Search Documents

By K. D. McBean, W. H. Hannay, B. A. Stimmel

The electrolytic plant at Trail, B. C., was erected by the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Ltd., for the treatment of zinc ores and concentrates, particularly those of the Sullivan mine at Kimberley, B. C. It began operations in 1916 at a rated capacity of 60 tons of cathodes per day, which has been steadily increased to the present production of 400 tons per day. The Sullivan has furnished the greater part of the zinc so far produced, although notable tonnages of customs zinc concentrates have been treated. The maximum yearly tonnage of customs concentrates, 25,000 tons, was treated in 1926. Practically no customs concentrates hale been treated since 1929. The total bar zinc production to the close of 1935 was 1,092,782 tons. The zinc mineral in the Sullivan ore is marmatite of somewhat variable composition, ranging between 6ZnS.FeS and 8 ZnS.FeS. Practically all the zinc ores tributary to this plant are marmatites; and the iron content of the zinc mineral varies considerably. The formation of zinc ferrite during roasting is now a matter of common knowledge, so the possible extraction from any zinc concentrate is largely a function of the iron content; the progress made in concentration is reflected directly in zinc-plant recovery. The Trail plant operafes on the low-acid system, as do all the other major plants on this continent at present operating, except the electrolytic plant of the Sullivan Mining Co. at Kellogg, Idaho. The new Magdeburg plant, in Germany, occupies an intermediate position between high and low acid. Plant operation at Trail will be treated in this paper under five main sections: roasting, leaching and purification, electrolysis, cadmium recovery and melting. The oxide section of the plant, treating zinc fume from re-treatment of lead blast-furnace slag, is practically a separate zinc plant; this is necessary because of the presence of fluorine in the smelter zinc fume. Cadmium is recovered electrolytically from the purification residues of both the sulphide and oxide leaching plants.

Jan 1, 1937

By Kymberley Worrell

The Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine was acquired by Newmont in August 2015. The high grade flotation mill project was commissioned in February 2014. The mill to date has been throughput limited due to mechanical and design issues. In order to create the most value from a throughput limited plant a campaign to provide timely ore characterization was undertaken. A diagnostic leach methodology was developed to determine gold associations by ore type. The resulting associations were then used to characterize feed blend; gold losses and optimize gold production. The diagnostic methodology is presented along with discussion on flotation implications.

By L Dyer, A Keith, G D. Corder

As mining activity moves to remote and less developed locations globally, a holistic approach to mine development is fundamental for achieving a balance between strong financial returns and corporate social responsibility and transparency. Key inter-related fundamentals such as social licence to operate, life-of-mine operational planning, minimising environmental impacts and, most importantly, attractive investment returns for the mining company all contribute to the viability of any new mining project.However, the typical practice in the mining industry is often to treat environmental and social/community aspects as separate compliance issues that are dealt with at minimum cost and disruption to the project and resulting operation. This often results in less than optimum environmental and social outcomes, and presents considerable liabilities at the time of closure when rehabilitation programs continue to require funding when all revenue has ceased.The five capitals model seeks to identify each of the key contributors to sustainable development as financial, manufactured/physical, social, human and natural to formulate a type of triple bottom line approach balancing these often competing project factors. The SUSOP® sustainability risks and opportunities framework, developed by the mining industry, bases its approach on the five capitals model and proposes an approach that breaks down enterprise silos to identify innovative solutions for life-of-mine sustainability. This framework has been developed with the nature of mining projects in mind in order to produce approaches and outcomes relevant throughout the life cycle from the planning phases, through project design and construction into operation and closure.This paper argues the need for a more holistic approach to the development and operation of mining projects, and presents case studies where a holistic approach has been applied, in whole or part, and discusses the lessons learned from these case studies.CITATION:Corder, G D, Keith, A and Dyer, L, 2014. A capitals based approach – leading innovation in planning for life-of-mine sustainability, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2014, pp 499–512 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 16, 2014

By D. M. S. Bhatia

Five sulfide minerals from the Magiwnt mine, southeast Missouri were analyzed for 31 trace elements in over 300 samples by laser microprobe spectrographic analysis of polished sections. The concentration of several trace elements shows a pattern of progressive variation with depth (space) and variation with different paragenetic stages (time) of each mineral. Factor analysis of the geochemical data shows sympathetic correlation both in space and in time of Bi, Cd, Ge, and Sn in galena and sphalerite, and Ni and Co in sphalerite and marcasite.

Jan 1, 1979

By Edward H. Robie

IN many ways, the Annual Meeting of the Institute in February was the most successful yet held. Attendance surpassed even that of the 75th Anniversary Meeting in 1947 with its international flavor. The number of technical sessions and the number and quality of papers presented almost certainly set a new record. The banquet was the best attended of any yet held even though the price reached a new high. Despite the demand for almost 1700 tickets to the banquet, some felt that the price-$13.50-was higher than they could afford. There are two points of view: One is that this is the big social event of the year for members and that it is worth from three to five dollars more to have it at the Waldorf and to have a luxury menu, as we did this year, with turtle soup, a fish course, guinea hen for the entree, and wild rice (which we understand is $3.50 per lb) for a vegetable. The other point of view is that a seven or eight dollar banquet of more simple food at the Commodore Hotel would more than make up in appeal, especially to the younger and less well-heeled members, what it would lack in glamour.

Jan 1, 1952

By Sara Swiokla Korsikas, Toren Olson, Amado Guzman, Yuri O. Zepeda P

Ore agglomeration has been used as part of the heap leaching process for the last 40 years. However, industrial experience shows that the lack of a universal agglomeration standard has limited the benefits of this, otherwise, valuable unit process. The more complex the ore, in terms of the nature and relative abundance of fines (<74 μm), the more important that the agglomeration product satisfies some minimal requirements. This paper presents an agglomeration scale that identifies the quality standards for agglomerates and documents the resulting mechanical, physical, and hydraulic (hydrodynamic) behavior associated with each level on the agglomeration scale. The hydrodynamic properties of an agglomeration product are critical for the proper design of a leaching operation and, as shown in this paper, can be used to select the optimal pretreatment method for a given ore sample. Agglomeration as a unit process not only allows better conditioning of the hydrodynamic behavior of the ore but also creates an opportunity for optimized delivery of reagents to kick-start the leaching process which may ultimately improve the economic performance of leaching. Industrial case data is used to demonstrate the shortfalls associated with low-quality agglomeration and the benefits of improved agglomeration which range from enhanced porous structure (better percolation and drainage characteristics) to better metallurgical response (faster kinetics and higher metal recovery). Proper agglomeration has been used to render otherwise untreatable ores into valuable leaching resources.

Feb 9, 2024

By Robert L. Frantz

The U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) established on August 15, 1983, a Generic Mineral f Technology Center (GTC) for Respirable Dust within the Mining and Mineral Resources Research Institutes (MRIs) at The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and West Virginia University (WW) in association with participating MRIs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Minnesota (UMN). The primary goal of the Center is to reduce the incidence and severity of respirable dust disease through researching and advancing the fundamental under- standing of all aspects of respirable dust associated with mining and milling and the interaction of dust and lungs. Other Center activities include the training of engineers and scientists, graduate students and undergraduate students through their respective institutions, and the technology transfer to the industry. The Center also serves as the reference center for publications in the respirable dust area.

Jan 1, 1986

By C. R. Kuzell

GEOGRAPHICAILY the industry of reducing and refining of copper continued to migrate from the .United States during 1931. While this country is losing the predominant position of its copper industry, our engineers still enjoy their pre-eminent position as leaders in the design and operation of the new plants being brought into production in the four quarters of the globe. Progress in the art, as indicated by the construction of the recently completed works, has not been revolutionary. Standard methods have been followed, augmented by novel features in flow-sheets demanded by the results of progress in the art of ore-dressing, and by reason of problems incidental to the peculiarities of the new ores being treated. Design and construction progress has likewise been orderly and without radical departure from less recent practice; new features in primary and secondary equipment being logical developments to provide for special conditions to keep abreast of improve¬ments in accessory apparatus. The new plants are being rapidly brought in without hazardous novelties and for the purpose of yielding the principal ingredient, copper, in as large a volume as it will he possible to market; the old United States procedure. In the meantime the domestic plants are shut down or operating at a very low capacity, threatened with untimely demise unless the metallurgist can extract and develop other valuable products from the ores. International agreements .and tariff protection may be a temporary reviving stimulant, but for many mines the days of profit will be numbered unless the ores can be made to yield as values the ingredients now being discarded. Invisible progress in this direction has been made during the past year, and it is to he hoped that time will prove that the outstanding progress of 1931 was in the development of processes for the ultimate recovery of by-products from copper ores, perhaps even relegating the value of the copper yield to secondary importance.

Jan 1, 1932

By W. J. Cherones

This paper describes the history of the development and application of the electric mining shovel in open-pit mining, dea1ing particularly with far-reaching advancements in three primary areas: metallurgy, mechanical design and electrical systems. Hoist drives and crowd drives, including the Magnetorque and Electrotorque systems, and the integral propel drive are given close attention.

Jan 1, 1972

By A. B. Hooker, L. C. IlsLey

Explosives have been fired electrically for several decades. Mountains have been tunneled, deep shafts sunk, extensive coal and metal mine workings excavated and, in times of war, railroads, buildings, bridges, and fortifications have been destroyed by means of electrically fired explosives. Modern engineering depends so much on explosives that their safe and efficient handling and especially their detonation are of prime importance to all those connected with the use of explosive agents. Electric shot-firing is only one method of igniting explosives, but it is rapidly spreading and because of certain inherent safety features should be encouraged. Data collected by the Bureau of Mines indicate that in the United States a large percentage of the blasting in quarries, shafts,· and tunnels, and from 15 to 25 per cent of the blasts in mining operations, are set off electrically. The Bureau of Mines is interested in electric shot-firing because of its use in mining, and especially because electric methods, when properly applied, are undoubtedly safer than other methods commonly used. Electrical problems of many kinds must be solved in dealing with the various phases of electric shot-firing. Success in using an electric detonator is closely linked with the resistance of its bridge, the resistance of its leg wires, and the insulation of its current-carrying parts. The proper layout of a circuit where a number of shots are to be fired simultaneously depends not only on the types of detonators that are used and their arrangement and interconnections, but also on the size and insulation of the wire leading back to the source of power, and even on the source of power itself. Various types of electric shot-firing machines have been developed, and these offer still another field for study. In investigations of electric detonators and electric blasting equipment, the oscillograph is valuable because it can record electrical activity over very short intervals of time. By its use more complete information about electrical performance can be obtained than by any other means.

Jan 1, 1926

By F. J. Alcock

IN the summer of 1934, gold was discovered on Lodge bay, on the north shore of lake Athabaska in northern Saskatchewan, about fifty miles east of the Alberta boundary line. The first claims were taken up by the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, Limited, and there was a &apos;rush&apos; to locate similar showings. Staking continued through the summer and succeeding winter, and in the spring of 1935 the provincial government established a recording office at a convenient point which is central to the more important holdings and where &apos;planes can land in any weather. During the past summer, the name of this townsite was changed from Beaverlodge to Goldfields, and a post office was established here. The season was one of great activity; a great deal of assessment and development work was carried out and a large amount of further prospecting done. In addition to the work by private companies, geological investigation was carried out in the region by a Federal Geological Survey party under the charge of the writer and a reconnaissance examination was made of an area of some 7,000 square miles surrounding the region of particular interest. Though this was the first discovery of gold in the region it was not the first occasion that prospecting had been carried out along the north side of lake Athabaska. Over twenty years ago, a number of prospectors were at work in the area and a large number of claims were staked, many of which were never recorded. One man by the name of Piché, in the years 1910, 1912, and 1913, took up a considerable number of claims north of Pine Channel narrows, east of Fond du Lac. His discoveries, which consisted of small showings of sulphides in sedimentary gneiss, proved to be of no economic importance. In 1915, a sudden widespread interest was aroused by the report that a sample of ore collected near Fond du Lac had yielded a very high assay in silver. In March and April of that year, prospectors began to rush into the field by dog teams to take up claims, and, as soon as the Athabaska river was free of ice, others started by boat from Athabaska Landing. Some hundreds of claims were staked and recorded in the Dominion Land Office at Edmonton or at Fort Smith. By July, most of the prospectors had? left the region, having failed to find any silver ore. In 1921, considerable prominence was given to the area a few miles east of Goldfields by reports that very large masses of iron ore were available there. Claims were taken up, but the material is much too low grade to be considered commercial ore.

Jan 1, 1936

By Howard P. Hamlin, John W. Sweeney

Shales , clays , and loess in Iowa were tested and evaluated to determine feasibility of producing lightweight aggregate by commercial rotary - kiln or sintering methods . Preliminary testing was conducted in a muffle furnace . Rotary - kiln tests were conducted in a 16 - inch by 14 - foot rotary kiln . Concrete cylinders and cubes were tested to determine qualities of the aggregate . Three samples made suitable lightweight aggregate by rotary - kiln methods and two by sintering .

Jan 1, 1964

By G. Van Weert

Separation of minerals by shape has received little attention, since minerals normally do not break into different shapes during crushing and grinding. However, comminution of consumer wastes generates opportunities for novel separations based on particle shape. For instance, ductile plastics are broken into longer curved shapes, whereas brittle plastics yield angular particles. Using spouting beds for particle separation in water requires controlling the spout&apos;s instability. The preferred geometry for such redesigned spouting beds is reported. Plastic cylinders, discs and spheres were separated as a function of rising water velocity and amount of particles in the system. By using 5 mm particles, differences in settling behavior could be video recorded.

Jan 1, 1999

By J. G. Kirby

The total number of petroleum refineries in the United States decreased during 1951, while the total crude-oil charging capacity continued to increase. There were 350 refineries as of January 1, 1952, compared with 357 a year earlier, according to the annual Bureau of Mines capacity survey. A gain of 369,241 barrels in daily refinery crude through-put capacity during 1951 brings the total to 7,332,885 barrels daily. The capacity of the average refinery to process crude-oil was 20,951 barrels daily, an increase of 1,445 barrels daily over the previous year. Capacity added in the Texas Gulf district accounted for 36 percent of the total increase; the Indiana-Illinois-Kentucky district, 23 percent; the East Coast district, 19 percent; the Oklahoma-Kansas district, 12 percent; and the Texas Inland district, 11 percent. The California district was the only one reporting a decline in crude-oil refining capacity, the total being 14,200 barrels daily below the previous year. Reported as under construction January 1, 1952, was an additional crude-oil capacity of 282,680 barrels daily, an increase of 77 percent over the January 1, 1951, total of 160,100 barrels. The capacity now building is for the expansion of existing facilities, since no new plants had been begun as of the first of the year. Three or four companies have plans to build refineries in the Williston Basin area of North Dakota, but no definite locations or dates when construction will begin have been announced.

Jan 1, 1952

By Geoffrey Gilbert

The Montana Phosphate Products Co., subsidiary of the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, operates three phosphate properties north and northeast of Garrison, Powell County, Mont. Production of all three is from the same phosphate bed, a 3 to 4-ft. member of the Phosphoria formation, whose outcrop is traceable across the mountains of the Garnet Range in a series of southeasterly pitching folds. Because of topographical differences and of variations in the attitude of the bed, each property has its own mining methods and problems. Most of the phosphate rock produced since 1930 has been shipped to the plant of the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. at Trail, B.C., where it is treated with sulphuric acid for conversion to phosphoric acid, which in turn is used to produce various fertilizers. History The occurrence of rock phosphate in Montana has been known since 1910, and the Garrison area was mapped by the United States Geological Survey in 1913. In the nineteen twenties William Anderson, owner of a ranch 8 miles north of Garrison, discovered phosphate on his land, and the Montana Phosphate Co., which later became the Montana Phosphate Products Co., was formed to work the deposit. Montana Phosphate Products Co. later obtained United States leases on two adjoining parcels of ground, and this combined property, known as the Anderson mine, has been the main source of Con-solidated&apos;s phosphate rock. The mine now includes an adjoining parcel leased from Anaconda and mined from the Anderson workings. In 1940, the Graveley mine, a small privately owned property 6 miles east of the Anderson, was leased from the owner by Montana Phosphate Products Co., and a U. S. lease held by Graveley on some adjoining ground was subleased. In 1943 the Luke mine, on the Mineral Hill property, 1 3/4 miles south-southwest of the Graveley, a U. S. lease, which previously had produced a few thousand tons, was optioned from the lessees by Montana Phosphate Products Co., and is now being developed. At both these mines the rock is appreciably higher grade than at the Anderson mine. Geology The Phosphoria formation is the Permian member of an extensive sequence of Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks. It is underlain by Pennsylvanian (Quadrant) quartzite and Mississippian limestone, and overlain without any marked unconformity by Jurassic (Ellis) shale and Cretaceous shale and sandstone. In the Garrison area, the Phosphoria itself consists mainly of about 50 ft. of gray to yellow chert. Immediately below the chert is the phosphate, usually 3 to 4 ft. thick. Below the phosphate occur a few

Jan 1, 1948

By Geoffrey Gilbert

The Montana Phosphate Products Co., subsidiary of the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada, operates three phosphate properties north and northeast of Garrison, Powell County, Mont. Production of all three is from the same phosphate bed, a 3 to 4-ft. member of the Phosphoria formation, whose outcrop is traceable across the mountains of the Garnet Range in a series of southeasterly pitching folds. Because of topographical differences and of variations in the attitude of the bed, each property has its own mining methods and problems. Most of the phosphate rock produced since 1930 has been shipped to the plant of the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. at Trail, B.C., where it is treated with sulphuric acid for conversion to phosphoric acid, which in turn is used to produce various fertilizers. History The occurrence of rock phosphate in Montana has been known since 1910, and the Garrison area was mapped by the United States Geological Survey in 1913. In the nineteen twenties William Anderson, owner of a ranch 8 miles north of Garrison, discovered phosphate on his land, and the Montana Phosphate Co., which later became the Montana Phosphate Products Co., was formed to work the deposit. Montana Phosphate Products Co. later obtained United States leases on two adjoining parcels of ground, and this combined property, known as the Anderson mine, has been the main source of Con-solidated&apos;s phosphate rock. The mine now includes an adjoining parcel leased from Anaconda and mined from the Anderson workings. In 1940, the Graveley mine, a small privately owned property 6 miles east of the Anderson, was leased from the owner by Montana Phosphate Products Co., and a U. S. lease held by Graveley on some adjoining ground was subleased. In 1943 the Luke mine, on the Mineral Hill property, 1 3/4 miles south-southwest of the Graveley, a U. S. lease, which previously had produced a few thousand tons, was optioned from the lessees by Montana Phosphate Products Co., and is now being developed. At both these mines the rock is appreciably higher grade than at the Anderson mine. Geology The Phosphoria formation is the Permian member of an extensive sequence of Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks. It is underlain by Pennsylvanian (Quadrant) quartzite and Mississippian limestone, and overlain without any marked unconformity by Jurassic (Ellis) shale and Cretaceous shale and sandstone. In the Garrison area, the Phosphoria itself consists mainly of about 50 ft. of gray to yellow chert. Immediately below the chert is the phosphate, usually 3 to 4 ft. thick. Below the phosphate occur a few

Jan 1, 1948

By J. van Deventer

Volatile gold prices in the face of rising costs for mining and refining is causing the mines to look for new ways to reduce costs and increase recoveries. This task is complicated by the fact that the gold in hereto unexploited reserves is associated with increasingly complex ores - either preg-robbing, refractory, associated with high concentrations of copper, or all of the above. Ion exchange resins can play a significant role in this quest for improvement. Although ion exchange resins have been used in Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries for the recovery of gold for many decades, it is still not widely used in the Western World. Synthetically manufactured ion exchange resins can be tailor-made to suit the chemical and mechanical characteristics of a specific application. As such, ion exchange resins can be used in a variety of solution matrices (e.g. cyanide, thiosulphate and acid), and process designs (recovery from clear liquor after solid-liquid separation or directly from the leached pulp). In this paper, a number of applications are discussed along with a review of recent developments in ion exchange technology.

Jan 1, 2014

By Brian Gettinger, Jim Schlaman, Alston Noronha

"INTRODUCTION The public understanding of green solutions today is based on the definition of sustainability adopted by the Brundtland Commission (World Commission on Environment and Development) in 1987: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Over time this initial definition evolved to identify three distinct factors impacting sustainability that are often referred to as the “Triple Bottom Line”: Economic, Environmental and Social. The triple bottom line approach seeks to drive outcomes that create maximum value for all stakeholders. In the last ten years purveyors of water and wastewater tunnel solutions have found themselves on the wrong side of a politically polarizing issue in the crosshairs of politicians, environmental activists and community groups branding tunnels as expensive, “gray” and not-sustainable. Tunnels under design were stopped and large planned tunnel programs were delayed or canceled. Therefore being sustainable and “green” is not simply using natural vegetation, but creating an asset that meets current and future needs and will not become a future liability. As this paper will discuss, tunnel projects embody a sustainable triple bottom line project well, are equally sustainable as green infrastructure, and have begun to gain awareness for their sustainability. GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE CHANGES TUNNELING LANDSCAPE The green movement quickly swept across the nation in the mid to late 2000’s and was a hot topic in the media and at all the local, regional and national industry conferences. Politicians espoused the benefit of green infrastructure including job creation, urban renewal, aesthetics, property values economics and sustainability. The political microscope was focused the closest on stormwater and wastewater management, particularly in communities responding to combined sewer overflow (CSO) consent decrees from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As communities with CSO problems evaluated their long term control program (LTCP), local government officials and planners began to balk at the huge price tag required for compliance and began looking for alternatives. “Green” infrastructure was proposed as lower cost solution that could be used to offset capital-intensive “gray” infrastructure like new sewers, storage tanks, tunnels, and treatment facilities. In addition, including green infrastructure in a previously negotiated LTCP required a reset on the entire planning process, additional studies and more planning which would push capital investment further off into the future, subsequently delaying unpopular user rate increases. As a result, tunnel projects as well as trenched conveyance and treatment plant projects that had not yet started construction were stopped, delayed or substantially changed."

Jan 1, 2016

By G. W. Evatt

This paper presents the scientific framework underpinning the Resource Valuation and Optimisation Model (RVOM). The RVOM is a Real Options software package, which helps mine owners optimally plan their operations, understand their project risks, and make defensible valuations. This is achieved in the presence of both financial and physical uncertainty. The three key outputs from the RVOM are: Valuation, Optimal Decision and Probability of Decision, where a decision can include any combination of: normal operation, expanded operation, care and maintenance, and abandonment (and variants thereof). This paper presents a clear example of the RVOMs usage to a case-study gold mine.

Jan 1, 2011

By L. R. Burdick

The Smokescope is an instrument recently developed for determining the density of smoke by shade comparison. The instrument is designed so that the smoke is seen adjacent to two shades of gray corresponding to Nos. 2 and 3 on the Ringelmann chart. Data on smoke density are important in the smoke-abatement field. The method that is specified and accepted as standard for smoke-density determination by the majority of city smoke regulations involves comparing the smoke shade with the four shades on the Ringelmann chart as published by the Bureau of Mines.2/ This investigation was made to determine the accuracy and convenience of the Smokescope. It was conducted as a part of the Bureau I s air-pollution work, which includes the study of techniques that will promote smoke abatement. The accuracy of the Smokescope was arbitrarily defined as the difference between the Smokescope determinations and the determinations by the accepted, standard method and was expressed as Smokescope correction. Although the corrections obtained were strictly correct only for the two observers and the Smokescope of the investigation, they indicate what might be expected from any observer who uses a Smokescope with reference shades that duplicate those of the test instrument. The report is devoted largely to the data on Smokescope correction, which were taken from a single stack under controlled smoke conditions. Field work, which was done at various locations with different stacks, is mentioned briefly in connection with the comparison of the convenience of the two methods. The data for estimating Smokescope correction were taken for the three variables that were expected to affect the results, namely, the density of the smoke, the amount of light, and the color of the sky behind the smoke.

Jan 1, 1955