MINE LIFE CYCLE,
DOWNSTREAM PROCESSING,
AND SUSTAINABILITY
STAGE 1 - Exploration and Assessment
STAGE 2 - Construction
STAGE 3 - Operation
STAGE 4 - Closure
MINE LIFE CYCLE,
DOWNSTREAM PROCESSING,
AND SUSTAINABILITY
STAGE 1 - Exploration and Assessment (1-10 years)
• Exploration - Geophysics
• Exploration - Drilling (1/10)
• Geology - Analytical and Mineralogical Assessment
• Economic Feasibility Assessment (1/10)
• Orebody Modeling (1/10)
• Mine Planning and Metallurgical Testwork
3-D Orebody Model for Mine Planning
• INCO's Research Mine at Sudbury, Ontario
Underground LHD
Campbell Mine, Ontario
Remote-LHD
Olympic Dam Mine, Australia
Mine Life Cycle (continued)
STAGE 2 – Construction (0.5-2 years )
• Mine
– Shaft-sinking & tunnel/stope development (U/G)
– Adit & tunnel/stope development (mountain-top)
– Top soil removal, key-cut, haul road development (Open-Pit)
• Plant
– Site Preparation, Foundations, Construction of buildings
– Procurement and Installation of Equipment
• Waste and Tailing Disposal
– Site Selection and Preparation
– Construction of Initial Coffer Dam for tailing disposal
Open Pit Mining
Shovel Loading - Porgera Mine, Papua New Guinea
Strip Mining
Coal Mine Shovel-Truck Operation
200 T Haulage Truck
Open Pits are Colorful
Florida Phosphate Mining
Diamond Pipe Deposit
Ekati Diamond Mine
Kimberlite Pipe Deposit
What its all about at Ekati!
Diamonds are forever!
Canadian Diamonds
Polar Diamond Certificate
Ekati's Polar Diamond
Open Pit Mine
Bingham Canyon Mine
Mill Complex
Bingham Canyon Mill
Secondary Crushing Plant
Grinding Mills
Bingham Canyon Grinding Mills
Grinding Mills
Mill Control Room
Carlin Mine, Nevada
Mine Life Cycle (continued)
STAGE 3 - Operation ( 3 - 400 years )
• Mine
– Blast, Load, Haul, Dump
– Transport (hoist, convey, truck, rail), Stockpile
– Safely Store Waste (on site or in-mine)
• Mill
–
–
–
–
Crush, Grind (comminution)
Physical Separation (maybe chemical) (beneficiation)
Thicken and Filter (dewater)
Safely Store Tailing
Mine Life Cycle (continued)
STAGE 3 - Operation ( 3 - 400 years )
• Waste Disposal
– Dump
– Contour, Spread top soil
– Hydro-seed and plan for final drainage
• Tailing Disposal
–
–
–
–
Plan for Lifts as Tailing Dam builds
Control Water Levels
Recover water for recycle
Revegetate dam walls
Tailing Dam Reclamation
Revegetation
Hydro-Seeding a Waste Dump
Mine/Mill Complex
Musslewhite Mine, Ontario
Downstream Processing
• Mine/mill complex
– produces ore or concentrate or unrefined metal/product
– product transported by airplane, rail, truck or ship to
smelter or refinery
– if leaching is used at mine/mill, unrefined metal or final
product is produced
• Smelting
– pyrometallurgical processing (multi-stage)
•
•
•
•
roasting to partially remove/control sulfur content
melting to separate oxides from sulfides (flux and slag)
oxidation to remove sulfur and iron
need SO2 control and slag disposal system
Downstream Processing
• Leaching
– hydrometallurgical processing
– vat leach, agitation leach, heap leach, in-situ leach
– Pressure Oxidation or Biological Leaching
– solid/liquid separation or ion adsorption process
– solution purification (solvent extraction/ion exchange)
– need residue disposal method (dewatering/storage)
• Refining
– electrometallurgical processing
• electrowinning to recover metals from solution
• electrorefining to purify unrefined metal
• treatment of slime deposits for PMs recovery
Copper Ores – Concentrating
Simplest Copper Flotation Circuit
Copper Ores – Concentrating
Copper Oxide Processing to final metal
Heap Leach Operation
Installing a Plastic Membrane Liner
Zaldivar Copper Heap Leach
Copper – Downstream Processing
Kidd-Creek Smelter flowsheet
Copper Anode Casting Wheel
Downstream Processing
• Nickel
– Typical Mine/Mill Treatment
Downstream Processing
• Nickel
– Matte Separation processing
Chuquicamata Mine/Mill/Smelter
Downstream Processing
• Bauxite
– Al2O3 production
Downstream Processing
• Phosphate ore processing
Downstream Processing
• Uranium Ore processing
Uranium Mines - Australia
Uranium Resources
Copper-Uranium Ore
Olympic Dam Mine, Australia
Olympic Dam Refinery, Australia
Olympic Dam Refinery, Australia
Downstream Processing
• Gold processing options
Gold Flakes
Gold Panning
Gold Flakes
Grinding and Cyanide Leaching
Musslewhite Mine, Ontario
Smelting Gold
Campbell Mine, Ontario
Pouring Slag
Musslewhite Mine, Ontario
Pouring Gold Bullion Bars
What its all about!
Gold Bullion
Samarco Iron Ore Flowsheet
Samarco Iron Ore Concentrator
Samarco Iron Ore Pipeline
Iron Ore Pellets
Malmberget, Norway
Downstream Processing
• Coal processing
Downstream Processing
• Coal processing
Downstream Processing
• Coal processing
Downstream Processing
• Coal processing
Downstream Processing
• Coal processing
Mine Life Cycle (continued)
STAGE 4 - Closure( 1 - 20 years )
• Mine
– Flood Pit
– Seal Underground workings
– Long-term Acid Rock Drainage plan for waste dumps
• Mill
–
–
–
–
Salvage Equipment
Raze Buildings
Contour and reseed site
Long-term ARD plan for tailing dam
Sustainability
• Important Factors
– Technical
– Economic
– Social/Political
– Environmental
• Past mining activities focused on only the first two
• The latter two have now become equally, if not
more important
Sustainability
• A Mine must plan for closure before it starts up
• A mining company must always consider local
communities in all parts of the world
• As an industry, we must find ways to enhance our
image and to influence government decision-making
• Future methods must reduce the footprint of mining
– no more open pits
– waste returned to the mine
– processing at the face
– robotics and remote-mining systems
Sustainability
• The BC Mining Industry must encourage its members
to institute vertical integration policies
• We need to invest in much more value-added
processing (i.e. smelting and refining in BC)
• Downstream manufacturing industries must be
encouraged to develop in BC
• This will provide the necessary systems to begin
significant recycling of metals and other materials in
the Pacific North-West
Sustainability
• Social/Political Issues
– Land Use
– Government policies
– The Influence of Activism
– Environmental concerns
– Aboriginal peoples and treaties
– Need for jobs and a diversified economy
• In BC, the Tatsenshini/Windy Craggy decision has
had important long-term impact on Mining
• Similarly, the Delgamuk decision and Nishka Treaty
are important to the future of BC's mining industry