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By J. Fox, K. Kocsis

"Planning for sustainable cooling potential requires protected space to successfully maintain chilled propylene glycol in storage until needed. Stored propylene glycol should be judiciously cared for, safely kept from the ill effects of heat, in order to remain useful for bulk air cooling. Minimizing the chilled temperature of the propylene glycol reservoir tanks means that atmospheric conditions will be monitored closely during the chilling phase. Storage facilities would maintain restricted airflow while minimizing possibilities for heat transfer during the storage phase. Sustainable cooling systems could reduce or eliminate the need for mechanical cooling if installed with favorable conditions. Storing the cooling potential from the winter months is what this new design is all about.INTRODUCTIONIn most subsurface, bulk air-cooling methods, the main source of potential cooling energy comes from cold-water applications. This paper investigates the practical use of harvested, chilled propylene glycol as the source of cooling potential. Propylene glycol is chosen as the cooling storage liquid refrigerant since its chemical make-up is intrinsically safe to fresh water supplies and will not harm underground workers should a leak occur in the closed cooling circuit. Harvesting the cold of winter is a meaningless endeavor without proper thermal planning for the storage of the cooling potential in cold refrigerant.PROPYLENE GLYCOL STORAGE RESERVOIRA new design for a closed refrigerant bulk air cooling system employing propylene glycol as the refrigerant is presented as the main design topic of this paper. Given that a deep and hot mine will need to be considered safe and productive, a cost-effective cooling system is desired in order for the mining operation to be considered sustainable. For underground mines at northern latitudes, cooling applied to fresh air is only required 3 to 4 months of the year. During winter, ambient atmospheric conditions can be harnessed and stored for use at a later time.The basis of this sustainable design uses very cold ambient air that is circulated around galvanized steel refrigerant reservoir tanks. The propylene glycol reservoir tanks are arranged in a concrete walled pit, or tank farm, excavated in bedrock. During the coldest months, the tank farm will be exposed to the open air. As the seasons change the tank farm will be covered with insulation to maintain the maximum cooling potential for use during the warmest months of the year."

Jan 1, 2019

By A. Rao, J. A. Davidson, B. L. Jones, K. W. Bowes, D. Craib

Supported by ANSTO, Groundwater Science and Inception Consulting Engineers, Boss has embarked on a series of technical projects aimed at reinforcing the Project’s capability to meet its export permit production capability. This paper will focus on three aspects of this technical program: Reducing the cost of resource expansion through smart use of low cost, surface target generation techniques; Improving the rate of uranium leaching and solution stability (gypsum, jarosite) through lixiviant chemistry modifications; and Development of an ion exchange (IX) process to increase production capacity, and integration of IX and the current solvent extraction circuit with the existing uranium precipitation and product preparation circuits.

Jan 1, 2020

By Adriana Ramirez, Bradford C. Wesstrom, Blanca Olave

The Freeport McMoRan El Paso Copper Refinery optimizes electrolyte quality using a number of systems. The facility controls copper, arsenic, antimony and bismuth using electro-winning cells within the Tank House and Nickel Carbonate Plant Liberator Circuit (NCP). The NCP manages sulfuric acid content utilizing recycled electrolyte in the slimes autoclave as well as operation of the Acid Purification Unit, APU. The El Paso Refinery removes common sulfates using metal hydrolysis with sodium carbonate. Finally, a Mechanical Vapor Recompression, (MVR), at the water recovery plant removes sodium sulfate generated by the NCP. This paper will provide a summary of these operations. INTRODUCTION In the mid 1920’s Nichols Copper Company, in Laurel Hill, New York, recognized the need for a modern copper refining facility in the southwest. Because of the many railroad heads, affordable power and abundant labor supply, and the close proximity to regional copper smelters in Mexico, Arizona, and New Mexico, El Paso became the ideal location. In December 1928, ground was broken for the joint venture refinery between the Nichols Copper Company, Phelps Dodge, and the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company. In September 1930, Nichols Copper Company became a part of Phelps Dodge Corporation after a stock exchange. In July 1938, Nichols Division officially became Phelps Dodge Refining Corporation. In March 2007, Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold acquired Phelps Dodge. Water is a precious commodity in the desert southwest, making conservation of this natural resource an important goal for the El Paso Operations. In the 1980’s, work on the treatment of slimes was improved through the use of pressure leaching of the refinery slimes using an autoclave. Due to the high tellurium content in the leached slimes solution, it was crucial to implement a method for its removal before the solution returns to the tank house electrolyte. A copper telluride cementation operation was installed for tellurium recovery and the ability for the recycle of the leachate and wash water to the refinery electrolyte. In October of 1997, ground was broken for the construction of the water recovery plant using an MVR to reuse process water, reducing water consumption by 25%. In 2002, electrolyte purification was further improved with the installation of an Acid Purification Unit, (APU) (Sheedy, Pajunen, & Wesstrom, 2007). The APU recycles 90% of the acids (both sulfuric and arsenic acids) back to the tank house electrolyte. The solution that passes through the APU is treated with soda ash to precipitate metals out of solution as carbonates and generates a sodium sulfate solution. This sodium sulfate solution is easily processed in the new water recovery plant, where the majority of the water recycles back into the plant as pure condensate. In 2012, the power plant at the refinery upgraded its Reverse Osmosis System to provide RO water to the tankhouse. This insured that the refinery would not have to bleed electrolyte for metals contained in well water such as: calcium, magnesium, iron and sodium chloride.

Jan 1, 2019

By Kri Inwood

"IntroductionIn 1879, when the Dominion government initiated its controversial program of industrial promotion, iron smelting in Canada was limited to one company producing coke iron on the mainland of Nov a Scotia and three small charcoal blast furnaces in Quebec. There was no steel production. By the eve of the first great war, iron and steel were being produced in very large quantities, the companies active in 1879 had disappeared and new centres of integrated iron and rolled steel production at Hamilton, Sydney and Sault Ste. Marie had come to resemble the industry as we know it today.The most dramatic change was that at Sydney, Nova Scotia, where in the early 1900s, two steelmaking companies established works. The Sydney developments have been explained as the result of resource discovery and technical change. W.J. Donald, in his authoritative account of the Canadian iron and steel industry, observes:""The most rapid growth of the Canadian iron and steel industry has occured since 1897... The remarkable growth has been caused largely by the new conditions of the industry. The discovery and use of Newfoundland ores, together with the availability of Cape Breton coal, has made the Nova Scotia industry not only possible but profitable ... It is a safe conclusion that the Canadian industry would not have been an important one, had it not been for the discovery of the Michipicoten and especially the Wabana (Newfoundland) ores""Donald also argues that metallurgical progress had been necessary to render the ores valuable,""Newfoundland ores ... contain a considerable amount of phosphorus, and were made available for steel-making by recent inventions.""The purpose of this paper is to re-examine Donald's story. It will be argued that the origin of steel -making at Sydney is somewhat more complicated than Donald has indicated. The difficulty with Newfoundland ore extended beyond its phosphorus content and a resolution required more than the basic open hearth furnace identified by Donald. Moreover metallurgical change was only one of several developments necessary to induce industrial investment at Sydney. Surprisingly, however, the discovery of iron ore in the late nineteenth century does not appear to be part of the explanation."

Jan 1, 1983

By Y. M. Jubeli

"Gamma-ray spectrometry, an effective tool in geological mapping, was used to de?ne boundaries between various lithological formations in three adjacent areas of Central Syria, namely, the Syrian Desert, Ar Rassafeh Badiayat and the Northern Palmyrides mountains.This paper describes the role of an airborne gamma spectrometric survey which was originally undertaken to assist uranium exploration. Interpretation of the total count data obtained through the survey has led to signi?cant modi?cations and corrections to the previously published distribution map of the palaeogene phosphate rocks.Another important result of the survey is the discovery of four previously unknown phosphorite horizons in the Rasm Al-Aawabed area of the Northern Palmyrides. In addition, previously unknown phosphatic horizons are outlined in the other study areas. The importance of this technique as an effective prospecting method, not only for U but also for exploring for the economically important phosphorite formations in Syria, is emphasized. Furthermore, its role in geological mapping is stressed, especially in areas that lack suf?cient geological data."

Jan 1, 1997

By Robert E. McIvor

"“Classification System Efficiency (CSE)” is a powerful, emerging tool that can be used to increase grinding circuit efficiency. It is defined as the percentage of the ball mill energy being used to grind target, oversize particles. The discovery, validation and current use of CSE, including how it was manipulated, are described through seven plant case studies. These resulted in efficiency improvements ranging from 3 to 30 percent, along with major reductions in over-grinding. The achievable CSE for any given circuit is described. This paper demonstrates both how, and how much, every plant can benefit from increasing grinding circuit CSE.DEFINITIONS: BALL MILL CIRCUIT “CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM EFFICIENCY (CSE)”, “EFFECTIVE MILL GRINDING POWER”: “WASTED/OVER-GRINDING MILL POWER”The closed ball mill circuit is shown in Figure 1. The extreme importance of the circulating load ratio in determining circuit productivity was demonstrated by Davis (1925) and re-published by Guadin (1939), as shown in Figure 2. The circuit production rate increases with increased circulating load ratio, rapidly so at first and continuing to increase more gradually with higher and higher values of circulating load ratio.The underlying cause of this relationship was seen when comparing the ball mill feed and product size distributions from two different ball mill circuits, one with a low circulating load ratio, and one with a high circulating load ratio (Figure 3). While the F80’s and P80’s of these two circuits were close to the same, the mill feed and discharge size distributions were quite different. The ball mill in the circuit with the higher circulating load ratio contained a substantially greater fraction of material coarser than the target P80, as indicated by the respective mill feed and discharge size distributions. This fraction represents the fraction of the mill power being expended on “coarse” (in this case, plus P80 size) material, or the circuit “classification system efficiency.” The “effective mill grinding power” is the total mill power multiplied by the CSE. The compliment of CSE, the remaining fraction of “fines” in the mill, is the fraction of the mill power being wasted, and spent on over-grinding of material already finer than the circuit target product size. This is the “wasted/over-grinding mill power”"

Jan 1, 2013

By C. E. Ells

Current knowledge of the behaviour of inert gases in metals is reviewed, with particular emphasis given to the phenomenon of the growth of gas-filled bubbles.

Jan 1, 1960

By J. R. Meyer, P. L. Dean

"The Department of Mines and Energy is at present investigating the dimension-stone potential of the Nain anorthosite complex. These rocks are known to host occurrences of labradorite, a semiprecious gemstone known for its beautiful play of colours (chatoyance). Test blocks that contain 5% to 18% chatoyant labradorite were extracted from three prospects south of Nain. These have been slabbed and polished for further evaluation.Second-grade labradorite stockpiled around the Grenfell quarry on Tabor Island is also being evaluated as a potential source of aggregate for use in terrazzo tiles, precast concrete and epoxy-backed wall panels.IntroductionThe Nain anorthosite complex consists of approximately 10000 km2 of anorthosite and related basic rocks , which are well exposed along the coast of Northern Labrador (Fig. 1) (Emslie et al., 1972). These rocks have been known for centuries to host deposits of gem-quality labradorite. The chatoyant nature (i.e. the play of colours or labradorescence) of this semiprecious feldspar has been utilized mostly in the making of jewelry and other polished, handcrafted products. In the early sixties, Brinex Limited (now Brinco Limited) attempted larger scale commercial exploitation of labradorite, including use 'as building stone and in polished precast concrete for facings on buildings' (Brummer, 1984). After six years of work, which included market studies, Brinex decided that, at that time, the demand did not warrant further production.In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the markets for dimension-stone. In the period from 1980 to 1985, the demand in the United States for granite, much of which is imported, has increased 1735070 (Marble Institute of America, 1986). The dimension-stone industry's remarkable growth rate has, in part, resulted from new technology that makes it easier and faster to quarry and cut stone. This has allowed natural storie to compete with other building materials. Now, it is not only used for exterior cladding and walkways, but also on interior walls and floors, and in home and office furnishings, such as countertops for kitchens and bathrooms, table and desk tops, stairways, window sills, and fireplaces."

Jan 1, 1988

By S. Rivard

"This paper demonstrates the selection of grinding circuit technology for a number of recent projects including discussion of the key drivers and the role of energy efficiency. Decreasing head grades combined with a strong and sustained increase in operating costs has forced miners to examine increased project size, increased equipment capacity and efficiency improvements in order to reduce their unit operating costs and improve overall project economics. Comminution energy consumption, safety and capital cost considerations play a critical role in the success of projects. This paper presents some key guidelines for a successful and cost effective comminution circuit design and includes a case study on three projects, outlining the issues and the drivers which led to the ultimate circuit selection and the critical role that energy efficiency played.IntroductionComminution circuits for minerals processing are selected based on their suitability and efficiency in reducing run-of-mine ore to the desired feed size for the downstream process. The input material (ore) properties and downstream process requirements are the key determinants and there are standard approaches for each circumstance.The minerals processing industry has been a fast adaptor of efficiency improvements based on increasing capacity of equipment (e.g. trucks, crushers, mills, pumps) but less successful in adapting radically new technologies that disrupt incumbent flowsheets or processes.The installed power of grinding mills has increased linearly over the past 25 years (Meka & Lane, 2010) and pumps and classification equipment have kept pace. The autogenous grinding (AG) and semi- autogenous grinding (SAG) mills displaced stage crushing as a dominant method of coarse rock breakage in many applications causing crusher manufactures to increase the capacity of cone crushers to meet the competitive demand.Examples of new comminution technology in the 20th and 21st centuries are the development and adoption of cyclone classification in the 1940s (Newtech, 2016), AG milling in the late 1950s, vertical grinding mills in the 1980s, high pressure grinding rolls (HPGRs) also in the 1980s and ultrafine milling technology in the 1990s (Meka & Lane, 2010)."

Jan 1, 2017

By J. Huh

Recently, there is growing trend to build the high-rise and install curtain walls. Following this trend, we developed robot for building wall cleaning work, which moves along Built-in guide rail of building. Because it moves attached at building wall for cleaning work, it can be seriously affected by potential threats, like earthquake, strong wind, malfunction, and construction error of built-in guide rail. In order to cope with those threats actively, this paper presents the Fail-Safety system. The building wall cleaning robot consists of two moving system: The Horizontal Moving System which mainly do maintenance work, and The Vertical Climbing System which transport the horizontal moving system floor by floor. We apply the Fail-Safety system to these systems. The Fail-Safety system consists of sensors to detect external situation, and, with information of sensors, give instruction for what to do. This robot system is installed with four kinds of sensors: shock sensor, infrared ray sensor, laser sensor, magnetic sensor. First, shock sensor detects external shock during cleaning work. When shock sensor detects big shock, the robot returns to starting point to inspect how damaged it is. Second, infrared ray sensor detects damage of built-in guide rail. It is to prevent destruction of robot caused by moving along damaged rail. Third, laser sensor gives notice about where obstacle is. It is for robot to avoid crash with obstacle and decrease damage. Fourth, magnetic sensor detects magnetic points, which are installed in rail at regular intervals, and helps robot to find its position, based on location of magnetic points detected. If robot is damaged by external shock and its encoder, which gives information of location to it, is not working, magnetic sensor will give information of robot?s location to robot. And then, robot regulates its velocity depending on position of it, and safely returns to starting point. The Fail-Safety system in this paper is for building wall cleaning robot to sense external threats, and prevent getting worse. Applied to this active protection system, making safe environment of maintenance work is possible for robot system.

Aug 1, 2013

A Joint Venture between Hope Bay Gold Corporation and Miramar Mining Corporation recently acquired the Hope Bay project in Nunavut, which represents the first discovery of a major new Archean greenstone gold belt in Canada since the discovery of Hemlo in 1982 and the Yellowknife belt in 1938. Located some 685 km North of Yellowknife, the Hope Bay Belt is geologically comparable to the other major gold producing regions of Canada. The initial discovery of gold mineralization in 1992 led BHP to acquire virtually all of the Hope Bay belt. Over the subsequent 6 years, BHP expended C$85 million on exploration, including 180,000 meters of drilling, 2.3km of underground workings and a 27,000 tonne bulk sample, as well as extensive environmental and economic studies. Hope Bay Gold and Miramar acquired the Hope Bay property in December 1999 for a cost of C$27 million, considerably less than the C$85 million spent by BHP in exploring the property. They both hold 50% of the project, and share expenses equally. Hope Bay Gold is the manager of all exploration phases and Miramar will manage feasibility, construction and operations. The Hope Bay Joint Venture controls 1,117 sq. km., covering virtually the entire 80 km long Hope Bay and adjacent Elu greenstone belts. We believe that Hope Bay is one of the best-undeveloped gold projects in Canada. Work to date has defined a global resource in excess of three million ounces of gold in three principal deposits, each of which is open to extension along strike and to depth. A C$17 million work program for year 2000 focused on advancing a significant portion of the gold resource to a measured and indicated category. This will provide the basis for initiation of a feasibility study in 2001. The 2000 drill program was one of the largest undertaken in Canada last year, and is a clear indication of our confidence that Hope Bay will develop into a major gold producing district. The majority of the potential mineable areas known to date lie within 350m of surface and would be accessed through a combination of open pit and declines. Currently, development of a 1,800 to 2,000 tpd gold mine producing in excess of 300,000 ounces of gold per year at cash costs below $US200 per ounce is envisioned. In addition, the exploration potential on the 80 km gold belt at Hope Bay is clearly tremendous.

May 1, 2001

By Michel R. Julien, Michel Lemieux, Jean Cayouette, Daniel Talbot

"The Louvicourt Mine located near Val d’Or, Quebec has been in operation since 1994. It produces copper and zinc concentrates. The tailings generated from the ore processing operations have a strong net acid generating potential. Louvicourt Mine, a grass root project, was designed for closure with the best available technology at the time of design. In order to inhibit short and long time acid potential generation, sub-aqueous disposal was selected at the design stage. Given the fact that disposal in a natural lake was ruled out up front for obvious reasons related to loss of natural habitat and risks of permitting delays, a man made facility built with dams was planned. This mine includes therefore the first fully man-made sub-aqueous tailings disposal facility built in Canada. The requirement of using sub-aqueous disposal had serious implications on the placement of tailings. This tailings facility located about 9 km from the mine site has been selected based on the available natural confinement, the favorable foundation and hydrogeological conditions. This paper describes the site and the design criteria that were used. A presentation is also made on the placement technique to maximize storage and its impact on the operation of the basin. The performance of the basin, the dams and the decant structures is reviewed.Résumé : La mine Louvicourt, située près de Val d’Or, Québec est opérationnelle depuis 1994. Elle produit des concentrés de cuivre et de zinc. Les résidus générés par les opérations de traitement du minerai possèdent un fort potentiel net de génération d’acide. Le parc à résidus de la mine Louvicourt, implanté dans un milieu naturel intact, fut doté dès sa conception initiale de la meilleure technologie de fermeture disponible à l’époque, soit la déposition sous couverture aqueuse et ce, dans le but de bloquer le potentiel de génération d’acide à court et à long terme des résidus. Etant donné que la déposition dans un lac naturel fut mise de côté dès le départ pour des raisons évidentes reliées à la perte d’habitats naturels et au risque d’introduire des délais dans l’émission des permis, un étang artificiel délimité par des digues a été conçu. Cette mine fut donc la première au Canada à être dotée d’une installation anthropique de disposition des résidus sous une pleine couverture aqueuse. L’exigence d’une déposition sous couverture aqueuse a eu des implications sur le mode de mise en place des résidus. L’emplacement de l’installation de gestion des résidus a été choisi en un lieu situé à environ 9 km du concentrateur sur la base du confinement naturel disponible et des conditions hydrogéologiques et géotechniques favorables. Cet article décrit le site et les critères de conception utilisés. Une présentation est faite sur la technique de mise en place utilisée pour maximiser l’entreposage et son impact sur l’opération du bassin. La performance du bassin, des digues et des structures de décantation est également revue."

Jan 1, 2004

By W. H. Moore

It seems necessary, at times, that we should reconsider some of the more obscure causes that lead to explosions of gas and coal-dust in mines, in the hope that a recapitulation will keep before us that old and true saying "eternal vigilance is the price of safety". This explosion, while not extensive (resulting in only two much to be regretted deaths) enlarged our vision as to the possibility and probability of other explosions with more disastrous results. As this is only a partial report I shall have to omit many things that are generally included in describing a mine explosion. The mine was worked exclusively with electric cap-lamps -only firebosses and other officials carried safety-lamps. All shots were examined and fired by firebosses with a small hand-battery. Monobel was used exclusively for blasting, and clay for tamping. The system of haulage iri use was main-rope and winches, horses being employed for gathering. Compressed-air was the motive power for all winches and pumps, excepting the pumps at the shaft-bottom which were steam-driven. The mine was wet with practically no dust anywhere, except what was being made at the coal-face in the getting of the coal. Gas was found occasionally, generally in the brushing, especially where the brushing was carried up to a small seam, 2 to 6 feet above the main seam. The place where the explosion took place was known as Leigh's heading, which was being driven to the rise, immediately inbye of the siding (off No. 1 left, off the new slope) and was about 90 feet up from the level.

Jan 1, 1926

By F. Pinto, C. A. Prato, R. J. Rocca, P. F. J. Huerta Soaje

"The seismic hazard for civil engineering structures is generally defined in terms of deterministic or probabilistic acceleration response spectra at an equivalent rock outcropping. The design of tunnels, however, requires the definition of demands in terms of accelerations at ground surface (near the portals) and in terms of both accelerations and velocities at different depths within the alignment. The design near the portals is controlled by inertial effects and is often times impacted by the possibility of slope instability and rockfall, whereas the design at deep sections is controlled by kinematic effects. These effects are accounted for in practice by introducing deformation patterns in the structure that are related to an assumed wavefield, often times ignoring the effect of the structural stiffness in the response. This paper presents a study regarding the definition of seismic demands for different sections of 14-km long tunnel in the Andes (Argentina-Chile), with a maximum overburden of 1750 m in a seismically active region. The tunnel will pass through volcanic massifs mainly composed by andesites and rhyolites.The study includes the definition of spectrum-compatible seismograms, deconvolution, and definition of accelerations and peak particle velocities for different overburden conditions. A kinematic interaction study for a 500-m tall ventilation chimney shaft is also described, where a simple formulation for the interaction analysis is considered in order to more accurately evaluate shear and bending demands. INTRODUCTIONThe seismic design of linear underground structures, such as shafts and tunnels, generally considers the inertial forces near the shallow sectors (e.g., portals) and the kinematically imposed deformations for the deep sections (e.g., Hashash et al. 2001). The inertial forces are often times evaluated on the basis of design spectra recommended by seismic hazard studies. The kinematic demands for the deeper sections, however, needs to be defined in terms of additional information which is not always indicated by the seismic hazard studies, e.g.; peak particle velocities and accelerations, and their variation with depth. These parameters can be determined by means of a site response analysis, whereby outcrop motions can be deconvoluted in order to evaluate motions inside the ground mass (e.g., Schnabel et al., 1972). Hashash et al. (2001) defines factors that may be used in order to account for attenuation of motions inside the ground mass. However, these factors are provided for depths up to 30 m only, whereas depths of tunnels structures can range up to thousands of meters."

Jan 1, 2015

By Alex Cormode, Carlos Perucca

"Sylvinite ore from the Saskatoon area typically contains about 5% insolubles, occurring as clays and carbonates. These insoluble slimes must be removed sufficiently well to permit an efficient subsequent potassium chloride flotation, due to their high adsorptive capacity for amines used as potash collectors. The insolubles are liberated from sylvinite by high attrition scrubbing in a slurry. The liberated slimes are separated by multistage cycloning or by a selective flocculation-flotation process.An outline of the potash processing operations at Agrium Vanscoy Potash Operations is given, emphasizing the insoluble slimes froth flotation separation process. This process was originally implemented at the Agrium plant in the mid- 1970's and replaced a hydrocyclone system.IntroductionAgrium Vanscoy Potash Operations is located 40 Km southwest of Saskatoon, almost midway between the communities of Vanscoy and Delisle. Processing operations started in 1969, and the annual production capability was subsequently increased to the current 1.8 MM tonnes per year of muriate of potash.The mining operation at Agrium Potash which was described in a paper by Jones and Pruggerl , is done underground using four large continuous double rotor boring machines for the main production with development done by heliminers. Annual ore production is 5.5 MM tonnedannum. Ore is hoisted 1,100 m to surface for processing."

Jan 1, 1999

By E. C. W. Perryman

Materials research and development has played an important role in the commercial success of the CANDU- PHW nuclear reactor and in the production of heavy water. Both capital investment and energy conservation demand very high component reliability in such systems. The interactions among reliability, plant performance and economics will be discussed in relation to materials research and development. Likely materials requirements for the nuclear industry over the next twenty five years will also be discussed.

Jan 1, 1977

By Michael Farley, Paul Dufour

"Relationships, Partnerships,Marriages (RPM)RPM has a nice musical ring to it, but it is in fact synonymous with science and technology, university-government -corporate links and the more genera l issue of university roles in technology development. Pick up any report on one of these issues, and chances are that you will find one of these key words in the title. Play it, and you will find that the revolutions per minute are increasing. It is difficult to keep track of the wide variety of institutional experiments now developing in Canadian universities in attempts to marry science and research with technology commercialization and technology transfer.Why is the role of Canadian universities in this matter important? There are at least five good reasons:1. It is important because these knowledge institutions are producer s of scientific research, a major component of technology. Today the gap between the two is rapidly shrinking.2. It ' is important because Canadian industry is turning to universities for tech no logy development and new knowledge. Figure 1 shows that universities are becoming an important source of technology available to Canadian firm s; more important in fact than government. Figure 2 illustrates this trend more graphically in showing that university collaboration is one of the preferred methods of industry participating in co-operative R&D efforts:3. The role of Canadian universities in technology development is also important because the provincial and federal governments have embarked on various programs and policies for promoting the use of technology and science for economic benefit. Universities are playing an increasing role here. For example, the submission of IDEA Corporation (a venture capital operation funded by the government) in Ontario to the Bovey Commission on the Future Development of Ontario Universities clearly spelled out its ideas for commercialization of university research in Ontario . Among other things, the brief suggested that Ontario's universities need to be better equipped to transfer technology, and the reward structure in university research must incorporate industrial interests."

Jan 1, 1986

By H. Ikeman

"The highly specialized communication systems used in the mining industry place exacting demands on equipment and transmission media. Safely and reliability of services are perhaps the two most important factors. Fibre optics is ideally suited 10 meet these stringent requirements. Aside from being an intrinsically safe, non-sparking and EMI/RFI immune medium , fibre optics offers greater reliability , higher quality of services and superior flexibility over conventional copper or radio-based communication systems.This paper wilt show how fibre optics can be applied in mining industry applications. Emerging trends and concepts will be presented to show how fibre-optic-based integrated service communication networks and local distribution systems can be implemented.IntroductionCommunication requirements in today's mine s are varied and extensive. The communication system must be rugged , safe and reliable, yet provide an ever increasing amount of high quality services. Presently, these systems are implemented using conventional copper cable. As mining method s and technology advance and the demand for better and more communication services increases, traditional systems quickly reach their limitations. It is under these circumstances that we turn to fibre optic communication systems.Fibre optics is a mature technology which is finding its way into more and more applications worldwide. A fibre optic communication system can provide a level of performance unattainable by conventional cable systems yet ca n be cost competitive. As is well known, fibre optics provides a noise-free, noise-immune, high -capacity communications channel. Glass fibre, being dielectric and non-sparking, is an intrinsically safe communications medium. Clearly, it is ideally suited to the harsh environment present in a mine.From a communication systems point-of-view, the topology of a deep mine is unique. The objective of the systems engineer is to implement a total communications capability throughout this wide spread area. Ideally all classes of services should be accessible throughout the network-an integrated network concept. Recent advances in communications technology combined with fibre optics make this realizable."

Jan 1, 1984

By M. Gangal, M. Grenier, D. Mchaina, S. Hardcastle

"Exposure to airborne respirable silica in surface and underground mine operations is known to be the cause of industrial lung diseases. For this reason, silica is a regulated substance and worker exposure must be monitored regularly. Diesel exhaust also contains substances which are potential caricinogens. In an underground setting, diesel particulate may be the main component of what is referred to as respirable combustible dust (ReD). Although diesel particulate or soot is not at present a rigorously regulated substance, new epidemiological data is prompting North American institutes and agencies to regulate diesel soot or RCD exposure. This paper describes a method where by silicaand RCD exposure may be determined using a single personal sample. In this method, an airborne respirable dust sample is obtained and analyzed nondestructively for silica components using an on-filter X-ray diffraction method. Filters are then ashed at 500°C in a muffle furnace over a four-hour period to determine mass loss due to RCD burning. Using on-filter X-ray diffraction analysis as opposed to redeposition of dust samples onto another analytical substrate allows the"

Jan 1, 1992

By Suzie Nantel

Crystalline igneous rocks, known commercially as granite, are exploited in Quebec f rom more than twenty-five quarries for building, ornamental and monumental purpose$. Quebec is the main Canadian producer of construction granite, accounting for nearly 90 per cent of total production. Jn the last three years, this industry has experienced an important growth due to improved marketing and use of modern equipment in rock-cutting and polishing. Jn /983 a 35 per cent sales increase is forecast. The main rock varieties extracted are the following: porphyritic pinkish grey granite and green charnockite from Riviere-dPierre, mahogany brown granite and black anorthositic rock f rom the Lac Saint-Jean area, fine-grained pink granite from Guenette, coarse-grained brown quartz monzonitefrom SaintA lexis-des-Monts. All these rock types occur in the Grenville tectonic province whereas a medium-grained, light grey granite, Devonian in age, is extensively being quarried in the southern part of the Appalachians. In the Superior province a greenish black diabase and a deep red granite are extracted. Search for new varieties and deposits is actively being carried out by prospectors and by the minis/ere de /'Energie et des Ressources du Quebec following growing demand for granitic and gabbroic rocks as dimension stone.

Jan 1, 1984