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By A. B. Walker

The effects of the injection of dry limestone additives into boilers for the sorption of sulphur dioxide have been studied in pilot and full-scale systems. The effects of such injections on boiler mass particulate emissions as well as collectability characteristics of the fly ash and reaction products are presented. Implications of the effects on the design and economics of particulate collectors, in particular electrostatic precipitators, are discussed.

Jan 1, 1971

By D. E. Ayres, J. Farstad

"The Midwest uranium deposit is located within the Athabasca Basin near its eastern margin and displays many of the features seen in a number of other similar deposits in this area. The mineralization occurs in the vicinity of a tectonically disrupted portion of the unconformity separating the clastic sedimentary rocks of the Helikian Athabasca Group from Aphebian pelitic meta-sediments which are equivalent to the basal pelitic meta-sediments of the Wollaston Group. The orebody consists of pods of massive pitchblende and sulphur-arsenides within an elongate and tablular envelope of disseminated and fracture controlled mineralization. The massive pods are intimately associated with overbank mudstones of the lowermost Athabasca Group. Both structure and lithology have played major roles in localizing the deposit as follows:1. The basement lithology influenced the mineralogy of the regolith produced on the pre-Athabasca unconformity.2. The style of clastic deposition and the character of the regolith on this unconformity favoured local preservation of mudstones.3. The basement lithology influenced the location of zones of post-Athabasca faulting.4. The proximity of these fault zones to mudstones provided for the coincidence of circulatory channels for fluids bearing uranium, with a good precipitant for the metal.IntroductionA brief summary of the geology of the Midwest uranium deposit was presented by J. Farstad (1979) to the attendees of the Saskatchewan Potash and Athabasca Basin uranium deposits field trip organized by the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (May 28 to June 1, 1979). Since that time a substantial amount of data has been collected and studied. This paper is a precis of a report by J. Farstad (1981) which summarizes the geology of the deposit as inferred by visual examination of diamond drill core, augmented by information obtained from detailed examination of selected cores by D.E. Ayres."

Jan 1, 1986

Mining Subscribes to Murphy?s Law Personal observations on the past ?Perfect, benign deposit mines can be screwed up-spills and concentrate handling issues ?Long term contamination and water management assessments inadequate ?The ?permitting mentality? and its effects on the application of proponent and regulator resources ?Reliance on simple principles but nature and chemistry is more complex

May 1, 2010

By Kevin J. Melong

"Redpath Canada Limited and joint venture partner Thyssen Mining and Construction Canada have recently completed the sinking of the Scissors Creek service in Saskatchewan through its joint owned company, Associated Mining Construction (AMC). The Scissors Creek service shaft was sunk at Nutrien’s Rocanville mine. The following paper outlines the shaft sinking plant and the methodology related to sinking and shaft lining. KEYWORDS Hydraulic shaft jumbo, Hydraulic shaft mucker, Potash shaft sinking, Shaft lining, Sinking galloway INTRODUCTION The sinking and lining of shafts at mines to access mineral deposits has always been one of the great mining challenges for owners, engineers and contractors. Over the course of history in Canadian mining, the sinking of potash shafts through the notorious Blairmore formation of Saskatchewan has proved to be some of the most challenging shaft sinking projects on record. There is no doubt that today’s shaft sinking business demands the utmost in safety performance while delivering projects within schedule and budget. Given these requisites, Redpath and TMCC (executed under the joint venture company, Associated Mining Construction or AMC), were taxed with developing the shaft sinking system to deliver this program in the safest and cost effective manner, with due regard to schedule and quality. Traditionally the potash shafts sunk in Saskatchewan involved a significant level of manual labour, owing to the methodology of excavation by means of chipping the frozen shaft sections with hand held pneumatic machines, and manually placing tubbing segments or steel liners of the shaft lining system. Most certainly, the AMC team wanted to make a step change from those earlier sinking programs and develop systems for sinking this potash shaft that removed the high level of manual work, thus making this project inherently safer, while endeavoring to sink more efficiently. With that in mind, the team embarked on a design program to improve its overall shaft sinking systems without the requirement for excessive capital and methodology flexibility to adapt to potential changing conditions expected to be encountered during shaft sinking. This was especially important should the new approach be met with less than expected success, and retrofitting of the system was required. The concepts were developed to provide for a much improved work environment, while easing the manual labour burden on the workers with innovative equipment and approach to the work."

Jan 1, 2019

"Air Products approached LAC Minerals in 1987 to initiate trials with pure oxygen in the leach circuit at several LAC facilities in Canada. This paper gives an overview of oxygen use and covers specific operating data from the Doyon and Terrains Aurifères mills near Val D'Or in northwestern Quebec. LAC also uses oxygen at the Macassa mill in Kirkland Lake, Ontario.In addition to the LAC facilities, oxygen is currently in use for test purposes at the Holt McDermott mine in Kirkland Lake, Ontario and the Camflo mine near Val D'Or.There are two requirements for oxygen in the cyanide leach mill. Firstly, oxygen is required in the familiar gold dissolution reaction as follows:(1) 4 AU (s) + 8 NaCN (aq) + 02 (aq)+ 2H 20(aq) - 4NaAu(CN) 2(aq)+ 4Na OH(aq)Of the reagents on the left side of the equation, the availability of gold is fixed by the ore in question. Obviously, water is available in excess, 1eaving cyanide and oxygen as the limiting constituents in the process. Most mills operate with an excess of cyanide, which is fairly closely monitored. Dissolved oxygen levels, however, are not normally watched very closely and find their own level based on the temperature, the availability of compressed air and the ability of the ore to consume oxygen.Typical D.O. levels are in the 3-8 ppm range, however levels less than 1 ppm are not uncommon for refractory ores.With pure oxygen, dissolved oxygen levels as high as 30 ppm can be achieved. (Figure #1). This greatly accelerates the kinetics of the leach reaction and may also shift the reaction further towards completion thus increasing gold dissolution slightly."

Jan 1, 1990

By Q. Han

A modified cast-on method has been developed to reinforce aluminum castings with steel insert. Defect-free bond between the steel insert and the aluminum casting has been consistently obtained. Data obtained from a push-out experiment indicated that the bond strength was much higher than that obtained using the Al-Fin approach. This paper introduces this modified method in four sections: the coating of the steel pins, the cast-in method, microstructure characterization, and the bond strength. The section on the coating of the steel pins contains coating material selection, electro-plating technique for plating Cu and Ni on steel, and diffusion bonding of the coatings to the steel. The section on cast-in method deals with factors that affecting the quality of the metallurgical bond between the coated steel and the aluminum castings. The results of microstructure characteristics of the bonding are presented in the microstructure characterization section. A push-out experiment and the results obtained using this method is described in the section of bond strength/mechanical property.

Jan 1, 2015

By H. J. Conolly

The area around Osisko lake, the Horne mine, and the town of Rouyn, in northwestern Quebec, presents a most interesting structural problem. The present discussion is confined to an area around Osisko lake, about six miles long and three miles wide, shown in Figure 1. The writers are particularly indebted to Mr. Thayer Lindsley, of Ventures Limited, who sponsored the investigation and gave permission to publish this paper. Mr. H. L. Roscoe and Mr. Oliver Hall, of Noranda Mines, Limited, gave every possible assistance; and the Noranda geologists, Mr. H. M. Butterfield, Dr. Peter Priee, and Dr. G. G. Suffel, contributed many data and ideas. It is a pleasure to acknowledge also the fuidance of Dr. W. F. James and Dr. B. S. Buffam and the full use made o their maps and criticism. Dr. M. E. Wilson and Dr. A. Lang, of the Geological Survey of Canada, kindly furnished data on the geology in neighbouring fields. Mr. E. Bailey assisted ably in the field, and Mr. H. F. King kindly reviewed the text. Memoir 166 of the Geological Survey of Canada, The Geology and Ore Deposits of the Roztyn-Harricanaw Region, Quebec, by Cooke, James, and Mawdsley, proved an invaluable source of information. STRATIGRAPHY The following stratigraphie sequence is based in part upon the interpretation of the structure as outlined in this paper:

Jan 1, 1936

By Vilkul Yuri

Operation of the iron ore deposits of Krivbass which has been going for 130 years, has led to serious problems related to reaching great depths in open pit and underground mining. Extraction of the huge volume of rock mass (about 9 billion m3) resulted in mass violations of the natural state of the subsurface. At present most mining operations are carried out either by combined open pit and underground mining or by open pits in areas underworked by underground mining. Now the process of movement of the strata underworked by underground mines is not completed ? work fronts of open pits approach the areas of possible funnel, terrace and fissure formation, movement continue to develop. With deepening mining operations the remaining reserves are worked off under layers of incumbent rocks of > 900 m. Significant underground voids arise from mining "blind" deposits at large depths. Heaving of voids over the mined area lasts for decades; it may result in not only unpredictable time of funnel emerging and area development of movement synclines, but also the threat of air blows in mines. Forced caving of incumbent rocks as a way of controllable backfilling is difficult to achieve for economic and technical reasons. This is much more expensive and dangerous than stoping. Furthermore, the mining practice does not know examples of enormous volume backfilling under a km thick rock layer. Currently, RMI "KNU" is conducting research and pre-design work directed at creating a specialized pilot Geoinformation System (GIS) of continuous remote monitoring of rock mass in areas of underground voids influence in Krivbass area. Implementation of this system will enable to determine promptly in time and space the areas of the beyond cut off stress condition, to inform about possible occurrence of events that may result in accidents and to improve safety of mining along with other systems of forecasting and controlling the stress condition in rock mass. RMI "KNU", with a large number of professionals from many Ukraine?s leading mining research centers, has developed a research and design work program that includes the following principal stages: 1. Analyzing geomechanical conditions of combined mining of magnetite quartzite and rich ore deposits; determining mechanisms of moving of rock strata underworked by underground mining and places of hazardous area monitoring. 2. Investigating anthropogenic factor influence on the safe state level of rock strata underworked by underground mining (laboratory studies). 3. Developing processing techniques for continuous remote monitoring of rock mass in areas of underground cavity influence. 4. Modeling the state of rock mass based on results of pilot GIS hardware measurements. 5. Developing an expert diagnostics system for rock mass state in areas underground void influence. 6. Experimental investigation and testing the GIS, its improving for efficient application. After testing the pilot GIS it is supposed to be implemented at all mining enterprises as an integral part of iron ore mining and processing technology in the Krivbass area.

Aug 1, 2013

By Richard Jundis

At the Vale Inco Ontario Operations, the working environment is rapidly evolving with organizational changes, new business systems and software tools. These changes are required in order to meet today?s challenging business environment. Mining professionals are focusing on the development of safe and achievable mine plans to maximize mining value while reducing the potential of project delays and production shortfalls. This paper explores how new design tools, techniques and system designs in mine planning are being developed to optimize the value of every ton of ore mined and processed. To differentiate from other papers on long-term planning, this paper focuses on the concept of business planning at the mines. Business planning is the understanding and optimization of the relationship between mine plans and the value it adds in the overall process. The management and key stakeholders of Vale Inco have recognized that the development of a robust mine planning system and programs are essential for the long-term sustainability of the operations.

May 1, 2009

By Gordon W. Parsons, Ross E. Sampson

"THIS PAPER will trace the work done in bringing the Munro underground ""A"" •Orebody into production to replace the open pit, which was scheduled to be completed early in 1959. Included will be an outline of the exploration work and early planning, and of the final decisions on mining methods. Some of the more detailed work will be described and reasons will be given for the decisions made regarding development work, mine ventilation, ground support, and equipment. Brief mention will be made of open pit operations, as these have had some influence on underground development. Also, some of the main geological features of the ore occurrence will be de-scri0bed, as these had to be taken into consideration when making decisions on ore development and mining methods.LOCATION AND HISTORYhe Munro mine of Canadian Johns-Manville is in Ontario, approximately 50 miles east of Timmins and 40 miles west of the Que-bec-Ontari-0 boundary. The producing orebody is in the southwestern part of Munro township. Property controlled by the Company extends nortl1westerly about 2¥2 miles into Beatty township, on which two other interesting asbestos-bearing zones have been partially expl-0red. Active exploration work on the property was started in March, 194.9, and continued until the summer of 1950."

Jan 1, 1960

By J. E. Gebhardt, D. McBride, M. Cross

Heap leach processes can encounter diverse flow conditions, such as infiltration into dry ore material, drainage, perched water tables and heterogeneous materials, leading to large variations in permeability and the creation of preferential flow pathways. Climate and meteorological conditions, such as precipitation, evaporation, and temperature, can also have a significant effect on the hydrodynamics of the heap. Nonuniform and adverse flow behavior within the heap contributes to reducing the leaching efficiency of the heap leading to lower metal recoveries. The variability of flow within the heap can result in solute transport problems, which limit the leach reaction kinetics. Therefore, understanding the flow and transport phenomena within the heap is critical in its design and optimization. A comprehensive heap leach model, developed within a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) framework, employs robust algorithms to solve diverse variably saturated flow conditions. The model allows for a wide array of complex thermo-fluid physics to be represented and captures suites of very complex reactions that are closely coupled with thermal conditions and key microbial populations. Employing a three-dimensional heterogeneous ‘test’ heap, a number of flow conditions are investigated and the sensitivity of metal recovery is discussed.

Jan 1, 2014

By M. Dupuis

It has been previously demonstrated [1,2] that using selective collector bar rodding has a big impact on the uniformity of the current density at the top surface of the cathode block and hence on the intensity of the horizontal current in the metal pad, The present study investigates the impact of using selective collector bar rodding on the MHD stability of a 500 kA aluminium electrolysis cell, For this purpose the recently developed MHD package for the aluminium reduction cell time dependent behavior is used.

Jan 1, 2005

By Gurupraveen Ramanathan

Shallow-dipping orebodies (45°–60° dip) present significant challenges for underground longhole stoping, particularly due to limited gravity flow, drill misalignment near the footwall, increased potential for dilution from hanging wall overbreak, and deviation from drill string sagging at shallow angles. These geometrical and operational constraints often lead to unblasted ore wedges and excessive overbreak when standard practices are applied. This study develops a structured, data-driven framework to optimize longhole stoping in such conditions by integrating five key focus areas: (1) mining method selection, (2) stope and drift design, (3) drill and blast optimization, (4) equipment selection, and (5) performance evaluation. The suitability of longitudinal longhole stoping was validated for narrow vein geometries using orebody analytics and prior case studies. Geometric modeling was employed to determine optimal stope height (15–20 m) and stope width (1.5–2.5 m), with drift widths adjusted based on orebody dip to maintain drill access and minimize unbroken ore. Drill and blast design emphasized sequential blasting over multi-ring methods to improve void control, reduce wall damage, and enhance fragmentation. Specific burden and spacing guidelines (e.g., 1.8–2.3 m burden; 2.5–3.0 m spacing) were applied based on stope width and dip angle, and patterns were selected based on geometry—dice-5 for narrow stopes, and 3-hole rows for wider stopes. Drill rigs—including top hammer and ITH models from Sandvik, Epiroc, Boart Longyear and CMAC-Thyssen—were evaluated for compatibility with drift dimensions and alignment accuracy. Equipment was matched based on dip, drift width, and the ability to access the footwall at shallow angles. Sensitivity analysis quantified how changes in geometry, drilling accuracy, and blast design affect ore recovery, dilution, and operating cash flow. Results show that tailored drift and stope geometries, combined with proper blasting and rig selection, can boost ore recovery to over 95% and reduce dilution to below 5% in optimal conditions. This methodology offers a practical and economically optimized solution for shallow-dip mining scenarios.

May 4, 2025

By B. Galy, L. Giraud

"This paper compares Canadian provincial mining safety regulations regarding the use and testing of cage safety catches, including a brief history and evolution. Regulations are similar across provinces, with only slight variations. Currently, the “Ontario-type” safety dog is the most commonly used safety catch in Canada. Performance estimation of the compensation mechanism for different safety-dog shapes and tooth angles show this shape works well and has consistent braking results, but the best efficiency is obtained for initial tooth angles greater than 10°. Miner safety is questionable for lightly loaded cages, an issue that should be addressed technically and legislatively.RÉSUMÉ Le présent article compare les diverses réglementations de sécurité minière concernant les parachutes des cages dans les provinces canadiennes ainsi que les essais qu’ils doivent subir. Il semble que les réglementations soient semblables à travers les provinces avec quelques légères différences ou divergences. Un bref historique des parachutes et de leur évolution est présenté. De nos jours, le parachute de « type Ontario » est le plus fréquemment employé à travers le Canada et il présente des résultats de freinage uniformes. Une estimation de la performance du mécanisme de compensation pour les diverses formes de taquets de sécurité et les divers angles des dents montre que cette géométrie fonctionne bien; cependant, la meilleure efficacité est obtenue pour des angles de dents supérieurs à 10°. La sécurité des mineurs est mise en jeu pour des cages faiblement chargées et ce point devrait être traité du point de vue technique et du point de vue législatif."

Jan 1, 2016

By R. Bruce Graham

The formation, evolution and classification of peat bogs is discussed. Factors resulting in the internal and external morphological changes in a bog are described. The fibrous, absorptive and sterile properties of peat moss account for its widespread use in horticulture and related fields. These properties also account for its usefulness as a binder in pelletizing, as an insulating material in bat tons and in panel construction. Peat, the humijied product of peat moss is used in market gardening and sod growing. It is utilized in Europe as fuel. It is a source of activated carbon and gas. Potentially peat can be used to produce waxes, resins, tannins, cellulose, hemicellu/ ose, humic acids, lignin and hymatomelanic acid. At present other cheaper sources are available.

Jan 1, 1984

By G. Belzil, F. Robichaud, M. Fullam

"The Goldex mining and milling complex is operated by Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. and is located in the Abitibi greenstone belt of Northwest Quebec, Canada. The mill operates presently at a throughput of 8,250 tpd with gold grade varying between 1.8 and 2.2 g/t. The ore is very high in gravity recoverable gold (GRG) at about 92% and as such a significant emphasis was placed on the gravity circuit. Commercial production started in 2008. Average gold recovery is 93.5% with about 68% of gold recovery coming from the gravity circuit. Over the course of the first several years of production, several gravity audits were carried out. In 2009, a complete gravity audit was completed, including ore, classification, Knelson Concentrators, and the gold room. In 2011, an audit was undertaken of the flotation circuit to determine the efficiency by which GRG is floated. Large samples of flotation feed and tails were collected and process for GRG content. This allowed a link between gravity and overall recovery to be made. This paper presents results of the audits and the development of a model linking gravity and overall gold"

Jan 1, 2012

By Bern Klein, Malcolm Scoble, Justin Widdifield, Andrew Bamber

"It has been suggested that the pre-concentration of ore underground can bring positive economic and environmental benefits to underground mining, particularly at extreme depth. The integration of mineral processing systems for coarse waste rejection and disposal into the underground mining environment has a substantial impact on the economics and operation of the mine. A case study for the integration of underground pre-concentration at Falconbridge’s Thayer Lindsley and Fraser Copper operations in Sudbury, Ontario is discussed, with particular focus on ore evaluation, system design, integration, and impacts on the operation. Conclusions as to the overall feasibility and potential impacts of underground pre-concentration are presented.INTRODUCTIONObjectivesA scoping investigation has been conducted for Falconbridge Ltd on the Fraser Copper Zone and Thayer Lindsley mines in order to develop a better understanding of the operations, and to do a preliminary evaluation of the potential for pre-concentration of the ore underground. The objective was to develop a conceptual design and evaluation of a pre-concentration system for each site. The results are to be used as the basis for a more detailed future study.Underground Pre-ConcentrationThe pre-concentration of ore to reduce the quantity and improve the quality of material transported to the processing plant is not a new concept and has been in practise at several mines including the American Zinc Company in Mascot Tennessee (Munro et al, 1982), the Sullivan Mine in British Columbia and presently at Xstrata’s Mt Isa lead-zinc mine in Australia, as well as at several PGM mines operating in the South African Bushveld. For each of these mines, a high degree of waste rejection was achieved at a coarse particle size with good metallurgical recoveries. The benefits arising from the surface pre-concentration of ore are well documented in the literature (McCullough et al, 1999; Miller et al, 1978; Munro et al, 1982; Schena et al, 1990; Sivamohan & Forssberg, 1991)."

Jan 1, 2006

By P. M. Y. Waye, R. Yewen

"As mines utilize more automation in mining operations to improve efficiency and safety, a corresponding increasing demand is placed on the transport of information. Some of the recent technological advances in underground telecommunications are described for various data, voice and video applications. In particular, two new innovative underground communication systems are described, one with highspeed data at 30 Mbps and the other for minewide evacuation and safety applications.The high-speed data system incorporates state-of-the-art data networking technologies and the existing leaky-cable, narrow-band radio channels. The new system provides over the same basic infrastructure — the highspeed data network at 30 Mbps TCP/IP Ethernet with 100 Base-T interconnection, plus 32 narrow-band radio channels.The second system is a system for minewide evacuation with “through-the-earth” communication infrastructure. Emergency situations can be communicated to and from all the miners within seconds through a central control location. The technology involved does not require leaky cable or any other similar transmission media installation. Many applications are possible, including warning miners of emergency situations, mine rescue operation to communicate with trapped miners, and regular reporting from miners working alone."

Jan 1, 2002

By S. Steinlechner

"Today the common recycling technologies of automotive catalysts are either energy intensive pyrometallurgical processes generating huge amounts of residues or hydrometallurgical ones which have to cope with effluent problems. Next to that, other valuable metals beside PGMs such as rare earths from the wash coat are not recovered.Therefore, the present paper introduces a hydrometallurgical concept developed in cooperation with the company Railly & Hill for the recovery of the PGMs as well as cerium from the wash coat of the catalysts in a closed loop. Next to the process concept, the required parameters for the different steps are discussed, including the chemical reactions, leaching efficiencies and mass flows, which form the basis for an economic estimation of the concept.Contrary to the pyrometallurgical recycling where the monolith is completely melted down to slag which is typically dumped, in this process the remaining monolith forms an utilizable product for the ceramics/refractory industry. As a result of the closed loop of the leaching media an environmentally friendly process was developed from which nearly no new residues or effluents are generated, with a sustainable usage of chemicals."

Jan 1, 2014

By L. M. Pidgeon

"Part I. - PrinciplesIntroductionIf the oxides of the metals are listed in decreasing order of the magnitude of their heats of formation, the list appearing in Table 1 will be formed. It will be apparent at once that this is essentially the well-known electrochemical series (Table li). The metals at the bottom of the list exhibit great stability and are attacked only by the most violent of chemical reagents. Higher on the list, the metals become more reactive until, at the head of the list, the metals lithium and calcium are unstable in moist air.The reactive metals to be considered lie above manganese. In this group will be found familiar and abundant metals such as aluminium and magnesium, the unfamiliar yet abundant metal titanium, the rare and mysterious metal beryllium, and others of greater or less interest.While these metals exhibit properties as unlike as those of uranium and magnesium, they have in common a specialized and difficult extractive metallurgy. They form compounds of great stability, and their reduction is to varying degrees difficult. The position of a metal in Table 1 (and more particu1arly its position in the free energy column) gives a numerical value to this property.Oxides with low free energies of formation may be reduced with great ease; thus silver and mercury may be produced from their oxides by simple heating in air.Lead, iron, and zinc may be separated from their oxides by heating with carbon to moderate temperatures. Magnesium oxide, on the other hand, .requires a high temperature and very special conditions before it will yield magnesium metal."

Jan 1, 1950