cim magazine march/april 2011

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4 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 6, No. 2

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NEWS 14 B.C. mineral exploration forecast to hit $500 million in 2011

Expectations high after provincial government announces mineral exploration figures at AME BCRoundup by P. Caulfield

15 TMX-LSE merger met with mixed reactions Fusion of the Toronto and London Stock exchanges has been met with a guarded reaction from members of the mining industry by P. Brent

16 Feeding the global appetite In his speech at the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations,CIM president Chris Twigge-Molecey predicts challenges in meeting the world demand for metalsby P. Diekmeyer

17 Eyes on new ministry New B.C. mine permitting process receives a cautious response from industry by P. Caulfield

18 Celebrating the past, planning for the future McGill mining engineering’s 140thanniversary is cause for celebration and a catalyst for a renewed strategy for the programby H. Ednie

CONTENTSCIM MAGAZINE | MARCH / APRIL 2011 | MARS / AVRIL 2011

UPFRONT 20 An incredible journey Built on one side of the world and

shipped to the other, the world’s largest autoclaves demanded thebest in logistics and engineering by H. Ednie

22 Mapping the past reaps continual rewards MineSight’s3D modelling software has become the template for geologicalmapping in the North by N. Judd

24 Inspiring confidence in CSR Terrane Metals success in engaging the community is a direct result of answering the “SevenQuestions to Sustainability” by L. Whyte

28 Iron woman’s global challenge Zoë Yujnovich has been achampion of change in her first year as president of the Iron OreCompany of Canada by R. Andrews

COMMODITY FOCUS 46 All-purpose treasure The foundation of the modern industrial era, iron ore is the commodity

of growth by E. Moore

46

FEATURED PROJECTPROJET EN VEDETTE 38 Future growth built on iron ore legacy Labrador Iron Mines’ revitalization of the

Schefferville Projects is new era for a town that was built for mining by C. Baldwin

44 Perspectives de croissance reposant sur l`héritage du minerai de fer La revitalisation des projets Schefferville par Labrador Iron Mines représente le début d’unenouvelle ère pour cette ville exclusivement minière

30FEATUREMINING IN MOTIONL’EXPLOITATION MINIÈRE EN MOUVEMENT 30 Moving millions Surging demand for commodities is fueling expansion not just for Canadian

producers but also for the transport network they rely on by D. Zlotnikov

36 Le déplacement de millions Une demande accrue pour les biens de consommationpousse l’expansion, non seulement des producteurs canadiens mais aussi du réseau de transportsur lequel ils se fient

38

COLUMNS 50 MAC Economic Commentary by P. Stothart 52 Supply Side by J. Baird 53 Eye on Business by Ministry of Natural Resource

Operations

54 Standards by C. Waldie 55 Metals Monitor by J. Goulden 58 HR Outlook by B. Kirby 60 Innovation by T. Hynes 62 Safety by H. Ednie 64 Aboriginal Perspectives by V. Heffernan 66 Parlons en par C. Taschereau

68 Women in Mining by H. Ednie

70 Canadians Abroad by H. Ednie 72 La vie d’étudiant par A. Dorval 73 Student Life by A. Dorval

74 Mining Lore by C. Baldwin 94 Voices from Industry by T. Bowles

CIM NEWS 76 What mining brings to the table The Mining

Society of Nova Scotia holds its 123rd Annual GeneralMeeting by F. Sigut

77 Early exposure to mine turns into inspiringcareer Bradley Lecomte is the recipient of the Caterpillarand its Canadian Dealers Scholarship for 2010-2011 by M. Eisner

78 L’implication des ingénieurs Pierre Laroche, in-génieur minier, a reçu le Prix des membres de l’ICM pourses 38 années d’implication à Thetford Mines par M. Anelli

80 Looking at the big picture CIM Distinguished Lecturer Michael Doggett discusses long- and short-termbusiness cycles in mining by A. Lopez-Pacheco

81 Winter classic This year’s Canadian Mineral ProcessorsOperators’ Conference boasted a record attendance, abevy of technical papers and one great hockey match-upby R. Bergen

82 CIM signs MOU with Chinese association CIMenters an agreement with the China Non-Ferrous MetalsIndustry Association with the goal of developing projectstogether by H. Ednie

83 Taking home the copper Phillip Mackey’s illustri-ous 40-year career in extractive metallurgy, mentoringand innovation garners him the Selwyn Blaylock Medalby C. Baldwin

HISTORY 85 The foundations of modern economic

geology (Part 2) by R. J. Cathro 88 Social problems in the mining industry

– a historical essay (Part 2) by F. Habashi

TECHNICAL SECTION 91 CIM Journal

IN EVERY ISSUE 6 Editor’s message 8 President’s notes / Mot du président 10 Letters 12 LinkedIn Comments 71 Calendar 76 Obituaries 84 Welcoming new members 93 Professional Directory

March / April 2011 | 5

Everywhere is walking distance … if you have enough time.

~ Steven Wright

At a recent industry workshop, the president and CEOof a junior exploration company proclaimed himselfand his like to be treasure hunters. Considering the

mission of these modern-day swashbucklers, the logicbehind his assertion makes sense: the incredible odds offinding their bounty, the remote and harsh locales they musttravel to, and the cryptic maps and signs they have to deci-pher. Mother Nature hides her bounty well.

And once the valuable cache has been discovered the hard part begins, for thereare no express highways deep into the jungles of Surinam or bridges spanning theexpansive ice flows north of sixty. If the junior explorers are treasure hunters, thenthose responsible for determining viable ways of extracting and transporting thosetreasures are orchestra conductors.

In the March/April issue, we take a look at some of the logistical challenges facingthe Canadian mining industry as it tries to satisfy the global hunger for the commodi-ties we are so skilled at recovering and delivering. In the feature, “Moving Millions,”writer Dan Zlotnikov explores how mine operators, railway and shipping companies,and storage facilities are addressing issues of limited capacity and extreme conditionsin Canada’s vast and incredibly complex transportation system.

The story behind the cover photo can be found in the Upfront section’sEngineering Exchange, where you’ll read about the design and incredible journey ofthe world’s largest autoclaves, engineered and constructed by the Hatch AutoclaveTechnology Group for the Pueblo Viejo gold operation, a joint venture betweenBarrick Gold Corporation and Goldcorp Inc. located in the Dominican Republic.

Iron ore gets a special focus in both this issue’s project profile – Labrador Iron Mine’s(LIM) Schefferville Projects – as well as in our commodity focus. Following the adage that“the best place to look for a new mine is beside an old mine,” LIM is capitalizing on thesolid legacy and infrastructure created by the Iron Ore Company of Canada during its 25years of operation, including a mine site, company town, rail line and shipping terminal.

Also, be sure to read this issue’s safety column, which explores the psychology oftrauma and how mining companies are addressing issues of post-traumatic stressamong workers and their families in the wake of distressing incidents.

You will also find a new addition that helps us share some of the feedback we’vebeen getting about CIM Magazine topics on the CIM LinkedIn page. If you haven’talready joined the CIM LinkedIn group, check it out. You’ll find pertinent informationas well as the provocative dialogue between a plethora of contributors from all walksof the mining industry.

I’d like to sign off with an acknowledgment of CIM Magazine’s own team of desktop explorers. Although the voyage from the raw material to the polished prod-uct is not always smooth sailing, it is incredibly rewarding and I am so honoured tobe part of this crew.

Angela Hamlyn, Editor-in-chief


editor’s letter

Editor-in-chief Angela Hamlyn, [email protected]

Section EditorsNews, Upfront and Features:Ryan Bergen, [email protected] Stecyk, [email protected], CIM News, Histories and Technical Section:Andrea Nichiporuk, [email protected]

Technical Editor Joan Tomiuk, [email protected]

Web Editor Rosy Saadeh, [email protected]

Publisher CIM

Contributors Richard Andrews, Maria Anelli, Jon Baird,Correy Baldwin, Louise Blais-Leroux, Terence Bowles, PaulBrent, R.J. Cathro, Peter Caulfield, Peter Diekmeyer, AlexandreDorval, Heather Ednie, Marlene Eisner, Jason Goulden, GennyGriffiths, Fathi Habashi, Virginia Heffernan, Tom Hynes, NevilleJudd, Barbara Kirby, Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco, Ministry ofNatural Resource Operations, Eavan Moore, Florence Sigut,Paul Stothart, Charles Taschereau, Craig Waldie, LaureenWhyte, Dan Zlotnikov

Published 8 times a year by CIM1250 – 3500 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West Westmount, QC, H3Z 3C1Tel.: 514.939.2710; Fax: 514.939.2714 www.cim.org; Email: [email protected]

Subscriptions Included in CIM membership ($150.00); Non-members (Canada), $168.00/yr (GST included;Quebec residents add $12.60 PST; NB, NF and NSresidents add $20.80 HST); U.S. and other countries,US$180.00/yr; Single copies, $25.00.

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This month’s coverA 780-tonne autoclave arrives at the Port of Samana,Dominican Republic. Credit: Hatch

Layout and design by Clò Communications.

Copyright©2011. 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 in articles or in any discussion appearing in its publications.

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president’s notes

As we finally look forward tospring, one can only reflect onthe weather extremes we havewitnessed over the last fewmonths, both in Canada andAustralia. They have had a majorimpact at the mine site as wellas along the links of the exportchain — one of the mainthemes of this March/Aprilissue. From the devastationcaused by flooding of Australiancoal mines to the implications ofan ever-shortening season forhauling materials over ice roadsin the Far North, there are aplethora of challenges testingthe ingenuity of the industry.

On the operation side, the challenge can often be the same, eventhough the unit scales are normally smaller, but it takes special skills tosupply and service remote sites regularly and reliably. In Canada, we arefortunate to have many highly experienced companies to call on.

Construction logistics also face an exciting range of opportunities andchallenges. One such major undertaking is the transport of 17 smeltermodules, equaling 36,000 tonnes, from Qingdao, China, to New Caledoniafor the Xstrata Nickel Koniambo Project. Another, moving 780-tonne

autoclave vessels from Malaysia to the Dominican Republic, is featured inthis issue’s Engineering Exchange.

Development of the Labrador iron ore resources will critically dependon competitive logistics costs. It will be interesting to see how soon we canemulate the Rio Tinto approach in Western Australia, which features fullyautomated iron ore trains operating from pit to port, all controlled fromPerth, over 1,000 kilometres away. It is truly an amazing accomplishment.Further, the heightened exploration of our North — whether in Ungava,Labrador, Baffin Island, Nunavut or Northwest Territories — will lead tofuture operations in very remote locations. The logistics companies will, Iam sure, meet the demands of working in such environments and bringmuch needed opportunities to train and employ Northern peoples.

Very remote travel to any facility always brings to mind the issue ofsafety, a primary objective of all responsible companies. While we cannotafford to be complacent, as illustrated by the recent spate of mine disastersoverseas, we can celebrate the remarkable safety record of our sector, inboth construction and operations activities. Mining and metallurgical pro-cessing continues to be one of the safest professions. We need to get thismessage out often. It, along with the hi-tech nature of our business, mustbe a key element in persuading bright students to join our sector.

Chris Twigge-MoleceyCIM President

Bien que l’on se réjouit de l’arrivée prochaine du printemps, on nepeut s’empêcher de penser aux fluctuations météorologiques exception-nelles de ces derniers mois au Canada ainsi qu’en Australie. Elles ont eudes répercussions importantes autant sur les sites miniers que sur lesdifférents maillons de la chaîne d’exportation – ce sera un des sujetsprincipaux traités dans ce numéro de mars/avril. Une myriade de défiscontinuent de mettre à l’épreuve l’ingéniosité de l’industrie, que ce soiten raison des ravages causés par l’inondation de mines de charbon enAustralie ou les conséquences des saisons de plus en plus courtes pourle transport de matériaux sur les routes de glace du Grand Nord.

Au niveau des opérations, le défi reste souvent le même, quoique lesunités soient souvent de plus petite taille, des compétences toutes par-ticulières demeurent néanmoins nécessaires pour approvisionner etdesservir les sites éloignés sur une base périodique et de manière fiable.Au Canada, nous avons la chance de pouvoir faire appel à de nom-breuses entreprises d’une grande compétence.

La logistique en matière de projets de construction présente aussi unéventail palpitant d’occasions et de défis. Parmi de telles entreprisesd’envergure, nous pouvons souligner le transport de 17 modules defonderie d’un poids total de 36 000 tonnes, de Qingdao en Chinejusqu’en Nouvelle-Calédonie pour le projet Koniambo de Xstrata Nickel.On compte aussi le déplacement d’autoclaves pesant 780 tonnes de laMalaisie jusqu’en République dominicaine, qui est décrit sous la rubriqueEngineering Exchange de ce numéro.

Le développement des ressources de minerai de fer au Labrador dépen-dra fortement de la compétitivité des coûts logistiques. Il sera intéressant de

voir le temps qu’il nous faudra pour reproduire l’approche utilisée par RioTinto en Australie-Occidentale, où l’entreprise a recours à des trains entière-ment automatisés et contrôlés depuis Perth pour transporter le minerai de ferdes mines jusqu’au port, sur une distance de plus de 1 000 kilomètres. Ils’agit vraiment d’une réalisation incroyable. Par ailleurs, l’exploration pluspoussée des régions nordiques de notre pays, que ce soit dans l’Ungava, auLabrador, sur l’île de Baffin, au Nunavut ou dans les T.N.-O., nous amèneraà mettre en œuvre des projets dans des endroits très isolés. Je suis persuadéque les entreprises en logistique sauront répondre aux exigences de telslieux et qu’elles pourront aussi créer des occasions de formation et desemplois très nécessaires aux populations du Nord.

Les déplacements vers des installations très éloignées nous mènenttoujours à penser à l’importance des questions de sécurité, qui con-stituent un des objectifs principaux de toute entreprise responsable.Nous ne pouvons pas relâcher notre vigilance, comme l’illustre la récentesérie de désastres miniers à l’étranger, mais nous pouvons tout de mêmenous féliciter de nos résultats exceptionnels en matière de sécurité, quece soit par rapport aux activités de construction qu’à celles des opéra-tions. Les professions au sein de l’industrie minière et métallurgiquedemeurent parmi les plus surs de tous. Nous devons véhiculer ce mes-sage le plus souvent possible. Ce fait, ainsi que la nature hautementtechnologique de notre travail, représentent des éléments clés à utiliserpour convaincre les étudiants brillants à se joindre à notre industrie.

Chris Twigge-MoleceyPrésident de L’ICM

Logistics, a challenge on the global scale

La logistique, un défi global


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featured project

November 2010 | 39

featured project

Engineers conducting environmental planning

T

The way forwardby | Peter Caulfield

Despite the fact that copper is trading today at about US$3.70, the Mt. Milligan project — the first new metal mine in BritishColumbia in more than a decade — very nearly didn’t happen.

Terrane Metals Corp. was created in 2006 when Goldcorp Inc.sold its copper and gold project, Mt. Milligan, to Rob Pease andhis partners. However, Terrane could not secure the financingto begin construction. “In the end, we had to sell the companyin order to build the mine,” says Pease, former president andCEO of Terrane. On October 20, 2010, Denver-based molybde-num miner Thompson Creek Metals Company acquired all ofthe issued and outstanding equity of Terrane. The total value ofconsideration paid to the shareholders of Terrane was approx-imately $700 million, of which approximately $420 millionwas paid in cash, and the remainder was from the issuance ofapproximately 24.3 million shares of Thompson Creek.

Industry analysts say the project, which should commenceproduction sometime in 2013, could kick start the B.C. min-ing industry as a whole, as well as benefit local First Nationsand job seekers in central B.C.

Shovel-readyMt. Milligan is 155 kilometres northwest of Prince George

in central British Columbia — about 150 kilometres northeastof Thompson Creek’s Endako Mine. Mt. Milligan has provenand probable reserves of about 2.1 billion pounds of copperand six million ounces of gold. Average annual production overthe 22-year lifespan of the mine is forecast to be 81 million

pounds of copper and 194,000 ounces of gold. The mine couldcreate up to 400 permanent jobs.

Pease says Mt. Milligan is completely engineered, financedand has almost all of its permits in place. “The mine will be aconventional truck-and-shovel open pit operation that willproduce copper concentrate with a high gold content,” Peasesays. Mt. Milligan will be developed over the next two and ahalf years. Commissioning of the mine and mill complex isexpected in 2013.

Development is scheduled to com-mence late in 2010. Key components ofthe project include a 54,000 tonne-per-day copper flotation process plant, tail-ings storage facility, plant ancillary facili-ties and a 92-kilometre power transmis-sion line. Upgrading of a 26-kilometre-long mine access road was 90 per centcomplete this fall.

“At the plant site we’ve cleared thebuilding area, and a 600-man construc-tion camp is being assembled.” saysPease. “We expect to be finished thatpart of the project by the end of 2010,and then we can start pouring concreteand erecting mine buildings in spring2011.”

Pease adds that according to the minedevelopment plan, the pit will be dug infall 2011. “By late summer of 2012, wecan start processing ore, with full com-mercial production by the end of 2012 orthe beginning of 2013,” he says. The con-centrate will be transported to port facil-ities on the coast and shipped tosmelters in Japan and Korea.

A smooth transitionIn acquiring Terrane, Thompson Creek

has diversified into copper and gold, bothof which are trading at high prices now.For its part, Terrane, a Vancouver-basedjunior, has found a way to finance con-struction of the relatively large open pitproject.

“Terrane couldn’t finance Mt. Milliganitself,” explains Pease. “For one thing,market conditions weren’t favourable.For another, our corporate structure wassuch that an equity issue would haveseriously diluted the stock and thereforewould have been very risky for our share-holders. We liked Thompson Creek and

liked the management, so we agreed to be taken over. Now,Mt. Milligan will be their number one growth asset.”

Thompson Creek chairman, CEO and director KevinLoughrey says there are a number of reasons behind his com-pany’s decision to get into the copper business. “Until nowwe’ve been a pure moly company, and we like the moly busi-ness,” he explains. “But there are strategic advantages indiversifying. In addition, we had concluded the market wasn’t

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letters

To the editors, I believe you are mistaken. The first new metal mine in B.C.

since 1998 is not the Mt. Milligan project (“The way forward,”CIM Magazine, November 2010, p. 38), it was the MAX molyb-denum mine owned by Roca Mines of Vancouver. It opened in2008.

Marilyn ScalesField Editor, Canadian Mining Journal

Mt. Milligan misrepresented, MAX Mine under-represented


The Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto invites applications for a tenure stream position at the Assistant

Professor level. The appointment to this position will be made 1 July 2011, or as soon as possible thereafter. Candidates are sought with a strong background in mining engineering.

The Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto is committed to excellence in teaching and interdisciplinary research and candidates must be able to display evidence of excellence in teaching and research. The successful candidate will be associated with the Las-sonde Institute and the Lassonde Mineral Engineering Program.

The Lassonde Institute promotes and facilitates cross-disciplinary research related to challenges facing the mineral and energy sectors. Construction is currently in progress for the new home of the Lassonde Institute, a $20-million mining innovation centre to be completed by the Spring of 2011. The Lassonde Mineral Engineering Program is an interfaculty and interdepartmental undergraduate course of study offered by the Department of Civil Engineering that crosses traditional

-tion in the areas of mining, geology, and other relevant applied science and engineering that makes them highly sought by industry, consulting and research establishments.

The successful applicant is expected to have excellent communica-tion skills, to be able to supervise graduate students, and to teach un-

dergraduate courses in the Lassonde Mineral Engineering Program. Candidates capable of contributing to the teaching of mine feasibility studies, and together with surface and underground mine planning and design, will be given particular consideration. The successful candi-date will teach at the graduate level in their area of expertise.

Candidates should hold a doctoral degree and must be eligible for reg-istration as a Professional Engineer in Ontario. Salary will be commen-

All interested parties are encouraged to apply on-line at http://www.jobs.utoronto.ca/faculty.htm. If you are unable to apply online, please send your applications to Professor Brenda McCabe, Chair, Depart-ment of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, 35 St. George Street, Room GB107, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A4. Application should include a detailed curriculum vitae (including publications and evidence of ca-pacity and impact), a description of research, teaching and professional interests, and a list of at least four professional and character refer-ees. The closing date for receipt of applications is March 14, 2011. The University of Toronto is strongly committed to diversity within its community. The University especially welcomes applications from visible minority group members, women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities, members of sexual minority groups, and others who

-didates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Assistant Professor in Mining Engineering (Tenure Stream)

Dear Ms. Scales,Thank you for the note. Roca Mines Inc.’s MAX molybdenum

mine did earn the distinction of the first new metal mine whenit went into production in 2008 with a small mine permit. Lastspring, the province approved the proposed ramp-up from 500to 1,000 tonnes per day at the MAX mine. It is more accurate tosay that the Mt. Milligan operation belonging to ThompsonCreek Metals Company, permitted by both the provincial and

federal government to process 60,000 tpd, represents the firstnew major greenfield project fully permitted since the Huckle-berry and Kemess mines were approved in 1996.

Regards,Ryan BergenFeatures editor, CIM Magazine

2:35 PM


Will there be any growth for Canada’s miningindustry in 2011?Outlook 2011: Global forces, local concerns: December2010 / January 2011, p. 43

I think the future of the Canadian mining industry is bright. An impor-tant factor, however, is how management works. If you take a look atthe global market, you’ll find many companies that have performedwell even in the slowdown of the economy. so, in effect, how man-agement of Canadian mining companies thinks, plans and managesis what ultimately matters the most.

Vinay Sahay, geologist, Mining exploration pty Ltd, nagpur Area, India

yes, there will be growth in the mining industry in Canada, especiallyfor oil and gas, rare metals, nickel, iron-ore, copper, gold, etc.Canada is poised to see considerable growth in this area, especiallyif the global economy picks up. I even see Canada becoming a big-ger player in the rare metals sector. I just hope that there are morejobs to support mining, like processing, next generation of metalapplications, etc. I believe this is an area of Canadian strength thatis not leveraged enough.

Paul Young, Consultant at IBM, toronto, Canada

What are the drawbacks of doing business indeveloping countries?Outlook darkens for DRC developments: November 2010,p. 14

It is true that there are risks when dealing in the developing world;however, with good, early planning and management, the risks canbe mitigated. Arbitration, of course, is the last resort when all elsefails (negotiation and diplomacy). some jurisdictions are probablyjust too difficult, sometimes obviously so, when investing share-holder funds. sometimes the attraction of prospect overridescommon sense. there are many recipes for success, but whatcomes to mind immediately is day-to-day dealings with the hostgovernments with a total lack of arrogance. As a veteran in thedeveloping world, including the drC, we have achieved many suc-cesses, but not without angst. this does not, however, stop ourindustry from pioneering new opportunities – a quality that sets ourindustry apart. First Quantum (whom I know, but am not associatedwith) is such a pioneer with a long record of benefitting indigenouspopulations throughout the Copperbelt. when rule-of-law is absentor, at best, minimal, they have been wise to prepare so well. we, inthe FdI [Foreign direct Investment] community, watch with interest.

Eurlng Colin Roberts, resource geo-strategist, perth, Australia

home profile Contacts groups Jobs Inbox Companies More

Why companies should send engineers to recruitstudentsSending the right person for the job: December 2010 /January 2011, p. 104

I think a knowledgeable non-technical recruiter knows the ins andouts of technical recruiting and knows the language of the technol-ogy for which she or he is trying to recruit. I have been a technicalrecruiter (in a prior career) and have hired individuals that the techni-cal people passed over. After the fact, they were amazed at theperformance of these individuals and admitted they had discountedthem because of something specific that had no bearing on theirskills. A big one was language; the recruit speaking with an accentthat might have been difficult to understand in the interview—astressful situation in itself. technical people need to be trained to berecruiters and they need coaching and checklists as to what skills orinnovative thinking to look for in a prospective recruit.

John Salonich, Vice-president/director, Venturi Aeration, Inc., greater Boston Area

solely using engineers as recruiters may be similar to solely usingengineers as managers; you may end up losing a good engineer onlyto gain a bad manager. perhaps it comes down to having the rightperson, with the right qualities and experience, do the job, whateverthe job. the disparaging tone of the article in relation to the hr func-tion is misplaced. the expectation that recent grads wouldnecessarily have the experience and personal attributes qualifyingthem to select for personality fit and be in tune with the big pictureneeds of the company is naive. If there is indeed a problem, the solu-tion seems to be one where seasoned, experienced managementneeds to be involved in the recruitment effort, and often are, and stu-dents should be aware that internships are to observe and learn. It’snot about the specifics of the job. It’s all about fit.

Gerry Stafford, sales Manager, protec sales, Vancouver, Canada

we are actively involved with the recruitment of engineers from manyuniversities and in all instances we involve our existing engineers inany recruitment fairs that we attend. we find that students get anopportunity to talk to their peers about the type of work that they willbe undertaking, which increases the attractiveness of the position.Many recruiters see the job fairs as an opportunity to simply collectthe contact details of all the students at the fairs and seem to under-estimate the importance of selling their organization to the students.In a very competitive environment, where we are often competing forengineers with much larger and well-known brands, it is essentialthat we are able to sell the benefits of choosing us over the compe-tition. Facilitating discussions between prospective employees andthose involved in their area of expertise is a great way of doing this.

Peter Craven, Marketing Manager, Cde global Ltd, united kingdom

Do First Nations have more influence on miningdevelopment in Canada?Outlook 2011: First Nations exerting more influence onmining development: December 2010 / January 2011, p. 94

Queen’s university is committed to helping First nations communi-ties develop internal capacity for working with industry in acollaborative, mutually beneficial way. Indigenous scholars use theterm “de-colonization” to refer to returning respect and control overland to native peoples. Interestingly, this does not mean that miningwill be rejected... just that First nations want to participate as equalpartners. My doctoral research is about this.

Anne Johnson, phd student, robert M. Buchan department of Miningat Queen’s university, ontario, Canada

SCAN THIS CODE wIth your sMArt phoneto Be tAken dIreCtLy to our LInkedIn pAge.

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The optimism surround-ing mining in B.C. was highlyevident at this year’s MineralExploration Roundup, but itwas tinged with some carefuladvice.

Spending on mineralexploration in B.C. isexpected to reach $500 mil-lion in 2011, spurred on byhigh commodities prices,said B.C. Minister of Statefor Mining Randy Hawes inhis opening speech at thethree-day event. “Perhapsthe greatest indicator of min-ing’s excellent health is thedevelopment of new mines,”said Hawes. “The miningindustry invested over $1billion last year, expandingexisting and operating newmines in B.C.” In 2010,exploration spending in B.C.hit $322 million, more thandouble the $154 millionrecorded in 2009.

Between 2009 and 2010, four keyB.C. minerals experienced significantprice increases: metallurgical coal roseby 70 per cent, copper by 45 per cent,silver by 37 per cent and gold jumped25 per cent. Recent mine expansionsat Endako, Gibraltar, Highland ValleyCopper and Wolverine are a good indi-cation of the appeal the province hasto mining companies, added Hawes.He cited low corporate taxes and theelimination of 152,000 governmentregulations since 2001 as major factorsfor improving the investment climatefor mining in the province.

Looking at the international con-text, Canada held the regional numbertwo spot for planned explorationspending in 2010 and attracted 19 percent of worldwide nonferrous explo-ration spending, according toHalifax-based Metals Economics

B.C. mineral exploration forecast to hit $500 million in 2011Teck president sounds cautionary note at Roundup

By Peter Caulfield

Group (MEG) 21st “Corporate Explo-ration Strategies” study, which wasreleased at the conference. Canada hassat in second place for nine years sinceovertaking Australia in 2002. According to the MEG study, fourprovinces together accounted for morethan three-quarters of the $2.2 billionof planned Canadian nonferrousexploration spending in 2010:Ontario, 31 per cent; Quebec, 17 percent; Saskatchewan, 15 per cent; andBritish Columbia, 14 per cent.

Speaking on the theme of “Explor-ing Today for Tomorrow’sResources,” Teck Resources presidentand CEO Don Lindsay sounded amore cautionary note on the future ofmining and exploration in Canada.Lindsay said one of the reasons forhigher commodities prices was alarge and increasing appetite for

Canadian commodities in China.But, although the long-term outlookremains positive, Chinese demandmight become less dependable in theshort term as the Chinese govern-ment intervenes to keep the economyfrom overheating.

Lindsay counseled companies todevelop strong exploration programseven as the search for mineral depositsleads them to more remote and politi-cally unstable regions.

Organized by the Association forMineral Exploration British Colum-bia (AME BC), the MineralExploration Roundup saw recordattendance this year. The event drewover 7,000 people from over 30 coun-tries, including 270 exhibitors. AMEBC chair Mona Forster confirmedthat it was the best attended Roundupto date. CIM


Don Lindsay speaks at AME BC Luncheon at Mineral Exploration Roundup 2011.

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The proposed merger of the Torontoand London stock exchanges has cre-ated a mixture of curiosity and concernwithin the Canadian mining industry.Billed as a merger of equals, theannouncement has triggered strongreaction among those who make theirliving in mining. “I don’t want to benegative right off the bat but I’m notexactly jumping for joy,” said BrianBerner, chairman and CEO of CuervoResources Inc., a Toronto-basedresource exploration company withoperations in Peru. “It’s negative for allsmaller corporations; you lose yourlocal market.”

Under the terms of the deal, theLondon exchange will control 55 percent of the merged entity. London andToronto will have headquarters in eachcity – London will become the centreof international listings, while Torontowill head the equity listings for theentire group.

“I think this merger caught mostpeople off guard,” said Ken Klassen, apartner with Bennett Jones in Toronto,who specializes in mining law. “The

TMX-LSE merger met with mixed reactions Industry participants see little merit for small mining companies

By Paul Brent

mining industry in Canada is incredi-bly important, not just for the TSX andthe people that work there, but for thethousands and thousands of peoplewho derive very good careers off ofthis industry.”

“The TSX is a world leader in financ-ing exploration companies,” addedKlassen, “The London stock exchangeis not. To put it bluntly, I’m not surewhy the TSX was interested in talkingto the London Stock Exchange.”

The Ontario Mining Associationnoted that the two TMX exchanges are“world leaders in mine financing,”accounting for 80 per cent of minefinancings in the world and 36 percent of total equity capital raised glob-ally in the mining sector between 1999and 2009. At the end of last year, 1,531mining companies were listed inToronto – more than any other stockexchange – and last year, there were208 new mining listings for the TSX,more than any other exchange.

Rickard Vernon, managing directorand head of metals and mining withToronto financial firm Stonecap Securi-

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ties Inc., said the proposed merger ofthe exchanges might be most advanta-geous to the big international miningcompanies. “The Canadian market ispretty efficient and effective at financingresource stocks, so it may have little tono effect, particularly on the end of themarket where we operate, which is thesmall- and mid-cap space,” said Vernon.

Doug Horswill, senior vice-presidentof sustainability and external affairs atTeck Resources Limited and chairmanof the Mining Association of Canada, isawaiting further details on the merger."If the merger is structured to enableCanada and the Canadian mining com-panies access to a wider, broader anddeeper capital market, this shouldstrengthen the industry," said Horswill.

The proposed merger has been metwith enough initial concern and con-troversy in Canada that it will attractscrutiny from regulators and politi-cians, a development that suits CuervoResources’ Berner. “I want the govern-ment to have complete parliamentaryhearings on this. I want these guys towalk through hoops,” he said. CIM

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Global demand for miningproducts will continue to rise inthe coming years, even as thoseproducts get harder to come by,predicted CIM president ChrisTwigge-Molecey at a recent pres-entation to the Montreal Councilon Foreign Relations. “Almosteverything we consume today iseither grown or mined,” he said.“However, resources are scarceand we need to make toughchoices over how to developthem.”

Twigge-Molecey cited mod-ern mobile devices, whichtypically include componentsmade from more than two dozenminerals, ranging from iron tonickel to rare earths such asneodymium, as an example ofhow complex modern societieshave become. “Environmentalprotesters would hate to part withtheir cell phones,” he noted. “We havegot to be realistic. Even production ofthe food most of us eat relies on fertil-izers requiring significant quantities ofmined products such as potash andphosphates.”

Having served as engineering firmHatch's managing director in LatinAmerica and China, two economiesdriving much of the growing mineralsdemand, Twigge-Molecey understandsthe issues very well. “China, which inrecent times has accounted for asmuch as 40 per cent of world GDPgrowth, is now growing at a pace thatcivilization has not seen before,” saidTwigge-Molecey, who currently over-sees strategic development at Hatch.“They are moving rural dwellers intothe cities at a record pace of 20 millionper year. This in turn is creatingdemand for infrastructure to be builtat a rate equivalent to that of sevenMontreals each year. In fact Chinaalone, which is currently in the

Feeding the global appetite Resource demand is forcing stakeholders to confront mining industry challenges

By Peter Diekmeyer

process of building 53,000 kilometresof heavy rail and 13,000 kilometres ofhigh-speed rail tracks, now produceshalf of the world’s steel production.”

That said, many of the risks to cur-rent raw material demand growthprojections are also China-related.“There is massive civil unrest inChina, including an official number of80,000 riots per year, or 200 per day,many of which go unreported,” saidTwigge-Molecey. “Furthermore Chinais aging quickly and will likely, as acountry, get old before it gets rich. Likemuch of the developing world, Chinais also suffering from significant infla-tion in food prices, which could crimpdemand for other products.”

Mining companies are alsocoming under increasing pres-sure in the developing worldto earn and keep their “licenceto operate,” which meansworking very closely withlocal people and respectingtheir concerns about land andmineral rights, permitting andthe delivery of local benefits.In many regions, companiesare being forced to renegotiateroyalty rates due to currenthigh mineral prices.

“Resource nationalism willalso become a larger challengegoing forward,” noted Twigge-Molecey, pointing out thateven Canada got in front ofthe trend when it blocked BHPBilliton’s recent attempt toacquire PotashCorp ofSaskatchewan.

Then there is getting the financialbacking to exploit a find in the firstplace, he added. Mining companiesface the additional complication ofhaving to raise capital in an environ-ment in which the discovery-to-production cycle lasts, on average,22 years, while a normal businesscycle only lasts between seven and 10.

Increasing demand for minedresources is expected to continue fordecades as China makes the great leapforward into the 21st century. How themining industry responds to the chal-lenges and meets the demands madeupon it will be watched with greatexpectation. CIM

CIM president Chris Twigge-Molecey delivers his speech at the Council onForeign Relations in Montreal

Cameco has for the second year running been named by the Financial Post as oneof the 10 Best Companies to Work For in Canada. The company has also beenselected by the Globe and Mail as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers.

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The recent creation of a new ministry in British Colum-bia to handle all mine permitting issues has been met withcautious optimism from the mining industry. In late Octo-ber 2010, the permitting and authorization functions fornatural resource projects were transferred from the Min-istries of the Environment; Aboriginal Relations andReconciliation; Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources(now Energy); and Forests (now Forests, Mines and Lands)to the new Ministry of Natural Resource Operations(MNRO).

Matt Gordon, MNRO communications director,explained that the new ministry was created to deliver inte-grated land management services. “With rising demands onour land base ... there is an urgent need for an integratedapproach to managing our land,” he said. “Instead of goingto nine different agencies to cover the approximately 40 dif-ferent statutes governing over 1,200 different types ofauthorizations that are issued by natural resource min-istries, now there is one ministry to coordinate andstreamline these operations.”

“It is still too early to tell the full ramifications of whatthese changes mean to the sector,” said Gavin Dirom, pres-ident and CEO of the Association for Mineral ExplorationBritish Columbia, in his president’s message for the fourthquarter of 2010, “but we are optimistic that we can workwith government to help make improvements.”

Jason Weber, president and CEO of Kiska Metals Corpo-ration, was guarded in his praise. “The idea is interesting,but I say that with caution,” he said. “It’s too early to tell.We’ll get a better idea when we start applying for permitsfor the upcoming exploration season.”

Dave Copeland, director of project development at HDI,formerly Hunter Dickinson Inc., expressed misgivingsabout the new ministry. “I think government has madesome progress in engaging First Nations, but HDI compa-nies are still facing uncertain processes and unacceptabledelays for permitting drilling programs and other early-stage exploration activities in B.C.,” he said.

Byng Giraud, vice-president, corporate affairs at Impe-rial Metals Corporation, had a more confident outlookabout the government’s decision. “Unlike many B.C. min-ing and exploration companies, we have few reservations,”he said. An important reason for Imperial Metals’ opti-mism is that the company is in the process of developingits Red Chris copper-gold property in northwest B.C.,explained Giraud. “Our experience with the new way ofobtaining permits and authorizations has been positive,”he said. CIM

Eyes on new ministryB.C. mining industry takes a wait-and-seeapproach to new permitting process

By Peter Caulfield

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This year will mark the 140th anniversary of McGill Uni-versity’s mining engineering department – the oldest inNorth America. The anniversary celebration will serve as alaunching pad for a revitalization strategy for the depart-ment – one built on a $10 million fundraising campaign thataims to put McGill back at the top as the leading miningengineering department in the country.

‘’The Faculty of Engineering is proud of the contributionswe’ve made to Canada’s mining industry, but we’re deter-mined to evolve with the times to ensure that we strengthenour leadership role in mining engineering,” said ChristophePierre, dean of the Faculty of Engineering at McGill. “Therenewal underway in our mining program will build on that140-year-old tradition of excellence to ensure that we con-tinue to address industry needs and meet societal goals.’’

McGill mining engineering shares a strong Industry Advi-sory Board (IAB) with École Polytechnique’s miningdepartment (the two schools offer a joint co-op undergradu-ate program in mining). The board, led by Jean Desrosiers,

Celebrating the past, planning for the future Industry and McGill mining engineering collaborate to launch $10 million revitalization strategy

By Heather Ednie


vice-president of mine operations at Xstrata Zinc Canada,supports the implementation of the five-year strategic plan forthe department. A steering committee has been formed toassist the McGill faculty and management to develop andimplement the plan and fundraising campaign.

“My goal is to build a strategic plan that will balance andalign the interest of all stakeholders,” said MichaelAvedesian, senior associate and advisor to the dean of engi-neering, who has assumed the mandate to drive McGillmining’s revitalization strategy. The plan is comprised offour main pillars: increase teaching staff and create newchairs in mining; integrate mineral processing and sustain-able mine development in the teaching curriculum andresearch; increase engineering undergraduate student enrol-ment; and cultivate industry partnerships to support co-opprograms.

“The students we produce and the contributions theyhave made to industry carry our department’s reputation,”said Ferri Hassani, a professor in the Department of Miningand Materials Engineering, who has been with the depart-ment for 27 years. “Our relationship with industry isstrong – it goes far beyond our collaborations on research.We listen to their needs and provide graduates with thatknowledge base and experience.”

McGill mining’s revitalization strategy is being formu-lated with industry at the table. Desrosiers said that hisinvolvement on the IAB is intended to ensure that theresources needed to deliver on his company’s projects andoperations will be there – that new graduates will come onboard and learn through their jobs and eventually lead theoperations in five to ten years.

“We need to ensure the program is aligned with ourneeds,” said Desrosiers. As an industry, mining is facingmajor growth in the long-term, and the success of miningengineering departments is necessary to meet the humanresource demands and all that they entail. “We want toensure strong, long-term partnerships with the schools,”Desrosiers added. “We need the right tools in place and weneed McGill to succeed. But the reality is that our schoolstoday need investment from the private sector to helpreplace what the government is not able to fund.”

As the anniversary celebrations get into full swing,Stephen Yue, chair of the mining and materials engineeringdepartment at McGill, outlined three key deliverables to beachieved by end of the year. “Hire a new faculty member,increase the number and quality of our co-op placements by10 per cent, and, with the help and support of the IAB andsteering committee, raise $10 million,” he said. “If weachieve these three goals this year, we will have succeeded.” CIM


The Pueblo Viejo gold operation in the DominicanRepublic is on track for its first gold pour in the firstquarter of 2012. But getting to this point has notexactly been easy sailing. Because the ore is double

refractory, in order to access it, the project had to commis-sion the largest autoclaves ever built and transport themhalfway across the world from Malaysia to the Caribbean.

Accessing goldPueblo Viejo, a joint venture between Barrick Gold Cor-

poration and Goldcorp Inc., boasts gold reserves of approx-imately 23.7 million ounces. Barrick owns 60 per cent andis the managing partner. The sulphidic refractory golddeposit is being constructed to a 24,000 tonne-per-daydesign capacity. In the first five years, it will produce an aver-age of 1.042 to 1.125 million ounces annually (100 per centbasis).

Hatch Autoclave Technology Group has been on the projectsince 2006 with the engineering, procurement, construction

management (EPCM) con-tract for the core part of therefractory process, namely,the autoclaving facility andsupporting oxygen plant. “It’sa double refractory gold ore,associated with two miner-alogical issues: sulphides, inthe form of pyrite and minorbase metals such as silver,copper and zinc, which pre-vent cyanidation fromdirectly recovering the gold;and a natural carbon compo-nent to the ore, which causesissues with the recoveryunder a conventional sys-tem,” explains Hatch projectmanager Kevin S. Fraser. Theincorporation of autoclavingin the processing of the oreaddresses these challenges.

In the autoclaves, all sul-phides are oxidized, produc-ing sulphuric acid as a by-product. The iron, copper andzinc dissolve into the solu-tion; then the acid is washedout in a counter-currentdecantation (CCD) circuitleaving free microscopic gold

to allow for leaching in cyanide. The underflow slurry ispushed to a carbon-in-leach circuit. Also in the autoclaves,the carbon contained in the sedimentary materials is oxi-dized with the combination of oxygen and high tempera-tures.

Within the autoclaves, oxygen is the primary reagent.During design of the autoclaves, Hatch included a heatrecovery circuit that, combined with the nature of theexothermic reactions that produce heat within the auto-claves, makes the heat autogenous by design. “Without theheat recovery system, we would need some external heatsource,” Fraser adds. “This way, we keep the energy needsdown.”

The Pueblo Viejo autoclaves are the largest, by weight,refractory-lined autoclaves built to date globally, with an on-hook weight of 780 tonnes when shipped lead lined. Themassive structures are each 5.6 metres by 34.8 metres, andwill nominally operate at 230 degrees Celsius. There are fourin total.

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Each 780-tonne autoclave took 18 days to be transported just over 120 kilometres from the port at Samana, DominicanRepublic, to the Puerto Viejo operation.

An incredible journeyThe design, manufacture and global transportation of the world’s largest autoclaves

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The grand voyageHatch designed the autoclaves and provided quality

assurance during fabrication. They were built by KNMProcess Systems Sdn Bhd in Gebeng, Malaysia. “We had twofull-time quality assurance inspectors on site throughout the33-month fabrication,” Fraser recalls.

The autoclaves were then shipped approximately 10 kilo-metres to the Kuantan Port using a 24-line, self-propelledmodular transporter (SPMT) heavy-haul unit. At the port,they were loaded on the Beluga Bremen, a P2-class shipowned by Beluga Charters out of Germany, for its maidenvoyage. The autoclaves were transported in two shipmentsof two autoclaves each on the Bremen, which used both ofits 750-tonne cranes and needed six hours to load the auto-claves from the SPMT into the cargo hold.

The ocean voyage took four weeks one way, headingthrough the Panama Canal to reach Samana in northeasternDominican Republic. “Samana is basically an old andunused former cruise ship pier that was refurbished for thePueblo Viejo project, including the autoclaves,” Fraserexplains. There, the autoclaves were transferred from theBremen onto a 4.9-metre-wide 22-line Goldhofer heavy-haultrailer unit to transport the autoclaves over 120 kilometresto the Pueblo Viejo site, a trek that took about 18 days, andhad to be repeated for each of the four autoclaves.

“I think I’ve walked every kilometre of that route – I’vedefinitely driven it many times,” says Fraser. “The Goldhofermoves at an average of two kilometres per hour and can onlyoperate during the daytime.”

Prior to the autoclaves arriving in the Dominican Repub-lic, the project of readying the route to get them to site tookabout 16 months. Due to the sheer size of the autoclaves,there were a lot of interference issues to deal with: trees,power lines, communications lines, signs in villages that hadbeen modified so they could rotate, and bridges (some hadbeen temporarily reinforced to support the excess weight ofthe load; others had metal ramp structures added along eachside to allow the Goldhofer to drive over them).

The actual trek across the land with the autoclavesrequired a number of teams. Heavy lifting and transport spe-cialist Mammoet Caribbean Inc. was responsible for drivingthe Goldhofer. A crane and ramp team moved the ramps –the team would go ahead, ramp up a bridge, and then oncethe Goldhofer crossed, dismantle the ramp, move ahead ofthe Goldhofer and ramp up the next bridge. A safety teamacted as an escort and ensured all were well-fed andhydrated, while also providing necessary crowd control neartowns.

Upon reaching the massive gates at Pueblo Viejo, whichis situated on a mountain, the autoclaves were transferredfrom the Goldhofer to an SPMT trailer unit, as it can rotateand manoeuvre tightly, using hydraulics for better accuracy.The autoclaves were transported to the north bench area ofthe project and negotiated into the autoclave building,where a jack-and-slide process was used to lift the largeitems to be slid sideways onto piers and lowered down onto


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two six-metre bearing plates and sixteen 70-millimetre-diameter anchor bolts. “The fit was perfect,” Fraser says.

By August, the first two autoclaves were on site, and theremaining two were there by mid-November.

Brick by brickThe autoclaves are constructed of carbon steel, with the

vessel shell made of 100-millimetre-thick plate. A lead liningwas put in during fabrication to protect the vessel shell fromcorrosion. A team of 12 lead burners from JL Goslar GmbH& Co. KG welded approximately 60 tonnes of lead into eachautoclave.

Currently, at site, a refractory brick lining is being put inthe autoclaves by Koch Knight LLC to thermally insulate theprocess and protect the vessel from the challenging condi-tions. The lining will be 300 millimetres thick, comprisingof four layers of brick. A team of 12 masons is working onsite laying 98,000 bricks in each autoclave.

“Bricking the autoclaves takes talent – there are manynozzles, openings for pipes, agitators, internal structuralcomponents and so on,” Fraser says, “all with specificdesigns to ensure they are protected thermally and chem-ically and perfectly fit. The brick work started at thebeginning of September 2010 and will finish at the end ofJune 2011.” CIM


(GIS) model to provide a framework for both the studyand remediation efforts. To accomplish this, EXTECHIII used MineSight from Tucson, Arizona-based MintecInc., a software system designed to bridge the consider-able gap between aging and archaic 2D data and a 3D model.

Garth Kirkham, of Vancouver-based KirkhamGeosystems, was responsible for integrating numerousdecades and vintages of geological mapping and sam-pling, exploration drilling, surface data and mining intoa 3D model.“The problem really came down to two fac-tors,” says Kirkham. “All of the historic data, for thisproject and many other legacy mine sites, is 2D andexists as large volumes of paper or linens.”

“Multiple grid systems were used for various reasonsand purposes,” he explains further. “This posed a prob-lem, linking the datasets and the mines together in 3Dnow that the whole belt was under one umbrella for thefirst time.The first step was to digitize the data, which waslaborious and time-consuming. Then this digitized datahad to be placed and referenced in three dimensions.”

Using MineSight, Kirkham archived vast amounts of his-torical data and visualized the risk areas among arsenicstopes. Drill targets for future exploration were also identi-fied. “The strength of the MineSight system is in its 3D mod-elling capabilities,” says Kirkham.“This allows the ‘linking’ ofthe 2D shapes into a 3D solid for visualization and for volu-metric analysis. The result was an accurate representation ofthe mineralized structures along with a complete picture ofthe mine workings.”

Data miningSurface features, surface geology, structural geology, cur-

rent and historic mining areas, and point sample data (geo-chemistry and whole rock) are all now incorporated into the3D GIS model. Also incorporated are production drilling andsurface and underground explorations (including more than60,000 drill holes). This has highlighted, in 3D, potentialgaps in the drilling and areas with exploration potential. Aswell, geochemical point data derived from more than 5,000analyses have also been incorporated and combined with thegeostatistical models, allowing for useful visual display andanalysis.

Kirkham says the process of scanning and digitizing thethousands of individual plans and sections, georeferencingand the subsequent modelling took more than two and a halfyears. “The ability to quickly digitize and integrate data inmany formats in 3D was invaluable,” he says. “By gettingeverything into MineSight, we were able to ensure that itexisted in electronic form in the system and export it intoAutoCAD.”

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Mapping the past reaps continual rewardsMineSight helps bridge the gap between 2D and 3D in Canada’s North

Picture the mess. Disintegrating paper data, rudimen-tary computer files close to obsolete – almost a cen-tury’s worth of valuable data from the historic Yel-lowknife Gold Camp on the verge of being lost or

destroyed. This was one of the major challenges facing mem-bers of the EXTECH III multi-disciplinary project inCanada’s Northwest Territories. Its mandate was to developnew ideas and technologies to help mining companies findnew reserves and deal with arsenic remediation issues.

EXTECH III began in 1997 as a collaboration of governmentscientists, private industry and seven Canadian universities.Among its priorities were bedrock mapping and geochronology,surficial mapping and geochemistry, geophysics, mineraldeposit studies, and data integration and delivery.

The Yellowknife camp is one of Canada’s major historicgold mining districts. The two largest past producers in thecamp, the Con and Giant mines, produced more than 5.5million and 7.1 million ounces of gold, respectively. But weakgold prices, diminishing reserves and the mining companies’wish to compare mineralization at Con and Giant led toEXTECH III. “It involved an incredible amount of work,”recalls Dean McDonald, former vice-president of explorationfor Miramar, then owner of Yellowknife Gold Camp. “It wasa project that some of us thought might be too ambitious.”

Building the 3D modelMuch of the records from the two mining camps existed

as old drill logs, plans, sections and sampling reports. Thisdata needed to be compiled and integrated into a compre-hensive three-dimensional geographic information system

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MineSight 3D software allows the user to digitize2D data such as geological maps, drilling andsurface data and convert it into a 3D model

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demonstrated their value by highlighting interesting new tar-gets that had previously been overlooked,” says Scott Cairns,chief geologist at Northwest Territories Geoscience Office.

Dr. Lyn Anglin, Natural Resources Canada co-manager ofthe EXTECH III project and now president and CEO of Geo-science BC, agrees. Kirkham’s work with MineSight, she says,“had, and continues to have, applications to mineral depositand structural studies of the mine, as well as to environmen-tal remediation work in the area.”

New version, new challengesLate last year, Mintec released version 6.0 of its 3D soft-

ware. It is being used by Kirkham to update a multi-discipli-nary 3D model of the Can Tung Mine north of Watson Lakein the Yukon, for the North American Tungsten Corp. Cur-rently, the software is being used in uranium exploration onInuit land in the territory of Nunavut.

Last Spring, Kirkham received the J.C. Sproule MemorialPlaque from the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgyand Petroleum (CIM) in recognition of his “Long-standingdedication to the development and practical utilization of 3Dgeological and geostatistical modelling for northern miningprojects.”

“The work and dedication that I am being recognized forhas all been done on the MineSight system and with Mintec’ssupport,” Kirkham said at the time. CIM

“Accurate models of the arsenic stopes were critical inidentifying their precise location,” explains Kirkham. “Mine-Sight was able to pinpoint exactly where those drill holesintersected stopes and drifts, which could be conduits forleakage and flow. Knowing whether these were potentialrisks for leaks in the future was critical.”

MineSight becomes the standard bearerThe results from the study were published in 2006, and

the valuable data unearthed from the project is being stillused today. The 3D model produced by EXTECH III hasbecome the benchmark at other historic mines undergoingexploration, mine planning and design.

“The 3D model that MineSight helped create became anamazing tool to use in exploration for extrapolating mineral,structural or geochemical trends and identifying new tar-gets,” says McDonald, currently vice-president of explorationfor Vancouver-based Hecla Mining.

“The work from EXTECH III has been a guide for explo-ration on other greenstone belts throughout the world,” saysMcDonald. “Had a similar 3D model been available 10 yearsearlier, with time to explore before the mines were depleted,I suspect there would still be gold production in the Yel-lowknife greenstone belt.”

That legacy is also recognized by government participantsin EXTECH III. “The ability to visualize these models often

Republished with permission of theInternational Institute for Sustainable

Development (IISD) www.iisd.org.


upfrontS U S T A I N A B I L I T Y b y L a u r e e n W h y t e

On November 2, 2010, Federal Environment MinisterJim Prentice announced that Mt. Milligan, Thomp-son Creek Metals Company’s copper-gold depositnear Fort St James, had been given the final go-

ahead, making it the first new major greenfield mine inBritish Columbia since the late nineties. The project’sapproval process was smoother than most, given the rela-tively small footprint due to existing road and power infra-structure, a pledge to avoid discharging surface water tonearby streams, and a site already decimated by the pinebeetle infestation.

But a big part of the project’s suc-cess stems from the work Ter-rane Metals undertook toengage with local com-munity stakeholders,prior to its acquisi-tion by ThompsonCreek. It was anapproach enabledby its adoption of the rigorous“Seven Questionsto Sustainability”framework. Stake-holders’ early and sig-nificant involvement in theapproval process helped notonly to ensure that local concerns

were met, but also that regulators facedmuch less political risk than usual.

A textbook caseTerrane Metals’ approach to getting the

Mt. Milligan project approved is textbookSeven Questions. The Seven Questions toSustainability framework was developedby the International Institute for Sustain-able Development’s Mining, Minerals andSustainable Development North Americaproject in 2002 to help international min-ing companies align their sustainabledevelopment goals with those of stake-holders.

Seven Questions assesses a project’scommitment to sustainability at eachphase of the mining cycle based on deepengagement and partnership with stake-holders. The tool guides companiesthrough the process of developing a sus-

tainability plan, taking into account the life cycle of a mineand all community and ecosystem factors affected by theproject’s reach. Using interrogative goal statements ratherthan a prescriptive set of rules, the framework also clarifiesthe economic, environmental, social and cultural costs, ben-efits and risks of putting sustainability concepts into prac-tice, enabling both the company and the community tobuild a concise sequence of actions and accountabilities.

For each of the Seven Questions and its subsets, an “idealanswer” provides the basis for objectives, from which indi-

cators are identified and metrics developed. Asthe discussion becomes more detail-ori-

ented, site-specific plans can bedeveloped for achieving the

objectives, including com-promises on how the

goals will be prioritizedand implemented.

Seven questions inaction

Terrane acquiredMt. Milligan in 2006

after previous ownerPlacer Dome’s mine

Mt. Milligan Community Sustainability Committee meeting in Prince George in 2009

Inspiring confidence in CSRSeven questions lead to successful community engagement in the Mt. Milligan project

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development certificateexpired. That spring,Terrane set about con-tacting local stakehold-ers and First Nations toidentify interests andconcerns. By summer, aproject description hadbeen filed with theBritish Columbia Envi-ronmental AssessmentOffice (BCEAO).

Terrane Metals’ cor-porate leaders wanted topursue an engagementplan that would helpthem build a sustainabil-ity strategy that was agood fit for Mt. Milliganand its stakeholders. Ofall the frameworks andguidance available to theminerals sector, theSeven Questions to Sus-tainability was adoptedas the most relevant anduseful tool for buildingthe strategy. As a result,consultation was earlyand tailored to the style

and needs of the communities through open houses anddinners, group discussions, meetings with elders and off-reserve residents. Through the initial rounds of communityconsultations, Terrane Metals responded to communityconcerns by relocating the water supply pond, realigningpart of the tailings dam and changing the location of theconcentrate load-out to avoid increased traffic through FortSt. James. Pleased that their voices were being heard, com-munity stakeholders, including the Macleod Lake IndianBand and other Treaty 8 First Nations, remained activelyinvolved with the project throughout its lengthy provincialand federal approval processes.

Stakeholders meetTo further deepen the dialogue between local communi-

ties and mine developers, Terrane decided to form a stake-holder committee. Potential participants, drawn frommunicipal and First Nation governments, economic devel-opment offices, educational and health institutions andlocal businesses, were identified using a standard stake-holder matrix and invited to work with the company on along-term strategy for sustainable development. At the firstmeeting, stakeholders were provided with detailed back-ground material on the proposed mine development andsamples of community-based planning in relation to indus-trial development (areas of priority, capacity building, asset


Conceptual and Feasibility Studies

ech TTechnical ReportsNI 43-101

g and DesignMine Plannin

and SimulationPlant Design

Project Management

MINING AND MET|ENERGY

Conceptual and Feasibility Studies

echnical Reports

g and Design

and Simulation

Project Management

ALS NING AND MET TALS

Project Management

EPCM Projects

ing AssistanceCommission

Process Optimization and Control

Project Management

ing Assistance

Process Optimization and Control

A measured response

Source: IISD


upfrontS U S T A I N A B I L I T Y

Endress+Hauser Canada Ltd/Ltée

W@MFREE:

Visit us:CIM Montreal

mapping). Once the stakeholders determined thatthey wanted to work with the company to createand implement a long-term vision and plan, theybegan defining the character and key values of thecommunities and how their assets – knowledge,expertise, infrastructure and services – could beused to enhance the benefits and minimize theimpacts of the Mt. Milligan Mine.

At this point, the stakeholders formed the Mt.Milligan Community Sustainability Committee(CSC). Committee members came from all over theregion, including the communities of Mackenzie,Fort St. James, Vanderhoof, Prince George,Macleod Lake, West Moberly and Nak’azdli. Thegroup worked together to determine how theywould operate and make decisions. Objectives,terms of reference and areas of focus were alsodrawn up.

As Mt. Milligan enters the first stage of con-struction, Terrane Metals and the communitieshave established an enduring partnership, aidedgreatly by the Seven Questions to Sustainability.This relationship of mutual respect and confidencewill remain well beyond the life of the mine. CIM

A framework for engagementOBJECTIVES:» To ensure that area residents would be regularly informed

about the operation of the mine. » To provide a forum for communities of interest to provide sug-

gestions and concerns to Terrane, and assist with the monitor-ing of project sustainability indicators.

» To ensure that Terrane Metals’ contributions to communitydevelopment are aligned with community priorities, ensuring aregional legacy that is environmentally and socially acceptable.

TERMS OF REFERENCE:» To provide a forum for information-sharing about the mine (by

Terrane Metals) and community priorities and issues (by com-mittee members).

» To advise Terrane Metals on the development and monitoring ofproject sustainability indicators, community development fund-ing and other areas as necessary.

» To foster partnerships and collaboration to achieve the project’sobjectives.

AREAS OF FOCUS:» Education & training » Business development » Health & safety» Environment » Community development

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Achallenging economic climate, a competitive global market,company expansion, a corpo-rate makeover and even

floods – these are just some of thechallenges for Zoë Yujnovich duringher first 12 months as president andCEO of the Iron Ore Company ofCanada (IOC), the country’s largestiron ore producer.

Yujnovich, 36, is the youngest per-son and first woman to head IOC, aleading global supplier of iron ore pel-lets and concentrates to steel produc-ers in North America, Europe andAsia. With mining, concentrator andpelletizing operations in LabradorCity, Newfoundland and Labrador, theMontreal-based company also oper-ates the Quebec North Shore andLabrador Railway to ship ore concen-trate and pellets from the mines to theport of Sept-Îles, Quebec. Educated inAustralia, Yujnovich is a veteran of theinternational mining group Rio Tinto,IOC’s major shareholder and operator.Prior to February 2010, she was pres-ident of Rio Tinto Brazil. CIM inter-viewed Yujnovich on the eve of herfirst anniversary at IOC.

CIM: It’s minus 18 today in Montreal.What was it like moving from the sunand beaches of Rio de Janeiro to comeand work in Canada?Yujnovich: We’ve moved a lot as a family. We have a daughterborn in Brazil, a son born in America and another daughterborn in Australia. Coming to Montreal was one of our easi-est transitions. Things function well here and we love theoutdoors. Last weekend we went snowshoeing. We makethe most of every place we live.

CIM: How would you compare the operating conditions in bothcountries?Yujnovich: The basic mining process around the world ispretty much the same. The differences between Brazil andCanada, I guess, are more around the people who work inthe mines and their cultural influences. Rio Tinto’s Brazil-ian iron ore operation actually won the Rio Tinto ChiefExecutive Safety Award three years in a row for Best in

Class Safety Performance. That’s notsomething that fits many people’simage of mining in Brazil. Theemployees were genuinely verythankful to be working in the mine.They saw it as a good job. They werewell trained, well paid by local stan-dards and had sustainable employ-ment for a long period of time. Theseare all things that cut to the core of adeveloping country. As a result, theworkforce was highly engaged, moti-vated and interested in the improve-ment of the workplace. We want togenerate a similar engagement herein our Canadian operation.

CIM: You came in with a mandate forchange. What have been the most sig-nificant areas that have beenaddressed to date?Yujnovich: The first one would bealigning the people in the businesswith what we need to deliver. Myexecutive team has undergone a num-ber of changes to make sure it has clarity about how we’re going to drivethe company forward.

The second main change hasinvolved sustainable developmentwhile changing the health, safety andenvironmental practices of the com-pany. We’ve had some great improve-ments over the past decade, butthere’s a need to seriously revamp

those aspects.And third is how we deliver. We’ve always had a clear pic-

ture of what we need to deliver, but how we do it has alwaysbeen a little more difficult to articulate. We spent a lot oftime in the past year constructing a compelling vision ofwhat we need to do differently.

IOC’s strategy is to be competitive in the global iron oreindustry. Historically, we’ve been very much a regionalplayer, appropriately, given the market into America andEurope. But being competitive on a global basis requiresus to think very differently about how we deliver ourproduct into the marketplace – predominantly China andAsia. While that’s interesting intellectually, practically, it’sdifficult to make that mean much to the broader work-force.

upfrontQ & A b y R i c h a r d A n d r e w s

We spent a lot of time in the past year constructing

a compelling vision of what

we need to do differently.

Iron woman’s global challengeAn ambitious agenda for IOC president

upfrontQ & A

CIM: How have you tackled that challenge?Yujnovich: We’ve been talking a lot about building communi-ties. That involves helping countries like China developinfrastructure such as buildings and bridges. We also helpbuild local communities and like to work in partnershipwith them.

In Labrador City we partnered withthe municipal and provincial govern-ments and contributed $600,000towards a CAT Scan for the local hos-pital. That’s because the communitytold us there was a most critical needfor diagnostic medical equipment.Similarly, we contributed $100,000 fora day care, which was needed.

Another example is in Sept-Îles,where we conducted campaigns withCentraide Canada to encourage localcommunity giving. A happy commu-nity ultimately affects our workforce.

CIM: To what extent has the bad press the mining industryreceived in the past driven such community involvement? Yujnovich: The reality for the mining industry is that badpress comes from a small number of players. Unfortunatelyfor the industry, people often don’t differentiate between thepoor performers and those that promote strong and sustain-able economic growth in the regions. IOC and Rio Tintodon’t contribute to the bad press, and community involve-ment is one of their fundamental values.

We have a strong legacy of building roads and schools inmining towns. We also understand that our licence to oper-ate in one place is fundamentally affected by how we operateelsewhere. So the mine here in Canada can affect how weaccess leases in western Africa. With globalization, thenature of this industry is much broader than it once was.

CIM: What have been the main challenges of your first year inoffice?Yujnovich: They are linked to IOC’s goal to be competitive inthe global market. Demand is primarily growing in a regionthat is very distant from us. To be competitive we have tofactor in extra considerations, such as shipping, to get ourproduct into the new market.

Internally, we have to make sure that the new pressuresencourage us to perform while we continue to do the rightthings for the health and safety of our employees, sustain-able development, stewardship of the land, training anddevelopment in the communities.

CIM: Given the recession and fluctuating commodity prices inrecent times, what do you see as the short- and long-termprospects for your industry? Yujnovich: The 2008 to 2009 global financial crisis showed usthat things happen much more quickly than they used to. Sowhen there’s a ripple effect or an imbalance between coun-

tries, it rapidly results in either an oversupply of product ora significant rise in demand. We remain optimistic about thefuture of iron ore, largely because we see continued demandin Asian countries. Apart from China, we see strong longerterm demand from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India and others.

The global financial crisis alsomeant that supply into those marketswas slower than anticipated, so I thinkthere’ll be an imbalance in supply anddemand for some time. We’re reallyworking to meet that demand, so ifthere is a dip in the markets we caninsulate ourselves to some extent bybeing a competitive supplier, withoutmaking drastic changes to the way weoperate.

CIM: India recently announced plans to double expenditure on economic andsocial infrastructure to about $1 trillionbetween 2012 and 2017. How significant

is India’s growth to your industry? Yujnovich: I think the jury’s still out on that. It’s unquestion-able that India will play a strong part in the future. The ques-tion for me is when? Rio Tinto is already working to bringinto production an iron ore deposit in the eastern state ofOrissa. At the moment, India is not showing the signs ofdemand that we’re seeing in China, but I do think it’s likelywe’ll see that change in the near term.

CIM: You were invited to address the Global Summit of Womenin Washington on the theme of “Creating a level playing field forwomen.” From your perspective, is that battle still to be won?Yujnovich: It’s hard to ask someone in a role like mine toknow whether the odds are against you or with you. I’veworked hard and always felt I’ve been rewarded for thateffort. I don’t think there are any free tickets to a promotionor an opportunity. You have to prove you can deliver.

CIM: Nevertheless, mining has traditionally been a male-dominated industry. Do you think there is a glass ceiling?Yujnovich: It might be the case in some companies, but cer-tainly not within Rio Tinto. Every year we’re increasing thenumber of women in senior leadership roles. There’s been atransition in the industry. As we enter more global marketswe’re not only seeing more gender diversity but also morecultural diversity than existed five years ago.

CIM: From 1977 to 1983, Brian Mulroney was sitting in yourchair and then went on to become prime minister. Do you havesimilar ambitions?Yujnovich: My philosophy is that you live as much as youpossibly can in the present. I like to think that my role todayis to be a good mother and to lead IOC into the best possibleposition for future generations. So, for now, I’ve got my workcut out for me. CIM


I’ve worked hard and always felt I’ve beenrewarded for that effort. I don’t think there are

any free tickets to a promotion

or an opportunity. You have to prove you can deliver.

As a major competitor in the global miningarena, Canada relies on many strengths. Thereis, of course, the sheer enormity of the coun-try’s mineral wealth, without which the industrycould never have been conceived. There is

also the network of training programs and educationalinstitutions whose graduates are in such high demand, notonly in Canada, but around the globe. A less-recognized,

yet absolutely vital pillar of the Canadian mining industry isthe extensive, hugely complex and constantly expandingtransport network.The globalization of trade now demands that raw mate-

rials move from pit to rail to port and then traverse oceansto feed the mills in Asia and Europe, whose economies arehungry for our metallurgical coal and ores. Industrializationcontinues to provide the means for hundreds of millions to

Moving millionsCanada’s mining production in motionby Dan Zlotnikov


eat more of the foods that we Canadians take for granted— foods that demand fertilizers this country produces tokeep pace with that growing appetite.Without a way to transport your product to the customer,

though, you might as well have left it in the ground. Manyof the major logistical challenges inherent in a supply chainare not readily apparent to the casual observer, yet must besolved or prevented by the carriers on a daily basis. “I always like to say that we’re out there with oil cans

every day to resolve the minor things, to make it flow assmoothly as possible to end customers,” says Steve Dou-ville, director of distribution and logistics for Vale. “Our goalis to be invisible, to look like a plant has produced some-thing and a salesman has sold it and away it goes.”

A challenge at the best of timesThe volume of product to be transported and the dis-

tances it must travel mean being invisible is far from easy;any small glitch, magnified by a few hundred kilometresand many hundreds, or even hundreds of thousands, oftonnes does not stay small for very long. And since thename of the game is efficiency, both mine operators andcarrier capacity providers work around the clock to preventor minimize these glitches.To put the challenge in perspective, one need only look

at the amounts. According to Statistics Canada, in 2009,mining industry output accounted for almost 107 milliontonnes of railway revenue freight. As a number of projectsaround the country are expected to come online, mineoperators will look to the rail system as the transportmethod of choice.Just as the rail system is of vital importance to Canada’s

miners, the reverse is also true. According to StatisticsCanada, between 2002 and 2009, mined products havebeen consistently responsible for over half of all revenuefreight transported by rail. In 2009, the mining sectoraccounted for 44 per cent of all freight shipped by rail inthat year. The second largest sector, grain, accounted for15 per cent.The country’s rail carriers are well aware of the need for

added capacity and are working to meet the upcomingdemand. Canadian National (CN) says it will spend $1.7billion in 2011 on capital projects, $1 billion of that amounton laying new track and improving existing lines. CanadianPacific (CP) says its outlay will be around $1 billion onprojects this year, with the bulk devoted to track infrastruc-ture renewal and productivity enhancements.One company faced with the need for expansion is

Saskatoon-based Canpotex – the world’s largest potashexporter. Canpotex president and CEO Steve Dechka saysthe world demand for potash is only expected to rise. Supporting Dechka’s statement is Scotiabank’s January

Commodity Price Index report, which states, “We expectthe agricultural environment to be one of the best everseen for fertilizer application in 2011, lifting demand andprices for potash.”Canpotex currently uses its custom-built fleet of some

5,000 rail cars to transport potash from the Saskatchewanmines to Neptune Bulk Terminals in Vancouver, a trek ofaround 1,600 kilometres each way, and to Portland termi-nals in Oregon, 1,800 kilometres each way. The companyis working with Canadian Pacific Railway to expand physi-cal rail capacity and further its strategy of increasing thelength of its trains, says Canpotex vice-president of opera-tions Scott Rudderham.“The limiting factor is the capacity of the sidings,” Rud-

derham explains. Because both CP and CN have only onemain rail line, they use sidings – offshoots of track from themain line – to allow trains to pass each other. It is thelength of these sidings that determine the maximum num-ber of cars a train can have when passing another train.Rudderham says that part of CP Rail’s infrastructure


mining in motion

Courtesy of CN

Canadian National announced that it will invest $1.7 billion in 2011 to build moretracks and improve railway infrastructure.

expansion will be to lengthen the sidings in strategic loca-tions, facilitating more long trains on their system, but thisis not always possible.“It depends on where some of those sidings are

located,” he says. “If they are in the Canadian Rockies, youare going to be limited by the geography that they have todeal with, so they can’t necessarily lengthen all of them.They are trying to do as much as they possibly can.”Canpotex, whose custom-designed 47-foot cars allow

the company to maximize the number of cars it can fit on the current sidings, is hoping to move up to lengths ofas many as 170 cars per train, going from the current

maximum of 15,000 metric tonnes to as much as 17,500tonnes per train, further increasing the efficiency of itstransport network.

In search of capacityThe expansion of rail infrastructure could not have come

at a better time for Fortune Minerals’ Mount Klappan proj-ect in western British Columbia. The project is anadvanced-stage anthracite development with reserves of100 million tonnes and a resource of 2.8 billion tonnes.Unfortunately, the local rail operator’s haulage rates weresuch that the option was deemed uneconomical, and the

company was left with trucking as theonly alternative.Trucking the coal would have pre-

sented a number of challenges,explains Fortune Minerals presidentRobin Goad. The company would havehad to “construct a 100-kilometregreenfields road to connect to Highway37, and another 150 kilometres to theport of Stewart,” he says. “This wouldhave meant a truck passing throughdowntown Stewart every 10 minutes,24/7.” The truck option would have alsoput a hard limit on future expansioncapacity, adds Goad. This considerationwas especially important when railagain became an economical choice.Last year, Goad explains, CN Rail,

which had previously acquired the long-term lease on the track leading to themine, made a more competitive offer,which Fortune Minerals accepted.


mining in motion

Courtesy of Westshore Terminals

Westshore Terminals, south of Vancouver, ships about 21 million tonnes of coal annually.


mining in motion

The track, which requires upgrading and extension along theexisting right-of-way and roadbed, will allow the mine to notonly match the maximum trucking capacity of three milliontonnes per year, but to go far beyond. “We will have theoption of going up to five, six or ten million tonnes perannum,” says Goad.Of course, capacity is also a challenge at the end of the

rail journey, especially when it comes to the West Coast.Ridley Terminals, the main freight facility serving B.C.’s coalproducers, has plans underway for doubling its capacity to24 million tonnes per year by 2015. But competition fortransport capacity is mounting. New projects such asMount Klappan and existing ones such as Teck Resources’Quintette Mine coming online will be faced with growingpressure from companies south of the border. Ridley Ter-minals, Inc. (RTI) recently signed an agreement with ArchCoal, the United States’ second-largest coal producer, forthe use of up to 2.5 million tonnes per year. The agreementquickly attracted heavy criticism from Canada’s coal indus-try over concerns that RTI will not have sufficient capacityto meet the country’s own shipping needs.Counter to that position is RTI’s announcement that the

revenue from the new agreement will be sufficient to repay75 per cent of the loans the company needs to fund itsexpansion plans. Nor is the cross-border capacity exchangeunidirectional — Canpotex has been using bulk terminalfacilities in Portland, Oregon for a number of years.

Further alleviating the capacity pressures are B.C.’slower mainland Westshore and Neptune terminals. West-shore alone has been shipping 21 million tonnes of coalannually. (Neptune Terminals, North America’s largestmulti-product bulk terminal, shipped a further 5.5 milliontonnes of coal in 2010, a 30 per cent jump from the previous year.)In addition to projects to increase capacity, exporters

have been working on making use of alternate shippingapproaches. In particular, the Mining Association ofCanada 2010 Facts and Figures report highlights the largenumber of freight containers bringing finished goods toCanada, but then returning to Asia empty. According to thereport, “Some agri-food products are now being shipped incontainers rather than in bulk and a similar trend maydevelop in the mining sector.”

Go eastWith so much attention — and pressure — focused on

Canada’s western coast and Asia-bound shipments, it isworth remembering that marine transport can get quite aways inland from Canada’s Atlantic shore. Terence Bowles,president and CEO of the St. Lawrence Seaway Manage-ment Corporation, points out that cargoes can travel by shipas far west as Duluth, Minnesota. The combined Great LakeSeaway System spans 3,700 kilometres and offers 50 portsalong the route. Canpotex already uses this option, shipping


mining in motion

potash to its eastern customers via Thunder Bay. It is alsoan important route for oil sands operations along which pre-frabricated modules are brought from overseas.Bowles also highlights another important consideration.

Marine transport is more efficient, and far less carbon-intensive, than trucking. According to a study cited by Sea-way officials, marine freight is more than four times as fuelefficient as trucking, and 70 per cent more efficient thanrail. The Seaway System also serves as a route to one ofCanada’s more extreme mining locations, Vale’s Voisey’sBay Mine in Newfoundland.

Going to extremesWhen it comes to moving bulk cargos, Canada’s winters

can be pretty challenging, but parts of the country are farmore taxing than others. The Voisey’s Bay Mine is in onesuch example as it is hundreds of kilometres from majorcentres of population, on the eastern shores of Newfound-land. The mine flies its 450 staff in and out, but even at thecurrent prices of around $27,000 per tonne, nickel cannoteconomically be shipped by air. The solution was to sendthe product by sea, says Vale’s Douville, but this was notexactly easy. To meet the challenge of Newfoundland’swinter seas, the ship had to be able to crunch through iceup to 20 metres thick.

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“We worked with a company called Fednav to build anice-going vessel, a very high ice class vessel,” Douvilleexplains. A high ice class means a reinforced and speciallyshaped hull, and protection for the ship’s screws and rud-ders to avoid damage from the ice. The result is one of thehighest ice class bulk carriers in the world, the Umiak I.Completed in 2006, the Umiak I now makes 12 trips a

year between Voisey’s Bay and the port of Quebec, movingover 350,000 tonnes of nickel concentrate annually.Despite the extreme conditions the vessel faces every win-ter, Fednav’s operations manager for Canarctic, Tim Keane,is not concerned. “In the 13 years that we’ve been going upto the Arctic in winter months, we have always succeededin doing so,” he says.The Voisey’s Bay operation is by no means the limit the

Canadian logistics chain is expected to reach. The MaryRiver Project, currently under development by Baffinland IronMines, is intended to be a large open pit iron mine in thenorth of Baffin Island. The project, which is expected to reachproduct volumes of three million tonnes per year by 2014, isgoing to offer a new level of challenge to Canada’s transportproviders. But a proven history of ingenuity and innovationgive the miners certainty that the logistics specialists canrise to the challenge of not only moving the nation’s mineralwealth, but doing so almost invisibly. CIM


l’exploitation minière en mouvement

C’est grâce à ses nombreux points forts que le Canadaa su prendre place parmi les joueurs d’enverguredans l’arène mondiale du secteur minier. Quoique

moins bien connu, il demeure que le réseau de transportconstitue un élément tout à fait crucial de l’industrie minière,et il s’agit d’un élément d’une vaste portée, excessivementcomplexe et dont l’expansion continue sans cesse.Sans disposer de moyens rentables et efficaces pour

transporter votre produit à vos clients, vous êtes aussi biende le laisser au fond de la mine. Bon nombre des plus impor-tants défis logistiques d’une chaîne d’approvisionnement nesont pas faciles à déceler pour un simple observateur, maisceux-ci sont néanmoins surmontés tous les jours. « Nous avons pour objectif d’être invisibles, pour qu’il

semble qu’une usine a produit quelque chose, le vendeur l’avendu et puis le produit est parti », explique Steve Douville,directeur de la distribution et de la logistique chez Vale.

Un défi, même quand tout va àmerveilleSi le système ferroviaire revêt une importance cruciale

pour les mineurs canadiens, l’inverse est tout aussi vrai.Selon Statistiques Canada, les produits des mines ontcompté, entre 2002 et 2009, de façon constante pour plusde la moitié du fret payant transporté par chemin de fer. En2009, le secteur minier a représenté 44 pour cent detoutes les cargaisons transportées par chemin de fer aucours de l’année. Le grain arrive en deuxième en impor-tance avec 15 pour cent.Les transporteurs ferroviaires canadiens sont tous bien

conscients du besoin d’accroître la capacité de transport ets’efforcent de satisfaire à la demande. Le CanadienNational (CN) a déclaré avoir attribué 1,7 milliard de dollarsà des projets d’immobilisations en 2011, dont un milliardde dollars ira à la pose de nouvelles voies ferrées et à

l’amélioration des voies existantes. Quant au CanadienPacifique (CP), la société prévoit dépenser un milliard dedollars au cours de l’année, dont la majorité ira au renou-vellement de l’infrastructure ferroviaire et à des améliora-tions de la productivité.Parmi les entreprises éprouvant un besoin de crois-

sance se trouve Canpotex, société établie à Saskatoon etle plus important exportateur de potasse du monde. Selonle président et chef de la direction de Canpotex, SteveDechka, la demande mondiale en potasse ne peut qu’aug-menter. Canpotex a recours à sa flotte d’environ 5 000wagons construits sur mesure pour transporter la potassesur une distance de 1 600 kilomètres dans une directionseulement depuis les mines de la Saskatchewan jusqu’auxterminaux de Neptune à Vancouver, et à une distance de1 800 kilomètres jusqu’aux terminaux de Portland, en Ore-gon. « La société collabore avec le Canadien Pacifiquepour accroître les capacités physiques des voies ferrées etaugmenter la longueur des trains », a souligné Scott Rud-derham, vice-président des opérations chez Canpotex.Grâce à ses wagons construits sur mesure d’une

longueur de 47 pieds (un peu plus de 14 mètres), Canpo-tex peut déjà maximiser le nombre de wagons qu’elle peutinclure sur les voies d’évitement existantes, mais espèreprolonger les trains pour inclure jusqu’à 170 wagons partrain, ce qui ferait passer la capacité maximale actuelle de15 000 tonnes métriques à 17 500 tonnes par train.

À la recherche de plus de capacitéLa croissance de l’infrastructure ferroviaire ne peut pas

arriver en temps plus opportun pour le projet du MountKlappan de Fortune Minerals situé dans l’ouest de laColombie-Britannique. Ce projet de développement main-tenant à un stade avancé concerne une mine d’anthracitecontenant des réserves de 100 millions de tonnes et un

Le déplacement de millions

Le secteur minier a représenté 44 pour centdu fret total transporté par rail en 2009.

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l’exploitation minière en mouvement

gisement de 2,8 milliards de tonnes. Malheureusement, lestaux de convoyage du service ferroviaire local étaient peurentables, ce qui ne laissait à la société minière que le con-voyage par camions comme unique solution de rechange.Comme l’a expliqué le président de la société, Robin Goad,le transport par camions du charbon aurait entraîné denombreux défis. Ainsi, la société devait « construire deszones vertes pour 100 kilomètres de route afin d’atteindrel’autoroute 37, puis 150 kilomètres de plus pour atteindrele port de Stewart. »L’an dernier, le Canadien National a présenté une offre

intéressante, que Fortune Minerals a acceptée. La voie fer-rée permet à la mine de dépasser la capacité maximaledes camions par trois millions de tonnes par année. « Deplus, nous avons la possibilité d’aller jusqu’à cinq, six ou dixmillions de tonnes par an », a ajouté Robin Goad. La capacité demeure un défi au terme du voyage par

train, et surtout sur la côte du Pacifique. Les installationsmarchandises de Ridley Terminals constituent la ressourceprincipale pour les entreprises houillères de la Colombie-Britannique, et Ridley prévoit doubler sa capacité jusqu’àatteindre 24 millions de tonnes par an d’ici 2015. Cepen-dant, la demande de capacité de transport ne cesse decroître : de nouveaux projets comme celui de Mount Klap-pan, ainsi que des projets existants comme la mine Quin-tette de Teck Resources où la production vient de débuter,devront contrer les pressions croissantes de sociétésminières au sud du 49e parallèle. Ridley Terminals, Inc. (RTI)a d’ailleurs récemment conclu une entente avec Ach Coal,la deuxième plus importante société houillère des États-Unis, pour faire passer jusqu’à 2,5 millions de tonnes par anpar ses terminaux. Cette entente s’est attirée de dures cri-tiques suscitées par les préoccupations de l’industrie houil-lère canadienne. Pour défendre sa position, RTI a annoncéque les revenus que l’entreprise tirera de cette entente luipermettront de régler 75 pour cent des prêts qu’elle devracontracter pour financer ses projets d’agrandissement. Parailleurs, ces échanges transfrontaliers pour satisfaire desbesoins de capacité ne s’effectuent certes pas que dans unsens : Canpotex a recours aux terminaux vraquiers de Port-land en Oregon depuis plusieurs années déjà.Les terminaux de Westshore et Neptune dans la vallée

du Bas-Fraser servent à pallier les besoins pressants decapacité. La société Westshore expédie 21 millions detonnes de charbon par an. Quant à Neptune, cette sociétépossède le plus important terminal vraquier pour produitsmultiples en Amérique du Nord, et ses terminaux ont servià expédier six millions de tonnes de charbon supplémen-taires en 2010, soit une hausse de 50 pour cent par rap-port à l’année précédente.

Un regard vers l’estAlors que la côte ouest du Canada et les cargaisons à

destination de l’Asie font l’objet de tant d’attention et depressions, il est toujours utile de souligner que le transportmaritime peut se rendre assez loin à l’intérieur du paysdepuis la côte atlantique canadienne. Le président et chef

de la direction de la Corporation de Gestion de la Voie Mar-itime du Saint-Laurent (CGVMSL), M. Terence Bowles, asouligné que les cargaisons peuvent se rendre par bateauaussi loin à l’ouest que Duluth, au Minnesota. Le réseaucombinant les Grands Lacs et la Voie maritime du Saint-Laurent couvre 3 700 kilomètres et compte 50 ports surson parcours. Canpotex a déjà recours à cette solutionpour expédier sa potasse à ses clients de l’est du Canadaen passant par Thunder Bay. Il s’agit aussi d’une voieimportante pour les activités liées aux sables bitumineuxpar le biais de modules préfabriqués importés de l’étranger.Selon une étude à laquelle se sont référés les représen-

tants de la CGVMSL, le transport maritime est quatre foisplus économique que le camionnage et 70 pour cent pluséconomique que le transport ferroviaire. De plus, le réseaude la Voie maritime représente une voie d’accès à l’une desrégions minières les plus éloignées au Canada, la mine dela société Vale à Voisey’s Bay, à Terre-Neuve.

Passer aux extrêmesLorsqu’il s’agit de transporter des cargaisons en vrac, il

y a des régions du pays qui présentent plus de difficultésque d’autres. La mine de Voisey’s Bay est située sur la côteest de Terre-Neuve, à des centaines de kilomètres de cen-tres de population importants. Les 450 employés de lasociété minière s’y rendent et en reviennent par avion, maismême si le nickel se vend à l’heure actuelle à un taux de27 000 $ la tonne, ce n’est toujours pas rentable d’ex-pédier le minerai par voie aérienne. La solution était doncle transport maritime, comme nous l’explique Steve Dou-ville. De plus, afin de naviguer les eaux de Terre-Neuvependant l’hiver, le navire devait être en mesure de broyerdes glaces pouvant atteindre une épaisseur de 20 mètres.« Nous avons collaboré avec la société Fednav pour

construire un vaisseau brise-glace de très haut calibre »,nous explique M. Douville. Un vaisseau brise-glace de trèshaut calibre réfère à la présence d’une coque renforcéed’une forme particulière et d’éléments de protection desgouvernails et des écrous, afin d’éviter les dommages quepourrait causer la glace. Achevé en 2006, l’Umiak Ieffectue maintenant 12 voyages par an entre Voisey’s Bayet le port de Québec et transporte plus de 350 000 tonnesde minerai de nickel concentré par année.L’exploitation minière de Voisey’s Bay ne représente

certes pas la limite que peut comporter la chaîne d’approvi-sionnement. Ainsi, des travaux préparatoires sont en courspour le projet de la rivière Mary mené par Baffinland IronMines, laquelle prévoit exploiter une large mine de fer à cielouvert au nord de l’île de Baffin. Ce projet est censé pro-duire des volumes de trois millions de tonnes par an d’ici2014 et représente aussi un défi d’un tout nouvel ordrepour les fournisseurs de services de transport. Cependant,l’ingéniosité et l’innovation dont ont fait preuve les trans-porteurs à maintes reprises par le passé ont servi à conva-incre les mineurs que ceux-ci pourront relever ce nouveaudéfi et transporter les ressources minérales de la nation,mais aussi qu’ils le feront de façon presque invisible. ICM


project profile

“T

Future growth built oniron ore legacy

by | Correy Baldwin

Sixty years ago, the town of Schefferville, Quebec, was built to supportthe nearby mine in the Labrador Trough. Thirty years later, mine operationsceased. The management at Labrador Iron Mines has scraped the rust fromthe once-thriving projects – complete with roads, rail connection andpower station – and added new life to the iron rich region.

“The best place to look for a new mine is beside an old mine,”says John Kearney, CEO of Labrador Iron Mines (LIM).Following this strategy, LIM is developing the ScheffervilleProjects, an area operated by the Iron Ore Company ofCanada (IOC) for over 25 years.

The Projects lie in the iron-rich Labrador Trough that runsthrough western Labrador and northeastern Quebec. TheTrough region has long been the centre of iron mining in

Canada and is one of the major iron ore-producing regions ofthe world.

IOC moved into the area in 1950 and over the next fouryears completed one of the largest civil construction projectsin Canadian history. They developed a mine site and thecompany town of Schefferville, constructed the Sept-Îlesshipping terminal on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and built a565-kilometre rail line connecting the two sites.

The plant is located one kilometre from the first deposit to be mined.

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“There was absolutely nothing there before IOCarrived,” explains Kearney. “There was no town; there wasnot even a camp. IOC built everything – from the roads tothe railroad, the power station, the airport, the hospital, theschools and the gymnasium – everything.” But then IOCshut down operations in 1982, leaving behind the extensiveinfrastructure, as well as 250 million tonnes of mineablereserves.

When Kearney came across the Projects in 2004, he imme-diately saw an opportunity. “I was attracted to this historicmining area that still had a significant resource and infrastruc-ture and was not mined out,” he says. “I also was intrigued byiron ore. I can’t claim that I foresaw the increase in demandthat it has reached today, but I certainly thought the futurefor iron ore was going to be pretty good.” And he was right.Global demand for iron ore is on the rise, in large part becauseof growing markets like China and India.

At the time, Kearney was chairman of the UK companyAnglesey Mining. After conducting an early exploration,drilling and sampling program in 2005 and 2006, Angleseyset up Labrador Iron Mines, which acquired a 100 per centinterest in the project under an initial price offering in2007.

Building on a strong foundationLabrador Iron Mines is set to begin operations in April, and

during this initial production year expects to mine about twomillion tonnes of iron ore. Subsequent years should see thisamount increase to about four million tonnes and then laterto six million tonnes per year.

The company carried out an extensive exploration programthroughout 2008 and 2009, with 5,364 metres drilled and2,459 metres trenched, increasing the 150 million tonnes ofhistorical resources on the property and qualifying about afifth of it to date as NI 43-101 compliant. They also com-pleted an environmental baseline analysis, as well as studieson railway and shipping port use.

The environmental assessment and mine permittingprocess for the first-stage James and Redmond deposits werecompleted within two years. “A rather remarkable progressrecord,” says Donna Yoshimatsu, vice-president and head ofinvestor relations for LIM. “Permits for future phases andstages will be sought in due course and NI 43-101 reports willbe prepared in sequence.”

The existing infrastructure gave LIM a huge advantage.Access roads, water supply and sewage facilities werealready available when LIM moved in, as was access to an

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airport, railway and shipping port. “The make or break of anybulk commodity mining operation is infrastructure,” saysYoshimatsu. “The existing infrastructure here was put inplace by IOC for these very deposits. That’s why we’re heretoday, and why we can keep our capital expenditures in thelowest quartile.”

Some upgrades have been required. LIM uses expert con-tractors skilled in construction in the northern climates. Thefirst major construction activity was re-establishing a 4.5-kilometre spur line to connect the processing site to theSchefferville-Sept-Îles main line. Installation of the newtrack along the existing rail bed was completed in 2010 andthen used to bring in the main components of the process-ing plant and accommodation camp. The track will be usedto move the initial shipments of sample ore and to movethe iron ore when the mine goes into full production. Toreduce capital costs, LIM will lease the railway cars.

LIM is also planning to improve processing plant featuresthat will increase capacity, recover fines and lower grade ore.Ore will be crushed and washed at a beneficiation plant, withexpected recoveries of 70 to 80 per cent. It is also a veryclean operation that will not produce any tailings. The bene-ficiation plant has a design capacity to process 10,000tonnes of ore per day. Processing will increase the productgrade from 57 per cent to at least 62 to 63 per cent iron, andwill produce both coarse lump ore and a finer sinter feed.

LIM will be developing 20 direct shipping ore (DSO)deposits – the first time in nearly three decades that theTrough region has seen DSO production. The property fea-tures several brownfield sites, which are stripped but notmined. LIM plans to develop and mine the deposits in fourstages, starting with those located closest to existing infra-structure.

The James deposit, located just one kilometre from theprocessing area, and the Redmond deposit are slated to bemined first. They are accessible by existing gravel roads andhave combined Indicated Resources of 11 million tonnes. TheHouston deposit, 18 kilometres southeast of Schefferville andalso connected by gravel roads, has Indicated Resources of19.57 million tonnes.

The rest of the deposits on the property, with a combinedhistorical resource of 125 million tonnes, are less accessible.Some of the larger later stage deposits are currently onlyaccessible by helicopter or float plane. The iron ore will beshipped out by rail to the port at Sept-Îles, where it will mostlikely be sent to steel mills in Europe or Asia.

The mine will initially employ 60 workers in the earlystages and increase to 110 once production is in full swing.LIM has engaged Innu Municipal to handle the hiring andtraining of the hourly wage workforce.

The only snag is the difficult local winter weather condi-tions, which will squeeze the processing schedule into a tight


project profile

From left to right: Bulk sample shipment in transit; a 4.5-kilometre rail spur was completed last June; LIM has benefited from existing infrastructure and pre-stripped sites.


project profile

seven- to eight-month period (between 212 and 240 days)from April to November.

A northern renaissanceIOC’s original rail line is still in use, although the north-

ern section has seen a change in ownership. It is now run byTshiuetin Rail Transportation (TSH), aconsortium of First Nations communi-ties and Canada’s first Aboriginal-owned railway. LIM recently finalized ahaulage agreement with TSH for 2011.

“Our location has a rather uniquesituation,” explains Kearney. “There area number of different First Nations,each of whom have Aboriginal rights inthe area.” In fact, there are four FirstNations communities in the area. LIMhas negotiated IBAs with the LabradorInnu, the Naskapi Nation ofKawawachikamach, and two QuebecInnu nations, the Matimekush-Lac Johnand the Uashat and Mani-Utenam (theUashaunnuat).

Much effort has gone into gaining thesupport of the First Nations communi-ties, and LIM is keen to see that local

people get the most out of the employment and businessopportunities that come with mine operations. “Our objectiveand policy is to partner with these communities to ensurethat they participate and benefit to the greatest extent pos-sible from the development of the Projects,” says Kearney.“There’s also a value that they can bring. They have traditional

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knowledge, and they know how to work in this part of thecountry.”

A resurgence in iron mining in the area is also good newsfor the town of Schefferville, which lost two-thirds of its pop-ulation and fell into an economic depression when IOCmoved out. “At that time, IOC was owned by the major U.S.steel companies, and their main objective was to make surethat the steel companies had enough iron ore,” explainsKearney. “Once they had enough iron ore from their CarolLake Mine near Labrador City to supply their requirements,they didn’t need the Schefferville Projects.”

“They were motivated by the requirements of the steelcompany and not by the motivations of a mining company,”Kearney adds. “In my opinion, a mining company would neverhave walked away from Schefferville.”

Kearney believes that Schefferville will once again becomethe gateway to northeastern Quebec, helping to play a vitalrole in Plan Nord, the Quebec government’s economic devel-opment plan for its northern region.

Yoshimatsu echoes these expectations. “LIM’s restart ofthese operations should create significant jobs and trainingfor the local people, which in turn will engender other servicesand industries. It will undoubtedly energize the economy ofthe region.” CIM

project profile


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L’Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue(UQAT) et l’Institut canadien des mines, de la métal-lurgie et du pétrole (ICM) vous invitent à Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, Canada, du 6 au 9 novembre2011, à l’occasion du Symposium 2011 sur l’envi-ronnement et les mines.

Le Symposium est le résultat d’une collaboration entrela Chaire CRSNG Polytechnique-UQAT en environ-nement et gestion des rejets miniers, l’Unité derecherche et de service en technologie minérale

(URSTM), l’Association minière du Québec (AMQ), leProgramme de neutralisation des eaux de drainage dans

l’environnement minier (NEDEM), le ministère des Ressourcesnaturelles et de la Faune du Québec (MRNF) et l’industrie.

Les objectifs du Symposium visent à partager les connais-sances les plus récentes et à discuter des expériences

pratiques afin de « trouver des solutions pour con-cilier rentabilité et protection de l’environ-nement ».

Chaire CRSNG Polytechnique - UQATen environnement et gestion des rejets miniers

Dimanche 6 novembre : Cours intensifLundi et mardi 7 et 8 novembre : Programme technique portant sur :

• Rejets de concentrateur• Remblayage souterrain

• Roches stériles• Politique et réglementation & Mines et société

• Qualité des eaux• Restauration des sites

• Nouvelles tendances

Mardi 8 novembre : Séance plénièreMercredi 9 novembre : Visites de sites

Un salon commercial se tiendra aussi parallèlement au programme technique des 7 et 8 novembre.

Suivez les publications de l’ICM pour plus de détails et visitez notre site web (accessible prochainement) à : www.cim.org/Symposium2011

Pour plus d’information, contactez : Chantal Murphy (ICM) : 1-800-667-1246

SYMPOSIUM 2011 • ROUYN-NORANDASUR L’ENVIRONMENT ET LES MINES • MINES AND THE ENVIRONMENT

À METTRE IMMÉDIATEMENT À VOTRE AGENDAROUYN-NORANDA, QUÉBEC, CANADA — LES 6, 7, 8 ET 9 NOVEMBRE 2011


projet en vedette

LPerspectives de croissance reposant

sur l’héritage du minerai de ferLe projet concerne la fosse du Labrador riche en fer qui s’étend de l’ouest du Labrador jusqu’au nord-est du Québec.La fosse du Labrador a longtemps été le siège de l’exploitationdu fer au Canada et constitue l’une des principales régionsproductrices de minerai de fer dans le monde. « Le meilleurendroit pour dénicher une nouvelle mine est près d’une anci-enne mine », de dire John Kearney, président et directeurgénéral de Labrador Iron Mines (LIM). Dans l’esprit d’une tellestratégie, LIM développe actuellement le projet deSchefferville, une région exploitée par la Compagnie minièreIOC depuis plus de 25 ans.

La Compagnie minière IOC est arrivée dans la région en1950 et dans les quatre années qui ont suivi, a mis sur piedl’un des plus importants projets de construction civile dansl’histoire canadienne. IOC a développé un site minier et laville de société de Schefferville, et a construit le terminal d’ex-pédition de Sept-Îles sur le golfe du Saint-Laurent et une voieferrée de 565 km reliant les deux sites.

« Il n’y avait absolument rien là-bas avant l’arrivée de laCompagnie minière IOC. Pas de ville, même pas de site »,explique M. Kearney. « Ils ont tout construit – des routes à lavoie ferrée, la centrale électrique, l’aéroport, l’hôpital, lesécoles et le gymnase – vraiment tout. »

Toutefois, en 1982, c’est la fin de l’exploitation minière àSchefferville. IOC cesse ses opérations, laissant derrière ellel’infrastructure ainsi que 250 millions de tonnes de ressourcesexploitables.

Quand M. Kearney prend connaissance des projets en2004, il y voit une occasion à saisir. « J’ai été attiré par ce siteminier historique qui regorgeait toujours de ressources et quidisposait d’une infrastructure non exploitée », explique JohnKearney.

À ce moment-là, M. Kearney agissait à titre de président dela compagnie britannique Anglesey Mining. Après avoirprocédé à une exploration initiale ainsi qu’à des programmesde forage et d’échantillonnage en 2005 et 2006, Anglesey amis sur pied Labrador Iron Mines (LIM), laquelle a acquis undroit de 100 pour cent sur le projet dans le cadre d’une offreinitiale d’actions en 2007.

Poursuivre sur des assises solidesLIM prévoit entamer ses opérations en avril et dans le cadre

de cette année initiale de production, la société entend exploiterenviron 2 millions de tonnes de minerai de fer. Dans les annéessubséquentes, on peut s’attendre à une hausse atteignant envi-ron 4 millions de tonnes, puis 6 millions de tonnes par année.

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projet en vedette

La société a procédé à un programme d’exploration d’en-vergure en 2008 et 2009, avec un forage de 5 364 mètres etdes fouilles en tranchées sur 2 459 mètres, haussant ainsi lesressources historiques sur la propriété de 150 millions detonnes et assurant à ce jour la conformité d’environ uncinquième de la propriété (conforme à l’instrument national43-101). LIM a également effectué une analyse de base surl’environnement, ainsi que des études sur la voie ferrée etl’usage du port d’expédition.

L’étude d’impact environnemental et le processus d’émis-sion de permis relatifs à la mine pour les gisements de Jameset de Redmond (de première étape) se sont effectués dans undélai de deux ans. « Une évolution du dossier assez remar-quable », mentionne Donna Yoshimatsu, vice-présidente etchef des relations avec les investisseurs pour LIM. « Des per-mis pour les phases et les stades à venir seront demandés entemps opportun et les rapports de conformité à l’IN 43-101seront préparés de façon successive. »

L’infrastructure existante a conféré à LIM un avantage detaille. Les chemins d’accès, l’alimentation en eau et les instal-lations d’égouts étaient déjà disponibles, ainsi que l’accès à unaéroport, à une voie ferrée et à un port d’expédition. Certainesaméliorations ont été nécessaires. La première activité impor-tante de construction a été le rétablissement d’une ligne sec-ondaire de 4,5 km afin de relier le site de traitement à la ligneprincipale Schefferville–Sept-Îles. L’installation d’un nouveaurail à l’assiette des rails existante a été achevée en 2010; lenouveau rail a été utilisé pour acheminer sur le site les princi-pales composantes de l’usine de traitement et des installa-tions matérielles. Le rail sera aussi employé pour déplacer leschargements initiaux d’échantillons de minerai de fer et pourdéplacer le minerai de fer une fois la mine en production. Afinde réduire les coûts d’immobilisation, LIM louera les wagons.

LIM compte également améliorer les propriétés de sonusine de traitement en vue d’accroître la capacité et derécupérer les fines de fer et le minerai de fer à plus faibleteneur. Le minerai sera broyé et lavé au sein d’une installationd’enrichissement, avec une récupération prévue de l’ordre de70 à 80 pour cent. Notons aussi qu’il s’agit d’une opérationtrès propre puisqu’elle ne produira aucun résidu. L’installationd’enrichissement a une capacité nominale de traiter 10 000tonnes de minerai par jour. Le traitement permettra d’ac-croître la teneur du produit de 57 pour cent à au moins 62 à63 pour cent de fer, et produira à la fois du minerai grumeleuxgrossier et une matière de charge pour le frittage plus fine.

LIM développera 20 gisements de minerai expédié sanstraitement préalable — une première dans la région depuisprès de trente ans. La propriété est constituée de nombreusesfriches industrielles, lesquelles sont décapées, mais nonexploitées. Les plans de développement et d’exploitation desgisements de LIM en quatre étapes se concentrent d’abord surles gisements situés à proximité de l’infrastructure existante.

L’exploitation du gisement de James, situé à seulement1 km de l’aire de traitement, et du gisement de Redmond estprévue en premier. Ces gisements sont accessibles par leschaussées en gravier existantes et présentent des ressourcesindiquées combinées de l’ordre de 11 millions de tonnes. Legisement de Houston, situé à 18 kilomètres au sud-est deSchefferville, aussi relié par des chaussées en gravier, présentedes ressources indiquées de 19,57 millions de tonnes. Lesautres gisements de la propriété, offrant des ressources his-toriques combinées de l’ordre de 125 millions de tonnes, sontmoins accessibles.

Le minerai de fer sera expédié par voie ferrée au port deSept-Îles, d’où il sera vraisemblablement acheminé à desaciéries en Europe ou en Asie.

La mine comptera d’abord 60 employés aux stades initi-aux; elle en embauchera 50 de plus une fois la productionvraiment entamée. LIM s’est tournée vers la municipalitéInnue pour la prise en charge de l’embauche et de la forma-tion des effectifs à salaire horaire.

Le seul problème qui se pose est les conditions rigoureusesde l’hiver, lesquelles restreindront l’horaire de traitement à undélai serré huit mois, soit d’avril à novembre.

Renaissance du nordLa voie ferrée originale de l’IOC est encore en usage, bien

que la partie nord de la voie n’ait plus le même propriétaire.Elle est maintenant gérée par Tshiuetin Rail Transportation(TSH), un consortium de communautés des Premières nationset la première voie ferrée au Canada appartenant à la collec-tivité autochtone. LIM est sur le point de terminer les négoci-ations avec Tshiuetin Rail pour l’utilisation de la voie ferrée.

En fait, il existe quatre communautés des Premières nationsdans la région. LIM a négocié des AIP avec la population Innudu Labrador, la Nation Naskapi de Kawawachikamach, et deuxnations innues du Québec, Matimekush-Lac John et Uashat etMani-Utenam (Uashaunnuat).

« Notre objectif et notre politique consistent à établir unpartenariat avec ces communautés afin d’assurer leur apportau développement des projets et qu’elles en tirent le plus d’a-vantages possible », explique M. Kearney. « Ces communautéspeuvent également apporter une valeur aux projets. Elles dis-posent d’un savoir traditionnel et elles savent comment tra-vailler dans cette partie de la province. »

Un renouveau sur le plan de l’exploitation minière du ferdans la région constitue aussi une bonne nouvelle pour la villede Schefferville, qui a perdu deux tiers de sa population et asouffert d’une dépression économique lorsqu’IOC a quitté leslieux. John Kearney croit que Schefferville deviendra de nou-veau le point d’accès au nord-est du Québec, ce qui lui per-mettra de jouer un rôle crucial dans le Plan Nord, le plan dedéveloppement économique du gouvernement du Québecpour la région du nord. ICM


ALL-PURPOSE TREASURE

commodity focusiron ore

be more sought-after. It is especially tricky with hematite,says Ralph Holmes, theme leader, carbon steel materials, atthe Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial ResearchOrganisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency.“The process that we’ve been working on, which is still atthe laboratory stage, is a heat treatment process at as low atemperature as possible, followed by a leaching process toleach out the phosphorus,” says Holmes.

Prices on the moveIron ore prices have risen 500 per cent in the last decade,to approximately US$182 per tonne. Benjamin Cox,founder of research group Oreninc and CEO of Roche BayPLC, traces this back to 2000, when a previouslyfragmented iron ore industry consolidated to three majorproducers — Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton — and gainedthe upper hand in negotiating the yearly price contracts thathad been the industry norm since the 1960s.

As Chinese steel production ramped up in 2004, Cox says,its steel mill structure and hot demand for iron oreencouraged high-priced spot trading. Seeing the upwardtrend, BHP led Vale and Rio Tinto in switching to a quarterlypricing system indexed to Chinese spot prices. Smaller steelproducers have taken issue with the switch, but analyststhink the shorter term pricing appears to be here to stay.

China’s impactChina’s growth continues to drive seaborne iron oremarkets, as it accounts for two-thirds of global seaborneiron ore demand. State investments in housing,infrastructure and other projects to promote GDP growthhave generated world-leading steel production of morethan 600 million tonnes per year. China is a major ironproducer in volume, but analysts doubt the long-termpotential of its low-grade domestic iron ore deposits.

Michael Zurowski, executive vice-president of Baffinland IronMines, explains that as worldwide demand for iron ore hasdoubled in the last ten years, China has gone from importing70 million tonnes in 2000 to 3,620 million tonnes in 2010. InJanuary 2011, it imported 69 million tonnes alone.

“China’s facing a long-run logistical and mining challengeto maintain current levels of self-sufficiency,” says PeterRichardson, chief metals economist at Morgan StanleyAustralia. He foresees lower cost overseas operationsexpanding to meet demand with supply, but not until 2013or 2014 at the earliest.

But the power of the Chinese market has generated someconcern. Should there be a Chinese downturn, iron ore

by Eavan MOORE

Australia is the world leader in iron ore production; much of that comes from RioTinto’s operations in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

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Humble and ubiquitous, iron has been mined for atleast 3,000 years and has played a critical role inhuman cultural history, from weapons and vehicles

to literature and medicine. Today, iron in the form of steelunderpins and encases our daily life, while iron oxides giveit detail in places as disparate as lipstick and ATM cards.

Pure raw talentWorld reserves of iron are estimated at 87 billion tonnes. Ofthe 1.6 billion tonnes mined yearly, almost 99 per cent goesinto steelmaking via a blast furnace or similar vehicle. Mostiron mines extract the ore as hematite and magnetite, whichhave different properties and different implications for saleand processing. The highest grades of hematite, 60 to 67per cent iron, are known as direct shipping ore (DSO)because they can be fed directly into a blast furnace withminimal or no processing. Magnetite ore is typically lowergrade and requires more energy to grind it finely, extractingthe magnetite and then pelletizing it before smelting canoccur.

Miners also consider the fragility of the ore and the presenceof deleterious elements in judging ore quality. A phosphorusconcentration of more than .08 per cent can causeproblems for steelmakers. As the availability of high-qualitydeposits tightens, techniques to remove phosphorus may


WORLD PRODUCTION (millions of tonnes)Reserves

2009 2010 Crude Iron est. ore content

Australia 394 420 24,000 15,000

Brazil 300 370 29,000 16,000

India 245 260 7,000 4,500

China* 880 900 23,000 7,200

Russia 92 100 25,000 14,000

Ukraine 66 72 30,000 9,000

South Africa 55 55 1,000 650

Canada 32 35 6,300 2,300

United States 27 49 6,900 2,100

Iran 33 33 2,500 1,400

Kazakhstan 22 22 8,300 3,300

Sweden 18 25 3,500 2,200

Venezuela 15 16 4,000 2,400

Mexico 12 12 700 400

Mauritania 10 11 1,100 700

Other countries 43 50 11,000 6,200

World total (rounded) 2,240 2,400 180,000 87,000

* The production figures for China are based on crude ore, i.e. in 2009,China produced the equivalent 233 Mt of ore comparable in iron content tothat of other countries, according to Raw Materials Data. All other figuresrepresent usable ore.

Source: U. S. Geological Survey

Mr. Pierre Shoiry, President and CEO of GENIVAR is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Marz Kord, P. Eng., M. Sc., MBA to the position of Executive Vice President, Global Mining.

Marz joined GENIVAR in 2007 and has more than 25 years of mining engineering, operations and project management experience, having led various mining projects across Canada and abroad. With his experience, he will leverage GENIVAR’s expertise in the mining industry in order to support the Company's long-term growth in this sector.

GENIVAR is a leading Canadian engineering services firm, with more than 4,500 staff working in more than 85 offices in Canada and internationally, providing private and public-sector clients with a complete range of professional consulting services throughout all project phases, including planning, design, procurement, construction management, and maintenance.

Marz Kord, P. Eng., M. Sc., MBAExecutive Vice President, Global Mining

GENIVAR Inc.www.genivar.com


producers must sell their ores at world prices, but wouldreap the benefits of dividends from the mining operations.

producers would feel the impact. A Fitch Ratings reportsuggested that in a hypothetical 2011 slowdown of ChineseGDP growth to 4.7 per cent, global commodity prices wouldfall by as much as 20 per cent and iron ore would be thecommodity most affected.

Some economists warn that growth sustained by governmentspending will have to end sooner than the country is ready.“Debt levels are already too high to support too many moreyears of misallocated investment,” says Michael Pettis,professor of finance at Peking University’s Guanghua Schoolof Management. “I think the investment party will go on for atleast another year and probably more, but growth rates willslow, and when they do, I am pretty sure they will slow muchmore sharply than anyone expects today.”

However, the tendency among analysts is to predict at leastanother several years of strong seaborne iron ore marketconditions. “Ultimately the sheer size of the demand upliftand the per capita impact of what’s happened will continueto sustain Chinese demand for steel late into the currentdecade,” Richardson says.

Expansive plansIn times of high cost and high demand, there is incentive allaround to buy up iron reserves. Chinese and Indiansteelmakers are among those responding to high pricesand demand by securing raw material supplies overseas; forexample, Shangdong Iron and Steel has decided to investin a Brazilian iron ore project with an estimated yearly outputof 25 million tonnes of concentrate. “At this point, buyingyour own iron ore is cheaper than buying market ore, andwill be so for the foreseeable future,” Cox explains.

However, Zurowski points out that transfer pricing iscarefully monitored by the nations of the world. Iron ore

Iron Ore have recently taken ownership of Baffinland IronMines. Baffinland’s deposits are estimated at 990 milliontonnes of DSO low in deleterious elements.

Mining in the Arctic does come with challenges; transportlines will need to be built on permafrost that thaws in thewarm months. The cost of building the project is estimatedat $4 billion. But the changing market for iron ore appearsto have made that number workable.

Zurowski downplays the challenges of working in the Arctic.“If you think about Canada, we have been mining for 50 or60 years in the Labrador Trough and at certain times of theyear, it’s really exactly the same as mining in the Arctic,” hesays. “The only difference from mining in the Arctic is thatwinter is a little bit longer. Shipping is the key for Arcticdevelopment.”

Vic Pakalnis, Kinross professor in mining and sustainabilityat Queen’s University, remarks that climate change couldmelt the Arctic ice cap enough to make shipping ore easier.“It’ll create a great transportation route between Europe andAsia,” he says. “The Northwest passage, so to speak.” CIM



Existing sites are being expanded; for example, Rio Tintoplans to expand its production at Pilbara operations to 333million tonnes, while Swedish producer LKAB plans toboost its capacity from 27 million tonnes to between 35 and40 million tonnes by 2015. Vale intends to boost its outputby 50 per cent by 2015.

A number of iron and steel companies have looked to WestAfrica for new sources of iron ore. For example, Rio Tinto ishoping to get a massive new project in Guinea intoproduction in the next five years. The Simandou projectwould produce 95 million tonnes of fines annually at fullproduction.

Canada’s situationWith an estimated 2.3 billion tonnes of iron reserves andaround 32 million tonnes shipped yearly, Canada has anactive and growing iron ore industry. The iron-rich LabradorTrough has been mined since 1954; activity amongexploration companies and major producers has picked upthere in the last several years with acquisitions andexpansions by Rio Tinto, Cliffs Natural Resources, Vale andsteelmaker ArcelorMittal.

The region has existing infrastructure and port access,making it fertile ground for new mines. New MillenniumCapital Corp. plans to develop two large magnetite depositsand recently entered a joint venture with Indian-based TataSteel on a DSO project near Schefferville, Quebec.Consolidated Thompson, now in the process of beingbought by Cliffs Natural Resources, started off its BloomLake operation at eight million tonnes of iron oreconcentrate per year and will increase production to 16million tonnes in 2013.

The last decade has seen renewed interest in iron depositson the Canadian Shield in Nunavut. Even above the ArcticCircle, where long winters and permafrost pose challengesto construction and operation, ArcelorMittal and Nunavut

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The inner frontierNanosized iron oxide particles have low human toxicity andhigh magnetization, which has led to their use as a contrastagent for magnetic resonance imaging. When injected intothe body, the particles collect in specific tissues and alter themagnetic signals the tissues emit, thus generating a clearerimage for MRI scanners.

The promise of iron oxides as vehicles for nano-leveltechniques has inspired scientists to find new areas ofapplication. For example, particles that generate heat whenexposed to an alternating magnetic field could be used forrendering cells more sensitive to radiation therapy orchemotherapy, or for fusing tissues together.

In the future, iron oxide nanoparticles could serve as aminimally invasive drug delivery vehicle, with the aid of MRItargeting. The uses that are currently under study range fromrepairing joint injuries to treating brain tumors.

Upcoming 2011 SeminarsNEW — Certification in Ore Reserve Risk and MinePlanning Optimization (in collaboration withAusIMM)

Spread over a period of four months, this four-week course isdesigned for busy mining professionals who wish to updatetheir skills and knowledge base in modern modellingtechniques for ore bodies and new risk-based optimizationmethodologies for strategic mine planning. Gain practicalexperience by applying the following hands-on concepts andtechnical methods: methods for modelling ore bodies;stochastic simulations, case studies and models of geologicaluncertainty; and demand-driven production scheduling andgeological risk.Instructor: Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada •Dates: Week 1 – August 22-26, 2011; Week 2 – September 12-16,2011; Week 3 – October 17-21, 2011; Week 4 – November 7-10, 2011 •City: Week 1 – Perth, Australia; Week 2-4 – Montreal, Canada • Info:www.mcgill.ca/conted/prodep/ore

Strategic Risk Management in Mine Design: FromLife-of-Mine to Global Optimization

Learn how you can have a significant, positive impact on yourcompany’s bottom line by utilizing strategic mine planningmethodologies and software; improve your understanding ofstrategic mine planning and life-of-mine optimizationconcepts, as well as your understanding of the relationship ofuncertainty and risk, and how to exploit uncertainty in orderto maximize profitability. Note: The strategic mine planningsoftware used is Whittle; an optional half-day skills refresherworkshop on Whittle may be available.Instructors: Cindy Tonkin, Gemcom, Australia, RoussosDimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada, and GeraldWhittle, Whittle Consulting, Australia • Date: September 21-23, 2011• City: Toronto

An Introduction to Cutoff Grade Estimation: Theory and Practice in Open Pit and UndergroundMines

Cutoff grades are essential in determining the economicfeasibility and mine life of a project. Learn how to solve most

cutoff grade estimation problems by developing techniques

and graphical analytical methods, about the relationship

between cutoff grades and the design of pushbacks in open

pit mines, and the optimization of block sizes in caving

methods.

Instructor: Jean-Michel Rendu, Executive Consultant, Snowden,Australia • Date: September 7-9, 2011 • City: Montreal

Geostatistical Mineral Resource/Ore Reserve Estimation and Meeting the New Regulatory Environment: Step by Step from Sampling to GradeControl

Learn about the latest regulations on public reporting of

resources/reserves through state-of-the-art statistical and

geostatistical techniques, how to apply geostatistics to predict

dilution and adapt reserve estimates to that predicted dilution,

how geostatistics can help you categorize your resources in

an objective manner, and how to understand principles of

NI 43-101 and the SME Guide.

Instructors: Marcelo Godoy, Golder Associates, Chile, Jean-MichelRendu, Executive Consultant, Snowden, Australia, and RoussosDimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada • Date: September 12-16, 2011 • City: Montreal

Mineral Project Evaluation Techniques and Applications: From Conventional Methods to RealOptions

Learn the basics of economic/financial evaluation techniques,

as well as the practical implementation of these techniques to

mineral project assessments, how to gain a practical

understanding of economic/financial evaluation principles,

and how to develop the skills necessary to apply these to

support mineral project decisions.

Instructor: Michel Bilodeau, McGill University, Canada • Date:October 24-27, 2011 • City: Montreal

COLUMNS | MAC economic commentary

It is unlikely that any sector inCanada has undergone a transition inrecent decades comparable to that seenwithin the mining industry. The mining sector in the 1980s and

1990s was an afterthought. Mineralprices worldwide were in the dumps.Exploration and prospecting (in effect,a form of R&D aimed at finding tomor-row’s stream of commodities) wereneglected and investments in themwere piddling. Effort in attracting newtalent to the industry was minimal anduniversity mining programs closed.The sector was shunned by Canadianpoliticians and policymakers as “oldschool,” dark and dirty, and non-tech-nological; economists and financiersheld similar views. Even the leadingcompanies at the time, such as Incoand Noranda, were viewed as compla-cent and staid despite being viewed asworld leaders in many respects.

The contrast with Canada’s shiningbeacons of the day was stark. Theinformation technology sector wasbooming, as every desk in the nationbecame equipped with personal com-puters. Canada’s telecom industryinvested billions in research, routinelypaid millions in bonuses and equippedcountries around the world withtelecommunications systems. Thebiotechnology sector began markingits presence in pharmaceuticals, agri-culture and other cross-cuttingapplications. The hydrogen economyand fuel cells were on the cusp of amuch-hyped global impact and politi-cians raced each other to visit facilitiesand cut ribbons.

My, how times have changedToday, the mining industry is

arguably the most strategic of any Cana-dian sector. Merger and acquisition

activity is measured in the tens of bil-lions of dollars. The sector is thebackbone of the nation’s stockexchanges, accounting for a large pro-portion of Toronto Stock Exchange(TSX) value through over 1,400 issuingcompanies. The sector’s linkage to theworldwide clean energy revolution isdirect and fundamental – hybridengines, long-life batteries, wind tur-bines, solar cells and lightweightmaterials are all dependent on the min-ing industry. Seemingly mundaneproducts such as potash have becomestrategic for economic and political rea-sons and have attracted mammothtakeover interest. The mining industry,including oil sands mining, directs rev-enues to Canadian governmentsmeasured in the tens of billions that arein turn directed to support health careand education. Base metal export restraints in

China have provoked sensitive WorldTrade Organization battles affectingCanada and other Western countries.Chinese policies in the area or rareearths have caused strategic concernsand responses at the highest levels ofWestern governments and defensetechnology companies. Finally, themining industry in Canada has becomethe largest private employer of Aborig-inal Canadians, a mutually beneficialrelationship that should expand fur-ther – yet another point of highimportance to governments. The main drivers of this transition

have been numerous, although theemergence of the Chinese economyhas been the most significant. Chinahas had annual economic growth rang-ing from eight to 15 per cent every yearsince 1982, with the exception of1989-90 when growth was four percent. This virtually uninterrupted dou-ble-digit annual growth over threedecades, predicated around building itsinfrastructure and becoming the


Mining: from “old economy” in the 1990sto “sexy and strategic” in the 2010s� Paul Stothart

MAC economic commentary | COLUMNS

“world’s factory,” has transformedChina into the leading driver of globalmineral prices. Where China con-sumed only five per cent of the world’smetals in the 1980s, it now consumesover 30 per cent. Mineral prices duringthe past ten years, the decade whenChinese growth had the most impact,have grown anywhere from five to 40times faster than inflation, dependingon the commodity. As leading stewardsand producers of many minerals,Canadian companies and taxpayershave been the main beneficiaries of thisprice growth and wealth generation. Beyond the China story, it should

also be stated that successive federalgovernments – Liberals and Conserva-tives – have built a strong andcompetitive investment environment inCanada. The flow-through share federaltax provisions and enhanced credits atthe federal and provincial levels haveserved to strengthen Canada’s explo-ration investment. Partly linked to this,

the TSX has developed innovative andefficient techniques for raising capitalto fund the industry’s initiatives hereand abroad. The ability to deduct capi-tal investment costs is also relativelyattractive in Canada, as are overall cor-porate tax rates. While challengesremain in areas such as governmentsupport for industry innovation andinfrastructure, the overall Canadianinvestment environment is attractive. The progressive nature of individual

Canadian companies in managing andbenefitting from good Aboriginal rela-tions is also impressive.The technological skills of industry in building and operating mines inextreme weather condi-tions, and the growingnumber of potential minesin the North, meshes wellwith a Canadian priorityon responsible northerneconomic development.

Finally, in the clean energy sphere, it isanticipated that global investment willreach some $450 billion per year by2012 – with the associated demand forminerals and metals. All of these factors have enhanced

the strategic importance of the Cana-dian mining industry. And it is unlikelythat this “strategic and sexy” character-istic will diminish anytime soon. Thestaggering statistic that the world willproduce and use more metals in thenext 25 years than in all world historyto date will see to this. CIM


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author Paul Stothart is vice-president,economic affairs, at the MiningAssociation of Canada. He isresponsible for advancing theindustry’s interests regardingfederal tax, trade, investment,transport and energy issues.

COLUMNS | supply side


According to an article in the Jan-uary 19, 2011, issue of Embassy –Canada’s Foreign Policy Newsweekly,Statistics Canada says that when therecession started, Canadian exportearnings fell by 30 per cent in lessthan six months. This unparalleledcollapse in exports came in the con-text of tumbling global trade flows. The bite of the recession in Canada

was reduced by government “stimu-lus” spending and, fortunately, byconsumer spending. However, thegushing stimulus taps will have to beturned off sooner rather than later ifthe deficit is to be reduced. As aresult, the economy will again turn toexport growth as a means to sustainits recovery.Keep in mind that exports account

for 30 per cent of our GDP. It is esti-mated that the recession-led drop inexports accounted for a two per centreduction in GDP growth. Further,while parts of our economy haverecovered, exports are still well belowpre-recession levels, although theyare expected to rise this year. But, growing exports will be diffi-

cult. Our dollar is expected to remainstrong and our biggest trading part-ner, the United States, with which ourtrade is highly integrated, continuesto see slow growth.European countries have

announced export stimulation pro-grams. At mining trade shows, we will

see the competitive effects of thesenational efforts, just as we do with thewell-organized Australian export drive.In March 2010, the Obama

administration launched its NationalExport Initiative, a strategy aimed atdoubling U.S. exports in five years.The aim of the program is to helpAmerican firms enter new markets,assist them with export financingand advocate for them abroad. TheU.S. Embassy has ramped up itshosting of business delegations toCanada. But what are we doing? The

Export Development Corporation(EDC) is more active than ever instimulating exports. Not only dothey continue to provide essentialfinancial services and solutions forexporters, but they are wideningtheir range of informational prod-ucts and marketing promotionalactivities. The Trade CommissionerService, as always, is an excellentally, but is currently understaffedand underfunded. While multilateral

trade talks at theWorld Trade Organiza-tion have stagnated,Canada is pursuingbilateral agreementsthat will make Cana-dian exporters morecompetitive in selectedcountries.

Canada’s future well-being will depend heavily on exports� Jon Baird

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

author Jon Baird, managing directorof CAMESE and theimmediate past president ofPDAC, is interested incollective approaches toenhancing the Canadianbrand in the world of mining.

Our sectoral and multi-sectoralefforts such as the Team Canada mis-sions of a few years ago havedisappeared. Federal governmentexport assistance programs such asBrand Canada and Program for ExportMarket Development (PEMD) havebeen shut down. In the wake of a weak and mis-

guided foreign policy, including thaton the environment, respect forCanada in the world is diminishing tothe point that we were embarrassed inlosing a UN Security Council seat toPortugal. If people do not respect us,will they buy from us?However, if Canada really wants to

expand and diversify markets, thenexport promotion abroad becomes veryimportant. We need the federal govern-ment to place a fresh emphasis oncollective ways, as a nation and asindustry sectors, through which we canbetter promote ourselves as a high-qual-ity, reliable and competitive provider ofgoods and services to the world. CIM

eye on business | COLUMNS

more integrated way, finding efficien-cies and creating greater flexibility inhow sector-based decisions are made. Through the provincial Major Proj-

ects offices and FrontCounter BC,applicants will have access to assis-tance to fully understand informationand application requirements for bothsmall and large mining projects. “One project, one process” means

not having to wait for one authoriza-tion to be processed before applying forthe next permit. It means that the gov-ernment will process the applicationefficiently and the client will not haveto help it through the system. It alsomeans the client will have many oftheir authorizations issued as a pack-age, so they can put shovel to groundimmediately after the Mines Act permitdecision is made.The province continues

to work with the federalgovernment to harmonizefederal-provincial processesin order to apply the “oneproject, one process”approach to all authoriza-

Our identity as Canadians andBritish Columbians is tied to ourforests, mountains, rivers, coastlines,farmland and abundance of naturalresources. With increased economicactivity on the land, more complexenvironmental pressures and morecrossover between sectors, there wasan urgent need for a more integratedapproach to managing British Colum-bia’s land base. That is why the B.C.government created the Ministry ofNatural Resource Operations – todeliver efficient, informed integratedland-management services to BritishColumbians. By bringing all of the decision-

making activities on the land – frompermitting to First Nations consulta-tion to wildlife management – intoone ministry, the province now has a360 degree view of the land base andcan make better decisions more effi-ciently. Integrated decision-makingwill provide opportunities and cer-tainty for significant projectdevelopment while ensuring strongenvironmental management under asingle land manager. What does this mean for the min-

ing industry? Mine projects requiremany authorizations and in the past,this meant going to multiple min-istries. Now, instead of having ninedifferent agencies and approximately40 different statutes governing over1,200 different types of authorizationsissued by multiple natural resourceministries, there is one ministry tocoordinate all of these activities. To streamline the permitting

processes, the province is implement-ing a “one project, one process”approach across British Columbia. Bybundling permits together, the min-istry can consult and process theapplications once rather than multipletimes, as in the past. Resource expertsfrom each region are working in a

tions involving the use of land inBritish Columbia. B.C.’s provincial government has put

policies in place that have helped givethe minerals sector the resilience towithstand the economic downturn:$322 million was spent in 2010 on min-eral exploration in the province. Thisrepresents the third-highest total inB.C.’s history and a 109 per cent increaseon the $154 million spent in 2009. The provincial government is com-

mitted to supporting mining in B.C.Creating the Ministry of NaturalResource Operations is a significantstep towards ensuring that decisionsaround mining projects are made in anefficient, consistent manner that bal-ance the environment, economy andnatural resources. CIM

Streamlining the permitting processGetting B.C. mines into operation quicker� Ministry of Natural Resource Operations

author The B.C. Ministry of Natural Resource Operationsdelivers integrated land-based management toensure economic prosperity and environmentalsustainability in the province.

The new streamlined permitting process will help B.C. mines enter into production faster.


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COLUMNS | standards


As more ways of electronically dis-closing information become available,mining companies need to rememberthat National Instrument 43-101 Stan-dards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) is applicable toall public disclosure related to scien-tific and technical information. Electronic communication, includingbut not limited to websites, blogs andsocial media, should be considered anextension of a company’s formal corporate disclosure record, and com-panies need to ensure that informationdisseminated is compliant with disclo-sure requirements.

Website technical disclosureWhen securities regulators review

the continuous disclosure of miningcompanies, one of the most significantareas of non-compliance is with web-site disclosure and associatedcorporate presentations, fact sheetsand third-party information. In gen-eral, mining companies appear to becareful to make sure news releases,Management Discussion & Analysisand annual information forms arereviewed by a Qualified Person andchecked for compliance with therequirements of NI 43-101. On theother hand, information contained ontheir website or other electronic dis-closure does not appear to be reviewedwith the same scrutiny. Some commondeficiencies with companies’ websitedisclosure include:• Failing to name the Qualified Per-son.

• Omitting the required cautionarylanguage for historical estimates,exploration targets and preliminaryassessments.

• Reporting in situ or gross metal values.• Providing unsupported claimsabout the potential viability of aproject or misrepresenting the pro-ject’s stage of development.

• Adding Inferred Resources to othercategories of Mineral Resources.

Electronic disclosure and regulatory compliance� Craig Waldie

• Stating quantity of contained metalwithout associated tonnes andgrade.

• Not stating the effective date andmissing key assumptions, parame-ters and methods for MineralResource and Mineral Reserve esti-mates.

• Linking third-party reports or pro-viding hyperlinks to reports that arenot compliant with NI 43-101.When missing or non-compliant

technical disclosure on a company’swebsite is identified during a regula-tory review, the company will likely berequired to immediately revise andremove the information and issue aclarifying/retracting news release iden-tifying the missing or non-compliantdisclosure.

Posting third-party reportsWhen posting third-party reports

on a company’s website, it is importantto keep in mind that “if you dissemi-nate it, you own it.” Companiesshould be careful about posting scien-tific and technical informationprepared by third parties unless theinformation was prepared on behalf ofthe company or is general in natureand not specific to the company. If acompany decides to distribute or postthe information or report on its web-site, it then becomes part of itsdisclosure record and NI 43-101applies. In addition, if a companychooses to post third-party reports, itmust make every effort to ensure thatall significant articles concerning thecompany are included andthat negative and positive arti-cles are given similarprominence. Companies thatdisclose positive news butwithhold negative news couldfind their disclosure practicessubject to scrutiny by regula-tors. Similar concerns alsoexist regarding the posting ofmedia articles, including

authorCraig Waldie is asenior geologist withthe Ontario SecuritiesCommission.

radio, television and online newsreports, about the company on itswebsite.Instead of posting third-party

reports on the company’s website, analternative approach is to provide acomplete list of all analysts who followthe company, together with contactinformation, so that investors maycontact the third party directly.Beyond the common disclosure

deficiencies identified above, anotherarea of concern is the posting ofnewsletters or “tout-sheets.” Therehave been some cases where compa-nies provide technical information toan apparent independent newsletterwriter, often for a substantial fee, andthe writer suggests the company is onthe brink of discovery, under-pro-moted and overlooked by the markets.Since this disclosure is made on behalfof the company, it is part of the com-pany’s public disclosure record and thecompany should be prepared to sup-port and justify any promotionalstatements and scientific and technicaldisclosure in the newsletter.While websites, corporate presenta-

tions, blogs and social media provide apowerful way for companies to com-municate with shareholders, it isimportant to remember that informa-tion provided must be in compliancewith NI 43-101 disclosure require-ments.

The views expressed in this article arethose of the author and do not necessar-ily represent the views of the OSC.

CIM

metals monitor | COLUMNS

Responding to rising metals pricesand more stable markets, most miningcompanies increased their explorationbudgets in 2010. The result was a 45per cent increase in estimated world-wide nonferrous metals explorationspending compared with 2009. Metals Economics Group’s (MEG)

21st edition of Corporate ExplorationStrategies (CES) reports a 2010 explo-ration budget total of $11.2 billion.The industry restored almost two-thirds of the $5.5 billion that was cutfrom exploration in 2009 in responseto the global financial crisis. The speedand strength of the 2010 rebound werea welcome surprise to many, given theseverity of the downturn and wide-spread forecasts of a deep andprotracted recession. MEG’s 2010 exploration estimate is

based on information collected frommore than 3,200 mining and explo-ration companies worldwide, ofwhich almost 2,100 had explorationbudgets reported in the CES study.These companies (each budgeting atleast $100,000) together budgeted$10.68 billion for nonferrous explo-ration, which we estimate coversabout 95 per cent of worldwide com-mercially oriented nonferrousexploration budgets. Adding our esti-mates of budgets that we could notobtain, the 2010 worldwide explo-ration budget total reached more than$11.2 billion.Recent editions of the CES study

also include uranium explorationbudgets. The 2010 edition covers ura-nium budgets totalling almost $830million. Including uranium, the num-ber of companies covered by thestudy increased to more than 2,200,and the aggregate exploration budget(including the $10.68 billion nonfer-rous total above) increased to $11.5billion. Including estimates for budg-ets MEG could not obtain, worldwide

Metals Economics Group world exploration trendsNonferrous exploration rebounds 45 per cent to second-highest total on record� Jason Goulden

nonferrous planned explorationexpenditures, including uraniumallocations, totalled more than $12.1billion in 2010.

The overall trendRiding the wave of rising metals

prices, worldwide nonferrous explo-ration allocations increased for sixconsecutive years to an all-time highof $13.2 billion in 2008 (excludinguranium). The mining industry’sboom years came to an abrupt halt inSeptember 2008, however, as theworld fell into the worst economicand financial downturn in decades.Widespread forecasts of a deep andprotracted global recession painted agrim outlook for near-term globalcommodities demand, pushing mostmetals prices into steep decline andforcing companies to slash their2009 exploration plans – some bychoice and others to survive. The

resulting 42 per cent drop (about$5.5 billion) in worldwide nonfer-rous exploration budgets from the2008 high was the largest year-on-year decline (in both dollar andpercentage terms) since MEG beganthe CES series in 1989.After bottoming out in early 2009,

the industry recovered much morequickly than most would have daredpredict. Although the recoveryremained fragile, the global economyimproved markedly over the course of2009 and into 2010. Metals pricesimproved steadily and were again wellabove their long-term trends throughmost of 2010. Responding to risingprices and more stable market condi-tions, most companies increased theirexploration budgets in 2010, resultingin a 45 per cent increase ($3.5 billion) inour estimated exploration budget totalfor 2010, restoring almost two-thirds of2009’s estimated $5.5 billion cut.

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* 1993-2006 uranium totals are MEG estimates based on totals reported in the OECD 2007 Red Book; 2007-2010uranium totals are based on figures compiled as part of the CES studies.


Increased global exploration spending Planned exploration spending

increased in all regions of the world in2010, and one – the Pacific/SoutheastAsia region – exceeded its previoushigh, set in 2008. (The annual budgettotals for Canada, Australia and theUnited States are typically much largerthan for most other countries; as aresult, MEG also treats these countriesas regions in its CES studies.)Latin America drew the largest

share of allocations, attracting 27 percent of global spending in 2010, andhas been the most popular explorationdestination since 1994. Five countries– Mexico, Peru, Chile, Brazil andArgentina – traditionally attract thevast majority of exploration spendingin Latin America, and 2010 was no

exception. Just 17 per cent of planned2010 exploration in Latin America wastargeted outside the borders of thesefive countries. Base metals explorationoutpaced gold in Peru, Chile andBrazil, while gold led the way in Mex-ico and Argentina. Canada was also a big draw in 2010,

with planned spending rebounding 73per cent. This allowed Canada to regainthe second spot, which was claimed byMEG’s “rest of world” region in 2009.The provinces of Ontario, Quebec,Saskatchewan and British Columbiaattracted about two-thirds of totalCanadian allocations. Planned expendi-tures for gold exploration in Canadaincreased dramatically to capture 54per cent of total spending. After a year in second position,

MEG’s “rest of world” region (covering

countries in Europe, mainland Asiaand the Middle East) fell back to third.China outpaced Russia for the firsttime as the top exploration destinationin this region, and together the twocountries accounted for half theregion’s 2010 total. Gold was the lead-ing target in the region, attracting 49per cent of recorded budgets. Africa continued to attract more

exploration spending than Australia,accounting for 13 per cent of 2010’sglobal budgets compared with Aus-tralia’s 12 per cent. Planned spendingin Africa was heavily weightedtowards the Democratic Republic ofCongo, South Africa, Zambia andBurkina Faso, which togetheraccounted for almost half the region’stotal. In Australia, three states – West-ern Australia, Queensland and NewSouth Wales – together accounted forthree-quarters of the region’s total allo-cations. Gold was the top explorationtarget in both Africa and Australia. The United States remains firmly

entrenched in sixth place. Neverthe-less, it boasts the largest year-on-yearincrease in planned explorationspending in 2010, rising 75 per centfrom 2009 and increasing its share ofworldwide spending to eight per centfrom 6.5 per cent. Gold allocations inNevada and Alaska account for a largeportion of the total; however, basemetals exploration in Arizona andMinnesota also contributed to theincreased activity. Planned exploration in the

Pacific/Southeast Asia region alsoincreased substantially in 2010. Whileits share of worldwide explorationincreased in recent years to almostseven per cent in 2010, it remains wellbelow the 10 to 12 per cent rangereached in the mid-to-late-1990s. Thetraditional big three destinations –Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and thePhilippines – attracted 75 per cent ofthe region’s total allocations in 2010. In most years, the bulk of global

exploration spending is carried out byCanada- and Australia-based compa-nies; however, resource-hungry Chinais also becoming an increasingly impor-tant investor in mineral exploration

COLUMNS | metals monitor


SYMPOSIUM 2011 • ROUYN-NORANDASUR L’ENVIRONMENT ET LES MINES • MINES AND THE ENVIRONMENT

RESERVE THE DATE IN YOUR AGENDAROUYN-NORANDA, QUEBEC, CANADA — NOVEMBER 6 TO 9, 2011

Chaire CRSNG Polytechnique - UQATen environnement et gestion des rejets miniers

The Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) and the CanadianInstitue of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), invite you to Rouyn-Noranda,Québec, Canada, to attend the Symposium 2011 on Mines and the Environment,from November 6 to 9, 2011.

This Symposium is the result of collaboration between the Industrial NSERC Polytech-nique-UQAT in Environment and Mine Wastes Management, the Unité de rechercheet de service en technologie minérale (URSTM), the Association minière du Québec(AMQ), the Mine Environment Neutral Drainage (MEND) Program, the ministère desRessources naturelles et de la Faune du Québec (MRNF) and the industry.

The objectives of the Symposium are to share recent knowledge and research devel-opments and to discuss common practices to find solutions that reconcile profitabilityand environmental protection.Sunday, November 6: Short courseMonday and Tuesday, November 7 and 8: Technical program addressing the fol-lowing subjects:• Tailings • Backfill •Waste Rocks • Policies and Regulations • Contaminated •Site Restorationin Mining in Society Water •New Trends

Tuesday, November 8: PlenaryWednesday, November 9: Site toursA trade show will also be held on November 7 and 8.

Information will be available in the CIM Magazine. Also look on our web site formore details (accessible soon) at: www.cim.org/Symposium2011For more information, please contact: Chantal Murphy (CIM): 1-800-667-1246

metals monitor | COLUMNS


worldwide. In 2010, Chinese compa-nies accounted for about 11 per cent ofthe global exploration total, with about31 per cent of their budgets allocatedoutside China’s borders – primarily tar-geting Canada, Africa and Pacific/Southeast Asia regions.

Gold attracts record exploration Following steep declines in explo-

ration allocations in 2009, budgets forall targets covered by the CES studyresumed their upward trend in 2010,with the exception of diamonds,which dropped nine per cent year onyear. In 2010, global economic funda-

mentals kept the spotlight on gold,and historically high prices promptedgold explorers to increase their aggre-gate budget by $1.9 billion. Thisincrease lifted planned spending onthe yellow metal to $5.4 billion and itsshare of total budgets to 51 per cent –the first time since 1999 that goldaccounted for more than half of totalplanned spending and the highest dol-lar total in the history of the CES. Tencountries – Canada, Australia, UnitedStates, Mexico, Russia, China, Peru,Colombia, Brazil and Chile –accounted for two-thirds of the 2010gold exploration budget total. Overall, base metals exploration

budgets (aggregating copper, nickeland zinc) also bounced back in 2010,but did not exceed their 2008 peak ofmore than $5 billion. As a percentageof global exploration activity, basemetals accounted for 33 per cent – thesecond consecutive decline since ahigh of almost 41 per cent of globalexploration in 2008. Latin Americaconsistently accounts for the largestshare of worldwide base metals budg-ets, topping 33 per cent in 2010 – theregion’s largest share since 2003. The nine per cent decline in dia-

mond allocations in 2010 representedjust three per cent of worldwide

exploration, a far cry from almost 15per cent in 2003 and the lowest sharerecorded in the 21-year history of theCES. Canada, Russia and southernAfrican countries continued to be theprimary destinations for diamondexploration. Compared with 2009, PGM explo-

ration increased a relatively minor 13per cent in 2010. As a result, PGM’sshare of worldwide spending slippedbelow two per cent, continuing thesteady erosion of its share of globalspending since reaching six per cent in2002 and 2003. Almost half of PGMallocations were destined for Africa,with Canada receiving about a third. Budgets for the “other targets”

group of commodities almost doubledfrom 2009, but fell just shy of their2008 peak of $1.3 billion. Silveraccounted for more than a third of the“other targets” total; however, mostsilver exploration occurs in conjunc-tion with the search for gold or basemetals polymetallic deposits. Potashand phosphates – by far the most pop-ular targets among the remaining”other targets” – attracted more than20 per cent of the group’s total. Asmarket interest in lithium and rareearth elements continued to increasein 2010, exploration budgets for thesecommodities jumped to almost fourtimes the amount spent in 2009. Nev-ertheless, they remain a relativelysmall part of the industry’s overallexploration effort, accounting forabout 13 per cent of the 2010 “othertargets” total.

Emphasis on late-stage exploration continuesPlanned spending for all stages of

exploration increased in 2010, and the recent trend ofincreased emphasis onlate-stage explorationcontinued. Late-stagebudgets increased the

authorJason Goulden serves asMetals Economics Group’svice-president, research,authoring and co-authoringseveral of MEG’s distinctiveanalytical reports andleading information services.

Notes: All figures are reported in U.S. dollars; All historical exploration figures throughout thisreport represent dollars of the day and have not been inflation adjusted; Nonferrous explo-ration refers to expenditures related to precious and base metals, diamonds, uranium andsome industrial minerals; it specifically excludes iron ore, aluminum, coal, and oil and gas.

most year on year (up 52 per centfrom 2009) to account for about 42per cent of the worldwide total, whilethe rise in grassroots budgets was onpar with the worldwide increase,keeping its share of the overall totalflat at just under 33 per cent. Minesite budgets increased more modestlyat 35 per cent year on year, droppingits share of the global total to 25 per cent. Late-stage spending outweighed

grassroots spending for the past sixyears. Grassroots’ percentage of budg-ets has generally declined since themid-1990s, and dropped an average of2.5 per cent annually from a recenthigh of 52 per cent in 2001 to a recordlow of about 33 per cent in 2009 and2010. This decline correlates with theupward trend in late-stage budgets, ascompanies spend more on late-stageprojects to move them towards pro-duction or make them attractive foracquisition in the metals price envi-ronment of the past six years.Similarly, mine sites’ share of overallspending increased in recent years asproducers view it as a more economi-cal and less risky means of replacingand adding to reserves. The stabilization in grassroots’

overall percentage in 2010 at leasttemporarily halted the erosion of itsshare of the worldwide total; however,the proportional shift away from grass-roots spending over the past cyclecould put pressure on future produc-tion. With companies of all typesfocusing less on grassroots work, thereis some concern that many companies,and perhaps the industry in general,may be sacrificing long-term projectpipelines in favour of short-termgrowth. CIM

workers, and leading up to a nationalevent, which will take place this com-ing May at the CIM Conference &Exhibition 2011 in Montreal.Of the approximately 100,000 work-

ers needed by the end of this decade tosupport growth in the industry and toreplace retiring workers, approximately20 per cent will be required in skilled occupations that have, up until now, lacked a national recognition system (including production miners, development miners, heavy equipmentoperators and mill operators). The certification program will be

an essential component in increasingand retaining the valuable skillsrequired to keep the mining industrysustainable. Without a formal creden-tialing framework for these jobs,employers may struggle to evaluatethe qualifications of experienced can-didates and may end up wasting timeand resources retraining new hires in

COLUMNS |

Over the past six years,MiHR has been coordinating acollaborative effort by miningsector employers, employees,educators and other stakehold-ers to develop a program thatwill recognize the knowledge,skills and competencies of its mine operations mainte-nance workers. Unlike thetrades, skilled workers in theseoccupations have never beforebeen awarded an industry-recognized credential that sup-ports mobility and retentionwithin the mining workforce;the Canadian Mining Creden-tials Program (CMCP) hasbeen developed to address thischallenge.During 2010, seven mine

sites across Canada partici-pated in the Certification PilotProgram:• Brunswick Mine (Xstrata Zinc),Bathurst, New Brunswick

• Totten Mine (Vale), Sudbury,Ontario, and Trout Lake Mine(HudBay Minerals), Manitoba(partner: Cementation)

• Diavik Diamond Mine (Rio Tinto),Northwest Territories

• Greenhills Operation (Teck Coal),British Columbia

• Kemess South Mine (NorthgateMinerals Corp.), British Columbia

• Highland Valley Copper (TeckResources), British ColumbiaThese pilot sites will be conducting

10 to 20 evaluations each and it isanticipated that a group of between 60and 100 miners will become the firstnationally certified Underground Min-ers, Surface Miners and MineralsProcessing Operators. A pan-Canadianrollout will commence in mid-2011,beginning with a series of local eventsto recognize the first group of certified

areas where they have already demon-strated competency in the workplace.Furthermore, employees with skillsets that are not recognized by theirindustry can become frustrated andmay seek opportunities elsewhere. Arecent MiHR survey of mining indus-try employers revealed that turnoverin these occupations is almost twiceas high as other mining sector jobs. “As a national representative, I saw

that the expertise and knowledge thatminers had accumulated wasn’t recognized,” says Walter Manning, national representative, communica-tions, Energy and Paper Workers. “Icertainly heard from the shop floorthat workers wanted recognition fortheir skills, and the credentials pro-gram will do that.”The vision of the CMCP is to

increase recognition of skills and com-petencies, support worker mobility andcreate consistent, quality training for the


COLUMNS | HR outlook

Recognizing and retaining talentCertification becomes a reality for mining workers in industry pilot � Barbara Kirby

Dawn Hamilton taking a chemical readout on rock samples in the chemical lab for the Iron Ore Company of Canada. Mineralsprocessing operator is one of four occupations for which National Occupational Standards have been developed through the CMCP.

Cour

tesy

of M

iHR

establishment of recognized NationalOccupation Standards and a certifica-tion program will have a significant andlong-lasting effect on our sector.

For more information, please email [email protected] or visit www.miningcredentials.ca.

CIM

HR outlook | COLUMNS

mining and minerals exploration indus-try in Canada. The CMCP has threecomponents: national occupationalstandards, certification and accredita-tion of training. The strategy for theprogram is to build the systems for cer-tification and training accreditationbased on industry-defined standards. Todate, under the guidance of industrydevelopment committees, MiHR hasdeveloped four National OccupationalStandards: Underground Hard RockMiner, Surface Miner, Minerals Process-ing Operator and Diamond Driller. The National Occupational Stan-

dards and related essential skillsprofiles can also provide the basis forthe development of new training pro-

grams. For example, the Assembly ofFirst Nations and MiHR are develop-ing “Mining Essentials: A WorkReadiness Training Program for Abo-riginal Peoples.” This pre-employmentmining training program is a potentialentry point to MiHR’s CMCP, with acurriculum based on industry stan-dards.It can take anywhere

from two to five years totrain a skilled workerfor the mining industry.Now is not the time totake our foot off the gaswhen it comes to invest-ment in workforcedevelopment. The


author Barbara Kirby is MiHR’s seniordirector, workforce development. She is responsible for overseeing theCouncil’s skills, learning and mobilityinitiatives, including the CanadianMining Credentials program.

Funded in part by the Government of Canada's Sector Council Program. Financé en partie par le Gouvernement du Canada par l’entremise du Programme des conseils sectoriels.

Join the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) in recognizing the achievements of the first group

of workers certified through the Canadian Mining Credentials Program (CMCP) at the CIM Conference &

Exhibition in Montreal in May. Representatives and certified workers from participating mine sites will be

on hand to commemorate this historic event for Canada’s mining industry.

Do not miss this opportunity to meet some of Canada’s first nationally certified mining workers. Learn more

about the Canadian Mining Credentials Program and how certification can bolster your company’s

recruitment initiatives and motivate your employees to excel.

The CMCP is the cornerstone of the mining industry’s efforts to recognize the skills, knowledge and

experience of mining workers.

Tuesday, May 24 at 6:30 pm CIM Conference & Exhibition 2011 • Montreal, Quebec

Location details to be announced

For more information, email [email protected]

trainingcreated by industry, for industryYou are invited to meet Canada’s first nationallycertified underground miners, surface minersand mineral processing operators.

COLUMNS | innovation

Building relationships with keyindustry stakeholders will be instru-mental to CMIC in its efforts towardssecuring Canada’s role as a leader inresearch and innovation. One suchrelationship, with the Oil Sands Tail-ings Consortium, will extend CMIC’sreach even further and has the poten-tial of helping with the advancementof its own Tailings Management Initiative.

Collaboration on R&D effortsCanadian Natural Resources,

Imperial Oil, Shell Canada, SuncorEnergy, Syncrude Canada, TeckResources and Total E&P Canadarecently announced that they willpartner in a unified effort to advancetailings management. This collabora-tion reflects the companies’

Stepping up research efforts Initiatives propelling innovation forward� Tom Hynes

commitment towards operating in asocially and environmentally respon-sible manner and responds to theAlberta government’s policy to affectthe timely reclamation of tailings. The consortium’s efforts will foster

innovation and collaboration in R&Drelating to tailings. “The issue is notwhether we can manage tailings; theissue is whether we can do it better,”says John Broadhurst, vice-presidentof Shell’s Oil Sands Development.“We believe that this relationship is akey step towards tailings solutionsthat will allow us to accelerate thepace of reclamation using the mostadvanced environmental measures.” Each company has pledged to

share its existing tailings research andtechnology and to remove any barri-ers that would hinder collaborating

on future R&D efforts. The joining offorces and sharing of scientificexpertise by these industry giants hasthe potential to produce greaterresults more quickly. The companieshave agreed to the following coreprinciples to guide the actions of theresearch collaboration:• Make tailings technical informa-tion more broadly available toindustry members, academia, reg-ulators and others interested incollaborating on tailings solutions.

• Collaborate on tailings-relatedR&D and technology with compa-nies outside the consortium aswell as with research agencies.

• Eliminate monetary and intellec-tual property barriers to the use ofknowledge and methods related totailings technology and R&D.

• Work to develop an appropriateframework whereby tailings infor-mation is organized, verified throughpeer review and kept current. “This is a tremendously positive

step for research into improved tech-nology for managing tailings,” saysDavid Lynch, Dean of the Faculty ofEngineering at the University ofAlberta. “These companies are to becongratulated for their foresight andwillingness to work together in thisway.” Existing tailings research and devel-

opment will serve as the knowledgebase for the collaboration, and researchobjectives are planned to be finalizedearly this year. Further information canbe obtained through Sean Beardow [email protected].

Other research initiatives movingaheadCMIC is focusing on six major ini-

tiatives, all of which are in variousstages of development. These large,multi-year, multi-partner programscentre on exploration, mining (mineral


CMIC IS SEEKING A PROGRAM DIRECTOR to managethe research program of its Exploration Innovation Consor-tium and to assist, as required, with other research initiatives.

The ideal candidate will have experience in managing explo-ration research in Canada and a demonstrated successrecord of delivery of research programs/projects, preferablyincluding collaborative projects. He/she will:

• have an advanced degree in geological or mining-relatedsciences,

• be a team player, an excellent communicator and a self-starter, and

• possess excellent interpersonal skills.

Contact Michel Plouffe at [email protected] for furtherinformation.

NOW HIRINGCMIC Exploration Program Director

innovation | COLUMNS

extraction), mineral processing,green mining (environment), tailingsand energy. Each initiative is drivenby an industry champion and com-mittee tasked with keeping a strongfocus on the need for innovative tech-nology to support a profitable, safeand environmentally responsibleindustry. This strong support is criti-cal to the success of the CMICinitiatives. CMIC’s Exploration Innovation

Consortium has recently defined itsmajor research themes. For deep,mature camps, the consortium willaddress multidisciplinary explorationfootprints (deposit); “deep mapping”techniques to unravel deep 3D geol-ogy in mature camps; and thedevelopment of robust and reliabledown-hole data collection that isdelivered in real time. For remote andcovered deposits, it will focus onmultidisciplinary terrain footprints(regional); mapping through cover,

data integration and cover mapping;detection thresholds of key character-istics (data density); and secondarydispersion mechanisms, tools andtechniques.The mining and processing initia-

tives have recently identifiedchampions who are now in theprocess of building their respectivecommittees for their programs:• Mining Initiatives: Alex Hender-son, general manager of miningand milling technology, Vale

• Processing Initiative: Rob Hender-son, vice-presidentof technology, Kin-rossNot quite as

advanced as the others,the Energy EfficiencyInitiative is in theprocess of discussing apotential championwith one of our mem-ber companies, and the

Environmental Management and Tail-ings Management initiatives have yetto identify champions, but they areactively pursuing potential candi-dates for these positions.CMIC anticipates that all of its ini-

tiative committees will be in place andactive within the next several monthsand working to define the long-termR&D needs of the industry.

For further information on CMIC or itsinitiatives, contact Michel Plouffe [email protected].

CIM


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authorTom Hynes has worked in the uraniumand base metals industries, and hasbeen a provincial regulator and afederal government research manager. He is the executive director of theCanada Mining Innovation Council.

COLUMNS | safety

As the recent cave-in at Chile’s SanJosé Mine so starkly reminded us, evenin the era of safety first, major miningaccidents can still occur. Apart from theinjuries and destruction, there is a hugepsychological impact on both theworkers involved and the rescue andclean-up crews. And, some of the worstpsychological trauma kicks in later,when the incident is over. As a result,mining companies are now puttingmore energy and resources into dealingwith post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) resulting from on-site accidentsshould they occur, with dedicated staffand programs to help get workers andtheir families through the ordeal.

The aftermathDuring a traumatic event, the

human body is programmed to getthrough the challenge and to safety –the fight or flight response. But in thedays and weeks that follow, as the bodycalms down and life begins to return tonormal, acute stress tends to strike.There is no way of knowing who willbe affected, or how strongly, or howlong. “Most cases do not [developPTSD], although 15 to 39 per cent ofpeople will need some kind of care,”says psychologist Anna Baranowsky,CEO of the Traumatology Institute(Canada) located in Toronto. So what determines how strongly a

person will be affected by a traumaticevent? “It can depend on the severityand duration of the event,” explainsBaranowsky. “Was it ‘human’ in design –for example, a personal attack – or wasit ‘natural’, meaning a true accident?”Reactions to witnessing someone

else’s trauma – known as secondarytraumatic stress, or compassion fatigue– are also very real and also frequentlyrequire treatment. “It can happen espe-cially when people have to go into thesame mine the next day, where thetraumatic event occurred,” Bara-

When the dust settles, the trauma beginsHandling post-incident stress at the mine site� Heather Ednie

nowsky says. “The feelings will becombined with a sense of loss as well.”The three main diagnosis criteria for

PTSD are:• Physiological arousal: physical symp-toms such as shortness of breath,rapid heart rate, startling easily.

• Intrusion: recurrent thoughts, night-mares and overwhelming reactions toreminders, such as going back on site.

• Avoidance: withdrawal from any-thing or anybody that reminds aperson of the event.These symptoms are shared

between primary and secondary PTSDand must last at least a month or longerand impact on the individual’s work orlife to be considered PTSD.


During a training session, emergency rescue team members help a person injured in a vehicle accident, treating theinjuries to stabilize the person before extricating from vehicle.

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nThe action planMost companies now have some

form of Employee Assistance Program(EAP) to help workers after an inci-dent. “At Barrick, part of our policy isto maintain a high degree of emergencypreparedness,” says Craig Ross, thecompany’s vice-president of health andrisk. “We have a detailed emergencyresponse crisis management program,which includes counselling for the res-cue team, workers and families.”“We automatically assume everyone

involved will be traumatized, one wayor another,” Ross continues. “So, uponan event occurrence, we immediatelyengage our human resources depart-ment, who engages the EAP and brings

safety | COLUMNS

in necessary experts.Those experts are calledto site immediately – weourselves lack the knowl-edge to provide suchservice.”Counsellors are kept

available as necessary –on site or in the localcommunities, for weekseven – to ensure a flexi-ble, accessible approachfor everyone to seek treat-ment and help as needed.“Typically, we’d start witha group session, thenbreak off for individual help as needsarise,” says Ross. “During such a time,we will ensure the entire workforce isaware that counselling is available onsite for anyone needing it. As well, we’llmake it available in the communities orat home – whatever the individual ismost comfortable with.”Like Barrick, Goldcorp relies on its

EAP to provide professional assistancefor employees and their families intimes of traumatic incidents. As well, atfly-in/fly-out operations, on-site nurs-ing staff has some experience andtraining dealing with trauma, and isequipped with referrals to seek imme-diate help for any in need.On site, a process is set up to monitor

employees and watch for signs of criticalstress or post-traumatic stress. “We do aroutine check-in with all the people,three to six months post-situation,” saysPaul Farrow, Goldcorp’s vice-presidentof safety and health. “As well, everyoneundergoes the annual health screens.These are confidential, but provideopportunity to observe and potentiallylink troubles to an incident in the past.”

Knowledge is powerThe role of the EAP and general

stress management are part of the reg-ular safety training at Barrick. But if anincident occurs, workers are immedi-ately gathered and briefed on what tolook out for in terms of PTSD. Firstresponders and emergency rescueteams are trained to recognize the signsof trauma – in others and in themselves– as part of their standard training.

“I was an emergency responder andwent through that training,” Ross says.“When you’re dealing with criticalstress, it’s not so evident during an inci-dent. It’s after, when everything shutsdown, that it hits you and then youneed to watch each other.”Goldcorp is planning on taking

PTSD awareness a step further, byincluding it in its Supervisor Leader-ship Development Program. “We wantall our supervisors and managers tounderstand [PTSD],” says Farrow. “Ifthey see an employee looking unen-gaged, they are to follow up.”

Keeping it realLooking at on-site accidents in rela-

tion to their impact on family andcoworkers has been a major driverbehind improving PTSD care at Gold-corp. “Our people and their familiesare known to the managers,” says Far-row. “We rely on those relationships;our employees know we care. And thatmakes them more willing to come for-ward when incidents arise.”Employees are encouraged to look

out for one another; peer support canbe critical after a traumatic event whenfamily and others unrelated to the sitemay not understand the extent of theirtrauma. “We rely heavily on peer sup-port; it has a ripple effect,” Farrowsays. “With the caring activity at workobvious, employees know they can goto a colleague or their supervisor totalk as needed.”Goldcorp’s corporate culture of car-

ing has, unfortunately, been recently

put to the test. Last fall, afemale truck operatornamed Karla Dávila wasfatally injured whileoperating a haul truck ata Goldcorp mine in Mex-ico. Karla’s death had ahuge impact throughoutthe company. She was asingle parent of a three-year-old and the primaryfinancial provider for herextended family. “We hadmines in South Dakotataking collections andmaking great efforts to

raise money for her child and family ontheir own; they were not asked to doanything by the corporation,” Farrowsays. “When Karla’s mother acceptedthose donations and gifts, it helped herto see how much Karla was cared foracross the company.”

Think aheadSmart companies will be equipped

to deal with the effects of a severetrauma, even as they pull out all thestops to avoid having one happen.Baranowsky recommends a few simplesteps to ensure companies will be in aposition to provide the best support fortheir workforce at such times:• Have experts in post-traumaticresponse available for staff and theirfamilies.

• Have a program in place to educateworkers about PTSD symptoms.

• Be prepared to offer a variety oftreatments: individual and groupcounselling, peer-to-peer support,etc.

• Ensure the potential psychologicalimpacts of such an event are wellunderstood, and that all managersare able to identify those individualswho may need extra care.Mining companies have to be flexible

and willing to do what it takes to provideopportunities for treatment for workersand their families in such times. “Wemust listen to the counsellors,” Rossadds. “The right answer is, ‘we’re notexperts, we’re miners’. In an emergency,there are a few calls you make and theEAP is one of the first ones.” CIM


Goldcorp’s Musselwhite First Nations mine rescue team members

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COLUMNS | aboriginal perspectives

Access to reliable trans-portation can make or break amining project. The Jerichodiamond mine in Nunavut, forexample, got off to an inauspi-cious start in 2006 when amelting winter road chokedshipments of fuel, explosivesand other necessities. Despiteseveral attempts at revival, themine never really recoveredfrom the opening blow andclosed before its second birthday.Whether transportation

partnerships with First Nationsgroups in the remote territorywould have made a differenceto Jericho’s fate is debatable,but the advantage of havingpartners familiar with the lay ofthe land is not. Because themajority of Canadian mines arelocated in the North, it is logi-cal for exploration and miningcompanies to partner withtransportation companies run bynortherners who, in most cases, areAboriginal.

Proximity = opportunityThere are clusters within Canada

where Aboriginal communities have astrong presence in transportation forthe mining industry, for example, incentres near the uranium mines innorthern Saskatchewan, the diamondmines and exploration camps of theNorthwest Territories and Nunavut,and the gold, base metal and iron oremines of northern Quebec andLabrador. And there are opportunitieselsewhere.Success comes down to three main

factors, says Dave McIlmoyl, vice-pres-ident of Saskatoon-based NorthernResource Trucking (NRT), a joint ven-ture between 12 First Nations andMétis groups and Calgary-based Trimac

Servicing the North Aboriginal-owned transport companies fulfil mining industry needs� Virginia Heffernan

Transportation: a history of commercialenterprise; a strong Band council thatfosters entrepreneurship; and theopportunity to service the miningindustry, because of proximity and/orhelp from provincial or federal initiatives.“Saskatchewan Indians have been

organized politically since the 1930s,and you tend to find that with a strongpolitical organization there is a strongentrepreneurial spirit,” says McIlmoyl.He adds that the Cree, the largest FirstNations group in Canada, is particu-larly endowed with this spirit becauseof their history of being heavilyinvolved in the fur trade. The LacLa Ronge band is the largest Cree bandin Canada and the largest partner inNRT, which transports supplies to goldand uranium mines in northernSaskatchewan using a fleet of 80trucks. McIlmoyl says NRT would

never have gotten off the ground 25years ago if the Saskatchewan govern-ment had not made support ofnorthern business a condition of giv-ing the go-ahead to the Key Lakeuranium mine.Another well-established transport

company with Aboriginal ownership isKanata-based First Air. In 1978, spe-cial legislation in Quebec gave FirstAir’s owner, Makivik Corporation, themandate to administer the compensa-tion funds resulting from the firstcomprehensive Inuit land claim inCanada, the James Bay Northern Que-bec Land Claim Agreement.Inuit-owned Makivik bought First

Air in 1990 and since then, the airlinehas grown to become the third largestin Canada with more than 1,000employees, almost half of whom liveand work in the North. First Air’s Her-cules aircraft are dedicated to


NRT driver Troy Webb hauling crushed lime from Saskatoon to Areva Resources Canada’s McClean Lake Mine for use in themilling process.

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supplying the mining industry inNunavut and the Northwest Territo-ries, from the gold exploration campsat George Lake and High Lake to theSnap Lake diamond mine and theMeadowbank gold mine. This year, theairline is expanding its service andAboriginal partnerships to serve themining and mineral explorationindustry in two of Nunavut’s threeregions where there are several development and advanced-stageexploration projects in progress. In the Kivalliq Region, First Air has

teamed up with Sakku InvestmentsCorporation to launch Sakku FirstAviation Ltd., a joint venture airlineheadquartered in Rankin Inlet. Sakkuis the business arm of the KivalliqInuit Association. The region hostsAgnico-Eagle’s recently opened Mead-owbank gold mine and itsadvanced-stage Meliadine gold proj-ect, as well as Areva Resources’Kiggavik uranium project.In the Qikiqtani Region, the airline

has an agreement with QikiqtaalukCorporation (QC), an Inuit-ownedbirthright development corporation, tostart a new airline to be named Qikiq-tani First Aviation Ltd. The region hostsBaffinland Iron Mines’ iron ore depositand Peregrine Diamonds’ Chidliak dia-mond exploration property.

Another key mode of transport forbulk mining projects such as MaryRiver is shipping by sea. Last year, QCteamed up with Quebec-based OceanGroup to form Tulaktarvik, an Inuit-owned company that providesice-class harbour tugs, barges for cargoand related services for Nunavut com-munities and the mining industry.There are also opportunities opening

up in the iron-rich region of northernQuebec and Labrador, where severaladvanced-stage exploration projects areunderway. In 2005, the Innu Nation ofMatimekush-Lac John, the InnuTakuaikan Uashat mak Mani-Utenamand the Naskapi Nation ofKawawachikamach formed TshiuetinRail Transportation (TSH) to becomeCanada’s first Aboriginal-owned railway. Seeing an opportunity for social

and economic development in theimpoverished area, TSH purchased a217-kilometre stretch of track runningfrom Schefferville, Quebec, to EmerilJunction, Labrador, from the Iron OreCompany of Canada (IOC), the coun-try’s largest iron ore producer. EmerilJunction is close to IOC’s mine, con-centrator and pelletizing plant inLabrador City, where phase 2 of anexpansion program is underway. TSHprovides all passenger service to andfrom the area.


Northern development“The biggest challenge of servicing

the mining industry is the cyclicalnature of commodity prices, as minesare threatened with closure during adown cycle,” says McIlmoyl. Heremembers a lean period not so longago when the uranium price dippedbelow $20 per lb U3O8 and stayedthere for several years. NRT scrapedthrough, but with costs of $650,000for a truck and trailer, McIlmoyl isgrateful to be back in an environmentof rising uranium and gold prices.Future opportunities will depend

on federal, provincial and/or territorialgovernment support for infrastructurebuilding – whether that be ports,roads, railways or airports – that allowAboriginal transportation enterprisesto blossom. For example, Nunavut iscurrently proposing a $1.2 billion,1,200-kilometre road linking Mani-toba to Kivalliq.“We must now consider infrastruc-

ture not only based on communityneeds, but on the development ofindustry,” said Shawn Maley ofNunavut Airports, Economic Develop-ment and Transportation, in apresentation at the Kivalliq TradeShow last November. “This includesmarine roads to access resources andimprovements at our airports.” CIM

First Air serving Snap Lake Mine

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Québec Lithium inc. prévoit com-mencer les travaux de construction desa mine au printemps 2011, visant unemise en production de l’usine à la finde 2012, et l’atteinte de la pleine pro-duction au cours de 2013. La mineproduira alors 20 000 t/an de carbon-ate de lithium, soit environ 12 pourcent de la production mondiale;Québec Lithium en sera alors le prin-cipal producteur nord-américain. Le projet Québec Lithium, une fil-

iale de Canada Lithium Corp., se situeà 30 kilomètres au sud d’Amos et à 60kilomètres au nord de Val-d’Or. Laconstruction de la mine représenteraun investissement de plus de 200 mil-lions de dollars, dépensé en majeurepartie dans la région, en main-d’œuvreet auprès d’entrepreneurs régionaux.L’exploitation de la mine injectera env-iron 60 millions de dollars par an dansl’économie régionale, dont plus de 25pour cent en salaires. La mineemploiera près de 200 employés etcréera en plus des emplois indirects etinduits.

Un peu d’histoireDe 1955 à 1965, la mine Québec

Lithium, située dans la municipalité deLacorne en Abitibi, au Québec, étaitparmi les principaux fournisseurs delithium au monde. Une importanteusine métallurgique située sur le siteproduisait alors du carbonate delithium, de l’hydroxyde de lithium, duchlorure de lithium et du concentré despodumène.La région comptait alors également

des mines de zinc, de molybdène, d’ar-gent, de bismuth, etc. La gare deBarraute était un important point detransit de minerai et le domaine minierétait l’un des moteurs importants del’économie régionale.Dans les décennies qui ont suivi,

avec l’épuisement des réserves et les

La demande à la hausse du lithium fera prospérer la région de l’Abitibi� Charles Taschereau

fluctuations des prix des métaux, cesmines ont fermé, elles ont été rem-placées par de nouvelles mines dansd’autres régions ou encore ailleursdans le monde. Quoique de nombreuxhabitants de Lacorne travaillent encoredans le domaine minier, plus aucunemine n’était en exploitation dans lamunicipalité depuis de nombreusesannées. Le site de Québec Lithium adonc dû être totalement restauré aucours des années 1990.

La renaissance du lithiumLa demande pour le lithium est

maintenant de nouveau forte grâce audéveloppement de batteries et de pilesrechargeables pour les téléphones cel-lulaires, les ordinateurs portables, lesoutils sans fils et les voitures hybrideset électriques. Le prix et la demandedu lithium sont en hausse constantepour un marché en expansion rapide.Les batteries et les piles au lithiumsont très légères, sans effet demémoire, conservant longtemps leur

charge et pouvant fonctionner à bassetempérature. Les fabricants de batter-ies demandent une très grande puretéde produit : au moins 99,5 pour cent.La qualité du minerai du gisement deQuébec Lithium permet d’obtenircette concentration. En pleine production la mine

extraira 2950 tonnes par jour de min-erai contenant en moyenne 1,2 % deLiO2. Le minerai sera d’abord con-cassé, puis broyé et flotté pour obtenirun concentré de spodumène (leminéral contenant le lithium) à 6,5 %LiO2. Ensuite le concentré de spo-dumène sera chauffé, dissous et lesimpuretés seront précipitées; le résul-tat final sera un carbonate de lithiumpur à 99,5 pour cent et même plus.

Au profit de la régionDe plus, Québec Lithium veut s’as-

surer que le développement du projetrespecte les trois piliers du développe-ment durable : la protection del’environnement, le développement

COLUMNS | parlons en


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économique et le développementsocial.Pour contribuer au développement

social, la société encourage lesinvestissements locaux, le principe de« la goutte d’eau », selon lequel lesretombées économiques profitent leplus à l’échelle locale avant de s’éten-dre au reste de la région puis àl’ensemble de la nation. Le choix dumaître d’œuvre (EPCM), des entrepre-neurs et des employés reflètera cettevolonté de contribuer à l’économierégionale en plus de développer lamine. Les entrepreneurs et lesemployés locaux et régionaux serontfavorisés par rapport à ceux provenantd’autres régions. Une entreprise ne peut se dévelop-

per à long terme que si le milieu oùelle œuvre est sain du point de vueenvironnemental et social. Une main-d’œuvre qualifiée et motivée et desfournisseurs et des prestataires deservices doivent être présents pourassurer le succès de l’entreprise. Desprogrammes de formation sont en pré-paration avec les centres de formationd’Amos et de Val-d’Or afin d’assurerune main-d’œuvre qualifiée dès ledébut des opérations. Toutefois, la tra-dition minière de la région et laproximité de plusieurs villes minièresfaciliteront l’embauche de main-d’œuvre qualifiée. Au niveau environnemental,

Québec Lithium veut mettre en placeles standards les plus élevés. Lelithium fait en effet partie de l’é-conomie verte, car l’objectif à la basede plusieurs de ses usages est deréduire l’utilisation d’énergies fos-siles. Il est donc essentiel de produirele lithium d’une manière responsableet environnementale. C’est ce qui aété mis en place chez QuébecLithium, avec une planificationdétaillée et des études poussées. Leplan de réhabilitation du site est déjàen place et l’argent requis pour laréhabilitation sera mis de côté dès ledébut de l’exploitation.Le type de minerai permet de min-

imiser les impacts environnementauxpotentiels. Le minerai ne contient pasde sulfures et ne risque donc pas de

causer de drainage minier acide,aucun métal lourd ou toxique n’estassocié au minerai, les résidus (quartzet feldspath) et le stérile (granite) sontstables et ne risquent pas de causerd’impacts environnementaux.En ce moment, l’ingénierie détaillée

avance rapidement et toute l’équipeattend avec impatience le début officiel

des travaux de construction dansquelques mois. Avec des firmes de fab-rication d’éléments de batteries aulithium comme Phostech et Bathium etles programmes appliqués de recherchede l’Hydro-Québec à son centre derecherche IREQ, Québec Lithium ferapartie de la grappe industrielle nais-sante des énergies vertes au Québec. ICM


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Tania Ilieva, géologue, examine des carottes de forage.

l’auteurCharles Taschereau est un ingénieur des mines avec près de20 ans d’expérience dans le développement et l’opération deprojets miniers au Canada et à l’international. Avant d’êtrenommé Chef de l’exploitation de Canada Lithium Corp., il étaiten charge du développement et la mise en opération du projetminier Essakane au Burkina Faso.

COLUMNS | women in mining

In the dynamic environment of anoperation undergoing expansion, LailaPotvin’s thirst for challenges is settingthe pace. “It’s incredibly busy, but I’mnot complaining,” says the 34-year-oldmanager of mill operations at GibraltarMines Ltd. “I like the fast pace; it’s farfrom boring.” In fact, boredom is possibly the

gravest of enemies to this young pro-cessing dynamo. After graduatingfrom the Lassonde Mineral Engineer-ing Program at the University ofToronto, Potvin went to work for Vale(then Inco) in Thompson, Manitoba,as a processing engineer. In addition toa full workload, she pursued and com-pleted a Master’s degree at McGillUniversity. Then, in 2005, she joinedthe team at the Lac des Îles operationnear Thunder Bay, Ontario, as millsuperintendent. “After three years, wegot to the point where the mill opera-tion was running smoothly and wasfully optimized,” she recalls. “This wasexpedited when the operation was

Forging aheadYoung mill manager takes on the optimization challenge� Heather Ednie

shutdown in October 2008 due to theeconomic downturn and drop in palla-dium prices. Though I was one of thepeople retained through the care andmaintenance process, the day-to-day

work was becoming routine, so it wastime for me to look for a new chal-lenge.”In February 2009, Potvin began her

current role at Gibraltar and has beenenjoying the bustling environmentfrom the onset. “At Gibraltar, we’restriving for improvements,” she says.“It will take a while to get bored –there is so much to do.”

Living the lifeThe mining industry was not

Potvin’s initial career choice. “Frankly,my original plan was to go into envi-ronmental sciences, but when I foundout I’d be in classrooms with 250 peo-ple, all I could think of was, ‘how willI get a job when I graduate?’” sheremembers. “I heard engineers were indemand and so I called the Universityof Toronto. The mining industryappealed to me because it offers such adiversity of experience, with differentopportunities around the world.”The change in career path has

worked out nicely for Potvin. Her hus-band, a blasting supervisor, also works


Laila Potvin in front of a soon-to-be obsolete SAG feeder conveyor.

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ward, but you can only do so much atone time.”

Making it all happenHaving experienced the best of both

worlds – working with both small andlarge companies – Potvin prefers work-ing with junior to mid-tiercorporations. “Things are faster com-pared to larger companies where there’smore red tape or more sets of eyeswatching,” she explains. “Somethingthat takes an hour here could takeseven hours elsewhere. We have a ‘justgo and do it’ attitude at Gibraltar. If itdoesn’t work, put it back to the way itwas. You advance quicker this way.” With her “forge ahead” attitude,

Potvin believes anything is possible.“Choose whichever path you want totake, even if it means you must acquirenew skill sets,” she advises. “You canachieve anything you want. Being rela-tively new to the industry, there is stillso much to discover, and that’s a chal-lenge that I find exhilarating.” CIM

in the mining industry so they are ableto move around together, learningabout life in new regions, at new oper-ations. “By moving, I get to experiencedifferent areas and really immersemyself in the new community andregion,” she explains. “On the negativeside, we have to go out and find all thebest fishing holes with each new placewe live – but that’s a challenge that isfun to have.”This spring, Potvin and her hus-

band will embark on the biggestchallenge of all – becoming new par-ents. “From a professional standpointthough, I’m really looking forward tocoming back to my role with a newenergy and perspective, focusing onthe plant’s operation,” she says. “It willalmost be like starting a new job againexcept I’ll know the people, processesand systems already.”

Always room for improvementPotvin sees herself more as an opti-

mizer for existing operations rather

than a commissioner. Her expertiselies in assuming responsibility for anoperation and developing and execut-ing plans to make the process asefficient as possible.Although she is not responsible for

the expansion project at Gibraltar,Potvin will assume control of theoperation when it is complete. Mean-while, she must keep the mill runningsmoothly while construction goes onin its midst. “It hasn’t been too muchof a challenge,” she says. ”Theprocess is very controlled and organ-ized, and the team is aware of whereeveryone is and what funds are beingspent.”The real excitement will come in

2012, she claims, when the expansionis completed. Potvin has manyprocess changes in mind to lower unitcosts. “We’re not doing it wrong now,but there are definitely areas toimprove,” she says. “I will have to leanon people because I have a list ofabout 125 projects to push us for-

COLUMNS | canadians abroad


Bob McCarthy has never actuallyrelocated outside Canada, but it hasoften felt that way. The general man-ager at Snowden Mining IndustryConsultants sacrificed a lot of timeoutside his native Vancouver while hiskids were growing up, and he has evenlived in different cities than his family.But McCarthy’s a pragmatist. “It’snever been a big issue; you just adapt,”he says. Still, he is glad that now thekids are big and his wife has retired,they can do at least some of the globe-trotting as a family.

A dangerous decadeMcCarthy got his first taste of

intense international business travelunder the most difficult circumstancesimaginable – just two weeks after 9/11.“It was an interesting time,” recallsMcCarthy, who was with Luscar Coalat the time visiting clients in Japan,Taiwan, Germany and Brazil. “Securitywas through the roof, and I earnedtriple Air Miles – an incentive to try toget people back on the planes. We vis-ited steel companies and their mills,never staying in one place more thantwo nights. I remember being virtuallydragged through airports and train sta-tions by the marketing guys.” Besides security nightmares,

McCarthy has spent time in countrieswhere he would fear for his safety.After Luscar, he joined Modular Min-ing and, as a new product manager, hevisited Africa a number of times tostudy potential applications for theunderground environment. “It was thefirst time I really did not feel at home,”he says. “I was much more concernedabout my personal safety. The samewent for South America around thattime. I was once chatting with some-one there who had, only a weekbefore, been carjacked at gunpoint.”Carjacking fears aside, McCarthy

has enjoyed most of the trips, finding

Around the world in a briefcaseSnowden’s Bob McCarthy has become a savvy traveller � Heather Ednie

time to visit game farms and explorebreathtaking countrysides. He hasspent time immersed in a number ofdifferent cultures, learning to appreci-ate both the similarities and thedifferences between locations.Since Snowden scooped him up

three years ago, he has travelled toAustralia, Mexico, South America(including Chile, Columbia, Peru andBrazil) and the United States regularly.

The savvy business travellerAfter all the miles he has clocked,

McCarthy has learned a few tricks tohelp make business travel easier andmore successful. Most importantly, hesays, do your homework before youexpand your business into anothercountry. If you want to succeed, youhave to learn about the culture, espe-cially how business is done there. Forexample, he says, in Brazil, whereSnowden currently has numerousprojects in the works, there are anumber of labour protection regula-tions we do not have here in Canada.

“There are certain labour rules wemust adhere to, such as how thecountry dictates raises,” he says.“There’s a nation-wide salary adjust-ment. So you wait for it, then decidewhether to give more. It’s all good inthe end – you just need to educateyourself first,” he adds.Then there is how to survive the

gruelling task of getting from point Ato point B in one piece. After someincredibly long trips – it once tookhim 49 hours to get from the Amazonjungle to Vancouver (it was a real“planes, trains and automobiles”story) – he has picked up some practi-cal travel habits to help make thewhole ordeal much easier. The first major rule he follows is to

pack light so he has only carry-on lug-gage, whenever possible. “I’ve evendone two weeks with carry-on,” hesays. “The potential to have your lug-gage lost is huge and, on short hops, itnever catches up. It can be a realheadache, and best avoided. You learnthese things over time.”

Beauty and the beast. Bob McCarthy stands atop a waste dump overlooking breathtaking countryside, in the stateof Minas Gerais, Brazil.

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His second rule of thumb is to always be nice to fellowtravellers; you never know when you might need eachother. Once, heading from Tucson to Vancouver during athunderstorm, McCarthy’s flight was delayed over andover. “I got on the plane to Phoenix, but there was nohope of making the connection to Vancouver,” heremembers. “I befriended someone on the plane, though,who invited me as a guest in the lounge in Phoenix. Iknew there was one flight going to Seattle, so I cruisedup, got tickets, had a beverage and got on the plane with-out any of the normal stress.”A final travel tip is to try to learn the local language.

McCarthy is currently learning Spanish, although says heis not yet fluent. “Working in another country, it’s impor-tant to speak their language, really, there’s a responsibilitythere,” he adds. “I’m spending at least a month per yearin South America, so I need to learn.” CIM


calendarCIM EVENTSCIM Conference & Exhibition 2011May 22-25 | Montreal, QCContact: Chantal MurphyEmail: [email protected]

Mining Society of Nova Scotia 124th AnnualMeetingJune 8-11 | Cape Breton, NSContact: Florence SigutEmail: [email protected]

Section HarricanaTournoi de golf4 juin | Val-d’Or, QCResponsable : Francine FontaineCourriel: [email protected]

Saskatoon BranchAnnual Golf TourneyJuly 8 | Saskatoon, SKContact: Jim CormanEmail: [email protected]

AROUND THE WORLDBPI 5th International Industry Summit on MiningPerformanceMay 10-12Radisson Hotel, Rapid City, South Dakota, U.S.A.www.PSUminingsummit.com/2011

Sulphur, Suplhuric Acid and SO2 Abatement 2011May 16-19 Sun City, Pilansberg, South Africawww.saimm.co.za

Aluminum Two Thousand 7th World Congress May 17-21Royal Hotel Carleton, Bologna, Italywww.aluminium2000.com

Austmine 2011May 17-18Sofitel Brisbane Hotel, Brisbane, Queenslandwww.austmine2011.com


COLUMNS | la vie d’étudiant

L’été dernier, troisétudiants de l’Univer-sité Laval en géniedes mines et de laminéralurgie ontentrepris un voyagequelque peu excep-tionnel. Le professeurJacek Paraszczak aaidé à organiser la vis-ite de cinq minespolonaises quiprésentaient desaspects que l’onretrouve peu dans lesmines canadiennes,par exemple lesméthodes de minage,les équipements et lesdimensions des gise-ments et deséquipements, etc. Lesmines, toutes souter-raines, ont été visitéesdans l’ordre suivant :Pomorzany (zinc-plomb), Ziemowit(charbon), Wieliczka (sel), Polkowice-Sieroszowice (sel et cuivre) et Rudna(cuivre). Chacune des mines visitées nous

accueillait chaleureusement et nousavons reçu des échantillons de rochesdifficiles à trouver et des démonstra-tions d’équipements théoriquement enmaintenance.Tout au long de notre périple, nous

ressentions une différence culturelleassez importante. À prime abord, lalangue. Nous avons essayé de notremieux de parler polonais, mais ceteffort fut plutôt vain. Heureusementpour nous, M. Paraszczak nous atraduit l’intégral des explicationsfournies par nos hôtes. En second lieu,la religion. Les Polonais sont beaucoupplus pratiquants que les Québécois etcette différence était évidente par lenombre d’autels, de chapelles et d’ob-jets religieux. Ils ont aussi beaucoupde statues représentant des mineurs.Les sites miniers ont un attrait partic-

Visite minière en Pologne� Alexandre Dorval

ulier et sont trèsdifférents desinstallations desurface des minesdu Québec.Les premières

mines visitéesprésentaient dif-férentes méthodesde support de ter-rain. Des arches enbois ou en métal se retrouvent partoutdans les installations permanentes. Deplus, dans la mine de charbon, uneméthode de minage restée quelquepeu théorique nous a été démontrée etexpliquée. Nous sommes entrés dansun chantier de longue taille du char-bon, au milieu du supporthydraulique, pour voir la haveuse enmarche. Le gisement était à l’avant etl’affaissement avait lieu derrière nous.À plusieurs reprises dans les dif-férentes mines, nos guides ontinterrompu des travailleurs afin denous faire voir les différents

équipements en fonc-tion. J’étais plusqu’heureux et reconnais-sant de cette attention. À mi-chemin dans

nos visites minières,nous avons visité la minehistorique Wieliczka.Ouverte aux touristes,elle offre aussi un trajetpour les gens ayant desconnaissances de basedans les mines. Petitesgaleries, veines àpendage de 45 degrés etgéologie surprenante

nous y attendaient.L’air salin et lescristaux de selétaient plusqu’abondants danscette mineexploitée depuissept siècles, maisutilisant main-tenant ladissolution du seldans de l’eauchaude.Un choc partic-

ulier nous attendaiten Pologne : la dif-férence de taille desgisements et tout ceque cette différenceengendre. Environ

400 millions de tonnes de cuivre, uneréserve énorme de sel (± 3 milliards detonnes) dans la mine Polkowice-Sieroszowice, ainsi que deux typesd’équipements pour une seule méth-ode de minage, par chambres et piliers.Le sel est exploité par un tunneliercreusant des galeries d’une surface de25 m² et des équipements à profil sur-baissé travaillent dans la zone decuivre. Encore une fois, nous avons eudroit à une impressionnante démon-stration d’équipements, résultant cettefois en une tempête de sel. Faitimpressionnant, aucun support de ter-

De gauche à droite : hôte polonais, Vincent Gingras,Alexandre Dorval, Jacek Paraszczak et Dominic Gravel.Droit : Statue devant la mine Wieliczka en Pologne.Crédit : Dominic Gravel


student life | COLUMNS

l’auteurAlexandre Dorval estun étudiant finissant(automne 2011) engénie minier àl’Université Laval.

Ordinary turned extraordinaryPoland field trip was the highlight of a Laval University student’s summer� Alexandre Dorval

A field trip to Poland made last summer an exceptional one for me and twoother mining engineering students from Laval University. The primary goal of thetrip was to deepen our understanding and knowledge of mining methods andequipment that are rarely seen in Canada. We visited Pomorzany (zinc-lead),Ziemowit (coal), Wieliczka (salt), Polkowice-Sieroszowice (salt and copper) andRudna (copper), all of which are underground operations. We received a very warm welcome at all of the mines and were treated to rare rock

samples and demonstrations of equipment on maintenance.Throughout our trip, there were moments when the cultural gap felt pretty big;

language was our biggest hurdle. Happily, we had Professor Parazsczak to help us. Then there was religion. Poles are a lot more religious than Quebecers, and we were

amazed by the sight of chapels and religious objects everywhere we went. But proba-bly the most surprising thing we saw was the way the mine buildings and exterioryards were decorated with statues representing miners; there was also a lot of openspace between buildings. This was quite different from what we have at home.The first visits were very interesting. For ground support, arches made of steel

and wood are the foundation of everything permanent. We also had the opportu-nity to see a demonstration of a shearer. Observing the shearer working in front ofus, with the hydraulic support on the ceiling and the caving behind us, was the bestway to learn and understand the process. A few times during our visit, our guideseven stopped the workers to show us how the equipment works. Half-way through our trip, we went to visit the famous 700-year-old Wieliczka

salt mine near Krakow that offers tours to the public. Happily for us, there is a tourfor people with at least a basic understanding of mining. Salt sculptures, cathedral-like caverns, a sanatorium, 45-degree veins and fascinating geology awaited usthere. The salty air and salt crystals were everywhere in this mine that is still oper-ational – although now the salt is extracted by dissolving it in hot water.At the two last mines, we explored differences in ore body volume and every-

thing related to it. At Polkowice-Sieroszowice, around 400 million tonnes ofcopper and about three billion tonnes of salt are mined using the room-and-pillarmethod, but with different equipment in each case. The salt body is exploited witha tunnel boring machine (TBM) using 25 square metre surface, while the copperbody is exploited with low-profile equipment. Once again, we were treated to ademonstration, this time of a TBM, which ended in a salt storm. To my amaze-ment, there were no rock-supporting devices to be seen, even though some roomswere huge. The temperature reached as high as 35 degrees Celsius, even thoughwe were only 300 metres deep. The last mine we visited, Rudna, has an ore bodyarea of 416 square kilometres and 11 shafts, for a daily production of 43,000tonnes, all exploited by the room-and-pillar method. An impressive 4,500employees work at each mine.This field trip was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me and I thank all the

mines for their hospitality. I am grateful to Professor Paraszczak and to DominicGravel for his idea of visiting Poland and for organizing the hotels and flights.Thanks also to Waldemar Korzeniowski (professor and department director inmining engineering faculty of AGH – University of Technology) for helping organ-ize the mine visits. Last but not the least, a huge thanks to Jacek Paraszczak for themajor part he played in the organization of this awesome field trip and for trans-lating everything our hosts were telling us. As the Polish miners would say to us when we met them underground:

SZCZĘŚĆ BOŻE (God bless you!). CIM

rain n’est présent dans la zone desel, malgré la taille de certaineschambres. De plus, la températureatteint les 35 °C, malgré que la zonede sel ne soit qu’à une profondeurde 300 mètres. Finalement, nousavons visité la mine Rudna, avecune superficie minéralisée de 416km², 11 puits et une productionjournalière de 43 000 tonnes. Letout est exploité par chambres etpiliers. Chaque mine emploie envi-ron 4500 travailleurs.Finalement, j’ai vraiment appré-

cié ce voyage, que je décriraisd’expérience de vie, car avoir unetelle opportunité est très rare.J’aimerais d’ailleurs remercier lesdifférentes mines de nous avoiraccueillis et de nous avoir montrécertains équipements avec lesquelsnous sommes peu familiers. Merci àDominic Gravel d’avoir eu l’idée decette visite et d’avoir organisé lelogement et le transport du voyageavec l’aide de Jacek Paraszczak. Ungrand merci à WaldemarKorzeniowski (professeur etdirecteur du département à la fac-ulté de génie minier de l’AGH –Académie des mines et de la métal-lurgie) pour avoir aidé dansl’organisation de la visite des mineset finalement, un grand merci à M.Paraszczak pour sa grande part del’organisation, autant au Québecqu’en Pologne et surtout pour avoireu la patience de tout traduire lesexplications de nos hôtes.Comme les mineurs polonais

nous ont si souvent dit : « SZCZĘŚĆBOŻE» (Que Dieu vous bénisse!). ICM

Albert Low: the “Iron Man” of the GSC� Correy Baldwin

In the winter of 1884, a GeologicalSurvey of Canada (GSC) team waswaiting out the bitter weather at a

Hudson Bay Company post on theshores of Lake Mistassini, deep in thewilderness of northern Quebec. Thetwo lead members of the team hadbeen arguing for months and now,stuck together in cramped quarters,their disagreement was reaching itsheight. The young, stubborn, no-non-sense geologist Albert Low had hadenough of the team’s leader, JohnBignell – and the feelings seemed to bemutual.Their differences too great to be

resolved, Low decided to take mattersinto his own hands. He packed up histhings and, accompanied by two othermen, marched out into the blowingsnow. He was heading back to Ottawato convince the GSC to put him ratherthan Bignell in charge of the expedi-tion. He was facing a 300-kilometretrek by foot and just as far by sleighbefore even reaching a train station,and the blizzards were howling.The two men were part of a joint

expedition of the Quebec governmentand the federal government’s Geologi-cal Survey to survey Lake Mistassini,rumoured to be just as large as theGreat Lakes. Bignell, a land surveyorfor the Quebec government, was givenleadership of the expedition and Lowwas brought in as the team’s geologist.At 23 years old, it was Low’s first majorassignment with the GSC. Bignell was67 and much more experienced.The team was to take an unex-

plored route into Mistassini to surveya large area to the east and south.Bignell decided that they would winterat the HBC post, which, given the

unknown route, would require anearly departure. But, as Bignell assem-bled an unnecessarily large team, thedeparture was delayed until the end ofAugust. Low was not impressed.Frustrated by the delay, Low left

early with his team and arranged tomeet Bignell at a halfway point. There,he waited impatiently until Bignellarrived. Travel became difficult as win-ter set in and eventually the team wasforced to stop to build toboggans andsnowshoes to complete the journey. Bymid-December, they were trekking inminus 40 degree weather, their foodsupplies running out.They finally arrived at the HBC post

on December 23, hungry and weary.Low wanted to begin surveying thelake immediately, but Bignell opted towait out what was shaping up to be a

brutally cold January. Low was fed up.He considered the entire expedition adisaster and blamed Bignell. By the end of the month, the two

were not on speaking terms and whenFebruary arrived, Low decided toleave for Ottawa. His trek out of Mis-tassini was no easier than the trek in:heavy snowstorms slowed the journeyand forced him and his two compan-ions to abandon some heavierequipment including, incredibly, theirtent and stove. They spent the rest oftheir nights huddled in snow caves.Low eventually reached Ottawa and

reported to his superior, Dr. Selwyn,detailing his grievances about Bignell’sleadership. Selwyn wrote to his Quebeccounterpart, E. E. Taché. Convinced byLow, the two agreed to recall Bignelland to put Low in charge. Low set out


Albert Low’s photo of the birchbark survey canoe on Lake Mistassini in the summer of 1885. James Macoun,foreground, holds a survey rod.

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once again, this time armed with a dis-missal letter.By the time Low set out by foot from

Lac Saint-Jean, it was the end of Marchand spring was setting in. This time histrek was slowed by slush and mud. Heeventually ran out of food and had tobe rescued by men from the HBC post,but he finally made it back to Mis-tassini, more-or-less triumphant, onApril 29. He handed Bignell the dis-missal letter and sent the furioussurveyor back to Quebec City.Bignell had been busy while Low was

away, having emerged from the post inFebruary to begin surveying. Now Lowcontinued with the work and surveyedthe circumference of the lake by birchbark canoe after the ice breakup.The lake turned out to be much

smaller than suspected – nothing com-pared to the Great Lakes. Still, the triphad been a success for Low, whose

stunt secured his status in the GSC.The Mistassini trip would be the firstof many expeditions. He spent nineseasons in the field, eight of those inthe Quebec-Labrador region. Hequickly gained a reputation as a roughtraveller and hardy explorer.Such qualities were to be admired,

but they were also just part of the job.It was an era when geologists wereexpected to truly rough it in the bush.You could say that Low had big bootsto fill: the walls of Sir William Logan’soffice, the first director of the GSC,were famously lined with dozens ofworn-out field boots.Low more than lived up to expecta-

tions. All in all, he spent nearly 1,600days in the field and covered well over13,000 kilometres. He also becameknown for his accurate and meticu-lously detailed field notes, reports,sketches and maps.


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His 1892 expedition up theChamouchouane and Eastmain riverswas the first of five years of surveyingby canoe, a period that solidified Low’sreputation as an expert in the geologyof northeastern Quebec and Labrador.His 1893-94 expedition into thelargely unexplored Labrador Peninsulawas his longest, covering over 8,000kilometres.On that trip, he discovered the vast

deposits of iron ore that make up theLabrador Trough. He immediately rec-ognized the potential of these deposits,which a half century later would sup-port a massive iron mine industry inthe area, centred around Schefferville,Labrador City and Fermont.Low resigned from the GSC in

1901 to prospect for iron at HudsonBay, although he returned in 1906 toserve as its director. He retired in1913. CIM

cim newsWhat mining brings to the tableMSNS Annual Meeting takes a look at how mining has improved our lives

By Florence Sigut


The Mining Society of Nova Scotia(MSNS) held its 123rd Annual Gen-eral Meeting on June 9-11, 2010, atthe Keltic Lodge Resort and Spa inCape Breton, Nova Scotia. Chaired bypast president Bob MacDonald, themeeting featured informative techni-cal sessions, industry updates frombusiness leaders, a panel discussionand a round of golf at the world-renowned Highland Links GolfCourse. Under the theme “AtlanticCanada mining – improving ourlives,” the technical program focusedon the leading industry innovations,projects and social issues facing theregion today.

The highlight of the meeting wasthe Awards Dinner & Dance, cele-brating special achievements withinthe local industry. Winners included:• Xavier D. Michaud (Dalhousie

University) and Nicholas Guest(St. Francis University) – Centen-nial Scholarship Medals

• Anna West (Dalhousie Univer-sity) – Donald MacFadgen Memo-rial Scholarship

• Gordon Dickie – Mining Society ofNova Scotia Medal

• Alan Davidson – President’s Cita-tionNotable speakers included CIM

President Chris Twigge-Molecey andthe Honourable John MacDonell,Minister of Service Nova Scotia andMunicipal Relations, and Minister ofAgriculture.

Thanks to our sponsors for theirgenerous support

ADI • AECOM • Amirault Ventures •Atlantic CAT • Atlantic Explosives •

Atlantic Hardchrome • CanadaSteamship Lines • CBCL • Con-

testoga-Rovers • Dexter Construction• Dyno Nobel • LaFarge Canada •

Logan Drilling • MacLeod Resources •MANS • MAXXAM • MERREX GOLD• Millennium Contracting • NationalGypsum • Nova Scotia Department ofNatural Resources • Sansom Equip-ment Limited • Senes ConsultantsLimited • Shaw Resources • S & MTrucking • Stantec • The CanadianSalt Company • Wilson Equipment

CIM

ObituariesJohn J. Asselstine joined CIM in 1965and became a Life Member in 1993. Hedied on April 6, 2010.

W. Keith Buck became a member of CIMin 1952 and a Life Member is 1987. Hedied on September 8, 2010.

Alex Cormode became a member ofCIM in 1975 and achieved Life Memberstatus in 2009. He died on February 10,2010.

John D. Dinsdale joined CIM inDecember 1990.

Byron C. Elsley, a Life Member of CIMsince 1977, died on February 20, 2009.

Howard Foshang joined CIM in 1976.He died in June 2010.

James D. Knauer became a LifeMember in 2000. He died on February 6,2010.

Arnold McAllister joined CIM in 1955and became a Life Member in 1989. Hedied on November 16, 2010.

Murray W. Pyke, a Life Member since2003, died on May 6, 2009.

Clifford C. Rennie became a member ofCIM in 1978 and a Life Member in 2004.He died on November 24, 2009.

George C. Riley, a member of CIM since1949 and a Life Member since 1991,died on September 2, 2010.

George Ruddle joined CIM in 1987.

Nathaniel S. Scott was a member ofCIM since 1958 and a Life Member since1993. He died in 2010.

Alvin Edgar Storey joined CIM in 1954and became a Life Member in 1992. Hedied on October 10, 2010.

Walter Herbert Thompson, a memberof CIM since 1956 and a Life Membersince 1991, died on September 20,2010.

Susan Zador joined CIM in 1985. Shedied on October 3, 2010.

Papers are currently being accepted for the 124th Annual General Meeting of the Mining Society of Nova Scotia tobe held on June 8-10, 2011, at the Keltic Lodge Resort and Spa in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

Submit technical papers to: [email protected]

For further information or to register, contact: Florence SigutTel.: 902.567.2147 Email: [email protected]

CALL FOR PAPERS

with a goal of becoming aprofessional engineer. Hiscurrent interests lie in ura-nium and coal. “Uraniummining is so completelydifferent from any otherarea of mining in terms of the challenges anduniqueness of the proper-ties,” he adds. “And coal isalso really different. I tooka class on coal processing,and what I saw on the waycoal is mined really inter-ests me.”

But, until that hap-pens, Lecomte is lookingforward to the two-weektrip to Brazil his fourth-year mining class will

take at the end of the semester. “Thatwill be an eye-opening experience forme,” he says. “I can’t wait.” CIM


scholarship winner | cim news

Bradley Lecomte, the2010-2011 recipient ofthe Caterpillar and itsCanadian Dealers Scholar-ship, visited the Huckle-berry Mine near Houston,British Columbia, whenhe was in elementaryschool. Although fasci-nated by what he saw, henever imagined that oneday he would find himselfbehind the wheel of alarge haul truck. But, forthe last two summers, the21-year-old, fourth-yearUniversity of BritishColumbia mining engi-neering student has beenhauling ore at the verysame mine, an experience he sayswill one day help him as a mine engineer.

In high school, Lecomte enjoyedmath, physics, economics and com-puters. Studying engineering was anatural choice for him, but when heentered university, he knew littleabout the various fields open to him.“When I saw a presentation put onby the mining department, it sparkedan interest I had in mining thatstarted back in elementary school,”he says. “One of the things aboutmining that I’m really interested in isthe way the physical, political, social,economic and environmental chal-lenges all come together when min-ing engineers work on a job.”

While at Huckleberry Mine,Lecomte was able to gain a good per-spective on mining operations fromspeaking with other employees. “Inmy future career, if people complainabout the haul road being too small,for example, I will be in a better posi-tion to understand that,” he says.“These trucks don’t turn on a dime;they do need large roads.”

When he graduates this spring,Lecomte says he wants to work in anengineer-in-training (EIT) program,

Early exposure to mine turns into inspiring careerBy Marlene Eisner

Patricia Dillon, Trustee for the Canadian Mining and Metallurgical Foundation, presentedthe Caterpillar and its Canadian Dealers Scholarship to Bradley Lecomte, a mining engi-neering student at the University of British Columbia.

Cred

it: T

om B

rodd

y

cim news | récipiendaire

Cette année, Pierre Laroche,ingénieur minier chez LAB Chrysotile,a reçu le Prix des membres de l’ICMpour ses 38 années d’implication àThetford Mines, tant au niveau tech-nologique et culturel qu’éducatif etsportif.

Originaire de Montréal, rien nesemblait destiner le jeune Laroche àcette carrière, sauf un nom prédestinéet un intérêt marqué pour le secteur

primaire. Il eut la piqûre lors de stages durant ses pre-mières années à l’École Polytechnique de Montréal. Le bac-calauréat s’étendait alors sur cinq ans, dont deux ans detronc commun.

« J’ai travaillé dans des mines de métaux à Chibougamauet à Matagami, puis à Elliot Lake dans une mine d’uranium.C’est ce qui m’a le plus intéressé », a-t-il expliqué.

L’obtention d’un 2e prix à un concours d’Expo-mines lemotiva encore davantage.

Diplômé Bachelier en 1969, M. Laroche a travaillé à QITFer et Titane à Havre-Saint-Pierre, après l’obtention de samaîtrise en 1970. Son employeur actuel, LAB Chrysotile(jadis Lac d’Amiante du Québec), l’embauche en 1972comme ingénieur minier.

« J’ai aussi été assistant-surintendant de l’usine », a-t-ilexpliqué. « J’avais une équipe de dessinateurs et de concep-teurs et on a travaillé énormément pour assainir le milieu detravail. » Le jeune ingénieur s’est fait connaître alors qu’il aparticipé à la Commission d’enquête sur la salubrité dans lesmines d’amiante, suite à la grève de neuf mois en 1975.

Par la suite, une entente entre les mines a permis le libreéchange de nombreuses données relatives à la prévention del’empoussiérage du milieu de travail. M. Laroche et sonéquipe ont grandement contribué à faire accélérer la mise enœuvre de ces améliorations.

Directeur du contrôle de la qualité depuis le regroupe-ment des mines LAQ, Asbestos Corporation et Bell en juillet1986, M. Laroche veille aussi à tout l’aspect environnemen-tal, un sujet qui lui est cher.

Qu’est-ce qui passionne encore cet ingénieur expéri-menté?

« Le secteur minier dans son ensemble », répond-il.«Autrefois, c’était le moteur de l’économie locale mais,depuis la fermeture de plusieurs mines, l’économie s’estdiversifiée. La mine qui demeure en opération est main-tenant une composante non négligeable, mais uniquementune parmi tant d’autres entreprises. D’ailleurs, mes implica-tions dans les chambres de commerce me permettent unevision plus globale du développement et du succèséconomique régional. »

L’implication des ingénieursPar Maria I. Anelli

Il préside la Chambre de commerce régionale deChaudière-Appalaches, est membre du conseil d’adminis-tration de la Fédération des chambres de commerce duQuébec et siège au Conseil d’administration de la Sociétéde développement économique de la Région de ThetfordMines depuis 2007 en plus de siéger au conseil exécutif dela chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Thetford Minesdepuis 2002.

M. Laroche compte aussi de nombreuses autres réalisa-tions, dont : cofondateur de la Société minéralogique de laRégion de l’Amiante et du Musée minéralogique et minier deThetford Mines.

« Les gens sont peu ou mal informés des activités des tra-vailleurs et des ingénieurs miniers », fait-il remarquer.« Quand j’ai choisi ce domaine, ma mère était très craintive,puisque les médias ne rapportaient souvent que les tragédiesdans les mines de charbon. Le musée constitue donc une bellevitrine pour démystifier nos ressources et faire connaîtrel’ensemble du secteur minier, tant québécois que mondial. »

Conscient de l’impact positif de l’ICM, M. Laroche aprésidé ou été actif au sein de la section ICM de ThetfordMines en 1992-1994 ainsi qu’en 2007-2009.

Pourquoi s’impliquer autant? « Parce que la pérennité du secteur minier dépendra

beaucoup de l’image projetée qui devra mieux refléter laréalité d’aujourd’hui », affirme-t-il, « mais, surtout, pourinciter la relève en raison de la pénurie de main-d’œuvre quipersiste. »

Lorsqu’il était à Polytechnique, M. Laroche avait étéinspiré par une conférence de son futur patron, M. LionelPiuze, le vice-président de LAQ. « C’était un ingénieur degrande qualité mais aussi un humain impliqué dans sonmilieu. C’est cette facette qui m’avait vraiment impres-sionné », conclut-il.

M. Laroche s’impliquait déjà à cette époque à l’Université(association étudiante, coopérative, théâtre étudiant etc.).Par la suite, à Thetford Mines, il collabore comme entraîneurau hockey mineur et comme membre du comité organisa-teur du tournoi de ringuette.

Père de deux grands enfants, une enseignante et uningénieur, M. Laroche pourrait se reposer sur ses lauriers enattendant que lui et son épouse ne deviennent grands-parents.C’est mal le connaître. Aussi passionné qu’à ses débuts, ilentend demeurer actif tout en poursuivant la défense desressources naturelles régionales comme le chrysotile. Il colla-bore d’ailleurs au Mouvement PROChrysotile, afin de pro-mouvoir l’usage sécuritaire du chrysotile. Il préside égalementle Conseil d’administration du Centre de technologie minéraleet de plasturgie associé au Cégep de Thetford.

Parions qu’à l’instar de son ancien patron, M. Larocheinspirera d’autres jeunes à suivre ses traces. ICM


PRÉSENTÉ PAR

ET SES DÉPOSITAIRES CANADIENS

GALADE REMISEDE PRIX2011

PaGAGniniUn accord entre la musique classique et l’humourLes musiciens de PaGAGninioffrent une interprétation tout en humour de certaines des plus grandes pièces de l’histoire de la musique. Le violoniste virtuose Ara Malikian, de concert avec troisautres musiciens, interprète les compositions de génies de lamusique comme Mozart, Pachelbel, Chopin et, bien sûr,Paganini, tout en faisant la part belle à certains stylespopulaires comme le rock ou le folk. Les musiciens jouent, dansent, rient, pleurent et échangentavec l’assistance, faisant de PaGAGnini un spectacle d’humouroriginal où le violon et le violoncelle se transformentspontanément en instruments nouveaux et inédits.

http://www.flixxy.com/classical-music-comedy.htm

Le 23 mai 2011Palais des congrès de MontréalMontréal (Québec)

Billets1.800.667.1246 / www.cim.org

“Un spectacle fascinantqui galvanise les fouleset provoque des rires etdu plaisir à n’en plusfinir. C’est du théâtre àl’état pur.”– ABC

“Cette parodie hilaranted’un récital classique aun effet jubilatoire surles foules.”– El Pais

“Pagagnini n’est pasun spectacle qu’onaime, c’est unspectacle qu’on adore.”– The Gazette, Montréal

� � � � � ��

cim news | distinguished lecturer


Michael Doggett has along history of involvementin the mining industry. Withmore than 25 years of experi-ence in the field of mineraleconomics, he has carriedout numerous consultingassignments advising miningcompanies, governments andinternational agencies, andhas delivered professionaldevelopment courses in min-eral project evaluation to morethan 1,200 people in a dozencountries. In 2002, he was the

recipient of CIM’s Robert Elver Mineral Economics Award. Today, in addition to being president of HanOcci Group,

a resource investment and mining advisory service based inToronto and Vancouver, Doggett is also an adjunct profes-sor at Queen’s University, where he served as director of theMineral Exploration Master’s Program from 1997 to 2007.He is currently a PDAC director and serves on the board ofdirectors of six publically traded exploration and miningcompanies. As one of this season’s CIM Distinguished Lec-turers, Doggett will be sharing some key observations andanalysis on the long- and short-term business cycles facedby the mining industry and how understanding these canhelp companies better address the associated challenges.

CIM: What are the long- and short-term cycles you have identified?Doggett: There are short cycles that are in the seven- to 10-yearrange of ups and downs, based on commodity prices. Thelonger term cycles have about a 30-year window. Take copperas an example: regardless of the short-term cycles, when look-ing long term, copper has had a fairly consistent increase indemand. So prices may go up and they may go down, but inthe long-term, the demand for copper continues to increase.

CIM: Why is understanding these cycles important?Doggett: There are challenges and implications in operatingin a business environment with often conflicting short-and long-term objectives. From an exploration perspective,if you look at the typical timeline associated with finding,delineating, permitting, financing and building a new cop-per mine, for example, it can be pretty long, something inthe order of 15 to 20 years. So, if you have seven- to 10-year short-term cycles and it takes 15 to 20 years to actu-ally go through all the stages of what I would call thelong-term supply issues, then you have a bit of an overlap,or conflict. As a company, you strive to have a consistent

Looking at the big pictureMichael Doggett helps companies ride the waves of economic cycles

By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

approach to overcoming the risks in the long time frames,but at the same time, you’re subject to the commodityswings in the general short-term business cycles.

CIM: How do these cycles impact exploration, in particular?Doggett: It’s going to impact exploration in two ways. Cashflow companies, or the major companies that are produc-ing metals in an up cycle, are going to have more moneyfor profits and, therefore, they’re more likely to spendmoney on exploration. If metal prices are high and there’ssome expectation of profit in the future, then it is easier forjunior companies to finance exploration through straightequity shares rather than profit. The market is more inter-ested. So, you have both things happening at once: moreprofit from larger companies and easier access to capitalmarkets for the junior companies. But, in the low cycles,many junior exploration companies cease to operate.

CIM: What originally led you to study the cycles in the miningindustry?Doggett: I consider myself a “big picture” guy. I like to stepback and look at the whole industry and observe how itfunctions. Obviously, the juniors and seniors are part ofthat, as well as the short-term business cycles, but the over-riding message is that in the long-run, the demand for min-eral commodities has increased by an average of aboutthree per cent per year. When you compound that over 30years, it means that the output of copper, for example, hasdoubled in that time. So, even though there are ups anddowns and all-time highs and lows, that’s the reality every-one is working within.

CIM: Are there any other important insights to be gained fromunderstanding these cycles?Doggett: Coming from an academic background, you seethe way the commodity and business cycles impact theenrolment numbers in the technical fields in mining andgeology. It’s pretty tough if you’re a third- or fourth-yearstudent and you pick up a newspaper and read about geol-ogists and mining engineers being laid off because thecycles are so low. So, part of my thought here is that weneed to step back as an industry, including academia, andconcentrate on the real long-term positives in growth onthe industry. If we focus solely on all the short-term things,we tend to get overwhelmed by what’s going on in the pres-ent. We need to stop getting caught up in the highs andlows. Let’s keep a steady approach. CIM

Book a Distinguished Lecturer now:www.cim.org/activities/lecturers2011.cfm

cim news

A solid technical program with ahealthy mix of networking and socialactivities attracted a record 498 dele-gates to the Westin Ottawa in Januaryfor the 43rd annual Canadian MineralProcessors Operators’ Conference.

The theme of this year’s plenary ses-sion was Better Flowsheeting withModern Process Mineralogy. CIM Dis-tinguished Lecturer Norm Lotterbegan the technical discussions andwas followed by 37 papers on topicsthat included operations, plant opti-mization, flotation, advanced tech-nologies, gold ore processing andcomminution. The program alsoincluded a special presentation fromTony Lipiec on the work performed bythe CMP sub-committee created at the2009 conference to establish the bestpractice guidelines in mineral process-ing for NI 43-101. Don Leroux, thetechnical chair of the conference, toldthose at the CMP business meeting,“We are proud to say we are covering abroad range of commodities and oper-ations from around the world.” Thepapers presented were drawn from 60submissions.

Prior to the technical program, Lot-ter and Jorge Oliveira, both of XstrataProcess Support, led a half-day primercourse in sampling in the mineral pro-cessing discipline that focused on thesampling protocols for drill core andblasthole chips.

Thanks to the sponsorship of 42industry firms, as well as NaturalResources Canada and the Govern-ment of Canada, 31 mineral process-ing students from 16 post-secondaryinstitutions were able to attend theconference, which included a studentmixer, a “beer and sandwich” lunch-eon, and a reception hosted by CMPchairman Dominic Fragomeni.

At the annual awards banquet, JeanRobitaille earned the Mineral Proces-sor of the Year Award for his work as vice-president of metallurgy and

Winter classic Record turnout for CMP Conference

By Ryan Bergen

marketing with Agnico-EagleMines. Yves Breau, director metallurgyat IAMGOLD, was honoured with theBill Moore Special AchievementAward. Bradley Kaplin of McGill Uni-versity claimed the $5,000 AndréLaplante Memorial Scholarship.Queen’s University student SpencerReeves won the CMP student essaycompetition. The tireless efforts of Jan-ice Zinck were also celebrated with thenew Ray MacDonald Volunteer Award,created to recognize the contributionsvolunteers make to CMP.

Finally, the grinding style ofTeam West won the Kilborn Cup for2011 with a 4 to 1 victory overTeam East. Despite the loss, Eastgoalie Sylvain Caron earned the dis-tinction of the Ray MacDonaldPlayer of the Game. Now in its 11thyear, the East-West Hockey Classichas become a mainstay of theannual gathering. With the WestinOttawa reserved for the third weekin January for the CMP conferenceuntil 2017, the rivalry shouldremain healthy. CIM


Top: Conference goers filled the room during the technical discussions; bottom: Team West (black) defeated East 4 to 1 in the Kilborn Cup, the annual hockey game open to any paid conference delegates. Credit: Al Kuiper/NRCAN

cim news


CIM signs MOU with ChineseassociationBy Heather Ednie

CIM has entered a Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) with the China Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Asso-ciation (CNIA), which represents more than 600 non-ferrous metals, mining and processing companies in China.Within the MOU, a number of areas of mutual interest havebeen identified with the aim of developing projects togetherto support and improve the health of workers, communitiesand the environment through the development of the min-ing and metals industry worldwide.

The core areas of interest the CIM-CNIA agreement hasidentified are health and safety, standards, environment andrecycling. Both parties have committed to the following basicdeliverables:• CNIA will identify the knowledge, expertise and training

needed in these four areas of interest in the Chinese non-ferrous industry, as well as the events to support the shar-ing of such information, and co-host such events in Chinaand/or Canada.

• CIM will identify the required expertise and knowledgeon these four issues in Canada and elsewhere to meet theChinese requirements, and co-host events with the CNIA.

• The leaders of CIM and CNIA will meet periodically andreport annually to their boards on the status of coopera-tion in each of the four identified areas.

• Both CIM and CNIA will promote each others’ confer-ences and potentially organize conferences jointly. Aswell, they will establish methods for visiting delegationsto meet local companies.

• Possible distribution of each others’ technical publicationsis to be investigated.CIM president Chris Twigge-Molecey signed the agree-

ment on behalf of CIM. “I personally have been working ona variety of initiatives with CNIA for about seven years,including putting on a Hatch-CNIA workshop on carbontrading about five or six years ago,” he said. “The discussionsaround a CIM-CNIA cooperative agreement went relativelyfast as a result of the existing relationships.”

According to Twigge-Molecey, the MOU is a step forwardin CIM’s strategy to internationalize and reach out to otherregions to establish useful best practice transfer mechanismsand networks. “The intent is to attract new members andsupport current members who are overseas,” he added. “Wesee China as a key element in the future of a significant partof our membership, both overseas and in Canada, where theChinese are buying up resources at an astonishing rate.”

What is next? Discussions are underway about a con-ference on energy efficiency and standards to be held inChina later this year. Depending on its level of success,CIM and CNIA will then work together to determine aprogram for 2012. CIM

award winner | cim news


It was 1969 when Phillip Mackeymoved from Australia to Canada totake a job with Noranda Mines as aresearch engineer. Noranda nabbedMackey straight out of the Universityof New South Wales, where he hadjust received his Doctorate in metal-lurgical engineering. They immedi-ately put him to work spearheadingdevelopment on a project that wouldbecome the Noranda Process.

“The Noranda Process was a newtechnology to treat copper concentratein an efficient manner,” explainsMackey. “When it began it was defi-nitely a major development. It wasprobably one of the key developments in copper metallurgy inthe last century.”

Not a bad way to begin a career. Mackey went on tosupervise the pilot plant of the Noranda Process, and then tooversee the project’s technology sales: a role that would takehim and his team all over the world. “The process wasinstalled in China, Chile and Australia. And for every instal-lation there might have been five or ten prospects.” Throughthese projects and a number of worldwide due diligencestudies carried out for Noranda, Mackey gained a uniqueinsight into the world of copper.

It was a major success for Noranda, and a great achieve-ment for Mackey, but he was not finished making innova-tions to copper smelting. His work in the Noranda Processled him and the team at Noranda to pioneer a new continu-ous converting process. The continuous converter wasdeveloped to produce a final copper product through treat-ing the intermediate material (matte) produced in theNoranda Process.

The continuous converter – which became known as theNoranda Converter – had an enormous impact on coppersmelting and subsequently earned Mackey the 1998Noranda Technology Award.

By this time, Mackey was the chairman of Noranda’s NewIdeas and Innovation Committee. It was a well-deservedpromotion, given how innovative both the Noranda Processand the Noranda Converter were when they were intro-duced. “I’ve always had an interest in how new technologycan be effectively commercialized,” he says.

The Noranda Converter remains just as important today.“Copper is going through a boom because it’s in demand inChina and India and other countries,” says Mackey. “Copperis at one of its highest prices in many years, primarilybecause of demand from new markets. Different stimulus

Taking home the copperPhillip Mackey’s winning streak is far from over

By Correy Baldwin

packages have promoted demand fordifferent materials and metals, so it’sworldwide.”

Copper is also playing a vital role ina greener future. “It’s key for electricalefficiency, and electrical efficiency iskey to climate control, so it’s a keymetal in the green society,” Mackeyadds. “A sustainable industry,” he says,“is one that is efficient, uses minimumenergy and has minimum environmen-tal impact, and we’re working towardsthose kinds of objectives.”

Mackey has written on a wide rangeof topics on copper, nickel and othermetals, including energy consumption

and production efficiency for over 100 publications. One ofhis interests is tracking the development of various metallur-gical technologies. “We [the industry] are always thinking alittle bit about the future, but it’s good to know how wearrived at the present time in order to discover how thingsmight unfold in the future.”

Mackey is currently co-editing a book with a colleaguethat will cover Canada’s developments in metallurgythroughout the last 50 years with papers prepared by numer-ous contributors from across the country. “It will alsoinclude a chapter on future directions,” he exmplains. “Weare thinking about how mining and metallurgy might lookin 50 years.” It will be a commemorative book in celebrationof the 50th Conference of Metallurgists, hosted by CIM’sMetallurgical and Materials Society, to be held this comingOctober in Montreal.

Mackey recently retired from Xstrata to open his ownconsulting company, a job that he enjoys tremendously,using his experience working on copper and nickel projectsworldwide.

The Selwyn Blaylock Medal has been a career highlight.“Blaylock grew up in Quebec, and graduated from McGill.He had extraordinary achievements in Canadian miningand metallurgy and through his vision, helped build Com-inco (now Teck),” he says. “To be recognized for develop-ments that I carried out is certainly an honour. I wasthrilled to receive it.” He is also emphatic in acknowledg-ing the support of his wife Angele, whom he thanks foryears of encouragement. She now helps with the new com-pany.

The Selwyn Blaylock Medal recognized Mackey for hisinnumerable contributions to the field of extractive metal-lurgy: his publications, technological advancements andmentorship of several generations of engineers. CIM

Mackey and his wife Angele at CIM Conference & Exhibi-tion 2010 in Vancouver

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cim news


CIM welcomes new members

Canadian Metallurgical QuarterlyThe Canadian Journal of Metallurgy and Materials Science

New to Maney in 2011...CMQ publishes original contributions on all aspects of materials science, including mineral processing, hydrometallurgy, pyrometallurgy, materials processing, physical metallurgy and the service behaviour of materials.

Issue 1 of Volume 50 now published...Including a letter from Editor-in-Chief, Professor Doug Boyd, Queen’s University, Canada

Online content...The full archive of CMQ is available to member subscribers. To view archive and current content online visit: www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/cmq

Member subscriptions...To subscribe as a member, simply log-in as aCIM member and proceed to subscribe: www.cim.org

www.maney.co.uk/journals/cmq www.cim.org

Ahmed, Laique, PakistanAl Haffar, Sarah, QuebecAlarie-Routhier, Dominique,

QuebecAlmond, David, USAAnglehart, Philippe, QuebecAumond, Robby, QuebecBarrette, Cédric, QuebecBatick, Fabien, QuebecBelisle, Jessica, QuebecBenoit, Philippe, QuebecBernard, Alexandre, QuebecBernier, Mathieu, QuebecBernier Lachance, Johanie,

QuebecBertrand, Andrée-Ann, QuebecBiege Jr., Neal, USABlake, David, USABoudreault, Keven, QuebecBrochu, Vincent, QuebecBucio, Jorge, OntarioCaner, Ernesto, OntarioChamberlain, Mike, OntarioCook, Mike, OntarioCorriveau, Samuel, QuebecCostello, Jessica, QuebecCôté, Lilas, Quebec

Côté-Gingras, William, QuebecCôté-Lafrenière, Karl, QuebecDabbas, Mohannad, QuebecDansereau, Carl, QuebecDickey, Guylain, QuebecDickie, Brett, SaskatchewanDorval, Alexandre, QuebecDumain, Nicolas, QuebecDupont, Sonny, QuebecDupuis, Jean-Francois, QuebecEl-Khoury, Elie, QuebecEprinchard, Maeva, QuebecFilidore, Anthony, USAGagnon, Frédéric, QuebecGarant, Manon, QuebecGauthier, Keven, QuebecGingras, Jonathan, QuebecGingras, Nicolas, QuebecGodard, Myrane, QuebecGodmer, Julie, QuebecGosselin, Nicholas, QuebecGoyette-Levac, Thomas, QuebecGuimond-Rousson, Janie,

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QuebecJoly, Nicolas, QuebecJourdain, Nathan, QuebecKedo, Aurianne, QuebecKinoshita, Jason, SaskatchewanKlemmer, Stephen,

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QuebecLavoie, Eric, QuebecLefebvre, Alexandre, QuebecLocker, Tiphaine, QuebecLofstrom, Matt, Saskatchewan

Marcoux-Gagné, Stéphane, QuebecMarineau, Carl, QuebecMayers, Keeshan, QuebecMercier, Marc-André, QuebecMindia, Jonathan, QuebecMitchell, David, SaskatchewanMurray, David, SaskatchewanNaday, Les, USANeault-Vachon, Michael, QuebecNgaiohni, Pierre, QuebecParadis, Miguel, QuebecParent, Chantal, QuebecPelletier, Rémi, QuebecPelletier-Larouche, Joel, QuebecPeluso, Tony, QuebecPinard, Michel, QuebecPinet, Karl, QuebecPomerleau, Pierre-Luc, QuebecPomerleau, Josée-Anne, QuebecPrévost, Charles, QuebecPrince McNeil, Sheldon, QuebecProvencher, Frédéric, QuebecRabouin, Nicolas, QuebecRégnier, Alexandre, QuebecRenshaw, Loel, OntarioRheault, Jasmin, Quebec

Riopel, Marie-Eve, QuebecRousseau, Enrick, QuebecRoy, Yannick, QuebecRoy, Mathieu, QuebecSaidova, Madina, QuebecSamsom, Jérémie, QuebecSavoie, Nicholas, QuebecSénécal, Mikael, QuebecSt-Amand, Benjamin, QuebecSt-Cyr, Alexandre, QuebecSt-Germain, Serge, QuebecSwiniarski, Rob, OntarioTanguay, Tommy, QuebecTaschereau, Antoine, QuebecThompson, Justin, OntarioThouin, Vincent, QuebecVallière, Mathieu, QuebecVallière, Michael, QuebecVarencaus, Skaidra, QuebecVellet, Catherine, QuebecVerge, Morgan, QuebecVergunst, Ron, OntarioViera Martinez, Roberto, OntarioYakobo, Stanley, QuebecYandle, Dawn, USA

H I S TO R Y O F

economic geology


The foundations of modern economic geology (Part 2)By R. J. “Bob” Cathro, Chemainus, British Columbia

The Engineering and Mining Journal (EMJ) was founded in 1866 and is stillbeing published today, over 140 years later. This must be close to a record for anyNorth American publication. It was probably not a coincidence that EMJ wasborn at the same time mining activity in the southwestern United States began torequire large amounts of capital investment. Between 1875 and 1932, at leastseven industrial publications were absorbed into EMJ, all with titles containingthe words mining, engineering, metallurgy, coal or iron.

In 1922, EMJ was consolidated with the Mining and Scientific Press, based inSan Francisco, and the combined publication operated as Engineering and MiningJournal-Press until 1926, when it reverted to the original title. These two wereunquestionably the two leading international sources of information about min-ing methods, equipment and activity. They were also the most influential period-icals providing news and papers on economic geology up to about 1910.

T. A. Rickard (TA) became the editor of EMJ at the beginning of 1903.Although he had no previous journalistic experience, he had contributed storiesand technical papers to the journal for years and was eminently qualified. He hadnearly 20 years of experience as an international mining engineer, was well-readand articulate, believed in editorial independence, and had a wide circle of seniorcontacts within the mining industry. He succeeded R. W. Raymond and R. P.Rothwell, who had shared the title since 1867.

Rickard’s first initiative was to expand the list of specialcontributors from one (Raymond) to 12, seven of whomwere based in New York, Boston, Philadelphia andWashington, and the others in Denver, London,Johannesburg and Sydney. Among the Americans were sucheminent experts as S. F. Emmon and W. H. Weed of theUSGS, Raymond, W. R. Ingalls, R. A. F. Penrose and PhilipArgall.

In addition, he enlisted a group of about 60 mining engi-neers, metallurgists and geologists to become small share-holders in order to demonstrate the strength and breadth ofthe journal’s professional support. Of these, about 10 werebased in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, 22 inColorado, eight in London, five each in California andMexico, four each in Montana and British Columbia (namesunknown), and two each in Salt Lake City, Australia andSouth Africa. By November 1904, the number of special cor-respondents had increased to 28, of whom 20 were based ineight American cities, and the others were in London.Australia and South Africa.

The first weekly edition under TA (January 3, 1903) illus-trates why it was such a invaluable resource. It was longerthan normal, at 72 pages, because it contained 1902 sum-maries for every important metal, plus coal, steel and phos-phate; the New York, Boston and London stock markets; andactivity in the Lake Superior copper industry, Arizona,Montana, Leadville, Utah, Boundary district of BritishColumbia, South Africa, Western Australia, Coeur d’Alene,

A Boston school-teacher may buy the shares

of Great Wildcat as an ‘investment’, whereas a

Wall Street broker recognizes that it is highly

‘speculative’, and a Nevada mining engineer

knows that it is a rank ‘gamble’. These terms

are relative; they connote a crescendo of

risks; even an investment has a slight element

of risk; a speculation has more; a gamble,

most. Sometimes stock is bought on the

expectation of a rise; it remains steady for

years; it proves to be what is called a ‘forced’

investment. The idea of expectation is implicit;

the human factor is never absent; we are

dealing not with lexicons but with human

affairs.

~Rickard, 1919

The building housing the office and press of Mining and Scientific Press followingthe 1906 earthquake and fire (Rickard, 1906)

H I S TO R Y O F

economic geology


Sudbury, New Caledonia, York Region of Alaska tin deposits,Bolivia, Joplin zinc, Mexico, Kansas coal, Wyoming,Colorado petroleum, metallurgical progress in Australia, andthe cyanide process in the United States.

EMJ was published every Saturday and posted interna-tionally as second-class mail. Subscription rates were $5.00in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Cuba and The Philippines, and$7.00 elsewhere. Branch offices were located in six Americancities (four in the west) as well as Vancouver (Molson’s BankBuilding), London, and Dortmund, Germany.

Although the journalistic side of EMJ prospered, the pub-lishing side suffered from the financial weakness of the currentowner. Within two years, the journal had passed into thehands of a third publisher, John A. Hill, who announced heintended to make significant changes that threatened TA’s jour-nalistic independence. Hill later became a partner of James A.McGraw and formed the giant McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

TA resigned from the journal at the end of June 2005 and,obviously pleased by his taste of technical journalism, pur-chased the Mining and Scientific Press (MSP), based in SanFrancisco, from J. F. Halloran for $200,000. This made himboth the publisher and editor. During the six months beforehe took up his new duties, he spent six weeks in Nova Scotiaon a consulting contract studying the provincial gold indus-try and a month in the fall touring Mexican mining districts.He later published an account of the Mexican trip (Rickard,1907).

TA had a lot of family ties in the Bay Area and was pleasedto settle in Berkeley, on the east side of the bay. His uncleReuben had been president of the town council in 1888 andReuben’s son Thomas was elected mayor in 1905. He tookover ownership of MSP on December 1, just as one of thefrequent, moderate temblors shook the office. “That alwayshappens when the Mining and Scientific Press is transferred,”Halloran joked.

The next six months proved to be an exciting and severetest of TA’s managerial skill. At 5:13 a.m. on Wednesday,

April 18, 1906, 18 weeks after he became the owner, a majorquake occurred, followed by a destructive fire that burnedfor three days. Known as “THE San Francisco Earthquake,”it completely destroyed much of the city, including theentire MSP plant.

TA and his new business manager, Edgar Rickard, whowas another of Reuben’s sons and TA’s cousin and brother-in-law, proved they were up to this unique challenge. By noon,they had confirmed that their plant had been destroyed.Fortunately, they had saved a copy of their subscription list.By 5 p.m., they had rented space in a bank building inBerkeley and arranged for typesetting and printing by a localnewspaper. An emergency issue of the MSP was mailed onFriday. With telegraph lines down, this was the first detailednews that many subscribers had of the damage. AfterEarthquake and Fire, a reprint of articles and editorial com-ment that appeared in MSP, was published later in the year(Rickard, 1906).

That was the eighth book that TA had published since1897, preceded by books on stamp milling of gold ores, allu-vial deposits of Western Australia, sampling and estimationof ore in a mine, the copper mines of Lake Superior, the eco-nomics of mining, and pyrite smelting. Some of these werecollections of papers submitted by experts in the field forpublication in EMJ that were edited and compiled byRickard.

MSP had been established in 1860, six years before EMJ,and became the principal voice for western miners andequipment suppliers, a position it retained even after thetranscontinental railways were built and eastern suppliersbecame paramount. It was also a popular journal around thePacific Rim, particularly in Australia, New Zealand andIndia, and was a prominent early home for those miningengineers who wrote on economic geology subjects.

Early in 1909, with MSP firmly on its feet and doing well,TA was urged by friends in London, some of themAmericans, to start a real mining paper there. He reasonedthat the centralization of the British mining business in onecity would make it easier than in the United States. Both TAand Edgar moved there, leaving MSP in the hands of capablemanagers. The first issue of The Mining Magazine, which wasa monthly, was published on September 15. It was com-prised of seven pages of review of mining, 14 pages of edito-rial, and 12 pages of reports from special correspondentsbased in Johannesburg, Mexico, San Francisco, Denver, NewYork and Cornwall. Two pages of discussion followed.Although it was profitable within a year, the magazine wasalways much smaller than the two American journals. TAwas surprised to learn that English suppliers didn’t have thesame appreciation of the value of advertising as their NorthAmerican competitors.

The curse of technical journalism in London was the inti-macy with corporate finance. Most of the London newspa-pers lived largely on the payments they received for publish-ing reports of company meetings, particularly the chairman’s

Rickard completing the purchase of MSP from J. F. Halloran on December 1, 2005,just as a small earthquake shook the building (Rickard, 1920)

mining engineer.” (Rickard,1922)

TA now entered the thirdphase of his career, as anauthor of mining historyand technical books. Hismost useful book was per-haps A Guide to TechnicalWriting, first published in1908 and issued in revisedversions at least four times,the last in 1948. This wasprobably the first miningstyle-book in the Englishlanguage. His most popularbooks were Man and Metals(in two volumes) in 1932, A

History of American Mining, also in 1932, and The Romance ofMining in 1944.

After travelling to all parts of the globe in which miningwas important, and living most of his adult life in the UnitedStates, TA made the surprising decision to retire in 1932 tothe Canadian city of Victoria, British Columbia, which hehad visited many times. He had become disappointed withthe U.S. response to the Great Depression and England wasno longer the country he had known before the war and thedecline of the British Empire. Moreover, Victoria was theonly place in North America that had both a British feel to itand a balmy climate where he could indulge his passion forgolf year-round (he stated in his autobiography in 1937 thathe had played at least 250 different golf courses around theworld). He continued to enjoy his interest in history bybecoming president of the Victoria section of the BCHistorical Society from 1937 to 1941, and was a foundingmember of the Advisory Board of its quarterly publication.Thomas A. Rickard died in Victoria in August 1953, twoweeks before his 89th birthday.

AcknowledgmentExcept where noted, information on T. A. Rickard is derived from Rickard (1920 and1937).

Rickard, T. A. (1906). After earthquake and fire. San Francisco: Mining and ScientificPress, 194 p.

Rickard, T. A. (1907). Journeys of observation. San Francisco: Dewey Publishing Co.255 p. (This book includes a reprint of a 1902 book written by Rickard and publishedby the Engineering and Mining Journal. It is titled Across the San Juan Mountains anddescribes a horse trip within the mountainous mining districts in Colorado).

Rickard, T. A. (1919). Mining: an investment, a speculation, or a gamble? SanFrancisco: Mining and Scientific Press, April 19,1919, p. 523. (This paper was deliv-ered to the International Mining Convention at Vancouver on March 17).

Rickard, T. A. (1920). A chapter in journalism. San Francisco: Mining and ScientificPress, May 22, 1920, p. 745–757.

Rickard, T. A. (1922). An apologia. New York: Engineering and Mining Journal-Press,April 1, 1922, p. 516–517.

Rickard, T. A. (1937). Retrospect: an autobiography. New York, Whittlesey House,McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. 402 p.

speech. Those were usually printed in the body of the paperlike real news. TA preferred to attend the more importantmeetings and report on them on the editorial pages. Thatwas real journalism, telling readers what had happened atthe meeting. Lord Harris, chairman of the Gold Fieldsgroup, was typical of those who were unhappy with havingtheir company report placed on the advertising pages, andhe cancelled all their advertising in the magazine. TAexplained to critics that the success of mining journalsdepended on advertising by mining suppliers that needed to reach the mining engineers who placed equipment orders.Financial success did not depend on the patronage of promoters.

With English investment and mining activity sharply cur-tailed by the Great War and MSP gradually declining in thehands of hired managers and editors, TA had to return toSan Francisco in March 1915. MSP soon recovered as theindustry expanded to handle the war effort and much of thepaper’s attention was focused on the new flotation process.Within two years, enough material was published on thesubject to make two books on flotation in 1916 and 1921.Also, TA was able to use his London experience to writeinsightful editorials on European affairs. When the industrybegan to decline at the end of the war, TA accepted an offerfrom EMJ to purchase MSP in July 1919. That marked theend of TA’s career as a journalist and publisher and the endof a publication that lasted about 60 years.

TA summarized his views of technical journalism as follows:“The urge to write is the moving spirit of journalism and the

impulse to criticize is the very life of editorial writing.Sometimes this criticism hurts the feelings of friends … but thatis the penalty of (the editor’s) position and it prevents manykindly spirits from becoming effective editors. … I am an expo-nent of class journalism - that which is meant for a particularclass, not the general public. … My own interest is mainly inthose engaged in mining and allied operations. … In a miningpaper I reach people with whom I have much in common andwhom I understand. In short, although a journalist, I am still a

H I S TO R Y O F

economic geology


Mining executives in London resented payingadvertising rates for official reports ofcompany meetings. (Rickard, 1920)

T. A. Rickard at work in the MSP office. Although this cartoon shows himpecking at a typewriter, he stated in his autobiography that he never used one.(Rickard, 1920)

Riots and massacresThe harsh working conditions in underground mines, the

potential for cave-ins and fires, meagre wages and minemanagement’s strong opposition of the creation of unionshave, throughout the years, led to confrontations thatresulted in property damage, injuries and even loss of life.Following are some of the more notable confrontations thattook place around the world.

Miners’ revolt at Real del Monte in Mexico (ca. 1766)In the late eighteenth century, the silver mining industry

of New Spain was in full swing, incurring great capitalinvestment. The metal was exported to Spain and controlledby the Crown; however, each company had its own uniqueset of customs, traditions and rules.

The first Mexican labour strike (also the first strike inNorth America) took place in the summer of 1766 at theReal del Monte silver mines, about 100 kilometres north ofMexico City. Although this was not the first time the minershad ceased to work – miners at Guanajuato had walked offthe job over taxes being imposed on tobacco and over theexpulsion of Jesuits from the site – it was the first time awalkout occurred because workers wanted to make changesto their contracts. Mine owner and well-known industrialistPedro Romero de Terreros (1710-1751) implemented 12-hour shifts. However, it was when he tried to cut wages tomake up for the cost of having to drain water from one ofthe seams in the mine that the strike occurred.

On July 28, 1766, acting on the advice of their priest,miners persuaded a scribe to draft a petition. Seventy signa-tures were collected and the workers’ grievances were pre-sented to officials at the Royal Treasury in Pachuca. A fewdays later, on August 1, a new petition was drafted and dur-

Social problems in the mining industry: a historical essay (Part 2)By Fathi Habashi, Laval University, Quebec City

ing a meeting, it was decided that it should be sent to thehighest authority in the land – the Viceroy of New Spain inMexico City. The situation quickly worsened. On August 8,four of the pivotal strike leaders were arrested and duringthe riot that ensued seven days later, both the district man-ager and a foreman were stoned to death. Over the next fewdays, approximately 4,000 armed men, women and childrenroamed the area looking to settle old scores.

An emissary from the Viceroy eventually arrived onAugust 27 to consult with workers, foremen and manage-ment. The discussions resulted in a solution that wasfavourable to the workers and in antagonistic administratorsbeing dismissed by the Viceroy. Over the next ten years,Spanish authorities and mine owners made sure that the rec-ommendations were carried out.

The Mold riot in Wales (ca. 1869)It was the extensive development of the mining industry

near the town of Mold in North Wales during the 18th and19th centuries that first defined it as an industrial town. Theiron, lead and coal that helped power Britain’s IndustrialRevolution were all mined in this area.

In the summer of 1869, some troubling events occurred.Miners were angered by a series of decisions made by themanager, an arrogant Englishman who had sought to banWelsh miners from speaking their native language whenunderground. However, it was his announcement of a wagecut that sent workers over the edge, leading to the managerbeing attacked and his house vandalized. Two men werelater arrested and sentenced to a month’s hard labour. Asthey were being taken from the court to be transported tojail, the angry crowd began throwing stones at the guards. Inretaliation, nearby soldiers opened fire on the crowd, killing

four and injuring dozens. Thesetragic events led authorities tochange the way in which they dealtwith public disorder.

Schuylkill coal mines disturbancesin Pennsylvania (ca. 1877)

On June 21, 1877, a day alsoreferred to as Black Thursday, tenIrish miners were hung for themurder of 24 mine foremen andsuperintendants in the Pennsylva-nia coalfields. Known as the MollyMcGuires (also written Molly

H I S TO R I C A L

metallurgy

Pedro Romero de Terreros Miners riot in Mold, North Wales


Maguires), this secret band of men took revenge on theReading Railroad and its mine managers for the terrible con-ditions at the mines. The group was infiltrated, captured,tried and hung by the Pinkertons and the railroad for thesecrimes.

Hocking Valley coal strike in Ohio (ca. 1884)Hocking County was founded in 1818 halfway between

Columbus and Athens in the state of Ohio. In 1884, minersworking for the Columbus and Hocking Coal and IronCompany went on strike when company management low-ered wages by 25 per cent. During the nine-month strike,scab labourers were hired to replace the striking workersand armed guards to protect company property. Violencequickly erupted – seven mines were set on fire and three rail-road bridges were destroyed. The strike finally ended in thespring of 1885 when workers agreed to the company’s terms.

Haymarket riot in Chicago (ca. 1886)In October 1884, a convention held by the Federation of

Organized Trades and Labor Unions set May 1, 1886, as thedate by which the eight-hour work day would become stan-dard. As the date approached, American labour unions pre-pared for a general strike in support of the eight-hour day.On Saturday, May 1, rallies were held throughout the UnitedStates. In Chicago, the movement’s centre, an estimated40,000 workers went on strike. The following day, someonethrew a bomb at the police. Theblast and ensuing gunfire resultedin the deaths of seven police offi-cers and an unknown number ofcivilians. Riots started and quicklybecame violent.

Four anarchists were tried formurder and put to death, whileanother committed suicide inprison. The area where the inci-

dent took place was designated as a Chicago Landmark in1992. The Haymarket Martyrs’ Monument in nearby ForestPark was listed on the National Register of Historic Placesand as a National Historic Landmark in 1997.

Homestead steel workers’ strike (ca. 1892) The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers

was an American labour union formed in 1876 that negoti-ated national uniform wage scales on an annual basis, andhelped fix working hours and improve working conditions.With the steel industry doing well and prices high, theunion asked the Carnegie Steel Company for a wageincrease, which management refused. When no collectivebargaining agreement was reached, management locked theunion out, built a high fence topped with barbed wire andequipped towers with searchlights. High-pressure water can-nons were also placed at each entrance.

A strike began on June 30, 1892, at the Homestead Steel-works in the Pittsburg-area town of Homestead, Pennsylva-nia, which culminated in a battle between strikers and pri-vate security agents on July 6, 1892. It was one of the mostserious labour disputes in U.S. history. Earlier strikes hadbeen largely disorganized mass uprisings of workers, how-ever, the Homestead strike was organized and purposeful.Three hundred armed Pinkerton agents were hired to pro-tect the plant. With the arrival of more than 5,000 armedmill workers from the nearby works, intermittent gunfire

from both sides broke out and con-tinued throughout the day.

On July 12, more than 4,000Pennsylvania state militia arrivedand surrounded the plant. Com-pany officials were back in theiroffices and another 2,000 troopscamped on the high ground over-looking the city. The companyquickly brought in strikebreakers

H I S TO R I C A L

metallurgy

Scene in 1884 from the Hocking Valley, Ohio, coal strike showingPinkerton’s detectivesHaymarket Martyrs’ Monument in Chicago

A painting by W. P. Snyder of the 1892 Homestead strike


Commemorating the coal miners’ strike

and re-started produc-tion. Desperate to finda way to continue thestrike, the unionasked Carnegie Steelto re-open negotia-tions, but manage-ment refused. On July18, 16 strike leaderswere charged withconspiracy, rioting andmurder. Five days

later, an anarchist shot and stabbed general manager HenryClay Frick (1849–1919) in his office. Although seriouslywounded, he survived the assault. This incident promptedthe collapse of the strike. The state militia retreated on Octo-ber 13 ending the 95-day occupation. On November 20, theminers voted to return to work.

A nationwide steel strike in 1919 was also unsuccessful.In 1935, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and SteelWorkers partnered with the Steel Workers Organizing Com-mittee. On May 22, 1942, the two organizations disbandedand formed the United Steelworkers. In 1999, the BostBuilding in downtown Homestead, the association’s head-quarters throughout the strike, was designated a NationalHistoric Landmark. Today, it is used as a museum devotednot only to the strike, but also the steel industry in the Pitts-burgh area.

Ackton Hall Colliery strike in the United Kingdom (ca. 1893)In 1893, Ackton Hall Colliery, in Yorkshire, was the scene

of a sustained period of rioting, during which the collierywas wrecked. The military was called in to restore order,however, they fired into the crowd killing four men, two ofwhom were innocent bystanders.

Cripple Creek miners’ strike in Colorado (ca. 1894)The Cripple Creek miners’ strike of 1894 was a five-

month-long strike by the Western Federation of Miners inColorado that resulted in a victory for the union. The strikeis famous for being the only time in United States historywhen a state militia was called in (May-June 1894) to sup-port striking workers. The strike ended after a stand-offbetween the Colorado state militia and a private force

working for the mine. Thiswas a brutal and bloody periodin Colorado’s history.

Virden massacre in SouthernIllinois (ca. 1898)

The precursor to the blood-shed at Virden in 1998 was thegreat strike of 1897 that com-prised miners from West Vir-ginia to Pennsylvania to Illi-nois and established the first

agreements between coal operators and the United MineWorkers.

The unwillingness of the Chicago-Virden Coal Companyto adhere to the new higher wage scale caused miners toorganize and fight back. The coal operators recruitedAfrican-American miners from Birmingham, Alabama, todrive a wedge between white and black miners. They alsohired former police officers from Chicago and private detec-tives from St. Louis and equipped them with new rifles.However, it was October 12, 1898, when a train carryingstrikebreakers and armed guards approached the mine thatthe battle began. Eight union miners and four mine guardsdied and approximately 45 were injured, five of which wereguards. A month later, the company granted the wageincrease and Illinois became a bastion of union power in thecoalfields for decades.

On October 28, 2006, a monument was unveiled com-memorating the massacre.

Bunker Hill strike in Idaho (ca. 1899)Idaho was admitted to the Union in 1890 as an under-

developed frontier state. It was still struggling to establishitself politically and economically when the nationwidedepression occurred in 1893. For nearly a century, theBunker Hill Company was one of the premier mining andsmelting corporations in the United States. Located in Kel-logg, Idaho, in the Coeur d’Alene region where the lead andsilver mine was discovered in 1885, Bunker Hill played a keyrole in the U.S. industrial development. However, at thesame time, it was the seat for unprecedented labour strife. In1887, the company encountered labour troubles. An armedbattle ensued and some mills were destroyed before workfinally resumed.

In the early years, when miners tried to organize toimprove their conditions, they often found themselvesfired and blacklisted. Trouble came on April 29, 1899,when a lockout, wage cuts and scab hiring triggered a vio-lent response. Miners commandeered trains, opened fireon scabs and proceeded to blow up the ore concentra-tor – one of the largest in the world at the time. The gov-ernor of the state relied on both the National Guard andFederal troops to end the rebellion. Mass arrests were madeand ten men were tried and convicted. The companyclosed in 1981. CIM

H I S TO R I C A L

metallurgy


Dynamited concentrator at Bunker Hill, April 29,1899

Ackton Hall Colliery strike of 1893

The Virden monument honouring coal miners

Extraction of dimension stoneas a co-product of civilengineering works: A case studyM. Cardu, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy,and E. Lovera, Torino, Italy

The development andcommissioning of Ontario’sfirst diamond mine: Victordiamond mineA. Hempstock, McMaster University,Hamilton, Ontario, N. Morrison, AMECAmericas Limited, Oakville, Ontario, R.Welyhorsky, Detour Gold Corporation,Toronto, Ontario, and I. Holl, DeBeers CanadaLimited, Timmins, Ontario

A geometric scaling approachto evaluate tire-oil sandinteractionsT. G. Joseph, University of Alberta, Edmonton,Alberta, and A. Sharma, Syncrude CanadaLtd.

ABSTRACT The present study analyzes the feasibility of an odd operation: to obtain, using a prop-erly tailored drilling and blasting scheme, blocks suitable for the production of dimension stonefrom tunnel driving. Clearly, a compromise must be found between the rate of progression andthe achievement of workable blocks. As a case study, a civil work under consideration in north-ern Italy was examined. The work was planned to cross a conglomerate that has traditionally beenlocally exploited for the production of highly prized paving and lining stones with excellent strengthand aesthetic features. Natural exposures and mined-out quarries were available for tests. Therelevant rock data are given, blast designs are shown (within the limitations of contour accuracy),and the test program is described.

RÉSUMÉ Le présent article analyse la faisabilité d’une opération inhabituelle : obtenir, par un pro-gramme de forage et sautage sur mesure lors du fonçage de tunnels, des blocs qui pourraientservir de pierre de taille. Il est évident qu’un compromis doit être établi entre le taux d’avancementdu tunnel et l’obtention de blocs exploitables. Un ouvrage de génie civil en construction dans leNord de l’Italie sert d’étude de cas. Selon les plans, l’ouvrage devrait traverser un conglomérat tra-ditionnellement exploité localement pour des pierres de pavage et de revêtement de haute qualitéet possédant d’excellentes caractéristiques de résistance et esthétiques. Il était possible d’ef-fectuer des essais sur des affleurements naturels et dans des carrières épuisées. L’articlecomporte des données pertinentes sur le roc et les patrons de sautage (selon les limites de préci-sion des lignes de contour) et il décrit le programme d’essais.

ABSTRACT The Victor diamond mine is located in the James Bay lowlands, 90 km west of the FirstNations village of Attawapiskat. The project was the first of its kind in northern Ontario. The processplant was designed to produce a 95 to 98% by weight diamond concentrate through three stagesof comminution, dense medium separation, and proprietary x-ray technology for final recovery. Theplant was commissioned over a period of six months, commencing prior to substantial completionof construction. Through effective planning of the commissioning phase, the Victor mine start-up wassafely completed nine months ahead of schedule.

RÉSUMÉ La mine de diamants Victor est située dans les basses terres de la baie James, à 90 kmà l’ouest du village de la Première nation d’Attawapiskat. Le projet a été le premier du genre dansle Nord de l’Ontario. L’usine de traitement a été conçue pour produire un concentré de diamants de95 à 98 % (poids) au moyen de trois étapes de comminution, une concentration en milieu dense etune technologie brevetée de rayons-X pour la récupération finale. L’usine a été mise en service aucours d’une période de six mois, débutant avant la finalisation complète de la construction. Grâce àune planification efficace de la phase de mise en service, le démarrage de la mine Victor a été effec-tué de manière sécuritaire neuf mois en avance sur l’échéancier.

ABSTRACT Ultra-class haul trucks operating in oil sand face operational and maintenance issuesas a result of soft underfoot conditions (Joseph, 2002). With exposure to frequent high g loadingevents, tire life is reduced due to sidewall belt flexure and frequent ground contact. Therefore, animproved understanding of the interaction between tires and oil sand is needed. This paper exam-ines the outcomes of a series of static and cyclic loading tests, performed using a scale tire onrigid, sand, and oil sand surfaces. Geometric predictions are made regarding the footprint areaand vertical deformation of an ultra-class tire on similar surfaces.

RÉSUMÉ Les camions de transport géants œuvrant dans les sables bitumineux sont confrontésà des problèmes d’opération et d’entretien en raison des sols mous sur lesquels ils travaillent(Joseph, 2002). Étant fréquemment soumis à des facteurs de charge élevés, la vie des pneus estréduite en raison de la flexion du flanc latéral et de ses nombreux contacts avec le sol. Unemeilleure compréhension de l’interaction entre les pneus et les sables bitumineux est doncnécessaire. Le présent article examine les résultats d’une série d’essais de chargements


T E C H N I C A L A B S T R AC T S

CIM journal

Modelling cable shovelgeometry and kinematics T. G. Joseph, University of Alberta, Edmonton,Alberta, and N. Shi, JPi

statiques et dynamiques, effectués en utilisant un pneu à l’échelle sur des surfaces rigides,sablonneuses et bitumineuses. Des prévisions géométriques sont effectuées en ce qui concernela surface d’empreinte au sol et la déformation verticale d’une classe de pneus supérieure surdes surfaces semblables.

ABSTRACT A series of algorithms were developed to perform geometric and kinematic analysesof cable shovel dipper-ground interactions for a given set of mining face conditions. The routinesexamine and analyze (a) the position of the dipper in relation to the shovel; (b) the dipper in rela-tion to the face conditions; (c) the dipper position in relation to possible interference or collisionwith crawler tracks during digging cycles; and (d) kinematic and geometric considerations withrespect to any point on the dipper as it conducts a duty cycle. In all cases, field measurement ver-ification provided good agreement (within 4% variance).

RÉSUMÉ Une série d’algorithmes a été développée pour effectuer des analyses géométriques etcinématiques des interactions sol-benne d’une pelle à câbles pour un ensemble donné de con-ditions du front d’abattage. Les routines examinent et analysent (a) la position de la benne parrapport à la pelle; (b) la benne par rapport aux conditions au front de taille; (c) la position de labenne par rapport à une interférence ou une collision possibles avec les chenilles durant lescycles de creusage et (d) les aspects cinématiques et géométriques par rapport à tout point surla benne alors qu’elle effectue son cycle de travail. Dans tous les cas, la vérification par desmesures sur le terrain a été concordante (< 4 % variance).

ABSTRACT As part of an overall study of properties and processes influencing consolidation of oilsands fine tailings resulting from different extraction processes, self-weight consolidation testswere performed. Fourteen 2 m and 1 m-high standpipe tests were instrumented to monitor the rateand magnitude of consolidation of seven fine tailings materials. Tests provided valuable informationabout the variation of consolidation related to differences in fine tailings material properties thatresult from a change in bitumen extraction process (caustic versus non-caustic). In addition, theeffect of adding a coagulant to caustic fine tailings was measured. Test results are presented anddiscussed in terms of consolidation rate, long-term volume decrease, compressibility, and down-ward drainage. Non-caustic fine tailings had faster initial consolidation, which is important intailings ponds for reducing storage capacity and returning decant water at a faster rate to theextraction plant. Similar results were obtained for caustic fine tailings with a coagulant addition.However, long-term settlement of the different fine tailings appears to converge to a similar valueover time because it is then governed by effective stress.

RÉSUMÉ Dans le cadre d’une étude générale sur les propriétés et les processus qui influencentla consolidation des résidus fins de l’exploitation des sables bitumineux selon différents procédésd’extraction, des essais de consolidation sous le poids propre des résidus ont été effectués. Qua-torze essais dans des colonnes montantes de 2 m et de 1 m ont été instrumentés afin de suivrele taux et l’ampleur de la consolidation de sept résidus fins. Les essais ont fourni de l’informationimportante sur la variation de la consolidation par rapport aux différences dans les propriétés desrésidus fins qui découlent d’un changement dans le procédé d’extraction du bitume (caustiquepar rapport à non caustique). De plus, l’effet d’ajouter un coagulant aux résidus fins caustiques aété mesuré. Les résultats des essais sont présentés et discutés : le taux de consolidation, ladiminution du volume à long terme, la compressibilité et le drainage vers le bas. Les résidus finsnon caustiques avaient un taux de consolidation initiale plus rapide, ce qui est important dans lesparcs à résidus pour réduire le volume d’entreposage et pour retourner l’eau de décantation plusrapidement à l’usine d’extraction. Des résultats semblables ont été obtenus pour les résidus fins

caustiques auxquels un coagulant avait été ajouté. Toutefois, letassement à long terme des différents résidus fins semble con-verger vers une valeur similaire dans le temps puisqu’il est régi parla contrainte effective.

Effect of extraction waterchemistry on the self weightconsolidation of oil sands finetailingsW. G. Miller, WorleyParsons Services Pty Ltd.,Perth, Australia, and J. D. Scott and D. C.Sego, University of Alberta

T E C H N I C A L A B S T R AC T S

CIM journal


Excerpts taken from abstracts in CIM Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1. Subscribe—www.cim.org

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voices from industry


Canada's mining and shipping industries have enjoyeda historic and mutually beneficial partnership, datingback over half a century to the opening of the Great

Lakes–St. Lawrence Seaway in the spring of 1959. In thedecades since then, more than 2.5 billiontonnes of cargo – including iron ore fromeastern Quebec and western Labrador,coal from western Canada and aggregatesand road salt from Ontario – have movedsafely, economically and efficientlythrough the waters of the St. LawrenceRiver and the Great Lakes.

This historic partnership haschanged greatly over the last half cen-tury. In the 1960s and 1970s, the seawaywas bustling with traffic from morninguntil night. Upbound ships loaded withiron ore and downbound vessels carryingwestern grain kept the seaway's locks,

canals and shipping channels operating at peak capacityuntil traffic declined sharply during the recession of 1981-82. Although the economy recovered, iron ore shipmentsdid not return to their previous levels because Americansteel producers spent much of the 1980s downsizing andreducing production.

More recently, the recession of 2009-10 deliveredanother sharp blow to both the seaway and the shippingindustry. In 2009, the seaway's 50th anniversary year, cargovolumes fell 30 per cent to their lowest levels since 1961.Despite such adversity, the seaway, shipping companies andport authorities have invested well over $1 billion in thepast three decades to ensure that the marine mode remainsan efficient, competitive and reliable means of transport.

The seaway has installed a number of leading-edgetechnologies and adopted many best practices to reducetransit times and enhance the safety of the system. Thesemeasures include a state-of-art traffic control system,remote control operation of bridges and the conversion ofthe Welland Canal locks from mechanical to hydraulic drives.As well, the seaway has been testing hands-free mooringtechnology that would eliminate the need to tie up vesselswhile transiting a lock and has implemented a self-spottingsystem for vessel mooring positioning. These initiatives holdthe potential to raise productivity within our system.

Canada's leading shipping companies have demon-strated their faith in the future of marine transport byundertaking major fleet renewal programs. Over the pastdecade, Montreal-based Fednav International and CanadaSteamship Lines, and Algoma Central Corporation of St.Catharines, Ontario, have either ordered new vessels or

commissioned upgrades to existing ships, amounting to atotal investment of more than $1 billion.

Another positive sign is the emergence of small, yetinnovative new shipping companies. In the mid-1990s,Hamilton-based McKeil Marine launched a tug-and-bargeservice and currently operates the largest fleet of theseunits on the Great Lakes. Shallow draft barges can sail inand out of ports inaccessible to seaway-max lakers. Theycan haul bulk commodities, liquid commodities and projectcargo such as windmill blades. As well, they can be used onshort-sea or long-haul runs.

Increasingly, Canadians expect their governments andthe private sector to pursue economic growth in ways thatare environmentally sustainable – and marine transport hasa vital role to play in achieving this objective. Ships con-sume less fuel, generate less noise pollution and feweremissions than either trucks or trains. They are involved infewer accidents and are responsible for fewer spills.Furthermore, increased use of marine transport wouldgreatly ease the congestion on our roads and railways. Onefully loaded, 222-metre laker can move as much cargo as870 transport trucks or 225 rail cars.

The St. Laurence Seaway Management Corporation(SLSMC) and its partners recognize the global nature ofworld trade and the incredible demands that places on pri-mary producers in Canada's mining sector. Raw materialsmust move seamlessly and efficiently from pit to rail toport, and must travel thousands of kilometres to meet thedemand for ores and metallurgical coals in Europe, China,India and other points in Asia. It is worth remembering thatCanada's marine transport system offers safe, reliable andcost-effective solutions to the mining industry's logisticalchallenges. It should also be noted that the seaway and theshipping companies have excess capacity that can be put towork moving commodities from points of origins in Canadato the markets of the world.

The seaway reaches 3,700 kilometres inland, from theGulf of St. Lawrence to the head of Lake Superior. There are50 ports on the system. The Canadian shipping industry hasan enviable record of moving cargo quickly, safely andcost-effectively. As for the SLSMC itself, the investments innew technology and improved operating procedures ensurethat vessels loaded with ore can move from the upper lakesto the lower St. Lawrence and onto the ocean in onesmooth, hassle-free journey.

The SLSMC will continue to refine its strategy, becom-ing more nimble and productive in the process. In collab-oration with our stakeholders, the SLSMC is committed to enabling North American industries to thrive in a 21stcentury global economy. CIM

A 21st century St. Lawrence SeawayBy Terence Bowles, president and CEO, The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, incoming president-elect, CIM, and former president and CEO, Iron Ore Company of Canada

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cim magazine march/april 2011

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