cim magazine august 2007

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February/février 2006 www.cim.orgAugust • août 2007 www.cim.org The heart of goldA look into trends,

technologies, and operations

The culture of safety What makes a John T. Ryan winner

Les exploitations les plus sécuritaires

Open season!Duck Pond breaks ground

Wanted: engineersHR challenges for mining

Les défis en RH de l'industrie

InsideMinefill 2007 technical sectionNew! Historical mining focus

Editor-in-chief Heather [email protected]

Assistant Editor Andrea [email protected]

Technical Editor Joan TomiukPublisher CIM

Published 8 times a year by CIM855 - 3400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West Montreal, QC, H3Z 3B8Tel.: (514) 939-2710; Fax: (514) 939-2714 www.cim.org; Email: [email protected]

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This month’s coverGreenland offers enormous exploration potential.Photo courtesy of Knight Piésold.

Layout and design by Clò Communications.

Copyright©2007. All rights reserved. ISSN 1718-4177. Publications Mail No. 09786. Postage paid at CPA Saint-Laurent, QC. Dépôt légal: Bibliothèque nationale du Québec.The Institute, as a body, is not responsible for statements made or opinions advanced either inarticles or in any discussion appearing in its publications.

Printed in Canada

4 CIM Magazine n Vol. 2, Nº 5

Keeping up with industry

One of my focuses this summer is to work with the Edmonton team to cre-ate the optimal technical program for the CIM Conference andExhibition in Edmonton next May. Our greatest challenge is stemming

from the incredible number of fantastic topics and areas of interest that mustbe whittled down.

And that’s the reality of mining today. An incredible number of fantastic sto-ries—from new and existing operations, exploration highlights, technologicaladvances, and momentous mergers and acquisitions, all hosted by an industrywith its keen eye focused on achieving sustainable practices.

This issue of CIM Magazine includes a special section dedicated to the goldindustry. It cannot come anywhere close to covering all that is happening ingold, but even just one of the stories offers insight into the major action rock-ing gold producers today. One article features an interview with Tim Baker, sen-ior vice president and COO of Kinross, who discusses a long list of projects span-ning the globe.

Amid all the fast-paced activity, the Canadian mining industry is maintain-ing its focus on safety and getting its people home safely. An article on page 28shares the approaches to safety management that helped this year’s three win-ners of the John T. Ryan Safety Awards achieve their outstanding results. Andthe constant focus on safety reflects the true value of people in the industry.

CIM is a place for our industry’s people to come together, make contacts, andfoster knowledge sharing and growth. So we invite you to spread the word andencourage more colleagues to join the CIM network. It’s growing fast, and thisyear promises to be one of optimization and expansion for the Institute.

Let me know what you think about today’s industry, and where CIM fits in.Please feel free to contact us at CIM at any time to help drive your association.

Heather EdnieEditor-in-chief

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News8 CVRD Inco stirs up the action in Sudbury by C. Hersey9 Phased devolution for Nunavut by H. Ednie

11 Micro-mining builds sustainability into extraction processes by E. Hinton and K. Palmer

Gold News15 Only predictable thing is unpredictability—some insights into the

state of gold by D. Zlotnikov18 Putting flesh on good bones—Kinross Gold focuses on production

expansion by H. Ednie22 The dollar-gold relationship by D. Zlotnikov23 Pogo project creating wealth in the North by D. Zlotnikov

Columns35 The Supply Side by J. Baird36 MAC Economic Commentary by P. Stothart38 Standards by D. McCombe39 Parlons-en par R. Lamarre40 Mining Lore by A. Nichiporuk42 Eye on Business by I. Xenopoulos and J. Gagné44 Engineering Exchange by H. Weldon46 HR Outlook by R. Montpellier47 Student Life by M. Jankovic

CIM News56 CIM welcomes new members57 Young scientists receive awards58 Prix d’excellence pour étudiants/Student awards

History66 Economic geology: California here we come (Part 19) by R.J. Cathro69 Mining: The evolution of shaft sinking systems—Part 1

by C. Graham and V. Evans72 Metallurgy: History of metal casting—Part 1 by F. Habashi

Technical Section74 This month’s contents

DepartmentsEditor’s Message 4 President’s Notes/Mot du président 6Letters to the Editor 7 Calendar 59 Professional Directory 90

Features13 Working on the rock—

Duck Pond means more jobs for Newfoundland by C. Hersey

28 The safety culture—John T. Ryan winners for safety performance by C. Hersey

33 La culture de la sécurité : gagnants des trophées John T. Ryan pour la sécurité

48 The Canadian mining industry in need of engineers

52 L’industrie minière du Canada en manque d’ingénieurs par S.T. Yaméogo

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6 CIM Magazine n Vol. 2, N° 5

president’s notesBe safe to be sustainable

A few weeks ago, Heather (your editor-in-chief) and I were discussing themesfor future issues of your CIM Magazine. This was following the recent, successfulCIM Conference in Montreal and, in particular, the John T. Ryan safety awards. Itwas a real pleasure to be at the awards celebration and see the pride on the facesof the award recipients. I want to again personally congratulate everyone for theirachievements; however, as we all know, it is the employees at the safety-con-scious site that are the real winners.

A short while later, there was a TV clip on a national station covering the recentSaskatchewan mine rescue competitions in Saskatoon. Interviews with teammembers, and especially the spouses, on the value of the mine rescue systemagain made me proud to be associated with an industry that works hard to lookafter each other and to be ready when incidents happen. It is also a part of mybelief that an industry needs to be safe to be sustainable.

So why not have an issue dedicated solely to safety? Heather’s response was“we integrate safety into everything we do and as such try to make it a part ofevery article.” And I could not agree with her more. Safety is part of our and ourfamily’s everyday lives—at work, at home, and at play! Let’s continue to workhard to keep it that way!

Congratulations again to the John T. Ryan award winners. You will see moreabout them in this issue. We are PROUD of YOU!

Il y aq u e l q u e ssemaines ,

Mme Ednie (votre éditrice en chef) et moi discutions de thèmes pour lesprochains numéros du CIM Magazine. C’était tout juste après le récent Congrèset Salon commercial de l’ICM et plus spécialement la remise des trophées JohnT. Ryan pour la sécurité. Ce fut un véritable plaisir pour moi d’assister à la céré-monie de célébration et de constater la fierté sur le visage des récipiendaires.Je voudrais encore une fois féliciter tous et chacun pour leurs réussites; cepen-dant, comme nous le savons tous, ce sont les employés des sites conscients dela sécurité qui sont les véritables gagnants.

Peu de temps après, une nouvelle brève à la télévision soulignait les récentescompétitions de sauvetage minier de la Saskatchewan tenues à Saskatoon. Desentrevues avec des membres des équipes et surtout avec les conjoints(es) surla valeur du système de sauvetage minier me rendent fier d’être associé à uneindustrie qui travaille fort au bien-être les uns des autres et qui est prête lorsquedes incidents surviennent. Je suis aussi convaincu qu’une industrie qui se veutdurable se doit d’être sécuritaire.

Donc, pourquoi ne pas consacrer un numéro entièrement à la sécurité. Laréponse de Mme Ednie a été : « Nous intégrons la sécurité dans tout ce quinous faisons et nous essayons d’en parler dans chaque numéro. » Je ne pour-rais pas être plus en accord. La sécurité fait partie de notre vie quotidienne etde celle de nos familles – au travail, à la maison et dans nos loisirs. Continuonsde travailler fort pour que cela continue.

Encore une fois, félicitations aux gagnants des trophées John T. Ryan. Vousen saurez plus en parcourant ce numéro du Magazine. Nous sommes FIERS deVOUS!

La sécurité clé du développement durablemot du président

Jim PopowichCIM President Président de l’ICM

“Jake… there’s one unappreciated statistic missing

from this diamond company’s report.”

“What’s that?”

“ Two million mosquitoes per carat.”

AchievementsThey are the champions!

HudBay’s Snow Lake team walkedaway winners from the 2007Manitoba Mine Rescue ProvincialCompetition. The team included:Clint Parsons, Aldon Kowalchuk,Dave Kendall, Gary Davis, Tony Butt,and Garnet Coulson. Additional con-grats go to Garnet Coulson for havingwon the 2007 Provincial Technician’scompetition.

Kudos to Suncor EnergyAlberta Venture magazine chose

Suncor Energy as the Most RespectedCorporation in Alberta in 2007.Nominees were judged on theirhuman resources practices, environ-mental stewardship, and corporateperformance, among others.

Safety first at IOCThe Iron Ore Company of Canada

is the recipient of the 2006 F.J.O’Connell Award in the SurfaceMining, Transportation, and PrimaryMetals Processing category. The tro-phies are awarded to companies whoshow outstanding improvements inmine safety in Quebec.

Ah dam!The Consulting Engineers of

Ontario selected Hatch Energy as thewinner of an Award of Excellence fortheir Shikwamkwa Replacement Damproject. The company designed andconstructed the dam, which was com-pleted five months ahead of scheduleand significantly under budget.

Modern-day heroesAustralia’s Innovation Hero

Awards were handed out and amongthe winners are Gekko Systems’Elizabeth Lewis-Gray and SandyGray. Winners were chosen based ontheir success in “commercializing anew technology by developing atechnology-driven product or serv-ice, raising capital, and undertakingcommercial marketing.”

Giving backEnhancing students’ environmental awareness

As part of the RiverWatch Environmental Education program, Alberta highschool students will be taking trips to local rivers. About 7,000 students areexpected to participate in the program this year, where they will be monitoringaquatic ecosystems. The program is made possible thanks to a three-year invest-ment by Suncor Energy Foundation to RiverWatch Science Beyond Books.

Alcan supports the artsIn support of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Alcan has committed to

a $6 million sponsorship deal. The funds, spread over four years, will, amongother things, help the festival continue to offer its community-oriented outdooractivities.

August 2007 7

Loving the loreDear Ms. Ednie,

I read Andrea Nichiporuk’s article (CIMMagazine, March/April) on the 1936 MoonRiver Mine disaster with great interest. Itwould have been more complete if there hadbeen a reference to the role of ArtMacPherson, for many years my colleague and friend until his death in 2000.

Art, then a recently qualified mining engineer, was responsible for the siting andinclination of the drillhole which reached the trapped men. He subsequently receiveda special citation from the Nova Scotia Legislature honouring his role in the dramaticrescue of the two trapped men.

Yours sincerely,George E. Davies

letters

newsRecently, CVRD Inco has been

steadily investing a lot more time andmoney in Sudbury, proving the nickelcapital of the world still holds a lot ofpromise. Their exploration budget forthe Sudbury Basin has increased overthe past five years; they now spendover $19 million a year on explorationactivities and an additional $14.6 mil-lion on drilling to support strategicstudies. This is more than twice theamount spent in 2005 and nearly fivetimes the amount spent in 2002.They’ve got a number of new capitalprojects (all in various stages of devel-opment) totalling millions of dollarsworth of investment in Sudbury’s econ-

omy, not to mention the hundreds ofjob opportunities they’ve created andwill create.

TottenThe newest and most talked about

amidst Inco’s heap of projects is Totten.In May of this year, they announcedtheir plans to invest $400 million toopen the mine, with productionexpected to start in the third quarter of2012, at a rate of 2,200 tonnes of cop-per/nickel ore per day. Totten will be thecompany’s first new mine in Sudbury inmore than 35 years. In its constructionstage, the mine is being welcomed by thepeople of Sudbury with open arms.

Once things are up and running, 150new permanent jobs will be created, andthe company has already employedabout 250 people to help with the devel-opment of the mine. This past year, theyhired a person a day. The company alsohas a memorandum of understandingwith the Nishnawbee Sagamok FirstNations. The agreement entails that Incoprovides possible employment opportu-nities for their people, and they hold reg-ular meetings so people have a chance tovoice any concerns or opinions. Tottenhas an expected life span of 20 years.

Copper Cliff North and SouthThe Copper Cliff North and South

mines in Sudbury are most likelyabout to undergo some serious con-struction. Mining has reached existingshaft bottoms, causing operating coststo skyrocket, and thus the propositionof a new shaft has arisen. Feasibilitystudies were conducted to evaluate thepossibility of a new 10,000 tonne perday hoisting plant and a shaft sunk to5,600 feet, with the potential todeepen to 7,000 feet for explorationpurposes. The much-anticipated newshaft would replace the current twomaturing ones, with commissioningtargeted for 2012. Copper Cliff Northand South mines are part of theCopper Cliff Deep project, which hasjust received $46 million—$6.5 mil-lion to enable further feasibility stud-ies and $38.5 million for early execu-tion work. It could be in production asearly as 2013 and should employapproximately 450 people during theconstruction phase. Copper Cliff Deepwill connect the two existing minesand also move out towards identifiedore bodies at Kelly Lake.

Garson Ramp Project (Garson Mine)A plan to re-open the Garson Ramp

(bordering Garson Mine) has finallybeen approved by CVRD Inco’s Board.The $30 million project is currently in

CVRD Inco stirs up the action in Sudburyby Carolyn Hersey

Old Totten headframe


news

the development stage of Phase One, and the project involves threeore bodies that will produce nickel, copper, and precious metals.Early production began in the fourth quarter of 2006 but at fullthrottle, it is expected to produce about 500 tonnes of ore a day.

Copper SeparationAnother of Inco’s many projects, the Copper Separation project,

is finally complete. The $52 million project aimed to take addi-tional copper from bulk concentrate in order to make room formore nickel through the Copper Cliff smelter, thereby supportingtheir growth strategy in Sudbury. The process involves ore beingmilled and placed in one of nine flotation cells to separate the cop-per from the nickel. The cells then skim off 30 per cent of the cop-per concentratethat previouslyremained in thebulk copper-nickel concen-trate sent to thesmelter. With 30per cent of thecopper treatedunder a differentprocess, thisallows moreroom at the smelter for processing nickel. This investment will per-mit CVRD Inco to sell an additional 165,000 tonnes of copper con-centrate per year to Xstrata Copper. CVRD Inco’s vice president,Michael Winship, says that investing in local operations “not onlybenefits the company, but it also benefits our entire community.This copper separation process is another step towards new min-ing projects in our community, which translates into new jobs forour residents and attracts bright, talented individuals to our city.”He also adds that “with the help of this facility, we will be able tomove more nickel through our smelter, accelerate mine develop-ment, and help create the prosperous, long-term future ouremployees and our community desire.”

CVRD Inco is embarking on the largest period of growth inSudbury in over 30 years. With the above mentioned projects wellunderway, they’ve also got tons of investments in a range of otherprojects such as Kelly Lake, Creighton Deepening, Clarabelle Mill,and Coleman 170, to name a few. With all the money and effort putinto each mine, the company also puts tremendous care and prideinto a reduced environmental footprint. In October 2006, theyopened their new, state-of-the-art $115 million facility to furtherreduce sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions in Sudbury by 34 per cent.CVRD Inco’s environmental department continuously works hand-in-hand with the project team to ensure things run in an eco-friendlyfashion. They’re dedicated to the development of “new sources of oreto improve future reserves in Sudbury, while at the same time invest-ing in productivity improvements across the operation in order tomine and process ore profitably in all future price cycles.” Now thenumber one nickel-producing company in the world, you can restassured that CVRD Inco knows exactly what they’re doing when itcomes to investing. CIM

Phased devolution for Nunavutby Heather Ednie

A careful, step-by-step approach has been rec-ommended should Canada work towards the devo-lution of new responsibilities to the Government ofNunavut, according to a report issued June 12 byFasken Martineau DuMoulin’s Paul Mayer.

Mayer began working on the report lastNovember, when Jim Prentice, the northern affairsminister, appointed him as the federal government’sministerial representative for Nunavut devolution.

“”I was asked to look at the issue of transfer ofresponsibilities to the government of Nunavut—Ispent 50 days up there and in Ottawa,” Mayerexplained. “You have to grasp the importance ofdevolution for the government in Nunavut, andthe challenges they face. And, it’s key to note theimportance of mineral wealth to the region—it isthe only way out of their current fiscal impass.But, what would be transferred? Also, the HRchallenge exists in all levels there. My conclusionwas that Nunavut is not ready today for fullresponsibility. They are having troubles with theircurrent responsibilities, like education and gover-nance. So, I recommended that we go forwardwith devolution talks, but do it in a phasedapproach.”

Looking at how levels of government are working,when it comes to oil, gas, and mineral resources inNunavut, Mayer said the current system is dysfunc-tional, and the mining industry has voiced com-plaints. Permitting an operation is time-consumingand expensive. “The timelines, certainty, and trans-parency are not there,” he added. Proper devolutioncould lead to an improved process.

While researching the report, Mayer consultedhundreds of people, at all levels of government.He determined one of the major challenges isNunavut’s shortage of skilled professionals—thismust be addressed before federal responsibilitiesare transferred. If Canada and Nunavut addressthis, and agree on a negotiating process, Mayerpredicts an agreement-in-principle on devolutionmay still be possible by next year, and a finalagreement by 2011 or 2012.

“No government is free of issues,” he said.“The challenges outlined in my report are a mir-ror image of the 2005 Auditor General’s reporton the Northwest Territories—the robust regula-tory system recommended would apply to theNunavut situation.” CIM

August 2007 9

“This copper separationprocess is another step

towards new miningprojects

in our community”M. Winship

news

Movin’ on up


Brad Lantz was appointed vice presi-dent, mining, of HudBay. He has a longhistory with the company, and was,since 2003, manager of the 777 Mine.

John William Hogg became presidentand CEO of Western Canadian Coal. Hemost recently served as the company’svice president and COO.

Richard T. O’Brien is now CEO andpresident of Newmont Mining. Hejoined the company as CFO in 2005,and moved to president and CFO priorto this new position. As well, JosephCarrabba, chairman, president, andCEO of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., joined thecompany’s board of directors.

Patrick Downey joined NovaGold’sboard of directors. Downey is presidentand CEO of Aura Gold.

Dave Keough took on the position ofexecutive vice president and COO,Gammon Lake Resources, this summer.He has over 24 years’ experience in thegold mining industry.

The latest additions to Lateegra GoldCorp. are Brian Thurston and GordonAllen. Thurston became executive vicepresident, and Allen, vice president,exploration.

Brent Hegger was appointed CEO ofAlcan’s COEGA aluminum smelter proj-ect. He will oversee the completion ofthe smelter project.

The Silver Institute welcomed a newpresident this summer—RobertQuartermaine. Trained as an explorationgeologist, he worked for US Steel,AMAX, Teck Group, and Silver Standard.

Bob Wooley is now the manager ofGartner Lee's Yellowknife office. Since2001, he was executive director of theMackenzie Valley Land and Water Board.

Norman Peter Stern, Joseph Panetta, andSam Di Michele were appointed directorsof Jaguar Nickel’s board of directors.

Tom Lewis joined CanAlaska as regionaloperations manager. The move follows histime with Anglo American ExplorationCanada as exploration manager.

Former executive director, strategy andbusiness development, Patrick J.Shannon, became vice president, strat-egy and business development, ofIngersoll-Rand. John D. Soriano waselected as vice president, complianceand deputy general counsel. He joinedthe company in 2000.

news

August 2007 11

In many parts of the world, commu-nities are taking a “just say no”approach to the usual boom-and-buststyle of mining. Rather than accepting alarge influx of outside people, who maybring with them economic disruptionand social problems, they are lookingfor a more sustainable future.

Resistance to traditional mining ismade more acute as governmentsincreasingly feel obligated to listen totheir peoples’ wishes and heed them.Some of this is due to the growingpower of non-governmental organiza-tions, which can quickly mountInternet-savvy publicity campaigns thatreach into mining companies’ board-rooms, to object to developments thatlocal people are resisting. Some of it isalso due to the growing influence of theEquator Principles, under which lend-ing institutions refuse to provide financ-ing for projects that do not passaccepted sustainability thresholds.

Do the words “mining” and “sustain-able” fit together?

They can, through what we can call“micro-mining.” This involves a searchfor small, concentrated deposits that canbe extracted at relatively low cost. Thiskeeps the financial commitment rela-tively small. Aside from some startupcapital, financing stays organic, throughearned revenues. This means livingwithin the means of the deposit. Theworkforce is largely local, backed bysufficient outside expertise.

While it may seem radical, this isactually a long-established model. Theworld’s first mines were probably familybusinesses, with equipment and work-force financed through revenues. Manycommunities grew up around the slow,sustainable extraction of a resource.Consider the wealth of Salzburg,Austria—with a name that just means“Salt City” and which grew over thecenturies as local entities mined the

Micro-mining builds sustainability into extraction processesby Eric Hinton and Kevin Palmer, Golder Associates Ltd.

“white gold” of nearby deposits—con-tinuing today.

So, while many juniors and majorsare busily chasing elephants, pressuresare gradually building to force anotherlook at previous mining models thatmay form a glimpse of an alternativefuture for part of the mining sector.

What distinguishes a micro-minefrom a business-as-usual mine is mostsaliently the size of the deposit. Itshould be of a size that flies below theradar of conventional mining, so that acompany seeking to extract it will notwind up in a bruising price war with alarger company with deeper pockets.The deposit also needs to be relativelyhigh grade, so that excessive amounts ofstartup capital and earned revenues arenot lost in the need to pay for longaccess drifts and other infrastructure. Itmust be near the surface—we thinkwithin 200 metres. Because the financialpockets of the proponents are also likelyto be shallow, the rock should be rela-tively free of hydrogeological concerns

such as fractures that will cause exces-sive de-watering requirements and acid-rock drainage issues.

The kinds of mineral wealth that canbe sought are quite broad. Pods of goldore, with concentrations of perhaps twoto three times the usual levels, couldwork well. The same goes for other min-erals, such as tin, possibly diamonds andother gemstones, as well as rare earths.

In other ways as well, the mine needsto be low key and, in some ways, lowtech. The shaft, which can be a signifi-cant expense in most mines, becomes alower cost item with micro-mining. Itmay be just three metres in diameter. A25-metre headframe can be assembledin a couple of days, with the hoist itselfcosting about $150,000 and the hoist-room $40,000.

In keeping with the “small-is-beauti-ful” micro-mining philosophy, a gravityconcentration process—a “dirty con”—is all that is necessary, at least to startwith. When there are more retainedearnings available, it may be possible to

news


move to a more advancedtype of mill. To make theplan as sustainable as pos-sible, it is important rightfrom the start to re-investearnings in further explo-ration, either to try toextend the mineralizationbeing worked by the cur-rent mine or find otherlikely nearby deposits.

Just as important asthese “hard” aspects of suc-cess are the “soft” issuessuch as community sup-port. The nearby people must be con-vinced that the mine is a positive thing fortheir future. Going one step further, itbecomes, in effect, a community mineproviding long-term stable employmentfor people in the community. This can behighly attractive to First Nations entities,which can provide a small, closely knitworkforce from the local community.

This suits the values of many FirstNations people in that they are workingwith team members who are also neigh-bours, possibly relatives.

The mine may “work” best from acommunity perspective if it fits into thecommunity’s lifestyle and values. Thismay include shutting down for the win-ter or during hunting season, when

many communitymembers fill theirfreezers with ayear’s meat supply.The mining willalso need to bedone in a way thatrespects the com-munity’s perspec-tive on the value ofnature.

If the idea of themine is presentedlocally as a way tohelp providemunicipal revenuesand well-payingjobs for commu-nity members, thelocal municipalitywill likely be eagerto support the proj-ect. Leaders maysee this as a way tobreathe new eco-nomic life intotheir community,where unemploy-ment rates may behigh and the onlyformal jobs avail-

able may be with the local Band ormunicipal offices and other public-sec-tor entities such as the schools. Withthis possible future in front of them,the community can be encouraged topress for startup funding and traininginvestment from the provincial or fed-eral government.

Successful micro-mining requires theright kind of consulting support. Thismeans finding someone with a widerange of skills and understanding, ableto contribute to all aspects of success,right from exploration through to clo-sure. The consultant needs to knowmore than geology; it is important tounderstand the finance world and beable to help present the concept tofinancial sources as well as governmententities. The consultant also needs tosupport the overall philosophy, whichincludes skills transfer, so that localpeople develop marketable capabilitiesthey can apply to other projects.

Many people in the mining sector,schooled in the “go big or go home” wayof mining, will find the idea of micro-mining slow and unattractive. But forthose who want to contribute to a com-munity’s well-being and build a sustain-able business model, it may be a glimpseof a better future.

Eric Hinton is a senior mining engineer inthe Red Lake, Ontario office of GolderAssociates Ltd. Kevin Palmer is a resourcegeologist and Qualified Person who haspublished NI43-101 Technical Reports. Heis based in the Burnaby, BC office ofGolder Associates Ltd.

CIM

Large-scale mining such as this is not the only way to extract mineral resources. Mining on a smaller scale has a role to play in creatingwealth for companies and communities.

Working on the RockI remember, way back when I was a teenager graduating from high school I felt

more than ready to venture out into the ‘real’ world. Having lived my entire life sur-rounded by nothing but trees, grass, and sky, I couldn’t wait a minute more to get outto the big city and live a busy, fast-paced life, surrounded by interesting people andexciting places. Oddly enough, everything that once seemed so fascinating andintriguing is now the basic mish-mash of my worst nightmare… and I want nothingmore than to grow old in my middle-of-nowhere hometown, surrounded by nothingbut my trees, grass, sky, and familiar faces. This sudden epiphany actually hit me as Iwas on the phone with Aur Resources’ Duck Pond mine manager, Guy Belleau. The newmine is currently Aur’s only operation in Canada, and apparently people are fightinghard to get on board the Duck Pond workforce. Everyone is excited about the opportu-nity to stay and build their lives in the province they themselves grew up in.

Aur Resources, a Canadian mining and exploration company, began in the early1980s when geologist Jim Gill decided it was high time to start finding mines todevelop not for other people or companies, but for himself. Aur presently runs threemines—Quebrada Blanca, Andacallo (both in Chile), and, of course, the newest edi-tion to the trio, Duck Pond, located in central Newfoundland. The new base-metalmine has come a long way since mineral exploration started in 1973 by Falconbridgeand Noranda, and Gill is impressed with how wellthings have been running, hoping to make this thebest mine it can be. In January 2002, the Government of Newfoundland andLabrador finally approved the development of the project and construction beganthree years later in 2005. Construction was completed by December last year andthe official opening was at long last held on May 9 of this year.

Duck Pond means more jobs for Newfoundland

by CAROLYN HERSEY

Guy Belleau, Jim Gill, and Ed Stuart ready to push the handle for the ceremonial blast. Photo courtesy of Rex Gibbons.

August 2007 13

A sample of Duck Pond ore and core on displayfor the official opening.


Another of Aur’s projects, Louvicourt (near Val-d’Or, Quebec),closed down in 2005 after 11 years of operation, around the sametime development for Duck Pond began. The mine therefore holdsgreat value in more ways than one. Aur Resources was fortunatelyable to keep all of their esteemed and experienced senior workers.Hard-working men and women, who would have wound up joblessafter 11 years of employment, were easily able to transfer over to thenew mine. Guy Belleau, for example, who is now the mine managerat Duck Pond, was at one time the superin-tendent at Louvicourt. Another reason whythe project is oh-so-very-valuable—beingAur’s only project in Canada for the moment,the company was able to continue opera-tions in its country of origin after havingclosed Louvicourt.

When construction began, there wasn’tmuch in place besides the explorationcamp. Given the circumstances, the DuckPond mine was developed using the rampmethod because it was the most practicaland economical amidst their options. Itallowed for the use of trucks (ranging in sizefrom 26 to 45 tonnes) to transport ore fromthe stopes to the surface. Other operationsthat are deeper or of different geologymight use headframe or shaft access, butthis method is the most efficient and inexpensive for this particularore body and its location. The portal, or entrance, provides access tothe mine ramp. This is where people, equipment, and materialsenter and exit the mine. It’s also where the product finally makes itsway to the surface and enters the mill process. The ramp into themine is at a 15 per cent gradient. While not as steep as some rampsaround the world, it serves its purpose perfectly.

The new copper/zinc mine has an anticipated life of about sixyears, but Gill said that the property is being explored in a numberof ways that could prolong its shelf life. There are some resourcesidentified in the Duck Pond deposit that need to be upgraded intoreserves. Aur trusts that this year’s drilling will allow for thoseupgrades to be made. Perfect timing, because with today’s technol-ogy, more and more people are opting to work from home. So, as thedemand for multiple phone lines, fax machines, and security sys-tems increases, so in turn does the demand for copper.

Copper has a wide array of uses—from electrical transmission,water tubing, heat exchangers, to copper wire and pipe…even ourbeloved penny! It has extremely high electrical and thermal con-ductivity, a high melting point, great corrosion resistance, goodtensile strength, and is, not to mention, non-magnetic. Of all theindustrial metals, copper is the most efficient conductor of electri-cal power, signals, and heat. In a world where home appliances,electronics, and computers will never go out of style, the demandfor copper can only go up. It’s estimated that there will be a 3.5 percent growth in its requirement over the next few years, with pro-duction reaching about 18 million tonnes a year. Most of the cop-per concentrate that leaves the Duck Pond Mine in Newfoundlandis smelted at different locations and turned into sheets for ease ofmanufacturing.

The most exciting of all Duck Pond’s great qualities, in my opin-ion, is that it provides an opportunity for Newfoundlanders to work,

build a life, and raise their children in the very place they grew up.“In heaven, you can always tell which people are fromNewfoundland—they’re the ones that want to come back home,”said Belleau. He himself made the move to Grand Falls-Windsorafter having visited only once. After a brief, 20 minute over-the-phone conversation with the new mine manager, I can easily tell heis a man who takes great pride in his work and all the people whowork along with him.

Aur Resources originally estimated about 190 employees wouldbe needed for the project, and this number has already been longsurpassed. Thousands of resumes poured in from all over the coun-try, from people longing to come back to their hometown, and withonly 200 spaces to be filled, you can bet some people were slightlydisappointed.

Newfoundland hasn’t quite been known for its booming businessopportunities. Despite the people’s strong willingness to work, manyare forced to travel elsewhere in search of employment, sometimesleaving families behind for months at a time, and sometimes havingto pick up and move altogether. When the opportunity to come homearises, many proud citizens would snatch at the chance, which is whyDuck Pond has had no shortage of good workers to choose from. Thearea itself has a strong and lengthy mining history, with experiencedworkers abound, totalling decades of high qualifications and skills.Aur takes great pride in their commitment to hire as many competentlocal workers as possible; only a small handful of the 204 employeesthat work at Duck Pond are not Newfoundlanders. Many have gone towork for other mines in various Canadian provinces and have quicklyreturned when news came of the upcoming mine. The already estab-lished community has welcomed the project with open arms. Thusfar, people have been nothing but supportive. Partners, communities,contractors, and all those involved have lent a hand in contributing tothe well-being and genuine success of the project. The community ispro-mining, especially if it means that families and their children cancome home again.

Duck Pond places just as much emphasis on caring for workersand their loved ones as they place on environmental and safetyissues. Built in compliance with any and all safety and quality ethics,Belleau says that this mine truly is a success story. It has become a“beacon for people who want to work in their home province.” Iguess there really is no place like home. CIM

MILL

CRUSHER

TEMPORARY WASTE

STOCKPILE

COARSE ORE CONVEYOR

COARSE ORE BIN

SECURITY / FIRST AID

OFFICE / DRY COMPLEX

CAMP

MINE PORTAL

SERVICE COMPLEX

WAREHOUSE

Aerial view of site

Michael George, the gold commodityspecialist on the United StatesGeological Survey Mineral InformationTeam, has people calling him on a regu-lar basis, asking him about the price ofgold.

“They ask me what the price of goldwill be next month,” said George, “andI tell them there are three options. It cango up, down, or stay the same. And I’mbetting it’s going to go up or down. AndI’m right about 90 per cent of the time.”

George’s job is to write articles andanswer questions about gold. The ques-tions can come from both the usual sus-pects—investment bankers, commodityanalysts, brokers—and the lessexpected ones: George knows withoutlooking when term paper season starts,for example.

When it comes to price forecasts,“the only predictable thing is unpre-dictability,” he said. “I think meteorolo-gists have an easier time.”

One thing George is standing behind,though, is that there’s a lot of interest ingold. “People call me up and want toknow where there’s gold developmentgoing on. I tell them, ‘look out the win-dow. Do you see dirt? Then there arepeople digging for gold somewhere nearyou.’ If there’s dirt, there’s gold.” Theonly place that hasn’t seen exploration isthe Antarctic, and we really do mean theonly place. “Bottom of the PacificOcean? They’re looking there. AtlanticOcean? They’re looking there too.”George mentioned two companiesinvolved in these unusual projects, theaptly named Nautilus Minerals andNeptune Minerals. The former is work-ing off the shore of New Zealand; thelatter, near Papua New Guinea.

“They aren’t doing it all on their own,”said George. “There’s investment comingfrom the major gold firms.” NautilusMinerals, for example, lists Placer Dome(now Barrick Gold) as a major investor.

Only predictable thing is unpredictabilitySome insights into the state of goldby Dan Zlotnikov

The tools for getting goldGuy Deschênes, a gold processing

researcher with Natural ResourcesCanada, does not believe we will see anymajor technological breakthroughs ingold processing in the near future.Instead, he believes advances will con-tinue to bring gradual efficiencyimprovements, in areas such as reagentconsumption and management.

This is not to say there isn’t researchbeing done into potential breakthroughareas. Deschênes himself was originallybrought in to work on one such project.“When I was hired here, it was to lookat cyanide substitutes, 22 years ago. AndI worked on that for four years—at thetime it was a verypopular area. Butwe didn’t get anyresults. For a whileit went slow, butthen it startedagain. Placer Dome,about ten years ago,wanted to find analternative, andthey gave them-selves about sevento eight years. Andeventually, aboutsix months beforethe takeover byBarrick, they sawthey weren’t gettinganything, so theygave up. But theyweren’t the onlyones working onthis; there wereother companiesdoing this researchas well.” But thusfar, none of theresearch and moneyhas resulted in acost-effective alter-native, either for

the cyanide used in leaching, or thecarbon used for filtration.

Deschênes knows how rare anddifficult major breakthroughs are toachieve: he is partly responsible forone; the 50-fold decrease in cyanideused in silver leaching out ofaurostibite (a gold/antimony min-eral mix).

“The technology that we inventedleaches silver more efficiently usingless cyanide,” said Deschênes. “Whengold is present, its extraction isslightly higher than using the conven-tional technology. The heavy metalsalso dissolve less. The treatment ofthe effluent is consequently cheaper.”

August 2007 15


The lower likelihood of break-throughs, according to Deschênes, isalso due to the approach mining compa-nies take to research. “The culture ofresearch and development in the miningindustry is much more conservativethan in other areas such as electronics,computers, and aerospace. A recent sur-vey of the mining industry indicatedthat they would like the federal govern-ment to invest in long-term researchwith high risk and large impact. Themining industry would rather invest inshort-term research with low risk.”

With the increasing interest in gold,brought on by high prices, more moneywill likely trickle down to research.However, even if that happens, we’reunlikely to see any results for a fewyears yet.

“Usually it’s a newer mine that usesnew discoveries, because they don’thave to go through a switch-over,”explained George. “Suppose you’vedeveloped a magic way of processinggold, say a carbon and pulp filtrationtechnology. You demonstrate that itworks well, you go to all these shows,show it to all these mining companies,and convince one of them to do a pilotproject. If it works very well, then thatcompany will take it and say ‘okay, let’spatent this, and let’s use it in this newmine that’ll open in four to five years.’

And then they use it, and everyone seesit, and says, ‘oh yeah, it does work bet-ter,’ and will adopt it as well. That’s howheap leaching did it.”

This complex and—for lack of a bet-ter word—conservative process meansthat any advances take a decade or moreto achieve wide adoption. As a result,the short-term gold price is virtuallyimmune to any technological develop-ments in the industry.

Gold on the marketThe same, unusually, can be said for

the effects of gold production on themetal’s market price. The simple reasonfor this is that once extracted, gold staysaround pretty much forever.

“There are 158 thousand tons of goldin above-ground stockpiles,” saidGeorge. “There are 28.5 thousand tonsin official reserves, which is banks andgovernments. There are 25.8 thousandtons in private reserves, such asexchange-traded funds (ETFs). The vastmajority, 81 thousand tons, is in jew-elry.” But if the market price of gold sky-rockets? Most of that gold will end upon the market faster than you can blink.

“People buy gold as a hedge againstinflation,” explained Bart Melek, aglobal commodity strategist with BMOCapital Markets. “This is especially trueof the developing world, which has been

getting richer, but doesn’t have quite thesophisticated financial system in place.Gold is the easiest way to protect your-self against inflation in these places.”Historically, gold value has increasedenough to match inflation. Melek pointsto India and the Middle East as twomajor buyers of gold. George added thatcountries experiencing political insta-bility have been known to buy gold—and then keep it outside the country.

“There’s a concern that if you keepcurrency, it might be frozen by the USgovernment,” he said. “But if you havegold in a Swiss bank account, it’s veryunlikely to be frozen.” George suggestedthat may be one reason the Swiss arebuying gold in significant quantities—to act as intermediaries for this type oftransaction.

In terms of current demand, India,traditionally the biggest consumer ofgold, has seen somewhat of a decreasethis year, said George. “Traditionally, ifthere was a good crop in India, theybought more gold. This year, it’sdropped off, and they had a good crop.It may be because they’re buying goldETFs instead of gold jewelry.” There’salready been a trend of Indian buyersmoving away from jewelry towardsgold bars, coins, and even investment.One theory George offered is thatIndian consumers are beginning to

At least he had a permitby Dan Zlotnikov

Michael George, the gold expert with the United States Geological Service, has long sincelearned to not be surprised by things when it comes to gold and gold mining. But still, everyonce in a while, something shows up that makes him sit up and do a double-take. This is,quite literally, what happened on a business visit to Nevada.

“I was driving down the road and I looked over and saw this guy with a backhoe in hisbackyard, digging. I got kind of curious, so I stopped and looked, and he had blue vinyl lyingon the ground, in a pit. And I looked closer, and… he had a heap leach pad in his backyard.He was digging up the dirt, and putting it in the leach pad and leaching it, in his backyard.That shocked me.”

When he made it to his destination, which happened to be the state mining authority, “Iasked them about the guy, and they said, ‘oh yeah, he has a permit.’ Well, at least he had apermit.”

gain trust in the Western markets, andare investing more in gold stock,instead of physical gold. Either way,the decrease in Indian gold purchasesis one factor for the somewhat disap-pointing gold price.

When it comes to cash costs, thetrend has been towards gold processingcosting more per ounce as time goes by.This is happening for numerous rea-sons. “The decrease in the value of theUS dollar,” said Melek, “is one signifi-cant factor. The dollar has dropped 30per cent or so since 2002, a sharpdecrease in value.” The other factor isthat most of the easily accessible, richgold deposits have already been mined.More and more nowadays, companiesare turning to deposits they previouslydismissed as uneconomical. Frequently,that means going back to previouslyshut down mines, projects closed whenthe gold price was less than half what itis today.

George expects that of the myriad ofprojects being started up, about a quar-ter will come online in under a decade.“The rest may come online 10, 20, 30years down the road. A lot of the onescoming online now were considereduneconomical even ten years ago.”

Gold on the mapEven with all the exploration going

on today, there are still parts of theworld that are blank spots on the goldmap. “South America is one,” saidGeorge. “Companies have stayed awayfrom South America, primarily due topolitical instability. But now they’velearned, found ways to protect them-selves at least somewhat against thatrisk. Still, Brazil has a lot of land to digin.” So does Russia, with its combina-tion of enormous territory, extremeweather conditions, and the occasionalpolitical upheaval. China, said George,is a weird case.

August 2007 17

“China is already a major gold pro-ducer. I heard it said that China has tenthousand gold mines. But they’re allvery small mines. And this is true of notjust gold, but other metals as well. I sawa photo at a conference of an alu-minium smelter that was a grass hutwith a single pot. And I’m used to goingto smelters that have pot lines with 20pots a line, and 16 lines, and the build-ing is half a mile long…” The Chinesemining industry seems to have plentyof room for growth, especially in termsof efficiency improvements, but Georgeexplained that China as a market is verydifferent, and many foreign companiesare finding it very difficult to get in.Still, with at least one gold mining part-nership (between Canada’s Inter-Citicand the Beijing Geological Institute andthe Qinghai Geological Survey Instituteon the Chinese side) already inprogress, more companies are sure tomake a try. CIM


Kinross Gold is building its future.With operations spanning the globe,the Canadian mining company is posi-tioning to be a major producer of gold.Recently, CIM caught up with TimBaker, executive vice president andCOO, to discuss Kinross’s currentactivities.CIM: Kinross has a number of goldoperations and projects. What aresome of today’s highlights?Baker: We have lots of activity goingon—we’re radically transformingKinross. The Paracatu operation inBrazil promises a long mine life. Withgreat people and such an expandedproduction rate, it will be a corner-stone for the company. We continue toevaluate options at each of our proper-

Putting flesh on good bonesKinross Gold focuses on production expansionby Heather Ednie

ties, such as at Fort Knox in Alaska, toextend mine life and to increase ourflexibility. Existing operations like theRound Mountain mine in Nevada areproducing lots of gold, while permit-ting at the nearby Gold Hill deposit isongoing. The team there is reallypulling together now. The developmentof our Kupol project in Russia is com-ing along very well and it promises tobe one of the best and lowest cost goldmines in Kinross’ portfolio. The CerroCasale is a huge project, which, if adecision is made to build, will take lotsof energy and resources.

There’s a lot happening, and therewill continue to be. We’ve continued togrow our gold reserve base at our coreoperations and we now have the fifth

largest gold reservebase in the world.CIM: The Paracatumine is a large -scale open pitmine located lessthan three kilome-tres north of thecity of Paracatu,in the northwestpart of MinasGerais State, 230kilometres fromBrasília, the capi-tal of Brazil.Kinross acquiredownership inter-est in the Paracatumine upon com-pletion of thecombination withTVX on January31, 2003. OnDecember 31,2004, Kinrosscompleted thepurchase of theremaining 51 percent of Paracatufrom Rio Tinto.

An estimated $470 million expansionproject is ongoing, expected to startproduction mid-2008. What can youtell CIM members about it?Baker: The Paracatu expansion projectis now around 35 per cent complete,and on-track. We’re purchasing a newmining fleet to feed the new plant—wepresently operate series 992 loaders,series 777 trucks, and we use dozers tohaul the ore into loaders, as it is so softthat blasting is not required. We’re pur-chasing nine 793 Caterpillar trucks, aBucyrus 495 shovel, a couple of 994loaders, and a couple of drills, all ofwhich are suited to the new plant.

A new mill is under constructionthat will employ standard technology,including a big 38-foot SAG mill, acouple of 40x24 foot ball mills, a flota-tion circuit, and an upgraded hydrometplant. Paracatu presently processesabout 18 million tonnes per year ofsoft, low-grade ore—there’s virtuallyno waste. Initial total throughput with

In mining, environmental protection and business success should not be mutually exclusive.

e understandWWe

n mining, environmental protection and business success should not be mutually exclusive.

e understand both.

Construction underway at the Kupol project in Russia

the new mill will increase to approxi-mately 58.4 Mt for the first five yearsafter commissioning of the new plant.We’ll keep the old mill running to treat

the soft ore, and the new mill will treathard ore found below the soft. We’llrun the two mills in parallel for thenext 10 to 12 years, then evaluate what

to do with the old plant once the softore is mined out.

Paracatu is already one of Brazil’slargest gold mines, and is expected to

August 2007 19

be one of the west ern hemisphere’slargest gold mines and a growing con-tributor to Kinross’ production profilein 2008 and beyond.CIM: The Buckhorn Mountain project is located in north-central Wash ingtonState, about 76 kilometres fromKinross’ Kettle River gold milling facil-ity. Production is expected to beginlater this year. What highlights can youshare from Buckhorn?Baker: Buckhorn is expected to con-tribute approximately 160,000 goldounces per year at low costs, and iscurrently in the construction and per-mitting stages. Currently, portal devel-opment has commenced and the watertreatment facilities should be com-pleted by the end of July. The existingKettle River mill is currently on careand maintenance, but will be restartedto process the Buckhorn ore.CIM: Kinross acquired the Kupolproject in Far Eastern Russia thispast February through the acquisi-

tion of Bema Gold. Located in theChukotka region, about 220 kilo-metres southeast of Bilibino, theproject consists of a high-grade goldand silver vein which remains openalong strike. Development of Kupolrequires the construction of a 3,000tonne per day mill and will employboth open pit and undergroundmining methods. Constructionbegan in 2005 and production isexpected to begin in late 2008, withan average annual output of418,000 ounces of gold equivalent,operating as one of the lowest costgold and silver mines in the world.Where does the Kupol project standtoday?Baker: Kupol construction is nowaround 60 per cent complete. Allequipment has been delivered to site,and operating supplies for the first yearof operation are presently beingshipped to the port of Pevek in north-east Russia, to be hauled across the

winter road nextwinter to the minesite, which islocated within theArctic Circle.

In the open pitmine, stripping ofwaste is welladvanced andwe’ve started stock-piling ore now inpreparation for millstartup. The under-ground mine isbeing developed,using Tamrockequipment. Someheadings have beendriven into the orezone and some ore has been stockpiled.

We’ve installedrefurbished SAGand ball mills,which originatedfrom a mine inTonopah, Nevada.Primary powergeneration comes

from four Wartsila diesel generators,with back-up Caterpillar generators.It is a major logistical exercise ship-ping supplies in, with cyanide comingfrom China, lime from BritishColumbia, and mill balls fromCanada.

During the operating years atKinross’ now closed mine, Kubaka, apool of well-experienced, proficientminers and operators had been devel-oped and will be a valuable resource tothe Kupol team. The Julietta mine hascontinued this tradition, and Kupol isnow able to draw on these talent pools.This is of significant benefit as activi-ties at Kupol increase in preparationfor commissioning in 2008.

The remote location of the site andthe difficulty shipping materials theremake it imperative that we do a verygood job, both in planning and imple-mentation. We are confident that thishas been achieved and the operationwill be ready to role when constructionis completed.CIM: Kinross acquired its 49 per centinterest in the Cerro Casale deposit inthe Atacama region of Chile inFebruary through its acquisition ofBema Gold. The deposit, discovered in1996, is a large gold and copper depositwith reserves of 23 million ounces ofgold and six billion pounds of copper,and is arguably one of the largest unde-veloped gold/copper deposits in theworld. Development capital was esti-mated at $1.96 billion in the 2006 fea-sibility study. Does it look like the proj-ect will progress?Baker: We’re drilling this year at CerroCasale for metallurgical testing, and itcontinues to be a very interesting proj-ect, especially at today’s prices, thoughit continues to be a challenge due tothe high capital costs.

Bema finalized a feasibility studylast August—the fourth I think sincePlacer Dome completed the first feasi-bility in 1999—and they all say thesame thing, that there are high capitalrequirements. The results from thedrilling this year will help us to betterevaluate the possibility of going for-ward with mine development.


CIM: What are some of the other opti-mization projects across the Kinrossoperations?Baker: A key focus for Kinross is oncontinuous improvement. There are anumber of projects being targeted ateach property with the aim of optimiz-ing production, cutting costs, andincreasing mine life. For instance, atRound Mountain we’re installing aspiral tails flotation circuit which willbe running next month. This $4.6million investment in two MinnovEXFlash Flotation Contact Cells andassociated equipment will treat thespiral tailings to capture the gold thatis too fine to be recovered by the spi-rals. We expect about a two per centincrease in recovery.

At Fort Knox, we’re evaluating aheap leach scenario. No decision hasbeen reached yet, but we’re goingthrough the permitting process. Heapleaching in Alaska will be challeng-ing, but based on our experience at4,500 metres in elevation at theMaricunga mine in Chile, we’re confi-dent we can do it.

Fine tuningwork is ongoing atMaricunga, withthe aim to movemore tonnagethrough thecrusher. We are see-ing improvementsalready this yearwith 45,000 tonnesper day being sus-tained over longperiods.CIM: Kinrossacquired BemaGold last February,bringing with it anumber of opera-tions and develop-ment projects. Howdoes that acquisi-tion fit into theKinross strategy?Baker: The acquisi-tion of Bema Goldwas a perfectchoice—it broughtus good projects

Portal utility drilling at Buckhorn Mountain

August 2007 21

The dollar-gold relationshipby Dan Zlotnikov

Despite the rising gold prices, some analysts are disappointed with the metal’s perform-ance, saying the price jump did not meet their expectations. Bart Melek, global commoditystrategist with BMO Capital Markets, sheds light on a few of the reasons for the (relatively) poorperformance.

First and foremost, why are gold and the dollar tied in such a consistent inverse relationship?When the dollar drops in value, gold goes up, and when the dollar gets stronger, gold takes anosedive, and so it has been for a very long time indeed. “Gold,” said Melek, “has historicallybeen the most convenient and accessible hedge against inflation. Gold has traditionally increasedin value fast enough to at least keep up with inflation. When people, especially in developing coun-tries where the financial systems aren’t as sophisticated, want to protect themselves against infla-tion, they buy gold.”

The dollar, and Melek clarifies (only half-jokingly) that despite popular belief, there’s only one“dollar,” is one of the world’s major trade currencies, and its value is a reflection of the world’smost powerful national economy. If investors around the world lose confidence in the stability ofthe dollar’s value when they are concerned about possible losses due to inflation, you’re boundto see a sudden interest in anything that can provide security against inflation, which is wheregold comes in.

The above suggests then that gold prices remained lower than expected because the dollardid better than the investors anticipated. That is, in fact, exactly what happened, says Melek. Onereason for this turn of events is that the collapse of the US housing market did not hurt the restof the economy as much as anticipated, at least not yet. Real estate, representing a major por-tion of the US economy, has spread its misfortune far and wide and had an overall slowing effecton US inflation, but not enough to convince the Feds to lower rates. The Federal Reserve wasexpected to ease interest rates in an attempt to offset slower housing, but instead it is expectedto keep them at the current level. For the time being, the dollar’s value has stabilized, and evenrecovered some. The investors, in turn, slowed their rush to sell off the dollar, and investordemand for gold has predictably dropped off.

In a related event, the European central bank has sold off some of its gold stockpile, most likelyin a deliberate attempt to restrain the increase in gold prices. The Washington Agreement, of whichmost central banks are signatories, restricts the sale of gold stockpiles to 500 tons per year, a pointthe European Central Bank system has already reached, effectively putting an end to that sell-off.But despite the massive injection of gold supply into the market, the price is not in a freefall andMelek believes will be back on track for hitting the $700 mark before the end of the year.

On the mining side of the equation, we are continuing to see a slow decrease in mine produc-tion. This decrease is primarily caused by the constantly decreasing grade of the availablereserves, but ongoing shortages are also exacerbating the problem. Shortfalls are making them-selves felt in every area from skilled labour to drills to the most basic consumables such as trucktires and even cement. While not directly affecting the market price of gold, these shortages serveto increase the cash costs of production, pushing borderline projects into the red, and decreas-ing the flow of the metal to the markets.

On a larger, longer-term scale, Melek points out that despite the current recovery, the dollar isstill not doing well. “Since 2002, we’ve seen the dollar drop about 30 per cent,” he says, a verysignificant decrease. And according to Melek, the dollar has a ways to go yet before it begins torecover. The European Central Bank, Melek says, will continue to set its interest rates higher, con-tinuing to make the Euro more attractive an investment than the US dollar. The US trade deficit,already large and still growing, will have to be addressed before any recovery of the dollar’s valuewill occur. Finally, somewhat of a wild card, China might give in to the pressure, and set its inter-est rates and currency value to reflect its actual economic state. With its strong growth, Chinesecurrency is likely to prove an attractive purchase, once again undermining the value of the dollar.And gold, in turn, having already hit a 26-year high, will keep going up. Will it get to new, previ-ously unseen highs? That, as they say, is the million-dollar question. CIM

and great people. Bema’s princi-pal projects in Russia and Chilehave been an excellent fit withKinross’ experience in thosecountries. The Kupol ore bodyis a world-class ore body, and isexpected to commence produc-tion in 2008. In Chile, we haveconsolidated our ownership inthe Maricunga mine, previouslyoperated by Kinross and jointlyowned by Bema, which thereforerequired no physical integra-tion. Finally, we added the pos-sibility of future potential withthe Cerro Casale project.CIM: What are some of the majorcontributors to Kinross’ success?How will they be taken intoaccount going forward?Baker: Our greatest strength liesin the quality and experience ofour people at the operations, atthe country offices, and at thehead office in Toronto. We relyheavily on the local teams tomake local decisions, with thesupport of the corporate team,through integrating systems andproviding leadership and strate-gic direction.

Kinross’ safety and environ-mental record is top notch,which is one reason I was happyto come on board. We continueto improve and push the enve-lope on performance. As well,we’re upgrading our humanresources systems with a strongfocus on performance manage-ment. We have a clear under-standing of the need to attractand retain the best and are put-ting in place the systems to dojust that.

Really, we’re simply puttingflesh on good bones. With a pro-duction profile increasing from anexpected 1.65 million ounces in2007 to 2.1 to 2.2 million ouncesin 2008, then we’ll jump to 2.6 to2.7 million ounces in 2009. Thisis an exciting time, and we havethe best team dedicated to achiev-ing our goals. CIM


Congratulations! It’s a gold mine!Not quite newly-born, but definitely

in the very early stages of its life, thePogo gold project has gone from makingits first steps to a confident walk. Thereare excellent reasons for Pogo and itsowners Teck Cominco (40 per centshare and the operators of the site),Sumitomo Metal Mining (51 per cent),and Sumitomo Corporation (9 per cent)to be confident. The mine achieved itscommercial production goal on April 26of this year, and is moving towards itsfull production goal of 2,500 tons of oreper day. According to Teck ComincoDirector of Investor Relations DaveSplett, full production rates will bereached some time in the second half ofthis year. At the moment, the mine aver-ages 2,100 tons of ore a day.

The site was originally discovered in1994, by Sumitomo Metal Mining,

explained Teck Cominco’s VicePresident of International Mines DaleAndres. By 1997, an agreement wasreached with Teck Cominco, whosepredecessor had a history of workingwith Sumitomo. The same year, TeckCominco began exploratory drilling atthe site.

The exploration continued until2000, by which time a significantamount of reserves was found, allow-ing the venture to move forward withengineering, permitting, and construc-tion. The permitting, Andres noted,was completed in only four years,which is a credit to the team that han-dled it. “Typically, permitting a mine inunder four years in the United States isa very good and uncommon achieve-ment.” The permitting also includedpermits for an 80-kilometre (50 mile)access road, the first such in Alaska in

a long time, according to Andres.Following the receipt of the final per-mit and the withdrawal of a permitchallenge by the Northern AlaskaEnvironmental Center (NEAC), con-struction could continue at the site.Teck Cominco managed the project,with AMEC providing engineeringservices. It is around this time that BobJacko was brought in by Teck Comincoas the project’s general manager, a rolehe continues to fill today.

No doubt, both the mine owners andJacko himself would have preferred tosay “and they all lived happily everafter” at this point, but the Pogo tale isnot without its twists and surprises. Tostart with, the mine was being exploredwhen gold dropped to $300 an ounce in1997 and stayed down, only reachingthe $400 point in 2003. Andresexplained how this affected the project.

Next McDonald’s: 100 milesby Dan Zlotnikov

“Gold prices were depressed in thefirst part of this decade, so Pogo stayedon the table, waiting to be approved,and it had quite a bit of detailed engi-neering done because of the low goldprices at the time. We wanted to makesure it would be economic and that wecould get all the permitting. We didn’twant to make an approval decisionbefore we had all the permitting inplace.”

Of course, once the mine wasapproved and built, the challenges didn’t disappear—they simply changedto new ones.

“Starting up a new mine isn’t thesame as moving into a house where allyou have to do is hang the curtains,”said Jacko. “You get the plant up, youget it commissioned, and you start oper-ating right away, and the only thingyou’re dealing with is the informationfrom the feasibility study.” There’s nosuch thing as “typical” when it comes to

gold mines, Jacko explained. “The filter-ing plant is a prime example. There waslots of good work done on filteringcapacity and the bulk sample was takenand you’ve come up with all the infor-mation at the time. But now you startmining the orebody. You took a 5,000-ton sample out of one little corner, butnow, all of a sudden, we’re mining in 14different faces, and all the faces areslightly different. The mineralogy isslightly different, the materials areslightly different. This affects the fine-ness of the grind, for example.”

The filtration system, originallymade up of two massive Larox pressurefilters, proved insufficient to handle thetailings volume and created a bottle-neck, which prevented the mine fromreaching commercial production levels.To solve the problem, a third filter hadto be brought in.

“The process involves dry-stackingthe tailings,” Andres explained, “which

means all the wastestream from themill needs to be fil-tered. The filterplant could notmeet up with oper-ating requirementsto attain commer-cial production. Wehad to install athird Larox pres-sure filter and makechanges to the waythe tailings werehandled after filtra-tion as well.” Thetwo projects,according toAndres, took 40weeks to completeand required anadditional US$21million capitalexpenditure overand above the orig-inal scope of theUS$350 millionproject.

No less impor-tant are the prob-lems inherent in

the daily operation ofthe mine. Splett, whountil two months agoserved as the opera-tion’s controller forTeck Cominco’s met-allurgical division,explained.

“The various cir-cuits have to be filledand then you have tobe bring these circuitsinto balance betweenthe various stages.You have the front-end feed, crushing,then the reagents andthe separation. On theback end you have tostart filtering out thetailings and the wholesystem has to be inbalance. And over andabove that, the minehas to be in balancewith the refinery andthe mill on the sur-face. These challengesare ones a matureoperation would notexperience.”

With a matureoperation, Splettadded, the challengeis finding newdeposits and findingwhere to develop newblocks. Hemlo, Teck Cominco’s maturegold project near Marathon, Ontario, ishaving to face these, but has long sinceoptimized its production cycle andachieved the very balance Pogo is strug-gling to find. Expertise and experience,Jacko added, are major factors as well.

“With a mature operation, peoplehave been there for 10 to 15 years, sothey know the quirks of the orebody.”But at Pogo, turnover is still high, andthere’s been little time to get a good feelfor the ore. “Pogo’s turnover is 40-plusper cent, compared to two to three percent on the Polaris Project. Mostly, it’speople coming out then realizing Pogoisn’t right for them. Mainly it’s peoplewanting to go home at night”—some-


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thing that isn’t feasible due to Pogo’sremote location.

Still, the current challenges are, asSplett and Jacko describe them, limitedto “tinkering” with the process.Granted, when dealing with the extremeconditions of the Alaskan winter, “tin-kering” can have serious repercussions.The pipes on the surface are used totransport anything from potable waterto mine water to any other liquidneeded in the process, and when thetemperatures drop to -40, thermal insu-lation isn’t always enough. “We ran intosome problems like the fire in ER1,”added Jacko. The fire, which broke outin an above-ground power substation

on October 19 last year, knocked outpower to the mine. Operations werehalted almost completely until fullpower was restored in early December.Fortunately, the mine’s portable genera-tors allowed regular maintenance tocontinue, a well as some constructionand mining.

The ongoing optimization and fine-tuning also means it is harder to predictreagent consumption rates, which is agreater challenge then it would be nor-mally. This is, at least in part, due to thebooming business in other mining sec-tors. The sudden scaling up in opera-tions across the globe has put a greatdeal of strain on the equipment and con-

sumables manufacturers, frequently tothe point where they have been simplyunable to meet the demand. “It’s evensimple things,” said Jacko. “The inven-tory that you typically have to carryonsite now has increased a great deal,where at one time, either the supplierskept it or the manufacturer did. It’s verycommon for us, when we’re short a part,to have to go back to the manufacturinglocation, to Europe or wherever it hap-pens to be, to get the part.”

An Air Force officer once stationedin Alaska shared the directions offeredby his captain to the nearestMcDonald’s to the base: “Just turn leftat the first traffic light, and it’s right

August 2007 25

there.” The missing, yet important, bitof information is that the first trafficlight is about 100 miles down the road.Jacko, when told the story, laughed,and agreed with the description, evenguessing that the officer was serving atthe missile base down the road fromthe mine. This may put things into per-spective when one thinks of the dis-tances involved in working on Pogo’ssupply chain. “The logistics for a lot ofthe mines in Alaska are fairly

involved,” said Jacko. “Most of yourproduct line will come from the lower48 US states, Canada, and Europe. Youeither have to truck it all the waythrough into Alaska, or into the port ofSeattle, and it gets loaded onto bargesor steam ships, and gets landed uphere. Then it goes onto rail or onto atractor-trailer, and brought intoFairbanks.” Only then does the part orconsumable get shipped off to the minesite itself. “You’ve got delays here you

don’t normally asso-ciate with the Hemlocamp area.”

Compounding onthe supply difficultiesdue to the remote-ness of the site is therelative lack ofunderground miningdevelopments inAlaska. Also relevantis the cumulative size

of the operations near the site in ques-tion. “If you look at how many piecesof underground equipment are in theSudbury basin, I wouldn’t even hazarda guess. We’ve got about 20 pieces [atPogo]. They’ve got maybe 200 to 250?”That includes all the mining projects inthe area, such as the Kirkland Lakemines, Timmins, and Noranda [nowowned by Xstrata]. Put together, “theyjust dwarf us in size.” In Alaska, on theother hand, Jacko said, “mining, espe-


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“The commitment here by the folks—whether it be in the mine, maintenance, mill… has really been

first class”B. Jacko

that we can weather the storms thatinevitably happen in the mining industry.There’s not a lot you can do to changeyour cash costs in the near term.” Withore grades rated at 17 grams per ton, Pogois expected to have cash costs a fraction ofHemlo’s US$460 per ounce of gold.

Of the roughly 230 workers, 180 areonsite at this time, with the remainingone-third enjoying well-deserved timeoff. (The mine provides bus service tothe nearest urban centre, Fairbanks,about three hours’ drive away.) Theseare the people whom Jacko holds up asthe primary reason for the mine’s suc-cess. “Although we’ve had our share ofproblems, and sometimes we feel we getmore problems than other places, thecommitment here by the folks—whether it be in the mine, maintenance,mill, or wherever you look in the opera-tions—has really been first-class.”

Perhaps, when the mine achieves itsfull production goal, the managementshould take everyone out to McDonald’sto celebrate. CIM

cially underground mining, is fairlynew in Alaska.” Ontario, on the otherhand, has a long mining history, andequipment suppliers have built upaccordingly. “There’s a huge populationof equipment and people and knowl-edge and skill sets. In Alaska, there’sus, there’s Nixon Fork, Greens Creek,and that’s it—three operating under-ground mines in the whole state.”

Nor are any of the other mines nearPogo. Kennecott’s Greens Creek projectis, by Juneau, only accessible by air orwater. Nixon Fork, owned by NevadaGoldfields, is near McGrath, over 200miles west of Anchorage. Each requiresits own supply chain, and the costsinvolved are non-trivial.

Despite all these challenges, Splettand Jacko are confident in the contin-ued success of the mine. Polaris, nowunder active closure, boasted the title ofthe world’s most northern mine. TeckCominco, Splett said, has a long historyof success operating northern, remote,and extreme-condition mines. This isone of the reasons, according to Splett,that Sumitomo selected Teck Comincoas the project operator. “We’ve got somehistory with Sumitomo, and we becamethe operator because we understandworking in North America and workingin the north of North America. I thinkSumitomo recognized that we have asignificant amount of skill and Pogo hasemployees with experience from previ-ous Teck Cominco northern operations,but also Alaskan experience dealingwith the severe winters. There are a lotof folks here with a lot of experience inthese temperatures—not just me.”“There’s a lot of history of Teck Comincoin northern operations,” Jacko agreed.

While the company does not neces-sarily seek out this specific type of proj-ect, Splett said, Teck Cominco’s partnersrecognize the experience, and “whenthey see that skill may be required indeveloping an operation, they may verywell ask us to be the operator.”This hap-pened in Fort McMurray, Alberta, asPetro-Canada has asked their partnerTeck Cominco to take over as operatorof the bitumen mine of the Fort Hills OilSands project.

Today’s estimate for the project lifeexpectancy is ten years, but that numberwill likely change. “We continually dosummer exploration programs, typicallyfrom mid-May to mid-September. About37,000 feet of drilling will be done.We’ll continue that in efforts to find newzones in the Pogo claim block.” Thearea, according to Splett, is relativelyunder-explored, but has excellentpotential for new findings.

As far as future projections go, Splettdoesn’t believe Pogo will be significantlyaffected by possible fluctuations in goldprice.

“Teck Cominco takes the view whenwe get into new developments, like Pogo:What’s the reserve life, what’s the cashcost of the mine relative to its peers, andwhat’s the expandability? Can we expandthe property? We want all of our opera-tions to ultimately be at the lowest end ofthe cash cost scale. When prices start tocome down, we want to make sure we’restill making a profit when others are tak-ing a loss. We go in ahead of the game, so

August 2007 27

28 CIM Magazine n Vol. 2, Nº 528 CIM Magazine n Vol. 2, Nº 5

afety is job one in the minerals industry, and each year, the John T. Ryan Trophies areawarded in recognition of outstanding achievements in that most important aspect ofmining: safety. The John T. Ryan Trophies are awarded at the CIM Awards Gala by MineSafety Appliances Canada Limited, as a memorial to the founder of the company. TheCanadian trophies are handed out to mines in three categories—metalliferous, select, andcoal—all of which, in the previous year, experienced the lowest reportable injury frequencyper 200,000 hours worked in Canada. The John T. Ryan committee sets the eligibility crite-ria. Instances that are counted include modified or restricted duty (when a person gets hurtto the point where they cannot perform their regular duties) and lost time injuries (when

a person cannot work at all). After speaking with each of the winning companies, it was obvious their effortsall boiled down to the same goal: to make sure everyone goes home at the end of the day.

North MineThe award for the metal mines category went to North Mine in Copper Cliff, Ontario. The underground proj-

ect is owned and operated by CVRD Inco Ltd. and opened back in 1967. The nickel/copper mine extracts about4,200 tonnes a day and employs about 260 people. Vice President Michael Winship said their long-time visionof ‘zero accidents’ has finally become a reality. Since December 2005, the mine has gone 920 days without adisabling injury.

Winship credits their winning to strong safety leadership: everyone from upper management downthrough to the workers have all pulled together to make the environment as safe as possible. They’ve hadstrong safety systems for years and recently they’ve started doing Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment.The technique consists basically of individual assessment. First, evaluate the situation or risk in the workplace.

Sby CAROLYN HERSEY

The Mosaic Potash Esterhazy K1 Mine (surface and underground) was awardedthe National John T. Ryan Award for the Select Mines category. L-R: Paul Gill, K1 mill manager; Harvey Miller, OHC co-chair for K1 Mine; Shari Forsythe-Hohm,OHC co-chair for K1 surface; Nelson Wright, safety and training manager; Francois Pelletier, CIM president, and Andrey Petukhov, K1 mine manager

Once the risk has been identified, then go through options on howthe risks can be mitigated and brought into an acceptable zone.

They also have a program at the worker level called S.U.P.A. Seethe hazard, understand the hazard, plan a course of action beforeworking, and act using the appropriate tools, equipment, and proce-dures. CVRD Inco likes to create an environment in which workersare fully engaged and can feel like partners in how the company isrun—so far the results have been positive and have proven to bevery valuable.

There has been a noticeable rise in empowered and inspiredemployees at the mine—everyone seems to want to join in on thesafety dance. At CVRD Inco’s Coleman Mine, one worker actuallycame in on his own time and did an entire risk assessment in PowerPoint, identifying hazards and finding solutions to mitigate them.Individuals can come forward with ideas and suggestions on howto make the workplace a safer place to be. At North Mine, safety ispart of their culture, and CVRD Inco is very proud to be one of theleaders in safety performance.

Greenhills OperationsIn the coal mine category, this year’s shining star is Elk Valley

Coal’s Greenhills Operations. Their approach to safety is quite simi-

lar, as they also try to make safety a part of each employee’s culture.Practice makes perfect and therefore each individual is stronglyencouraged not only to adopt safety habits at work, but at home aswell. It needs to be incorporated as a lifestyle instead of being seenas a set of rules and regulations.

Safety is being taken down to the employees’ level, giving themthe authority to make decisions regarding safety and holding themaccountable for their own personal safety as well as the safety ofthose they work with. Elk Valley currently has two programs in placethat they’ve introduced over the past two years: ‘CourageousLeadership’ and ‘Safety 24/7.’ The ‘Green Hard Hat’ program allowsnew employees to be distinguished by the colour of their hats andthus their colleagues are able to keep an eye out for them as theylearn the ropes.

Dean Runzer, general manager, specified that it is not so muchthe programs that make the project so successfully safe, but ratherthe combined effort of the employees who pull together to make itwork. After all, a program only works if the “commitment, commu-nication, and follow-up are in place to promote your sincere inten-tions,” he added.

Elk Valley Coal operations have the tools in place to assist highsafety performance. They’ve installed LCD screens all across theproperty to keep workers up to date on safety initiatives, perform-

August 2007 29

The safetycultureJohn T. Ryan winnersfor safety performance

ance, and any other changes in procedures. GPS systems have beeninstalled in all track dozers, in combination with graphical screens.High-hazard areas are indicated on the maps and then alert theoperator of potential relative location of these areas or conditions.To eliminate the risk of falling, aging haul trucks were upgraded toinclude front stairways in place of vertical ladders. In addition, com-puter-based training is used to update and test employees on theirsafety knowledge, and automated survey instruments allow for on-demand monitoring of unstable geotechnical areas and warningsto potential hazardous movements.

Despite all the fancy gadgets, Runzer said the most importantapproach they’ve taken as an organization is a “sustained, consis-tent effort to demonstrate that management is committed tomaking a cultural change, and it will be our actions as a manage-ment team that are making the difference compared to the wordswe speak.”

Whatever they’re doing, it’s working, and the safety recordsspeak for themselves. Elk Valley has managed to reduce their LTI(lost time incident) frequency from 1.63 in 2004 down to 0.00 in2007. That’s right, zero. They’ve also experienced an 80 per centdecrease in their combined medical aid/LTI frequency; it’s gonefrom 5.35 in 2004 down to 1.09. Some of their projects have goneyears without an LTI, and as of May 16, 2007, they’ve officially goneone million hours without a single lost time incident. Impressive, tosay the least.

Runzer is quick to point out that these are only numbers but arestrongly indicative of how their safety programs are working, andthat they are truly making progress. The real results are the peoplegoing home uninjured at the end of the day to their families.

It only takes a second for things to possibly change forever,but at Greenhills, workers try not to get discouraged by thesemoments. They communicate about how the problem could pos-sibly be avoided in the future and then move forward. Runzersaid that admitting to one’s mistakes definitely helps when try-ing to get by in the safety programs, but in the end, “we are all inthis together.”

After realizing that they had not provided enough resourcesfor training, they promptly doubled the manpower designatedto training their equipment operators about two years ago.These trainers have been given the responsibility and authorityto ensure that all employees are properly trained, qualified, andknowledgeable prior to acknowledgment of their completionas a competent and reliable equipment operator. It’s been along and steady road, but the employees at GreenhillsOperations are finally stepping up when it comes to safety. Outwith the blame game, and in with constructive, productivecommunication.


Miners work safely forone main reason:

to go home at the end ofthe day to their families

The entire shift to commemoratethe All Mines safety award andJohn T. Ryan award

EsterhazyFinally, the select mine winner for this year’s John T. Ryan

awards is the PCS Potash Estherhazy K1 mine in Sussex, NewBrunswick. Formerly known as IMC Canada, the mine is theworld’s largest producer of three primary plant nutrients—potash, nitrogen, and phosphate. Production of potash in NewBrunswick started back in 1983 and currently, the project employsabout 330 people. Their LTI frequency was 0.2, with one countedinjury for over 700,000 hours worked. As of November 1, 2005,the mine site achieved three million hours without a single losttime injury.

K1 Health and Safety Manager Nelson Wright thinks it’s fantas-tic that the industry recognizes and rewards their safety efforts.“But that’s not why we do it,” he added. He believes, most likely aseveryone else does, that miners work safely for one main reason: togo home at the end of the day to their families. Wright believes thatbeing ‘safe’ means managing risks and controlling hazards. There isno magic potion to transform a business into a high-standardsafety performer. It takes a plan and it takes work.

K1’s view is that everyone, including management, supervision,and workers, plays a part in the success of the operation. Each hastheir own role; none can be interchanged, and success wouldn’t bepossible without the presence and collaboration of all of them. It ismanagement’s job to ensure that physical hazards are controlled.They also must have safe physical procedures, in that they must beable to demonstrate how to do the job without getting hurt. Forexample, if there are machines involved, does the machine have aguard?

The supervisor’s job is to lead and coach the workforce andestablish compliance with the safe work procedures. He or shemust coach on how the job is to be done and then actively workwith the force to ensure it is in fact being done properly.

The worker’s obligation is to firstly accept the training that he orshe has been given to recognize hazards and to make as best a deci-sion as he or she can about controlling and managing those haz-ards. If he/she cannot personally make the decision, then he is obli-gated to report it to the supervisor.

The key to making all this work is to work together. There’s no‘I’ in team, and everyone needs to trust and understand that thereason they are going home alive is not because of what he as anindividual does—or for that matter what the supervisor or man-ager does—but what the team does. The workers need to trustthat their teammates will point out any errors they’ve made orare about to make. The ‘every man for himself’ attitude cannotexist in this field. Part of each man and woman’s job is to look outfor each other. This is the eighth time that one of the Estherhazyoperations has won an award, and they’ve also won severalregional awards.

During our conversation, Wright gave me a fine example ofwhat makes their company so worthy of the coveted safetyaward. A union worker, who had stopped at Estherhazy lookingfor ideas on how to become more ‘safe,’ appeared to be quitedoubtful that work could be done completely safely. She wasbound and determined to find someone on the shop floor thatwould give her the ‘real’ story on how safe procedures reallywere. After asking one of the older mechanics whether or notsafety was a priority, the man turned to her and said, “No, safety

is not a priority here. Priorities change from year to year, atEstherhazy, safety is a value.”

The K1 team hopes that they are providing an example and someleadership to other countries around the world—you don’t have tosacrifice thousands of people in order to get coal out of the ground.With 400 employees under their wing, at an average age of 40years old, they are focused on ensuring that old safety values,habits, and practices are instilled within the new mining generationfor the future.

Safety worksMining, like any heavy industrial occupation, has its many haz-

ards. With the hazards come risks, which is very different from beingunsafe. The question is not whether or not something is safe; thequestion is ‘how much hazard/risk does it pose?’ When you thinkabout it, nothing is completely safe. Take the streets of Montreal forexample, which are, in fact, much less safe than any mine operationbecause in this case, the hazard is not controlled. A meat-cuttingfactory, with knives and heavy machinery abound, can be a very safeenvironment. As long as the proper precautions are being taken,things can run smoothly despite the hazards. Historically speaking,mining does have somewhat of a bad rep; the only stories we canreally remember are those of great tragedy and disaster. In truth,the focus on safety is probably higher in the mining industry thanin any other. I’m truly proud to say that I’ve tripped over my own feetmore times than these mine operations have had accidents. CIM

August 2007 31

Our Mosaic Potash Esterhazy K1 Operations were pleased to be awarded the National John T. Ryan Safety Award for 2006. Although the true reward for working safely is going home at the end of the workday, it is a pleasant “bonus” for the efforts at K1 Surface and Underground to be recognized at the national level.

Mosaic Potash Esterhazy 306.745.4200

www.mosaicco.com

Our results to date? Almost 50 Health &Safety awards between our six mines, andthe best company-wide safety record everin 2006 including our most recent honors:

• Safest coal mine in Canada (Greenhills, 2006);

• Lowest lost-time incident frequency formines in B.C. working less than onemillion hours (Coal Mountain, 2006);

• Lowest lost-time incident frequency formines in B.C. working more than onemillion hours (Elkview, 2006).

Safety

Kayla knows theimportance of gettingto the core.

So does her father.(And so do we, for that matter!)

We’re talking about the core value of Safety, which is more thanjust a philosophy at Elk Valley Coal. It’s a mindset we encourageand promote both on and off the job, because we believe thatworkplace training, safety awareness and employee education areessential to the 24/7 protection of our most valuable asset: the menand women employed at our mine operations.

We’re proud of our people, andsatisfied only when 18-year mining

veteran Carl Norgate and Elk Valley Coal’s 3,000 other

employees safely arrive at workand home each day.

Then we know we’re on the right path.

Because for us, safety is a journey that never ends!

A new company, a newattitude…a new day.

PROUDLY OWNED BY FORDING CANADIAN COAL TRUST AND TECK COMINCO LIMITED www.elkval leycoal .ca

August 2007 33

Dans l’industrie minérale, la sécurité est la tâche la plusimportante et, à chaque année, les trophées John T.Ryan sont accordés par la compagnie Mine SafetyAppliances Canada Limited à la mémoire de son fon-dateur. Les trophées sont remis chaque année lors duGala de l’ICM à la compagnie minière canadienne de

métaux, de charbon ou « sélecte » ayant le plus faible taux d’acci-dents enregistrés pendant l’année précédente pour une période detravail de 200 000 heures. Les cas dont on tient compte compren-nent le travail modifié ou restreint (lorsqu’une personne est blesséeà un point où elle ne peut pas effectuer son travail habituel) et desblessures entraînant des jours d’absence (lorsqu’une personne nepeut pas travailler du tout). Après avoir parlé à chacune des com-pagnies gagnantes, il était évident que les efforts avaient tous lemême but : Que tous entrent chez eux à la fin de la journée.

Mine NorthLe prix pour la catégorie Mine de métaux a été attribuée à la

mine North de Copper Cliff en Ontario. Cette mine souterraine estla propriété de CVRD Inco Ltd. qui en assure aussi l’exploitation. La

mine produit un minerai de nickel/cuivre à un taux de 4 200 tpj etemploie environ 260 personnes. Selon le vice-président, MichaelWinship, la vision de « zéro accident » est maintenant une réalité.Depuis décembre 2005, la mine a travaillé 920 jours sans blessureayant entraîné une incapacité à travailler.

M. Winship attribue cette situation gagnante à un fort consen-sus de sécurité, de la haute direction à tous les ouvriers. Les sys-tèmes de sécurité sont en place depuis des années et la mine arécemment implanté de nouveaux programmes d’identificationdes dangers et d’évaluation personnelle des risques.

La mine a aussi un programme qui comprend l’identification etla compréhension des dangers, suivi d’un plan d’action et de l’util-isation des bons outils, équipements et procédures. CVRD Incoaime bien créer un environnement dans lequel les employés sontpleinement engagés et se sentent partenaires—à ce jour les résul-tats ont été positifs et valables—tous veulent être de la partie. À lamine Coleman, un ouvrier est même entré sur son temps person-nel afin d’identifier les dangers et trouver les solutions pour lesatténuer. À la mine North, la sécurité fait partie de la culture et lacompagnie CVRD Inco est très fière d’être l’un des chefs de file enrendement sécuritaire.

La culture de laGagnants des trophéesJohn T. Ryan pour la sécurité sécurité


GreenhillsDans la catégorie Mine de charbon, le gagnant de cette année

est la mine Greenhills de Elk Valley Coal. Là aussi, à force de forgeron devient forgeron et chaque individu est fortement encouragé àadopter des habitudes de sécurité à la maison aussi bien qu’à lamine. Cela doit devenir un style de vie plutôt qu’un ensemble derèglements.

La sécurité est ramenée au niveau des employés qui peuventprendre des décisions concernant la sécurité; ils sont responsablesde leur sécurité personnelle et de celle de ceux avec qui ils travail-lent. En plus des deux programmes en place Courageous Leadershipet Safety 24/7, Elk Valley a instauré le programme « Casque vert » quiidentifie les nouveaux employés; les collègues peuvent donc lesavoir à l’œil pendant qu’ils apprennent le métier.

Selon Dean Runzer, directeur général de Greenhills, ce n’est pastant les programmes qui font la réussite d’un projet, c’est bien plusles efforts combinés des employés.

À Elk Valley Coal les outils sont en place pour un rendementsécuritaire. La mine a installé des écrans à cristaux liquides afin queles employés soient tenus à jour sur les initiatives de sécurité, le ren-dement et tout changement de procédure. Des systèmes GPS avecécran ont été installés sur tous les tracteurs-pelles. Les opérateurssont avisés des conditions ou des endroits potentiellement dan-gereux. Dans le but d’éviter des chutes, les échelles des camionsâgés ont été remplacées par des escaliers. Des programmes de si -mulation vérifient les connaissances des employés sur la sécurité etdes instruments automatisés permettent de déceler des secteursinstables.

Même avec tous ces outils, M. Runzer dit que ce qu’ils ont fait deplus important en tant qu’organisation a été « un effort soutenu etconstant pour démontrer que la direction s’engage à effectuer unchangement culturel; ce seront nos actions qui compteront plusque nos paroles. »

Cela semble fonctionner. Elk Valley a réussi à réduire les incidentsentraînant des jours d’absence (Lost Time Incidents – LTI) de 1,63 en2004 à 0,00 en 2007. Oui, c’est bien un zéro. Le taux de fréquencedes LTI et de l’aide médicale a chuté de 80 %, de 5,35 en 2004 à 1,09.Certains projets n’ont eu aucun LTI pendant des années et, au 16 mai2007, Elk Valley a atteint un million d’heures travaillées sans un seulLTI. Bien que ce ne soient que des nombres, c’est un signe que lesprogrammes fonctionnent.

S’il arrive un incident – et cela ne prend qu’une seconde – les tra-vailleurs essaient de ne pas être découragés. Ils analysent commentle problème pourra être évité et se tournent vers l’avenir. Après avoirréalisé qu’il manquait de ressources en formation, le nombre de for-mateurs a été doublé. Ces derniers ont la responsabilité et l’autoritéde s’assurer que les employés ont la formation requise pour être desopérateurs qualifiés d’équipements.

EsterhazyCette année, le gagnant du trophée John T. Ryan pour la Mine

« sélect » est la mine PCS Potash Estherhazy K1, à l’est de Sussex, auNouveau-Brunswick. C’est le plus important producteur mondialdes trois principales substances nutritives des plantes—la potasse,le phosphate et l’azote. La production de potasse a débuté en 1983;la division emploie maintenant 330 personnes. La fréquence des LTI

était de 0,2, avec une seule blessure pour plus de 700 000 heurestravaillées. Au 1er novembre 2005, la mine avait atteint 3 millionsd’heures sans accident entraînant une perte de temps.

Le directeur de la santé et de la sécurité à K1, Nelson Wright,trouve fantastique que l’industrie reconnaisse et récompense lesefforts de sécurité. « Mais ce n’est pas pour cela que nous lefaisons », dit-il. Selon lui et bien d’autres, les mineurs travaillent demanière sécuritaire afin de rentrer chez eux à la fin de la journée.M. Wright croit que la sécurité signifie gérer les risques et con-trôler les dangers. Il n’existe pas de formule magique, il faut unplan et du travail.

Le point de vue de K1 est que chacun a un rôle à jouer, que cesrôles ne sont pas interchangeables et que le succès est impossiblesans la présence et la collaboration de tous, des cadres supérieursaux travailleurs. La tâche du superviseur est de diriger et d’assurerla conformité aux procédures de travail sécuritaires. La tâche du tra-vailleur est tout d’abord d’accepter la formation donnée et ensuitede prendre les bonnes décisions pour contrôler et gérer les dangers.S’il n’est pas possible de prendre une décision, il doit rapporter la sit-uation au superviseur.

La clé est de travailler ensemble. Il n’y a pas de « Je » dans uneéquipe. Les travailleurs doivent avoir confiance en leurs coéquipierset de savoir que ceux-ci souligneront leurs erreurs. Une attitude de« chacun pour soi » ne peut exister dans ce domaine, c’est plutôttous pour un. Il est à noter que c’est la huitième fois qu’uneexploitation Estherhazy gagne un prix national en plus de plusieursprix régionaux.

M. Wright donne un bon exemple de ce qui fait que la compagn -ie mérite ce prix de sécurité. Une employée syndiquée visitaitEstherhazy recherchant des idées pour plus de sécurité; elle doutaitque le travail puisse être accompli en toute sécurité. Elle était déter-minée à trouver quelqu’un qui lui dirait la « vraie » histoire. Aprèsavoir demandé à un des mécaniciens les plus âgées si oui ou non lasécurité était une priorité, l’homme lui répondit que : « Non, la sécu-rité n’est pas une priorité ici. Les priorités changent d’année enannée; à Estherhazy, la sécurité est une valeur. »

Avec 400 employés dont la moyenne d’âge est de 40 ans,l’équipe K1 se concentre sur l’assurance que les anciennes valeurs,habitudes et pratiques de sécurité soient transmises à la prochainegénération.

La sécurité, ça fonctionneComme dans tout autre contexte d’industrie lourde, l’exploita-

tion minière comporte de nombreux dangers. Avec les dangersviennent les risques, ce qui ne veut pas dire non sécuritaire.Lorsqu’on y pense, peu de choses sont complètement sécuritaires.Prenez les rues de Montréal, elles sont en fait bien moins sécuri-taires que les mines parce que les dangers ne sont pas contrôlés.Une usine de dépeçage, avec ses couteaux et sa machinerie lourdepeut constituer un environnement sécuritaire si des précautionsadéquates sont prises. Historiquement les mines ont une certainemauvaise réputation; les seules histoires dont on se souvient sontcelles de grands désastres. En fait, l’emphase sur la sécurité estprobablement plus élevée dans l’industrie minière que dans touteautre industrie. Je suis fière de dire que je me suis probablementbarré les pieds plus souvent que ces exploitations minières ont eud’accidents. CIM

August 2007 35

the supply side

is expected that there will be about$46 billion invested in new miningprojects on the continent by 2010.This is in a context of nationaleconomies with some of the highestGDP real growth rates of the world.

There are more than 100 Canadianexploration and mining companiesactive in 37 African countries and theyaccount for about 24 per cent of allexploration expenditures on the conti-nent. In this, we are second only toSouth Africa with about 43 per cent,nearly half of which is spent in SouthAfrica itself.

Lagacé said that a survey of Canadianexploration and operating companiesworking in Africa showed that they pro-cured about 40 per cent of their needsfrom South Africa, 20 per cent fromAustralia, and only 10 to 15 per centfrom Canada. Of course, as manyCanadian suppliers have representativesin South Africa, it is possible that somegoods and services sourced from thatcountry are Canadian.

However, if these numbers are cor-rect, Canadian suppliers are missing outon good opportunities. The proximityof South Africa to projects in the rest ofthe continent is a big advantage. Thus,in making strategic plans for marketingin Africa, Canadian firms should ensurethat they have good representation inthat country. CIM

Latin America (24 per cent) andCanada (19 per cent).

Sweden’s Raw Materials Group main-tains a database of more than 2,400mining projects, ranging from those inthe prefeasibility stage to those cur-rently under production. Total invest-ment in the global mining industry’sproject pipeline at the end of 2006 wasUS$208 billion, a 50 to 55 per centincrease from the previous year. Byregion, Latin America tops the list withproposed investment of US$59 billion,Oceania/Australia is in second place atUS$41 billion, and Africa is third withUS$34 billion.

According to figures presented atthe Canada-Africa MiningProcurement Seminar by NaturalResources Canada’s Denis Lagacé,Canada has made a cumulative invest-ment of about $50 billion in about 230 mines, refineries,smelters, and advanced projectsabroad. About 70 of these projects arein Latin America and the Caribbean,and about 40 are in each of Europe,Asia-Pacific, Africa, and the USA. Ofthe total $50 billion Canadian mininginvestment abroad, about $7.9 billionis in Africa.

Natural Resources Canada is awareof future Canadian-planned investmentin about 64 mining projects around theworld, of which 30 are expected to be inAfrica. This will require about $13 billion of Canadian investment over thenext four to five years in 15 Africancountries. Thus, there is growing poten-tial for Canadian mining suppliers tofollow their mining colleagues to thatpart of the world.

There are about 53 countries inAfrica, more than half of which havesignificant mineral potential. However,development of what is a hugeresource has lagged other regions ofthe world. This is changing. In total, it

My attention was drawn to what ishappening in mining in Africa at theCanada-Africa Mining ProcurementSeminar held in Montreal on May 2, thelast day of this year’s CIM Conference.The Canadian Council on Africa, CIM,and Foreign Affairs and InternationalTrade Canada did an excellent job ofattracting well-prepared speakers fromwhom mining supply participants couldlearn of some big opportunities in sev-eral countries.

First of all, let us look at what hasbeen happening in exploration.According to the annual WorldExploration Trends reports of Halifax-based Metals Economics Group, Africahas been getting its full share of theaction. These reports track the nonfer-rous exploration budgets of all miningcompanies worldwide. After touching a10-year low of US$1.9 billion in 2002,total expenditures rose to US$7.5 bil-lion in 2006. Throughout this period,Africa retained its share of the marketof about 16 per cent, with explorationexpenditures on the continent risingfrom about US$300 million in 2002 toUS$1.2 billion last year. This placesAfrica in third place as a region, after

Watch out for the miningboom in Africaby Jon Baird, managing director, CAMESE

A page for and about the supply side ofthe Canadian mining industry

macfactsCanada was the leading destinationfor exploration in 2006,receiving 19 per cent of world spending.

MAC economic commentary


This dramatic growth in raw materialdemand is one of the central factorsleading to a second, equally significantdevelopment; namely that China isbecoming an important catalyst to thegrowth of Africa—a continent thatoffers untapped raw material supply andmarket demand potential. In decadespast, few observers of global economicdevelopment would have envisionedthe emergence of such a linkage. Fewthought beyond the traditional model,where aid flows from the west wouldsupposedly some day pull Africa to amore advanced state of development.

The growing linkages between Africaand China are being seen in trade,investment, and diplomatic channels.Overall, trade between China and Africahas increased four-fold from $10 billionin 2000 to $40 billion in 2005. Africahas become China’s leading source ofimported oil, with Angola being its sin-gle largest supplier and Sudan, Nigeria,and Gabon also becoming major part-ners. In early 2007, the state-ownedChinese energy company CNOOC

In a recentcolumn, Inoted thatChina remainsthe primedriver of worldmineral prices.In building adomestic infra-structure for1.3 billionpeople, whileexpanding itsrole as theworld’s factory,

China simply cannot meet its burgeon-ing demand for copper, zinc, nickel, andother raw materials. In response to thisgrowing gap, China now imports $100billion worth of base metals annually,buying 25 per cent of the world’s supplytoday versus a 5 per cent share in the1980s. As a specific example, China’sshare of world consumption of zinc hastripled from 10 to 28 per cent in a meredecade, while the US share has fallenfrom 16 to 10 per cent.

announced that it would invest US$ 2.3billion in an offshore Nigerian oil field.In the case of Angola, China has pro-vided a US$2 billion package of loansand aid that includes funds for Chinesecompanies to build railroads, schools,roads and bridges, hospitals, and fibre-optic networks. Angola has conse-quently turned away from interactingwith the World Bank and theInternational Monetary Fund. In elec-tricity, China has established linkageswith South Africa’s nuclear power pro-gram, and has built power stations inAngola, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Inminerals, Chinese firms have investedin mining operations in Zambia and theDemocratic Republic of Congo, andhave acquired the rights to mine goldand uranium in Zimbabwe.

This African-Chinese economic rela-tionship will continue to grow – forexample, it is projected that China willdepend on imported oil for 45 per centof its energy needs in 2045 (versusbeing a net oil exporter as recently as1993). This will necessitate increasedinvestment in Africa. Gauging the scaleof this relationship can be difficult, asthe transactions generally lack trans-parency and public profile.

A common thread running throughmany of these interactions is that of thebilateral state-to-state nature of the rela-tionship. China is pursuing its objectivesin Africa through high-priority state pol-icy, often focusing its economic effortson states (Angola, Sudan, Zimbabwe,Gabon, DRC) that are authoritarian,interventionist, and inward. These statesarguably prefer credits from China, so asto avoid the demands and complicationsassociated with dealing with western orIMF entities.

In diplomatic channels, the exchangeof political leaders between the tworegions is being accorded the highest pri-ority. Beijing supports peacekeepingoperations in several African countries,

Is China Buying Africa?by Paul Stothart, vice president, economic affairs, Mining Association of Canada

How do you unearth solutions without getting buried in detail? Ask Golder.Focused on people. Passionate about our projects. For over 45 years, while working on six continents, Golder has developed expertise in open-pit and underground mining, from pre-feasibility and permitting through closure and reclamation. We’ll deliver sound technical solutions that maximize value and minimize risk. While meeting your obligation to communities, regulators and the environment. A world of capabilities delivered locally.

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®2007, GAC

while supplying arms to regimes such asSudan and Zimbabwe. In recent years,China has cancelled $10 billion in bilat-eral debt from African countries. Chineseteachers and doctors are flowing toAfrica, while African civil servants andmilitary personnel are being trained inChina. Large numbers (likely in the tensof thousands) of African students arebeing educated in China. In its eyes, onebenefit of this strengthened diplomaticand economic relationship is that Chinaconsolidates its position as “leader” ofthe developing nations, thereby enhanc-ing its influence and support at the UN,IMF, and other multilateral institutions(and with the added side-benefit of fur-ther marginalizing Taiwan).

There is no uniform lens throughwhich to interpret the growth in theChina-Africa relationship. Some analystsview the Chinese presence as wel-come—as offering capital and expert-ise—and in some cases a willingness to

develop projects such as mines thatwestern investors may view as too riskyor of marginal profitability. The roads,bridges, and dams built by Chinese firmsare described as low cost and good qual-ity, and are completed in a fraction of thetime such projects generally require inAfrica. The tied credit lines being offeredby China are described as being no dif-ferent than those extended to SouthKorea, Taiwan, and China by Japan fol-lowing the Second World War – creditsthat were tied to Japanese constructionand other services. As well, the lack oftransparency around many China-Africatransactions is viewed as being no differ-ent than a secretive $2.4 billion loanrecently provided to Angola by Barclaysand some other private banks.

From the opposite perspective, someAfrica analysts see the growing relation-ship between Africa and China as offer-ing primarily negative consequences,with inadequate attention to good gover-

nance, human rights, and democraticreform, a willingness to pay bribes, acomfort with authoritarian regimes, anda mutual desire to remove the WorldBank and IMF from the financing equa-tion. Within Africa itself, countries suchas South Africa are concerned about theeffect of cheap imported consumer goodsand the practice of China bringing itsown workers to Africa, as well as Beijing’slack of commitment to transparent gov-ernance. Sudan and Zimbabwe, in con-trast, welcome China’s investment, prod-ucts, and support against the west in theSecurity Council and other institutions.

What is evident is that the growingeconomic and diplomatic bond betweenChina and Africa will affect all majormining countries that are engaged in theglobal battle to secure end-markets andraw material supply channels. Canadianmining firms and value-added manufac-turing firms will be increasingly affectedby this trend. CIM

MAC economic commentary

August 2007 37

standards

The involve-ment of a QualifiedPerson (QP) in thepreparation of sci-entific and techni-cal information ona mineral propertyis a cornerstone of NationalInstrument 43-101, Standards ofDisclosure forMineral Projects(NI43-101).

The QP is anindividual who is an engineer or geoscien-tist with at least five years of experience inmineral exploration, mine developmentor operation or mineral project assess-ment, or any combination of these, hasexperience relevant to the subject matterof the mineral project, and is in goodstanding with a professional association. Aprofessional association is a self-regulatoryorganization of engineers, geoscientists, orboth engineers and geoscientists. InCanada, geoscientists or engineers whoare members of a provincial or territorialassociation of engineers would satisfy thethird requirement of being a QualifiedPerson. Most foreign associations are notgenerally given authority or recognitionby statute, so a list of the foreign associa-tions recognized by the CanadianSecurities Administrators (CSA) isattached as Appendix A of NI43-101.

This list will change with time asother foreign associations are recog-nized by the CSA and when NI43-101is modified. If a company wishes to relyon the advice of a foreign geoscientistor engineer who is not a member ofone of these organizations, the individ-ual could join one of the Canadianassociations that accepts foreign mem-bers or the company could apply forexemptive relief. If the relief is grantedhowever, the exemption will likely belimited to a particular property or taskand will be for a limited time period.

Qualified Personsby Deborah McCombe, executive vice president and consulting geologist, Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle Associates Inc.


QP’s ResponsibilitiesIt is the QP’s responsibility to comply

with professional and industry stan-dards, including best practices. If you asa QP are going to rely on other experts,you must satisfy yourself that it is rea-sonable to rely on these experts. The QPwho is taking primary responsibility forthe technical report must conduct a sitevisit. If several QPs are preparing andtaking responsibility for the technicalreport, then the appropriate QP shouldvisit the site. For example, if an operat-ing mine has metallurgical issues, at aminimum, a metallurgical engineershould visit the site. Data verification isa key element of NI43-101. The QPmust state whether data verification wasconducted or not. If you didn’t verify thedata, you must explain the reasons why.

Certificates and ConsentsIf the QP prepares all, or a portion, of

a technical report, the QP must providethe certificate and consent required byPart 8 of NI43-101. Section 8.1(2) liststhe information that is required by theinstrument. If you omit some of therequired information such as a briefsummary of your relevant experience,the items of the technical report for

Appendix A- Recognized Foreign Associations and DesignationsForeign Association DesignationAmerican Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) Certified Professional GeologistAny state in the United States of America Licensed or certified as a

professional engineerMining and Metallurgical Society of America (MMSA) Qualified ProfessionalEuropean Federation of Geologists (EFG) European GeologistAustralasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) Fellow or memberInstitute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IMMM) Fellow or professional memberAustralian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG) Fellow or memberSouth African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) FellowSouth African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) Professional Natural ScientistInstitute of Geologists of Ireland (IGI) Professional MemberGeological Society of London (GSL) Chartered GeologistNational Association of State Boards of Geology (ASBOG) Licensed or certified in:Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas,Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon,Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin or Wyoming

which you are responsible, or whetheryou are independent of the company,the technical report is not compliantwith NI43-101.

When filing a technical report, thecompany must file a statement of eachQP responsible for preparing or super-vising the preparation of each portion ofthe technical report (a) consenting tothe public filing of the technical reportand to extracts from, or a summary of,the technical report in the written dis-closure being filed and (b) confirmingthat the QP has read the written disclo-sure being filed and that it fairly andaccurately represents the information inthe technical report that supports thedisclosure. When the QP’s technicalreport is used to support a disclosure doc-ument, such as an Annual InformationForm or a News Release, the QP mustreview that document to ensure it is accu-rate and not misleading. QualifiedPersons confirm this by providing theirconsent. Remember that the QP is notresponsible if the company misquotes theQP, unless the QP reviewed the disclosureand gave consent. Qualified Personsshould not release their consent inadvance of their review of the company’sproposed disclosure. CIM

parlons-en

Après plus de vingt ans en consulta-tion en gestion des approvisionnements,je suis toujours estomaqué de constaterqu’un très grand nombre d’entreprisesutilisent leurs ordinateurs et leurs sys-tèmes de gestion comme un grandCardex électronique. Le système infor-

matique signifie à l’acheteur qu’un arti-cle a atteint son seuil de réapprovision-nement (ou Min) et que c’est le tempsde placer une commande. Le système vamême jusqu’à suggérer la quantité àcommander pour remonter l’inventaireau Max. C’est souvent tout ce que lessystèmes informatiques nous offrent.

Il est renversant de constater quepour la gestion des articles pour la dis-tribution ou pour les pièces derechange, les Min Max sont déter-minés manuellement par les usagers.Les gestionnaires sont parfois surprisdes faibles résultats en gestion desstocks. Comment voulez-vous qu’ungestionnaire des approvisionnementsdécide efficacement de la valeur à met-tre au Min et Max sur plus de cinqmille articles.

On ne peut pas suivre la variabilitédans la demande de tous ces articles,suivre les saisons, suivre les projets etainsi de suite. On ne peut pasmanuellement viser un niveau de ser-vice à donner. Après tout, la seule rai-son de garder des inventaires, c’estpour donner du service aux clients ouaux usagers internes. Le défi du ges-tionnaire de stock est de donner unniveau de service entendu avec le

Votre système informatique est-il inutile pour la gestion efficace des articles de distributionou pour la gestion des pièces de rechange?par Robert Lamarre

moins d’inventaire possible. C’est làson travail, son objectif principal.

Est-ce que votre entreprise connaîtle niveau de service à donner ou réalisépour chaque groupe d’articles? Est-ceque les gestionnaires de votre entre-prise ont établi des objectifs de service?

Est-ce quevotre ges-tionnaire desstocks dis-pose des out-ils informa-tiques pourl’aider à don-

ner ce niveau de service? Commentpeut-il manuellement fixé des Min Maxde façon à maintenir un niveau de serv-ice sur des milliers d’articles?

Les bons résultats dans la gestiondes stocks viennent d’une gestionproactive. Mais pour faire une gestionproactive, il faut des prévisions de laconsommation. De mon expérience,c’est probablement là où les entrepriseset les systèmes sont les plus faibles.Posez-vous la question. Est-ce quevotre système facilite vraiment le tra-vail de votre gestionnaire de stock pourfaire des prévisions?

Entendons-nous. Il n’y a aucun sys-tème au monde qui remplacera la com-munication efficace et les discussionsinternes sur les plans de l’entreprise.Par ailleurs, vous savez tout commemoi qu’il est impossible de demanderaux gestionnaires de stock de faire desprévisions efficaces sur 5 000 articlestous les mois. On veut que le gestion-naire des stocks se concentre sur lesarticles qui font la différence et onvoudrait que le système informatiquefacilite le travail de prévision sur lesautres cinq mille articles.

On voudrait que le système infor-matisé de gestion des stocks nous aide

dans la gestion des articles en surplusou des articles qui n’ont pas bougédepuis un certain temps. Votre systèmefait-il cela pour vous?

La plupart des systèmes disponiblesfont un travail très incomplet par rap-port aux fonctionnalités dont on vientde parler. Vérifiez ce que votre propresystème fait. Il est intéressant de savoirque l’amélioration de ces fonctionnal-ités peut entraîner des réductions d’in-ventaire de vingt à trente pour cent au-delà de ce que vous pouvez déjà sauveravec l’implantation d’un ERP.Heureusement, il existe des alterna-tives à prix accessibles pour comblerces lacunes.

L’expérience a prouvé avec desrésultats concrets que l’on peut réduiresignificativement les investissementsen inventaire avec les outils appropriés.Votre système vous offre-t-il ce poten-tiel? Y-a-t-il de l’argent qui dort dansvos entrepôts? Il faut le réveiller.

Robert Lamarre est président de IMAFSinc et de Gestion Conseil Robert Lamarre& Associés Inc. Il a plus de vingt ansd’expérience en consultation dans desdomaines liés à la logistique et l’approvi-sionnement. Ses expériences l’ont amenéà travailler au Canada, aux États unis eten Europe. Il a aussi été vice-présidentd’un important distributeur de produitsde quincaillerie au Québec, RoNaDismat, en plus d’avoir oeuvré commedirecteur général adjoint pour McCainAlimentaire en France.

Il a aidé avec sa firme de nombreusesentreprises à repositionner stratégique-ment leurs activités de logistique de façonà améliorer le service à la clientèle,pénétrer de nouveaux marchés et dimi-nuer de façon significative leurs coûtstotaux de distribution.

CIM

August 2007 39

Les bons résultats dans la gestion des stocks

viennent d’une gestion proactive

It is at moments such asthese, when writing aboutpeople and places of yester-year, that I wish could goback in time and witnessthings first-hand. Those talesriddled with specific detailsthat are passed down fromgeneration to generationrarely seem to make it intothe history books. It wouldsure be handy to have thekeys to Doc Brown’s pluto-nium-powered DeLoreantime machine.

If powder skiing ormountain biking is what youlive for, then you’ve surelybeen to, or at least heard of,Rossland, British Columbia.A mere six kilometres fromthe US/Canada border, it isalmost at the midway pointbetween Calgary andVancouver. Although reputed asCanada’s Alpine City, Rossland’s his-tory is steep in mining.

Build it and they will comeRoss Thompson arrived at Red

Mountain with aspirations of striking itrich. After a year of back-breakinglabour at the camp, he thought of a bet-ter way of making his dreams a real-ity—he would build a city. When awagon road was built to Trail CreekLanding in 1893 and close to 2,000mining properties had been staked inthe area by the end of 1895, thingsreally began booming. That same year,a $2 fare would secure you a spotaboard a coach that ran between TrailCreek Landing and Rossland.

Once referred to as ‘the GoldenCity,’ Rossland initially answered to the

Rossland—The Golden Cityby Andrea Nichiporuk

name Thompson, after its founder.However, it was soon renamed, as a‘Thompson’ already existed in BritishColumbia.

Once they stepped off the coach inRossland, the new visitors were proba-bly a little taken aback as, unfortunately,by 1895, with no police force to speakof, violence quickly escalated. One suchexample is on Sourdough Alley, where adispute ended with James Westgateaxing Hugh McLaughlin to death.

The first issue of the The RosslandMiner was published on March 2, 1895.Within two years, it was also publishingThe Weekly Miner. The City of Rosslandwas officially incorporated on March 4,1897. That year, the population hadgrown to about 7,000, and boasted 42saloons, 17 law firms, a banker, threedoctors, and one Justice of the Peace.

Electricity made its way to certainareas of Rossland in 1896; it was onlytwo years later that power was beingsupplied to the entire town by WestKootenay Power. The MisericordiaHospital opened on June 4, 1897, tak-ing over for the infirmary that hadbecome incapable of handling thedemand. The town’s infrastructureneeded to catch up with the growingcommunity. After a couple years ofpleading with the provincial govern-ment to fund the construction of a newschool, the contract was finallyassigned and 500-plus students enteredtheir classrooms in the fall of 1898.

Stake it, just stake itIn mid-1890, Joe Morris and Joe

Bourgeois attempted to register theCenter Star, Idaho, Virginia, and War


Le Roi miners, circa 1900. Photo credit: Rossland Historical Museum & Archives

mining lore

Eagle claims. As there was a two-claimper person limit, they convincedColonel Eugene Topping to purchasethe Le Wise (renamed Le Roi) claimfrom them and register it himself. Littledid they know that it would becomethe most profitable of the five claims.

Topping met with Colonel WilliamRidpath, who along with his businessassociates, purchased 53 per cent of theLe Roi property for $16,000. The tonsof ore extracted and shipped to theColorado Smelting and MiningCompany proved that Le Roi was aworthy investment, and resulted in thecreation of the Le Roi Gold Mining andSmelting Company in June 1891.Colonel Topping sold the remainder ofhis share in Le Roi for $30,000.

A mere four years later, in 1895, theLe Roi mine paid out its first dividend.Upon entering production, the com-pany’s stock had jumped from $0.50 to$40 a share. Yet workers were still onlybeing paid, at the most, $3.50 for atwelve-hour shift. Not one to miss outon a profitable opportunity, F. AugustusHeinze built a smelter at Trail CreekLanding and laid down tracks toRossland, which he dubbed the TrailCreek Tramway. The following yearwas significant; the smelter enteredoperation and the West KootenayPower and Light Company began sup-plying electricity to the mines.

The Canadian Pacific RailwayCompany purchased Heinze’s smelter in1897, after the Le Roi Gold companybuilt their own in Northport. Soon after,the Le Roi Gold company was sold tothe British American Corporation forover $3 million. In 1901, a union strikeparalyzed the mine. Unfortunately, inthe end, the workers returned to workno further ahead.

Five years later, the Center, St.Eugene, and War Eagle mines, alongwith the Trail smelter, joined to form theConsolidated Mining and SmeltingCompany of Canada Ltd. However, itwas only in 1911 that the Le Roi mineceded. This resulted in all four beinglinked underground and run as a singlelarge mine, which would later grow intothe Cominco metallurgical operation.

A ghost town this is notAs production declined at the mine,

so did the town’s prosperity. In 1922,the railways were pulled up and beforethe end of the decade, the business dis-trict in Rossland was hit with twomajor fires. By 1930, the populationhad dropped to 3,000. However, withthe Cominco operation at Trail, as wellas the arrival of a modern highway sys-tem, Rossland seemed destined tobecome a residential city.

The Le Roi gold mine consisted of130 kilometres of underground work-ings, and its ore averaged 0.5 ounces ofgold and 0.6 ounces of silver per ton,and 1% copper. The mine shut down in1929 and after 40 years in operation,had a combined output nearing $165million.

This year, Rossland turns 110 and ishome to about 3,600 residents.

Now, how do I get my hands on thekeys to that DeLorean? CIM

August 2007 41

?Did you know?

there was a strong Chinese presence in Rossland and the West Kootenays asof the mid-19th century. Approximately half of the 200 men hired to work onthe Dewdney Trail in 1865 were Chinese. In 1866, 40 Chinese men versus

only 14 Causasians were reportedly mining Rock Creek. In the early 1890s, theonly two stores in Rock Creek were Lum Kee General Store and Ah Kee GeneralStore. According to the Rossland Miner, 200 Chinese men and one Chinesewoman lived in Rossland in September 1897. By 1931, the number had increasedto 231.

The Chinese were prohibited by law from working underground in the BC mines.Alternately, among other things, they created extensive vegetable gardens and sup-plied fresh produce to the townspeople for close to 50 years.

The Chinese Masonic Lodge officially opened in October 1903 and had 100 mem-bers. In the early 1920s, a fire destroyed the area refered to as ‘Chinatown.’ TheMasonic Lodge was torn down around 1950. No traces of Chinatown exist today.

Shaft house of the Le Roi mine, circa 1904. Photo credit: Rossland Historical Museum & Archives

eye on business


For most mine development proj-ects, access by road to a mine site isoften an important aspect at the feasi-bility and impact study (including onenvironmental aspects), consultation(in particular, with Native communi-ties), and implementation stages. Thisis particularly so for a mining sitelocated on lands of the domain of theState of the Province of Quebec (StateLands) with no direct access to analready existing public road.

The following paragraphs provide abrief overview of the rules applicableto certain types of roads, more partic-ularly, relevant to access to such amine development project, focusingmainly on mining and forest roads.For the purposes hereof, we assumethat the mining company involved inthe development of a mining projecthas obtained the appropriate miningleases from the Minister of NaturalResources and Wildlife (MNRW) forthose lands where the mine and min-ing facilities will be located.

Act Respecting the Lands in the Domain of the State (State Lands Act)

State Lands in Quebec are generallyunder the jurisdiction of the MNRW,except when otherwise determined bylaw. The State Lands Act specifies thatno one can construct or improve aroad other than a forest or mining

Access roads to mining sitesby Ianny Xenopoulos and Jean Gagné, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

road on State Landswithout prior author-ization from theMNRW.

In general, roadsconstructed on StateLands are part of thepublic domain and allhave access to suchroads subject to thepower of the MNRWto restrict or prohibitsuch access whenjustified by public

interest. The State Lands Act alsoallows the MNRW to sell or leaselands under his authority as well asgrant rights of way (10 years renew-able) and servitudes.

Mining ActGenerally, the Minister of Transport

(MOT) is responsible for miningroads. He may construct, improve,and maintain (or cause to be con-

structed, improved, or maintained) amining road (including bridges orother structures) for the purposes offacilitating the carrying on of miningactivities. The MOT may have theowners of mineral substances or hold-ers of mining rights, at whose requestthe work is being done, pay part of thecosts or delegate its construction orimprovement and subsequent mainte-nance to such owners or holders, attheir expense (or shared with otherinterested stakeholders).

Mining roads, even if paid by amining company, form part of thepublic roads network accessible to all,subject to MOT’s power to restrict orprohibit access for public interest rea-

sons, and are subject to application ofthe Highway Safety Code unlessexemptions are granted by the MOT.A local municipality or a Native com-munity may also be authorized by theMOT to maintain and repair a miningroad, or part thereof, in its territory.

Secondary mining roads are thosedesignated as such by the governmentof Quebec and are under the responsi-bility of the MNRW rather than theMOT, with the same powers as thosediscussed above for mining roads.Plans and standards of construction,improvement, and maintenance ofsuch roads must also be approved bythe MOT.

Secondary mining roads are alsoopen to the public, subject to MNRW’spower to restrict or prohibit accesswhen required by the public interest.However, the traffic and safety provi-sions of the Quebec Highway SafetyCode do not generally apply to suchroads unless the Government of

Quebec, by regulation, decides other-wise. A user of such a road may notsue for damages on grounds of faultyconstruction, improvement, or main-tenance of such a road.

Typically, a mining company willenter into negotiations with either theMOT or the MNRW, present its plansand standards for the road, obtainapproval from the MOT, or, in the caseof a secondary mining road, fromMNRW and MOT, and sign an agree-ment whereby the company will agreeto construct or improve and maintainthe road at its expense and at termsand conditions set forth in the agree-ment, which may include provisionwith respect to recuperating part of

Thus, in some circumstances, construction of a forest road rather than a mining road may be preferred

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the costs from other stakeholders who wish to use the road orwith respect to restrictions to access.

The governmental authorities have certain technicalrequirements that need to be complied with in order to obtainapproval of the plans, and such requirements may be morestringent than those for forest roads referred to below. Thus,in some circumstances, construction of a forest road ratherthan a mining road may be preferred.

Forest ActA forest road is a road constructed or used for purposes

of forest management activities, which include the installa-tion and maintenance of infrastructures (including roads)and all other activities of a holder of a management permitunder the Forest Act affecting productivity of a forest area.One of the classes of forest management permits allows cut-ting and harvesting timber for purposes of exercising min-ing rights held under the Mining Act. Accordingly, it is pos-sible for a mining company to obtain specific authorizationin such permit from the MNRW to construct or improve aforest road. As in the case of a mining road, a municipalitymay see to maintenance and repair of all or part of a forestroad in its territory when authorization is obtained from theMNRW.

Note that access to forest roads is granted to all unlessthe MNRW imposes restrictions or prohibitions whenrequired by public interest. Claims for damages resultingfrom a defect in the construction, improvement, or mainte-nance of the road may not be made by any person using aforest road.

The Forest Act adds that prior authorization from MNRWfor roads (for example, a mining road) other than forest roadsconstructed in a forest area is required for the width of theroad’s right of way and the destination of timber harvested inconnection with the road’s construction. A holder of such anauthorization must comply with prescribed forest manage-ment standards and measuring of harvested timber.

ConclusionOther laws or agreements, for example, the Quebec

Environment Quality Act, the Canada Navigable WatersProtection Act, and the Quebec James Bay and Northern QuebecAgreement, may also apply.

Furthermore, various other factors will need to be takeninto account, for example, distance from the closest publicroad or other relevant facility, various Native peopleissues, including when applicable, category of lands to becrossed, rights and property of others on the parcels ofState Lands to be crossed, as well as the needs and, whenpossible, participation of other stakeholders either at timeof construction or improvement or while a company ismaintaining the road.

It is important to study and properly structure this aspectof a mine development project, as the decisions taken willhave repercussions throughout the life of the mine. CIM

August 2007 43

engineering exchange

Knight PiésoldConsultants first putdown roots in SouthAfrica in 1921. They nowhave offices around theglobe includingVancouver, which openedits doors in 1975, andNorth Bay, opened in1994. With 500 employ-ees worldwide, including140 in Canada, KnightPiésold remains a com-paratively small, but spe-cialized internationalcompany, with a reputa-tion for high quality engi-neering and environmen-tal services and maintain-ing long-term relation-ships with their clients.

According to JeremyHaile, president ofCanadian operations, 60per cent of KnightPiésold’s work is in geotechnical, envi-ronmental, and water-related projectsfor mining clients with a sub-specialityin renewable energy, namely,hydropower and wind. Because of theirkeen interest in the environment,“Knight Piésold is at the leading edge ofapplying renewable energy to miningoperations,” Haile stated.

Haile is enthusiastic about the strongmining economy. “We’ve been very busy,”he admitted, “with a significant increasein workload over the last three or fouryears.” Knight Piésold is mostly made upof young, energetic, and highly skilledmembers. “We offer a lot of training andprofessional development programs andwe’ve been fortunate in attracting theright talent to come and join us,” Haileproudly said. Haile himself is one of theold-timers; he began working for KnightPiésold in Zambia, in 1972.

Knight Piésold carries out work formining clients all over the world, and isinvolved in all stages of the mining life

Mining experts from concept to closureby Haidee Weldon

cycle, from baseline studies for earlydevelopment projects, through detaileddesign and construction, on-going oper-ations, and closure. What follows areexamples of typical projects beingundertaken by the Canadian offices atdifferent stages of development, and indifferent geographic settings, includingCanada, Mexico, and Greenland.

MalmbjergKnight Piésold’s first foray into

Greenland began in 2005 with theMalmbjerg project. This future molyb-denum mine is still in its infancy. KnightPiésold’s involvement includes geome-chanical and geotechnical design, andtailings and water management as partof the pre-feasibility study.

Malmbjerg is located in easternGreenland, near the coast. Working thatfar north can leave even the most sea-soned engineer scratching his head indismay. Ken Embree, managing directorof the North Bay office, has been with

the project since the beginning. He andhis team have met the challenges headon, and remain unfazed. “The logisticsassociated with the far north pose cer-tain challenges,” Embree noted.“Malmbjerg will be a fly-in/fly-outcamp. Its Arctic location means contin-uous permafrost, which factors into alldesign aspects, and the dry climate andsteep mountainous glacial terrain add tothe challenge of water management.”

As part of the waste managementdesign, Knight Piésold is currentlyundertaking a laboratory testing programon tailings and rock samples, which playan important role in the environmentalbaseline studies. “We are currently look-ing at different options for tailings andwaste management,” Embree stated.Conventional slurry, thickened paste,and dry stacked tailings are all possible,and through research and testing, KnightPiésold will determine which method isbest suited to the site.

Other challenges for Malmbjerg aredue to its remote location and pristineenvironment. There is only a three- tofour-month shipping window, and asthe nearest town is 200 kilometresaway, finding an adequate labour poolof locals will be difficult. There is also alimit on geographical areas where workis to be done. For example, work planswill have to consider times when nativeanimals are in more fragile states, suchas when the geese are moulting, orwhen the musk ox are travellingthrough the area.

The days of 24-hour sunlight can bean adjustment too. “One of the guys wasvery proud to announce that he got sun-burned … while working night shift!”Embree chuckled.

Campo MoradoFarallon Resources are currently

developing the G-9 mine on the CampoMorado property located in GuerreroState, Mexico. It is a historic miningproperty that, in 1997, was acquired by


Wildlife at Campo Morado

engineering exchange

Hunter Dickinson. Knight Piésold isassisting with environmental permit-ting, water and waste management, andall geotechnical aspects of the project.Permits were awarded to develop themine in June of this year and KnightPiésold’s team is flat out on this fasttrack development. Their scope of workincludes the design and construction ofa zero discharge, sophisticated waterand waste management system, whichincludes stream diversions and a mem-brane-lined, earth-rock fill embank-ment dam.

Challenges specific to the site includethe remediation of the historic miningdischarge, rugged terrain, and seasonalheavy rains. Knight Piésold is alsoinvolved in designing an access roadand the building of a large platformfor the mill. With assistance from itsLima office, Knight Piésold’sVancouver staff will provide con-struction supervision services forthe initial mine construction, andongoing services for water and wastemanagement, and geotechnicaldesign for the underground mining.

Mount PolleyCloser to home, Knight Piésold

has been involved with the MountPolley mine in central BritishColumbia, near Williams Lake.Knight Piésold got involved in 1989when Mt. Polley was in the feasibil-ity stage. Les Galbraith, senior engi-neer, became involved in 1996 when

construction of the initial phase of thetailings facility began. Knight Piésoldhas provided all the detailed design andconstruction QA/QC for the multipletailings dam raises since that time, com-pleted annual inspections of the tailingsfacility, and in 2006 provided the designand QA/QC services for a heap leachpad.

Mount Polley Mine started productionin 1997 and had milled approximately27.5 million tonnes of ore prior to stop-ping production in October 2001.Mount Polley Mine re-opened in March2005 after managing the facilities for careand maintenance activities since October2001. MPMC is currently mining andmilling ore from the Bell pit and theWight pit with the non-reactive tailingsbeing deposited as slurry into the tailingsstorage facility. The tailings facility con-sists of filter-graded earthfill embank-ments with a low permeability core zonethat is constructed with local glacial tillmaterials that extend throughout thebasin. Process water is collected and recy-cled back to the mill for recycle in themilling process.

Mt. Polley operates the mill concen-trator at nominal 20,000 tonnes per day.The Cariboo pit has been mined out, theWight and Bell pits are currently beingmined, with the Springer pit and theSouth East Zone expected to come on

August 2007 45

Workers in Greenland enjoy a scenic view

line within the year. Water managementis important as the mine site is currentlyoperating under water surplus condi-tions, with the water being stored in thetailings facility. Knight Piésold engineersare working with Mount Polley minepersonnel to adapt the site water man-agement plan so that it accom modatesthe ongoing expansion of the mine.

The current mine plan extendsthrough 2015, although further explo-ration is ongoing. Although mine clo-sure is at least eight years away, the clo-sure plans are reviewed during eachexpansion stage of the tailings facility byKnight Piésold to ensure that the designis consistent with the long-term closureand reclamation plans. Knight Piésoldhas been involved with Mount Polleymine for 18 years and plans on seeingthe mine through to its closure andreclamation stage.

Knight Piésold is firmly committedto seeing projects through frombeginning to end. Many of theirclients are companies they have con-sulted for in the past. A large propor-tion of their contracts are long term,such as the Montana Tunnels Mine inMontana, where Knight Piésoldstarted investigations in 1985.Twenty-three years later and they’restill there. In the mining industry,that’s a lifetime indeed. CIM

HR outlook


areas where mining operations arefound (e.g. rural, northern). Many ofthese workers would therefore be agood fit for the mining sector.

The forestry industry emerged as themost likely source of potential labourfor mining. The integrated forestry sec-tor has seen employment declinesharply after the peak in 2003. Duringthis recent contraction, forestry hasshed almost 50,000 jobs (from 350,000to 300,000 in approximately fouryears). While dramatic, this plunge inemployment has left the industry abovethe previous cyclical bottom. In 1992,the sector’s employment dropped toapproximately 275,000. This impliesthat further job losses in the forestrysector are still probable. Interviews withmanagement of forestry companies con-firmed this and they anticipate furtherpermanent job losses in Quebec,Ontario, and British Columbia through2007 and 2008.

Downsizing has hit all three sub-sec-tors of the forestry industry: forestryand logging, paper manufacturing, andwood product manufacturing. However,forestry and logging has experienced thesharpest decline, losing a full 25 percent of its labour force in just four years.

Key issues for the structural declinein the integrated forestry sector include:• Long-standing trade policy and tariff

issues with lumber exports to theUnited States

• The recent slowdown in US housingconstruction

• The appreciation of the Canadiandollar

• Declining circulation and weight ofnewspapers in Europe and NorthAmerica

• Rising energy costs, particularly elec-tricity pricing in OntarioAlthough the situation is grim and

unfortunate for forestry companies andworkers, it poses a unique opportunityfor the growing mining sector. The min-ing industry has an exceptional opportu-

The MiningIndustry HumanR e s o u r c e sCouncil (MiHR)has providedlabour marketintelligence onthe Canadianmining industryfor over three

years. Based on recent industry growthrates, GDP forecasts, retirement projec-tions, and average turnover rates, theindustry will need to hire up to 10,000new workers per year to meet antici-pated production targets. This is upfrom 8,100 workers per year just twoyears ago.

The suggested solution to thisrecruitment challenge lies in a multi-pronged strategy targeting youth, abo-riginal people, women, and immigrants,while maximizing retention and delay-ing retirement. MiHR recently con-ducted research to examine the possibil-ity for recruiting and retaining experi-enced workers from declining sectors asanother potential source of labour tomeet growing HR needs. This studypaid particular attention to the issue ofrecruiting workers from industries witha surplus of labour. Industrial workforcetransition issues, including barriers andbest practices in engaging workers fromdeclining sectors, were also addressed.

Throughout the research, threedeclining industries in particularemerged as potential sources of newworkers for mining: farming, forestry,and manufacturing. Many current orformer employees in these industrieshave skills that are similar to thoseneeded in mining. Workers in these sec-tors also tend to be accustomed to shiftwork, have experience with heavymachinery or process operations, andoften have training that is relevant to themining industry (e.g. safety, leadership).In the case of forestry and farming, indi-viduals are often located in proximity to

Labour market transitionby Ryan Montpellier, director of operations, Mining Industry Human Resources Council

nity to transition workers from the ailingforestry companies. Because forestrylabour adjustment will occur throughplant closures, forestry companies havelimited capacity to retain skilled workersor offer targeted early retirement packagesin the affected areas. This means that theage distribution and occupational mix ofindividuals being shed by this sector willinclude younger, more mobile, and morehighly trained individuals.

Key occupations being shed fromforestry that are of interest to mininginclude:• Heavy equipment operators• Heavy duty equipment mechanics• Industrial electricians• Mechanical engineers• Electrical engineers• Welders• Machine operators• Instrumentation technologists

Existing labour market transition lit-erature suggests that recruiting individ-uals from declining industries is not aviable long-term labour solution for anindustry. However, it can be a short-term fix, contributing to an overall strat-egy in addressing the growingsupply–demand gap in humanresources. Recruitment initiatives tar-geted at workers from declining sectorssuch as relocation subsidies, sponsoredgap training, or flexible shift optionswill certainly help attract these workers.The availability of a stable job seems tobe a sufficient motivator for many work-ers to transition to a new industry, butincreased wages are often required tolure them to a new region. Given thatthe average salary in the mining indus-try is 28 per cent higher than that of theforestry sector, the probability of transi-tioning these workers is excellent.

For more information on the labour mar-ket transition initiatives or to obtain acopy of the report, please visitwww.mihr.ca or contact Ryan Montpellierat [email protected]

CIM

student life

August 2007 47

As a young first-year metallurgicalengineering student getting ready toembark on your first co-op term inindustry, you tend to ask yourself a lotof questions, such as: What kind oftasks will I be asked to perform? Will Ibe able to quickly integrate myself intothe team and meet the work expecta-tions of the company? However, whenyou are about to begin your third co-opterm, you ask different questions, suchas: Will the employer give me theopportunity and experiences to accom-plish important objectives rather thanonly performing routine tasks?

In the winter of 2007, I embarked onmy third and final co-op term. It wastherefore important to me that I experi-ence as much of the mining industry aspossible before choosing my preferredfield of future work. For a soon-to-be-graduating student, it is flattering andmotivating to be responsible for, andinvolved with, bigger projects ratherthan routine sampling and data acquisi-tion activities that are normally given toco-op students. With these objectivesin mind, I was looking for a positionthat would be of good value to the com-pany and provide a stimulating andexciting work experience.

In December 2006, I was hoping tobe hired for a four-month internationalinternship somewhere in the southwhere it is warm. Instead of goingsomewhere warm, I ended up beingselected for a co-op term near the 62ndparallel in the Quebec-NunavutTerritory at Xstrata Nickel’s Raglanoperation.

Upon arrival at the site, I was pleas-antly surprised by Raglan’s accommo-dations and facilities: nice rooms, greatfood, well-equipped gym, and lots ofrecreational activities that unite theemployees in one big coordinated com-munity. Raglan is a fly-in/fly-out(FI/FO) operation, where employeeswork on rotation (three weeks on/twoweeks off or four weeks on/two weeks

SOP—a student’s operating potentialby Mladen Jankovic, third-year metallurgical engineering student, Laval University

off). Because of Raglan’s loca-tion in the Nunavik Territory ofnorthern Quebec, Xstrata bene-fits from numerous employeesresiding in the local Inuit com-munities as well.

Upon my arrival in the metal-lurgical department, I was trainedto perform daily laboratory tasksand given a ‘real-deal’ project—development of a standard oper-ating procedure (SOP) on aMalvern Mastersizer 2000. Thishigh-tech instrument is used forparticle size analysis in the sizerange 0.02 to 2000 mm. The ulti-mate objective of this project wasto calibrate this new analyticalinstrument to meet companyrequirements and reduce the timerequired to perform particle sizeanalysis. Currently, the traditionalmethod of using sieves isemployed. Before completelyswitching to Malvern technology,which uses a laser scatteringmethod to determine particlesize, it was essential that the results wereas comparable and reliable as the sieves.Therefore, statistical methods had to beused to ensure that the results were trust-worthy. SOPs also had to be developed sothat qualitative and comparable resultsare obtained from person to person.Thus, the challenge has been to removethe sources of variability. Instrumentmaintenance was also an important partof the project; obtaining reliable, repeat-able, and reproducible results while run-ning the tests requires special cleaningprocedures of delicate optical devices.Getting this project right will make a sig-nificant difference to Raglan by allowingthe metallurgical technician to performother more value-added work, while inthe end providing more accurate particlesize distribution results.

I was also responsible for a smallerproject which involved evaluating theperformance of the concentrator’s con-

tinuous density gauges. This projectconsisted of establishing a correlationbetween the plant data and actual labo-ratory measurements to determinewhether the plant’s gauges providedaccurate information. Getting thisproject right will ensure that the oper-ators and engineers have good infor-mation to base important operatingdecisions upon.

At Raglan, I’ve been given a lot ofliberty and autonomy which I found tobe very important for building my self-confidence. These responsibilities havemade for a valuable and motivatingexperience for me at Xstrata Nickel’sRaglan Mine. The best supervisors arethose who are able to see operatingpotential in their co-op students andwho are willing to challenge them. As aresult, students obtain valuable experi-ence and can really contribute to acompany’s bottom line. CIM


The history of human development is closely linked to mineralsand mining. The Stone Age, Copper Age, Bronze Age, and IronAge, as taught by historians and archaeologists, demonstratethe prime role the discovery and use of minerals played in the

evolution of the first people. The extractive resources later becamethe motor of economic and social development for most civiliza-tions, with riches derived from mining operations.

Canada’s history is tightly interwoven with the explorationand mining of resources. In the last decade of the 19th century,the numerous foundries and smelters in Quebec, Ontario, NewBrunswick, and Nova Scotia turned Canada into a newly industri-alized country. Colonization of the western provinces relied heav-ily on the production of iron (rails and wagons for the railways)and coal (as fuel for locomotives and foundries) in the Maritimes,Quebec, and Ontario. This economic prosperity had social reper-

>>> by S. Théophile Yaméogo

cussions, as it led to well-paid jobs in the mining sector and to theproliferation of mining towns and villages created by an exodusof the population.

In Canada, the mining industry, often referred to as the mineralsand mining sector, includes mineral exploration, metal, non-metal,and coal mines, quarries, sand and gravel pits, oil sands operations,foundries for non-ferrous metals, metal refineries, and steel plants.How important is today’s mining industry for Canada?

>>> THE CANADIAN MINING INDUSTRYCanada has extraordinarily rich basement rocks; many mines

can be found throughout the country (Fig.1) and can be classified asfollows:• With the Saskatchewan mines, Canada was first in the world

production of potash and uranium in 2005.

The Canadian mining industryin need of engineers

• Canada ranks second as world producer of nickel (mines in theSudbury Basin, Ontario, and the Raglan Mine in Québec) andmagnesium.

• Canada is third in the production of titanium concentrate, alu-minium, cobalt, and metals of the platinum group.

• Diamond extraction in the Northwest Territories represents 12.3per cent of the world production, placing Canada afterBotswana and Russia. With the planned opening of new mines,Canadian production will attain 20 per cent of the world pro-duction.

• Canadian production of zinc, cadmium, asbestos, and gypsumis in fourth rank in the world.With the added value of the oil sands, Alberta is the most pro-

ductive province, attaining nearly $14 billion in 2005 (Fig. 2).The metals and minerals sector is very

efficient: out of a total active population of16.2 million persons in 2005, only 388,000persons, i.e. 2.4 per cent, are directly andindirectly employed in mining but theyproduce 4 per cent of the Canadian GrossDomestic Product. In contrast, 12 millionCanadians work in the services sector and4 million in the production sector. In 2005,exports from mining represented 14 percent of foreign trade. It is therefore not sur-prising that salaries are higher (Fig. 3). Aswell, the minerals industry is often theonly possible means of economic develop-ment for communities in the remote areasof the country.

How, then, do we explain that such aprosperous industry, so essential to theeconomy, can have such a lack of qualifiedmanpower? How are we to understandthat attractive salaries and the very highlikelihood of employment does not attract

young people to college and universitymining programs?

>>> THE LACK OF WORKFORCE INTHE MINING INDUSTRY

There is a shortage of manpower inall Canadian industries. This situationhas been attributed to the low fertilityrate but mainly to the retirement of thebaby boomer generation. However,throughout this alarming situation,there is little mention of the miningindustry, where the problems are evenmore pressing. In the 2001 census,Statistics Canada indicated that theaverage age of workers in the metalsand minerals sector was the highest ofall industries (Fig. 4). It was thus evidentthat the manpower shortage due toretirements affected the mining indus-

try more than other industries.To satisfy its human resources needs, the Canadian mining

industry needs an estimated 81,000 more employees for the years2005 to 2014. During this same period, the majority of skilled work-ers, i.e. nearly 65 per cent of geoscientists, will reach the age ofretirement. And, as one out of four employees in the mining sectoris a university graduate, it is logical to think that the universities willplay an essential role in the solution of the shortage problem. Thestate-of-the-art mining technologies require specialized knowl-edge, the mastery of computer tools, resulting in the need for veryeducated workers.

The number of graduates from the nine mining engineeringprograms is not sufficient to satisfy the current manpowerrequirements. For example, in 2005 about 100 new mining

Fig. 1. Main production of metals and minerals in Canada. Source: Natural Resources Canada

Fig. 2. Value of Canadian mine production in 2005 (without smelting and refining). Sources: Natural ResourcesCanada; Statistics Canada

August 2007 49

engineers graduated from Canadian universities while theindustry needed 150. In 2006, only 83 students graduated frommining engineering programs in all of Canada (Fig. 5). InQuebec during this period, the 15 or so junior mining engineers,essential for the mines in times of economic stability, wouldhave been just enough if the runaway prices for metals had notopened new mines. In this province, only three universities(Laval, École Polytechnique, and McGill) offer mining engineer-ing programs and, together, they produce, at most, 15 graduatesper year.

As the mining industry workforce shortage is a worldwideproblem, the competition to hire new engineers is international.The gloves are off, first between Canadian companies and alsobetween Canada, the United States, and Australia. Each year,Australian companies recruit mining graduates in Canadian uni-versities. American mining company headhunters can also beseen in the corridors of our universities. As a matter of fact,American companies are the biggestemployers of mining engineers. Nearly5,200 are currently employed in the USand, according to the Society of MiningEngineers, 225 new engineers will beneeded each year, just to replace theretirements.

However, within this fierce competi-tion between the mining industries of thedifferent countries, some graduates willchoose to stay in the field of academicresearch or civil engineering consultingfirms. In the US, one quarter of new min-ing engineers change industries, thusaggravating the shortage to nearly 400new engineers, while only about 100 engi-neers graduate from American universi-ties each year. There is no data on thecareer changes for Quebec or Canada, butthe situation described above is evenmore critical if this aspect is considered.How did we get there? How can we getout of this situation?

According to Professor Huw Phillips, director of the School ofMining Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand,Johannesburg, South Africa, the current shortage of engineers inthe western world is partly due to the crisis in mining educationcaused by fewer new students, the costs associated with an engi-neering program, and the profit-making attitude of teaching insti-tutions. He states that during the last two decades, more than onemining program has closed, representing a 30 per cent decrease inthe training capacity in Canada, Australia, the United States, andthe United Kingdom. During this time, the demand for new engi-neers has continued to grow.

At the Department of Mining and Geological Engineering at theUniversity of Arizona, Professor Mary Poulten agrees with this rea-soning. “The cyclical nature of employment in commodity marketsdirectly impacts enrolment in programs, but universities generallybelieve that all academic programs operate at steady state, and lowenrolments indicate poor-quality programs. This resulted in closure


Fig. 5. Mining engineering programs and the number of graduates in Canada (2006). Source: Canadian Councilof Professional Engineers; accredited engineering programs—mining engineering, mineral engineering

Fig. 3. Evolution of weekly salary of some industries (2001–2005). Source:Statistics Canada

Fig. 4. Age of workers – minerals and metals sector and in all other industries.Source: Statistics Canada, 2001 census

August 2007 51

of a large number of mining and petroleum engineering depart-ments in major research universities in the US over the last twodecades.”

The lack of visibility of the mining industry is also to blame,despite its incommensurable contribution to the economy, jobcreation, and local communities. During recruitment days inCEGEPs, young people often ask questions that seem inappro-priate to a mining engineer, but that show all the bad publicityand ignorance stemming from sensationalized spectacularaccidents, uncontrolled pollution, bad stewardship, and thesharp criticism of environmental groups. The modern miningindustry, especially in Canada, underwent an extraordinarymetamorphosis, but this is not referred to in the media.Research chairs in mining environment, parity or tripartitecommittees with trade unions and communities, scientific dis-coveries, state-of-the-art technological developments, careerpossibilities, and the fantastic salaries are not mentioned,maybe because of a lack of dynamic marketing by the miningcompanies towards the population in general, but mainlytowards the young. How then can we expect a CEGEP studentto be aware of the opportunities offered by the mining indus-try and to want to enter such programs?

Several possible solutions have been proposed throughout theworld to solve this manpower shortage crisis. Throughout Canada,mining associations, government departments, and mining compa-nies are in favour of a better coordination of efforts. This can beaccomplished through financial incentives for students taking upmining, recruitment campaigns to increase the number of immi-grants and Native People in the mining world, and investments intraining programs for mining engineers. For more vitality, theMining Association of Canada organizes a Mining Day each year onParliament Hill. The Quebec Mining Association organizes anannual Mining Week in order to show the population the impor-tance and benefits of the activities in this sector. The universitiesare also part of the game. With the support of the industry, stu-dents are awarded scholarships in most of the nine programsacross Canada.

In the US, the shortage of engineers and the fewer new regis-trations in mining in the universities have caused such anxietythat the authorities had to take exceptional measures. In June2006, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favour of theEnergy and Mineral Schools Reinvestment Act. One of the objec-tives of this law, waiting to be passed, is to guarantee the availabil-ity of funds, both for the universities and for the students, in thefollowing engineering fields: mining, petroleum, applied geology,and geophysics in American universities. The ultimate goal is toproduce the required number of new engineers each year, in orderto absorb the shortage.

Faced with the same challenge, Australia is also adopting inno-vative strategies. According to Professor Bruce Hebblewhite, head,School of Mining Engineering at the University of New SouthWales, the Minerals Council of Australia and three large universi-ties are going to found the First Nation School of MiningEngineering, to tackle the problem of a chronic shortage of engi-neers in this field. In Australia, the shortage is very critical; in 2006,the mining industry, which needed 150 new mining engineers, hadto settle for only 32.14 Salaries for new mining engineers reachedAUS$130,000, i.e. 60 per cent more than new employees in the biginvestment banks.15

>>> CONCLUSIONQuebec and Canada cannot do without a mining industry, as

this industry is an integral part of our country’s economy andemployment, and is the livelihood of more than 100 communi-ties. On the world scale, and in addition to its rich subsoil,Canada is recognized for its manpower quality, the excellence ofits training programs, and the scientific discoveries of the spe-cialized research centres. This recognition could, however, belost to other countries if the challenges of the manpower short-age and the low recruitment are not addressed in the very shortterm. The manpower shortage could surely slow down the func-tioning, efficiency, and productivity of existing mines; it couldalso delay opening of new mines despite the runaway metalsand minerals prices. Since the problem is worldwide, it is up toQuebec and Canada to bring their leadership and their creativ-ity into play once again and, as in many historical events, toresolve the situation.

Our closest competitors, the US and Australia, are already estab-lishing the benchmarks of a new vision to ensure qualified man-power by reinventing their programs and protecting them from clo-sure, by investing in outreach campaigns for young people, and byrecruiting Canadian graduates with the promise of money. This newdynamism at all scales is not yet seen in Canada; there is much togain and much to lose in this battle.

With the globalization of the world markets and the almostautomatic granting of manufacturing jobs to low-wage countriessuch as China and Brazil, Canada would do well to keep its acquiredposition in the technical and economical development of extractivenatural resources. The Canadian mining industry has the best inter-national reputation for image, qualified manpower, financingexploration work, and direct investments.

Note: This article is available in full in the online version of theAugust 2007 CIM Magazine. Footnotes are included in the full-length version.

CIM

>>> Word of thanksThe author sincerely thanks the Département de Génie civil, géologique et des mines of the

École Polytechnique de Montréal; this report was written for and financed by the department.Sincere thanks to the mine program coordinators across Canada.


>>> INTRODUCTIONL’histoire de l’humanité et de son développement est intrin-

sèquement liée aux minéraux et métaux. Les périodes d’âge depierre, de cuivre, de bronze et de fer que nous enseignent les histo-riens et les archéologues démontrent à quel point la découverte etl’utilisation des minerais ont joué un rôle primordial dans l’évolu-tion des premiers humains. Les ressources extractives ont plus tardété le moteur du développement économique et social de lamajorité des civilisations, qui se sont enrichies grâce à des exploita-tions – exclusivement ou partiellement – minières.

L’histoire du Canada est étroitement liée à l’exploration et à l’ex-ploitation des ressources minières. Dans la dernière décennie du 19e

siècle, les multiples fonderies du Québec, de l’Ontario, du Nouveau-Brunswick et de la Nouvelle-Écosse auront fait du Canada un nou-veau pays industrialisé. C’est surtout grâce à la production de fer(fabrication des rails et des wagons des chemins de fer) et de char-

>>> par S. Théophile Yaméogobon (pour le combustible des locomotives et les fonderies) desMaritimes, du Québec et de l’Ontario que la colonisation desprovinces de l’Ouest sera entreprise avec succès. Sur le plan social,cette prospérité économique du Canada est sy nonyme d’emploisbien rémunérés dans le secteur minier et de la prolifération de villeset villages miniers créés par l’exode des populations.

Au Canada, l’industrie minière, parfois connue sous le vocable desecteur des minéraux et des métaux, comprend l’exploration minérale,les mines de métaux, de non-métaux et de charbon, les carrières, lessablières et les gravières, les exploitations de sables bitumineux, lesfonderies de métaux non ferreux, les affineries et les aciéries. Quelleest l’importance de l’industrie minière le Canada aujourd’hui ?

>>> L’INDUSTRIE MINIÈRE AU CANADALe Canada dispose d’un sous-sol extraordinairement riche. Une

multitude de mines parsèment son territoire (figure 1) et lui donnele classement suivant :

L’industrie minière du Canadaen manque d’ingénieurs

August 2007 53

• avec les mines de Saskatchewan, le Canada se classe premierdans la production mondiale de potasse et d’uranium en 2005;

• pour le nickel (mines du bassin de Sudbury en Ontario et deRaglan au Québec) et le magnésium, le Canada est le deuxièmeproducteur mondial;

• le Canada est troisième dans la production de concentré detitane, aluminium, cobalt, métaux du groupe du platine;

• l’extraction de diamant dans les Territoires du Nord-Ouestcompte pour 12,3 % de la production mondiale, ce qui place leCanada derrière le Botswana et la Russie. Avec les ouverturesprévues de nouvelles mines, la production canadienne attein-dra 20 % de la production mondiale;

• la production canadienne de zinc, cadmium, amiante et gypsese place au quatrième rang mondial.C’est l’Alberta qui, grâce à la haute valeur

ajoutée de ses sables bitumineux, est la plusproductive des provinces avec près de 14 mil-liards de dollars en 2005 (fi gure 2).

Le secteur des minéraux et métaux esttrès efficace. Sur une population activetotale de 16,2 millions en 2005, seulement388 000 personnes—soit 2,4 %—sontemployées directement et indirectementdans l’industrie minière et produisent 4 %du produit intérieur brut du Canada. Encomparaison, 12 millions de Canadiens tra-vaillent dans le secteur des services et 4millions dans celui des produit. En 2005,les exportations des produits de leurlabeur représentaient 14 % du commerceextérieur. C’est donc sans surprise que leurtraitement salarial est des plus élevés (fi -gure 3). Par ailleurs, l’industrie minièrereprésente souvent la seule possibilité dedéveloppement économique dans lesrégions éloignées du pays.

Comment alors comprendre qu’uneindustrie si prospère et si incontournable dansl’économie d’un des grands pays de la planètese retrouve dans une situation de pénurie demain-d’œuvre qualifiée ? Comment compren-dre que les salaires attrayants et la très forteprobabilité d’embauche n’attirent pas lesjeunes vers les programmes de mines aucégep et à l’université?

>>> LA PÉNURIE DE MAIN-D’ŒUVRE DANS L’INDUSTRIEMINIÈRE

Il est question de pénuries de main-d’œu-vre dans toutes les industries au Canada.Cette si tuation est souvent attribuée aufaible taux de natalité, mais surtout auxdéparts à la retraite de la génération des babyboomers. Toutefois, dans cette situation alar-mante, on fait très peu cas de l’industrie

minière dont les problèmes sont encore plus préoccupants. Aurecensement de 2001, Statistique Canada révélait que le secteur desminéraux et métaux avait les moyennes d’âge les plus élevées detoutes les industries (figure 4). Il était donc manifeste que la pénuriedue aux départs à la retraite toucherait plus ardemment l’industrieminière que toute autre industrie.

Effectivement, l’Association minière du Canada, en collaborationavec Ressources naturelles Canada, estime que pour répondre à sesbesoins en ressources humaines, l’industrie minière canadienne abesoin de 81000 employés de plus au cours des années 2005 à 2014.Durant cette même période, la majorité des travailleurs compé-tents, soit près de 65 % des géoscientifiques, atteindront l’âge de laretraite. Et comme un employé sur quatre dans le secteur minier esttitulaire d’un diplôme universitaire, il est logique de croire que les

Figure 1 : Productions principales de minéraux et métaux au Canada (Source : Ressources naturelles Canada)

Figure 2 : Valeur de la production canadienne des mines en 2005 (sauf fusion et affinage)(Sources : Ressources naturelles Canada; Statistique Canada)

universités joueront un rôle primordial dans la quête de la résolu-tion du problème de la pénurie. Les technologies de pointe rencon-trées dans les mines demandent des connaissances spécialisées enextraction minière et une maîtrise des outils informatiques. D’où lanécessité de l’embauche de travailleurs très scolarisés.

Cependant, le nombre de diplômés des neuf programmesd’ingénierie minière ne suffit pas à combler les besoins actuels. En 2005par exemple, une centaine de nouveaux ingénieurs miniers sont sortisdes universités canadiennes alors que l’industrie en réclamait 150. En2006, seulement 83 étudiants ont reçu un diplôme des programmes degénie des mines de tout le Canada (figure 5). Pendant ce temps, auQuébec, la quinzaine d’ingénieurs miniers juniors par an, indispens-ables au fonctionnement des mines en temps de stabilité économique,aurait pu tout juste satisfaire à la demande si la flambée des prix desmétaux n’avait occasionné l’ouverture de nouvelles mines. Il faut se rap-peler que dans la province, seules trois universités (Laval, Polytechniqueet McGill) offrent des programmes en génie des mines qui plus est, pro-duisent tout au plus 15 diplômés par année.

Par ailleurs, comme la pénurie dans l’in-dustrie minière est mondiale, la compétitionpour embaucher les nouveaux ingénieurs estinternationale. On assiste à une bataille rude,d’une part entre les compagnies canadi-ennes, d’autre part entre le Canada, les États-Unis et l’Australie. De nos jours, les compag-nies australiennes courtisent chaque annéeles finissants en mines des universités cana-diennes. Il en est de même pour les compag-nies minières américaines dont les chasseursde tête sillonnent les couloirs de nos univer-sités. En effet, les États-Unis restent le plusgros embaucheur d’ingénieurs miniers. Prèsde 5 200 sont actuellement employés, et,selon les donnés de la Society of MiningEngineers, 225 nouveaux ingénieurs serontnécessaires chaque année, tout juste pourremplacer les départs à la retraite.

À cette féroce concurrence entre lesindustries minières des différents pays, ilfaut préciser qu’un certain nombre de

diplômés choisissent le domaine universitaire de la recherche ou lesbureaux-conseils en génie civil. Aux États-Unis, c’est le quart des nou-veaux ingénieurs de mines qui changent d’industrie, ce qui accroît lapénurie annuelle à presque 400 nouveaux ingénieurs, alors queseulement une centaine de finissants sortent des universités améri-caines chaque année. Il n’existe pas de données sur le changement decarrière pour le Québec et le Canada, mais on se rend compte que lasituation décrite plus haut peut être plus critique si on considère cetaspect. Pourquoi est-on arrivé là ? Et comment s’en sortir ?

Le professeur Huw Phillips, directeur du département des minesde la renommée Université de Witwatersrand (Afrique du Sud) penseque la pénurie d’ingénieurs de mines qui sévit dans le monde occi-dental est en partie due à la crise de l’éducation en mines qui s’estmanifestée par la baisse du nombre de nouveaux étudiants, le coûtassocié aux programmes d’ingénierie et l’attitude de profitabilité desinstitutions d’enseignement. Il affirme qu’au cours des deux dernièresdécennies, plus d’un programme de mines y a été fermé par an, ce qui


Figure 5 : Programmes de génie des mines et le nombre de diplômés en 2006 au Canada. (Source : Conseil cana-dien des ingénieurs. Programmes de génie des mines ou génie minéral accrédités)

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Moyenne

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ienne

Foreste

rie

Mines, p

étrole

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s public

s

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es

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ire h

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aire

($C

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)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Figure 3 : Évolution 2001 – 2005 du salaire hebdomadaire de quelques industries(2001-2005). (Source : Statistique Canada)

Figure 4 : Répartition de l’âge des employés Composition selon l’âge de l’industrieminière canadienne par rapport aux autres industries. (Source : StatistiqueCanada, recensement 2001)

August 2007 55

représente une réduction de 30 % de la capacité de formation auCanada, en Australie, aux États-Unis et au Royaume-Uni. Pendant cetemps, la demande pour de nouveaux ingénieurs miniers n’a pascessé de croître. La directrice du département de géologie et desmines de l’Université d’Arizona, la professeure Mary Poulten, adhère àce raisonnement. D’après son analyse, les institutions universitairesjugent généralement que tous les programmes académiques fonc-tionnent selon le même mécanisme, et qu’une baisse des nouvellesinscriptions indique qu’un programme n’est pas intéressant, à la lim-ite inutile. C’est pourquoi un grand nombre de programmes en minesa été abandonné dans plusieurs grandes universités américaines.

On blâme aussi le manque de visibilité de l’industrie minière, malgréson apport incommensurable à l’économie, à l’emploi et aux collectiv-ités locales. Lors des journées de recrutement dans les cégeps, il estfréquent que les jeunes posent des questions – incongrues pour uningénieur minier – qui étalent toute l’ampleur de la mauvaise publicitéet de l’ignorance héritées des années d’accidents spectaculaires, de pol-lution incontrôlée, de mauvaise gouvernance et de la véhémence desgroupes environnementalistes. L’industrie minière moderne, surtout auCanada, a subi une métamorphose extraordinaire mais dont les médiasn’en font toujours pas écho. Les chaires de recherche en environnementminier, les comités paritaires ou tripartites avec les syndicats et les col-lectivités, les découvertes scientifiques, les développements tech-nologiques de pointe, les possibilités de carrière et les salaires de rêvesont passés sous silence peut-être à cause du manque de dynamismedans le marketing des compagnies minières à l’égard de la populationet surtout des jeunes. Comment peut-on alors s’attendre à ce qu’un étu-diant du cégep connaisse les possibilités offertes par l’industrie minière,et qu’il veuille s’inscrire dans ses programmes ?

Plusieurs pistes de solution ont été proposées dans le monde pourrésoudre la crise du manque de main-d’œuvre. Au Canada anglaiscomme au Québec, les associations minières, les ministères et les com-pagnies minières préconisent une meilleure coordination des efforts.Ceci se fera avec des incitatifs financiers pour les étudiants qui s’orien-teront en mines, des campagnes de recrutement pour accroître lenombre d’immigrants et d’autochtones dans le monde minier, desinvestissements dans les programmes de formation des ingénieurs enmine. Pour plus de visibilité, l’Association minière du Canada organisechaque année la Journée minière sur la Colline parlementaire. Quant àl’Association minière du Québec, elle coordonne annuellement laSemaine minière du Québec destinée à sensibiliser et à démontrer à lapopulation toute l’importance et les retombées des activités de cesecteur. Les universités ne sont pas en reste. Grâce à l’appui de l’indus-trie, des bourses sont allouées aux nouveaux étudiants en génie desmines dans la presque totalité des neuf programmes au Canada.

Aux États-Unis, la pénurie d’ingénieurs et la baisse des nouvellesinscriptions en mines dans les universités inquiètent à ce point queles autorités ont été contraintes de prendre des mesures exception-nelles. En juin 2006, la Chambre des Représentants a voté en faveurde la mise en place d’une loi dénommée EMSRA pour « Energy andMineral Schools Reinvestment Act ». L’un des objectifs de cette loi,en attente de promulgation, est de garantir la disponibilité defonds, aussi bien pour les universités que pour les étudiants, dans

>>> REMERCIEMENTSL’auteur remercie sincèrement le département de Génie civil, géologique et des mines de l’École Polytechnique de Montréal,pour qui ce document a été rédigé et qui l’a financé. Merci aussi aux coordonnateurs des programmes de mines au Canada.

les programmes de génie des mines, de génie du pétrole, de géolo-gie appliquée et de géophysique dans les universités américaines.Le but ultime est de fournir le nombre nécessaire de nouveauxingénieurs chaque année pour, à terme, résorber la pénurie.

L’Australie, qui fait face au même défi, adopte aussi des stratégiesnovatrices. Selon le professeur Bruce Hebblewhite, chef du départe-ment de l’école des mines de l’Université des Nouvelles Galles du Sud,l’association minière australienne (Minerals Council of Australia) ettrois grandes universités vont mettre sur pied la première écolenationale en ingénierie de mines pour s’attaquer au problème de lapénurie chronique des ingénieurs du domaine. La pénurie enAustralie est vraiment très sévère : en 2006, l’industrie minière, quiavait besoin de 150 nouveaux ingénieurs miniers, a dû plutôt se con-tenter de 32. Les salaires des ingénieurs de mines débutantsatteignent 130000 dollars australiens, soit 60 % de plus que celui desnouveaux employés des grandes banques d’investissement.

>>> CONCLUSIONLe Québec et le Canada ne peuvent se passer de l’industrie minière

car elle participe très généreusement à l’économie du pays, aux emploiset au rayonnement de plus d’une centaine de collecti vités. Au niveaumondial, le Québec et le Canada, en plus de leur sous-sol très riche, sontreconnus pour la qualité de leur main-d’œuvre, l’excellence de leurs pro-grammes de formation et les avancées scientifiques de leurs centres derecherche spécialisés. Toutefois, cette reconnaissance pourrait aller àd’autres pays si les défis de la pénurie de la main-d’œuvre et du faiblerecrutement des jeunes en mines ne sont pas relevés dans les plus brefsdélais. Le manque de main-d’œuvre ralentirait assurément le fonction-nement, l’efficacité et la productivité des mines existantes, et freineraitcertainement l’ouverture de nouvelles exploitations malgré la flambéedes prix des minéraux et métaux. Comme le problème est mondial, ilappartient au Québec et au Canada d’user de leur leadership et de leurcréativité, encore une fois et comme dans une grande majorité desévénements de l’Histoire, pour venir à bout de la situation.

Nos plus proches compétiteurs, les États-Unis et l’Australie, sontdéjà en train de poser les jalons d’une nouvelle vision qui leur assu -rerait une main-d’œuvre qualifiée en réinventant leurs programmeset en les protégeant de la fermeture, en investissant dans des cam-pagnes de séduction auprès des jeunes et en recrutant les diplôméscanadiens à coup de dollars. Ce nouveau dynamisme à toutes leséchelles ne s’observe pas encore au Québec et au Canada qui, danscette bataille, ont autant à gagner qu’à perdre.

Avec la modialisation des marchés et l’attribution presqueautomatique de la manufacture à des pays à bas salaires comme laChine et le Brésil, le Québec et le Canada auront intérêt à conserv-er la longueur d’avance qu’ils ont dans le développement techniqueet économique des ressources naturelles extractives. En effet, l’in-dustrie minière québécoise et canadienne est la plus internationalepour l’image, la main-d’œuvre qualifiée, le financement, les travauxd’exploration et les investissements directs.

N.B. Cet article est disponible au complet dans la version en ligne duCIM Magazine d’août 2007. Les notes en bas de page sont incluses dansla version complète.

CIM

cim newsAdair, Benjamin, AustraliaAkerley, Peter C., Nova ScotiaAnderson, Gregory, AustraliaAnusic, Robert M., AlbertaAraneda, Cesar, New BrunswickAraneda, Laura, New BrunswickArsenault, Donald, OntarioArsenault, Guilliaume, QuébecAston, Jeff, AustraliaBahrani, Navid, AlbertaBailey, Marta, OntarioBaker, Mark, USABaribeau, Andy, QuébecBeck, Brian, AlbertaBlanchard, Robert,

British ColumbiaBlouin, Simon-Pierre, QuébecBoucher, Pierre, QuébecBrunelle, Joseph, OntarioButtin, Greg, OntarioCacho, Juan M. Lira, PeruCampbell, Sarah, TanzaniaClark, Tobias R., USACollett, Terry, USAComejo, Fernando,

NewfoundlandCoté, Eric, New BrunswickDavidson, Bill, Ontario

De Ruijter, Andre, British Columbia

DeBrook, Freddy, USADesroches, Christian, QuébecDoucet, Daniel, QuébecDurocher, Pierre, QuébecEljarbo, Ivan, OntarioFadyshen, Dan, OntarioFord, Fred, OntarioFroese, Jessica, QuébecGagne, Jonathan, QuébecGalipeau, Ahmed, QuébecGe, Sa, QuébecGeske, Robert, OntarioGhaffari, Hassan,

British ColumbiaGoodall, Will, AustraliaGrieco, Nicole J., OntarioGrimm, Dennis, OntarioHayashino, Takeshi, USAHenkee, Chris, USAHesse, Adam, OntarioHindstrom, Sami, FinlandHughes, Paul, British ColumbiaHutchinson, Craig,

British ColumbiaJha, Rahul, AlbertaJohnston, Jordan, AlbertaKarami, Amir, British Columbia

Karesvuori, Jarkko, FinlandKebriaei, Hamidreza, QuébecKhalife, Mohamadali, QuébecKirkpatrick, James, Nova ScotiaKowalcyk, Mathew, QuébecLawson, Gord, OntarioLeBlanc, Christian,

British ColumbiaLiang, Todd, OntarioLicon-Almada, Samanta, MexicoLucenti, Scott, OntarioMalas, Khaled, QuébecMalina, Roman, USAMarois, Diane, QuébecMarsh, Lise, USAMartin, Christopher, OntarioMcInnis, J. Anthony C., USAMcKenzie, Nicolas, OntarioMeadows, Tim, OntarioMercier, Pascal Serge, IrelandMermillod-Blondin, Raphael,

QuébecMorgan, Jeffery, NewfoundlandNorman, Dominic, USAOchoa Rodriguez, Mario,

MexicoOrtiz, Saul, MexicoPapa, Jesus Angeles, PeruParravano, Sebastien, Mexico

Partridge, Bruce, Nova ScotiaPemberton, Brent K.,

New BrunswickPerry, Angela, AlbertaPescetelli, Alessandro, ItalyPoitras, Marcel, Nova ScotiaPotvin, Christopher, QuébecRajwani, Rahim,

British ColumbiaRawding, Paul, Nova ScotiaRaza, Adeel, AlbertaRempel, Curtis, SaskatchewanRicardo Aguilar, Jose Luis,

MexicoRinne, Antti, FinlandRoberts, Stephen,

British ColumbiaRoy, Marcel, QuébecRussell, John, AustraliaSader, Pascale, QuébecSalatic, Vladmir, HondurasSalois, Cara, OntarioSamuel, Daniel T., OntarioSanderson, Brian, Nova ScotiaSchwartz, Sarah, AustraliaShea, Robin, AlbertaSibbel, Kristen, AlbertaSilva, Erika, British ColumbiaSingh, Madan, IndiaSo, Peter, OntarioSomani, Alif, British ColumbiaSt. Jacques, Guy, OntarioSwinoga, Jeff, ManitobaTagliabracci, Chris, OntarioTherrien, Jean-Guy, QuébecThibault, Claude, QuébecThompson, James, QuébecTrottier, Al, ManitobaTrudel, François, QuébecTsatouhas, George, AustraliaUlan, Wesley, AlbertaVendittelli, Luciano, QuébecWhite, Fred, AustraliaWhyte, Ryan, AustraliaWidish, Glenn,

SaskatchewanYalcin, Emrah, Ontario

Corporate MembersAGC CommunicationsArgentex Mining CorporationDavidson Drilling Ltd.Diamonds North Resources

Ltd.

CIM welcomes new members

A look back in time35 YEARS AGO…• The 11th Annual Conference of Metallurgists was held at Nova Scotia Technical College

in Halifax. The technical program consisted of 89 papers spread throughout 22 sessions.• CIM Bulletin announced C.W. (Bill) Doody’s re-election as Minister of Mines,

Agriculture and Resources for Labrador and Newfoundland. • CIM Bulletin reported on well-known figure in Canadian mineral exploration and devel-

opment, Franc Joubin, who received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from St.Francis Xavier University.

• As part of the technical section, N.W. Hendry provided an outlook for Canada’s asbestosmining industry.

• The newly elected officers of the Association of Geologists of Quebec were revealed toreaders: R.Y. Lamarche, R.H. Grice, and M. Vallée. J. Béland, C. Bertrand, J.Boissonnault, E. Seguin, and P.M. Crépeau were also elected as directors.

• A two-year, $511,000 program to evaluate methods of economically reducing the sulphurcontent of Cape Breton coal was announced.

• A team from Rio Algom Mines in Elliot Lake won the Mine Safety Appliance Trophy at theMine Rescue Competitions.

The above was taken from the August 1972 issue of CIM Bulletin.


cim news

At the final event of the HamiltonBranch for the 2006-07 year, five projectwinners from the local Bay Area Scienceand Engineering Fair were on hand onMay 8 to show their displays andanswer questions from members inattendance.

The Hamilton Branch has been anactive sponsor of BASEF for over 15years and provides three prizes for proj-

Young scientists receive awardsects in the materials science category.The other two winners were recipientsof Nelson Steel Awards (Nelson is a cor-porate sponsor of the branch, and aNelson parent company employee sitson the branch executive). Each studentwas treated to three free dinner ticketsto invite their parents to join them.

“We are so proud of these dedicated,young winners who have high apti-

tudes and boundless enthusiasm forscience and engineering,” said branchexecutive Shannon Clark. “By demon-strating their desire for knowledge andtheir passion for science, these studentsare an inspiration to our members. TheCIM Hamilton Branch is proud to sup-port these young scientists in theirefforts to learn, discover, and make ourworld better.” CIM

August 2007 57

To explore these challenging

opportunities, please contact

and/or email your resume to:

Patrick Rowaan

Feldman Daxon Partners

[email protected]

(416) 515-7600 ext. 254

A world leader in the mining industry is poised for future growth to meet

worldwide demands for its products. One of its Canadian locations requires two

senior production leaders:

OPERATING MANAGER – REFINING

The Operating Manager will be accountable for the operation, maintenance, andprocess improvement of one of the primary operating areas of a major plantsuch as Electrolytic & Melting, Roasting and Sulphur Products, Leaching, LeadSmelter or Lead Products. Ideal candidates will have a university degree in engineering with at least 10 years of operating/supervisory experience in a comparable operation with demonstrated accomplishments and experience inbusiness performance, safety, cost, environmental and quality management andstrong leadership, strategic planning, communication and change managementskills. Experience in aluminum, copper, zinc, lead and metals processing is very desirable.

PRODUCTION SUPERINTENDENT – REFINING

The Production Superintendent will report to the Operating Manager, directing dayto day operations and responsible for coordination of all production in a major plantwith a primary focus on business objectives. Managing a team of shift, group andmaintenance leaders, the Production Superintendent will be a member of an engineering and operations management team that will ensure an efficient, high performance, safe and compliant production environment and a productive, well-trained, motivated workforce. Ideal candidates will have at least 10 years ofexperience in production leadership and management, labour relations, safety, costcontrol and environmental management, with experience in copper, zinc, lead andaluminum metals processing preferred.

Student awardsForty-two people took part in the Quebec Branch annual student gather-

ing held on March 19. Four students gave presentations on their work termsand end-of-term projects, which were judged by a panel of industry profes-sionals. The Quebec Branch awarded $1,000 in prizes to:

First prizes—Philippe F. Morissette, mining and mineral engineering stu-dent, and Olivier Blackburn, materials and metallurgical engineering student.

Second prizes—Jean-François Montreuil, geological engineering student,and Frédéric Fleury, geology student.

The SOQUEM prize was also handed out. The winning team, composed ofTania Doucet, Frédéric Fleury, Thomas Fournier, Moussa Tine and VéroniqueVilleneuve, also gave a presentation.

The evening was sponsored by Agnico-Eagle, the Quebec MiningAssociation, Carrières Polycor, COREM, Gestion SODEMEX inc.,Instrumentation GDD inc., and Mines Virginia. CIM

cim news


Le 19 mars 2007, quarante-deux per-sonnes de la Section de Québec assistaientà la rencontre annuelle dédiée aux étudi-ants. Les membres de la Section ont eu leplaisir de recevoir quatre conférenciersétudiants qui ont partagé leur expériencede stage ou de projet de fin d’études et ontensuite été témoins de la remise du prixSOQUEM. Cette rencontre était com-manditée par Agnico-Eagle, l’Associationminière du Québec, Carrières Polycor,COREM, Gestion SODEMEX INC,Instrumentation GDD inc et MinesVirginia.

La remise des prix a été faite sous l’égidedu nouveau président de la Section deQuébec, Monsieur Rock Gagnon. MonsieurPhilippe F. Morissette, étudiant en Géniemines et minéralurgie, a traité desSimulations numériques sur Map 3D à lamine Niobec : un outil au service de la pro-duction et s’est mérité un premier prix.Monsieur Olivier Blackburn, étudiant enGénie des matériaux et de la métallurgie, aabordé l’Automatisation de l’ajout de CuSO4à l’usine Laronde (Agnico-Eagle) et s’estmérité aussi un premier prix. MonsieurJean-François Montreuil, étudiant en Géniegéologique, nous a présenté son Stage d’ini-tiation à l’industrie pétrolière albertaine ets’est mérité un deuxième prix. MonsieurFrédéric Fleury, étudiant en Géologie, aparlé des Sulfures massifs du lac Renzy ets’est vu attribuer aussi un deuxième prix.

Les quatre conférenciers étudiants ontprésenté leurs sujets. Les performancesdes étudiants étaient évaluées par un jurycomposé de professionnels du milieu; laSection de Québec décernait 1 000 $ enprix pour les présentations, il y a eu deuxpremiers prix et deux deuxième prix.

La réunion s’est terminée par uneprésentation faite par les gagnants du prixSOQUEM. En effet, SOQUEM reconnaîtle travail des étudiants en géologie et géniegéologique de l’Université Laval en lesappuyant dans leurs cours et leurstravaux. Cette année, l’équipe gagnanteétait composée des étudiants suivants:Tania Doucet, Frédéric Fleury, ThomasFournier, Moussa Tine et VéroniqueVilleneuve. CIM

Prix d’excellence pour étudiants

De gauche à droite : Georges Beaudoin, professeur à l’Université Laval qui a remis le prix SOQUEM, suivi de Tania Doucet, Moussa Tine, Véronique Villeneuve, Thomas Fournier et Frédéric Fleury, tous étudiants engéologie.

De gauche à droite : Rock Gagnon, Philippe F. Morissette, Olivier Blackburn, Jean-François Montreuil et Frédéric Fleury

CIM EVENTSNew Brunswick Branch Annual ConventionSeptember 6-8Beresford and Bathurst, New BrunswickContact: Wayne HickeyTel.: 506.542.9226Email: [email protected]

Calgary Branch Technical Meetingwith Guest SpeakerSeptember 12Calgary, AlbertaContact: Andrew HickinbothamTel.: 403.267.3891Email: [email protected]

World Gold 2007In conjunction with AusIMM and SAIMMOctober 22-24Cairns, AustraliaContact: Alison McKenzie, AusIMMTel.: +61.3.9662.3166Fax: +61.3.9662.3662 Email: [email protected]: www.ausimm.com

Mineral Resources Review 2007November 1-3St. John’s, NewfoundlandContact: Len MandvilleTel.: 709.729.6439Fax: 709.729.3493Email: [email protected]

CMP40th Annual Canadian Mineral Processors Operators’Conference/40e Conférence des minéralurgistes du CanadaJanuary 22-24, 2008Ottawa, OntarioContact: Janice Zinck Tel.: 613.995.4221Fax: 613.996.9041Email: [email protected]: www.c-m-p.on.ca

MEMOMaintenence Engineering-Mine Operators’ Conference/Colloque sur l’ingénierie de maintenance et les exploitationsminièresFebruary 24-28, 2008Val-d’Or, QuébecContact: Chantal Murphy, CIMTel.: 514.939.2710, ext. 1309Fax: 514.939.2714Email: [email protected]

CIM Conference and Exhibition—Edmonton 2008May 4-7, 2008Edmonton, AlbertaContact: Chantal Murphy, CIMTel.: 514.939.2710, ext. 1309Fax: 514.939.2714Email: [email protected]

AROUND THE WORLDAutomated Mineralogy ‘07September 1-2Brisbane, AustraliaContact: B.A. WillsTel.: 44.7768.234121 Fax: 44.1326.318352Email: [email protected]: www.min-eng.com/conferences

Modular Course in Structure, Tectonics, and MineralExploration (field-based)September 1-15Sudbury, OntarioContact: Bruno LafranceTel.: 705.675.1151, ext. 2264Fax: 705.675.4898Email: [email protected]

Cultural Heritage Symposium in Geosciences,Archaeology, Mining and MetallurgySeptember 3-7Quebec City, QuebecContact: Réginald AugerTel.: 418.656.2952Fax: 418.656.5727Email: [email protected]

IV Mining Plant Maintenance Meeting—MAPLA 2007September 5-7Viña del Mar, ChileContact: Amada PlazaTel.: +56.2.652.1521Fax: +56.2.652.1570Email: [email protected]: www.mapla.cl

Public Science in Canada/Strengthening Science toProtect Canadians SymposiumSeptember 6-7Gatineau, QuébecContact: Gary CorbettTel.: 613.228.6310Fax: 613.228.7440Email: [email protected]

SIMINERA 2007 September 18-21San Juan, Argentina Contact: Axel ArancibiaTel.: 54.11.4328.5886 Fax: 54.11.4328.5859 Email: [email protected]: http://www.siminera.com.ar

Canadian Dam Association 2007 Annual Conference September 22-27St. John’s, NewfoundlandContact: Paul PorterTel.: 709.726.4490Fax: 709.726.4499Email: [email protected]: www.cda.ca

CA

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August 2007 59

Upcoming 2007 Seminars• Mineral project evaluation techniques and applications: From conven-

tional methods to real options September 11-14, MontrealMichel Bilodeau, McGill University, Canada and Michael Samis, AMEC,Canada

Learn the basics of economic/financial evaluation techniques, as well as thepractical implementation of these techniques to mineral project assess-ments. Learn:• How to gain a practical understanding of economic/financial evaluation

principles.• How to develop the skills necessary to apply these to support mineral proj-

ect decisions.• About the real options approach to valuing mining projects.

• Geostatistical mineral resource/ore reserve estimation and meeting thenew regulatory environment: Step by step from sampling to grade con-trolSeptember 24-28, MontrealMichel Dagbert, Geostat Systems Int, Canada; Jean-Michel Rendu,Consultant, USA; and Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada

Learn about the latest regulations on public reporting of resources/reservesthrough state-of-the-art statistical and geostatistical techniques. Learn howto: • Apply geostatistics to predict dilution and adapt reserve estimates to that

predicted dilution.• Learn how geostatistics can help you categorize your resources in an objec-

tive manner.• Understand principles of NI43-101 and SME Guide.

• Theory and practice of sampling particulate materials October 1-3, MontrealDominique François-Bongarçon, AGORATEK, USA

Develop an understanding of the theory of sampling particulate materials,its practice, scope, limitations and appropriate applications. Learn:• Eye-opening facts you may have overlooked or ignored until now aboutthe consequences of bad sampling and the difficulties of good sampling.• The unsuspected amplitude of economic ramifications of poor sampling.

STRATEGIC RISK QUANTIFICATION

and MANAGEMENT for ORE RESERVES

and MINE PLANNING

Upcoming 2008 Seminars

• Applied risk assessment for ore reserves and mine planning: Conditionalsimulation for the mining industryMay, MontrealRoussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada

• Strategic risk management and applied optimization in mine designMay, MontrealDavid Whittle, BHP Billiton, Australia; Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGillUniversity, Canada; and Manuel Arre, Gemcom Software Int., Canada

• Computer simulation and animation for the mining industry: Minedesign, mine planning and equipment selection June, MontrealJohn Sturgul, University of Idaho, USA

2007PROFESSIONALDEVELOPMENTSeminar Series

For information please contact:Delores LaPrattDepartment of Mining, Metals and Materials EngineeringMcGill University, Montreal, QCEmail: [email protected]: 514.398.4755, ext. 089638Fax: 514.398.7099Website: www.cim.org

For registration please contact:Chantal MurphyMeeting Coordinator, CIMSuite 855, 3400 de Maisonneuve Blvd., WMontreal, QC H3Z 3B8Email: [email protected]: 514.939.2710, ext. 1309Fax: 514.939.2714Website: www.cim.org

Mining Engineering


visit www.cim.org for a full listing

Terry A. Lyons receiving the INCO Medal from

Lawrence Cochrane, director, mines exploration, CVRD Inco

Russell Hallbauer receiving the Selwyn G. Blaylock Medal

from François Pelletier, CIM president

John S. Cook, winner of the Distinguished Service Medal

CIM AwardsRecognizing excellence in industry

District Distinguished Service Award

50 Year Club

John T. Ryan Trophies

CIM Fellowship

Distinguished Lecturers

Medal for Bravery

Mel W. Bartley Award

Syncrude Award for Excellence in Sustainable Development

Metal Mining Society Award

Barlow Memorial Medal

Julian Boldy Memorial Medal

Donald J. McParland Memorial Award

Robert Elver Mineral Economics Award

Coal Award

J.C. Sproule Memorial Plaque

A.O. Dufresne Award

Past Presidents’ Memorial Medal

Order of Sancta Barbara

Members Award

Selwyn G. Blaylock Medal

Inco medal

Distinguished Service Medal

CIM Conference and Exhibition 2007Thanks to our sponsors

August 2007 63

PREMIER SPONSORS | COMMANDITAIRES NIVEAU PREMIER

DIAMOND SPONSORS | COMMANDITAIRES NIVEAU DIAMANT

GOLD SPONSORS | COMMANDITAIRES NIVEAU OR

SILVER SPONSORS | COMMANDITAIRES NIVEAU ARGENT

COPPER SPONSORS | COMMANDITAIRES NIVEAU CUIVRE

MINING IN SOCIETY SPONSORS | COMMANDITAIRES LES MINES DANS LA SOCIÉTÉ

MINFILL SPONSORS | COMMANDITAIRES MINEFILL

Canadian Royalites Inc.

Arthur Foley

Canadian Mining andMetallurgical Foundation

Media partner/partenairemédia

Partner/partenaire

FRIENDS SPONSORS | COMMANDITAIRES NIVEAU AMI

Metal Mining Society of CIM

CIM Conference and Exhibition Congrès et Salon CommercialMontréal, Québec

2007

For more photos visit us on the web

www.cim.orgVisitez le site Web pour les faits saillants

25CIM Conference and ExhibitionCongrès et Salon commercial de l’ICM Edmonton, Alberta, May 4–7 mai 2008

Join CIM in Edmonton next May to celebrate the25th anniversary of the CIM Exhibition, Canada’s premier min-ing event. From its modest roots in hotels, the CIM Exhibitionhas grown to be a major showcase of industry expertise, tools,and advances. More networking is done with operators, man-agement, and suppliers on the exhibition floor than anywhereelse.

The CIM Exhibition floor is already fully booked for next May,as the top equipment and service providers are lining up tomeet the leaders of mine operations.

Plans will be announced in the coming months for official cel-ebrations of the CIM Exhibition anniversary. We invite all CIMmembers and friends to be a part of it!

CIM Exhibitioncelebrates its 25th!

Joignez-vous à l’ICM en mai prochain àEdmonton pour célébrer le 25e anniversaire du Salon com-mercial de l’ICM, l’événement minier par excellence au Canada.De ses débuts modestes dans des hôtels, le Salon commercialde l’ICM a grandi pour devenir l’endroit privilégié de montrerl’expertise, les outils et les avancées de l’industrie. Il se fait plusde réseautage entre les exploitants, les directeurs et les four-nisseurs dans l’enceinte du salon que n’importe où ailleurs.

Les stands du Salon commercial sont déjà tous réservés pourmai prochain; les principaux fournisseurs d’équipements et deservices se préparent à rencontrer les dirigeants des exploita-tions minières.

Les plans pour les célébrations officielles du 25e anniversairedu Salon commercial seront annoncés au cours des prochainsmois. Nous invitons tous les membres et amis de l’ICM à êtrede la partie!

L’ICM célèbre son25e Salon commercial!

The Mining in Society showwill attract even more people inEdmonton—an exhibition open tothe public that invites allinterested to learn more aboutmining and the terrific careeropportunities throughout theindustry. Companies have theopportunity to showcase thebest of the industry.

MIS is your opportunity to helpmake a difference. Please feelfree to contact CIM to find outhow you can participate inEdmonton.

Mining in Society starting to gear up

À Edmonton, encore plus degens seront attirés parl’événement Les mines dans lasociété—une exposition ouverteau public et conçue pour lespersonnes intéressées àconnaître les mines et lespossibilités fantastiques decarrières qu’offre cette industrie.Les compagnies ont l’occasionde présenter les meilleursaspects de l’industrie.

Les mines dans la société—votre chance de faire unedifférence. Contactez l’ICM poursavoir comment vous pouvezêtre de la partie à Edmonton.

Planification deLes mines dans la sociéte


historyCalifornia here we come(Part 19)by R.J. “Bob” Cathro, Chemainus, British Columbia

Economic geology and mining entered a new and modern stage following theCalifornia Gold Rush in 1848-49. Although the placer gold discovery didn’t have anydirect impact on the study of economic geology by itself, the rush occurred in the rightplace, and at the right time, to trigger unprecedented advances in scientific study, work-ing conditions, entrepreneurial activity, and the communication of ideas. These coinci-dent trends would prove to have major social, economic, and political impacts, initiallyin North America, Europe, and Australia, and subsequently worldwide.

At the time of the Gold Rush, the U.S. mining industry was in an embryonic stage,mainly exploiting small scattered deposits along the East Coast that only served localmarkets. Most metals and manufactured goods were still imported from England andEurope. The earliest mining developments, including copper at Simsbury,Connecticut; Hanover and New Brunswick, New Jersey; and Orange County,Vermont, between 1709 and 1820, were summarized by Rickard (1932). Iron ore wasdiscovered at Roanoke, North Carolina, in 1585 and at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1608,and was mined from scattered small deposits of bog iron, but the first cast-iron was-n’t produced until 1727 from a deposit at Coventry, Pennsylvania. The great irondeposits near Lake Superior, first mentioned in 1840, weren’t exploited until largecoal deposits were discovered later.

Lead, which was a vital economic metal at the time, was discovered in 1621 nearJamestown, Virginia, and small occurrences were mined briefly at Ancram, New York;Southhampton, Massachusetts; and in Maine, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. The firstlead discovery of any significance was the Upper Mississippi District, which was recog-nized by French Canadian fur traders as early as 1687, when they obtained lead for bul-lets from Native Americans living along the Mississippi River (then part of the FrenchTerritory of Louisiana). It was exposed in galena veins along the river in the vicinity ofDubuque, Iowa, and Galena, Illinois, at the edge of a large district that extends intosouthwestern Wisconsin. While it developed into an important source of the metal by the1840s, it proved to be richer in zinc, a metal that was not then in great demand. Leadmining gradually shifted to the Southeast Missouri Lead District, where the MineLamotte had been opened by another French company in 1720. It is located about 150kilometres downstream, just south of St. Louis. A much larger zinc-lead camp situatedfarther southwest, straddling the boundary between Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma(called the Tri-State District), was discovered about 1810 and first mined in 1848.Because it is also zinc-rich (zinc/lead ratio of about 5), major development was delayeduntil the zinc market became stronger after 1870 (Snyder, 1968).

Zinc and lead mineralization is similar in these three large districts, as well as in sev-eral smaller ones nearby. It constitutes of an economically important and distinctive fam-ily of world-class deposits named the Mississippi-Valley type. These ores form stratiformto semi-conformable, massive, irregular sulphide bodies within particular facies ofdolomitic limestone horizons. They are mostly confined to single stratigraphic unitswithin each camp and range in age from lower Cambrian to Pennsylvanian.Mineralization is usually composed of galena, sphalerite, and pyrite with minor amountsof silver or copper. Veins are commonly present but only account for a small proportionof the ore. Because the mineralization had no apparent relationship to plutonic or vol-canic activity, it couldn’t be easily reconciled with the contemporary hydrothermal theo-ries. It was the first new deposit type and mineralized geological setting discovered out-side Europe and it became the subject of intensive scientific research over the next cen-

“The Mexican-American Warmay well be a textbook exampleof the mining engineers’s adagethat commerce follows the flag,but the flag follows the pick ...

High officials in Washington ...knew that California possessed

gold, and much else besides,before declaring war on theirneighbor. In 1843, nearly twothousand ounces of the metalwere sent to the United States

from mines discovered near theSan Fernando Mission in

southern California. Rumorskept leaking out that the

sparsely populated territiories of northern Mexico possessed

mineral riches comparable to those found in the southern

half of the country.” (Brechin, 1999)

August 2007 67

economic geology

tury. However, it would be a long time before the genesis ofthe metals could be explained.

Prior to the California Gold Rush, very little gold or sil-ver had been discovered in the United States. Smallamounts of placer gold were found in Appalachia, begin-ning with the Reed Mine in North Carolina in 1799. From1804 to 1866, total placer production from this goldfield,extending across five states (Virginia, the Carolinas,Georgia, and Alabama), amounted to about $19 million.

Geological research in England in the early 1800s hadevolved into a clubby study of stratigraphy and paleontol-ogy that treated mineral deposits with condescension (seePart 18, June/July 2007 issue, CIM Magazine). Aside fromcoal, no important new mining districts had been discov-ered in Western Europe or Great Britain for centuries, andthe study of economic geology had become lethargic anduninspired. The California Gold Rush would soon lead tothe discovery of new types of mineral deposits that wouldchallenge old theories; would require advances in miningtechniques, technology, and transportation; would stimu-late worldwide migration, industrial activity, and increaseddemand for metals; would provide better prospecting andeconomic opportunities for miners than at any time sincethe 14th or 15th centuries in the Erzgebirge and Cornwall;would produce new institutions for advanced training ofmining engineers and geologists; and would require the cre-ation of new types of international communication, includ-ing technical newspapers, scientific journals, and profes-sional organizations.

Strange as it may seem today, gold had been found inCalifornia many years before the Gold Rush (Rickard,1932). The earliest published report in English was proba-bly one written by Robert Jameson (1816) (yes, the sameEdinburgh professor who made such a poor impression onCharles Darwin—see Part 17, May 2007 issue, CIMMagazine). He stated: “On the coast of California, there is aplain fourteen leagues in extent, covered with alluvialdeposits, in which lumps of gold are dispersed.” Otherreports, including one published in Mexico City in 1842 bya former deputy of the Mexican Congress, confirmed thisgold discovery and others. Rickard speculated that thesestories were ignored or suppressed because the U.S. gov-ernment was already anticipating a change of national own-ership of the region to mark the end of a war with Mexico.That occurred with the signing of the Treaty of GuadalupeHidalgo on February 2, 1848, under which the U.S.annexed most of northern Mexico, including California,New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Coloradoand Wyoming for $15 million. The following year,California produced gold worth three times as much as thepayment to Mexico.

The treaty was actually signed nine days after the eventthat is generally regarded as the start of the rush, therecognition by James W. Marshall, a carpenter building awater-powered sawmill, of a gold nugget encrusted with

quartz. By the time the first public notice appeared in aSan Francisco newspaper on March 15, the stampede tothe goldbelt by some of the 15,000 people then living inthe state was already well underway because the goldbelonged to whoever found it—tax-free. Within two years,over 300,000 people had arrived by the arduous and dan-gerous overland route from the eastern United States andCanada, or by the hazardous ocean voyage around CapeHorn, or across the Pacific Ocean. Known as Forty-Niners,they began frantically exploring a belt about 300 kilome-tres long as soon as they arrived. Naturally, most of themwere unlucky and either drifted into more traditional linesof work, wandered off to prospect elsewhere, or returnedhome. It has been estimated that the total value of the goldrecovered between 1850 and 1859 was approximately$560 million, an average of about $250 per miner.Summaries of the California Gold Rush are availableonline from the television program American Experience(2006) and from Wikipedia (2007). Another valuable ref-erence is Paul (1947).

Marshall’s discovery (or rediscovery) was made atColoma, about 50 kilometres southeast of Sacramento(Sutter’s Fort), on the South Fork of the American River.Because California was under U.S. military rule at the timeafter the signing of the treaty, and no mining code had beenwritten, the prospectors and miners proceeded to draft theirown mining laws, a remarkable example of self-govern-ment. Because many of those with mining experience werefrom Europe or the United Kingdom, or from mining dis-tricts in the United States or Mexico that had been devel-oped by Europeans, the new rules were generally patternedafter those in force in Germany, Cornwall, and Mexico.George Hearst, who had grown up on a farm in theSoutheast Missouri Lead District and developed a keeninterest in mining and geology from the nearby Frenchminers, recalled in his unpublished memoirs (Robinson,1991) that miners from his state had a strong influence onthe rules that were developed in the California placer goldcamps.

The rules written by the California placer miners, andlater adopted throughout the western states, were subse-quently deemed to be so sensible that they formed the sub-stance of the U.S. mining law enacted by the U.S. Congressin 1866. Unfortunately for the mining industry, the U.S. lawalso included the worst feature of the German code, knownas the Apex Law, under which the owner of the outcrop ofa vein was entitled to the ownership of that vein as far downthe dip as it could be followed. This rule, which had alsobeen adopted in Derbyshire (developed by miners fromGermany), was only workable in vein districts that con-sisted of simple veins or were controlled by one owner. Itwasn’t used in Cornwall, Latin America, Canada, or mostother parts of the world where the boundaries of a claim areprojected vertically downward. The Apex Law caused frus-trating problems for miners, who could not always be cer-

economic geology


tain if a vein they intersectedunderground might not be abranch of another vein alreadyclaimed by someone else. As aresult, American mine ownerswere continually involved inlegal disputes, and a largenumber of geologists, miningengineers, and lawyers builtprofitable careers as apex liti-gators. The 12 leading mines inthe Comstock district, Nevada,for example, were embroiled ina total of 245 lawsuits for fiveyears costing about $10 mil-lion, roughly one-fifth of theentire output of the camp during that period. In one casesettled in the Helena, Montana, district court in 1893,expert witness fees alone were more than $100,000, a largeamount of money at the time (Spence, 1970).

One of the main consequences of the discovery of goldin California was the invaluable financial assistance it gaveto the North during the U.S. Civil War (1861-65). Thevalue of the gold and silver shipped from the western statesduring the years 1861-64 (inclusive), $186 million, wasvitally important in enabling the United States to remain asingle nation and thus had a profound effect on world his-tory. On the downside, the Gold Rush created severe racial,ethnic, and environmental clashes.

Among those who joined the rush to California was anEnglishman, Edward H. Hargraves, who arrived from hishome in Sydney, Australia, in October 1849. Although hedid fairly well as a prospector, he hurried back to NewSouth Wales after becoming convinced that a similar geo-logical setting existed there. Within a month of his arrivalon February 12, 1851, he discovered gold at Bathurst, onthe Macquarrie River, 250 kilometres northwest of Sydney.That triggered the great Australian Gold Rush, whichmarked the beginning of the mining industry of Australiaand contributed to the growth in population from 430,000in 1851 to 1.7 million in 1871.

The great California and Australia gold rushes were notthe first that the world had experienced. That ‘honour’belongs to New Spain and the Spanish conquistadores, thosefootloose and ruthless mercenaries idled by the end of theMoorish wars, who conquered and plundered the Aztecs andMayans in Mexico and the Incas, centered in Peru, between1519 and 1550. After they had stolen the possessions of theliving, they proceeded to rob the graves of their ancestors. Inaddition to the creation of the Spanish Empire, the plunder-ing led to the the rediscovery of indigenous minesites andeventually to the discovery of most of the great Mexican sil-ver districts, between approximately 1546 and 1600. In spiteof the Spanish expertise in exploration and mining, and theavailablility of Agricola’s books, the Spanish made only neg-

REFERENCES

American Experience (2006). The Gold Rush. RetrievedApril 12, 2007 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/gol-drush/index.html.

Brechin, G. (1999). Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power,Earthly Ruin. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Cathro, R.J. (2000). The History of Mining and Metallurgyin Latin America, 1500 BC–1600 AD. In R.L. Sherlock andM.A.V. Logan (Eds.), VMS Deposits of Latin America (pp.1-17). St. John’s: Geological Association of Canada,Mineral Deposits Division.

Jameson, R. (1816). A System of Mineralogy (3 Vols).Edinburgh: Archibald Constable & Co.

Paul, R.W. (1947). California Gold: The Beginning of Miningin the Far West. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Rickard, T.A. (1932). A History of American Mining. NewYork : McGraw-Hill.

Robinson, J. (1991). The Hearsts: An American Dynasty.New York: Avon Books.

Spence, C.C. (1970). Mining Engineers & the AmericanWest: The Lace-Boot Brigade, 1849-1933. New Haven: YaleUniversity Press.

Snyder, F.G. (1968). Geology and Mineral Deposits,Midcontinental United States. In John D. Ridge (Ed.), OreDeposits of the United States, 1933-1967 (pp. 257-286).New York: AIME.

Wikipedia (2007). California Gold Rush. Retrieved April10, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush.

ligible contributions to the sci-entific investigation of mineraldeposits (Cathro, 2000).

The California placer minerstackled the immense opportu-nity presented by the hugegoldfield with typical Americanentrepreneurial spirit andquickly developed a number oftechnical improvements tohydraulic mining that wereadopted around the world,including in the Cariboo andKlondike goldfields in Canada.By 1849, gold veins had beendiscovered within the placer

district and lode mining had commenced. The geology andmining history of the three major bedrock sources, theMother Lode vein system, Grass Valley – Nevada City camp,and Alleghany camp, as well as the introduction of dredg-ing, will be described in subsequent chapters. CIM

Hydraulic mining for alluvial gold, Trinity County, CA. Eastman Collection B-921.Courtesy of the University of California Davis.

The period from antiquity to 1600 AD covers a hugetime period and many changes in civilization; however,from the early mining by the Egyptians, through Romantimes, the Dark Ages, and then the Medieval period, verylittle changed as far as the techniques utilized for sinkingshafts.

The earliest miners sought flint for tools and weapons.Shallow shafts were commonly being sunk as deep as 300feet or 90 metres in the chalk beds of northern France andsouthern England in the Neolithic period (8000 BCE to2000 BCE). Their main excavation tools were wedges andpicks made from deer antlers and shovels made from theshoulder blades of oxen.

During this early period, it is thought that the spoil fromshaft sinking was hauled to surface in leather bags orwicker baskets, by one or two men. Fire setting was prac-ticed for assistance in fracturing the rock and making it eas-ier to remove with the primitive tools that were available atthe time. Ventilation methods were also primitive, oftenlimited to waving a canvas at the mouth of the shaft.

It is important to realize that the valleys of the Tigris,Euphrates, and Nile were home to the first metal-using cul-tures. Copper and gold were the first metals gathered in anyquantity, with copper being particularly important. A civi-lization using considerable amounts of copper was estab-lished in Mesopotamia by about 3500 BCE and in Egypt byabout 3000 BCE. Copper was used to make tools and

weapons. From Egypt andMesopotamia, the knowledge of met-als spread across Europe. The copper-based cultures of the world werereplaced by cultures using bronze byabout 1500 BCE. This developmentled to significant improvement in thequality of weapons and tools. Ironwas not successfully smelted untilabout 1400 BCE.

Underground mining by theEgyptians was carried out over a widearea with two places in particularbeing well known—the NubianDesert in northern Sudan and theTimna Valley in what is now Israel.

The Egyptian miners who worked both the mines inNubia and in the Timna Valley used metal chisels and hoes,and excavated very regular, circular shafts with footholds inthe walls for moving up and down. Some of these shaftswere over 30 metres deep. Mining operations in the TimnaValley peaked in the 14th to 12th centuries BCE. Egyptianminers of the day apparently wore loincloths, perhaps head-bands and, if a prisoner, ankle manacles. An oil lamp wasused for lighting. Fire quenching was the rock breakingmethod of the day. After heating, the rock was doused withwater causing it to shatter and become easier to extract withthe copper bars and wedges. Once removed, the brokenrock was placed in baskets, which were carried on workers’backs up the shaft via ladders and footholds cut into therock walls.

The Greek historian Agatharcides, writing about 200BCE, gives a vivid description of mining under theEgyptians. He speaks of fire-setting, breaking the rock withchisels, miners who wore candles on their foreheads, and of“overseers who never cease with blows.”

The Romans followed the Greeks as leaders of the thenknown world. Rome explored all around the Mediterraneanfor mineral wealth to support its rising empire. Shaft sink-ing and deep vein mining were recorded in Roman litera-ture. Inclined or vertical shafts were necessary to provideaccess, ventilation, and a means of removal of the minerals.Shafts during Roman times were square, small (one to two

mining

The Evolution of Shaft SinkingSystems in the Western World andthe Improvement in Sinking RatesPart 1—shaft sinking prior to 1600 (ancient times)by Charles Graham, managing director, CAMIRO Mining Division, and Vern Evans, general manager, Mining Technologies International

The sinking of mine shafts has been going on for thousands of years. The Egyptiansmined gold as long as 4,000 years ago, and it is thought that the Persians, Greeks, andRomans learned their shaft sinking techniques from the Egyptians.

Shaft sinking in the Egyptian period and early Roman period was carried out byprisoners of war and criminals, and conditions were terrible. Towards the end of the Romanperiod, prisoners of war became less available and working conditions improveddramatically.

With the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, shaft sinking and mining activitydecreased substantially due to the instability in Western Europe. The social chaos andgeneral economic instability persisted until the 11th century.

From 1100 – 1500 AD the status of the miner was much changed from Roman times.The trade of mining, which included shaft sinking, became a respected profession.Agricola, in his book De Re Metallica published in 1556, gives a number of references toshaft sinking. Advance rates at the end of this period were probably in the range of one totwo metres per month.

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metres), and braced with wood to prevent collapse. A shaftcould be as deep as 200 metres.

Shaft sinking techniques under the Romans were notvery different from those the Egyptians employed earlier.Generally, iron tools were used to enlarge the fractures inthe rock and assist in breaking it away from the face. Single-and double-headed hammers were used in combinationwith pointed bars and wedges. Besides iron tools, theRomans used fire to fracture the rock for removal.

During the Egyptian andearly Roman Empire, shaft sink-ing and mining in general wasnot a job people took voluntar-ily. Therefore, the shaft sinkersand miners were generallyslaves, criminals, and prisonersof war. In the early days of theRoman Empire, conquests ofnew lands produced many pris-oners of war who were availablefor work in shaft sinking andmining in general. Becauseslaves were plentiful, conditionsin the mines were terrible. Laterin the Roman Empire, when newslaves were less easy to obtain,they became more valuable.Beginning with the reign ofHadrian (138 AD), the Romansbegan to recognize a degree ofindividual ownership of minesand permitted the exploitationof some orebodies by free men.Roman labour laws were there-fore passed that mandated con-ditions for the workers in themines. Shafts and tunnels had tobe adequately supported with

timbers to prevent collapse. Miners were entitled tosleeping and bathing accommodations, food, and specifichours of work.

By the standards of the time, some Roman shafts werequite deep. For example, the shafts at El Centenillo in Spainwent down 650 feet.

The fall of the Roman Empire in the West during the lat-ter part of the 5th century was followed by widespreadpolitical and economic chaos that persisted in Europe formore than four centuries (The Dark Ages). The socialchaos, incessant warfare, plagues, and general economicinstability from the 5th to the 11th century resulted in amarked reduction in mining and therefore in shaft sinking.

With growing stability in the 12th to the 16th century,shaft sinking and mining activity increased. In centralEurope the Avars, Czechs, and Saxons mined gold inBohemia, Transylvania, and the Carpathians. This particu-lar mining revival was led mainly by the Saxons and otherGermanic peoples.

In 1168, silver was discovered near the town of Freibergin Saxony. A silver rush spread across Europe in the late12th and early 13th centuries, with strikes in Bohemia,Moravia, Hungary, the Alps, and Sardinia. To develop thesemines, Saxon shaft sinkers were normally brought in. Oneof the greatest silver mines of all time was discovered atJoachimsthal in Bohemia in 1516. It was in this town that

Agricola resided and his book onmining and shaft sinking is basedon techniques employed in thisarea.

We have a fairly comprehen-sive picture of the most advancedmining and shaft sinking tech-niques of the 1500s from the bookDe Re Metallica written byGeorgius Agricola.

Agricola describes the sinkingprocess: “Now when a miner dis-covers a ‘ vena profunda’ he beginssinking a shaft and above it sets upa windlass, and builds a shed overthe shaft to prevent the rain fromfalling in, lest the men who turn thewindlass be numbed by the cold ortroubled by the rain.

Now a shaft is dug, usually twofathoms long, one third of a fathomwide and thirteen fathoms deep; ( 1fathom = 6 feet ) but for the pur-pose of connecting with a tunnelwhich has already been driven in ahill, a shaft may be sunk to a depthof only eight fathoms, or at timesfourteen more or less.Detailed illustration from Agricola’s De Re Metallica: A. wall plates;

B. dividers; C. long end posts; and D. end plates

Depiction of early mining excavation

There are two kinds of shafts, one of the depth alreadydescribed, of which kind there are usually several in onemine; especially if the mine is entered by a tunnel and ismetal bearing. For when the first tunnel is connected withthe first shaft, two new shafts are sunk; or if the inrush ofwater hinders sinking, sometimes three are sunk; so that onemay take the place of a sump and the work of sinking whichhas been begun may be continued by means of the remain-ing two shafts… The second kind of shaft is very deep,sometimes as much as sixty, eighty or even one hundredfathoms.

Agricola also gives quite a detailed description of thetypes of linings used in the shafts sunk during that period.

“Now shafts, of whatever kind they may be, are supportedin various ways. If the vein is hard, and also the hanging andfootwall rock, the shaft does not require much timbering, buttimbers are placed at intervals, one end of which is fixed in ahitch cut into the rock of the hanging wall and the other fixedinto a hitch cut in the footwall. To these timbers are fixed smalltimbers along the footwall, to which are fastened the laggingand ladders. The lagging is also fixed to the timbers, both tothose which screen off the shaft on the ends from the vein, andto those which screen off the rest of the shaft from that part inwhich the ladders are placed. The lagging on the sides of shaftconfine the vein, so as to prevent fragments which have beenloosened by water from dropping into the shaft and terrifying,or injuring, or knocking off the miners and other workmenwho are going up and down the ladders from one part of themine to another.

If the vein is soft and the rock of the hanging and foot wallsis weak, a closer structure is necessary; for this purpose tim-bers are joined together in rectangular shapes and placed oneafter the other without a break… The great weight of thesejoined timbers is sustained by stout beams placed at intervals,which are deeply set into hitches in the footwall and hangingwall, but are inclined.

Further, in whatever way the shaft may be timbered,dividers are placed along the wall plates, and to these is fixedlagging, and this marks off and separates the ladder – wayfrom the remaining part of the shaft.

One of the most interesting developments in miningand shaft sinking was the growth in the miner’s status

REFERENCES

Agricola, G. (1556). De Re Metallica. New York: DoverPublications Inc.

Donaldson, F. (1912). Practical Shaft Sinking. New York:McGraw–Hill Book Company.

Habashi, F. (1994). Georgius Agricola and his time. CIMBulletin, 983, 82–88.

Hartman, H.L. (1992). SME Mining Engineering Handbook(2nd edition). Littleton: Society for Mining, Metallurgy,and Exploration Inc.

Temple, J. (1972). Mining—An International History. NewYork: Praeger Publishers.

from the convict or slave in the Egyptian and early Romantimes to a free man in the Middle Ages, often with sub-stantial privileges. Miners in places like Frieburg, Goslar,and Joachimstal were exempt from military service andtaxation. English tin miners had the right to prospect any-where except in church yards, or on highways, orchards,or gardens. Such privileges and freedoms are a markedcontrast to those of the miners under Egyptian or earlyRoman rule.

As the Egyptians and Romans had done before them, theCzechs and the Saxons used fire quenching as a method ofbreaking the rock.

To summarize, the shaft sinking system utilized at theend of the 15th century would have been comprised of theelements found in the table. We are able to estimate sinkingrates during this period at 1.5 metres per month. CIM

Ventilation methods: A. smaller part of shaft; B. square conduit; C. bellows; D. larger part of shaft (Agricola, 1556)

Table 1. Shaft sinking system elements

System To 1600Drilling NoRock breaking Fire quenchingMucking HandPermanent lining WoodProtection from ground falls NoneHoisting Ladders and man-powered

windlassesHoist rope —Ventilation NaturalWater handling BucketsWater control NoneAverage advance rate 1 to 2 metres per month

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Ibelieve that my work would surely be almost a seed without fruit and that I would fail in that cause which disposed me to satisfy your request to write and form this work if, while labouring on it, 1 did not tell you

of the art of casting, since it is a necessary means to very many ends. It is especially necessary since this art and work is not well known, so that no one can practice it who is not, so to speak, born to it, or who does not have much talent and good judgment. For this reason and also because it is closely related to sculpture, whose arms are the support of its life, it is very highly esteemed… it is a profitable and skilful art and in large part delightful.

[BIRINGUCCIO, IN PIROTECHNIA, 1540]

Introduction

The history of metal casting is the history of metal-lurgy. Metals produced in a furnace are melted and cast toform useful objects, whether a piece of jewelry, an agri-cultural tool, or a weapon. Objects made of gold, silver,copper, bronze, brass, tin, lead, and iron conserved inmuseums are a testimony to the cleverness of the ancientmetal workers. The history of casting is also the historyof art since most castings are made by artists. AncientEgyptian wall paintings give an excellent illustration ofthe melting and casting of gold and copper. Most of theimportant Egyptian castings were used for making jew-elry and masks. Copper was traded in the form of largecast ingots.

The Colossus of Rhodes is an immense bronze statueof Apollo the Sun God and protecting deity of Rhodes,constructed during the period from 292 to 280 BC,which stood at the entrance to Rhodes Harbour. It fell topieces in 224 BC when an earthquake struck the island.It remained there for centuries until the Arabs gainedpossession of the island in 672 AD and sold whatremained as scrap metal. The description of the statue isknown only through writings of the Roman historianPliny who visited the island in the first century AD. Thestatue stood about 32 metres high and weighed 300tonnes. The Etruscans and Romans also cast large bronzestatutes.

In ancient China, massive bronze vessels were cast dur-ing the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD). The brilliant ageof Japanese bronze founding dates back to the introductionof Buddhism, in the sixth century AD in Nara, the ancientcapital of Japan. Among the Japanese creations of thisperiod was the colossal 380-tonne seated Buddha of Todaiji,gilded with 440 kilograms of gold. In India, Parvati, the

consort of Shiva, is the nourishing and life-giving bronzestatue dating back to about 950 AD.

History of Metal Casting—Part 1by Fathi Habashi, Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering, Laval University

Ancient Egyptian wall painting illustrating the casting of copper

Large statue of the Roman emperorMarcus Aurelius in RomeAncient copper ingot

The same technique used for casting largebells in ancient China was later used inEurope to cast cannons when gun powderbecame known around 1250 AD. The fall ofConstantinople in 1453 was a turning pointin the history of the world; city walls werebombarded by stone balls thrown by huge cannons con-structed by the Turks. During medieval times in Europe, thefoundry men and smiths produced weapons and armour,household utensils and tools, swords, and other imple-ments demanded by the feudal lords. However, it was thechurch that provided the greatest outlet for their skills inbell founding to supply bells for the cathedrals and abbeys.Because of its size and importance, bell founding raised thecasting of metal to the class of a practical art. At the time ofwar, bells were often melted down and made into weapons.

Some medieval technical manuals, such as De DiversibusArtibus (On the Different Arts), the earliest known foundrytext, written around 1120 by the German Benedictine monkTheophilus Presbyter (circa 1070-1125), give detailedaccounts of the tools and equipment used for the gold-smiths’ work. The invention of movable and cast lead typefor the printing press in 1450 was an important applicationof casting.

The casting of bells andcannons was described atlength by VannoccioBiringuccio (1480-1539),the head of the PapalFoundry in Rome, in hisPirotechnia, published in1540, one year after hisdeath. While at the ParisArsenal, Pierre Surirey deSaint Remy (1645-1716)wrote a two-volume bookin 1697 entitled Memoiresd’artillerie, which con-tained valuable informa-

tion on casting cannons. The close ties between casting andpottery indicate that the two arts must have developed simul-taneously. It was the potter’s art—the selection and com-pounding of suitable clays, their moulding, and proper fir-ing—that gave the foundry the crucible for handling moltenmetals. Bells were generally decorated to give them an addi-tional message or to keep danger away, while cannons wereusually decorated with the coat of arms of the owner.

The Lost Wax Process

The lost wax process dates back thousands of years. Theartists and sculptors of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, theHan Dynasty in China, the Aztec goldsmiths of pre-

Columbian Mexico, and the Benin civilization in Africaused this method of casting to produce their artwork incopper, bronze, and gold.

In this method, the smithcreates a pattern for the cast-ing by covering one of thecores with beeswax and care-fully modelling it into thedesired shape. When the waxform is finished to the artist’ssatisfaction, it is covered in athick coating of clay. Thecores are made to be self sup-porting. This mould isallowed to air dry. When abatch of moulds has been cre-ated and is ready for casting, itis placed in a fire and heatedso that the wax melts. Thewax is collected through a runner and can be reused afterany foreign matter is removed. The clay moulds are furtherheated to a point where they are sufficiently hard. This per-mits the pouring of the molten metal without causing theshell to burst. The moulds are then placed upright on thefloor and molten brass is poured into the open mould. Soonafter casting, the molds are broken open, the shell knockedoff, and the final object is cleaned, filed, and polished.Coating the wax pattern with layers of clay became knownas investment.

Shortly after the Dark Ages in Europe, the industrioussculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571)began to make use of the lost waxmethod of casting, which he learnedfrom the writings of the monkTheophilus. In his autobiography,Cellini described in detail the casting ofhis Perseus and the Head of Medusa.This three and a half ton statue was com-pleted in 1554 and was unveiled at theLoggia dei Lanzi in Florence, Italy, whereit stands to this day. The process wasdeveloped to a high degree of excellence,as is attested to by the many finelydetailed statues, jewelry, and artefactsfrom antiquity. This technique was redis-covered in 1897 by the dental professionfor producing crowns and inlays. CIM

The colossal 380-tonne seated Buddha inTodaiji, Japan, gilded with 440 kilograms of gold

Bronze statue of Parvati, the consortof Shiva, dating from about 950 AD—an example of Indian artistic casting

It was the church that provided the greatest outlet for their skills in bell founding

to supply bells for the cathedrals and abbeys.

Cellini’s Perseus andthe Head of Medusa

metallurgy

August 2007 73


INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE

CIM Bulletin Abstracts75 Development of the MINEFILL symposia

E.G. Thomas

76 Backfill pipeline distribution systems–design methodology reviewR. Cooke

77 In situ measurements for geomechanical design of cemented paste backfill systemsM.W. Grabinsky and W.F. Bawden

78 Paste backfill bulkhead failures and pressure monitoring at Cayeli MineM. Yumlu and M. Guresci

79 Engineering design of backfill systems in undercut miningA.P.E. Dirige and E. De Souza

80 Factors that affect cemented rockfill quality in Nevada minesD.M.R. Stone

81 Advancing paste fill bulkhead design using numerical modellingD.P. Sainsbury and M.B. Revell

82 The challenge of cyanide: Opportunities and challenges for backfill operationspresented by the International Cyanide Management CodeC.L. Reichardt

83 Using effective stress theory to characterize the behaviour of backfillA.B. Fourie, M. Helinski, and M. Fahey

84 A study of physical and mechanical behaviour of gelfillF. Hassani, S.M. Razavi, and I. Isagon

85 An effective stress approach to modelling mine backfillingM. Helinski, M. Fahey, and A.B. Fourie

86 Application of minefill at Barrick GoldR. Evans, J. Ran, and R. Allan

87 Exploration and Mining Geology JournalVolume 15, Numbers 3 and 4

88 Canadian Metallurgical QuarterlyVolume 46, Number 2

Peer reviewed by leaders in their fields

YOUR

GUIDETO

www.cim.orgComplete CIM Bulletin papers are posted in the online Technical Paper Library

I N T R O D U C T I O N

In the late 1950s, I worked as a student at the EZ ZincWorks in Hobart, Tasmania. On a weekend excursion to the westcoast of Tasmania, I saw serious mining pollution for the firsttime, in the King River in Queenstown, in the form of acid minedrainage. I concluded instantly that this was simply not accept-able.

In early January 1963, I decided on my PhD topic—disposalof mining waste underground. The choice has driven every aspectof my life ever since. I began working on mine fill technology.

I moved from Brisbane to Mount Isa in 1967 and began toapply the fill experience gained during my PhD studies to themine operation, as well as continuing further research intodeslimed mill tailing fill, cemented and uncemented, and intocemented rock fill. At the time, there was almost no readilyaccessed literature on mine fill and I began to consider how sucha literature base could be established. I continued writing andpublishing myself but quickly realized that this was not the wayto achieve my vision.

During a 1971 meeting of the Committee of the NWQueensland Branch of AusIMM, I strongly suggested that thetopic for a conference in 1973 to mark the Jubilee of Mount IsaMines should be mine filling. It was only the following year, afterI had left Mount Isa, that I learned that the topic for the JubileeSymposium was indeed to be mine filling.

The symposium proved successful—25 papers were pre-sented and published by AusIMM as the Proceedings of theJubilee Symposium on Mine Filling, the first of the symposiumseries that followed and the first in what I saw as a readily avail-able, refereed collection of works on mine fill.

The second MINEFILL symposium took place in Sudbury in1978 and CIM published the 20 papers presented in the volumeMining with Backfill.

The next symposium was hosted by Lulea University of Tech-nology in 1983. A total of 46 papers were presented and pub-lished by Balkema as Mining with Backfill. This represented asignificant step forward for the symposium series and qualitypublished information on fill.

The 1989 symposium was held in Montreal with 49 paperspresented and published as Innovations in Mining Backfill Tech-nology, the fourth volume in the series I envisioned in 1972.

At the close of the Montreal symposium, I chaired a meet-ing of (from memory) 21 fill professionals from 21 different coun-tries, seeking a host for 1993. Brisbane and Johannesburg bothmounted impressive cases, the consensus outcome being Johan-nesburg as hosts in 1993 and Brisbane in 1998. A total of 51papers were presented and published in 1993. With a well-established format now in place, the Brisbane conference pro-duced 57 papers.

At the close of the Brisbane symposium, it was decided tohold symposia every three rather than every five years, for twomain reasons—the rate of availability of technical papers wasincreasing and international travel becoming increasingly feasi-ble, and indeed increasingly inescapable.

World events beyond the control of mine fill people dis-rupted this schedule—the fallout from September 11. The 2001symposium proceeded in Seattle, Washington, with a total atten-dance of two delegates—David Stone, chair of the organizingcommittee, and Dick Cowling from Cairns in Queensland, both ofwhom were geographically located at the time to allow theirattendance. Yet, 39 papers were still published by SME as MINE-FILL 2001.

The ninth symposium in the series was held in Beijing in2004, the first outside a predominantly English-speaking coun-try. The organizers ensured that the standards set by previoussymposia were maintained. Fifty-four papers were presentedand published as the Proceedings of the 8th International Sym-posium on Mining with Backfill, by the Nonferrous Metals Soci-ety of China in both English and Mandarin, in two separatevolumes.

To conclude, without yet including MINEFILL 2007, wenow have eight volumes of technical papers on all aspects ofmine fill practice, with a total of 341 papers that include a totalof 2,545 references. The papers themselves contain an appre-ciable amount of information in a readily available form. Add tothis the content of the references, and the usefulness of thesymposium series becomes obvious. The availability of thematerial from MINEFILL 2007 will further enhance the overallpicture.

What happens to this series in the future cannot be confi-dently predicted. I see the possibility of a splintering effect as thedisciplines involved become more and more specialized, thoughit would be nice to see a JUBILEE MINEFILL 2023.

The following papers were presented at Minefill 2007—the 9th International Symposium on Mining with Backfill.

By E.G. (Ed) Thomas, FAusIMM

Development of the MINEFILL seriesof international symposia

August 2007 75

Backfill pipeline distributionsystems–design methodology review

A recent survey of Canadian backfill operations revealsthat the majority of underground backfill system failuresrelate to the distribution system. Considering the maturity ofbackfill technology, this high incidence of failures attributedto distribution systems is unacceptable. The causes of the dis-tribution system-related failures are in many cases related to“designed in” flaws in the system, i.e. there may be funda-mental design problems with the system that cannot beresolved through changes to operational practice. These flawscan arise because of two factors:• An incomplete understanding of the backfill flow behav-

iour properties.• Limited knowledge of the hydraulic behaviour of pipeline

systems.

This paper presents a review of the design process forbackfill distribution systems focusing on understanding back-fill flow properties and the hydraulic behaviour of distributionpipeline systems.

Backfill Flow Behaviour

There are two predominant backfill types:• Hydraulic or slurry backfill comprises deslimed metallur-

gical tailings, imported sand, or a combination of thetwo materials. Hydraulic backfill has high permeability,and drains and consolidates rapidly on placement. Insome cases, a binder is added to increase the backfillstrength. Due to the settling nature of the backfill, it istransported in turbulent flow to avoid settlement duringtransport.

• Paste backfill (paste fill) is produced using total metallur-gical tailings plus binder. Sand or aggregate may beadded to improve the backfill strength. Paste fill pro-duces little or no bleed water after placement. Mostpastes can be characterized by the Bingham Plastic rhe-ological model and are transported in laminar flow withsignificantly higher friction losses than hydraulic backfill.Pumps are often required for paste fill systems to ensurestable operation.

Hydraulic Design of Backfill Distribution Systems

The basic process of designing a backfill system entails:• Establish the design duty specification for the system,

taking into account any planned variations in productionduring the envisaged system life.

• Determine the pipe routing. Although largely dictated bythe mine layout, there may be scope to optimize therouting:• Ideally the slope of the piping should reduce along

the distribution system, i.e. vertical down sectionsshould be at the start of the distribution system,with horizontal piping towards the end of the sys-tem.

• It is preferable to have a series of vertical pipingsections instead of a single vertical section. Thisreduces pipeline operating pressures.

• Pipes may be installed in shafts to reduce installa-tion costs, although this is generally not preferreddue to safety considerations.

• Inter-level boreholes can be used to reduce thetotal pipeline length and to optimize the pipelineprofile.

• Establish the backfill flow behaviour characteristics.• Perform a hydraulic analysis of the system considering all

envisaged operating conditions. The output of the analy-sis is the specification of the piping and other hydrauliccomponents such as pumps, chokes, and valves. The fig-ure illustrates an energy dissipater used in a backfillchoke station.

• Undertake the mechanical design of the piping and pip-ing support system.

• Specify operating, monitoring, and maintenance proce-dures for the backfill distribution system.

Energy dissipater choke station installation

R. Cooke, Paterson & Cooke Engineering, Capetown, South Africa

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executive summaries

In situ measurements forgeomechanical design of cementedpaste backfill systems

Cemented paste backfill (CPB) has been an importantcontributing factor to enhanced economic and environmentalsustainability of many bulk mining operations, primarilybecause of its rapid rate of delivery (as compared to otherforms of backfilling) and the fact that tailings are recycled asbackfill, thereby reducing the volumes of both solids andwater that would otherwise be directed to a managed tailingsfacility. However, the physical properties of CPB are signifi-cantly different from other forms of backfill, notably hydraulicfill and cemented rock fill, and there remains significantopportunity to optimize the geomechanical design of pastebackfill systems for underground mining. Particular attentionmust be paid to the paste’s ability to retain water throughmatric suction, and this phenomenon is typically enhanced bythe hydration of binder within cemented pastes. These suc-tions can significantly enhance the paste’s strength and lique-faction resistance, which has important implications for thedesign of fill barricades, the use of fill plugs to protect barri-cades, the rate of fill over top of the plug, and the time toresumed production blasting in proximity to a recently filledstope.

To obtain better information regarding the behaviour ofCPB in situ, a new instrument cluster is proposed. The clusteruses multiple total stress cells with a tiltmeter to verify theultimate orientations of these cells, piezometers for total pres-sure and heat dissipation sensors for matric suction, a ther-mistor for temperature measurement, an electromagneticprobe for determination of conductivity and dielectric permit-tivity (which give information about the stage of hydrationand the bulk properties of the paste), and dynamic transduc-ers for pore pressure measurement and for acceleration. All ofthe instruments are attached in a cage (see figure) and thepaste can readily flow through this cage and around each ofthe transducers. The small size of the cluster (less than 1 m3)allows information to be collected within a relatively homo-geneous portion of the fill mass.

Several such clusters must be used throughout the fillmass in order to capture variations in paste properties andpaste response over the entire fill domain. Additional instru-mentation is also desirable in proximity to the fill barricade,and the displacements of the barricade’s free face may alsobe monitored. For seismic profiling work, accelerometers mustbe buried in the host rock as well, so the velocities of seismicwaves (whether generated from test shots or from productionblasts) can be determined in the rock as well as within the fillmass. Finally, diamond coring of cured paste samples is desir-able in order to provide information about the bulk propertiesand strength of the as-placed fill mass, thereby “ground

Prototype of multi-transducer instrumentation cluster used for backfill monitor-ing

M.W. Grabinsky and W.F. Bawden, Lassonde Institute forEngineering Geoscience, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario

truthing” the fill’s properties for comparison with other prop-erties determined using non-destructive methods.

Installation of such clusters of instrumentation is gen-erally non-trivial in an active mining environment. The paperdescribes an installation strategy employed in a stope minedusing the Alimak mining method, where the vertical dis-tance between the undercut and overcut levels is approxi-mately 150 m and the stope itself is approximately 18 mwide and 3 m to 5 m thick. A system of guide wires, kingwire, tuggers, and electric winches was successfully used todeploy ten instrument clusters over the height of the Alimakstope. The final as-installed instrumentation array has pro-vided one of the most comprehensive datasets availableregarding the in situ performance of cemented paste fill ina large production stope.

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executive summaries

Paste backfill bulkhead failures andpressure monitoring at Cayeli Mine

Paste backfill is an integral part of the mining method atthe Cayeli Mine. Safe and efficient placement of paste fillrequires a detailed understanding of paste fill characteristicsfrom the production stage to the final fill exposures. Mobiliza-tion of uncured paste fill as a result of a bulkhead failure is apotential safety hazard and can lead to significant conse-quences, including endangering the safety of personnel, prop-erty damage, and production losses and delays.

Since inception of paste filling operations in 1999, therehave been three major bulkhead failure incidents at the CayeliMine. A detailed description of each of these incidents andtheir consequences has been provided in order to raise generalawareness among backfill practitioners and mine operatorsabout the potential risks associated with bulkhead failures.

Bulkhead failure investigations revealed that in all casesfailure occurred in small and blind stopes during the last stageof filling while tight filling. Furthermore, stopes were overfilledby about 10% and there were problems with air relief holes.These bulkhead failures were attributed to one, or a combina-tion of, the following factors: fast filling rate; continuous fillingor inadequate plug fill cure time; overfilling during the tightfilling stage due to the absence, blockage, or inadequate useof air breather holes; lack of adequate fill management and fillmonitoring controls; and inadequate bulkhead design.

As a direct outcome of bulkhead failures, the CayeliMine moved away from using any waste rock for constructingbulkheads. All bulkheads are now constructed from reinforcedshotcrete. Cayeli gained invaluable information about thedevelopment and magnitude of pressures inside and behindthe bulkheads through a detailed field pressure-monitoringprogram.

The Cayeli Mine instrumentation and monitoring programindicated that the loading conditions in the paste fill and theresultant lateral loads on the bulkheads are complex and aredependent on many factors such as tailings properties (type,particle sizing, and specific gravity), paste fill recipe (slump,solids content, and cement type and content), filling rate, fill-ing placement sequence, and stope size and geometry.

Based on the Cayeli Mine pressure monitoring testresults, the following general conclusions can be drawn:• Despite the same fill recipes and fill rise rates used, bulk-

head pressures were significantly different. The differ-ence is attributed to different stope size and fillingsequences.

• Continuous filling with no cure time leads to higherbulkhead pressures. This is due to the higher pore waterpressure developed and slower pore water pressure dis-sipation with ongoing filling.

• At the same fill rise rate, staged filling results in lowerbulkhead pressure. This is attributed to the higher fillstrength in the plug fill. The rest time enables pore waterpressure dissipation and longer fill cure times. Theweight of ongoing filling is partially distributed to thestope sides as a result of arching.

• Temperature changes during cement hydration can havean impact on the pressure readings. Test results indicatethat an increase in temperature increases pressure, anda decrease in temperature decreases pressures.

Prior to the bulkhead failures, Cayeli Mine shotcrete bulk-heads were only designed for a maximum working pressure of32 kPa. Fill placement was continuous and was managed byrestricting the rate of fill rise to a maximum of 0.43 m per hour.The pressure-monitoring results, however, indicated that bulk-heads could in fact be subjected to up to 100 kPa, even at therestricted fill rise rate of only 0.35 m per hour.

Based on the evaluation of pressure monitoring testresults and findings from the bulkhead failures described inthis paper, the Cayeli Mine has made the following designand operational changes in their paste fill system: (1) revisedshotcrete bulkhead design; (2) new fill recipe; (3) revised fillplacement procedures; and (4) new fill risk management andmonitoring procedures. Site-specific new operating practicesare now in place that allow safe and efficient fill placement.

To date, the Cayeli Mine has filled more than 50 blindstopes without any failure incidents. The revised bulkheaddesign and fill placement sequence has therefore been shownto be successful.

Going forward, the Cayeli Mine is considering instrument-ing every single bulkhead with a pressure cell, transferring thepressure data to the paste plant and filling until a thresholdbulkhead pressure is reached. More pressure tests are plannedfor this purpose and they are ongoing. The mine is also lookingto automatically monitor the airflow in blind stope breatherholes as an indicator of potential over-pressuring.

M. Yumlu, AMC Consultants Pty Ltd., Australia, and M. Guresci, Inmet Mining Corporation (Cayeli Bakir IsletmeleriA.S.), Turkey

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Engineering design of backfill systems in undercut mining

In order to maximize the recovery of ore and to save oncosts in undercut mining, backfill of low cement content isutilized to fill the mined-out excavations. This backfill mass issupported by a sillmat structure cast from cemented backfillof high strength. The stability design of sillmats must be care-fully studied to provide very effective, safe, and economic min-ing operations. Improper design would result in failure of thefill mass and extensive economic losses associated with lossof production and ore dilution, as well as in safety problems.

The traditional stability design of cemented sill pillars isbased on experience and on property data from standardstatic physical model tests such as uniaxial and triaxial com-pression. Laboratory test data is normally used to describe orpredict the behaviour of sill pillars in empirical, analytical, ornumerical models. This approach offers inherent limitationsand generally results in conservative designs.

To overcome the limitations of traditional designs, anintegrated engineering sillmat design methodology has beendeveloped. In the methodology, centrifuge physical modellingis combined with analytical and numerical modelling analysisto describe and predict the behaviour and potential failuremodes of sill pillars. Centrifuge modelling is the primary toolused not only to dynamically test sill pillar performance on atime-dependent basis, but also to accommodate the three-dimensional aspects of the problem. Analytical modelling wascarried out using limiting equilibrium analysis. Numericalmodelling was carried out using FLAC (Fast Lagrangian Analy-sis of Continua), a powerful two-dimensional elastic plastic-finite difference code.

Application of the design approach is demonstratedfrom a design study conducted for an underground gold mine,aimed at minimizing backfill binder content and at producingcost-efficient paste fill recipes for sillmat construction. Thestudy also aimed at establishing the effect of excavationgeometry, excavation wall roughness, wall closure, and vary-ing backfill heights on fill stability behaviour when exposed orundercut during mining. Models were developed to conformwith two excavation conditions applied in the mine: excava-tions 3 m wide, 15 m long, and 30 m high, and excavations75 m wide, 15 m long, and 40 m high. In all cases, the exca-vation walls were inclined at 75° and smooth, medium-rough, and rough rock wall conditions were established forsimulating typical excavation boundary modes encountered in

A.P.E. Dirige, Montana Tech of the University of Montana, Butte,Montana, USA, and E. De Souza, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario

the mine. Wall closure strains of 0.9% and 2% were appliedto the model. Backfill was prepared at 80% pulp densityusing unclassified tailings mixed with Type 10 Normal Port-land cement (NPC) and Type C fly ash (FA). All sill pillar recipeswere prepared at 7% binder content; backfill recipes wereprepared at 2.5% binder content. The backfill was cured for28 days before testing in the centrifuge. The results of allthree modelling techniques suggested that the 2.5% bindercontent backfill supported by a 7% binder sill pillar seems tobe appropriate for the simulated mining conditions. Differentmodes of sill failure were exhibited by the physical andnumerical modelling techniques. Centrifuge modelling indi-cated that approximately one-half to three-quarters of the fillcolumn would plunge into the undercut (slip failure) whensubjected to failure stresses. In contrast, numerical modellingindicated a rotational failure about the footwall contact.Incorporation of the recommended backfill design recipes wasprojected to result in substantial annual cost savings to themine operation.

Model studies have indicated that excavation width, wallroughness, and wall closure play important roles in excava-tion and sill pillar stability. Model studies have also indicatedthat sill pillar stability develops as a function of frictionaleffects and of cohesion between particles and fill-rock wallcontacts. Stronger arching seems to develop in fills placed innarrow excavations with rough wall conditions than in widerexcavations. Undoubtedly, wall closure represents a signifi-cant factor in increasing stability; higher closure stresses arerequired in wider excavations in order to enable stable arch-ing to develop across the fill.

The integrated engineering sillmat design methodologyprovides the engineer with a powerful tool for scientificallydesigning safe and economic backfill systems.

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Factors that affect cemented rockfillquality in Nevada mines

Underground mining in the gold industry is gaining pop-ularity in Nevada, and with it the use of cemented rockfill isbecoming mainstream. Even with today’s high metal prices,however, mining companies are very sensitive to the marginsthey realize, and are constantly looking for ways to reducecosts or improve efficiencies. Given that backfill is one of thelargest cost centres in underground mining, mines are con-stantly under pressure to reduce backfill costs.

The main mix ingredients in cemented rockfill are theaggregate, binder, and mix water. Aggregate grading gener-ally has the largest impact on backfill strength because it con-trols the density of the mix. However, backfill quality can alsobe impacted by the strength and physical durability of theaggregate particles, the water to binder ratio in the mix, andthe moisture content and clay content of the aggregate. Typ-ical specifications for a number of Nevada mines are pre-sented in the table.

Most mines rely on routine sampling of the cementedrockfill product at the batch plant to monitor the quality ofthe fill being placed. The quality control (QC) samples arecured and tested in accordance with ASTM C-31 in 15 cmdiameter cylinders. However, in order for this practice to servea purpose, the results must be reviewed periodically. Typically,this is done by plotting the results in a scatter diagram inExcel and comparing the results against a benchmark stan-dard. However, this practice can easily hide significant down-ward trends in the data.

The preferred method of plotting the results is in a cumu-lative sums (CUSUMS) plot. Examples are provided in thepaper to show how a CUSUMS plot can be used to highlightsignificant events in the QC data stream.

Another simple benchmark test is routine weighing ofthe QC samples. The weight of the cylinder is a direct functionof the density of the mix. Generally, poor test results can becorrelated to excessive voids or low density in the samples;hence, it is generally possible to predict the sample strengths

based on the density or sample weights. Given that the cylin-ders can be weighed on the day they are cast, it is possible toidentify problems without having to wait 28 days for the QCsamples to cure.

Other mix quality factors include the mix water quality,binder quality, and training of backfill plant operators. Opera-tors need to understand that improperly prepared QC cylin-ders are a waste of time and money to batch, transport, andcure.

In summary, quality control programs are in place inmost Nevada operations as a means of monitoring the qual-ity of the fill being placed, but also as part of an ongoing pro-gram of optimization of fill mixes. This paper goes beyond theextent of a typical Nevada backfill QC program in order topresent the elements of a comprehensive program of backfillquality control monitoring. With this program in place, it ispossible to quickly quantify any changes in the mix qualityand to quickly assess the impact of changes in the mix design.

D.M.R. Stone, Minefill Services Inc., Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

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Table 1. Typical mix specifications for Nevada mines

Mine Aggregate Binder

Top Size C/F(*) % Binder UCS (**)

Deep Post 3.5 70/30 6.75 800

Carlin East 3.0 70/30 6.1 700

Deep Star 3.0 75/25 6.1 700

Rodeo 3.5 87/13 8.0 700

Meikle 2.0 60/40 6.0 800

Bullfrog 3.0 70/30 7.2 650

Turquoise Ridge 3.0 70/30 7.5 700* coarse/fines split**uniaxial compressive strength in psi

Advancing paste fill bulkhead designusing numerical modelling

Bulkhead failure is a core geotechnical risk that is aninherent feature of any mining method employing paste orhydraulic fill. In 2005-06, a collaborative project involving fiveAustralian paste operations using sprayed fibrecrete/shot-crete/Aquacrete bulkheads was conducted to develop arobust numerical modelling methodology for the design ofpaste fill bulkheads. This paper presents the findings of thisstudy. Topics described include review of currently used ana-lytical bulkhead design methods and their limitations, adescription of the FLAC3D bulkhead model, comparison ofthe numerical model results with common analytical solu-tions, and verification of the modelling methodology againstactual bulkhead failures.

Historically, the design ofbulkheads has relied on simpli-fied analytical solutions. Thedesign of paste barricades mustbe based upon a rational anddefensible methodology. Severalanalytical methods are available;however, they all are limitedseverely by the necessary simpli-fication of the geometry of abulkhead, the mechanical prop-erties of the bulkhead materials,and the representation of theinterface with the wall rock. Acalibrated three-dimensionalnumerical modelling approachhas been proposed as the mostappropriate method of paste fill bulkhead design.

The three-dimensional numerical modelling codeFLAC3D was used to model the uniform loading of paste fillbulkhead structures. FLAC3D allows the specification of com-plex strain-softening material models to simulate brittle shot-crete behaviour, together with sliding interfaces to representthe shotcrete–wall rock interface. The explicit large-strain for-mulation allows the full failure mechanism of a bulkhead tobe analyzed. The FLAC3D bulkhead model provides an excel-lent correlation to the ultimate load predicted for a simplysupported concrete slab using yield line theory, and providesa very good match to the failure pressure of a Mt. Isa masonrybulkhead that cracked extensively at 750 kPa.

The FLAC3D shotcrete bulkhead model was used to backanalyze a paste bulkhead failure that occurred at an Aus-tralian paste fill operation during 2006. After filling forapproximately 2.5 hours, the bulkhead at the base of the

D.P. Sainsbury, Itasca Australia Pty Ltd., Melbourne, Victoria,Australia, and M.B. Revell, Revell Resources Pty Ltd., Kalgoorlie, WesternAustralia, Australia

stope failed catastrophically, and paste fill within the stopeflowed into the ore drive. At the time of failure, the height ofthe paste fill was estimated to be 6.5 m to 7 m high. Becausethe paste fill had not undergone any significant hydration atthe time of failure, the load applied to the bulkhead can beestimated as the hydraulic pressure caused by the height ofthe paste fill. For a 7 m fill height, this equates to a horizon-tal pressure of 132 kPa at the base of the bulkhead. The fig-ure below illustrates the ultimate failure load and failuremechanism of the bulkhead. Failure of the bulkhead can beobserved to propagate from the base of the bulkhead whenthe maximum load (at the base) reaches 130 kPa.

The FLAC3D shotcrete bulkhead model provides mineoperators with a thorough understanding of the mechanicalbehaviour of paste fill bulkheads. Numerical modelling cannotbe used alone as a basis for bulkhead design. Back analysisof measured material properties and field instrumentation isessential to confidently apply numerically derived bulkheaddesigns to new bulkhead conditions.

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Back analysis of bulkhead ultimate strength and failure mechanism

The challenge of cyanide: Opportunities andchallenges for backfill operations presented by the International Cyanide Management Code

Pressure exerted on gold producers by regulators, projectfinanciers, and civil society in the wake of the Baia Mare tail-ings spill in Romania during 2000 prompted most responsiblegold companies to sign up to the International Cyanide Man-agement Code for the Manufacture, Transport and Use ofCyanide in the Production of Gold (the Code). The Code stip-ulates a ‘cradle to grave’ approach more comprehensive thanthat applied to any other mining reagent, and poses particu-lar challenges for operators who use cyanide-bearing tailingsfor backfill. This paper examines some of the challenges forcode compliance facing deep underground gold mines thatemploy backfill technology, most particularly the requirementto demonstrate that the potential migration of cyanide (andits degradation products) from emplaced backfill will not havean unacceptable impact on worker health and safety or thereceiving environment, either during mine life or after closure.

Although the Code may initially appear to be almostsilent on cyanide risks associated with backfill (with only asingle clause making specific reference to backfill), more care-ful consideration confirms that many Code requirements arerelevant to backfill operations. Most sections of the Codethat deal with tailings management are potentially applicableto mines where tailings material is used for backfill, as arecertain other principles and standards that deal with opera-tions, worker safety, emergency response, training, and dia-logue with stakeholders.

Backfill use in underground mines is undertaken for one(or a combination) of the following reasons): rock stabiliza-tion, direct in-mine heat load reduction, improvement in ven-tilation air utilization and/or reduction in the volume of minewaste to be disposed of on surface. For the ultradeep goldmines of the Witwatersrand that extend to depths of over 3km, the decision to backfill is primarily motivated on the basisof stability considerations, which safeguard not only workerhealth and safety, but also minimize disruption to production.Gold tailings contain significant concentrations of cyanideand are generally not detoxified prior to emplacement asbackfill.

For gold mines of the Far West Rand, the most significantcyanide-related risks associated with backfill operationsrelate to worker health and safety associated with potentialexposure to cyanide-bearing seepage and hydrogen cyanidegas (which may be liberated where locally high sulphide con-centrations in the orebody and host rock generate aciddrainage and drop the pH of the tailings). Although thereare a range of engineering interventions such as tailingsthickening or detoxification that may serve to reduce this riskprofile, the most effective (and least costly) risk mitigationstrategies would appear to relate to behaviour-based safetysystems that empower the workforce to identify and mitigatecyanide-related risks and to take appropriate action shouldsuch risks eventuate.

Even though the gold-bearing Witwatersrand Formationis overlain by the most significant aquifer in South Africa—the Malmani Dolomite—the environmental risks associatedwith cyanide in backfill on the Far West Rand are consideredto be less significant than the health and safety risks to theworkforce. The potential environmental impact of cyanidemigration from backfill is considered to be relatively low dueto large-scale, mining-related dewatering that has drawndown regional groundwater levels as much as 1,000 m belowpre-mining elevations, compounded by the fact that backfill-ing takes place at depth well below significant aquifer hori-zons. This risk is further mitigated by the absence ofpathways to facilitate the migration of water from the deepworkings to the (near) surface environment under operationalconditions. Although groundwater levels will recover post-closure, the vast volume of water in storage in the dolomiticaquifer is likely to result in massive dilution of any cyanidethat may be mobilized from backfill.

However, it is possible that in other regions, where back-filling takes place at or close to surface and where differentgeological and hydrological controls come into play, the envi-ronmental impacts associated with cyanide-bearing seepagefrom backfill material could be potentially significant andwould warrant specific management intervention.

C.L. Reichardt, School of Mining Engineering, University of theWitwatersrand, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

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Using effective stress theory tocharacterize the behaviour of backfill

Traditional approaches to understanding and quantifyingthe stress distribution within backfilled masses have beenbased on a total stress methodology. The variation of porepressures that occur during filling and the subsequent dissi-pation of these pore pressures that results in consolidation ofthe fill mass have largely been ignored. In addition, theoriesspecific to particular issues, such as the development of arch-ing within a stope, have been borrowed from disciplines suchas soil mechanics. Many of these approaches are, however,implicitly based on an effective stress approach to themechanics of particulate media, and as a result a hybridapproach to certain backfill problems has evolved that is notbased on fundamentally sound principles. When dealing witha fill that drains and consolidates relatively slowly, the incon-sistencies that arise from this hybrid approach becomeincreasingly evident.

The importance of understanding the behaviour ofcemented backfill within the framework of the effective stressconcept is highlighted in this paper. Only through an under-standing built on this concept can problems such as barricadeloads, the rate of consolidation, and the associated develop-ment of arching be fully understood. Traditional approachesto backfill analysis are based on the assumption that the fillbehaves as a single-phase continuum, which is the totalstress approach. The principle of effective stress apportionsthe applied load (the true total stress) between the load car-ried by the fill matrix, which is the effective stress, and thepore water pressure. The pore pressure may be hydrostaticonce the fill is fully drained, but pore pressures may be muchhigher than this immediately after fill placement, leading tobarricade loads that are much higher than those predicted bytechniques that are currently widely used in the industry.

Illustration of the impact of increasing stiffness and of self-desiccation on thegeneration and dissipation of excess pore water pressure

A.B. Fourie, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, University ofWestern Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, M. Helinski and M. Fahey, University of Western Australia, Perth,Western Australia, Australia

The critical importance of the development of stiffnessduring the hydration process, and its impact on factors suchas barricade loads, is used to illustrate why conventionalapproaches that implicitly ignore the effective stress principleare incapable of capturing the essential components ofcemented paste backfill (CPB) behaviour. Preliminary resultsfrom centrifuge tests on an idealized fill are used to confirmthese findings. The importance of the rate of gain of stiffnessis further illustrated by the effect it has on in situ stressesmeasured using commonly available stress cells, which areshown to under-register stresses by up to one order of mag-nitude, as a consequence of the difference in stiffnessbetween the stress cell and the surrounding fill mass.

The basis for the development of a constitutive model isdescribed, which takes account of the features mentionedabove, i.e. the development of effective stress during consoli-dation and the associated increase in fill stiffness, as well asother essential considerations such as cement bond formationduring hydration and the phenomenon of self-desiccation.This refers to the slight volume change that occurs due tocement hydration (the volume of the hydrated cement is lessthan the volume of the unhydrated cement and the waterused in the mix). It has a major effect on pore pressure reduc-tion, resulting in significant effective stresses being generatedwell in excess of those resulting from pure consolidation. Aone-dimensional version of the model is used to illustrate theeffect of these factors, as shown in the figure, where the bro-ken lines are the pore water pressure generated for the sce-narios listed (no cement, 5% cement with account taken ofincreasing stiffness during hydration but ignoring self-desic-cation effects, and 5% with account taken of both increasingstiffness during hydration and self-desiccation effects). Thesimulation includes a rest period during which no filling tookplace, which is a feature that traditional analytical methodsare unable to account for. The pore pressures are significantlylower when the effects of hydration are correctly accountedfor, meaning that much improved estimates of barricade loadsduring various filling campaigns are now possible.

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A study of physical and mechanicalbehaviour of gelfill

F. Hassani, S.M. Razavi, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, andI. Isagon, CVRD Inco, Mines Engineering and Technical Services,Copper Cliff, Sudbury, Ontario

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This investigation is part of an overall investigation onthe effect of sodium silicate on the properties of mine back-fill. The results presented will highlight the effects of binderdosage, sodium silicate concentration, and pulp density onthe performance of stabilized sodium silicate-fortified sandpastefill samples.

Binders implemented for these experiments consisted ofcement, slag, and sodium silicate in various proportions. Fromthese binders, different binder combinations, termed as SC(slag/cement), SCSS (slag/cement/sodium silicate), and SSS(slag/sodium silicate), were prepared. The binder content var-ied from 3 to 9 wt% (total dry weight) and sodium silicateconcentrations were adjusted at 2% and 4% (total binderweight).

In order to prepare sand pastefill samples for UCS tests,two adding orders, termed 1 and 2, were used. In addingorder 1, tailings was added to a mixer followed by the addi-tion of 3/4 of the mix water. Then, sodium silicate (diluted bywater) and dry binders were added gradually to the mixture.Afterward, the remaining water (1/4) was added to the mix.In adding order 2, after the first addition of 3/4 of the water,sodium silicate was added, followed by dry binders. A pro-peller mixer was used and the mixing time was controlled bya stopwatch installed on the mixer. Plastic moulds (5 cmwidth by 10 cm length) with caps were employed for mould-ing the sand pastefill specimens. All the samples were curedunder drained conditions. To permit this, plastic moulds wereperforated at the bottom and special filters were cut andplaced in the moulds to prevent the escape of fine particlesfrom the moulds. For completion of the aforementioned phaseof the study, several series of sand pastefill test samples wereprepared and cured for 28, 56, or 120 days in a humidity andtemperature controlled room. The specimens were tested foruniaxial compressive strength (UCS) at these cure intervals.Pulp density was adjusted to values between 80 and 83 wt%.

In order to study the effect of sodium silicate onmicrostructures of stabilized sand pastefill, Mercury IntrusionPorosimetry (MIP) tests were conducted on selected samples.

PD=83 w t%, B=7 w t%, CD=56 days

0

1

2

3

4

5

C/SS S/C/SS S/SS

Binder type

Str

ength

(M

Pa)

SS=2%

SS=4%

Effect of sodium silicate concentration of mechanical behaviour of sand paste-fill samples at 83 wt% pulp density, 7 wt% binder content, and 56 days of curing

The results of this investigation evaluate the use of sodium sil-icate as a partial replacement of cement in stabilized backfill.The analyses of the results demonstrate that, with an increasein binder content and a decrease in pulp density, the UCS val-ues of sand pastefill samples increase. Results also indicatethat different binders consolidate the sand pastefill specimensin different ways. As well, sand pastefill specimens made withSSS binder do not show significant UCS values after 28 daysof curing, regardless of binder content, pulp density, andsodium silicate concentration. To find an economic alternativeand a solution to the problem, 2% (by binder weight) wereadded to the specimens.

The resultant specimens showed acceptable strengthafter 28 days of curing. Furthermore, as shown in the figure,sodium silicate dosage plays a very important role in strengthacquisition of sand pastefill samples and finding the ade-quate amount of sodium silicate presents a considerable chal-lenge because first, sodium silicate is much more expensivethan cement, and second, testing concerning effects ofsodium silicate percentages revealed that sand pastefill sam-ples with 4% total binder weight have less strength com-pared with sand pastefill samples made of 2% total binderweight sodium silicate.

An effective stress approach to modelling mine backfilling

M. Helinski, M. Fahey, The University of Western Australia, Perth,Western Australia, Australia, and A.B. Fourie, Australian Centre forGeomechanics, University of Western Australia, Perth, WesternAustralia, Australia

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Previously, there has been no rigorous method for deter-mining the loads applied to tailings-based backfill (paste orhydraulic fill) retaining structures. Without a rigorous method,operators tend to adopt conservative filling schedules that arelargely based on experience. While this approach will oftenprovide a successful outcome, the lack of rigour means thatfill schedules may be grossly conservative and in other circum-stances, modifications to the filling schedule may result in theintroduction of unacceptable risk to the mining environment,with catastrophic consequences.

This paper presents the results of a research project thatis currently underway (at The University of Western Australia)aimed at furthering the understanding of geotechnicalaspects associated with the placement of tailings-based minebackfill. The aim of the work was to develop a rigorousapproach to the assessment of barricade loads using labora-tory-scale testing and numerical modelling. The work is basedon fundamental material properties and is therefore capableof simulating the placement of all hydraulically placed filltypes, ranging from coarse hydraulic fills through to fine pastefill and any combination in between.

This paper presents the methodology behind the numer-ical program Minefill 2D, providing a brief overview of themodel and highlighting the unique aspects than wererequired in order to appropriately represent the cementedminefill placement process. These aspects include full cou-pling of the deposition, consolidation, and cement hydra-tion—time dependent processes. Other numericalcomplexities included the accretion of material and appropri-ate phreatic surface control.

Secondly, this paper presents an experimental techniquethat has been developed to derive relevant fundamentalmaterial properties. This section introduces a novel experi-mental method, referred to as a ‘hydration test,’ that is capa-ble of capturing the evolution of material properties duringhydration. It is then explained how this test can be combinedwith standard triaxial tests to appropriately represent thematerial strength as well as the breakdown of cementationthat occurs during shearing.

Finally, a case study is presented that uses the describedexperimental technique to characterize three different Aus-tralian minefills. These include a hydraulic fill whose tailingsare primarily silica based (Minefill A), a paste fill that isformed from tailings primarily consisting of silica (Minefill B),and a paste fill that is constituted from tailings that contain asignificant amount of active clay material (Minefill C). Each of

the minefills tested demonstrated a similar 28-day uncon-fined compressive strength of approximately 400 kPa, butdemonstrate vastly different consolidation characteristics.

The numerical program (Minefill-2D) is then used (in planestrain mode) to simulate a given deposition sequence with thethree different fill types. During the filling process, the distribu-tion of total stress, pore water pressure, and effective stress ismonitored, and some interesting relationships between barri-cade stresses and consolidation are demonstrated.

Based on the modelling results, it is demonstrated that:• Consolidation significantly influences barricade loads.• Cement-induced consolidation mechanisms, such as the

change in material stiffness and self desiccation, can sig-nificantly influence consolidation (and therefore barri-cade loads) in cemented paste backfills.

• Typically, hydraulic fill barricade loads will initially be lessthan those applied to paste fill barricades.

Ultimate paste fill barricade loads can be greater than orless than those applied to hydraulic fill barricades, dependingon the cementation characteristics of the paste.• The cemented mine backfilling involves a complex inter-

action of mechanisms and without a fully coupledmodel, it is difficult to appropriately represent theprocess.

Variation in barricade loads against time for different fills with the samestrength but differing consolidation characteristics

Application of minefill at Barrick Gold

R. Evans, J. Ran, and R. Allan, Barrick Gold Corporation, Toronto,Ontario

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Backfilling of voids generated by underground mining iscommonly performed to provide regional and local support,improve extraction rates and dilution control, and to allow forconvenient waste rock disposal. This process may account fora major portion of the mining cost and has drawn substantialresearch interest from the mining industry. There is now awide range of plant designs and delivery systems being usedto conform to variable application conditions. Informationand best practice sharing has been a key component inadvancing technology in minefill applications.

Barrick is a leading international gold mining company,with a portfolio of 27 operating mines and seven advancedexploration and development projects located across five con-tinents. The application of minefill is an integral part of themining cycle at most of Barrick’s 12 underground operations.Barrick currently operates three types of backfilling systemscomprised of six cemented/consolidated rock fill plants, ninecemented paste backfill plants, and three rock fill arrange-ments. Of the nine paste plants, three have switched fromCRF, two from hydraulic fill, and four are original installations.A tenth paste plant is in the preliminary design stage and willreplace a rock fill/cemented aggregate fill system.

Various minefill types and systems have been developedto suit different mining conditions and satisfy regulatoryrequirements in underground mining. In addition to miningeconomics, a number of physical parameters have significanteffects on minefill selection and design. These parametersinclude mining method, mining unit dimensions, orebodygeometry, and rock mass properties. The majority of Barrickunderground mines backfill their mining voids with cemented(consolidated) fill. These mines mainly employ two miningmethods—longhole open stoping with delayed backfill(including Alimak mining) and cut-and-fill (conventional ormechanized, underhand or overhand). Selection of miningmethod is primarily based on the orebody geometry and rockproperties, in addition to economic considerations. Generally,longhole open stoping is selected for deposits dipping greaterthan 45º, while cut-and-fill is applied for flat-dippingdeposits. Orebody thickness is one of the key factors in min-

ing method selection. At some Barrick mines, cut-and-fill isused in steep veins less than 3 m in thickness due to walloverbreak concerns. Another key factor in the selection ofmining method is rock properties. Longhole stoping is notusually applied to ore or hanging wall rock with RMR lessthan 40. Mines with weak ore or hanging walls tend to selectthe underhand cut-and-fill method.

In mines using longhole open stoping, the fill exposureheight ranges from 10 m to 25 m for a single lift and mayincrease up to 180 m if the Alimak approach is adopted, nor-mally in deposits less than 5 m in thickness. For cut-and-fillmining, the exposure span ranges from 3 m to 9 m with aheight of no more than 5 m in a single cut. Minefills at Bar-rick mines have a designed uniaxial compressive strength(UCS) ranging from 0.09 to 5.5 MPa with binder contents of2% to 7.5%. A higher strength is required for underhand cut-and-fill methods and primary stopes, while fill of a lowerstrength is used for voids without side wall exposure. Filldesign is based on consideration of various potential failuremodes such as block shearing, sliding, bending, caving, orrotational for preliminary analysis, and the final strengthrequirement is normally determined by considering analyticalresults, with reference to minefill applications at neighbouringmines and mines with similar mining conditions.

Delivery of quality minefills, particularly those withbinder, into mining voids is important in achieving the back-filling purpose and can have a significant effect on miningperformance. Quality of placed minefill must be effectivelycontrolled through establishing programs, procedures, andtraining packages.

This paper summarizes minefill systems and their appli-cation at Barrick operations, presents two typical backfill sys-tems and their variations installed at Barrick mines, andreviews minefill quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC)aspects, as well as research involvement.

Exploration and Mining Geology JournalVolume 15—Numbers 3 and 4

The Camelback Zn-Pb-Cu Deposit: A Recent Discovery in the Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick, Canada

J.A. Walker, New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources, Geological Surveys Branch, and J.I.Carroll, Cogema Resources Inc.

Camelback is a small, moderate grade, volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit, which occurswithin the Nepisiguit Falls Formation of the Ordovician Tetagouche Group. The host rocks are tuffa-ceous sedimentary rocks (Little Falls member) that overlie quartz-feldspar porphyritic tufflavas (GrandFalls member). The hanging-wall sequence comprises rhyolite of the Flat Landing Brook Formation,overlain by the Forty Mile Brook tholeiitic basalt. A dike of unaltered andesite was intersectedbeneath the massive sulfides, but was not found in the hanging-wall sequence in the vicinity of thedeposit. The stratiform part of the deposit is made up of two, steeply south dipping, subparallel mas-sive lenses that average approximately 4 m in thickness. The Au content in the massive sulfides islow, but tends to be enriched in the massive pyrite near the top of each lens. The massive lenses areunderlain by intensely chloritic, fine-grained, tuffaceous sedimentary rocks containing locally signifi-cant sulfide (chalcopyrite > pyrite > pyrrhotite) veins.

The Mount Fronsac North Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposit: A Recent Discovery in the Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick

J.A. Walker, New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources, Geological Surveys Branch, and G. Graves, Xstrata Zinc

The Mount Fronsac North volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit is the most recently discoveredmassive sulfide body in the Bathurst Mining Camp. The deposit occurs within a sequence of intercalatedfine-grained felsic tuff and sedimentary rocks (Little Falls member), at the top of the Nepisiguit Falls For-mation. Aphyric to sparsely feldspar-phyric rhyolite and related volcanic rocks of the Flat Landing BrookFormation overlie the host sequence. This sequence has a maximum thickness of 140 m and containssignificant fine- to coarse-grained disseminated pyrite. Massive sulfides are found throughout this alter-ation envelope, but more commonly occur at or near the upper contact. The significance of the discov-ery of this deposit is that it represents a near surface discovery of a large tonnage sulfide body in amature mining camp, one in which the possibility of discovery of a new shallow deposit had been allbut discounted. This opens the possibility for future discoveries in this part of the Bathurst Mining Camp.

Chemostratigraphy of Volcanic Rocks Hosting Massive Sulfide Clasts Within the Meductic Group, West-Central New Brunswick

S.H. McClenaghan, D.R. Lentz, Department of Geology, University of New Brunswick, and L.R. Fyffe,Geological Surveys Branch, New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy

The Eel River area in the southwestern Miramichi terrane of New Brunswick contains a completecalc-alkaline suite of volcanic rocks that are interlayered with intervals of sedimentary and polylithicfragmental rocks, and are overlain by a thick sedimentary sequence. This package, collectively referredto as the Meductic Group, was deposited in a submerged volcanic arc setting interpreted to be part ofthe Popelogan arc. Rifting of this arc led to the development of the Tetagouche-Exploits back-arc basin,and formation of volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits in bimodal volcanic rocks of the Bathurst Min-ing Camp in the northeastern Miramichi Terrane. Unlike the Bathurst Mining Camp, volcanic rocks in thesoutheastern Miramichi Highlands form a continuous calc-alkaline suite characterized by increasingZr/TiO2 with increasing SiO2, in part resulting from progressive coupled assimilation and fractional crys-tallization of nested magma systems. Slumping of semi-consolidated volcanic and sedimentary rocks in

topographically unstable areas resulted innumerous slumps and debris flows that arepreserved throughout the Eel River area.

emg abstracts

Excerpts taken from abstracts in EMG, Vol. 15., Nos. 3 and 4Subscribe—www.cim.org/geosoc/indexEMG.cfm

August 2007 87


Canadian Metallurgical QuarterlyVolume 46—Number 2

Production of Al-Ti Master Alloy by Aluminothermic Reduction TechniqueM. Hosseinpouri, S.A. Mirmonsef, and M. Soltanieh, Department of Materials and Metallur-gical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology

Aluminum-titanium master alloys were prepared with an aluminothermic reduction oftitanium dioxide dissolved in cryolite (NaF/AlF3 = 2.5 molar ratio)-alumina melts in the pres-ence of aluminum. The effects of time, the concentration of the titanium dioxide and tem-perature were investigated by spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) andX-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Al-Ti alloys containing about 7.8 wt% Ti were preparedat T=1120°C after 10-15 minutes reduction time. The results showed that the reductionreaction occurred very quickly, i.e., within a few minutes. It was found that the reductionproduct at room temperature was a master alloy composed of an aluminum matrix and aTiAl3 intermediate phase with needle shape. The reduction product was in fact a composite.

Effect of Bending Variables on the Characteristics of EN-AW5018 Tubes forSubsequent HydroformingD.A. Oliveira, M.J. Worswick, G. Khodayari, and J. Gholipour, University of Waterloo,Department of Mechanical Engineering

Understanding the effects of forming history on the subsequent hydroformability of alu-minum alloy tubes is critical for widespread acceptance of aluminum as a light-weight alter-native in automotive components. The aim of this research is to investigate the influence ofpre-bending on the characteristics of aluminum alloy tubes for the hydroforming process.Tube bending experiments were performed on 2 and 3.5 mm wall thicknesses with 76.2 mmouter diameter EN-AW5018 tube. In the tube bending experiments, key process parameterssuch as boost were varied and the effect on the resultant thinning, strains and springbackof the as-bent tubes was assessed. Bending boost is shown to reduce thinning and strainsin the as-bent tubes which has been found to be favourable for any subsequent hydroform-ing operation.

Scratch Test for Coating/Substrate Systems—A Literature ReviewJ. Li and W. Beres, AeroMet & Ceramics, NRC Institute for Aerospace Research

The scratch test consists of a diamond stylus moving over the surface of a sample undera normal force which is increased either stepwise or continuously until a critical normal forceis reached, at which point a well-defined coating failure occurs. This force is then taken as ameasure of adhesion. In this paper, a literature review on scratch testing applied tocoating/substrate systems is provided. Tribological contact mechanics, failure modes, factorsaffecting the scratch test results, adhesion measurements, friction effects as well as finiteelement modelling of the scratch test are discussed.

Excerpts taken from abstracts in CMQ, Vol. 46, No. 2. Subscribe—www.cmq-online.ca

cmq abstracts

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