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By T. L. Tanton

"The New Helen mine is 12 miles east of Michipicoten harbour on lake Superior. It is 2 miles east of Wawa station, on the Algoma Central railway, with which it is connected by a spur line railway and a highway.The mine was discovered by Ben Boyer in 1898 during the gold rush near Wawa lake, Ontario. The original discovery was of solid hematite ore extending to a height of 100 feet on a hill rising abruptly on the east side of Boyer lake. The property was acquired by the Algoma Steel Corporation and mining was commenced in 1899. The first iron ore was shipped in 1900. The mine was operated until 1918 when the hematite became exhausted at a depth of 800 feet below Boyer Lake level.Drilling at the Helen mine, after 1910, revealed a large body of siderite both below and to the east of the hematite. By 1913, the body was known to be about 200 feet wide, 3,000 feet long, and at least 2,200 feet deep. In this there was estimated to be 100,000,000 tons of proved and probable siderite ore. An adit was driven into this body in 1917, and in 1918 work was suspended. In 1937 the Algoma Steel Corporation proceeded with the development of the New Helen mine by open-cut mining, and the beneficiation of the ore by sintering. Production commenced in 1939 and has since been maintained at the rate of approximately 500,000 tons a year.From 1900 to 1918, inclusive, the total production from the Helen mine was 2,823,369 tons of hematite ore and 51,930 tons of pyrite. From 1939 to the end of 1945 the total production from the New Helen mine was 3,921,455 gross tons of siderite ore.GEOLOGYThe Helen property is underlain by rocks of Precambrian age. For general description, and a statement on the structure of the iron deposits, the map-units are those shown in Fig. 1.The oldest rocks occur in a complex that lies north and south of an east-west trending zone, 1 ½ miles long and ¼ mile wide, in which the iron deposits occur. That part of the complex lying south of the iron deposits includes small masses of altered conglomerate and slate, and greenstones and pyroclastics. Other fairly abundant rocks are sericitic, chloritic, ottrelitic, and carbonatized schists of doubtful origin, and almost massive metamorphic rocks in which a development of carbonate, ottrelite, quartz, and other minerals has obscured a pre-existing schistose structure. Felsite and quartz porphyry are· prominently exposed south of the iron deposits."

Jan 1, 1954

By M. B. Hopkins

FOR years the expression "except rubber, tin, and manganese" has appeared in practically every discussion of the natural resources of the United States. Knowledge that natural rubber is not produced in the United States has now spread from the relatively few who have reason to be interested in the country's basic raw material supplies to all those who ride in automobiles, which means everybody. This "everybody" reads in the daily papers that we have a stock pile of natural rubber and that plenty of synthetic rubber is just around the corner. Statistics as to the United States' rubber requirements and sources of supply are of interest to him only to arrive at an answer to the question : "After taking care of rubber requirements for military purposes, will there be rubber for my automobile and the many other rubber articles I want?" More than 30,000 different rubber articles are manufactured in addition to the tires and tubes which use up about 70 per cent of the rubber supply.

Jan 1, 1942

One of the major unknowns in the use of iron and copper is the quantity of various low level impurities, particularly hydrogen, that may be introduced during the deoxidizing process prior to casting. Introduction of hydrogen results in the embrittlement of components made from these metals. In addition, hydrogen bubbles in castings of copper result in the formation of blisters and swelling of the casting. During the last year, a significant effort has been made at the University of Missouri-Rolla to understand the permeation of hydrogen in galvanized automotive steel components and the hydrogen absorption during the electrodeposition of copper. The galvanized steel components consisted of automotive upholstery clips, seat belt holders and brake clips. Although the process of galvanization protects the steel from corrosion the process invariably causes the steel to pick up enough hydrogen to make it susceptible to brittle fracture.

Jan 1, 1992

By A Geldenhuis, M Hagger, J Maree

Disposal of mine water is a worldwide problem occurring in the coal and gold as well in the metal ore mining areas. Since southern Africa is a (semi) arid region, mining effluents should be treated to qualities such that they can be used for agricultural purposes or that they can be discharged in river system. Studies have shown that partly treated acid mine water can be used for irrigation. A copper mine in Botswana plans to use 5 M/d of treated mine effluent for the irrigation of agricultural product. The results of this study showed that when applying the biological sulfate removal technology the produced sulfide precipitated the metals in the mine effluent, such as nickel, Zn and Mn, to metal sulfide (MeS).

Jan 1, 2003

By J P. Bolduc, P. E. Pelletier

Preceded by brief general considerations such as the development of the mining industry in. the Province of Quebec, the choice of plant location, the types of problems studied etc., the paper gives a complete description of this new research and treatment center for metallic, non-metallic and asbestos ores. Facilities for carrying out operations in the three sections of the plant -the sampling section, the ore treatment section and the asbestos section -are fully discussed as well as laboratory facilities for (a) the preliminary testing of ores prior to pilot plant treatment and (b) the grading and testing of asbestos fibre. AT THE beginning of the century, the annual value of the mineral production of the Province of Quebec stood at the $2,500,000 level. Twenty-five years later, it was just under $24,000,000. In 1950, half a century later, it was slightly in excess of $200,000,000. But in 1959, in the span of only nine years, it

Jan 1, 1962

By P. Nayak

"Comminution is an energy intensive and expensive process consuming approximately 40-50% of the total processing costs in a mining operation. This process poses an even greater challenge with gold ores due to their low elemental concentration and small particle size. Over 99.9% of the ore fed to the mill is waste which must be removed during the ore processing stage. Preconcentrating the Run of Mine (ROM) ore before feeding the mill will result in significant cost savings. In partnership with Sacré-Davey Engineering, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited identified this opportunity and is currently evaluating the implementation of sorting technology to preconcentrate the ore or upgrade the waste material at its operations. This paper will discuss the steps adopted by Agnico Eagle in the evaluation and installation of sorting technology at its operations. Since the Company has a large portfolio of operations, the first step in the project was to shortlist the operations that had the highest probability for successful application of the technology. Following this, the top three operations were selected for bench scale evaluation. The projects which showed the most economic potential were then considered for detailed evaluation and pilot plant installations. This paper provides an insight into the methodology followed by Agnico Eagle and Sacré-Davey in the evaluation of the technology.INTRODUCTION The benefits of ore sorting technology are being increasingly understood by the mining industry today. The application of ore sorting in gold mining is attractive due to the nature of the mineral distribution. The presence of high value minerals distributed in an extremely small mass of the ROM ore creates a tremendous opportunity for preconcentration with ore sorting. Since Agnico Eagle currently has a portfolio of eight operating mines and numerous development projects and exploration properties, the challenge was to identify the deposits which had the most favourable mineralogy and grade distribution for successful ore sorting. The success of ore sorting is mostly based on the minerals present in the deposit and the grade distribution. The minerals signify the amenability of the deposit for ore sorting and the kind of sensing technology to be used. On the other hand, the grade distribution demonstrates the amount of material that can be rejected without losing value. In order to understand a deposit’s characteristics, it is important to examine the sample’s behaviour with various sensors and then assay it to know its actual value. It is a common practice in the mining industry to document assay value of drill cores and/or material feeding in and out of the mill. However, those VALUES (are insufficient to understand the grade variability on a granular basis. To capture the ore variability in very high resolution and significantly improve the selectivity of the material feeding the mill, it is vital to assay the samples on a rock-by-rock basis, as this is the level of resolution which will be examined by the ore sorter during sorting. A careful and elaborate procedure was followed in evaluating the technology at Agnico Eagle’s operations which is discussed in this paper."

Jan 1, 2019

Sailing westward from the Society Islands in the fall of 1774, England's noted explorer Captain James Cook discovered New Caledonia-that long, linear island that has played such an important and varied role in the history of nickel. Upon his return to England the following year, Cook's announcement of this uncharted island generated governmental interest, but its distance from the Island Empire, the troubles in the colonies, and the difficulties with France combined to keep English interest indirect and in the background of the then-current events.

Jan 10, 1968

By N. J. Tannyan

Laboratory bath smelting tests were conducted to determine the feasibility of smelting nickel- copper concentrate directly to a low iron matte in one step. Concentrate, air/oxygen and a silica flux were fed to a matte-slag bath kept in MgO crucibles at I 300°C. Various oxygen enrichments and smelting rates were used to maintain 0.5 to 2 wt% iron in the product matte. The slag losses are comparable to those obtained under similar industrial conditions. Due to the highly oxidizing conditions required to produce mattes with low iron contents, it is not recommended to target iron contents below about 2% in the matte. The specific bath smelting rates were equal to or higher than those in various industrial bath smelting processes.

Jan 1, 2003

By E. J. HOFFMAN, J. c. W. FRAZER

The apparatus and methods described in the following pages were devised and used by the writers in connection with certain investiga- tions of the technologic branch of the United States Geological Sur- vey, especially those bearing on the improvement of furnace condi- tions and on efficiency in the use of fuel. The Bureau of Mines, which has charge of such analyses and tests of fuels as were formerly made by the technologic branch of the Sur- vey, is using the same apparatus and methods in connection with similar investigations that are being carried on at the testing plant of the bureau at Pittsburg, Pa. The furnace conditions prevailing both in small plants and in large industrial establishments in this country are frequently far from satisfactory. If such conditions are to be improved, they must be more thoroughly understood, and means must be found to insure complete combustion of the fuel, and yet to permit operation with such an excess of air as will result in the greatest efficiency. In this work the services of the chemist are indispensable. A very important problem is the determination of the small percentage of unburned combustible matter that escapes from the furnace in the flue gases. Under ordinary circumstances so little as 0.1 per cent of unburned combustible matter in a furnace gas is equivalent to about 1 per cent of the fuel used; and for the determination of such small percentages of gas more accurate and refined methods are required than have ordinarily been available heretofore. It is the purpose of this paper to describe some apparatus and methods which have proved satisfactory to those engaged in the chemical work of the investigations mentioned. While these methods and apparatus have been designed more particularly with regard to analysis of furnace gases, their use is by no means limited to that purpose. The reader will readily see their applicability to other uses in which the sampling and analysis of gases are involved.

Jan 1, 1911

By Olivier Martin

In busy and historic cities, traditional open box metro stations are becoming outrageously difficult, unacceptable for the citizen and uneconomical. Hybrid stations provide an interesting alternative. In-house experience of Gautrain (South Africa), West bay (Qatar), Cairo line 3A (Egypt), and Melbourne (Australia) all aim to reduce disturbance to the city and its inhabitants during construction. Constructed in rock or in deep soil under water table, they take advantages of the latest construction techniques from cement grouting to freezing, and from traditional excavation of cavern to large tunnels constructed by sophisticated tunnel boring machines (TBM). Today, they form the ultimate construction challenge.

Jun 13, 2021

By Claus G. Goetzel

SOME of the reactions and procedures upon which modern techniques in the production of metal powders are based were used for 2000 years by the ancients to reduce iron and other metals from their ores. Despite this, however, the art of powder metallurgy is relatively new and probably stems from the introduction of incandescent electric lamp filaments. Attempts to improve upon Edison's carbon filaments led to the production, in order. of metallic filaments of osmium. tantalum.. and finally of tungsten, which ha, replaced the others and is the commercial product of today. These metallic filaments were originally manufactured by the extrusion and sintering of a mixture of the metal or its oxide with a reducing agent which also served as a binder. Further progress in this direction was in the pressing of a small percentage of nickel with the tungsten. The sintering operation was carried out in an atmosphere of hydrogen, at a tem-

Jan 1, 1944

By Chester J. Kuryliw

"The Geology of the Cochenour Willans mine, Red Lake district, was described by J. P. Nowlan in the Jubilee Volume. The complexity and intense alteration of the rocks obscured any clear relationship between ore and structure, and Nowlan recognized that future work might greatly modify the ideas then existing. This has proved to be the case. Subsequent detailed work has established the stratigraphic sequence in the Keewatin formations which are the host rocks of the orebodies, and has shown that the principal orebodies are confined to two adjoining bands of tuff.On this basis, it is now possible to map the complex structures with greatly increased accuracy. The amount of drilling and underground exploration required to find new ore has been much reduced, and indicated ore reserves are now substantially greater than at any time in the past. Daily production in 1955 averaged 187 tons per day at 0.578 ounces of gold per ton.The sequence of Precambrian events in the mine area is summarized in the following table:Intrusion of post-ore dykes.Ore formation.Intrusion of post-faulting, pre-ore dykes.Deformation: folding and shearing; alteration; faulting.Timiskaming sedimentation.Unconformity.Keewatin: volcanics and sediments, host rocks of the orebodies, described in detail in the next section.KeewatinFrom oldest to youngest, the Keewatin rocks in the mine area can be divided into six formations, which have been given local names:“Grey"" LavaA fine-grained dacitic to andesitic lava, amygdaloidal and locally containing well formed pillows. Certain areas are sheared and chloritized to a degree that makes identification difficult. The rocks are carbonatized throughout; the most persistent carbonate veins parallel the upper contact. Thickness more than 1,000 feet. (Minor mineralization, type 1 I -See section on Ore Formation)."

Jan 1, 1949

By Naiyang Ma

Along with fast growth of EAF steelmaking, better ways of treating EAF dust have been continuously pursued for better environmental protection and better economic benefits. In this contribution, various ways of collecting EAF dust in EAF off-gas cleaning systems are reviewed, and generation of dust and concentration of zinc in the dust from various collecting devices are examined. Accordingly, recycling of EAF dust through source separation is discussed.

Mar 1, 2018

By Klaus Rabensteiner, Klaus Chmelina

"INTRODUCTION Urban tunneling is often related with special geotechnical risks. Typical causes are difficult (hydro)geological conditions, a very low overburden and the presence of critical and vulnerable (infra)structures in the influence zone of the construction (e.g. existing tunnels, roads and pavements, sewer pipes, gas and power lines, landmarked buildings, historic monuments). To manage these risks appropriately, an early detection and warning of unexpected behavior of the affected geotechnical objects ground and tunnel, as well as existing structures are mandatory. To accomplish this, the design and execution of a dense geotechnical monitoring program is of high importance. In more detail, this means specifying and performing a systematic and continuous acquisition, processing and analysis of monitoring data to support decision making. In recent years the development of new automatic sensors and (wireless) data transfer techniques and the general trend towards an automatic acquisition of monitoring data has led to an enormous increase of data production frequencies and volumes. In order to handle this data explosion efficiently, information systems and geo-databases have been developed and used successfully in many projects. They represent IT tools that support the different tasks of a given geotechnical monitoring program including data acquisition, transfer, check, processing, backup, analysis, distribution, reporting and, last but not least, alarming. Meanwhile, some tools already have developed the capability to connect to other theme-specific databases used in the project and, thus, serve as a central data management system for all kind of digital data produced. This makes possible the implementation of further useful functions and services supporting tunneling tasks such as machine control, tunnel simulation, geological prediction, process optimization, etc. where data from different engineering disciplines must be combined and processed in an integrated way. In the following chapters our aim is to describe how monitoring data management, geotechnical monitoring, alarming and reporting are organized and technically implemented at the metro project Cityringen in Copenhagen (Denmark). We want to highlight the specific role and tasks of the used tunnel information system in the project, and particularly inform on the most relevant challenges."

Jan 1, 2016

By Dilip. Makhija, Asim. K. Mukherjee, Tamal Ghosh, Abhay Patra

In India around 15-20% of Run of Mine (ROM) from any iron ore deposit reports to slime dams as byproduct of iron ore beneficiation process. The proportion of iron ore slime to ROM will increase in future with higher proportion of lean grade ores in ROM. Furthermore, tonnages of iron ore slime will also increase with increasing demand of iron concentrate. Presently, this slime is stored in the dam in the absence of beneficiation technology. A beneficiation flowsheet has been developed at Tata Steel. This process produced concentrate of 2.2% alumina with 40 % yield from slime of 7-9% alumina. The iron content in the reject will be less than 40% thus adhering to the regulatory norm. Pilot scale study show waste from slime beneficiation is a good raw material for making a variety of building materials. Waste from slime beneficiation also has soil amendment properties. Pilot scale studies show productivity of rice increased when the waste of slime beneficiation process is mixed with soil. On commercialization of this zero waste technology slime generated from the iron ore washing plant will be completely used. In this paper the result of the pilot scale studies on slime beneficiation and utilization processes towards soil making and making of building materials are discussed in detail.

Jan 1, 2014

By Elizabeth Carvalho L. Cardoso, Ademar B. Lugão, Sandra R. Scagliusi

This research investigated how gamma-radiation affected PP/HMSPP structural foams filled with biodegradable synthetic polyester PLA in terms of thermal properties, biodegradability and infrared spectrum. Polymers are used in various applications providing enormous quantities of wastes in environment and contributing with 20–30% of total volume of solid residues. Besides, shortage of plastics resins obtained from fossil base is addressing research and development toward alternative materials; environmental concerning in litter reduction is being directed to renewable polymers for manufacturing of polymeric foams. Biodegradable polymers, a new generation of polymers produced from various natural resources, environmentally safe and friendly, can contribute for pollution reduction. PLA (poly(lactic) acid)) was chosen to be blended with PP/HMSPP. Blends thereof were subjected to gamma radiation at 50, 100, 150, 200 and 500 kGydoses.Soilburialtestpointedtowardapartialbiodegradationofirradiated PLA-PP/HMSPP foams; other characterizations involved TG/DTG technique and FTIR assessments.

Mar 1, 2017

By E. Pallumbo, N. Szwedska, R. Asselin

"This paper highlights the results of collaboration between geology, mining and mineral processing teams during the restart of the North American Lithium Project, located near La Corne, Quebec, Canada. This collaboration was central in ensuring a cross discipline harmonization of design parameters and key inputs, all of which allowed for the development of an optimized life of mine plan suited to the particular needs of the operation.INTRODUCTION In July 2016, North American Lithium Inc. (NAL) began the process of restarting operations at the former Quebec Lithium Mine, located in the municipality of La Corne, Quebec, Canada. The North American Lithium Project (the Project) as it is known today, is the latest chapter in the history of this property. In order to provide a robust foundation for the project, multidisciplinary collaboration was instituted between the geology, mining and metallurgy teams. Despite the intrinsic link between these departments, in many instances their work is completed separate from one another; in silos. This collaboration highlighted specific drivers in the mining value chain that could be exploited to ensure that a saleable product could be produced effectively. This paper explores some of the concepts and strategies that were developed during the feasibility study that supported the project restart (excerpts from the study technical report have been used throughout this paper). PROJECT HISTORY In 1942, prospectors identified the presence of numerous spodumene-bearing pegmatite dykes on the Property. This led to additional interest and exploration drilling campaigns. In 1955, Quebec Lithium Corp. (QLC), who had acquired the property, began construction of an underground mine with mill facilities located on the surface. Operations began the following year at a production rate of 1,100 tonnes per day. A historical cross-section view of the underground mine is shown in Figure 1. In 1959, QLC began the construction of an on-site lithium refinery to produce lithium hydroxide. The refinery was finally operational by 1963. Mining and processing operations continued until 1966 when activities were halted due to a labour dispute. The property was sold and a few years later attempts to resume production were unsuccessful. Property ownership changed several times again until being acquired by Cambior in 1987. In the early 1990’s the existing mine and mill facilities were sold and the mine site rehabilitated"

Jan 1, 2019

By A. N. Lazaridi, S. I. Afanasenko, S. A. Safonov

"This scientific work presents the results of comparative tests of centrifugal concentrators with a vertical and horizontal axis of rotor spinning. The article also describes a qualitative analysis of the behavior of mineral particles in a centrifugal field with fluidization for concentrators with a horizontal axis. The analysis was aimed at studying the effect of the quantity of fluidization holes in the basket on the degree of magnetite recovery and the effect of the basket rotation speed. The experiment demonstrated that concentrators with a horizontal axis are not inferior in terms of the qualitative recovery indicators to concentrators with a vertical axis. The researches also provided facts about the wide practical application of concentrators with a horizontal rotor arrangement. INTRODUCTION Methods of gravity concentration, attractive for their ecological purity, see their revival. First of all, this is due to the invention of centrifugal concentrators with the fluidization of the layer of mineral particles. The creation of a new generation of gravitational centrifugal concentrators made it possible to achieve a tangible breakthrough toward the direction of reducing the grain size of mineral particles effectively divided by density, up to 10 µm at a high production capacity of the vessels reaching 500-600 tons per hour. Such separators enable dressing a crushed ore of flotation grade and in some cases replace the flotation process, especially in primary operations, in joint cycles. In the long term, this method of concentration should significantly expand the scope of application, replace partial flotation processing, ensure the introduction of environmentally friendly energy-saving technologies at ore-processing plants. Summarizing the international experience for the last 30 years, it can be confidently asserted that centrifugal methods of concentration have become widely used in processing schemes for the separation of finely dispersed products in the mining industry. An interest in the creation of installations using centrifugal acceleration for the separation of mineral particles by density has particularly grown. Dozens of centrifugal concentrator designs have been created and continue to be improved. Centrifugal concentrators have a number of obvious advantages, which are especially relevant today. Losses of fine gold during the process of mining are well known. Gold washers screw, spiral separators, jigging machines and sluices traditionally used in the production processes do not solve the problem of fine gold recovery. Table 1 shows the results of comparative tests of a centrifugal concentrator (ITOMAK) and other concentration equipment. According to the research conducted by the company GMRS, Krugersdorp, South Africa (2000), the initial material was gold ore crushed to 150 micrometers (90%)."

Jan 1, 2018

By Ahmed Alghamdi, Salem AlGharbi, Aisha AlHarbi, Owain Morton, Norah AlMuhaisen

This paper addresses the challenges in optimizing the phosphate flotation process, specifically focusing on the variability in P2O5 recovery. An artificial intelligence (AI) driven Flotation Prediction Model was developed to accurately forecast P2O5 grades. Leveraging real-time data from various operational sources, the model provides insights into how operators can opstimize key flotation parameters to enhance product quality and recovery rates. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of AI predictive modeling in addressing operational variability, marking a crucial step toward intelligent operations in the phosphate flotation process.

Feb 1, 2025

By Gregory E. Smith

"Tensionable headed roof bolt systems are common in the U.S. mining industry. In the last 15 years or so, they have made a comeback as a hybrid system where a mechanical anchor is used in conjunction with resin. When such a system is used, it is common to use a spherical washer to comply with the requirements of 30 CFR Part 75.204(f)(8). This standard requires an angle-compensating device be used in installations where the bearing plate is offset from the roof bolt axis by an angle greater than five degrees. This paper evaluates system performance of four different traditional angle-compensating device/plate combinations including a new patented extruded plate/extruded washer system that improves overall load capacity and stretch.INTRODUCTIONA large western U.S. underground coal mine was using a fully grouted headed rebar system as their primary support. They had developed their component specifications over many years of working with suppliers to improve and optimize these components to integrate well as a system. As shown in Figure 1, the components included a patented 7 /8"" -diameter Grade 60 headed rebar bolt with a flange capable of full bar load (Walker, 2009) and a patented 8 in x 8 in Grade 3 extruded hole bearing plate manufactured by DieMatic Corporation.The mine decided to pursue a fully grouted tensionable system using a mechanical anchor as the tensioning device. Their primary goal was to eliminate the need for the roof bolt operator to secure (hold) the bolt during resin set time. An additional benefit was the increased initial tension on the bolt. To comply with the requirements of 30 CFR Part 75.204(f)(8), regarding tensioned roof bolts, they were required to include an angle-compensating device because a share of the bolt population would be installed at angles greater than five degrees from the perpendicular to the bearing plate. Also, to improve cycle time and torque/tension consistency, the mine desired to have the washers and anchors assembled at the factory. This required the use of a bearing plate with a center hole large enough to accommodate the 1-3/8-in-diameter mechanical anchor to pass though it during assembly by the roof bolt operator. The mine wanted to continue to use an extruded hole bearing plate in the tensionable system, and EMS was asked to propose a plate and angle-compensating device."

Jan 1, 2016