Search Documents

By Michael Jerome Wallace

"This paper refers to the wet open circuit ball mil ls in operation at Sidbec-Normines'5 pelletizing plant at Port-Cartier, Quebec, which commenced operations in late November· 1977. Prior to detailing our experiences in the grinding area at Port-Cartier, a general description of the total Sidbec-Normines project is outlined.HI STORYSidbec-Normines was incorporated in 1976 to develop the Fire-Lake - Port-Cartier iron ore mining, concentrating and pelletizing project. The primary objective of Sidbec-Normines is to produce 6mi11 ion tons per year of oxide pellets, of which 3 mi 11 ion tons per year are of a low silica grade suitable for direct reduction purposes. The participants in the project are Sidbec, the Quebec Government steel producer, British Steel Corporation (lnt'l) and the Quebec Cartier Mining Company. Equity interest is held in the company by the participants in the proportions of 50.1%, 41.6:7% and 8.23%, respectively."

Jan 1, 1979

By Mike Anderson

The annual budget for the repair and maintenance of equipment at Syncrude Canada Ltd is in excess of 450 million dollars. Of this amount, a significant portion can be attributed to the loss of material on various pieces of equipment throughout the operation. In order to effectively battle the different wear and corrosion mechanisms that lead to material loss, it is important to understand how materials behave in the environments in which they are used. Through the work carried out at Syncrude, and work conducted with various external collaborators, significant improvements in both equipment reliability and productivity have been achieved. This paper will review some recent field trails where materials research has demonstrated the potential for significant improvements in equipment run life and reduced maintenance costs. These field trails will demonstrate the need for understanding the interaction between various damage mechanisms and the materials used in different services. The paper will also discuss current areas of focus along with future directions for further work.

May 1, 2003

By D. M. Hendrick, D. K. Fountain

Since the discovery by conventional prospecting of the Horne deposit in 1920, the Noranda area has produced 82 million tons of copper-zinc-gold-silver ore from sixteen massive sulphide bodies. Recent exploration in the area has consisted of systematic studies employing geology, geophysics and geochemistry. Due to the depth of the deposits being sought, surface geo-physical surveys are limited in their effectiveness as DIRECT indicators. However, because of the geological environment, surface geophysical methods, and the Induced Polarization method in particular, can be success-fully employed as INDIRECT indicators of ore deposits. Examples of survey results from various properties in the Noranda area illustrate the advantages and limitations of the Induced Polarization method as an exploration tool in this area.

Jan 1, 1971

By H. Dundar

The first application of High Pressure Grinding Rolls was in 1985 at a cement plant, for the purpose of capacity improvement. Then various circuit configurations were derived to achieve a reduction in overall specific energy consumption, by transferring more of the grinding required to the HPGR. In most circuit configurations, the recycle of fines is required for effective breakage between the rollers. By increasing the fines amount in the feed material to a specific level within the recycling load, a uniform material bed is created and a higher pressure gradient along the roller width is obtained, resulting in compact flakes, including more fines. The fines recycle results in enhancement of the interparticle breakage. This paper will discuss the effect of the feed size distribution on HPGR performance.

Jan 1, 2012

By M. R. Coffin

In recent years, improved operation of the Kidd smelter has resulted in an increase in blister production capacity. Due to manpower and equipment limitations anode production and treatment rates could not be increased without incurring significant additional operating expenses. The option chosen to expand casting and refinery capacity to meet the available blister supply was to increase the anode thickness while maintaining the same anode exchange cycle in the refinery. This has resulted in a cathode production increase of almost 10% for minimal expenditure. Equipment and process modifications required to cast and refine the thicker anodes are discussed in this paper, along with the Six Sigma methodologies used to identify them. Key areas covered are Hazelett continuous caster operation, refining process parameters, plating performance and cathode quality.

Jan 1, 2007

By E. R. Dixon

Copper SX/EW plants often bleed part of their electrowinning electrolyte to control impurities and maintain consistent cathode quality. Depending on the specific situation at each site, the bleed is either returned to raffinate, to an SX extraction stage, to an SX wash stage, or to the PLS pond, to avoid losing the copper in the bleed. This practice can have undesirable effects on the overall process. An alternative is to electrowin all or most of the copper in the bleed, thus avoiding the recirculation of the copper in the bleed. In this manner, the bleed is converted to metallic copper without interfering with the SX circuit. This in turn reduces the copper concentration in the raffinate, improving global copper recovery because of improved leaching conditions.

Jan 1, 2007

By H. Dundar

The first application of High Pressure Grinding Rolls was in 1985 at a cement plant, for the purpose of capacity improvement. Then various circuit configurations were derived to achieve a reduction in overall specific energy consumption, by transferring more of the grinding required to the HPGR. In most circuit configurations, the recycle of fines is required for effective breakage between the rollers. By increasing the fines amount in the feed material to a specific level within the recycling load, a uniform material bed is created and a higher pressure gradient along the roller width is obtained, resulting in compact flakes, including more fines. The fines recycle results in enhancement of the interparticle breakage. This paper will discuss the effect of the feed size distribution on HPGR performance.

Jan 1, 2012

By R. W. McConnell, R. P. Racher

High quality steel production requires extended treatment of the steel in the steel ladle. This has a remarkable impact on the steel ladle refractories, e.g. the need for high performance functional refractories like purging plugs. Operational changes such as increasing tapping temperatures, longer hold times and more aggressive secondary metallurgy are countered by the need for thinner refractory linings and longer refractories life. These combined factors have led to a resurgence in interest in magnesium aluminate spinel raw materials. Magnesium aluminate spinels have been used in steel-making refractories for many years, in a variety of different forms. This paper reviews the production, properties and performance of spinels. Recent developments in the applications of spinels will also be discussed.

Jan 1, 2004

By Gerald Whittle

What is Enterprise Optimization? Releasing value through better planning decisions: Philosophy, Methodology, Software The key to 5% -35% increase in enterprise value (NPV) The culmination of 25 years development in optimization for the mining industry ?Jeff Whittle Simultaneously optimizing: ?all steps in the value chain ?all assets in the enterprise portfolio ?all periods together

May 1, 2010

By David J. Morrison

Scarcity of truck tyres, increasing cost and decreasing availability of labour, increases in fuel costs and project budget blowouts have changed the paradigm behind mining equipment selections. The cycle of commodity changes have occurred in parallel with the increasing maturity of continuous mining machinery, mobile in-pit crushing systems and very large scale conveyor belt systems. This paper will consider the merits of operating continuous materials handling systems, mobile in pit crushing systems, relocatable crushing systems, relocatable conveyor systems and automated waste handling systems in place of the more conventional approach of truck haulage.

May 1, 2007

By J. L. Blaylock

Normally, the hydraulic system and structures are considered to be unrelated items. In reality, the two cannot be separated because one affects and depends on the other to function properly. This paper explores the potential failure areas of hydraulic cylinders, and suggests possible methods to prevent failures from occurring. The use of high-strength low-alloy steel in frames is reviewed and the benefits discussed. Fabrication techniques and handling of material are noted in the hope that this knowledge will aid in the repair of frames in the field.

Jan 1, 1979

By P. Wells

"In the past decade, there have been many developments in processing of nickel/copper sulfide ores. Improved pentlandite/pyrrhotite flotation selectivity with the use of new reagents, fine regrinding and Redox measurement (control) has led to increased pyrrhotite rejection and thus higher concentrate grades. Flash flotation has increased overall nickel and associated precious group metal recoveries. Recovery of both fine and coarse particles has been improved through an understanding of flotation cell hydrodynamics. The separation of copper from nickel in such ores has seen a similar level of development. From the late 80s to very recently, the use of flotation columns, the use of pyrrhotite depressing reagents and the improved understanding of the complex mineralogy of chalcopyrite, pentlandite and pyrrhotite have considerably increased copper / nickel separation efficiency. Copper concentrate with more than 30% copper and less than 0.5% nickel grade is now obtainable at 80-85% copper recovery from mill feed compared to 70-75% copper recovery with 30% copper and 1% nickel grade only a few years ago. Improved copper / nickel separation in milling operations has the potential to substantially improve the processing of the resulting concentrates and thus the overall return from the extraction of nickel and copper from sulfide ores.INTRODUCTIONNickel metal by itself or in alloys with other metals and materials makes a significant contribution to modern society. The relatively high price that nickel commands compared to other base metals is a reflection of the fact that, although abundant in the universe, nickel is sparingly distributed in the earth’s crust. There are two types of nickel deposits that are currently being exploited: complex sulfide ores and lateritic oxide ores. Lateritic contain no copper but in sulfide deposits, nickel– bearing minerals, principally pentlandite (Pn, [Ni,Fe]8S9), some millerite (NiS) and violarite ([Ni,Fe]S) are often found in association with copper-bearing minerals, mainly chalcopyrite (Cp, CuFeS2) and cubanite (CuFe2S3). The copper content of such ores can vary considerably from as high as 5-8% (in some Sudbury basin ores) to as low as 0.1% (in ores mined by Western Mining at Mount Keith, Western Australia and by Inco in Thompson, Manitoba). The valuable minerals Pn and Cp are almost invariably found associated with pyrrhotite (Po, Fe7S8) which along with nonsulphide rock has to be rejected to tails in the primary milling stage. The bulk concentrate from the primary stage is then treated to depress Pn and float Cp. A complete Cu/Ni separation at the mill would be highly desirable but this is not possible because of locking between a small fraction of the valuable minerals. As a result, Cu/Ni separation has to be carried out both during milling and during refining of the matte following smelting. At Inco, Jinchuan and in Norilsk, a chalcocite / heazlewoodite separation is made by flotation following slow cooling of the matte. In the present Sudbury Inco operations, Cu/Ni separation has not been conducted at the mill since 1991 and all Cu/Ni separation takes place at the matte processing plant. Because of the rising ratio of Cu to Ni in the ore, this strategy is under review and this paper describes some recent studies of circuits in preparation for possible installation of a copper / nickel separation circuit at Inco’s Clarabelle Mill in the Sudbury area."

Jan 1, 2004

By Arthur Laing

"IT is indeed a pleasure to have the opportunity of addressing this group today. Not only does it give me the opportunity of meeting with representatives of what is considered by many to be the most dynamic segment of industry in Canada today, but it also allows me to talk about a subject of para-mount interest to myself, the development of the North, and to explain, if even only briefly, some of our beliefs and hopes in this regard.It is inconceivable that all lands north of the 60th parallel, representing 35 per cent of Canada's total land area, which we believe contain a great natural resource potential, will remain as an undeveloped portion of Canada. The re-sources are there, although the people and private industry are as yet not there in sufficient numbers.It has been estimated that in the west and north of Canada there are 1.6 million cubic miles of sedimentary rocks. Of this figure, 342,-000 are thought to lie in Alberta, 115,000 in British Columbia and about 1 million cubic miles are thought to lie in Canada's northern regions, the bulk in the Arctic Islands. On the basis of apparent volumes of sedimentary rock, we estimate that as much as 13 billion barrels of petroleum may lie beneath the permafrost of the North-west Territories, another 3 billion barrels in the Yukon Territory and 33 billion barrels in the Arctic Islands. This is, indeed, a rich and elusive prize, and one which must be sought with a view to fulfilling demands on the production of petroleum."

Jan 1, 1966

By P. E. Fox, R. S. Cameron

"The QR gold deposit lies in the Cariboo plateau region of central British Columbia. The deposit was discovered in 1977 and since then a mineable reserve of 1.3 million tonnes grading 4.7 g/t Au has' been outlined in three separate zones. Soil sampling of glacial tills followed by diamond drilling of favourable host rocks proved to be key exploration techniques.The deposit is situated in the southern Quesnel terrane along the eastern fringe of the Intermontane Belt which here comprises a sequence of basic and intermediate volcanics and a series of stocks of alkaline affinity; generally diorite, monzonite and syenite. Hornfels and epidote-rich ferromagnesian exoskarn and sulphide-rich mantos have developed in a metamorphic aureole formed around a central diorite stock. Gold-rich zones lie along the outer periphery of the aureole where bodies of gold-bearing epidote-rich skarn and auriferous mantos rich in epidote and pyrite have formed in beds of calcareous tuffite lying at the top of a thick basaltic sequence. The deposit is regarded as' a subclass of gold skarn deposits. Diagnostic features are its association with alkalic intrusive rocks in a subvolcanic setting and the presence of oxidized, epidote-rich mineral assemblages.IntroductionThe QR gold deposit lies within the Cariboo plateau region of central British Columbia, 58 km southeast of Quesnel. The deposit, owned by Kinross Gold, was discovered during a regional reconnaissance program by Dome Exploration (Canada) Limited and Newconex Canadian Exploration in 1977. Considerable exploration and development has been done since that time. Mineable reserves of 1.3 million tonnes grading 4.7 g/t Au have been outlined to date in three zones."

Jan 1, 1995

By W. M. Goodwin

"IntroductionIN THE preceding paper we have learned about Canada's resources of metallurgical coal. There is an adequate amount in Nova Scotia, a very large reserve on the eastern flank of the Rocky mountains, and a strictly limited supply on the Pacific coast. Added to these is an unknown quantity of coking coal in the Peace River district, at present rather isolated but possibly capable of industrial development in the future.The chief use of metallurgical coal is to make iron and steel. For this, an adequate supply of iron ore is required. So we should now scan the Canadian supply of iron ore, the possibility of its increasing use at home, and the probable markets abroad.Trade in iron ore tends to be international, as is the case with many other raw materials. The present tendency with iron and steel, in contrast, is to keep its manufacture within national boundaries, and there is no evidence that this will change much in the years to come. We should keep these two points clearly in mind when considering the disposal of iron ore from Canadian mines. We should remember, also, that the modern blast furnace and steel plant has such a large output that a correspondingly large population, reasonably compact, is needed to consume its products.Large Ore Supply in East, Small in WestCanada has now four major iron ore fields, well situated to serve adequately the eastern half of the country. Wabana .and Labrador are well placed to serve overseas markets and plants on the eastern seaboard and eastern interior of the United States and Canada."

Jan 1, 1952

By A. G. Roach

MILLING of Nova Scotia gold ores began in 1862 with arrastras and wooden stamps and has progressed to heavier stamps followed by tables and other forms of concentration for the recovery of the sulphides. Chlorination and cyanide leaching of the concentrates has been practised, and in 1936 the combined amalgamation and all-sliming cyanidation plant of Seal Harbor Gold Mines was built. It has since been found that it is not necessary to cyanide the full tonnage and now only the concentrates are being so treated. From his experience in this enterprise, the writer presents the accompanying flow-sheet and supporting comments. While he has not the temerity to maintain that it is the best or only flow-sheet for Nova Scotia gold ores, he feels that it warrants thoughtful consideration by members of the milling fraternity of the Province. THE ORE The gold in Nova Scotia ores occurs both free and intimately associated with sulphides-chiefly arsenopyrite. Much of the free gold is quite coarse and crystalline. This is especially true when it occurs in white quartz. When in the slate, it is usually in thin plates and scales, frequently coated and discoloured. The values bound up in the sulphides are not amenable to amalgamation and must be recovered by other methods-concentration, followed by smelting or fine grinding and cyanidation. While high freight and treatment charges apply on concentrates shipped from the Province to smelters, a considerable quantity has been so disposed of in the past. However, it is hoped that a customs cyanidation plant will soon become available to producers of these auriferous concentrates in Nova Scotia.

Jan 1, 1938

By J. G. Peacey

"Canada has a special place in non-ferrous pyrometallurgy because it is the only country in the western world that is a significant producer of all the major non-ferrous metals; aluminum, copper, lead, magnesium, nickel and zinc. This large non-ferrous pyrometallurgy industry has developed because of Canada's abundant mineral wealth and energy resources. Table I summarizes the number of primary non-ferrous production facilities in Canada and their share of western world production.Production of non-ferrous metals is a mature, capital intensive business and its basic processes have been in use for many years. Nevertheless, these processes have continued to evolve in response to changing needs and external pressures; such as the energy crisis of the early seventies; historically low metal prices in the early eighties and the continuing pressure to reduce plant emissions and improve in-plant working conditions. Canada's major metallurgical companies: Alcan, Cominco, Falconbridge, Inco and Noranda have played a leading role in pioneering new process technology and continue to meet the difficult challenge of keeping their operations competitive in the global metals market. This paper will try to give an overview of the major developments in non-ferrous pyrometallurgy, largely from the Noranda and Canadian perspectives, highlighting the current status of process technology and possible future directions.AluminumCanada has the world's second largest aluminum smelting industry and its capacity has expanded rapidly in recent years with the completion of several large projects in Quebec. The location and capacity of the Canadian aluminum smelters are given in Table 2. All these plants use the Hall-Heroult process, that was invented over a century ago but over the last twenty years considerable improvements have been made to increase productivity, reduce power requirements and emissions.The developments in aluminum cell technology can be illustrated by the experience at Noranda Aluminum. In 1971, Noranda Aluminum started its first pot line using Kaiser's P69 prebake cell, which was considered, at that time, the best available technology. The P69 cell was designed primarily for high productivity, operating at 150 000 amps and high current density to produce just over tonne Al per cell-day. The P69 cell is a simple design, typically operating at about 88070 current efficiency and 15 800 kWh/tonne Al. When Noranda Aluminum decided to expand in 1980, the Alcoa 697 cell was selected as it then represented the most proven, stateof- the-art technology. This cell is similar to that installed at Alcan's new Grande Baie and Laterriere smelters and is designed to operate at 180000 amps and 93070 current efficiency, producing about 25070 more aluminum per pot-day than the P69 cell using about 15070 less power. The 697 cell has a much more sophisticated cell design, with very good balancing of the magnetic field giving a flat metal pad and allowing efficient operation at the higher amperage. Alumina is fed via point feeders that provide an almost continuous feed allowing close control of the alumina level in the bath and the use of low-ratio bath composition, giving much higher current efficiencies."

Jan 1, 1991

By Roger J. Goodman

"Major industrial restructuring, which started to manifest itself in the mature economies of the Western World and Japan in the 1970s, will accelerate in the 1980s and 1990s. Conventional heavy manufacturing industries will continue to lose ground to lighter processing/assembly operations and the new wave of high technology, information and service sectors. The decline in heavy manufacturing has severely impacted on the steel industries of Western Europe, the U.S.A . and Japan.World trade in metallurgical coal has shifted correspondingly, with declining demand in the mature developed countries being only partially offset by large increases in the steel intensity of the newly-industrialized countries (NICs) of the Far East, Latin America and, to a more limited extent, the Middle East and Africa. These trends will be accentuated in future years with direct implications for the distribution of metallurgical coal trade. This paper discusses, in quantitative terms, such changes in the 1980s and 1990s, and examines the implications for, and impacts on, Canadian metallurgical coal exporters.IntroductionThe twenty-year period from the early 1950 s to the early 1970s was characterized by inexorable growth in consumer demand and industrial expansion in most of the advanced countries of the western world. Long- term forecasting during this period typically used linear extrapolation techniques which , despite their simplicity, invariably ended up predicting future demand and production level s with uncanny accuracy. Times have changed!The last decade has been characterized by a n abysmal failure of our economies to respond to simple long-term, linear growth patterns. We appear to have entered a new world in transition, where we can observe a wave of dying or sunset industries reluctantly being submerged by a wave of emerging or sunrise industries.This paper is aimed a t examining the evidence for long-term industrial restructuring trend s. For want of a better word, these so -called, megatrends are then used to predict future demand level s and spatial distribution of steel development and , hence, metallurgical coal trade. It is tempting to correlate the decline in economic activity in the western world with the first Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) crisis of 1973. This crisis was probably no more than the straw that broke the camel's back, as the megatrends and embryo s of major industrial restructuring were already evident. Today these megatrends are merely more apparent and transparent than they were ten years ago.While the concept of industrial restructuring is the new economic buzz word, the process was at work, to a lesser degree even throughout the period of strong economic growth of the post-Second World War boom. Many people still remain convinced that our present-day sluggish economy is just part o f the typical , though rather more prolonged, recessionary cycle. Yet, we have always been part of a dynamic economic system and industry throughout history has been the subject of a continuous process of evolution, restructuring and reconstitution . Now the time is ripe to examine the evidence for such restructuring in order to develop coherent policies of adjustment in this transition from one industrial regime to another."

Jan 1, 1985

By M. E. Sirkka

"INTRODUCTIONInco Ltd. has ten operating mines in the Sudbury district. Over the last ten years mining methods have changed at Inco with special emphasis on the introduction of bulk mining replacing conventional mechanized cut-and-f ill and undercut-and-fill methods. At the same time, the technology and size of LH D equipment has also progressed to meet the demands of bulk mining. This paper will concentrate on various aspects of the introduction and operation of electric LHD equipment a t Inco Limited, Ontario Division. BackgroundInco Limited received its first electric 2 cu. yd capacity LHD in July 1975 at Creighton Mine. The unit was tested pulling shrinkage stope muck and then was moved to a mechanized cut and- fill complex on 6600 Level. The electric scooptram received quick acceptance from the operators, due to its quiet operation and low heat generation, in a relatively hot operating environment. Although there are only two of these units operating a t present, this initial favourable experience, both in cost and efficiency, led to the development and purchase of electric scooptrams of the 5 cu. yd size. There are currently eleven 5 cu . yd electric LHDs in operation.The most recent development a t Inco is the move to yet larger electric LHDs in the 8 cu. yd size. The first electric ""Eight"" has now been in operation at Copper Cliff South Mine for over a year. This unit has the distinction of being the first one of its kind in service in North America. At the time of writing, there were ten 8 cu. yd electric ma chines operating in Inco's Ontario Division Mines, with three on order."

Jan 1, 1989

By A. A. Burgoyne

"The McDame chrysotile asbestos deposit located near Cassiar in northern British Columbia isfound at depth and on trend to the southeast of the currently mined open-pit Cassiar asbestos deposit. The ultramafic rock hosting the McDame is serpentinized peridotite of the Upper Paleozoic Sylvester Group contained in an ophiolitic sequence preserved within a lower thrust sheet of the Sylvester Allochthon. The Sylvester stratigraphic package is a series of thrust slices composed of argillite, tuff and volcanic flows, diorite and serpentinite. Contacts between units are often fault-controlled.The McDame asbestos-bearing ultramafite is considered to represent a separate interleaved fault-bounded slice of rock distinct from the Cassiar asbestos deposit.Asbestos mineralization of the McDame deposit was discovered in /978. Exploration during /980 and /98/ focused on extensive underground drilling of the deposit and in /983 on geological mapping, airborne and ground magnetic surveys. In /984 a 622.5 m borehole was drilled with a 242 m intersection of McDame ultramafite of which the lower 15/ metres contain potentially economic chrysotile asbestos. The McDame deposit averages 90 m thick, trends north-south, dips easterly and plunges southeasterly. The deposit is estimated to contain geological reserves in the order of 62 million tonnes containing asbestos fibre similar in value to the Cassiar deposit.The McDame is considered a major world-class asbestos deposit. A decision to develop and mine the deposit will require further substantial underground exploration and evaluation. A + 1200 m exploration adit driven to the hanging wall of the deposit was undertaken in 1985 in anticipation of bulk sampling and diamond drilling in 1986."

Jan 1, 1986