Canadian Mining Journal September 2016

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September 2016

MIGHTY & MASSIVE

MACHINES HELP MINERS MAKE MONEY A LOOK AT WHAT’S ON DISPLAY AT MINEXPO IN LAS VEGAS

Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 40069240

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Delivering the right mix of mining services, so you always make the most of your resources.

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Welcome to uptime. Welcome to Metso.

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Visit us at Booth #1943 North Hall • www.metso.com/MINExpo2016 “Step into our Mine” and learn how Metso’s solutions are designed to meet your needs and challenges.

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CANADIAN Mining Journal www.canadianminingjournal.com

SEPTEMBER 2016 VOL. 137, NO. 7

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FEATURES CANADIANS WORKING IN THE U.S. 10 Barrick Gold’s three mines in Nevada are some of the more profitable gold mines in the world.

18 Taseko Mines ventures into U.S. mining by acquiring copper project in Arizona.

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NEW MINING TECHNOLOGY 24 A custom approach to providing

miners with environmental solutions.

30 Easy-to-use technology enables machine operators to get better results.

36 New component designs help

existing equipment go from ‘goodenough’ performance to ‘optimal.’

40 Age-old practice of ‘blasting’ gets new tools to make it safer and more productive.

DEPARTMENTS 5 EDITORIAL |

Editor Russell Noble talks about MINExpo in Las Vegas and weighs the good and not-so-good things about the city that hosts this massive mining equipment show every four years.

6 IN MY MINE(D) |

In keeping with the equipment theme of this issue, James Reyes-Picknell, a mechanical engineer and author of “Uptime, Strategies for Excellence in Maintenance Management” talks about equipment maintenance and how cutting back on routine servicing will increase overall costs.

8 LAW |

Bianca Depres of Gowling WLG, Montreal, talks about ‘crowdfunding’ and asks: `Will the UK be next to join this trend?”

60 CSR & MINING |

A regular column by Michael Torrance, a lawyer with Norton Rose Fulbright, Toronto, looks at sustainable development goals and the mining sector.

62 UNEARTHING TRENDS |

Bruce Sprague, EY’s Canadian Mining and Metals Leader, looks at how “Agility in a volatile market can change the game.”

SEPTEMBER 2016

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30 ABOUT THE COVER

This month’s cover provided

by Hitachi.

Coming in October Mining in Quebec will be the focus on next month’s issue, along with a special look at Equipment Maintenance & Repair.

For More Information

Please visit www.canadianminingjournal.com for regular updates on what's happening with Canadian mining companies and their personnel both here and abroad. A digital version of the magazine is also available at www.digital.canadianminingjournal.com

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL

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CANADIAN Mining Journal

EDITORIAL

A non-stop pace & place

September 2016 Vol. 137 — No. 7 38 Lesmill Rd. Unit 2, Toronto, Ontario M3B 2T5 Tel. (416) 510-6789 Fax (416) 447-7658 www.canadianminingjournal.com

Editor Russell B. Noble 416-510-6742 rnoble@canadianminingjournal.com Field Editor Marilyn Scales 613-270-0213 mscales@canadianminingjournal.com Production Manager Jessica Jubb Circulation Manager Cindi Holder 416-510-6789, ext. 43544 cholder@glacierbizinfo.com Publisher & Sales Robert Seagraves 416-510-6891 rseagraves@canadianminingjournal.com Sales Western Canada, Western U.S.A. and Quebec Joelle Glasroth 416-510-5104 jglasroth@canadianminingjournal.com Toll Free Canada & U.S.A.: 1-888-502-3456 ext 2 or 43734 Group Publisher Anthony Vaccaro

Established 1882 Canadian Mining Journal provides articles and information of practical

use to those who work in the technical, administrative and supervisory aspects of exploration, mining and processing in the Canadian mineral exploration and mining industry. Canadian Mining Journal (ISSN 0008-4492) is published 10 times a year by BIG L.P. Mining.

BIG is located at 38 Lesmill Rd., Unit 2. Toronto, ON, M3B 2T5.

Phone (416) 510-6891.

Legal deposit: National Library, Ottawa. Printed in Canada. All rights reserved. The contents of this magazine are protected by copyright and may be used only for your personal non-commercial purposes. All other rights are reserved and commercial use is prohibited. To make use of any of this material you must first obtain the permission of the owner of the copyright. For further information please contact Russell Noble at 416-510-6742.

Subscriptions — Canada: $51.95 per year; $81.50 for two years.

USA: US$64.95 per year. Foreign: US$77.95 per year. Single copies: Canada $10; USA and foreign: US$10. Canadian subscribers must add HST and Provincial tax where necessary. HST registration # 809744071RT001.

From time to time we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us via one of the following methods: Phone: 1-888-502-3456 ext 2; Fax: 416-447-7658; E-mail: cholder@glacierbizinfo.com Mail to: Cindi Holder, BIG Mining LP, 38 Lesmill Rd, Unit 2, Toronto. ON, M3B 2T5.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Magazine Fund toward our editorial costs.

SEPTEMBER 2016

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By Russell Noble

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hen MINExpo, that indescribably large mining equipment show in Las Vegas, hits my calendar every four years, I get mixed emotions about attending because I’ve been to the city more than 30 times over my career, and quite honestly, I’m not a big fan of the place anymore.

For starters, it’s loud and filled with an abundance of ‘socially refreshed’ people determined to live up to the city’s slogan: “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”

There’s something about the freedom to walk the streets with a beer in one hand, and a cigar in the other, that makes people feel far more confident and outspoken than most of them probably are in their day-to-day lives back home.

It’s a superficial place to say the least, but in fairness to convention organizers, there’s probably no better place in North America to put on a show than in Las Vegas.

Without question, the place has drawing power, and its massive facilities are ideal for housing hundreds of exhibitors who pay handsomely to show off their wares. And the desert weather in September is also perfect for those with outdoor exhibits because their displays are too big for the indoors.

Regardless of whether it’s in the cool indoors, or outside in the desert sun, MINExpo is a hugely popular event that happens every four years that brings together people from around the world to look at what’s new in mining equipment and services.

For three solid days, and I truly mean solid days that start with many pre-show breakfasts and seminars, and end with hospitality suites that are open late into the following wee hours, delegates are invited to ‘kick the tires,’ literally, of machines that are bigger than many houses, that can load and carry more rock and dirt in one pass than any one person could shovel in a lifetime, to the most mind-boggling thing of all, the price tags on many of the products that are “For Sale.”

In fact, what’s amazing to me is the number of “Sold” signs that are proudly slapped on the sides of machines that cost more than the operating budgets of many small towns.

Again, it is mind boggling, but the one thing about MINExpo is that not everything costs a fortune because the show has something for almost everyone involved with the mining industry.

And that includes the spouses who often attend simply because; “It’s Vegas Baby,” plus, they want to see what attracts their partners to the show, over and over again?

Regardless of who you are, it’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the size and content of MINExpo.

Later in this issue you’ll see what I’m talking about because we are featuring just a few of the companies that will be displaying their products at the show.

Most of the names you’ll probably recognize because they’ve been serving the mining industry for years, and likewise, have been at MINExpo in the past.

But, like the industry itself, there are many new faces, and from the advanced Exhibitors’ List I saw recently, there are many new products at the show this year too, and for that reason, I’m looking forward to the event, and to seeing many of you too.

Please stop at the Canadian Mining Journal Booth 4377, in the ‘cool’ Central Hall, and say “hello.”

CMJ CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL

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IN MY MINE(D)

Spend a little on reliability, save a lot on maintenance

By James Reyes-Picknell

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aintenance is big part of any mine’s operating Spending on getting the right maintenance program, spendcosts, but is it too big a part? These days everyone ing on good planning and scheduling and then having the disciis looking for ways to cut costs, but cutting costs pline of sticking to it will save you money. to maintain equipment usually backfires. If you There are several methods used to determine the best maintecut maintenance, reliability will suffer, downtime will increase nance activities to avoid failures and the consequences of failures. and costs will grow. It’s where you cut that matters.

The best is Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM). It comes We spend on maintenance in two ways – discretionary and from the aircraft industry where it has had undeniably huge sucnon-discretionary. Breakdown maintenance is non-discretionary. cess in avoiding crashes due to equipment failure. Aircraft are not We do repairs in response to equipment failures. all that unlike mining equipment – complex electrical/mechaniWhen breakdowns affect production, we do all we can to get cal systems with electronic controls, operating under high stressthings back online. Downtime is expensive – a huge lost oppor- es in challenging operating environments. Of course not all tunity. The whole organization is engaged in battling the conse- equipment failure in mining is as critical, so applying RCM on quences while maintenance deals with the failure itself. If we all systems can be overkill. We use other methods for less critical need more people for repair work, then we disrupt other jobs by applications. pulling resources, usually preventive and predictive work. Oops – we’ve just moved spending from discretionary (proactive) to non-discretionary (reactive) and set the stage for future breakdowns. It’s great for CUTTING MAINTENANCE WILL INCREASE the adrenalin junkies and would-be heroes, but bad YOUR MAINTENANCE COSTS. SPENDING for business.

Our non-discretionary spending rises, total spending rises and revenue potential falls. Breakdown ON RELIABILITY REDUCES MAINTENANCE maintenance can be the most expensive – often by a COSTS AND CAN DO IT QUICKLY. factor of three times or more. Usually it is unplanned (or poorly planned) and rushed. You pull the stops – spending on overtime, rush delivery of parts, moving people from other work to the repair, etc.

This will cost about 2 to 3 % of the capital cost of any asset.

Planned proactive work, by contrast, is well planned, provi- Considering that maintenance costs will far exceed capital costs sioned, unrushed and executed during normal hours. Moreover, over the life of the asset (often by a factor of 4 times or more), if it is well targeted, then it helps us to avoid the breakdown sit- the potential for savings is high. In fact, we usually identify uations that are so common. immediate savings so doing this actually reduces spending right Notice the “if ”– doing the right proactive work is very away. With smart financing we can keep that cost out of CAPEX, important. Maintenance programs make extensive use of planned spread it out and keep cash outlays below the immediate payback component replacements or other preventive actions and only a the analysis generates. It pays for itself and quickly! little bit of predictive maintenance. Some replacements are needCutting maintenance will increase your maintenance costs. ed, but some are not. All intrusive work (such as replacement of Spending on reliability reduces maintenance costs and can do it components) can lead to “premature” failures that arise because quickly. You shift money from reactive to proactive efforts and of random factors we’ve inadvertently created in doing the avoid costly failure consequences as well as costly repairs. Times CMJ replacements. Those “infant mortality” failures are obvious – the are tight – can we still afford not to do this? equipment is back in the shop or undergoing repair very shortly after PM was done. Those failures are a sign that the mainte- JAMES REYES-PICKNELL is a Mechanical Engineer (University of nance program is poorly constructed. Often, predictive mainte- Toronto 1977) with 39 years in Maintenance and Asset Management, nance could have told us that there was no need for the replace- and the author of “Uptime – Strategies for Excellence in Maintenance Management,” now in its 3rd edition. ment, had it been used.

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LAW

Crowdfunding: will the UK be next to join this trend?

By Bianca Déprés

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t a time when companies in the mining sector are struggling to raise capital to finance their ventures, some Canadian mining companies have turned to crowdfunding platforms as an innovative solution.

The concept has been around for some time in various fields, including new technology, entertainment and media, and has been relatively successful. As a result, some mining companies have decided to utilise it.

The Toronto-based company Klondike Strike Inc. was the first to offer a mining-centric equity crowdfunding platform. Its platform, Red Cloud, operates in Canada through the offering memorandum exemption under section 2.9 of National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions (“NI 45-106”) and as an exempt market dealer through National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Exemptions (“NI 31-103”).

SIMILARLY TO CANADA, A UK CROWDFUNDING PLATFORM COULD BE MINING-CENTRIC AND BE OVERSEEN BY THE FCA. By relying on NI 45-106 as opposed to a crowdfunding exemption, Red Cloud allows mining companies to solicit investments from a wider range of investors. For instance, the platform requires a minimum of two thousand five hundred Canadian dollars (CND$2,500) per investor and the maximum amount depends on whether the investor qualifies as non-eligible investor or eligible investor. Non-eligible investors may invest a maximum of ten thousand Canadian dollars (CND$10,000), cumulatively, for all investments made within a 12-month period. Alternatively, eligible investors may invest a maximum of thirty thousand Canadian dollars (CND$30,000), cumulatively, for all investments made within a 12-month period. Furthermore, those who qualify as institutional investors, accredited investors or family, friends and business associates may invest without any amount limitations. Currently, the various mining companies listed on the Red Cloud platform rely on an equity-based model, whereby investors receive shares and/or flow-through shares in the com8|

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pany in exchange for their investment. However, the company Klondike Strike wants to offer streaming agreements and other financing tools on the Red Cloud platform in the near future.

The Australian online platform Mineral Intelligence is hoping to do the same. The founders, Cameron McLean and Joe Treacy, have recently launched a five hundred thousand Australian dollar (A$500,000) capital raising campaign on the crowdfunding platform, Equitise, in order to commercialise its own mining-centric equity portal. The Mineral Intelligence platform would allow mining companies to list their mining projects free of charge, allowing them to raise funds from a large number of small investors. Investors on their end would be required to pay a US$5,000 annual fee to access the database. This is to ensure that only genuine investors with the capacity to invest would participate.

The founders envision investments ranging typically from US$250 to US$500,000 via a significantly larger pool of retail investors.

Currently, Australia has no laws or regulations that facilitate investment through crowdfunding and their securities regulatory regime is poorly suited to such a financing model. For instance, the Corporations Act2 has stringent disclosure requirements.

While it ensures investors’ protection by giving them access to detailed information about a company’s historical performance, assets, operations, risks, funding and so on, it also imposes on companies the costs of gathering, processing and generally auditing the information. While a crowd-sourced equity funding bill had been presented to the Australian parliament in December 2015, it silently died in the Senate.

As for the UK, it’s structure falls somewhere between Canada and Australia. While there are currently no crowdfunding platforms for the mining sector, there are numerous ones in various other sectors, including renewable energy. These are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) and fall within the scope of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2002. Furthermore, in April 2014 the FCA introduced new rules for investment through crowdfunding that apply to “non-readily realisable securities”. These types of securities are regarded as illiquid, hard-toprice securities for which there is no, or only a limited, secondary market. From a crowdfunding perspective, this implies equity products and structured equity products, such as convertible notes or structured debt products. Under the rules, direct offer financial promotions for non-readily realisable securities may only be made to the following types of investors: WWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

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regulated investment advice or investment management services from an authorised person Retail clients that are venture capital or corporate finance contacts Retail clients who are certified or self-certify as sophisticated investors Retail clients who are certified as high net worth investors Retail clients who certify that they have not invested, and will not invest, more than 10% of their net investible financial assets in non-readily realisable securities.

Similarly to Canada, a UK crowdfunding platform could be mining-centric and be overseen by the FCA. In such a context, the minimum amount required to be invested could be determined by the platform and the maximum could be based on the category within which the investor falls, based on the regulations.

Introducing a crowdfunding platform for mining companies in the UK would allow junior exploration companies to seek funds from a larger pool of investors generally not reachable through traditional financing sources. It would also allow smaller retail

Photo: wildpixel, iStock.com

w Retail clients that confirm that they will receive

investors to have access to early stage investment opportunities in the sector that have historically only been accessible to larger financial players.

It is clear that the legal framework still needs to be adjusted in the UK in order for the mining sector to turn to crowdfunding platforms. However, with the constant growth of the start-up community in the area of payments and web-based platforms and the fintech industry becoming increasingly present, it seems to only be a matter of time before crowdfunding becomes a popular tool to raise funds in this sector.

CMJ BIANCA DÉPRÉS is an avocate at Gowling WLG, Montreal

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CANADIANS WORKING IN THE U.S.

triple PLAY

BARRICK’S NEVADA MINES PAY OUT FOR GOLD MINER

By Russell Noble

E

lko, Eureka and most of all, Winnemucca are the names of three places that most people have never heard of, and moreover, have no idea where they’re located.

Adding the names Cortez, Goldstrike and Turquoise Ridge probably doesn’t help much either when it comes to pinpointing these locations.

But the words “in the desert” and “good fortune” are two clues that should help the inquisitive lead to Nevada where the three mines are located.

It’s also where Barrick Gold of Toronto is now working to make those three mines some of the more productive and profitable gold mines in the entire industry.

As most people know, there are few Canadian mining companies that have experienced more success than Barrick Gold of Toronto when it comes to developing gold mines.

In fact, since it was founded in 1983 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Peter Munk, the

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Ambition, combined with vision and drive, is part of what has brought Barrick

eY

Gold this far and it’s because of high-quality mines like Cortez, Goldstrike and Turquoise Ridge, that the company is in a position to increase profits by reducing production costs and improving productivity.

Cortez

Goldstrike

Turquoise Ridge

company has discovered, developed or operated more than 30 gold properties around the world, and thanks to its unrelenting drive to become an industry leader, it has earned the title as The World’s Number One Gold Miner.

For more than 33 years now, Barrick Gold has worked in countries including Canada, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Zambia, and the United States, now home to three of its most important assets: the Cortez, Goldstrike and Turquoise Ridge mines.

Goldstrike and Cortez, along with its Lagunas Norte mine in Peru, the Veladero mine in Argentina and the joint venture Pueblo Viejo mine in Dominican Republic (Barrick owns 60 per cent), are expected to account for about 70 per cent of the company’s gold production in 2016 at all-in sustaining costs of

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Cortez

CANADIANS WORKING IN THE U.S.

$650-$700 per ounce. Barrick’s portion of Turquoise Ridge accounts for another five per cent of production at all-in sustaining costs of $640-$700 per ounce.

The company is targeting gold production of up to 5.5 million ounces in 2016, at all-in sustaining costs somewhere in the range of $750-$790 per ounce, the lowest among all senior producers. Barrick says it plans to maintain production levels between 4.5-5.5 million ounces of gold through 2018. The company has also set an aggressive target to reduce all-in sustaining costs to below $700 per ounce by 2019.

While the company’s production levels have declined in recent years, that has been intentional. Since early 2015, Barrick has undertaken a sweeping overhaul of its portfolio, selling non-core mines and paying down more than $4 billion in debt.

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to focus on a smaller number of core mines in the Americas region.

Barrick has also re-organized itself around a decentralized model that puts more accountability and authority at the mine level, empowering local mine managers to think of themselves as the CEO of their own business.

The company is no longer concerned on growing its production volume. Instead, Barrick says it will focus exclusively on growing free cash flow per share. While the company is producing fewer ounces than it has in recent years, it is generating significantly more free cash flow per share.

At the end of 2015, Barrick Gold had gold reserves of 91.9 million ounces and measured and indicated gold resources of 79.1 million ounces, the largest reserves and resources in the gold industry. At 1.88 grams per tonne, the company’s five core mines have an average reserve grade that

is more than double that of its peer-group average.

All of this sounds ambitious, but “ambition,” combined with “vision” and “drive,” is part of what has brought Barrick Gold this far and it’s because of high-quality mines like Cortez, Goldstrike and Turquoise Ridge, that the company is in a position to increase profits by reducing production costs and improving productivity.

In fact, the company’s Nevada operations have long served as the cornerstone of Barrick’s success, and the company is betting big on its future in the state.

Cortez Mine Take the company`s Cortez mine for example. Not only is it neck and neck with Goldstrike as Barrick`s largest gold-producing mine in Nevada, trailing it by 25,000 ounces, it`s also one of the oldest WWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

2016-08-30 8:54 AM

mining camps in the State, dating back to the 1860s when silver was discovered in the area. Located about 120km southwest of Elko, gold mining activity in the Cortez district took place on and off from the 1930s through the 1980s as various deposits were mined. But it was the discovery of the Pipeline deposit in the 1990s that kicked off the modern gold mining era at Cortez. Barrick acquired the property when it purchased Placer Dome in 2006, developing a new open pit and underground mine on the site known as Cortez Hills, located approximately 16 kilometers from the existing Pipeline pit and mill.

Cortez has more than 11 million ounces of gold in proven and probable reserves, and another 2.2 million ounces in measured and indicated resources. And Barrick hasn’t found the end of the Cortez Hills deposit yet. The mine is expected to produce around one million ounces of gold SEPTEMBER 2016

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The Cortez mine is expected to produce around one million ounces of gold in 2016 at all-in sustaining costs of $520-$550 per ounce, putting it in an elite class of global gold mines. in 2016 at all-in sustaining costs of $520$550 per ounce, putting it in an elite class of global gold mines.

Operations at Cortez are split between two complexes, Pipeline and Cortez Hills.

The Pipeline complex is mined via open

pit. Cortez Hills is mined via open pit and underground. Both complexes have heap leach facilities. Higher grade oxide ore is processed in an onsite conventional SAG mill with CIL recovery with a design capacity of 14ktpd. Refractory ore is trucked 125km to Goldstrike for processing in the roaster or autoclave-TCM circuit.

In 2015, Cortez mined 413,000 tonnes per day from open pit sources and 2,500 tonnes per day from the underground. The Cortez open pit is a conventional truck and shovel operation with a typical bench height of between six and 15 meters. The primary open pit loading fleet consists of four P&H electric shovels and one Hitachi EX5500. Hauling in the open pit is handled by 20 Liebherr T282s and 28 Caterpillar 795Fs. Underground mining at Cortez Hills consists of underhand cut and fill with cemented rock fill as backfill. The mine CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL

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Cortez

CANADIANS WORKING IN THE U.S.

operates parallel twin declines, five meters wide by 5.5 meters high with crosscuts every 150 meters.

Even after a long history of mining in the district, Barrick has big plans for Cortez. The company is currently working on two projects to expand gold mining in the district. The first is a major expansion of the Cortez Underground mine, known as the Deep South Project.

The project would contribute average underground production of more than 300,000 ounces per year between 2022 and 2026 at average all-in sustaining costs of approximately $580 per ounce. Initial capital costs are estimated to be $153 million. This expansion will enable the company to access an additional 1.7 million ounces of proven and probable gold reserves in the Deep South zone.

As part of the Deep South expansion, Barrick plans to use long hole stoping to mine the ore body rather than the cut and fill method, which will nearly double the mining rate to 4,500 tonnes per day, up from 2,500 tonnes per day. Based on current plans, production from the Deep South is expected to begin around 20222023, ramping up to full production rates in 2024.

Cortez is in the rare and enviable position of developing multiple orebodies, not just Deep South but also Barrick’s massive Goldrush greenfield discovery, located six kilometers from the Cortez Hills mine. At the end of 2015, the Goldrush deposit had an additional 8.6 14 |

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million ounces of measured and indicated resources at an average grade of 10.6 grams per tonne.

Barrick is now advancing a plan to build a new underground mine at Goldrush.

The prefeasibility study contemplates an estimated initial capital investment of approximately $1 billion.

Based on current plans, average annual production for the first full five years of operation is expected to be 440,000 ounces of gold at all-in sustaining costs of $665 per ounce. Refractory ore would be transported to Goldstrike for processing.

The prefeasibility study contemplates a mine life of 21 years, with first production as early as 2021, and sustained production in 2023.

And if that wasn’t enough, Barrick can’t seem to stop finding gold in the Cortez District. The company has a new target known as Fourmile, located one to three kilometers north of the Goldrush discovery. The area is geologically similar to the high grade Deep-Post and Deep-Star deposits in the Goldstrike area and early drilling has intersected mineralization well above the average grade of the measured and indicated resources at Goldrush.

Goldstrike Mine Barrick’s Goldstrike Mine is located in North-Eastern Nevada, 60 kilometers northwest of Elko on the Carlin Trend, a legendary gold region known for its worldclass deposits.

In fact, Goldstrike not only qualifies

for world-class status, it leads all others by holding the titles of “The Largest Gold Mine in North America,” and “The Largest Carlin-type Mine in the World.” (Carlin is a type of deposit where gold was epithermally deposited in carbonate or sedimentary rocks by magnetic heat) When Barrick purchased the Goldstrike property for $62 million at the end of 1986, the company was famously criticized for overpaying for a piece of land many thought was worthless.

Since then, Goldstrike has produced over 41 million ounces of gold, becoming one of the richest gold deposits in the world and fueling three decades of growth WWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

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Goldstrike Barrick’s Goldstrike Mine is located in NorthEastern Nevada, 60 kilometers northwest of Elko on the Carlin Trend, a legendary gold region known for its world-class deposits.

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Turquoise Ridge

CANADIANS WORKING IN THE U.S.

The Turquoise Ridge mine is located in the Potosi Mining District which is about 70km North-East of Winnemucca, Nevada.

Originally known as the Getchell mine and named after Nevada Senator Nobel Getchell, gold mining in the area goes back to 1934.

at Barrick. Today the mine has 8.5 million ounces of proven and probable gold reserves at an average grade of 3.59g/tonne and measured and indicated resources of 1.8Moz at average grade of 6.02g/tonne.

The operation consists of the Betze-Post open pit and the Meikle and Rodeo underground mines. Meikle is a high-grade ore body which is mined by transverse long16 |

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hole stoping, and underhand drift and fill mining methods. Rodeo is a trackless operation, using two different underground mining methods: long-hole open stoping and drift-and-fill.

In 2015, Goldstrike mined 194,000 tonnes per day from open pit sources and 4,800 tonnes per day from the underground. Like Cortez, Goldstrike’s open

pit is a conventional truck and shovel operation with a typical bench height of between six and 13 meters. While a portion of the pit has been backfilled, its original dimensions are astounding at 3.3km long by 2km wide by 600m deep. The primary open pit loading fleet consists of four P&H electric shovels and one Hitachi EX5500. Hauling in the open pit is hanWWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

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autoclaves for processing refractory ores.

More recently, the company has introduced a fifth processing option, known as Total Carbonaceous Matter (TCM).

Goldstrike is the only place in the world that is using a cyanide free leaching process on a commercial scale. Developed in house

by Barrick’s technology team, TCM uses a chemical known as “thiosfulate” in place of cyanide to treat double refractory ores that have gone through the autoclave circuit.

Annual production at Goldstrike peaked at an eye-popping 2.5 million ounces of gold in 2000. While the mine is producing closer to one million ounces a year now, it still ranks among the largest gold mines in the world.

dled by 30 Komatsu 930Es. In addition to hosting one of the largest gold orebodies in the world, Goldstrike has evolved into a cutting-edge gold processing hub that treats ore from the nearby Cortez mine and other sources. Goldstrike has facilities for heap leaching and conventional cyanide leaching. It is also home to a 16,000-tonne-per day roaster facility and SEPTEMBER 2016

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Turquoise Ridge The Turquoise Ridge mine is located in the Potosi Mining District which is about 70km North-East of Winnemucca, Nevada. Originally known as the Getchell mine and named after Nevada Senator Nobel Getchell, gold mining in the area goes back to 1934. Historic ruins of a town site constructed for those working the grounds date back to 1937 and make for a tourist attraction.

Turquoise Ridge is now a joint venture between Barrick, which owns 75 per cent and operates the mine, and Newmont, which owns the remainder.

The Turquoise Ridge mine is an underground operation that began production in 1998. At the end of 2015, it contained 5.25 million ounces in reserves (100 per cent basis) at an average grade of 15.3 grams per tonne – the highest reserve grade

in the company’s operating portfolio and among the highest in the entire gold industry. The mine also has 14.25 million ounces of measured and indicated resources (100 per cent basis). The deposit remains open to the northeast, with significant potential to add additional reserves and resources through drilling.

In 2015, Turquoise Ridge produced 271,250 ounces of gold (100 per cent basis) setting a new benchmark for annual production at the property. The mine is projected to exceed this benchmark in 2016, marking a near doubling of the site’s production over the last six years.

Accessed by two shafts, mining uses the cut-and-fill methods. Due to the irregular nature of the area’s geology the cut and fill method can require a combination of undercuts and topcuts in order to efficiently extract ore and minimize dilution.

Barrick maintains a surface quarry and crusher on site to provide aggregate for cemented backfill.

Like Cortez, Barrick has plans to expand production at Turquoise Ridge. The mine is now in the midst of a three-phase expansion project. The first phase involves making productivity improvements to sustain a mining rate of 1,825 tonnes per day. The second phase involves sinking a new ventilation shaft, which could be converted to a production shaft in the third phase of the project. This could double annual production to about 500,000 ounces of gold per year (100 per cent basis). The project requires initial capital expenditures of approximately $300-$325 million (100 per cent basis) for additional underground development and shaft construction.

Because the host rock at Turquoise Ridge is very soft, Barrick has developed a soft ground mining expertise which has helped the mine achieve the best safety record in the entire company, recently surpassing three years without a Lost Time Accident. This is made all the more notable when you take into account that the operation was nicknamed “the widow maker” when operations first began due to the amount of fatalities that occurred in those early days.

Today, Turquoise Ridge’s nickname CMJ should be “The Money Maker.”

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new new

B.C. MINER TAKES ON NEW CHALLENGES BY T

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w w

RISKS REWARDS

GES BY TAKING ON ARIZONA COPPER PROJECT

By Eastern Correspondent D’Arcy Jenish

T

aseko Mines Ltd. was incorporated in 1966 and for most of its first 50 years, the Vancouver-based company never strayed beyond the borders of British Columbia; initially as a junior exploration company, and more recently as owner and operator of the Gibraltar open-pit copper mine near Williams Lake in the Cariboo Region.

The company changed course for the first time in November, 2014 when it acquired the Florence Copper Project, a late-stage development play located within the municipal limits of the small city of Florence, Arizona (population 25,428), about 100km southeast of Phoenix.

“We wanted something we could manage with our balance sheet – a project that wasn’t going to require a huge capital outlay, but looked like it would generate good internal rates of return,” says Russel Hallbauer, Taseko’s president and chief executive officer. “That’s how we settled on the Florence project.”

Hallbauer and his colleagues only landed there after an exhaustive search. “We looked for assets we could develop down through western North America – Canada, the U.S. into

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A picturesque view of Taseko Mines’ huge Gibraltar openpit copper mine in British Columbia shows the scale of operations the company is capable of handling so its venture into the smaller Florence Copper Project in Arizona should be well within Taseko’s skill level and capabilities.

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CANADIANS WORKING IN THE U.S.

This schematic shows the recovery system of the Florence project.

Mexico and down to South America, but it was pretty competitive,” Hallbauer adds.

“We looked at about 600 properties – on the desktop – and we got it down to four or five.”

They not only strayed beyond the borders of B.C., but beyond their realm of expertise, which is open-pit mining. By comparison, the Florence project is a very different proposition. It is an in-situ copper recovery initiative. Essentially, that means injecting a solution of water and sulphuric acid into the formation and drawing dissolved copper to the surface through a series of recovery wells.

“In effect, it’s a mining operation without any of the surface disturbances typically associated with our business,” says Hallbauer. “The property is on the outskirts of the community of Florence and surrounded by farmland. An open-pit mine would be much more problematic to develop that close to an urban area.”

In-situ recovery is the only practical method of recovering in Florence due to the unusual nature of the deposit. It is a shallow deposit, ranging from 400 to 1,200 feet below surface, but the host rock is broken and jumbled quartz monzonite – a material that resembles sandstone – and it is saturated with water.

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The solution injected into the formation is a mixture of water and sulphuric, no stronger than household vinegar.

Because the formation is broken and fractured, the solution will move easily through it, dissolving the copper along the way and then being drawn to the surface by the recovery wells.

Previous owners of the property, including ConocoPhillips and BHP Billiton, looked at the feasibility of both open-pit mining and in-situ recovery and determined that the latter was the most economical. BHP acquired the property in

1996 and obtained all the permits required for an in-situ extraction pilot project. The company constructed a series of injection and recovery wells – 24 in total – and proved that the extraction process works, but did not follow through and put the property into production.

BHP allowed the property to lay dormant for several years before selling it in 2010 along with all the relevant permits to Vancouver-based Curis Resources.

Curis assembled its own operating team, most of whose members have expertise in hydrology and experience in in-situ mining. The company applied for updated and amended permits, and conducted a pre-feasibility study.

According to that study, putting the mine into production would require a capital cost of $120 million (U.S.) and a pretax payback period of 2.6 years. The study estimated the total operating cost at $1.11 per pound (U.S.), average annual production of 75 million pounds and a 25-year mine life.

Since acquiring the property, Taseko has primarily focused on acquiring permits from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality that will allow it to conduct injection and recovery tests and construct a pilot processing plant, which WWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

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A field technician at the Florence site along with some of the surface apparatus already in position.

will cost about $25 million.

As well, the company must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the federal Environmental Protection Agency that it can safely drill through a groundwater aquifer, which

resides above and distinct from the mineral-bearing aquifer.

Taseko is overseeing the operation, but will rely on the team assembled by Curis to carry out the work. The company will use

the wells installed by BHP, which are laid out in a pattern resembling the five-side of a dice. The injection well is in the middle and the four recovery wells surround it.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

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CANADIANS WORKING IN THE U.S.

Each recovery well is located 70 feet from the injection well and the recovery wells are 100 feet from each other.

The deposit spans approximately 1,300 acres, and mining will occur in phases.

Injection and recovery will take place in one part of the deposit until all the copper has been extracted. Then a new set of wells will be drilled and instructed and the process will be repeated.

The solution injected into the formation

is a mixture of water and sulphuric, no stronger than household vinegar. Because the formation is broken and fractured, the solution will move easily through it, dissolving the copper along the way and then being drawn to the surface by the recovery wells.

The dissolved copper is then recovered through a process known as solvent extraction elector-winning – SX/EW for short.

The copper-bearing solution is pumped

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WinDer systeMs

Back home in Canada, its Gibraltar mine is the second largest open-pit copper operation in Canada, and fourth largest in North America. into a shallow pool, which resembles a swimming pool, and an electric current is run through it. That draws the copper out of the solution and it adheres to electrodes, forming thin plates measuring approximately four feet by six feet.

The Florence project is a long way from Taseko’s home base in B.C., and in-situ copper recovery represents a substantial departure from the company’s core expertise in open-pit mining.

Back home in Canada, its Gibraltar mine is the second largest open-pit copper operation in Canada, and fourth largest in North America.

The company acquired Gibraltar from the Swedish firm Boliden AB, which shut down the operation in 1998. The mine had been in operation for about 25 years under several owners, but the Taseko team believed the deposit was far from exhausted.

Between 1999 and 2004, they conducted an extensive drilling program and increased the proven reserves from 140 million tonnes to 850 million.

They put the property into production in 2004, and over the next decade invested $700 million building a new mill and concentrator. As a result of those investments, they’ve boosted production from 50 million pounds of copper production in 2005 to 145 million pounds last year.

Taseko owns three other development properties in B.C., the Aley niobium project in the northeast corner of the province, the New Prosperity copper-gold project, currently stalled over aboriginal land claims, and the Harmony gold project on Graham Island on the west coast.

But at the moment, however, the Florence copper project is the most likely to advance from development to production and boost Taseko’s production numbers, as well as its revenues and profitability. CMJ WWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

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NEW

MINING TECHNOLOGY ANSWERING AGE-OLD CHALLENGES WITH NEW TECHNIQUES

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A look at what’s available to help today’s miners be safer and more efficient

2016-08-30 11:09 AM

PROVIDING SOLUTIONS A CUSTOM APPROACH FOR THE MINING SECTOR

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G S

NEW MINING TECHNOLOGY

SPECIAL

REPORT

R

Dredging and dewatering tailings ponds is not a new technology but it`s becoming increasingly popular as more and more miners look at recycling because of the environmental, and profit factors

T

here are a multitude of ways to reduce environmental impacts in the mining sector, from extraction, to processing, to waste management, but over the years, the mining sector has been criticized for the environmental impacts of its activities.

In fact, recently we have seen more and more sustainability issues from across the country brought to the public’s attention, putting more pressure on governments to impose and enforce stricter regulations on the mining industry.

Leaders in the industry are making sustainability a priority in their strategies and business models, and one of the many ways mines can become more environmentally sustainable is through creative waste management solutions that can provide tremendous financial and environmental benefits.

But what do I mean by “creative waste management solutions?”

Quite simply, it means providing solutions that allow mines to increase performance, safety and efficiency, as well as recover value by processing their waste instead of disposing of it.

The secret is not so much in new technology, but more so in looking at, and using existing technology in creative ways that benefit miners and the environment.

Examples of these include mine slime management, and dredging and dewatering of tailing ponds.

What is dredging and dewatering of tailing ponds?

For decades, mines have been dealing with their waste by disposing of tailings in a pond. Today, the materials in these tailing ponds are seen as valuable and potentially usable. If mines extract them, they can use them. By using standard existing technologies such as dredges, dewatering boxes and centrifuges in different ways, miners are able to recover these materials and recycle them back into the process, or, as raw material. They are essentially brought back to life to become a valuable commodity… not waste.

New regulations requiring that mines clean up and reduce their reliance on tailing ponds have already started to see the light of day. This is only the beginning of what we expect will be much stricter regulations regarding tailing ponds. Mine owners and operators have an opportunity to be proactive and get ahead of the regulations by creatively CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

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NEW MINING TECHNOLOGY Huge pumps, both on shore and on barges, help miners manage tailings ponds levels and their contents as part of waste management programs designed to reduce environmental impacts.

employing these existing technologies to help solve their environmental challenges.

What is mine slime management?

Most underground mines use water for drilling, cutting, washing and dust control. This water, in addition to the normal seepage of groundwater, flows to underground holding sumps. Over time, fine rock cuttings, dust and sand build up in the sumps, eventually decreasing their holding capacity for mine wastewater, and needed to be cleaned.

The traditional approach to managing

underground slimes is costly and time-consuming. It involves allowing the solids to settle to the bottom of the sump while the cleaner water from the top flows over to a clean water sump. The harder, thicker slimes are typically cleaned out using scoop tram equipment and transported to a vacant area in the mine to dewater. The process can take up to six months.

Our company has developed a preventative approach that stops the build-up

NEED A BETTER BALANCE? JUST ASK GOLDER.

of mine slime from occurring in the first place. Having already tailored a centrifugation process to manage tailings in the oil sands, we applied this innovative thinking to customize a slime processing solution in the underground mine. This method provides several advantages over the traditional approach: accelerated slime management process; potential metal recovery from slimes; a reduction in equipment repairs and maintenance costs; and improved safety on site.

What are the benefits of these environmental solutions?

From mine slime management, to dredging and dewatering, the environmental solutions are advantageous to the mining industry for a variety of reasons:

1

Value Recovery: Instead of dispos-

Balancing your short and long term needs, engineering design and environmental priorities, and the interests of stakeholders, requires a partner who understands your challenges and objectives.

Visit Golder during the 2016 MINExpo – Booth #4729 to learn how our global mining team of over 1700 consultants in mine waste, mine water, mine environment and mine engineering and stability can help you strike the right balance.

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ing of it, processing waste through dredging and dewatering allows mines to recover minerals that can be reused in the mine’s processes.

2

Environmental Performance: At the end of the day, these solutions are turning waste into raw material and products. It has never been more crucial for companies in the mining sector to abide by increasingly stricter environmental regulations, and go above and beyond compliance to build profile as sustainability leaders.

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Cost Savings: More often than not, our environmental solutions enable mines to recover and reuse enough product to cover the costs of the services, and then some.

Convenience: By bringing solutions onsite to mining locations, we are providing customers with a safe, convenient, turn-key approach to managing and processing their waste onsite.

To conclude, the truth is, the mining industry needs to keep pace with sustainability requirements, and most importantly, the changing regulatory and compliance environment.

Soon, the industry will be not only encouraged but compelled to revisit the current way they do things and switch to solutions that are more environmentally friendly. The fact that these environmental solutions are hands-down better and often more cost-effective than current services makes adopting them sooner rather than later a virtual CMJ no-brainer.

Mining Contractors and Engineers

Footnote: Information for this Special Report provided by Todd Smith, Vice-president, Environmental Solutions – Onsite, Terrapure.

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EĞǁ ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ ŝƐ ŵĂƌŬĞĚůLJ ĚŝīĞƌĞŶƚ tŝƚŚ ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ ŽǀĞƌůĂLJ͕ ŶŽƚŚŝŶŐ ŝƐ ůĞŌ ƚŽ ĐŚĂŶĐĞ͘ dŚĞ ƉƌŽƉĞƌƟĞƐ ƐƉĞĐŝĮĞĚ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ĚĂƚĂ ƐŚĞĞƚƐ ĂƌĞ ŐƵĂƌĂŶƚĞĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĂĐƚƵĂů ƉƌŽĚƵĐƚƐ͘ KŶĞ ǁŽƵůĚ ƚŚŝŶŬ ƚŚŝƐ ŝƐ Ă ƌƵůĞ͕ ďƵƚ ůŽŽŬŝŶŐ Ăƚ ƚŚĞ ŽǀĞƌůĂLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŝŶ ŐĞŶĞƌĂů͕ ŝƚ ŝƐ ƐŽŵĞƟŵĞƐ ŶŽƚ ƚŚĞ ĐĂƐĞ͘ To ensure Duroxite is up to specs, ƚŚĞ ŵĂŶƵĨĂĐƚƵƌĞƌ ^^ ŚĂƐ ĂƉƉůŝĞĚ ŝƚƐ ŵĞƚĂůůƵƌŐŝĐĂů ŬŶŽǁůĞĚŐĞ ĂŶĚ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ƌĞƐŽƵƌĐĞƐ ƚŽ ŵĂŶƵĨĂĐƚƵƌĞ ĂŶ ŽǀĞƌůĂLJ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƚ ƚŚĂƚ ĚĞůŝǀĞƌƐ ŽŶ ŝƚƐ ƉƌŽŵŝƐĞƐ͘

dŚĞ ƌĞŵĂŝŶŝŶŐ Ϯϱй ŽĨ ŽǀĞƌůĂLJ ŝƐ ƚŚĞ ƚƌĂŶƐŝƟŽŶ ůĂLJĞƌ ŶĞĐĞƐƐĂƌLJ ƚŽ ŵĂŝŶƚĂŝŶ ŐŽŽĚ ďŽŶĚŝŶŐ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ďĂƐĞ ƉůĂƚĞ͘ Ŷ ŽƉƟŵĂů ĐĂƌďŝĚĞ ĐŽŵƉŽƐŝƟŽŶ ĞŶƐƵƌĞƐ ŚŽŵŽŐĞŶŽƵƐ ďŽŶĚŝŶŐ ďĞƚǁĞĞŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂƐĞ ŵĞƚĂů ĂŶĚ ŽǀĞƌůĂLJ͕ ĂĚĚŝŶŐ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ŚŝŐŚ ǁĞĂƌ ƌĞƐŝƐƚĂŶĐĞ ĂŶĚ ůŽŶŐ ƐĞƌǀŝĐĞ ůŝĨĞ ŽĨ ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ͘ ŶŽƚŚĞƌ ďĞŶĞĮƚ ŽĨ ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ ŝƐ ĞdžĐĞůůĞŶƚ ĨŽƌŵĂďŝůŝƚLJ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ŝƚƐ ƐƚĂŐŐĞƌĞĚ ĐƌĂĐŬŝŶŐ ƉĂƩĞƌŶ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ŽǀĞƌůĂLJ ƐƵƌĨĂĐĞ͘ dŚŝƐ ƐŝŵƉůŝĮĞƐ ďĞŶĚŝŶŐ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ƉůĂƚĞ ĂŶĚ ĞŶƐƵƌĞƐ Ă ƐŵŽŽƚŚ ŇŽǁ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ƉƌŽĐĞƐƐĞĚ ŵĂƚĞƌŝĂůƐ͘

/Ŷ ŽƌĚĞƌ ƚŽ ƌĞĂĐŚ ƚŚŝƐ ŐŽĂů͕ ƐƚƌŝĐƚ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ĂŶĚ ƋƵĂůŝƚLJ ĐŽŶƚƌŽů ŝƐ ĞƐƐĞŶƟĂů͘ ^^ ŝƐ ĂďůĞ ƚŽ ĞŶƐƵƌĞ Ă ĐŽŶƐŝƐƚĞŶƚ 75% overlay ƉƌŽĚƵĐƚ ƋƵĂůŝƚLJ ďLJ ƵƐŝŶŐ ƐƚĂƚĞͲŽĨͲ ƚŚĞͲĂƌƚ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟŽŶ ĞƋƵŝƉŵĞŶƚ͘ dŽ ĐŽŶƟŶƵŽƵƐůLJ ĨŽůůŽǁ ƵƉ ĂŶĚ ĐŽŶĮƌŵ ƚŚĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŽĨ ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ͕ ^^ ĞŵƉůŽLJƐ ŝƚƐ ǁĞůůͲĞƋƵŝƉƉĞĚ ZΘ ĂŶĚ ƚĞƐƟŶŐ ĨĂĐŝůŝƚLJ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ h^͘ Duroxite overlay thickness is guaranteed dŚĞ ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ ĚŝīĞƌĞŶĐĞ ŝƐ ŐƵĂƌĂŶƚĞĞĚ ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ ŽǀĞƌůĂLJ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƚƐ ĂƌĞ ĚĞůŝǀĞƌĞĚ ǁŝƚŚ Ă ŐƵĂƌĂŶƚĞĞĚ ŽǀĞƌůĂLJ ƚŚŝĐŬŶĞƐƐ͘ tŚĞŶ Ă ĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ ŽƌĚĞƌƐ Ь͟ ŽǀĞƌůĂLJ ŽŶ Ь͟ ďĂƐĞ ŵĞƚĂů͕ ƚŚĞLJ ĂƌĞ ŐƵĂƌĂŶƚĞĞĚ ĂŶ ŽǀĞƌůĂLJ ƚŚŝĐŬŶĞƐƐ ŽĨ Ь͟ ǁŝƚŚŝŶ ц ϭϬй͘ This is consistent throughout the plate ĂŶĚ ĨƌŽŵ ƉůĂƚĞ ƚŽ ƉůĂƚĞ͘ Duroxite also guarantees consistent ǁĞĂƌ ƉƌŽƉĞƌƟĞƐ ƚŚƌŽƵŐŚŽƵƚ ƚŚĞ ƉůĂƚĞ ĚŽǁŶ ƚŽ ϳϱй ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ŽǀĞƌůĂLJ ƚŚŝĐŬŶĞƐƐ͘

ĂĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐ ƚŽ ƐƉĞĐŝĮĐĂƟŽŶƐ͕ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ ƐƵƌĨĂĐĞ hardness is consistent down to 75% of the overlay depth.

tŚĞŶ ƚŽ ĂƉƉůLJ ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ ŝƐ ĚĞǀĞůŽƉĞĚ ƚŽ ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟǀŝƚLJ ĂŶĚ ƐĞƌǀŝĐĞ ůŝĨĞ ĨŽƌ ŵĂŶLJ ĂƉƉůŝĐĂƟŽŶƐ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŵŝŶŝŶŐ ŝŶĚƵƐƚƌLJ͘ ƌĂŐůŝŶĞ ĂŶĚ ƐŚŽǀĞů ďƵĐŬĞƚ ůŝŶĞƌƐ͕ ĚŽnjĞƌ ďůĂĚĞƐ͕ ƵŶĚĞƌŐƌŽƵŶĚ ĂŶĚ ĨƌŽŶƚ ůŽĂĚĞƌƐ͕ ǁŚĞĞů ůŽĂĚĞƌ ĂŶĚ ďƵůůĚŽnjĞƌƐ͕ ĂŶĚ ŐƌĂĚĞƌ ďůĂĚĞƐ ĂƌĞ ƐŽŵĞ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ƚĂƌŐĞƚĞĚ ĂƉƉůŝĐĂƟŽŶƐ͘

A liner package with Duroxite for the most 3rd Pass ĂďƌĂƐŝǀĞ ĂƌĞĂƐ͕ ƚŽŐĞƚŚĞƌ ǁŝƚŚ ,ĂƌĚŽdž ϰϱϬ͕ ϱϬϬ ĂŶĚ ϱϱϬ͕ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ƐĞƌǀŝĐĞ ůŝĨĞ ďLJ ϯϲй ĂŶĚ 2nd Pass cut maintenance in half on this underground 1st Pass mining loader.

Base metal surface Transition ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ ǁŽƌŬƐ ĞƐƉĞĐŝĂůůLJ ǁĞůů ŝŶ ƐůŝĚŝŶŐ Fusion line

ǁĞĂƌ ĞŶǀŝƌŽŶŵĞŶƚƐ ǁŚĞƌĞ ƐŵĂůů ĂŶĚ ŚĂƌĚ ŵĂƚĞƌŝĂůƐ͕ ĨŽƌ ĞdžĂŵƉůĞ ĐŽĂů ǁŝƚŚ ŚŝŐŚ ƋƵĂƌƚnj ĐŽŶƚĞŶƚ͕ ĂƌĞ ƉƌŽĐĞƐƐĞĚ͘ ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ ĂůƐŽ ƉůĂLJƐ ĂŶ ŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚ ƌŽůĞ ĂƐ Ă ǁĞĂƌ ƌĞƐŝƐƚĂŶƚ ŵĂƚĞƌŝĂů ŝŶ ŚŝŐŚͲ ƚĞŵƉĞƌĂƚƵƌĞ ĞŶǀŝƌŽŶŵĞŶƚƐ͘

/ŶĨŽƌŵĂƟŽŶ ĂŶĚ ĐŽŶƚĂĐƚ ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ ŽǀĞƌůĂLJ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƚƐ ǁŝůů ďĞ ŝŶƚƌŽĚƵĐĞĚ Ăƚ D/E džƉŽ͕ ^ĞƉƚĞŵďĞƌ ϮϲͲϮϴ ŝŶ >ĂƐ sĞŐĂƐ͘ dŽ ůĞĂƌŶ ŵŽƌĞ ĂďŽƵƚ ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ ĂŶĚ ŝƚƐ ďĞŶĞĮƚƐ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ŵŝŶŝŶŐ ŝŶĚƵƐƚƌLJ͕ LJŽƵ ĂƌĞ ǁĞůĐŽŵĞ ƚŽ ǀŝƐŝƚ ^^ ͛Ɛ ƚŚ ηϵϭϯ͘ ZŽƐƐ tLJůŝĞ͕ ,ĞĂĚ ŽĨ tĞĂƌ ^ĞƌǀŝĐĞƐ ŵĞƌŝĐĂƐ ĨŽƌ ^^ ͕ ǁŝůů be present at the booth.

Hardox Wearparts ƵƌŽdžŝƚĞ ŝƐ ďĞŝŶŐ ƐŽůĚ ƚŚƌŽƵŐŚ ,ĂƌĚŽdž tĞĂƌƉĂƌƚƐ͕ Ă ŶĞƚǁŽƌŬ ŽĨ ŵŽƌĞ ƚŚĂŶ ϮϬϬ ĐĞŶƚĞƌƐ ůŽĐĂƚĞĚ ŝŶ ϲϱ ĐŽƵŶƚƌŝĞƐ͘ ,ĂƌĚŽdž tĞĂƌƉĂƌƚƐ ƐƉĞĐŝĂůŝnjĞƐ ŝŶ ƐƵƉƉůLJŝŶŐ ƉĂƌƚƐ ĂŶĚ ƐĞƌǀŝĐĞƐ ƚŚĂƚ ŬĞĞƉ ǁĞĂƌͲƐĞŶƐŝƟǀĞ ŽƉĞƌĂƟŽŶƐ ƵƉ ĂŶĚ ƌƵŶŶŝŶŐ ǁŝƚŚ ŵĂdžŝŵƵŵ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƟǀŝƚLJ͘ &Žƌ ŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƟŽŶ ĂďŽƵƚ ,ĂƌĚŽdž tĞĂƌƉĂƌƚƐ͕ ŶĚŝĞ ƌŽďŶŝŬ͕ DĂƌŬĞƟŶŐ DĂŶĂŐĞƌ ĨŽƌ ^^ EŽƌƚŚ ŵĞƌŝĐĂ͕ ŝƐ ƚŚĞ ƉĞƌƐŽŶ ƚŽ ĐŽŶƚĂĐƚ Ăƚ ĂŶĚƌĞĂ͘ ĚƌŽďŶŝŬΛƐƐĂď͘ĐŽŵ͕ нϭ ϲϯϬͲϴϭϬͲϰϳϳϰ͘

A scanning electron microscope is one of several advanced tools used at SSAB’s R&D center to ensure the consistent quality of Duroxite.

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ce

HARDOX WEARPARTS INTRODUCES

DUROXITE THE LATEST IN OVERLAY TECHNOLOGY

DUROXITE FIGHTS WEAR, GUARANTEED • Extreme service life • Guaranteed thickness of overlay • Guaranteed wear resistance from the surface to 75% of overlay depth

Check out how Duroxite fights wear in mining at MINExpo International 2016 in Las Vegas.

You will find all our groundbreaking wear products at the Hardox Wearparts booth (#913) in the North Hall.

Hardox Wearparts specializes in supplying parts and services that keep your wear-sensitive mining operations up and running with maximum productivity.

hardoxwearparts.com

CMJ September2016_Advertorials pages.indd 29

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SPECIAL

REPORT

BETTER RESULTS

The real-time decisions every operator makes each minute of the day have significant implications to the bottom line of the mine site.

I

t’s often said that the most important person on a mine site with respect to productivity is not the mine manager, not the engineer, not the supervisor, but it is the machine operator.

No one else on the mine site has such a direct and substantial influence on the productive capabilities of the shift. The realtime decisions every operator makes each

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minute of the day have significant implications to the bottom line of the mine site.

Furthermore, as autonomous haulage deployments become more commonplace, the variation in performance between machine operators on loading equipment will continue to significantly affect the success factor for the whole load-and-haul process.

Material loading assets such as draglines, shovels and excavators start the material movement process. The performance of these tools heavily influences the success of the downstream mining processes.

Inefficiencies on the front end have dramatic repercussions to the overall value stream. As such, the loading equipment operator at the front end has significant WWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

2016-08-30 9:09 AM

R S

NEW MINING TECHNOLOGY

Helping machine operators produce more in the mine

influence on the overall cost of mining.

There are three key dimensions to loader productivity under the loading operators’ control: n Payload compliance n Mine plan compliance n Machine damage management Providing accurate, real-time information and easy-to-use technology empowers SEPTEMBER 2016

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an operator to address all of these dimensions throughout each and every shift.

Operator awareness in real-time generates tangible productivity gains. Getting the operator actionable information in a timely fashion is the key to driving operator behavior thus improving decision making.

Production reports for the last month, the last week, the last shift, or even the last few CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL

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NEW MINING TECHNOLOGY

Computer-generated images showing machine positions, stresses and payloads help mine owners and operators keep an eye on equipment performance and productivity.

hours provide dated information. If it’s not known now, it’s too late to be fixed later.

Payload Compliance Payload compliance involves both the rate and accuracy of the truck loading process.

Keeping the operator informed in real time ‘tightens the bell curve’ for truck payload distribution, which leads to an average increase and consistency in truck payload.

Significant production and maintenance benefits are achieved by ensuring each and every truck is neither over nor under loaded.

Traditional payload measurements on trucks offer minimal accuracy until the truck leaves the loading zone. Getting the information after the truck leaves provides little, if any value to loading equipment operators as they shift focus to the next truck. Real time payload information allows the operator to adjust the load while it still makes a difference, ensuring improvement in consistency. Providing real-time, accurate feedback, the operator can confidently adjust the critical last pass to ensure that each truck leaves with as close as possible to 100% of its nominal payload.

The challenges involved in maintaining accurately calibrated truck weighing systems, particularly for large fleets, and the significant fluctuations in the accuracy of strut-based payload weight measurement 32 |

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systems as a truck is being loaded, means a loader based system is the only way available to achieve the desired objective.

Acquiring and maintaining operator acceptance and involvement (creating the “need” to use a system) is the third pillar of successful change management and, as such, a requirement for sustainable success for any technology deployment. Clear, timely and easy-to-interpret feedback influences operator behaviour.

On in-cab displays, for example, a simple green fill-bar graphic provides the operators with all the information they need to control their truck payload. KPI bars along the bottom and side drives a ‘keep it in the green’ behaviour for increasing consistency and minimizing variation between operators.

This intuitive design has yielded documented improvements in average truck payloads of over 5 per cent in actual customer sites.

Mine Plan Compliance Mine plan compliance is ensuring the material excavated and loaded matches the mine’s plan.

To ensure compliance with plan, loading machine operators must be provided with real-time, intuitive information which

allows them to stay on track and avoid wasted effort and clean-up work. Intuitive real time displays help an operator avoid an issue before it has the chance to occur. All the effort in getting maximum productivity out of a loading unit is worthless is all they are doing is loading the incorrect material.

Our MineWare provides operators with real-time, 3D, colour-coded feedback on where they are digging compared to where they are meant to dig. This critical information is available both on the loader in real-time, and back in the office where engineering and supervisory staff can quickly assess the progress of the excavation.

Alternative technologies such as UAVs and terrestrial scanners can provide quality data for detecting mine plan deviations, but the real-time nature of generating profiles on the loader allows the operator to avoid such deviations before they occur.

Significant reductions in deviations from plan have been achieved through clear, concise, and real-time operator feedback.

With the easy to access 3-D displays, an WWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

2016-08-30 9:10 AM

Technicians carefully monitor activities of a mine from the safety and comfort of a control room.

operator and supervisor can quickly assess how well they are digging to plan.

Now the operator is loading quickly, accurately, and is taking the right material. The next consideration is to minimise machine damage so as to maximise availability.

Machine Damage Management Minimal benefit can be gained by increasing loading tool productivity if it results in increased maintenance costs and corresponding downtime. However, with the right monitoring system, loader productivity can be maximised without compromising the goal of minimising machine damage. Smooth, competent loader operation can and does outperform rough operation, which yields higher production rates and significantly less machine damage.

Potential machine damage is a function of equipment vibration. By analysing vibration and providing operators the key metrics, in real time, machine damage can be minimised.

If one tries to break a piece of fencing SEPTEMBER 2016

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wire by pulling on each end it will take considerable time and strength. However, if the same piece of fencing wire is bent back and forth the desired objective can be achieved with a lot less effort.

A loading machine is no different.

Continual loading, unloading, and vibration take their toll on the machine and all its components. In fact, a doubling in machine load can equate to an up to eightfold increase in damage done. MineWare records real-time strain gauge data on loading equipment and focuses on the cumulative impact of load and vibration in measuring machine damage. Small reductions in vibration equate to significant savings in component life.

The system also displays each operator’s rate of damage to the machine as they are operating and contrasts that with the average levels for the machine. Historical information demonstrates that variations between operators are common.

Minimizing the variation in operator performance will improve overall machine

availability. Involving the operators by keeping them informed, helps them evolve their loading techniques and attitudes to smooth the operation and increase overall productivity and minimizes its effect on machine availability.

While the benefits of big data, and the Internet of Things will continue to grow and be delivered into the mining industry, it’s important to note the significant value from providing real-time, easy to use, actionable information to the people who have the greatest capability to act on it – the machine operators.

If operator behaviour can be changed and improvements realised in the three dimensions of loading tool performance: payload compliance, mine plan compliance, and machine damage management, then reporting and analysis will be more of a ‘check and balance’ rather than a means to an end.

CMJ Information for this article provided by Andrew Jessett, Chief Executive Officer, MineWare.

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tips

SPECIAL

REPORT

FOR

CHOOSING THE RIGHT ENGINEERED SCREEN MEDIA

M

any mining and aggregates operations have used traditional products, such as woven wire cloth, for years with great results, but for operations experiencing high wear and frequent screen changeouts, it’s worth looking into engineered screen media.

Materials such as polyurethane, rubber and perforated steel plates often handle heavy and abrasive materials better than woven wire, but operators need to know how to choose the best screen media for their operation.

The difference between using “good-enough” screen media instead of the “optimal” screen media for the application can be unwanted downtime and expense. Consider three things when selecting the best engineered screen media for an application.

First, look at all aspects of an aggregates or mining operation and any challenges to increasing production rates and profitability.

Second, look at the composition of the material going through the vibrating screen and consult an expert from a reputable company to match the best screen media to the application, and finally, learn to properly install and maintain the screen media.

Have a Look Around The first step toward selecting the most productive screen media involves answering several questions. What material is being processed? Is the screen media reaching a suitable lifespan for the operation? And what sort of challenges are occuring with the current screen media?

Consider the types of materials going through the vibrating screen. Factors such as material size, weight and abrasiveness all come into play during the selection process.

For example, screening gravel typically requires media with 36 |

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higher wearability to handle the material’s abrasiveness. On the other hand, materials with top sizes as large as 10 inches require more durable screens because of the constant high impacts.

Next, look at the vibrating screen itself and complete a vibration analysis. Some analysis systems are designed to safely monitor vibrating screen performance in real time and detect irregularities before small problems lead to diminished performance or bigger issues. In some cases the machine may be running perfectly, but changing the screen media can prevent screening irregularities and the resulting damage.

Consider the three phases material goes through within the vibrating screen, from layered to basic to sharp. Producers can customize the screen deck with various types of screen media through each phase by accounting for open area and wear life to maximize productivity in each phase.

In the layered phase, as material of all sizes hits the screen deck, the media should handle a deep bed depth, high impact and a mix of coarse and fine particles. Material should stratify in the middle of the deck during the basic phase, and near-size and oversize particles should be at the top of the material being screened. Virtually all undersize material should have fallen through the screen media by the time it reaches the sharp phase at the discharge end, where near-size and oversize particles should be in direct contact with the media.

A vibrating screen operator should also examine wearability to determine whether media in the three phases is reaching maximum potential. If it seems like screen media has to be changed too often, consider switching to something more durable.

Next, look at the screening challenges. Examine discarded screen media for signs of problem areas, such as broken wires, WWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

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NEW MINING TECHNOLOGY

rises during screening, resulting in less wear life.

Engineered screen media is made with thicker material for increased durability, but this results in less open area. This is ideal for screening many small aggregates materials or for decks with mixed media.

Hybrid screens are an option that combine woven wire with polyurethane to achieve open area closer to wire cloth but with four to six times longer wear life while weighing less than woven wire. Other polyurethane screens achieve additional durability with thicker wire to hold up to deep bed depths, large top sizes and wide bar rail spacing.

There are misconceptions that polyurethane is strictly for dry applications, whereas there are others that it is only for wet applications; in fact it works well in both.

Look for rubber screen media when screening material with a top size larger than 12 inches, or when an application requires an opening bigger than 4 inches.

Manufacturers can create rubber screens thicker than polyurethane for improved durability. The screens also dramatically reduce noise, handle high-impact applications and resist abrasion.

Consider perforated steel plates for Engineered screen media helps address common screening problems, including premature heavy-duty operations that require a large wear from too many abrasive fines, breakage from heavy bed depths, pegging and blinding. amount of open area. Some manufacturers customize each plate’s thickness to a cuswear areas, pegging or blinding. Common screening issues include tomer’s application and can create almost any size opening. The premature wear due to heavy material along with large amounts screens should be manufactured with tapered openings to resist of abrasive fines. Screening problems can cause carryover or con- pegging. Many perforated plates come in different abrasion-retamination, resulting in unwanted material in the screened pile, sistance levels, so be sure to choose a plate appropriate for the or the added cost of rescreening. Also, broken screens mean costly application. unscheduled changeouts. All of these signs indicate there’s likely a better screen media option for at least one phase of screening, if Make the Best Choice not all three.

If an operations manager finds traditional screen media isn’t working and unscheduled changeouts are eating into profits, it might A Lot to Choose From be time to consider a polyurethane, rubber or perforated plate Manufacturers create engineered screen media out of several dif- product. Engineered screen media has the advantage of being verferent types of materials, such as polyurethane, rubber and per- satile while bringing improved durability and longevity to a wide forated plates. Polyurethane offers a long lifespan and durability. range of applications.

Look for a polyurethane screen media manufacturer who blends Perhaps most importantly, look for a company that takes pride their own material and who pours their polyurethane open cast in its work and provides great service and has integrity. That, too, rather than injection-molded. The open cast process takes about 9 will save time and money. Following these tips will improve an hours to complete and typically lasts about 1.5 to 2 times longer operation’s screen media life, profits and satisfaction for years to than injection-molded products. In addition, open cast polyure- come.

CMJ thane permanently hardens when cured to maintain its chemical properties, so it resists wear and tear. Injection-molded screens, Information for this Special Report* provided by Steve Fair, Engineered though faster to manufacture, can soften when the temperature Media Manager at Haver & Boecker Canada.

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ADVERTORIAL

Doppelmayr’s RopeCon® establishes direct link between pit and valley at El Limón-Guajes gold mine

T

o connect the El Limón gold ore pit with the processing plant it was necessary to overcome an altitude difference of approx. 400m in steep terrain. Minera Media Luna, S.A. de C.V. (MML), 100% owned subsidiary of Torex Gold Resources Inc., opted for the RopeCon® as a means to transport 1,000 metric tons of gold ore per hour into the valley over a distance of 1.3km. Along with other aspects, safety and environment were key considerations in prompting the decision.

RopeCon®, a product of the ropeway manufacturer Doppelmayr, essentially relies on a flat belt with corrugated side walls to transport materials of all kinds. The belt performs a haulage function and is driven by, and guided around, a drum at both ends. To account for the great vertical rise and consequently the steep incline between the El Limón pit and the valley, the belt has been fitted with cleats to prevent the material from slipping. Axles are mounted on the belt at regular intervals to support it. They have plastic running wheels attached to their ends. These wheels run on track ropes with fixed anchoring and guide the belt. The track ropes run over tower structures so that this conveyor system is lifted off the ground. Almost all moving parts are attached to the belt and therefore pass through the stations at regular intervals. Service and maintenance

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works can thus be performed at one central point.

The El Limón RopeCon® system generates approx. 1MW of green energy from braking actions, which contributes to a reduction of the overall operating costs. Apart from the positive effects on operating costs, the avoidance of dust and noise emissions is another argument which strongly supports the use of the RopeCon®. The automatic transport system will also help to enhance operational safety and its controls can be integrated into the central control system of the mine.

The RopeCon® system as such does not touch the ground between the loading station and the track rope anchoring point in the valley except with one tower structure, leaving only a minimal footprint. The span between the loading station and the tower structure is 1,200m. The conveying angle comes up to 32°.

Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH is a 100% subsidiary of the international Doppelmayr Group with headquarters in Wolfurt, Austria. Within the group, Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH is the expert in transport systems and specialises in a wide range of transport solutions for different materials and bulk. Doppelmayr is the leader and a pioneer in ropeway engineering and, apart from material transport systems, designs and manufactures also other products such as passenger ropeway systems for summer and winter tourism or urban transport, rope-hauled automated people movers like the ones at Toronto and Mexico City airport, and fully automated high bay warehousing systems. n WWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

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RopeCon® The Innovation in Bulk Material Handling Wherever bulk material needs to go – across impassable terrain, rivers, highways and buildings – RopeCon® delivers without a hitch!

Long distances, capacities of up to 25,000 tonnes/hour, minimal environmental footprint, quiet operation plus low operating and maintenance costs: These are the features that convinced leading mining businesses. www.doppelmayr-mts.com

... your success story.

Our know-how ...

Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH, Holzriedstrasse 29, 6922 Wolfurt / Austria, T +43 5574 604 1800, F+43 5574 604 1209, dtt@doppelmayr.com

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NEW MINING TECHNOLOGY

I T S A L B AGE-OLD TECHNOLOGY GOES HIGH TECH

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G N I T B

Staff Report

lasting is synonymous with mining like gold is to wealth, and few companies know more about what it takes to safely execute an effective blast than Nordex Explosives Ltd. of Kirkland Lake, Ontario.

Located in the heart of one of Canada’s more prolific gold and silver mining regions, Nordex has earned the reputation by local miners for being ‘reliable’ thanks to its knowledge and understanding of explosives and how to handle them.

In fact, not only does Nordex supply gold and silver mines in Ontario and northern Quebec with explosives, it also now produces Australia’s JOHNEX Explosives and its signature product, Econotrim Buttbuster, an explosive world renowned for perimeter control in mining.

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NEW MINING TECHNOLOGY

The product is said to reduce overbreak, thereby creating smoother walls and a safer environment for portals, shafts and tunnels.

Traditionally, normal explosives’ blasting is an economical method of breaking rock, but can sometimes result in damage to the perimeter of the opening. The damage, however, can be better controlled by using a more precisely measured explosive like the Econotrim Buttbuster explosives.

This is accomplish with a one-piece, custom-length, semi-rigid, coiled yellow tube that is 25.4 mm in diameter and contains a precisely measured quantity of specially formulated explosive.

JOHNEX manufactures the explosive using a custom-designed 10-m high carousel in which 12 tubes are filled with one of two grades of explosive. Delivering each grade of powder from a ribbon blender to two dosing bowls at the top of the carousel are two Flexicon flexible screw conveyors, each 36 ft (11 m) long.

The Nordex plant produces the same two grades of explosive powder with the same carousel system as the plant in Australia.

Both grades are proprietary formulations, and the raw materials for the Nordex plant are sourced through the parent company in Austrailia.

Jim Taylor, Nordex President and CEO, explains: In an enclosed room, the raw materials are precisely weighed, poured into the ribbon blender, and mixed to a homogeneous blend that has a bulk density of approximately 59 lb/ft3 (950 kg/m3), and a particle size distribution of 1/25-1/4 in. (1-6 mm) in diameter.

The blender discharges the material into one of two 3.85 ft3 (110 liter) capacity floor hoppers, each connected to a flexible screw conveyor that transfers one of the explosive powder grades without separating the blended materials.

The outlet of each hopper is connected through a charging adapter to the inlet of the flexible screw conveyor. The conveyors pass through openings in the wall to the adjacent area where they rise to the top of the carousel.

The carousel can produce a 16.4 ft (5m) length of explosive in 7 seconds.

Conveyors move material to dosing bowls Each conveyor consists of a heavy-duty spiral rotating inside a 114mm diameter polymer tube. As the screw propels the material through the tube, it self-centres, providing sufficient clearance between the screw and tube wall to assure gentle, safe handling of particles. The spiral, which is the single moving component of the conveyor, is connected to an explosion proof electric motor located above the conveyor’s discharge. This design eliminates contact of the sensitive powder being conveyed with any bearings or seals.

The material exits each conveyor through a 0.9-m long downspout into one of the dosing bowls. Each bowl, under PLC control, releases a predetermined amount of powder into the Buttbuster tubes rotating and indexing under it. At the bottom of the carousel, the tubes oscillate up and down to properly fill and compact the powder.

The filled tubes are then hand removed from the carousel, capped, coiled and placed into boxes for shipping.

From the time ingredients are added into the blender until the

A handful of specially formulated Buttbuster explosive that goes through flexible screw conveyors that pass through the wall then up 11m to a carousel that fills the Buttbuster tubes.

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A one-piece, custom-length tube creates a controlled blast by a precisely measured quantity of explosive. Below, explosive powder is transported from the ribbon blender and hopper by two flexible screw conveyors.

filled tubes are removed from the carousel and capped (both done manually), the entire process is automated by a PLC. The flexible screw conveyors start and stop on reaching a pre-set bowl volume detected by a level sensor and transmitted to the PLC. “The carousel can produce a 16.4 ft (5m) length of explosive in 7 seconds,” says Taylor.

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Nordex system modified to Canadian standards Although the Nordex production line meets the same safety standards as the JOHNEX system in Australia, it needed to be engineered to Canadian Standards.

“Walkways and access platforms, for example, needed to be reconfigured,” says Taylor. “Also, while Australian electrical systems are designed for 50Hz, 415V operations, Canadian systems operate at 60Hz, 600V.” Application Engineers from Flexicon Australia assisted with the layout of the hoppers on JOHNEX drawings and supplied an explosion proof 60Hz, 600V motor from North America to be brought into Australia for testing before being shipped to Canada.

For both Australia and Canada, the Buttbuster production system has been designed to meet the strict specifications required to operate in an environment that contains potentially explosive materials.

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ADVERTORIAL

By Nathan Peter and Andrew Downing, Saskatchewan Research Council

Effective real-time communications allow process control and survey data to be observed by equipment operators, as well as provide the frontend data gathering services for mine planning information systems.

DEVELOPING NEW MEANS OF

PIPELINE communication M

ining companies across Canada are seeing challenges in lowering costs, increasing productivity and improving safety in mining processes. The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) assists industry in meeting these challenges by developing advanced mining systems – a suite of technologies and services that enable remote sensing and decision-making for operators and engineers before, during and after mining activities.

SRC researches a variety of technologies to address industry needs and to offer effective solutions. One example of this is data communication systems, which are key to connecting control systems with remote sensors in active mine operations. Effective real-time communications allow process control and survey data to be observed by equipment operators, as well as provide the frontend data gathering services for mine planning information systems. A common problem for communication systems in mines is that signals can be interfered with due to the presence of metallic ore, background noise, long distances and physical inaccessibility. To overcome these challenges, SRC provides specialized engineering services capable of working within constraints of unique and challenging conditions.

SRC’s Development Engineering and Manufacturing (DEM) team has researched several methods of data communications suitable for mining operations.

Wireline and drill strings have typically been key focuses of the team, due to industry trends of drilling smarter, as well as developments in targeted remote ore extraction. Several technologies for

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data communication have been developed and demonstrated by SRC using drill strings and pipelines.

For example, acoustic waves, electromagnetic waves, light waves and powerline modems can be used to carry signals through various mediums, providing data from simple temperature sensors to high bandwidth video streams.

The DEM team works closely with mine engineers to apply these technologies in field operations, effectively creating new capabilities that would have otherwise not been possible. For example, the team has developed in-situ cavity survey systems which are embedded in underground extraction tools. Comprehensive solutions typically consist of electronics, embedded sensors, electronic data communications, mechanical housings and the field deployment services. These technologies can be applied or combined with additional technologies to improve other processes as well. The end result is automated processes that are quicker and safer for operators. Furthermore, information from the survey system is made available for further analytics and planning, improving overall mine efficiency.

Mining companies face challenges of expanding their capabilities and managing costs, levels of productivity and safety issues in mining related activities. By researching, developing and demonstrating effective technology solutions, SRC can help industry overcome these challenges and successfully improve and optimize mining operations. n

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Mining Services for Every Stage of Your Operation

Geoanalytical Laboratories

Minerals

• ISO 17025 accredited lab that provides complete minerals analysis for resource industries

• Advanced Microanalysis Centre™ supplies advanced analytical tools for mineral investigations, from sample preparation to trace element analysis and ore assays, in one convenient location

• Offers analytical packages for uranium, potash, gold, base metals, rare earth elements, diamonds, oil sands and oil shale • Licensed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to safely receive, process and archive radioactive samples

• Mineral Processing Lab and Plant works with mining companies to create mineral processing designs and process improvements, as well as minimize the environmental impacts of mine and mill operations

Pipe Flow Technology Centre™

Development Engineering

• Provides test facilities and expertise for researching and developing slurry handling systems, including hazardous or volatile materials testing on a high-temperature, high-pressure flow loop • Slurry Pipeline Systems Course focuses on applying the basic principles of slurry pipeline flows to actual design situations • Dedicated tailings research facility includes a 30 m3 supply tank, deposition columns and a channel flume (15 m long x 1.6 m high)

• Provides special purpose machines and products; develops advanced electronic and mechanical systems and tools for the mining industry • Complete product realization; works with clients from initial concept through to review, verification and site implementation • RD&D facilities for design validation, including bench testing, piloting and demonstrating new products

www.src.sk.ca/mining

CMJ September2016_Advertorials pages.indd 45

info@src.sk.ca 306-933-5400

2016-08-30 9:38 AM

SPECIAL

REPORT

156

$

BILLION INDUSTRY BY 2022 A

ccording to a recent report published by Allied Market Research, titled, “World Mining Equipment Market,” the global mining equipment market is expected to garner $156 billion by 2022, growing at a rate of 7.9% during 2016-2022. Asia-Pacific accounted for the highest revenue of over $50 billion in 2015.

The market growth is likely to be driven by increasing demand for coal in electricity generating applications, increasing demand for technologically advanced mining equipment, and rising construction of roads and railways through hilly areas.

The metal mining segment occupied a major share of around 39%, followed by mineral mining in 2015. The metal mining segment is anticipated to witness the fastest rate of 10.3% during the forecast period, owing to increasing demand of base metals such as copper, nickel, lead, zinc and

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others. Moreover, coal mining is anticipated to witness impressive growth in developing economies such as China and India in the coming years.

The segmentations by type includes mineral processing equipment, surface mining equipment, underground mining equipment, mining drills & breakers, crushing, pulverizing & screening equipment, and other mining equipment.

Surface mining equipment accounted for the maximum market share of around 31% in 2015, as it is extensively being used in application areas such as coal mining. From a growth perspective, mining drills and breakers are projected to be the fastest growing segment due to increasing application in metal mining.

Key findings of the study » Asia-Pacific would continue to be the dominant WWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

2016-08-30 9:18 AM

MINING EQUIPMENT

A PARADE OF PRODUCTS Staff Report

E

very four years, equipment manufacturers and suppliers to the mining industry gather in Las Vegas to showcase their goods and services, and this year is no exception.

In fact, despite these less-than-good economic times, equipment people from around the world are showing their support to the mining industry by filling the halls at the Las Vegas Convention Centre with new equipment, and the latest in attachments, to help make mining more efficient and cost effective.

For three full days (September 26-28), the following companies will be exhibiting what’s new in their equipment lines.

A look at some of the manufacturers displaying at MINExpo in Las Vegas CONTINUED ON PAGE 50

» » »

»

market for mining equipment throughout the forecast period.

Metal mining application segment is forecast to witness growth during 2016-2020.

Surface mining equipment accounted for the largest share of the overall market in 2015.

Mining drills and breakers segment is expected to exhibit fastest growth during the forecast period.

Product launch and acquisition are the key growth strategies adopted by the leading market players to strengthen their foothold in the market. Key companies profiled include Caterpillar Inc., Komatsu Ltd., Sandvik, Joy Global Inc., HitachiConstruction Machinery Co. Ltd., Atlas Copco, AB Volvo, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, Metso, and Liebherr Group.

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ADVERTORIAL

BOOST MINING PRODUCTIVITY WITH

LUBRICATION

SOLUTIONS A DISCUSSION WITH:

Colin Cochran Chief Technical Advisor, Imperial

T

he mining sector faces a host of industry challenges, including fluctuating commodity prices, slimming margins and increasing expectations from shareholders and national governments.

But, lubrication programs and services can help play an important role in boosting productivity in mining operations.

To learn more, we spoke with Colin Cochran, chief technical advisor at Imperial.

Q1: Why can lubrication programs help play an important role in enhancing productivity?

SM: Well, in recent years, mining equipment has been

the cause of some of the greatest declines in productivity in the mining industry. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) published a report in August 2014 which found that implementing best-in-class maintenance practices can be the difference between achieving acceptable equipment availability rates of 85 percent and achieving industry-leading availability rates of more than 90 percent.

Q2: How exactly can a lubrication program help address this productivity gap?

SM: The wide range of equipment used at a mine

often leads operators to consider just lubricants for specific applications rather than building an overall maintenance program to maximize the productivity of the entire mining operation.

However, with extreme and heavy load conditions commonplace in the mining sector, comprehensive lubrication and maintenance strategies are required to minimize inefficiencies and optimize equipment performance and life.

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Imperial has a lot of expertise in this area. Our team has worked to develop a broad portfolio of products and services that help mining operators better protect and maintain their equipment across their entire operation, greatly simplifying an often complex logistical issue.

For example, we built a range of data-based services, such as used oil analysis programs, which can help operators better understand equipment performance to improve the effectiveness of their lubrication programs.

Q3: Can you explain more about the benefits of lubrication services?

SM: Sure. One of our leading services is Mobil

ServSM Lubricant Analysis, a mobile-enabled used oil analysis service that enhances the used oil analysis process, from sample gathering to final reporting, by replacing paperwork with a mobile-enabled platform and providing customers with a wide range of analysis options to suit their specific equipment needs.

This service enables customers to identify highlevel equipment performance trends not typically seen when viewing individual sample reports, with reports that help customers understand the health of their equipment fleet detailed by alarm, equipment type, product in use, application and operation. Essentially, the service offers a central dashboard for lubrication and equipment maintenance needs.

Q4: What’s one final piece of advice you’d give mine operators?

SM: Most importantly, partner with a lubricant

supplier that understands your business from top to bottom. In order to help implement a comprehensive lubrication program at a mining operation, or across multiple operations, mine operators require the expertise of partners, like Imperial, who understand their sector and the range of equipment that is used. n

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T:8.125” S:7”

After decades of research and severe testing, we ended up with a synthetic diesel engine oil that helps you get more out of your mining equipment – and your business. Mobil Delvac 1™ extends oil drain intervals and helps with fuel economy, which means more work time and less downtime. Learn more at mobildelvac.ca

Get tons more done between oil changes, literally S:10”

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T:10.75”

Copyright © 2016 Exxon Mobil Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Exxon Mobil Corporation or one of its subsidiaries unless otherwise noted.

CATERPILLAR Caterpillar says it will support MINExpo 2016 with an exhibit showcasing machines, technology, expertise and practical knowledge that miners can apply to help address their cost, productivity and efficiency challenges in today’s mining environment.

Though Cat® machines – for both surface and underground mining – will fill the view, the talk will focus on how Cat technology and know-how combines to help mining operations address and solve the issues that are most important to them.

The main stage in the exhibit will feature presentations describing how mining companies, Cat dealers and Caterpillar work together to improve operations, in addition to displays of its surface and underground mining equipment.

LEGACY BUILDING SOLUTIONS Legacy Building Solutions manufactures fabric structures that are fully customizable; a design concept that provides a high level of flexibility for processing and storage of bulk material, vehicle maintenance facilities, and other structures for mining operations. Legacy fabric buildings utilize a durable rigid frame in place of the hollow-tube, open web truss “hoop” framing traditionally used for fabric structures. The strength of the structural steel frame provides several engineering advantages, most notably the ability to easily customize buildings to the exact width, length and height required. In addition to long clear spans, the buildings have straight sidewalls that maximize the useable square footage inside the structure. The design also allows for much more structural flexibility than traditional fabric structures, including the ability to add lean-tos, mezzanines, sidewall doors and more. The structures are also engineered to provide desired overhangs or handle additional loads for items such as sprinklers and conveyors.

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BEL-RAY Bel-Ray will be displaying its Type 2 Clear Gear lubricants for open-gear systems with high viscosity for use in mining. The lubricant is engineered to operate in the full fluid film or hydrodynamic mode of lubrication that is designed to maximize gear tooth protection. The fluid easily drains from the open-gear shroud and will not accumulate or harden in tooth roots. The product is completely transparent which helps ensure easy dynamic and static gear tooth inspections and offers a clean appearance.

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MINING EQUIPMENT

ATLAS COPCO Atlas Copco’s LF forward plate compactors feature many productivity-enhancing features, including integrated water distribution systems and vibration-reduction handles to help operators achieve maximum efficiency, while the lightweight bodies contribute to high manoeuverability. The three models — LF60, LF75 and LF100 — feature vibration-reduction handles and are lightweight, which optimizes ease of operation on soil and asphalt applications. With a full water tank, the models range in weight from 140 pounds on the LF60 to about 260 pounds on the LF100.

WEIR MINERALS Weir Minerals will launch its Trio TP900 cone crusher and a pre-release preview of its remote monitoring technology. The new crusher operates at a higher pivot point and thrower than its predecessor, providing higher reduction with better shaped material.

In addition to this new product launch, the company will also introduce new technology featured in its Trio TP1400 cone crusher, an advanced technology featuring a futuristic hologram, providing visitors with a virtual, 360° preview of this innovative technology.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 54

PRODUCTS

BROKK Brokk is pleased to announce that it will be displaying its Brokk 60 II remote-controlled demolition machine in Booth 29013 in Las Vegas. The machine is one of the smaller units available and features an upgraded hydraulic system to help make working in tight spaces easier. The machine weighs 1,102 pounds, and its overall dimensions of 23.2-inches wide and 34.3-inches tall make it is ideal for mining. The unit’s three-part arm system works with a variety of attachments including hydraulic hammers, grapples, crushers and buckets to achieve flexibility and versatility.

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Concrete Spraying Machines • Concrete Transmixer • Underground Utility Machines • Ventilation System for Underground Works • Hydraulic Expandable Containers • Rock Reinforcement • Pipe Roof • Shotcrete & Grout • Certified

SOLUTION PARTNER FOR TUNNELING & UNDERGROUND MINING 1-416-900-8370

info@geoformcanada.com

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6 KEY FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN SELEC The term Severe Service Valve (SSV) is commonplace to the industrial valve industry.

The problem is, no one really knows exactly what it means.

CGIS is in the process of establishing the exact definition. Once in place and approved by the Manufacturers Standardization Society of the Valve and Fittings Industry (MSS for short), there will be a benchmark and rating system to identify what constitutes a Severe Service Valve (SSV), and how it differs from a General Purpose Valve (GPV).

In the meantime, we pulled from our internal best practices and over 35 years of experience to put together this brief guide. We hope you'll consider these 6 key factors for selecting the right valve for your application.

PRESSURE

Differential pressure scenarios can not only cause leakage, but can be detrimental to the lifespan of your valve. Selecting a valve that can control drastic changes in pressure is important in a variety of industrial processes.

SOLIDS

When processing media that contain solids in solution or suspension, you have to be prepared for potentially detrimental buildup and damage to occur. Your valve may be required to handle solids like scale or other sediment to form a proper seal.

COST

Can you afford to shut down your operations on a regular basis to replace faulty valves? Is your valve considered to be a single point of failure for the process line or entire plant? Unfortunately, these important questions are often overlooked when comparing the initial cost of a valve, leading to much larger financial losses down the road.

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N SELECTING A SEVERE SERVICE VALVE (SSV)

s

s

If any of these key factors is making you think twice about your current valve selection, you should consider upgrading to a Severe Service Valve for your application. Increase your confidence by selecting a valve that is designed to last longer and never leak.

You'll benefit from reduced downtime, and ensure your workers and the environment are not put at risk. Visit www.severe-service.ca to learn more about the Severe Service Valve manufacturers we represent.

The World's Best Valves ÂŽ

CORROSIVE MATERIALS Many industrial processes involve the transport and modification of toxic materials.

Make sure you never put your workers or the environment in danger with valves that do not provide absolute zero leakage.

CYCLING

How often your valve is required to open and close plays a factor in deciding what type of valve you should select.

Frequent cycling can wear a valve out faster than you think.

However, infrequent use can be just as concerning. Valves can seize and fail to operate when they remain open or closed for extended periods of time.

TEMPERATURE

Extreme temperatures, whether hot or cold, can impact valve performance. This applies to both the media you are transporting, the process your media is undergoing, and the environment your valve is operating in.

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2016-08-30 9:40 AM

PHILIPPI-HAGENBUCH Philippi-Hagenbuch announces the release of its new Material Spreader Body, designed primarily for mining, but with benefits in a variety of applications, including construction, aggregates, quarries and landfills. The Material Spreader provides a safe and efficient solution for mine haul road maintenance. It improves the safety and traction of icy haul roads in winter by applying road grit. During spring thaw, the device tackles deteriorating road areas by spreading repair material and building up areas. The heart of the system is a patented PHIL RearEject Body coupled with the new Material Spreader attachment. The Material Spreader is designed to spread road grit, sand or other material ranging in size from very fine to more than 2 inches. Operators can adjust the material spreading width from about 15 feet to more than 60 feet. The haul truck operator controls the material spreading rate and width from the truck’s cab.

VICTAULIC Victaulic will be displaying a number of products at MINExpo, including its Series 795 Knife Gate Valve, and the Refuse-to-Fuse system for HDPE pipe. The Gate Valve is designed to be maintained in-line without having to remove the entire valve from the pipeline, resulting in up to 95 per cent savings in downtime and more than 60 per cent savings in annual maintenance costs. Also on display will be Victaulic’s Refuse-to-Fuse system, a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe-joining solutions, including couplings, fittings, and spigot outlet adapters that eliminate the need for fusing.

SANDVIK Sandvik will showcase the latest in its portfolio of innovative equipment and services ranging from a single drill bit to mine automation. The company’s AutoMine for autonomous solutions, and OptiMine for information management – or a combination of both – result in improved safety and productivity because they’re tailored to realistic conditions and needs, both in surface operations and underground. Sandvik will also launch a number of drill rigs, including its latest addition to the DD422 series. Sandvik continues to reinvent drill bit design. The newly introduced top centre drill bits, incorporating the most significant upgrade to face drilling bits in decades, is one of the Sandvik highlights at the show.

DOPPELMAYR Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH is a 100% subsidiary of the international Doppelmayr Group with headquarters in Wolfurt, Austria.

Within the group, Doppelmayr Transport Technology GmbH is the expert in transport systems and specialises in a wide range of transport solutions for different materials and bulk. The company is a leader and pioneer in ropeway engineering, and apart from material transport systems, it also designs and manufactures other products such as passenger ropeway systems for summer and winter tourism or urban transport, rope-hauled automated people movers like the ones at Toronto and Mexico City airport, and fully automated high bay warehousing systems.

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MINING EQUIPMENT

HITACHI Hitachi’s display at MINExpo will showcase equipment, innovative technology and integrated solutions that mines can apply to reduce overall costs and optimize productivity. Beyond equipment, Hitachi will highlight a number of “smart iron” technology innovations designed to help mines become more efficient and productive. Examples of this include the company’s peripheral vision support system and its autonomous haulage and trolley assist technologies.

During the show, Hitachi will also launch a new customer tool that is designed to enhance the availability and accessibility of mining excavator parts for the Americas’ market.

SEE PaneLite™: Tough performing lighter weight screen panels.

some of our newest products and innovations including: Metaldex™: Our new line of modular steel sections.

VST: Unique vector slot design for better drain rates.

DMax: Ultra-high open area designs for greater output.

Patent Pending

MEET cast from Discovery Channel’s hit TV show “Gold Rush.”

SEPTEMBER 2016

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PLAY

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SKF The new SKF online heater selection tool will be on display at MINExpo. It marks the introduction of an easy, convenient, and highly accessible resource to make the right pick among heater technologies for mounting or dismounting bearings and similar work pieces in an application. Based on a bearing’s designation or input of key parameters, the tool chooses the appropriate heater for a job from SKF’s product range, including electric hot plate, induction heaters, and fixed induction heaters. Suitable heaters are grouped into “mounting” and “dismounting” families for quick reference. The practice of hot mounting and hot dismounting of bearings and work pieces historically has served to reduce the risk of damage to a bearing, shaft, or work piece and help increase bearing service life and machine reliability. Ultimately, proper heater selection is critical for application success.

TOMRA SORTING TOMRA Sorting’s mining team will be at MINExpo to explain the key advantages sensor-based sorting can bring to mining operations. Although it is a relatively new technology in the mining sector, sensor-based sorting has the potential to address some of the major challenges the industry now faces: declining ore grades, production costs, water shortages and increasing environmental regulation. Mining specialists will be on-hand ready to meet visitors and clients, learn about brown- and greenfield projects and consider the most efficient means of achieving the specified objectives.

Where mining meets renewables to address key energy challenges In association with

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Renewables options

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Hybrid-power solutions

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Hear from global leaders in mining and renewables including:

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sukhee.chae@energyandmines.com

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2016-08-30 9:22 AM

MINING EQUIPMENT

SHIPPING SIMPLIFIED NOVEMBER 16-17, 2016

Hilton Toronto Airport Hotel & Suites FLEXICON Flexicon Corporation will introduce a new bulk bag lifting frame with telescoping arms that accommodates bulk bags produced in an increasing range of sizes. The lifting frame is available for up to 2.2 ton (2 tonne) capacities to replace conventional lifting frames of any make or model of discharger that employs a hoist to position and suspend bulk bags. The telescoping arms can be adjusted using clevis pins and safety clips to a range of settings to accommodate bulk bags from 32 to 47 in. (81 to 119 cm) square at the upper sew seam. This adjustability also allows the lifting frame to work safely with rectangular bags.

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Keynote Speaker ERIC TERMUENDE Co-Founder & Director of Gen Y Inc.

This conference will showcase how HWY H2O is uniquely positioned to move cargo to and from the North American Heartland faster and more efficiently.

Delegates will benefit from in-depth discussion with peers and presentations relevant to Great Lakes/Seaway from stakeholders and industry specialists. The HWY H2O Conference is a convergence of industry thought leaders and experienced specialists in marine and shipping.

Delivering insight on industry trends and market intelligence in a conference environment designed for engagement and networking.

HWY H2O is #Shipping Simplified HAVER & BOECKER Haver & Boecker will introduce its Tyler F-Class Split-Bucket Mounting System, which offers simplified maintenance and bearings change outs for operators and, in turn, cuts service downtime in half. The rubber mount housing, or split-bucket system, provides operators easy access to critical components, such as rubber mounts and body brackets. The company will launch the F-Class Split-Bucket Mounting System, at booth 12050, during MINExpo. The split-bucket rubber mount includes a two-piece body bracket, which allows operators to remove the side arm and bucket in one piece. Prior to these improvements, in order to remove the side arm, technicians were required to disconnect the rubber mounts along with removing 15 bolts.

Now, the process is simplified. Technicians can remove the side arm and split-buckets off of the screen as a whole assembly – reducing the number of bolts removed to eight.

CMJ

SEPTEMBER 2016

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www.hwyh2o-conferences.com

HWY H2O Conference 2016 ~ November 16 – 17, 2016 Hilton Toronto Airport Hotel & Suites CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL

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ADVERTORIAL

Hitachi helps improve bottom line through

t e e

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS Mining operations worldwide are refining their operations to address the challenges that have arisen as a result of commodity price pressures. Meanwhile, manufacturers are working equally hard to do their part.

Chief among those manufacturers is Hitachi Construction Machinery – Americas. Hitachi’s technology and its mining excavators and haulers are Hitachi through and through – fully integrated to drive mining operations to new levels of success and efficiency.

“Hitachi develops technologies and solutions that are integrated into the equipment, which allows us to deliver an unmatched level of efficiency, reliability and durability,” said Craig Lamarque, division manager, Hitachi Mining Division - Americas. “This optimizes productivity, reduces overall costs and makes it easier for mine operations to succeed in this challenging environment, which is our ultimate goal in serving our customers.”

Many of Hitachi’s new innovative technologies, integrated solutions and productivity improvements will be on display at MINExpo 2016 in Las Vegas, Sept. 26 – 28. Visitors to “Hitachi to the Core” booth will learn what Hitachi can do for their bottom line and discover the value of the products, technology, parts and solutions that have been engineered and developed by Hitachi.

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P H c r

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Optimizing mine sites At its core, Hitachi strives to connect the mine from pit to port by delivering new efficiencies, new technologies and productivity improvements. The company’s interconnected suite of solutions – from products and services to people and ideas – make this possible.

One example of this is Wenco, a Hitachi subsidiary that helps customers reduce costs and increase productivity by managing their fleets using industry-leading technology.

Through the Hitachi-owned Fleet Control (Mine Management System) mine operators can easily access data that will empower them to make more informed decisions and help their operations succeed.

Additionally, the BenchManager high-precision GPS system provides precise control of ore grade, haul road or ramp construction, and drill hole location. Mine operators can also use the system to easily monitor maintenance, which will help them become more proactive and efficient.

Hitachi’s ability to optimize mine sites is further strengthened by its parent company, Hitachi Limited., which is active in a wide range of industries. This breadth of expertise enables Hitachi to vertically integrate technologies and solutions to provide customers with products and services that are more efficient, reliable and durable to the core.

For example, Hitachi has perfected its electronic drive system in its trucks through vertical integration of Hitachi innovation and parts. Also, the same electric drive technology that Hitachi developed for the famous Japanese bullet trains, is used in Hitachi’s AC-drive mining trucks.

Because the components and technologies within the excavators and haulers are designed and manufactured by Hitachi Limited, shared innovation is seamless.

WWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

2016-08-30 9:41 AM

L o f in

ADVERTORIAL “Our customers dig to the core of their mines and quarries to harvest earth’s natural resources, and they can count on the expertise and experience of the Hitachi dealers, engineers and employees to support them along the way,” said Lamarque.

Performance Hitachi pioneered hydraulic excavator technology, and this focus and expertise has enabled the company to deliver the most reliable and productive excavators and shovels in the industry.

In fact, Hitachi has earned a reputation for smooth control and hydraulics. Hitachi’s lower hydraulic pressure gained credibility with construction and mining professionals decades ago, and the system’s reliability continues to impress and improve with every series.

Another feature that significantly impacts performance is Hitachi’s advanced AC-drive system, which is designed, built and supported entirely by Hitachi. This is something no other manufacturer has been able to offer.

“This is a big differentiator for Hitachi equipment,” said Lamarque. “Our AC-drive system is perfectly matched for our trucks, which means we’re able to deliver higher torque, faster acceleration, smoother retardation and lower operating costs.”

Cost of ownership and operation In a down mining economy, the cost of equipment ownership and operation is more important than ever. Hitachi technological innovations are making a significant impact in customers’ ability to reduce the overall cost.

“Hitachi built the first hydraulic excavator exclusively using Japanese technology,” said Lamarque. “Building on this legacy, we’ve continued to lead the industry with technological innovation, manufacturing ‘smart iron’ that’s Hitachi to the core.”

The company’s autonomous haulage technology is one example of this. The innovative technology improves consistent de-acceleration and leads to reduced maintenance and energy costs. Mine operators can also reduce operating costs by utilizing their operating staff in a more efficient way.

Finally, while there is initial technical training that needs to be completed, overall training costs can be decreased.

Hitachi’s Trolley Truck technology also contributes to reduced overall operation costs. Trolley Truck technology results in longer engine life, which means lower costs, higher production and more efficient operations.

For more information about Hitachi and its integrated suite of products and solutions, please visit www.HitachiConstruction.com.

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CSR MINING IN MY& MINE(D)

Sustainable development goals and the mining sector

By Michael Torrance

L

ate last year, an industry agenda and mapping atlas (the “Atlas”) was released mapping the mining sector towards implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The SDG were developed to represent the post2015 global development agenda and provides the globally accepted and practical definition of sustainable development worldwide. The SDG were formally agreed upon by all 193 United Nations member states and involved the largest public consultation in history.

There are 17 SDGs: (1) no poverty; (2) no hunger; (3) good health; (4) quality education; (5) gender equality; (6) clean water and sanitation; (7) renewable energy; (8) good jobs and economic growth; (9) innovation and infrastructure; (10) reduced inequalities; (11) sustainable cities and communities; (12) responsible consumption and production; (13) climate action; (14) life below water; (15) life on land; (16) peace, justice and strong institutions; (17) partnerships for the goals.

The SDG are intended to apply to both the public and private sector, and the mining sector is viewed as a particularly critical global industry for the advancement of the SDG. As noted in the Atlas, the International Council on Mining and Metals concludes that mining accounts for 60-90% of foreign direct investment in low and middle income countries. Consequently, the impact of mining on the achievement of sustainable development goals is significant from a policy perspective.

The goal of the Atlas is threefold; to better understand how the SDG relate to the mining sector, raise awareness of the opportunities and challenges the SDG present to the mining sector, and initiate a multi-stakeholder dialogue and partnerships towards achievement of the SDG. The Atlas concludes that the mining sector impacts all 17 SDG. In particular, however, mining impacts SDGs 9, 8, 7, 6, 15, 13 (see above). SDGs 9, 8 and 7 (infrastructure, jobs and growth, renewable energy) present opportunities for mining to contribute positively to achieving the SDG. Mining projects require the development of infrastructure that can provide broader development benefits beyond the mining project. While mining is energy intensive, improving energy access and efficiency, including through the use of renewable energy, can positively contribute to energy sustainability. Local procurement can contribute towards economic growth and development.

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areas where the mining sector should seek to minimize adverse impacts through mitigation strategies. While mining operations are significant users of water, ensuring access and sanitation and efficient use of water resources can minimize negative impacts.

Mining activity also impacts ecosystems and biodiversity,

THE GOAL OF THE ATLAS IS THREEFOLD; TO BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW THE SDG RELATE TO THE MINING SECTOR, RAISE AWARENESS OF THE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES THE SDG PRESENT TO THE MINING SECTOR, AND INITIATE A MULTI-STAKEHOLDER DIALOGUE AND PARTNERSHIPS TOWARDS ACHIEVEMENT OF THE SDG. thereby creating an imperative to develop and implement biodiversity management strategies to limit disruption. Mining operations can also take steps to limit their carbon footprint to less negative impacts on climate change.

Challenges identified in the Atlas include lack of local capacity for implementing good practice, limited resources and lack of clarity on the roles of the private versus public sector and other stakeholders. Dialogues and partnerships are identified as key to unlocking the full potential for the mining sector to positively contribute to achieving the SDG. The SDG and the Atlas provide a useful guide to starting these dialogues. They also provide a useful starting point for mining companies to identify focus areas reflecting a global consensus on priorities for sustainable CMJ development.

MICHAEL TORRANCE is a lawyer with Norton Rose Fulbright, Toronto.

WWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

2016-08-30 11:02 AM

PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY

>1,400 professionals • > 45 offices • 20 countries • 6 continents

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List in the Cost as low as Canadian Mining $250.00 per issue Journal’s Contact: Professional ROBERT SEAGRAVES Directory 416-510-6891 Fax: 416-447-7658 rseagraves@canadianminingjournal.com

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UNEARTHING TRENDS

Agility in a volatile market can change the game

By Bruce Sprague

T

he mining sector right now is a lot like a sports match.

As the game unfolds, changes in mindset and the agility of the players impact the outcome of the game.

Right now, mining companies are up against a few tough opponents: fluctuations in commodity prices, as well as demand. In order to face that challenge head-on and maintain a strong balance sheet, companies need to be agile and know when to change course, or change focus.

In light of this, in EY’s new report, “Navigating volatility: do you change your business or the way your business works?,” we’ve identified six things companies ought to consider to more effectively manage costs, release cash and position balance sheets for future growth.

Reduce Costs: Understanding what cost reductions need to be

made and how quickly they can be developed seems obvious. The challenge is figuring out where to find ones that make a difference. Well-executed analytics can quickly identify opportunities for cost reduction, prioritize them and develop quantitative estimates of the value of cost reduction. They can also show the long-term impact of smaller cost cuts.

Find new cash: Mining companies that are focused on working capital can typically achieve savings of 30% or more. There are plenty of opportunities to release cash: processes and systems across the supply chain, particularly with regard to spare parts inventories, are the single biggest area for gains to be made.

Working capital can also be released by using the supply chain as a source of finance. Further still, money can be found by reconfiguring logistics and supply chains to make them more agile. As for new areas to save, the pace of reform for procurement and innovation isn’t moving as fast as it needs to, and should be a prime target.

Increase productivity: Most of the obvious opportunities to

increase productivity were likely addressed long ago. In order to take it to the next level, companies should have a long-term plan with leaders that communicate with people at every level of the organization. That can help optimize assets and ensure focus areas are driving the right actions. Once again, data analytics comes into play here. Quality information allows for effective 62 |

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decision-making before equipment failures and bottlenecking occurs.

Make your capital work better for business: It’s a no-brainer

that you want to get as much value as you can from your assets.

That begins with maintaining equipment. Consider conditioned-based maintenance rather than calendar-based, and you could realize up to 25% in savings. Additionally, focusing on completing the right projects, and doing them well, can help deliver the desired results. If you can defer a portion of capital investment into the future, it could create value for investors and reduce their capital risk exposure.

Regularly assess your portfolio strategy: Companies that actively and dynamically manage their portfolio of assets report better longer-term results than those with a buy-and-hold strategy. This is incredibly difficult in the high-volatility market that we’re currently experiencing, but it can be done. Portfolio management may include diversification, divestments, but most of all should include clear and regular communication with shareholders.

Reconsider financing options: When the markets are as vola-

tile as they are now, balance sheet flexibility is crucial. Companies need to manage their debt levels as best they can by pushing out the maturity of debt, or considering alternatives like mergers and joint ventures. These efforts, in turn, can also provide the financial leverage needed to negotiate debt terms with lenders.

Pricing volatility will likely remain elevated in the short term.

But just as an experienced athlete can change gears at a moment’s notice, mining executives have the power to increase their own agility, and stay in the game. Companies that make decisions for the long term will likely end up with more satisfied shareholders.

If all else fail, stand back and look at the entire playing field – business optimization is happening in other sectors that aren’t as volatile, and can inspire those who can’t take risks with new ideas.

CMJ

BRUCE SPRAGUE, EY’s Canadian Mining & Metals Leader.

WWW.CANADIANMININGJOURNAL.COM

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2016-08-30 9:32 AM

MINING.SANDVIK.COM

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2016-09-02 11:33 AM