APSC 150 Case Study 3 Sustainable Mining - is that possible? John A. Meech, Professor and Director Centre for Environmental Research in Minerals, Metals, and Materials (CERM3) Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering Who am I? John Meech • Professor and Director of CERM3 (Centre for Environmental Research in Minerals, Metals, and Materials) • Room 508D in the Forward Building • Email: jameech@gmail.com • Office: (604)-822-3984 Lectures Part 1: Protecting the Environment Lecture 1: Sustainable Mining – Is that possible? 25/02 Lecture 2: ARD & the Millennium Plug 27/02 Lecture 3: Confined Spaces in Mine Reclamation 01/03 Lectures Part 2: Protecting the Workers Lecture 4: Movie: Mine Rescue in Chile 04/03 Lecture 5: Mine Rescue at UBC 06/03 Lectures Part 3: Automation and Process Control Lecture 6: Process Automation in Mining 08/03 Lecture 7: Fuzzy Logic Control Systems 11/03 Lecture 8: Autonomous Haulage Trucks 13/03 Tutorials / Assignments 1: Metal Recovery from Britannia Mine Effluent - 2 parts 2: Mine Safety Issues - 2 parts 3: Mine Automation – Fuzzy Control Part 1: The Environment • The Miner of the 21st Century must know: – How – How – How – How to to to to monitor emissions protect the environment restore a mine site back to other uses get along with the neighbours • Mining today is a balance of three elements: – Techno-economic issues – Environmental issues – Socio-political issues } Sustainable Mining Who is a Miner? • An Engineer with many skills – Technical and Economic – Leadership and Management – Vision and Career Direction • Mining and Mineral Processing – Ore Identification and Mine/Plant Design – Mine Operation (Drilling, Blasting, Loading, Hauling) – Beneficiation (Liberation, Separation, & Extraction) – Environmental Control & Safety What is CERM3? A multidisciplinary research centre dedicated to conducting environmental research for the mining industry CERM3 Mission Statement • Foster High Regard for Sustainable Mining • Develop Innovative Methods to Ensure the Future Sustainability of the Mining Industry • Train the Next Generation of Mining Engineers to Meet the New Demands of the 21st Century • Improve the Image of Mining in Society What is Sustainable Mining? • How can we possibly mine sustainably? – When mined, ore bodies are depleted – Land is consumed – Land is restored (reclaimed/remediated) – Communities are sustained – Best practices are used – Care and respect is paid to First Nations X X Environmental Monitoring and Control Hydrosphere: – Acid Rock Drainage - pH and metallic ion pollution Atmosphere: – – – – – SO2 Atmospheric Emission - acid rain Dust CO2 emissions (and other GHGs) Arsenic from some gold mining operations Mercury from artisanal mining operations Lithosphere: – Storage of solid waste (tailings and waste rock) • • • • dust slope stability effluent and solid emissions (catastrophic) landscape impacts (aesthetic) Community Issues • First Nations and Aboriginal People • land claims and land use • employment • traditional use and cultural issues • Long-term Stability of Small Communities • • • • • creating parallel industries and businesses providing education and health care training and apprenticeship programs governance of the community mine closure planning • Global Sustainability • • • • poverty reduction in the Third World cleaning up small-scale and/or legacy mining sites responsible operation: First World standards sharing rewards with local communities Sustainable Decision-making Economic Issues • size and grade and type of orebody • available infrastructure (roads, rail, water, power) • market conditions and transportation costs • raw materials supply Technical Issues • standard processes and procedures • innovation (Who wants to be first?) • automation = Improved Performance and Morale • safety of the work force and local communities Socio-Political Issues • respect for local customs and governance • risk of political uprisings • risk of losing social licence to mine • environmental effects (water, air, landscape) Gold Associated with Quartz Pouring a Gold Bar Canadian Diamonds 99.999% Copper (5-9s) But besides the Reward, what else? • Before mining – plan for the neighbourhood • During operation – protect the environment • After operation – plan for closure – mitigate/restore the site – sustain the communities – sustain the company Antamina Tailings Dam, Peru Reclamation at Bluebell Mine Island Copper Site Reclamation After 20 years of operation, the Island Copper Mine began reclaiming its waste dumps in 1996. Tailings were discharged deep into the adjacent fjord known as Rupert Inlet. Island Copper Pit Flooding Pit was flooded with sea water to create a meromictic lake – 3 layers: Top – clean water; Middle – a reactor for surface ARD; Bottom – retain precipitated solids. Island Copper Pit Flooding Pit was flooded with sea water to create a 3-layer meromictic lake: Top – clean water; Middle – a reactor for surface ARD; Bottom – retain precipitated solids. Deep Sea Disposal of Tailings MillMill EZD – Euphotic depth UWD – – Upwelling depth EZD Euphotic depth MLD – – Mixed Layer depth UWD Upwelling depth MLD – Mixed Layer depth Reclaimed slopes – Bullmoose Mine, B.C. Reclaimed pit – Igarapé Bahia, Amazon Mark Creek, Kimberley • Sullivan mine reclamation activities at Mark Creek, Kimberley Reclaimed Meadow – Luscar Coal, AB Tailings Reclamation at Vale-Inco Flooded Pits – ARD source Three-lift Tailings Dam Tailings Dam failure – Los Frailes, Spain Safety in Mining – slope stability Imagine… A Mine that is Green and Clean Reclamation at Bullmoose Where • People live, work, and play safely and local communities can rely on a long-term future • First Nations work and learn about Mining in a climate that respects their heritage and culture Igarapé Bahia Gold Mine, Carajas, Amazon • Protection of the environment is paramount and Society’s image of Mining is high Gregg River Coal Mine Hinton, Alberta Imagine… The Centre for Environmental Research in Minerals, Metals, & Materials That is • Located at UBC-Vancouver and at Britannia Beach • Linked virtually to institutions involved with Mining • Addressing small-scale mining • Conducting environmental research, and outreaching to communities • Developing methods to increase safety, reduce costs and improve productivity Research Team Leaders Ten world-renowned researchers in their respective fields lead the work Dirk Van Zyl Life Cycle Analysis Waste Management Sustainable Mining Small-scale Mining Mercury Pollution Marcello Veiga Research Collaborations Extensive Links with International Collaborators Ecole Polytechnique Mining Queen's University Mining Laval University Mining and Metallurgy McGill University Mining and Metallurgy King’s College London Mechanical Eng. Helsinki University of Technology Royal Military Academy Mechanical Eng. Cardiff University Chemical Eng. University of Oulu Electrical Eng. Laurentian University Mining Tech. Univ. of Denmark Agricultural Sciences University of Alberta Civil/Mining Tohoku University Materials Research Institute Univ. of Saskatchewan Civil Eng. University of Siegen Inst. of Automatic Control University of Utah Mining University of Haifa Computational Mathematics New Mexico State Mining University of Queensland Sustainable Minerals Institute University of Chile Mining Massey University Soil and Earth Sciences CETEM Rio de Janeiro Uganda World Bank Maintenance/ Equipment Robotics Waste Management UNIDO Global Hg Project ARD Treatment PhytoReclamation Super Computer M.Eng. Program Sustainable Mining University of Capetown Chemical Engineering Mineral Processing Bulk Mining UBC at Britannia Beach Britannia Beach UBC-CERM3 has been involved at Britannia Beach since 2001 when we installed a plug inside the 2200 Level tunnel to create a research facility. This plug had the “spin-off” benefit of eliminating all pollution flowing into Britannia Creek and the surface waters of Howe Sound. UBC to Britannia Beach Britannia Mine Millennium Plug Research Project Pollution Plume – pre 2001 Millennium Plug Research Project Pollution Plume – pre 2001 Outcome – September 2011 Return of Adult Pink Salmon to Britannia Creek Numerous Media Reports Performance of CERM3 (2001-2011) Helped create Bridge Program linking health care, policy, and engineering Bridge Program students wrote 3 successful CIHR proposals ($300,000) UNIDO Global Mercury Project is managed under UBC-Mining Large research efforts on Waste Management Methods First group to address pollution problems at Britannia Mine UBC-Mining has increased in population to over 300 people Decreased Energy in Mining Facilities: - Rock Fragmentation Lab - Simulation Lab - High-Pressure Grinding Roll Breakthrough Targets: - Integration of Mine/Mill processes - Reduced Comminution Energy - hyper-velocity strain rates - lower cost fragmentation Passive ARD Treatment Systems Facilities: - Constructed wetlands & greenhouse - Phytoreclamation & Microbiology labs Breakthrough Targets: - Protocols for passive ARD processes for use with high flow/high metals Phytoreclamation Certain plants selectively accumulate metal ions from the ground – phyto-remediation/reclamation. In 2003, CERM3 and Massey University conducted a full-scale field trial in Brazil for CVRD (Vale) to show that “phyto-mining” is possible. Hyperaccumulation of Gold by Plants 07/5/03 in the ground 12/5/03 19/5/03 in the plants 28/5/03 target 0.6 g Au/t >>> 60 g Au/t >>> 100 g Au/t 27/6/03 Sustainable Mining and Communities Led by • Dr. Malcolm Scoble • Dr. Marcello Veiga Over 25 graduate students Communities affected by Mining Small-scale Mining First Nations and Aboriginal Peoples Village of Noatak Science Class, Red Dog, Alaska The Mining Professionals of the 21st Century The Mining Professors of the 21st Century Ginger Gibson (Ph.D. student) working with NWT Communities who work at Ekati Diamond Mine (Trudeau Scholar) Jennifer Hinton (Ph.D. student) working with women in a Ugandan Mining Community The Environment & Small-scale Mining • Serra Pelada, Amazon Serra Pelada Pit, Amazon, Brazil, 1980 The Environment & Small-scale Mining • Serra Pelada, Amazon The Environment & Small-scale Mining • Serra Pelada, Amazon • Hg use in Gold-Mining Serra Pelada Pit, Amazon, Brazil, 1980 The Environment & Small-scale Mining • Serra Pelada, Amazon • Hg use in Gold-Mining • Open-pit Aquaculture Serra Pelada, Amazon, Brazil, 2003 The Environment & Small-scale Mining Cachoeira, Brazil Guyana • Serra Pelada, Amazon • Hg use in Gold-Mining • Open-pit Aquaculture • UNIDO Project Indonesia Africa (Mozambique, Tanzania, Sudan Zimbabwe, Uganda ) South America (Ecuador, Venezuela, Surinam) “…islands of prosperity in a sea of poverty…” after Marcello Veiga, Head, UN Global Mercury Project and Professor of Mining Eng. at UBC Venezuela Automation in Mining Continuous, autonomous, bulk methods CSIRO’s remotely controlled micro-tunnel drilling technology Mining Automation Navigation Instrumentation Remote Mining from Surface Magnetic Levitation Hoisting Team Thunderbird and Autonomous Ground Vehicles Terry Gong with Bebot Miners Mag Wheels! Innovative Mining Processes • Integration of batch processes Hoisting & Underground Haulage 1/4 scale continuous loop Magnetic Levitation Hoisting System Supervisor: John Meech Student: Ryan Ulansky Waste Management Practices Antamina Mine/Teck-Cominco Questa Mine/Molycorp Porgera Mine/Placer-Dome Led by Dr. Bern Klein and Dr. Ward Wilson Waste Management and Mine Closure Geothermal Energy at Britannia Beach Graph of Monthly Inflow and Height (for constant outflow of 620 m3/h) Geothermal Capacity at the Britannia Mine Resource and Heat Demand Month Available Resource1 Heat Demand2 Ave. inflow (m3/hr) Temp. (°C) Capacity (MWt) Jan 450 10.5 Feb 430 Mar Future Demand3 kWh t MW t MW t 3.23 402,000 0.41 3.38 11.0 3.32 384,000 0.44 3.57 435 11.0 3.36 334,000 0.34 2.81 Apr 505 11.5 4.18 295,000 0.31 2.56 May 885 11.5 7.33 248,000 0.25 2.08 Jun 1240 11.5 10.27 201,000 0.21 1.75 Jul 1035 11.5 8.57 196,000 0.20 1.65 Aug 540 12.0 4.77 202,000 0.21 1.70 Sep 350 12.0 3.09 221,000 0.23 1.92 Oct 375 12.0 3.31 260,000 0.27 2.19 Nov 655 11.0 5.06 318,000 0.34 2.76 Dec 530 10.0 3.51 400,000 0.41 3.36 Total/Ave. 620 11.3 4.98 3,461,000 0.30 2.47 on 95% extraction efficiency, a chill temperature of 4 °C, inflows reported by remediation studies. on current residential and commercial heating costs (oil, propane, and electricity). 3 based on current demand plus expanded Museum activities and 510 new homes in Britannia N. and S. 1 based 2 based Heat and Electrical Capacity assuming constant outflow of 620 m3/hour Average Inflow (m3/hour) Average Outflow (m3/hour) Flow Difference (m3/hour) Volume Change (m3) Height at Start of Month (m)* Heating Capacity (MW t) Jan 450 620 -170 -126,480 200 Feb 430 620 -190 -127,680 Mar 435 620 -185 Apr 505 620 May 885 Jun Month Electrical Capacity (MW) (kWh) 4.45 0.39 290,269 180 4.79 0.36 245,168 -137,640 161 4.79 0.34 252,423 -115 -82,800 128 5.13 0.30 213,109 620 265 197,160 100 5.13 0.26 193,576 1240 620 620 446,400 157 5.13 0.33 248,993 Jul 1035 620 415 308,760 223 5.13 0.42 302,049 Aug 540 620 -80 -59,520 263 5.48 0.47 351,137 Sep 350 620 -270 -194,400 255 5.48 0.46 332,842 Oct 375 620 -245 -182,280 230 5.48 0.43 319,194 Nov 655 620 35 25,200 206 4.79 0.40 286,133 Dec 530 620 -90 -66,960 209 4.11 0.40 298,923 Ave./Tot. 620 620 0 0 - 4.99 0.38 3,333,815 * based on measured volume-height relationship determined by 4100 Level Plug Test in 2002. Financial Analysis Summary of the four phases of the project (2004 est.) Lot Premium1 ($x103) Annual Revenue ($x103) Annual Operating Costs ($x103) Excess Revenue 2 ($x103) Payback Period (years) 503 - 79.6 27.3 52.3 9.6 Year 3 Existing – 106 units 2,450 3 - 561.0 133.5 427.5 5.7 Year 4 North - 110 units 1,445 660 330.7 106.6 224.1 3.5 Year 7 South – 400 units 3,244 1,200 1,312.3 439.2 873.1 2.3 Overall 7,262 1,860 2,159.0 706.5 1,452.5 3.7 Phase Description Year 1 Demo - 25 units Capital Costs ($x103) 1 premium on each new lot sold of $3,000 2 after local taxes ($50,000) and royalties ($66,820) 3 includes micro-hydropower generation Rates and royalties assumptions: Current power rates = $ 0.062 / kWh (residential) and $ 0.069 / kWh (commercial) Future power rates = $ 0.082 / kWh (residential) and $ 0.089 / kWh (commercial) Discount rates = 15% from future BC Hydro rates for residents and business Royalty payment = $ 2.00 / MWh for thermal power Royalty payment = $ 3.00 / MWh for electrical power Benefits of CERM3 to Canada Canadian Mining is recognized as second to none (research competition from Australia by AMIRA is fierce) Strengthens our reputation to protect the environment (emphasizes a global approach to Sustainable Mining) Commitment to Sustainable Mining (keeps our industry competitive and in demand) Create facilities to integrate "soft" and "hard“ research (Technical and Socio-Political problems and solutions must be exchanged) Complement Laurentian University initiative (Centre of Excellence in Mining) (provides collaboration across Canada in Mining Innovation) Thanks for your Attention Good Luck with the Tutorial Assignments and Quiz