modelling was found to provide the only means to confidently estimate the lateral extent of smaller strain subsidence.These results were further supported by the use of high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data to monitor the ground deformations associated with block caving production, and to use these to calibrate and constrain a series of predictive 3-D numerical models focussed on Rio Tinto's Palabora mine in South Africa. The InSAR data was obtained from Canada’s recently launched RADARSAT-2. The close fit achieved between the predictive 3-D numerical model and InSAR monitoring data demonstrates the significant value of InSAR calibrated 3-D numerical models applied to subsidence prediction.Collectively, the results from this research programme have helped to further the characterization, assessment and understanding of mass mining-induced subsidence, and its evolution, by addressing existing limitations in the use of empirical and numerical design methods. The limitations and uncertainty arising from mine site data were detailed, specifically the representation of mine geology, rock mass properties, in-situ stresses and cave propagation, together with means to constrain these inputs and calibrate sophisticated 3-D numerical models through back analysis and integration with high resolution monitoring data."

Jan 1, 2015

By Chri Rule

"This paper tells the story of the rapid commercial application of stirred milling technology at Anglo American Platinum’s many Concentrators. The first stirred mill – a 10 000 litre IsaMillTM; the largest at the time, was commissioned in late 2003. The project development work was presented at SAG 2001. This operation was “proof of concept” and vindicated the decision to scale up the technology; allowing a rapid and extensive roll-out of mainstream regrind mills as well as several further flotation concentrate regrind mills, over the next six years.Currently 23 stirred mills are in operation with 64 MW of installed drive capacity – this paper describes the projects’ roll-out and the significant results achieved to date. Many operational problems have been solved along the way, some of these will be described. The introduction of the technology has seen a step change in metallurgical results and progressively decreasing operating costs."

Jan 1, 2012

By A. Sadough vanini A. Kami

In this paper, effects of different ageing treatments on the mechanical properties, microstructure and formability of 7075 aluminum alloy have been studied. Forming limit diagrams of the alloy have been obtained for four ageing conditions including T6, OA1, OA2 and O. For this purpose, combination of uniaxial tensile tests and the Erichsen cupping tests with different sizes and shapes of sheet specimens have been performed after each ageing treatment. The highest formability and the lowest formability have been observed at samples with O and T6 ageing treatments, respectively. Also, investigation of precipitated microstructures showed that the size of precipitation particles has a significant effect on the formability of the alloy. Formability improves with coarsening of precipitation particles.

Oct 1, 2011

By Shantanu Patel, C. Derek Martin

"The objective of this work is to develop a practical numerical approach for applying the confining pressure to discrete element cylindrical triaxial tests. A layer of membrane particles with very low stiffness and extremely high contact bond strength was created around the lateral boundary of the cylindrical numerical specimen. To prevent the membrane particles from penetrating into the rock specimen on application of confining forces and to provide a smooth boundary surface, the space between the membrane and rock particles was filled using small-diameter packing particles. The results of this method were compared with those of rigid boundary method with confining pressure of 20MPa. The results obtained show that new approach gives both peak strength and post peak response that are in closer agreement with laboratory findings. BACKGROUNDThe discrete element method (DEM) has become the cornerstone for simulating both intact material and discrete fractures for low porosity strong rocks (ISRM Classes R3 to R6). Despite the advances in its application, simulating realistic behaviour of intact rock using the DEM remains a challenge. The bonded particle model was introduced as a potential solution for simulating the complex mineral grains in strong rock and other granular materials (Potyondy and Cundall, 2004; Utili and Nova, 2008; Salot et al., 2009). While some issues were resolved, a remaining challenge is the lack of the bonded particle model to simulate the brittle response commonly observed in strong rocks during the triaxial compressive test. Such behaviour is shown in Fig. 1 for Lac du Bonnet Granite at a confining pressure of 20MPa."

Jan 1, 2015

By J. W. Reynolds

"The use of approved fire-resistant hydraulic fluids in equipment operating underground was made mandatory in British Columbia by amendment to the Provincial Mines Regulation Act effective January 1, 1975. This paper covers the action taken to achieve this, in the largest underground metal mine in British Columbia. Some evaluation of costs and effects based on experience to date is included.BackgroundAn amendment to the Mines Regulation Act of the Province of British Columbia was passed in July 1974 as follow s: "" Rule 111 (b) Hydraulic Fluids. After the first day of January 1975, all hydraulic fluids used in equipment operating underground shall be of a fire-resistant type accept able to the chief inspector.""Unquestionably, its intent was justified as a safety improvement measure. The list of fires in mines involving machinery where hydraulic fluid was a factor in the fires is long and sobering. In British Columbia, in a 22-month period from 1972 to 1974, there were six fires in metal mines resulting in extensive equipment damage and injury to four workmen. Nevertheless, no provision was made for research or development of systems modifications compatible with conditions encountered in B.C. and, as late as June 1977, the Mining Association of British Columbia continued to argue that fire suppression systems should be considered sufficient until a universal suitable hydraulic fluid could be developed. The sole concession was to issue permits for continued use of mineral oil in equipment bought prior to 1975 in order to allow producing operations to continue. The burden of developing the necessary technology was laid on the industry.The Sullivan Mine at Kimberley, the largest and longest established underground mine in the province, and Cominco's most important source of ore s for its smelter at Trail, B.C., was at the outset of a conversion from conventional to trackless mechanized mining methods in pillar recovery operation s. Introduction of fire-resistant hydraulic fluid s had to be done in a period of change, in many instances on equipment for which no data existed, and called for research which had to be done while retraining the work force.The introductory phase is complete. All equipment is on FRF, the requirements of Rule 111(b) are being satisfied, and a number of research and development programs continue."

Jan 1, 1980

By N. Katsikaros, N. S. ‘ Yap, B. Adaszynski

"Cyanide is a well proven, effective lixiviant that has been utilised for centuries in gold extraction processes. Despite being used in close to 90% of gold processing plants, cyanide leaching is still being scrutinised due to its toxic nature. With governments tightening the regulations on cyanide management, and recently erected sites situated closer to community and environment, leach waste and tailings treatment has become increasingly important. Gekko Systems has worked with engineering companies and directly with gold producers to provide technical services and supply complete modular cyanide destruction (detox) systems for plants leaching both run-of-mine ore and high sulphide gravity and flotation concentrates. Although similar in principle, the different materials presented unique challenges in design and implementation. Similar to designing any section of a processing plant, the development of the cyanide destruction plant design began with laboratory test work to simulate the full scale operation. This paper focusses on the laboratory test work and how other critical factors such as geographical location, logistics, and local community play a role in the process design and construction. Two design and supply cases are discussed in this paper; one treating intensive cyanidation concentrate leach tails and one treating whole ore CIL tails. Although these plants both use the SO2/O2 process, each presented different challenges in laboratory testing and plant design, resulting in variations in final implementation including reagent choice, oxygen supply, and process control.INTRODUCTIONSince 1887, cyanide has played a large part in the beneficiation of gold from gold bearing ores. Cyanide is used to solubilise gold into solution, and is typically added in excess to maintain the leaching process. Some or all the excess cyanide can often be recovered and reused in the process however chemical destruction of cyanide is often necessary to manage cyanide levels in the tailings storage facility (TSF)."

Jan 1, 2016

By Adam J. Szladow

"INTRODUCTIONThe low calorific value and the high moisture and ash contents of run-of-mine (r.o.rn.) lignite limits the utilization of Saskatchewan lignites to thermal power plants in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and western Ontario. On the other hand, the low sulphur content and the low mining cost make lignites potentially attractive for new coal markets, if suitable processes can be found for upgrading. Economic upgrading to a higher quality fuel would make lignites more acceptable for industrial and utility boilers.This paper presents a summary of the process engineering evaluation of coal upgrading technologies conducted in support of a study of selected lignite upgrading processes. The summary presents the relative advantages and offers specific comments on the application of coal upgrading technologies for lignites. ResourcesLignite comprises the largest fossil fuel energy deposits in Saskatchewan. The total resources of immediate and future interest exceed 27 billion tonnes. The measured and indicated lignite resources of immediate interest are large enough to last for over 200 years at the current production rate of about 10 million tonnes per year (Table 1).Saskatchewan lignitedeposits are present in three different geologic formations: (I) the Ravenscrag Formation of Paleocene Age in southern Saskatchewan; (2) the Swan River Formation of Lower Cretaceous Age in central north Saskatchewan; and (3) the Judith River Formation of Upper Cretaceous Age in central west Saskatchewan. The deposits in the Swan River and Judith River Formation are not currently of economic interest.The Ravenscrag deposits are confmed to four lignite basins, namely: the Estevan, the Willow Bunch, the Wood Mountain and the Cypress basin (Fig. 1). The estimated resources of immediate interest in the four basins are over 7 billion tonnes (Table I). These resources include lignite seams at least 1.5 m thick, at depths of less than 45 m.The average quality of lignite varies relatively little between the four basins considering the distance between deposits (Table 2). There is, however, a progressive increase in moisture and ash content, and a decrease in calorific value and carbon content as one moves westward from the Estevan to Wood Mountain and Cypress basins. The Estevan area deposits are of higher rank despite the fact that they are stratigraphically younger than the Willow Bunch deposits (Cameron and Marconi, 1979).In upgrading lignite to a higher quality fuel, it is important to know not only the average proximate and ultimate analysis (Table 2) but also other lignite characteristics influencing the product quality . For example, Figure 2 shows the effect of lignite HIC ratio on the product equilibrium moisture for hydrothermal treatment of lignite. It is apparent that lignites with a higher HIC ratio, or high liptinite content yield much better quality product for the same hydrotreatment conditions. Other examples of lignite characteristics which are important in upgrading include distribution of sulphur forms and mineral matter, maceral composition and degree of surface oxidation."

Jan 1, 1989

By A. M. L. Cushing, S. Kelebek, A. Ghahreman

Iron sulfides are part of many ore deposits affecting flotation separation of non-ferrous base metals from them. Open-circuit potential (OCP), potentiodynamic polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements were carried out with pyrite and pyrrhotite electrodes to investigate their reactivity under various flotation conditions, which involved the use of TETA, SMBS, and their combination. TETA was found to adsorb on the electrode surfaces causing a significant increase in charge transfer resistance of the product formed, which was most significant at OCP. This effect is much less with SMBS, indicating its greater surface reactivity compared to TETA. The combined use of these reagents decreases charge transfer resistance to a greater degree than that experienced with their individual uses. Addition of Cu2+ as a potential activator to this system nearly eliminates the action of TETA on the electrode surface, which can be attributed to sequestration/chelate formation in liquid phase. The relative effects of these reagents on pyrrhotite electrode are similar to that of pyrite. The main difference between the pyrite and pyrrhotite electrodes is that the observed charge transfer resistance on the pyrrhotite surface with each reagent case is significantly lower by 3 to 4 fold. This is compatible with its anodic nature and ease of oxidation since the OCP value of pyrrhotite is lower than that of pyrite. Results are discussed in relation to flotation/depression behavior of these iron sulfide minerals in mineral separation processes.

Jan 1, 2017

The successful application of color sorting machines has established sensor-based sorting in the mineral industry in recent years and is considered today as a significant innovation in processing technology. However, we are only at the beginning of (market) introduction. New sensor systems have been developed, which exploit material properties such as electrical conductivity, magnetization, molecular structure, thermal conductivity etc. This opens up new exciting pre-concentration and upgrading possibilities for many applications such as nickel, gold, copper and other ores as well as for industrial minerals, diamonds and other gem stones.

Oct 1, 2009

By Rodney S. Read

Both crystalline and sedimentary rocks are being considered to host a deep geological repository (DGR) for nuclear fuel waste in Canada. In the past several decades, considerable research has been conducted around the world to better understand geomechanical processes associated with development and long-term performance of a DGR. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization?s (NWMO?s) technical research and development program is examining a number of potentially suitable rock formations to support implementation of Adaptive Phased Management, Canada?s approach for long-term management of nuclear fuel waste. Rock engineering will play an important role in siting, design, and construction of a DGR for nuclear fuel waste. Post-construction activities such as excavation maintenance, monitoring, decommissioning, and closure will also involve rock engineering. The type of host rock selected for a DGR will influence the scope of rock engineering activities and related research requirements. This paper outlines key rock engineering aspects to be considered in developing a DGR in sedimentary rock.

May 1, 2009

Experimental determination of the response of an AG/SAG mill treating two components of significantly different impact resistance is challenging for two main reasons: firstly, small scale laboratory tests have yet to be confirmed as valid representations of the full scale milling environment, and secondly pilot plant testing requires 10-20 tonnes of ore per scenario which precludes the use of drill core, rendering the process very expensive. In order to mitigate these difficulties, modelling was considered as a potential way forward. However, as the JKSimMet AG/SAG model currently has no capacity to simulate the interaction of two ore types with differing impact resistance, density and/or feed size distributions, an alternative modelling approach was developed. This approach aims to essentially calibrate the AG/SAG process under a set of given conditions, for which survey data and the ore properties of the main components in the feed blend already exist. This paper describes a new conceptual model, which provides a simplified approach for investigating the multi-component behaviour of two ores of differing hardness/SG in a given AG/SAG milling environment, and which can potentially be used for scale-up from laboratory/pilot testwork and geometallurgical estimation of throughput.

Jan 1, 2012

By Walter Curlook

"With Inco recording record profits over the past year, most people have forgotten the painful years of the last recession/depression when Inco was losing up to a million dollars a day for a short period . While high nickel prices have contributed to the exceptional recent profits, the real achievements stem from the tremendous advances in productivity and cost improvements that make Inco one of the lowest cost nickel producers.Some of the major advances in productivity have occurred in the mines. The establishment of Mining Research Departments in both Thompson and Copper Cliff in 1979/80 provided the stimulus and the opportunity to dedicate personnel to specific research projects, on a full-time basis; and more particularly to concentrate on the efficiency of the total mine system. The Copper Cliff North Mine was brought back into production as a research mine dedicated to the development and testing of new mining methods and equipment. A shop facility known as the ""Murray Shop"" was set up as the centre of innovation for the development and construction of prototype equipment required for new bulk mining methods. While other expenditures were being curtailed , investment in mining research was being increased. An early success was an ""in the hole"" drill that could be broken down into small components to access even the remotest sectors of a mine to convert labour intensive undercut-and-fill mining to "" vertical crater retreat "" , VCR, bulk mining. A new mine manufacturing company-Continuous Mining Systems-was incorporated with the objective of building innovative mining equipment, with strong focus on automated continuous sytems. Continuous Mining Systems has now grown to a $25 million per year business. With these synergistic thrusts, the VCR bulk mining method was implemented in all of the Ontario Division mines, raising the percentage of ore mined by bulk mining techniques from 320/0 in 1981 to over 90% today. Coupled with re-designed job responsibilities, sup- ported by appropriate training, mine productivity more than doubled. It was discovered that VCR mining could be adapted to the narrower Thompson mine ores with identical improvements in productivity. Development of the Thompson Open Pit North had an additional favourable impact on production cost s in Thompson. The timing of the open pit development could not have been better. It permitted Inco to rapidly increase production at high productivity and low cost, in years of record demand and prices."

Jan 1, 1990

By William M. Luff

"The Bathurst area has recorded mining production as early as 1837, although the bulk of the production has come in recent years. Production has been mainly from the well-known massive sulphide deposits, but vein, gossan, and a variety of other deposits have also been mined. This paper summarizes the history of the mined deposits, along with tonnages and grades produced.A number of ""firsts"" have been noted in the Bathurst area. The A Zone deposit, located in the Heath Steele area, was the first in the world discovered using airborne electromagnetic methods. Heap leaching of gold from the gossan zone at Caribou was the first operation of its kind in Canada. The Keymet mine was the first base metal (lead-zinc) mine in New Brunswick. For the past few years, the Brunswick No. 12 mine has been one of the largest zinc mines in the world.IntroductionThe Bathurst area (Fig. I) first had mining production in 1837 when copper was mined from a deposit on the Nepisiquit river (MacKenzie, 1958). The majority of the production, however, has been in recent years from massive sulphide deposits, but there are also other significant operations.Table I is a summary of Bathurst area mineral production, showing concentrator feed tonnages and mill feed grades. The table does not include peat deposits, sand and gravel, dimension stone or rock quarries. Figure I is a general geology map of the Bathurst area, indicating deposit locations. The deposits are divided into four categories: massive sulphide, vein, gossan and other. The deposits in each category are described in chronological order of exploitation."

Jan 1, 1995

By Tom Dettweiler

Who We Are A global pioneer in discovery, development and recovery of deep-ocean assets Shipwrecks Deep-sea Minerals Company Overview Founded 1994 HQ ?Tampa, Florida USA Employees 45 Tampa + 150 Abroad Publicly Traded: NASDAQ:OMEX Requires Specific Financial Controls and Reporting

May 1, 2013