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FEATURE: Maturing technologies designed to improve grinding efficiency are taking hold as energy prices rise and ore grades fall

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Page 1: CIM Magazine October 2013
Page 2: CIM Magazine October 2013
Page 3: CIM Magazine October 2013

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Page 4: CIM Magazine October 2013

24

CONTENTS|CONTENUCIM MAGAZINE | OCTOBER | OCTOBRE | 2013

NEWS 16 Industry at a glance 22 Feds extend GEM program Mapping in

Canada’s North gets a $100-million boostby V. Heffernan

24 Pipe piling up TransCanada stockpiles pipeas Keystone XL debate rages by I. Ewing

26 The mining world comes to MontrealExtensive technical program, plenaryspeeches spark discussion at 23rd WorldMining Congress by H. Mathisen

28 The big boom Mt. Milligan mine breathingnew life into two B.C. towns by A. Livingstone

TOOLS OF THE TRADE 10 The best in new technology Compiled by E. Moore

COLUMNS 30 MAC Economic Commentary Temporary Foreign Worker Program was designed for a good reason by P. Gratton

32 Eye on Business Miners reap what they sow with writedowns by P. Crowson

34 Safety The tough guy problem by D. Laplonge

35 Finance Reliable feasibility studies key amid gold price volatility by S. Mlot

36 Innovation Canada needs to rediscover its innovative streak by V. Pakalnis

44

4 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

UPFRONT Gold

38 Golden fortunes Expansion about topay off for Lake Shore Gold by G. Chandler

42 Slow start for SART Promisingtechnology could save industrymillions in time by V. Danielson

44 Savings from the bottom up Large-diameter boreholes increase optionsfor miners by I. Ewing

Page 5: CIM Magazine October 2013

58 Following in the footsteps of theemperor Senegal’s three distinctregions each hold promise by P. Blin and

A. Dion-Ortega

60 Fits and starts Some Senegalesetransport options improve as othersflounder by E. Moore

62 Ready for takeoff An insider’sperspective on Senegal’s growingmining sector by P. Blin and A. Dion-Ortega

64 Answers to 10 key questionsabout mining under Senegaleselaw by M. Kebe

66 Project profile – Ahead of thepack Teranga Gold’s Sabodala plansto cash in on expansion by C. Windeyer

69 Profil de projet – En peloton detête La mine pionnière Sabodala deTeranga Gold par C. Windeyer

72 Travel – Dakar by K. Lagowski

FEATURE | ÉDITORIAL 46 Breaking down comminution Maturing technologies designed to improve

grinding efficiency are taking hold as energy prices rise and ore grades fallby E. Moore

51 Analyser la comminution Les technologies développées conçues pouraméliorer l’efficacité du broyage s’instaurent pendant que le coût del’énergie augmente et que la qualité des minerais diminue par E. Moore

SPECIAL REPORT

57

46

TECHNOLOGY Safety innovations 55 Proximity detection takes root

underground A push by regulators andoperators are driving the growth ofunderground proximity detection toolsby J. Leuschen

CIM COMMUNITY |LA COMMUNAUTÉ DE L’ICM 74 CIM ramps up activities in West

Africa Dakar branch hosts events,looking to build local expertise in Senegalby H. Mathisen

ICM intensifie ses activités en Afriquede l’Ouest La succursale de Dakarorganise régulièrement des événementspour développer une expertise locale auSénégal par H. Mathisen

76 Knowledge at your fingertips CIM puts115 years of technical papers onlineby H. Mathisen

Les connaissances au bout des doigtsL’ICM met en ligne 115 années dedocuments techniques par H. Mathisen

78 Garth Kirkham named incomingpresident-elect CIM’s 2015-16 presidentwants organization to become the world’sgo-to standards resource by K. Lagowski

Garth Kirkham nommé président éluentrant Le président de l’ICM pour 2015-2016 souhaite que l’organisation deviennela ressource mondiale de prédilection enmatière de normes par K. Lagowski

TECHNICALABSTRACTS |RÉSUMÉSTECHNIQUES 81 CIM Journal 82 Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly

IN EVERY ISSUE 6 Editor’s letter 8 President’s notes Mot du président 85 Product file 86 Mining Lore by C. Baldwin

October 2013 | 5

Page 6: CIM Magazine October 2013

“If you want to know if your haul roadsare in good shape, just pour yourself acup of coffee, set it on the dash of your

truck and take a drive through your operationat 60 kilometres per hour.” That was the adviceof Caterpillar’s Kent Clifton at a recent productdemonstration event at the company’s provingground south of Tucson, Arizona. The eventincluded a number of presentations from prod-uct line specialists and a showcase of Cat’s var-ious machines in action. A fellow editor andreturn visitor to the site observed that thebiggest change since his last trip there –

beyond Cat’s embrace of electric drive haul trucks – was the company’smessaging. In the past, the emphasis was on sizing up, but the focus at thisevent was squarely on efficiency and “cost-per-ton.”

After a summer storm of writedowns, where mining companies recon-ciled their accounting to the reality of the marketplace, Cat representativeshad scores of suggestions for the visiting group of miners on how theycould make their operations more productive and push back against nar-rowing margins. Experts discussed many load and haul practices – tiremanagement, road maintenance, refuelling schedules, payload optimiza-tion – and showed potential improvements that, when combined, prom-ised substantial rewards.

Our feature this issue, “Breaking down comminution” (pg. 46) by EavanMoore, takes an equally close look at how changes in comminution circuitscan uncover more value for operations. But in this instance, rather thanrefining current practices, as the Cat reps proposed, a number of expertvoices argue that the moment demands a fundamental shift in how minesliberate minerals. As ore grades decline and sizing up mills to handlethroughput becomes more difficult, they suggest the time has come for pro-cessing plants to put less familiar but increasingly proven energy efficientgrinding technologies to better use.

This issue also features a special report on Senegal. Though the WestAfrican country’s mining industry is modest at present, it has the characterto grow and, in the process, open up other jurisdictions on its borders. Ourcoverage is designed to give the reader a broad introduction to the country,one that should bring him or her up to speed on the state of the industryas well as some of the idiosyncrasies of the local culture. As you will dis-cover, “business casual” doesn’t translate well to Wolof.

Ryan Bergen,[email protected]

@Ryan_at_CIM_Mag

6 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

editor’s letter Editor-in-chief Ryan Bergen, [email protected] editor Angela Hamlyn, [email protected] editor Andrea Nichiporuk, [email protected]

Section editors Peter Braul, [email protected] Mathisen, [email protected]

Copy editor/Communications coordinator Zoë Koulouris, [email protected]

Web editor Nathan Hall, [email protected]

Web support Maria Olaguera, [email protected]

Contributors Correy Baldwin, Pierrick Blin, Graham Chandler, MauroChiesa, Phillip Crowson, Vivian Danielson, Antoine Dion-Ortega, IanEwing, Pierre Gratton, Virginia Heffernan, Mouhamed Kebe, KrystynaLagowski, Dean Laplonge, Janice Leuschen, Andrew Livingstone,Stephen Mlot, Eavan Moore, Vic Pakalnis, Chris Windeyer, DinahZeldin

Editorial advisory board Alicia Ferdinand, Garth Kirkham, VicPakalnis, Nathan Stubina

Translations SDL, Karen Rolland

Published 9 times a year by theCanadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum 1250 – 3500 de Maisonneuve Blvd. WestWestmount, QC, H3Z 3C1Tel.: 514.939.2710; Fax: 514.939.2714 www.cim.org; Email: [email protected]

Subscriptions Included in CIM membership ($174.00); Non-members (Canada),$220.00/yr (PE, MB, SK, AB, NT, NU, YT add $11.00 GST, BC add$26.40 HST, ON, NB, NL add $28.60 HST, QC add $32.95 GST +PST, NS add $33.00 HST) Non-Members USA and International:US$240.00/year. Single copies, $25.00.

Advertising SalesDovetail Communications Inc.30 East Beaver Creek Rd., Ste. 202Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 1J2Tel.: 905.886.6640; Fax: 905.886.6615; www.dvtail.com Senior Account Executives 905.886.6641Janet Jeffery, [email protected], ext. 329Neal Young, [email protected], ext. 325Account Manager Tristan Cater, [email protected], ext. 326

This issue’s coverPhotograph by James Hodgins

Layout and design by Clò Communications Inc.www.clocommunications.com

Copyright©2013. 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.

Printed in Canada

The efficiency agenda

Page 7: CIM Magazine October 2013

use of Earth’s natural resourcesAs the global leader in minerals and metals processing technology,

Outotec has developed many breakthrough technologies over the decades. The company also provides innovative solutions for industrial water treatment,

the utilization of alternative energy sources and the chemical industry.

www.outotec.com

Page 8: CIM Magazine October 2013

president’s notes | mot du président

Mettre fin à la malédictionLa « malédiction des ressources » est une situation plutôt ironique par laquelle les collectivités et les régions où

il y a des projets de développement et d’exploitation miniers sont laissées dans un pire état que celui d’avant. Ce phé-

nomène est habituellement attribuable au détournement illégal et inapproprié des revenus provenant des activités

minières en raison de la mauvaise gestion du gouvernement. Le meilleur remède contre la « malédiction des res-

sources » est la transparence, car elle contraint les gouvernements et les autorités dignes de confiance à rendre des

comptes aux électeurs.

Il est encourageant de voir que le mouvement en faveur de la transparence prend de l’ampleur. Au début de l’été

dernier, le gouvernement du Canada a renforcé la Loi sur la corruption d’agents publics étrangers en augmentant les

peines contre la corruption et en aidant les autorités à mener les enquêtes et les poursuites dans les cas de corrup-

tion. Désormais, les citoyens et les résidents permanents travaillant pour des entreprises établies au Canada peuvent

être accusés de corruption peu importe le lieu d’infraction ou l’importance de la relation que l’infraction peut avoir

avec le Canada. Il y aura bientôt de nouvelles normes de production de rapports selon lesquelles les industries extrac-

tives devront déclarer tout paiement effectué à un gouvernement étranger, comme les taxes, les droits de licences

et les redevances. Les nouveaux règlements mettront un terme aux frais de commodités qui étaient payés réguliè-

rement aux agents publics étrangers pour accélérer et garantir l’exécution d’un projet.

Cette tendance croissante de la transparence se manifeste dans d’autres juridictions. Un certain nombre de pays

en développement se sont dotés de lois permettant de déterminer le partage du revenu sur les taxes et les rede-

vances entre les coffres du fédéral, du provincial et du municipal. Le fait de produire un rapport public sur l’ampleur de

ces paiements quantifie les retombées économiques provenant de l’extraction locale du minerai, et cela en faveur des

entreprises minières. Le rapport permet également aux collectivités de tenir les gouvernements responsables de la

répartition et de l’utilisation des recettes recueillies. De plus en plus de collectivités demande leur juste part aux gou-

vernements. Par exemple, les collectivités minières du Pérou manifestent dans les rues pour exiger leur part de 50 pour

cent des taxes annuelles payées par les entreprises minières, destinées à l’utilisation locale et régionale. Pour les inves-

tisseurs, cette tendance à une plus grande ouverture est bien accueillie, puisqu’elle quantifie davantage le risque.

Alors qu’ICM prend de l’expansion en Amérique latine et en Afrique de l’ouest, nous avons un rôle essentiel à

jouer dans la transmission des connaissances et de l’expérience, en plus d’améliorer les pratiques de l’industrie. Pour

mettre fin à la « malédiction des ressources », il faut déployer un effort commun pour encourager le comportement

éthique et soutenir les pratiques exemplaires, surtout lorsque des membres d’ICM sont en cause.

Robert SchaferCIM President | Président de l’ICM

8 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

Lifting the curseThe “Resource Curse” is the ironic circumstance by which communities and regions are left in a worse con-dition during and after mineral development and exploitation than before. This is typically a result of theillegal or improper diversion of the benefits derived from mining due to government mismanagement.Transparency is often the best cure for the “Resource Curse” because it will hold governments and trustedofficials accountable to their constituents.

It is encouraging that the transparency movement is picking up momentum. Early this past summer, theCanadian government strengthened the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act by increasing penaltiesfor bribery and helping authorities with investigations and prosecutions of bribery offences. Now citizensand permanent residents of, and companies organized in, Canada can be charged for bribery regardless ofwhere it occurred or of the degree to which the action was connected to Canada. And soon there will benew reporting standards for the extractive industries that make payments such as taxes, licence fees androyalties to foreign governments reportable events. New regulations will also put an end to “facilitationfees” that were routinely made to a foreign public official to expedite or secure performance.

This growing transparency trend is likewise showing itself in other jurisdictions. A number of developingcountries now have laws defining how the tax and royalty revenues are shared among federal, state andcommunity coffers. For mining companies, publicly reporting the magnitude of these payments quantifiesthe economic benefits derived from local mineral extraction. For communities, reporting allows them tohold governments accountable for the distribution and use of the revenues collected. And more and morecommunities are asking governments for their fair share. For example, Peruvian mining communities aretaking to the streets to demand their legitimate 50 per cent share of taxes paid by mining companies annu-ally, which are designated for local and regional use. For investors, this push for greater openness is wel-come because it further quantifies risk.

As CIM expands its reach in Latin America and West Africa, we have an essential part to play in sharing knowl-edge and experiences, as well as in improving practices. Lifting the “Resource Curse” will require a commoneffort that encourages ethical behaviour and supports best practices wherever CIM members are engaged.

Page 9: CIM Magazine October 2013
Page 10: CIM Magazine October 2013

10 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

TOOLS OFTHE TRADE the best in new technology

◢ Look aliveHard-Line Solutions developed EntryAlert for

underground situations where remote load haul

dump (LHD) truck operators cannot see

pedestrians entering their vehicle’s area. One

strobe light is installed over the entrance to the

drift and flashes as long as there is an LHD

operating. When someone enters the drift, they

break a light beam at the entrance, and a second

strobe light at the remote operator station starts

flashing. The equipment is connected by cables to

a remote control used by the operator, who can

reset either light once the pedestrian is clear or

the vehicle is no longer operating remotely. Max

Gray, North American sales and global marketing

director, says customers had been asking for this

additional layer of safety. “It is good mine

management on any drift using remote operation,”

he says.

◢ Non-smoking areasThe CA610LF75 leaky feeder coaxial cable from AIR802

meets the mining industry’s growing interest in zero-

halogen cables, according to chief technology officer

Michael Bryant. Halogen is a popular material choice for

fire retardant cables in North America because it has a

low burn rate. Still, fire and water lead halogen to

produce toxic fumes and acid. AIR802 uses a low-smoke

zero halogen material with its cable. “This material will

do the same thing and accomplish more by producing

less toxic smoke,” says Bryant. “We’re seeing more and

more customers asking for low-smoke zero halogens. It’s

particularly useful in underground mines.” The cable is

designed for 150 MHz VHF systems and can support up

to 450 MHz frequencies.

Courtesy of Hard-Line Solutions

Courtesy of AIR802

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◢ Convenient controlConveyor Components Company has updated its Tilt

Level Probe with an explosion-proof version of the control

unit for more convenient placement. The probe itself is

either a six- or nine-inch steel cylinder suspended over

bulk handling equipment. The unit can be set to detect

either the presence or absence of material and allows for a

maximum of 5,000 feet of cable between control and

probe. The three models available include dust-proof,

weather-tight units and models that are explosion-proof.

“Not only can the probe be placed in a hazardous

environment, but this control unit is also designed for use

in hazardous environments,” says sales manager Rich

Washkevich, adding the new control units also feature

long-life LED indicator lights and lightweight surface-

mounted electronics.

Page 11: CIM Magazine October 2013
Page 12: CIM Magazine October 2013

12 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

TOOLS OFTHE TRADE the best in new technology

◢ Low-maintenance belt rollersMartin Engineering’s EVO high-speed roller cradle improves on

traditional roller designs by combining high belt speed capability

with better impact absorption and less required

maintenance, says Paul Harrison, global

engineering manager. “Rolls don’t provide a

continuous surface against which the belt

can run, and that gives sealing

problems, which lead to dust and

spillage and all sorts of issues,” he

explains. The tightly spaced EVO design

creates an almost flat belt edge which,

says Harrison, allows effective sealing

while adding more support for the belt.

Rollers are normally widely spaced so

they can be taken out for maintenance.

EVO slides out on tracks instead.

Harrison says one mine accustomed to

replacing four to five rolls a month had

zero component failures after seven

weeks using EVO rollers.

◢ Save the tiresTrimble’s TirePulse Monitoring System caters to users who

need precise, timely temperature and pressure data on any

tire type. Chris Wheeler, segment manager for telematics

devices, says the pressure gauge is accurate within three

percentage points, allowing users to fine-tune their tire

inflation. The sensor’s valve-stem positioning protects it from

breakage and overheating. Trimble’s fleet management and

productivity software, VisionLink, provides an interface for

running real-time updates on tire conditions. A fault in the

tire, like a major pressure drop or overheating, automatically

generates an email or text to the machine operator or to

back-office personnel. TirePulse is the first of many

monitoring devices planned to operate on VisionLink.

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◢ Powerful wrenchStanley Black & Decker subsidiary PROTO

designed its first line of pistol air impact

wrenches with both power and ergonomics in

mind. Senior brand manager Alan English says

the handle of the PROTO Titanium series air

wrenches is positioned in the centre of the tool,

alleviating wrist strain and improving product

airflow. “The air flows directly into the motor of

the tool and not up into the back of the tool, like

many of the competitive units,” he explains. The

result is the highest breakaway torque in the

industry: 1,260 foot pounds in the half-inch

drive size compared with 1,100 and 1,190 foot

pounds, respectively, in PROTO’s closest

competitors, says English. Its titanium front

housing also works to keep its weight low, at 4.6

pounds in the half-inch size.

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Page 13: CIM Magazine October 2013

Increase efficiencies while minimizing environmental

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Page 14: CIM Magazine October 2013

14 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

TOOLS OFTHE TRADE the best in new technology

Compiled by Eavan Moore

◢ Plastic protectionPlastics specialist igus Inc. has released its E4-1 polymer Energy

Chain cable carrier, which combines the strongest parts of three

previous E4 series carriers in one product. Scott Parker, product

sales manager for Canada, says the E4-1 cable and hose carriers

have a tongue-and-groove design that protects the carrier’s noise-

reducing stop dogs from debris. The design can be open to allow

debris to fall through or closed to protect the interior from accidents.

On mine sites, they typically replace festoon systems or other less

flexible, higher maintenance approaches. “Because it’s a polymer,

we get a lot of interest in potash and coal applications because it’s

non-corrosive,” Parker says.

◢ Hoist health checkupsABB has introduced its new Hoist

Performance Monitoring Service designed to

take the work out of consulting its experts.

“What this brings to the table is a very

organized, very clear, straightforward way to

be able to intelligently look at the customer

systems remotely,” says Sachin Jari, North

American mining manager. Information is

continuously retrieved from operational

points like the motor, hydraulics and brakes

and sent to ABB. Hoist service experts

regularly analyze the data and hold remote

sessions with staff at the mine to discuss

solutions for issues. Continuous monitoring

alerts the customer if pre-established

triggers show abnormal conditions; ABB

investigates the cause and recommends

solutions.

Courtesy of igus Inc.

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◢ Into thin airNeptune Systems has released its Neptune Evaporator,

promised to be an environmentally sound, cost-cutting

wastewater disposal system. Salesperson Tris Waystack says

fracking operations use the product to evaporate 97 per cent of

their fracking water at one or two cents per gallon, avoiding the

cost of taking it to a treatment plant. The trailer-mounted system

uses a turbine fan to turn the liquid into aerosol over a lined

pond. Contaminants of 40 to 100 microns settle within 150 feet

of the unit as they spray out, while water particles dissipate.

One unit can evaporate 3,000 to 9,000 gallons per hour.

Waystack says no other company sells all-inclusive units of this

scale; customers need supply only a water hose flowing at 150

gallons per minute. The evaporator can also be used to treat

leachate.

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Page 15: CIM Magazine October 2013

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Learn more at:www.BoartLongyear.com/aftermarket

Page 16: CIM Magazine October 2013

16 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

New Australian PM vowsto revive mining

Tony Abbott rode into Australia’stop office in September on promises ofstoking the country’s economic fires.The first conservative prime ministerAustralia has seen in six years, Abbotttakes the helm at a time when thecountry’s economic growth is faltering,due in part to reduced demand for thecountry’s natural resources.

In the second quarter of 2012, theAustralian economy grew 3.7 per centover the same quarter a year earlier, butthis year that number shrank to 2.6 percent during the same period.

“The challenges are considerable,”Abbott said. “We must scrap the car-bon tax, we must build the roads, wemust get the budget back into theblack.” Mining taxes have been a cen-tral issue of debate for many Aus-tralian prime ministers in recentmemory. Kevin Rudd, Abbott’s prede-

cessor, lost the leadership of theLabour party to Julia Gillard in 2010over his proposed super-tax of 40 per

cent on all extrac-tive activities.Gillard, whoserved as primeminister from2010 until late-June 2013,wound up insti-tuting a 30 percent tax on profitsabove AU$75 mil-lion, before Ruddregained the roleof party leaderthis summer,prior to the Sep-tember election.

It remains tobe seen whetherAbbott’s cam-paign assurancesthat he will abol-ish both Gillard’smining tax andthe country’s car-bon tax will kick-start the mineralsindustry andbring the econ-omy around.

– Peter Braul

Contractor cleans up crew despite death threats

Faced with a few bad apples,Leonard Banga, owner of Saskatoon-based Xtreme Mining and DemolitionInc., laid off all 200 of his workers inJune. The drastic measure followed aseries of threats, assaults and con-frontations that were documented ina harassment and workplace safetyinvestigation from the Ministry ofLabour Relations and WorkplaceSafety. According to The Star Phoenix,a Saskatoon newspaper, Banga onlyrehired those who passed an exten-sive screening procedure, meant toweed out the Hells Angels among hisranks.

When Xtreme won its first con-tracts in 1998, Banga hired experi-enced employees from previouscontractors’ crews, over half a dozen ofwhom were members of the notoriousmotorcycle gang. Business wentsmoothly at first, with Xtreme securingcontracts at several Saskatchewanpotash mines, including Allan,Agrium, Mosaic Esterhazy and a num-ber of PotashCorp operations.

Trouble, however, surfaced last fallwhen an Agrium Vanscoy workercaught an Xtreme employee sleepingon the job. The Agrium employee wasthreatened with violence should hereport the incident, which he did any-way, and Banga dismissed the dozybiker, beginning an effort to clean uphis crew despite enduring threats andviolence himself.

In January, Banga requested theministry conduct a safety investigationof his company, which ultimatelyrevealed a number of incidents ofharassment and threats, as well asreluctance from Xtreme employees tospeak out about the problem. As aresult, one Hells Angels member wasbanned from working as a mine super-visor in Saskatchewan. Following therehiring process, Xtreme employeeshave reported that they feel safer onthe job, but Banga is not in the clear.The Saskatoon Police have sincewarned him that he may be in danger.

– Dinah Zeldin

news | industry at a glance

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Recently elected Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbottis seen as mining-friendly, having campaigned toabolish the country’s controversial mining tax.

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Page 17: CIM Magazine October 2013

October 2013 | 17

Escondida to spend $3.5Bon desalination

Work began this summer on a newreverse-osmosis desalination plant forEscondida, near Antofagasta, Chile.The investment is designed to pro-vide 2,500 litres per second of desali-nated seawater for the mine’s new152,000-tonne-per-day concentratorfacility, known as OGP1. The minehas been desalinating process watersince 2006.

“Securing a sustainable water sup-ply in the Atacama desert is a majorpriority for all Chilean copper produc-ers,” said Peter Beaven, BHP Billitoncopper president, adding that the newfacility will minimize the operation’sreliance on the arid region’s aquifers.BHP Billiton is the majority owner ofthe mine with a 57.5 per cent interest.

Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industriesreceived a contract worth $106 millionto supply and install the plant, and tosupervise its construction and commis-sioning. Fresh water could begin toflow from the new plant three yearsfrom now, according to company esti-mates.

The mine has benefitted from bothhigher ore grades this year and the com-pletion of major maintenance work,resulting in a 28 per cent increase incopper production from last year. Thenew concentrator facility being devel-oped will not only add capacity at themine, but demolishing the old Los Colorados facility will provide access tofurther high grade ore. – P.B.

Saami protest Swedishiron ore mine

Swedish police removed a blockadeof indigenous Saami who had pre-vented access to U.K.-based BeowulfMining’s Kallak iron ore explorationproject, roughly 1,000 kilometres northof Stockholm, in August. The proteststargeted test mining that Beowulf needsto carry out in order to evaluate itsresource. The Saami have traditionallyherded reindeer in the area.

Clive Sinclair-Poulton, Beowulf’schairman, said he believes coexistence

is possible. “If there are issues that theSaami have when it comes to reindeerherding, let’s go ahead and discuss itand see if we can come up with a com-promise,” he told the Proactiveinvestorsnewsletter.

The Swedish government recentlyruled that mining has a larger publicinterest than reindeer herding, and

granted Nickel Mountain AB threemining concessions for its Rönnbäckenproject, located near Beowulf’sresource. – P.B.

Mo money, no problemWith November fast approaching,

men from around the world are gear-

industry at a glance | news

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ing up to grow moustaches forMovember. The global event sees men,or Mo Bros, grow moustaches andgather donations that benefit prostateand testicular cancer research andmental health programs. Women, orMo Sistas, while not expected to growmoustaches, are also encouraged totake part and raise awareness for men’shealth issues. Last year in Canada’smining sector, 22 teams made up of343 miners joined efforts and raised$141,208. And with that, the GreatCanadian Mining Challenge was born.

“It was an idea sparked by a Mo Broto unite the industry’s efforts andshowcase the amazing support by theircommunity for men’s health,” saidMovember Canada’s Jeff Lohnes. “Thekey teams that led the charge in mak-ing it possible were the good folks fromTeck Resources, Kinross Gold andAecon Mining. Mo Bros from each ofthese companies really stepped up withamazing support of Movember.”

Matt Rosales, who joined one ofTeck’s 12 teams, was proud to con-tribute to the cause. “The act of grow-ing a moustache makes each one of usa billboard for men’s health issues, andencourages our colleagues, friends andfamilies to take a moment to thinkabout their health and wellness,” hesaid. “The combination of fun, cama-raderie, awareness and fundraisingmakes this month-long event a good fitfor Teck and its employees.” To sup-port your mining Mo Bros and Mo Sis-tas, visit movember.com and search forthe Great Canadian Mining Challenge.

– Andrea Nichiporuk

Anglo American pushesahead with B.C. coalproject

In August, Anglo American brokeground on its Trend-Roman project, a$200-million expansion of the Trend

metallurgical coalmine near Tum-bler Ridge, innortheastern B.C.Through the con-struction of theopen-pit opera-tion adjacent tothe current Trendmine, the projectis expected toincrease the life ofthe facility by 16years and boostoutput from 1.6million to 2.5million tonnesper annum.

The companyreceived an envi-ronmental assess-ment certificatefrom the B.C.government lastDecember andwas granted amining permitamend ment inearly August.Some work,including timber

clearing, construction of water man-agement facilities, sediment controlstructures and access roads, is alreadyunderway. “We want to make sure wecan use the construction season asmuch as possible,” said FedericoVelásquez, Canadian director of exter-nal affairs.

The granting of a second permitamendment, expected in the first quar-ter of 2014, will allow Anglo Americanto proceed with Phase 2 of construc-tion. This will include the creation ofthree additional pits, a network ofmine access and haul roads, waste rockdams and additional water manage-ment structures.

In the interim, the company isconcluding deals with local FirstNations. Economic benefit agree-ments with the West Moberly FirstNation and the McLeod Lake IndianBand have been finalized, as has anagreement-in-principle with theHalfway River First Nations, and anegotiations agreement with the Saul-teau First Nations. – D.Z.

Uralkali CEO behind barsMoscow-based Uralkali shook up

the potash industry this summer whenit announced it would be withdrawingfrom the trading partnership it hadwith the Belarus state-owned Bela -ruskali. Now the company’s CEO,Vladislav Baumgertner, has time toreflect on the decision following hisarrest during a visit with the Belarusianprime minister in late August. TheRussian government has demanded hisimmediate release, but at the time ofwriting, the head of the world’s largestpotash producer remains in prison inMinsk, Belarus, accused of “abuse ofpower and office.”

Baumgertner’s arrest came weeksafter he announced Uralkali’s with-drawal from Belarus Potash Co., a trad-ing joint trading venture withBelaruskali. Uralkali’s move, allegedlymotivated by its partner’s trading out-side of their deal, left Belaruskali withlimited global trading infrastructureand upset global potash markets.Belarusian authorities claim that Ural-

news | industry at a glance

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October 2013 | 19

kali managers and shareholders soldoff some of their shares before quittingthe joint venture and bought themback after prices sank. Baumgertnerand other Uralkali staff are alleged tohave misused US$100 million andcaused damage to the state.

According to Uralkali, the arrest waspolitically motivated and was made “inorder to cause damage to Uralkali,which is the main competitor of state-owned Belaruskali.” Baumgertner’slawyer, Dmitry Goryachko, said he willcontinue to appeal the decision in theMinsk city court.

Baumgertner faces two months in apretrial detention centre and up to 10years in prison if found guilty. Belaru-sian officials have also issued arrestwarrants for principal Uralkali share-holder, Suleiman Kerimov, and fourother company executives who theBelarusian Investigative Committeebelieves to be implicated. – D.Z.

New developments at New Prosperity

Fish Lake was once again the centreof attention during Taseko’s New Pros-perity environmental assessment panelhearing this summer. Local FirstNations, members of the public, politi-cians and environmental groupsweighed in with their opinions of theproposed B.C. open pit gold-copperproject throughout the 30-day reviewsession, held as part of the environ-mental review process by the CanadianEnvironmental Assessment Agency.This marked Taseko’s second attemptto get the federal government’sapproval for its project. In November2010, the project was turned downdue, in part, to potential impacts onfish and grizzly bear habitats. The ini-tial project design, which would seeTaseko drain Fish Lake to use as a tail-ings area, received provincial approval.

In the lead-up to the review, TasekoCEO and President Russell Hallbauertouted the benefits of the $1-billionproject, which he expects will createroughly 700 jobs through its 20-yearmine life. He added that Taseko hadcommitted to an additional $300 mil-lion in spending with its redesignedplans to move the tailings dam andmine waste away from Fish Lake.

Some First Nations have opposedthe project due to worries that theretooled operation will still negativelyaffect fish habitat in Fish Lake. To allaythese concerns, the company proposedrecirculating outflows from Fish Lakeinto a creek to combat eutrophicationand preserve fish habitat. However,three federal departments – Environ-ment Canada, Natural ResourcesCanada and the Department of Fish-eries and Oceans – questioned the newmethod and asked for more informa-tion and data on the proposed recircu-

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lation plans. “Environment Canada isconcerned that the recirculation miti-gation measure proposed to managewater quality and the biological pro-ductivity of Fish Lake is unproven atthis scale, and may require additionalintervention to ensure success,” thedepartment noted in a written submis-sion. “The high level of uncertaintyregarding the proponent’s proposedrecirculation scheme is a particularconcern given the stated goal of pre-serving Fish Lake.” Taseko respondedby committing to provide more dataand increase future monitoring efforts.The federal government is expected todecide on the project later this year.

– Herb Mathisen

African Barrick CEO, COO quit

It has been quite a month forAfrican Barrick Gold. Greg Hawkinsresigned as the company’s chief execu-tive on August 21 and less than onemonth later, September 11, the com-pany’s chief operating officer, MarcoZolezzi, also left. The resignationscome after the company posted aUS$729-million net loss, on the backof a US$741-million asset writedownin the first half of 2013.

Hawkins was replaced by BradleyGordon who has 30 years of gold sec-tor experience. Gordon was a seniorexecutive with Placer Dome and CEOof Intrepid Mines, an exploration anddevelopment company with most ofits projects in Indonesia. London-based African Barrick Gold, of whichBarrick Gold is a 74-per-cent owner,has three operating mines in Tanzania,with additional exploration and devel-opment projects in Africa. The com-pany was being shopped around asrecently as January, before Barrickdeclined to sell it to China NationalGold Group.

In its first-half financial report,African Barrick Gold also announced ithad identified roughly $185 million inpotential cost savings as part of its planto reduce spending, $100 million ofwhich would likely be realized thisyear. “It is imperative that we imple-

ment and further expand upon the ini-tiatives identified in the operationalreview,” said Gordon, upon hisappointment. – H.M.

Canadian exploration VPreleased by kidnappers

After being held captive for 221days, Canadian Gernot Wober wasreleased by Colombian guerrillas inlate August. Wober, vice-president ofexploration for Braeval Mining Corpo-ration, was taken hostage by theNational Liberation Army (ELN) whileconducting exploration work at thecompany’s Snow mine project inColombia, on January 18. ELN hadcalled for the company to halt its workin the Bolivar region. In July, Braevalcancelled its four Snow mine titles,effectively abandoning the project.

Chris Eby, a company spokesper-son, said Wober declined to discuss hisseven-month ordeal but stated he willstay on with the company. “Gernot hasdecided that he wants to focus on thefuture and is eager to get back in thefield to look at mining properties forBraeval to develop,” said Eby. – H.M.

Rio Tinto Alcan to closeShawinigan smelter early

On August 7, Rio Tinto Alcanannounced it would close its smelter inShawinigan, Quebec, a year early byimmediately reducing aluminum pro-duction by 50,000 tonnes and incremen-tally reducing the remaining productioncompletely by November. Aluminumprices reached a five-year high in April2011, when they hit US$2,667.42 pertonne but had fallen to US$1769.61 byJuly 2013. This was cited as a factor inthe decision to shut down the 72-year-old plant. “Due to dated technology andcontinued weakness in aluminum prices,Shawinigan’s primary aluminum capacityis not currently sustainable,” said Clau-dine Gagnon, communication advisor.More than 400 workers were employedat the smelter at the time of theannouncement. - H.M.

news | industry at a glance

McCombe wins professional geoscientist award

Deborah A. McCombe received the2013 Canadian Professional Geosci-entist Award for her contribution tothe development, enhancement andpractice of professional geosciencesin Canada and abroad. McCombe,who is president and CEO of RoscoePostle Associates as well as chair ofthe Committee for Mineral ReservesInternational Reporting Standards(CRIRSCO), helped establish andgrow the Association of ProfessionalGeoscientists of Ontario and played akey role in developing and introduc-ing National Instrument (NI) 43-101,which stipulates standards of disclo-sure for mineral projects which hasbecome a global benchmark. “Weare delighted that DeborahMcCombe was chosen by our judgesto be this year’s award recipient,”said Greg Vogelsang, president ofGeoscientists Canada. “Deb is anoutstanding and very well regardedCanadian professional geoscientist –both at home and abroad.”

***

Accolade for Scorpio Gold

The Mineral Ridge gold mine ofScorpio Gold Corp. clinched secondprize in Nevada Mining Association’sMine Operators Safety Awards –Small Surface Category. “We arehonoured to be recognized amongstsome of the major producers inNevada for our commitment toworker safety at Mineral Ridge,” saidScorpio Gold CEO Peter J. Hawley.“Our success depends on everyone’sdedication to maintaining a safeworking environment.” The Vancou-ver-based producer owns a 70 percent stake in the mine; joint venturepartner Waterton Global Value L.P.holds the remaining shares.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Page 21: CIM Magazine October 2013

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Canada’s Geo-Mapping for Energyand Minerals (GEM) program, designedto provide a more comprehensiveunderstanding of northern geology, hasbeen extended into 2020 after the fed-eral government committed an addi-tional $100 million in funding.

Prime Minister Stephen Harperannounced the program extension inRankin Inlet, Nunavut, while on hisannual northern tour. “Our govern-ment will renew funding for Canada’sgeo-mapping program, an investmentsufficient to completely finish the job,”he said. “In other words, an investmentsufficient to create modern regional-scale geological maps and data sets forCanada’s entire North.”

“The focus of the program really res-onates with the prime minister’sagenda in terms of sovereignty andsocial and economic development inthe North,” said Ross Gallinger, execu-tive director of PDAC, which has beenadvocating for the GEM extension.“Over the long run, this program willprobably stimulate more than $500million in exploration expenditures inthe North and eventually lead to dis-coveries valued at more than $12 bil-lion,” he predicted.

Government figures indicate the firstphase of the GEM program generated$40 million in direct employmentopportunities and indirect in vest mentstotalling more than $300 mil -lion. Exploration expenditures by theprivate sector, as a result of the firstphase of the $100-million program thatran from 2008 to 2013, amount to closeto $17 million so far and include workin Nunavut’s Melville Peninsula to fur-ther explore the Tuktu iron ore discov-ery and diamond prospecting onsoutheast Baffin Island. Gallinger saysthe return on investment for the firstGEM program phase is still in its earlydays. “The second set of maps from thefirst phase of the program was notreleased until two weeks ago, so much

Feds extend GEM programMapping in Canada’s North gets a $100-million boost

by Virginia Heffernan

of the data is only now being seen,” hesaid in early September.

In late August, the Prime Minister’sOffice released 32 datasets, mostly fromthe Kivalliq region of Nunavut. A mas-sive till survey in the Chantrey Inletregion, northwest of Rankin Inlet,demonstrated the potential for nickel,copper and precious metals, while a newgeophysical survey in the Duggan Lakearea in the western Kivalliq regionrevealed evidence of rock types that havea high potential for hosting gold andcopper and faulting associated with ura-nium mineralization. GEM producedmore than 700 maps during its firstphase, with maps and datasets madepublic as soon as they were completed.

The GEM program’s second phasewill continue to record geologicalstructures and their evolution, andmodel the environments associatedwith petroleum and mineral deposits,said Jacinthe Perras, a spokespersonfor Natural Resources Canada, whichoversees the program. By using mod-ern interpretive techniques to analyzedata from various sources, including

ground observations, geophysics andthe latest geochemical techniques,government geoscientists hope to dis-cover new clues about the region’s re -source potential.

About 60 per cent of Canada’sNorth – above 60 degrees latitude –has yet to be mapped using modernmapping standards. GEM 1 involved21 projects in the three northern terri-tories and the northern parts ofOntario, Quebec, British Columbia,Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and New-foundland and Labrador. Priority areasunder GEM 2 will be determined afterconsultation with the provinces andterritories as well local communities,said Perras.

The GEM program is one of severalnew funding initiatives for resourcedevelopment in the North, including$5.6 million to fund the creation of anew Centre for Northern Innovationin Mining (CNIM) in Whitehorse,Yukon, and nearly $6 million for abo-riginal mine training in the NorthwestTerritories and Nunavut. The fundingannouncements are part of a broader

news

From left, Natural Resources Canada’s Geological Survey of Canada director general Donna Kirkwood, discussesthe geo-mapping of Canada’s North outside Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, with Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver andPrime Minister Stephen Harper.

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federal strategy for the North, whichincludes devolution of land andresource management to the individualterritories so that northerners will havemore control over decision-making.

The prime minister’s recent tour ofthe North also highlighted thatimproved geosciences are only onepiece of the resource development puz-zle in the region.

At the August Energy and MinesMinisters’ conference in Yellowknife,N.W.T., Territorial Industry MinisterDave Ramsay requested $600 millionin federal funding to improve roads,airports, bridges and other infrastruc-ture over the next decade.

“Our two territories have the mostundeveloped infrastructure in all of

Canada,” said Tom Hoefer, executivedirector of the N.W.T. and NunavutChamber of Mines. “We have the low-est level of geoscience mapping, we

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have the lowest education levels andwe have a complex regulatory environ-ment. All of those things are demand-ing of attention.” CIM

Kyle joins Stornoway Diamond board

Stornoway Diamond Corp. appointed Hume Kyle to its board of directors. Kyle, achartered accountant and a chartered financial analyst, was executive vice-presidentand chief financial officer at Dundee Precious Metals Inc. “Hume’s extensive financialexperience in the resource capital markets and in the operation of large scale naturalresource businesses will greatly benefit the company as we move forward with thenext stage of our evolution, the development of the Renard diamond project,” said EbeScherkus, Stornoway board chairman. The Renard project could become a key pro-ducer of high value rough diamonds over a long mine life.

MOVING ON UP

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TransCanada Corp.’s beleagueredKeystone XL pipeline continues to costthe company money, and not just in lostrevenues. More than one billion dollars’worth of line pipe has been sourced,manufactured and paid for already. Anduntil it goes in the ground, TransCanadais also on the hook for mounting storageand maintenance costs, as hundreds ofmiles of pipe languish in leased lotsacross the continent.

The $7-billion, 1,900-kilometrecrude oil pipeline, first mooted in 2008,has been mired in legislative purgatorysince 2010. In the wake of the Deepwa-ter Horizon disaster and an Enbridgepipeline spill in Michigan, the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency ruledthat a draft environmental impact studywas inadequate. Despite addressing thisand other concerns aired since then,TransCanada has seen various state andfederal bodies delay their approval ofthe necessary permits as environmentalgroups and landowners along thepipeline route have weighed in andpublic opinion has soured. The projectis currently in the hands of U.S. Presi-dent Barack Obama, who must decidewhether the pipeline is in his country’snational interest. Obama may notdecide on the project until 2014.

In the meantime, TransCanada hascompleted the lengthy process ofpreparing the huge infrastructure proj-ect for construction. “In the past, thenormal regulatory review process for aproject like this was between 18 and 24months,” said TransCanada spokesmanDavis Sheremata. “As a result, we oftenneeded to commit to the production ofmaterials to make sure that things wereavailable in a timely fashion.” Long leadtime items like steel line pipe, valves,and pump stations were ordered yearsago in anticipation of a normal permit-ting process.

TransCanada’s American pipelinemanufacturer Welspun has already pro-duced its entire 800-mile allotment for

Pipe piling upTransCanada stockpiles pipe as Keystone XL debate rages

By Ian Ewing

Keystone XL. “They can lay pipe fasterthan we can manufacture it,” explainedWelspun president David Delie. Abouthalf of that pipe has since been used tobuild a southern spur from Cushing,Oklahoma, to Houston, Texas. This GulfCoast project – a project that wasapproved without any fuss, despite beingdesigned to the same specifications as theline heading north to Alberta. But theremaining 400 miles of Welspun’s 36-inch diameter API steel pipe hasnowhere to go. TransCanada was forcedto reach a deal with Welspun to store thepipe at its plant in Little Rock, Arkansas.Although neither company will disclosethe cost of the arrangement, Delie willsay that it is a long-term agreement,admitting that 400 miles of pipe in 80-foot segments “takes up quite a bit ofspace” – or close to 80 acres.

Canadian manufacturer Evraz facesthe same situation. With a contract toproduce about half as much pipe asWelspun, Evraz is now storing 250miles of its product for TransCanada atits facility in Regina, Saskatchewan.Another 230 miles (worth roughly $200

million, according to reports fromWashington, D.C.’s National Journal) isstockpiled at a staging area near Gas-coyne, North Dakota, Sheremata confirmed.

Thus far, TransCanada has spentaround $1.9 billion on Keystone XL,with more than half of that devoted tomanufacturing the pipe. If Keystone XLultimately does not receive U.S. govern-ment approval, TransCanada will likelybe forced to either sell over 600,000tons of pipe to other pipeline buildersor design future projects around itsstockpile. And although the pipe forKeystone XL is manufactured to morestringent standards than most cus-tomers require, Delie believes that TransCanada would still have to sell it ata discount.

Another concern is leaving the pipeout in the open indefinitely. Specialcoatings, applied when the pipe leavesthe mill, are susceptible to deteriorationin ultraviolet light. “TransCanada hashad us put on a whitewash to protectthe outside surface of the pipe,”revealed Delie. Inspections after con-

news

The fate of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline project rests on the shoulders of U.S. President Barack Obama. Inthe meantime, TransCanada has already paid to construct much of the 1,900 kilometres of pipe required for theproject and is paying to store it in stockyards across the continent.

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struction will ensure the integrity of thepipe and its coating before it goes intooperation.

Once – or if – Keystone XL isapproved, Delie estimates it will take aslong as six months to move all the pipefrom his storage yard to the stagingareas where it will be used. TransCanada expects the project to becomplete and in service about two yearsafter getting presidential approval.

Until that happens, though, compa-nies are finding other ways to moveproduct. The Wall Street Journal reportedin September that American oil refinersare starting to believe that the pipelinemay never be built and are looking atother options, primarily rail. However,as the Lac-Mégantic derailment tragedy

showed, transporting oil by rail is notnecessarily a better option. And pipelineor no, development in the oil sands isnot slowing down. “We remain confi-

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Porcupine Gold Mines picks up reclamation award

Goldcorp’s Porcupine Gold Mines received the Tom Peters Memorial Mine Reclama-tion Award for successfully transforming an industrial wasteland into a recreation areafor Timmins residents. The award was presented at the Ontario Mine ReclamationSymposium in June. Goldcorp spent roughly $17 million to complete the reclamationover a period of two years. The Canadian Land Reclamation Association, the OntarioMining Association and the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Minesestablished the award to promote mine reclamation and to honour achievement in thepractice of mine reclamation in Ontario.

ACHIEVEMENT

dent that Keystone XL will beapproved,” said Sheremata. “The needin the market is there for thispipeline.” CIM

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More than 4,300 atten-dees from 65 countriesgathered in Montreal for the23rd World Mining Con-gress to talk business. Andthere was a lot to talk about.“It was the biggest technicalsession, I would say, in thehistory of a CIM [Conven-tion] and the World MiningCongress,” said generalchairperson Ferri Hassani.

The August eventmarked the first time thecongress had been held inCanada in its 55-year his-tory and also the first time itwas held in conjunction with the Inter-national Symposium on Automationand Robotics in Construction, Mining

and Petroleum (ISARC). The technicalprogram was truly exhaustive, with 14streams – 20, when including ISARC

sessions – running simulta-neously over three days, ontopics ranging from safety,sustainability and commu-nity engagement to surfacemining, coal and miningeconomics. Hassani, a chairprofessor at Montreal’sMcGill University, saidorganizers double-reviewedab stracts to ensure the pre-sentations were of a highquality, trimming theroughly 1,200 abstractsreceived down to 550. “I’mreally humbled by all thefantastic comments that

have come in,” Hassani said after theevent. “You usually don’t get this.”

The event brought mine operatorsand suppliers together with researchersand government representatives forfour days of workshops, social and net-working events, and technical sessions.The congress featured delegations fromChina, Russia, Ukraine, India, Braziland many other countries, and washosted by CIM along with five ofCanada’s leading mining universities. Atthe plenary session, Rio Tinto AlcanCEO Jacynthe Côté explained her com-pany’s approach to lowering costs as itfaces falling commodity prices andCanada’s stagnating worker productiv-ity rates, during an era where depositsare getting deeper, ore grades lower androyalty rates are rising due to govern-ments operating in deficit. “Every rockmust be turned and turned again,” shesaid, referencing areas that must belooked at for efficiency gains. Investingin innovation will be important to find-ing cheaper and cleaner ways to extractand refine minerals, she added.

Picking up on this thread, AngloAmerican CEO Mark Cutifani deliv-ered the most provocative speech ofthe morning session. He challengedmining professionals to stop thinking

news

The 23rd World Mining Congress, held in Montreal in August, attracted more than4,300 attendees from 65 countries.

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The mining world comes to MontrealExtensive technical program, plenary speeches spark discussion at 23rd World Mining Congress

by Herb Mathisen

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exclusively about the short term and pointed out that theoil and gas industry spends 80 per cent more on a revenue-to-revenue basis than the mining sector on inno-vation. While mining is a sector that prides itself on con-tinuous and incremental improvement, new – or step-out– technologies are rare, said Cutifani, adding manyextraction and production technologies in use today aremore than 100 years old. He argued that the industryneeds to improve its reputation by ameliorating commu-nications with governments and communities and byexplaining its importance to the general population.“Unfortunately, as an industry, we’re not very good attelling our story in a way that regular people can see or,more importantly, feel. There are still far too many peoplewho simply don’t see the link between the role of miningand the indispensability of minerals and metals in a mod-ern, industrialized and highly urbanized society,” he said.“We make life, as we know it today, possible.”

Cutifani’s speech had everyone buzzing, including KyleKrater, a Schulich School of Business Mining MBA stu-dent. Looking toward a mining career as a liaison withcommunities and governments, Krater also found thetechnical sessions inspiring, particularly the presentationon mining, economic development and aboriginal rightsby Ted Moses, president, secretariat to the Cree NationAbitibi-Témiscamingue Economic Alliance. “There’s nobetter way to supplement what I’m getting in the class-room than going and hearing from these groups directly,”Krater said, adding the panel question and answer periodwas equally thought-provoking. “People just had a hugebreadth of experience that students in the classroom, atthis point in our careers, couldn’t possibly have.”

The main theme Krater took away from the conferencewas the leadership crisis facing the industry, including itsdifficulties in recruiting young people. “It didn’t seem likeanyone had a solid answer for how to fix that problem,”he said, adding these problems will be interesting to mullover and discuss at school this fall.

The expo featured representatives from various globaljurisdictions that opened the 242 exhibiting companies –mostly suppliers – up to international exposure. “We’repretty new in the mining market,” said Sophie Savard,marketing manager for Quebec-based Rousseau Metal,explaining her company began marketing its shelving,tool boxes and storage products to the industry in 2012.Savard said she had received leads from Indian compa-nies, as well as representatives from mines and otherNorth American companies.

The 24th World Mining Congress will be held in Brazilin 2016. CIM

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28 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

When the lumber industry in BritishColumbia took a major nosedive in2008 due to the recession, MackenzieMayor Stephanie Killam wondered how– and if – her town would recover.

Some 1,000 local jobs disappeared,with mill closures and layoffs associatedwith the sluggish U.S. housing market.Built as a mill town by Alexandra ForestIndustries and Cattermole Timbernearly 50 years ago, Mackenzie hasrelied heavily on the forestry sector forjobs and economic stability for its 4,500residents. The town’s prospects hingedon a project that had been in the mak-ing for two decades: the Mt. Milligancopper-gold mine, 95 kilometres to thewest, which had yet to be developed.

However, with the start-up of themuch talked about mine on August 15– and with it expected to reach 60,000tonnes per day throughput by year’s end– the small town is racing from therecession with a long-term vision andsome stability in its sights.

Around 80 new families are living inMackenzie already, said Killam, whowas a long-time town councillor beforebecoming mayor seven years ago.Thompson Creek, the Denver-basedminer that took over the project when itacquired Terrane Metals in 2010,expects to employ nearly 350 workersat its open-pit mine. At full capacity, themine will produce an average of 81 mil-lion pounds of copper and 194,500ounces of gold annually over its pro-jected 22-year life. In 2012, Mt. Milli-gan pumped nearly $125 million intolocal businesses and, that November,the number of employees working atthe mine peaked at 1,035 during thefinal phases of construction.

As a result, Mackenzie is bustling.Earlier this year, 18 new residential lotswere developed and put up for sale.While this may seem like small pota-toes, for a town where this kind of resi-dential development has not occurredin 20-plus years, it says a lot about

The big boomMt. Milligan mine breathing new life into two B.C. towns

by Andrew Livingstone

where the town is heading because ofthe mine.

The town’s industrial area, along a5,000-foot airstrip, is being redeveloped,and the local co-op is putting in a com-mercial cardlock fuel stop. The numberof doctors in the town has doubled since2012 (there are now four), and a localdeveloper has plans for a hotel, pub,mall and laundromat, says Killam.

While Fort St. James, almost an equaldistance from the mine as Mackenzie,was not as hard hit by the recession(three mills closed but two eventually re-opened), it is benefiting greatly from Mt.Milligan, said economic developmentofficer Emily Colombo. At least twodozen companies received constructioncontracts as part of Thompson Creek’s2012 construction work.

Fort St. James residents were at firstskeptical about the mine ever opening.“It had been a topic of conversation fordecades,” said Colombo. But now it hashelped the town become the third-fastestgrowing community in B.C. Fort St.

James has grown 25 per cent from 2006to 2011. And this growth is not exclu-sively mining-related. “We’re also seeinga lot of people coming in the support sec-tors, like business owners, and the publicsector, as in RCMP officers and educa-tors,” she explained.

“We have more people than we havehouses,” Colombo continued. “We’realmost bursting at the seams. Whatwe’re looking at is a housing shortage.”The town is working to fix the problem:with neighbouring communities Van-derhoof and Fraser Lake, the towns arein talks about how to use regional hous-ing to deal with the shortages. Fort St.James is also developing a housingneeds analysis to approach potentialdevelopers, said Colombo.

As of July, 69 per cent of the mine’sworkforce came from the local region(Mackenzie, Fort St. James and PrinceGeorge), with 90 per cent of full-timeemployees coming from within BritishColumbia, according to the mine’swebsite. CIM

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The Mt. Milligan mine in B.C., seen from above in July 2013. The mine’s start-up in August has helped nearbycommunities recover from a downturn in the forestry sector.

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Page 29: CIM Magazine October 2013

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Page 30: CIM Magazine October 2013

Despite these best efforts, the local, provincial and nationallabour markets have not always been able to meet certainemployment demands. On these occasions, and only after hav-ing sought Canadians to fill jobs, the mining sector hasresorted to international sources to meet immediate employ-ment needs. The TFWP has enabled the mining sector to fillthese gaps without jeopardizing mining operations, thusavoiding disrupting the jobs of thousands of Canadians that dowork in the mining industry.

Recently, there have been accusations of program abuseacross several sectors, with one case levelled against HD Mining regarding its Murray River coal project in BritishColumbia. Two unions sought to overturn federal governmentdecisions that permitted the company to hire foreign workers.Requiring workers skilled at modern longwall mining tech-niques, a method not currently used in Canada, the companymaintained that it needed to seek workers beyond Canada’sborders. HD Mining was cleared of any alleged wrongdoing inMay 2013. Justice Russel Zinn said there was no evidencebefore the court on which a finding could be made that HDMining made any misrepresentation and he upheld the gov-ernment decisions.

In light of this and other allegations made about the pro-gram, the federal government launched a review of the TFWP,making several changes. It introduced a $275 labour marketopinion (LMO) processing fee for any employer who seeks tofill a position with a temporary worker. It also placed restric-tions on the languages in which job postings are permitted tobe published, namely English and French. The governmentalso instituted a three-month minimum job posting periodbefore a company is eligible to apply for a LMO and intro-duced a new and more stringent LMO application process.

The review also suspended the accelerated labour marketopinion (ALMO), and no determination has yet been made asto whether it will be reinstated. ALMO was designed to pro-vide trusted employers, based on historical applications andrecruitment practices, with a simplified process to fill tempo-rary and immediate labour gaps. By forcing all companies intothe LMO process, and creating the above new rules, compa-nies with pressing employment needs are further removedfrom locating and hiring needed candidates. In this regard,MAC believes the government should reinstate the ALMOprocess as soon as possible while ensuring sufficient controlsto discourage any abuses. CIM

30 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

Canada is on the verge of a critical skilled labour shortage,and the mining industry is not exempt. To help addressthis situation, a variety of public policy tools are required

to navigate different staffing challenges. The federal TemporaryForeign Worker Program (TFWP) – recently the subject ofcontroversy, review and reform – is one tool among manydesigned to do this.

The Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR)estimates that the Canadian mining industry directlyemployed more than 235,000 people in 2012 and that in thenext 10 years it will need to add another 145,000 to thatlabour pool. That represents a 60 per cent increase over cur-rent capacity, at a time when the number of retirement eligibleworkers continues to grow.

Over the next decade, mining’s anticipated share of newentrants for the 66 occupations that make up the industry’score workforce is only 63,350 – less than half of the antici-pated need. Unless addressed, industry productivity, competi-tiveness, investment and socio-economic contributions are allat risk.

The federal government has taken some steps to addressthis problem. The 2013 budget introduced the Canada JobGrant to help meet training needs in high-demand fields andallocated $241 million over five years to support training-to-employment programs for aboriginal youth. On the immigra-tion front, the introduction of an expression of interest systemfor the Federal Skilled Worker category, and the movement toa “just-in-time” system that recruits and fast-tracks the appli-cations of skilled workers to meet Canada’s labour marketneeds, are positive development.

These initiatives are designed to facilitate the training ofCanadians to meet labour demands and enable new immi-grants with identified skills to seamlessly become productivecitizens in their new communities. But different employmentgaps require different approaches. In some instances, minerscannot find Canadian personnel with the skills needed for par-ticular jobs, and unless these jobs are filled, operations simplycannot proceed. The TFWP helps address acute labourdemands because it enables employers to hire foreign workerson a temporary basis. This is only permitted when Canadiancitizens and permanent residents are not available or qualifiedto fill the vacancies.

When it comes to hiring skilled labour, the Canadian min-ing industry’s first choice is to hire domestically and, prefer-ably, locally in the communities where companies operate. Tofacilitate this, companies have made and continue to make sig-nificant investments in education and skills training for Cana-dian workers to give them the tools and knowledge necessaryto complete the required work.

Temporary Foreign Worker Program was designed for a good reason

BY PIERRE GRATTON

M A C E C O N O M I C C O M M E N T A R Y

Pierre Gratton is president and CEO of The Mining Association of Canada.

Page 31: CIM Magazine October 2013

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Page 32: CIM Magazine October 2013

some acquisitions and investments may have been ill-judged orbadly executed, but also from an expectation that things willimprove in the near future and the investment will eventuallycome right. In many instances, favourable market conditionshave performed that magic and turned ugly ducklings, if notinto beautiful swans then at least into reasonably presentableducks. In the past year though, economic and market condi-tions have not been as favourable, and poor investments havebecome increasingly exposed for what they are. Falling productprices and rising costs have exacerbated the weaknesses ofsome projects that might always have appeared marginal.

That takes us to the writedowns in the gold industry, whichare variously attributed to rising costs, unexpected permittingand construction delays and, above all, weaker-than-expectedgold prices. The last factor – weak prices – is an even morehollow excuse for gold miners than for other sectors, notwith-standing both the levels reached by prices and the widespreadforecasts by banks and investment analysts of even higher

Since the beginning of 2012, mining companies have col-lectively written off some US$73 billion, of which nearly$30 billion is related to gold mining assets. The rest is

spread across a range of different commodities. Each case isno doubt unique, but there are some common themes thatraise questions about the way in which companies are beingmanaged.

Looking first at the non-gold assets, one major strand in2013 has been new management teams wiping clean the per-ceived mistakes of their predecessors. With several leadingcompanies replacing their chief executives, such springcleaning has accounted for over one third of the writedowns.To the extent that major competitors are writing down assets,it becomes much easier for others to follow suit without attractingtoo many adverse comments. There is always safety in numbers.

As long as the senior management of a company remains inplace it has a strong tendency to live with past errors, howevercostly. This is partly from an unwillingness to recognize that

Miners reap what they sow with writedowns

BY PHILLIP CROWSON

32 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

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Page 33: CIM Magazine October 2013

October 2013 | 33

economic reason why either should persist into the future, butthey do incorporate much more historical experience than justthe somewhat atypical conditions of the recent past, wheninterest rates have been held artificially low.

Simply, it is a lack of historical perspective that underliesthe reasons for many writedowns. Market conditions are con-tinuously evolving, and history does not repeat itself exactly.But there is always a need to examine the experiences and les-sons of the past rather than just look at recent trends or at thepronouncements of an increasingly narrow range of marketanalysts and commentators. The mining industry’s corporatememory has contracted dramatically in recent years, with cost-cutting and changes in personnel. There has been a growingtendency for the industry and financial institutions to rely ona common handful of sources for market analysis and priceforecasts, rather than on their own internal expertise andjudgement. Like all monocultures, that lays the industry opento a widening range of potential ills. This year’s writedowns areperhaps just one manifestation. CIM

future prices. The London price averaged $1,573 per ounce in2011 and $1,669 per ounce in 2012, having briefly peaked at$1,896 per ounce in September 2011. Even into 2012, therewere many forecasts of prices comfortably exceeding $2,000per ounce in the near future. The managers of gold miningcompanies might well argue that they were in good companyin misreading future conditions, that they were misled by thefinancial community, that the drop in prices was completelyunexpected and that the widespread writedowns are merelythe consequence. “It weren’t my fault, guv.”

This is where one has to question both the mining compa-nies and the investing community. Yes, price forecasts were toooptimistic, and companies were undoubtedly egged on byinvestors. In some cases, their share prices would have beenmarked down, and they might have fallen prey to unwel-comed takeovers had they not raised the carrying values oftheir assets or sought to expand. Yet to base decisions for thelonger term on product prices achieved over a brief recentperiod is the height of irresponsibility. That applies not just togold but to other products such as copper, iron ore and coalthat have also suffered from asset writedowns. In gold, the 10-year moving average money-terms price only climbed to morethan $1,000 per ounce in June this year, and the five-yearmoving average to $1,337 per ounce in August. There is no

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Phillip Crowson is a former chief economist of Rio Tinto, chairman of theEuropean Copper Institute and president of the Mining Association of theUnited Kingdom. He has written several books and published many papers andarticles on aspects of the minerals industry.

Page 34: CIM Magazine October 2013

When we investigate the possible impacts of gender onsafety in our workplaces, we should not target men specifically.We should ask: How do our organizations and our workspacesencourage both men and women to engage in practices thatincrease their willingness to take risks? In masculine work-places, practices of masculinity that promote risk-taking as away of showing strength also need to be investigated.

This is extremely new and challenging work for resourcecompanies. As such, the response is often to ignore it. Safetyprofessionals working in mining, oil and gas, or constructionare not required to learn about the impacts of gender on safety.We are failing to respond to the very real impacts of the genderculture on workers’ safety and well-being and this is puttingpeople at risk.

For those who want to explore therelationship between gender and safetyseriously, they should first ensure thatworkplace safety professionals aretaught about gender. This should startwith education about gender as a broadconcept and then later link gender andsafety, as described in the available lit-erature. Safety professionals need to

learn how to apply this knowledge to how gender relates tosafety in their specific workplaces.

Safety management systems and safety policies and proce-dures should also be reviewed to identify how these may havebeen influenced by assumptions about gender and thus furtherencourage risk-taking practices at work. This is referred to as“gender-mainstreaming” – a review process that helps us iden-tify the impacts of gender on what we have assumed to be gender-less systems.

Safety communication practices and campaigns need to beevaluated as well because language and communication arewidely recognized to be influenced by gender.

Once all this education and review groundwork has beencompleted within the safety department, more focused workcan take place alongside employees to help drive wider work-place discussions and improve understanding about how gen-der impacts the way we work. Success in the wider workplaceis dependent on quality gender education for safety profes-sionals and senior personnel. And this is often sensitive anddifficult work, as it takes employees – particularly those whohave been used to working in highly masculinized industries– way outside their comfort zones. CIM

Acrew of men show me the large hose they use to washdown machinery and clean the site. It’s long. It’s heavy.They insist that the weight of this hose is why women

cannot do their jobs. They pass the hose from man to man, alldetermined to show me the strength they possess. They ask meif I want to hold it too. I decline.

Freudian interpretations aside, we can see how these menuse this piece of machinery to lay claim to real masculinity. Butin the process, they also put themselves at risk. All the men tellme they have suffered injuries to their shoulders while usingthis hose for extended periods of time. Presumably anywoman who might get her hands on this hose would be at asimilar risk of injury – that is, if she accepted the challenge toperform the masculine feat necessary to fit in here.

I ask them why they don’t just talk to the safety departmentto see if somebody can design something less heavy and lesslikely to cause injury. They look at me as if I’m a traitor – a manwho wants to deny them the very thing they rely on to provetheir masculinity and to prove their superiority over women.

Numerous studies look at the relationship between genderand safety in a range of disciplines, and these studies considerrisk-taking in many different contexts. The research points toa clear link between gender and safety, yet in resource indus-tries these subjects continue to be kept well apart.

It is simple to claim that men are more prone to taking risksthan women. Indeed, many studies argue that men do, in fact,take more risks than women. But this does not mean that menare naturally unsafe. Instead, males are taught from very earlyon in life that they need to be tough. They later engage in risk-taking behaviour in order to show they are strong, capable andin control. And when men do take risks with their bodies andsurvive unharmed, the reward is often approval.

There is no real masculinity; there are only ever performancesand constructions of gender. This is why, when we first start tothink about gender and safety, we must avoid stereotyping.Women are not less inclined to engage in risk-taking behaviourbecause they are naturally softer, gentler and more nurturing.Their gender identity often demands far less toughness to beshown. But when women work and live in highly masculinizedcultures, they too can adopt risky behaviour because they alsosee the rewards of successful displays of strength.

The tough guy problemBY DEAN LAPLONGE

34 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

Dean Laplonge, PhD, is a leading researcher and consultant in the field ofgender, safety and communications. He is the director of Factive(www.factive.ca), a cultural research consultancy that works with resourcecompanies in Canada and Australia to address cultural issues in the industry.His book, So, you think you’re tough: getting serious about gender in mining, isdue out later this year.

S A F E T Y

“Many studies argue that men do, in fact, take morerisks than women. But this does not mean that menare naturally unsafe. Instead, males are taught from

very early on in life that they need to be tough.”

Page 35: CIM Magazine October 2013

October 2013 | 35

A recent study of feasibility inadequacies, including 105examples over a 10-year period, showed that up to 70 percent of the negative issues were caused by controllable fac-tors, not by price assumptions or resource estimates. Par-ticularly troublesome areas were mine and plant design,equipment selection, and costing and scheduling. In orderto provide certainty, predictability of results, and insula-tion against the erratic nature of the gold market, it isimportant to get the costs and schedules correct, and tooptimize the overall mining plan in terms of productionrates and cut-off grade policy. This should be done at theprefeasibility stage to ensure only a factually supportedand optimized solution is advanced to the feasibility stage.Optimization studies are sometimes done after a major fea-sibility study in order to “de-risk” the project, but oftenthese studies investigate methods of reducing costs or max-imizing the efficiencies of the selected strategy with a viewto improving the project’s net present value, rather thanlooking for better strategies.

A benchmarking study is intended to identify perform-ance and productivity. It is part of a larger strategy foroperational improvement through measurement, compara-tive analysis, identification of performance gaps, develop-ment and implementation of solutions, and ongoingmonitoring. Benchmarking information is indispensablefor project evaluation practices because it provides a data-base of actual operating results from comparable opera-tions. These can be used to validate project inputs andoutcomes, and to determine whether they are realistic andachievable. Benchmarking also provides unbiased statisti-cal support for sound investment decision-making andensures well-considered decisions are made. The result is amore efficient study process. Benchmarking is not onlyabout costs but about what drives the costs and whatdrives the value generated.

The strategic optimization process considers a variety ofoperating strategies, including production rates and pro-cessing feed grades, and is used to identify the set of oper-ating parameters that maximize value return, usuallymeasured by net present value. This set of operating param-eters will generate optimum value at any gold price, andoperating at this point ensures the greatest buffer againstthe vagaries of the gold market, which is something share-holders would certainly find valuable. CIM

W hile the stated aim of mining companies is to max-imize shareholder value, many recent projects havefailed to live up to the expectations of their feasibil-

ity studies and have not delivered value to the shareholders.To change this situation, mining executives must committhe necessary time and resources to planning and strategyoptimization and devote more attention to using the rightbenchmarking data. The costs associated with this effortwill be paid back many times over.

In theory, a comprehensive feasibility study is intendedto demonstrate a project’s technical and economic viabilityat a level of accuracy sufficient to justify the decision to pro-ceed. If the study results are positive, the identified planwill be implemented quickly. Yet, the failure rate for achiev-ing results predicted by feasibility studies of gold projects isapproaching 70 per cent.

Many of the new gold mine project feasibility studieshave operating cost projections in the lowest quartile ofglobal gold production costs. This seems to illustrate whathas become an all too common practice: the overuse ofexpanding production rates to gain economies of scale.Mines and process plants have become ever larger, miningand processing lower grade material. To achieve therequired tonnage throughput, which is beyond what theviable part of the mineralization can sustain, lower-gradematerial is used to supplement the plant feed. In these cir-cumstances, the high production rate can push down rev-enue faster than economies of scale can reduce costs. Thistruly exposes the mine to the negative side of price volatil-ity, since it does not have a grade-based strategy to fall backon when prices drop significantly.

Reliable feasibility studies key amid gold price volatility

BY STEPHEN MLOT

Stephen G. Mlot, P.Eng., principal mining engineer, has a broad range ofexperience in mine design and planning.

columnsF I N A N C E

CIM Annual Convention Expo! gets top marks

The Trade Show News Network (TSNN) ranked CIM’s Convention & Exhibition in Edmonton in the Top 50 Cana-dian Trade Show list for 2012. The CIM Convention and Expo!in Vancouver will take place from May 11-14, 2014. TheTSNN is the world’s leading online resource for the tradeshow, exhibition and event industry since 1996. TheTSNN.com event database contains data about more than25,000 trade shows, exhibitions, public events and confer-ences. It ranks the top 50 trade shows by net square footagein Canada.

ACHIEVEMENT

Page 36: CIM Magazine October 2013

haut from Dome and Alfred Powis from Noranda. They hadthe vision to look at long-term investment in research andinnovation. There was a sense of nation-building back then.

But the last large investments in mining research andinnovation were led by the Ontario Government in 2006,when it matched $5-million investments by both INCO andXstrata. That took vision, courage and collaboration betweengovernment and industry.

The industry is in a down cycle, and times will be toughfor the next couple of years. We need leadership to positionus for the inevitable upturn. We must nurture and develophighly qualified people. Traditionally, in every other downcycle, summer jobs for mining students disappeared, andyoung engineers-in-training were let go and job offers dwin-

dled. With cutbacks, research and trainingare discretionary and so get chopped first.The industry’s eye is on the short term andyet investments are required to keep theresearch and innovation pipeline from dry-ing up.

The mining industry’s research capacityis fragile. In other sectors, such as forestryand the automotive industry, the govern-ment assists in ensuring the sectors survivea downturn. The forestry sector, for

instance, gets $100 million per year from governmentsources for research. In January 2013, the federal govern-ment announced $250 million for the automotive sector.This past year, the mining industry received $5.1 millionover five years for an exploration-related project. Given themining industry’s contribution to Canada’s economy and itsfuture, these numbers don’t add up.

Here’s a call to arms: Industry and government leadersmust renew investments in the mining industry. We need tore-establish our leadership role in areas like mining safetyand mine rescue, mine ventilation and sustainable mining. Ifvoluntary action isn’t likely, then public policies, such asimproved financial incentives or the establishment of aresearch fund based on one cent per tonne mined, should beinstituted. If that sounds onerous, consider that Australiacurrently devotes five cents per tonne of coal mined to aresearch fund. Such initiatives would ensure a sustainablefuture funding stream to once again establish the Canadianmining industry’s leadership role in mining innovation, tech-nology, and mining expertise. CIM

The honest truth is that Canada is doing poorly in inno-vation and failing to invest in research. Particularly inmining, we are losing our edge and becoming less com-

petitive. The World Economic Forum ranks Canada at 21stin innovation and 22nd among Organization of EconomicCo-operation and Development countries in expenditures onresearch and development. This correlation is glaring. Min-ing research and innovation in Canada needs a rebirth, a ren-aissance and leadership.

The subject has been front and centre at many recenthigh-profile events. At the World Mining Congress, held inAugust in Montreal, representatives from around the worldheard Mark Cutifani, Anglo American CEO and congress co-chair, stress how the global mining industry needs to recog-

nize that in many areas we are decades behind other sectorsin innovation. On a revenue-to-revenue basis, mining spends80 per cent less on technology research and developmentthan the petroleum industry does. He called for long-terminvestment in mining and not short-term thinking.

And then, at the recent Energy and Mines Ministers Con-ference in Yellowknife, keynote speaker Kevin Lynch, vice-chair of BMO Financial Group, laid out the problem.Nationally, we rank behind Slovenia and Iceland in researchexpenditures, with less than one per cent of our nationalgross domestic product going into research. And the figuresare even worse for our industry. The Canadian Chamber ofCommerce, in its 2013 report “Mining Capital,” pointed outthat our mining sector spends less than $800 million peryear. This compares to $2.7 billion invested by the Australianmining industry annually.

But it wasn’t always this way. Think back to the culture ofinnovation in the 1970s and 1980s. Canadian remote controltechnology, such as remote control scooptrams, led theworld. New mining methods like vertical crater retreat alsoemerged during this time. Improvements in mechanizationled to a decrease in accident rates and costs. We had miningleaders like Mike Sopko and Walter Curlook from INCO, BillJames and Warren Holmes from Falconbridge, Henry Bre-

Canada needs to rediscover its innovative streak

BY VIC PAKALNIS

36 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

I N N O V A T I O N

Vic Pakalnis, P.Eng., is the president and CEO of MIRARCO, a mining researchorganization at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario.

“Industry and government leaders must renewinvestments in the mining industry. We need to

re-establish our leadership role in areas likemining safety and mine rescue, mine ventilation

and sustainable mining.”

Page 37: CIM Magazine October 2013
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38 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

In a business like gold production, sometimes it can helpto have good timing on your side. Such is the case withLake Shore Gold Corp., which, with today’s volatile goldprices, is poised to report its first quarter of positive free

cash flow in the final three months of 2013. The companycompleted a major expansion of its milling facility in Sep-tember and advanced the build-out of its mines in the Tim-mins Camp. At its new production rate of 3,000 tonnes perday, the company is now targeting 140,000 ounces per yearof gold production and cash costs of around US$700 perounce – about 30 per cent lower than in 2012.

The origins of the mill expansion go back to a decision tointegrate vertically, after committing to the development inits Timmins West deposit in 2007.

“We were doing a review to determine what would bethe next thing to do with the company,” recalls TonyMakuch, president and CEO. “We did a strategic reviewand the best alternative we came up with was to advancethe company from an explorer to a producer.” For that to

happen, naturally, they would need a milling complex. It sohappened that at the same time Goldcorp had the adjacentBell Creek mill site available for sale. “So we contacted Gold-corp and purchased it in late-2007,” says Makuch.

The acquisition of the mill was a timely and strategicallyimportant one for the company. “We had completed aprefeasibility study for the Timmins West deposit and iden-tified the opportunity to build the mine to produce 70,000to 75,000 ounces a year,” says Makuch. With close to onemillion ounces of reserves to process over the course of itsmine life, Lake Shore needed a mill that could do the job.The company has since added the Thunder Creek deposit,directly adjacent to Timmins West, creating a much largermining operation than was envisioned in 2007.

The race to rehabilitateGoldcorp’s mill site had been put into care and mainte-

nance so there was a considerable amount of work neededto get it operational again. “There was a closure plan done

upfrontG O L D G O L D

The new ore storage dome at Lake Shore Gold's Bell Creek mill can hold 6,000 tonnes.

Golden fortunesExpansion about to pay off for Lake Shore GoldBy Graham Chandler

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on the project so we had to do some modi-fications to bring it up to an operationallevel and get it permitted,” says Makuch.“We did that and took responsibility for theclosure plan for the site.” The process wasdone in several stages: taking the mill froman initial 800 tonnes per day capacitythrough to 2,500 tonnes per day capacity byDecember 2012. This all occurred prior tothe price of gold taking its most dramatictumble in years this past spring. The mostrecent mill upgrades, which took processingfrom 2,000 tonnes per day to 2,500 tonnes,were completed at the end of last year andmainly involved expansions to the back-endof the circuit. Major components for thisstage of expansion included a thickener, car-bon-in-leach tanks and upgrades to pipingand water systems. Lake Shore also neededto upgrade the lime system, flocculationplant and a leach tails screening plant. Significant retrofitsand upgrades were also needed for several key internal sys-tems such as electrowinning.

The results to date have been encouraging. For example,average mill throughput during the second quarter of 2013

was 2,540 tonnes per day, slightly better than the mill’sexisting capacity.

The company got lucky in 2011 with the opportunity topurchase a ready-made SAG mill from Metso — a retrofittedball mill that had been built for another client, prior to the

October 2013 | 39

The new truck dump at Lake Shore Gold’s Bell Creek mill can accommodate 80 tonnes at a time.

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upfrontG O L D G O L D

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order being cancelled. “That was a good find for us,” saysMakuch. “We were able to source a mill that would havebeen a long lead item. But the fact that we were able tosource it, that it was already constructed and available foruse, definitely helped us in terms of advancing the project.It helped us with time, and it helped us understand thescope of what we needed to build. And it was a perfectlysuitable mill for what we wanted to accomplish.” 2011 sawsignificant expansions of projects in North and South Amer-ica, so there was considerable demand and pressure on fac-tories to build these plants. “I would say we saved probablysix months to a year and somewhere around five milliondollars,” says Makuch.

The expansion project was not without its worries. “Deal-ing with the cost pressures was a challenge,” says Makuch.“There were a lot of expansion projects going on in theregion, including two large open pits and another under-ground mine.”

Plenty of room to growThe latest stage of Lake Shore’s Bell Creek mill evolution

is focused on extending the mill’s capacity to upwards of3,000 tonnes per day. This expansion involves the front, ordry, end of the circuit: mainly completing a truck dump thatcan accommodate 80 tonnes at a time, a crushing systemwhich features a Metso C110 jaw crusher capable of 500tonnes per hour, a 6,000-tonne ore storage dome, as well asfinalizing the instalation of the aforementioned SAG milland SAG mill building. That facility began commissioningand ramp-up in late July and, as of early September, hadachieved the new target rate.

With other projects inLake Shore’s pipeline, themill has been expandedwith further growth inmind. In fact, the newfront-end has been built fora daily capacity of 5,500tonnes. To expand theentire milling circuit to thatlevel, future upgrades willbe mainly on the back-endwith costs expected to beconsiderably lower thanthose associated with therecent expansion. “Thecrushing circuit, the oredelivery circuit and theSAG mill itself is capable ofproducing up to 5,500tonnes per day,” saysMakuch. “What’s requiredon the downstream end ofthe circuit would be someadditional leaching capacityand we would definitely

have to upgrade our pumps and pump lines.”The company envisions growing its mining operations to

support a long-term production capacity of 5,500 tonneseach day. “It’s all contingent on further exploration andwhat’s going on in the gold market, but we have existingresources at Gold River of over a million ounces that havenot been developed,” Makuch points out. “Similarly, at ourBell Creek site, we have a large base of resources at depththat aren’t developed.”

Scaling up in this way is advantageous. “We can nowgrow production without having to add expensive parts tothe mill,” explains Makuch. As production grows, operatingcosts improve. “Over the last year we have taken productionfrom 2,000 tonnes per day to 2,500 tonnes per day and now3,000 tonnes per day without adding to our workforce,”Makuch emphasizes. The all-in sustainable cost per ounce –which he says Lake Shore hopes will be around $1,000 atthe end of this year – reduces as volume grows.

Mark Utting, vice-president of investor relations for LakeShore, says, with the mill expansion commissioning, this isan extremely important breakthrough time for the company.“We have done the mill expansion and we have also beenactive in building our Timmins West mine to where we willbe supporting somewhere around 140,000 ounces a year ofproduction,” he says. “We have just come through severalintensive years of capital investment and now we are at thepoint where, as our production goes up, the costs comedown; we start generating cash flow and our capital comesdown because a lot of the work and investments are nowdone.” Indeed, in the current price downturn, that isanother example of good timing. CIM

upfrontG O L D G O L D

Lake Shore Gold’s new grinding circuit boosts the front end capacity of its mill to 5,500 tonnes per day.

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With discovery rates in decline, gold producers areturning to technology to make unattractivedeposits more appealing. In particular, complexgold ores or concentrates, which involve the pres-

ence of copper or other base metals that interfere with cyanida-tion, can be made more valuable through the novel andever-improving addition of SART technology. During cyanida-tion, copper and base metals dissolve and bind to cyanide,making it unusable. That process is both costly, since cyanideconsumption goes up, and environmentally dangerous, ascyanide bonded to copper is more difficult to break down.

SART (sulphidization, acidification, recycle, thickening) is aprocess designed to resolve these challenges, allowing therecovery and recycling of cyanide with the added advantage ofincreased revenue from the sale of high-grade copper or zincsulphide precipitate. But, so far at least, SART has not been aswidely adopted as might be expected, with only a few plantsbuilt worldwide. The technology was the subject of a numberof papers at last month’s World Gold conference in Brisbane,Australia, and real-world experience is building knowledge ofhow and when to use it.

In the SART process, leach solution containing coppercyanide complexes from cyanidation is treated with sulphuricacid and sulphide reagent to break the copper-cyanide complex,

precipitating copper as chal-cocite (Cu2S), which is thick-ened and recovered as avalue-added product. Acidifi-cation converts the cyanide tohydrogen cyanide (HCN),which is recovered as freecyanide following the additionof lime and recycled back tothe leach. Gypsum formed inthe lime addition, or neutral-ization, stage is also recovered.

Baby steps Among the presenters at

World Gold was Patrick Littlejohn, senior technology development specialist at theVancouver- based BioteQ Environmental Technologies,experts in industrial waste-water treatment. His companyhas experience in designingand operating metal recoverywater treatment plants, becom-

ing experts in the precipitation, settling and dewatering ofmetal sulphides. This expertise, along with the company’sinvolvement with several plants, has helped advance SARTtechnology.

Littlejohn says SART has evolved from the initial plantdesigns, which “suffered from a lack of understanding of howsulphide chemistry behaves in a continuous plant, what fac-tors affect sulphide morphology and stability, and how sul-phide chemistry affects reagent consumption.”

SART process control has improved through the moresophisticated application of pH and oxididation-reductionpotential (ORP) monitoring and instrumentation, Littlejohnsays, adding, “BioteQ has successfully used these process con-trols to produce consistent copper and cyanide recovery whileavoiding problems with copper resolubilization, and achievedconsistent plant performance and discharge levels results evenwhen there are wide fluctuations to the flow directed to theplant and to the plant feed composition.”

The company’s first plant was Lluvia de Oro in Mexico, forNWM Mining. Built in 2008, the SART plant lowered costs,enhanced gold recovery and purity, and recovered a salablecopper byproduct. Soon after the plant was commissioned,though, NWM closed the mine as it shifted its focus to devel-oping new deposits. In 2010, BioteQ designed and

upfrontG O L D G O L D

The newly commissioned SART plant at Kinross Gold’s Maricunga mine

Slow start for SARTPromising technology could save industry millions in timeby Vivian Danielson

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upfrontG O L D G O L D

commissioned a SART plant at the Mastra mine nearGumushane, Turkey. The plant helped owner Koza Gold toreduce the metallurgical interference of cyanide-soluble cop-per, improve gold purity, and maintain regulatory compli-ance for residual cyanide in tailings.

In 2011, BioteQ signed a contract with Kinross Gold toreview and commission a SART plant being constructed at theMaricunga mine in Chile.

Actual success may varyPaul Breuer, precious metals stream leader for Australia’s

Minerals Down Under National Research Flagship at theCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisa-tion (CSIRO), says implementation of SART technology isstill constrained by the need to treat solution (not slurry),which with counter-current decantation (CCD) separationcreates a water balance issue, meaning “high capital costs anda more complex process compared to cyanide destructiontechnologies.”

Breuer says some operations amenable to SART usecyanide destruction instead because of capital cost con-straints. “The real sticking point is that the industry is at aplace where companies will wear higher opex of cyanidedestruction to have a simple and lower-capex process,” heexplains.

The first commercial SART plant was commissioned in2004 at Newcrest Mining’s Telfer mine in Australia, a past- producer that had previously closed in 2000 because of lowgold prices. Breuer said Telfer is well-suited to SART becauseof exceptional levels of cyanide-soluble copper in the pyriteconcentrate stream. Its mill has flotation and cyanide circuits.High recoveries of copper and cyanide were achieved inSART, but the sulphide additions necessary to achieve theserecoveries were higher than expected.

“This problem has to do with retention time in the SARTplant,” Breuer says. He and Andrew Simons, a PhD student atCurtin University, co-authored a paper on the subject for theWorld Gold conference. “Over time, the chemistry of the acid-ified copper sulphide precipitation unravels and the [precipi-tated] copper dissolves back into solution as copper cyanide.This process commences within minutes, triggering the needfor the extra sulphide,” Breuer adds. “Engineering solutions areout there, but there’s a cost attached.”

In any event, the Telfer SART plant’s iffy performance palesin comparison to chronic problems at the low-grade mine,notably production shortfalls, reduced reserves from feasibilitystudy estimates, and production costs that recently topped$1,570 per ounce. Newcrest is scaling back operations amidrumours of a possible closure.

The SART process was also used at the profitable Yanacochamine in Peru, which has produced 26 million ounces of goldfor Newmont Mining and Buenaventura since 2003. Built in2008, the SART plant was effective in terms of recovering cop-per and cyanide, but the process was often difficult to controland suffered from excessive sulphide consumption and lowprecipitate grades.

Yanacocha has lower cyanide soluble copper content in itsores than Telfer, resulting in lower precipitate grades, but itsproblems are common to most SART plants treating cyanidesolutions, Breuer says. “The process is robust in the lab andworks efficiently at stoichiometric sulphide addition. The issueis when you go to a [full-scale] plant and it’s not necessarily thecase,” he explains.

Much has been learned from these early plants, however.The investigations by Simons have found that thickening timedrastically affects SART performance as sulphide [reaction]loss from the system causes re-dissolution of the copper sul-phide precipitate. The sulphide precipitation circuit and itsresidence time are considered critical to producing high-gradesulphide products.

Breuer says instrumentation is available to improveprocess control and optimization but can be difficult tomaintain, resulting in poor reliability. “This is a major chal-lenge as most gold plants today operate on feedback con-trol, through the measurement and analysis of samples,rather than real-time/feed-forward control using onlinemeasurements.”

Monitoring excess sulphide is an option, Breuer says, but itis not easily achieved, with sulphide-selective electrodes inef-fective due to HCN interference. He adds that oxidation-reduction potential is an effective indicator of sulphideaddition up to the stoichiometric amount but does not providea quantitative measure for controlling excess addition requiredby the process. Quantifying copper entering the process is therecommended control parameter. While pH is used to controlthe acid addition, it does not provide any indication of excesssulphide.

“SART helps improve project economics but it’s not a cure-all,” Breuer warns.

Cautious evolutionLouie Diaz, Kinross communications manager, says the

company’s Maricunga SART plant was completed in the sec-ond half of 2012. The location is a challenge for the technol-ogy, given the high altitude and inherently harsh and windywinters in the Andes of Chile.

“The plant was enclosed in a building – a unique feature forthe handful of SART plants in the world – to protect it from theweather,” Diaz says. “Proper heating and ventilation were crit-ical to ensure we meet our high safety and operating standards.”

The $80-million plant is performing to expectations, Diazsays. “As the SART process is a technologically complexendeavor, we introduced technologies that were not previouslyused at Maricunga and built the plant with a high degree ofautomation. We continue to make small adjustments to theplant, including fine-tuning the back end of the process wherethe copper product is produced.”

The Maricunga SART plant is one of the largest in theworld, capable of treating 750 cubic metres of cyanide leachateper hour. Assuming its ongoing success, this plant could kick-start broader application of the technology. CIM

October 2013 | 43

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AAt the Young-Davidson mine, 60 kilometres west ofKirkland Lake, Ontario, Aurico Gold is betting on therarely used method of borehole hoisting to extract upto 8,000 tonnes per day from as deep as 1,500 metres

underground. At the brownfield site, home to historical min-ing operations from the 1930s to the 1950s, the existingunderground shafts were unsuitable for the high productionrates Aurico was anticipating, says Young-Davidson generalmanager Luc Guimond. “Borehole hoisting was chosenbecause we had infrastructure in place that allowed us to lookat this project differently,” he points out.

Borehole hoisting has never been considered an idealmethod of raising production material in mines. Historically,imperfect, narrow shafts have limited the volume of material itwas possible to raise, by constraining the volume and speed ofthe skips used. In fact, until now, borehole hoisting had onlyever been a temporary, short-term arrangement until otherextraction routes were completed.

It is the confluence and expansion of two existing technolo-gies that has given hard rock miners like Aurico new options.The first technology is a raise drill machine with the ability tocreate large-diameter boreholes in hard rock. The second is theability to drill vertical pilot holes very accurately. Together,these technologies have made it possible for some mines, suchas Young-Davidson, to create large enough shafts with tight

enough tolerances for produc-tion shaft use – and to save timeand money while they are at it.

New ways to use existingtechnology

Creating large-diameter bore-holes in hard rock has been pos-sible since around 2003, whenCementation Canada, which isthe contractor behind the shaftat Young-Davidson, brought thetechnology to North America.The capability is mainly due tothe ongoing improvement ofraise drill machines. The SouthAfrican and Australian units ofCementation have been doinglarge-diameter raise bore holesof up to six metres in diameterin the softer rock of those coun-tries for years. By leveraging theoverseas units’ experience withlarge-diameter holes and the

Canadian unit’s experience with medium-diameter (three tofour metres) raises in hard rock, the company was able to buildraise drill machines like the Strata 950, capable of pullinglarge-diameter shafts through hard rock. Now Cementation,which designs and builds the machines itself, has two of onlya handful of similar machines on the continent.

The other key to allowing high-volume borehole hoisting isthe accuracy of the shaft. That comes not from the raise drillmachine but from the pilot hole drilled for the raise drill string.Here, Cementation uses a device built by Micon, a Germanfirm. The rotary vertical drilling system (RVDS) is placed onthe drill string right at the drill bit. The tool uses an internalgyroscope to sense any deviation from the desired drilling pathand uses jacks to push against the drillhole wall in the oppositedirection. Constant real-time monitoring above groundensures incredible accuracy – as little as 20 millimetres, or lessthan an inch, deviation over the length of a 400-metre shaft.

“Neither of these are new technologies,” says Cementationpresident Roy Slack. “But put them together and make thembigger, and all of a sudden you have a new application.”

The near-perfectly vertical pilot hole can then guide thelarge-diameter reamer to that same accuracy. The combinationof tight tolerances and an enormous shaft allows viable pro-duction volumes to be hoisted by permitting larger skips totraverse the shaft faster.

upfrontG O L D G O L D

At Aurico Gold’s Young-Davidson mine, Cementation is using a raise drill to create a shaft capable of sustaining productionrates of 8,000 tonnes per day.

Savings from the bottom upLarge-diameter boreholes increase options for minersby Ian Ewing

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That sinking feeling? Not here“You have to have certain tolerances within a hoisting

plant,” explains Guimond. “In conventional sinking, it’s con-stantly surveyed as you’re sinking. You can correct it as you’readvancing the sinking face. In this case, you don’t really seethe final product until you’ve done the final reaming.”

“We’ve been quite successful in pulling these large-diame-ter holes,” notes Slack. “There are always challenges, whetherit’s issues with the ground; sometimes we’ll have the boreholesloughing and we have to deal with that, sometimes there arewater inflows, and that’s a particular challenge on its own. Butthere are different ways to deal with that. We have had someissues over the years, but no problems that have prevented usfrom finishing any of the holes we’ve started.”

Presented with the option, it turned out to be an easy deci-sion for Aurico. “It was substantially cheaper, quicker and alot safer,” says Guimond, than conventional shaft sinking.“The big driver was schedule, [but] the cost of the excavationitself was also cheaper than conventional methods. We willshave eight months off the total shaft schedule to completionand the cost difference will be about $30 million.”

Slack says these kinds of savings are typical. “In an exam-ple we looked at recently, the borehole option was about 60per cent of the cost of a traditional blind sink and saved about12 months off the schedule.”

Trying something new did require Aurico to put substan-tial trust in their contractor, though. “We were aware of thetechnology of raise boring,” says Guimond, “but we werealways skeptical of being able to drill a fairly long pilot holeand then ream it and make sure it’s within tolerance to main-tain its vertical requirement. But the technology has caughtup to allow us confidence in going in this direction.”

Production unaffectedThe method is not for every application. The main prereq-

uisite is access, both from the top and bottom of the hole, sothe reaming head of the raise drill machine can be put inplace underground. “The ground has to be fairly competent,”adds Slack. Also, the size of the shaft is currently limited toaround 5.5 to 6 metres. Depending how much ventilation isrequired, that may not be enough. “Where the conditions areright, though, it is worth considering,” Slack says.

In spite of the unorthodox delivery method, productionrates at Young-Davidson are not limited by the use of bore-hole hoisting. Aurico’s mill is currently operating at about7,000 tonnes per day, of which 1,500 tonnes is coming fromthe underground operations. As the open pit is phased outover the next several years, however, more and more materialwill come through the borehole. By 2016, Aurico expects tobe milling 8,000 tonnes per day, all from underground. “Interms of production, there’s no real difference,” says Gui-mond. “At the end of the day, whatever your design capacityfor your plant is, you can still achieve that. That’s not going tochange.

“The advantage is all in the time and cost of raising thehole.” CIM

October 2013 | 45

A MINE OF SOLUTIONS

A MINE

A MINE

echnical, econoTTeNI 43-101 technical reportsMine planning, design and simulationPlant design and simulation

A MINEOF SOLUTIONS

echnical, economic and feasibility studiesNI 43-101 technical reportsMine planning, design and simulationPlant design and simulation

A MINEOF SOLUTIONS

Project managementEPCM projectsCommissioning assistancePower generationPower transmission and distributionProcess optimization and control

Project management

Commissioning assistancePower generationPower transmission and distributionProcess optimization and control

Page 46: CIM Magazine October 2013

In 2010, a 40-foot, 22-megawatt semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill set a

world record for grinding power when the Esperanza copper mine put the

device, manufactured by FLSmidth, into operation. With low-grade reserves

and a high daily throughput of around 90,000 tonnes, three-year-old Esperanza

is impressive, but may not the best model for future mines around the world.

By Eavan Moore

BREAKING DOWN

The 40-foot, 22-megawatt SAG mill atAntofagasta's Esperanza copper mine and begs thequestion how much larger can these mills grow?

COMMINUTION

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“If you take a simplistic view of demand increase and decli-ning head grades over the next 20 years, you might have to beprocessing four times the tonnage that we currently process tomake the amount of copper that the world needs,” says JoePease, CEO of Xstrata Technology. He notes that energy pricesare rising, energy security is falling, and available deposits arebecoming more remote and more challenging to extract, furtherincreasing the energy needed for each of those tonnes.

If the only problem were accommodating higher tonnages,more grinding power in a standard SAG mill-ball mill proces-sing circuit would suffice. And that is part of the answer. HarriLehto, technology manager, grinding processes at Outotec, saysgiant tumbling mills are “more or less a must” for any equip-ment manufacturer wishing to be taken seriously. Incrementalincreases in mill size have brought the maximum rating up to22 megawatts, while 42-foot, 28-megawatt SAG mills have beendesigned (though not installed).

But can they go bigger? “We have been stuck at 40 feet forover 10 years,” says Steve Morrell, a long-time comminutionresearcher and current managing director of SMC Testing PtyLtd. The bigger SAG mills use gearless drives, and a number ofrecent drive failures have led to a general reluctance to push theenvelope beyond the 28-megawatt maximum.

Energy efficiencyThe looming problem is not tonnage in itself but in the cost

of tonnage, exacerbated by tumbling mills’ inherent inefficiency.Rotating containers tossing rock and steel spend most of thepower they consume on generating heat. Ball mills use as littleas one per cent of their energy draw to break rock.

The industry is discussing – and in some cases adopting –more complex but potentially more effective and energy-efficientmilling circuits that do not rely exclusively on scaling up tum-bling mills. In terms of energy use, it can be more cost-effectiveto prepare ore for the ball mill by sending it through multiplecrushing stages rather than recirculating it through a SAG mill.The same staged approach to grinding divides the circuit intocoarser- and finer-grinding equipment to more efficiently recoverthe materials available at different sizes.

The last two decades of mill development have producedmore equipment suited for size-specific crushing and grin-ding. High-pressure grinding rolls (HPGR), typically used inthe final stage of crushing, compress the coarse ore betweentwo cylinders. They may use 10 to 20 per cent less power thanSAG mills.

On the other end of the size spectrum, stirred mills grindfine fractions using a rotating shaft within a stationary shell.Stirred mills cut energy use because only the shaft and discsneed to be rotated, and because the mills can use small, high-velocity grinding media with a much greater surface area forgrinding. They are typically used to regrind ore once it has pas-sed through a ball mill.

“These technologies have been discussed for many years,”says Walter Valery, global senior vice-president at Metso ProcessTechnology and Innovation. “For example, we proposed a cir-cuit flowsheet with HPGR followed by stirred mills in conjunc-tion with high-intensity blasting as an energy-efficientalternative over 10 years ago. However, only recently are weseeing HPGR technology considered in most prefeasibility andfeasibility studies.”

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Costs and benefitsBoth HPGR and stirred mills have made inroads. One of the

two most widespread suppliers of stirred mills, MetsoMiningand Construction Technology, has a total of 39 installations inCanada. Paul Cousin, vice-president of metallurgy at AgnicoEagle Mines, says his company is considering using stirred milltechnology to regrind the ore from its LaRonde mine in Que-bec. What he has heard suggests that the mills yield a betterend-product, adding not just energy efficiency but overall costpayback.

Nonetheless, the inherent conserva-tism of the industry slows adoption ofproven technologies, says JonathanAllen, product manager for stirred millsat Metso. “Everybody in mineral proces-sing knows ball mills,” he says. “Sowhen a new supplier brings in a newtechnology, no matter what it is, if it’sunique to one supplier, you’ve got eve-rybody else out there saying it’s a badidea. The market penetration just takesa bit of time in our industry.”

Capacity is another concern, saysAllen. Stirred mills were first used forregrinding so they have a small through-put relative to ball mills, but as their capacity has increased withthe move to whole ore grinding, so has interest. In 2008, repla-cing one 12-megawatt ball mill would have required a series ofanywhere from two to eight smaller stirred mills. Five yearslater, Metso is working on a 4.5-megawatt version of its Verti-mill, or vertical stirred mill, and Xstrata Technology offers aneight-megawatt horizontal IsaMill. Stirred mill installations havemultiplied in the last few years. This includes large-scale adop-tion by Anglo Platinum, which extensively uses horizontal stir-red mills for tertiary grinding as well as for regrinding.

While HPGR technology at first promises large increases inenergy efficiency, more holistic evaluations of HPGR erode thecost savings that “energy efficiency” measures imply. They may

have lower operating costs and offer certain savings – for exam-ple, no need for steel grinding media – but HPGR also requireadditional auxiliary equipment, precrushing, extra screens,conveyors, storage and dust extraction. Brian Putland, presidentof Toronto-based Orway Mineral Consultants, explains thatthose extra items can add up to a high-capital investment com-pared to SAG installations. Capital costs reflect energy costs aswell, argues Putland: A full evaluation of the energy used would

include the manufacturing and shippingof equipment and wear items.

Alan Muir, vice-president of metal-lurgy at AngloGold Ashanti, says thecompany considers HPGR at any newproject but has only installed one suchcircuit, at its new Tropicana mine in Aus-tralia. “That decision was really driven bythe very hard nature of the ore and thecost of on-site power generation, whichis extremely high,” he says. Tropicanaruns up power costs of 27 to 30 US centsper kilowatt-hour.

“If we take South America, wherethere’s a lot of hydropower production,there the cost is typically in the region of

9 to 12 US cents per kilowatt-hour,” adds Muir. “So there, itdoesn’t really stack up. You would spend more money on capi-tal equipment and not have the savings on power that you needto offset that.”

In Canada, cheap hydropower puts energy costs lower onthe priority list. About 90 percent of Putland’s clients go witha conventional SAG and ball mill set-up after considering alter-native methods. Even Far North projects, where power isexpensive, find that the costs of covering, heating, operating,or maintaining additional equipment can outweigh the energybenefits.

Cousin says HPGR were among the options considered butdiscarded at Agnico Eagle’s evaluation-stage Meliadine gold

“The standard should be that the plant iscustom-designed

for exactly what the ore body needs.”Joe Pease, Xstrata Technology

The last five years haveseen a quick increase in

the power rating ofstirred mills.

Glencore’s McArthur River zinc mine inAustralia uses stirred mills for bothSAG mill discharge and ultrafineregrinding.

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project in Nunavut. “It was our belief that HPGR could be well-suited on an energy basis, because of the high cost of producingpower out there,” he explains. “But to our surprise, the designof the overall comminution circuit including an HPGR portionproved to be not as efficient, in terms of overall economics, asa more conventional approach of SAG-ball milling.”

A better circuitSteve Walters, research director of

the industry-funded project Coopera-tive Research Centre for OptimisingResource Extraction (CRC ORE),stresses that focusing on the energy effi-ciency of equipment misses the point.“It’s like rating a washing machine andnot checking that it cleans the clothes,”he says. “We can argue about the effi-ciencies of HPGR comminution pro-cesses versus a SAG. That’s not the realquestion here. The performance metricshouldn’t be the efficiency of the acti-vity; it should be the useful output.”

By “output,” Walters does not meanthroughput: he means metal, the ulti-mate unit of success. At the University ofQueensland in Australia, CRC ORE andthe Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral ResearchCentre (JKMRC), researchers are working on approaches thatprocess less rock and recover more metal: in other words, howto do as little work as possible on as little ore as possible.

Malcolm Powell, chair of the Anglo-American Centre forSustainable Comminution at JKMRC, suggests that mines stopblending different ore grades and start separating differentgrades into different streams, to be processed in different cir-cuits. The tools to do this already exist; bulk grade detectorscan already sort out ore, and some large operations already havemultiple ore streams, simply because they have too much

production volume to process in one mill. That presents anopportunity to apply what Powell calls “flexible circuits” thatrespond to a specific ore, via conventional or novel millingmethods as appropriate.

AngloGold Ashanti is following this approach at its projectsin development. “Just blending everything together through a

single circuit is probably not optimal,”agrees Muir. “The trick will be to deve-lop circuits which have the flexibility toadapt to different ore types and main-tain optimal processing even when theore changes.”

Ore body knowledge is a critical partof this approach, and that is one reasonthat it has not been more readily takenup, explains Pease. He estimates thatknowing what can be done with the oreis about 80 per cent of the work needed.With that in place, each circuit ought torequire less equipment because it hasbeen designed with clinical precision.But the individual nature of the testwork and resulting flow sheet can beoff-putting.

“In theory, it’s there,” says Pease. “Wehave the drill core. We have quantitativemineralogy. We have diagnostic crushing

and comminution and laboratory tests. We can really map the orebody and map the metallurgical response and custom-design aflow sheet for it. I’m not sure we always make use of that as muchas we can, because it seems expensive and time-consuming andtakes a fair bit of expertise. It doesn’t suit fast-track engineeringand the flow sheet that comes out of that is individual. Perhapsfrom the position of the board of directors, they’re saying ‘Uniquedesign sounds like risky.’ You need to be able to explain to themthat it means custom-designed to be lowest cost for this ore, withsavings far outweighing the investment in time and design.”

“There’s a big issue here as to whether they

will retreat to what they think is safe, or

whether they’ll evolveinto something which is

going to be moreefficient, but also more

profitable.” Steve Walters, CRC ORE

Paul Cousin, vice-president of metallurgy at Agnico Eagle Mines, says his company is considering

using stirred mill technology to regrind the ore fromits LaRonde mine (pictured here) in Quebec.

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High-pressure grinding rolls rely on compression rather thanimpact forces to break rock, and can provide energy savings.

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Integrating the mine siteWhat any mine can and should do, many agree, is to

improve cross-silo communication. That is critical to Pease andWalters’ suggested strategies, which focus on doing work asearly as possible: blasting selectively to produce a better feed,using pre-concentration and crushing to reduce the work doneby more energy-intensive grinding equipment, and producingthe highest grade possible in concentrate, since smelting usesfar more energy to remove the same impurities. At Agnico Eagle,talk within the operations team now includes discussion of howdrilling patterns could increase costs on the mining end butreduce the cost of operating comminution equipment.

Powell says the potential benefits of adopting more complexcontrols are apparent and well-supported on a simulation level;the challenge is to demonstrate and quantify those benefits inpractice. Given the risk-averse climate, only a few mines havevolunteered to try out JKMRC initiatives. But Powell believesthat the industry as a whole is moving toward a more integrated,mine-to-smelter perspective. “It’s not obvious in the way busi-nesses are run yet,” he says, “but the way we’re talking to indus-try and the way we think about the problem now is much morea systems approach.”

The upside to the downturnIn the midst of the last mining boom, when skills were scarce

and services expensive, redesigning comminution circuits tooka backseat to getting projects up and running. Mining compa-nies’ current financial challenges have put a new premium onoperating what they have with greater efficiency.

Grant Ballantyne, a research fellow at JKMRC, has seen atti-tudes change within 18 months. During a workshop held bythe Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution in 2012, whenmost metal prices were rising or had hit a plateau, attendeesemphasized throughput as the financial driver of their commi-nution choices. At another CEEC workshop in July 2013, all

16 attendees – from vendors, operations and enginee-ring companies – came seeking efficiency and pro-ductivity increases. “The push for operationalefficiency seems to be increasing,” he says.

But Walters is not positive that the downturn willinspire innovation. “The mining industry is right onthe cusp of change,” he says. “Some mines have star-ted to take a bit more of a flexible approach to howthey deal with their ores, but there are very few ofthem. So given the change in the industry dynamics,there’s a big issue here as to whether they will retreatto what they think is safe, or whether they’ll evolveinto something which is going to be more efficient,but also more profitable.”

While major innovations are often left to majorcompanies that can afford to open themselves up tosuch risk, Valery’s experience suggests that solutionscould come out of smaller mines as well. “Smallercompanies often have more difficulties raising capitalthan larger companies and therefore need to lowercapital expenditures and operating expenditures toget their projects off the ground,” he explains. “In

order to do this, they are more receptive to innovative or alter-native solutions, which are riskier than the conventional ones.”

The future of comminutionWhat will a standard circuit look like in 10 years’ time?

“The standard will be that there is no standard,” Pease ans-wers. “I think that’s sort of the problem at the moment, is thatfor lack of resources, we design a standard plant. The standardshould be that the plant is custom-designed for exactly whatthis ore body needs. And so the standard will consider first ofall how much fragmentation is done in the mine; it will consi-der what can be done with pre-concentration to remove reallycoarse gangue early on; it will then consider a stage grindingand flotation flow sheet to minimize grinding energy. It’ll usethe least amount of grinding energy on the lowest possibletonnage. And that standard approach will build, I believe,smaller, more efficient plants.”

Can comminution be done away with altogether? Muirthinks that is a question worth posing, and he plans to addressit in a keynote lecture next year. “It’s a little bit provocative tosay, however, we are being pushed into the corner by risingcosts, dropping feed grades and higher throughput rates, andall we’re trying to do is tweak the existing technologies that wehave, where we should be really spending more money onexploring new technology based on different science,” he com-ments. HPGR use compression force to break down particlesrather than the typical impact forces employed in tumblingmills. “If compression is more efficient than impact (at finersizes) we need to explore what is more efficient than compres-sion. We have also started to look at whether we can do in situleaching, which would eliminate the need for mining and sur-face operations, grinding and all that kind of stuff. It’s not a tech-nology I can switch on tomorrow.” But, he says, “I think it’s timewe started looking at that as an opportunity worthy of seriousconsideration.” CIM

A number of manufacturers, including Xstrata Technology with its Isamill (pictured here), offerstirred mills.

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ANALYSER LA COMMINUTION

En 2010, un broyeur semi-autogène (SAG) de 40 pieds (un peu plus de

12 mètres) de 22 mégawatts a établi un record mondial de puissance de

broyage lorsque la mine de cuivre d’Esperanza a mis en service cet appareil

fabriqué par FLSmidth. Avec des réserves à faible teneur et une haute capacité

de production journalière de 90 000 tonnes, le projet Esperanza, qui a com-

mencé il y a trois ans, est certes impressionnant mais ne constitue sans doute

pas le meilleur modèle pour les futures mines dans le monde entier. Pour

concasser et broyer les tonnages qu’elles souhaitent extraire, les mines de-

vront trouver des solutions autres que de toujours voir plus grand.

Par Eavan Moore

Avec ce broyeur SAG de 40 pieds et de 22 mégawattsde la mine de cuivre Esperanza à Antofagasta, c’est à se

demander jusqu’où ces broyeurs vont-ils grossir? Grac

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« En adoptant une vue simpliste de l’augmentation de la de-mande et du déclin des teneurs du minerai traité pour les vingtannées à venir, il faudra peut-être broyer quatre fois le tonnageque nous traitons actuellement pour extraire la quantité de cui-vre dont le monde a besoin », explique Joe Pease, PDG deXstrata Tech. Il fait remarquer que les prix de l’énergie sont enhausse, la sécurité énergétique est en déclin, et les gisementsdisponibles sont de plus en plus éloignés et difficiles à extraire,ce qui ne fait qu’augmenter l’énergie nécessaire à l’extraction deces tonnes.

Si le seul problème était de parvenir à extraire un tonnagesupérieur, il suffirait d’augmenter la puissance de broyage dansle circuit de traitement d’un broyeur SAG ou d’un broyeur àboulets. Mais les broyeurs peuvent-ils être plus gros ? « Depuisplus de 10 ans, nous ne dépassons pas les 40 pieds », déclareSteve Morrell, chercheur de longue date en matière de fragmen-tation et directeur général actuel de SMC Testing Pty Ltd. Lesplus gros broyeurs SAG utilisent des entraînements directs, etau vu du nombre de pannes récentes, on hésite à repousser leslimites au-delà des 28 mégawatts maximum.

Efficacité énergétiqueLe problème imminent n’est pas le tonnage en soi, mais le

coût de ce tonnage, lequel est exacerbé par l’inefficacité inhé-rente aux broyeurs culbuteurs. La majeure partie de l’énergieque consomment les conteneurs pivotants qui projettent desroches et de l’acier sert à générer de la chaleur. Les broyeurs àboulets utilisent moins d’un pour cent de leur consommationd’énergie pour briser les roches.

L’industrie examine (et dans certains cas adopte) des cir-cuits de broyage plus efficaces et à meilleur rendement éner-gétique qui ne reposent pas uniquement sur uneaugmentation de la taille des broyeurs culbuteurs. En termesd’utilisation énergétique, il pourrait être plus rentable de pré-

La mine de zinc McArthur River de Glencore en Australie utilise les broyeurs finisseurs pour l’usine deéchargement SAG et pour le rebroyage ultrafin.

Nous avons connu une augmentation rapide de lapuissance nominale des broyeurs finisseurs au cours descinq dernières années.

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parer le minerai pour le broyeur à boulets en lui faisant subirplusieurs étapes de concassage plutôt que de le faire recirculerdans un broyeur SAG. En adoptant la même approche parétape pour le broyage, on peut diviser ce circuit en un équi-pement de broyage plus grossier et plus fin afin de récupérerplus efficacement les matériaux disponibles à différentestailles.

Ces deux dernières décennies, le développement desbroyeurs a donné naissance à un équipement plus adapté auconcassage et au broyage spécifiques à la taille. Des cylindresde broyage à haute pression (HPGR, de l’anglais high-pressuregrinding rolls), que l’on utilise généralement à la dernière étapede concassage, compressent le minerai grossier entre deux cy-lindres. Ils utilisent 10 à 20 % d’énergie de moins que lesbroyeurs SAG.

À l’autre extrémité en termes de taille, les broyeurs agitateursbroient des fractions fines à l’aide d’un arbre tournant à l’inté-rieur d’une coquille stationnaire. Les broyeurs agitateurs rédui-sent la consommation d’énergie car seuls l’arbre et les disquesdoivent pivoter, et également car les broyeurs peuvent utiliserde petits corps broyants à grande vitesse qui ont une surface decontact bien plus grande pour le broyage. On les utilise géné-ralement pour rebroyer le minerai une fois qu’il est passé dansun broyeur à boulets.

« Ces technologies sont au cœur des débats depuis de nom-breuses années », déclare Walter Valery, vice-président directeurà l’international à Metso Process Technology and Innovation.« Nous avons par exemple proposé il y a plus de 10 ans unschéma de traitement du circuit avec des HPGR suivis debroyeurs agitateurs en conjonction avec le dynamitage à hauteintensité comme solution de remplacement à haut rendementénergétique. Cependant, la technologie des HPGR n’est envisa-gée que depuis peu comme une option possible dans la plupartdes études de faisabilité et préfaisabilité. »

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en Australie. « Cette décision a vraiment été motivée par la na-ture très dure du minerai et le coût extrêmement élevé de laproduction d’électricité sur site », explique-t-il. Les coûts del’électricité à Tropicana sont de 27 à 30 centimes de dollars parkilowatt/heure.

Au Canada, l’énergie hydraulique coûte peu, ce qui permetde moins se soucier du coût de l’énergie nécessaire. Environ90 % des clients de Putland choisissent des broyeurs SAG et àboulets classiques après avoir envisagé d’autres méthodes.Même les projets menés dans le Grand Nord, où l’électricitécoûte cher, trouvent que les coûts liés à la garantie, au chauffage,à l’exploitation ou à la maintenance de l’équipement supplé-mentaire peuvent dépasser les gains énergétiques.

D’après M. Cousin, les HPGR faisaient partie des options en-visagées, mais le projet aurifère Meliadine d’Agnico Eagle dansle territoire du Nunavut les a exclu à l’étape d’évaluation. « Nouspensions que les HPGR auraient été bien adaptés sur le planénergétique en raison du coût élevé de la production d’électri-cité sur le site », explique-t-il. « Mais nous avons été très surprisde constater que la conception de l’intégralité du circuit de frag-mentation, incluant une partie avec des HPGR, ne s’est globa-lement pas avéré aussi efficace en termes économiques qu’uneapproche traditionnelle utilisant le broyage à boulets ou SAG. »

Un circuit plus performantSteve Walters, directeur de la recherche dans le projet

CRC ORE financé par l’industrie, insiste sur le fait qu’il ne suffitpas de se concentrer sur le rendement énergétique de l’équipe-ment. « C’est un peu comme si vous évaluiez une machine àlaver sans vérifier qu’elle lave effectivement les vêtements », ex-plique-t-il. « On peut toujours élaborer sur l’efficacité des pro-cédés de comminution des HPGR par rapport à celle d’unbroyeur SAG, mais là n’est pas la question. L’évaluation de laperformance ne doit pas porter uniquement sur l’efficacité del’activité, mais également sur le rendement utile. »

Et par « rendement », M. Walters n’entend pas « capacité » ;il fait bien référence au métal, l’unité finale marquant la réussite.À l’université de Queensland en Australie, des chercheurs duprojet CRC ORE et du Centre de recherche sur les minerais Ju-lius Kruttschnitt (JKMRC) travaillent sur des approches qui trai-tent moins de roches et récupèrent davantage de métaux ; end’autres termes, ils cherchent comment faire un minimum demanipulations sur une quantité aussi restreinte que possible deminerai.

Malcolm Powell, président de l’Anglo American Centre forSustainable Comminution (le centre anglo-américain pour lacomminution durable) au JKMRC, suggère que les mines arrê-tent de mélanger différentes teneurs de minerai et commencentà séparer les différentes teneurs en différents niveaux à traiterdans différents circuits. Il existe déjà des outils qui permettentde procéder ainsi. Des détecteurs de la teneur totale peuventdistinguer le minerai et certaines exploitations de grande tailleont déjà divers niveaux de minerais, simplement car leur vo-lume de production est trop important pour être traité par unseul broyeur. C’est donc l’occasion idéale d’appliquer ce queM. Powell qualifie de « circuits flexibles », qui répondent à un

Dans le cas des projets comme celui du domaine Meliadine d’Agnico Eagle auNunavut, Paul Cousin, vice-président métallurgie, affirme que son entreprisen’éliminera pas l’approche moins conventionnelle de la fragmentation, notammentles broyeurs à cylindres haute pression et les broyeurs finisseurs.

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Coûts et avantagesLes HPGR et les broyeurs agitateurs ont fait beaucoup de

chemin. L’un des deux plus grands fournisseurs de broyeurs agi-tateurs, Metso Mining and Construction Technology, disposede 39 installations au total sur le territoire canadien. Paul Cou-sin, vice-président de la section Métallurgie de la société MinesAgnico Eagle, explique que cette dernière envisage d’utiliser latechnologie de broyeurs agitateurs pour rebroyer le minerai pro-venant de sa mine LaRonde au Québec. Ce qu’il a entendu sug-gère que les broyeurs produisent un meilleur résultat, offrantnon seulement un meilleur rendement énergétique mais égale-ment un retour sur investissement.

Néanmoins, la prudence inhérente à ce secteur ralentitl’adoption des technologies éprouvées, explique Jonathan Allen,directeur de produits pour les broyeurs agitateurs à Metso.« Tous ceux qui travaillent dans le traitement des mineraisconnaissent les broyeurs à boulets. Aussi, quand un nouveaufournisseur propose une nouvelle technologie, quelle qu’ellesoit, et si seul ce fournisseur la propose, tout le monde vousdira que ce n’est pas une bonne idée. La pénétration du marchéprend du temps dans notre industrie. »

À première vue, la technologie HPGR promet une grande ef-ficacité énergétique, mais des évaluations plus holistiques desHPGR viennent jeter un doute sur les économies potentiellesqu’impliquent les simples mesures de l’« efficacité énergétique ».Bien que leurs coûts d’exploitation soient moindres et qu’ils gé-nèrent certaines économies en capital (par exemple, vous n’au-rez plus besoin de corps broyants en acier), les HPGR requièrentaussi davantage de circuits fermés, et donc des écrans, desconvoyeurs et un stockage supplémentaires.

Alan Muir, vice-président à la section Métallurgie d’Anglo-Gold Ashanti, explique que la société envisage l’adoption desHPGR dans tous ces nouveaux projets mais n’a installé qu’unseul circuit de ce type sur le nouveau site de sa mine Tropicana

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minerai spécifique par le biais de méthodes de broyage tradi-tionnelles ou innovantes selon le cas.

AngloGold Ashanti adopte cette approche pour ces projetsen développement. « Tout mélanger par le biais d’un circuitunique n’est sans doute pas une solution optimale », reconnaîtM. Muir. « L’astuce consistera à développer des circuits qui ontune flexibilité suffisante pour s’adapter à différents types de mi-nerais et pour maintenir un traitement optimal même lorsquele minerai change. »

Les connaissances quant aux corps minéralisés sont essen-tielles à cette approche, et c’est l’une des raisons pour laquelleelle n’a pas été adoptée plus facilement, explique M. Pease.Selon lui, savoir ce que l’on peut faire avec le minerai représenteenviron 80 % du travail nécessaire. Ainsi, chaque circuit aurabesoin de moins d’équipement puisqu’il aura été conçu avecune précision clinique. Mais la nature individuelle des essais etle schéma de traitement en résultant peuvent se révéler rebu-tants pour des comités de direction réticents à prendre desrisques.

Intégrer le site minierLes solutions les plus économiques n’utilisent pas toujours

les nouvelles technologies. Sur le site de la mine Meadowbankau Nunavut, M. Cousin explique qu’Agnico Eagle a envisagé derejeter le traitement d’une fraction plus dure de minerai, mais aconclu que cela ne pourrait être justifié.

Chaque mine peut par contre, comme beaucoup le recon-naissent, améliorer la communication entre silos. Il s’agit d’unaspect critique des stratégies proposées par MM. Pease et Walter,lesquelles impliquent de commencer les travaux le plus tôt pos-sible : optimiser la productivité pour produire de meilleuresmatières, utiliser la préconcentration et le concassage pour ré-duire les travaux effectués par des équipements de broyage re-

quérant plus d’énergie, et produire la plus haute teneur possibledans le concentré étant donné que la fusion utilise bien plusd’énergie pour éliminer les mêmes impuretés. À Agnico Eagle,l’équipe des opérations admet désormais que les mailles de son-dage peuvent augmenter les coûts sur le plan de l’extraction mi-nière, mais réduire les coûts d’exploitation de l’équipement decomminution.

Le bon côté du ralentissement économiqueDurant le dernier boom minier, à une époque où les quali-

fications nécessaires étaient difficiles à trouver et où les servicescoûtaient chers, la reconception des circuits de fragmentationavait été reléguée au second plan pour donner la priorité à lamise en route des projets. Les difficultés financières queconnaissent aujourd’hui les sociétés minières font qu’elles pri-vilégient l’exploitation de ce dont elles disposent avec une effi-cacité optimisée.

Grant Ballantyne, chercheur universitaire au JKMRC, aconstaté des changements d’attitude en 18 mois. Au cours d’unatelier organisé par la Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution(CEEC, la coalition pour la comminution éco-efficace) en 2012,alors que le prix des métaux augmentait et avait atteint un pla-teau, les participants ont accordé une grande importance à lacapacité comme moteur financier de leurs choix en matière decomminution. Lors d’un autre atelier de la CEEC en juil-let 2013, les 16 participants (des vendeurs et des entreprisesd’exploitation et de génie) sont venus dans l’espoir de trouverdes solutions pour augmenter l’efficacité et la productivité. « Onremarque que de plus en plus d’efforts sont déployés pour amé-liorer l’efficacité opérationnelle », explique-t-il.

Mais M. Walters n’est pas convaincu que le ralentissementéconomique inspirera l’innovation. « L’industrie minière est surle point de changer », dit-il. « Certaines mines ont commencéà adopter une approche légèrement plus flexible quant à lafaçon de gérer leurs minerais, mais on les compte sur les doigtsde la main. Ainsi, étant donné le changement de dynamiquedans ce secteur, la question principale est de savoir si elles secantonneront à ce qui est, à leurs yeux, sans risque, ou si ellesévolueront vers une option plus efficace mais qui génèrera éga-lement plus de profits. »

L’avenir de la comminutionÀ quoi ressemblera un circuit standard dans dix ans ?

D’après M. Pease, « la norme sera qu’il n’y a pas de normes. Jepense que le problème aujourd’hui réside dans le fait qu’en rai-son du manque de ressources, on conçoit du matériel standard.Il faudrait que les équipements soient conçus en fonction de ceque requiert le corps minéralisé. Ainsi, la norme tiendra toutd’abord compte de la quantité de fragmentation qui est faitedans la mine ; elle pensera à ce qui peut être fait au niveau dela préconcentration afin d’éliminer très grossièrement la ganguedès le début ; elle envisagera ensuite un schéma de broyage etde flottation par étape afin de minimiser l’énergie requise pourle broyage. Elle utilisera un minimum d’énergie pour le broyagesur un tonnage aussi faible que possible. Ce genre d’approchestandard engendrera, selon moi, des équipements plus petits etplus efficaces. » ICM

Un certain nombre de fabricants, dont Xstrata Technology avec son IsaMill(représenté ici), offre des broyeurs finisseurs.

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Thirty-seven fatalities in 30 yearsthat involved miners being crushedby a continuous mining machine inunderground coal mines in theUnited States were just too manydeaths for the regulatory bodytasked with mine safety.

“It seemed to us there should bea way of keeping the miners awayfrom those machines and avoidingthose crushing accidents.” saysDavid Chirdon, new technologyprogram manager of the MiningSafety and Health Administration(MSHA) with the U.S. Departmentof Labour. In the late 1990s, Chir-don took on the task of finding asolution.

“We found some technologycalled proximity detection systems being developed in other industries that we thought couldbe leveraged for use in the mining industry,” Chirdon says.

A difficult environmentHowever, adapting technology used in surface mining or on construction sites proved chal-

lenging. Global positioning satellites have unlocked enormous opportunities for surface opera-tions but are useless underground. “It’s a very different application working in much moreconfined spaces with heavy machinery, plus the equipment has to be explosion-proof – whichis a significant design constraint,” Chirdon says.

In 2002, MSHA partnered with system design and manufacturer Nautilus International inBurnaby B.C., with the cooperation of a number of mining companies, and began developingsuch a proximity detection system for continuous mining machines.

“We had many failed underground field tests and were repeatedly going back to the drawingboard to redesign,” Chirdon says. The original system was developed for diesel machines, heexplains. “When the Nautilus system was adapted to an electrical machine, we experienced ‘par-asitic coupling,’ which was the electromagnetic signal for the proximity detection system cou-pling onto the machine’s electrical power cable that distorted the signals resulting in falsedistance indications.”

The system includes antennas on the machine, which create a magnetic field around it. Adevice, worn by the miner, measures the strength of the field and communicates that informa-

TECHNOLOGY >> Safety

Proximity detection takesroot undergroundBy Janice Leuschen

At coal mines in the UnitedStates, regulation will soonrequire all continuousminers be equipped withproximity detectiontechnology, and thatrequirement will likelyextend to moreunderground miningvehicles in the future.

Technology developers working to improve personnel safety have struggled with theconstraints of the underground mining environment. A steady effort by regulators andminers, however, has helped the industry work through these difficulties and drive thegrowth of underground proximity detection tools.

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tion by radio signal to a microprocessor on the machine.Depending on the distance from the miner to the machine, thesystem will respond by either turning on a warning light orstopping the machine.

The first field test of the Coal Buddy system was in 2003.“The first successful field test, where the system actually per-formed as we had intended and was designed to meet theexplosion proof requirements, obtaining MSHA approval, wasin 2006.”

Growing coverageToday, there are a number of MSHA-approved systems, and

the application of the technology is expanding. Alliance CoalCompany, which owns the electronics company Matrix DesignGroup, has installed proximity detection on all of the com-pany’s 78 continuous mining machines. Earlier this summer,Matrix released a second-generation version of the technologycalled IntelliZone, which expands the proximity detectionbeyond the continuous mining machines to other mobilehaulage machines.

The mining industry in South Africa has also been active indeveloping this technology, says Mike Berube, COO of StrataWorldwide. In November 2010, Strata acquired FrederickMining Controls (FMC) that developed personnel proximitydetection and vehicle collision avoidance products.

Strata’s HazardAvert technology is focused on near-field (30metres or closer) or slow-speed (five miles per hour and less)objects and can be applied to a range of underground vehicles.It also relies on electromagnetics to alert persons on theground as well as vehicle operators of a potentially dangerousencounter.

Dowling, Ontario-based Hard-Line Solutions recentlyreleased a proximity detection system called Prox, which isintegrated with its Muckmaster Radio Remote Control Systemfor LHD vehicles. “We have several customers who are usingour remote control systems, and they wanted a system thatwould ensure that the operator didn’t get too close to the pieceof equipment he was operating,” says Ryan Siggelkow, vice-president of Hard-Line Solutions.

Hard-line’s product also uses magnetic resonance that gen-erates a magnetic field around the LHD. A receiver in the unitand the radio remote control interfaces with the magnetic fieldand this relationship generates two zones: a kill zone and awarning zone. The sizes of each zone can be adjusted.

“If the operator gets into the warning zone, the machines’lights will start flashing and horns will go off,” says MaxGray, director of sales of North America and global market-

ing for Hard-Line. “He is getting into an area he shouldprobably think about getting out of. The red zone will eithershut down the machine or it will cease to operate under hiscontrol.”

Systems of the futureChirdon says low-frequency electromagnetic systems are

preferred in the underground mining application, because thelow-frequency nature of the signal can penetrate coal and hardrock and eliminate blind spots around that machine.“Theproblem,” says Chirdon, “is it is limited to close ranges. Whenyou get into faster moving machines it might not be as effectiveas some other technologies.”

Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems use higherfrequency signals and may be more effective at greater speeds.“That’s something that I think we will see eventually in theU.S.,” says Chirdon.

Currently, a system created by Becker Mining Systems usesa suite of technologies to extend the reach of its collisionavoidance system. Chirdon saw the tool in action at an Xstratamine in South Africa. “It had the very low-frequency electro-magnetic system for the slow moving machines and for theclose distances and the higher-frequency RFID systems for thelarger distances,” he goes on to say. “It also had a radar systemto detect objects. All of these technologies were communicat-ing with each other. I think ultimately that’s where we couldget the most effective system, but this is a technology that isstill in its infancy.”

Regulation approachingTo spark greater uptake of the technology among coal min-

ers, Chirdon explains the regulatory body “proposed a rule torequire proximity detection on continuous mining machinesin August 2011. That activity really got the attention of themining industry and that’s when we started to see them actu-ally making the effort to start installing these systems on thesemachines.

“Additionally, the [MSHA] regulatory agenda says that weare planning to publish a second proposed rule in November2013 that would require proximity detection systems on othermobile machines in underground mines.”

In Canada, regulators have not been as active in pushingadoption of the technology. Nevertheless, Glenn Staskus, amining specialist with Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, confirmedthat the provincial ministry is in the midst of its own survey ofproximity detection solutions for both underground and sur-face mines. CIM

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To be effective in the hard rocksetting, underground proximitydetection equipment like Prox by Hard-Line Solutions relies onelectromagnetic signals.

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INSIDE:GEOLOGY – THREE DISTINCT REGIONS

TRANSPORTATION – IMPROVING INFRASTRUCTUREPROVIDES OPTIONS

Q&A – AN INSIDER’S PERSPECTIVE FROM THE MINISTRYOF MINES

LEGAL ADVICE – HOW TO NAVIGATE SENEGAL’SMINING LAW

PROJECT PROFILE – TERANGA GOLD’S PIONEERINGSABODALA MINE

PROFIL DE PROJET – LA MINE PIONNIÈRE SABODALADE TERANGA GOLD

TRAVEL – DOING BUSINESS IN DAKAR

SPECIAL REPORT

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These growing markets have helped launched theGrande Côte Operation SA project (commissioningexpected in the first quarter of 2014), which will be theworld’s third-biggest zircon mine. Tizir, a joint venturebetween France’s Eramet and Australia’s Mineral DepositsLimited, owns 90 per cent of the project, with the remain-der held by the state. This half-billion-dollar project couldproduce 85 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa) of zircon and 575ktpa of ilmenite over a 20-year mine life.

Beneath these dunes just a few kilometres inland liesSenegal’s great sedimentary basin, which covers three quar-ters of the country. To the east, it contacts the Precambrianbase of the Mauritade Mountains, and towards the west thebasin deepens, reaching six to eight kilometres deep nearthe coast. On this savannah, phosphate has been king forhalf a century now. Formed during the middle and lowerEocene epoch, phosphate deposits were first exploited inthe 1940s with the opening of the Taiba and Lam-Lammines in the region of Thies. These deposits contributed tothe success of the Senegalese economy for several decades,leading to the construction of most of the country’s infra-structure, including the railway, which was required to

In the 13th century, the Emperor of Mali, Mansa Musa,whose domain spanned 10 modern-day countriesincluding Senegal, brought so much gold from his land

on his pilgrimage to Mecca that the price of the preciousmetal plummeted for many years. Although phosphate hasbeen Senegal’s main asset since the mid-20th century, goldmight be about to make a comeback, with new discoverieson the way and many mining companies attracted by thepolitical stability of the country.

Senegal is divided into three geological zones, with eachof them holding notable mineral deposits. The coastbetween the capital city of Dakar and Saint-Louis, near theborder with Mauritania, is composed of black sands richwith zircon and ilmenite, a titanium-iron oxide mineral.These sands, brought in by the sea, could be a product ofthe crystal shale found in the sand structures of the WestAfrican coast. Zircon, which was historically used in thejeweller’s craft, has more recently been applied to the man-agement of radioactive waste. Demand for titanium, abyproduct of ilmenite, has been growing in the last fewyears, due in large part to the mineral’s use in both biomed-ical equipment and the aeronautics industry.

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Following in the footsteps of the emperorSenegal’s three distinct regions each hold promise

By Pierrick Blin and Antoine Dion-Ortega

The southeast region of Senegal, where Teranga Gold operates its Sabodala mine, is particularly interesting to gold explorers.

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hosts to significant gold deposits,” explains Craig Mac-Dougall, senior vice-president for exploration at Iamgold.

The Birimian greenstone belt was even the birthplace forsome of these companies. “Iamgold was born out of makinga discovery and developing a mine in Mali, and really, ourinterest in Senegal was tracing those favourable geologicalenvironments across the border into Senegal,” says Mac-Dougall.

Senegal’s greenstone belt is divided into three strati-graphic units: the Mako Supergroup to the west, the DialeSupergroup in the middle, and the Dalema Supergroup tothe east. The Sabodala deposit and many ongoing explo-ration projects are located in the Mako Supergroup, in ashear, silicified zone containing gold pyrite mineralization.The tectonic structure forms a northeast oriented belt, curv-ing to the northwest near the Malian border.

“This corridor is one of the most prolific ones as far ashosting gold deposits,” says Martin Lanctot, mine managerat Sabodala mine. “It’s not only us. Just 40 kilometres awayin Mali, there are a lot of other deposits, and if you go eastall the way to Burkina Faso, there are operations which areproducing gold, and some of those assets belong to otherCanadian companies. Basically, we’re all following the sametrend, or the same mineralization corridor.”

Everybody agrees that current activities in the region arein the early stages, as the whole belt could hold huge poten-tial. “What we’re mining is a portion of a bigger trend thatis going across West Africa, if you look at it through amacroscopic perspective,” says Lanctot.

“I believe the future in Senegal looks promising,” Mac-Dougall adds.

Although Senegal probably will not match its pastemperor’s power to change the price of gold, the miningsector could nevertheless contribute to brightening itsfuture. CIM

transport the fertilizer to the Port of Dakar, 70 kilometresaway.

Today, phosphate accounts for 13 per cent of the coun-try’s exports, with overall production nearing one milliontonnes per year. Besides the Taiba fields, other knowndeposits in the northern regions of Matam, Coki, Gossasand Niakhene, which could be of even higher quality, haveyet to be developed. These fields could boost the country’sreserves to one billion tonnes and propel Senegal into theworld’s top 10 producers, according to Senegal’s Ministry ofMining and Energy.

Phosphate fields in the Thies region have been histori-cally controlled by Senegal’s state-owned Industries Chim-iques du Senegal. But the government has shown a growinginterest in private foreign investment in the mining sector,which could reach $5 billion this year, according to TracyWeslosky, publisher for the InvestorIntel website.

BACK TO GOLDThe Precambrian rock basement in the east of the coun-

try has also caught the attention of exploration companies,especially the paleoproterozoic volcanosedimentarysequences of the Birimian formation that could hold golddeposits.

In the last decade, mining activities in the region haveintensified. Teranga Gold’s Sabodala mine, the country’sfirst large-scale gold project, came into operation in 2009.In 2012, it produced more than 210,000 ounces of gold.Other companies, such as Randgold with its Massawa proj-ect and Iamgold with its Boto project, are hoping to dupli-cate Teranga’s success.

These companies have been attracted by the Birimiangreenstone belt that runs through West Africa. “Essentially,Senegal has extensions of geological units that what wehave seen in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali, specifically known

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Senegal is home to a vast greenstone belt that has given rise to many mines in neighbouring countries.

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doubled container capacity, from under 300,000, 20-footequivalent units (TEU) to more than 600,000 TEU. Thenew terminal opened in 2011. The government of Senegalhas plans for a deepwater port at Sendou, but those haveyet to be formalized.

Bulk handling facilities at the port are limited to phos-phate shipments, according to Simon Finnis, CEO ofGrande Côte Operations, which is building a mineral sandsproject 150 kilometres north of Dakar. The port allocated aberth and a patch of land to Grande Côte, which is usingthe space to build its own storage facility and automatedship loading facility at a cost of US$25 million. “There arecertainly other bulk products being shipped out and com-ing in but they’re done on a piecemeal basis and they usevery rudimentary methods for unloading,” Finnis adds.

ROADSMost of the overland traffic to and from the port travels

by road. The 35-kilometre Dakar-Diamniado Toll Highway,which opened this year, is intended to ease congestion andhelp revitalize low-income Dakar neighbourhoods. Whe -ther it accomplishes that or not, it has helped at least one

Senegal’s transportation network radiates from its west-ern focal point, the coastal capital of Dakar. Recentyears have seen considerable investments made

towards networks that go into and out of that region, whichcontains a natural deep-water harbour, a quarter of Sene-gal’s 13 million inhabitants and about 80 per cent of its eco-nomic activity.

A new international airport, estimated to cost over $45million and funded in large part by international loans, hasbeen under construction just outside Dakar since 2007. Itis expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2014.The first phase of construction will allow a capacity of threemillion passengers per year, with an ultimate expansiongoal of accommodating 10 million – about the same as theHonolulu International Airport.

The Port of Dakar manages a growing load of trafficbound for Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Mauri-tania. Altogether it handled 11.9 million tonnes in 2012, anincrease of four per cent from 2011 and 19 per cent from2008.

An exponential increase in container traffic led the ter-minal operator DP World to construct a new terminal with

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Fits and startsSome Senegalese transport options improve as others flounder

by Eavan Moore

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DP World has doubled container capacityto 600,000 20-foot equivalent units.

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“They’ve been bituminized in the last coupleof years,” he says.

RAILSenegal’s 906 kilometres of railway, in the-

ory a helpful link to the Port of Dakar, have achequered history and uncertain future. Thenarrow-gauge rail line between Dakar andBamako, Mali, dates back to the early 20thcentury. In 2012, stories in the Spanish news-paper El Pais reported that iron ore cars trav-elling to Dakar could only run one-third fullbecause the track was too weak to sustain fullloads, and that passenger service had been cutentirely on the Senegal side for safety reasons.El Pais also reported that in 2011, there was aderailment every three days on average.

An attempt to kick-start investment in therailway system by privatizing it in 2003 didnot bear fruit. According to an essay in the

Montreal-based Les Journals des Alternatives, the Franco-Canadian consortium Transrail, which took over opera-tions, ran a deficit of $20 million over its first three years ofoperation and created union unrest by laying off workers.In 2011, a Senegalese government railway source estimatedthat US$1.6 billion would be needed to strengthen thetracks and allow iron ore and phosphates from Malianmines to reach Dakar. To date, Transrail has not found such

funding.“I think there’s been chronic

underinvestment on rail in Senegalfor the last two decades,” says Finnis.“So, the rail has been underutilizedand of a poor quality.”

Grande Côte has taken over themanagement of 100 kilometres ofrail and is refurbishing it at a cost ofabout US$40 million over threeyears. “There was a main rail linethat ran up past the project, andwe’re building a spare line into themine and also renovating the linebetween the mine and Dakar, so that

we can send our products via rail,” Finnis explains. “We’rebringing our own locomotives and our own rolling stock aswell. So we’ll own our own transit, so to speak.” Existingusers will continue to use the rail line.

Finnis notes that Grande Côte would have had to makeinvestments in transport infrastructure anywhere it oper-ated. “Certainly, we took the position that we wanted tocontrol our own destiny with regard to rail transport, hencewe were happy to invest in the infrastructure,” he says.

However, when asked what is needed for the country’sfuture, Finnis returns to rail: “Senegal has a wonderful assetin the port. If the country was able to link that port with railto other West African nations, that would be a huge benefit.” CIM

local highway user: having a high-quality freeway shaved ahalf an hour off the commute between Dakar and GrandeCôte.

Paved highways extend into eastern Senegal as well.Teranga Gold’s Sabodala gold mine (p. 66) uses one of thefew highways in the country: a two-lane asphalt road head-ing east from Dakar, through the town of Kedougou, andinto Mali. “We have a pretty good highway for approxi-mately 95 per cent of the distancefrom Dakar,” says Paul Chawrun,Teranga’s vice-president of technicalservices.

Where the highway stops, usersbuild their own roads out of laterite,an iron-rich soil type that hardensto form cheap, all-weather surfaces.“We just buy the raw material and itcomes as loose earth with somerocks in it,” says Finnis. “You lay itout and prepare it properly and itgoes down quite hard. It’s reallyquite good quality.”

The laterite needs to be main-tained, especially in the rainy season when it becomes slip-pery, but Chawrun says easy access to constructionmaterials and a favourable topography are two of the rea-sons that road-building costs significantly less than inother parts of the world. “It’s nothing [compared] to thecost you would have, say, to build a road in northernOntario,” he says.

Twenty kilometres away from Teranga’s operation, goldexploration company Bassari Resources relies on the publicroads that run within its leases. President Jozsef Pataricasays about a 10-hour drive gets him from Dakar to the site,with about 90 per cent of the 700-odd kilometres on pavedroads – an improvement from earlier, pre-asphalt yearswhen the same distance would be a three-day journey.

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Transportation by road in Senegal isgenerally a better option than by rail.

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Senegal into phosphoric acid and then exported to India,up to 600,000 tonnes annually. Other phosphate depositshave also been discovered, such as the Matam deposit in thenortheast.

We also have an abundance of limestone that suppliesour cement plants. In addition to the Sococim plant, twoother plants are about to open, which will bring six milliontonnes of additional cement to the market, making Senegalan exporter.

In the southeast Kédougou region lies the birrimian geo-logical structure, where we find gold, and heavy and raremetals, et cetera. Teranga Gold is operating the first produc-ing mine there, with 214,300 ounces of gold output in2012 (p. 66). There are other discoveries, such as Oromin’s1.1-million ounce gold reserve, and Bassari Resources’ proj-ect. It must be noted that the southeast is located in thesame geological formation that has already proven itspotential in Mali. That has helped us a bit.

CIM: Can you tell us more about the country’s zirconprospects?SARR: Zircon is one of the heavy minerals found along thecoastal belt in high grades of around two per cent. Senegal’sfirst zircon project, Grande Côte, is in its constructionphase. It was launched by the Australian company MineralDeposits Limited (MDL), which sold it to Tizir, a new

After having worked for 15 years in Canada’s miningsector, Alioune Sarr moved back to his native Senegal in 1998 to continue his career there. He

took up a post with the Ministry of Mines as the mining andgeology branch’s head of division, project commission.Now the branch’s senior engineer, Sarr monitors and facili-tates projects, coordinating mining projects from beginningto end. He has been a mining engineer for 30 years.

CIM: What are the major files you are working on these days?SARR: We have been implicated in Teranga Gold’sacquisition of Oromin and its neighbouring concessions,where gold deposits were discovered. Informal goldpanning is also keeping us busy in the Kédougou area, aswe are trying to make it cohabit peacefully withneighbouring mining projects. Finally, we are working on astudy on the legal and institutional framework of theSenegalese mining sector.

CIM: What kind of mining activity is going on in Senegal rightnow? SARR: Senegal is divided into two geological zones. First,there is the sedimentary basin, where we find phosphate.Senegal has been producing phosphate since the 1960s.Taiba, a well-known company here, is exploiting thesedeposits. Phosphate production is entirely processed in

62 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

Ready for takeoffAn insider’s perspective on Senegal’s growing mining sector

By Pierrick Blin and Antoine Dion-Ortega

Alioune Sarr (left) coordinates miningprojects in Senegal from beginning to end.

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addition, there are new lines such as the Matam-Tambacounda Railway that need to be built.

CIM: How do you see the future of mining in Senegal?SARR: Considering the intensity of current explorationprojects, there will be new discoveries. Morocco has largephosphate reserves but only because the whole territory wassubject to intensive surveys. In Senegal, we haven’t even

explored one third of the sedimentarybasin. So there is still a lot to come.

In the southeast formations,there are many investment opportu-nities, especially for gold. New infra-structure projects, such as the portand the launching of a new miningcode, will further facilitate develop-ment in the sector. As for rare metalssuch as lithium, we have interestingindications that will need to belooked into. Finally, the governmentwill soon resume discussions with

ArcelorMittal to restart its iron ore project.I think that conditions are in place for a fresh start in our

mining sector. CIM

company owned 50 per cent by MDL and 50 per cent bythe French company Eramet. The project will produceabout 100,000 tonnes of zircon and 600,000 tonnes ofilmenite per year, starting in 2014.

CIM: What is the government doing to support the explorationeffort? What services do you offer?SARR: Our task is to list discoveries in the mining sector forresearch and exploration. In 2007,we created the Mining SectorSupport program (PASMI), initiallyfor airborne geophysics. Weproduced geophysical and magneticmaps for exploration. Besides maps,in 2008 we launched the MiningLand Register and DocumentationCentre (CDMC), whose mandate isto digitize mineral resources inSenegal. During the colonial era, thecountry had centralized all federaljurisdictions to Dakar, and so all thedocuments are located in the same place. We have alreadydigitized about 100,000 of them. We will end up with ahuge database, with valuable information for the industry.Finally, geography software was developed, which will helpus manage mineral resources in the country.

CIM: What are the most significant elements of the miningcode?SARR: We are still working with the 2003 code, which iswell detailed on our website and which consists mostly oftax incentives. We do not require anything at theexploration stage, which can be extended for up to nineyears. At the moment, there is also a study being done onthe regulatory framework and the institutionalreinforcement of the ministry of mining. We are performingan assessment of the whole sector in order to produce anew mining code.

CIM: How does Senegal compare to other countries in theregion?SARR: They say Senegal is the gateway to Africa. It is apolitically stable country compared to other countries, withaccess to the sea and a democracy enabling thedevelopment of many projects. Since 2000, the InvestmentPromotion and Major Projects Agency (APIX) has keptcompanies informed of business opportunities in Senegal.Finally, we have a very attractive mining code.

CIM: What is your strategy for the coming years? What areyour main challenges?SARR: A lot of new infrastructure is about to be developed,in particular a new mineral terminal about 40 kilometresfrom Dakar, the Bargny Port in Sendou, which will receivecommodities from the mining sector for export. As fortransportation to the port, we need to rehabilitate theDakar-Bamako Railway that stretches across the country. In

Considering theintensity of current

exploration projects,there will be new

discoveries.– Alioune Sarr

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Claude Resources funds education in Saskatchewan

Gold mining company Claude Resources has provided$50,000 in funding to the new mining engineering tech-nology program at the Saskatchewan Institute of AppliedScience and Technology (SIAST) Kelsey Campus in Saska-toon for a period of five years. Under this initiative, $5,000will be earmarked for the Claude Resources Awards eachyear, created to provide bursaries for students who areacademically strong or require financial support. Prefer-ence will be given to students of aboriginal ancestry.

Weir Canada wins innovation award

Engineering company Weir Canada received the SteelDesign Award of Excellence in the Industrial Category bythe Canadian Institute of Steel Construction (CISC) for thedesign, supply, delivery and launch of three Multflo reclaimwater barges at Suncor’s oil sands operations in FortMcMurray, Alberta. “Effective team collaboration, demon-strated creativity, innovation and co-operation in solvingformidable design and delivery challenges is what madethis project successful,” said Peter Pavlin, Weir Canada’sengineering manager – engineered products. Weir Canadashared the honour with Suncor Energy, Hall Marine,Supreme Steel and Midwest Constructors. CISC repre-sents the structural steel, open web steel joist, and steelplatework manufacturing industries.

GIVING BACK

ACHIEVEMENT

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These persons or entities must demonstrate a specific setof technical and financial capabilities before carrying outmining operations.

5. Are there different rules applicable to foreign investment?There is no separate regime for foreign investors. Once

authorization to establish or invest in the country isgranted, the rules are the same for nationals and foreigners.

However, specific rules aiming to make investment moreattractive have been set up under the Investment Code.

6. How much does it cost to acquire mining titles?The grant, renewal, extension or conversion and the

sale, transfer or farm-out of mining titles for explorationand exploitation are subject to payment of fixed duties,paid in one instalment as provided below:• exploration permits: 500,000 XOF (West African CAF

francs) ($1,048)• mining concessions: 7,500,000 XOF ($15,735)• other mineral mining rights: 1,500,000 XOF ($3,144)

The above amounts are reviewed every five years bydecree.(Note: $1 = roughly 477 XOF)

7. Are there any duties or taxes to be paid to the state formineral production?

Under the Mining Code, any exploitation of mineralresources is subject to payment of an annual mining royaltyrate of three per cent of the pithead value. The terms of pay-ment and collection of mining royalties are specified in theimplementation decree (n°2004–647). There are noexemptions.

8. What guarantees does the government of Senegal offer tomining operations?

Installations and infrastructure built or acquired duringthe course of mining operations may not be subject to anymeasures of expropriation, except in circumstances of“force majeure” or public necessity. In such a case, the statemust pay a fair compensation.

Holders of mining permits have free choice of suppliers,contractors and service providers and partners. However,protocols, contracts and agreements that aim to assign orpartially or fully transfer the rights and obligations of themining title are subject to prior approval of the ministry.

The tax and customs regime will not change for as longas a mining title remains valid. As such, throughout the

1. What are the relevant government authorities for themining sector?• Ministry of Mines• National Department of Mines• Departments of Mines in each of the country’s 14 admin-

istrative districts

2. What are the main laws that govern mining policy inSenegal?

The legal framework governing exploration and miningin Senegal is set out in the Mining Code, the EnvironmentalCode, the General Commercial Law and the Forest Code,all of which have been updated in the last 15 years. Theyare as follows:• Statute n°2003–36, dated November 24, 2003, enacted

the Mining Code• Decree n°2004–647, dated May 17, 2004, implemented

the Mining Code• Regulation n°18/2003/CM/ WAEMU, dated December

22, 2003, enacted the WAEMU Mining Code• Environmental Code n°2001-01 of January 15, 2001• Uniform Act of OHADA relating to General Commercial

Law, dated December 15, 2010• Statute n°98/03, dated January 8 1998, enacted the For-

est Code, and its implementing decree is dated February20, 1998

3. What authorizations and permits are required for acompany?

The state may authorize a company to undertake miningoperations by granting: • A permit for the exploration of mineral substances.• A permit for exploitation.• A mining concession or a small-scale mining permit in

the case of a small mine, or artisanal mining licence inthe case of artisanal mining.

A convention should be signed between the mining titleholder and the state, which determines the rights, obliga-tions and commitments related to these titles. The state hasthe right to at least a 10 per cent interest in all mines oper-ating in Senegal, and may negotiate for more.

4. What restrictions are there on companies that would liketo begin mining?

As is laid out in the Mining Code, no person shall under-take or conduct an activity regulated by the mining legisla-tion in Senegal without prior authorization of the state.

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Answers to 10 key questions about mining under Senegalese law

By Mouhamed Kebe

L E G A L A D V I C E

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• Provide reports and information necessary for theadministration of the mines.

• Declare any decision to halt exploration or exploitationof mineral substances in advance to the minister ofmines.

• Indemnify the state or any person or entity against dam-ages that may occur.

• Conduct site rehabilitation at the end of each miningtitle except for areas that continue to be covered underanother mining exploitation title.

10. How are disputes settled in the mining sector?In principle, disputes relating to the implementation and

interpretation of the provisions of the Mining Code areunder the jurisdiction of the courts of the Republic of Sene-gal. However, the holder of the title and the Senegalese statecan include specific provisions allowing parties to resort toarbitration in case of dispute.

Mouhamed Kebe, based in Dakar, Senegal, is the managing partner of Geni& Kebe and practises in the area of corporate and investment law with aconcentration in the Francophone African Region. He is involved in a widerange of corporate transactions including formation of companies andsubsidiaries, corporate governance, cross border mergers and acquisitions,and dispute resolution.

CIM

period of validity of a mining title, changes to the baserules, perception and pricing of taxes and fees are not bind-ing to the holder of the mining title except at the request ofthe title holder, and provided the title holder adopts thenew rules in their entirety.

Subject to exchange control regulations and the MiningCode, the holder of a mining title may freely:• Import, without financial regulation, equipment it

already owns.• Import goods and services required for its activities.• Export the minerals extracted, concentrates and other

derivatives after completing all legal formalities.• Transfer abroad the dividends and the capital invested

and the proceeds of liquidation of their assets.• Transfer abroad funds in repayment of debts outside of

principal and interest.• Pay foreign suppliers for goods and services necessary

for the conduct of mining operations.

9. What are the obligations of the holders of mining titles?Holders of titles for exploration must:

• Keep proper accounting of expenses for mining operations.

October 2013 | 65

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Page 66: CIM Magazine October 2013

this year, at cash costs of $650 to $700 per ounce. Despitethe recent period of soft gold prices, Teranga generatedprofits of $52 million in the first six months of 2013, morethan four times what it made in the same period last year.

WELL UNDERSTOOD GEOLOGYTeranga’s holdings at Sabodala include 2.9 million

ounces of Measured and Indicated Resources and 1.6 mil-lion ounces of Proven and Probable Reserves. The depositis mostly basalt with some sedimentary rock, explainsMartin Lanctot, Sabodala’s mine manager. “There arethree gold bearing structures holding the bulk of the min-

Teranga Gold slashed exploration and discretionaryspending from $35 million per year in 2012 to $8million this year. “It’s quite a significant reduction in

exploration spending we’ve made,” says Richard Young,Teranga’s CEO.

That, combined with the 2012 completion of a majormill expansion, is allowing Teranga to proceed at full speedtowards generating cash flow from increasing production.The company produced nearly 50,000 ounces of gold dur-ing the second quarter of 2013, a nine per cent jump overthe same period last year. The mine appears likely to hit itsgoal of between 190,000 and 210,000 ounces produced

Ahead of the packLike many others, Toronto’s Teranga Gold is keeping a prudent eye on its production costs

in today’s unpredictable market. The company operates the Sabodala gold mine in

Senegal’s southeast corner, near the border with Mali, and 650 kilometres east of the capital Dakar.

Thanks to a nimble business plan and some fortuitous timing,

Teranga is positioning itself for years of low-cost production.

By Chris Windeyer

66 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

Teranga Gold, the only large-scale gold miner in Senegal,operates the Sabodala mine near the border with Mali.

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two million tonnes per year to nearly four. With that majorpiece of capital spending complete, Young says Teranganow enjoys free cash flow: “It allowed us to match the sizeof our mine with our mill and provide economies of scale.There’s a certain amount of oversight and infrastructure,whether you’re producing 100,000 or 200,000 ounces.

“It’s a big company mill. It’s not a mill that was puttogether by a junior developer on a shoestring. Luckily forus, it sits in the middle of this [greenstone] belt.”

Increased mill capacity will be especially important asTeranga works through stockpiles from the first two phasesof the main pit at Sabodala. Currently, the company is strip-ping waste rock in Phase 3 of the four-phase pit, a processthat will last until the end of 2014, Lanctot says. Thensights will be set on adjacent satellite deposits at Gora andNiakafiri.

Teranga is also in the process of finalizing its takeover ofVancouver-based Oromin Explorations Ltd. Oromin ownsthe OJVG project, which is comprised of two deposits,Golouma and Masato, located to the south and east of theSabodala site, respectively. Together, the deposits have Indi-cated and Inferred Resources of more than 4.5 millionounces. “We’re going to integrate those deposits into ourmine plan and that may result in a resequencing of pitdevelopment,” Young says. “And we’ll focus on blendingthe highest grade and the softest material to get the highestproduction profile.”

INFRASTRUCTURE IN PLACESabodala is located on the northwestern end of a mas-

sive greenstone belt that stretches through Mali, Guinea,Burkina Faso, and Ghana. It also benefits from being con-nected to the Senegalese capital and main port of Dakar, viathe fully paved Trans-African Highway route that stretchesall the way from Dakar to Ndjamena, Chad. That roadcomes to within 100 kilometres of the Sabodala site, andlocal paved roads are under 60 kilometres away, Youngsays, adding, “The transportation is excellent.”

The mine also has access to fresh water courtesy of twocatchment dams designed between them to hold 11 millioncubic metres of water, more than enough for Sabodala tofunction. Teranga, however, has also secured access rights touse water from the nearby Faleme River in case of shortages.

eralization, one of them is called the Main Flat, the sec-ond one being the Northwest Shear, and finally there’sAyoub’s Thrust,” he says. “There are some substructures,but that’s it in a nutshell. With the way that the geologyis set up there, on top of the deposit, especially doing apushback, you always have the good old Northwest Shearwhich is bringing in ounces as you go down. Then youenter into the richest part of the deposit, which is theMain Flat.”

The operation is “textbook 101 mining” Lanctot says,and the ore “comes to the processing plant really clean.” Intotal, 5.9 million tonnes of ore were mined in 2012 at anaverage grade of 1.98 grams of gold per tonne, made upalmost exclusively of disseminated gold.

Teranga has had to learn how to schedule productionto accommodate Senegal’s rainy season, which lastsroughly from June to September. On the day in lateAugust that I spoke to Lanctot and Mark English,Teranga’s vice- president of Sabodala gold operations, asix-hour storm had just dropped 86 millimetres of rain onthe mine. “Typically we’re doing the bulk of our strippingduring the wet season and we’re sinking our pits duringthe dry season,” Lanctot says. “So far, it’s been pretty successful.”

LONELY BUT RICHSabodala’s mill is the only one in Senegal. Built in 2008

by the site’s previous owners, MDL of Australia, the processplant uses a primary jaw and secondary cone crushing sys-tem that feeds a SAG mill and a pair of ball mills, followedby a return pebble crusher. The gold is extracted throughcarbon-in-leach.

It is a simple design for a process plant, says English,necessitated largely by the fact that MDL was under enor-mous pressure from the Senegalese government to get themine up and running. “They didn’t want someone sittingand speculating on the property. There was a real push tomake a producer. So [MDL] took a very simple designapproach for the process plant,” English says, adding thatMDL ensured their design could easily be expanded.

And that is precisely what Teranga did, with an expan-sion that was completed in 2012, pouring $73 million intodoubling the processing plant’s capacity from a nominal

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PROJECT SPECS OWNERSHIP:

Teranga Gold – 90%

Government of Senegal – 10%

MINERAL RESOURCES:

MEASURED – 1.2 Moz at 1.46 g/t

INDICATED – 1.74 Moz at 1.44 g/t

MINING FLEET:

24 Komatsu HD785-7 trucks

3 Komatsu PC3000 shovels

6 Sandvik Pantera DP1500 blasthole drills

3 Terex Reedrill SKF-12 blasthole drills

PROCESSING PLANT:

1 Nordberg C140S single toggle jaw crusher 

1 Sandvik CH660 cone crusher 

1 Outotec 7.3 m x 4.3 m EGL, 4,000 kW SAG mill

2 Outotec 5.5m x 7.85 m EGL 4,000 kW ball mills

1 Metso HP200SX Cone crusher 

9 1,240-cubic-metre leach tanks

5-tonne batch capacity split AARL elution circuit

2 Outotec 23 m high-rate tailings thickeners

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African mining sites (see project specs). There arepresently 109 Bia staff on site: eight expats and 101Senegalese. “[Sabodala Gold Operations] only has todrive the machines,” says Bia Overseas spokesmanCedric Leturcq. “We take care of everything else: dailychecking, preventive maintenance, wear analysis, repairsand overhauls.”

BUILDING A NATIONAL INDUSTRYSenegal has been aggressive in courting foreign min-

ing investment over the last decade and it is generallyregarded as one of Africa’s most open and stable democ-racies. And if that were not enough, the country’s currentpresident, Macky Sall, is a geological engineer by profes-sion.

Senegal’s industry-friendly mining code provides fortax holidays and low royalty rates. Those sweetenershave helped Teranga get through periods of lower goldprices and high capital expenditures like the mill expan-sion, and allowed it to invest in adding satellite deposits.

But Young says it is time for Sabodala to start pitchingin more to Senegal’s coffers: the company voluntarilymoved from a three per cent royalty to five per cent, andit will not seek an extension of its current tax holidaythat ends in May 2015. Teranga is also trying to facilitateeconomic development in the eastern Kedougou regionwhere it operates, by building access roads and waterfacilities that nearby communities can also use.

“You’ve got to go where the geology is, but ideallyyou look at jurisdictions where there’s a track record ofdemocracy and stability, that are open to mining and aresafe jurisdictions with a trained workforce,” Young says.“While Senegal doesn’t necessarily have that trainedworkforce, it’s got everything else.” CIM

The one infrastructural shortcoming is electricity. Sabo-dala is not connected to the grid and must produce its ownpower with a 36-megawatt heavy fuel oil power station onsite, upgraded from the original 30-megawatt capacity atthe same time the company expanded the mill. At 25 centsper kilowatt hour, that represents a significant cost “com-pared to six cents in Quebec,” Young points out. “It doesput us at a disadvantage in that perspective, but otherwisethe infrastructure is pretty good, especially for a remoteplace like Senegal.”

There are accommodations for 940 of the mine’s 1,200employees on site. Ninety per cent of Sabodala’s employeesare Senegalese (with some 22 nationalities represented inthe 10 per cent of the workforce that is expatriate), andYoung says the company aims to hire locally as much aspossible. Lower-skilled labourers are bussed in from sur-rounding communities.

English says the company does ship in more highlytrained expertise from Dakar, but in the process is trying tobuild a local corps of skilled workers in the eastern part ofthe country. There are 76 women employed on site, includ-ing 13 driving heavy equipment at Sabodala, “which issomething not considered normal in this society, so we’revery proud of that,” he adds.

One of the main early challenges was finding trainedheavy equipment operators, according to Lanctot. Whenconstruction began in 2007, hundred-tonne dump truckswere an uncommon site in western Senegal. “For a lot ofour operators, the biggest piece of equipment they’d seenbefore was a bicycle,” he recalls. “We had to train them andmake sure to mentor them, and most of all make surethey’re safe operators.”

That heavy equipment is provided by Bia Overseas,one of Teranga’s main contractors and a mainstay at

68 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

The Sabodala mine is expected to produce between190,000 and 210,000 ounces of gold in 2013.

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même période l’an dernier. Teranga devrait atteindre sonobjectif de production annuel situé entre 190 000 et210 000 onces à un coût de 650 à 700 dollars l’once. Mal-gré la baisse récente du prix de l’or, Teranga a réalisé desprofits de 52 millions de dollars durant le premier semestrede 2013, ce qui est quatre fois plus que les profits réalisésau cours de la même période l’an passé.

CONNAISSANCE APPROFONDIE DE LA GÉOLOGIE

Les exploitations de Teranga à Sabodala renferment2,9 millions d’onces de ressources mesurées et indiquées et1,6 million d’onces de réserves prouvées et probables.

Tôt en 2013, l’entreprise a réduit ses dépenses d’ex-ploration et discrétionnaires de 35 millions de dol-lars par année en 2011 et 2012 à 8 millions de

dollars cette année. « Nous avons réduit considérablementnos dépenses en exploration », affirme Richard Young,président-directeur général de Teranga.

Combiné avec l’achèvement d’un agrandissementmajeur d’une usine de traitement en 2012, ceci permet àTeranga de poursuivre ses activités à plein régime, et ainside générer de la liquidité grâce à une augmentation de laproductivité. L’entreprise a produit près de 50 000 oncesd’or au cours du deuxième trimestre de 2013 soit une aug-mentation importante de neuf pour cent comparée à la

October 2013 | 69

En peloton de têteDans le contexte actuel des marchés imprévisibles et comme beaucoup d’autres,

Teranga Gold de Toronto veille sur ses coûts de production.

L’entreprise exploite la mine d’or Sabodala dans le sud-est du Sénégal près de la frontière du Mali,

650 kilomètres à l’est de la capitale Dakar. Grâce à un plan d’affaires souple et au jeu du hasard,

Teranga se positionne pour des années de production à faible coût.

Par Chris Windeyer

Teranga Gold, la seule minière aurifère de grande échelle au Sénégal,exploite la mine Sabodala à proximité de la frontière du Mali.

Avec l’aimable autorisation de Teranga Gold

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ner la mine. « Ils n’acceptaient pas que quelqu’un puisses’asseoir sur la propriété et spéculer. Un réel effort a étédéployé pour établir un producteur. Pour cette raison[MDL] a opté pour une conception très simple pour l’usinede traitement », dit English, ajoutant que MDL s’est assuréeque cette conception pourrait facilement prendre de l’ex-pansion.

C’est exactement ce que Teranga a fait, avec un agran-dissement de 73 millions de dollars terminé en 2012, quipermet de doubler la capacité de l’usine de traitement dedeux millions de tonnes nominales par année à presquequatre millions. Maintenant que ce grand projet dedépenses de capital est terminé, Teranga profite d’unedisponibilité de flux de trésorerie, dit Young : « Nous avonspu adapter la taille de notre mine avec celle de notrebroyeur et permettre des économies d’échelle. Il fautassurer une surveillance et avoir une certaine quantité d’in-frastructures, que vous produisiez 100 000 ou200 000 onces. »

« C’est un gros broyeur. Il n’a pas été construit par unpetit promoteur avec très peu de moyens. Heureusement, lebroyeur est situé au centre de cette ceinture de [rochesvertes]. »

À mesure que Teranga exploite les réserves des deux pre-mières phases du puits principal de Sabodala, il sera parti-culièrement important d’augmenter la capacité du broyeur.Actuellement, l’entreprise procède à l’extraction de rochesstériles dans la phase 3 du puits à quatre phases, un proces-sus qui se poursuivra jusqu’à la fin de 2014, dit Lanctot. Àce moment-là, des objectifs seront établis pour les gise-ments satellites adjacents à Gora et à Niakafiri.

De plus, Teranga achève la prise de contrôle deOromin Explorations Ltd, basé à Vancouver. Oromin pos-sède le projet OJVG, constitué de deux gisements,Golouma et Masato, situés respectivement au sud et àl’est du site de Sabodala. Les deux gisements contiennentdes ressources présumées et indiquées de 4,5 millionsd’onces. « Nous allons intégrer ces gisements dans notreplan de mine, ce qui pourrait entraîner un ré-alignementdu développement des puits », affirme Young. « Nousallons nous concentrer sur le mélange des matières àhaute teneur et du sol meuble pour maintenir un solideprofil de production. »

Martin Lanctot, directeur de la mine Sabodala, expliqueque les gisements sont principalement composés de basalteet de roches sédimentaires. « Il y a trois structures aurifèresqui renferment la majeure partie de l’inventaire minéral,l’une est Main Flat, l’autre est Northwest Shear et la dernièreest Ayoub’s Thrust », dit-il. « Pour terminer, il y a égalementcertains substrats rocheux. De part la dispositiongéologique à cet endroit, au sommet du gisement, partic-ulièrement quand vous exploitez par fosses emboitées, vouspouvez toujours compter sur la bonne vieille North Shearqui engrange des onces au fur et à mesure que vous creusez.Ensuite vous entrez dans la partie la plus riche du gisement,soit le Main Flat. »

L’exploitation est tirée directement du « manuel d’ex-ploitation minière 101 », affirme Lanctot, et le minerai « quiarrive à l’usine de traitement est très propre. » Au total,5,9 millions de tonnes de minerai ont été minées en 2012avec un grade moyen de 1,98 grammes d’or par tonne,composé presque exclusivement d’or disséminé.

Il était important pour Teranga d’apprendre à établir uncalendrier de production en fonction de la saison despluies du Sénégal qui dure de juin à septembre. À la finaoût, lorsque j’ai parlé avec Lanctot et Mark English, vice-président de la mine Sabodala, 86 millimètres de pluievenaient tout juste de tomber sur la mine durant une tem-pête de six heures. « Habituellement nous procédons à lamajeure partie de notre extraction pendant la saisonhumide et nous construisons nos puits pendant la saisonsèche », dit Lanctot. « Jusqu’à présent, nous avons connubeaucoup de succès. »

SEUL MAIS RICHELe broyeur de Sabodala est le seul qui existe au Séné-

gal. Construit en 2008 près du site de l’ancien proprié-taire, la MDL d’Australie, l’usine de traitement utilise unsystème de broyage à mâchoires principal et un systèmesecondaire à cônes qui alimente un broyeur SAG et unepaire de broyeurs à boulets, suivi d’un concasseur depierres de retour. L’extraction de l’or se fait par lixiviationau carbone.

La conception de l’usine de traitement est simple, ditEnglish, rendu nécessaire par une pression énorme qu’ex-erçait le gouvernement sénégalais sur MDL à faire fonction-

70 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

DÉTAILS DU PROJET PROPRIÉTÉ :Teranga Gold – 90 %Gouvernement du Sénégal – 10 %

RESSOURCES MINÉRALES :MESURÉE – 1,2 Moz à 1,46 g/tINDIQUÉE – 1,74 Moz à 1,44 g/tPARC MINIER :

24 camions Komatsu HD785-73 pelles Komatsu PC30006 perforatrices de trous de mine Sandvik

Pantera DP1500 3 perforatrices de trous de mine Terex

Reedrill SKF-12

USINE DE TRAITEMENT :1 concasseur à mâchoires à simple effet Nordberg

C140S 1 concasseur à cône Sandvik CH660 1 broyeur SAG Outotec 7,3 m x 4,3 m EGL,4 000 kW2 broyeurs à boulets Outotec 5,5 m x 7,85 m EGL4 000 kW1 concasseur à cône Metso HP200SX  9 cuves d’extraction de 1 240 mètres cubesCircuit d’élution AARL divisé, capacité de

traitement de 5 tonnes2 épaississeurs de résidus à haut rendement

de 23 m OutotecsAv

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site, dont 13 conduisent de l’équipementlourd à Sabodala, « ce qui n’est pas considérénormal dans cette société et nous en sommestrès fiers », ajoute-t-il.

Selon Lanctot, les premières difficultésimportantes étaient de trouver des conduc-teurs de matériel lourd. Quand le projet deconstruction a débuté en 2007, des camions àbenne de 100 tonnes n’étaient pas chose com-mune dans l’ouest du Sénégal. « Pourplusieurs conducteurs, la plus grosse pièced’équipement jamais vue était un vélo », serappelle-t-il. « Nous devions les former et lesencadrer, mais surtout nous assurer qu’ils sontdes conducteurs sécuritaires. »

L’équipement lourd est fourni par Bia Over-seas, qui est un des sous-traitants importants

de Teranga et un pilier principal sur les sites miniersafricains (voir les détails du projet). Il y a 109 personnes àl’emploi de Bia sur le site : huit expatriés et 101 sénégalais.« [La mine d’or Sabodala] n’a qu’à conduire le matériel »,précise le porte-parole de Bia Overseas, Cedric Leturcq.« Nous nous occupons du reste : vérifications quotidiennes,entretien préventif, analyse d’usure, réparations et remisesen état. »

CRÉATION D’UNE INDUSTRIE NATIONALEDepuis les dix dernières années, le Sénégal a mis en

œuvre une politique active pour attirer des investissementsétrangers dans l’industrie minière et est généralement con-sidéré comme l’une des démocraties les plus ouvertes et lesplus stables de l’Afrique. Comme si ce n’était pas suffisant,le président actuel Macky Sall est un ingénieur géologue deprofession.

Le code minier du Sénégal favorable à l’industrie offredes congés d’impôt et des taux de redevances plus faibles.Ces incitatifs ont permis à Teranga de traverser des périodesde baisse de prix de l’or et d’augmentation des dépenses decapital d’immobilisations et ont permis à Teranga d’acquérirdes gisements satellites.

Par contre, Young affirme qu’il est temps pour Sabodalade contribuer davantage aux coffres du Sénégal : l’entreprisea volontairement augmenté le taux de redevances de troispour cent à cinq pour cent et ne cherchera pas à prolongerle congé d’impôt présentement en vigueur se terminant enmai 2015. Teranga tente de faciliter le développementéconomique dans l’est de la région de Kedougou où elleexerce ses activités, en construisant des routes d’accès et desinstallations d’approvisionnement en eau que les collectiv-ités environnantes peuvent utiliser.

« Vous devez aller là où se trouve la géologie, mais ilserait souhaitable de considérer les juridictions qui ont desantécédents et une réputation de démocratie et de stabilité,ouvertes à l’industrie minière et sécuritaires avec une main-d’œuvre qualifiée », dit Young. « Même si le Sénégal n’a pasnécessairement de main-d’œuvre qualifiée, il possède toutle reste. » ICM

INFRASTRUCTURES EN PLACESabodala est située sur la partie nord-ouest d’une cein-

ture massive de roches vertes, qui parcours le Mali, laGuinée, le Burkina Faso et le Ghana. Sabodala bénéficieégalement d’un lien direct avec la capitale sénégalaise et leport principal de Dakar par la route Transafricaine entière-ment pavée, qui s’étend de Dakar à Ndjamena au Tchad.Cette route se trouve à 100 kilomètres du site de Sabodalaet des routes pavées locales se trouvent à moins de 60 kilo-mètres, affirme Young, en ajoutant que « le système detransport est excellent. »

La mine a aussi accès à l’eau douce grâce à deux barragesde rétention conçus pour contenir conjointement 11 mil-lions de mètres cubes d’eau, ce qui est plus qu’il n’en fautpour faire fonctionner Sabodala. Teranga a aussi obtenu lesdroits d’accès à l’eau de la rivière avoisinante Faleme en casde pénuries éventuelles.

L’unique retard en matière d’infrastructures concernel’électricité. Sabodala n’est pas reliée au réseau électrique etdoit produire sa propre électricité avec une centrale aumazout lourd de 36 mégawatts, dont la capacité initiale de30 mégawatts a été augmentée lors de l’expansion dubroyeur. Une moyenne de 25 cents par kilowatt-heurereprésente un coût important « comparé à six cents auQuébec », observe Young. « De ce point de vue, ceci nousplace dans une position désavantageuse, mais nos infra-structures sont tout de même assez bonnes, particulière-ment pour un endroit éloigné comme le Sénégal. »

Le site offre l’hébergement à 940 des 1 200 des employésde la mine. Les sénégalais constituent 90 pour cent desemployés de Sabodala (l’autre 10 pour cent représente unemain-d’œuvre expatriée composée de 22 nationalités).Young affirme que l’entreprise a comme objectif d’em-baucher localement dans la mesure du possible. Les ouvri-ers moins spécialisés provenant des collectivitésenvironnantes sont transportés par autobus.

English dit que l’entreprise fait venir par bateau l’exper-tise hautement qualifiée depuis Dakar, tout en essayant demettre sur pied dans l’est du pays un corps local de tra-vailleurs spécialisés. La mine embauche 76 femmes sur le

October 2013 | 71

La mine Sabodala devrait produire entre 190 000et 210 000 onces d’or en 2013.

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TRAVELDakarBy Krystyna Lagowski

W elcome to Dakar, a city of one million stretched out along Senegal’s Cap-Vert Peninsula,where the traditional culture and colourful local garb meet urban life and sharply tai-lored suits. Here, French mixes with Wolof and other native dialects. And visitors will

soon discover that above all, it is the city of “teranga,” the traditional Senegalese term for hospitality.Dakar is the closest major centre to Teranga Gold’s Sabodala mine (p. 66) and just 150 kilometres fromTiZir’s Grande Côte mineral sands project.

The best hotelsline the waterfront inthe upscale FannCorniche neighbour-hood. These includethe Radisson Blu inthe embassy districtwhich is 13 kilome-tres from the airport.The hotel has accessto the beach and fea-tures an Olympic-sized pool, a poolside

www.radissonblu.com/hotel-dakarwww.terroubi.com

WHERE TO STAYbar and an under-ground shopping mall.Four kilometres fur-ther from the airport,the Terrou-bi Dakar isalso in the Fann Cor-niche and features aprivate beach. Thewaters off Dakar boastmarlin and sailfish,and the hotel conciergecan help you arrange aday out on the water.

La Fourchette (4 rue Parent) com-bines French, Asianand Mexican cuisine.Here, a sushi orsashimi starter canbe followed by achilli main. Mealsfrom $29 to $60

Toukouleur(122 rueMousséDiop)featuresample patioseating, dark redinterior and an open-plan kitchen, so youcan watch as disheslike carpaccio of thiof(white grouper) andshoulder of lamb withaubergine areprepared. Meals from$21 to $26.

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HOW TOGET THERE

Delta, SouthAfrican, Air Canada,KLM, United, andAir France fly toDakar from Canada,with one or morestops. The trip isbetween 14 hours to27 hours in length,and ranges fromabout $1,600 foreconomy to around$8,400 for first class.

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(101 rue MousséDiop) is a historicdowntown Dakareatery, where youfind local fare in

generous portions.Sample everything

from CapeVerdian toSenegaleseand other

Africandishes.

Meals from$4 to $15

Presse Café (at the corner of

Boulevard desMadeleines and rue Carnot) is a

Canadian-ownedcoffeehouse thatserves the tastes

of home.

WHERE TO DINE

10%gratuity

in a restaurant is considered

generous.

TIP

There are plenty ofgood dining optionsin the plateau neigh-bourhood, a 10-minute cab ride fromFann Corniche. Tra-ditional Senegalesefood takes advantageof abundant fish butalso offers many typesof meat stew, usuallyserved with rice orcouscous.

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Start by purchasing asmall phone and get alocal number to avoidexpensive charges.Use Wi-Fi and Skypewherever possible.Check with yourCanadian provider toget the best packagefor Africa.

Cash is king.However, credit cardsare accepted, andATMs usually work,although not always.Although the euro isthe most commonlyexchanged currency,you can exchangeboth Canadian andU.S. dollars. It is wisenot to take more than50,000 XOF (WestAfrican CFA francs –about C$100) out of

Discover Senegal’shistory at L’île deGorée, just a 30-minute ferry ridefrom Dakar. Here, thepace is slower andthe handsome streetsare lined with pastel-coloured colonialbuildings. La Maisondes Esclaves, one ofthe oldest buildingson the island, is amuseum thatrecounts the story ofthe notorious slave

t r a d ethat

WHERE TO EXPLORE

Some general tipsfor business communi-cation:

If you are handed abusiness card, study itfor a moment beforetucking it away.

the country. Ifcustoms officersthreaten to confiscateyour cash, simply askfor a minute to callyour friends at theCanadian Embassy.

At the airport, mostpeople must take ashuttle bus tocustoms. Lines can belong, especially if theplane is landing in theevening. Try to be laston the bus, so you canbe first out! Ensureyour customs form iscompleted.

The customs processis fast – you will beasked for anelectronic fingerprintof your right indexfinger, and yourphoto will be taken.

Pre-reserve a shuttleto the airport withyour hotel concierge.

The best way to getaround is by cab.Many are in need ofrepair but can still besafe. Use goodjudgement.

The cab ride from theairport to theRadisson Blu shouldnot be more than5,000 XOF, or aboutC$10. A trip intotown should be about2,000 to 3,000 XOF.

Avoid writing on youror someone else’sbusiness card.

Eye contact, especiallywith elders, can beseen as arrogant.

Business meetings arequite formal, especiallyat the outset.

The Senegalese arenon-confrontationaland may avoid anunpleasant topic foras long as possible.

Senegalese business-people may agree tounrealistic deadlinesin order to close adeal.

WHOTO CONTACT

haunts the island’spast. L’île de Gorée isdesignated aUNESCO World Heritage site andincludes “the Castle,”a fortress originallybuilt by the Dutch inthe 17th century. Thestunning BotanicalGardens, planted bythe French in 1667,and the Hostelleriedu Chevalier de Bouf-flers, a quaint hoteland restaurant namedafter the first Frenchgovernor of Senegalare both worth thevisit.

Arrive well ahead of the ferry

departure for L’île deGorée, as it fills up

quickly.

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GETTING AROUND

HOW TOFIT IN

CANADIAN EMBASSY Rue Galliéni x Amadou Cissé Dia, +221 (0)33 889 4700, [email protected]. EMBASSY Route des Almadies, +221 (0)33 879 4000, dakar.usembassy.govLÉOPOLD SÉDAR SENGHOR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT +221 (0)33 820 07 80, +221 (0)33 820 10 41CLINIQUE DU CAP HOSPITAL Avenue Pasteur BP 583, +221 (0)33 889 0202

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Although it is newto the region, CIM isramping up its work inWest Africa in supportof local efforts to builda strong and responsi-ble mining industry,and to create andstrengthen partner-ships between WestAfrican and Canadianmining professionals.

CIM’s first majorstep toward this goal,its Dakar branch, isnow up and running.Oumar Toguyeni, CIMDakar Branch presi-dent, said one of thebranch’s most important priorities is to promote and explainmining to key business people, communities and govern-ment leaders in Senegal. “In many parts of the world, thereis a misconception that mining companies do not care aboutthe environment, contribute very little to the local andcountry economy, and that [they] make super profits,” hesaid. Senegal has long been a producer of industrial miner-als, with production centring primarily on phosphate. Butgold exploration has picked up of late, and Senegal is nowhome to the Sabodala mine, which Teranga Gold commis-sioned in 2009 (p. 66). Iamgold’s Boto project is also indevelopment.

In early September, as its first formal event, the branchhosted a delegation of nearly 100 business people from Que-bec, headed by the provincial government’s Minister of Inter-national Relations and External Trade, Jean-François Lisée.This delegation also travelled to Burkina Faso and the IvoryCoast. The Dakar branch held a workshop on the particular-ities of the local mining industry, with an additional focus onenvironment and energy.

The trip also helped identify serious local business leadersfor future networking ventures. “One of the other opportuni-ties that we have,” said CIM executive director Jean Vavrek, “issupport to bring a delegation of leaders – probably five to 10– from West Africa to the Québec Mines conference in

Bien que ce soit nou-veau pour la région, l’ICMaccélère ses travaux enAfrique de l’Ouest poursoutenir les effortsdéployés au niveau localafin d’établir une industrieminière vigoureuse et res-ponsable et pour nouer etrenforcer des partenariatsentre les professionnels dusecteur minier de l’Afriquede l’Ouest et du Canada.

La première étapeimportante de l’ICM verscet objectif, soit la sectionde Dakar, est maintenantsur pied et opérationnelle.Oumar Toguyeni, prési-

dent de la section de Dakar de l’ICM, affirme qu’une des plus impor-tantes priorités de la section locale est de promouvoir et d’expliquer lesecteur minier aux décideurs clés du secteur des affaires, aux diffé-rentes communautés locales et aux dirigeants du gouvernement duSénégal. « Dans de nombreuses régions du monde, on croit à tort queles sociétés minières ne se soucient pas de l’environnement, contri-buent peu à l’économie locale et nationale et réalisent des bénéficesénormes », affirme-t-il. Le Sénégal est depuis longtemps un produc-teur de minerais industriels, centré essentiellement sur la productionde phosphate. L’exploration aurifère progresse toutefois depuis peu etle Sénégal abrite maintenant la mine Sabodala, mise en activée parTeranga Gold en 2009 (p. 69). Le projet Boto d’Iamgold est aussi endéveloppement.

Au début septembre, lors de sa première activité officielle, la sec-tion locale a organisé une rencontre avec près de 100 gens d’affairesdu Québec, en présence de M. Jean-François Lisée, Ministre des Rela-tions internationales et du Commerce extérieur. La délégation s’estaussi rendue au Burkina Faso et en Côte d’ Ivoire. La section de Dakara organisé un atelier au sujet des différentes particularités de l’indus-trie minière local, axé davantage sur l’environnement et l’énergie.

Ce voyage a permis de reconnaître des dirigeants d’entrepriseslocales responsables, ouvrant la porte aux occasions futures d’entre-prise commune. «  Une des autres possibilités qui s’offre à nous,affirme le chef de la direction de l’ICM, Jean Vavrek, est le soutien quenous donnerons à une délégation de cinq à dix dirigeants de

CIM ramps up activities in West AfricaDakar branch hosts events, looking to build local expertise in Senegal

by Herb Mathisen

ICM intensifie ses activités en Afrique de l’Ouest

La section de Dakar organise régulièrementdes événements pour développer une

expertise locale au Sénégal

par Herb Mathisen

From left, Carlos Rojas-Arbulu, embassy of Canada to Senegal, Mamoudou Diallo, director general ofSEMAFO Guinée, Elie Justin Ouédraogo, Burkina Faso Chamber of Mines president, and Jean Vavrek,CIM executive director at PDAC 2012 / Carlos Rojas-Arbulu, de l’ambassade du Canada au Senegal,Mamoudou Diallo, directeur general, SEMAFO Guinée, Elie Justin Ouédraogo, Président de la Chambredes Mines du Burkina Faso, et Jean Vavrek, directeur executive de l’ICM à PDAC 2012.

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Quebec City, in November,” adding the expenses are partiallyfunded by a federal government sponsorship program.“They’re typically business people that are either involved inthe mining industry or want to be and are near-ready,” heexplained. “They want to find other businesses that they canlearn from and partner with.” Delegates are looking to dojoint ventures, transfer intellectual property or become afranchisee, Vavrek said, adding they are also searching forsuppliers that provide service levels equal to those enjoyedby Canadians and Australians. CIM will also consider bring-ing delegations to Canada for the third annual Franco Minesevent at PDAC next February and for the CIM 2014 Conven-tion in Vancouver next May.

Additionally, the Dakar branch is seeking to develop localexpertise in Senegal. “Our branch has identified that wereally need to look at shaping programming, training andprocesses so that geologists, mining engineers and profes-sionals in West Africa can be recognized as Qualified Persons(QP) under National Instrument 43-101,” said Vavrek. “Nothaving access to QPs locally is adding a burden of costs anddelays process,” he explained. “Right now there is not an easyway for graduates and professionals coming out of WestAfrican universities to acquire some of the entry-level creden-tials [required] to build up with other experience to be rec-ognized as a QP.”

The branch is also organizing a late-November sympo-sium on mining, environment and agriculture. This is an areawhere CIM can leverage the mining industry’s wealth to assistlocal business development, Vavrek said. “The mining indus-try is interested in being a platform, as well as an incubator,for small- and medium-sized businesses, some involveddirectly in the operation and the supply [of mines],” he said.Land use has traditionally been a source of conflict betweensome farm land owners and the mining industry, addedVavrek. “So we’re trying to be a lot more intentional abouthow we develop that relationship.”

The Dakar branch has not been fully incorporated yet, butVavrek expects that to be completed later this fall. He said thelessons learned during the examination and development ofthe governance process will help CIM as it looks to growinternationally. “I think what we learn from that is going tohelp us accelerate [our efforts] in other branches in WestAfrica and even in formalizing some of the branches in LatinAmerica,” he said. CIM recently established a branch inLima, Peru and has a branch in Los Andes, Chile.

Toguyeni said the Dakar branch will help CIM in itsefforts to grow membership and increase the number ofbranches in West Africa. Ideally, said Vavrek, this work willculminate in the development of an International Francoph-one Mining Institute – or an African Francophone MiningInstitute – to be unveiled at the upcoming Francophoniesummit in Senegal in fall 2014. “We’ve got an objective: wewant CIM to grow,” said Vavrek. “We think we can bringleadership. At the end of the day, we think this is going to begood for Canada.” CIM

l’Afrique de l’Ouest, qui se rendra à Québec pour participer au congrèsQuébec Mines en novembre », ajoutant que les frais sont financés enpartie par un programme de commandite du gouvernement fédéral.«  Ce sont habituellement des gens d’affaires actifs dans l’industrieminière ou qui veulent en faire partie à court terme », explique-t-il. « Ilssouhaitent rencontrer d’autres entreprises pour profiter de leursconnaissances et aussi devenir associés.  » Les délégués cherchent àcréer des coentreprises, partager la propriété intellectuelle ou devenirfranchisé, souligne Vavrek, ajoutant qu’ils sont aussi à la recherche defournisseurs qui offrent des niveaux de service comparables à ceuxdonnés aux Canadiens et aux Australiens. L’ICM examine aussi la pos-sibilité d’inviter des délégations au Canada pour le troisième congrèsannuel Franco Mines à la PDAC en février et pour le Congrès de l’ICM2014 à Vancouver, en mai.

De plus, la section de Dakar cherche à développer une expertiselocale au Sénégal. « Selon notre section locale, il est devenu primordial defaçonner la programmation, la formation et les procédés afin que les géo-logues, les ingénieurs miniers et les professionnels d’Afrique de l’Ouestpuissent être reconnus comme des personnes qualifiées en vertu duNI  43-101 sur les informations relatives aux projets miniers », affirmeVavrek. « Ne pas avoir accès à du personnel qualifié augmente la chargedes coûts et retarde le processus », souligne-t-il. « Aujourd’hui, il n’est pasfacile pour les diplômés et les professionnels qui terminent leurs étudesdans les universités de l’Afrique de l’Ouest d’avoir accès aux compé-tences [exigées] de niveau d’entrée qui, jumelées à d’autres expériences,leur permettra d’être reconnus comme une personne qualifiée. »

À la fin novembre, la section locale organise également un sympo-sium sur l’industrie minière, l’environnement et l’agriculture. Voilà undomaine dans lequel l’ICM peut mettre à profit la santé financière de l’in-dustrie minière pour faciliter le développement d’entreprises locales,affirme Vavrek. « L’industrie minière est intéressée à être une plate-forme,ainsi qu’un incubateur pour les petites et moyennes entreprises, cer-taines participant directement à l’exploitation et à l’approvisionnementdes mines », affirme-t-il. Depuis toujours, l’utilisation du territoire a étéune source de conflit entre certains propriétaires de terres agricoles etl’industrie minière, ajoute Vavrek. « Nous prenons tous les moyens pourse concentrer davantage à établir des relations viables. »

La section de Dakar n’est pas encore entièrement intégrée, maisVavrek s’attend à ce qu’elle le soit d’ici la fin de l’automne. Les leçonstirées de l’examen et du développement du processus de gouvernance,aidera l’ICM durant son projet de croissance internationale, ajoute-t-il.« Ce que nous apprendrons de ce processus nous permettra d’intensi-fier nos efforts dans d’autres sections locales de l’Afrique de l’Ouest, etmême dans le processus de formalisation de certaines sections localesde l’Amérique latine », affirme-t-il. L’ICM a récemment établi une sectionlocale à Lima au Pérou et en possède une autre à Los Andes au Chili.

Toguyeni affirme que la section de Dakar aidera l’ICM à augmenterl’adhésion de nouveaux membres et à augmenter le nombre de sec-tions locales en Afrique de l’Ouest. Il serait souhaitable, dit Vavrek, quetout ce travail aboutisse à la création d’un institut minier francophoneou d’un institut minier franco-africain, qui serait dévoilé lors du pro-chain sommet francophone à l’automne 2014  au Sénégal. «  Nousavons un objectif : nous voulons que ICM poursuivre sa progression »,affirme Vavrek. « Nous croyons pouvoir faire preuve de leadership. Enfin de compte, ce projet sera bénéfique pour le Canada. » ICM

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Despite, and perhaps because of, CIM’s long history andposition as a major repository of mining knowledge, much ofthe organization’s vast technical paper archive sat stored awayin a basement in Westmount, Quebec. While it was possibleto order a paper, the process was slow and labour-intensive,requiring someone to go into the archive, find the document,scan it and send it off on a CD. However, CIM is now close toputting its entire technical paper archive online.

Serge Major, CIM’s director of finance and administration,said the project’s genesis goes back to a Council of Engineeringand Scientific Society Executives conference he attended in2004. The event’s keynote speaker said a typical engineerwould spend the equivalent of one day per week searching forresearch and reference documents. “When I heard that, I said,‘Wow, there’s something for CIM in there,’” he recalled. At thatpoint, the Institute only had online archives that dated back afew years, as conference proceeding papers and publicationshad only recently started to go online.

When Major returned from the conference, he began look-ing at how to put the remaining technical papers – found invarious publications and conference proceedings throughoutCIM’s 115-year history – online, within easy reach of mem-bers. Conference proceedings and publications documentsfrom roughly 2000 onward were already rendered electronically.

Malgré, ou peut-être en raison de la longue histoire de l’ICM et desa position en tant que principal référentiel de connaissances sur l’ex-ploitation minière, la plupart des vastes archives de documents tech-niques de l’organisation sont restées entreposées dans un sous-sol deWestmount, au Québec. Il était possible de commander un document,mais le procédé était lent et laborieux car quelqu’un devait consulterles archives, trouver le document, le scanner et l’expédier après l’avoirtransféré sur un CD. L’ICM est aujourd’hui en phase de mettre en lignel’intégralité de ses archives de documents techniques.

Serge Major, le directeur des finances et de l’administration del’ICM, explique que l’origine de ce projet remonte à la conférence duCouncil of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives (CESSE, leConseil des dirigeants de la société des ingénieurs et scientifiques) àlaquelle il avait participé en 2004. Le conférencier principal de cetévénement y expliquait qu’un ingénieur passe généralement unejournée par semaine à faire des recherches et à consulter des docu-ments de référence. « Lorsque j’ai entendu cela, je me suis dit quel’ICM avait matière à exploiter », se rappelle-t-il. À ce moment-là, lesarchives que l’Institut avait mises en ligne ne remontaient qu’àquelques années en arrière, car les comptes rendus et les publica-tions des conférences commençaient à peine à être disponibles surInternet.

À son retour de la conférence, M. Major a commencé à chercherle moyen de mettre en ligne le reste des documents techniques

College de Maisonneuve students, from front, Ariel Paradis, Guy Croteau and Laurent Bouthillier scan and entertechnical papers into CIM’s online archive. / Les étudiants du Collège de Maisonneuve, en première ligne ArielParadis, Guy Croteau et Laurent Bouthillier, qui scannent et saisissent les documents techniques dans les archives enligne de l’ICM.

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Knowledge at your fingertipsCIM puts 115 years of technical papers online

Les connaissances au bout des doigtsL’ICM met en ligne 115 années de documents techniques

by/par Herb Mathisen

Page 77: CIM Magazine October 2013

“We started very slowly by doing a survey of how manypapers we were looking at,” Major explained. “We estimatedthere were about 25,000 papers.” The digitization projectbegan in 2005 but was itself an onerous process, with onepart-time employee reading each document and manuallylisting and entering keywords.

Last June, however, CIM hired three archiving and docu-mentation technician students – Laurent Bouthillier, GuyCroteau and Ariel Paradis – from Montreal’s College deMaisonneuve to go through the troves of CIM publicationsand scan each of the technical papers using new characterrecognition and data inventory software, vastly speeding upthe electronic archiving process.

Lorent Dione, CIM web programmer, explained the newsoftware grabs the 100 most important terms from the docu-ment, along with names and locations, and registers them askeywords. These are added to the keywords chosen by theauthor. In addition to the newly archived material, every tech-nical paper already online and contained in conference pro-ceedings will also be run through the software to bring up theextra auto-generated keywords. The team succeeded in put-ting more than 7,000 documents online in just three months.

This project has not only accelerated the online archivingprocess but it will also make the user experience simpler. Anew search interface is scheduled to go live later this year tomake finding documents quicker and easier. Dione said thesoftware is more intuitive than the current version employedon the website. Users will notice a cleaner and more practicalsearch function that allows searches by author, presenter,publication, conference and keyword.

Major said he expects the entire archive, dating back to1898, to be available by the end of the year. CIM

(qu’il a trouvés dans diverscomptes rendus et publica-tions de conférences des 115années d’existence de l’ICM),permettant aux membres d’yavoir accès facilement. Lescomptes rendus et les publi-cations des conférencesdatant de 2000 et plus tardétaient déjà présentés sousforme électronique.

«  Nous avons tout douce-ment commencé à détermi-ner le nombre de documentsque nous avions à traiter  »,explique M.  Major. «  Noussommes arrivés à une estima-tion d’environ 25  000 docu-ments.  » Le projet denumérisation a débuté en2005, mais il s’agissait d’un pro-cédé coûteux auquel s’attelaitun employé à mi-temps qui

lisait chaque document, puis classait et saisissait manuellement lesmots-clés correspondants.

Mais l’ICM a embauché en juin l’année dernière trois étudiantstechniques spécialisés en documentation et archivage (Laurent Bou-thillier, Guy Croteau et Ariel Paradis) du Collège de Maisonneuve deMontréal, afin qu’ils se penchent sur les trésors de publications dontdisposait l’ICM et qu’ils scannent chaque document technique àl’aide des nouveaux logiciels de reconnaissance des caractères et derecensement des données, ce qui a considérablement accéléré leprocessus d’archivage.

Lorent Dione, programmeur-analyste web à l’ICM, explique quece nouveau logiciel sélectionne les 100 termes les plus importantsdu document ainsi que les noms et lieux, et les marque commemots-clés. Ils sont ensuite ajoutés aux mots-clés choisis par l’auteur.En plus de ces nouveaux documents archivés, chaque documenttechnique déjà en ligne et apparaissant dans les comptes rendusde conférences sera traité par le logiciel afin d’y ajouter les mots-clés supplémentaires générés automatiquement. En seulementtrois mois, l’équipe est parvenue à mettre en ligne plus de 7  000documents.

Ce projet a non seulement accéléré le processus d’archivage, maisil facilitera considérablement la tâche de l’utilisateur. Une nouvelleinterface de recherche est prévue pour cette année, afin de rendre larecherche de documents plus rapide et plus simple. M.  Dioneexplique que le logiciel est plus intuitif que la version actuellementutilisée sur le site Internet. Les utilisateurs disposeront désormaisd’une fonction de recherche plus simple et plus pratique qui leur per-mettra d’effectuer des recherches par auteur, participant, publication,conférence et mot-clé.

D’après M. Major, l’intégralité des documents techniques, quiremontent à 1898, seront archivés et disponibles d’ici la fin del’année. ICM

October 2013 | 77

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Going back into the past proved fascinating.For instance, Guy Croteau watched thesophisticated machines in the 1970s fromIngersoll Rand, which advertised in most issuesof the CIM Bulletin, become basic drills andjack hammers as the archiving moved towardthe start of the century. “I was amazed by theregularity of the ads over so many years and tosee the change in machinery as well,” he said.Croteau also came across an ad fromMontreal’s glamorous Ritz-Carlton Hotel,boasting a single room with bath rate startingat $3. The year? 1916. / Revenir en arrière aété une expérience fascinante. « J’étaisstupéfait de la régularité des annonces surautant d’années et aussi de l’évolution del’équipement », déclare-t-il. Guy Croteau estaussi tombé sur une publicité du trèssomptueux hôtel Ritz-Carlton Montréal, quiproposait des chambres individuelles avecsalle de bains à un tarif commençant à 3 $.L’année ? 1916.

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When Garth Kirkham attendeda performance at his daughter’sjunior high school recently, stu-dents onstage, dressed up in hardhats and holding pickaxes, por-trayed miners in a negative anddestructive light. The spectaclereminded him of the work theindustry must do to improve itspublic image.

Named CIM’s incoming presi-dent-elect by council in July,Kirkham hopes to influence peo-ple’s views on mining by explaininghow the modern world requiresmineral resources to function, andhow the job of geoscientists, min-ers and engineers is to locate,extract and produce thoseresources in a responsible manner.“Historically, standards and bestpractices have been poor,” the Van-couver resident concedes. “Our mission at CIM is tobring those standards up to the highest level, and to com-municate what we’re doing.”

Kirkham will serve as president in 2015-16 and hewill focus on promoting best practices and bringingCIM’s standards and definitions to the forefront. “CIM isthe go-to resource for those kinds of things, serving boththe industry and the public,” he says. Best practices,Kirkham adds, are always a work in progress: “Situationschange so better practices evolve.” A case in point is howlower prices for commodities have resulted in companieswriting down huge assets. A CIM subcommittee is nowexamining how companies can improve their cost report-ing and make the process more transparent for the publicand government.

“There’s an expectation from government that a minewill make billions of dollars, but they don’t take operat-ing costs into account,” says Kirkham. Mining companiesare in the business of mining, but they must also makesome profit. For this reason, Kirkham says the sector

Garth Kirkham namedincoming president-electCIM’s 2015-16 president wants organization to become the world’s go-to standards resource

by Krystyna Lagowski

Lors d’une représentation auquelGarth  Kirkham a assisté dernièrement àl’école secondaire de premier cycle de safille, les élèves sur scène, armés de casquesde protection et de pioches, présentaientles mineurs d’une façon bien négative etdestructrice. Ce spectacle lui a rappelécombien ce secteur doit œuvrer à amélio-rer son image auprès du public.

M. Kirkham, qui a été nommé présidentélu entrant de l’ICM par le Conseil en juilletdernier, espère pouvoir influencer la visionqu’ont les gens de l’exploitation minière enleur expliquant que le monde a aujour-d’hui besoin de ressources minérales pourfonctionner, et que le travail des géoscien-tifiques, des mineurs et des ingénieursconsiste à localiser, extraire et produire cesressources de manière responsable. «  His-toriquement parlant, on constate que lesnormes et meilleures pratiques ont étérelativement médiocres », reconnaît le rési-

dant de Vancouver. «  Notre mission à l’ICM est de revaloriser cesnormes et de communiquer en quoi consistent nos activités. »

M.  Kirkham assumera la fonction de président pour la période2015-2016 et s’attellera à promouvoir les pratiques exemplaires ainsiqu’à mettre au premier plan les normes et définitions de l’ICM. « L’ICMest la ressource par excellence pour ce genre de choses, au service del’industrie et du public. » Les meilleures pratiques, ajoute-t-il, sont tou-jours un travail inachevé. « Les situations changent, aussi les meilleurespratiques évoluent.  » En l’occurrence, la dépréciation des marchan-dises a entraîné une dévalorisation conséquente des actifs des entre-prises. Un sous-comité de l’ICM étudie maintenant la façon dont lesentreprises peuvent améliorer leur déclaration des coûts et rendre leprocessus encore plus transparent pour le public et le gouvernement.

« Le gouvernement s’attend à ce qu’une mine génère des milliardsde dollars, mais il ne tient pas compte des coûts d’exploitation  »,explique M. Kirkham. Certes, les sociétés minières se consacrent auxactivités minières, mais elles doivent aussi en tirer un certain profit.Ainsi, M. Kirkham explique que le secteur doit continuer à développerdes méthodes d’exploitation durables, du point de vue environne-mental autant qu’économique.

Garth Kirkham nomméprésident élu entrant

Le président de l’ICM pour 2015-2016souhaite que l’organisation devienne la

ressource mondiale de prédilection en matière de normes

Par Krystyna Lagowski

Vancouver-based geoscientist Garth Kirkham is CIM’s incomingpresident-elect. He hopes to bring CIM’s expertise onstandards and definitions to the forefront during his 2015-16term. / Le géoscientifique de Vancouver Garth Kirkham est leprésident élu entrant de l’ICM. Il espère mettre en valeurl’expertise de l’ICM sur les normes et les définitions pendantson mandat en 2015-2016.

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needs to continue to develop ways of operating in a sus-tainable manner, both from an environmental and eco-nomic point of view.

Geoscience mattersA geoscientist with nearly 30 years of experience,

Kirkham believes his peers are often under-represented inprofessional organizations such as CIM. He stresses thatgeoscientists must understand the issues that engineersface and vice versa. To this end, he has been working withcolleagues to add more geology content to the CIM Con-vention technical program in order to provide moreopportunities for cross-pollination.

“I served for a number of years on CIM Council, so I’mvery familiar with how CIM works, and that’s how I canhelp go forward as president,” he said. Kirkham wants tocontinue pushing efforts on best practices, building CIM’sreputation as the preeminent organization for resources andinformation. In addition to his work with CIM, Kirkham isalso an active member of the Association of ProfessionalEngineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia.

New worldIncumbent CIM president Bob Schafer describes

Kirkham as someone who is not afraid of taking on diffi-cult projects or getting involved in tricky situations. “Asan entrepreneurial consultant, he’s self-reliant and willingto work through tough tasks,” Schafer says. “And as ageologist, he’s very conversant in a variety of commoditiesand geologic environments.”

Kirkham’s skills do not end there. “Garth has insightsand ideas that he’s not afraid to put forward,” says JeanVavrek, CIM executive director. “He’s courageous, for-ward-looking and asks the right questions. Garth is verygenerous with his time and knowledge, and in manyways, I think he exemplifies what CIM is all about interms of fellowship.”

Vavrek appreciates that Kirkham is involved in variousgeological societies and that he has governance experiencein other associations. “CIM needs different points of viewas well as expertise in governance,” he says. “We’re alsolooking for leadership in our work on reporting standards,and Garth’s background in defining resource reserves, andas a board member of mining and exploration companies,fits our strategic direction.” Specifically, Vavrek points toconsultation work being done by securities administra-tions and provincial securities commissions aroundNational Instrument 43-101, for which CIM provides def-inition guidance on various commodities.

Kirkham sees the industry in a state of flux and believesthat by the time he becomes president in 2015, the organ-ization will have to be nimble, offering value in everythingit does. He admits that his approach is very direct: “As vol-unteers, we all have day jobs, and I want to make sure thatthe time people spend volunteering is respected.” CIM

La géoscience compteGéoscientifique depuis près de 30 ans, M. Kirkham est d’avis que ces

pairs sont souvent sous-représentés dans les organisations profession-nelles telles que l’ICM. Il insiste sur le fait que les géoscientifiques doi-vent comprendre les problèmes auxquels sont confrontés lesingénieurs, et vice-versa. Ainsi, il s’est efforcé avec l’aide de ses col-lègues d’ajouter davantage de contenu géologique au programmetechnique du Congrès de l’ICM afin de multiplier les possibilités de pol-linisation croisée.

«  J’ai siégé au Conseil de l’ICM pendant de nombreuses années,aussi je connais bien le fonctionnement de cette organisation et c’estla raison pour laquelle je pourrais l’aider à progresser durant mon man-dat de président », déclare-t-il. M. Kirkham souhaite continuer à renfor-cer les efforts sur les meilleures pratiques et à forger la réputation del’ICM en tant qu’organisation prééminente pour les ressources et lesinformations. Outre son travail avec l’ICM, M.  Kirkham est égalementmembre actif de l’Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscien-tists of British Columbia (APEGBC, l’association des ingénieurs et géos-cientifiques professionnels de Colombie-Britannique).

Un nouveau mondeBob Schafer, le président sortant de l’ICM, décrit M. Kirkham comme

quelqu’un qui n’a pas peur d’accepter des projets difficiles ou de s’im-pliquer dans des situations délicates. « En tant que conseiller en entre-preneuriat, il est autonome et prêt à travailler sur des tâchescomplexes », déclare M. Schafer. « Et en tant que géologue, il connaîtbien tout un éventail de marchandises et d’environnements géolo-giques. »

Mais les qualifications de M. Kirkham ne s’arrêtent pas là. « Garth ades intuitions et des idées qu’il n’hésite pas à exposer  », déclareJean Vavrek, directeur exécutif de l’ICM. « Il est courageux, tourné versl’avenir et pose les bonnes questions. Garth est toujours prêt à partagerson temps et ses connaissances et il est l’exemple même, à bien deségards, de ce que l’ICM représente en termes d’association. »

M. Vavrek apprécie beaucoup que M. Kirkham soit affilié à diversessociétés et qu’il ait de l’expérience dans la gouvernance d’autres asso-ciations. « L’ICM a besoin de points de vue différents ainsi que d’uneexpertise en matière de gouvernance », explique-t-il. « Un certain lea-dership est également nécessaire pour nos travaux sur les normes derapport, aussi l’expérience de Garth dans la définition des réserves deressources et en tant que membre du Conseil dans des sociétés d’ex-ploitation et d’exploration minières correspond tout à fait à notreorientation stratégique.  » Plus spécifiquement, M.  Vavrek évoque lestravaux de consultation menés par les commissions des titres du mar-ché, des administrations des valeurs mobilières et des valeurs mobi-lières provinciales entourant l’instrument national NI 43-101 pourlequel l’ICM fournit son aide au titre de la définition de diverses mar-chandises.

M.  Kirkham envisage l’industrie comme un milieu en constanteévolution et est d’avis qu’au moment où il commencera son mandat,en 2015, l’organisation devra faire preuve d’une grande vivacité etoffrir de la valeur dans tout ce qu’elle propose. Il reconnaît que cetteapproche est très directe : « En tant que volontaires, nous avons tous unemploi, et je souhaite m’assurer que le temps consacré par chacund’entre nous à l’organisation est respecté. » ICM

Page 80: CIM Magazine October 2013

Certification in Ore Reserve Risk and Strategic Mine Planning OptimizationSpread over a period of four months, this four-week course is designed for busy mining professionals who wish to update their skills and knowledge base inmodern modelling techniques for ore bodies and new risk-based optimization methodologies for strategic mine planning. Gain practical experience by applying thefollowing hands-on concepts and technical methods: methods for modelling ore bodies; stochastic simulations, case studies and models of geological uncertainty;and demand-driven production scheduling and geological risk.INSTRUCTOR Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada • DATES Week 1: May 5-9, Week 2: June 2-6, Week 3: July 7-11, Week 4: August 25-28,2014 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada • INFO http://www.mcgill.ca/continuingstudies/programs-and-courses/engineering-0/certification-ore-reserve-risk-and-mine-planning-optimization

An Introduction to Cutoff Grade: Theory and Practice in Open Pit and Underground Mines (with a new section on blending optimization strategy)Cutoff grades are essential in determining the economic feasibility and mine life of a project. Learn how to solve most cutoff grade estimation problems bydeveloping techniques and graphical analytical methods, about the relationship between cutoff grades and the design of pushbacks in open pit mines, and theoptimization of block sizes in caving methods.INSTRUCTOR Jean-Michel Rendu, USA • DATE September 3-5, 2014 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Geostatistical Mineral Resource Estimation and Meeting the New Regulatory Environment: Step by Step from Sampling to Grade ControlLearn about the latest regulations on public reporting of resources/reserves through state-of-the-art statistical and geostatistical techniques; how to applygeostatistics to predict dilution and adapt reserve estimates to that predicted dilution; how geostatistics can help you categorize your resources in an objectivemanner; and how to understand principles of NI 43-101 and the SME Guide.INSTRUCTORS Marcelo Godoy, Golder Associates, Chile; and Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada • DATE September 8-12, 2014 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Quantitative Mineral Resource Assessments: An Integrated Approach to Planning for Exploration Risk ReductionLearn about exploration risk analysis for strategic planning. Understand how to demonstrate how operational mineral deposit models can reduce uncertainties;make estimates of the number of undiscovered deposits; and integrate the information and examine the economic possibilities.INSTRUCTOR Don Singer, USA • DATE September 29-October 1, 2014 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Strategic Risk Management in Mine Design: From Life-of-Mine to Global OptimizationLearn how you can have a significant, positive impact on your company’s bottom line by utilizing strategic mine planning methodologies and software; improveyour understanding of strategic mine planning and life-of-mine optimization concepts, as well as your understanding of the relationship of uncertainty and risk,and how to exploit uncertainty in order to maximize profitability. Note: The strategic mine planning software used is Whittle. An optional half-day skills refresherworkshop on Whittle may be available.INSTRUCTORS Tarrant Elkington, Snowden, Australia; and Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada • DATE October 2014 • LOCATION Montreal,Quebec, Canada

Page 81: CIM Magazine October 2013

Evolution of gold gravity recovery in grinding circuits – a critical reviewS. Koppalkar, MET-CHEM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; A. Bouajila, G Mining Services Inc., Brossard, Quebec, Canada; and C. Gagnon and S. Makni,COREM, Quebec, Quebec, Canada

ABSTRACT This paper briefly reviews the gravity recoverybetween conventional and centrifugal gravity separators.The advantages of semicontinuous gravity separators is dis-cussed, as will techniques for upgrading the gravityconcentrates. The research efforts in optimizing semicontin-uous gravity separators will be recalled. An innovativegravity circuit for eliminating or minimizing the use of com-plex processing schemes will be reviewed. Efforts to devisepossible remedies for improving plant gravity recovery willbe discussed.

RÉSUMÉ Le présent article revoie la récupération par gravité aumoyen de séparateurs conventionnels et centrifuges. L’avantagedes séparateurs gravimétriques en semi-continu est traité, de mêmeque les techniques pour valoriser les concentrés obtenus par grav-ité. Les efforts de recherche pour optimiser les séparateursgravimétriques en semi-continu sont examinés de nouveau. Un cir-cuit par gravité innovateur pour éliminer ou minimiser l’utilisationde schémas complexes de traitement est étudié. La recherche pourtrouver des solutions possibles afin d’améliorer la récupération pargravité dans les usines est abordée.

October 2013 | 81

Excerpts taken from abstracts in CIM Journal, Vol. 4, No. 3.To subscribe, to submit a paper or to be a peer reviewer—www.cim.org

T E C H N I C A L A B S T R AC T S

CIM journal

Pilot plant pressure oxidation of a refractory gold-silver concentrateM. J. Collins, D. Yuan, I. M. Masters, and R. Kalanchey, Sherritt Technologies, Sherritt International Corporation, Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta,Canada; and L. Yan, Sherritt International Corporation, Beijing Representative Office, Beijing, P. R. China

ABSTRACT Pressure oxidation tests have been conducted bySherritt for a refractory gold-silver project in China. The feedcontained 39 g/t Au and 970 g/t Ag; the major gold-bearingminerals were pyrite and arsenopyrite. Because the feed con-tained a significant amount of silver, the test programincluded investigation of methods to enhance silver recovery.The “lime boil” process proved successful and was incorpo-rated into the flowsheet. Gold extraction from the lime boilproduct solids was 95%-98%; silver extraction was up to94%.

RÉSUMÉ Sherritt a effectué des essais d’oxydation sous pressiondans le cadre d’un projet de minerai or-argent réfractaire, en Chine.L’alimentation comportait 39 g/t Au et 970 g/t Ag; les principauxminerais aurifères étaient la pyrite et l’arsénopyrite. Comme l’alimen-tation comportait une quantité importante d’argent, le programmed’essai comprenait l’investigation de méthodes pour rehausser larécupération de l’argent. Le processus de « bouillir dans une solutionde chaux  » s’est avéré une réussite et il a été incorporé dans leschéma de production. L’extraction de l’or à partir des solides pro-duits par l’ébullition dans une solution de chaux a atteint 95-98 % etl’extraction de l’argent a atteint 94 %.

Page 82: CIM Magazine October 2013

Excerpts taken from abstracts in CMQ, Vol. 53, No. 3.To subscribe – www.cmq-online.ca

T E C H N I C A L A B S T R AC T S

canadian metallurgical quarterly

82 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

Leaching of lanthanides from various weathered elution deposited oresG. A. Moldoveanu and V. G. Papangelakis, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario,Canada

Mineralogical characterisation using QEMSCAN of the Nechalacho heavy rare earth metal deposit, Northwest Territo-ries, CanadaT. Grammatikopoulos, SGS Canada Inc, Advanced Mineralogy Facility, Lakefield, Ontario, Canada; W. Mercer, Avalon Rare Metals Inc., Toronto,Ontario, Canada; and C. Gunning, SGS Canada Inc., Advanced Mineralogy Facility, Lakefield, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT The Nechalacho rare metal deposit, located in theNorthwest Territories, Canada, is currently being takenthrough a feasibility study by Avalon Rare Metals Inc. QEM-SCAN analysis, coupled with supplementary mineralchemistry, and major and trace element analyses, wereutilised to identify and quantify the mineralogy of thedeposit, and determine REE distribution among the miner-als. Geologically, the analysis illustrates distinct styles ofREE-Zr mineralization. Fergusonite and zircon are the pri-mary HREE, whereas monazite, allanite, synchysite andbastnaesite the LREE carriers, and identification of fergu-sonite poor and rich zones. Metallurgically, the QEMSCANanalysis quantifies the liberation of the REE, which is ade-quate for mineral beneficiation at a K80 below 75 m, andpredicts a range of REE grades and recoveries that can becompared to the actual metallurgical values.

RÉSUMÉ Avalon Rare Metals Inc. est présentement en train d’ef-fectuer une étude de faisabilité du dépôt de métal rare deNechalacho, situé dans les Territoires du Nord-Ouest, au Canada, aumoyen de l’analyse de QEMSCAN, couplée à la chimie minérale sup-plémentaire et à des analyses des principaux éléments et desoligo-éléments. Ces analyses sont utilisées pour identifier et quanti-fier la minéralogie du dépôt et pour déterminer la distribution d’ETRdes minéraux. Géologiquement, l’analyse illustre des styles distinctsde minéralisation d’ETR-Zr, la dominance de la fergusonite et du zir-con comme ETR primaires lourds, et de la monazite, de l’allanite, dela synchysite et de la bastnaésite comme porteurs d’ETR légers, ainsique l’identification de zones pauvres ou riches en fergusonite. Dupoint de vue de la métallurgie, l’analyse de QEMSCAN quantifie lalibération d’ETR adéquate pour l’enrichissement minéral à un K80au-dessous de 75 m et prédit une gamme de qualités et derécupérations d’ETR qui peuvent être comparées aux valeurs métal-lurgiques actuelles.

ABSTRACT Lanthanides adsorbed on clay minerals were eas-ily recovered by ion exchange leaching with inorganicmonovalent salt solutions under ambient conditions. Theleaching efficiency (as per cent extraction) of various salts at0·5M and 25°C was investigated as a function of cation typeand salt system (sulphates versus chlorides). The selectedlixiviant concentration was based on a 3:1 stoichiometricratio between total lanthanide content and the exchangecation. Leaching efficiency decreased in the orderCs+>NH4

+>Na+>Li+, from 90% to 60% respectively, withsulphates exhibiting 10% higher extraction than chlorides;differences in lanthanide desorption were explained in termsof differences in cation hydration energies. (NH4)2SO4 wasidentified as the optimum lixiviant and a procedure wasestablished to investigate the influence of temperature, pHand agitation on desorption kinetics and lanthanide extrac-tion levels. It was determined that maximum extractionrequired a pH level below 5 and moderate temperatures(<50°C).

RÉSUMÉ Les lanthanides adsorbés sur les minéraux d’argile ont étéfacilement récupérés par lessivage à échange d’ion avec des solu-tions de sel monovalent inorganique, en conditions ambiantes. Ona examiné le rendement du lessivage (pourcentage d’extraction) desels variés, à 0·5M et 25°C, en fonction du type de cation et du sys-tème de sel (sulfates ou chlorures). La concentration choisie delixiviant était basée sur un rapport stœchiométrique de 3:1 entre lateneur totale en lanthanide et le cation d’échange. Le rendementdu lessivage diminuait dans l’ordre de Cs+>NH4

+>Na+>Li+, de 90%à 60%, respectivement, les sulfates exhibant une extraction envi-ron 10% plus élevée que celle des chlorures; on expliquait ladifférence dans la désorption de lanthanide en termes de différenced’énergie d’hydratation du cation. On a identifié (NH4)2SO4 commelixiviant optimal et l’on a établi une procédure d’étude de l’influencede la température, du pH et de l’agitation sur la cinétique de désorp-tion et sur les niveaux d’extraction de lanthanide. On a déterminéque l’extraction maximale nécessitait un pH au-dessous de 5 et destempératures modérées (<50°C).

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T E C H N I C A L A B S T R AC T S

canadian metallurgical quarterly

Surface characterisation of fergusoniteK. W. Malas, A. Jordens, M. Mirnezami, P. Chu, R. Gauvin, and K. E. Waters, Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University,Montreal, Quebec, Canada

ABSTRACT There is currently very little information on thephysicochemical properties of rare earth element bearingminerals, or on their processing. With the increasing demandfor rare earths, this is something that needs to be addressed.This paper introduces some surface chemistry analysis of fer-gusonite (YNbO4) and the bubble particle attachment.

RÉSUMÉ Il y a présentement très peu d’information concernant lespropriétés physico-chimiques des minéraux porteurs d’élément deterre rare, ou de leur traitement. Avec l’augmentation de la demandedes terres rares, on a besoin d’examiner cette question. Cet articleintroduit une certaine analyse de la chimie de surface de la fergu-sonite (YNbO4) et de l’attachement de bulle-particule.

Prediction of hydrogen chloride pressure to avoid hydrolysis in dehydration of dysprosium trichloride hexahydrate(DyCl3.6H2O)W. Judge and G. J. Kipouros, Materials Engineering, Process Engineering and Applied Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

ABSTRACT The prevalent metal extraction processes for mostreactive metals and their alloys are fused salt electrolysis andmetallothermic reduction. An estimation and predictionmodel is presented for the vapour pressures of reactive metalchloride hydrates in an attempt to deduce the conditionsnecessary for dehydration to proceed without hydrolysis.Thermodynamic data including heat capacities, standardentropies, and standard enthalpies are estimated/predictedfor all conceivable intermediate hydrate compounds. Esti-mations are based on published data as well as trends provenin similar systems. The thermodynamic estimations and pre-dictions are presented for dysprosium chloride hydrates.

RÉSUMÉ Les procédés courants d’extraction de métal des métauxles plus réactifs et de leurs alliages sont l’électrolyse en bain de selfondu et la réduction métallo-thermique. On a estimé ou prédit lesdonnées thermodynamiques incluant les capacités calorifiques, lesentropies standards et les enthalpies standards de tous les com-posés hydrates intermédiaires concevables. Les estimations sontbasées sur les données publiées ainsi que sur les tendances démon-trées dans des systèmes similaires. On présente les estimations et lesprédictions thermodynamiques des hydrates de dysprosiumchlorure.

Conductivity enhancement of yttria doped ceria by spark plasma and AC-assisted sintering methodsB. Pesic, F. Battick, and K. S. Raja, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT CeO2 doped with lower valence cations, such asY3+, Sm3+, Gd3+, etc., is considered as electrolyte material forlow temperature solid oxide fuel cells. Doping introducesadditional oxygen vacancies and improves ionic conductiv-ity. This work describes the preparation of yttria calciadoped ceria precursor material, its sintering in DC and ACfield methods, and characterisation of sintered electrolyteswith respect to the ionic conductivity. It was found that theapplied field during sintering, either via pulsed DC (sparkplasma), or AC, produced marginal effects on yttria dopedceria microstructure. However, it should be noted thatbecause the sintering conditions were not optimised there isroom for substantial conductivity improvements.

RÉSUMÉ On considère le CeO2 dopé avec des cations à valenceplus faible, comme le Y3+, le Sm3+, le Gd3+, etc., comme matériauélectrolyte pour les piles à combustible d’oxyde solide à basse tem-pérature. Le dopage introduit des lacunes additionnelles d’oxygèneet améliore la conductivité ionique. Ce travail décrit la préparationde matériau précurseur d’oxyde cérique dopé à l’oxyde d’yttrium-calcia, son frittage par des méthodes de champ CD et CA et lacaractérisation des électrolytes frittés par rapport à la conductivitéionique. On a trouvé que le champ appliqué lors du frittage, soit parCD à impulsion (plasma à étincelles) ou par CA, produisait des effetsmarginaux sur la microstructure de l’oxyde cérique dopé à l’oxyded’yttrium. Cependant, on doit noter que parce que les conditions defrittage n’étaient pas optimisées, il y a place pour des améliorationssubstantielles de la conductivité.

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T E C H N I C A L A B S T R AC T S

canadian metallurgical quarterly

84 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

Effects of La addition on microstructure and mechanical properties of SN-58BI solders joints with OSP padsY. Y. Shiue and T. H. Chuang, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

ABSTRACT Rapid whisker growth was significantly alleviatedin a Sn 58Bi alloy doped with 0·5 wt-% La. Experimentalresults showed that many thin, plate form intermetallicphases appeared in the solder matrix. The absence of tinwhiskers was correlated to the shape effect of RE containingintermetallic plates. After reflowing, Cu6Sn5 intermetalliccompounds appeared at the solder/pad interfaces of Sn 58Biand Sn 58Bi 0·5La packages with OSP pads, which grow lin-early during the aging at 75 and 100°C for various timesranging from 100 to 1000 h. In addition, the interfacial inter-metallics layers in Sn 58Bi 0·5La solder joints were alsoobserved thinner than those in undoped Sn 58Bi joints.However, RE containing interfacial intermetallic compoundsin Sn 58Bi 0·5La solder joints led to lower bonding strengthsin both ball shear tests (0·4 mm s−1) and high speed ballshear tests (2000 mm s−1). All the reflowed and aged solderjoints of both packages were ruptured through the solderballs indicating brittle characteristic.

RÉSUMÉ On a réduit significativement la croissance rapide de barbedans un alliage de Sn-58Bi dopé avec 0·5% en poids de La. Les résul-tats expérimentaux ont montré que plusieurs phasesintermétalliques fines en forme de plaque apparaissaient dans lamatrice du métal d’apport. On a corrélé l’absence de barbes d’étainaux effets de la forme des plaques intermétalliques contenant de laterre rare. Après la refusion, les composés intermétalliques de Cu6Sn5apparaissaient à l’interface du métal d’apport et des pastilles despaquets de Sn-58Bi et de Sn-58Bi-0·5La avec pastilles d’OSP, lesquelss’accroissent linéairement lors du vieillissement à 75 et à 100°C pourdes durées variées allant de 100 à 1000 heures. De plus, on a observéque les couches intermétalliques de l’interface dans les joints à bra-sure tendre de Sn-58Bi-0·5La étaient plus minces que celles des jointsnon dopés de Sn-58Bi. Cependant, les composés intermétalliques del’interface contenant de la terre rare dans les joints à brasure tendrede Sn-58Bi-0·5La menaient à des résistances de cohésion plus faiblestant dans les épreuves de cisaillement de bille (0·4 mm s-1) que dansles épreuves de cisaillement de bille à haute vitesse (2000 mm s-1).Tous les joints à brasure tendre avec refusion et vieillissement desdeux paquets se fracturaient à travers les billes de soudure, indiquantune caractéristique fragile.

Thermodynamic modelling of Mn-Y and Mn-Gd systems for application of RE in Mg alloy developmentJ. Kim and I.-H., Jung, Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

ABSTRACT Mg alloys are extensively used as light structuralmaterials in the modern industry. Mn and RE metals areeffectively used as alloying elements to enhance the proper-ties of Mg alloys. Therefore, the thermodynamic database ofthose alloys is important in the design and processing of Mgalloys. Critical evaluation and optimisation of all availableliterature data for the Mn-Y and Mn-Gd systems were con-ducted to obtain reliable thermodynamic functions of allsolid and liquid phases. Recent experimental data weretaken into account and the phase diagram and thermody-namic properties were slightly revised for the Mn-Y systemand considerably altered for the Mn-Gd one from previousstudies. Both systems have quite similar thermodynamicproperties and phase diagrams. The systematic trendobserved in RE elements for Mn-RE systems is discussed.

RÉSUMÉ On fait un usage considérable des alliages de Mg commematériaux de construction légers dans l’industrie moderne. Le Mn etles métaux de TR sont utilisés effectivement comme éléments d’al-liage pour améliorer les propriétés des alliages de Mg. Parconséquent, les bases de données thermodynamiques de cesalliages sont importantes dans la conception et le traitement desalliages de Mg. On a effectué une évaluation critique et l’optimisa-tion de toutes les données disponibles dans la littérature pour lessystèmes Mn-Y et Mn-Gd afin d’obtenir des fonctions thermody-namiques fiables de toutes les phases solides et liquides. On a prisen compte des données expérimentales récentes et l’on a révisélégèrement le diagramme de phases et les propriétés thermody-namiques du système Mn-Y et l’on a modifié considérablementcelui du Mn-Gd provenant d’études antécédentes. Les deux sys-tèmes ont des propriétés thermodynamiques et des diagrammesde phases plutôt similaires. On discute de la tendance systématiqueobservée chez les éléments de terre rare des systèmes Mn-TR.

Page 85: CIM Magazine October 2013

October 2013 | 85

product file | ad index

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25 AMEC

3 Baldor Electric

45 BBA

15 Boart Longyear

IBC Cementation Canada Inc

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29 Endress+Hauser

23 Eriez Manufacturing Co.

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11 Hard-Line

18 Klohn Crippen Berger

27 Koppern

IFC L&H Industrial, Inc.

19 Lycopodium Minerals Canada Ltd.

37 Maptek

33 Martin Engineering

31 Metso Minerals Industries, Inc.

7 Outotec

16 PotashCorp

41 SEW-Eurodrive Co. of Canada

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17 Valard Construction Limited

21 Xstrata Technology Canada

85 Product file B.I.D. Canada

IN THE NEXT ISSUE

Cour

tesy

of B

HP B

illito

n

UPFRONTIRON ORE

From metallurgy to markets, we track the substantial changes underway.

FEATURE HEALTH AND SAFETY

Large- and small-scale mining are worlds apart, but is there a way Canadian companies

could help solve the age-old safety problems of their neighbours?

PROJECT PROFILE Ontario Graphite brings the Kearney mine back to life

TECHNOLOGYIn-pit crushing and conveying

Page 86: CIM Magazine October 2013

The image most of us have of the goldrush is of crude, unhygienic shacks,likely full of crude, unhygienic men.

The Klondike does not conjure up imagesof beautiful country homes surrounded byEnglish gardens full of peonies anddelphiniums. Yet this is the sight thatgreeted guests to the mountain home ofOtto and Kate Partridge, former Klon -dikers, who by all accounts were excellentgardeners, exceptional hosts, and utterlydevoted to each other.

Otto first came to North America in1874 at 19. Having already worked inshipping for five years, he travelled to SanFrancisco, from the Isle of Man, to workwith a schooner trading company at therequest of his brother. But with his brothernowhere to be found when he arrived, he joined the U.S. armyand served for three years before returning to England to collectan inheritance. It was then that Otto met and fell in love withKate. The couple settled in San Francisco, where the newlyweds,both interested in horticulture, ran a fruit farm.

But in 1897, news of the Klondike Gold Rush reachedthem, and the couple packed up their worldly belongings toventure North. Kate stayed behind, waiting for Otto to sendword that the tales of instant riches were true.

Otto’s interest wasn’t the placer deposits of Yukon butrather the transportation required to get there. He had heardabout the arduous journey into the Klondike and knew thatriver boats would be needed. This opportunity would let himput his shipping background to good use. Stashing $20,000 ina bale of oakum, a fibre used in shipbuilding, he boarded aship to Skagway, Alaska, crossed the Chilkoot Pass, and madehis way to Bennett Lake, where the journey to Dawson City bylake and river began.

At Bennett, Otto oversaw the construction of the gold rush’sfirst three stern-wheel steamboats: the Ora, the Flora and theNora. Launched in the summer of 1898, the ships were imme-diately indispensible, and for five full seasons remained thequickest and most reliable stern-wheelers shipping passengersand supplies into the Klondike.

Kate joined Otto later that summer and was one of the fewwomen to cross the Chilkoot Pass. The couple ran a sawmill onBennett Lake, supplying railroad ties for the railway being builtinto Yukon. Otto built the couple a houseboat, naming it Ben-My-Chree – Manx-Gaelic for “girl of my heart,” as a tribute to

86 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 8, No. 7

Kate. They lived on it for more than adecade, while Kate tended gardens on thelake shore. Together, they managed a lifeboth rustic and elegant, full of tea partiesand hunting trips into the bush.

When the railway was constructed, thePartridges shut down their mill. But in1911, Otto met a local prospector, StanleyMcLellan, who had found gold high upabove Tagish Lake. Otto helped finance amine, providing supplies in exchange for astake in the operation.

The Partridges moved their houseboatto the site to help set up McLellan’s mine.The ore was good but the venture, whichemployed around 60 workers, wouldhardly last one season. That October, anavalanche and rockslide ripped through

the site, burying the mine workings and killing several people,including McLellan and his wife, Anne.

The tragedy devastated the Partridges. But while they neverattempted to reopen the mine, they couldn’t bring themselves toleave the area. Not far away, at the southern tip of the lake, theybuilt a home, which Otto christened, once again, Ben- My-Chree.

There in a valley among the towering mountain peaks andglacier-fed streams, the Partridges returned to their first love:gardening. Together they nurtured two acres of formal gar-dens, including 40 varieties of flowers. Under their care,despite the harsh environment and short growing season, thegarden flourished.

In 1916, tourists began visiting the increasingly impressiveBen-My-Chree, and soon it was an essential stop on any north-ern tour. The Partridges hosted such dignitaries as PresidentTheodore Roosevelt, along with a throng of silent movie starsand other celebrities.

The gardens alone were worth the visit, but so too werethe Partridges, whose generous hospitality had becomefamous. Otto was an exceptional storyteller, and Kate enter-tained on her harmonium – the portable organ she had car-ried on her back over the Chilkoot Pass. They were alsogenerous with their homemade rhubarb wine. Winters werequiet, with outings on their dogsled to entertain them untilthe next summer.

This was their life for nearly 20 years. Both died in 1930 –Otto at 73 and, five months later, Kate at 77. Tours to theirfamous home continued, stopping only in 1956. The gardensof Ben-My-Chree now run wild. CIM

Ben-My-Chree: the life and times and romance of a mountain couple

by Correy Baldwin

Kate and Otto Partridge in their flower gardens atBen-My-Chree.

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Page 87: CIM Magazine October 2013
Page 88: CIM Magazine October 2013

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