cim magazine september/october 2010

d

MOREMINING

and product identity used herein, are trademarks of Caterpillar and may not be used without permission.

Meeting rising demand for minerals and metals is not just a matter of producing more. The real challenge is to deliver more tons, while improving safety, lowering costs and reducing environmental impact. It’s a balance; one that Caterpillar and your Cat® Dealer can help you achieve. With the industry’s broadest line of mining equipment, technology and services, we have solutions that are right for you.

Caterpillar and your Cat Dealer are there to help you succeed in mining more — more efficiently, more responsibly and more profitably.

To learn more contact your Cat Dealer or visit www.cat.com/mining

10:33:36 AM

CONTENTSCIM MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010 | SEPTEMBRE/OCTOBRE 2010

4 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 6

14

24

NEWS 12 Spotlight on Peru With large silver and gold deposits

and a free trade agreement in place, Peru is a country thatCanadian mining companies are looking at with interest foropportunities. by J. Borsato

14 Cenovus to investigate large bitumen depositin northeast Alberta Cenovus receives provincialgovernment approval to drill a test well on an untappedreservoir that could contain 900 million barrels of bitumen.by P. Caulfield

16 Caterpillar to produce line of mining shovelsCaterpillar is re-entering the shovel market with a lineup offive mining shovels aimed squarely at emerging markets inAsia. by P. Caulfield

18 Canadian entrepreneur looks to Utah oil sandsGlen Snarr of Earth Energy Resources sees the vast potentialin the oil sand reserves in Utah. by P. Diekmeyer

20 Directive 74 Imperial, Suncor and Syncrude receiveconditional approval for their management plans under anew provincial directive aimed at reducing tailings.by M. Eisner

22 Supply constraints Canada and Australia are eachfacing their own set of logistics and capacity challenges indealing with the global demand for coal. by J. Borsato

UPFRONT 24 Capacity building in the midst of a crisis Golder

Associates employees raise one million dollars to help fundAIDS/HIV projects for orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa. by H. Ednie

28 Cutting a niche in a tough market Bucyrus International’slongwall automated plow system is being seen as a safe, cost-effective and environmentally friendlier alternative to the traditionalshearer. by A. Lopez-Pacheco

30 Advancing extraction techniques Groundbreaking new in situ extraction processes are presenting new cost andenvironmental options for bitumen extraction. by P. Caulfield

34 Shining a light on oil sands production Spectroscopyoffers the ability to pinpoint and identify the variations and materialmakeup of the oil sands, which can have a large impact on theextraction process by D. Zlotnikov

36 A witness to history Suncor’s first reclamation of a tailingspond is no small achievement. The 220 hectare area has beenreclaimed and now has spruce trees and shrubs planted in it.by M. Eisner

40 Exploring the frontier Dr. Eddy Isaacs heads Alberta’s newenergy and environment research authority, Alberta Innovates —Energy and Environment Solutions. CIM spoke to him about his workand current mandate. by E. Moore

44

FEATURED PROJECTPROJET EN VEDETTE 62 Focused growth MEG Energy’s Christina Lake second phase of expansion is fully financed and

ready to go. by D. Zlotnikov

68 Croissance ciblée La deuxième phase d’expansion de MEG Energy Corp. à Christina Lake estpleinement financée et prête à démarrer.

June/July 2010 | 5

COLUMNS 72 MAC Economic Commentary by P. Stothart 74 Standards by G. Gosson 76 Supply Side by J. Baird 77 First Nations by L. Eagle 78 HR Outlook by L. Forcellini 80 Innovation by N. Beier & D. Sego 82 Eye on Business by M. Gagné 84 Safety by H. Ednie 86 Women in Mining by H. Ednie 87 Student Life by J. Parreira 88 Canadians Abroad by H. Ednie

89 Parlons-en par S. Perreault

90 Mining Lore by C. Baldwin118 Voices from Industry by G. Winkel

CIM NEWS 93 The butterfly effect Vancouver area schoolchildren

dig deep into mining culture and lore. by A. Nichiporuk 94 Follow the yellow brick road to Eldorado COO

of Eldorado Gold speaks about gold mining in China by A.Doll

95 Phasing in a new IT system CIM’s informationtechnology restructuring project, geared to offering the bestservice for its members, is coming in on time and onbudget. by A. Nichiporuk

96 Le passage progressif Le point sur le projet du nou-veau système du TI.

97 CIM says farewell to a past leader Walter Riva,industry leader and past CIM president, passes away at age88. by A. Nichiporuk

98 Building an audience CIM Distinguished LecturerDavid Rodier discusses the importance of fostering corpo-rate social responsibility in the mining industry. by R. Pillo

99 Ottawa Branch gets groundbreaking lessonAn in-depth look at recent earthquakes in high-risk countries. by J.-F. Fiset

100 Students embrace industry opportunitiesThree young, bright and talented students are already mak-ing their presence felt in the industry. by H. Ednie

101 Dominic Gravel reprend le flambeau familialUn étudiant de l’Université Laval recoit une bourse de laSection Thetford Mines de l’ICM par M. Eisner et M. I. Anelli

102 Painting coal in a brighter shade Allen Wright hasdedicated his time to making people understand the im-portance of the coal industry to Canada and the world. byR. Pillo

104 25e Édition du tournoi de Golf ICM–SectionHarricana un grand succès Et l’équipe gagnanteest … par J.-F. Lagueux

HISTORY106 Nevada-type gold deposits (Part 3) by R. J. Cathro 110 Pyotr Romanovich Bagrationi (1818–1876): a

pioneer hydrometallurgist by F. Habashi & M. Milashvili

TECHNICAL SECTION113 Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly114 CIM Journal

IN EVERY ISSUE 6 Editor’s message 8 President’s notes / Mot du président 10 Letters 94 Welcoming new members117 Professional directory

FEATURESCOAL AND OIL SANDSLE CHARBON ET LES SABLES BITUMINEUX 44 The two faces of coal While the pricing for thermal coal remains stable, metallurgical is

volatile. One thing remains clear, Canadian coal producers have a competitive edge over theircounterparts. by D. Zlotnikov

52 Back in the black After a difficult year of low prices and projects placed on hold, the oilssands producers are braced for expansion. by G. Woodford

50 Les deux aspects du charbon L’incertitude – une perspective commune pour les charbonsmétallurgique et thermique.

60 Fini d’être dans le rouge Après une année de bas prix et de projets reportés, les sablesbitumineux sont prêts non seulement pour une reprise, mais pour une expansion.

62

Among our most anticipated issues, the annualCoal and Oil Sands-themed edition has served asone of the cornerstones of the CIM Magazine

editorial lineup for close to a decade. There is noquestion that these two mammoth sectors have astronghold on our national (and even global) economyand psyche. As such, they provide a portrait of the manyissues, initiatives and indicators that will be — or oughtto be — on our collective radar. So what better way togauge the status of the broader industry in our après-summer editorial ramp-up than to take the pulse ofthese two vital sectors.

This issue is packed with stories about the latest developments, includingoperational improvements, economic performance, environmental advancements,innovative developments, and more.

In “The two faces of coal,” writer Dan Zlotnikov digs deeply into the twocharacters of the Canadian coal industry — metallurgical and thermal. He uncoversthe different drivers for these powerhouses and what the implications could be fortheir prospects over the coming months and years.

In her feature, “Back in the black,” writer Gillian Woodford takes a comprehensivelook at some of the hurdles the oil sands industry faces, and the changes operatorsmust undertake as they are poised for major expansion and subject to growingscrutiny. Primary among these issues are project execution rates, environmentalconcerns and labour costs.

You will also read a lot about the latest innovations in extraction, tailingsmanagement, reclamation and workforce diversity in our Upfront and Columnssections.

MEG Energy Corp.’s Christina Lake project takes centre stage as our featuredproject. With a cache of fresh financing and an expansion plan in the works, thiscomparatively small operator has big plans for its in situ oil sands operation. Learnhow a belief in the future of the oil sands provided the impetus to transform theearly legwork in the covered walkways of Calgary’s business district into a projectproducing 25,000 bpd, and likely to expand.

On a final note, I’d like to acknowledge the stellar efforts of our dedicated andtalented CIM Magazine editorial, production and sales team. Putting together anissue of this scope and magnitude — including dealing with last-minute changesduring the dog days of summer — is no simple task. Even though the theme remainsconsistent from year to year, they have once again infused it with fresh perspectivesand relevant commentary. We would love to hear your thoughts. In that way, youcan also play a part in the continued evolution of this fall favourite.

Angela Hamlyn, Editor-in-chief

Fall favourite


editor’s letterEditor-in-chief Angela Hamlyn, [email protected]

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

Technical Editor Joan Tomiuk, [email protected]

Publisher CIM

Contributors Jon Baird, Correy Baldwin, Nick Beier, LouiseBlais-Leroux, Jeff Borsato, R.J. Cathro, Peter Caulfield,Rosalind Cooper, Peter Diekmeyer, Lana Eagle, Heather Ednie,Marlene Eisner, Lindsay Forcellini, Martin Gagne, Greg Gosson,Fathi Habashi, Jean-François Lagueux, Miranda Lightstone,Eavan Moore, Alexandra Lopez Pacheco, Juliana Parreira,Serge Perreault, Robbie Pillo, Steve Stecyk, Paul Stothart,Gordon Winkel, Gillian Woodford, Dan Zlotnikov

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

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

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

This month’s coverCanadian Pacific coal train travels through theColumbia Valley enroute to the west coast.Photo courtesy of CP Rail.

Layout and design by Clò Communications.

Copyright©2010. 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

Keep the mail [email protected]

Get Tough. Get VULTREX™ Grease.

Tough.

Dependable.

Hard working.

VULTREX grease delivers uncompromising reliability for large, heavy duty,

open and enclosed gear drives, as well as bearings and exposed sliding

surfaces. Its wide operating temperature range enables year-round use.

That can mean increased pro�tability and reduced downtime. Just some

of the reasons to choose VULTREX grease for mining’s toughest conditions.

DRAFT

Tough.

Dependable.

Hard working.

Prove it to yourself. Call 1-866-335-3369 or visit lubricants.petro-canada.ca/mining

Petro-Canada is a Suncor Energy businessTMTrademark of Suncor Energy Inc. Used under licence.LUB 2132 (2010.03)

s

d Further, once the

p

president’s notesIt is a fitting time to focus on coal and the oil sands, a major part

of the Canadian mining sector. This country is a well-established,global-scale energy supplier, primarily to the United States. The axisof global demand has shifted, however. In July, the InternationalEnergy Agency reported China used four per cent more energy thanthe recession-hobbled U.S. last year. In the future, the primacy ofChina will become even more pronounced.

China’s per capita energy use is still one-third of that in theUnited States and Canada. In other words, they will need our energyresources. To meet the demand, Sinopec, China National OffshoreOil Corporation and PetroChina all have taken significant positions inthe oil sands already, dwarfing the scale of Chinese investments inother Canadian-produced commodities such as iron ore, base met-als and potash. Behind China will be India and other emergingeconomies for decades to come.

The resulting challenges of supply expansion will, however, beours. We will need to ramp up development and construction in abalanced way in order to:• Avoid the overheated labour markets we lived with only three

years ago.• Balance the competing water requirements of the energy devel-

opments, the agricultural sector and cities. • Meet the needs of local communities, particularly with respect to

employment and local issues such as the Gateway Pipeline toKitimat and shipping oil to the Pacific Rim.

• Reduce our greenhouse gas emissions while meeting the esca-lating hydrocarbon demands.

As we in the industry riseto these challenges, the oilsands and coal producersamong us need to tell theirenvironmental and geopoliti-cal stories clearly and often,while continuing to reduce thesectors’ environmental foot-print. A look at the latest inextraction advances in the insitu sector, reclamation suc-cesses and industry-sup-ported research initiatives areamong such stories you willfind in this issue.

Before closing, I wouldlike to congratulate Doug Boyd, Torstein Utigard, Alan Plumtree,Stavros Argyropoulos and David Wilkinson, all longstanding CIMmembers recently appointed Fellows of the Canadian Academy ofEngineering.

I hope you find this issue both interesting and thought-provoking.

Chris Twigge-Molecey CIM President

Le contexte actuel est tout indiqué pour parler du charbon et dessables bitumineux, lesquels représentent une composante impor-tante du secteur minier canadien. Notre pays est un fournisseurd’énergie solidement établi à l’échelle mondiale, les États-Unis étantson principal client. Cependant, l’axe de la demande mondiale s’estdéplacé. En juillet, l’Agence internationale de l’énergie a en effetannoncé que la Chine a utilisé quatre pour cent d’énergie de plusque les États-Unis, freinés par la récession l’an dernier. Dans lesannées à venir, la prédominance de la Chine deviendra encore plusprononcée.

La consommation d’énergie de la Chine par habitant nereprésente encore qu’un tiers de celle des États-Unis et du Canada.Autrement dit, la Chine aura besoin de nos ressources énergétiques.Pour répondre à la demande, Sinopec, China National Offshore OilCorporation et Petrochina ont déjà acquis des participations impor-tantes dans les sables bitumineux, reléguant au second plan lesinvestissements chinois dans d’autres produits canadiens tels que leminerai de fer, les métaux de base et la potasse. L’Inde et d’autrespays émergents suivront la Chine dans les décennies à venir.

Cependant, les défis qui en résulteront en ce qui a trait à l’aug-mentation de l’approvisionnement seront les nôtres.

Nous devrons accélérer les travaux de construction et de mise envaleur d’une manière équilibrée pour :• éviter une surchauffe du marché de l’emploi comme celle que

nous avons connue il y a seulement trois ans;

• parvenir à un équilibre des besoins en eau entre le développe-ment énergétique, le secteur agricole et les villes;

• répondre aux besoins des communautés locales, en particulier enlien avec l’emploi et les enjeux locaux tels que l’oléoduc « Gateway Pipeline » allant jusqu’à Kitimat pour transporter le pétrole jusqu’au littoral du Pacifique;

• réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre tout en répondant àla demande croissante en hydrocarbures.Alors que nous, dans l’industrie, aurons à relever ces défis, les

producteurs de charbon et de sables bitumineux devront parler sou-vent et clairement des aspects environnementaux et géopolitiques deleurs activités, tout en continuant à réduire l’empreinte écologique dusecteur. Parmi les articles que vous trouverez dans ce numéro à cesujet figurent un aperçu des tout derniers progrès en matière d’ex-traction in situ, des remises en état réussies et des projets derecherche soutenus par l’industrie.

Avant de conclure, je tiens à féliciter Doug Boyd, Torstein Utigard,Alan Plumtree, Stavros Argyropoulos et David Wilkinson, tous mem-bres de longue date de l’ICM, nommés récemment membres del’Académie canadienne du génie.

J’espère que vous trouverez le contenu de ce numéro à la foisintéressant et stimulant.

Chris Twigge-MoleceyPrésident de l’ICM

Fueling the future

De l’énergie pour le futur


Every Miner’s Dream!

Bucyrus 495HR2 Electric Shovel

PassionEvery Bucyrus product comes with 100% of ourpeople’s passion for one of the most preferredsuppliers brand, state-of-the-art technology, and global premium service.

Our people live in burgundy. The color of passion.The color of Bucyrus.

www.bucyrus.comReliability at work

The Bucyrus 495HR2 – pronounced “495HR Super Two” – is the 21st century’s mostprogressive rope shovel, incorporating innovative features like the HydraCrowdTM, increased propel power, and newly designed operator’s cab, seat, and controls.

� Increased operator productivity from comfort, control, and safety infused enhancements of new operator’s control station.

� Improved repositioning ability with 12% increase in propel torque.

� More uptime due to fewer unplanned maintenance events with Bucyrus HydraCrowd.

� Consistent and proven AC drive system performance, with availabilities exceeding 96%.

Contact your local Bucyrus representative today, and start making your dreams a reality with the Bucyrus 495HR2!

Seite 1

letters


at a depth of 262 metres in hole 373-77, it took a numberof drill phases before the significant intersection in hole DP-95 (approximately 23 metres of high-grade copper and zincmineralization) was encountered in the spring of 1987. Theplacement of the discovery holes was based primarily onthe geological interpretation of the alteration, mineraliza-tion, lithogeochemistry and complex structure encounteredin the 1975-76 drilling program and the drilling that tookplace in 1984 through to 1987 on the Duck Pond property.

The boulders at Tally Pond played absolutely no role inthe decision, budget defense and planning process relatedto the 1984 through to 1987 drilling programs. AlthoughNoranda had completed extensive ground exploration anddrilling programs in the immediate and surrounding area,the exploration teams had no firm idea where these boul-ders came from. The Boundary deposit, located several kilo-metres to the north east at surface, was considered a likelycandidate (partially removed by glaciation) as were geo-chemical/geophysical targets south west of Tally Pond.

Sincerely yours,A. Colin MacKenzie, Retired geologist who worked for Noranda Exploration from 1980 to 1994

Dear Mr. MacKenzie,Thank you for the clarification and the additional informa-

tion. Although we see how the wording could be misleading, theauthor’s intention was really to show how father and sonformed a successful team and that they were working togetherwhen the large deposits were discovered. Meanwhile, yourcommentary helps to add even more substance to the story.

Regards,Andrea NichiporukSection Editor

interior in search of good trapping territory. He travelled far,becoming an expert trapper, woodsman and guide. He also built areputation for finding mineral deposits, seeking them out when-ever he checked his trap lines. Eventually he made his mostfamous discovery, returning to Port Blandford on Bonavista Bayafter a hunting trip, carrying a high-grade silver sample. Heclaimed to have found a quartz vein deep in the bush that con-tained a massive silver showing.

He told few people about his find, but the story of his silvergrew, and people became determined to find it. Soulis Joe, how-ever, was not interested in giving away his secret, especially not toanyone whose attitude he did not like, and especially not to awhite man. He was known to play tricks on people and lead themastray. He became an expert at losing those who tried to followhim into the bush in hopes of finding his silver.

The elusive depositThe silver had eluded prospectors ever since. Ted and Allan Keats

were hoping to change this in 1969 while prospecting for Noranda.But after a month and a half in the backcountry, Soulis Joe’s silverremained elusive, and father and son emerged from the bush with-out finding it. They did not come out empty-handed, however, butfound several other impressive samples that proved invaluable toNoranda. More than that, a family legacy of prospecting had begun.

Keats and his son had become an excellent team and the twodiscovered the Point Leamington and Tally Pond depositstogether. Keats worked for Noranda throughout the 1970s and80s, and was involved in the Burnt Pond and Duck Pond discov-eries. When it came time to retire, Keats was working beside allfour of his sons — Allan, Fred, Calvin and Suley — and he optedto remain as camp cook to be close to them. When Ted Keats diedon February 4, 2010, he was described as an independent, indus-trious, adventurous and generous man.

Each of Keats’ sons has made a name for himself as a prospec-tor, and together they have racked up an impressive list of finds.They also married into the Stares, Crocker, Barrett and Smith fam-ilies, all involved in mining and prospecting. Now, Keats’ grand-children and great-grandchildren are involved in the industry, fourof them as CEOs.

Twenty-one members of the five families over four generationshave been involved in prospecting and mining, and in 2007 theProspectors and Developers Association of Canada awarded theKeats-Stares family the Bill Dennis Prospector of the Year Award.

Soulis Joe’s legacy remains as strong as ever. Although his silverremains lost, he has come to inspire what has been called New-foundland’s first family of prospecting.

Soulis Joe eventually settled down in the Bonavista Bay area,where he married and spent the rest of his life hunting, trapping,guiding and prospecting. A few modest landmarks bear his name:Soulis Brook flows out of Soulis Pond near Benton on the way toGander, and another Soulis Pond lies west of Conne River, his orig-inal home on the south coast. Even though he has left his mark onthe map of Newfoundland, his gravesite is unknown. His final rest-ing place, just like his silver find, remains a mystery. ��

August 2010 | 5756 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 5

Soulis Joe’s lost silverThe legacy of a Newfoundland prospecting family

� Correy Baldwin

In 1969, Ted Keats and hisson Allan showed up inGander, Newfoundland, at

the newly opened Norandaoffice — one of the largest min-ing and exploration companiesin Canada. They met with RonHawkes, the district geologist,and explained to him that therewas silver in the area.

The story went that Keats’grandfather, a trapper by thename of Soulis Joe, had comeacross a silver deposit in thebush but had never revealed itslocation to anyone. Keats’brought out a silversample to prove that itwas not just a story —Soulis Joe’s originalnugget had becomesomething of a familyheirloom.

Ron Hawkes wasintrigued, but heknew that Norandawould need more togo on than a silvernugget and a familystory. The companywas looking forprospectors, however,and Keats’ and his sonwere offered the job.They were given acanoe, supplies and$250 a month, andwere flown to upper Terra Nova River.

The father-and-son team had torough it in the backcountry — theywere alone and had to hunt for theirown food. It was a life that Ted Keatsknew well. He had begun working in

the woods at anearly age, and hadtried his hand atp r o s p e c t i n g for the first timewhen he was 12,looking, of course,for his grandfa-ther’s lost silver.

Keats’ and hisson were sure thatSoulis Joe’s silverwas out there, and

now that they were prospecting forNoranda, they were intent on finding it.

The family treeThe Keats family traces its ancestry

back to a Mi’kmaq man from Nova

Scotia named Soulis Joseph — a namegiven to him by the French priests towhom he had spent several years inservitude. He was later sold to the cap-tain of a merchant ship who called himBlack Soolie — a reference to the lowstatus that he shared with the otherblack slaves on the ship. In 1760,when the ship docked at St. George’sBay, Newfoundland, he escaped intothe wilderness.

Soulis Joseph made a home forhimself in the Mi’kmaq settlement ofConne River on Bay d’Espoir on New-foundland’s south coast. He became atrapper, as did his sons and grandsons.

In the mid-1800s, a young mannamed Soulis Joe from the same familyleft Conne River and headed into the

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f New

foun

dlan

d an

d its

Unt

rodd

en W

ays,

by J.

G. M

illai

s, N

ew Y

ork:

Lon

gman

s, Gr

een,

190

7

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Lib

rary

and

Arc

hive

s Ca

nada

(PA-

1954

97).

Above: Mi'kmaq trappers from Conne River, ca. 1906. Left: Portrait of Mi'kmaq Manphotographed on board the French naval vessel Sésostris, Newfoundland, 1859.

� ��

Tally-ho!Dear Mr. Bergen and Ms. Nichiporuk

I am writing to add some clarification to a sentence in anarticle entitled “Soulis Joe’s lost silver” published in theAugust 2010 issue of CIM Magazine (Mining Lore, p. 56).My intent is not to diminish the overall spirit of the piece;it is an interesting and colourful story.

I cannot comment on the Point Leamington and Bound-ary deposits, but I have first-hand knowledge about theexploration programs that were conducted in the TallyPond area from 1984 to 1990, and I want to clarify that Tedand Allan Keats did not discover the Tally Pond deposits(Duck Pond and Boundary) solely on their own. Ted andAllan did find weakly mineralized, rounded to sub-angular,massive pyrite boulders at the north end of Tally Pond in1974. Subsequent drilling in the mid-70s and early 80s inthe vicinity of these boulders encountered graphitic sediments.

At its highest elevation, the top of the Duck Ponddeposit is located approximately 250 metres below surface.Although the deposit was first intersected in the fall of 1985

Our team in Fort McMurray is always ready to deliver the best quality service in the oil sands region. Now, with the capabilities of our new shop, we’re better than ever. Make us a part of your success, too.

P&H MinePro Services – Oil Sands965 Memorial Drive(1.9 km north of Confederation Way - Hwy 63)Fort McMurray, AB T9H 4W1Tel: 780.791.4016

www.minepro.com

They put the PRO in our name.

news

As the world’s second largest silverand fifth largest gold producer, Peru isat the forefront of an increasing inter-est in mining opportunities in LatinAmerica. That was the message from ahost of Latin American-focused min-ing companies and industry specialistsat On the Ground Group’s “mine-SouthAmerica” seminar held recentlyin Toronto. The seminar focused onmining and investment opportunitiesin Peru, highlighting current andfuture developments in the miningand energy industries in the countrywhere, in 2008, mining and mineralexploration activity contributed aboutseven per cent to GDP.

The keynote address, given by JoseZlatar, president of the Peruvian-Cana-dian Chamber of Commerce, high-lighted the longstanding relationshipbetween Canada and Peru and our$2.3 billion in bilateral trade in 2008.Noting the recent approval of aCanada-Peru Free Trade Agreement(CPFTA), Zlatar stressed how an FTA“would create a more stable environ-ment for investors and protect themfrom discrimination and expropriationwithout fair compensation.”

An emerging economy of 28 mil-lion people, Peru is fast becoming ahot spot for foreign investors from themining and electrical generationindustries. Seminar chairman BrianLevett, a partner at Macleod DixonLLC, spoke of the need to be on theground in each locale. “[MacleodDixon] has offices throughout LatinAmerica because we need to be whereour clients are in the board room andthe project site,” he said.

Country risk and communityengagement were often repeatedthemes during the half-dayseminar. Keith Laskowski of CanadianShield Resources focused on Peru’sadvantages: “Being a politically stablestate with good infrastructure and

excellent access make Peru an attrac-tive place to do business,” he said.

Patrick Burns, president of CondorResources, provided an update onwhat he called “my ongoing searchfor bonanza grades in Peru” withphotos and survey results from two ofCondor’s six projects in the country.Focused exclusively on mineralexploration in South America, Burnsstressed Condor’s ongoing efforts atcommunity involvement and engage-ment as part of its work on over 720square kilometres of land it is activelyexploring. “Maintaining close tieswith the community is critical for ourfuture success in the region; we haveseveral full-time staff dedicated tocommunity relations at our Peruvianand Chilean project sites,” said Burns.

Andean American Mining CEOJohn Huguet pointed to Peru’s talentedlabour pool and community supportas key features in development of theirfully owned Invicta Project 250 kilo-metres northeast of Lima.

Stephen Mlot of Alto CercapuquioS.A.C. noted Peru’s surging economyas part of his company’s hydroelectricgeneration projects in the region.“Peru is becoming an exporter of liq-uefied natural gas and developing aburgeoning petrochemical industrywhile working towards a national ruralelectrification plan.”

Strait Gold has three active projectsin Peru. The company’s CEO, Jim Bor-land, described potential discoveries attheir Alicia project, a copper, gold andsilver package 60 kilometres south ofCusco.

There were nine presentations intotal, seven updates from miningcompanies with Peruvian projects indevelopment, and two presentationsregarding financing mining projectsin South America and dual listing onthe TSX and BVL (Lima StockExchange), which, like the TSX Ven-ture Exchange, is heavily weighted inmining and junior exploration companies. CIM


Spotlight on PeruFree trade pact, expanding infrastructure spur exploration

By Jeff Borsato

On the lookout for opportunities in Peru

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f And

ean

Amer

ican

Min

ing

Corp

.

Why is MBI your #1 CSA Certified blast resistant building provider?

SAFETY. SERVICE. VALUE.

— Mechanical fastening system that reduces install time for complexes

— Large selection of standard options or build to spec

— Readily available lease fleet with a variety of sizes and layouts

— “Safe Haven” capabilities

BlastResistantBuildings.com

Bs My ihW

SAFETY

fiitreA CS1 Cr #uoI yB

SE AFETYY

t bnatsiset rsaled bfi

. SERVICE. V

?redivorg pnidliut b

ALUE V VALUE.

SAFETY

. SE AFETYY. SERVICE. V

. SERVICE. V

ALUE. V VALUE.

These ar

e a just a few of the pr

es that make MBI the top choice oducts and featur

es that make MBI the top choice


e a just a few of the prThese arfor its customers:

Mechanical —

ge selection of standar— Lar


“Safe Haven”

oducts and feature a just a few of the prfor its customers:

fastening Mechanical

ge selection of standar


capabilities“Safe Haven”

es that make MBI the top choice oducts and featur

educes rthat system

d options or build to specge selection of standar


capabilities


complexesfor time install educes

d options or build to spec



complexes


— “Safe Haven” capabilities“Safe Haven” capabilities

Booth 6028

visit us atBooth 6028

BlastResis

stantBuildin

ngs.com

news

Calgary-based CenovusEnergy Inc. recentlyreceived approval from theAlberta Energy ResourcesConservation Board (ERCB)to build a test well into alarge and mostly untappedbitumen deposit in north-eastern Alberta. In late2010, Cenovus plans to drillthe well into the GrandRapids oil sands, which liesouthwest of the FortMcMurray oil sands and300 kilometres north ofEdmonton. The pilot,which falls under the com-pany’s existing Pelican Lakeoperating license, is 100 percent owned by Cenovus andwill determine whether theGrand Rapids formationcan be commercially pro-duced using the steam-assisted gravitydrainage (SAGD) technique.

If the test is successful, GrandRapids has the potential to become a

Cenovus to investigate large bitumen depositin northeast AlbertaCompany plans to test drill Grand Rapids oil sands

By Peter Caulfield

very important deposit for Cenovus.It has the geological advantage ofbeing a consistent and continuousreservoir and contains nearly 900

million barrels of bitumen. The com-pany is preparing to file a regulatoryapplication next year for 180,000 bar-rels per day (bpd) of commercial pro-


A Cenovus drilling pad like this one at Foster Creek will soon become a feature at the Grand Rapids deposit west of Fort McMurray.

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Cen

ovus

��&�� %�.%*�$��)%�'�)'%�!)��$��-!()!$��*!#�!$��%'��*!#��$�,��!#!).��%�.%*'��%%'(��!#�)%�%&�'�)��!$��+�'(��%$�!)!%$(�� (%��,��$� �#&��%��#�(�'+!��$�!$()�##�)!%$��'%((��$��'�� "*()��##��,�.�)%�((!()�.%*�,!) �.%*'��!��%%'�$��(�

��%%�,*�+'��.��&�� #&��"'-� ��&� ��.',)�'(�)�+#'&�

��++�)��'')��+/*�+�%$��#& ' @ !%�&)#�!��

�� " ��! ��! �� #� � ��!�� $$$��

� � � ��

news

duction from Grand Rapids. The firstphase of the project is expected toproduce 60,000 bpd. The pilot isslated to be up and running in 2011and take from six to 24 months tocomplete.

One of the measures of the effi-ciency of SAGD technology is thesteam-to-oil ratio, which calculatesthe amount of steam needed to pro-duce a barrel of oil. Cenovus’ SAGDprojects have achieved a steam-to-oilratio of approximately 2.5, whichmeans the company uses approxi-mately 2.5 barrels of water to pro-duce one barrel of oil, which, thecompany says, is one of the lowest inthe industry.

The company’s first SAGD proj-ect, at Foster Creek, Alberta, beganfull commercial operation in the fallof 2001. Cenovus has a secondSAGD operation in Christina Lake,Alberta.

“Cenovus believes there may bethe opportunity to use SAGD to pro-duce the resource,” said Cenovusspokesman Reg Curren. “The com-pany plans to apply the knowledgewe gained at the Foster Creek andChristina Lake SAGD projects thathave shown a high-efficiency recov-ery process.”

Curren said the oil in the GrandRapids bitumen is not accessiblethrough water flood or polymer injec-tion, which is the technology beingused at the company’s Pelican Lakeproject. “It’s too thick to flow usingthat technique,” he explained. “TheAPI [American Petroleum Institute]gravity of Grand Rapids is betweenseven and 8.5 degrees, which is heav-ier than the oil produced from theWabiskaw Formation [PelicanLake].” (Note: API gravity is a meas-ure of how heavy or light a petroleumliquid is compared to water).

Cenovus hopes it can begin pro-ducing Grand Rapids oil by 2017,and says it should be able to make anine per cent return in the area withoil prices at US$60 to US$70 perbarrel. CIM

September/October 2010 | 15

BDP Industries' model Sahara Belt Press will produce: Cake solids higher than any other

Exceedingly long Belt Life

Production capacity unachievable by any other manufacturer

Lower maintenance costs

Eliminates the need for access Platforms or stairs

Responsive / Experienced Customer Service

With low energy and polymer usage, BDP Industries Model Sahara Belt Press

will lower your operating/maintenance costs!

Custom Dewatering Solutions for Coal and

Mineral Applications

www.bdpindustries.com Email: [email protected]: 518-527-5417 Factory: 518-695-6851 Fax: 518-695-5417

Cemex Aggregate Plant, Arizona

Vulcan Material, Columbia, SC Vulcan Material, Reliance, CA

Coal Refuse Dewatering

news

Caterpillar Inc. of Peoria, Illinois, recentlyannounced it will producea line of five mining shov-els, ranging from a 113-tonne model to a725-tonne model. Themove marks the com-pany’s re-entry into themining shovel market,from which it had exitedseven years ago. Produc-tion of the shovels willtake place, at least initially,at Caterpillar’s Aurora, Illi-nois, manufacturing facil-ity. The company is alsolooking at producing theshovels in other parts ofthe world.

Caterpillar will beginpilot production of thenew 113-tonne classshovel in early 2011,which is expected to becommercially available later that year.The larger shovels are expected to beintroduced in 2013 and 2014. Ed

Caterpillar to produce line of mining shovels Equipment manufacturer eyeing growth markets in India and Asia

By Peter Caulfield

McCord, truck and shovel productmanager in the Caterpillar GlobalMining Division, said the company’s

intention is to match the new shovelsto its existing line of trucks — fromthe 90-tonne class 777F to the 360-tonne class 797F.

Chris Curfman, president of theCaterpillar Global Mining Division,said much of the shovel production isintended for expanding markets over-seas. “The economies in India and therest of Asia are growing, and the mar-ket for shovels is moving in that direc-tion, too,” he said. But at the sametime, McCord noted, Caterpillar is notseeing a decrease in its traditional mar-kets.

Curfman said Caterpillar stoppedproducing mining shovels in 2003because the market was “minimal” atthe time. “But the market grew by afactor of three between 2003 and 2008and we expect it to keep growing,” heexplained. “The mining industry rap-idly came out of the recession andaccelerated in 2009.”


The new line of shovels will draw on design elements from the previously manufactured 5000 Series of machines.

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Cat

erpi

llar

Oil Shale Engineering & ConsultingTetra Tech is a leading provider of consulting, engineering, construction, and technical services. Tetra Tech has the capabilities and professionals to support oil shale projects.

These services include:

www.tetratech.com

Contact our Oil Shale Specialists:

news

The shovels will be tested at thecompany’s two proving grounds in theUnited States, one of which is nearPeoria, Illinois, and the other near Tuc-son, Arizona. The 2,428-hectare Tuc-son Proving Grounds, which are set upfor testing large mining equipment,include waste dumps left over from anold copper mine. Adjacent to the Prov-ing Grounds is Freeport McMoRan’sSieritta Mine, an active copper minethat has taken part in the later stages ofsome equipment testing. Caterpillarsays southern Arizona is a good loca-tion for testing the shovels because ofits high ambient temperatures and dif-ficult digging conditions.

After initial testing and developmentof the shovels at the Proving Grounds,Caterpillar will test pre-productionmodels at customer sites, which areselected on the basis of site conditionsand the willingness of mining compa-nies to participate in testing programs.

Generally, a Caterpillar test unitworks in the regular production cycle,but an onsite company engineer willpull the unit periodically from produc-tion to assess the condition of themachine and to calibrate its monitor-ing systems. The usual practice atCaterpillar is for a number of test unitsof a new equipment model to accumu-late several thousand operating hoursbefore a new model is released forcommercial manufacturing.

The Caterpillar dealer network isequipped to support the new line ofshovels. A company spokesman said“many Cat dealers now sell and sup-port O&K (Terex, now Bucyrus) shov-els, so the large shovel experience willnot be new to them. Also, many Catmining dealers have 5000 Series Catshovels in their territories, and thedealers provide full support for thosemachines, even though Caterpillarstopped manufacturing them in

2003.” Parts inventory and some train-ing will be needed to support the newshovels properly.

“But Cat dealer technicians alreadyare well versed in the maintenance ofengines, hydraulics and structures,” hesaid. “The Cat engines used in theshovels are the same engines used inCat dozers, wheel loaders and miningtrucks. And all Cat mining dealers havecomponent rebuild-centres that canrebuild engines, hydraulics, undercar-riages, structures and other compo-nents. All in all, Cat dealers’ steps tosupport the new shovels will be incre-mental rather than major additions.”

The company is also accelerating itspreviously announced truck manufac-turing expansion plans in Decatur, Illi-nois. Together, the long-term shoveldevelopment program and addedtruck capacity represent investmentsof nearly US$700 million in Caterpil-lar mining products. CIM


YOU’RE PROUD OF YOUR SKILLS AND KNOW-HOW. You want to work where you can be proud of your employer, too. At Suncor Energy, we aim to earn your respect by providing you with the tools and support that enable you to do quality work.

When you join Suncor, you enter a working environment where how you get the job done is as important as the goals you achieve. You’ll be part of a company that’s guided by strong values and beliefs; that demands a high standard for safety, integrity and responsibility and always strives to exceed expectations – real reasons to take pride in saying, “I work for Suncor.”

Put yourself in our picture by applying at www.suncor.com/careers

Ready to be proud of your workplace?

Put yourself in our picture.

news

Alberta’s massive oilsands have attracted amultitude of energy sectorplayers interested indeveloping them or insupplying businesses thatdo. So, at first glance, it isno surprise that EarthEnergy Resources wouldchoose to set up shopthere. What is interesting,however, is that accordingto its president, GlenSnarr, the company’s firstmajor development maybe in Utah.

“Utah has excellent oilsands resources,” saidSnarr. “However, most ofthese cannot be economi-cally extracted using con-ventional methods. Thenew technologies,processes and workflow methods weare proposing would make them so.”

Earth Energy Resources currentlyholds a 100 per cent interest in 3,170hectares under lease from the State of

Canadian entrepreneur looks to Utah oil sandsPossible hurdles include gaining acceptance for a new technology,funding and regulatory approval

By Peter Diekmeyer

Utah School and Institutional TrustLands Administration (SITLA) in thePR Spring deposit. Snarr estimatesthat these include 250 million barrelsof recoverable high-quality bitumen.

The company estimates that gettingproduction going would takebetween 18 and 24 months, afterfunding (totalling $35 million) isobtained.


The Utah oil sands deposits are less concentrated, but sweeter than those in the Athabasca region, according to Earth Energy's GlenSnarr.

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Ear

th E

nerg

y Re

sour

ces

Oil Sands & Heavy Oil

news

While Utah is hardly known as anenergy powerhouse, according toSnarr, the state contains more thanhalf of America’s known oil sands.However, the profile of the Utahreserves is different than theAthabasca oil sands. “The Utah oilsands are relatively disaggregated andspread out over a relatively widearea,” said Snarr. “Although bitumenquality is very similar to that found inAthabasca, it has a much lower sul-phur content, which means that it is a‘sweeter’ oil that provides a morefavourable feedstock for refineries.”

To deal with the challenges ofbringing Utah’s resources to market,Earth Energy Resources proposesusing what it calls the Ophus Process,which differs from the Clark Processused in conventional Athabasca oilsands extraction. The proposed work-flow involves establishing a series ofsmall 2,000 barrel per day productionfacilities that can be easily set up, andmoved as the resources in one partic-ular area are recovered. Productioncould be expanded as needed by theaddition of more facilities, whichwould scale up the overall extractioncapacity.

“Digging up the ore and hauling itaway in 400-ton trucks like they do inAlberta just won’t work,” said Snarr.“We need a more resource-focusedmethodology.”

To extract the sweeter Utah bitu-men, Earth Energy Resources pro-poses using an environmentallyfriendly citrus-based extractionchemical to replace the substantialmechanical energy and caustic sodamixture used in the Clark Process.This new process sharply reduces thequantity of middlings produced in theprocess, and thus eliminates the needfor tailings ponds.

“The result is a more compactoverall footprint, which meansreduced environmental impacts and aprocess that is both energy and waterefficient,” said Snarr.

That said, despite the promisingUtah resources and new extractiontechnology, raising funds to financethe venture has not been easy. Privateequity money has been tight since the

global financial meltdown, and theidea of investing in innovation, withits associated increased business risk,does not sit well with some right now.

However, Snarr remains opti-mistic. “Sure, there are hurdles, butwe are a bit ahead of our time: sort oflike where Athabasca was 40 yearsago, when people were scratchingtheir heads wondering if it would


work,” said Snarr. “We are profitableat $50 per barrel oil. With the high oilprices we have seen lately, we willdefinitely get this off the ground.”

After that, if all goes well, Snarrhopes to partner with a company thatis interested in using the Ophus tech-nology to do resource development inAthabasca itself, where he is con-vinced it can also be applied. CIM

news

As of early September, three of six companies havereceived conditional approval from Alberta’s EnergyResources Conservation Board (ERCB) on plans submit-ted under Directive 74, an industry-wide set of guidelinesissued in 2009 for managing oil sands tailings.

Directive 74 requires operators to prepare tailings plansand report annually on tailings ponds. As well, operatorsmust reduce fluid tailings through fines captured in dedi-cated disposal areas, and convert tailings into trafficabledeposits that are ready for reclamation five years after thedeposits have ended. Specific enforcement actions can betaken against companies if tailings performance targets arenot met.

This spring, the ERCB gave conditional approval forSyncrude’s Mildred Lake and Aurora North sites. Suncorgained similar approval for its Fort Hills oil sands projectas well as its plan for the construction and operation of thecompany’s first commercial application in the oil sands ofits new Tailings Reduction Operations (TRO) technology,designed to reduce fluid tailings volumes.

In August, the ERCB conditionally approved a tailingsmanagement plan for Imperial’s Kearl project, slated tobegin operation in 2012, involving one tailings pond thatwill be decommissioned by 2038.

In the case of the Kearl project, Imperial was unable tomeet Directive 74’s annual targets to reduce fine tailingsbecause its new Tailings from Solvent Recovery Unit tech-nology (TSRU) would take time to implement. Inresponse to the delay, and as one of the eight conditionsattached to the approval, the ERCB “has directed Imperialto submit an updated plan by January 2012 that evaluatesalternatives and proposes measures to further acceleratefines tailings treatment.”

The same leeway for time constraints was given to Sun-cor for its TRO technology, due to the implementation andtesting requirements. “The ERCB believes that the appli-cation of TRO will enable Suncor to reduce the volume offluid tailings remaining at the end of the project life by 33million cubic metres, or about 30 per cent,” said ERCBcommunications advisor, Davis Sheremata. He added thatSuncor has committed approximately $450 million toTRO technology and other measures designed to improvetailings management to meet Directive 74 requirements.However, the ERCB has imposed two conditions, focusedon coke conservation and sand disposal, in its approval ofthe tailings plan.

It has also placed two conditions on Suncor’s Fort Hills’plan for one tailings pond with a storage capacity of 322million cubic metres, which is expected to operate for

Directive 74Industry projects gain conditional approval on tailingsmanagement plans

By Marlene Eisner

20 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 6 17:05:10

approximately 22 years. Suncor Energy Ltd, UTS EnergyCorporation, Teck and Fort Hills Energy Corporation arepartners in the project, which is in the pre-constructionstage and located 90 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.

Syncrude’s Mildred Lake and Aurora North sites havebeen approved, with six conditions on each project. Syn-crude currently utilizes Composite Tailings (CT) technol-ogy to convert fluid tailings to a solid deposit, but thecompany’s original plans, filed on September 30, 2009,did not meet the ERCB requirements. After a series of con-

sultations with the governmentagency, Syncrude made the

Moving on upVancouver-based Greystar Resources Inc. has appointedDavid Newbold as its CFO. Newbold, a charteredaccountant with over 36 years of international experiencein mining and finance, will lead the effort to securefinancing for the Angostura gold and silver project. Hewas most recently a consultant assisting companies ontheir overseas business development and mining invest-ment opportunities.

Goldcorp Inc. has appointed David Deisley as its execu-tive vice-president, corporate affairs and general counseland Timo Jauristo as its executive vice-president, corpo-rate development. Deisley will assume the responsibilityfor the company’s government relations and sustainabilityfunctions, in addition to continuing to manage legalaffairs. Jauristo has been the architect of a variety of value-adding transactions for Goldcorp since joining the com-pany in June 2009 and will continue to seek outopportunities to enhance the company’s high-quality assetportfolio.

Brant Hinze has been appointed executive vice-presidentand COO of Kinross Gold Corporation. An accomplishedindustry leader with significant operating experience inseveral key mining regions of the world, Hinze was mostrecently senior vice-president, North American Opera-tions, for Newmont Mining Corporation.

Philippe Monier has been appointed vice-president, cor-porate affairs and CFO of Anvil Mining Limited. Withover 25 years of international finance experience withinthe resource sector, Monier’s past positions include CFOfor Bateman Engineering, Dynatec and BHP Billiton BaseMetals.

Jean-François Boursier has been named CFO of ADFGroup. A chartered accountant, Boursier brings solidexperience in financial management. He recently held theposition of corporate controller at Héroux-Devtek and pre-viously worked at Holcim Canada (St-Lawrence Cement)for more than 16 years, where he held various positions,including corporate controller from 2001 to 2005.

Vancouver-based Redzone Resource Limited has namedPauline Pasetka as its CFO. A certified accountant withover 10 years of finance and management experience,Pasetka was formerly a director of Brett Resources Inc., amineral exploration company, until its recent acquisitionby Osisko Mining Corporation.

changes necessary to allow it to meet and exceed Directive74 requirements by 2014.

Syncrude has also proposed the addition of new tech-nology to comply with Directive 74, which includes thefull operation of a commercial demonstration plant forMature Fine Tailings Centrifugation by August 2012, aswell as the construction and startup of a full-scale supple-mental tailings plant by June 2015.

The three remaining tailings plans still under reviewwere submitted by Canadian Natural Resources Limitedfor its Horizon project and Shell for the Jackpine andMuskeg River projects. CIM

news

The number of shipsdelayed at Australianports hit a record of 223 bulk carriers inearly 2010. “The situa-tion has drasticallyimproved,” said Com-modore Research &Consultancy’s JeffreyLandsberg. As of mid-August, that numberhad come down toabout 145 vessels con-gested at Australiancoal and iron ore ports,but he added that“things in this marketcan change veryquickly.”

Canada’s coal shipping facilitiescentre around three major terminals:

Supply constraintsAustralia and Canada coal industry face logistics and capacity challenges

By Jeff Borsato

Ridley Island near Prince Rupert, andthe Neptune and Westshore terminals

in the Vancouver area. Allen Wright,president and CEO of the Coal Associ-ation of Canada, believes the differ-ence between Australia and Canada’sexport levels is one of supply versuslogistics: “Westshore and Neptunehave some additional capacity whileRidley Island has considerable poten-tial to carry more coal, whereas Aus-tralia faces greater logistical issuesgetting coal into port and onto ships.”

With an estimated 5.9 billion tonnesof hard coal consumed globally lastyear, Australia and Canada continue tobenefit from a global commodity boombut face different issues with respect tocoal and coal export capacity. The min-eral remains Australia’s biggest exportcommodity, accounting for over 50 percent of world coking coal exports, withalmost 75 per cent of those exportsdestined for Asian markets (primarilyJapan).

As the largest coal exporter in theworld, the coal industry in Australia isserviced by nine loading terminalslocated in Queensland and New SouthWales. It also houses the Port of Newcastle, the world’s largest coalport. Freight bottlenecks have increas-ingly occurred in the past five years,


Installation of the slew deck of stacker-reclaimer 1 atthe new coal export terminal operated by NewcastleCoal Infrastructure Group in the Port of Newcastle

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f NCI

G

news

primarily at the Dalrymple Bay CoalTerminal (DBCT) and at Newcastle’sPort Waratah. A pair of capacity man-agement systems were developed tocope with the problem of how toreduce queues. They insure that eachstage of the exporting process — fromloading and rail logistics to demurragecosts — is factored into the executionof shipping operations.

The responsive development ofnew mine sites and logistical supportin the form of rail and port infrastruc-ture are critical to Australia’s coalexport industry. Seeking to ease con-gestion at the Port of Newcastle, theNewcastle Coal Infrastructure Group(NCIG) has committed $850 millionto increase the capacity of the Hunter’scoal export chain in anticipation of 30million tonnes per year in shippingcapacity. This was confirmed in a May2010 announcement of a third termi-nal opening at Newcastle, along with asecond phase of expansion set for2011 and 2012.

With 98 per cent of all coal movedby rail in Australia, rail issues continueto hinder growth. A national approachto planning freight transport on bothroads and rail is gradually being devel-oped. Capacity at The Port of AbbotPoint is upgraded being from 21 to 50million tonnes, through constructionof the $1.1 billion Missing Link rail-way slated for 2012.

While infrastructure issues remainthe single greatest barrier to exportgrowth for Australia’s coal sector,Canada’s most pressing issues pertain tomine permitting and mine-site expan-sion, said Wright. “Efficiency is essentialat each port in regards to capacity con-cerns, but right now, mine expansion iscritical to addressing the increaseddemand for coal; our exporting capacitycan still absorb it,” he said.

In 2009, Canada exported 28 mil-lion tonnes of coal, 90 per cent of itmetallurgical. With approximately 70million tonnes of annual production,centred largely in British Columbia

and Alberta, coal remains the numberone commodity carried by rails andshipped from ports.

Recent expansions at Westshorehave resulted in total annual increasesin handling capacity from 24 milliontonnes to 29 million tonnes. Potentialdevelopments at Ridely include theSouth Kaien, Coast, and Lelu islands.This represents almost 1,000 hectaresof land available for a variety of termi-nal activities. Additional productionfrom openings at The Hermann andWillow Creek mines will help feedadditional demand from Asian mar-kets as they ramp up steel productionfollowing declines in 2008.

Economic Development Canada(EDC) expects the 2010-11 contractprices for coal to rise, but the forecastnotes that they will remain below the2008-09 highs. If a commodity super-cycle is truly in its building stage, thenboth Australia and Canada stand tobenefit greatly if they can keep apaceof rising demand. CIM


SPEC

IALI

ZIN

G IN mining

facilities

mNIG

NI

caacffagniinniiimmi

itiitlic

se

n

EECCA bAA

LCCEEECCCCCCCCC

bnIA bA eeL o

CAA

LA

LILA

LLLL oLL e

PEECCEC

IL

ZECC

ACCCCCCC

A ca cn

ccn

poo

EECCCC

a iiiirrrrbbbbafaaab nffffffaaaaaAAAA iiiiddddllr

iiubA ppppssW

seerrrehhWW

ZZIIIAII

CCEEPP

c

n

csa

ucWn o

s anye h

a

i

gn

i

cc

rt

ov b a

i

e

c

y

u e ssnc, d esiittrreeeppW

xxeen ruO.nooic

tttcco

uW

urrrtttso

snnnooocccdddddnnnng laagg

nnooiittaacccg ss.seeiittf ilicaffallaacciim

aonnoo

i bc

aegggniniittt

is

csaaalll--ggggnonn

cnooollllgggnnnn

seitilibaapppaaacccnnooi,

taccy

iirrrbe d aaffafadnnan sseneevvviiiin

se

snnnoood eeehhhtttts,sseeeiiitttiillf icaffadeeeennsseiinm apmooccggnniinimn

h

mdu c f

r tf

ww g hss ::t, gge

hg

f d oe

do

e

k

re

uod

hmo cd f

d d

t n

v ar

h d c

mf

d

hge :e

d

it

d

o rr ssshhhgttttg

lgggnn

innn

, errttttssss

gaffooeeeggg

ennn

naaw rediwaaasv rrreeeevvv

loc

e ggnnnniiiillliiiaaao

ttteeedddddc

,ngisednniiiee

zzziiilllu

aaiip cepsseeWWWkd ooodrr

d d ooccceree

trrkkkcc

accaaaa

arrrtttddeeettttssfseeettt

Cr -emitruuoooodddnnn

oaa

r eeeehhhcccttttaaaammnnuurrrooofffffofofoIICICCCHHHoottteeey mocy

SSSSSSSPPPSSPSS

©20 mys20 All Building B i ilding S A yst01 010 rig Syste Al 0 Systems vvever ghts B 1 reserr serghts hts ll ..Building uilding HC Steel Ste l St l CI HCI HCI

a ed.. Buildings uildings BlueScope division CI rth America,America,division th o B i North No h Buildings Bui ings BlueScope B Scope ope f of of division division on a a H is s is CI HCI I ed.ed

Inc.Ia,ica,

It is a daunting statistic: By the end of 2007, nearly 12 mil-lion children were orphaned in sub-Saharan Africa due tothe HIV/AIDS pandemic. Recognizing this growing disas-ter, in 2003 Golder Associates founded the Golder Trust

for Orphans (GTO) to provide support to orphaned and dis-placed children and families in Africa. The GTO providesfinancial aid to non-governmental organizations (NGOs)caring for orphans through one-time grants and equity fund-ing directed towards development projects that help themsustain their own activities. To date, the GTO’s efforts havesupported over 1,000 children through 10 projects.

In 2005, when Lea Chambers, a marketing and com-munications professional with a passion for sustainabledevelopment, joined Golder Associates, few employeesknew about the GTO. So Chambers helped to create astrategy to raise awareness for the program. This includeddeveloping a network of champions at each of the 160global offices. These champions took on the challenge ofraising funds for, and boosting awareness of, the GTOwithin the organization.

By the end of 2009, over US$1 million was raised for theGTO. About 40 per cent came from monthly payrolldeductions offered by Golder staff, and another 40 per centfrom local Golder office fundraisers. “We have officesdoing stuff every month — from bake sales to volleyballtournaments,” says Chambers. The final 20 per cent wasraised through external donations, mainly from clients andfriends of employees.

Capacity building in the midst of a crisisGolder employees support sustainable enterprise development to aid orphans

Developing expertiseFunding is awarded to projects based

on a set strategy. Organizations seekingfunding for their projects are referred toGTO manager and Golder Africaemployee, Jon Howcroft, who meets withthe organization for an initial evaluationto determine if the baseline criteria aremet. Following that, at least one of theother trustees meets with the organiza-tion for a second-look assessment, andHowcroft then requests a proposal with aproper business plan. Projects must focuson orphan support and caring and haveat least a five-year history to be consid-ered for funding. In addition, its directorsmust be open to an interview as well as asite inspection. The board of trusteesthen evaluates the proposals and awardsfunding annually.

“Our strategy is to work with a smallnumber of organizations and continue to

help them through multiple projects,” Chambers explains.“This way, we can see real benefits from our efforts. We seethem grow, and we grow with them over time.”

Golder representatives sit on the board of directors ofsome of the organizations the company supports, offeringbusiness advice. “We have varying expertise to help them,and fill their ‘need’ gaps,” Chambers says.

Mission Station of Carlos Vilanculos – MassingaDistrict, Mozambique

Since 2002, Carlos Vilanculos has been using his family’sfarm to help his community. He dug a well to access cleanwater, cleared a large area to grow food, taught reading andwriting, and launched a medical aid service for people withHIV/AIDS. Some of his patients asked Vilanculos to take careof their children when they died. He currently has sixorphans living with him, and is supplying food and clothingto 180 more.

With financial support from the GTO, Vilanculos built anirrigation system, basic greenhouse facilities and planted afield of pineapples. Proceeds from the sale of produce gener-ate funds to care for the children.

In 2009, the GTO donated US$15,000 to fund the con-struction and maintenance of three chicken coops.Vilanculos now supplies broiler chickens raised on the farmto the local community. Proceeds from the sale of the chick-ens are used to buy food, clothing, notebooks and pencils forthe children.


upfrontE D U C A T I O N / O U T R E A C H b y H e a t h e r E d n i e

Carlos Vilanculos's mission station, with the aid of GTO, supports 180 children.

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Gol

der A

ssoc

iate

s


upfrontE D U C A T I O N / O U T R E A C H

This year, Vilanculos submitted a proposal to buy pigs,in order to generate more income, and solar panels toreduce his reliance on petrol.

Bulembu Ministries – SwazilandBulembu, Swaziland, was built on a mine operation that

closed in 2001. With no jobs, the town was largely aban-doned in the midst of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and theresulting orphan crisis. However, through the efforts of anumber of organizations led by Bulembu MinistriesSwaziland and support from corporate donations, Bulembuaims to become self-sustaining by 2020, with the ability toprovide care for 2,000 orphaned children.

Since 2006, the community has been assisted in a num-ber of ways, including the construction of a medical clinic,daycare, school and infrastructure. In addition, economicstimulus has created over 500 jobs.

The GTO began its close partnership with an invest-ment of US$70,000 to build a honey business. The fundsseeded the creation of a production facility with 350 hivesand the employment of a beekeeper. Proceeds from thebusiness support six homes in the community, with eightorphaned children in each home. In 2009, the projectgrew to become the largest honey producer in Swaziland.

“Bulembu Honey provides monthly funding of nearlyUS$3,000,” says James Woller, director of operations atBulembu Ministries. “An indirect benefit is that honey isused as a healthy sugar supplement for the children’s careprogram.”

In 2009, the GTO provided another US$20,000 to builda bakery in Bulembu. Prior to this project, the closest loafof bread for Bulembu residents was in the next town, a five-kilometre walk. “One of the most visible impacts Bulembu

Bakery has had on the community is establishing a store-front for community members to gather, socialize andcongregate,” says Woller. “Sales of Bulembu Dairy andBulembu Maize now occur at the bakery on the accountsystem. To date, there are over 400 customers on account,who are invoiced at the end of the month.”

Woller says a number of new projects are in the works for2011, including the development of an integrated commu-nity agriculture program and the rehabilitation of the oldmine tailings.

The GTO joined a handful of companies providing crit-ical support for the development of sustainable businessesin Bulembu, including Caterpillar, The Jim Pattison Group,G&J Parking and Teldon Media Group.

Lewa Children’s Home - KenyaThe Lewa Children’s Home shelters approximately 120

children and includes a 200-hectare farm. The GTO hasbeen helping the operation since 2006 through a variety ofprojects, including the acquisition and startup of beehivesand honey extracting equipment, as well as renovating thechildren’s dormitory.

“The agricultural sector in Kenya for the domestic marketis difficult,” explains Phyllis Chepkoech Keino, manager atLewa Children’s Home. “Value-adding — which we startedin 1999 after the collapse of the giant Kenyan creameries —has been a better option to generate income and makes usmore independent.”

Currently, the farm primarily processes about 700 litresof milk daily into fermented milk and Gouda cheese to sellto hotels in Nairobi. This year, the GTO is providing aUS$100,000 donation to enlarge the dairy and cheese facil-ities to nearly 2,500 litres of milk per day. “The expansion

of our milk processing plant will notmake us immediately independentfrom help from the ‘outside,’ but atleast less dependent and less vulnera-ble,” Keino explains. “We will be ableto overcome periods when fundraisingwill be more difficult — at least we willnot have to refuse babies because oflack of funds or food.”

Keino says it is thanks to the GTO’ssupport to improve the existing facilitiesthat the Home has been able to take inan increasing number of children. “TheGTO is, in my belief, different in thesense that they are very supportive of theidea of starting/financing something thatis income-generating,” she adds. “A lotof NGOs and/or financial institutionswould not touch [the facility] once theyheard [their money] will be managed bya Children’s Home. I guess we are doingsomething unique here.” CIM

Global mining companies all experience the same chal-lenges. Collecting and summarising operational infor-mation stored in a multitude of systems remains the sin-gle largest obstacle in accurate information management and reporting. With GMSI mineRP however, integrating business information and spatial information across disciplines is possible at last!

Few modern industries are as spatially aware and dependent as mining. Where spatial placement of

some businesses, GMSI (mining arm of the Gijima group) believes that showing mining information in its spatial context provides the key to unlocking its real value. Whether data is related to a greenfields project or established mine, spatial information becomes the cornerstone of making key decisions and measuring performance objectives. Given the right tools, not only mining information but also other sources such as commercial lease and land royalties information, bitumen content, carbon volatility, methane gas readings, ash analysis, coal content and much more can

possibilities are endless.

GMSI has developed a unique and extremely exciting framework for integrated mine resource planning called mineRP, presenting the mining industry with a real breakthrough in spatial data management.

More than just providing a common location for storing and retrieving spatial information files such as geological models; designs for seams, benches, stockpiles, dykes and dumps; mine plans, etc, mineRP

on . With spatialDB, both developing projects and mines can manage three dimensional spatial information in an open-standards based environment; storing, merging and publishing all spatially relevant information in one central repository available to all disciplines at the same time.

What this means is that all mining technical information gets combined into one place, inherently enabling everyone in the mining technical environment to work together as a collaborative whole, instead of in silos separated by technology and process. GMSI aims to provide the mining industry a way to translate technical data to business information by moving data from the planning room to the boardroom through systems and professional consulting.

silos on two fronts. Firstly, by eliminating the

information and workflow barriers between them, and secondly by exposing the resultant data sets to information consumers in a consistent format. SpatialDash is a web-browser based information visualizer, which allows clients to visually combine information from across the mining value chain.

Information spatially depicted, but they can also establish unique dashboard features linked to each layer added to the picture, resulting in so much more than either traditional GIS or MIS solutions could provide. GIS gives you the picture and a way to navigate between depicted elements, business Intelligence tools give you the information analysis capabilities, and spatial intelligence with SpatialDash combines these functions.

When combined with the consulting capabilities offered

mineRP with spatialDB and spatialDash becomes an unbeatable instrument in aiding mining companies to really dig faster, better, and in the right place!

For more information on GMSI mineRP, contact Shawn Curtis - Tel: 1 705 562 3956 or [email protected].

GMSI mineRP

ADVERTISEMENT

For years, Bucyrus International, Inc. has known it haddeveloped cutting-edge longwall automated plow sys-tems capable of outperforming the system typicallyused today in longwall coal mining: the shearer. Here,

the company believed, was the future of low-to-medium seamcoal mining — offering tremendous improvements in every-thing from safety to productivity, cost-effectiveness andenvironmental responsibility. On the international market,many agreed; the company’s plow systems — one forextremely thin seams, one for thin-to-medium seams andanother for extremely hard coal — operate in China, CzechRepublic, Germany, Kazakhstan, US, Mexico, Poland, Ukraineand Russia. But back home, in North America, the SouthMilwaukee, Wisconsin-based Bucyrus hit a stone wall when itcame to generating more market interest and acceptance.

“In North America there’s a mind block,” says KeithO’Neil, director of product management, longwall productgroup, Bucyrus International Inc. “There are still people inthe industry who view plows as being unproductive, notpowerful enough, all based on experiences from back in the1970s when we didn’t have all the automation, the powerthat we do today. So they have a false perception that theplow still cannot compete with a shearing machine. Andthat’s absolutely not the case. We have completely rein-vented the plow using today’s technology. We’re now able toproduce systems that can rival and actually exceed the pro-ductivity capabilities of shearing machines in low and evenmedium seams up to 71 inches in height.”

An informed, contrary decisionThis past July, however, Cliffs Natural

Resources, an international mining andnatural resources company, joined Bucyrusin a noteworthy announcement that couldjust mark the beginning of the end of thatNorth American mind block. After exhaus-tive analysis, Cliffs had selected Bucyrus’plow system for its Pinnacle coal minenear Pineville, West Virginia. The plow isnot new to Cliffs. For decades, thePinnacle mine was the only one in the U.S.— and only one of two in all of NorthAmerica — that operated a longwall plowsystem; albeit one it had developed withpartners in Germany that was far more effi-cient than the stereotypical plow most inthe North American coal industry imagine.But when it came time to update its equip-ment, Cliffs seriously considered switchingto a shearer.

“When we started this selection processback in 2007, there were a lot of people looking at thereserves who said we may need to switch to a shearer,” saysRussell Combs, Pinnacle Mine’s general manager. “We werevery close to making the decision to go to a shearer but wedecided to back up and take a look at a few things.”

One of the first things Cliffs considered was safety. Theplow is operated remotely, requiring no operators at theface. “With today’s automation technology, the plow is avery safe system,” says Combs. “The shearer requires thatyou have people going back and forth with it. There’s a lotof dust generation, rock that can fall in and come over onthe folk. In a shearer, there are a lot of moving parts, so youhave to be very diligent with your safety lockouts. With aplow, you’re able to use sprays that follow it along for dustsuppression. And you don’t have electric motors and otherelectrical components on the plow itself; those are at theends where there are people in controlled conditions tomonitor the gasses. With a shearer, there are electricalcables and motors right on that shearer that keep movingback and forth all the time so you do have the potential forgas accumulation that could ignite with an electrical cur-rent. In a plow, you have some electricity that goes acrosson the shields but it’s not moving back and forth all thetime. It’s safer.”

In the past, the performance of conventional plows wasoften compromised by variations in coal hardness, which ledto different cutting depths, resulting in overloading of theconveyor and downstream equipment or jamming of the


upfrontT E C H N O L O G Y b y A l e x a n d r a L o p e z - P a c h e c o

Cutting a niche in a tough market The Bucyrus automated longwall plow arrives in North America

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Buc

yrus

Cliffs Resources currently uses the longwall plow at its Pinnacle mine in W. Virginia.Bucyrus hopes to carve a deeper niche in the North American market.

plow. Because the Bucyrus system is based on incrementalplowing, it is able to avoid these complications.

“The plow works great on our site,” says Combs. “It fol-lows the seam without manually having to control exactlywhere it is mining. With this plow, you just set it up, and itwill go up and down with the seam. It follows the seam verywell to keep us with a good clean product, not taking therock. It will mine as much or more coal, certainly more inlower seams but as much in the higher seams as a shearer.”

A cleaner cutHistorically, plows often lacked the horsepower to pro-

ceed when they encountered extremely hard-cuttingconditions. The resulting manual intervention and slow-down in production was one of the reasons the industryturned to the shearer, which has the horsepower to cut rock— and cut rock in abundance it does. This means the rockhas to be removed from the coal in the preparation process,energy has to be used in moving it and eventually all thatrock has to go somewhere.

“What’s happening is that with the regulatory agenciesgaining more and more influence over issues like rockimpoundment, reject piles, refuse piles — the whole nineyards in terms of environmental impact — the cost of


upfrontT E C H N O L O G Y

GIW’s commitment to the Oil Sands is expanding! We have doubled the stock yard and building. We have increased stock capacity, crane capacity and rebuild capacity.

Our newly renovated Ft. McMurray REGEN Service Center provides round the clock, one stop, total customer support for all GIW products. GIW is a long-standing member of the Oil Sands community. Let GIW earn your trust with quick, cost e�ective disassembly, inspection, quoting, and rebuild of your slurry pumping products. GIW is dedicated to reducing Total Cost of Ownership and extending product life cycle through our REGEN Service Center.

Visit GIW at the Oil Sands Trade Show Booth #1105

REGEN + Growth = Reduced Cost

preparation of coal, not only the preparation cost itself interms of washing the coal but also the disposal of thereject, is becoming a major expense,” says O’Neil.

The horsepower in today’s Bucyrus plowing systemsexceeds the specific energy that a like-sized shearer candeliver, says O’Neil, explaining that the plow basicallyworks as a slicer attached to a continuous loop chain up to42 mm in diameter that allows as much as 2,160 horse-power to be put into the cutting action. That means thatthe powerful Bucyrus longwall plows permit far more pre-cision, minimizing reject material, resulting in energycost-savings both in the mining process as well as in thepreparation of the product.

“With the shearer, it was going to be such that we mightnot have enough room for storing rock in our impoundmentarea for the life of the mine,” says Combs. “And right now,there’s a lot of concern about the storage and new areas andwhere do you store this rock properly to not affect streamsand such. So environmentally, this was a good choice for usalso. With this system, they’ve cleaned up a lot of things. It’svery modular in changing parts, very ergonomic for gettingup and down the conveyer, more room, no protrusions hang-ing down so you can quickly move across the face without alot of obstructions. It’s a lot of really good technology.” CIM

Since the 1990s in situ operations have relied heavilyon steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) for bitu-men extraction in the Athabasca oil sands. In the ColdLake and Peace River oil sands areas, cyclic steam

stimulation (CSS) also has its niche. Across the regions, insitu extraction is projected to surpass mining as the primarysource of bitumen production by 2016, according to theCanadian Association of Petroleum Producers, and SAGDoperations and CSS, to a lesser extent, are set to lead theindustry to that milestone.

However, other technologies, including toe-to-heel airinjection (THAI™), combustion overhead gravity drainage(COGD) and enhanced solvent extraction are increasinglyready to break new ground. Each of these processes wasdeveloped by Calgary-based organizations and each claims tooffer economic, environmental or operational improvementsover more traditional insitu extraction technologies.

All three technologies rely on heat to help make the bitu-men sufficiently mobile to bring it to surface. But they differin the methods they use to heat the reservoirs and theamount of heat required to recover the bitumen.

Toe-to-heelIn 2001-02, Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd., an oil

and natural gas exploration and production company withoperations in Colombia and western Canada, acquired thetoe-to-heel air injection (THAI™) technology from theAlberta Research Council. The technology uses combustioninitiated from vertical air injection wells to heat in the reser-voir, and gravity to collect the oil in the horizontalproduction wells to recover heavy oil and bitumen.

In THAI™, horizontal production wells are drilled to thebase of the reservoir. Then air injection wells are drilled ver-tically at the “toe” of the production wells. A small amountof steam is injected through the vertical and horizontal wells

Advancing extraction techniques New technologies vie for a piece of the growing in situ pie

for two to three months to heat the reservoir near the wellbore and create a path of “communication” between theinjector and the producer. Once the heavy oil or bitumen ishot enough to become mobile, air is injected into the forma-tion through the vertical air injection well.

When the air contacts the heavy oil or bitumen, it starts acombustion reaction. As more air is injected into the forma-tion, the vertical combustion front moves along the horizontalwell, from the toe to the heel of the production well. As tem-peratures increase, the heavy oil or bitumen reaches a hightemperature at which partial upgrading occurs.

The partially upgraded oil, along with vapourized waterand gases that form during combustion, drains into the hor-izontal well. Once it has made its way to the surface, the oilis piped through the plant facilities where it is treated andthen sent to market.

According to Petrobank, the THAI™ process has provenimportant benefits. They include an estimated 70 to 80 percent recovery oil rate, lower capital and operating costs, andlower environmental impacts, such as no water and naturalgas use. Furthermore, the process upgrades the oil within thereservoir itself, making a higher quality oil that requires lessupgrading at surface.

Petrobank says the patented THAI™ process has beentested and field proven at its Whitesands pilot project southof Fort McMurray since 2006 and, more recently, at itsKerrobert project in Saskatchewan. The company has otherTHAI™ projects in addition to Whitesands: the upcoming7,000 barrel per day Kerrobert expansion; the 10,000 barrelper day May River Phase 1 project near Whitesands; and theDawson project in the Peace River area of Alberta. Alltogether, Petrobank has the potential to recover approxi-mately one billion barrels of oil from its leases.

Chris Bloomer, senior vice-president and COO heavy oil,says Petrobank’s strategy is to capture a global portfolio ofheavy oil resources where the application of THAI™ couldlead to both improved recovery rates and third-party licens-ing agreements.

Combustion overheadExcelsior Energy Limited is a small (four full-time

employees) publicly listed company that has big plans. Itwants to develop oil sands resources on its leases in northernAlberta using a new process called combustion overheadgravity drainage (COGD), a proprietary technology devel-oped by Excelsior in consultation with the In SituCombustion Research Group in the Schulich School ofEngineering at the University of Calgary.


upfrontN E W F R O N T I E R S b y P e t e r C a u l f i e l d

Imag

e co

urte

sy o

f Pet

roba

nk

Toe-to-heel air injection (THAI™)

Excelsior operates 58 sections of Athabasca oil sandsassets in the Hangingstone and West Surmont areas southof Fort McMurray. The leases hold over two billion barrelsof bitumen in place as of July 31, 2009. The company saysthe Hangingstone property has the potential for 50,000 to80,000 barrels per day.

COGD employs a set of vertical air injector ignition wellsabove a horizontal production well that is located at the baseof the bitumen pay zone. A multi-step pre-ignition heatingcycle that uses steam — a proprietary technology for which

Excelsior has filed for a patent —prepares the cold bitumenin the reservoir for ignition and makes it more mobile.

Upon ignition, a combustion chamber develops above andalong the length of the horizontal well. Combustion gases areseparated and segregated in the upper part of the reservoirand hot bitumen flows by gravity into the horizontal produc-tion well. Combustion gases can be collected in vertical ventwells on the sides of that part of the reservoir under exploita-tion, and returned to the surface for treatment.

COGD is like SAGD in that the pre-ignition heat cycleuses cyclic steam and steam flood techniques to predisposethe viscous oil reservoir to form a combustion chamber. But,says Excelsior vice-president engineering and COO RobBailey, COGD has important environmental advantages overSAGD. “COGD can reduce water consumption by 90 percent and fuel gas consumption by 69 per cent,” he says. “Andit can produce a barrel of bitumen with 45 per cent fewerCO2 emissions.”

In addition, he says, there are significant savings in capitaland operating costs and economic viability at a price of WestTexas Intermediate (a type of crude oil used as a benchmarkin oil pricing) as low as US$40 to $45 per barrel.

In June 2009, Excelsior submitted an application todevelop an experimental COGD pilot project on its


upfrontN E W F R O N T I E R S

Imag

e co

urte

sy o

f Exc

elsi

or E

nerg

y

Combustion overhead gravity drainage (COGD)

Hangingstone asset. The company says the pilot project willproduce up to 1,000 barrels per day.

Enhanced solventThe enhanced solvent method of N-Solv Corporation

builds upon the commercially proven gravity drainage andhorizontal well technologies, says CEO John Nenniger.Heated solvent (propane) vapour is injected at moderate pres-sures into the gravity drainage chamber. The vapour flows

from the injection well to the colder perimeter of the chamberwhere it condenses, delivering heat and fresh solvent directlyto the bitumen extraction interface. Nenniger says this part ofthe process is up to three times faster than SAGD. The con-densed solvent and oil then drain by gravity to the bottom ofthe chamber and are recovered through the production well.

Compared to other in situ processes, Nenniger says, tem-perature and pressure using the N-Solv process are verygentle. “GHG emissions are directly linked to the amount of

energy consumption (i.e. extraction tem-perature),” he explains, “so N-Solv at40ºC, provides a huge GHG improvementover steam at 200 to 300ºC and combus-tion at 400 to 600ºC. N-Solv has 86 percent fewer GHG emissions than SAGD.”In addition, the solvent extracts only thevaluable components of the bitumen andleaves behind most asphaltenes. As aresult, the oil that is produced containsless sulphur, heavy metals (nickel, vana-dium, iron) and carbon residue. It is also100 times less viscous, which means itrequires less diluent for transportation bypipeline to the refinery.

Other benefits of the process claimedby N-Solv include no water consumption;30 per cent reduction in capital cost ($360million savings for a typical SAGD); 80 to95 per cent less energy than steamprocesses; and synergy with co-genera-tion, whereby all of N-Solv’s thermalrequirements are supplied from wasteheat. At current prices, Nenniger calcu-lates the propane solvent, which isrecoverable, will cost less than the naturalgas burned for steam generation in SAGD.

Nenniger says that because N-Solv is anenvironmentally friendly technology, profitmargins are expected to be five times greaterthan steam-based alternatives. The next stepis to prove as much. N-Solv has an agree-ment to run a field pilot program at Suncor’sDover site, where SAGD was originallypiloted, in order to provide a benchmarkingcomparison. Once the capital is secured toget the project running, it will take severalyears to run the test pilot through a deple-tion cycle, Nenniger says. But it will requireonly one or two years to discover if theprocess is commercially viable.

If the pilot shows N-Solv is commer-cially viable, the company intends tolicense the technology widely to ensurethat cleaner technology is accessible toproducers. CIM


upfrontN E W F R O N T I E R S

Edmonton Exchanger features a wide range of products and services for applications

in various industries that include oil and gas, petrochemical and power generation.

Our custom steel forming division specializes in the fabrication of large-scale pressure

vessel components and features steel forming capacities that are some of the largest

of their kind. We offer the most extensive one-stop head forming and shell rolling

capabilities in North America, and one of the largest inventories of pressure vessel

quality steel plate in the world.

Additionally, we offer a wide range of machining services and specialize in large-

scale milling and CNC tube sheet drilling for heat exchanger applications. Edmonton

plants and the petrochemical industry. Our services range from controlled bolting and

www.edmontonexchanger.com

Custom Steel Forming | Plant Maintenance | Machining | Heat Exchangers

Despite being known as the oil sands, Alberta’s bitu-men-rich ore is more than just plain sand. Rather,the soil is largely a mix of silts, sands and clay, andthe variability can present serious challenges to the

surface mine operator. Ron Myers, manager, facilities andenvironment research at Imperial Oil, says the variation inthe mix being mined can have enormous impact on theextraction plant.

That is where the project led by Benoit Rivard, professorand associate chair of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at theUniversity of Alberta, offers much promise. The underlyingscience is pretty straightforward: shine a very narrow wave-length of light at an ore sample, record the intensity of thelight being reflected, and repeat the process across a range ofwavelengths. The result is a spectrographic “fingerprint” ofthe sample which, Rivard says, “can be informative in regardto the material makeup,” helping to anticipate and avoidcostly interruptions at the extraction stage.

A fine solution“If you go from what’s a good processing ore to suddenly

hitting a clay lens with a very high fines content, and thatgoes into the plant without any warning, you could upsetextraction to the point where your bitumen recovery per-centage goes from the mid-90s to as low as 50 per cent,”Myers explains.

The financial impact of a major recovery drop can beenormous, with no cost-effective ways to address the situa-

Shining a light on oil sands productionSpectroscopy could bring flash of insight to ore processing

tion readily available. Myers points outthat the clay lenses or poor processingores can be small enough to slipthrough, even when the mine geologistsare taking core samples a mere 50metres apart. The obvious answer —decreasing the spacing between coresamples — becomes prohibitivelyexpensive very quickly.

Rivard says a unique aspect of the oilsands makes the current spectroscopyproject possible. “The reason we’re ableto see how much there is of each particlesize is that the fines are dominated by acertain type of mineral — clay miner-als,” he explains. “The sands aredominated principally by quartz andfeldspars.” Each has a unique signaturethat allows one to be distinguished fromthe other and appropriate processingadjustments made.

Rivard says that the researchers are not examining grainsizes directly but are able to extrapolate from the mix of min-eral types in the sample. In other contexts, says Rivard, a singlemineral type would be spread across multiple grain sizes, mak-ing the technique inapplicable.

Of course it is one thing to show that something works inthe lab and entirely another to implement it in the field.What Imperial wants from the project is a way to providereal-time ore composition and particle size readings from themine face, says Myers. These can then be used to adjust theprocessing conditions at the extraction plant or froth treat-ment facility, ensuring optimal recovery levels and smoothoperation.

Bringing the lab to the mine faceOf course, putting the spectroscopic equipment at the

mine site presents a number of significant challenges, saysRivard. The first of these is the limited time available toexamine a given sample. The ore is constantly moving fromthe dragline to the processing plant and if the sensors cannotkeep up with the pace, the data they produce will arrive toolate to do any good. The issue, he explains, is that the lesstime a sensor spends collecting reflected light at any givenwavelength, the higher the chance of measurement errorscreeping in.

The situation is going to be further exacerbated by theuneven nature of the chunks of ore being sampled, Rivardadds. “The ore will be blocky, with different sizes of blocks.When you shine a light on it, there will be shadows; some


upfrontP R O C E S S I N G b y D a n Z l o t n i k o v

The unique light signatures of high-grade ore (left) and low-grade ore from a clay lens could be the answer toquickly identifying and separating the two.

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Im

peria

l Oil

parts may be well illuminated while others are in shadow,”all of which will alter the amount of reflected light anddecrease the accuracy of the measurements.

The other major issue is one of the sensors themselves.Rivard and his team are working with both the short-waveinfrared (SWIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) parts ofthe spectrum, in addition to visible light. But according toRivard, there is no single detector array capable of han-dling both parts of the infrared spectrum, requiring twicethe equipment and far more than twice the cost. Rivardsays that while a SWIR sensor array may cost $100,000 to$150,000, the LWIR sensors start at $300,000 and can beas much as one million dollars each. These costs are forequipment, which would not last long in the harsh condi-tions of the mine, Rivard says. How much do therugged-duty versions cost? No one knows for certain —they do not exist at this time.

While the challenges are significant, they are certainlynot insurmountable, and Rivard and his team are preparingfor the field trial stage. Sensor improvements are also set tohelp the project, Rivard adds. “In the last two years we’vestarted seeing imaging cameras as opposed to point spec-trometers, which is what we’ve been doing for many yearsand what I have in my lab,” he explains.

The cameras allow researchers to collect measurementsfrom multiple points on the sample simultaneously, poten-tially speeding up the process significantly. Rivard says hehas received a Canadian Foundation for Innovation grant topurchase a long-wave camera and is now starting to plan thefield trial stage, which he expects to begin in a year’s time.

A COSI partnershipIt was no accident that brought Rivard to Imperial Oil.

Myers explains that five years ago, Imperial’s CEO at thetime, Tim Hearn, came to the company’s oil sands R&Dgroup with a task. “He said, ‘I see a need to do some break-through research that could lead to improved environmentaland economic performance, and I think we could do that ata university, and I think we could leverage our research dol-lars’” Myers recalls, “and he asked us to develop a proposalon how to do that.”

The result of that initiative was The Centre for Oil SandsInnovation (COSI), a partnership between Imperial Oil andthe University of Alberta. Imperial contributed $10 millionin funding over the following five years, with the govern-ments of Alberta and of Canada joining in to contributeadditional funds. Rivard’s research is one of the more than20 projects currently comprising the portfolio at COSI.

While COSI is based at the University of Alberta, Myersadds, the centre funds research with partner universitiesacross Canada. “We go where the capability exists and solicitthose projects from researchers who have the right skills andcapabilities,” he says.

Myers also highlights the nature of the research con-ducted under the umbrella of COSI — the work is

fundamental in nature, focusing more on the underlyingconcepts than specific industrial implementations.Imperial’s intent with COSI, he explains, is to fund break-through projects with potential for major environmental andefficiency improvements.

Myers adds that Imperial accepts the risk associated withthis type of research. “We also recognize that not all projectswill be successful. We may fund a project for two or threeyears and when completed, although there has been somevery good work done, we will wrap up the research, as apromising new lead may not have emerged.”

It is also worth noting that Imperial is not the only bene-ficiary of COSI research. “All the work that comes out ofCOSI is ultimately published,” Myers says. “A lot of thework is being done by graduate students, and it’s importantfor them to publish their work. That’s an important aspectof COSI projects.”

Nor are other oil sands operators going to be locked outof the advances. “There is an obligation for Imperial — forany projects that result in commercial technology — for thattechnology to be made available to third parties,” addsMyers. “These parties would typically pay a reasonable roy-alty or license fee, the proceeds of which would be shared byImperial and the universities.” CIM


upfrontP R O C E S S I N G

Ithink we slayed a dragon,” says Matt LeBlanc, generalmanager, Reclamation Mine Operations Oil Sands,Suncor Energy. “A lot of people thought we couldn’treclaim an oil sands tailings pond.” But proof to the

contrary is taking root in the oil patch north of FortMcMurray. There, among hundreds of thousands of treesand shrubs, animals now inhabit what had been a tailingspond for the last 43 years.

“

A witness to historyThe reclamation of Suncor’s Pond 1

The very first tailings pondSuncor’s Pond 1, adjacent to the

Athabasca River in northeastern Alberta,covers 220 hectares (about 2.2 squarekilometres). It was part of the first com-mercial-scale oil sands operation inCanada, commissioned in 1966 when itwas owned by Great Canadian Oil Sands

Limited, a subsidiary of the Sun Oil Company, and nowowned by Suncor.

Reclamation of the pond dyke walls began in the late1960s when very little was known about how to go aboutplanting a sustainable vegetation cover on the dyke’s sur-face. At the time, reclamation goals were considerably moremodest, and environmental regulations were in theirinfancy.


upfrontS U S T A I N A B I L I T Y b y M a r l e n e E i s n e r

BUILDING LIFETIME CLIENTS ONE CUSTOMER AT A TIME

T H I N K S A F E T Y , W O R K S A F E L Y !

EDMONTON: (780) 462-4211 CALGARY: (403) 263-0592 VANCOUVER: (604) 681-7500

CONSTRUCTION SERVICES: MINING:

OILSANDS SERVICES:

DEEP FOUNDATIONS:

The Ledcor Group of Companies

™

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Sun

cor

The reclaimed tailings pond includes wetlands for waterfowl and an array of grasses, trees and shrubs.

The site prior to reclamation

Not having the right propane partner can stop you

in your tracks. Only Superior Propane provides you

with industry-speci�c trained technical service teams,

24/7 live service dispatch, and a guaranteed source of

propane supply to help you guard against downtime

and lost productivity.

1-87SUPERIOR superiorpropane.com

Leblanc says that 35 years ago no one really knew thesteps to reclaim a tailings pond. “One of the first jobs Ihad in 1976 was standing in Pond 1 and blocking up atailings line. I never expected to be back reclaiming it.”

After decades in operation, the pond is now beingclosed in a highly regulated environment with a substan-tial knowledge base of reclamation techniques,well-defined reclamation goals and clear end land usetargets. With nine existing ponds that cover 31.8 squarekilometres, the reclamation of Pond 1 is a monumentalstep forward for Suncor as it begins to decommission itsponds.

Learning on the flyThe initial design of the Pond 1 tailings storage facil-

ity consisted of a 12-metre high retention dyke built overTar Island. The dykes were constructed to contain thesand and water tailings released from the bitumenremoval process. Initially, overburden from the miningoperation was used in the construction. It soon becameobvious that using tailings sand with an overburden corewas a more appropriate method of building the damenclosure. “This allowed us to safely build the pondhigher,” says LeBlanc. “It now stands 91 metres abovethe river.”

The decommissioning Suncor took a three-phase approach to accelerate

reclamation activities. In phase one, the northern half ofthe pond began receiving reclamation material in 2007.During the next phase, the southern half of the pondcontinued to receive tailings while the phase one areaunderwent surface reclamation. The final phase con-sisted of a small area of soft tailings that wasmechanically stabilized using geo-grid and tailings sand,and was the last area to undergo surface reclamation.

Once the water and fine tailings had been removed,infilling – 30 million tonnes of clean sand – was used tofill the pond. This was completed in October 2009. “Weremoved the water and transferred a portion of themature fine tailings to be used as a feedstock in our con-solidated tailings process,” explains LeBlanc.“BGCEngineering Inc. provided us with the design for the sur-face topography and landscaping details for the pond,”says LeBlanc. “One of the first tasks we undertook wasto construct the drainage system and swales. As we werecompleting those, we started to place topsoil.”

A total of 1.2 million cubic metres of topsoil, to adepth of 50 centimetres, was placed on the pond, so thattrees and shrubs could be planted. In spite of the bestlaid plans, no one factored deer into the equation. “In2009, we planted standard jack pine seedlings, which arehigh up on the menu of the local deer,” explainsLeBlanc. “They walked through and ate every tree thatwe planted. Fortunately, only a small area of the pond


had been planted at the time.” In 2010, the areaaffected was replanted with white spruce, which thelocal deer population will only eat if nothing else isavailable.

Looking aheadAlthough LeBlanc considers the reclamation of

Pond 1 a success, a series of on-site monitoring systemswill allow Suncor to track the site. “We’ve put in a sig-nificant amount of instrumentation to monitor what’shappening,” he explains. “Physical and chemical prop-erties are being monitored, as well as the growth oftrees and shrubs and rate of return of the wildlife.”

The total cost of the project was within expectationsand LeBlanc says money has been put aside so that fiveyears down the road, there will be funds available iftouch-ups are needed.

Over the past three years, Suncor has fulfilled therequest of the local Aboriginal community to turn thearea into something nearer to what it once was. “Wehad the resources and the support we needed to get thejob done,” says LeBlanc. “It is performing very well andis currently exceeding our expectations.” CIM


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

Powerful Protection from

Tramp Metal DamageEriez’ powerful magnetic equipment removes tramp metal from deep burdens. In addition to being the World’s Strongest Magnet of its kind Eriez’ Suspended ElectroMagnet models offer:

• Unique expansion tank design• Permanent & Electromagnetic models• Self-cleaning and manual cleaning designs• 5-year coil warranty

Call 888-300-3743 or visit www.eriez.com

How to Choose & Use Magnetic SeparatorsFREE!

Tramp Metal Removal Systems

Integral Metalarm Metal Detectors

On to Pond 5No two tailings ponds are alike, so the reclamation process foreach is different, says Suncor’s Matt LeBlanc.

Suncor began work in January on Pond 5, which wasdecommissioned in November 2009. The pond, which measures440 hectares, is a consolidated tailings pond where coarse sandand mature fine tailings were combined with gypsum toaccelerate the release of water. “What we’re going to do is placepetroleum coke over the surface of the pond where it is soft, anddewater using wick drains,” says LeBlanc.

The coke is only applied during the winter months and willcontinue in this fashion until the surface becomes solid enough tosafely support construction personnel and equipment forreclamation activities, such as further dewatering.

“We’ve had some real breakthrough successes in Pond 5,” saysLeBlanc. “We established coke roadways on the soft structure bystarting construction in the wintertime, resulting in a road onwhich we can drive large trucks. We laid out some geo-fabric andgeo-grid on the frozen tailings, and then placed three metres ofcoke on top.” These roadways will provide a solid platform tosupport future dewatering activities on the pond.

Dr. Eddy Isaacs hasspent his career inresearch and technol-ogy. After two decadesof working in heavy oil and oil sands at the Alberta ResearchCouncil (now AlbertaInnovates TechnologyFuture), Isaacs came on board the formerAlberta Energy ResearchInstitute (AERI). Thisyear, AERI morphedinto a new AlbertaInnovates corporation,Energy andEnvironment Solutions(EES), picking up the

Alberta Water Research Institute along the way. AppointedCEO of the group, Isaacs leads staff and consultants indeveloping research and technology projects that meetAlberta’s economic and environmental needs. CIM spoketo him in August about his work.

CIM: How is EES different from its predecessor?Isaacs: The corporations were created to be able to carryfunds forward from year to year. That’s important inresearch and technology; you don’t always have good proj-ects when you want them.

We are at arm’s length from the province and have agreater freedom to operate, including less administrativerequirements that are typical of a government system. Theprovince provides EES with funds and we are accountableto deliver on programs that position Alberta for the futurein energy and environment. We have a very business-savvyboard that provides important oversight to ensure weachieve our goals and targets.

CIM: What is the budget for EES?Isaacs: Our base budget will be around $20 million. We getadditional funds from time to time, which are then allo-cated to specific areas. For example, we have investedaround $35 million in a City of Edmonton waste-to-biofu-els project, next generation upgrading technologies and afront-end engineering study for a clean coal plant, withfunds made available through the Department of Energy.The amount of additional funding will generally depend onthe fiscal health of the province.

Exploring the frontier Eddy Isaacs’ at the helm of Alberta’s re-branded energy and environmental R&D authority

CIM: How are projects chosen for funding?Isaacs: We focus on three strategic areas: energy technolo-gies, environmental technologies and renewable andemerging resources. We investigate what technologies areout there and how we can best adapt them to Alberta’sneeds, so we’re constantly monitoring what’s happeningglobally. Sometimes we formulate initiatives that respondto the Alberta government’s strategic priorities, then issuean expression of interest or a request for proposal.Another way is for people to come to us with an idea. If itfits our framework, we work with them to jointly developa project.

CIM: What are your plans for clean coal research and what willbe the impact of new federal requirements for coal-firedplants’ emission performance?Isaacs: We work very closely with the Canadian CleanPower Coalition (CCPC) looking at technology options tomaintain coal as a viable and important Canadian resourceinto the future. A number of projects analyze and examinethe feasibility of both current and next generation tech-nologies such as gasification with carbon capture andstorage that can be adapted to Canadian coal needs. We areinvolved with work in coal cleaning and have a number ofresearch projects at the University of Alberta. We are alsosupporting a newly established centre on carbon/coal andmineral processing at the university.

Traditionally, we have done a lot of work on carbonmanagement and especially carbon capture and storage(CCS). One such project is the Shell Quest project,which is delineating CO2 injection into deep saline for-mations, basically to learn more about the rates of CO2injection and the volumes that the saline aquifer(s) willtake. The Shell Quest project is a CCS project that willmove from field trials to commercial-scale application inthe coming years. Results from these studies will beimportant for the future of coal as companies such asTransAlta look at the feasibility of using CCS in theiroperations.

With lower natural gas prices, the simplest thing is toswitch to natural gas. But the requirements do motivatelooking at newer and more efficient technologies.

CIM: In what direction do you see research work following?Isaacs: EES’ mandate has expanded over that of AERI inthat the environment is considered beyond the energyindustry. The addition of the Alberta Water ResearchInstitute, whose mandate includes water quality and safetyof Alberta’s water resources, exemplifies that.


upfrontQ & A b y E a v a n M o o r e

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Alb

erta

Inno

vate

s

CIM: What past projects from AERI would you classify as success stories?Isaacs: The recently completed lifecycle analysis comparisonbetween oil sands and other North American crudes was acritical project for us and for the province. We are still work-ing on a project with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne on a morecost-effective, next-generation gasifier, looking at the use ofAlberta coals and petroleum coke from upgrading operations.We have sponsored a number of projects with the

When we started out as AERI, maybe 75 per cent of thework we were doing was in oil sands. But now, a largeportion of our projects is in renewable energy. With theWater Research Institute’s work and our planned work intailings, a larger chunk is taken up by clean water andwater recycling and reuse. We are also now much moreinvolved in land use, biodiversity and sustainable devel-opment.

In renewable and emerging resources, we are lookingprimarily at bioenergy, geothermal andsmall projects related to electrical stor-age — how communities can producetheir own electricity on a smart grid.The emerging resources include theimportant area of underground coalgasification, which has the potential tochange the dynamics of managing car-bon while still producing power fromdeep coal resources.

We’re still very much involved in oilsands, because our work is all intercon-nected. For instance, our work innext-generation coal gasification tech-nologies also has direct application tooil sands upgrading.

CIM: How do you judge the effectivenessof completed projects?Isaacs: If you’re in research and technol-ogy, you don’t expect everything tomove forward to commercial applica-tion. Our recent study of an integratedgasification combined cycle with CCSconcluded that with current natural gasand electricity prices, it is not economicto build the clean coal facility. But thedata is there, so it will be possible torevisit this in the future. I consider thatpart of the learning.

You need very few successes to payoff the investments that governmentsand industry are making in research andtechnology. Steam assisted gravitydrainage technology, which essentiallyled to the development of the in situindustry in the oil sands, was one ofaround 16 less successful field pilots.

We just started a project to studyhow people measure sustainability, ingeneral. We think this needs to be donesector by sector, not company by com-pany. We also think it all has to be donethrough third-party verification so thatthe numbers generated are realistic.


upfrontQ & A

Department of Energy looking at in situ oil sands develop-ment. Some of them have gone past the pilot scale to acommercial demonstration scale. They involve the use of sol-vents with steam to reduce water use, reduce GHG emissionsand improve overall recovery, while reducing natural gas use.

The underground coal gasification pilot with Swan HillsSynfuels is about gasifying coal in the deep underground toproduce a synthesis gas that can be used for electrical gener-ation. It proved successful as a pilot, and is now beingfunded through Alberta’s $2 billion investment in CCS look-ing at a commercial-scale project with the CO2 by-productto be used for enhanced oil recovery and storage.

We are currently assessing Alberta’s coal resources in viewof underground coal gasification technology. We have a hugeamount of coal that has probably not been recognized inter-nationally because it was deeply buried and of not much usein thermal power generation. But with a new technology likeunderground gasification, it can be counted as reserves. Aswell, because it’s amenable to CCS, it makes a much morecost-effective way of producing electricity. Of course, it stillneeds a lot of work to make it commercial. That’s why we areinvolved, essentially, to make sure that, moving forward, wereduce the risk of applying more sustainable technologies. CIM

AchievementsTop prize for rolling stoneBridgestone has won the Volvo Premium SupplierAward for 2009, which recognizes suppliers who bookthe best measured performance in the areas of quality,safety, environmental performance, costs, logistics andcorporate social responsibility. Close attention is alsopaid to the supplier’s capacity to work with Volvo’steams in the spirit of continuous improvement.Bridgestone is the first tire manufacturer to receive theaward. “This is a great honour and Bridgestone looksforward to maintaining its high level of quality serviceand its status as one of the Volvo Group’s long-termstrategic partners,” said Takashi Tomioka, senior vice-president, sales and marketing, Bridgestone Europe.

Having a conscience paysSuncor Energy is one of several successful mining com-panies and suppliers named on the 2010Jantzi-Macleans list of the Top 50 Socially ResponsibleCorporations demonstrating that corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) is no longer a boardroom buzz-word, but part of their business. The companies wereselected on the basis of their performance across a broadrange of environmental, social and governance indica-tors tracked by Jantzi-Sustainalytics. For completelisting, visit www2.macleans.ca/2010/06/14/social-responsible-corp-2010.


Imperial Oil is a trademark of Imperial Oil Limited, Imperial Oil, licensee. Mobil and the Pegasus are trademarks of Exxon Mobil Corporation or one of its subsidiaries, Imperial Oil Licensee.

Whether you build, produce, manufacture, run or generate, one fact is clear: better lubricants and better lubricant suppliers lead to increased productivity. That’s why Imperial Oil is proud to offer Mobil Industrial Lubricants – recognized worldwide by more than 5000 equipment builders. With the combination of Mobil Industrial Lubricants and Imperial Oil expertise, we don’t just elevate productivity – we help unleash it. Visit www.imperialoil.ca for more information.

On first blush, thermal and metallurgical coal areeasy to lump together. While the methods usedin producing the two are essentially the same,when the time comes to sell them one is des-tined to cross the world; the other is often con-

sumed just a short hop from where it was mined.Thermal coal is, as the name suggests, mainly

valued for its heat-generating capability andused as a fuel in power plants. Alec Kodatsky,a commodities analyst with CIBC, explainsthat because for the most part thermal coalis a low-price product, shipping costscomprise a major part of the final price.“In Canada, the bulk of thermal coalmined is literally shipped across the

street and put directly in apower plant,” he says,

describing what are known as “mine-mouth” operations.That said, there have recently been indications thatCanada’s export market for thermal coal is on theupswing.

Metallurgical coal, on the other hand, is a must-have forsteelmakers the world over. Because steel producers areprepared to pay a much higher price for their coal — andbecause metallurgical coal is far less abundant — this typeof product frequently travels halfway around the globe onits way from mine to blast furnace.

The factors influencing the price of these two coals arealso quite different. Mine-mouth operations are essentiallya symbiosis between mine and power plant; transporta-tion cost and low unit price of most thermal coals keepthe two tied to each other. The main source of price fluc-tuation for the operator of a mine-mouth coal mine insteadcomes from the customers of the power plant.

The two faces of coalUncertainty the common prospect for metallurgical and thermal coalBy Dan Zlotnikov

Photo courtesy of W

estern Coal Corp.

exporter,” he explains. “Butgiven their growth rates andtheir steel industry outpacingtheir own domestic productionthe requirement really shiftedto needing to import coal.”

This need for more coal tofuel an economy growingdespite the global economicslowdown meant that produc-ers were diverting excess sup-ply from European markets toChina. One company that hasseen this first-hand is Teck, theworld’s second-largest cokingcoal exporter. Bob Bell, chiefcommercial officer and vice-president of Teck Coal, saysthat in 2008, 45 per cent ofthe company’s metallurgicalcoal production was going into

North Asia, mostly Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.“During the financial crisis of 2009, we’d found that our

European customer base was very heavily impacted by thedownturn of the steel industry, where in China they actually


coal

“Thermal coal tends to be energy related as far as theoverall level of pricing, and that’s of course probably muchmore closely linked to oil prices,” Kodatsky explains.Mark Plamondon, senior vice-president of Sherritt Coal,

agrees, explaining that “coal-fired power plants typicallyprovide low-cost base-load electricity, which remains rel-atively stable during economic cycles.” As a result, headds, production from Sherritt Coal’s Prairie operationshas remained steady during the economic crisis.Things can be much more volatile when it comes to

metallurgical coal, demand for which is directly related tothe demand for steel products. The two primary uses ofsteel — construction and the automotive industry — are inturn very sensitive to the state of the overall economy. Ifthe economy grows faster, so does the demand for steeland the price offered for coking coal. A slowdown in theeconomy? Metallurgical coal producers are sure to startlooking worried.This story played out to dramatic effect over the past

18 months. The global credit crisis brought economicgrowth the world over to a grinding halt, and steel produc-ers saw demand for their products plummet. Metallurgicalcoal producers soon felt the pinch, as demand droppedoff sharply and spot prices dropped from $250 to $300per tonne to below $130 per tonne. To put the figure inperspective, multinational mining giant Teck described2009 in its annual report as “the worst year for the globalsteel industry in over 70 years.”

Asia-boundWhile things were difficult for both consumers and

producers of metallurgical coal, the news was not allequally grim. China in particular, says Kodatsky, hit a land-mark in early 2008 and became a net importer of cokingcoal. “Historically, they had been a fairly significant net

Genesee mine-mouth operation

Photo courtesy of Sherritt Coal

had very little impact,” Bell says. “There was just a briefslowdown, but then Chinese steel production ramped upvery quickly. So in 2009, we actually sold 70 per cent of


coal

our product into North Asia, and had quite a dramaticdecrease into Europe.”Teck’s other Asian markets were not significantly

impacted either, Bell adds. The raw tonnage amountsgoing to Japan, for example, remained roughly the same.But at the same time, China went from buying very little topurchasing 20 per cent of Teck’s 19 million tonnes of2009 coal production.Going forward, Bell expects European demand to

recover, but says North Asia will continue to account forover half of Teck’s coal sales. “In 2010, when our traditionalcustomer base in Europe found that they required morematerial, they had demand for more of our products, so oursales into Europe started to pick up again,” he says.“Although by that time, we had actually allocated a fair por-tion of our tonnage into Chinese markets, so we were notable to go back to the traditional levels.” According to Kodatsky, the utilization rates of the steel

industry are continuing to increase, both in North Americaand Europe. “It has been a steady increase from the bot-toms that you saw in early 2009, and to date we haven’tseen a market slowdown of those rates,” he adds.With utilization rates in the United States back up to

70 to 75 per cent — typically 90 per cent is the peak saysKodatsky — the Western countries’ steel industry is stillnot at optimal performance rates, but clearly headed thatway. Couple that with an expectation of continued strongdemand from China, and the need for more coking coalis clear.The prospect of continued strong demand is not lost on

the producers, who are putting a lot of effort into increas-ing production. Teck Coal, says Bell, is in the midst of anexpansion program that began in 2008 and is aiming toincrease the company’s production volumes 50 per cent by2013. “That really comes from expansion of existing active

mining facilities,” Bell says, but addsthat Teck is also looking at reopeningits Quintette Mine in northeasternBritish Columbia. The company is in themiddle of a feasibility study andexpects to make a decision on thereopening in late 2011.Western Coal is in the middle of an

aggressive expansion program of itsown, says CEO Keith Calder. The com-pany produced 3.2 million tonnes in its2010 fiscal year (ended March 31,2010), is on track to almost double thatwith six million tonnes of production inthe 2011 fiscal year, and expects toreach its target of 10 million tonnes peryear by March 31, 2013. Western’s operations currently cover

three geographic regions, with themajority of its production originating innortheastern British Columbia. Thecompany also operates two surface

.

Engineering & Environmental

www.klohn.com

Photo courtesy of W

estern Coal Corp.

Western Coal expects to reach an annual production of 10 million tonnes by the spring of 2013.

and two underground mines in West Virginia in the U.S. andhas just moved from its 55 per cent stake in the Energy-build Group — the Welsh operator of the Aberpergwmanthracite mine — to full ownership. Welsh developmentsnotwithstanding, Calder explains that Western’s focustoday remains on the Canadian properties. “We have greatgrowth capacity in northeastern British Columbia and wecan ultimately push ourselves to nearly six million tonnes ofhigh-quality metallurgical coal coming out of that area,”Calder says.

Cleaner coal, cleaner airThe production expansions are not

limited to metallurgical coal. Plamon-don points out that much like cokingcoal, the international market for ther-mal coal is subject to the fluctuations ineconomic growth, and prices forexport-oriented thermal coal haverecovered significantly from 2009.Higher-end thermal coal offers lowersulphur content and higher energycontent, both highly desirable traits forpower utilities facing ever-stricteremissions controls.Sherritt has been expanding in an

effort to capture more of the exportthermal market, says Plamondon. Tomeet the growing demand for its pro-duction, the company reopened itsObed Mountain Mine in August of lastyear, and recently purchased the out-standing 50 per cent of the Coal ValleyPartnership, making it the sole ownerof the Coal Valley and Obed Mountainmines.At the same time, Plamondon points

to regulatory uncertainty as an area ofconcern among Canada’s thermal coalproducers and power plant operators.“A stable regulatory environment isneeded to facilitate investment deci-sions for industry,” he explains. A recentannouncement by the federal govern-ment is one uncertainty the coal powerindustry faces. The proposed legisla-tion would require all coal power plantsthat reach their end of economic life tomeet the newer, more stringent emis-sions guidelines without the use of off-sets, or shut down.This does not mean the end of coal

power for Canada, says Allen Wright,president of the Coal Association ofCanada. “On the thermal side, coal isstill the most abundant here in Canada,

in the United States and globally as an energy source, andthe key is not whether we’re going to continue to use it —the key is how do we use it better,” he says. “They’re set-ting standards and we just have to go forward and meetthose standards. We’ve done it in the past, and I have everyconfidence we’ll do it in the future.”Sherritt has already taken steps to meet the expected

restrictions and to capitalize on the opportunities these willoffer, says Plamondon. “Sherritt is using its extensiveexpertise to develop, adapt and implement clean energy


Visit www.mininghrforecasts.ca

to access these new resources

Your source for mining labour

market information


Coal countryCoal fueled generating stations

ManitobaBrandon Generating Station

Nova ScotiaLingan Generating Station

Point Aconi Generating StationPoint Tupper Generating Station

Trenton Generating Station

OntarioAtikokan Generating Station -

first in ON switch to wood pellets in 2012Hearn Generating Station

Lakeview Generating StationLambton Generating StationNanticoke Generating Station

Thunder Bay Generating Station

‘Mine-mouth’ operationsAlberta*

Battle River Generating Station - Paintearth mine Genesee Generating Station - Genesee mine

H. R. Milner Generating Station - Coal Valley mine Keephills Generating Station - Highvale mine

Sheerness Generating Station - Sheerness mine Sundance Power Station - Highvale mine

Saskatchewan*Boundary Dam Power Station - Boundary Dam mine

Poplar River Power Station - Poplar River mine Shand Power Station - Boundary Dam mine

New BrunswickGrand Lake Generating Station - Minto mine - NB Coal

Operations at the generating station and mine ended in June.

*Sherritt operates all Alberta and Saskatchewan mines

technologies, which will enhance the value of its significantcoal reserve assets and increase the utilization of coal in along-term sustainable manner,” he explains, offering theexamples of the recently opened Clean Coal TechnologyCentre in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta.Sherritt is also developing a number of “pre-combus-

tion beneficiation processes,” Plamondon adds, aimed atreducing moisture and ash in low-rank coal. This offersbenefits such as lower carbon dioxide emission intensitiesand lower operating and maintenance costs for coal-firedfacilities.

A matter of priceThe recent shift by coal producers to a quarterly pricing

contract structure from the previous annual approach isone development that has affected both sides of the coalworld. “It’s more of a Chinese approach to buying rawmaterials, where they much prefer to buy on spot,” saysCIBC’s Kodatsky, pointing out that while most steelmakerswere strongly opposed to the change, Chinese acceptanceof shorter periods of fixed pricing left other steel produc-ers with little choice in the matter.While the quarterly pricing adjustments will allow the

producers to capture more profits if the market goes up,adds Calder of Western Coal, there is another importantadvantage to the structure if prices drop. “As the pricescome down, you don’t have as abrupt a change halfwaythrough the year,” he explains. “If you look at last year, whenwe had a major drop in pricing down to about $128 pertonne, the market really struggled to adjust to that.”On the flip side, Calder says he wishes for the longer

term certainties of annual contracts because of the posi-tion Western is currently in. “The stability of an annual pricefor us is better right now during our growth program. WouldI say the same thing in three or four years, when we’re amuch larger producer? Perhaps not. But right now, I wouldprefer to have annual pricing.”In fact, Calder adds, the company does have some

annual pricing contracts in Europe and remains focused onits long-term relationships – an understandable desire,given it is supplying six of the world’s top 10 steelmakers.

Why Canada?Wright and Calder point out that one of Canada’s major

advantages is the available transportation capacity, both inits west coast ports and on the CN Rail network – a free-dom Calder says few other places can boast. Wright addsthat Canada’s west coast is closer to the Asian markets,allowing for shorter lead times on orders. Finally, Canadaalso has enormous reserves of very high-quality coal, thesort that is becoming ever more important to China, saysTeck’s Bell, as the country is moving to larger, more effi-cient and modern blast furnaces.Canadian coal producers bring with them the last piece

of the puzzle: the expertise needed to capitalize on thesecompetitive advantages. Already a major player on the coalexport scene, Canada looks set to do its part for the world’seconomic recovery. CIMSo

urce: Sherritt, W

ikipedia.org

Àpremière vue, il est facile de confondre le charbonmétallurgique et le charbon thermique. Bien que lesdeux soient produits sensiblement de la même

manière, quand vient le moment de la vente, l’un ira à l’autrebout du monde et l’autre sera souvent consommé tout prèsd’où il a été extrait.Comme son nom le suggère, le charbon thermique est

prisé pour ses capacités de génération de chaleur. AlecKodatsky, un analyste chez CIBC, explique que ce charbonest un produit peu coûteux et ce sont les frais de transportqui constituent la grande partie du prix final.

Les deux aspects du charbonL’incertitude – une perspective commune pour les charbons métallurgique et thermique

« Au Canada le gros du charbon thermique est envoyépresque ‘de l’autre côté de la rue’ et est brûlé dans une cen-trale. Cela dit, il existe des indices que le marché d’exporta-tion du charbon thermique est en hausse. »Le charbon métallurgique est essentiel aux aciéristes

mondiaux. Puisque les producteurs d’acier sont prêts à payerleur charbon beaucoup plus cher et qu’il est bien moinsabondant, ce type de produit voyage souvent de trèsgrandes distances vers les hauts fourneaux.Les facteurs influençant le prix de ces deux charbons

sont aussi très différents. Le prix du charbon thermique est


le charbon

Les vastes réserves de l’Ouest canadien et les capacités de transport augurent bien pour l’avenir.

Phot

o co

urto

isie

de

Teck

essentiellement déterminé par les clients des centrales etpar le prix du pétrole.Le vice-président de Sherritt Coal, Mark Plamondon,

explique : « une centrale au charbon fournit typiquement del’électricité pour la charge de base, laquelle demeure stabledurant les cycles économiques. »La situation est plus volatile pour le charbon métal-

lurgique dont la demande est directement reliée à lademande pour les produits d’acier. Les principales utilisa-tions de l’acier, la construction et l’industrie automobile, sontà leur tour très sensibles à l’état général de l’économie.Au cours des 18 derniers mois, la crise mondiale du crédit

a mis un frein à la croissance économique globale et les pro-ducteurs d’acier ont vu chuter la demande. Les producteursde charbon métallurgique ont aussi connu une baisse de lademande et ont vu les prix au comptant tomber de plus de250 $/tonne à moins de 130 $/tonne. Dans son rapportannuel 2009, le géant international Teck a décrit l’annéecomme étant « la pire année pour l’industrie mondiale del’acier en plus de 70 ans. »

En route vers l’AsieMalgré la situation difficile pour certains, la Chine est dev-

enue, au début de 2008, un importateur net de charboncokéfiable, dit M. Kodatsky. « Historiquement, la Chine étaitun exportateur de charbon cokéfiable. Son taux de crois-sance et son industrie de l’acier demandant plus que sa pro-duction interne font qu’elle doit importer du charbon. »Une compagnie à en bénéficier a été Teck, le deuxième

exportateur mondial de charbon. Bob Bell, principal déléguécommercial et vice-président de Teck Coal, dit qu’en 2008,près de la moitié de la production de charbon métallurgiquede la compagnie était expédiée vers l’Asie du Nord. En 2009,la Chine a même acheté 20 pour cent de la production de19 millions de tonnes de Teck.Pour l’avenir, M. Bell s’attend à une reprise de la demande

européenne, mais l’Asie du Nord continuera de représenterplus de la moitié des ventes de charbon de Teck. « En 2010,lorsque nos clients européens traditionnels ont demandéplus de nos produits, nos ventes à ces pays ont repris;cependant, une bonne portion de notre production allait versles marchés chinois et nous ne pouvions pas retourner auxniveaux européens traditionnels. »La perspective d’une forte demande soutenue n’est

pas restée lettre morte chez les producteurs qui travaillentfort à augmenter leur production. M. Bell dit que Teck Coala un programme d’expansion en cours qui vise à accroîtrele volume de production de 50 pour cent d’ici 2013. Ils’agit d’expansions aux mines actives mais Teck penseaussi à rouvrir la mine Quintette dans le Nord de laColombie-Britannique.Western Coal a aussi un programme d’expansion en

cours, dit Keith Calder, chef de la direction. La compagnie aproduit 3,2 millions de tonnes (Mt) durant l’exercice compt-able 2010 (terminé le 31 mars 2010); elle prévoit atteindre6 Mt en 2011 et atteindre sa production cible de 10 Mt au31 mars 2013. La compagnie exploite surtout dans le Nord

de la Colombie-Britannique mais elle possède aussi desmines souterraines et en surface en Virginie Occidentale,aux États-Unis, et la mine Aberpergwm au Pays de Galles.

Charbon plus propre, air plus propreM. Plamondon signale que, tout comme pour le charbon

cokéfiable, le marché international pour le charbon ther-mique subit les fluctuations de la croissance économiqueet que les prix récupèrent depuis 2009. Le charbon ther-mique haut de gamme contient moins de soufre et pos-sède un fort contenu énergétique, des traits désirablespour répondre aux exigences environnementales de plusen plus sévères.Pour répondre à la demande, Sherritt a réouvert la mine

Obed Mountain en août 2009 et a récemment acquis ledernier 50 pour cent du Coal Valley Partnership, faisant deSherritt le propriétaire unique des mines Coal Valley et ObedMountain.M. Plamondon attire l’attention sur une législation pro-

posée exigeant que toute centrale au charbon qui arrive à lafin de sa vie économique rencontre de nouvelles lignesdirectrices plus exigeantes ou cesse d’opérer. « Cela ne sig-nifie pas la fin des centrales au charbon », dit Allen Wright,président de la Coal Association of Canada. « En ce qui con-cerne le thermique, le charbon demeure la source d’énergiela plus abondante – l’enjeu est de mieux s’en servir. »Sherritt a déjà entrepris des démarches pour rencontrer

les nouvelles restrictions. « Sherritt utilise sa vaste expertisepour développer, adapter et mettre en place des technolo-gies énergétiques propres qui rehausseront la valeur de sesimportantes ressources et accroîtront l’utilisation du charbonde manière durable à long terme », dit M. Plamondon.Cette compagnie développe aussi plusieurs « procédés

de valorisation précombustion » visant à réduire l’humidité etles cendres dans les charbons de rang bas, ce qui con-tribuera à réduire les émissions de dioxyde de carbone ainsique les frais de manutention des centrales au charbon.

Pourquoi le Canada?MM. Wright et Calder signalent que l’un des principaux

avantages du Canada est la grande capacité de transportdisponible, à la fois aux ports de la Côte Ouest et sur lechemin de fer du CN. Peu de pays peuvent se vanter d’avoircette liberté de choix, dit M. Calder. M. Wright ajoute que laCôte Ouest est près des marchés asiatiques permettant uncourt délai d’approvisionnement. Le Canada possède aussid’énormes réserves de charbon de très haute qualité, lasorte qui devient de plus en plus importante pour la Chine,dit M. Bell, alors que ce pays construit des hauts-fourneauxplus gros et plus efficaces.Les producteurs canadiens de charbon détiennent le

dernier morceau du casse-tête, soit l’expertise requise pourcapitaliser sur ces avantages compétitifs. Déjà l’un desgrands joueurs sur la scène de l’exportation du charbon, leCanada semble bien positionné pour participer à la repriseéconomique. ICM


le charbon

After a grim year of low prices and shelvedprojects, the oil sands industry is not only offi-cially in recovery but poised for major expan-sion. According to a recent report by energyanalysis firm IHS Cambridge Energy

Research Associates (CERA), Canada’s oil sands stand tobecome the largest supplier of oil to the US by 2030, tak-ing as much as 36 per cent of the market.

However, the industry must leap a lot of hurdles beforeit is able to meet that demand. The main issues are proj-ect execution rates; environmental concerns (especiallywater supply and land reclamation); and labour costs.“These limits to growth need to be alleviated to meet thisaggressive growth target,” says Jackie Forrest, director ofglobal oil for IHS CERA. “There are technology and man-agement changes that must be made.”

Supply and demandSecond-quarter results for 2010 have been by and

large very good, but petroleum investors are still jitteryafter riding a roller-coaster of crude prices for the pasttwo years. And although prices seem to have stabilized,nerves are still frayed.

“With a recession as hard and fast as we had, there’s atremendous amount of confidence lost,” explains OilSands Developers Group (OSDG) president, Don Thomp-son. “But at the same time, capital costs remained highwhile crude prices fell. That’s a scary scenario forinvestors.”

But companies are again starting to take chances onnew projects. “In 2010, about half the projects of the summer of 2008 are back on,” says Forrest. Some, likeImperial Oil’s $8-billion Kearl operation, are going ahead,


oil sands

Shift change at Syncrude’sAurora Mine

Back in the blackOil sands projects ready to grow again, but big changes needed to make it happenBy Gillian Woodford

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Syn

crud

e Ca

nada

- Bo

b N

yen


oil sands

taking advantage of lower operating costs. “The cost of anumber of commodities — labour, steel, anything you canname — tend to be lower,” says Imperial spokespersonPius Rolheiser.

Meanwhile, other companies are resuming expansionwork planned before the crash. “The level of spending hasrebounded, and today activity is approximately back towhere it was,” says Thompson. “Capital expenditures wentfrom some $30 billion in 2008 to about $15 billion lastyear,” Thompson notes. “We expect peak spending nextyear to be about $25 billion, with the peak year movedforward to 2013.”

Most analysts think US demand for oil probablyreached its zenith in 2005 at nearly 20.8 million barrelsper day (bpd). Analysts also expect that the US will remainthe world’s biggest consumer of oil, well ahead of China,the second biggest oil importer. Canada is already theUnited States’ largest crude source, accounting for 21 percent of oil imports. Most of this is from conventionalsources, with about eight per cent coming from oil sands.With imports from other top suppliers such as Mexico andSaudi Arabia falling in recent years, and Canada’s conven-tional oil supply expected to diminish in the short term, theoil sands are set to fill the gap. Many companies have alsoexpressed interest in supplying to China, which does notyet consume half of the oil as the United States.

There are talks of expanding and adding pipelines tocarry the oil, and production growth has already begun.Despite the downturn, oil sands production reachedabout 1.35 million bpd in 2009, an increase of 14 percent compared to that of 2008. The Canadian Associa-tion of Petroleum Producers forecasts 1.5 million bpd for2010. CERA’s report predicts that by 2030 oil sands pro-duction will grow to 3.1 million bpd, in a moderate growthscenario, or as many as 5.7 million bpd if Canadachooses to “barrel ahead” with development. The growthfigure would represent 36 per cent of anticipated Amer-ican imports. In its annual report, Alberta’s energy regula-tor, the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB),offers a slightly more aggressive projection of 3.2 millionbpd by 2019.

If oil prices stay low, will the oil be worth extracting?Estimates vary hugely on the price per barrel the industryneeds in order to remain profitable. It has become cheaperto extract bitumen from the sand, but it remains costlierthan conventional drilling. Forrest says at US$65 per bar-rel she would not expect to see upgraded oil coming outof the oil sands, only upstream projects. “But we’ll still seesome growth,” she adds.

The ERCB predicts that raw bitumen production willoutstrip refining capacity in the coming years. In its annualreport, the regulator estimates that just 1.3 million bpd ofthe 3.2 million bpd it projects for 2019 will be upgraded.The discrepancy reflects a lack of motivation in oil sandscompanies to invest in building upgrading facilities,despite the Alberta government’s efforts to convince them

to do so. High construction and labour costs and a too-narrow profit margin are keeping most companies fromadding upgrading facilities to their plans.

The limits of labour“The biggest constraint to growth is labour,” Forrest

says. “The industry has to find a way to need less labour.”During the boom time, desperate companies vied to offerthe best wages, benefits, bonuses and travel allowances.Nobody wants to return to those days, but companies mayhave little choice.

CERA predicts that even under a moderate growthscenario, oil sands companies will face big shortages in alltheir core occupations. A June report on labour supplyand demand by the Petroleum Human Resources Councilof Canada projects that between 5,000 and 105,000 newworkers will be needed in the next 10 years, depending onthe rate of growth. In their high-growth scenario, no fewerthan 65,000 of these will be in core occupations, such asengineers, skill trades, equipment operators and fieldworkers.

Crunch time is predicted to be between 2010 and2014 when projects currently under construction beginoperations. Another report released in June by humanresource consultants Mercer and based on a survey of

135 oil companies, predicts a shortage of 24,000 workersby 2014 in Alberta’s energy sector as a whole.

Petroleum HR Council expects that competition will befierce for skilled workers, especially as other industriesbegin to recover and start hiring as well. The aging work-force, a nationwide dearth of skilled tradespeople and the

seasonal nature of many field jobs makethe situation even more difficult.

Many analysts agree the shortfall canonly be met by bringing in temporary for-eign workers. But some oil sands compa-nies are looking closer to home for staffand paying to train people who alreadylive in the oil patch area — primarily Abo-riginal Canadians — in high-demandtrades. Last year, Syncrude donated $2million to Keyano College for the Syn-crude Aboriginal Trades Preparation Pro-gram. In April, the first 22 studentsgraduated from the program and com-pleted work placements at Syncrude.“Thirteen were hired by Syncrude,” saysprogram coordinator Teresa Outhouse.“Three have yet to complete their workplacement and will be doing so soon. The

remaining students, for various reasons, were not eligibleand are working elsewhere.”

At least wages will be lower, right? Maybe. After theslow-down, most industry watchers expected that labourcosts would fall, but it remains unclear whether they reallyhave. Some, like Imperial Oil, decided to plow ahead with


oil sands

A little cogen creditOil sands operations are feeling pressure to reduce

their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In situ opera-tions’ dependence on steam to extract bitumen makesit particularly energy-intensive. “The average miningoperation produces about half the GHGs in situ doesfor oil extraction,” says Jackie Forrest of CambridgeEnergy Research Associates. “Overall, on a well-to-wheel basis, from extraction to combustion, mining isonly about five to 10 per cent less than in situ.” Sheadds that, “For in situ operations, we’ve already seenreductions in emissions. There is definitely still room toreduce the amount of emissions per barrel.”

Cogeneration systems are one way companies arereducing emissions and saving money on energy. “Oilsands operations provide tremendous opportunities forcogeneration of steam and electricity,” says Lambert.

Cogeneration works by burning natural gas in a tur-bine that generates heat. The bypass heat produces thesteam needed for bitumen extraction and also electric-ity, which is either used for operations or sold back tothe grid. Cogeneration has been used by oil sands pro-ducers since the 1970s, and according to a recentreport on GHG by the Canadian Association of Petro-

leum Producers (CAPP), “All existing oil sands minesand all but a few small in situ projects have cogenera-tion facilities (over 98 per cent of oil sands productionhas associated cogeneration).” These are frequently tiedto sites with upgraders simply because they can bene-fit more from the excess electricity than an extraction-only operation.

A Pembina Institute report from August states that“Calculations suggest that the mining and upgrading oper-ations that made the switch [to cogeneration] could beresponsible for nearly 13 per cent of the total 39 per centimprovement in greenhouse gas emissions intensities.”

Apart from generating their own power, companiesalso offset their costs by selling their excess electricity.“There’s an open supply system in Alberta, so anyonecan produce power to the grid,” says Suncor’s vice pres-ident of sustainability Gord Lambert. About 25 to 30 percent of this waste electricity is currently being sold tothe grid and, according to CAPP, “provides approxi-mately 18 per cent of Alberta’s total electricity supply.”

Lambert notes that it is cheaper to set up a cogenoperation in a new plant, so that is where there is likelyto be more growth. However, the Oil Sands DevelopersGroup’s (OSDG) 2010 cogen report observed that

The river water intake facility for Imperial Oil's Kearl project was completed this year.

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Im

peria

l

its multi-billion-dollar Kearl project and believe they arereaping the benefits of the recession.

“Imperial indicated that labour costs for their Kearl proj-ect dropped 20 per cent in their final cost estimate for the2008/2009 time frame,” says Pete Howard, interim pres-ident of the Canadian Energy Research Institute, whichannually reports on oil sands production and cost trends.Canadian Oil Sands Trust, which is the largest partner inSyncrude’s oil sands operations, recently announced itsoperating costs fell 39 per cent to C$31.18 a barrel.

However, other projects that continued constructionthrough the recession have seen their costs rise. TheAthabasca Oil Sands Project, for instance, has reportedrising labour expenses.

Layoffs in the industry were not as high as expectedeither. Syncrude, for example, increased rather thanreduced its staff. “We actually hired – there were no lay-offs,” says spokesperson Cheryl Robb. The OSDG sur-veys the number of people in construction camps andfound that in the year after the 2008 crash, there wereonly around 12 per cent fewer workers in the oil sands.“In 2008, there were 26,000-27,000,” says Thompson.In 2009, the number dropped by about 3,000. By thiswinter, the number is expected to jump to 27,000-28,000.

Tailings techTailings management R&D has been a big focus for oil

sands investment in the last decade. Even before Direc-tive 74 obliging oil sands miners to deal with tailingsponds made it on the books, companies began seriouslylooking at ways to reduce their footprint.

Suncor has invested $300 million to develop a tailingstechnology called tailings reduction operations (TRO). “It’sa polymer treatment of the tailings stream,” explains Sustainability vice president Gord Lambert. “This dewatersthe tailings at a tremendously accelerated rate.”

“Clays take 40 years to settle to the point you can workwith them,” continues Lambert. “With TRO, tailings can bedewatered in weeks versus decades and reclamation canproceed at an accelerated pace.” The companyannounced that it will spend $1 billion over the next twoyears to deploy this new technology and has recentlyobtained all of the permitting required to proceed. Lam-bert notes that, “There will be a smaller pond footprint asa result of applying this technology to tailings from currentoperations and to our historic tailings.” Suncor’s tailingsmanagement plan was accepted by the ERCB, with a fewconditions, based on the use of TRO.

One of these, mature fine tails (MFT) centrifuging, movedfrom testing to the field in early August. In this approach a

oil sands

“Actual operating cogeneration capacity in 2009 islower over the prior survey.”

This cogen trend is expected to continue for a cou-ple of reasons: First, there is a lack of financial motiva-tion because the price of power in Alberta hasstagnated along with the economy. “It’s more expensiveto use cogen than [it is] to just boil the water,” saysOSDG president Don Thompson. “To get extra value,we’d need the price of power to come back.” The gov-ernment currently does not recognize a carbon creditfor cogen’s coal offset, which would also motivate theindustry to build more cogen units.

The second hurdle is transmission problems. “They’rehaving a hard time selling the electricity,” says Thomp-son. “There are not enough wires.” Since power lines arethe purview of the grid operator, oil sands companiescannot do much about this problem.

Imperial is one company that is bucking the trend ofreducing cogen plans. Its Kearl mining project willinclude a cogen system without an upgrader. “We’ll beable to produce our own electricity,” says Rolheiser.“We’re also advancing work on a major expansion of ourCold Lake operation.” Cold Lake has been using cogensince 2002.


flocculant is added to theclay. “The clay looks likeyogurt,” Lorentz explains.“When you add the floccu-lant it turns to somethingmore like cottage cheese.It goes from 30 per centsolid to 40 per cent solid.”The clay is then subjectedto dewatering by cen-trifuge from which twostreams emerge: a cakethat is about 58 per centsolid, and the water whichis recycled back into plantoperations. “The cake isspread out over theground, dried for a year,then repeated to create alift,” says Lorentz. The lay-ers could be placed at thebottom of ponds andeventually capped withsand and reclaimed.

Syncrude has also had its tailings plan conditionallyapproved by the ERCB. According to Syncrude’s technol-

ogy development team leader, Jim Lorentz, the companyhas several tailings technologies in development and test-


oil sands

Wild Rose resurgenceOil sands projects moving into production

Company Project Region Status Start Up

Connacher Oil and Gas Great Divide Pod 2 (Algar) Athabasca Recently completed 2010

Cenovus Energy Inc. Christina Lake 1C Athabasca Under Construction 2010

Statoil Canada Ltd. Kai Kos Dehseh - Leismer Demo Athabasca Under Construction 2011

Suncor Energy Inc. Firebag Phase III Athabasca Under Construction 2011

Suncor Energy Inc. North Steepbank Mine Expansion Athabasca Suspended TBD

Suncor Energy Inc. Voyageur Upgrader Athabasca Suspended TBD

Shell Canada Energy Jackpine Mines Phase I Train I Athabasca Near completion 2010

Imperial Oil Kearl Phase I Athabasca Under Construction 2012

Devon Canada Limited Jackfish 2 Athabasca Under Construction 2011

MEG Energy Corp. Christina Lake Phase 2 Athabasca Recently completed 2009

At the end of the cable in Syncrude Canada Ltd.'s Aurora mine, a Bucyrus electric shovel loads ore into a Cat 797B heavy hauler.

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Syn

crud

e Ca

nada

“Sou

rce

– Th

e Oi

l San

ds D

evel

oper

s Gr

oup”

ing. One of these, mature fine tails (MFT) centrifuging,moved from testing to the field in early August. In thisapproach a flocculant is added to the clay. “The clay lookslike yogurt,” Lorentz explains. “When you add the flocculantit turns to something more like cottage cheese.” The clay isthen subjected to dewatering by centrifuge from which twostreams emerge: a cake that is about 58 per cent solid andthe water that is recycled back into plant operations. “Thecake is spread out over the ground, dried for a year, thenrepeated to create a lift,” says Lorentz. The layers could beplaced at the bottom of ponds and eventually capped withsand and reclaimed.

Syncrude has commercialized composite tails technol-ogy and has a commercial demonstration underway ofwater-capped lakes. In composite tails, a coarse mixture ofgypsum and sand is added to the fine clay. “This acts as aviscosity modifier and allows the clay to be trapped,”Lorentz says. Over the last 10 years, Syncrude has imple-mented this technology and has been filling one of its firstmine pits in with this material. Work is currently underwayto shape the land, add a soil cap and plant trees and veg-etation in the next three to five years.

Water-capped lakes are mined-out pits that have beenfilled with clays and topped with water. “This bio-remedi-ates the residual hydrocarbons,” says Lorentz. Syncrudehas been testing this technology for 20 years. “Syncrude’s

test ponds have demonstrated they evolve into naturalecosystems and within 10 years support aquatic lifeincluding fish.” By comparison, land reclamation takesabout 15 to 20 years.

A river runs through it“If oil sands mining production is going to grow, we’re

going to need a large amount of water storage,” says For-rest. “We’re already seeing this in new approvals.”

At its Kearl site, for instance, Imperial will use water-storage reservoirs to reduce its use of water from theAthabasca, a first for the company. “We’ll be able to storea three-month supply,” explains Rolheiser. “This means wecan withdraw at a higher rate at high-flow season andtemporarily curtail water intake in the winter.”

Rolheiser says Imperial will also recycle water as muchas possible. Its Cold Lake in situ site already recycles 95per cent of the water it uses every day.

According to Suncor’s Lambert, who is also committeeco-chair of the Oil Sands Leadership Initiative’s (OSLI)coordinating committee, one of the keys to making somereal progress is for companies to start sharing their envi-ronmental technologies. OSLI was created earlier this yearthrough the cooperation of ConocoPhillips Canada,Nexen, Statoil Canada, Suncor and Total E&P Canada toimprove collaboration across the industry.


oil sands

Method Capex Production in bpd (thousand)

In situ $350M 10

In situ $1,400M 40

In situ $350M 10

In situ $2,244M 68

Mining $11,500M 180

Mining $11,500M N/A

Mining $6,000M 100

Mining $20,000M (3 phases) 100

In situ $1,225M 35

In situ $770M 20


oil sands

Please visit www.oilsandstradeshow.com for more information on exhibiting or attending Oil Sands Trade Show 2011.

OIL SANDS TRADE SHOW & CONFERENCEThe World’s Premier Oil Sands Event | September 13 & 14, 2011

Fort McMurray, Alberta

WoehT

DNASLIO

sdnaSliOreimerPs’dlrWo

SEDARTSD

&31rebmetpeS|tnevE

NOC&WOHS

1102,41&

ECNEREFN

xhibiting or aton ewwwe visit asPle

ending Oil S

uMcMtroF

txhibiting or atadetrandsoils.www.

ade Sho

atreblA,yarr

rands Tending Oil Sor mor fomc.ww.shoade

011.w 2ade Shoormation fe inor mor

spend is at the development stage, but that’s not countedas R&D.”

“Investing in new technologies is a good strategy,” saysDon Thompson of OSDG, because the investment is offsetby the long-term financial benefits. He notes that on themining side there is a huge need to produce dryer tailingsand reduce energy costs. For in situ operations, waterlessextraction and alternative power sources like geothermalenergy are key. Forrest agrees, adding that the built-infinancial incentive for in situ companies to get their steam-to-oil ratio down means that, unlike tailings management,“The government doesn’t really need to mandate it.”

A new approachSuncor’s Lambert thinks that in order to meet both mar-

ket and environmental demands, oil sands companies aregoing to have to change the way they think about theirbusiness. For example, OSLI’s technology breakthroughworking group is looking at ways to reduce the steam-to-oil ratio for in situ operations. “We need to change thedesign for operations,” says Lambert, adding that theindustry needs to challenge itself: “How can we acceleratethe pace and scope of environmental performanceimprovement through innovation?” CIM

“We need to accelerate the pace of innovation,” Lambertsays. “What would the economic and environmental bene-fits be if we created a regional industrial water treatmentand distribution system as compared to each oil sands sitebeing independent?” It is an idea the water managementworking group at OSLI is studying, he says and adds,“We’ve had good buy-in from companies outside OSLI aswell.”

Ramping up R&DBreaking paradigms requires new ideas and new ideas

cost money. The oil industry has on average a much lowerinvestment in R&D than other industries — 0.36 per centversus around 4 per cent — according to a recent report byNorthwest and Ethical Funds. The report also noted thatR&D spending decreased between 2006 and 2008, whenthe industry was booming.

CERA is currently conducting research on this phenom-enon. Forrest notes that some areas oil sands companiesinvest in — such as leases and understanding its sites —are not counted as R&D. Another argument is thatbecause of the difficulty in extracting bitumen from theground, the whole industry is one big innovation project. “Itdepends on how you define R&D,” says Lambert. “The big

Après une année de bas prix et de projets reportés,les sables bitumineux sont prêts non seulementpour une reprise, mais pour une expansion. Selon

un rapport de IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates(CERA), les sables bitumineux canadiens sont bien placéspour devenir le plus grand fournisseur de pétrole vers lesÉtats-Unis d’ici 2030.

Il reste cependant beaucoup à faire avant de satisfairecette demande : l’avancement des projets, les préoccupa-tions environnementales (l’approvisionnement en eau et larestauration des terrains) et les coûts de la main-d’œuvre.« Ces limitations à la croissance doivent être atténuéespour atteindre la cible », dit Jackie Forrest, directrice chezIHS CERA. « Il faudra des changements technologiques etde gestion. »

« Avec une récession comme celle que nous venons detraverser, il y a eu beaucoup de perte de confiance »,explique Don Thompson, président du Oil Sands Develop-ers Group (OSDG). « Cependant, les coûts d’immobilisationsont demeurés élevés alors que les prix du brut chutaient,un scénario épeurant pour les investisseurs. »

Les compagnies recommencent à prendre des risques.« En 2010, environ la moitié des projets de l’été 2008 ontété repris », dit Mme Forrest. Certains nouveaux projets,comme le projet Kearl d’Imperial Oil, progressent en raisondes coûts moindres d’exploitation. « Le coût de nombreuxbiens, l’acier et la main-d’œuvre, sont à la baisse », dit PiusRolheiser, porte-parole chez Imperial.

Selon la plupart des analystes, la demande des États-Unis pour le pétrole a probablement atteint son sommet en


les sables bitumineux

À l’usine Suncor de sables bitumineux, des pipelines d’hydrotransport acheminent le minerai broyé et classifié à l’extraction primaire.

Fini d’être dans le rougeLes sables bitumineux prêts à croître, mais de grands changements seront requis

Phot

o co

urto

isie

de

Sunc

or


les sables bitumineux

2005, à près de 20,8 millions de barils par jour (Mb/j) etce pays devrait demeurer le plus grand consommateurmondial, dépassant la Chine. Le Canada constitue déjà laplus grande source de brut des États-Unis, soit 21 % deses importations, dont environ 8 % provenant des sablesbitumineux.

Malgré la récession, la production des sables bitu-mineux a atteint environ 1,35 Mb/j en 2009, une augmen-tation de 14 % par rapport à 2008. L’Associationcanadienne des producteurs pétroliers prévoit 1,5 Mb/jpour 2010 et CERA prédit qu’en 2030, la productionatteindra de 3,1 à 5,7 Mb/j selon des scénarios dedéveloppement plus ou moins agressifs.

Si les prix restent bas, est-ce que ça vaudra la peined’extraire le pétrole? Les estimations varient grande-ment quant au prix requis, par baril de pétrole, pourdemeurer profitable. Le prix d’extraction du pétrole dessables bitumineux demeure plus élevé que celui par for-age conventionnel.

Selon l’Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB,)la production de bitume brut dépassera les capacités deraffinage au cours des prochaines années. Selon cetorganisme de réglementation, en 2019, seulement 1,3Mb/j des 3,2 Mb/j prévus seront valorisés. Les compag-nies hésitent à investir dans la construction d’installationsde valorisation en raison des coûts élevés de constructionet de main-d’œuvre.

« La plus grande contrainte demeure la main-d’œuvre »,dit Mme Forrest. Durant la période de boom, les compag-nies rivalisaient pour les meilleurs salaires et conditions detravail; elles ne veulent pas revenir à cet état de chosesmais elles n’auront peut-être pas le choix.

Un rapport récent du Conseil canadien des ressourceshumaines de l’industrie du pétrole stipule que de nombreuxtravailleurs spécialisés seront requis entre 2010 et 2014,lorsque les projets actuellement en construction entreronten production.

Selon plusieurs analystes, cette pénurie ne peut êtrecomblée que par des travailleurs étrangers temporaires.Cependant certaines compagnies recherchent et formentdes travailleurs vivant près des sites d’exploitation –surtout des Autochtones. L’an dernier, Syncrude a donné2 M$ au Keyano College pour un programme de forma-tion. Plusieurs Autochtones ont été embauchés après desstages de travail, dit Teresa Outhouse, la coordonnatricedu projet.

Après la période de ralentissement, les analystes s’at-tendaient à une baisse des coûts de la main-d’œuvre; est-ce arrivé? « Imperial a indiqué que les coûts de lamain-d’œuvre avaient chuté de 20 % dans l’estimationfinale pour l’année 2008-2009 », dit Pete Howard, prési-dent par intérim du Canadian Energy Research Institute.Aussi, Canadian Oil Sands Trust, le plus grand partenairede Syncrude dans les sables bitumineux, a récemmentannoncé que les coûts d’exploitation avaient chuté de39 %, à 31,18 $ du baril. Les mises à pied étaient moins

nombreuses qu’attendues. « Nous avons mêmeembauché », dit Cheryl Robb, porte-parole chez Syncrude.

Même avant l’adoption de la Directive 74, obligeant lesexploitants de sables bitumineux à prendre des mesuresconcernant les résidus, les compagnies cherchaientsérieusement à réduire leur empreinte.

Suncor a investi 300 M$ dans une nouvelle technolo-gie pour assécher les résidus. « Il s’agit d’un traitement àbase de polymère », dit Gord Lambert, vice-président,durabilité. « Les argiles prenaient 40 ans pour sédimenterassez pour permettre leur manipulation; les résidus peu-vent maintenant être asséchés en quelques semaines. »La compagnie dépensera 1 milliard de dollars au coursdes deux prochaines années pour appliquer cette nouvelletechnologie.

Selon Jim Lorentz, chef de l’équipe de développementtechnologique chez Syncrude, la compagnie développe etmet à l’épreuve plusieurs nouvelles technologies, dont unede centrifugation qui sera bientôt prête pour des essaissur le terrain. Un floculant est ajouté à l’argile, la rendantsolide à 40 %. Une centrifugation produit ensuite ungâteau, à environ 58 % de solides, et de l’eau qui estretournée à l’usine. Syncrude a aussi commercialiséd’autres technologies : les résidus composites, où unmélange de gypse et de sable est ajouté à l’argile, et lesexcavations tapissées d’argile et recouvertes d’eau douce.« Nous espérons que les bassins expérimentauxévolueront en écosystèmes naturels et supporteront unefaune aquatique », dit M. Lorentz.

Imperial Oil a reçu une approbation conditionnelle pourses résidus à Kearl. La compagnie vérifiait diverses tech-nologies dont la centrifugation, la filtration sous pression etles épaississeurs pour traiter les fines du processus deflottation ainsi qu’une unité pour récupérer les solvants deson procédé breveté de traitement des mousses parsolvant paraffinique à haute température.

« Si la production des sables bitumineux croît, nousdevrons entreposer beaucoup d’eau », dit Jackie Forrest.Par exemple, au site Kearl, Imperial aura des réservoirsd’entreposage pour réduire l’utilisation de l’eau de la rivièreAthabasca. La compagnie recyclera aussi l’eau autant quepossible; à Cold Lake, elle recycle déjà 95 % de l’eau util-isée tous les jours.

M. Lambert, de Suncor et coprésident du comité decoordination de l’Oil Sands Leadership Initiative, dit qu’ilfaut que les compagnies partagent leurs technologiesenvironnementales. « Nous devons accélérer le taux d’in-novation. » Selon un rapport de Northwest and EthicalFunds, l’industrie pétrolière investit beaucoup moins en Ret D que les autres industries — 0,36 % par rapport à envi-ron 4 %. Le rapport stipule aussi que les dépenses en Ret D ont chuté entre 2006 et 2008, alors que l’industrieallait bien. « C’est une bonne stratégie d’investir dans lesnouvelles technologies », dit M. Thompson, puisque l’inves-tissement est compensé par des avantages financiers àlong terme. ICM


featured project

T

Focused growthby | Dan Zlotnikov

With $700 million of fresh financing and an approved planned second expansion in the works, MEG Energy Corp. is poised

to significantly ramp up production at its Christina Lake project. This is just the beginning for the 11-year-old company.

Two storeys above the streets of downtown Calgary’s busi-ness district there is a walkway system that connects thecity’s office buildings and shelters the foot traffic from thewinter wind and cold. “We call it the +15 because it’s about15 feet above the ground,” explains Dale Hohm, CFO of MEGEnergy Corp.

It was in the +15 that the future of MEG was decided,Hohm says. After forming the company in 1999, oil sands vet-eran William McCaffrey and his cofounders spent the nextfour years hustling through the overpasses of the city’s busi-ness district, making what deals they could to secure a landbase for the fledgling firm.

MEG Energy's Christina Lake plant now processes over 25,000 barrels of oil per day.

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f MEG

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f MEG


Anticipating and adjustingBeing a specialized, comparatively small operator can also

make a big difference. MEG’s vice-president of reservoir andproduction, Chi-Tak Yee, who has spent many years workingon major projects, is familiar with the drawn-out process thatcan precede a decision in a large company. In contrast, hesays, MEG is a very nimble company, with just one producingproject that is occupying virtually all of its attention.

“While we did run into our share of difficulties, we werefirst able to foresee a lot of these and prepare for them, andsecond, if something unexpected did happen, we were able toadapt to it rather quickly,” says Yee.

He offers the example of a peculiarity of the reservoir thatthe company encountered in Phase 2. “A portion of the bitu-men reservoir overlies water, and the consequence of that isan impact on how high or low a pressure you need in order tooperate efficiently,” he explains.

In the late 1990s future development of the oilsands was far from a sure thing, says Hohm, bothdue to unproven extraction technology and thevery low — by today’s standards — price of oil. Infact, the lack of interest from the industry playedan important role in the creation of MEG. Accordingto Hohm, McCaffrey formed MEG when his previ-ous employer, Amoco Canada, sold much of its oilsands holdings to Canadian Natural Resources andgot out of the oil sands business just as it wasbought up by BP. In contrast to that, McCaffrey wasconvinced the in situ technology held great prom-ise. So in 1999, McCaffrey, Dave Wizinsky [MEG’scorporate secretary and a director] “and a few oth-ers put together their personal capital to startacquiring land,” says Hohm.

From up in the air to on the ground

Eleven years later, McCaffrey’s belief hasproven itself many times over. Today, MEG is the100 per cent owner of 2,175 square kilometres ofleases in the Southern Athabasca region, and a 50per cent owner of a 345-kilometre oil pipeline.The company has been using the pipeline to shipoil since 2008, when it completed its 3,000 bpdpilot plant at its Christina Lake in situ develop-ment, going up to 25,000 bpd by mid-2010, whenit completed the first of a series of plannedexpansions.

In 2009, MEG received regulatory approvals forits Phase 2B expansion — a further 35,000 bpd tobegin construction early next year. The companyhas also just completed a $700 million initial publicoffering — Canada’s second largest for the year todate and more than sufficient cash to fund the upcoming capital investment.

But taking Christina Lake to 60,000 bpd is far from the end,says Hohm. The deposit was recently evaluated by GLJPetroleum Consultants Ltd., an independent reservoir engi-neering firm. According to the GLJ assessment, Christina Lakehas 1.7 billion barrels of proved and probable reserves and afurther 1.4 billion barrels of contingent resource.

The size of the deposit means there is plenty of roomfor growth and MEG is intending to make use of the oppor-tunity: the company filed an application in 2008 for itsPhase 3, three-stage expansion at Christina Lake and isexpecting approval later this year or in early 2011. Each ofthe three stages of the Phase 3 expansion is planned toadd a further 50,000 bpd of capacity, says Hohm, with thefinal goal being 210,000 bpd, a level the reservoir can sup-port for 30 years.

The heat recovery steam generator uses heat from the GE turbine to generate steam for the SAGD process.

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f MEG

featured project

The optimal pressure differed from what was observed inPhase 1, Yee continues, and so the company had to adjust itspractices to suit. The solution was to place electric sub-mersible pumps inside each production well to increase theflow of the bitumen out of the well. Yee says the wholeprocess of outfitting over 20 well pairs with the pumps wasdone within a couple of months, far faster than it would havebeen in the case of a large firm.

Lessons appliedOne of the most noteworthy aspects of MEG, says Hohm, is

how the company has been managing risk and trying to addresspotential challenges in parallel with its expansion program.Major areas of concern have all been addressed, he explains.

“From a reservoir standpoint, we’ve done a lot of core holedrilling in the Phase 2B area, so it’s fair to say we’re confidentthat the reservoir is comparable to what we’re already pro-ducing from,” Holm says. “It would be a risk, but that’s some-thing we think we’ve addressed.”

Yee adds that Christina Lake is also adjacent to two otherproducing projects, all a few years ahead of MEG. This givesMEG a better idea of what to expect, he explains.

“With Cenovus, they’ve been operating their Christina Lakeproject since 2002, about six years ahead of us,” Yee says.

“And then Devon Energy’s Jackfish is also a couple of yearsahead of us. So we’re kind of unique in the sense that we havesomeone in a similar reservoir setting who can show us theway a little bit to start with.”

A number of other operational areas — steam generation,oil and water processing, and power generation — have alsobeen evaluated, Hohm says, but points out that all of thesewill be replicating approaches fine-tuned during the first twophases, which allows the company to minimize the risk of anyunwelcome surprises.

Hohm continues to the next big challenge — construction:“We're using Worley Parsons, the same engineering firm we'dused for Phases 1 and 2, and we strengthened that by gettinga very strong project management and controls group, that is,MEG's own employees. For the construction, we're usingKiewit Construction, whom we'd used for Phase 2 as well.“

Finally, on the financial front, there were financing risks, hesays, “but with our IPO that just closed a few weeks ago, wehave the financing in place to develop Phase 2B, so thefinancing risk is off the table.”

“There are certainly lots of risks in each of these proj-ects,” Hohm concludes, “and management’s job is to iden-tify and control these risks. And I think we’ve got that undercontrol.”


featured project

Inside the control room at Christina Lake

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f MEG

It takes waterArguably one of the biggest challenges in situ operators

face, says Yee, is not in finding oil but in managing their sup-ply of water. “It takes oil to produce oil” is an oft-heardphrase in the energy industry, but when it comes to in situoil sands projects, it might as well be “It takes water to pro-duce oil,” instead. Water, more than any other factor, is acrucial part of the in situ operation. SAGD, the most com-monly used in situ technique, requires the operator to boilthe water into steam and pipe the steam deep underground,into the bitumen-bearing strata.

One of the advantages of Christina Lake, says Yee, is thatthere are bodies of non-potable, subsurface water in closeproximity to the central plant that the project can drawupon. In addition, Yee continues, Christina Lake’s high-qual-ity reservoir means that the project can boast a very highefficiency. The operation’s current steam-to-oil ratio (SOR)is 2.4, one of the lowest among the oil sands operations. Ontop of that, the operation recycles over 80 per cent of itsprocess water, taking in only 0.5 to 0.6 units of new waterfor every unit of oil produced.

MEG is also improving operational efficiency and reduc-ing its emissions intensity with its steam and power co-generation facility. Hohm explains that SAGD projects burnnatural gas to create steam. “If you’re burning gas, why notobtain the best efficiency from that energy,” he says. MEGis using a General Electric gas turbine at its Christina Lakeoperations. The “waste” heat from the turbine providesapproximately 70 per cent of the heat needed for SAGDsteam generation. At the same time, it generates 85 MWof power — only 10 MW of the output is consumed inMEG’s operations and the excess is sold back to the Albertaenergy grid.

“It helps us in economic terms, since it generates bothheat for steam and electricity to run the operation withsurplus to sell back to the grid,” explains Hohm. “From theenvironmental standpoint, it’s also very helpful because weget credit for the more efficient use of natural gas, withrespect to the CO2 emissions standards established for thecompany.”

Looking beyond Christina Lake, MEG is working on thenearby Surmont project and is expecting to file a develop-ment application next year, with a 100,000 bpd goal inmind. Surmont’s 80 square kilometres are believed to con-tain over 640 million barrels of contingent resource. But dueto McCaffrey’s and his co-founders’ efforts, MEG boasts ahuge land base — with nearly 1,900 square kilometres stillto be explored.

When it comes to MEG’s continued growth, one thing isfor sure: the company has left itself plenty of room to do so. CIM


tel 604.560.5080fax 604.560.5090

www.safetywhips.caSW SafetyWhips Canada2677 – 192 St. #107Surrey, BC V3S 3X1

Safety EquipmentSafetyWhips.ca

Vehicle ID Panels

Fiberglass, Heavy DutyWhips & Flags

LED Lighting

Telescoping WhipsHitch Mounts with Alarms

Safety Equipment SafetyWhips.ca

��

��

Experience Excellent Performance.

Liebherr-Canada Ltd.1015 Sutton Drive, Burlington, Ontario L7L 5Z8Phone: (905) 319-9222, Fax: (905) 319-6622Toll-Free: 1-800-387-3922 www.liebherr.com The Group

Mining more for less! Lowest cost per ton Maximum productivity Lowest empty vehicle weight (EVW) Designed reliability Most fuel efficient

11:17:51 Uhr


projet en vedette

VCroissance ciblée

Vers la fin des années 1990, l’extraction des sables bitumineuxn’était pas chose faite en raison de la technologie non prouvéeet du très bas prix – par rapport à maintenant – du pétrole. Lemanque d’intérêt a joué un rôle important dans la fondationde MEG Energy Corp. Selon Dale Hohm, directeur financier deMEG, William McCaffrey, convaincu que la technologie in situétait prometteuse, a fondé MEG lorsque son ancienemployeur, Amoco Canada, a vendu une grande part de sesavoirs à Ressources naturelles Canada et s’est retiré des sablesbitumineux. En 1999, William McCaffrey, Dave Wizinsky, secré-taire général et directeur MEG, et quelques autres ont réuni deleur propre argent pour acquérir des terrains.

MEG est aujourd’hui propriétaire à 100 pour cent de 2175 km2 de baux dans la région du sud de l’Athabasca etpropriétaire à 50 pour cent d’un pipeline d’une longueur de345 kilomètres. La compagnie utilisait le pipeline depuis 2008pour expédier du pétrole lorsqu’elle a terminé la constructiond’une usine pilote de 3000 b/j à Christina Lake, atteignant25 000 b/j en 2010.

Le gisement pétrolier a récemment été évalué par GLJPetroleum Consultants Ltd. et, selon cette firme de génie con-seil, Christina Lake a 1,7 milliard de barils de pétrole enréserves prouvées et probables et une ressource éventuelle de1,4 milliard de barils.

Chacune des trois étapes de la Phase 3 d’expansion devraitajouter une capacité de 50 000 b/j; l’objectif final est de210 000 b/j, un taux que le réservoir peut soutenir pendant30 ans.

Être un exploitant spécialisé et relativement petit peut aussifaire une grande différence, affirme Chi-Tak Yee, vice-président,réservoir et production; la compagnie peut alors se concentrercomplètement sur un projet. « Bien que nous ayons eu notrepart de difficultés, nous avons pu nous y préparer. »

M. Hohm poursuit : « Nous avons fait beaucoup de forageset nous sommes confiants que le réservoir est comparable à

celui que nous exploitons déjà. » M. Yee ajoute que ChristinaLake est adjacent à d’autres projets en production : Jackfish deDevon Energy et le projet, aussi nommé Christina Lake, deCenovus; donnant à MEG une meilleure idée de ce à quoi s’attendre.

Le prochain gros défi sera la construction. « Nous prenonsWorley Parsons, la même firme de génie-conseil que pour lesPhases 1 et 2; la gestion et le contrôle du projet seront effec-tués par les propres employés de MEG. Quant à la construc-tion, nous prenons Kiewit Construction, avec qui nous avonsdéjà travaillé durant la Phase 2. »

Du côté financier, il y a des risques, « mais avec notre pre-mier appel public à l’épargne, qui s’est terminé il y a quelquessemaines, nous avons le financement nécessaire pourdévelopper la Phase 2B », conclut M. Hohm.

L’un des plus gros défis des exploitants n’est pas de décou-vrir du pétrole mais de gérer l’eau. Plus que tout autre facteur,l’eau est une composante cruciale des opérations de drainagepar gravité à l’aide de vapeur (SAGD), la technique d’extrac-tion la plus fréquemment utilisée. Il faut chauffer l’eau envapeur et acheminer cette vapeur dans le sol, dans les stratesporteuses de bitume.

De l’eau non potable se trouve à proximité de l’usine; deplus, la haute qualité du réservoir signifie que le projet peutêtre très efficace. Le rapport vapeur/eau est de 2,4, parmi lesmeilleurs des exploitations de sables bitumineux. De plus,l’eau de procédé est recyclée à plus de 80 pour cent; il fautdonc de 0,5 à 0,6 unités de nouvelle eau pour chaque unité depétrole produite.

Pour l’avenir, MEG travaille au projet Surmont à proximité;l’objectif est de 100 000 b/j. Les 80 km2 de Surmont pour-raient éventuellement contenir des ressources de plus de 640millions de barils. Cependant, grâce aux efforts de M.McCaffrey et de ses cofondateurs, MEG possède un terrain de1900 km2 encore à être exploré. ICM

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f MEG

Le Site A de Christina Lake a six paires de puits horizontaux en production.

Le meilleur congrès de l’industrie auquel j’ai participé au Canada.

Le réseautage fût fantastique. Tous nos représentants ont rencontré de

nouveaux clients potentiels.

“

“

Répondant du sondage - Vancouver 2010

COLUMNS | MAC economic commentary

Throughout the history of theglobal environmental movement, noissue has seen anything approachingthe elaborate policy structure andnegotiation frameworks that surroundthe climate change and greenhouse gasmitigation area.

International climate change policyhas been focused around the UNFramework Convention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC) and the Intergov-ernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) for over 20 years. IPCC is aUnited Nations entity created in 1988that writes extensive reports, drawingupon input from 2,500 scientificexperts, 800 contributing authors, 450lead authors and 620 expert reviewers.

IPCC reports typically stretch into thethousands of pages.

The UNFCCC has coordinated 15Conference of the Parties (CoP) ses-sions over the past 15 years, whichhave featured hundreds of environ-mental groups, business delegationsand government departments. Thou-sands of bureaucrats congregate atCoP sessions, often held in exotic loca-tions that entail enormous travel dis-tances and related airline GHG emis-sions. Between CoP sessions, numer-ous working groups interact andthemselves congregate in sub-commit-tee meetings at locations around theworld. There are some 192 countriesengaged in the UNFCCC process and

these individual countries in turn sup-port their policy discussions and doc-uments with equally substantialresources and bureaucracies. Somecountries, such as Australia and theUnited Kingdom, have created entiregovernment departments around cli-mate change policy.

In Canada, at least eight “climatechange strategies” have been unveiledsince the mid-1990s — five by Liberalgovernments and three by Conserva-tives — each plan outlining targets,actions and commitments supportedby the loftiest of communications rhet-oric and printed on the glossiest ofpaper. Through the years, the federalgovernment has outlined plans and


Greenhouse gas emissionsNo progress in policy, some progress on the ground� Paul Stothart

866 458-0101 800 881-9828 www.smsequip.com

SMS Equipment Duratray International SMS Equipment Duratray Dealer for Canada. Duratray International SMS Equipment Inc SMS Equipment Duratray Truck Bodies SMS Equipment

SMS

Highly qualified and dedicated people to support your productivity.

SMS Equipment SMS Equipment SMS Equipment SMS Equipment International International

MAC economic commentary | COLUMNS

processes for clean developmentmechanisms, offset systems, earlyaction credits, technology funds,reduction targets, emission tradingsystems, cap and trade systems andcarbon taxes. One particularly memo-rable offset document contained a 34-page glossary. The combined worth ofthese documents, plus a toonie, wouldtoday buy a Starbucks coffee.

Globally, for all of this bureaucracy,for all of the costs and all of the timeelapsed, it is difficult to claim muchreturn on investment beyond the pro-duction of a decade-old scientific con-clusion regarding anthropogenic cli-mate change. After 15 years of discus-sion, there are no emission reductionstargets bound through any form ofglobal agreement. There is no carbonemissions trading regime anywhere inNorth America or Asia, and the Emis-sions Trading Scheme (ETS) in Europehas been so fraught with exemptionsand wiggle room that its overall effectin a decade-plus has been negligibleThere have been no national carbonpricing schemes introduced in the pastdecade and there are none on the hori-zon. Large emerging economies suchas China have implemented no GHG-reduction measures of note, and what-ever energy efficiency measures thathave been introduced were internallydriven by energy supply concerns.Looking ahead, the regional GHG mit-igation initiatives in the United Statesare generally in disarray, there are nosigns of any effective GHG policy orcompromise emitting from Washing-ton, and the prospect of any realCopenhagen Accord targets or actionsbeing bound on the world’s key emit-ters is remote.

Ironically, outside of this bloatedclimate change policy apparatus, thereare some signs of progress in the realworld — where some old-fashionedvehicle emission standards may haveeffect and where there are realprospects of moving towards lower-carbon fossil fuels. Two illustrationsare worth highlighting.

First, it is interesting to note thatshale gas has become an increasinglyimportant source of natural gas in the

United States over the past decade,and interest has spread to potentialreserves in Canada, Europe, China,India and Australia. One noted econ-omist has called the emergence ofU.S. shale gas development “thebiggest energy innovation of thedecade.” Some estimate that shale gascould supply half the natural gas pro-duction in North America by 2020.Given that there are 30 U.S. states fac-ing major carbon challenges (wheretheir coal-fired power plants have aslarge or larger carbon footprint thanAlberta’s oil sands), it is evident thatany potential transition towardslighter forms of fossil fuel in theUnited States could have beneficialimpacts in GHG emissions.

Coal similarly fuels 70 per cent ofChina’s power grid and the ability toshift in any significant way to tradi-tional natural gas or shale gas wouldhave major impacts on that country’scarbon footprint. In India, as well,the potential shale gas supply andGHG impact is noteworthy. InCanada, with potential new shale gassupplies in British Columbia andelsewhere, federal regulations tophase out thermal coal combustionover the coming decadescould presumably beaccommodated throughsuch lower carbon fueldevelopments.

Second, it is worthhighlighting the recentmomentum seen in theUnited States to enhancevehicle fuel efficiency

standards. The United States govern-ment finalized new fuel standards inApril 2010 that will take effect in2012 model years — these willrequire roughly five per centimprovement per year and, in 2030GHG terms, would equate to taking30 million cars and light trucks offthe roads. Canada will also move toharmonize with these standards. Inheavy-duty trucks and buses, theUnited States announced in May thatnew regulations would apply to 2014model years. These vehicles presentlyaverage only six miles per gallon effi-ciency and offer significant, yetuntapped, efficiency improvementpotential.

Given the lack of GHG mitigationresults on the policy side over the pasttwo decades, it is encouraging to atleast see some progress driven throughmore traditional forces. Measures toencourage the discovery and develop-ment of lower carbon fuels and gov-ernment regulation of vehicle effi-ciency standards are two such forcesthat are having an effect and that willcontribute positively to Canadian andglobal GHG mitigation efforts over thecoming decades. CIM


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

macfactsAlberta’s oil sands production is projected to increase from around 1.3 millionbarrels per day at present to 4.7 million in 2025.

Alberta’s oil sands deposits are estimated tocontain 2.5 trillion barrels of bitumen that, usingexisting technologies, would yield 300 billionbarrels – larger than Saudi Arabia’s reserves.

COLUMNS | standards

In the past five years, there havebeen important new securities lawspassed in Canada regarding the dis-closure of “forward-looking informa-tion” (FLI). Recently, the CanadianSecurities Administrators (CSA) tookthe opportunity to include new gen-eral guidance on disclosing FLI onmineral projects in the proposedchanges to the Companion Policy 43-101CP to National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Min-eral Projects. The guidance points outthat another National Instrument inCanada, NI 51-102 Continuous Dis-closure Obligations, contains specificrequirements for disclosing FLI onmineral projects. FLI from a miningstudy would include forecasts of mineproduction rates, the amount of met-als or minerals to be produced orrecovered, and the resulting cashflows. These types of information arean essential component of prelimi-nary assessments, preliminary feasi-bility and feasibility studies on unde-veloped deposits, and life-of-mineplans for developed or operatingmines.

Reasonable basis for FLISection 4A.2 of NI 51-102

requires companies to have a reason-able basis for their FLI. This wouldinclude the assumptions used andthe study supporting FLI. In thecase of mineral projects, assump-tions would include: metal or com-modity price and currency exchangerates; capital and operating costs;mining method and dilution; processmethod and recoveries; mine pro-duction rates; and the time frame forpermitting and constructing a mine.A reasonable basis for metal priceassumptions used in a mining study,for example, is to use industry con-sensus price, as determined by aver-aging the long-term metal price fore-

Meeting disclosure requirementsForward-looking information on mineral projects� Greg Gosson

casts published by investment banksand mining analysts.

Identifying FLISection 4A.3 of NI 51-102 requires

companies to present the FLI in a waythat investors readily identify it assuch. CSA Staff Notice 51-330 pro-vides guidance that general or genericstatements are not considered effectivein meeting this requirement. The StaffNotice provides the following exam-ples of commonly used, but ineffectivestatements: “This document may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-lookingstatements are often, but not always,identified by words such as “believes,”

“may,” “likely,” “plans” or similar words.”

or

“All statements, other than statementsof historical fact, that address activities,events, or developments that CompanyX expects or anticipates will or may

occur in the future are forward-lookingstatements.”

Statements identifying FLI involv-ing a mineral project would be moreeffective if the statements are specificin the content that is forward-looking,for example, the information in a tablecontaining mine production forecastsand expected cash flows from prelimi-nary feasibility or feasibility studies.

Disclosing material factors,assumptions and risks

Section 4A.3 also requires compa-nies to state the material factors orassumptions used to develop FLI, andidentify material risk factors that couldcause actual results to differ materiallyfrom the FLI presented. The uncer-tainty regarding the assumptions usedin mining studies should reduce as aproject progresses. For example, the

collection of geotechnical data shouldreduce the risks associated with thegeomechanical assumptions used forthe mine design, in the same mannerthat metallurgical testwork improvesthe confidence (reduces the risk) inthe process design and metallurgicalrecovery assumptions. Some assump-tions are not project-specific, such ascurrency exchange rate or commodityprice assumptions. The CSA has pro-vided guidance that the risk factorsshould not be so “boiler plate” innature so that FLI could apply to anytype of business. Companies are notexpected to anticipate and discusseverything that could conceivablycause the results to differ, and the risksidentified should be specific to the FLIin the particular disclosure document.As well, the type of risks shouldchange as the mining project pro-gresses. Increasing amounts of testwork, engineering design and discus-sions with permitting authorities andimpacted communities should reducerisk in more advanced projects, andFLI statements should reflect such riskchanges.

Carve-outs for the mining industryPart 4B of NI 51-102 limits the time

period that future-oriented financialinformation (FOFI) can be reasonablyestimated, and provide guidance thatthis time period should generally notgo beyond the end of the company’snext fiscal year. Fortunately, the CSArecognized that it is accepted practicein the mining industry to project cashflows over a life-of-mine, which can,and frequently does, exceed a decadeor more. A carve-out to this time lim-itation is provided in NI 51-102 fordisclosure subject to NI 43-101.

Section 5.2 of NI 51-102 requirescompanies to provide an update ofpreviously disclosed material FLI intheir management’s discussion and


A new world leader in advanced

�otation technology.

Eriez Minerals Flotation Group - CanadaUnit 1 - 7168 Honeyman StreetDelta, BC Canada, V4G 1G1T: +604 952.2300 F: +604 952.2312Learn more at en-ca.eriez.com

Eriez Minerals Flotation Group* is a new operating entity combining our minerals processing expertise with our subsidiary, Canadian Processing Technologies (CPT). This group was created to expand existing minerals processing technologies, particularly �otation equipment and systems, to unify global customer communications, and to increase our presence in mining and minerals processing industries.

Our client list includes a wide variety of custom-designed column cells for coal, base and precious metals and industrial minerals.

*Formerly known as Canadian Process Technologies, Inc., (CPT) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eriez Manufacturing Company. Eriez and CPT provide advanced testing and engineering services in addition to sparging and column �otation equipment for the mining and minerals processing industries.

The Patented CPT SlamJet™

The patented CPT SlamJet with automatic fail closure should loss of air supply ever occur.

analysis. The update must discuss events and circumstancesthat could cause actual results to differ materially and dis-cuss the expected differences. Many inputs to preliminaryassessment, preliminary feasibility and feasibility studies onmining projects can be expected to be become out of datesoon after the study is completed. The CSA recognized thatit would be particularly onerous for a mining company toreview the mining studies on material mineral projects eachquarter for material differences. Therefore, the carve-out tothis requirement was provided for FLI subject to NI 43-101.

Shelf life of FLI in technical reportsIn spite of the above carve-outs in NI 51-102 for FLI sub-

ject to NI 43-101, mining companies should assess whetherFLI statements have become stale-dated. In the proposedchanges to the Companion Policy 43-101CP of NI 43-101,the CSA included the following guidance:

“Economic analyses in technical reports are based on com-modity prices, costs, sales, revenue, and other assumptions andprojections that can change significantly over short periods oftime. As a result, economic information in a technical reportcan quickly become outdated. Continued reference to outdatedtechnical reports or economic projections without appropriatecontext and cautionary language could result in misleadingdisclosure.”

Civil liability for misrepresentations in FLIMost provinces and territories in Canada have passed, or

are considering passing, changes to their Securities Act thatprovide civil liability for misrepresentations in FLI. Thesame legislation provides a defence against that civil liabil-ity by offering a safe harbour for FLI disclosure. To takeadvantage of this defence, a company must include certaindisclosure in close proximity to the FLI. In general, therequired information for the safe harbour is the same infor-mation required by Part 4A of NI 51-102. However, miningcompany management should discuss with their legalcounsel how to meet the disclosure requirements in theirparticular circumstances. CIM


About the author

Greg Gosson is technicaldirector, geology andgeostatistics, mining andmetals consulting, for AMECAmericas Limited.

COLUMNS | supply side


To succeed in this globalizing,competitive world, Canadian miningsuppliers have to be highly price-competitive and provide excellentcustomer service, which includesdelivering the highest quality prod-ucts on time. And yet, Canadian pro-ductivity has inched ahead by only0.7 per cent a year over the pastdecade. In 2008, it actually shrank by0.6 per cent, according to the OECD,which ranks our country’s perform-ance behind such economic basketcases as Greece and Spain. That sameyear, the United States, Canada’sbiggest trading partner, boosted itsproductivity by 1.3 per cent, widen-ing an already large gap. However,CAMESE member Wabi Iron & SteelCorp. of New Liskeard, Ontario, isdoing something to ensure that theyare chosen over their competitorsfrom countries with low-cost labour.

Founded in 1907, Wabi currentlyemploys about 120 workers. Focus-ing mainly on the mining industry,they custom design, engineer and fab-ricate conveyances and material han-dling systems, as well as produce awide variety of cast wear products inmore than 100 alloys in their iron andsteel foundry.

Last year, Wabi undertook a$450,000 productivity improvementproject with the help of a $50,000grant from the Canadian Manufac-

turers & Exporters’ (CME) SMARTprogram. The goal of their projectwas to “improve processes, manage-ment systems and management skillsto create a continuous improvementculture.” The work involved exten-sive management training and in-depth analysis of processes and sys-tems to eliminate waste and improveon-time delivery.

One of the rewards of Wabi’sprogress was to be featured in anextensive front-page article in theJune 29, 2010 issue of the Globe andMail’s Report on Business. Includingmany photos, the article occupies theequivalent of two full pages of thenewspaper and showcases “Wabi’sdaily fight for higher productivity,which is being duplicated at manyCanadian companies. The outcome oftheir struggles will determine howCanada fares in the global marketagainst growing competition fromlow-wage countries such as Mexico,China and India.”

The Globe suggests that if Bank ofCanada governor Mark Carney wantsan example of Canadian companiesthat are addressing the problem headon, he should visit Wabi, where pres-ident Peter Birnie and his team havediscovered that improving productiv-ity can be deceptively simple, even forsmaller companies without access tohuge amounts of capital. An example

of a simple improvement was theinstallation of a new entrance so thatincoming supplies and finished prod-ucts were not moving through thesame door. This change has improvedmanufacturing efficiency by creatinglinear material flow directions in theshop.

Wabi has used the 5S strategy ofLEAN Manufacturing systems toorganize its manufacturing depart-ments. Tooling has been centralizedto work areas thereby limiting work-place “traffic.” Also, workers are nowable to use three-dimensional imag-ing technology on the shop floor tobetter interpret work instructions.Employee movement is now morefocused on adding value to the manu-facturing process.

Proof of the project’s success wasthat sales grew without the need toincrease the workforce. Revenue fromthe mechanical business has tripledsince the productivity project began.Total revenues in 2009 were about$18 million and the company targetsmore than doubling this over the nextfive to six years. Wabi’s key to successis productivity improvements com-bined with a focus on world-classcustomer service, innovation and thepassion to win.

This example is one that should beheeded by other Canadian miningsuppliers. CIM

Taking on the productivity challengeA Canadian mining supplier leads by example� Jon Baird

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

About the author

Jon Baird, managingdirector of CAMESE andthe immediate pastpresident of PDAC, isinterested in collectiveapproaches to enhancingthe Canadian brand inthe world of mining.

macfactsTeck Resources Limited is one of the world’s leadingproducers and exporters ofmetallurgical coal, used in steelmaking.

first nations | COLUMNS

Women in Mining Canada and theMining Industry Human ResourcesCouncil recently launched “Ramp-UP: A Study on the Status of Womenin Canada’s Mining and ExplorationSector.” One of its primary objectivesis, among other things, to increaseemployment opportunities forwomen, a group that is vastly under-represented in the mining industry.Even more affected are Aboriginalwomen.

Currently, training programs forAboriginal Peoples in Canada exist onjob sites and through colleges. How-ever, in response to the increasedtraining needs of communities andindustry, Northwest Community Col-lege has developed the School ofExploration & Mining (SEM) where65 per cent of its student body is FirstNations. One of the courses offered atSEM is the Environmental MonitorAssistance Program. Students takingthis course spend 25 days out in thefield, followed by one week in theclassroom, and then an additional 25days in the field. For the last two-yearperiod (2008 and 2009 field seasons)21 per cent of SEM students werefemale; 15.5 per cent of SEM studentsidentified themselves as Aboriginalfemales.

Of the female students that iden-tified themselves as Aboriginal, 65per cent found employment orreturned to school. This percentageis traditionally lower than SEM’saverage employment rate of 70 percent; however, this can be attributedto the economic crisis and signifi-cant downturn in the industry lastyear. When asked what were thebarriers for Aboriginal women enter-ing the program, Tanya Reedy, theschools’ coordinator, said the biggestconcern was “Who is going to dowhat I do when I am gone?" — forexample, in terms of childcare, car-ing for elders and other extendedfamily, as well as the daily tasks of

cooking, cleaning, canning, smok-ing, berry picking, etc.

According to the NWT Bureau ofStatistics, three per cent of peopleworking in trades positions arewomen. Fewer still are Aboriginalwomen who face many barriers inaccessing employment in the indus-trial and trades occupations of themining, oil and gas industries. Suchbarriers include being the primary,and possibly the only, caregiver in thefamily. Lack of support from partnersand family in pursuing rigoroustraining, limited education levels andopportunities, limited financialresources to further one’s develop-ment, and the perception that tradesand industrial occupations are bestsuited to men can also pose restric-tions on women. And in some cases,there are significant social issues thatexponentially increase barriers:issues such as violence and substanceaddictions.

Together with its partners, the Sta-tus of Women Council of the NWThas designed a highly innovative pilotproject — the Northern Women inMining Oil & Gas Project (NWMOG)— where it will be determined if thenumber of northern womenemployed in skilled trades can be sig-nificantly increased through a dedi-cated women-only, partnership-basedstrategic approach to training anddevelopment.

The Native Women’s Associationrecently completed their Action Plan(AP). The AP is a clear and compre-hensive plan that aims at reducingviolence, improv-ing economic secu-rity and achievinghigher educationaloutcomes for Abo-riginal womenwho, as a group,are the mostsocially, politicallyand economically

Scratching the surface: aboriginal women in mining� Lana Eagle

About the author Lana Eagle is vice-president of Learning Together,a national Aboriginal grassrootsorganization that is focused on miningrelationships. She is also a consultantto mining companies and advises onrelationship building between industryand Aboriginal communities.


marginalized in Canada. The APidentifies poverty, substandard hous-ing, health and mental challenges,and low educational attainment asthe current realities and experiencesof Aboriginal women. They continueto be the most at risk group inCanada for issues related to violenceand complex issues linked to inter-generational impacts of colonizationand residential schools. While theAP identifies the mechanism forchange to occur at the provincial,territorial and federal governmentlevels, industry, as a key stakeholder,has a role to play as well in buildingpartnerships with equitable out-comes between the private sectorand Aboriginal Peoples. And when itcomes to access to training anddevelopment, there should be oppor-tunities that will allow individuals tostay in their home community if theyso choose.

Despite the challenges that Abo-riginal women face, women haveproven that they can be successful inthe workplace. In trades and indus-trial occupations, women succeedbecause of their concern for safetyand their attention to detailed work.We have only just scratched the sur-face on what could prove to be a sig-nificant employee resource for min-ing companies. It will take compa-nies that are both open-minded andinnovative to help in removing barri-ers that face Aboriginal women. Cer-tainly, government and educationalinstitutions can play their part inaffecting change as well. CIM

An increasingly competitive labourmarket is affecting all industry sectors,but particularly those that rely onskilled trades and highly educated pro-fessionals. The Canadian miningindustry, with its strong commoditymarket and current growth projec-tions, is particularly vulnerable tolabour shortages.

In addition, the industry is facing ademographic challenge; an aging pop-ulation means that in the next ten yearsalone, 40 per cent of the mining work-force will be eligible for retirement,driving the need for approximately100,000 new workers by 2020, accord-ing to MiHR’s latest labour marketinformation report released in August.In Canada’s oil sands alone, approxi-mately 13,000 additional workers willbe required by the producers by 2020,says Anne Marie Toutant, vice-presi-dent, mining operations for SuncorEnergy, located in Fort McMurray,Alberta.

Diversity is good businessDiversity is an integral component

of the HR solution and “people” fallsunder one of Suncor’s four areas ofoperational excellence. “People are atthe heart of each piece of equipmentyou operate, so for us, having anengaged, competent and effective teamof people is really important,” Toutantexplains. Attracting and retaining non-traditional sources of talent that havepreviously been under-represented inmining is critical to ensure the neces-sary people and skills are available inthe short and longer term for the sus-tainability of the industry.

But for Toutant, addressing the HRchallenge is merely one advantage ofbuilding a diverse workforce. “Webelieve that better business decisionsare made when a team is comprised ofpeople who come from different back-grounds, have different educational

Workplace diversity: a core value at Suncor Energy� Lindsay Forcellini

MiHR takes on the diversity challengeEarlier this summer, MiHR received $850,000 in funding from Human

Resources and Skills Development Canada for its new diversity project, SHIFT:Changing the Face of Canada’s Mining Industry. The project will be developed overthe next three years and includes a number of outcomes to reduce barriers toworkplace diversity. Building upon MiHR’s previous work, Mining for Diversity,SHIFT will address technology and intergenerational workforces, barriers to work-place diversity and best HR practices to increase Aboriginal inclusion in mining.

training and different problem-solvingtechniques,” affirms Toutant. “Withthat kind of diversity, you bring aunique view of the challenges and amore thorough and robust approach tofinding solutions.”

Revitalizing the workforceThere are many opportunities to

revitalize the workforce and diversifythe potential talent pool. A number ofgroups that are currently underrepre-sented in the mining industry, yet avail-able in the general labour force,include women, youth, new Canadi-

ans, Aboriginal Peoples and workersfrom comparable industries that haveexperienced a downturn. Suncor ismaking strides in workplace diversity.It recruits from seven to eight universi-ties across Canada to tap into the fullspectrum of talent students can offer.

About eight per cent of Suncor’smining workforce self-identifies asAboriginal, which is slightly higherthan the industry average of 6.5 percent. Toutant says the company alsoencourages an open dialogue withAboriginal communities by invitingelders to visit the mine site to share

COLUMNS | HR outlook


A female heavy hauler welder at work at Suncor’s oil sands site in Fort McMurray, Alberta

Phot

o co

urte

sy of S

unco

r Ene

rgy

| COLUMNS

their knowledge about the local envi-ronment and cultural practices.

The company is a strong supporterof the National Aboriginal Achieve-ment Foundation, which providesscholarships and bursaries to helpAboriginal Peoples pursue further edu-cation. It also supports Women Build-ing Futures, a pre-trades program forunder-employed or unemployedwomen, 20 to 40 per cent of which areAboriginal. This program provides anentry skill set for candidates to enrollin an apprenticeship program.

Diversity is an important factor atall levels of an organization and Suncoris creating opportunities for femaleleaders to network, explains Toutant.At its oil sands mining operations,women make up about 22 per cent ofthe professional or staff positions and12.4 per cent of the total workforce.Sixty women hold management or sen-ior management positions at the oil

sands site. Partnering with the SuncorEnergy Foundation, Toutant and Shel-ley Powell, vice-president, extractionoperations, invited female leaders toparticipate in the Famous 5 SpeakerSeries, allowing them to share theirexperiences and providing opportuni-ties for them to partner together.

A core valueEnhancing workplace diversity offers

many benefits, but it can be challenging.Toutant’s advice: Don’t get caught up in

the numbers. “It’s important to knowwhere you are and be focused on build-ing towards a new future, but our aim isto get the best person for the job all ofthe time,” Toutant explains. “If you hold[diversity] as a core value, you havefewer pitfalls.”

MiHR is committed to supportingthe industry’s ability to actively engagenon-traditional sources of labour, andits newly funded diversity project ispoised to tackle this challenge andoffer industry-wide benefits. CIM


HR outlook | COLUMNS

About the author

As marketing and communications coordinator, LindsayForcellini is responsible for supporting MiHR’scommunications and online media initiatives, and coordinatingthe production of marketing and communications materials.Formerly a writer for Natural Resources Canada, she holds abachelor’s degree in journalism from Carleton University.

COLUMNS | innovation

The vast amount of disturbed landand the quantity of oil sands tailingsbeing stored presents a challenge forthe industry and an opportunity forthe University of Alberta’s Oil SandsTailings Research Facility (OSTRF).Industry endeavours to study the fun-damentals of particular issues associ-ated with tailings managementrequire coordinating the efforts ofresearchers from diverse backgroundsand graduate students from variousdisciplines. This impediment was rec-ognized by the stakeholders whocame together to support the OSTRF.

The OSTRF is a unique academicand industrial research facility dedi-cated to collaborative and multidisci-plinary oil sands tailings research.The facility provides crucial infra-structure for research opportunities atthe intermediate scale not previously

available for university research inCanada. Between 2003 and 2010, theOSTRF has reported on 32 separateresearch projects. As a result of theseprojects, 16 students have graduatedand are currently working for oilsands companies, regulators, oilsands industry consultants or havecontinued their graduate studies atthe PhD level.

The need to enhance tailings man-agement is now even more importantthan when OSTRF was established in2003. Due to what it perceived to belimited progress in reclamationefforts, the Energy Resources Conser-vation Board (ERCB) — via Directive74 — recently began requiring thatthe industry improve tailings (fines)management and its documentationof the progress of dealing with tail-ings on each mine site.

The initial OSTRF research pro-gram focused on improving theunderstanding and management ofthe massive inventories of mature finetailings (MFT) or “legacy tailings.”The greatest research emphasis wason the geo technical and chemicalbehaviour of engineered tailings andthe management and treatment ofprocess affected water (PAW).

The current research projects aretopical given the media’s attentionon the environment and the empha-sis of the ERCB’s Directive 74. Whileresearch efforts on the quality andtreatment of water have increased,an appreciation of the necessity tounderstand and deal with the legacytailings remains. This focus onwater relates to its characterization(naphthenic acids [NA]), its treat-ment with coke and rapid removal


Preparing an in-line dewatering experiment at the OSTRF

Phot

o co

urte

sy of M

icha

el H

olly

Innovations in tailings management� Nicholas Beier and Dave Sego

| COLUMNS

dewatering system and alternativemethods to release water from theMFT inventory.

• Treatment technologies for re-useof PAW in utilities and for upgrad-ing while also developing qualitystandards for eventual discharge ofPAW off lease.

• Stabilization and capping of softtailings deposits in preparation for

reclamation, including methods ofdewatering the upper surface ofsoft tailing to enhance its strength. In an era of heightened environ-

mental awareness and increasinglystringent regulations, the OSTRF iswell poised to develop novelapproaches for tailings managementand to educate and train the futureleaders of the industry. CIM


innovation | COLUMNS

of water from the total tailingsstream.

In 2009, a NA fluorescence sensorwas developed by an OSTRF researchteam. The device is a bench scaleinstrument with a detection limit ofless than 4 mg/L of NAs in PAW. Thetechnology offers a cost-effective,compact, non-invasive and continu-ous water quality monitoring toolthat can detect, characterize and trackchanges of NAs in PAW.

Reducing or eliminating the for-mation of new MFT during conven-tional tailings deposition poses achallenge due to the segregatingnature of the total tailings stream.Additionally, the use of hydro-cyclones to generate dewatered tail-ings sand results in water and finesdischarging as cyclone overflow intoa tailings pond where additional MFTis formed.

Using the principles of cross-flowfiltration, a novel, in-line tailingsdewatering technology is currentlyunder development by an OSTRFresearch team to address these issues.The in-line dewatering process aimsto rapidly dewater the total tailings enroute to the disposal area whileensuring the released water is low infines (for immediate recycle to extrac-tion) leading to deposition of a dewa-tered total tailings (containing sandand fines) as a non segregating mix.Benefits of achieving this include theprevention of new MFT inventory, therapid release of heated water — thusreducing energy demand and green-house gas (GHG) release — and thepotential to deposit total tailingswithout requiring water retentioncontainment dykes.

The next phase of research to beundertaken by OSTRF researcherswill continue efforts towards reduc-ing the volume of tailings and theirstabilization in a timely manner forreclamation. Research projects willinclude: • Reduction or elimination of

volatile organic carbons and GHGfrom tailings ponds.

• Further development and scalingof the novel in-line tailings

About the authors

Dave Sego (left) is the principal investigatorof the Oil Sands Tailings Research Facilityand a professor emeritus in theDepartment of Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering at the University of Alberta.Nicholas Beier works with Dr. Sego at theOSTRF on developing novel approaches totailings management.

Table 1. Current OSTRF projects

Water treatment options and their applicability to oil sands operations for recycleand safe discharge

Foam tailings: a new methodology of stabilization of tailings

Dewatering behaviour of oil sands tailings from different processes

Implications of tailings management and planning options

Dewatering non-segregating mixtures of oil sands

Fluorescence characterization of naphthenic acids

Characterization of petroleum naphthenic acids in oil sands process-affectedwaters using fluorescence technology

The removal of naphthenic acids in oil sands process-affected water by cokeadsorption

Freeze-thaw dewatering of Albian mature fine tailings

Sand and slurry jets in artificial and real MFT without water-capping

Consolidation behaviour of MFT using centrifuge

Advanced treatment of oil sand tailings water

COLUMNS | eye on business

Parts of Quebec have long beenknown as having geological featuresindicative of potential hydrocarbonreserves. Efforts to better identify andexplore this potential have been ongo-ing for many years. Interesting devel-opments are now coming out of theseendeavours, including those involvingthe Gaspé Peninsula and AnticostiIsland. The St. Lawrence Gulf andEstuary1 also have strong potential.

The following general overview (asof mid-July) focuses on the St.Lawrence Lowlands play which,according to many, may lead to Que-bec joining the ranks of producingjurisdictions within a relatively shorttime frame.

The St. Lawrence LowlandsThe St. Lawrence Lowlands are an

area of Quebec located mainly alongthe St. Lawrence River’s shores (moreextensively the south) between Mon-treal (to the west) and Quebec City (tothe east). The Quebec Minister of Nat-ural Resources and Wildlife, under theapplicable provisions of the QuebecMining Act, has issued 186 petroleum,gas and underground reservoir explo-ration licences to 17 holders coveringa large part of the lowlands.

In terms of exploration and devel-opment needs, the lowlands are easilyaccessible, with all infrastructures inplace and close by, including the twomain Quebec East-West highways andGaz Métro’s gas distribution system. Alarge part of the surface is privatelyowned, fairly developed and occupiedwith a variety of land uses, includingmany farms, cities and towns.

The Quebec Utica Shale gas play — recent developments� Martin R. Gagné

The Utica Shale FormationThe extensive geological forma-

tions — Trenton Black River (HTD),Lorraine Shale and Utica Shale — arefavourable to the presence of hydro-carbons and, as such, explain theinterest in this play. Horizontal drillingand fracture stimulation technologyand its use have, in recent years,evolved and successfully and prof-itably produced substantial quantitiesof gas from shale plays (for example,Barnett in Texas and Marcellus inPennsylvania and New York). These,plus the fact that production fromsuch formations may help North-America become more independent inits long-term energy needs, haveheightened the attractiveness of shaleplays such as Utica.

Licence holders, sometimes in con-junction with other exploration com-panies, are involved in programsthroughout the lowlands, several ofwhich include completed or ongoinghorizontal well drilling and fracturestimulation of the Utica Shale.

Recent announcements in thisregard include some by Junex, a Que-bec-based junior exploration companythat holds extensive explorationlicences (on approximately 4,000square kilometres) in the lowlands(some in conjunction with Forest OilCorporation). For example, inNovember 2009, Junex announced thecompletion of a successful propanefracture stimulation of the Utica Shale(a first for the formation and for east-ern Canada) from a well located in atown close to Quebec City; initial pro-duction testing yielded some lightcrude oil and natural gas. Morerecently, based on reports it commis-sioned from an independent engineer-ing firm, Junex also announced thebest estimates for a large part of itslicences as being 48.34 trillion cubicfeet (TcF) of undiscovered original gasin place and 3.7 TcF, at an effective 10per cent recovery factor (low: 1.23 TcF,

4 per cent; high: 10.98 TcF, 25 percent), of potentially recoverable gas(gross unrisked prospective resource).

Other announcements came fromQuesterre Energy/Talisman Energyregarding their ongoing explorationprogram on lands in the central part ofthe play and its five horizontal wellswith fracture stimulations, somealready drilled and completed. A pro-duction rate of approximately five mil-lion cubic feet per day of natural gashas been announced further to the ini-tial production testing of a completedwell and fracture stimulation in Saint-Édouard, a town southwest of QuebecCity. The completion of a long-termproduction test of this well wasannounced in early July, with results(some still being analyzed) said to haveat least met expectations. Questerre isalso reviewing pipeline options thatwould allow it to connect the well tothe Gaz Métro distribution system.

Plans for the construction of thisconnecting pipeline, which now mayalso involve a second well located innearby Leclercville, are said to be fairlyadvanced. The connection, represent-ing an investment in the order of $22million, is expected to be in place bymid-2011 with initial volumes flowingby the end of summer 2011 (a year ear-lier than anticipated) and more impor-tant quantities some time in 2014.

Other exploration programs, somewith drilling of horizontal wells andfracture stimulation (either ongoing orplanned), in other parts of the play havealso been announced recently. Thisincludes programs by Canbriam Energyand Quebec-based Gastem on licencesin the vicinity of Saint-Hyacinthe in thewestern part of the play.

What the future holdsEstimates of recoverable natural gas

from the Utica Shale are now said torange from 10 to 25 TcF. These estimates do not include the hydrocar-bon potential of the other formations

1 Under exploration moratorium in Quebec. There are cer-tain unresolved issues concerning the gulf — includingfederal-provincial jurisdictional and Quebec-Newfound-land territorial limit issues — which may have an impacton hydrocarbon development in the gulf, such as, forexample, at the Old Harry deposit. Newfoundland isrefusing to acknowledge that such deposit may, in part,be in Quebec’s territory.


eye on business | COLUMNS

(such as Lorraine and Trenton BlackRiver) of the lowlands and possibleincreased recovery rates as technologyimproves.

Although it is still early, ongoingexploration work and announcementsshow that those involved are makinggood progress, and the necessaryknowledge base on accessing andextracting gas from the Utica is grow-ing (by October 2010, there should be12 announced completed horizontalwells and fracture stimulations in theUtica). At the very least, there arestrong indications that Questerre/Tal-isman are getting closer to the produc-tion stage.

The Quebec government seems tobe solidly behind this new activity,given its anticipated large and long-term economic development andemployment opportunities (7,500 esti-mated direct jobs) as well as the gov-ernment’s expectation that recoverablenatural gas from the Utica could meanlong-term self-sufficiency for Quebec’sgas needs (presently, gas supplied fromAlberta at an annual cost of about $2billion).

Financing, risk reduction and lim-ited availability of the specializedequipment required for more horizon-tal drilling and fracture stimulationare among the challenges to movingforward with this play.

Locally, the industry and shale gasproduction methods and their impli-cations are not well known or under-stood by Quebec’s population; issuessuch as environmental impact, socialacceptability, other land uses, in par-ticular agricultural, and land ownerrights need to be better addressed.Both the industry and government areintensifying their efforts to betterinform the population and addresssuch issues.

With this in mind, the Minister ofNatural Resources and Wildlife hasannounced that new legislation specificto the oil and gas industry should beintroduced this fall; the government’sstated objective is the modernization ofthe legislative framework in a sustain-able development context (whichincludes long-term environmental and

community consultation considera-tions). In proposing such legislation,the government will take into accountnot only the representations, concernsand proposals of industry representa-tives, but also those of interest groups(environmental, citizens and others),municipal or regional authorities, andthe citizens themselves and theirelected representatives. The govern-ment will also take into account theexperiences of other shale plays andthe way certain aspects (includingenvironmental) of some of these playshave recently been reported on inQuebec. Given the various points ofview, it will be interesting tosee the extent of the pro-posed changes and the solu-tions the government willpropose in order to arrive ata balanced legislative frame-work, which will certainly becompared by the industry tothat of other relevant juris-dictions.

That being said, recent develop-ments, along with the Quebec govern-ment’s current position and interest,the growing importance major playersare giving to North America’s shaleplays, and the involvement of certainlarger exploration companies (forexample, Talisman) in the Utica playindicate that Quebec’s potential forbecoming a producing jurisdiction, atleast for natural gas from the St.Lawrence Lowlands, seems to be pro-gressing towards realization. Expecta-tions are that production could beginin as early as five years; some say per-haps even sooner. CIM

US Headquarters4000 Town Center Blvd., Suite 200,Canonsburg, PA, USA 15317Tel: +1 724 754 9800 Fax: +1 724 754 9801www.taggartglobal.com

Nor t h Ame r i ca I Sou th Ame r i ca I A f r i c a I As i a I Aus t r a l i a

Design.Build.

Operate.Lead.

Leading the World in Material Handlingand Coal Preparation design, construction,

commissioning and operations.

Taggart Global designs, builds and operates state-of-the-art coal prepara-tion plants and material handling systems for clients worldwide in the coal

production, power generation, steel making and material handling sectors.

We offer �exible contract services to meet the unique needs of your project,and our construction, electrical and international procurement divisions bringspecialized expertise to deliver a project that’s on time, within budget andbeyond your expectations.

Whether you’re adding a new facility or system, modifying an existing plantor seeking to outsource operations, take advantage of Taggart’s innovativeengineering and proven solutions to improve performance, increase ef�-ciencies and accelerate return on investment.

World Leader in Coal Preparation and Material Handling


About the author

Martin R. Gagné is a partnerat Fasken MartineauDuMoulin LLP’s Quebec officeand a member of the firm’sGlobal Mining Group. Hispractice includes Quebec oiland gas matters.

COLUMNS | safety

Sometimes striving to maintain agood record is an even greater challengethan attaining it. Such is the case atGenesee Mine, which has successfullyachieved 22 consecutive years withouta lost time accident — which is, in fact,how long the mine has been in opera-tion. How does the mine ensure itkeeps that perfect record going? Bymaking safety priority number one.

In recognition of the prominence itplaces on safety — even over produc-tion — Genesee Mine has beenawarded its tenth John T. RyanNational Trophy this year. Ownedjointly by Sherritt and Capital PowerCorporation, and operated by SherrittCoal, Genesee produces approximately5.5 million tonnes of coal annually forthe Genesee Power Plant run by Capi-tal Power. Over the past 22 years, themine has grown to employ 160 peopleand has accumulated 3.4 million man-hours, mined 76 million tonnes of coal,and moved over 700 million bankedcubic metres of material. All that and aclean safety record too.

Enemy number one: complacencyAfter accepting its most recent John

T. Ryan Trophy this past spring, man-agement knew it faced a key challenge— avoiding complacency. Not anoperation to rest on its laurels, it wentdirectly to its employees for input.“We held discussions over four dayswith our four crews and asked them:‘In light of winning the J.T. Ryan Tro-phy ten times, if you were interviewedand asked what the key is to the safetyrecord we have, what would you say?’”explains Chris Barclay, general man-ager, Genesee Mine.

Overwhelmingly, the employeesshared their views on what they feltcontributed to the safe work environ-ment, including:• Positive attitudes and mutual

respect.

Challenge acceptedGenesee Mine working to maintain clean record� Heather Ednie

• Competent trainers (senior opera-tors train new hires).

• Employees care about the conditionof the equipment and recognizethat the maintenance departmentcares and is compliant.

• Field staff see that different depart-ments work well together: engi-neering/maintenance/administra-tion, etc.

• Good communication and coopera-tion within the office.

• Taking pride in work. • Viewing management hierarchy as

flat and recognizing the open-doorpolicy.

• Good leadership among the crew.• Valuing rescue and response team.• Hiring good people — taking the

time to find those that fit the com-pany’s site, culture, safety goals andobjectives.

• Safety is taken seriously. It’s not justa lip service or a poster on the wall.

• Using the right tools for the job.• Appreciation is shown for hard

work and dedication — in manyforms, but the most simple is beingdirect — “Thanks for a job well andsafely done.”

“We synthesized our results fromthe four meetings, and in the end, onekey common thread emerged,” saysKen Martens, manager, mine opera-tions. “This site started with a groupthat was committed to safety; that cul-ture has been maintained andexpanded by the senior operators toinclude the juniors as they come onboard. We have no more of anadvanced safety program or processesthan others; it’s about a culture thatcares, and knows we do.”

Even so, the focus on safety mustbe maintained and continuously cul-tivated. “Over the last seven yearswe’ve doubled the workforce, and wesee safety as a challenge on an ongo-ing basis,” Barclay says. “We mustalways work towards improvementand ensure safety issues are dealt withas noticed — that field-level riskassessments (FLRA) are done on aregular basis and management alwaysfollows up.”

Barclay adds that they must contin-ually remind employees that safetytruly is prioritized over production.“You need to tell them over and overagain, encouraging them to not be


Genesee Mine receives the John T. Ryan National Trophy at this year’s CIM Awards Gala. From left to right: GordWinkel, chair, John T. Ryan Safety Trophies Committee; Ken Martens, manager, mine operations, Genesee; LauraCarter, HR and safety advisor, Genesee; and Michael Allan, CIM past president.

Phot

o co

urte

sy of N

orm

and Hu

berd

eau/

NH

Phot

ogra

phes

afraid to ask for help when needed,”he says.

Martens agrees, adding that whenemployees do buy into the idea of asafety priority, it leads to a more produc-tive site. “You can’t be ashamed to saythat’s a strategy,” he adds. “It empowerspeople to stop, and to address safety.Our 22-year record by no means givesus the right to complacency,” Martensasserts. “Rather, each year, we’re moreaware of the need to maintain thatrecord. Complacency is the ultimateenemy in a situation like this.”

It takes frequent communication.In fact, Martens says the meetings heldthis past spring with the crews aboutthe factors contributing to safety werenot only intended for management togain information, but also to demon-strate that the key to a safe workplacelies with all employees. “They controlwhat goes on in the field,” Martenssays. “We can manage the system, butthe day-by-day is up to them.”

An evolving programAccording to Barclay, the growing

workforce at the mine has broughtsafety to a new, slightly more complexlevel. In response, Genesee has justhired its first safety advisor — an oper-ator who has been brought on in a staffposition. “We need our formal trainingprograms updated. We’re held tohigher standards of health and safetytoday than before,” he adds. “To becompliant, we see the need for a per-son dedicated to it full time, plus, ofcourse, safety remains a component ofeveryone’s job.”

Safety is a priority for Sherritt at allits sites. “More and more of our man-agement goals and objectives are tiedto safety, and it’s the first item of busi-ness at any meeting,” Barclay admits.Weekly reports sent to the corporateoffice include any environmental orsafety incidents. “We see the littlethings going on as indicators and werespond,” he adds. “It’s best to getinvolved early. And employees willbring them to our attention. Theirwillingness to bring items forwardstems from them knowing action willbe taken.” CIM

Safety: an operator’s responsibility� Heather Ednie

Dragline operator Al Williams has worked at Genesse Mine since before its opening.He signed on in 1982 during the construction of the main power plant. Williams recallsthe early days, when the mine first went into production. “There were a few supervisorsand a handful of employees from the pit,” he says. “We had lots of conversations abouthow to create an environment without lost time accidents for the term of the mine. We

thought it was impossible, but asour record shows, here we are— it’s been quite an achieve-ment.”

Even with a focus on safety atthe onset, numerous changeshave occurred throughout theyears. Informal meetingsbetween a handful of peoplehave evolved to safety commit-tees; the on-site workforce nowencompasses over 160 employ-ees, and ISO 9000 and 14001and other standards and policieshave not only driven the safetyprogram, but the safety perform-ance to date has set the bar high.

Williams says the hazardassessment program means thecrew must be responsive tosafety indicators every day. “Ifanything — as small as tripping— happens, we stop, assess,write it down, so that manage-ment can seek improvements,”

he explains. “That’s one of the great things here at Genesee. We can always go to man-agement. They don’t only listen, but work with us for solutions.”

“Everything changes, and we’ve changed with it,” Williams adds. “One thing that hasremained constant, though, has been the great open-door policy and the recognition thatsafety is up to us. I think in many places, production comes first. But here, we worksafely and fit production in.”

Williams believes the openness and high level of communication and cooperationbetween management and the people working in the field is the number one reason forthe stellar safety record to date. In the end, everyone works towards the same goals.“We all strive to supply our customers with good quality coal, safely,” he explains.“Safety is all of our responsibility and duty — to ourselves, our families, customers andcommunity.”

That commitment is becoming even greater as the latest generation of employeeshas begun working onsite. In addition to a number of his colleagues’ children nowworking at Genesee, Williams’ own son is employed as a heavy-duty mechanic. “Weall hope we’ve created a base so that now the second generation can carry on with astrong safety record,” he admits. “We want them to be as safe, and even safer, thanwe were.”

Marion 8750 dragline

Phot

o co

urte

sy of o

f She

rritt

Coa

l


COLUMNS | women in mining

Syncrude’s Kim Farwelllikes a challenge. Currentlyan advisor with the company’sOrganizational EffectivenessTeam, she says her primarymotivation is derived fromsurmounting the hurdles shefaces on the job. “Oil sandsisn’t a broad industry, so wedo a lot of troubleshootingourselves and with expertsfrom other organizations,such as the University ofAlberta and the Alberta

Research Council,” she explains. “We also do a lot ofgrassroots engineering. I’ve stayed here because the chal-lenge never stops.”

Soaking it all upFarwell’s search for a stimulating career is what brought

her west to Syncrude Canada Ltd. Since joining the com-pany 15 years ago as a chemical engineering co-op studentfrom the University of Waterloo, Farwell has benefitedfrom many opportunities, including working on projectsand in operations, research and management.

Although she has gained experience in many aspects ofoil sands mining and extraction, Farwell has chosen tospend the better part of her career in the extraction plant.There, she works closely with the mining and geologydepartments, focusing on how to blend ore and controlthe mine plan. She has also been the technical leader ofthe tailings and hydroprocessing areas, giving her a broadunderstanding of the overall operation.

One of the key challenges she enjoys tackling is herrole in the extraction plant’s role as the link between themine operation and processing; however, the two havevery different time horizons. “In processing, you talk inminutes and days, while in the mine and tailings planningprocess, minutes are weeks and days are years,” she says.“The two have very different philosophies that need to becombined to be successful. In the extraction plant, we’rethe meat in the sandwich between the two, acting as abuffer. It leads to some very unique moments.”

Playing a leading roleThis past June, Farwell became the 91st president of

the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists andGeophysicists of Alberta (APEGGA), and, with Syncrude’ssupport, she dedicates 50 per cent of her time to the one-

Up to the challengeSyncrude’s Kim Farwell takes on new role � Heather Ednie

year term. As president, she heads the Council and workson projects and events, while adjusting her schedule toaccommodate a number of speaking opportunities.

As a regulatory body, APEGGA is at arm’s length fromthe government and helps maintain a strong worldwidereputation for the professions it represents. However, theorganization is struggling in terms of its communicationsand, as such, Farwell has made improving communica-tions with members a priority for the coming year. “As aregulatory organization, we need to focus on how to com-municate our role to our members,” she says. “Somemembers may not see how we support them — it takescommunications; we need to explain why we’re here.”

Passing of the torchIn her youth, Farwell thought it would have been fun

to have taken part in the gold rush. “Well, it’s the samelevel of excitement and challenge here [Fort McMurray,Alberta] — developing the technology, the community,”she laughs. “It’s the modern day boom town.”

It is this sense of excitement and adventure that Far-well wishes to pass on to the next generation entering theindustry. Mentorship has played a fundamental rolethroughout her career. “I had the fortune of having somevery good mentors who drew me in at an early stage,” sherecalls. “I was invited to get involved in things early on inmy career, such as APEGGA, where I joined the localbranch and was then asked to run for Council in 2002. Itcreated a lot of contacts.”

Farwell now strives to provide mentorship to youngengineers entering the industry. “We all need role modelsto be able to picture ourselves doing new things,” sheadds. “Unfortunately, women in senior management posi-tions are not there in great numbers, so we need to pro-mote women role models and coaches much more to leadthe way for the younger women joining industry’s ranks.”

Ready for the next new opportunityThis year, APEGGA is demanding most of Farwell’s

time, and while the challenge is greatly rewarding, she islooking forward to next year when she will be back fulltime at Syncrude. What else will fill her schedule remainsto be seen.

“At each turn in your career path, new opportunities toget involved in different ways present themselves,” sheexplains. “Life is all about choices, and you choose howyou respond. I enjoy change — it’s exciting. New oppor-tunities will be opened to me that weren’t there before thisyear — we’ll see what they look like.” CIM


| COLUMNS


student life | COLUMNS

To obtain better job opportu-nities, many graduates arereturning to university foradvanced study. Graduate pro-grams open doors to expandingknowledge, new ways of seeingthe world, and improving skillssuch as writing, public speakingand teaching. However, whilestudying, students face specialchallenges.

I had an opportunity to workon two projects in the oil indus-try, and although they werechallenging, my academicresearch project is much moredifficult. An academic researchproject can quickly change; ifyou are not focused and awareof these sensitive changes, you mayexperience a lack of motivation — forme, motivation is the key to success.In industry, you are required to pro-duce results in a very short time sinceyour colleagues are waiting for theseresults to do their jobs — you are partof a team. However, in a graduate pro-gram, your team is usually you andyour supervisor; your common goal isto make a new contribution in yourfield in order to earn your degree. Thisis a lot of responsibility for a new grad-uate student. As a consequence, frus-tration can arise when an experimentdoes not work.

Students often complain that theydo not know where and/or how tobegin their academic projects. Anapproach that I found very helpful isto develop a detailed schedule to ana-lyze activity sequences, durations andschedule constraints. Such a schedulecan be created using any project man-agement software, such as MicrosoftProject, and it allows better manage-ment of the research project. Projectmanagement software reports improvecommunication between student andsupervisor, and progress can be

Challenges in the graduate programTips for surmounting the hurdles� Juliana Parreira

measured by tracking the differentproject activities. This strategy haskept me organized and motivated.

Using English is another challengefor some foreign students. TOEFL cer-tification does not always prepare stu-dents for the reality of using English atuniversity. Although the first semestercan be very challenging, it is notimpossible. Students should not be toohard on themselves; they need time toadapt. An approach that worked for meduring my first term was to study thesubject one or two days before class.This gave me an opportunity to learnnew vocabulary, which helped me bet-ter understand the professor’s lecture.

Some students still complain aboutchallenges with English, even aftertwo terms. “I wish I could give mypresentation in my own language.” Ido not share the same thinking. If Eng-lish is not your first language, try toimprove it. There are many goodcourses that can help, such as work-shops on how to write theses. For me,a teaching-skills workshop helpedimprove my public speaking ability.Keep in mind that the more you prac-tice, the more you improve. To this

end, participate in postercompetitions and presentpapers at conferences, andalways talk about your proj-ect when you have theopportunity.

Presenting your work at aconference is a good learn-ing experience and anopportunity to receive feed-back and eventually to pub-lish your work. I presented apaper at the 2010 CIM Con-ference and Exhibition andalso participated in the CIMStudent Poster Competition.It was very interesting to seehow people in the industryresponded to my research —

many questions were raised and I wasexposed to many new ideas and view-points. I was also able to obtain impor-tant data for my research. Overall, Iwould say that attending industry-ledconferences is very rewarding.

To summarize, the best way toavoid future problems is to be honestwith yourself, make sure that you likethe topic, the institution, and yoursupervisor, and be ready to do what ittakes to succeed. Keep in mind thatyou will spend a great deal of timeand effort on this. Also, be aware ofthe opportunities that conferencespresent, write papers related to yourproject and participate in poster competitions. CIM

On a week-long visit to BHP Billiton’s Mount Keith Mine, Parreira got tofamiliarize herself with the mine site and collect data for her research project.

About the author Juliana Parreira isa first-year PhD student in automationapplied to the mining industry at theUniversity of British Columbia under thesupervision of John Meech. Shegraduated in industrial electricalengineering (Brazil) and has worked as aplanning engineer at Petrobras, thelargest oil company in Brazil, and for aprovincial power company in Brazil.

Phot

o co

urte

sy of J

uliana

Par

reira


COLUMNS | canadians abroad

If life is one long learningexperience, then the entireworld is the classroom setting.Opportunities for self-improve-ment abound for those who arewilling to work for it, and PascalCoursol, process superinten-dant – reduction at AluminerieAlouette, is firmly dedicated tocontinuous learning. “Whenopportunities to learn presentthemselves, it’s very difficult tosay no,” he says. “I want learn-ing opportunities to continuethroughout my career.”

Habla españolAt 39 years of age, Coursol has fast

become a leader in process plant opti-mization. In his previous position atXstrata Process Support, his groupfocused on global plant optimizationfor Xstrata and non-Xstrata customers.Recognizing the leadership role Chileplays in copper production, Coursoldecided to learn Spanish to increase hiseffectiveness within that community.

“In December 2006, I spent onemonth with a family in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and the followingDecember I spent a month lodging at ahostel in Val Parizo, Chile,” he recalls.“I took lessons and immersed myselfin the culture and it paid off. I hardlyspoke English when I started withAlcan in 2003; today, I speak three lan-guages.”

The globe trotterUsing his new language skills as a

lever, Coursol visited most of thesmelters in Chile and Peru, andattended a Chilian conference in late2007. When the economic downturnhit in late 2008, work in North Amer-ica slowed tremendously, but Coursoland his team were busier than ever,focused on plant optimization projectsaround the globe.

Seizing every opportunity to learnPascal Coursol views the world as his classroom� Heather Ednie

“Late 2008 was a time of intensetravel,” Coursol remembers. “Startingin August with a pilot plant campaignin Finland for Barrick Gold, I thentravelled to Germany and SouthAfrica for two other pilot campaignsfor Xstrata Nickel. From there, I flewto the BCL smelter in Botswana to ini-tiate a plant optimization project. Iwas only back in Canada a short whilebefore returning to Chile and Peru inearly 2009 for two other projects withCodelco and with the Southern PeruCopper Corporation.”

Live and learnAccording to Coursol, a major ben-

efit of working on international proj-ects is learning about various cultures.“I’ve gained a better view of theworld,” he adds. “One of the toughestthings when travelling for work islearning how to adapt to different cul-tures. Sometimes you speak to plantengineers and your message is con-veyed up; at other times, you can onlynegotiate with directors or generalmanagers to get things done. Thespeed of the flow of information, andthe types of communication roadblocks, can be challenging; you needto spend time right at the beginning tounderstand the culture around you.”

Although he views eachtrip as an opportunity to learn,one particular trip toBotswana, where he was oneof only a few white people inthe town, was a true learningexperience for Coursol. “I’dnever had that feeling before— of being so visibly differ-ent,” he recalls. “It was eyeopening. And everyone wasreally nice — as I walked inthe town, children would runaround me, smiling. I was justamazed at how welcoming thepeople were.”

Coursol spent a full month inBotswana on that trip, and feeling theneed for a little down time, he wenton safari and even slept in tents in thejungle. At dinner one evening, a localwoman told him that she wouldnever sleep in one of those tents,because the previous week, a snakehad entered one of them. “I said, ‘yourad says they are insect proof,’ and shesaid ‘yes, but a snake can pass throughanywhere,’” he recounts. Luckily, nosnakes found their way into his tenton the trip.

No place like homeIn October 2009, Coursol joined

Aluminerie Alouette, in Sept-Îles,Quebec, where he manages a processgroup of 65 people. Feeling the needfor more stability in his life, Coursolsays it was the right time to cut backon all the travel. In his current posi-tion, he is building on all the experi-ence he has gained.

“I was able to travel all over theworld because of what I learned inCanada,” he smiles. “Then, I landed ajob in Canada due to my varied expe-rience acquired around the world.”Life can be ironic sometimes.

www.alouette.qc.ca

CIM

Coursol with guides on safari in the Botswana bush

Phot

o co

urte

sy of P

asca

l Cou

rsol

1. Les ressources en minerai de fer :disponibilité et projets en développe-ment

Des conférenciers provenant desmilieux gouvernementaux et de l’indus-trie dresseront un portrait desressources mondiales de minerai de ferdisponibles maintenant et dans un futurrapproché. Plusieurs petites sociétésminières explorent et développent desressources découvertes voilà près de sixdécennies au Canada ou récemmentdécouvertes à l’étranger. Certains de cesprojets sont à l’étape de mise en valeuret représentent d’importantes ressourcesfutures pour les aciéristes.

2. Les opérations minières Les compagnies de minerai de fer

sont confrontées à des défis quotidiens.Dans notre environnement économiquemondial très compétitif, les minièrescanadiennes doivent abaisser leurscoûts de production le plus possible,miser sur le développement et optimiserleurs pratiques minières, en plus d’as-surer un environnement sécuritaire àleurs employés. Cette session traiterades opérations minières à ciel ouvertgigantesques, de l’optimisation des pra-tiques minières et des meilleures pra-tiques en santé et sécurité.

3. La concentration et le bouletagePlusieurs concentrateurs sont au

stage de démarrage ou agrandiront aucours des prochaines années. Lesprocédés utilisés ont fondamentale-ment peu changé mais le choixd’équipements s’est multiplié. Dansun marché fortementcompétitif, les produc-teurs, les compagniesd’ingénierie, les four-nisseurs, les centres derecherche et les univer-sités travaillent tous àoptimiser le procédé etréduire les coûts. La

parlons en | COLUMNS

La croissance ininterrompue desannées 2003 à 2008, alimentée princi-palement par la croissance économiquephénoménale de la Chine, a été suivied’un ralentissement économique etd’une forte diminution des prix du min-erai de fer. Après l’échec en 2009 desnégociations annuelles visant à établirles prix du minerai de fer entre les troisgrands producteurs et les aciéristes,l’année 2010 représente le début d’unenouvelle ère avec le prix du minerai defer négocié sur une base trimestrielle.

Après 30 années marquées par desfermetures de mines de minerai de feren Amérique du Nord et dans le nordde l’Europe, le Québec a vu l’ouvertured’une nouvelle mine (Lac Bloom parConsolidated Thompson Iron Mines)et la Suède s’apprête à ouvrir une nou-velle mine. Plusieurs projets minierssont aussi en développement enAfrique de l’Ouest, en Australie, auBrésil et en Inde afin de satisfaire l’ap-pétit des aciéristes chinois.

L’ICM est fière d’accueillir le 3eSymposium sur le minerai de fer. Cesymposium est une partie intégrantedu Congrès et Salon commercial del’ICM 2011.

Sous la présidence d’honneur de M.Yves Harvey, directeur général deCOREM, ce symposium représente unforum de discussion pour les profes-sionnels des compagnies privées etpubliques, du gouvernement, du milieuuniversitaire et des institutions derecherche. Il représente une uniqueopportunité de développer un réseau decontacts, de discuter des enjeux cruci-aux et d’obtenir des conseils techniques.

Le programme technique couvriratous les aspects du minerai de fer : l’ex-ploration, la mise en valeur, l’exploita-tion, la concentration, le bouletage etfinalement l’application des meilleurespratiques en santé et sécurité et endéveloppement durable. Les grandsthèmes élaborés seront :

Le 3e Symposium sur le minerai de fer de Montréal arrive à grand pas� Serge Perreault

quantité d’énergie thermique néces-saire au bouletage est un élément cléde l’amélioration de ce procédé.L’amélioration de la qualité desboulettes cuites, un meilleur contrôlede la production et la recherche deprocédés de cuisson nécessitantmoins d’énergie demeureront pourplusieurs années encore parmi lesgrands défis de cette industrie.

4. La session plénière – Le nouvelaccord sur les prix du minerai de fer :quels seront les impacts sur les pro-ducteurs de fer ?

Un panel exceptionnel d’expertsformé de producteurs et d’aciéristeslocaux et internationaux dirigera devives discussions sur les thèmes suiv-ants : • Quel impact auront les nouveaux

joueurs?• Auront-ils un impact sur le nouvel

accord intervenu concernant lesprix du minerai de fer?

• Finalement, qui bénéficiera le plusde l’abandon des contrats annuelsaprès 4 décennies d’une telle pra-tique?Un déjeuner clôturera le sympo-

sium; un conférencier invité fera lepoint sur les perspectives d’avenir dumarché du minerai de fer et des défisconcernant la concentration et lebouletage. Ce déjeuner sera suivi dequatre conférences traitant des opéra-tions minières, des développements àvenir et des meilleures pratiques endéveloppement durable. Nous vousattendons en grand nombre. ICM


L’auteur Serge Perreault estgéologue senior à la SOQUEMInc., co-fondateur dusymposium sur le minerai de feravec Guy Saucier du GroupeRoche ltée, et vice-présidentsortant du district 2 de l’ICM.


In the late 1800s, BritishColumbia was rich in “Chi-natowns” — vibrant places

where Chinese labourers whoworked in industries through-out the province could findfamiliar food, medicine andentertainment, as well as thecomfort of fraternity. In China-towns, they worked as barbers,tailors, launderers, grocers andrestaurant owners.

Neighbouring white resi-dents who wandered into Chi-natowns discovered a new cul-ture. In February 1891, theNanaimo Free Press reportedthat “a great number of our cit-izens” visited Chinatown to witness the Chinese New Yearcelebrations. Their curiosity was welcomed, and they weretreated to cigars, liqueurs and firecrackers.

Chinese opera houses (Victoria alone had three) hostedacting troupes who had travelled from China to performCantonese opera. Among the performance halls and read-ing rooms were other forms of distraction: gamblinghouses, brothels and opium shops.

The first Chinese labourers came for the Cariboo goldrush in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley in the 1860s, wherethey stayed to mine jade, the value of which was unknownto white prospectors. More labourers — almost exclusivelymale — arrived to work in the coal mines around Nanaimo.

Most came from Guangdong province in southeastChina, which had been devastated by the first Opium Warwith Britain and the years of upheaval and economic ruinthat followed. A 60-day journey at sea brought them towarddesperately needed employment.

One major employer was coal baron Robert Dunsmuir,whose Wellington mine was the province’s largest. Hisempire was built on Vancouver Island’s richest coal seam. Itwas also partly built by the Chinese, who made up morethan half his employees. His Cumberland mine was knownas the Chinese Tunnels because it was worked entirely byChinese miners.

Like other mine owners,Dunsmuir realized that hecould hire Chinese labour-ers to work under condi-tions and at wages thatother miners would notaccept. Their wage scalewas often less than half ofthat received by white min-ers, and they were largelyemployed in low-skill jobs.The mine camps were seg-regated, and at Cumber-land Dunsmuir alottedthem the swampy area onthe edge of the camp.

When a large strikebroke out at the Wellington

Mine in 1883, Dunsmuir replaced striking white minerswith Chinese from Victoria. This fed already brewing anti-Chinese sentiments, and the striking miners eventuallywithdrew their demand for higher wages and insisted onlythat Dunsmuir rid his mine of the Chinese. Dunsmuirrefused, held out, and broke the strike.

The BC Legislative Assembly, in which Dunsmuir sat asan MLA, was soon debating anti-Chinese bills. Somewanted to exclude Chinese from positions of responsibilityor high skill (and thus higher pay) or to remove them fromthe mines altogether. Others wanted to rid the entireprovince of the Chinese. When an anti-immigration billwas passed in 1884, the Canadian government decided tostep in.

The Canadian government had its own motivations forkeeping Chinese labourers in the country: they wereemployed on the railway. Prime Minister MacDonald hadlured British Columbia into confederation with the promiseto build a railroad that would connect it to the rest of thecountry. It seemed an impossible feat, and it was an enor-mous political gamble. If the railway failed, so would thePrime Minister’s career, along with his National Dream.

Chinese labourers were essential to the railway’s success.Thousands were hired to overcome a shortage of whitelabour. Not only were they assigned the most dangerous

Miner standing outside his cabin in Cumberland’s Chinatown

Chinese labourers in BC’s coal mines� Correy Baldwin

Phot

o co

urte

sy of C

umbe

rland

Mus

eum

and

Archi

ves (0

040-

003N

)

work through the most difficult terrain, but their low wages (againhalf those of white workers) saved contracters $3 million, makingconstruction economically feasible.

And yet, just a few weeks after blocking British Columbia’s anti-immigration bill, the Canadian government passed its own Chi-nese Immigration Act, knowing that it would not come into effectuntil after construction was completed. Timing was everything.The Act restricted and regulated Chinese immigration, andimposed a $50 head tax on any Chinese entering the country, mak-ing it unaffordable to bring a wife and family to Canada.

When the railroad was completed, thousands of Chineselabourers were left unemployed. Most never received the returnpassage that they were promised by the Canadian government,and the US Exclusion Act of 1882 meant that the Chinese inBritish Columbia could not enter the United States. They hadnowhere to go.

The first winter was especially difficult: lack of employment ledto lack of food and shelter. A soup kitchen set up by Victoria’smayor was objected to by the newly formed Anti-Chinese Union,one of many such groups formed to counter the “yellow peril.”

In 1887, an explosion at a Nanaimo mine killed 150 employ-ees. The miners blamed the Chinese, claiming that their lack ofEnglish made them a safety hazard — a logic that was not appliedto many European miners — and they called for the Chinese to bebanished from the mines. After another deadly explosion,Nanaimo and Wellington miners refused to work unless the Chi-nese were removed, and several mine owners complied. The min-ers then took their demands to the provincial legislature.

The public was not always in favour of these measures — manypeople enjoyed friendly relations with the Chinese community.But the political influence of the lobby groups was strong. Thehead tax was increased to $100 in 1901 and to $500 in 1903. In1923, the Chinese Immigration Act (known as the Exclusion Actby the Chinese) banned most forms of Chinese immigration.

To deal with the rising animosity and the needs of the unem-ployed, the Chinese community in Victoria formed the ChineseBenevolent Association. Community associations had long been apart of the Chinese community, arranging travel to and fromChina, transferring wages to relatives, or simply offering a bed.The Benevolent Association provided general welfare assistanceand opposed discriminatory laws, supporting the communitythrough the worst years.

Chinese labourers were essential to Canada’s industries whilethe nation developed, and yet they were often exploited andtreated poorly. In 2006, the Canadian government took a steptoward repairing that rift by offering an official apology and com-pensation to the Chinese community.

Works citedDunae, Patrick A. 2007. Reconstructing a Harbour City in the Pacific Northwest with GIS: Nanaimo inthe 1890s. Paper presented to the Historical Geography Network of the Social Sciences History Asso-ciation, Chicago, November 16, 2007

CIM

3:07 PM

cim news


What lies beneath a trip to MIS 2010?Kindergarten children from Eagle Ridge Elementary in Coquitlam,

British Columbia, prospered from this year’s visit to the CIM Conferencein Vancouver. Not only did they play with reclaimed metal objects to cre-ate over-sized Olympic “Metal Medals,” but they also visited the amazingplace where their art was displayed — Mining in Society at the Vancou-ver Convention Centre! Dozens of children and parent volunteers uncov-ered a range of exciting activities, including how rocks and minerals areused in our daily lives, ways to re-think and re-use metal, and a sneakpeak at real Olympic medals — thanks to Teck.

The learning continued at school with a visit from Sheila Stenzel andLaura Estrada of MREP Vancouver, who supported further mineralexploration with magnets, magnifying glasses and computer research.The children’s curiosity guided our investigation to the origins and his-tory of coal mining in Canada. They were introduced to folk songs fromCape Breton’s Men of the Deeps Choir and Ian Wallace’s story aboutThe Boy of the Deeps. The children also worked closely with their bigbuddies to dig up soil samples and later design unique patterns onstrips of paper, which evolved into an interactive cross-section of the

earth’s layers, coal seams and diamond deposits. Weeks of sharing fiction and non-fiction

books, talking about fathers and sons, and playingat the “coal wall” and under tables, resulted in animpromptu drama performance. With a few propsand camera in hand, movement was set to thehaunting ballad “A Miner and A Miner’s Son,” andthe children re-enacted the story of little Jamesand his coal mining ‘Da’. The children’s ability towork together and engage quickly showed a deepunderstanding of their learning and what makesCanada great — its people and its industry, itsenergy and its heart, its natural gifts and strongorigins. I have no doubt that when these young-sters watch themselves at play on DVD, they willrecall something rather momentous about miningand their kindergarten year thanks in part to theirtrip to Mining in Society at the CIM Conferenceand Exhibition 2010.

~ Mary Ringwald, kindergarten teacher, SD43

Coquitlam (July 2010)

The butterfly effectThe far-reaching effects of CIM’s MIS show

By Andrea Nichiporuk

Since its inception in 2005, CIM’s Mining in Society(MIS) initiative has educated the public on the importanceof mining to everyday life, primarily through an annualshow held in conjunction with the CIM Conference andExhibition. After attending MIS last May in Vancouver,Mary Ringwald, a kindergarten teacher from Coquitlam,British Columbia, decided to introduce mining into the classcurriculum. The result went beyond what she expected,showing how important (and successful) initiatives like MISare. She sent CIM the following letter:

Students playing the matching game at the Tech booth.

Mary Ringwald with one of her students

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Mar

y Ri

ngw

ald

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Mar

y Ri

ngw

ald

speakers who made this past springsession a success and who have helpedshape the branch into a vital part of theVancouver mining community. A specialthanks went to event sponsor WardropEngineering. CIM

Abdel-Maksoud, Mohamed, EgyptAbougharam, Ahmed, OntarioAguirre, Carlos, PeruAhmed, Uzair, PakistanAhmed, Sameen, QuébecAlesdi, Hande, OntarioAmbroszkiewicz, Eric, OntarioAndronescu Jr., Dan, OntarioArchibald, Dave, British ColumbiaArel, Ghislain, QuébecBagchi, Anujit, IndiaBakary Dao, Seydou, AlgeriaBédard, Marc-Antoine, QuébecBédard, Johannie, QuébecBhattacharya, Sandeep, OntarioBhowmick, Sukanta, OntarioBigdeli Karimi, Majid, OntarioBolandi, Mahboob, OntarioBrunet, Alexandre, QuébecBrunet-Ladrie, Marie-Claude, Québec

Bryan, Jordan, Northwest Territories

Carrillo, Richard, USACarson, Blair, USAChakera, Ali, AlbertaChangizi, Ahmad, OntarioChen, David, QuébecChin, Cheyang Regan, Saskatchewan

Das, Sarmistha, OntarioDe Los Santos, Matthew, Québecde Wit, Benjamin, British ColumbiaDenehy, Tim, AlbertaDey, Sanjib, Ontario

Downie, Mark, USAEckert, Thomas, OntarioEliyan, Faysal, British ColumbiaEmigholz, Johannes, British Columbia

Farbridge, Bryan, British ColumbiaFarokhzadeh, Khorameh, OntarioFinlay, Glenn, British ColumbiaFortin, Gabriel, British ColumbiaFrancis, Victor, OntarioGagnon, Gabriel, QuébecGarrow, Terry, USAGaudreau, Donat, British ColumbiaGauthier, Jason, OntarioGuimaraes e Cunha, Fabiano, Finland

Gunson, A.J., British ColumbiaHann, Ingrid, OntarioHendricks, Graeme, British Columbia

Herzig, Robert, OntarioJordan, Geoff, AlbertaKearns, Ian, OntarioKinyon, John, Yukon TerritoriesKwan, Millie, British ColumbiaLaflamme, Jacques, QuébecLaghari, Ali Raza, PakistanLaMarsh, Jeffrey, British ColumbiaLamba, Zitin, British ColumbiaLee, Ryan, AlbertaLeung, Victor, British ColumbiaLi, Jiajie Gloria, British ColumbiaLi, Diana, QuébecLiu, Qingxia, AlbertaLopez, Bernabe, Chile

Luthra, Bhawuk, IndiaMacedo, Claudia, QuébecMacKenzie, Shawn, OntarioMacLean, Andrew, AlbertaMahmud, Shakir, BangladeshMartin, Zacharie, British ColumbiaMcCreedy, Jessica, British Columbia

McGill, Jacqui, AustraliaMcIntyre, David, OntarioMohee, Faizul, OntarioMolinari, Hugo, QuébecNewman, Gregory, British Columbia

Ng, Kimberly, British ColumbiaNiemi, Erin, British ColumbiaNowicki, Melissa, OntarioOh, Eunha, British ColumbiaOliver, Chad, OntarioPanozzo, David, British ColumbiaParacha, Muhammad Taha, British Columbia

Paramita, Dyah, IndonesiaParkhill, John, OntarioPascua, Danica, OntarioPaul, Patrick, British ColumbiaPhifer, Maurie, British ColumbiaPrevost, Normand, QuébecQureshi, Hani, QuébecRae, Johnson, OntarioReade, Nathan, OntarioRoeland, Vanessa, British Columbia

Roy, Justin, British ColumbiaRukhlov, Alexei, Alberta

Samei, Javad, OntarioSchmitt, Erich, British ColumbiaScorrar, Brendan, British ColumbiaSen, Fatih, OntarioShah, Salman, PakistanShaw, Kerry, OntarioSmith, Adrian, British ColumbiaSmith, Jason, SaskatchewanSmuk, Katherine, British ColumbiaSohi, Mojan, British ColumbiaSteele, John, OntarioStevens, Justin, British ColumbiaStewart, Grant, AlbertaTobin, Thomas, AlbertaToor, Dapinderpal, British ColumbiaTsai, Rita, British ColumbiaTse, Wilhelm, British ColumbiaVan Bui, Truong, British ColumbiaVarley, Richard Scott, British Columbia

Vert, Peter J., OntarioWang, Chengtie (Fisher), British Columbia

Weymark, Richard, British Columbia

Wong, Amy, British ColumbiaXiao, Qianyi, British ColumbiaZebardast, Hamid Rea, British Columbia

Corporate MembersMaryn International Ltd.Sentry Equipment CorpShotCrete Plus

CIM welcomes new members

cim news

The CIM Vancouver Branch held its finalluncheon meeting of the 2010 springsession at the Four Seasons Hotel onJune 17. More than 70 branch memberswere treated to a presentation by NormPitcher, COO of Eldorado Gold, on thecompany's three operating (and onenearly operating) projects in China.Although each project possesses its ownchallenges, they all defy some of the

� Alex Doll is the CIM Vancouver Branch webmaster.

Follow the yellow brick road to new Eldorado By Alex Doll

western stereotypes associated withmining in China. Pitcher demonstratedthat the development of safe andprofitable gold mines in China is possible. Branch Chair Tom Broddy thanked themany volunteers, sponsors, students and


cim news


PHASING IN A NEW IT SYSTEMA project update

by Andrea Nichiporuk

Work on CIM’s information technology infrastructure overhaul project is moving forward on schedule and onbudget, bringing CIM one step closer to providing an optimal level of service to its members. However, to attainthis goal, it is necessary to progressively migrate these services to the new systems over time. Currently in thefirst stage of Phase 1, CIM’s Membership Department is fully immersed in the review and transfer of data to thenew association/contact relationship management (CRM) system and new exhibitor management system.

A STAGED APPROACHSuccessfully implementing a project of this magnitude

requires going a step beyond a phased approach. Each phaseof the IT project has been broken down further into stages,five of which make up Phase 1:• Stage 1: Transfer membership, subscriber and benefactor

information into the association/contact relationship man-agement (CRM) system.

• Stage 2: Implement multilingualfeatures into the association/contact relationship manage-ment (CRM) system.

• Stage 3: Build structure of newCIM website; create “productsales” portion of the website(such as purchasing of specialvolumes and technical papers);and integrate the exhibitor man-agement system.

• Stage 4: Create events and eventregistration portions of the web-site; and create the “abstractupload” portion of the technicalpaper management system.

• Stage 5: Set up new association/contact relationship manage-ment (CRM) system for onsiteregistrations.

WHAT’S HAPPENINGIn addition to data conversion, a

lot of work has gone into building theassociation/contact relationshipmanagement (CRM) system over thepast couple of months.

At the time of writing this article (early August), CIM isworking on the website design aspect of the project, includingthe viewing of its first wireframe/prototype by CIM NationalOffice staff.

To validate the changes, 12 members of the focus groupsconsulted during the most recent CIM Conference and Exhibi-tion are being re-assembled and will review the design of the

new CIM website. The website designwas developed based on their feed-back, the website card sorting exer-cise and one-on- one interviews.The outcome of this round of con-sultations will be available in afuture issue of CIM Magazine.

Discussions have also begunwith integrated team members rep-resenting all of CIM’s societies tostart building internal competen-cies to support the systems andwebsite.

The new information technologyinfrastructure will allow for capa-bilities the current system lacks,such as increasing and easinginteraction between all members ofCIM at all levels, and providingquick and easy access to vitalindustry information. Knowledgeand networking are key to growth.Providing a higher level of serviceto members will not only help themgrow professionally, it will lay thefoundation for a more relevant andresourceful CIM. CIM

STAGE 1 STAGE 2 STAGE 3 STAGE 4 STAGE 5 Membership Implement CIM website, product Events, Onsite functions multi-language sales and exhibits Technical papers registration

features (abstracts) and registration

CIM – A COMMUNITY FOR LEADING INDUSTRY EXPERTISE

PHASE 1


LE PASSAGE PROGRESSIF AU NOUVEAU SYSTÈME DES TI

Le point sur le projetLe travail entrepris dans le cadre du projet de réorganisation de l’infrastructure des technologies de l’informationde l’ICM progresse selon les délais et le budget prévus, rapprochant l’ICM de son objectif consistant à offrir desservices d’une qualité supérieure à ses clients. Toutefois, pour atteindre cet objectif, il est nécessaire de trans-férer graduellement ces services vers les nouveaux systèmes. Se trouvant actuellement à la première étape de laphase 1, le service de l’adhésion des membres à l’ICM est en plein travail d’examen et de transfert des donnéesvers le nouveau système de gestion de la relation association/contact (CRM) et du nouveau système de gestiondes exposants.

UNE MISE EN ŒUVRE PAR ÉTAPESPour réussir la réalisation d’un projet de cette envergure,

une approche par phases ne suffit pas. Chaque phase du pro-jet de TI a donc été décomposée en étapes, soit cinq pour laphase 1:• Étape 1 : Transfert de l’information sur les membres, les

abonnés et les bienfaiteurs dans le système de gestion dela relation association/contact (CRM).

• Étape 2 : Application des fonctions multilingues dans le sys-tème de gestion de la relation association/contact (CRM).

• Étape 3 : Construction de la structure du nouveau site Webde l’ICM; création d’une partie « ventede produits » sur le site Web (telsque l’achat de volumes spéciaux etde documents techniques) et inté-gration du programme de gestiondes exposants.

• Étape 4 : Création des sections dusite Web consacrées aux événe-ments et à l’inscription aux événe-ments et création d’une partie «téléchargement de résumés versl’amont » du système de gestiondes documents techniques.

• Étape 5 : Mise en place du systèmede gestion de la relation associa-tion/contact (CRM) pour lesinscriptions sur le site.

LE POINT SUR LESDERNIÈRES ACTIVITÉS

En plus de la conversion des don-nées, on a consacré beaucoup d’ef-forts à la création du système degestion de la relation association/ con-tact (CRM) pendant ces derniers mois.

Au moment de la rédaction de cet article (début août),l’ICM travaillait à l’aspect conceptuel du site Web et le per-sonnel du bureau national de l’ICM a pu visionner un premiermodèle/prototype. Pour valider les modifications, 12 mem-bres des groupes de consultation consultés pendant ledernier Congrès et salon commercial de l’ICM se rassem-bleront pour examiner la conception du nouveau site Web del’ICM. Le design du site Web a été élaboré en tenant comptede leurs commentaires, de l’exercice de classement de cartesdu site Web et des entrevues individuelles. Le résultat decette ronde de consultations sera communiqué dans leprochain numéro de CIM Magazine.

Des discussions ont égalementcommencé avec des membresd’équipe intégrés représentant toutesles sociétés de l’ICM afin de com-mencer à développer des compé-tences internes pour appuyer lessystèmes et le site Web.

La nouvelle infrastructure destechnologies de l’information permet-tra de disposer de capacités qui fontdéfaut au système actuel. Ainsi, ellepermettra d’augmenter et de faciliterl’interaction entre tous les membresde l’ICM à tous les niveaux et d’offrirun accès rapide et facile à de l’infor-mation indispensable sur l’industrie.Savoir et réseautage sont des clés dela croissance. Le fait de fournir unservice de qualité supérieure auxmembres contribuera non seulementà leur croissance professionnelle,mais jettera aussi les bases qui ferontde l’ICM un organisme plus pertinentet offrant plus de ressources. ICM

ÉTAPE 1 ÉTAPE 2 ÉTAPE 3 ÉTAPE 4 ÉTAPE 5 Fonctions Application des Site Web de l’ICM, Événements, Inscription

des membres fonctions multilingues ventes de produits documents techniques sur le siteet expositions (résumés)

et inscription

ICM — UNE COMMUNAUTÉ POUR UNE EXPERTISE DE PREMIER PLAN

PHASE 1

CIM says farewell to a past leaderWalter Riva dies at age 88

By Andrea Nichiporuk

In 1984, a year when the world saw Brian Mulroney becomeCanada’s 18th Prime Minister, Marc Garneau become the firstCanadian in space and the Edmonton Oilers win their first StanleyCup, a third-generation coal miner named Walter Joseph Riva tookon the presidency of CIM.

Walter Riva was not one to sit back and let the life pass him by. Bythe time he graduated (with Distinction) in mining engineering fromthe University of Alberta at age 27, he had already worked in amine, served as a navigator with the Royal Canadian Air Force inWW II, gotten married and had three children.

A natural born leader, Riva rose through the ranks to become executive vice-president andCEO of The Canmore Mines Ltd., the company at which he began his career. He later movedon to Denison Mines Ltd. as vice-president (1972) and then Kaiser Resources Ltd. (1973),where he became president of the company’s coal division (1979), followed by president andCEO (1980), and finally chairman and CEO (1981). He also served as the president of the CoalAssociation of Canada (1980-1981) and was the 77th president of CIM (1984-1985), whichhe became a member of in 1950.

A man concerned with safety, productivity and the environment, Riva accumulated a long listof accomplishments during his illustrious career: he forged new ground by selling Canadiancoal to Asian markets; was part of a team that successfully reclaimed and revegetated mined-out areas in Western Canada; introduced new technologies and procedures; took part inindustry governance; invented/patented form-coke processing and was the co-inventor of apelletizing process; and was a founding member of the Canadian Carbonization ResearchAssociation, to name but a few.

Riva was active within CIM, first as chairman of the Coal Division from 1963 to 1965, then asa councillor from 1965 to 1967 and as a CIM Distinguished Lecturer in 1970, and finally asvice-president of District 5 in 1973. Recognized for his achievements, CIM awarded Riva theSelwyn G. Blaylock Medal in 1973 for “his distinguished service to Canada throughexceptional achievement in the field of mining, metallurgy or geology.” He also received theCoal Award in 1991, established to “honour CIM members who have made outstandingcontributions to the coal industry of Canada and who have also been long-standing, activeparticipants in the Coal and Oil Sands Division of CIM.”

Riva strongly believed in giving back to one’s community, his being Canmore, BritishColumbia. Calling upon his honed leadership skills, he led the construction of a CatholicChurch and rectory, with 100 per cent of the project’s labour being volunteered and served aschoir director at the Church for approximately 20 years. He led a volunteer labour project toinstall artificial ice in the hockey arena, was involved in obtaining land and seeing theconstruction through to completion on a new community golf course and was a minor hockeyleague coach. In Sparwood, British Columbia, he led company efforts to assist the communityin obtaining a recreation centre, swimming pool and golf course.

In the few years leading up to his retirement in 1986, Riva “retired” from management andserved as vice-chairman of Westar Mining and chairman of B.C. Resources. More recently, hewas inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 2004 and published a book on thehistory of mining in the Bow Valley in 2008.

Walter Riva was a family man, industry leader and role model. He passed away peacefully onMay 15, 2010. CIM


cim news


For over threedecades, David Rodierhas been working tire-lessly to shape theglobal norm on corpo-rate social responsibil-ity (CSR) in theminerals industry. For-merly senior vice-pres-ident, environmentsafety and health forNoranda Inc., heserved as the com-pany’s representativeon many CSR-relatedinitiatives, includingthe World BusinessCouncil for Sustain-

able Development, the International Council for Miningand Metals, the Mining Association of Canada’s (MAC)Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative and the chem-ical industry’s Responsible Care program. After retiring in2002, Rodier spent his time consulting on external outreachand sustainable development for Noranda Inc. until 2005,as well as for Hatch until 2007. Currently, as part of thisseason’s CIM Distinguished Lecturer Series, Rodier is look-ing at ways to manage risk through sustainable develop-ment principles in his presentation “Sustainabledevelopment — a passing fad or a strategic way forward?”

CIM: Starting off with the obvious question, is sustainable develop-ment a passing fad or a strategic way forward?Rodier: If you allow it to be a passing fad, you let yourself beput at risk. Sustainable development will be a commercialdifferentiator — only the companies who are responsiblewill be allocated the permits to build new projects. Strategi-cally, it is the process of looking at a business from a “riskand threat” perspective, and making plans to address theissues. And by risk, I mean trends that will impact the costsof a business, for example increasing energy costs. It is away of analyzing the environment we are operating in andexpect to be in, and doing things to avoid the anticipatednegative impacts.

CIM: How do you respond to critics that say CSR is an insurancepolicy for image-sensitive companies buying protection from advo-cacy actions? Rodier: CSR won’t save anyone without the performancerecord to show their progress. You can’t buy a good reputa-tion; you have to earn it through performance.

Building an audienceFor CIM Distinguished Lecturer David Rodier, CSR benefits everyone

By Robbie Pillo

CIM: So, then, CSR is not just a means for mining to improve itsimage; it is a strategy that goes beyond good corporate PR? Rodier: CSR is not an image issue; it is a systematic way tohelp manage a company for the long term. CSR is not win-dow dressing — if it is, it will fail miserably. It requires acommitment to transparency. The company’s reputationrests on performance not advertising. If the performanceisn’t in evidence, the reputation will suffer. It has tobecome part of the corporate culture.

CIM: As you say, CSR requires a commitment to trans-parency. However, wouldn’t a company leave itself open toscrutiny by divulging any risks and safety issues related to aproject? Rodier: Without information, people start making up sce-narios that are much worse than what the actual scenariois. One of the tenets of community outreach is to let peo-ple know your worst-case scenarios. It informs the com-munity about what’s going on and forces your ownmanagement team to take the issues more seriously andtry to eliminate some of these risks.

You also need to talk about the ins and outs: what therisks are, what you are going to do about them, how youmanage the risks that you are not aware of, etc. Give themfull access to your information; it opens up the right chan-nels. Suddenly you are no longer the problem company,but an organization they can look up to.

CIM: One of the main points in your presentation is social strat-egy. How important is community outreach at the preliminaryphase of development projects?Rodier: It is a way to avoid possible impacts from commu-nity outrage. The sooner it is initiated, the better, and itallows you to develop a sense of common trust. It givespeople the opportunity to ask pointed questions and voicetheir concerns at every phase of the project, instead of let-ting them fester. You are able to deal with any issues beforethey get blown out of proportion. In doing so, the commu-nity essentially becomes a partner. MAC’s work with com-munities has repeatedly demonstrated that thecommunities want our businesses to succeed, but not atthe expense of health, the environment and long-termcontinuity issues. Their input is vital to establishing a bal-anced approach to development.

Community outreach also addresses the question ofinvestor confidence because they can see that risks havebeen identified and dealt with. It will increase profits inthe long term. All this community interaction at thebeginning costs nothing. But if a big disaster occurs at theend of a project, it can get very expensive.

cim news

Ottawa Branch getsgroundbreaking lessonBy Jean-François Fiset

On May 6, the CIM Ottawa Branch hosted MauriceLamontagne of the Geological Survey of Canada whosepresentation, “Haiti, Chile, Canada — Earthquakes seenon a global scale” took an in-depth look at recentearthquakes in high-risk countries such as Haiti andChile. Plate tectonics is the major driver of mostearthquake activity, and parts of Canada are located inplaces where major earthquakes can occur. In the past100 years, at least nine earthquakes in or near Canadahave registered a magnitude greater than sevenLamontagne provided useful information on how tosurvive this natural disaster.

� Jean-François Fiset is the CIM Ottawa Branch chair.

CIM


MAHESH C.CHATURVEDI

University of Manitoba,Winnipeg, MB

The Role of Boron inDesign Superalloys

Le rôle du bore dans la conception desuperalliages

MICHAEL DOGGETT

HanOcci Group,Vancouver, BC

Long and Short of theMinerals Industry: ATale of Two Extremes

D’un extrême à l’autre : l’histoire du secteur minier

JAMES M. FRANKLIN

Franklin Geosciences,Nepean, ON

Future MineralResources Discoveries:New KnowledgeNeeded for Discovery

Futures découvertesde ressourcesminérales : appel à de nouvelles connaissances

NORMAN O. LOTTER

Xstrata ProcessSupport, Falconbridge,ON

Modern FlowsheetingTechnology

Technologie moderneen matière de schémasde traitement

DAVID D. RODIER

Retired, Noranda Inc.(38 years); Hatch, (5years), Mississauga, ON

SustainableDevelopment – A Passing Fad or the Strategic WayForward?

Développementdurable : mode passagère ou mode d’évolutionstratégique?

CIM DISTINGUISHED LECTURERS 2010–2011ÉMINENTS CONFÉRENCIERS DE L’ICM 2010–2011

CIM: Switching gears to an industry hot topic, what are your thoughts onthe controversial Bill C-300? Rodier: I believe that it is not necessary, as anyone who has triedto get financing for a mine can tell you. The hurdles created bythe Equator Principles, which the majority of major banks insiston as their risk management protection, achieve what the billproposes. Putting unnecessary regulations on Canadian compa-nies will discourage external investment and encourage the sub-sequent loss of jobs and sales of engineering equipment andtechnology. It will also push Canadian companies to direct thesetypes of investments through offshore vehicles, if at all. Imagineif the U.S. government tried to do this to us in Canada? Thesesame people would be howling sovereignty!

CIM: What is your advice to companies looking to make the transition tosustainable practices? Rodier: If one is starting out it may seem an onerous task, butconsider what you already have in place —maybe a safety pro-gram, an environmental program, a product quality program,your financial reporting regime, etc. Build on these and ask forhelp from your industry association(s) such as MAC, CCPA,ICMM, PDAC, the World Bank and CIM. It is a necessary step inthe right direction. CIM

BOOK NOW / RÉSERVEZ DÈS MAINTENANT: www.cim.org/activities/lecturers2011.cfm

cim news | scholarships


The CIM Edmonton Branch awards three scholarshipsto support bright students working towards a career in min-ing. Two $2,000 scholarships are handed out each spring tothird- or fourth-year mining engineering students at theUniversity of Alberta, and a $1,000 scholarship, alsoawarded in the spring, is open to students pursuingresource-related careers at the Northern Alberta Institute ofTechnology (NAIT; second year) or the University ofAlberta (third year). This year’s winners are already makingtheir mark on Canada’s minerals industry.

The learnerHaving grown up close to the Paintearth Coal Mine near

Stettler, Alberta, Carson Sutton was always interested in min-ing. “I enjoy using my brain to solve practical, real-world

problems — that is a major rea-son I chose the mining indus-try,” he explains. “I feel like Ihave accomplished something ifI can apply my academic skillsto a problem or project and thengo into the field and make ithappen. I don’t want to sit in anoffice all day.”

This past summer, Suttonworked with Syncrude’s Miningand Tailings Project Develop-

ment Team modelling the pour plan for one of the futureponds. “The complexity of tailings has definitely been mybiggest challenge yet,” he states. “I first learned the character-istics of the tailings composition and then I went into the fieldto get a better understanding of the line layout and the ponddesign. I’m now modelling many different cases to find theoptimum plan, and have been working with a team of four try-ing to learn from their experiences and add some new insightso we can put forward a solid plan to develop the pond.”

The work at Syncrude has taught Sutton how miningengineering applies to projects several years before they arestarted. He has gained valuable computer skills, allowinghim to model projects to make more informed decisions.

Sutton returns to the University of Alberta this fall but islooking forward to graduating so he can gain field experi-ence over the next several years. He aims to work at a mineas a field engineer and live in a rural community. “I wantto understand the operational issues and practical problemsassociated with mining,” he says. “I feel looking at a prob-lem from both the engineering side and operational side isvital for making the best decision possible. Unique mines,like the diamond mines in the territories or the uraniummines in northern Saskatchewan, interest me.”

Students embrace industry opportunities CIM Edmonton Branch scholarships awarded

By Heather Ednie

The plannerCamrose, Alberta, native Cory Huber is well on his way to

his planned career. The mining industry was an obviouschoice for him. “It was as easy as finding the career with thelargest scale projects, best people and most respected compa-nies in Canada,” he says.

Huber has a focused approach to learning and is using hiswork-term jobs to complement the skills and knowledgegained at the University of Alberta. To date, his co-op termshave included four months as a CAT 797 operator and anotherfour months as a short-range planner for Syncrude, and thispast summer’s job with Sherritt Coal. There, he worked on aproject to model the productivity of custom vehicles over var-ious grades of road to determine what their performance isgoing to be like on a new haul road that is currently under con-struction. These vehicles feature custom boxes on haul trucks,allowing for a much heavier load than the truck is rated for.“Because these trucks are so unique, the manufacturer doesn’thave charts available that reach these high-tonnage numbers,so I am forced to find a model that works using empirical datafrom the field, and a little creativity,” he explains.

Together, each of his work terms has formed the founda-tion on which Huber will build his career. “The most impor-tant thing you learn as a heavy equipment operator ispatience, as well as a humble understanding of what actuallygoes on in the field,” he says. “The most important thing youlearn as an engineer in terms of planning is communicationskills. Being clear and concise, while maintaining consistency,is key.”

Huber’s goal is to push his career towards management,and he vows to do whatever it takes to ensure he will be acompetent leader. “This usually involves mastering the jobsof the ones that you must lead,” he adds. “In five years’ time,I hope to have those mastered.”

Left to right: Al Brown, senior general manager, mining, Sherritt; Cory Huber; andMark Plamondon, senior vice-president, coal, Sherritt

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f C. H

uber

Carson Sutton

boursier | cim news

The problem solverA recent graduate from

the University of Alberta,Kyle Penner has alreadygained diverse experi-ences as only the miningindustry offers. With thegoal of completing hisprofessional accreditationrequirements, he says it istoo early in his career topinpoint exactly where he will be or what he willbe doing in the future. He is keeping his optionsopen.

“Mining is a very unique industry,” he says. “Inmy short career, I’ve worked thousands of feetabove and below sea level, mined three very differ-ent minerals using very different methods, andcome across many diverse and interesting chal-lenges. My favourite part is working through thesechallenges, using the various tools I’ve gainedthrough my experience, and applying and adapt-ing them to solve new problems.”

Throughout his time at the University ofAlberta, Penner has gained valuable knowledge.He spent two eight-month terms with Teck Coalin the Elk Valley — first at Greenhills Mine sur-veying for four months and then working on spe-cial projects, including justifying the purchase of aCaterpillar 24M grader and working with mineplanning software; then at Line Creek working asa surveyor and helping in the pit doing layouts,pickups and reconciliations; and finally workingin the geology department on a coal recovery proj-ect. “I also was fortunate enough to spend sometime working on a pilot plant project for explo-ration bulk sample testing,” he recalls. “The com-bination of these two projects really let me see ingreat detail how coal goes from ‘in situ’ through toa finished product.”

His other work term was at Xstrata Copper’sKidd Mine in Timmins, Ontario. His first timeworking at an underground operation, he spentthe summer in the ventilation department takingsurveys, working on drawings and plans, andassisting on various projects.

Having grown up outside of Coaldale, Alberta,Penner has left the province to start his first post-graduation job at PotashCorp’s Rocanville opera-tion in southeast Saskatchewan, where he iscurrently in a rock mechanics position. “I’m reallyenjoying it so far, and I’m excited to see where ittakes me,” he says. “Beyond that, I’ve recentlyjoined a classic rock/folk band and I’m getting intothe small town life in Saskatchewan — although Ijust cannot bring myself to cheer for theRoughriders.” CIM


Dominic Gravel reprend le flambeau familialPar Marlene Eisner et Maria I. Anelli

La section Thetford Mines de l’ICM remettait en janvier dernierquatre bourses aux jeunes de la région, sélectionnés grâce à leursrésultats académiques, leur dynamisme et leur implication dans lesactivités para-académiques.

Dominic Gravel, âgé de 25 ans et étudiant en troisième année àl’Université Laval en génie minier, fut l’heureux récipiendaire d’unebourse de 1500 $.

« C’est toujours spécial d’être élu parmi ses confrères et j’en suistrès flatté », a dit M. Gravel qui souhaite rembourser ses dettes d’é-tudes et de réparations d’automobile.

Les deux grand-pères, et le père de M. Gravel ont travaillé dans lesmines d’amiante. En fier héritier, il savait dès son entrée au CEGEPde Thetford Mines en Technologie minérale à l’âge de 18 ans, qu’ilperpétuerait la tradition. « Ma passion s’est épanouie surtout durantmes stages à la mine Raglan1 et sur le projet Éléonore2 », a dit M.Gravel. « Après le CEGEP, j’ai vécu pendant un an à Rouyn-Norandaoù j’ai travaillé chez Goldcorp Canada. J’ai décidé alors, de pour-suivre mes études en génie. J’aime l’immensité des chantiers et l’am-biance des mines. J’adore la complexité de cette industrie quiprésente une foule de défis. »

Parmi ceux-ci, M. Gravel considère qu’il est primordial que l’en-vironnement fasse partie intégrante de l’industrie dans le respect descommunautés où sont exploités les gisements.

Dans un ans, M. Gravel aimerait demeurer dans sa région qui luitient à cœur et œuvrer dans l’industrie de l’amiante chez LABChrysotile. Aussi, le projet Éléonore où il a travaillé deux ans, l’in-téresse beaucoup.

« J’aimerais prouver qu’il est possible d’utiliser le chrysotile, ceminerai industriel de façon sécuritaire, et qu’il est encore viable del’exploiter », a-t-il conclut.

À noter, l’équipe de M. Gravel s’est classée 7e au terme des 20épreuves lors des 20th Annual Canadian Mining Games à Halifax enfévrier. Des 10 universités canadiennes participantes, l’École Poly-technique et l’Université McGill ont terminé respectivement au 4e et9e rang.

1 Gisement de sulfure de nickel au Nunavik2 Gisement aurifère à la Baie James

ICM

Kyle Penner

Phot

o co

urto

isie

de

D. G

rave

l

cim news | award winner


Working tirelessly to promote theCanadian coal industry, this year’swinner of CIM’s Coal Award, AllenWright, is no stranger to the chal-lenges encountered when trying tochange the face of this sector. Sincejoining the Coal Association of Canada(CAC) as executive director in 2001and later becoming its president andCEO, Wright has dedicated a lot of histime to revitalizing the industry andgiving it the voice it deserves.

A political science graduate fromBrock University, Wright has atremendous amount of experience inpublic and government relations. Hedirected the government relationsefforts for Dome Petroleum andAmoco Canada (now BP Canada),and was a member of the externalaffairs team with Imperial Oil. Hebegan his public affairs career in 1975serving as a senior member on thestaff of two Federal Cabinet Ministersin Ottawa. CIM Magazine talked tothis visionary on a range of issuesaffecting the industry.

Painting coal in a brighter shadeAllen Wright is working to improve the industry’s image

By Robbie Pillo

CIM: What are your thoughts on the recentanti-oil sands billboard campaign in theUnited States?Wright: Much of the information istwisted and inaccurate. It is hard forthe industry to compete with suchgroups. Nobody believes us and theBP scandal certainly did not help.People are skeptical and cynicalabout the industry — they willbelieve environmental NGOs beforethey believe us.

CIM: What can the industry do to improveits public image in the wake of such ascandal? Wright: The coal industry is spendinga great amount of time and effort onreducing its carbon footprint at minesites. The technologies and methodsused by the coal industry to do so isnot something that will grab theattention of your average “Joe Pub-lic.” What does are numbers — notjust the jobs we create but the com-munity benefits that arise from theroyalties we pay to the local govern-

ment, such as new daycare spots andteachers’ positions — things that peo-ple can relate to.

Another way is educating the pub-lic by creating industry literacy pro-grams in local schools and engagingthe teachers in a way that they canprovide a balanced perspective onresource development. Right now we[CAC] offer coal kit modules thatwere specifically developed for mid-dle school students. Our big focus for2011 is to digitize them, make themmore interactive and touch screen-friendly — a program that appeals toyounger audiences.

We [CAC] are in the process ofevaluating our next step — realizingthat we can’t be all things to all peo-ple. It is really important for us tofind opportunities where we canwork with other organizations,whether it’s with the oil and gasindustry or CIM or MAC — somehowwe have to pool our resources andtalk about some fundamental mes-sages we have to deliver.

CIM: What are some of the biggest mis-conceptions about coal? Wright: There are several, but thebiggest is that coal is only used forpower generation. If you conducted apoll, I am certain only a fraction ofthose polled will know its other mainuses: steel and cement making. Manypeople who are advocating for theenvironment do not realize that amyriad of the products they use aremade from steel — the bikes theyride, the cars they drive or the busesand airplanes they take.

Another misconception is how theindustry is raping and pillaging mostof our country’s land. A recent reporturges the BC government to protect50 per cent of its land, yet mining inBC counts for 0.04 per cent of theland base. We have not done a goodenough job in conveying to the public

Allen Wright (left) receives Coal Award from CIM past president Michael Allan.

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f Nor

man

d Hu

berd

eau/

NH

Phot

ogra

phes

our commitment to stewardship, especially as it relates to our recla-mation effort. Safety is another issue. People believe the industry isvery unsafe. Our commitment to safety is priority number one. Youare actually more likely to get hurt in a shopping mall than a mine— that’s how safe coal mining really is.

Coal is still the most inexpensive energy option. While many peo-ple, especially in government, are advocating for more renewableenergy, these sources tend to be significantly more expensive andcannot provide baseload power. While we support the developmentof alternate energy sources, coal should and will continue to be animportant part of the energy mix. Coal will be the bridge to thefuture if we want to keep the lights on.

CIM: Earlier this year, Environment Minister Jim Prentice announced thatCanada must phase out older coal-fired plants as it moves to make naturalgas-fired plants the new clean power standard. How will this affect theindustry? Wright: The industry must upgrade their plants to comply with gov-ernment standards by the time they reach the end of their economiclives in and around 2025. In order to meet the new standards, signif-icant technological changes to older plants will be required. Powercompanies have to decide whether it makes more sense to retrofitold plants with new technologies or to invest in new plants. Sincenew standards cannot be met by using credits or offsets, the realityis that, as plants get older, you reach a point where economically itdoes not make sense. Building new plants with the latest technologymay be the more attractive option.

CIM: Are there any new developments that do use coal more effectively? Wright: Besides building more efficient plants, such as TransAlta’sGenesee 3 and the soon to be commissioned Keephills 3 here inAlberta, much of the effort in Canada is being focused on carboncapture and sequestration or storage. Governments, industry andacademia are spending a great deal of time and money to make thistechnology commercial.

CIM: In your opinion, how does natural gas compare to coal? Wright: The big challenge with natural gas is its price volatility. Theprice of coal tends to be much more predictable. The big question forcoal is what happens to the price when you add in the cost of newtechnologies. Those are issues that are still being worked on.

CIM: What’s next for CAC? Wright: The Association’s goal is to provide a window to coal inCanada, a portal if you will. A key part of that will be a redesign ofour website so that it can be a useful tool for our members, provid-ing key information, data and statistics to those representing theindustry in business environments or in the community — makingsure they have the right information. We want to give it a clean andsimple look — providing the public with clear messages that theycan relate to, which, hopefully, will start shedding a better light onthe industry. CIM

Le 5 juin dernier avait lieu au Club de Golf Belvédère de Val-d’Or,la 25e édition du tournoi de Golf de la Section Harricana de l’ICM.Ce tournoi, qui est maintenant une tradition à Val-d’Or, a attiré prèsde 170 personnes venant des 4 quatre coins de l’Abitibi. Les partic-ipants ont tous eu droit à une ronde de golf sous des cieux clémentset à un délectable souper préparé par l’équipe du Club de GolfBelvédère. Par la suite, il y a eu la traditionnelle remise des prix departicipation qui cette année, fut exceptionnelle tant par la qualitéque par l’originalité des prix.

Bien que l’objectif principal de ce tournoi soit la participation,nous tenons à signaler la performance du quatuor de la firme GÉNI-VAR, composé d’Éric Blondin, Stéphane Lance, Nancy Audet etThomas Cormier, (photographiés ici de gauche à droite avec Jean-François Lagueux au centre) qui sont repartis avec le trophée del’équipe ayant le meilleur pointage. Nous espérons les revoir l’annéeprochaine afin qu’ils défendent leur titre lors de la prochaine édition.

En dernier lieu, nous désirons remercier l’ensemble de nos partic-ipants et commanditaires, qui encore une fois cette année, ont con-tribués au succès de cette journée et nous leur donnons rendez-vousl’année prochaine pour la 26e édition du tournoi de golf de la sectionHarricana qui se tiendra le 4 juin 2011 au club de Golf Belvédère.

� Jean-François Lagueux est directeur de la section Harricana de l’ICM.

ICM

ObituariesDaniel A. Bradley became a member of CIM in 1958 and a Life Member in1990. He passed away on April 30, 2010.

George Mitchell Furnival joined CIM in 1936 and became a Life Member in 1972.

René Lavertu joined CIM in 1965 and became a Life Member in 1996. He diedon July 29, 2010.

E.S. Short became a member of CIM in 1961 and achieved Life Member statusin 1991.

25e Édition du tournoi de golf ICM –Section Harricana un grand succèsPar Jean-François Lagueux

De gauche à droite : Éric Blondin, Stéphane Lance, Jean-François Lagueux, NancyAudet et Thomas Cormier.

The most valuable industry conference I have attended in Canada.

The networking was brilliant. My entire sales team met potential business customers.

“

“

Vancouver 2010 survey respondent

H I S TO R Y O F

economic geology


Nevada-type gold deposits (Part 3)By R.J. “Bob” Cathro, Chemainus, British Columbia

Early prospectors found numerous insignificant gold occurrences through-out northeastern Nevada during the last half of the 19th century, some of whichwere associated with base metal mineralization. It was not until Newmont dis-covered the Carlin deposit in 1961 that it became clear that the important golddeposits in this region were of the “invisible,” “noseeum” or “Nevada” type.This is mineralization composed of flakes of gold that are so fine grained thatthey float on water, cannot be collected in a gold pan and do not concentrate asplacer deposits in creeks. The earliest discoveries of this type of gold were atMaggie Creek in 1926, Gold Acres several years before the first production in1936, Getchell in 1934 (which Newmont minedbriefly starting the next year), and Standard in1934.

This type of mineralization was first recognizedby W. O. Vanderburg (1939) of the U.S. Bureau ofMines. Although he predicted that there was prob-ably similar mineralization waiting to be foundbecause it was so hard to recognize, his report gen-erated little interest because the grades were toolow and the deposits were small. The Vanderburgreport was particularly important to JohnLivermore of Newmont because, as luck wouldhave it, he had visited both the Getchell andStandard occurrences early in his career and hadbeen intrigued by this type of mineralization. He read the report in the late1940s, which was fortuitous because R. J. (Ralph) Roberts and other geologistsof the U.S. Geological Survey had commenced regional mapping studies inNevada in 1939 and had covered the area enclosing northeastern Nevada by thelate 1940s and early 1950s. They began to publish their results in 1955, culmi-nating in the most important paper (Roberts, 1960). Livermore attended a lec-ture by Roberts in Elko in the spring of 1961, which gave him an opportunityto have a private discussion about the complicated geological history of thisregion, particularly the relationship between stratigraphy, the invisible goldmineralization, and a major fault called the Roberts Mountain Thrust (RMT;not named after Ralph).

The RMT is a regional, east-dipping, low-angle fault of Devonian toMississippian age that was produced by the Antler Orogeny. The RMT hademplaced a low-permeability, fine-grained, siliciclastic assemblage of Ordivicianand Silurian age, called the Upper Plate, over a permeable, thin-bedded packageof Ordovician to lower Mississippian silty dolomite or limestone (the LowerPlate). Because of lower permeability and reactivity, the Upper Plate hasimpeded fluid flow and trapped mineralizing fluids within the Lower Plate. Thegold is often associated with high-angle faults and replacement zones nearby.

In addition to mapping the RMT, Ralph Roberts and his colleagues recog-nized that rocks of the Lower Plate had been exposed in places by erosion andthat these “windows” through the Upper Plate hosted the known invisible goldoccurrences. Livermore became convinced that the USGS mapping had nar-rowed the best target areas for invisible gold mineralization sufficiently to makeit practical to search for larger deposits.

“Well, of course, you have to be an optimist to

be a geologist. And if you don’t find what

you’re looking for in some place, you always

think, well, the next time it will be the one.

But plenty of geologists, very good geolo-

gists, spend practically their whole careers

without coming up with a prospect which

developed into a mine…

There’s an awful lot of luck in it. Looking at

the (Carlin) program as a whole, we were

fantastically lucky because the whole pro-

gram only lasted three or four months. On a

program like this, you might be working on it

for a couple of years and end up with noth-

ing. But we got onto this very quickly, and

that was - that’s part of the game.”

~Livermore, 2000

John Livermore

Phot

o co

urte

sy o

f New

mon

t Min

ing

Corp

.


H I S TO R Y O F

economic geology

developed new exploration techniques for nickel inAfrica for Falconbridge and Anglo American. After hejoined Newmont in 1959, his first assignment was oncopper exploration in the Phillipines.

The target area selected for the 1961 program includedthe Lynn and Carlin windows, located 12 to 40 kilometresnorthwest of the town of Carlin on US Highway 40.Because the low price had discouraged exploration for goldeverywhere and no significant discoveries had been madein Nevada for years, Newmont had no serious competition.

The earliest gold discovery in the Carlin area was aplacer occurrence staked by Fred Lynn in 1907 on LynnCreek, about 2.5 kilometres north of the future CarlinMine. Subsequent prospecting led to similar placer discov-eries on neighbouring creeks, all of which were derivedfrom narrow veins and stockworks. Total production fromthe creeks and bedrock showings probably amounted toless than 10,000 ounces.

The only exploration in the Carlin area in 1960 andearly 1961 was limited work by others at the Maggie andBootstrap occurrences, six and 14 kilometres northwest ofthe Carlin minesite, respectively. Antimony had been dis-covered at Bootstrap in 1918 but visible gold was not iden-tified until 1948, which led to the production of about 90tonnes averaging 22.3 g/t (0.65 oz/ton) gold. Followingmore underground development and several options,including one with Homestake Mining Company in 1956,R. R. Reed built a 90-tonne mill and mined about 35,000tonnes at a recovered grade of approximately 8.5 g/t (0.25oz/ton) by early 1960.

One of the most interesting facets of the Carlin discov-ery was that it was not accomplished with a large crew andbudget and all the newest, most sophisticated equipment.Fred Searls, who had joined Newmont in 1925 and beenthe chief geologist who pushed the company into goldmining in the California Motherlode in 1929, had becomethe president of Newmont in 1946 and was now chairman.While he was still keenly interested, exploration was nowthe responsibility of Robert Fulton, a 1941 mining engi-neering graduate of the University of Nevada, who (likeSearls) had been raised in the Motherlode gold camp.

Kaufman (1992) described the Newmont approach asfollows in a chapter titled “The Nevada Noseeum Jackpot”:“Newmont’s exploration budget under Bob Fulton’s guidancewas skeletal. … Fulton often used the word ‘parochial’ todescribe his desired modus operandi, and in the western U.S.he outdid himself, budgeting for only two full time geologiststo cover the whole region. … Newmont of this era was yourclassic lean and mean organization. There were no frills andno extras; just enough to do the job efficiently.”

John Sealy Livermore was born in the San Franciscoarea in 1918 and graduated from Stanford University witha geology degree in 1940. After serving in the navy duringWorld War 2, he worked at a number of mines and explo-ration projects in the southwest United States, including astint at the Standard Mine. He joined Newmont in 1952,choosing it over other large U.S. mining companiesbecause it was strong on exploration but was not so bigthat it was bureaucratic. Most of his work for Newmontwas spent on foreign assignments until 1960, when he wassent to Nevada and told to scout around for opportunities.Livermore soon convinced Fulton that exploring fornoseeum gold mineralization in Lower Plate windowsalong the RMT could be animportant target forNewmont. Fulton agree to asmall, cheap program ofdetailed geological mappingand prospecting in Eureka andElko counties, supported byfire assays for gold and geo-chemical analyses for associ-ated metals.

Fulton assigned J. AlanCoope, who was investigatingthe potential of the Marigoldand Buffalo Valley propertiesin the Battle Mountain dis-trict, to be his assistant. Inspite of their different backgrounds, he and Livermoremade a highly effective team. Coope was born inDerbyshire, England, in 1935, received a B.Sc. in geologyfrom King’s College London in 1956 and a PhD in thenew science of applied geochemistry from ImperialCollege London in 1958. During his university years, he

Alan Coope, circa 1970

Location map of mines and other significant deposits along the Carlin trend; from Coope (1991)

H I S TO R Y O F

economic geology


The Blue Star (No. 8) Mine was initially explored forturquoise in the 1920s but gold was not identified thereuntil 1957. In 1960, Messrs. Lage, Morris and Scottobtained gold assays of up to 15.1 g/t (0.44 oz/ton) acrossa 3.3-metre interval in a percussion hole and up to 22.3 g/t(0.65 oz/ton) from a 2.9-metre underground channel sam-ple. None of this gold was pannable. Efforts to treat thismaterial in a 180-tonne cyanide mill in early 1961 werethwarted by sliming problems, and the owners were unableto attract any interest from mining companies.

After a brief examination of the Blue Star property,Fulton and Searls agreed with Livermore that Newmontshould explore it, and he and Coope began three weeks ofdetailed geological mapping and extensive sampling inJune. The samples were delivered to Henry Treweek, a reli-able fire assayer who lived 80 kilometres away at GoldAcres and was one of the few still operating in Nevada.They estimated that the deposit contained at least 450,000tonnes averaging about 5.1 to 6.9 g/t (0.15 to 0.2 oz/ton)gold. While this was a marginal underground grade at thecurrent gold price, it was a good enough start to makeNewmont try, albeit unsuccessfully, to acquire the property.

Livermore and Coope next used their newly acquiredknowledge from Blue Star and the USGS mapping todevelop a simple geological model to guide exploration inthe surrounding area. This consisted of the precipitation oflarge concentrations of fine-grained gold caused by thepooling of upward migrating hydrothermal fluids beneaththe RMT. The fault was readily mappable throughout mostof the Lynn window due to marked differences between thelithologies in the two plates, so systematic prospecting andsampling was performed along this contact. Within a fewweeks, anomalous gold values in excess of 1 g/t (0.03oz/ton) were encountered in strongly silicified (jasper-oidal) and barite-veined outcrops approximately four kilo-metres southeast of Blue Star. Grab and channel samplesproduced gold assays of up to 7 g/t (0.2 oz/ton). Searls andFulton returned in late September and agreed to stake a138 ha (340 acre) property that was destined to becomepart of the Carlin minesite.

Bulldozer trenching was used to enable more detailedmapping and sampling. One key trench (B) was cut acrossa quartz porphyry dyke that appeared to be related to themineralization, but detailed sampling revealed that theassays were produced by invisible gold in the adjacenthornfelsed sedimentary rock, which averaged 7 g/t (0.2oz/ton) across a length of 24.4 metres. After heavy snowfallin late November ended the program, Livermore was trans-ferred to Toronto and promoted to manager of explorationof Newmont Mining Corporation of Canada. That was aclear indication of what a low a priority Fulton placed onthe Carlin project at that point.

Soon after the 1962 program began in April underCoope’s direction, Newmont acquired the adjoining 42 ha(80 acre) Popovich homestead, which was mapped in

detail. This showed that the geology was complex due tointensive silicification and a strongly sheared fault thatgave gold assays of about 2.4 to 2.7 g/t (0.07 to 0.08

Location of the Carlin Mine in relation to nearby creeks worked for placer gold priorto the discovery; from Coope (1991)

Reconnaissance geological map of the Bootstrap, Lynn, and Carlin windows,prepared by Livermore and Coope in October 1961, showing the location of activeand dormant mines and prospects; from Coope (1991)


oz/ton). The footwall was composed of poorly exposed, gray,silty limestone that had a porous appearance because of theleaching of the carbonate matrix. When assays of grab samplesshowed that it had a surprising gold content of 7.5 g/t (0.22oz/ton), a line of 11 holes was drilled across the structure inSeptember.

The third hole produced an intercept of 35.3 g/t (1.03 oz/ton)across an interval of about 30 metres in the immediate footwallof the fault, which marked the discovery of the Carlin deposit.The mine began production in April 1965 at the rate of 1,800tonnes/day, with ore reserves of 10 million tonnes at an averagegrade of 11 g/t (0.32 oz/ton). Total cost was about $10 million.

Alan Coope was also transferred to Toronto early in 1963,which proved to be an important addition to Canadian geo-science. He was based there for 24 of the 33 years he worked forNewmont and was active in exploration programs in all regionsof Canada while traveling to many parts of the world on consult-ing geochemical assignments to other Newmont subsidiaries.His principal contribution to Canadian geoscience was his greatleadership, which led to the formation of the Association ofExploration Geochemists (now called the Association ofApplied Geochemists) between 1967 and 1970. He became thefirst president and continued to guide its growth into a majorinternational technical society, with over 1,000 members inabout 60 countries. He was awarded the association’s PastPresidents’ Medal in 1995 and made an Honorary Member in2001. It was inevitable that Canadians would play an importantrole in AAG. In addition, he served in executive positions inmost of the Canadian geology and mining societies. He was latertransferred to Tucson and Denver before retiring to Tucson,where he died in 2001. Coope remained a champion of the sci-ence and an influential mentor until his death.

AcknowledgmentsThe main source of information on the history of the Carlin

discovery was Coope (1991). Coope’s biography was compiledwith the assistance of his widow Carol and a small army of hisfriends and associates, led by Terry Macauley, Bob Garrett andColin Barnett. CIM

ReferencesCoope, J. A. (1991). Carlin Trend exploration history: discovery of the Carlin deposit. University ofNevada, Reno; Mackay School of Mines. Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, SpecialPublication 13, 16.

Kaufman, M. A. (1992). Mountains of ore and rivers of gold: stories of a contemporary prospec-tor. Spokane: Dos Vulturos Company and The Arthur H. Clark Company, 119-124.

Livermore, J. S. (2000). Prospector, Geologist, Public Resource Advocate: Carlin Mine Discovery,1961. An oral history conducted in 1992, 1997, and 2000 by Eleanor Swent and MauriceFuerstenau, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley,2000. Available athttp://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt796nb3xp&brand=oac&doc.view=entire_text

Price, J. G. ( 2008). Overview, in The Nevada Mineral Industry 2008. Reno: Nevada Bureau ofMines and Geology, Special Publication MI-2008.

Roberts, R. J. (1960). Alignments of mining districts in north-central Nevada. U.S. GeologicalSurvey Professional Paper 400-B, part 9, B17-19.

Vanderburg. W. O. (1939). Reconnaissance of mining districts in Lander County, Nevada. U.S.Bureau of Mines Information Circular IR 7043, 82-83.

Weiland, E. (2001). In memory of Dr. J. Alan Coope. The Association of Exploration Geochemists,Explore Newsletter #113, October 2001, 1-2.

H I S TO R I C A L

metallurgy


Although the solvent action of alkali cyanide on gold seems to have beenknown to Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-1786) as early as 17831, it was the work ofPyotr Romanovich Bagrationi in 1843 that paved the way for the development ofthe cyanidation process for treating gold-bearing ore.

Prince Pyotr Romanovich Bagrationi was a descendant of Georgian kings. In1783, with his country under constant attack by its Moslem neighbours, GeorgianKing Erekle II (1720-1798) established an alliance with Catherine the Great ofRussia. However, years later, on December 18, 1800, Russian Tsar Paul I annexedGeorgia. That same year, Giorgi XII, the last of the Bagrationi kings, died.

Most of the Georgian nobility entered into the Russian military service.Among them was Major General Roman Bagrationi (1778-1834) and PyotrBagrationi (1765-1812), Pyotr Romanovich Bagrationi’s father and uncle,respectively. In 1827, Roman Bagrationi was assigned to the position of assis-tant to the governor of Tbilisi and, therefore, relocated to that city; his son,Pyotr, was only nine years old at the time. Five years later, the Georgian nobil-ity was betrayed by one of its own. The conspiracy resulted in numerous arrestsand subsequent exile to Siberia. Nikoloz Baratashvili wrote a satirical poemabout it, which his classmate, Pyotr Bagrationi distributed. Due to their youngage (they were only 14 and 15 years old), they were not jailed; however, theywere punished severely.

Pyotr Bagrationi then headed to St. Petersburg in 1833 and entered militaryschool. In 1842, with a military degree in hand, he started working in physics andchemistry. The following year, he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav (ThirdClass) for his achievement in galvanic examination.

While conducting galvanic experiments in the Laboratory of Physics at St.Petersburg Academy of Sciences (now the Russian Academy of Sciences) underacademician Moritz Hermann von Jacobi2 (1801-1874), Bagrationi discoveredthat a saturated solution of potassium cyanide left in a gold-plated cup for oneweek resulted in the dissolution of the gold from the cup. Following this discov-ery, he prepared gold powder by precipitating gold from its chloride solution usingiron sulphate and found that the powder quickly dissolved in the cyanide solu-tion. He also noted that air agitation and heating accelerated the dissolution andthat potassium ferrocyanide dissolved gold, albeit at a slower rate.

Bagrationi published his work entitled “Sur la properiété que possédent lescyanures potassiques et ferrosopotassiques de dissoudre les metaux” in Bulletinde 1’Académie des Sciences (Classe Physico - Mathematique), St. Petersburg,Volume 2, in 1843 and 1844. The paper was also translated into German andpublished in Zeitschrift für praktische Chemie. Although Franz Elsner (1802-

1 According to J. W. Mellor, Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry, Vol. 3, p. 500 (1923),the solvent action of aqueous solution of alkali cyanides on gold, silver and copper was noted by C.W. Scheele inhis memoir, De material tingente coerulei Berolinensis (1783). It should also be mentioned that Scheele discoveredhydrogen cyanide.

2 Russian style: Boris Semyonovich Jacobi

Pyotr Romanovich Bagrationi (1818–1876): a pioneer hydrometallurgistBy Mariam Melashvili, Department of Metals and Materials Engineering, University of British Columbia, and Fathi Habashi, Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering, Laval University

Pyotr Romanovich Bagrationi

Bagrationi’s galvanic cell

1874) of Berlin carried on the research, it was John StewartMacArthur (1856-1920) who applied this knowledge togold ores in 1887.

Bagrationi invented the first dry galvanic cell in 1843and began examining its reactions. This led to his publish-ing a monograph about it a couple of years later. The cellconsisted of copper and zinc cylinders placed one insidethe other in clay or any nonmetallic vessel, and the spacein between was filled with sand soaked with an ammoniumchloride solution. This produced a weak but continuouscurrent that was used as a power supply for the first tele-graph line between St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo (Tsar’sVillage), at Leichtenberg’s plant, and in various public andprivate laboratories. The cell itself is a modification ofDaniell’s Cell, an invention by British chemist JohnFrederic Daniell (1790-1845) in 1836.

In 1844, Bagrationi was sent on a scientific mission toGermany, France and England to study galvanic currentsfor engineering purposes. He was assigned to the positionof aide to Maximilian Leichtenberg, Duke of Bavaria, thefollowing year and spent the next seven years abroad;Leichtenberg had been made a manager of the Institute ofMining in Russia. During this time, Leichtenberg pub-lished his works on galvanic currents and its further appli-cation, and established a galvanoplastic plant in St.Petersburg. He died in 1852. Bagrationi, who was awardedthe Prize of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences two yearsearlier, was then called back to St. Petersburg and later pro-moted to the rank of major-general.

In 1862, Bagrationi was made governor of the Tverprovince, where he took part in establishing social services:building a dam to prevent flooding; building a new railway;setting up a telegraphy system; erecting a library andmuseum; conducting geological surveys; etc. He rose to therank of lieutenant-general three years later and in 1870, hewas made governor of the Baltic countries Courland,Livonia and Estonia. He died suddenly during a businesstrip to St. Petersburg in 1876, at the age of 58. CIM

Suggested readingsBagration, P. (1844). Ueber die Eigenschaft des Cyankaliums und desCyaneisenkaliums, die Metalle aufzulösen. Zeitschrift für praktische Chemie, 31, 367-370.

Elsner, F. (1844). Beobachtungen über das Verhalten regulinischer Metalle in einerwässrigen Lösung von Cyankalium. Zeitschrift für praktische Chemie, 31, 441-446.

MacArthur, J. S., Forrest, R. W., & Forrest, W. (1887). Process for Obtaining Gold andSilver from Ores. British Patent 14,174.

Parkadze, V. (1956). Peter Bagrationi [in Georgian], Tekhnika da Shroma, Tbilisi, Georgia.

Petrushevski, F. F. (1874). Course of Observative Physics, Saint Petersburg.

Petrushevski, F. F. (1876). Experimental and Practical Course of Electricity, Magnetism,and Galvanism, Saint Petersburg.

von Jacobi, M. H. (1843). Bulletin de 1’Académie des Sciences (Classe Physico -Mathematique), St. Petersburg.

H I S TO R I C A L

metallurgy


Mineral Project Evaluation Techniquesand Applications: From ConventionalMethods to Real Options

Learn the basics of economic/financial evalu-ation techniques, as well as the practicalimplementation of these techniques to min-eral project assessments; how to gain apractical understanding of economic/finan-cial evaluation principles; and how to developthe skills necessary to apply these to supportmineral project decisions.

Instructors: Michel Bilodeau and Sabry A. AbdelSabour, McGill University, Canada • Date: Novem-ber 8-11 • City: Montreal

Upcoming 2011 Seminars

NEW — Certification in Ore ReserveRisk and Mine Planning Optimization

Spread over a period of four months, this four-week course is designed for busy miningprofessionals who wish to update their skillsand knowledge base in modern modelling tech-niques for ore bodies and new risk-basedoptimization methodologies for strategic mineplanning. Gain practical experience by applyingthe following hands-on concepts and technicalmethods: methods for modelling ore bodies;stochastic simulations, case studies and modelsof geological uncertainty; and demand-drivenproduction scheduling and geological risk.

Instructor: Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill

University, Canada • Date: Starts in May • City:Montreal • Info: www.mcgill.ca/conted/prodep/ore

Theory and Practice of Sampling Particulate Materials (Part 1)/QA-QC, Mine and Project Audits (Part 2)Instructor: Dominique François-Bongarçon, AGO-RATEK, United States • City: Montreal

Strategic Risk Management in Mine Design: From Life-of-Mine to Global OptimizationInstructors: Gelson Batista, AMEC, Canada; Rous-sos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada;and Gerald Whittle, Whittle Consulting, Australia •City: Montreal

An Introduction to Cutoff Grade Estimation: Theory and Practice inOpen Pit and Underground MinesInstructor: Jean-Michel Rendu, Executive Con-sultant, Snowden, Australia • City: Montreal

Geostatistical Mineral Resource/Ore Reserve Estimation and Meetingthe New Regulatory Environment: Step by Step from Sampling to GradeControlInstructors: Michel Dagbert, Geostat Systems Int.,Canada, Jean-Michel Rendu, Executive Consult-ant, Snowden, Australia, and RoussosDimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada • City:Montreal

Excerpts taken from abstracts in CMQ, Vol. 49, No. 2.Subscribe—www.cmq-online.ca

technical abstractsCANADIAN METALLURGICAL QUARTERLY

Kinetic Modelling of Different BauxiteTypes in the Bayer Leaching ProcessI. Djuric, I. Mihajlovic and Z. Zivkovic, University ofBelgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Serbia

Evaluation of Acid Leaching of Low-Grade Chalcopyrite Using Ozone byStatistical AnalysisF. R. Carrillo-Pedroza, Facultad de Metalurgia, UniversidadAutónoma de Coahuila, M. A. Sánchez-Castillo, Facultadde Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de San LuisPotosí, M. J. Soria-Aguilar, Facultad de Metalurgia,Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila, A. Martínez-Luévanos,Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma deCoahuila, and E. C. Gutiérrez, Facultad de Metalurgia,Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila

Effect of Magnesium on PressureLeaching of Moa Laterite OreM. E. Chalkley, M. J. Collins, Sherritt Technologies, SherrittInternational Corporation, Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, C.Iglesias, Moa Nickel S.A., Holguin, Cuba, and N. E. Tuffrey,Sherritt Technologies, Sherritt International Corporation, FortSaskatchewan, Alberta

Effect of Additives on Kinetics of Liquid-Liquid Extraction in aZnSO4/D2EHPA/Kerosene SystemE. Vahidi, F. Rashchi and K. Pashayi, Department ofMetallurgy and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering,University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Gaseous Reduction of Synthetic LeadSlags and Industrial Lead SintersB. Zhao, Pyrometallurgy Research Centre, School ofEngineering, The University of Queensland, Australia, B.Errington, Xstrata Technology, Brisbane, Australia, E. Jakand P. Hayes, Pyrometallurgy Research Centre, School ofEngineering, The University of Queensland, Australia

ABSTRACT The dissolution of aluminum hydroxides from bauxite ores constitutes a keyprocess in the aluminum industry. Generally, aluminum minerals in bauxites are pres-ent in the form of gibbsite, boehmite or diaspore. Usually, these mineral forms aremixed in bauxite as a boehmite-diaspore or a gibbsite-boehmite mixture with differentweight ratios. In this paper an attempt was made to develop a mathematical modelwhich enables calculation of the Al2O3 recovery from boehmite-diaspore or gibbsite-boehmite bauxite based on kinetic parameters available for leaching the “pure” bauxitetypes (containing only diaspore, boehmite or gibbsite as the main alumina bearing min-eral form) and the mineral composition of the bauxite mixture.

ABSTRACT Several attempts have been made to optimize the process and reduceoperating costs of the acid leaching of low-grade sulphide copper ores. In this study,we conducted acidic leaching of low-grade chalcopyrite by using ferric ion and ozoneas oxidants, at 25ºC. In particular, we used a Taguchi L9 experimental design (four fac-tors, three levels) to determine the effects of particle size, ferric ion and sulphuric acidconcentrations ([Fe+3] and [H2SO4]) and ozone (O3) mass flow rate, on the amount ofcopper extracted. Statistical analysis showed that [Fe+3] had the greatest effect on theamount of copper extracted followed by particle size and O3 mass flow rate.

ABSTRACT The magnesium content of laterite ore has a significant impact on the quan-tity of sulphuric acid required to achieve the target nickel extraction by the high pressureacid leach (HPAL) process, both through direct consumption of acid when magnesium-bearing minerals are dissolved and through “buffering” effects via bisulphate ionequilibria at temperature in the leach reactor. This paper presents the results of HPALbatch tests conducted by Sherritt Technologies in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canadawith ore samples from the Moa Nickel Pedro Sotto Alba plant at Moa, Holguin, Cubaalong with a comparison of the laboratory results with operating data from Moa. A sig-nificant variation in acid requirement has been demonstrated over a relatively narrowrange of feed magnesium content. Further, the quantitative results of the laboratory testsallow a model to be formulated for the most economic consumption of acid at Moa.

ABSTRACT The influence of Na2SO4 and TBP additives on zinc extraction kinetics wasinvestigated in the ZnSO4/D2EHPA/kerosene system. Data for a solution of zinc at aconcentration of 50 mol/m3 were fitted to the chemical kinetic model to determine thekinetic constants. It was found that kinetics of the process is chemically controlled.Using additives resulted in a better agreement between the model and the experimen-tal results as compared to the previous models. In the presence of additives, the modelpredicts the zinc concentration satisfactorily with a correlation coefficient equal to 0.95.

ABSTRACT In conventional practice primary lead production is carried out in a leadblast furnace using sinter feed. At the Yunnan Metallurgical plant the ISASMELT furnaceis used to produce lead bullion and a high-lead slag from lead concentrate. The high-lead slag is cast into lumps to provide a suitable feed for the blast furnace. In thepresent study the relative microstructures and reduction characteristics of industriallead sinters and synthetic lead slags in CO/CO2 gas mixtures have been measured andcompared. The microstructure and property changes and the mechanisms of reductionin each case are examined and discussed. The results of the study are used to explainthe successful implementation of cast slag feed in a commercial ISASMELT-lead blastfurnace practice.



Development, testing andapplications of aninduction-balance sensorfor low-grade nickel oresA. S. Bamber, University of BritishColumbia, British Columbia, and D. J.Houlahan, MineSense Technologies,British Columbia

ABSTRACT This paper presents the outcomes of a collaborative project to develop an induction-balancesensor specifically for low-grade copper and nickel ores. A review of the basic principles of induction-bal-ance sensing and of the sensor-rock interaction is presented. Early development and testing of the sensoron ores from the Thompson nickel belt in northern Manitoba is discussed. Shortcomings of the prototypeidentified in early testing have now been overcome, leading to improvements in design and construction,as well as sensor accuracy. The improved sensor has now been tested on additional ores from the Sud-bury Basin, with good results. A discussion of potential applications is presented and recommendationsfor future development are made.

RÉSUMÉ Cet article présente les résultats d’un projet en participation pour développer un détecteur àbalance d’induction spécialement conçu pour les minerais de cuivre et de nickel à basse teneur. Unerévision des principes de base de la balance d’induction et de l’interaction roche-capteur est présentée.On discute des premiers développements et essais du capteur sur des minerais de la ceinture de nickelde Thompson dans le nord du Manitoba. Les faiblesses qui ont été identifiées sur le prototype lors despremiers essais ont été corrigées, menant à des améliorations de conception, de construction et de laprécision du capteur. Le capteur amélioré a été mis à l’épreuve sur d’autres minerais du bassin de Sud-bury avec de bons résultats. On discute des applications potentielles et on présente desrecommandations pour un développement futur.

ABSTRACT The ground penetrating radar (GPR) method was used in a platinum mine in Zimbabwe bymembers of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Mineral Resources. The measurements were car-ried out in boreholes and drifts. Electromagnetic reflections from a fault that consistently trends parallelto the mineralization zone permitted the mapping of the economically minable parts of the deposit. Anintroduction is given to the geology of the studied area and the application of the GPR method. The elec-trical parametres of the rocks are measured in situ, the GPR measurements are displayed withradargrams, and the visible structures are explained in illustrations.

RÉSUMÉ La méthode géoradar a été utilisée dans une mine de platine au Zimbabwe par des membresdu Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe [Institut fédéral (allemand) pour les géoscienceset les ressources naturelles]. Les mesures ont été effectuées dans des trous de forage et les galeriesd’accès. Les réflexions électromagnétiques d’une faille qui a une direction constante parallèle à la zoneminéralisée ont permis de cartographier les parties économiquement exploitables du gisement. L’articledonne une introduction à la géologie du secteur à l’étude et à l’application de la méthode géoradar. Lesparamètres électriques des roches sont mesurés en place, les mesures géoradar sont présentées aumoyen de radargrammes et les structures visibles sont expliquées dans les illustrations.

ABSTRACT An overall study was conducted to evaluate the properties and processes influencing the rateand magnitude of consolidation for oil sands fine tailings produced using different extraction processes.As part of the overall study, a comprehensive description of physical and chemical characteristics of finetailings generated by caustic and non-caustic processes was carried out. Ultimately, the influence of thesefundamental properties on the compressibility, hydraulic conductivity and shear strength properties of thefine tailings was assessed. The characteristics of the fine tailings are presented in terms of index proper-ties, mineralogy, specific surface area, water chemistry, liquid limits, particle size distribution andstructure.

RÉSUMÉ Une étude détaillée a été réalisée afin d’évaluer les propriétés et les processus influençant letaux et l’ampleur de la consolidation des résidus fins de sables bitumineux produits par différents proces-sus d’extraction. Dans le cadre de l’étude détaillée, les caractéristiques physiques et chimiques desrésidus fins générés par les processus caustiques et non caustiques ont été décrites de manière trèscomplète. De plus, l’influence de ces propriétés fondamentales sur la compressibilité, la conductivitéhydraulique et la résistance en cisaillement des résidus fins a été évaluée. Les caractéristiques des

Ground penetrating radarinvestigations at theplanned Unki platinummine, Great Dyke,ZimbabweD. Eisenburger, C. Grissemann, V.Gundelach,W. Kahnt, and T.Oberthür, Federal Institute forGeosciences and Natural Resources,Hannover, Germany, and R. Thierbach,Ronnenberg, Germany

Ground penetrating radarinvestigations at theplanned Unki platinummine, Great Dyke,ZimbabweD. Eisenburger, C. Grissemann, V.Gundelach,W. Kahnt, and T.Oberthür, Federal Institute forGeosciences and Natural Resources,Hannover, Germany, and R. Thierbach,Ronnenberg, Germany

technical abstractsCIM JOURNAL


Effect of extraction waterchemistry on theconsolidation of oil sandsfine tailingsW. G. Miller, WorleyParsons Services,Perth, Australia, J. D. Scott and D. C. Sego, Universityof Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta

Analyse des modèleséconomiques des coûtsde minage pour lesétudes de préfaisabilitéS. Planeta, Université Laval, et J.Szymanski, University of Alberta

résidus fins sont présentées en termes de leurs propriétés de base, de la minéralogie, de la surface spé-cifique, de l’hydrochimie, des limites liquides, de la granulométrie et de la structure.

ABSTRACT An overall study was conducted to evaluate the properties and processes influencing the rateand magnitude of consolidation for oil sands fine tailings produced using different extraction processes. Aspart of this overall study, consolidation tests using slurry consolidometers were carried out for caustic andnon-caustic fine tailings. The influence of a change in bitumen extraction process (caustic versus non-caus-tic) on consolidation properties, namely compressibility and hydraulic conductivity, was determined, as wasthe effect of adding a coagulant (calcium sulphate [CaSO4]) to caustic fine tailings. The biggest advantageof non-caustic fine tailings and treating caustic fine tailings with coagulant is an increased initial settlementrate and slightly increased hydraulic conductivity at higher void ratios. Thereafter, compressibility andhydraulic conductivity is governed by effective stress.

RÉSUMÉ Une étude détaillée a été réalisée afin d’évaluer les propriétés et les processus influençant le tauxet l’ampleur de la consolidation des résidus fins de sables bitumineux produits par différents processusd’extraction. Dans le cadre de cette étude détaillée, des essais de consolidation ont été effectués sur lesboues en utilisant des oedomètres; les essais portaient sur des résidus fins caustiques et non caustiques.L’influence d’un changement dans le procédé d’extraction du bitume (caustique p/r non caustique) sur lespropriétés de consolidation a été déterminée, soit la compressibilité et la conductivité hydraulique, en plusde l’effet de l’ajout d’un coagulant (sulfate de calcium [CaSo4]) aux résidus caustiques fins. Le plus grandavantage des résidus fins non caustiques et du traitement des résidus fins caustiques avec un coagulantest un accroissement du taux initial de tassement et une légère augmentation de la conductivitéhydraulique à des indices des vides supérieurs. Ensuite, la compressibilité et la conductivité hydrauliquesont une fonction de la contrainte effective.

RÉSUMÉ L’estimation la plus précise possible des coûts de minage est d’extrême importance pour lesétudes de préfaisabilité afin de diminuer les risques financiers des projets miniers. Les méthodologies exis-tantes d’évaluation des coûts de minage ne permettent pas de les évaluer avec des marges d’erreuracceptables tout au long de l’évolution des projets miniers. Elles visent à évaluer les coûts unitaires deminage des études préliminaires de faisabilité, pour les principales méthodes d’exploitation, en prenantpour l’hypothèse que ces coûts dépendent principalement du taux d’extraction journalière. Si cettehypothèse peut être justifiée pour l’évaluation du coût d’opération, elle est fort discutable pour l’évaluationdes coûts de minage. Pour démontrer que cette hypothèse est inadéquate nous avons analysé la méthoded’exploitation la plus populaire sur le continent nord-américain c’est à dire celle par chambres vides avecretrait horizontal (HR – Horizontal Retreat), ou « Longhole » et celle avec retrait vertical (VCR - Vertical CraterRetreat). Il ressort de cette analyse que les coûts unitaires de minage dépendent principalement des con-ditions géotechniques du massif rocheux et de la largeur du gisement et non pas du taux d’extractionjournalière du minerai.

ABSTRACT The most precise possible estimation of mining costs is of extreme importance for prefeasibil-ity studies, to decrease the financial risks of the mining projects. The existing methodologies to evaluatethe mining costs do not allow estimating them with acceptable margins of error throughout the evolutionof the mining projects. The methodologies aim at estimating the mining unit costs of the preliminary feasi-bility study, for the main mining methods, by supposing that they depend mainly on the daily extraction rate.If this hypothesis can be justified for the evaluation of the operating costs, it is highly questionable for theevaluation of the mining costs. To demonstrate that this hypothesis is inadequate we analyzed the “openstope” mining method, which is the most popular method on the North American continent. The results ofthis analysis show that the unit costs of mining depend mainly on the geotechnical conditions of the rockmassif and the width of the deposit and not on the daily ore extraction rate.

RÉSUMÉ Cet article traite d’une analyse technique et économique du concept du triageoptique en vue d’améliorer la rentabilité des opérations minières. Le principe du trioptique et les principaux systèmes et modules servant au fonctionnement de l’appareilde triage sont décrits. Un modèle a été développé pour analyser l’intérêt économiqued’une opération de triage optique. L’étude est basée sur des données provenant d’unehalde de minerai à faible teneur en or, déposé à la surface, et de minerai extrait desopérations souterraines courantes de la mine Beaufor au Québec. Les résultats de cetteanalyse indiquent que l’opération de triage optique permet d’améliorer grandement laperformance économique; l’opération devient alors rentable pour des teneurs en or rel-ativement petites.

ABSTRACT This article concerns a feasibility analysis of using optical sorting to sepa-rate the economic and non-economic ore in order to increase the profitability of miningoperations and to reduce the negative impact of mining discharges on the environment.The optical sorting equipment available on the market and the main characteristics arepresented. A model was developed to analyze the economic benefits of optical sorting.The study is based on data relative to low-grade ore piles, stored on the surface, andon ore extracted from the current underground mining operations at the Beaufor Minein Quebec. The results of this analysis indicate that optical sorting greatly improves eco-nomic performance and becomes profitable for relatively low-grade ores. In addition,the separation efficiency of sterile/ore is high and can greatly improve the economicperformance of mines.

ABSTRACT The ground-source heat pump is a low-carbon technology that uses theearth’s renewable geothermal energy to heat and cool buildings, with an efficiency ofthree to 4.5 times that of conventional systems. These high performances are achievedby exchanging heat with the earth using a fluid that is groundwater, surface water orclosed loop water. Examples of system design calculations using data from the Mouskaand Doyon mines in Abitibi show significant installation cost savings using dewateringmine water or ground heat exchangers installed below oxidizing waste rocks. Ground-source heat pump technology is reviewed and scoping calculations are presented toillustrate how such systems can be installed in mining environments.

RÉSUMÉ Une pompe géothermique est une technologie à faible utilisation de carbonequi utilise l’énergie géothermique renouvelable pour chauffer et refroidir desimmeubles; ce système est de 3 à 4,5 fois plus efficace que les systèmes convention-nels. Ces hauts rendements sont obtenus en échangeant de la chaleur avec le sol aumoyen d’un fluide : eau souterraine, eau de surface ou une boucle d’eau en continue.En utilisant des données des mines Mouska et Doyon en Abitibi, des exemples de con-ception de systèmes montent des économies importantes de coûts d’installation enutilisant l’eau d’exhaure de la mine ou des échangeurs de chaleur installés sous lesroches stériles qui s’oxydent. La technologie des pompes géothermiques est passée enrevue et des calculs de la portée sont présentés afin d’illustrer comment de tels sys-tèmes peuvent être installés dans des environnements miniers.

Analyse technique etéconomique du triagephotométrique du mineraiS. Planeta, Université Laval, et J.Szymanski, University of Alberta

Low-temperaturegeothermal energy inmining environmentsJ. Raymond, R. Therrien and L.Gosselin, Université Laval, Québec,Québec

technical abstractsCIM JOURNAL


Excerpts taken from abstracts in CIM Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2.Subscribe—www.cim.org

ad index


OBC 3M 49 Alberta Fuel Distributors 55 AMC Consultants 42 ASGCO Manufacturing Inc. 15 BDP Industries IBC BHP Billiton 26 Boundary Equipment 9 Bucyrus DBT GmbHIFC, 3 Caterpillar 25 CG Industrial Specialties Ltd. 45 EBA Engineering 32 Edmonton Exchanger 65 Emeco 19 Endress+Hauser38, 75 Eriez Magnetics 39 Flanders Electric Motor Service 27 Gijima AST 29 GIW Industries 14 Glenridge 23 HCI Seel Building Systems Inc. 43 Imperial Oil 35 Industrial Equipment Manufacturing20-21 Inmarsat 59 Kinecor 46 Klohn Crippen Berger 10 Kodiak Engineering 36 Ledcor 67 Liebherr 41 Linatex 92 Magnum Australia 13 MB Industries 47 MiHR 53 Miner Elastomer Products Corporation 18 NorWest 11 P&H Minepro 7 Petro Canada Lubricants 31 Reinforced Earth Company Ltd. 66 Safety Whips 72 SMS Equipment 22 SNC Lavalin (Oil & Gas Division) 57 SRK Consultants 17 Suncor 37 Superior Propane 83 Taggart 33 TAKRAF GmbH 16 Wardrop Engineering 117 Professional Directory BioteQ Environmental Technologies Inc.

117 Product File Bridgestone

ADVERTISERSIn the next issueBritish Columbia is breaking new groundWe’ve set our sights on the western side of theContinental Divide to explore:

• The recent revenue-sharing agreement forged between First Nations and the province

• The perspectives of key industry players• The technology and innovations that

affect the region’s operations• The advances in infrastructure,

project financing and permitting• The background and latest

developments surrounding the Mount Milligan copper-gold project in central BC, and more

Watch for the November edition of CIM Magazine.

COMING SOON

Comply with regulationsReduce environmental liabilities

Lower life cycle costs

604.685.1243 www.bioteq.ca

Water Treatment Specialists

®

Bridgestone Canada Inc. Eastern Canada 705-266-4323 Western Canada 604-787-3294, 780-982-0656

cim magazine september/october 2010

Documents