Search Documents

By Edward C. Stephens, Robert R. Coats

High-grade copper ore was discovered in 1932 in the long-dormant Mountain City (Cope) mining district, Elko County, Nevada. From 1932 to 1947, the one producing mine in the district, the Mountain City Copper Mine, produced 1,109,878 short dry tons of ore averaging 9.745 per cent copper, 0.274 ounces of silver, and 0.0057 ounces of gold per ton. The Mountain City Copper Mine is developed in eugeosynclinal rocks of Ordovician age, the Valmy Formation, which is part of the upper plate of the Roberts Mountains thrust. On the Valmy were deposited unconformably first, a elastic formation of Devonian or Mississippian age, the Grossman Formation, succeeded unconformably by a ·sequence of three conformable formations, the Banner, the Nelson, and the Mountain City. The Banner Formation probably is early Late Mississippian in age; the ages of the Nelson and Mountain City are not known precisely but are believed to be of Late Mississippian and Carboniferous(?) age, respectively. A thick formation of elastic rocks, limestone, and volcanics, the Reservation Hill Formation, has been thrust over the Mountain City. The age of the Reservation Hill is unknown but is presumed to be Pennsylvanian(?) and Permian(?). Several plutons of Cretaceous quartz monzonite intrude the Paleozoic formations; they and the intruded formations have been laid bare by erosion, and several sequences of volcanic rocks of Miocene and Pliocene age, and perhaps in part older, have been successively deposited on irregular erosion surfaces. The primary mineralization of the Mountain City Copper Mine is believed to postdate the deposition of the Nelson Formation and to predate the intrusion of the quartz monzonite. The primary ore bodies are lenticular in shape and are composed largely of quartz, pyrite, and chalcopyrite. The ore lenses, in general, strike northwestward and dip northward. They occur in the Valmy Formation within a definite stratigraphic sequence composed largely of shales with associated minor quartzite lenses. The ore is epigenetic. The principal ore body, the "200," was completely leached to the 200 level. Abruptly beneath the barren gossan was supergene copper sulfide ore, much of which assayed 50 per cent copper. The secondary copper minerals are sooty and massive chalcocite, bornite, and covellite. The supergene enrichment of the ore may have required a large part of Tertiary time.

Jan 1, 1968

By P. Munjal

"Usage of Supercritical CO2 in place of high pressure freshwater has proven to be a potential breakthrough in the technique of fracturing. Tapping of carbon footprints from feasible sources like industries can be used to manufacture Supercritical CO2 required for fracking. Supercritical CO2, being less viscous than water, creates complex and coherent micro-fractures which can connect many more natural fractures greatly, increasing maximally the fractures’ conductivity leading to an increment in production. The better clean-up property of Supercritical CO2 provides auxiliary benefits of immediate evaluation of fracture zones, usage of an optimized quantity of mesh proppant and elimination of the need of swabbing. Also, Coal has a stronger affinity for CO2 than for CH4. When CO2 is present, CH4 on coal is replaced by CO2. This also ensures rigorous recovery of gas from the coal beds. Use of Supercritical CO2 will obliterate many problems as the CO2 used for fracturing is either sequestered beneath the crust or is recovered at the surface and reused. Therefore, injecting CO2 into coalbeds achieves not only enhanced CBM recovery, but also greenhouse sequestration underground. INTRODUCTION Coalbed Methane At various times in the geologic past, earth had dense forests in low-lying wetland areas. Due to natural processes such as flooding, these forests were buried underneath the soil. As more and more soil deposited over them, these dead plant remains were compressed. As the process continued the plant matter was protected from biodegradation and oxidation, usually by mud or acidic water. Under high pressure and high temperature, dead vegetation was slowly converted to coal. The omnibus process of formation of coal, thus, comprises of conversion of dead plant matter into peat, followed by its conversion to lignite, then sub-bituminous coal, after that bituminous coal, and lastly anthracite. This process of enrichment of coal as it is progressively forced deeper into an ambience with higher temperature and pressure involves biological and geological processes that take place over a long period and is called coalification. During coalification, large amounts of methane-rich gas are generated and stored within the coal on internal surfaces; hence comes coalbed methane. Coalbed methane (CBM), a gas formed as part of the geological processes that are responsible for the generation of coal, is adsorbed into the solid matrix of the coal during its formation process. Coalbed methane is distinct from a typical sandstone or other conventional gas reservoirs, as the methane is adsorbed and not absorbed. The methane is in a near-liquid state, lining the inside of pores within the coal. The open fractures in the coal that result from the liberation of volatile materials (and subsequent contraction due to the liberation) from the coal due to the high temperature and pressure conditions encountered, called cleats, may also contain free gas or can be saturated with water."

Jan 1, 2015

By J. Lazareck

"XPotential Products Inc. has developed technologies to convert auto shredder residues and other forms of plastic waste into useful products such as posts suitable for retaining walls and parking curbs. The technology is competitive provided low-cost plastic waste is available, and could have applications throughout the world. The paper describes the technology used and illustrates the various processing steps. Development of the TechnologyPresently, state-of-the-art auto shredding yields approximately 75% ferrous and non-ferrous metals and approximately 25% by weight of auto shredder residue (ASR). Advances in metal shredding and non-ferrous metal separation technologies turned XPotential Products Inc.’s attention to ASR as a potential revenue source, or at least a means to markedly reduce the cost of disposal. This abundance of nuisance ASR was, in the company’s view, a potential resource as derelict autos and white goods were similarly perceived 40 years ago. As owners of General Scrap & Car Shredder Ltd. in western Canada, XPotential faced significant disposal costs for four shredders. This journey began over 10 years ago and took many twists and turns until a final course of action was chosen. The recovery of the metallic portion of vehicles and white goods has reached technological maturity and attempts to add value are now achievable only in very small increments."

Jan 1, 2004

By P. A. Olubambi

The leaching of zinc and copper from Nigerian bulk sulphide ore with sulphuric acid in the presence of hydrogen peroxide was studied. The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant for the sulphuric acid leaching of zinc and copper from a complex sulphide ore. Distribution of elementals within the various particle sizes was initially determined by ICP-OES and XRF to provide a basis for explaining the dissolution process. The effects of concentration of hydrogen peroxide, particle size, stirring speed, and leaching time at a constant temperature of 298K were studied. There were variations in elemental and mineralogical composition within the different sizes. The concentrations of zinc and copper reduced as particle size decreased while silica, sulphur, iron and lead contents increased. Dissolution results showed that the leaching rate of copper was lower than that of zinc. The highest recoveries of zinc and copper were obtained at a leaching time of 180 minutes, stirring speed of 160 rpm, particle size of 75 µm and a concentration of 1M H2SO4/1MH2O2. It was observed that the leaching rate of zinc and copper increased with increasing hydrogen peroxide concentration. Increased stirring speed had a negative leaching effect as it promotes hydrogen peroxide decomposition. Keywords: Nigerian sulphide ore, zinc, copper, hydrometallurgy, sulphuric acid, hydrogen peroxide.

Jan 1, 2006

By G. A. Savanick

The Bureau of Mines has designed, fabricated, and field tested a water jet cutting device capable of perforating nonmetallic well casings for the purpose of completing or stimulating in situ uranium leaching wells. The device is lowered into the wellbore, where it issues a high-velocity water jet that penetrates either a polyvinyl chloride or fiberglass casing, cement, and from 1 to 4 feet into the surrounding uraniferous sandstone. The resulting perforations allow leaching solution to pass between the sandstone and the wellbore. This report describes the water jet perforator, tells how it is used, presents cost data, and discusses the results of laboratory and field tests. The tests were designed to (1) determine the optimum operating conditions for water jet perforation, (2) assess the effects of changes in these conditions, (3) evaluate the performance of the water jet perforator under actual conditions, and (4) compare this method with other methods of well completion. These tests showed that water jet perforation is superior to conventional well completion methods for selectively achieving communication between the well-bore and adjacent sand while maintaining sand control, for restoring permeability lost through wellbore damage, for stimulating poorly performing wells for completing wells with casings that have inside diameters as small as 2 inches, and for extending the effective well diameter.

Jan 1, 1981

By T. Kagawa

Ever-increasing demands for non-ferrous metals owing to population growth and improvements in the standard of living in the world, under the constraint of limited availability of natural resources, would easily make us imagine that more efficient and sustainable developments in mining and smelting activities are required in the near future with due consideration for environmental concerns. In order to realize the efficient and sustainable development of mining and smelting activities and operations, the following issues are indispensable: (1) to investigate the up-to-date pollution control technologies of mine and smelter, (2) to promote those technologies, (3) to develop technologies which are environmentally friendly. This paper discusses the recent technologies for environmental conservation/prevention and their diffusion in the world, and also the key technologies required for the most desirable sustainable development.

Jan 1, 2007

By Thomas Fraser, E. A. Holbrook

The data in this bulletin were obtained during an investigation of screening practice by the University of Illinois engineering experiment station and the United States Bureau of Mines under a cooperative agreement between them and the State of Illinois Geological Survey Division. Earlier work on this subject includes a study of the general practice of coal preparation in Illinois, made in 1914 and published in 1916/ and an investigation of Illinois coal-w.ashing methods, results of which were published in 1912 in a bulletin 2 that contained complete information on the methods then in use for sizing washed coa 1.

Jan 1, 1925

By Christopher Andreae

Years before iron and steel works were established at Sydney, several thriving although short-lived iron works operated in Nova Scotia. These furnaces reflected the general nineteenth-century North American experience with iron works. At the beginning of the century, small furnaces struggled to supply local needs. Charcoal was the principal fuel and water powered most furnace equipment. By the end of the century, a few huge primary iron and steel works dominated production for Nova Scotia and the rest of Canada. Two sites achieved prominence in the nineteenthcentury Nova Scotia iron industry: Londonderry and Ferrona (Fig. 1). Londonderry, the larger and longerlasting of the two sites, is today a small village on the south flank of the Cobequid Mountains, about 30 km west of Truro. Prior to the establishment of an iron works in 1849, no community existed. At the peak of operation in the 1880s, however, over 2600 people were located there. The second site, Ferrona, today is a mere crossroads on the map, about 10 km south of New Glasgow. Following the construction of a blast furnace there in 1892, a small village grew up around the furnace. But once the furnace was blown out in 1904, the population gradually drifted away.

Jan 1, 1999

By Richard H. Lindgren

I appreciate this opportunity to discuss with you OPIC's new policies designed to assist U.S. minerals companies in developing new sources of minerals overseas. A comparison of recent figures on U.S. investment in mineral exploration, development and production gives results which are remarkable --and disturbing. Through the 1960's the flow of U.S. foreign direct investment in mining and smelting in the developed and less developed countries were nearly equal. However, by 1973, roughly 80% of all exploration expenditures by mining companies was taking place in the developed countries and principally in the U.S., Canada and Australia. Clearly it is to the interests of both the developing countries and the United States to put these figures back in better balance. As you may be aware, the administration as a whole is examining systematically what can be done by government to reduce the disincentives and increase the incentives to mineral investment in the less developed countries --the LDCs. A subgroup of the National Advisory Council chaired by the Treasury Department has been formed to coordinate U. S. Government policy and program efforts relating to mineral and energy development in these countries. Among other matters, this subgroup will examine how public policies could positively influence the private investment decision-making process in the minerals industry.

Jan 1, 1978

By R Justa Cámara, J María Bertrán Llop

"The need for suitable geotechnical characterisation of the rock mass for underground construction is evident. The enlargement project of Railways of the Generalitat of Catalunya (FGC) in Sabadell is a patent example.In general, it is uncommon to encounter problems in the identification and characterisation of certain relevant weak rock formations, which affect project designs. However, all materials should be properly studied, as mischaracterisation can lead to a suboptimal design, resulting in construction problems during the course of the work.Good quality rock is generally not difficult to characterise, but this is not the case for Quaternary or Tertiary cemented soils. Geotechnical investigations based on boreholes do not provide enough information because samples are often badly damaged during the drilling process, if appropriate techniques are not taken. The samples can be altered and may not be representative of the in situ?material.The design and construction of the extension to the FGC line in Sabadell highlighted the importance of the characterisation of Quaternary and Tertiary cemented soils, in particular their rigidity and its underestimation. The twin tunnel project had a total length of 5.1 km, including five stations with 3.5 km excavated by tunnel boring machine (TBM). The remaining 1.6 km was constructed using cut and cover methods. The TBM portion of the tunnel had a bored diameter of 6.83 m with an internal radius of 3 m and 0.25 m thick precast concrete segments. Much of the tunnel alignment passed through and was affected by the presence of certain stiff layers of Quaternary cohesive materials.In this paper the TBM challenges faced will be discussed in detail. In particular:  TBM excavation rate reductions and overheating problems due to the required excessive thrust and torque floating problems in the lining due to nil earth pressure over the rings and the development of an improved, controlled setting time mortar to address this issue block-in and block-out methodology for each station, in some cases with internal blocks to prevent earth pressure drops and soil scouring the relevance of performing simpler solutions, for example, hyperbaric interventions to examine the cutter wheel tools when it has been shown that interventions under atmospheric conditions were equally feasible the implementation of conventional bivalve machines as standard procedure for excavation of diaphragm walls in stations, where in fact, hydrocutter machines or pile boring machines may have been required, given the mechanical characteristics of the materials to be dug out.CITATION:Justa Cámara, R and María Bertrán Llop, J, 2014. Underground extension of the FGC line in Sabadell through cemented soils, in Proceedings 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference 2014, pp 161–170 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Sep 17, 2014

By S Joyce, Z Agioutantis, D van Zyl, D Shields

Over the past 15 years, the mining industry has begun to incorporate the concepts of sustainable development and sustainable mining practice across the life cycle of mineral operations. This requires addressing economic issues, community impacts and concerns and environmental protection, and is captured in part by the phrase ‘design for sustainability’ (McClellan et al, 2009). Over the same period, the industry has seen a gradual decline in ore grades for many mineral commodities. As a result, large volumes of tailings and mine waste rock are being produced around the world, and it is expected that the annual production volumes of these materials will increase, even if there is not a significant change in the demand for materials.Another related thread of change has been the realisation that societies need to move away from linear economies (raw materials, production, consumption, disposal) towards more circular ones. This will help societies become more resource efficient, which is defined by the United Nations Environment Programme as reducing the total environmental impact of the production and consumption of goods and services, from raw material extraction to final use and disposal. The goal is to create more with less and deliver greater value with less input. Circular economies require thinking in terms of the waste hierarchy (reduce, reuse, repurpose, recycle, recover, landfill).The challenge is that the waste hierarchy was originally designed to address embodied mineral content in products rather than mine waste and tailings generation. It will need to be reconsidered in a mine life cycle context, focusing on a value-based conception of waste (Van Ewijk and Stegemann, in press).In parallel to these changes, it has remained an imperative in the mining industry to dispose of these waste materials as economically as possible while protecting the environment. Single handling of these materials has been the main target, which reduces the life cycle costs of their management but may make reuse of waste and tailings technically more difficult or economically infeasible.This presentation explores a rethinking of the large volume earthen material waste issue at mines. The underlying theme is that some or all of these materials can be valuable resources for the future that can positively contribute to sustainable development. These resources can offer economic gains to firms, communities and societies; contribute to environmental well-being; enhance social interactions with the previously mined landscape if handled properly; and, with proper policies in place, reduce governance commitments. Each of these topics will be briefly explored. This will be followed by a discussion of approaches to manage design and operations to allow future resource recovery.CITATION:Van Zyl, D, Shields, D, Agioutantis, Z and Joyce, S, 2015. Waste not, want not – rethinking the tailings and mine waste issue, in Proceedings Tailings and Mine Waste Management for the 21st Century , pp 7–10 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 27, 2015

By R. J. Reuss

Mina Maria is a high-grade, underground copper mine located in the Cananea district of Sonora, Mexico. The ore body is a massive sulfide breccia located in mountainous terrain. A major highway and an electric transmission line pass directly over the near-surface ore body. The mine is operated by Minera Maria SA de CV, a joint venture company that is 51 % owned by Empresas Frisco SA de CV and 49% by Cominco Resources International Ltd. Empresas Frisco is the operating partner. Production began in October 1990. The mining method used is undercut and fill. A continuous miner and a single-boom, hydraulic jumbo mine the ore. Backfill is a weakly cemented sand-gravel mixture that is pneumatically placed. The ore is treated by conventional crushing, milling and flotation. The Maria deposit is located about 40 km (25 miles) south of the Sonora-Arizona border and 11km (7 miles) northwest the city of Cananea and the Cananea Mine. The mine portal, at an elevation of 1780m (5840 ft), is on the east side of an important drainage divide. The mill site is situated about 800 m (2625 ft) northwest of the mine on the northwest side of the drainage divide where the drainage is more favorable. Its elevation is 1860 m (6100 ft) (Fig. 1).

Jan 1, 1992

By R. Sharon, P. M. Hawley, X. Ochoa

"Development of Barrick Gold’s Pierina gold mine in north-central Peru requires construction of a waste dump for disposal of nonore grade materials stripped from the open pit to expose the ore. The waste dump site is located near the open pit in a U-shaped valley that is underlain by thin colluvial and morainal soils with locally thick peats and glaciolacustrine deposits. Bedrock underlying the site consists of variably weathered volcanics. The site is subject to moderately high seasonal rainfall and significant seismicity. The geotechnical quality of the waste rock is highly variable, ranging from low-quality, degradable, soil-like materials containing appreciable quantities of silt and clay, to high-quality, hard, durable, blocky waste rock.A hybrid dump design concept was developed that requires in-pit segregation of highand low-quality waste, and selective placement of materials in the dump to maximize stability and enhance internal and subsurface drainage. The design includes a rock drain beneath the dump along the axis of the valley and a series of connected finger drains. Extensive peripheral diversions and stormwater control measures to inhibit infiltration of precipitation are also included.This paper discusses the unique challenges presented by the site and waste materials, the design methodology and stability analyses, and planned monitoring systems."

Jan 1, 2003

By K. E. Yassin, A. Yehia, M. Amar

Phosphate fines (size ≤ 45 μm), from the Red Sea Region, Egypt, were subjected to beneficiation process to recover the phosphorite grains from such fines. The sample is characterized by low P2O5 content (18.78%) associated with gangue minerals such as silica (22.77% SiO2) and carbonate (2.01% MgO) indicating its low grade. Phosphate pre-concentrate was prepared by gravity separation, using Falcon, where 63.37% of the phosphate, with 24.94% P2O5, 1.46% MgO, and 10.54% SiO2, was firstly recovered reducing the mass flow to the subsequent beneficiation process. However, the gravity tailing was the feed for the reverse phosphate flotation using bench scale column flotation where oleic acid was used as a carbonate gangue collector and amylase enzyme as a phosphate depressant. Under the appropriate flotation conditions (0.1% amylase, 5·10−4 mol/dm3 oleic acid, and temp. 30 °C), phospho-concentrate assaying 0.61% MgO, 13.14% SiO2, and 27.85% P2O5 with a P2O5 recovery of 55.45%, was finally obtained without the use of expensive depressants, e.g., phosphoric acid or sodium silicate. A tentative flow sheet for the whole process was postulated.

By Robert Hopler

Some few years ago, when the cruiser “Brooklyn” was passing through the fairway to the southwest of the Battery, the ship being fully equipped with stores, etc., and therefore at her maximum draft, she grounded quite heavily upon some obstruction, and received injuries which necessitated her docking at the Brooklyn navy yard, where extensive repairs had to be made on her damaged bottom.

Jan 1, 2007

By Eugene L. Grumer

High-expansion foam was applied to the flames of six fuels burning in a 1-foot-diameter tray. The flames of three hydrocarbon fuels were more readily extinguished than the flames of methanol, acetone, or unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine. The result is rationalized on the basis that heat transfer from flame to fuel surface is primarily radiative with the hydrocarbons and more largely convective with the nonhydrocarbons. INTRODUCTION Equipment for producing high-expansion foams has been developed by the Bureau of Mines to control coal mine fires.5 Recently such equipment has been redesigned for portability and has now been produced commercially for other fire-fighting applications. In May 1961, a 50-by 50-foot gasoline fire was extinguished within 2 minutes by a trailer-mounted foam unit that produced 12,000 cu.ft./min. of high-expansion (1,000:1) foam.6

Jan 1, 1962

By Neel Gupta, Dustin M. Crandall, Brijes Mishra

X-ray computed tomography (CT) images of rock specimens often contain artifacts which must be corrected before scientific analyses are performed. This paper presents a new workflow of automated image processing to utilize poor-quality X-ray CT scan images. The workflow runs on the open-source image analysis software and efficiently separates desired features from low-contrast scanned images. The new workflow is a two-step technique using contrast enhancement and automated feature segmentation to generate noise-free binary images. The results of binary images using the proposed workflow and using a conventional thresholding technique are analyzed to show the quality of the proposed method. The paper also presents a workflow of estimating the structural geometries of features in two and three dimensions. The results of the structural feature analyses and computational time were compared between the open-source (ImageJ) and commercial image analysis software (Bruker Computed Tomography Analyzer). The commercial software was more computationally efficient, but the task-specific macros in open-source software enabled the user-desired automation in image processing and data extraction of desired structural features of comparable quality.

Sep 8, 2022

By Bill A. Hancock

In Situ leaching for the recovery of uranium from low grade sandstone deposits is one of the newest technological advances in the mineral industry. It is rapidly developing into a commercially feasible mining system which has economic, environmental, and social advantages over conventional mining systems. Because of the current uranium shortage, development of In Situ leaching into a sophisticated system has gained new impetus. In Situ leaching will become an important mining technique in the future, which will greatly help to supply uranium for our nation's energy heeds. In this paper, I will be giving an overview of the merits of the system, as well as the technology, problems, and research in solution mining of uranium.

Jan 1, 1977

By E. P. Youngman

This paper is one of a series of digests of foreign mining legislation and court decisions that is being prepared in advance of a general report relative to the right of American citizens to explore for minerals and to own and operate mines" in various foreign countries. In the preparation of this interpretation of the laws of Norway, use has been made of William R. Orrmins' translations of various acts of the Norwegian Government, which were forwarded from the American consulate at Oslo^ and transmitted to the Bureau of Mines through the courtesy of the State Department. This digest is released subject to amplification and correction, if necessary, by the proper American foreignservice officers.

Nov 1, 1932

By T. Joseph, E. Zheng, M. Curley

"Hydraulic transportation efficiency and production optimization are considerations in the surface extraction of Athabasca oil sand deposits. To reduce the dependence on haul trucks, it is possible to extend the hydraulic transport system to production faces using a mobile at-face slurry system (AFSS). The flexible arrangement of connected pipelines transports slurried minerals from the mining face to the processing plant. An experimentally verified mathematical model indicates the friction loss of oil sand slurry associated with the AFSS. Laboratory-scale testing enables extended analyses for examining pipeline slurry transport in an oil sands environment.RÉSUMÉ L’optimisation de l’efficacité du transport hydraulique et de la production sont des considérations importantes dans le domaine de l’exploitation à ciel ouvert des gisements de sables bitumineux de l’Athabasca. Afin de réduire la dépendance envers les camions de transport, on envisage d’étendre le système de transport hydraulique aux fronts de taille à l’aide d’un système mobile de transport des matériaux sous forme de boue à partir du front de taille (AFSS, de l’anglais at-face slurry system). L’organisation flexible des conduites reliées permet le transport de minéraux à l’état de boue du front d’exploitation jusqu’à l’usine de traitement. Un modèle mathématique vérifié de manière expérimentale indique la perte de charge par frottement des schlamms provenant du traitement des sables bitumineux associée à l’utilisation de l’AFSS. Des essais en laboratoire permettent de mener des analyses approfondies portant sur le transport de boues dans des conduites dans un environnement de sables bitumineux. INTRODUCTIONObjectives and scope of studyThe at-face slurry system (AFSS) concept has become a competitive means for materials handling to optimize haulage system efficiency and cost. The mobile and flexible arrangement of the AFSS introduces a unique set of hydraulic transport problems. This paper will focus on developing the mathematical models governing the friction and head losses within the AFSS concept.Background of the problemLarge-capacity shovels and dump trucks are increasingly used for excavation, loading, and hauling in the operation of surface mining. Production cost and efficiency optimization are demanded during the Athabasca oil sands (Alberta, Canada) mining process to secure North America’s energy supply. Increasing haulage distances, rugged terrain, and a constrained mine environment are conditions that will reduce the effectiveness of the shovel-truck haulage system (Frimpong, Szymanski, & Changirwa, 2003). In such conditions, the tire heat index and weight, distance, and time limits for truck haulage can be exceeded, simultaneously creating extreme tire wear and high maintenance costs. In addition to low production cost and equipment effectiveness, a mining environment also requires efficient waste-material recycling and distribution. Waste materials need to be recycled from the processing plant to a new destination such as a tailings dam, or replaced in mined-out areas such as backfill. The Athabasca oil sands configuration and location characteristics result in a mining environment that would benefit from flexible pipelines for constant production and an efficient waste-material recycling process."

Jan 1, 2017