CIM Magazine February 2014

The companies of Clean Air Products and services

MĂŠcanicad 115 Jacques-Bibeau st.

Rouyn-Noranda, Qc, J9Y 0A3

Meet us at CIM exhibition Booths # 1218-1220

www.mecanicad.ca

CONTENTS|CONTENU CIM MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY / FÉVRIER 2014

TOOLS OF THE TRADE 10

The best in new technology Compiled by Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

NEWS 12 20

22

24

26

28

Industry at a glance Following the crowd Companies are harnessing the power of social media to raise money through crowdfunding. But will this work for miners? by Anna Reitman Quebec’s changing environment In the prelude to the province’s last ditch Mining Act amendment session, legislative uncertainty and development issues were on the lips of mining professionals at Québec Mines by Alain Castonguay Crude debate Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver pushes back against potential European Union greenhouse gas legislation that would harm oil sands crude exports by Graham Lanktree Resource-backed renaissance As Colombia works on improving security and its image, its government is pushing for foreign investment in oil and gas to drive the country’s social and economic development by Herb Mathisen Taking a chance on new tech After surviving a brutal year, costconscious juniors at PDAC 2014 will be looking for new ways to explore on the cheap by Eavan Moore

28

COLUMNS 30

Eye on Business Signing a net smelter royalty agreement is common business. But in Quebec, if a mining property changes hands, is that agreement still enforceable against the new owner? by Dimitri Maniatis and

32

HR Outlook Don’t let the recent headlines fool you, labour shortages for the Canadian mining industry are very real by Ryan Montpellier Safety New analytics technology is changing the way we mine and mill, but shouldn’t it be used to revolutionize the way we approach safety? by David Carter Jurisdictions At long last, the Quebec government amended its mining act. Here’s what it means to miners.

Pascal Archambault

34 35

by Charles Kazaz

42

UPFRONT Construction 36

38

40

42

4 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

Jet boring takes off at Cigar Lake A difficult uranium deposit inspires the creation of a new mining method in the Athabasca basin by Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco Build it and they will come The long-awaited Northwest Transmission Line has the power to spark mine developments in British Columbia by Vivian Danielson Piece by enormous piece Goldcorp explores the modular construction method at its Éléonore project in northwest Quebec by Antoine Dion-Ortega and Pierrick Blin Potash palace Uncertain about the future of BHP Billiton’s Jansen mine? Drop in on Maury Simoneau, site superintendent by Brenda Bouw

TECHNOLOGY Underground networks 63

skills The development of underground communication systems are being driven by greater demands for safety, performance and durability

Communication

by Eavan Moore

CIM COMMUNITY | LA COMMUNAUTÉ DE L’ICM 67

46 FEATURE | ARTICLE DE FOND 46

Searching for money Why the majors need to step up in exploration by Ian Ewing

52

À la recherche de fonds Pourquoi les grandes sociétés minières doivent intensifier leurs activités d’exploration par Ian Ewing

PROJECT PROFILE | PROFIL DE PROJET 57

TRAVEL 98 Belo Horizonte, Brazil TECHNICAL ABSTRACTS | RÉSUMÉS TECHNIQUES 100 103

CIM Journal Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly

The next generation in nickel mining The Sudbury basin has a long history of nickel production, and Totten, Vale’s latest operation, continues the tradition by Correy Baldwin

60

L’exploitation du nickel nouvelle génération Le bassin de Sudbury est connu depuis longtemps pour la production de nickel, et Totten, la toute dernière mine de Vale (la première nouvelle mine de nickel de la société dans cette région depuis des décennies) perpétue cette tradition par Correy Baldwin

IN EVERY ISSUE 6 8 104 106

Editor’s letter President’s notes | Mot du président Professional Directory | Innovation Showcase Mining Lore by Correy Baldwin

SUPPLEMENT | SUPPLÉMENT

Preliminary Program Programme préliminaire

69

57 February 2014 | 5

Editor-in-chief Ryan Bergen, rbergen@cim.org Executive editor Angela Hamlyn, ahamlyn@cim.org Managing editor Andrea Nichiporuk, anichiporuk@cim.org

editor’s letter

Performance review

E

ach January at the CIM National office we sit down to talk performance. We discuss how we are doing and what we might change to improve things – as individuals, as a team and as an organization. These performance check-ups provide the CIM Magazine editors an opportunity to step back, recognize each others’ hard work, and revisit questions like how we can be as relevant as possible to CIM members and our readers.

And when we do not agree, the tone is civil.

The same cannot be said, however, for the bruising performance review the industry has endured over the last few months.

As CIM president Bob Schafer describes in his President’s Notes column, miners and juniors, in particular, have been shouted down, scorned and pushed aside, to a degree disproportionate to their accomplishments. In the larger marketplace, no one is showing much interest in how new ideas might improve things. Instead, the market’s heavy hand has pinched off funding that will inevitably be required to take novel approaches. In “Searching for money,” (p. 46) Ian Ewing pursues some of the unresolved questions about mineral exploration, including whether major mining companies should be playing a more active role in developing the technology that will lead to the next wave of discoveries.

For many in the extractive sector, the opportunity to travel was a selling point for choosing a career in the industry. A few lousy experiences on the road, however, can cool the urge. With this issue, we are launching a travel section meant to restore that wanderlust. Designed to be equal parts business and travel, this edition lays out some actionable advice for company and personal time spent in Belo Horizonte, Brazil’s mining hub.

Part of your travel itinerary should include a visit to Vancouver to attend the CIM 2014 Convention from May 11 to 14. You will find the Preliminary Program outlining the technical program, networking opportunities and social highlights on pages 71 – 98.

In addition to this issue of CIM Magazine, many of you also will have received a copy of the latest CIM Journal (see p. 100 for paper abstracts). The journal would be nothing without the dedicated work of many volunteers who devote their time and expertise to bring each issue to print. I want to thank Douglas Milne, the outgoing Society for Rock Engineering Technical Publications Committee member, for his contributions to the publication.

Martin Grenon will be taking over for Mr. Milne, and Janis Shandro has also volunteered to represent the Environmental and Social Responsibility Society.

Finally, as we look at how we can improve, we greatly appreciate your feedback. It helps us do our jobs better. If you have comments or suggestions, please send them our way.

Section editors Peter Braul, pbraul@cim.org Herb Mathisen, hmathisen@cim.org Copy editor/Communications coordinator Zoë Koulouris, zkoulouris@cim.org Web content editor Maria Olaguera, molaguera@cim.org Contributors Pascal Archambault, Correy Baldwin, Pierrick Blin, Brenda Bouw, David Carter, Alain Castonguay, Vivian Danielson, Antoine Dion-Ortega, Ian Ewing, Charles Kazaz, Graham Lanktree, Andrew Livingstone, Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco, Dimitri Maniatis, Ryan Montpellier, Eavan Moore, Anna Reitman Editorial advisory board Alicia Ferdinand, Garth Kirkham, Vic Pakalnis, Nathan Stubina Translations Pierrick Blin, Antoine Dion-Ortega, Karen Rolland, Jody Salicco Published 9 times a year by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum 1250 – 3500 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West Westmount, QC H3Z 3C1 Tel.: 514.939.2710; Fax: 514.939.2714 www.cim.org; Email: magazine@cim.org Subscriptions Included in CIM membership ($174.00); Non-members (Canada), $270.00/yr (PE, MB, SK, AB, NT, NU, YT add $11.00 GST, BC add $26.40 HST, ON, NB, NL add $28.60 HST, QC add $32.95 GST + PST, NS add $33.00 HST) Non-Members USA and International: US$290.00/year. Single copies, $25.00.

Advertising Sales Dovetail Communications Inc. 30 East Beaver Creek Rd., Ste. 202 Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 1J2 Tel.: 905.886.6640; Fax: 905.886.6615; www.dvtail.com Senior Account Executives 905.886.6641 Janet Jeffery, jjeffery@dvtail.com, ext. 329 Neal Young, nyoung@dvtail.com, ext. 325 Account Manager Fiona Persaud, fpersaud@dvtail.com, ext. 326

This issue’s cover Satellite imagery of the Edrengiyn Nuruu transition zone, with the southern Mongolia steppes visible on the right and the desert in northern China to the left. The image is part of the United States Geological Survey’s “Earth as Art” series.Courtesy of USGS. Layout and design by Clò Communications Inc. www.clocommunications.com Copyright©2014. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1718-4177. Publications Mail No. 09786.

Postage paid at CPA Saint-Laurent, QC.

Ryan Bergen, Editor-in-chief editor@cim.org @Ryan_at_CIM_Mag

6 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

Dépôt légal: Bibliothèque nationale du Québec.

The Institute, as a body, is not responsible for statements made or opinions advanced either in articles or in any discussion appearing in its publications.

Printed in Canada

‹ &RS\ULJKW %RDUW /RQJ\HDU $OO ULJKWV UHVHUYHG

NEW LX 11 ™

Multipurpose Drill Rig

INTRODUCING THE LATEST MULTIPURPOSE DRILL The LX™11 is a powerful medium-sized exploration multipurpose drill capable of both diamond coring and reverse circulation drilling. The LX™11 provides LQFUHDVHG OHYHOV RI VDIHW\ DQG RSHUDWLRQDO à H[LELOLW\ ZLWK a low overall cost of ownership.

Features: ‡ &RULQJ DQG UHYHUVH FLUFXODWLRQ GULOOLQJ FDSDELOLW\ ‡ 5RG KDQGOLQJ DQG LQWHUORFNHG JXDUGLQJ IRU DGGHG VDIHW\ ‡ 7UDFN PRXQWHG PXOWLSXUSRVH SODWIRUP SURYLGLQJ Ă H[LELOLW\ ‡ P 14ÂŒ P 5& GHSWK FDSDFLW\

To learn more about the LX™11 Drill, please visit: ZZZ ERDUWORQJ\HDU FRP /; &,0

ZZZ %RDUW/RQJ\HDU FRP Â&#x2021; $6; %/<

president’s notes | mot du président

Mapping the future

Robert Schafer CIM President Président de l’ICM

These are interesting times. For most commodities, prices – standard measures of the health of the minerals industry – have fluctuated within narrow, acceptable ranges. Yet the industry is behaving as though prices have slumped and demand is off.

Major mining companies are consolidating core assets, avoiding major investments while shedding assets that fall outside their long-term agendas. Mid-tier producers are relying upon their flagship operations to build stores of cash and cautiously evaluating potential growth opportunities. For junior miners, greenfields exploration has effectively come to a halt as investors hold tightly to their cash.

This trend has been growing since the 2008–09 economic crisis. It is a double-edged sword for our business: as the mine operators consolidate their assets and operations and postpone taking on exploration risk, the industry is positioning itself for a future shock.

In a paper presented at the AEMQ annual meeting in Quebec City last November, Richard Schodde, managing director of MinEx Consulting, stated that, on average, Canadian mines have reserves (not resources) that will sustain operations for only six to seven years. Further, there is little investment going into exploration to replace reserves and discover new mines. Lastly, to advance a discovery through delineation to permitting and finally construction, it now requires 10 to 15 years across Canada.

A bit of math suggests that a domestic mineral supply crisis looms within a decade or so.

Short-term fixes as prices rise include dropping cut-off grades, converting currently sub-economic resources to reserves to extend mine life, and incrementally expanding throughput to meet demand.

To be sustainable, Canada’s junior sector needs to get back to successful exploration, with joint public-privately supported infrastructure to access frontier areas, especially in the North.

These investments will increase the wealth of the country, while improving many aspects of the quality of life for aboriginal and northern citizens.

Planifier l’avenir Nous vivons une époque intéressante. Pour la plupart des matières premières, les prix (qui constituent les mesures conventionnelles de la santé de l’industrie des minéraux) ont fluctué dans des marges acceptables et relativement étroites. Pourtant, l’industrie se comporte comme si ces prix s’étaient effondrés et la demande s’était arrêtée.

Les grandes sociétés minières consolident leurs principaux actifs, évitent les investissements majeurs et se débarrassent des actifs ne relevant pas de leurs programmes à long terme. Les producteurs de taille intermédiaire comptent sur leurs principales exploitations pour renflouer les caisses et évaluent avec précaution des occasions potentielles de croissance. Les petites sociétés minières, quant à elles, ont arrêté l’exploration des zones vertes étant donné que les investisseurs accordent difficilement des fonds.

Cette tendance a pris de l’ampleur depuis la crise économique de 2008-2009. C’est une situation à double tranchant pour notre secteur : tandis que les exploitants miniers consolident leurs actifs et leurs travaux d’exploitation et remettent sans cesse à plus tard l’exploration, considérée risquée, l’industrie se prépare à subir un choc dans un avenir proche.

Dans un communiqué présenté lors de l’assemblée générale annuelle de l’AEMQ à Québec en novembre dernier, Richard Schodde, directeur général de MinEx Consulting, a déclaré qu’en moyenne, les mines canadiennes disposaient de réserves (et non de ressources) qui permettront aux exploitations de survivre six ou sept ans seulement. En outre, peu d’investissements sont faits dans l’exploration pour remplacer les réserves et découvrir de nouvelles mines. Enfin, il faut maintenant compter entre 10 et 15 ans sur tout le territoire canadien pour promouvoir une découverte, obtenir les autorisations, puis commencer la construction.

Un simple calcul permet de réaliser qu’une crise nationale de l’approvisionnement en minéraux menace d’éclater d’ici une dizaine d’année. Les solutions à court terme au vu de la hausse des prix pourraient consister à réduire les teneurs de coupure, à convertir les ressources actuellement peu rentables en réserves pour prolonger la durée de vie de la mine et à progressivement augmenter les capacités afin de répondre à la demande.

Pour assurer sa pérennité, le secteur des petites sociétés minières canadiennes doit de nouveau se tourner vers l’exploration, et ce, à l’aide d’une infrastructure soutenue conjointement par les secteurs public et privé afin d’accéder à des régions frontalières, notamment dans le Nord. Ces investissements renforceront la richesse du pays tout en améliorant de nombreux aspects de la qualité de vie des autochtones et des citoyens du Nord.

8 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

use of Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s natural resources As the global leader in minerals and metals processing technology, Outotec has developed many breakthrough technologies over the decades.

The company also provides innovative solutions for industrial water treatment, the utilization of alternative energy sources and the chemical industry. www.outotec.com

OF TOOLS THE TRADE

◢ Work clothes for women

Courtesy of Navman Wireless

Fleet tracking systems help mine operators and management keep tabs on productivity by providing a wide array of real-time data from vehicles, including location, fuel usage and even the exact time the ignition is turned on. The systems also allow for two-way communication between vehicle operators. But all that is interrupted when vehicles venture outside of cellular coverage area, creating potentially serious problems when communication is critical for safety and efficient operations. Last November, Navman Wireless introduced a new plug-in for its OnlineAVL 2 fleet tracking system in North America that allows the system to temporarily switch to satellite communication when the vehicle moves out of cellular range. It automatically switches back to the more cost-effective cellular transmission when the vehicle is back in range. “From an occupational health and safety perspective,” says Andrew Hintz, Navman’s vertical market product manager, “it allows them to have infinite coverage and capability to ensure the driver receives mission critical information or, with the twoway messaging feature, they can actually communicate.

That’s really what it’s all about: mitigating the risk of the location, especially in a harsh environment.”

Courtesy of Covergalls Inc.

◢ Never out of range

For decades, women working in industrial environments have had to make do with gear designed for men.

Because men’s work clothing is often ill-fitting for women, it poses a safety risk. And, for women wearing men’s coveralls, a trip to the porta potty is a challenge fit only for Durga, the Hindu deity with eight arms. In fact, for Alicia Woods, who has worked in the mining industry for 14 years, the experience was so disastrous that she refused to drink water before going underground. Three years ago, she went into a particularly hot underground environment and had no choice but to drink several bottles of water.

The inevitable visit to the portable toilet ended with her having to abandon all the belongings that had fallen out of her pockets. “I said, I will never wear your clothes again,” she recalls. “And really, if you’re not drinking water to avoid using the porta potty, it becomes a health issue as well.” As a result, Woods designed gear for women of all sizes that includes coveralls with hidden front-and-back trap doors, and founded Covergalls Inc. to market the goods. She has partnered with a Canadian manufacturer and today her products, designed in Sudbury, Ontario, are getting international attention.

When designing mining and construction equipment for use in extreme weather, testing it in those conditions is essential. This is especially important for machines designed with extensive hydraulic systems that can be affected by extreme cold, says Nikolaas Van Riet, business development and innovation manager with Offshore Wind Infrastructure Application Lab (OWIlab). “You want to test such things as cold starts and how fast windows are defrosted because all of these will affect operations,” he adds. In 2012, the group built a large climatic chamber at Belgium’s Port of Antwerp, near the Zuidnatie breakbulk terminal. The OWI-lab and its climate chamber can handle large and heavy machinery of up to 300 tons. It was originally designed to test wind turbines, “but because of its size and height, it’s ideal for large mining equipment as well,” says Van Riet, adding

Courtesy of Offshore Wind Infrastructure Application Lab

◢ Cold, controlled testing

the fact that the lab has the highest ceiling of such facilities in all of Europe “makes it ideal for testing cranes, for example.” In fact, at 10.6 metres in length, seven metres in width, and eight metres in height, with the technology to test from -60 C to 60 C, the chamber is one of the largest and most sophisticated available for private industry in Europe and North America.

Compiled by Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

10 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

When the world looks to you Look to Petro-Canada Lubricants

Petro-Canada a is a Suncor Energ gyy business TM

Trademark of Suncor Energy Inc. Used under licence.

Courtesy of CEMI

news CEMI gets $15 million from feds Anticipating a future where miners will need to go deeper and deeper to exploit mineral deposits, the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) will be better equipped to conduct research to make the processes involved in ultra-deep mining more effective and more comfortable for workers now that it has secured $46 million in public and private funding.

On January 22, the federal government awarded $15 million to CEMI for its Underground Deep-Mining Network (UDMN) project proposal, under the Canadian government’s Business-led Networks of Centres of Excellence program. This amount was matched by a $31-million contribution from mining and oil and gas companies to develop new processes and technologies in four ultra-deep mining areas: safety and stability of drifts; energy reduction for

The Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) was awarded $15 million from the Canadian government in January. At the announcement, from left to right, Vale’s Samantha Espley, NSERC’s Janet Walden, CEMI president Douglas Morrison, Canadian Minister of State Greg Rickford, ReMAP’s Irene Sterian, GARDN’s Sylvain Cofsky, ReMAP’s Loretta Renard and Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk.

ventilation; operational efficiency; and comfort for workers in deep mines, which includes developing personal protective equipment that addresses heat and humidity, along with improving communications. Ultra deep mines are defined as deeper than 2.5 kilometres, said Douglas Morrison, CEMI CEO and president.

Get a safe and secure work CEMI’s UDMN environment for your was chosen as one employees of four projects Optez pour un environnement from a pool of sain et sécuritaire pour more than 100 vos employés applicants.

“We had several small projects GardaWorld is the largest GardaWorld est le plus grand that we were begprovider of protective services fournisseur de services de inning to pull in the mining industry in protection de l’industrie minière Canada; we have the best au Canada. Nous avons les together that adtrained industrial security agents de sécurité les mieux dressed individguards and highly experienced formés de l’industrie ainsi investigation experts. que des experts en enquête ual issues but hautement qualifiés. when we were GardaWorld is committed to hiring and training from Fière membre du NAABA made aware of Aboriginal communities.

We are members of both NAABA and the Aboriginal Human Resource Council.

Contact our experts

et du Conseil des Ressources Humaines Autochtones, GardaWorld s’engage auprès des communautés autochtones et offre des programmes de formation et des opportunités d’emplois.

Contactez nos experts

T: +1 780 791 7087 mildred.ralph@garda.com garda.com

12 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

this competition, we realized that we should tie it all together into one network,” said Morrison. “In fact, these themes are not really separate. If we don’t do the energy better, the productivity is affected. If we don’t improve the conditions for people, it will be difficult for us to attract new people to the industry.” The organization will coordinate the work between mining companies, suppliers and service providers, and universities, to be undertaken in Canada as well as in mine sites in – Herb Mathisen Australia.

NRCan blundered New Prosperity assessment: Taseko Federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq has until February 27 to make a decision on the environmental assessment for Taseko Mines’ New Prosperity project in British Columbia.

At the same time, a major portion of the information Aglukkaq is supposed

Errata In the CIM Corporate Member Directory section of the December ‘13 / January ‘14 issue, the contact information for Keshav Das, corporate representative for BKT Tires Canada Inc., should have read: keshav.das@bkt-tires.com.

We regret the error.

news to use to make her decision is under judicial review.

Taseko has alleged that findings from a federal review panel report, based on NRCan modelling, ignore the company’s plan to use a low permeability basin liner in the tailings facility.

Those same findings hold that the mine would have “significant adverse environmental effects” on local fish habitats because of potential seepage from the tailings facility into Fish Lake.

“It’s the same design as for Mt. Milligan’s tailings storage facility,” said Brian Battison, Taseko’s vice-president of corporate affairs, who emphasized that Knight Piesold, which consulted for Taseko’s engineering, also designed the liners for Thompson Creek’s Mt. Milligan tailings facility.

If Aglukkaq approves the project, or if the federal cabinet decides that the project’s environmental risks are justified, Taseko has pledged to withdraw

the request for judicial review. But if things swing the other way, Battison said, the government and his company will be tied up in Federal Court for – Peter Braul “many months.”

Belarusian potash rift shakes Canada With prices down 24 per cent from last year, Uralkali’s aggressive attack on potash markets since dropping out of Belarusian Potash Co. (BPC) is being felt in Canadian mines. The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan laid off 18 per cent of its workforce in December, including 440 of its Saskatchewan workers, 130 in New Brunswick, and 475 outside of Canada.

“While these are steps we must take to run a sustainable business and protect the long-term interests of all our stakeholders, these decisions are never easy,” said PotashCorp CEO Bill Doyle.

The company’s Saskatchewan potash production has stayed steady, at around eight million tonnes per year, while its workforce in the province has increased by more than 1,000 since 2007. The company had been adding workers to support expansion with the expectation of better market conditions.

Uralkali recently signed a deal with China for US$305 per tonne this year, setting the bar for potash prices very low. But whether the Russian company will continue to market its goods alone is uncertain. The Russian ambassador to Belarus, Alexander Surikov, claimed in a December press conference that Uralkali was prepared to begin cooperating again with Belaruskali, the – P.B. remaining member of BPC.

Colossus tumbles Frustrated by technical problems that exhausted its finances, Colossus Minerals filed for bankruptcy protection in January. Earlier in 2013, the company intended to begin producing at the Serra Pelada underground mine at the end of the year, but development work was slowed last summer when water inflow overwhelmed the mine’s 14 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

industry at a glance dewatering system. The interruption pushed the start date for the mine to the second quarter of 2014, and by last November both the company’s CEO and CFO had resigned. On December 6, the company announced it would need another US$70 million to reach production. Shortly after, a mineral resource estimate for the project reported an Indicated Resource of a meagre 230,000 ounces of gold, crushing any hope that the company could inspire more investment in its Brazilian project.

The discovery of the Serra Pelada deposit sparked a decade-long gold rush in the early 1980s that attracted tens of thousands to the remote site in the Para state of northern Brazil. In 2007, Colossus formed a partnership with a Brazilian cooperative to develop the underlying resource. The company, boosted by impressive drilling results and strong gold prices, had raised US$380 million to build

what its management had described as a 1,000-tonne-per-day, high-grade, underhand cut and fill mine without doing a resource estimate.

Toronto-based Colossus is now in the process of converting its debt into equity. The proposed restructuring would give company noteholders 51 per cent of the outstanding shares.

Sandstorm Gold, which had a streaming agreement with Colossus for both gold and platinum, would take 38 per cent, and existing shareholders, who saw the company’s share price peak at $9.56 in 2010, would receive just – Ryan Bergen over one per cent.

Yukon’s Peel plan panned Following 10 years of discussion and contentious debate, the Yukon government has released its land-use plan for the Peel watershed, and both environmental and mining groups have concerns.

The Peel Watershed Planning Commission (PWPC) sent its recommendations to the government in July 2011, calling for conservation of 80 per cent of the region: 67,430 square kilometres of nearly pristine and potentially mineral-rich land, roughly equivalent to 14 per cent of Yukon’s territory. It is home to grizzly bears, Dall sheep and wolves and is important traditional and hunting grounds for the region’s First Nations.

The government’s plan, released January 20, converts 29 per cent of the region into a protected area, while opening the rest up to mineral claims staking. (A temporary ban had been in place.) Forty-four per cent of the land will become “restricted use wilderness area” which, according to the government, allows “for low levels of carefully managed land activity” with roughly 0.2 per cent of overall surface disruption. The remaining 27 per cent will be open for general land use.

February 2014 | 15

news Following the government’s announcement, four Yukon First Nations released a statement, vowing to fight the government’s plan, based on its decision not to follow the PWPC recommendations. On January 27, a group comprised of local First Nations and environmental organizations filed a lawsuit against the government.

However, miners in the region might find the current plan too restrictive. “At first blush, it looks like a high level of environmental protection and that is a concern for our membership,” said Yukon Chamber of Mines executive director Samson Hartland. He added the plan is likely not final at this point: “We haven’t heard the last of this, that’s

for sure.” According to chamber data from 2010, the region has been underexplored, but includes around 219 known mineral occurrences and 13 – H.M. known deposits.

Miners slack on hacking protection Mining companies in Canada need to take note of the increased threat of cyber attacks, according to a report released late last year by Ernst & Young outlining the growing risk across the industry.

The report “Cyber hacking and information security: mining and metals” found that 41 per cent of companies surveyed saw cyber security from outside sources like foreign governments and mining activists as an increasing threat, and 28 per cent saw internal vulnerabilities growing.

The largest threat, said Ernst & Young’s information security practice leader Rafael Etges, is due to the centralization of network infrastructure. This leads to a bigger dependence on the Internet and the use of smart phones and tablets by employees and management. Without proper security systems in place, and education of management and staff, companies are left vulnerable.

This can eventually harm the bottom line if cyber-attacks result in operational shutdowns, or if information is accessed by the wrong people, he said.

Chronic underfunding of protection for information systems can lead to cyber attacks, said Etges. “If you’re implementing more sophisticated technology, you are becoming more like a bank and that protection is needed,” he added. “If they aren’t training people (on the issues of Internet security and proper handling of company information) then the risks will continue to – Andrew Livingstone remain.”

Northern power play The government of the Northwest Territories announced in late December that it hopes to lower energy costs by linking its two hydro power generation facilities – the Taltson and Snare 16 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

news plants – together on one grid. Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger said current energy costs create roadblocks for companies looking to make projects in the territory financially viable.

He added that the plan would provide opportunities for current and future mines in the region to connect to the network and also improve the cost of living for northerners: many operations and communities rely on diesel for power generation.

However, to complete the estimated $700-million project in the five-year period that Premier Bob McLeod has laid out in recent interviews, the territorial government needs more borrowing power: its debt level is currently capped at $800 million, with more than $500 million already committed.

“Without the ability to do that, we’re going to stagnate and we will be stuck where we are right now and not be able to advance and do the things governments should do,” said Miltenberger.

18 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

“We’ve been working with [the federal government and industry] for years to promote economic development, but if you want to be able to move to the next step, it’s about us being able to do it financially,” he added, noting the dialogue with the federal government is – A.L. progressing.

Western Copper and Gold puts its cards on the table A Canadian company is hoping to hit the jackpot in Yukon. In January, Vancouver-based Western Copper and Gold submitted a final project proposal to the Yukon Environmental and Socioeconomic Board for its Casino copper-gold-molybdenum project. The open pit mine, which Western Copper and Gold expects will cost roughly $2.45 billion to build and would become the largest mine in the territory, is projected to have a 22-year life, according to the company’s January 2013

feasibility study. Paul West-Sells, company president and COO, said once the proposal is deemed adequate by the board, it will begin detailed engineering work on the project, while also looking to secure the financing required for its construction. The mine, which would produce around 400,000 ounces of gold and 200 million pounds of copper per year, would employ 600 full-time workers. Based on the track record of the territory’s regulatory authorities in recent years, West-Sells said, “We expect to get a decision from the Yukon government by the end of 2015, or approximately two years from when the project proposal was submitted, and be in a position to begin construction at – H.M. the beginning of 2016.”

Peter Munk hangs ’em up As Barrick Gold hunkers down and recalibrates its reserves at $1,100 per ounce, down $400 from last year’s

industry at a glance assumptions, the company is preparing for a new, more conservative era in gold mining. In a move symbolic of the profound changes in the gold space, the company’s founder and cochairman, Peter Munk, is planning to step down at the annual general meeting this spring.

Board members Howard Beck and Brian Mulroney will also be leaving, joining Donald Carty and Robert Franklin who quit in December. Barrick had 13 members on its board before the resignations.

The company has tagged Ned Goodman, CEO of Dundee Capital, Nancy Lockhart, CEO of Frum Development Group, David Naylor, the former president of the University of Toronto, and Ernie Thrasher, CEO of Xcoal Energy and Resources, to replace those leaving at the AGM, when current co-chair John Thornton will officially take over – P.B. the reins from Munk.

New life for Dufferin mine Despite a nearly 20-per-cent drop in the price of gold in 2013, Quebecbased Resources Appalaches is eager to reach its initial 300-tonne-per-daycapacity goal at its refurbished Dufferin gold mine in Nova Scotia by mid-2014.

Company president Alain Hupe said he is not worried about the fluctuating price of gold – at least for now.

When looking at the viability of reopening the mine, the company used a $1,200-per-ounce price in its cost analysis. (Gold hovered between $1,240 and $1,265 per ounce in late January.) The area has been explored since the 1860s, and the Dufferin property has changed hands over the years, with Resources Appalaches acquiring sole ownership in 2011.

“We’re not starting from zero,” said Hupe, explaining that the milling buildings from previous operations are still in place and “in really great shape.

The tailing ponds and roads are there and we just had to upgrade [the road].”

All this reduced mine start-up costs. “It is a small production and it is easier to manage,” he said of the potential 70employee operation. The company

hopes to produce between 20,000 and 25,000 gold ounces per year and potentially ramp up production as it continues to explore the property. – A.L.

CMP powers idea mill The need for expanded front-end metallurgical work and more nimble process controls fuelled discussions at the latest Canadian Mineral Processors (CMP) Conference in January. Processors, explained conference chair Pierre Julien, will get better results as more effort is committed to understanding the ore being processed. “There are gains to be made by having a better understanding of the ore body at the feasibility stage, and how it will perform metallurgically,” said Julien. “Even just 10 years ago we were only looking at grade. But grade alone does not help you make proper investments. And in operations, we are seeing mineralogical equipment coming into the mills.”

The event, anchored by a technical program that featured 35 presentations on process improvements, innovations and challenges, concluded with an audience-generated panel discussion.

Consultant Mike Ounpuu, Outotec’s Tatu Miettinen, Xstrata Technology’s Rodrigo Araya and FLSmidth’s Harley Schreiber spoke about scaling up flotation testwork to the plant, and explored what metrics beyond the rule of thumb for residence time could help mineral processors achieve more consistent results as flotation cells are scaled up.

At the event’s award banquet,

CMP 2014 AWARD-WINNERS Mineral Processor of the Year: Paul Cousin (Agnico Eagle Mines) Lifetime Achievement: John Goode (J. R. Goode and Associates) Bill Moore Special Achievement: Jocelyn Bouchard (Université Laval) A.R. MacPherson Comminution: Ken Major (KWM Consulting) Ray MacDonald Volunteer: Ernie Marcotte (Numax Resources) and Edwin Joe (CMP Board of Directors) Best Presentation from 2013: Jim Wickens (Romarco Minerals) Dominic Fragomeni, XPS Consulting director, spoke about how many in attendance that evening saw their career paths wind through the Brunswick zinc mill, detailing the history of the 50-year old operation and how many had cut their teeth there. Its closure in May, he said, marked “the end of an era.” – R.B.

February 2014 | 19

news

Following the crowd Companies are clamouring to provide crowdfunding services to miners, but will it catch on?

by Anna Reitman Crowdfunding platforms are set to give Canadian miners a new fundraising channel in 2014. So far, companies have only started to dip their toes into these waters, and the ones that have can claim varying degrees of success. But even in these very early days, a growing number of platform providers are jockeying for position with niche offerings.

The basic idea behind crowdfunding is to harness the power of the Internet and online social networking to extend a project’s promotion and financing opportunities. Its roots are in the nonprofit community but it is becoming an increasingly common form of fundraising in other sectors, notably technology.

Four types of crowdfunding strategies exist: donation, reward-based

donation, equity and lending – but it is mostly restricted to accredited and institutional investors for now. In December, Saskatchewan became the first province to create regulations for its retail investors interested in equity crowdfunding. Saskatchewan-based companies can raise up to $150,000, capped at $1,500 per investor, every six months. Ontario is now in a public consultation period. Currently, only exempt market dealers in Canada can operate equity crowdfunding portals.

Chris Charlesworth, co-founder of the donation-based crowdfunding platform Catalyst, said that one of the major benefits of crowdfunding is that it provides validation and immediate feedback at little cost. BacTech E n v i ro n m e n t a l recently worked with Catalyst on a campaign to raise Mining & Minerals $30,000 that would go towards diagnostic work on the potential of using naturally occurring bacteria to remediate

tailings at a site in Bolivia. BacTech CEO Ross Orr said the company looked at crowdfunding this project because the money it is raising through traditional means is being dedicated to its $20-million Snow Lake project in Manitoba, which will hopefully be running by the end of the year.

BacTech was interested in getting its name out to an environmentally and socially conscious target audience, and one of the requirements to be listed on Catalyst is that a project must have a positive social or environmental benefit.

The campaign attracted a lot of publicity and social media attention, and as a result a number of high-profile organizations have approached BacTech to pursue this and other projects. But the Toronto-based company only managed to raise a disappointing $2,035 of its $30,000 goal. One of the reasons it failed, Orr suggested, was that it did not accomplish one of the golden rules of donation-based campaigns: to have already raised about 30 per cent of the funding before launching it on the Catalyst site.

According to research from the U.K.-based equity crowdfunding plat-

Crowdfunding platforms: CSI’s Catalyst (csicatalyst.org): Toronto- and New York-based, launched in March 2013, focuses on crowdfunding campaigns with “positive social and environmental impact.”

ExplorationFunder (explorationfunder.com): New York-based, launched in March 2013, connects accredited investors with international natural resource companies.

KlondikeStrike (klondikestrike.com): Toronto-based, launching in 2014, connecting accredited and ordinary investors with mining companies.

www.tetratech.com/markets/mining-services.html mining@tetratech.

20 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

Optimize Capital Markets (optimizecapitalmarkets.com): Toronto-based, launched in September 2009, connects accredited and institutional investors with “much larger and more established companies” in a variety of sectors.

news

form Seedrs, every single start-up that has hit 35 per cent of its goal has gone on to get its full 100 per cent. Whereas those that started with zero per cent funding have about a 15 per cent chance of making it. There are two reasons for this, according to Seedrs. For one, potential investors want to see that the fundraiser is willing and able to do the hard work to bring in network investors. And human behaviour is another factor; people like to be part of something that has momentum.

In evaluating the experience, Oscar Alvarado, project research analyst with BacTech, said that aside from not getting the message out to enough people, the stage the project was in may have been too early for crowdfunding. He also noted that the team opted for a donation-based campaign over an equity-based one in part because of the regulatory burden. The regulations around equity share or return on investment are still uncertain, and would require applications with the Ontario Securities Commission, thus taking up more time and resources, he said.

But the regulated space is “where the real money is,” said Oscar Jofre, chief technology officer at Klondike Strike.

Along with founder Jason Futko, he is launching a mining-specific equity crowdfunding portal during this year’s PDAC convention in Toronto. “What you are going to see is a lot of verticalbased equity portals like mining, oil and gas, real estate and solar energy,” he said. “It is very exciting and a major transformation of capital because the average person will be able to invest without anyone in the middle to tell you what is or isn’t a good deal.”

In the United States, regulations around crowdfunding are contained under the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups) Act. There are a number of areas still under consideration, but so far no publicly traded compa-

nies are allowed to equity crowdfund, said Jofre. Only private companies can employ crowdfunding right now, he added.

ExplorationFunder is another provider looking to gain entry into the crowdfunding game. It is focusing a majority of its efforts in the United States while regulations are being finalized. Damien Reynolds, co-founder of ExplorationFunder, said his team is planning to raise funds for both publicly listed and private companies. “The American equity market is the largest in the world, and we feel that natural resource investments need to be marketed more effectively to high net worth or American investors,” he said.

The site currently hosts five Canadian and two Australian explorers with assets in Africa, North America, and Australia-Pacific.

This year, Reynolds would like to “pressuretest the pipes” by completing two or three financings of between $500,000 and $1 million, and to increase the number of companies represented to about 20.

Whether on a small or large scale, successful capital raising can hinge on being close to realizing revenue. “If you are two to three years away from striking something, then it is going to be diffi-

cult,” said Matthew McGrath, president and CEO of equity crowdfunding platform Optimize Capital Markets (OCM). OCM focuses on institutionalsized deals that are typically between $3 and $5 million across more than 35,000 accredited and institutional investors.

But if it is at early-stage exploration that companies have the toughest time raising funds, what is the point?

McGrath believes the opportunity for miners is to access a diversified investor base that will not move the market when exiting. The average investment size on OCM is about $250,000 and about one third of the companies seeking finance are in the energy and natural resources sectors. CIM

February 2014 | 21

news

Quebec’s changing environment Investor uncertainty, development issues highlight discussion at Québec Mines

by Alain Castonguay

22 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

need a “predictable” environment in order to invest in Quebec. She hoped industry representatives could renew talks with the government about potential changes to the mining act.

During the plenary session, much of the discussion centred on how companies should approach communities and other local groups to build relationships when they seek to develop projects in the province. “A poorly defined or neglected issue becomes a risk,” said Dominique Ferrand, eco-advisory reearch chair at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC). “Therefore, sus-

tainable development begins with a shared understanding of the issues.”

A project’s social licence is a very relative concept and can evolve or fall apart over time, he said. But a project can also be inadmissible from the start, Ferrand said, citing Vancouver’s Pacific Arc Resources, which began drilling in Laurentides municipalities in the spring of 2011, but neglected to advise local authorities. This led to angry protests. The company abandoned its project two months later. “Being advised is not enough,” he insisted. “Citizens now want to take part in the decisionmaking process.” CIM

Alain Castonguay

In November, the Quebec mining industry gathered for two events held concurrently in the provincial capital.

At the second edition of Québec Mines and the annual conference of the Quebec Mineral Exploration Association (AMEQ), uncertainty over the province’s on-again, off-again mining reform added tension to the already gloomy atmosphere brought about by the market downturn and the lack of interest from financial markets.

“The industry needs to know that it is welcome in Quebec,” said Josée Méthot, Québec Mining Association’s CEO, during the opening plenary of Québec Mines. The province’s mining industry hit a pothole in 2013 after 10 consecutive years of increasing investment. Expenditures in the mining sector increased to $5.13 billion in 2012 from $3.9 billion in 2011 – a jump of 31 per cent. But the Institut de la statistique du Québec predicted a decrease of nearly 10 per cent, to $4.6 billion, in 2013.

Exploration spending has also decreased. Forage Orbit Garant, one of the largest companies that specialize in drilling in Quebec, published its results for the quarter ending September 30, 2013: the company’s income dropped by nearly half compared to the same quarter in the previous year. The number of metres drilled in the last quarter was down 33.9 per cent compared to the period last year.

Attendees said the uncertain legislative agenda in Quebec was a burden added to the many other problems the mining industry is facing: higher costs, lower grades, environmental concerns, social issues and lower market prices. “The dialogue with the government is very difficult,” said Philippe Cloutier, president of the AMEQ Council and Cartier Resources.

Françoise Bertrand, Quebec’s Chamber of Commerce president, echoed these concerns, stating that miners

Natural Resources Minister Martine Ouellet speaks to reporters.

Mining legislation rewritten, again From the get go, reporters swarmed Natural Resources Minister Martine Ouellet to ask her about the recently rejected Bill 43, which had essentially halted the Parti Québecois’ mining reform. Ouellet denied that the uncertainty was responsible for this year’s drop in investment in Quebec, and announced that she was prepared to negotiate with opposition parties to amend her legislative proposal.

It was the third bill that had failed to pass since 2009, the year when Quebec’s auditor general published a devastating report on the management of mineral resources. The two previous bills were submitted by Jean Charest’s Liberal government.

Mining companies, particularly those active in exploration, believed the system proposed by the Marois government would give too many discretionary powers to the minister responsible for the mining sector. The AEMQ had targeted 50 provisions of Bill 43, calling for “a transparent, predictable and stable legislative framework that will ensure the development of the Quebec mining industry based on Quebec’s best economic interests.”

On December 10, the government pushed ahead with a pared-down version of the bill, which was approved in a marathon midnight session. Bill 70 backed off on some of Bill 43’s stickier parts: for instance, companies will now be required to conduct a scoping and market survey about the potential of putting processing facilities in Quebec rather than a more expensive feasibility study that had been proposed in the earlier bill. (See p.35 for a more detailed breakdown of Bill 70.)

Innovative Solutions for Building Value!

Mining & Bulk Material Handling Design & Construction Services FWSgroup.com

Our exceptional knowledge of material storage and handling requirements allows us to deliver a diverse range of mining project solutions.

Phone: 1-800-553-0007

Email: info@fwsgroup.com

WINNIPEG | CALGARY | VANCOUVER | FARGO

news

Crude debate Canadian government pushes back against European greenhouse gas legislation

Canada’s oil sands industry is cautiously optimistic that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will prompt a revision of new EU legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

At the 2013 Canada Europe Energy Summit in London last November, Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver said Harper is petitioning European Commission president José Manuel Barroso personally on the issue.

Oliver’s address was part of a fourday tour of Europe intended to convince his counterparts in Italy, the United Kingdom, and France that the European Union Parliament’s proposed Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) is “unscientific, discriminatory, opaque, will discourage disclosure and harm the European refinery industry.”

As drafted, the legislation will see all EU oil suppliers reduce life cycle greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from well to wheels by six per cent (based on 2010 emissions data) by December 31, 2020, following a timeline of two per cent by 2014, and four per cent by 2017. By the deadline, oil suppliers will be reviewed by the EU on whether they are reducing GHGs by a nonbinding two per cent through carbon capture and storage and two per cent in credits purchased through the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. The directive itself would not tax Canadian exports but would do so indirectly, penalizing refineries in Europe for using oil sands crude feedstock which the EU FQD rules has a higher life cycle carbon dioxide (CO2) footprint. The Renewable Energy Directive sets binding emissions reduction targets on EU countries and taxation of the crude will be levied by each individually to meet their targets.

Oliver criticized the science behind the plan. Just days before, environmental consulting firm ICF Interna24 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

Courtesy of Natural Resources Canada

by Graham Lanktree

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver has been busy touting Canada’s environmental record internationally. In London last November, he called the EU Parliament’s proposed Fuel Quality Directive, which could harm Canadian oil sands exports, “unscientific, discriminatory [and] opaque.” Oliver is seen, above, promoting Canada’s environmental performance at a Canada-France Chamber of Commerce event in Paris last spring.

tional – which also consults for the EU – concluded in a Canadian government-funded study that “the science underpinning the measures is flawed,” marred by methodological and data errors.

The EU legislation weighs the intensity of production, transport and consumption emissions from oil sands as 22 per cent greater than average conventional crude. This weighing of natural bitumen feedstock stems from a peer-reviewed Stanford University study for the European Commission.

Yet the IFC report and Oliver maintain “even light crudes from some countries exporting to the EU have similar or even higher GHG intensities due to flaring and venting emissions,” said Oliver, which are not taken into account. “This is basic energy science, but the FQD doesn’t reflect it. Worse, by giving a pass to countries with poor data, it provides no incentive to be

more forthcoming,” he added, calling for redrafting of the legislation.

Bob Dudley, CEO for BP, which has a stake in three Alberta oil sands properties, said the FQD methodology is far from perfect. “At this stage BP and, I assure you, the wider industry believe the most feasible approach is to take an average carbon value of crude oils used each year by European refineries,” he said at the event. “The amount of debate on this subject shows that the methodology to measure it is not even close to being precise enough to measure and monitor carbon life cycles.”

Despite government overtures and industry optimism that the legislation will be revised, Isaac Valero-Ladron, EU spokesman for climate action commissioner Connie Hedegaard, said his organization is “planning to present the proposal in the coming months, and before the May European Parliament elections.” He dispelled rumours that Barroso

news

is moving to delay the vote until after the 2014 European Parliamentary elections, adding, “the Commission is taking its time to deliver a sound proposal.”

Valero-Ladron said he stood by the FQD’s science: “The [ICF report] assessment is inadequate, because it unjustifiably assumes that such average values are not quantifiable as there are limited acceptable data outside Canada and the United States” when it comes to emissions from conventional crude.

Science aside, any new legislation will impact Canada’s oil sands industry, according to Ungad Chadda, senior vice-president of the Toronto Stock Exchange. “If you’re taking your customer base and reducing it with for-

eign regulations, I think that would impact the outlook some investors might have on our market,” he said.

In 2012, EU imports of Canadian petroleum products rose 17 per cent to more than C$2.6 billion. According to the Canadian government, the EU is the world’s largest common market, foreign investor and trader, with a population of more than 500 million and GDP of $17.4 trillion.

But in an interview with CIM Magazine, Enbridge president and CEO Al Monaco suggested industry put its energies elsewhere. “This is strictly for crude oil exports into Europe,” he said of the directive. “So we don’t see that as affecting Chinese demand. We need to

get to Chinese demand. It’s the ideal market,” he added, emphasizing the recent National Energy Board approval of the Northern Gateway pipeline.

Over the next two years, the Canadian government will put $22 million into an international public relations campaign aimed at business leaders, media and politicians in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

“I’m absolutely confident over time that that the logic of the market will prevail and we will see new infrastructure emerge to provide Canadian oil and gas with reliable routes to the market,” said BP’s Dudley. “Let’s just hope that we get some sensible reform into that legislation.” CIM

From concept through closure Industry-leading expertise and project development with the right people in the right places front-end studies mineral and metallurgical process design open pit and underground mine design surface and underground infrastructure engineering tailings technology and mine water management geotechnical engineering and environmental services construction and project management closure and reclamation

amec.com/mining

Australia - Canada - Chile - Peru - South Africa - UK - USA

at ts 5 r e xp h 2 e ur arc 100 o t M 1 ee AC th # M D oo P B February 2014 | 25

news

Resource-backed renaissance Colombia seeks foreign investment in oil and gas as a development driver

Courtesy of Guillermo Vasquez

by Herb Mathisen

A view of Bogota, Colombia from its landmark Monserrate Church. Mired in violence for much of the 1980s and 1990s, government policies in the last decade have improved Colombia’s security situation and, as a consequence, foreign investment in the country’s hydrocarbons sector has increased.

Changing someone’s mind is tough, and Colombians are well aware of this.

Known for its violent struggles against powerful drug cartels and rebel groups, which made much of the country impassable during the 1980s and 1990s, Colombia is working hard to improve its reputation internationally. A hardline approach toward guerrilla factions from former president Alvaro Uribe in the last decade has resulted in murders and kidnappings falling drastically (from 66.74 homicides per 100,000 people in 2000 to 31.42 per 100,000 in 2011 and from 3,570 kidnappings in 2000 to 305 in 2011). And in 2012, current President Juan Manuel Santos’ government entered into peace talks with the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

As Colombia has become a safer place to live in and to visit, foreign investors have increasingly begun to see it as a safer place to do business. The oil and gas sector has benefitted, particularly recently, as the government started easing foreign investment rules in 2003.

In the past six years, Javier Betancourt, National Hydrocarbons Agency president, said the country had doubled its oil production and now maintains an average annual crude oil production 26 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

level of more than one million barrels per day. He added that the hydrocarbons sector, which includes oil, gas and thermal coal, is responsible for 35 per cent of foreign direct investment. “This is very good, but not good enough.”

At the 15th Colombian Oil and Gas Congress, held in the capital Bogota last November, government officials linked the recent upswing in the oil and gas sector to the country’s social development, with investment in the industry being used to improve the quality of life for Colombians. Mines and Energy Minister Amylkar Acosta Medina said the government’s priority now is to support exploration and to increase reserves in order to maintain that inertia. Colombia’s proven crude oil reserves of roughly 2.37 billion barrels, for instance, pale in comparison to neighbouring Venezuela’s 297 billion barrels. “It is important to add barrels to the reserves,” said Medina. “We all know how precarious our reserves are.”

The potential to increase reserves does exist though. Due in part to its history of political unrest, dating back to 1948, much of Colombia is underexplored. State-owned oil company Ecopetrol, which counts 1.87 billion barrels in Colombian oil reserves, esti-

mated three years ago that the country could potentially have 47 billion barrels in oil equivalent reserves. Medina said the government would focus on expediting licences and permits for exploration and also on tweaking regulations to open up the country for non-conventional oil extraction, as Colombia is thought to have major shale gas and coalbed methane potential. (Colombia has long been a major coal producer – it was ranked fourth in the world in thermal coal exports last year.) In fact, in December, Medina said the government was confident it could raise US$2.6 billion in its next round of block auctions, which will also include off-shore blocks, slated for late-February.

In recent years, Colombia has actually been the beneficiary of political unrest – most notably from the diaspora of former employees of Venezuela’s stateowned oil company, who were fired in the thousands after they resisted the policies of then president Hugo Chavez.

For instance, Pacific Rubiales, a Torontolisted company that purchased Petrominerales, another Canadian-based Colombian producer, in November, was founded by Venezuelan émigrés and is now the largest oil producer in Colombia behind Ecopetrol.

Despite the positive trend in Colombia, a legacy of insecurity persists. Kidnappings (such as last year’s 221-day abduction of Gernot Wober, Canadian miner Braeval’s vice-president of exploration, by rebel group ELN) and attacks on operations and logistics infrastructure like pipelines are still a reality companies have to contend with. Even in Bogota, the security industry is a huge private employer. Banks, public institutions, office buildings and many businesses hire private security staff or employ military personnel to stand guard outside.

But Andres Perez, oil and gas projects coordinator with consultancy Ozco, which introduces mining and now oil and gas companies to the political and investment realities of Colombia, said companies understand there are places where you should not set up shop: primarily in the country’s more remote areas where government control is tenuous. “There are little hot spots that you wouldn’t go to,” he said. Perez explained the army provides safety reports for different regions, which provide an outline of the local security situation. The reports are updated regularly, he said, as conditions in many areas are changing. “The army is getting to more places and making sure that they’re safe.”

“Fifteen years ago, you didn’t talk about oil and gas,” said Wally Swain, president of the Colombian Canadian Chamber of Commerce. “But that’s no longer true.”

Canada is currently the largest investor in Colombia’s resource sector, said Juan Camilo Vargas, the chamber’s deputy director, adding the free trade agreement between the two countries, which came into force in August 2011, has only increased Canadian interest. Camilo Vargas and Swain were part of a Canadian pavilion at the congress that featured some 25 companies including oil field suppliers and consultants looking to make inroads in Colombia. “The government is putting a huge emphasis on exploration, so all of those kinds of skills are going to be in demand,” said Swain. Colombia is also home to major heavy oil deposits, including oil sands, and opportunities exist for companies to bring their experience with extracting and transporting that product in northern Alberta to Colombia.

And Colombia is also looking to increase – and retain – its own oil and gas sector know-how. Juan Saldarriaga, vice-dean of development for Bogota’s Universidad de Los Andes’ school of engineering, said the school has started seeking out projects and partnerships with industry to build local capacity and keep jobs and money in Colombia. The government is helping by creating incentives, he said, noting that companies can use 175 per cent of the funds they devote to a university research project as a tax deduction. And by industry request, the university will also soon offer a petroleum engineering program. “The oil industry here in Colombia is growing quite fast and [companies] don’t find good engineers very easily for the problems that they have,” said Saldarriaga. CIM February 2014 | 27

news

Taking a chance on new tech Cost reduction will loom large for juniors at PDAC 2014

The junior exploration companies that attend the 2014 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention will have survived a punishing year when it comes to securing capital. With money harder to come by, these juniors face pressures to cut their costs yet continue their work. “It is in these times that the adage ‘Innovate or Die’ carries particular relevance,” said Vida Ramin, PDAC’s program director for lands and regulations.

This year’s PDAC Innovation Forum will feature demonstrations of advanced technologies and cover emerging areas of interest like renewable energy and four-dimensional geographic information systems (4D GIS). Geometrics Inc. will present its new electromagnetic tool Geode EM3D, for instance, and Spectral Evolution will share its latest take on field spectrometry, which can help screen drill core and check remote sensing results.

A few explorers have already answered the call to innovate. Yukon service provider GroundTruth Explo-

Courtesy of GroundTruth Exploration

By Eavan Moore

Facing tight capital markets, some junior exploration companies are looking at innovative techniques to get the most out of their precious cash reserves. GroundTruth Exploration, in Yukon, uses a remote-operated geoprobe to take samples from the bedrock interface, which is then “XRF-analyzed on site for instant geochemical anomaly detection,” said company president Isaac Fage. The technique saves money, he said, and its “low ground pressure tracks create little to no ground disturbance for environmental sensitivity.”

ration employs a high-resolution direct current resistivity survey that gives a rough sense of a target’s structure up to 100 metres deep. To follow up on that, the company invented a

device it calls a “geoprobe,” a 900kilogram track-mounted direct push unit that forces a sampling tube into the ground. The geoprobe covers ground nearly three times faster than

International Mining & Environmental Consultants EXPLORE the depths of our experience

norwestcorp.com Calgary 28 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

|

Vancouver

|

Denver

|

Salt Lake City

news

trench excavation, while eliminating the cost of reclamation. Two helicopter slingloads can transport the equipment, which is an obvious plus in Yukon. GroundTruth is also experimenting with using the same platform for rotary air blast drills that can also be efficiently transported with two helicopter sling loads and are mobile with rubber tracks on the ground, offering opportunities to avoid $500per-metre diamond drilling. President Isaac Fage said he expected the cost of running track-mounted drills to come in at a fraction of the cost of diamond drilling.

For a company that already has more data than it can handle, better analysis could speed up a discovery.

Marcel Robillard, president and CEO of Puma Exploration, said his company recently found high-grade copper in a target zone identified using a software product called CARDS, or computer aided resources detection system. Puma had signed a roughly $40,000 contract with CARDS’ developer Diagnos to search its exploration data for areas with properties similar to those of known mineralizations.

Robillard said his team made its discovery after a week of prospecting one of the suggested targets.

Saving money was not Puma’s reason for using CARDS, however. Robillard agrees that a junior trying to cut costs should be looking at trying new technologies, but noted that thorough fieldwork comes first. “If you try to save costs, and they charge you $40,000 to do the survey but you don’t have any money left to do the work on that target, it doesn’t make sense to spend that money,” he said.

Consulting geologist Robin Adair has observed that juniors are more frequently committing to partnerships with contractors on research and development projects. “There’s likely opportunities to do a mutual

benefit type of arrangement, where you bring a technology that needs to be proven or field tested onto a project,” he said. “Both sides incur part of the cost and share the potential benefits.”

At PDAC, Jane Hammarstrom of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will report findings from the first Global Mineral Resource Assessment, which identified deposits of copper, platinum group elements and potash.

Paul Dockweiler, chief geologist and project manager at Cardno ATC, thinks some younger geologists tend to undervalue the information provided by governments and free content providers. He has used a number of no-cost tools, including Google Earth and digital photography, to get clues about formation structures. “I’ve used Google Earth to locate major fault lines that were previously unmapped and used that to locate certain structures like bedding planes,” he said. “I can manipulate digital photos on my computer, change the lighting, colours or contrast, and bring out things in the rock that are almost impossible to see just standing out in the field looking at it.”

If companies can afford to spend money,

Dockweiler suggested they hire a consultant with access to three-dimensional modelling tools, which he suspects not enough juniors use.

Plugging in existing data can help model which drill locations and angles will be most efficient, thus cutting down on the number of holes drilled.

But he cautioned against turning to technology as a saviour: “Innovation can be born out of a stagnant market or a stagnant industry, but the people that come up with these innovations expect to get paid for them. I think the most valuable thing a junior could do is have some guys go out there and start mapping and sampling the oldfashioned way.” CIM

February 2014 | 29

EYE ON BUSINESS

Are net smelter royalties enforceable against Quebec mining properties?

BY DIMITRI MANIATIS AND PASCAL ARCHAMBAULT

ining companies frequently offer royalties as part of property option or purchase deals. A net smelter return (NSR), through which the holder is typically paid a percentage of the value of production or net proceeds received from a smelter or refinery, is a popular type of mining royalty. But if the producer company goes bankrupt or the mine is sold, does the holder of the NSR retain the royalty as per its agreement with the company? Is the royalty good if the mine starts up again? A recent judgment by the Quebec Court of Appeal (QCA) illustrates the complexity of creating enforceable NSR royalties under the civil law of Quebec.

In 2009, Anglo Pacific Group entered into a deal with Northern Star Mining Corp. and Jake Resources Inc., giving them a loan and requiring that the joint owners pay an NSR royalty in return. Anglo Pacific later registered the debenture deed, containing the NSR agreement, in the public register of real and immovable mining rights (known as the Mining Register) maintained by Quebec’s Ministry of Natural Resources. Following their bankruptcy in 2011, Northern Star and Jake Resources’ assets were sold, with court approval, by the receiver, Ernst & Young, and Anglo Pacific lost its royalty. Anglo appealed the court’s judgment, but the QCA ruled that its NSR rights were unenforceable against the new acquirer.

The question before the court came down to whether the NSR created a “real right” or a “personal right.” A real right is a direct right over a thing or property, and it is enforceable against anyone once the formalities of registration have been satisfied. In contrast, a personal right is one against another person for the performance of an obligation. Practically speaking, the result is that if the NSR agreement merely creates a personal right, the royalty may turn out to be unenforceable – and quite possibly worthless – if the producer company becomes insolvent or if the underlying mining property is sold to a third party. In those cases, the NSR will not follow the property.

So how does a company go about creating a real right?

The QCA stated that to have a real right, the NSR holder must have a right that can be exercised directly over the property through one or more of the attributes of ownership.

That means it must have the right to use, enjoy the products from, or dispose of the property. If the NSR agreement does not confer one or more of the aforementioned attributes of ownership in the underlying mining property, but merely a proportion of the profits from the sale of minerals extracted from the subsoil, then the NSR will constitute a personal right enforceable against the original owner. It will, however,

M

30 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

be unenforceable against third parties, unless they sign on to the NSR or agree to be bound by it. This is what happened in the Anglo Pacific case. Despite express wording in the NSR agreement to the effect that the parties wished to “create a direct real property interest in the Products and the Properties in favour of the Holder,” in reality Anglo Pacific was granted a right to receive certain payments upon the sale of the mineral substances, and none of the attributes of ownership mentioned above.

But there is more. The QCA also ruled that real mining rights that are not subject to an exemption under the Mining Act must be published in the register of real rights of state resource development, which is part of the Quebec land register – not the Mining Register – in order to be asserted against third parties. Real mining rights published in the Mining Register alone may only be set up against the state. So even if Anglo Pacific’s NSR had created some real right, it still could not have been set up against a third party. Care must therefore be given to the registration of mining rights on the appropriate registries.

Even though the QCA held that it is possible to create a mining royalty that is a partial ownership right and provided guidance on how to do so, the practical reality is that royalty agreements are seldom designed to grant the royalty holder with such direct rights in the mining claims, leases or extracted mineral substances. The QCA also made it clear that industry customs and the intention of the parties to such agreements are insufficient. The court stressed the uniqueness of Quebec’s French-inherited legal system as compared with its counterparts in the rest of Canada, and issued a word of caution about some of the legal authorities that Anglo Pacific relied upon to argue its case, stating that “care must be taken not to adopt principles from foreign legal systems without questioning their compatibility with our law.”

In Quebec, it is now clear that the holder of an NSR will have to receive more than a mere personal right to secure any entitlement to a percentage of the receipts or profits from the sale of the minerals extracted from the subsoil. Companies providing loans as part of transactions relating to Quebec mining properties should therefore pay close attention to the drafting of their NSR agreements and obtain professional advice to reduce the risk of having their royalty become a hollow promise of income. CIM Dimitri Maniatis is a partner and Pascal Archambault an associate at Langlois Kronström Desjardins, LLP in Montreal. They specialize in commercial litigation and arbitration in the mining sector.

www.ruukki.us

I DEMAND MORE FROM MY HIGHSTRENGTH AND WEAR-RESISTANT STEELS I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t settle for just the product, I demand the whole package. The best special steels in the world, fully packed with services, performance and customer support. + Best-in-class wear-resistant and high-strength steels + Proximity and technical support + Fast and accurate deliveries WEAR RESISTANT STEEL

HIGH STRENGTH STEEL

RUUKKI SPECIAL STEELS. THE NEW DEFINITION FOR PREMIUM.

MARCH 4-8 LAS VEGAS USA

VISIT OUR STAND 2856 at Gold Lot

HR OUTLOOK

No skills shortage in Canadian mining? Think again

BY RYAN MONTPELLIER

t came as a surprise to many Canadian mining employers to read recent national newspaper headlines proclaiming there is no skills shortage in this country. This statement must have been particularly shocking to those human resources personnel who, in some cases, have been trying to fill positions for two or more years.

Sure, the current fluctuations in commodity prices and consequent layoffs have added a layer of complexity in the skills shortage story, but with the current dip aside, the longterm outlook for the industry remains the same, as do the mining sector’s aging demographics. For this and other reasons, it is a mistake to think there is no skills shortage in our sector. A deeper look at the recent reports featured in the media shows that a sector-specific and regional approach is recommended as a way of filling employment gaps. This is a strategy that the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) has promoted for some time now.

I

Sweeping statements about shortages across all sectors detract attention away from the trends and very real pressures felt in particular regions. Our research shows the mining industry is experiencing general skills shortages in trades, production, and a few highly specialized engineering and leadership-level positions. For many occupations, lack of industry experience, or an “experience shortage,” compounds the issue, as do competition from other sectors and a mismatch between education, training and industry needs.

When economic conditions eventually stabilize and production inevitably ramps up quickly, this situation will worsen.

Industry will need access to reliable data to guide its HR strategies and long-term workforce planning. MiHR’s twoyear outlook, which takes the downturn into account, shows modest hiring requirements of 34,500 workers during that period, the bulk of which will be due to retirement. Hiring requirements then steadily increase to 145,000 workers by

Whether you are seeking to raise your professional status, optimize your business opportunities or make an impact within your community, the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum has the type of membership for you:

WWW.CIM.ORG Together, the Future is in Our Hands.

Individual Membership To help advance your career by providing access to exclusive technical information and to a breadth of professional development opportunities.

Pour propulser votre carrière, optimiser vos occasions d’affaires ou faire une différence dans votre communauté, l’Institut canadien des mines, de la métallurgie et du pétrole vous offre le niveau d’engagement qu’il vous faut :

WWW.CIM.ORG Prenons l’avenir en main

32 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

Adhésion à titre individuel Pour vous aider à progresser dans votre vie professionnelle en vous donnant accès à des informations techniques de pointe ainsi qu’à toute une gamme de possibilités de développement professionnel.

Branch Membership To help you strengthen your local business network.

Corporate Membership To provide your organization with an opportunity to enhance its global visibility and to shape the future of the industry.

Visit the Member Services section of our website for more information, or contact us at membership@cim.org

Adhésion aux sections de l’ICM Pour vous aider à renforcer votre réseau professionnel au niveau régional.

Adhésion corporative Pour permettre à votre organisation d’augmenter sa visibilité à l’échelle mondiale et de faire reconnaitre sa contribution à l’avenir de ce secteur.

Visitez la section Services aux membres de notre site web pour plus d’information ou communiquez avec nous à : servicesauxmembres@cim.org

2023, a result of employment growth, retiring workers and other attrition like long-term leave, movement to other sectors, emigration and mortality.

Local context is essential if we are to take this data and use it to create HR strategies. The current downturn, for example, is felt in particular regions, not across Canada as a whole.

By talking to industry representatives, we know that employers in Eastern and Central Canada are generally able to fill vacancies from within the local area, province or region.

However, in Western Canada and in the North, there tends to be more competition for certain specialized roles, and employers will hire commuters from all over Canada to fill these positions.

From a recent research project we conducted in six northern Ontario regions, we found that each region had different needs, demonstrating that even a provincial strategy may be too general in some cases. For example, the Sudbury region is a well-established mining community that supports a large number of mining-extraction and support-services employers, whereas the Kenora region places emphasis on mineral exploration and advanced development. Given their unique situations, both regions face different hiring challenges over the next decade.

But there are some more basic factors behind these vacancies too, like the reluctance of potential workers to live in a particular area or to work underground. These are not problems with simple fixes. Educational and training institutions, government and employers all need to do their part by aligning education with the needs of industry. Key examples include making significant investments in training, apprenticeships and in-house training, continuing efforts in workforce diversification, and working with aboriginal communities where possible to bolster a local workforce and raise awareness of careers in rural areas of Canada. We must also make an effort to ensure we are basing investment and training decisions on reliable data, and assuring that the skills shortage is accurately understood for what it is. All it takes is a cursory look at the comment boards below the recent skills shortage articles to show that we have to do a better job of communicating our industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s specific needs to the general public.

In cases of very specialized and hard-to-fill positions, employers may have to turn to immigration and temporary foreign worker (TFW) programs. In our consultations, employers have clearly stated that they prefer to hire locally, and when that is not possible, from elsewhere in Canada.

Going through the TFW process is costly and time consuming and should be a last resort.

We cannot sit back and relax now or in the foreseeable future, or afford to take a one-size-fits-all approach for addressing the pending skills crunch. We are in it together. CIM Ryan Montpellier is the executive director of MiHR. He is a recognized expert and sought-after speaker on HR issues impacting the Canadian mining sector today.

February 2014 | 33

SAFETY

It’s time to get smarter about safety

BY DAVID CARTER

ining companies are using new information technologies to significantly change the fundamentals of how they explore, excavate, produce, refine and distribute commodities. But for all the power that these data collection, analysis and modelling technologies have to make operations more efficient, they have not yet been used with the express purpose of making mining safer.

In a recent survey of mining executives, ensuring workforce safety came up as their most important issue, more critical than capital project costs, production efficiency and equipment reliability. Miners accept that safety is a paramount issue, yet for many reasons, we keep approaching safety in the same

Through analytics, which involve using tools, models and techniques to aggregate, analyze and understand large quantities of information, operations can use historical data to understand the conditions and indicators of when safety incidents happen. Once this understanding is complete, models and simulators can be built and applied to new data to identify the likelihood of future events and how to avert them.

Process data mining and social network analysis are formal techniques that enable organizations to evaluate human interaction. The social network is assessed to understand relationships between the various personnel on site, such as understanding how work is handed over, when teams work effectively together, where duplication of activity occurs, and how external personnel like conenter the work mix. These techniques “Miners accept that safety is a paramount issue, tractors can be used to identify variances in procedures yet for many reasons, we keep approaching by specific contractors that might cause safety safety in the same ways.” failures in the future. Understanding this might result in training that is consistent and effective amongst contracting groups.

One of the greatest safety risks on the mine ways. Many novel technologies, from real-time worker site is a lack of knowledge and skills, as training for specific tracking to video detection, which once seemed like science safety situations is difficult to rehearse or experience. Ideally fiction, have emerged in recent years and, teamed with analytic you want employees to encounter safety issues infrequently, tools, provide pragmatic solutions that can reduce real inci- but repetition and experience are the very things that build knowledge. How then do we give workers experience in such dents today.

Since 77 per cent of mining accidents and 70 per cent of all situations without actually putting them at risk? fatalities involve equipment in production areas, knowing preSerious Gaming is a learning technology that can be used to cisely where people and assets are located is critical. New loca- simulate a variety of unsafe scenarios in a realistic manner. The tion awareness technologies use tracking equipment and games are highly interactive, with hundreds of situations that sensor-embedded tags to show a worker’s location within the worker can experience and respond to. This technology metres, whether under or above ground. This information can offers a form of learning that lets the worker put theory into be used to track authorization levels, proximity to dangerous practice in a safe, simulated environment, allowing employees areas or unsafe distances from multiple vehicles, and record to learn at a deeper level as a result. near-misses as they occur. Using this information, operators Though information technologies hold vast potential, we can analyze behaviours for analytics purposes, which can must also be keenly aware that aspiring to a world with zero inform site-specific safety awareness programs. safety incidents requires improvement in people, processes, Traditional video surveillance techniques provide many skills development, culture, and knowledge acquisition. challenges. There are often high staff costs associated with Technology can only be an enabler. As organizations look to monitoring closed-circuit TV and managing video content, adopt new safety technologies, each new initiative or program and it rarely makes sense to watch everything all of the time. should thoughtfully include formal plans to modify worker Video data are rarely used analytically, despite their utility as behaviour, incentivize the right actions and redesign proa prime source to explore for patterns and vulnerabilities. cesses to accommodate greater safety, including more responNew computing technologies can perform a variety of tasks, sive training. such as detecting unknown objects, crossing virtual trip-wires We have the tools to make mining safer. Let’s use them. CIM to trigger alarms, and face cataloging. Imagine these digital assistants in your operations, watching greater amounts of D. Carter is global mining industry leader at IBM. He presented IBM’s live footage and being smart enough to warn operators where David white paper “Smarter Safety for Mining” at the second Global Mining IT & the danger is.

Communications summit in Toronto in November 2013.

M

34 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

JURISDICTIONS

Fourth time’s the charm: Quebec amends its mining act

BY CHARLES KAZAZ

uebec updated its mining law last December with the passage of Bill 70 – its fourth attempt in four years. The changes came on the heels of the defeat of Bill 43, introduced in May 2013, which sought to completely replace the existing Mining Act. Following that failure, the Marois government obtained the support of one of the opposition parties, Coalition Avenir Québec, for many of its proposed changes and presented a slightly streamlined version of the previous bill, to amend the act rather than replace it.

Following criticism that Bill 43 did not sufficiently address aboriginal issues, the act now includes a specific chapter on aboriginal communities. It provides that the act must be construed in a manner consistent with the duty to consult and that consideration of aboriginal rights and interests are part of reconciling mining with other uses of the aboriginal land. The natural resources minister must also prepare and maintain a native community consultation policy for the mining sector.

Claim holders are now required to notify affected Quebec municipalities and surface rights owners when they obtain a claim within 60 days of registration. Claim holders are also obligated to provide advanced notice of 30 days to the municipality and landowner prior to performing work, rather than the proposed 90-day period in Bill 43.

Claim holders retain the right to apply excess work costs for renewing adjoining claims within a radius of 4.5 kilometres. The government’s attempt to reduce the radius to 3.5 kilometres did not pass. However, the act now provides that the period during which excess amounts may be carried over is limited to 12 years. It remains possible to make a cash payment in lieu of mandatory exploration work, but the in lieu amount is set at twice the amount of the outstanding work.

As with Bill 43, the approval of a mine closure plan and the issuance of environmental approvals will be required before a mining lease is issued. The minister can now add conditions to a lease in order to avoid conflicts with other uses of the territory.

The Quebec environmental impact assessment process is now required for all mineral processing plants and all mine projects where the processing or production capacity of the plant or the mine is 2,000 tonnes per day or more. (Rare earth processing projects are subject to the process regardless of the processing or production capacity.) This is in contrast to the current 7,000-tonne-per-day limit but above the threshold set in Bill 43, where no processing or production limits were set.

For metal mine projects (excluding rare earths) that have a production capacity below the 2,000-tonne-per-day threshold, a public consultation process must be held before a mining lease is granted.

A scoping and market study on processing in Quebec must be submitted with the lease application and every 20 years

Q

thereafter. This will be less costly to prepare than the ore processing feasibility study proposed under Bill 43.

As with Bill 43, Bill 70 proposes that when granting a lease and 20 years after mining activities begin, the government may require that the economic spinoffs of mining the mineral resource within Quebec be maximized. However, the act now provides that this may only be required if there are reasonable grounds to do so. The government may also oblige the lessee to establish and maintain a monitoring committee to foster the involvement of the local community in the project.

Similar to Bill 43, documents and information obtained by the minister from mining rights holders under the act are considered to be public. The minister can make these documents and information public in the manner he or she sees fit, except for certain work reports that remain confidential for five years.

The quantity and value of the ore extracted as well as the royalties paid during the previous year and the overall contributions paid by the holder must be made public yearly for each lease, concession and surface mineral substances lease. The closure plan and the financial guarantee are also made public. In contrast with Bill 43, however, there will no longer be a requirement for community agreements to be made public.

Mining rights holders can now only exercise their power to expropriate during the actual mining stage, and they will be required to compensate expropriated parties for certain costs of professional services. Also, fines for violations of the act have been increased substantially and, depending on the offence, may reach as high as $6 million.

Finally, regional county municipalities may declare portions of their territory as a mining-incompatible area in their land use and development plan. If the municipality designates an area as incompatible, the minister may, within a 30-day period, overrule the decision if it is inconsistent with government policy.

The minister must provide valid reasons, however.

Changes to the Quebec Mining Act have been long anticipated, controversial and the subject of many debates between the various stakeholders. After the defeat of Bill 43 there was concern that an anticipated change to the legislation at some future undetermined date would create a high level of uncertainty for investors and developers. That risk of uncertainty provided an impetus for the major political parties to come together and adopt these changes. What remains to be seen are how these amendments will be implemented and whether the amendments put an end to the modernization of the Quebec legislation in the short to medium term. CIM Charles Kazaz is a partner at Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP and specializes in mining and environmental law.

February 2014 | 35

upfront CONSTRUCTION

Jet boring takes off at Cigar Lake A difficult uranium deposit inspires the creation of a new mining method in the Athabasca basin

Courtesy of Cameco

By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

Cameco began developing the jet boring system used at Cigar Lake in the early 1990s.

n December, Cameco announced it had begun jet boring the ore at its Cigar Lake uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan. The announcement marked the launch of a new mining method, with technology designed specifically for the unique deposit that was more than 20 years in the making and cost $2.6 billion to develop.

“No one thought it possible to mine such a difficult ore body,” says Uwe Restner from Sandvik Mining, whose company has worked closely with Cameco to manufacture the system that has made mining at Cigar Lake feasible. “Cameco had a lot of courage to take a nearly impossible vision and turn it into a possible mission.”

Discovered in 1981, Cigar Lake contains an estimated 217 million pounds of high-grade uranium, making it the world’s second largest deposit of its kind. Cameco expects a 15-year mine life from the current Reserves, with daily production capacity ramping up to between 100 and 140 tonnes. But getting to that point is an incredibly challenging feat: reaching down some 450 metres below surface, the ore body is in water-bearing sandstone overlying basement rock. To add to the complexities and risk, the water is under hydrostatic pressure, increasing the chance of the mine flooding. And if that were not enough, there are also the issues of weak rock formations and a high-radiation environment. The challenges, at one time, seemed insurmountable.

I

36 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

But since the early 1990s, Cigar Lake’s owners have been committed to mining the deposit. Cameco, supported by its joint venture partners, set out to develop a new mining method that could safely and successfully extract the uranium where conventional methods could not, due to the water and ground instability issues.

Researchers conducted underground tests in the ore body in 1992, comparing various methods and, one year later, they concluded jet boring had the most potential. The method uses water under high pressure to carve out cavities in the ore body. The resulting ore slurry is then collected through a network of pipes.

To use the jet boring system (JBS) effectively, Cameco had to deal first with all of the water surrounding the deposit. For this, they began freezing the ore body, which stabilizes ground conditions and prevents water inflow while also improving workers’ protection from radiation. Cameco built a system with an ammonia refrigeration plant on the surface – used for the surface and underground freeze systems – a surface and underground brine piping system, and in-situ freeze pipes.

Jet boring borrows from a variety of technologies including high-pressure jetting used in the oil sands, combined with other proven drilling methods employed in the mining and oil industries. By 2000, Cigar Lake’s first prototype JBS was in place. As hoped, further tests established that the system would function, in principle. And then the real work began.

Working through setbacks By 2005, Cigar Lake was ready for construction. With Cameco and Sandvik working closely together, a second JBS system was installed, taking into consideration lessons learned from the previous one. “The principle system for the jet boring has stayed more or less the same over time,” says Restner. “You drill, put in the casings and then you start the jetting operation so you jet out the ore with the high-pressure water.”

upfront CONSTRUCTION

Unfortunately, in October 2006, the project faced a major setback when the mine workings flooded after a fall of ground in an area of the mine under development. Then in August 2008, another water inflow occurred in a different part of the mine while it was being dewatered. After the first flooding incident, Cameco took a step back and began reevaluating and revising the mine design and practices to minimize water inflow risk. After the second event, this became an even higher priority. Changes included a revamped mine dewatering system comprised of three main pumping systems with a pumping capacity of 2,500 cubic metres per hour, provided by high-speed multi-stage centrifugal pumps that can handle both the daily routine dewatering requirements as well as non-routine inflows.

Best technologies combined “Sometimes the most innovative work is the stuff that plagiarizes, for lack of a better word, technologies from various sources and puts them together into one package,” says Steve Lowen, general manager at Cigar Lake. “We have tried to take the practices from the oil sands, along with the processing system designs that deal with radioactive materials that have been developed at McArthur River and elsewhere.

Really, the innovation is the combination of all the best pieces put into one package.”

Lowen notes that Cameco benefitted from past experiences at its McArthur River uranium mine. “In fact, we used some of the same people engaged in the McArthur River start-up at Cigar, so it has been a good application of experience and learning from our other mine sites.”

Ore collected by the JBS at Cigar Lake is put through an underground grinding and thickening circuit and then pumped to surface as slurry. From there, the ore is loaded in containers for truck transport to the mill. To address the risk of radon gas exposure (a progeny byproduct from uranium), the entire system is closed. The JBS itself has radiation monitoring equipment installed. “You never see uranium in the open,” explains Lowen. “It’s always in enclosed pipes and is away from the workers.”

Bringing together technologies from a variety of fields wound up being the project managers’ greatest challenge.

“The most important thing with the first JBS system was to prove they could cut out this high-grade ore with a highpressured water jet,” says Restner. “Then, of course, they had to look at how the mine would be set up, so looking at the entire system. It isn’t just an excavation system. The system is fully integrated into the mine infrastructure.”

Cigar Lake will eventually have four JBS units on site, with each new one being improved upon by the lessons of the previous iteration. The mine will be capable of hitting full production capacity with two units in operation.

Currently, Sandvik is working on the third variant of the JBS. “In the first system, the controls were very basic, but in the second and third units, there is a lot more integration and automation and it’s all in the cabin so the operator of the JBS has access to not just its operation but also the controls for

the mine’s infrastructure,” says Restner. “For example, this includes complete control of the high-pressure pumps and related systems. The first system is now being retrofitted with these improvements as well.”

Powering Cigar Lake’s jet boring system is a highly sophisticated computer network, in which each computer can take over the master control of the others, depending on what is needed. “It makes it quite complicated and the entire electrical system has to be in good shape because any disconnections could affect the communication between the different systems,” says Restner. “The JBS itself also consists of a lot of different components and sub-systems that have to work together and digitally speak with each other. With all this interlinking, you have to make sure all the components are working. You can’t have a weak link in the chain, as it will disturb the entire system.”

With construction completed and mining beginning, workers on the project have moved on to a new learning curve. “What we’ve done to date is prove the technology does work safely, that we can get a stable cavity and the very basics of the system work effectively in the first cavity,” Lowen says. “Now we just have to do this repeatedly over the next few years to prove we can actually get our design capacity, making whatever efficiency modifications we need to make, but I am confident we’ll be able to do that.” CIM

February 2014 | 37

upfront CONSTRUCTION

Build it and they will come B.C.’s Northwest Transmission Line will spark mineral developments

Courtesy of BC Hydro

By Vivian Danielson

Threading a needle Although the project provides the prospect of new infrastructure and economic development in the region, it has also triggered opposition from various groups over the years. “Concerns were expressed and rightfully so,” says NTL project manager Tim Jennings. “But a lot of consultation went on over a wide range of issues and that has [since] translated into very positive broad support for the project.”

Jennings says the remoteness and environmental sensitivity of the region made site selection for the line an important priority from the onset. The line crosses the Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Park, Highway 37, the Skeena River and many smaller watercourses, steep mountain slopes prone to avalanches and sensitive wildlife habitat.

Jennings compares the exercise of finding the best route to “threading a needle” British Columbia’s Northwest Transmission Line will make many mining projects more economically feasible through a topographical maze. “The alignand connect remote communities to the grid. ment that we took sets the line back from the highway, which posed challenges in terms of putting in construction access roads,” he says. magine installing 1,100 steel towers along a 344-kilometre To access and clear the NTL right of way (ROW), crews had line through the rugged mountains of northwestern British to improve roughly 300 km of existing roads and build around Columbia, and you have an idea of the challenges associ200 km of new roads.

Helicopters were used to install many of ated with construction of the Northwest Transmission Line the transmission structures along the 344-km-long line route.

(NTL). But that has not stopped BC Hydro, which expects its new 287-kilovolt transmission line to be in service this spring. Transporting steel from central fly yards was no small feat as Flipping the switch on the long-awaited NTL will be a each of the guyed Y-lattice towers weighs 95 tonnes and avertransformative event for local communities and resource proj- ages 27 metres in height. The combined height of the towers ects, as diesel is still used to generate electricity in much of is roughly equivalent to 78 Empire State Buildings. Currently, B.C.’s northwest. BC Hydro’s high-voltage transmission grid crews are tasked with stringing 2,100 km of conductor cables previously extended only as far north as Meziadin Junction, in the final push for the May 2014 completion. with a circuit running west to the coastal community of StewBC Hydro had not built a project of this scope in a remote art. The new line starts at the Skeena Substation near Terrace area for some time and awarded the design-build contract to and continues north to end at a new substation near Bob Valard Construction and Missouri-based Burns & McDonnell, Quinn Lake on Highway 37. A related venture, the 93-km which both have extensive experience in electrical transmisIskut Extension from Bob Quinn to Tatogga, is being con- sion and distribution. Burns & McDonnell engineered the line structed by Imperial Metals to support the development of its while Alberta-based Valard handled the construction using Red Chris copper-gold mine. much of its own labour and equipment.

Along with providing reliable low-cost power to the remote Valard President Adam Budzinski says the firm got its start region, the NTL is expected to serve as an “interconnection in 1978 by building small rural power lines and became one point” between resource end-users (such as Imperial’s Red of Canada’s leading power line builders through organic Chris) and independent power-generation projects, like sev- growth. “The NTL isn’t our longest project, but has been one eral run-of-river hydro projects being built by AltaGas to feed of the most challenging,” Budzinski points out. “Part of it is the power into the line. tough topography and extreme weather in this part of the world. Every valley is different and has its own microclimate.”

I

38 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

upfront CONSTRUCTION

Another challenge is logistics, Budzinski adds, because equipment must first be brought into Terrace, the largest community servicing the region: “From there it’s more than 300 kilometres to the end of the project with no large communities along the way. It’s all about preparation and execution.”

The NTL budget has far surpassed the initial planning level estimate of $400 million and is expected to top $736 million when the final bills are tallied. The federal government’s Green Infrastructure Fund covered $130 million of the total.

BC Hydro attributes the increased costs to higher-thananticipated ROW clearing costs, fish and wildlife habitat compensation and mitigation costs, re-routing the line to avoid important salmon spawning creeks and negotiating and signing impact and benefit agreements (IBAs) with Nisga’a Nation and with eight First Nations along the power route, which, in some cases, included contracts for ROW clearing and access road construction. BC Hydro has not disclosed the IBA costs, but Bruce Barrett, BC Hydro vice-president, has publicly described them as “unprecedented.”

The NTL project has created an estimated 280 direct jobs per year of construction, but it faced intense competition for skilled personnel and costs pressures for equipment because of several large-scale projects in the region, notably Rio Tinto Alcan’s $3.3-billion modernization of its aluminum smelter complex at Kitimat.

Time pressures weighed in as well, as BC Hydro had to meet contractual obligations with its first two customers: Imperial Metals and AltaGas. This meant working through the past few winters in a region known for getting a lot of snow and prolonged cold spells.

“The NTL is absolutely critical to the development of Red Chris,” Robertson emphasizes. “The lack of grid power is probably the main reason why this project had not been developed earlier.”

Indeed, the lack of power and infrastructure is the main reason why many other projects remain undeveloped in the region, despite the efforts of some of the world’s biggest names in mining over the past century. That dynamic is expected to change given the number of projects for which the NTL is considered essential to development. In addition to Red Chris, the list includes Galore Creek (NovaGold and Teck), Schaft Creek (Copper Fox Metals), Brucejack (Pretium Resources), and KSM (Seabridge Gold) among others, plus hundreds of early-stage exploration projects.

“The Northwest Transmission Line represents a major milestone toward developing the infrastructure required for the advancement of many mining projects in B.C.’s northwest, which will ultimately lead to hundreds of new jobs and significant capital investment in the area,” says Karina Brino, president and CEO of the Mining Association of British Columbia.

“This important new line will provide a reliable source of power, not just to the developments in the area but also to the communities in which they operate.” CIM

A new mining era Northwestern B.C. hosts many undeveloped mineral deposits, including the Galore Creek copper-gold-silver project put on hold years ago because of high costs, but all eyes are on Imperial Metals to lead the way and bring on its new mine on time despite brutal capital markets.

Steve Robertson, Imperial Metals’ vice-president of corporate affairs, says the company will finance Red Chris through debt rather than equity and with cash flow from its other operations: the wholly owned Mount Polley (copper-gold), the 50per-cent-owned Huckleberry (copper-molybdenum) mines in central B.C., and the Sterling gold mine in Nevada.

“The schedule for Red Chris is unchanged,” Robertson says.

“Our schedule has always been driven by the goal of hooking up with the NTL and starting to commission as soon as the NTL is energized.”

Red Chris will be an open-pit mine and 30,000-tonne-perday flotation mill with a projected 28-year life. As for the Iskut Extension, Imperial received permits to construct the line in mid-July 2013, and began clearing within 24 hours, Robertson says. The line’s budget is included as part of the overall $550 million in capital costs for Red Chris. Imperial Metals’ power unit will receive $52 million for the line when it is turned over to BC Hydro.

From geotechnical engineering to environmental assessments, water management, and renewable energy integration, our international team of consulting engineers and scientists has the expertise to help you advance your project successfully through all stages of mine development.

Find out more at www.knightpiesold.com Mining I Power I Water Resources | Environment

February 2014 | 39

upfront CONSTRUCTION

Piece by enormous piece Éléonore on the frontline of modular construction

Courtesy of Goldcorp

Courtesy of Goldcorp

By Antoine Dion-Ortega and Pierrick Blin

Positive results

In a series of small-scale tests, Goldcorp used pre-assembled pieces for the first time in 2010 for the construction of the headframe for its Gaumond exploration shaft. Structures GB – which supplied most of the steel structures at Éléonore – acquired a new crawler crane for the occasion with a 230tonne capacity, enough to lift some of the project’s larger components, which in some cases were as heavy as 70 tonnes. “There were concerns about how such large pieces would move in the field, how many cranes would be needed,” says Bérubé.

The headframes for Goldcorp’s Éléonore mine were built using modular techniques that cut costs.

In the end, it turned out that the company had significantly reduced the amount of hoisting needed to erect the headframe.

“It takes more than a week to n 2010, when Goldcorp staff decided to use pre-assembled assemble a 150-part structure on site,” says Gino Roy, procomponents to build the headframe for the exploration shaft duction director at Structures GB. “Pre-assembled in one of the Éléonore project, it was not clear how easy it would be module, it takes two and a half days.” to manipulate such large pieces once they arrived on site. But These encouraging results prompted Goldcorp to push the experience turned out to be so positive that the company ahead with further modular construction projects, with used a similar method for its 80-metre-high production headframe, taking the lead in one of the most promising avenues for larger components. In drafting the plans for its production remote mining project development: modular construction. shaft in 2012, the company prioritized the use of pre-assemLocated in the northeast corner of the Opinaca reservoir in bled parts for as many components as possible, in an effort the James Bay region of Quebec, the Éléonore project is typical to reduce the structure’s assembly time on site. of mines at the 52nd parallel. Challenges include a harsh enviNot all suppliers have the capacity, let alone the room, to ronment, remoteness and, as a result, scarce – and costly – pre-assemble pieces indoors in southern locations. “It’s not human resources. Thankfully it is connected by road to both always possible for them,” says Bérubé. “Some do not have James Bay and settlements in the south. the appropriate facilities, or the right expertise. It was some“When you have such restrictions that you depend mostly thing we included in our calls for bids.” Moreover, some of on a fly-in/fly-out schedule, any single hour that you can save the components required an engineer’s seal and signature to on the work site becomes critical,” says Manon Bérubé, engi- ensure they were safe. For all of these reasons, suppliers that neering and construction manager at Goldcorp. “By transfer- had the capacity to pre-assemble their pieces were “signifiring these hours from the work site to an indoor factory, not cantly more competitive,” according to Bérubé. only do you avoid the common problems related to personnel Rimouski-based Structures GB is one of the few compamanagement, such as flights and available bedrooms, but also nies in Quebec with the capacity to design, manufacture, and more climate-specific issues that make hoisting operations on install such large, specialized steel structures. The 80-metresite much more difficult: the snow, the wind and the cold high, 1,200-tonne headframe could not be delivered in one itself.” Anyone working in temperatures below -20 C will seri- piece, but it was designed and built in as few components as ously consider anything that can possibly reduce hours spent possible. Structures GB sent 16 tower-like sections for the outside, she explains. headframe to the site, each of them consisting of 150 to 200

I

40 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

upfront CONSTRUCTION

parts. These 20-metre long components were specifically designed considering the lifting capacity on site. “I asked our engineers not to exceed our weight limit,” says Roy. All in all, modules ended up representing two-thirds of the structure.

The results were astounding. “We reduced our installation time by 30 per cent,” says Bérubé. “This means a 30 per cent reduction in the use of the crane, which is extremely costly.”

A crawler crane, such as the one Structures GB used at Éléonore, costs up to $1,000 an hour, according to Roy. According to Bérubé, there is no doubt that these savings have offset the initial cost of ordering pre-assembled components. “In the field, construction workers sometime lose a great deal of their efficiency due to the harsh climatic conditions, which means more costs,” she says. “It is much faster to farm out the assembly; it comes out both faster and cheaper for us.”

Worth their weight Not every component is worth pre-assembling, but repetitive structures such as the modules composing the headframe seem a perfect fit since they can be manufactured in series. Structures GB was also put in charge of supplying preassembled silos, for which the number of parts was cut down from 250 to 10. “Silos were broken down to vertical segments of about five-metres wide,” says Roy. “When they get to the site, the guys just need to screw them together, with no welding needed.”

Goldcorp also ordered pre-assembled concrete formworks from Construction Talbon. “If we’d only needed one formwork, it wouldn’t be worth it, but we needed 25 of them, all of the same size,” says Bérubé.

Weight is not an issue when it comes to transporting modules to site: 70 tonnes of steel is heavy, assembled or not.

However, size can be quite a challenge. Bérubé indicates that companies should generally avoid modules requiring nonstandard transportation, since they require an escort and fall under numerous road restrictions.

“You can’t drive at night or when it snows, for instance,” adds Roy. “The trip to Éléonore can take one week instead of two days, with transportation costs easily doubling.” But, he argues, “it is still worth it: most of our transports are non-standard.”

Before it was used at Éléonore, modular construction was relatively unknown, recalls Bérubé. In fact, the techniques are considered underutilized across the mining industry. “I gave presentations on our construction methods to my colleagues,” she says. “They were not the kind of initiatives they had heard of before. The concept remains new.

“In many cases, such as the headframe, we were the first ones to use modular construction. Obviously others before us have pre-assembled some of their pieces, but very few of them have done so to the level we have. We pushed modular construction further.”

Development is proceeding on schedule at Éléonore, with first production expected this fall. CIM

February 2014 | 41

upfront CONSTRUCTION

Potash palace Uncertain about the future of BHP Billiton’s Jansen mine? Drop in on Maury Simoneau, who is overseeing the installation of the project’s construction camp

Courtesy of BHP Billiton

By Brenda Bouw

ast summer, in the midst of the market upheaval caused by the breakup of one of the world’s two dominant potash marketing agencies, BHP Billiton announced another US$2.6 billion in spending on its Jansen project, which is located in the heart of Saskatchewan’s potash producing region.

Maury Simoneau, site superintendent, is responsible for the ongoing construction of Discovery Lodge, a luxurious camp meant to house more than 2,500 workers expected to be needed for the mine’s construction. The camp will include 2,586 160-square-foot rooms equipped with their own wash-

L

42 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

room (including toilet and shower), a 1,200-person dining hall, a 200-person movie theatre, as well as a 14,000-square-foot recreation centre complete with steam rooms, squash courts, a running track, two golf simulators and a full-size gymnasium to accommodate such sports as basketball and volleyball.

Simoneau’s previous experience involved project management and construction coordinator roles on other resource projects in Western Canada, including in the oil sands and forestry industries. He has a special focus in civil construction and modular camp construction. CIM Magazine spoke to Simoneau about the features of the camp and the challenges

upfront CONSTRUCTION

of building it, particularly during the harsh winter in the Canadian Prairies.

CIM: What stage is the project at as of early 2014?

Simoneau: The camp is broken into three phases. Phase 1 is complete and occupied, which is 562 rooms of the 2,586 [total]. The second phase is what we are working on right now, comprising an additional 660 rooms, the core 90,000-square foot building and the gym complex. We are diligently working towards Phase 2 and having that completed by the summer.

The final phase is broken into two pieces, which is the remainder of the rooms, as well as the theatre and the bus barn.

CIM: Why was the project named Discovery Lodge?

Simoneau: BHP held a competition among its employees to name the camp. It was a graduate student who came up with the name, Discovery Lodge. She is still employed by the company. It’s a very fitting name, as far as I’m concerned. It really speaks to the company coming to the area and embarking on a new business.

CIM: How do you deal with the skilled labour shortage in Western Canada?

Simoneau: You want to offer a suitable schedule for people who are going to be travelling in from other parts of the

country or further. You want to have comparable money to the Fort McMurrays of the world. You also want to provide them with a nice environment when they are working away from home. One of the main intents of Discovery Lodge, and building it the right way, is to ensure that we have an operating asset at the end of the day that is going to help us draw the world-class people we need on our project to build the mine safely and efficiently. We’ve been able to find the right kind of folks with the right kind of experience to come to Jansen and help us build the camp.

CIM: How big of an issue is the prairie weather?

Simoneau: We’ve obviously got harsh climatic conditions in Saskatchewan. January and February can present challenges to having the equipment up and running every day. We plan and prioritize work so that temperature-dependent work – mainly earthworks – is completed during the spring, summer and autumn months when the ground isn’t frozen.

Temporary structures are also built where required [in order] to complete outside works in a heated environment, for example using heat and hoard, scaffolds, tarps and portable heaters. Ongoing site maintenance [also occurs] to ensure roads, pedestrian walkways, and workfaces are suitable and safe to execute the work.

Laird’s produc Laird’s products cts provide cost-effective cost-effective, ctive, reliable mine communicatio and remote control rol solutions communication solutions..

•Ð (MBQD@RDCÐ$EÎBHDMBXÐÐÐЕÐÐ/QNCTBSHUHSXÐÐÐЕÐÐ2@EDSX

6GDMÐXNTÐMDDCÐVHQDKDRRÐLHMHMFÐRNKTSHNMR ÐFNÐSNÐK@HQCSDBG BNL 6GDMÐXNTÐMDDCÐVHQDKDRRÐLHMHMFÐRNKTSHNMR ÐFNÐSNÐK@HQCSDBG BNL TELEMATICS | THERMAL | WIRELESS AUTOMATION ANTENNAS & RECEPTION | EMBEDDED WIRELESS | EMI | TELEMATICS AUTTOMA ATION & CONTROL

February 2014 | 43

upfront CONSTRUCTION

High wind speeds are another limiting factor. Any really gusty day can limit our ability for work at height or for lifting work. Aerial work platforms and cranes do not operate beyond specific wind and temperature parameters. Discovery Lodge modules have been designed to withstand the wind speeds we anticipate in the Saskatchewan Prairies. Utilities are heat traced and insulated where required for protection to ensure freezing temperatures do not affect their operating integrity.

CIM: What will happen to the camp once the mine is constructed?

Simoneau: When we get to full operation, the camp is not intended to be a permanent fixture on the landscape. The intent is that Discovery Lodge will be decommissioned and taken to another construction site. We are doing all we can to entice the folks that are going to work at the mine in an operating capacity to move into the local communities and bring some contribution to those communities.

The camp’s structures are either modular in design (modular boxes or modular skidded units) or pre-assembled building packages that make the dismantling of each structure relatively easy. A crane is required to lift, set and remove these structures from their pile or concrete foundations.

Dorm and utility modules are designed and constructed so

44 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

that the majority of the work is completed off site. On-site crews “tie in” the modules and complete the required interconnects, whether mechanical, electrical or architectural – known as interior and exterior complexing.

CIM: What are some of the personal advantages you bring to working on this project?

Simoneau: I’ve had experience dealing with camps before, working in the oil sands, and I grew up in the province of Saskatchewan. My whole career has been in Alberta and B.C. This project has enabled me and others to contribute to a mega project a little closer to where we grew up. To be home every night and to work close to home, that’s huge for me.

CIM: You must get questions about whether the Jansen project will go ahead, given that there are some skeptics. What do you tell people on the ground in Saskatchewan?

Simoneau: I always say, “Have a look around.” There’s a lot of work to do and Jansen still needs approval, but we’ve accomplished an awful lot. To me, it’s pretty easy to see where we’re going by just looking around. Everyone has their opinion, but when you drive by the site and look at what we’ve accomplished I think it shows a pretty good picture of where the project is going to go. CIM

Certification in Ore Reserve Risk and Strategic Mine Planning Optimization Spread over a period of four months, this four-week course is designed for busy mining professionals who wish to update their skills and knowledge base in modern modelling techniques for ore bodies and new risk-based optimization methodologies for strategic mine planning. Gain practical experience by applying the following hands-on concepts and technical methods: methods for modelling ore bodies; stochastic simulations, case studies and models of geological uncertainty; and demand-driven production scheduling and geological risk.

INSTRUCTOR Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada • DATES Week 1: May 5-9, Week 2: June 2-6, Week 3: July 7-11, Week 4: August 25-28, 2014 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada • INFO & REGISTRATION http://www.mcgill.ca/continuingstudies/programs-and-courses/engineering0/certification-ore-reserve-risk-and-mine-planning-optimization

An Introduction to Cutoff Grade: Theory and Practice in Open Pit and Underground Mines (with a new section on blending optimization strategy) Cutoff grades are essential in determining the economic feasibility and mine life of a project. Learn how to solve most cutoff grade estimation problems by developing techniques and graphical analytical methods, about the relationship between cutoff grades and the design of pushbacks in open pit mines, and the optimization of block sizes in caving methods.

INSTRUCTOR Jean-Michel Rendu, USA • DATE September 3-5, 2014 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Geostatistical Mineral Resource Estimation and Meeting the New Regulatory Environment: Step by Step from Sampling to Grade Control Learn about the latest regulations on public reporting of resources/reserves through state-of-the-art statistical and geostatistical techniques; how to apply geostatistics to predict dilution and adapt reserve estimates to that predicted dilution; how geostatistics can help you categorize your resources in an objective manner; and how to understand principles of NI 43-101 and the SME Guide.

INSTRUCTORS Marcelo Godoy, Golder Associates, Chile; and Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada • DATE September 8-12, 2014 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Quantitative Mineral Resource Assessments: An Integrated Approach to Planning for Exploration Risk Reduction Learn about exploration risk analysis for strategic planning. Understand how to demonstrate how operational mineral deposit models can reduce uncertainties; make estimates of the number of undiscovered deposits; and integrate the information and examine the economic possibilities.

INSTRUCTOR Don Singer, USA; and David Menzie, U.S. Geological Survey, USA • DATE September 29-October 1, 2014 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Strategic Risk Management in Mine Design: From Life-of-Mine to Mining Complexes Learn how you can have a significant, positive impact on your company’s bottom line by utilizing strategic mine planning methodologies and software; improve your understanding of strategic mine planning and life-of-mine optimization concepts, as well as your understanding of the relationship of uncertainty and risk, and how to exploit uncertainty in order to maximize profitability. Note: The strategic mine planning software used is Whittle. An optional half-day skills refresher workshop on Whittle may be available.

INSTRUCTORS Tarrant Elkington, Snowden, Australia; and Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada • DATE October 15-17, 2014 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada

SEARCHING FOR MONEY Why the majors need to step up in exploration

By Ian Ewing

46 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

Without exploration, there is no mining.

The Stora gold project in Greenland is being explored by NunaMinerals.

Courtesy of Skanderbeg Capital

But once you get beyond that basic tenet, opinions diverge on nearly everything about this most fundamental endeavor – where, when and why should it be done, how it might be improved and, of course, who ought to be paying for it. Meanwhile, exploration costs are skyrocketing; recent estimates suggest spending in 2012 was 10 times higher than a decade earlier. Yet discovery rates are starting to decline at a time when companies across the industry are slashing budgets. So the pressure is on to discover more.

Dan Wood was an exploration geologist for decades with BHP Billiton and then Newcrest whose discoveries include the Cadia Valley gold deposit in Australia. Now retired, he is happy to discuss the state of his old industry, which he continues to monitor closely. Wood fundamentally believes that the only way to create wealth in mining is to make new discoveries. The actual acts of mining – extracting and processing ore – are “wealth-destroying” exercises, and the focus by majors on the production side is the single main reason why discovery rates continue to fall. “A competent mining company CEO would realize that wealth is only created through the discovery of new ore bodies,” he says, “and would apply their attention to this part of the business, delegating the minimizing of wealth-destruction further down the line.”

It is a bold stance, but it does not tell the whole story, argues Egizio Bianchini, the BMO Capital Markets metals & mining head. “To create wealth in mining, real wealth, there are only two ways to do it,” he points out. “Get the commodity price right, and have your mine in production with the commodity price right; or find [the commodity] through exploration.” He adds that while exploration can be a very significant, even dominant, piece of the wealthcreation process, only an eye towards production gives minerals in the ground any value: “Without the efficient, continued, development and successful exploitation of the mine, there is no wealth. The two have to go together. Discovery without exploitation is a nice cake that you can look at but can never eat.”

Most majors, trimming exploration investment and concentrating on revenue generating operations, have in recent years forgone the discovery side of the equation. BHP Billiton, for example, cut exploration spending by 46 per cent in the first half of 2013. The problem mining CEOs face, says Bianchini, is that they are always struggling trying to find investors whose interests align with those of the industry in the long-term. “Most of the time in the cycle, those investors don’t own your stock.”

February 2014 | 47

Courtesy of Skanderbeg Capital

“When God put all the stuff in the ground, he didn’t worry about the politics.”

– E. Bianchini

An Energold drill rig working for Tirex Resources Ltd. explores the Mirdita gold district in Albania.

The debate between exploration types like Wood and production-minded people like Bianchini should be the fundamental argument in mining today. Where a CEO or board falls on the issue determines a company’s entire corporate strategy. Billions of dollars are at stake, and where the majors decide to focus their attention drives the whole industry. Right now, though, they are so focused on cutting costs company-wide that many are leaving the increasingly urgent question of how future mines will be discovered off of the agenda.

A house divided The gradual withdrawal of majors from greenfield exploration is perhaps due to the remarkable ability of juniors – over the last 20 years or so – to make substantial discoveries while avoiding high overhead. Many in the industry believe that the separation of the two mining tasks – exploration and production – has been beneficial, allowing each group to focus on their strengths.

Jacques Perron, newly on the job at Thompson Creek Metals, is typical of mining CEOs. He agrees with the received wisdom that the separation of exploration and production is, if not fundamentally good for the industry, at least an understandable development. “In the junior space, you see smaller organizations. They don’t have to deal with large overhead, large infrastructure, or a large head office,” he says. “They’re much more focused on what they’re doing.”

And, he adds, juniors may find it easier to attract talented employees: “For some individuals, if they work for a junior company where they own shares, and if they find something, they see a significant increase in the share price. For a good, 48 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

talented exploration geologist, the appeal of working for a junior company is much greater.”

However, there has been a dark side to this separation.

“Junior companies are very, very good at finding things, but the capital markets feed the junior companies in a drip methodology,” notes Bianchini. And as the flow of money has dried up during the current economic downturn, juniors have been largely unable to raise the capital required to undertake exploration ventures.

Worse, increased discovery costs, driven largely by drilling and labour costs – which by some measures have doubled over the last decade – are making exploration even more challenging.

The dearth of newly discovered near-surface deposits means that future discoveries will be more risky, more difficult and more expensive. Wood and others argue that the majors should therefore be returning more of their profits to exploration.

Major mining companies have, of course, seen huge losses of late and, in turn, big changes at the top. Operational costs at many sites have ballooned at the same time that metal prices have regressed from all-time highs. Exploration is the last thing on anybody’s mind.

The situation for many juniors, though, is even more dire.

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) estimates that there are as many as 340 juniors listed on the TSX-V with less than $50,000 in working capital.

More companies de-listed from the TSX Venture last September than during all of 2012. “It is survival mode for many of them,” says PDAC executive director Ross Gallinger.

Even if investment does come back relatively quickly, there is another, more intractable problem: Returns on the exploration dollar have been declining for decades. Reversing that troubling trend will take more than just an economic recovery.

It’s a small world The consensus is that most of the large, high-quality, nearsurface deposits in accessible and politically stable areas of the world have been found. Future exploration, everyone agrees, will have to look deeper.

“The Earth is as big as the Earth is: there’s only so much surface area,” explains Cooper Quinn. His title of senior geologist at McLeod Williams Capital Corp. belies the youthful enthusiasm with which he explains the history and evolution of the exploration business. “A lot of the discoveries over the last little while have been driven by going into areas that were underexplored.” Once everything on the surface has been found, though, the only place left to go is further down.

“That’s where exploration gets a lot harder and a lot more expensive. And so your discovery rates are going to naturally decline because of that.”

BMO’s Bianchini notes that some near-surface ore bodies do likely remain. “When God put all the stuff in the ground, he didn’t worry about the politics. So the world still has a lot of deposits,” he argues.

Pursuing the remaining surface deposits, in areas like Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or high in the Andes, however, is essentially trading technical risk for political risk. Although Quinn agrees that developing underexplored areas of the world may happen faster than developing techniques to explore deeper, he insists it will be a band-aid solution. “That may drive a round of discovery,” he concedes. “But sooner or later, eventually we run out of surface area. We have to start looking deeper.”

The deeper story The oil and gas industry has already faced this problem.

Its solution was to conduct research and development on an enormous scale, resulting in entirely new techniques and technologies to explore deeper down. Its experience is also now reflected in the way that industry is structured and operates, according to Wood. It was hugely expensive – billions upon billions of dollars, industry-wide – but discovery rates did increase again, and new fields were identified, such as the deep-water oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico.

Quinn says a similar effort must be made in mining, so that the industry can start looking deeper with a higher chance of success. He points to the Resolution copper project in Arizona, with an Inferred Resource of 1.2 billion tonnes at depths exceeding 1,300 metres, as proof of the approach. “It’s ridiculously deep. So these mega-deposits and world-class size deposits are still there.”

Exploring deeper into the Earth’s crust will be even harder for mining than it was for the energy industry. Oil and gas deposits are much more obvious on geophysical surveys than ore deposits, according to Quinn. Any geophysical survey will show anomalies, based on differences inside the Earth, but “not all of those are anomalous and mineralized.” The problem is figuring out which ones are worth something.

Spending Trends * Exploration spending worldwide $29.4B

$2.9B

$20B

2002

2012

Drilling costs in Canada

2020

$212 $110

(2012 US$/m)

2010

Expected discovery costs

2012

ounce of gold

pound of copper

pound of U3O8

$150M/

gold discovery (> 100,000 ounces)

* Source: Richard Schodde, MinEx Consulting February 2014 | 49

Courtesy of Skanderbeg Capital

“Obviously the small companies that are doing a lot of the exploration don’t have the cash to be funding large R&D programs.”

– C. Quinn Explorers are facing budget constraints, while using a set of tools that have not evolved much since the Second World War.

“You look at geophysics as it stands,” Quinn sighs, sounding frustrated, “and there aren’t a lot of new technologies. A lot of the geophysical techniques that you use – like the ground-mag maps that appear on every mining website – are not new. We were doing magnetics in the Second World War. We’re just much better at measuring it now. You’ll find that’s the same with most geophysics. It’s not anything new, we’re just better at measuring it than we were.”

For science and for profit Making exploration cheaper, especially deep underground, will require step changes in technology and methodology. Some research looks to extend existing technology like the Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre (DET CRC) in Australia. That project aims to find alternatives to core drilling, a particularly expensive staple of exploration. “If we can eliminate that,” Quinn says, “we could potentially save a lot of money. If we can drill longer, deeper holes for cheaper, that could help drive your exploration.”

At the heart of DET CRC is the development of coiled tubing drilling for mining exploration. Already used in the petroleum industry, the technique saves time and labour by driving a long, continuous metal tube, stored on a large spool aboveground, into the earth. There is no need to manually connect dozens or hundreds of segments of drill line. The primary goal of the project is to develop, by 2017, a coiled tubing rig weighing less than 10 tonnes, which can drill to 500 metres, at a cost of $50 per metre – or less than half the cost of conventional diamond drilling. Big improvements need to be made, though, to convert the technology for hard rock mining. And because coiled tubing drilling does not extract a core, reliable and accurate down-hole sensing technologies need to be developed concurrently.

50 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

Bill MacFarlane is the global geochemist at Vancouverbased AcmeLabs, a top geochemical and assaying laboratory.

He explains the challenges of down-hole, or even aboveground on-site, analysis: “Look at the things we are challenged by in the laboratory environment – in exploration samples, we’re dealing with highly variable matrices, and concentration ranges from extremely low to extremely high.

Geological materials are among the most challenging samples to work with, analytically. So if you try to do all this on the rig, in non-ideal circumstances with non-ideal samples, it becomes extremely difficult.”

The benefits of on-site analysis could be enormous, however. Real-time data collection and analysis, combined with a rapid, cheap drilling technique, could mean near-instantaneous vectoring of exploration. Particularly promising areas could be core-drilled the same day, and on-site analysis performed to verify the down-hole indications.

Other research is more esoteric. Biogeochemistry analyzes the trace minerals found in plants at the surface in an attempt to detect the mineral sources – hopefully, large ore bodies – buried at depth. Detecting such faint traces (on the parts-pertrillion scale) is one challenge; understanding the mechanisms by which the geochemical signals migrate through hundreds of metres of cover is another. The science is young but promising.

Acme’s parent company, Bureau Veritas, is a key contributor to the DET CRC project, and Acme itself conducts significant geochemistry research and development as a matter of course. But funding for exploration R&D will also have to come from the primary beneficiaries – the majors who will mine the deposits found with these techniques.

To their credit, a who’s who of industry players are involved in the DET CRC consortium. The project is funded to the tune of $117 million, after factoring in matching government contributions. But initiatives of this scale are rare. They will need to be much more common if the difficulties of deepcover exploration are to be overcome.

Courtesy of Skanderbeg Capital

“It’s going to have to come from the majors, and the government, and the universities, to pull together to develop new techniques.”

– J. Perron

With ore bodies buried deep below the surface, drilling can be very expensive and explorers are in need of new ways to assess mineral potential.

Who’s got the bill?

Over the last two decades, the majors have shown an ever-decreasing interest in doing exploration themselves.

It’s not at all clear that they really want to be involved, either financially or logistically, in the future. But if not them, then who?

“That is the proverbial $64,000 question,” says Quinn. “It’s a $100 billion question, really. Obviously the small companies that are doing a lot of the exploration don’t have the cash to be funding large R&D programs. But does Barrick right now really want to be spending a lot of money on R&D? They’re cutting their own exploration programs back, let alone funding university programs for somebody to try to develop some new geophysical technique.”

Besides occasionally funding core research at the university level, the Government of Canada, like Australia, often matches the dollar value of industry contributions to research. MacFarlane says such investment is vital. He is wellplaced to comment – he also coordinates internal and external research for Acme.

MacFarlane’s boss, Acme technical vice-president John Gravel, says that although some projects, like the DET CRC, are very well-funded by majors, there is little fundamental research being done on the majors’ dime. Because the majors have to justify their expenditures to their shareholders, there usually has to be a quantifiable benefit to the company’s operations. “It won’t be altruism by which they fund,” says Gravel. “It has to have a direct application towards some exploration they’re working on.”

Mineral futures At some point, however, the group that profits most from mineral discoveries will have to put some money back into finding them. Nobody else has such a vested interest in the

research. “It’s going to have to come from the majors, and the government, and the universities, to pull together to develop new techniques,” believes Perron. But he admits that Thompson Creek will not be leading that charge anytime soon.

The company has 13 and 16 years of mine life left in their two respective molybdenum operations. Mount Milligan, Thompson Creek’s new copper and gold mine, will begin production in the first quarter of 2014 and has 22 years of expected life. Aside from minor exploration around their existing sites to extend reserves, Perron contends in an alltoo-familiar refrain that exploration is not urgent for his company.

But without the technology to reliably find deep-cover deposits, the drip-fed juniors will almost certainly never again make discoveries with such facility as they have in the past.

They simply do not have the money to drive the technological development that will be necessary to find future deposits.

Whether it is funding R&D, funding the juniors directly, or doing the exploration themselves, the majors’ involvement will have to increase in the future.

More than anything, it will take someone to actually have faith in something new, adds Quinn: “It’s going to take a company or a group with some serious determination to follow up on this stuff and refine this technology enough that it’s actually somewhere that we can use.”

The only question is who will take that leap? Although the costs may be hard to swallow for impatient shareholders and the CEO who must face them at the annual general meeting, the industry has little choice. And it could be worthwhile to get ahead of the curve. Majors that own the intellectual property for or have experience with the next generation of exploration techniques and technologies could very well emerge at the forefront of the industry. Companies that do not may be left behind to wonder where all the shareholders – and money – have gone. CIM February 2014 | 51

Avec l’aimable autorisation de Skanderbeg Capital

Les sociétés d’exploration font face à des restrictions budgétaires et doivent se contenter d’instruments qui n’ont que peu évolué depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale.

À la recherche de FONDS Pourquoi les grandes sociétés minières doivent intensifier leurs activités d’exploration Par Ian Ewing

L’exploitation minière n’est pas viable sans exploration.

Mais une fois intégré ce principe fondamental, les opinions divergent en ce qui concerne pratiquement tout ce qui est capital dans cet effort : l’endroit, le moment et la raison pour laquelle il devra être mené, les moyens de l’améliorer et, bien entendu, les instances qui devront le financer. Entre-temps, les coûts d’exploration montent en flèche ; selon des estimations récentes, les dépenses en 2012 se sont avérées dix fois plus élevées qu’il y a dix ans. Pourtant, les découvertes commencent à se faire rares à une époque où les sociétés de tout le secteur imposent des restrictions budgétaires drastiques. Ainsi, la pression monte pour intensifier les découvertes.

52 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

Pendant des décennies, Dan Wood a exercé la profession de géologue prospecteur auprès des sociétés BHP Billiton puis Newcrest, qui a entre autres découvert le gisement aurifère de la vallée de Cadia, en Australie. Désormais officiellement retraité, M. Wood est heureux de discuter de la situation de son ancien secteur d’activité, dont il suit de près l’évolution.

M. Wood est fondamentalement convaincu que la création de richesses dans l’exploitation minière passe obligatoirement par de nouvelles découvertes. La pratique même de l’exploitation minière (à savoir l’extraction et le traitement du minerai) consiste en des activités de « destruction des richesses », et le fait que les grandes sociétés minières se concentrent sur la partie production est la raison même du déclin continu des taux de découvertes. « Dans une société minière, un directeur général compétent devrait réaliser que la découverte de nouveaux corps minéralisés est la seule façon de créer de la richesse », déclare-t-il, « et qu’il doit axer ses efforts sur cette partie de ses activités, déléguant les responsabilités inhérentes à la destruction des richesses aux autres membres de la direction. » C’est une position audacieuse à adopter, mais elle ne rend pas entièrement compte des faits, explique Egizio Bianchini, vice-président du conseil et codirigeant du groupe Métaux & minéraux de BMO Marchés des capitaux. « Il n’existe que deux façons de créer des richesses en exploitation minière »,

explique-t-il. « Il faut obtenir les marchandises à un prix correct, et assurer la production de votre mine avec des marchandises à un prix correct ; ou trouver [les matières premières] par le biais de l’exploration. » Certes, ajoute-t-il, l’exploration peut constituer une partie très importante, voire dominante, du processus de création de richesses, mais c’est seulement en gardant un œil sur la production que les minéraux présents dans le sol prendront de la valeur. « Sans développement efficace et continu et sans exploitation satisfaisante de la mine, il n’y aura pas de richesses. Ces deux activités sont inséparables. La découverte sans exploitation, c’est un peu comme un gâteau que l’on regarde mais que l’on ne pourra jamais manger. » La plupart des grandes sociétés minières, qui réduisent leurs investissements dans l’exploration et se concentrent sur des activités générant des revenus, ont renoncé ces dernières années à l’aspect découverte de l’équation. BHP Billiton, par exemple, a réduit ses dépenses dans l’exploration de 46 % au cours du premier semestre 2013. Le problème auquel sont confrontés les directeurs généraux, explique M. Bianchini, est qu’ils se démènent constamment pour trouver des investisseurs dont les intérêts concordent avec ceux du secteur sur le long terme. « La plupart du temps dans le cycle, ces investisseurs ne sont pas propriétaires de vos stocks. » Aujourd’hui, le débat entre les types d’exploration tels que ceux évoqués par M. Wood et ceux de personnes axées sur la production telles que M. Bianchini devrait constituer l’argument dominant en exploitation minière. L’approche qu’adoptera le directeur général ou le conseil d’administration quant à cette question déterminera la stratégie globale d’une société.

Des milliards de dollars sont en jeu, et le fil conducteur de l’industrie dépend des aspects sur lesquels les grandes sociétés minières décident de concentrer leurs efforts. Aujourd’hui cependant, elles sont tellement axées sur la réduction des coûts à tous les niveaux de leur société qu’elles laissent de côté une question de plus en plus pressante, à savoir comment découvrir de futures mines.

Un secteur divisé Le retrait progressif des grandes sociétés minières de l’exploration des terres inexploitées s’explique peut-être par la capacité remarquable des petites sociétés minières, depuis une vingtaine d’années, à faire des découvertes importantes tout en évitant les coûts indirects inhérents aux grandes sociétés minières. Beaucoup de sociétés dans ce secteur sont d’avis que la séparation de ces deux activités minières (l’exploration et la production) a été salutaire et a permis à chaque groupe de tirer parti de ses forces.

Jacques Perron, qui a récemment été embauché à Thompson Creek Metals, est un exemple typique des directeurs généraux de sociétés minières. Selon lui, la séparation de l’exploration et de la production, si elle n’est pas fondamentalement un bien pour l’industrie, représente du moins un développement compréhensible. « Chez les petites sociétés minières, les organisations sont plus restreintes. Elles n’ont pas à assumer de gros frais, ni de grandes infrastructures ou de siège social important », explique-t-il. « Elles sont bien plus axées sur ce qu’elles font. »

En outre, il est plus facile pour les petites sociétés minières d’attirer des employés talentueux. « Certaines personnes préfèrent travailler pour des petites sociétés minières dans lesquelles elles détiennent des actions ; en effet, si elles découvrent un gisement, elles verront une hausse importante du prix de leurs actions. Pour un géologue prospecteur talentueux, il est bien plus intéressant de travailler pour une petite société minière. » Cependant, cette séparation s’accompagne d’un côté sombre. « Les petites sociétés minières sont douées, même très douées pour les découvertes, mais les marchés des capitaux les alimentent au compte-gouttes », fait remarquer M. Bianchini. Étant donné l’épuisement du flux financier durant la crise économique que nous traversons, les petites sociétés minières ont pour la plupart eu de grandes difficultés à mobiliser les capitaux nécessaires pour entreprendre des activités d’exploration.

Pis encore, l’augmentation des coûts inhérents à la découverte, découlant principalement des coûts de forage et de la main-d’œuvre (qui ont parfois jusqu’à doublé au cours des dix dernières années), rend l’exploration encore plus complexe. La pénurie de nouveaux gisements de subsurface implique que les futures découvertes seront plus risquées, plus difficiles et plus onéreuses. M. Wood et d’autres sont d’avis que les grandes sociétés minières devraient injecter une plus grande part de leurs profits dans l’exploration.

Ces grandes sociétés minières ont évidemment été confrontées à de grosses pertes et, dans la suite logique des événements, ont connu de grands changements en haut de l’échelle.

Les coûts opérationnels sur de nombreux sites ont augmenté alors que les prix des métaux ont régressé par rapport à leur niveau record. L’exploration est la dernière chose dont elles se soucient.

La situation pour de nombreuses petites sociétés minières est cependant encore plus désastreuse. La PDAC (Association canadienne des prospecteurs et entrepreneurs) estime que plus de 380 petites sociétés minières sont cotées à la bourse de croissance TSX (TSX-V) avec un fonds de roulement de moins de 50 000 $. En septembre l’année dernière, plus de sociétés ont été radiées de la bourse de croissance TSX-V qu’au cours de l’intégralité de l’année 2012. « Beaucoup sont en mode de survie », explique Ross Gallinger, directeur général de la PDAC. Même si le rendement du capital investi est relativement rapide, un autre problème plus difficile à résoudre persiste : les rendements du capital investi dans l’exploration déclinent depuis des décennies. Pour renverser cette tendance inquiétante, une simple relance économique ne suffira pas.

Le monde est petit On s’accorde généralement à dire que la plupart des gisements importants de subsurface de bonne qualité se trouvant dans des zones accessibles et politiquement stables dans le monde ont déjà été découverts. Tout le monde s’entend sur un point : l’exploration future devra chercher plus profond. « La Terre ne va pas s’étendre : les zones de surface sont limitées », explique Cooper Quinn. En tant que géologue February 2014 | 53

expérimenté auprès de la société McLeod Williams Capital Corp., on peut s’étonner de l’enthousiasme juvénile avec lequel il expose l’histoire et l’évolution du secteur de l’exploration. « Beaucoup de découvertes ces derniers temps ont impliqué de se rendre dans des zones sous-explorées. » Une fois découverts tous les gisements de surface, le seul endroit où aller est sous terre. « C’est là que l’exploration devient bien plus complexe et plus coûteuse ; aussi, tout naturellement, les taux de découvertes déclinent. » M. Bianchini de BMO explique que l’on doit encore probablement pouvoir trouver certains corps minéralisés de subsurface. « Dieu ne s’est pas soucié de la politique quand il a placé tous ces minerais dans le sol. Il reste encore beaucoup de gisements à découvrir dans le monde », indique-t-il.

Cependant, partir à la recherche de gisements de surface dans des régions telles que l’Afghanistan, la République démocratique du Congo ou dans les hauteurs des Andes consiste essentiellement à remplacer le risque technique par un risque politique.

M. Quinn reconnaît que le développement des zones sous-explorées du monde pourrait arriver plus tôt que le développement de techniques permettant d’explorer à des profondeurs plus importantes, mais il insiste sur le fait qu’il s’agira d’une solution de fortune. « On pourra sans doute mener une série de découvertes », admet-il. « Mais tôt ou tard, nous aurons épuisé toute la surface. Il faudra commencer à creuser plus profond. »

Le fin fond de l’histoire L’industrie du gaz et du pétrole a déjà rencontré ce problème. Pour ce secteur, la solution a consisté à mener des activités de recherche et de développement à une échelle impressionnante, aboutissant à l’avènement de techniques et de technologies entièrement nouvelles pour explorer plus en profondeur. L’expérience de cette industrie, selon M. Wood, se reflète également dans la façon dont elle est structurée et fonctionne. Elle s’est révélée extrêmement onéreuse (des milliards et des milliards de dollars à l’échelle du secteur), mais les découvertes ont recommencé à augmenter, et de nouveaux terrains ont été identifiés, notamment des gisements de pétrole et de gaz en eaux profondes dans le golfe du Mexique.

M. Quinn explique qu’un effort semblable doit être déployé en exploitation minière de manière à ce que l’industrie commence à se pencher davantage sur la situation en se donnant toutes les chances de réussir. Pour valider cette approche, il évoque le projet de mine de cuivre Resolution en Arizona, dont les ressources présumées sont de 1,2 milliard de tonnes à des profondeurs dépassant les 1 300 mètres. « C’est excessivement profond. Ces méga-gisements et des gisements d’envergure mondiale sont donc encore inexplorés. » L’exploration plus profonde de la croûte terrestre sera bien plus complexe pour l’exploitation minière qu’elle ne l’a été pour le secteur de l’énergie. Comme l’explique M. Quinn, les gisements de pétrole et de gaz sont bien plus évidents sur des études géophysiques que les gisements de minerai. Toute étude géophysique montrera les anomalies en fonction des différences sous terre, mais « tous ne sont pas anormaux et minéralisés. » Le problème est de déterminer lesquels d’entre eux ont vraiment de la valeur.

54 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

« Si l’on considère la géophysique actuellement », indique M. Quinn d’un air frustré, « on constate qu’il y a peu de nouvelles technologies. Nombre des techniques géophysiques que l’on utilise, par exemple les cartes établies à l’aide de magnétomètres de terrain que l’on trouve sur tout site Internet dédié à l’exploitation minière, n’ont rien de nouveau. On pratique le magnétisme depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Le seul changement est que nous sommes aujourd’hui plus performants en termes de mesures. C’est également le cas pour la majeure partie de la géophysique. Ce domaine n’a rien de nouveau, mais les mesures sont meilleures qu’il y a quelques années. »

Au nom de la science et du profit Pour réduire le coût de l’exploration, et notamment de l’exploration souterraine profonde, il faudra envisager des changements progressifs en termes de technologie et de méthodologie.

Certaines activités de recherche tentent de perfectionner les technologies existantes, comme le fait le Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre (DET CRC, le centre de recherche coopérative sur les technologies d’exploration profonde) en Australie. Ce projet tente de trouver des solutions de substitution au carottage, une composante fondamentale et particulièrement coûteuse de l’exploration. « Nous pourrions réaliser de grandes économies si nous parvenons à éliminer cette étape », explique M. Quinn. « Si nous arrivons à forer des trous plus longs et plus profonds, l’exploration en sera facilitée. » Au cœur du projet DET CRC se trouve le développement du forage par tube spiralé pour l’exploration minière. Utilisée depuis un certain temps dans l’industrie du pétrole, cette technique permet de réaliser des économies en temps et en maind’œuvre en plaçant dans la terre un long tube métallique continu, enroulé sur une grosse bobine à la surface. Il n’est pas nécessaire de relier manuellement les dizaines, voire centaines de segments constituant le câble de forage. Le projet s’est fixé l’objectif, d’ici 2017, de développer un appareil de forage à tube spiralé pesant moins de 10 tonnes et pouvant forer jusqu’à 500 mètres au coût de 50 $ par mètre, ce qui représente moins de la moitié du coût du forage au diamant classique. Il faudra cependant procéder à de grandes améliorations pour adapter cette technologie à l’exploitation minière en roche dure. Étant donné que le forage par tube spiralé ne permet pas d’extraire de noyau, il faudra mettre au point simultanément des technologies de détection de fond de trou fiables et précises.

Bill MacFarlane est géochimiste au niveau mondial à AcmeLabs, un laboratoire éminent spécialisé dans la géochimie et le dosage dont le siège se trouve à Vancouver. Il explique la complexité de l’analyse sur place de fond de trou ou même en surface. « Il suffit de voir les difficultés rencontrées en laboratoire ; pour les échantillons d’exploration, par exemple, nous traitons des gangues extrêmement variables, avec une concentration allant de l’extrêmement faible à l’extrêmement élevé. Du point de vue analytique, les matières géologiques font partie des échantillons les plus difficiles à traiter. Ainsi, la situation devient très délicate si l’on s’attelle à cette tâche sur un appareil de forage dans des circonstances qui sont loin d’être idéales. » Les avantages d’une analyse sur place peuvent cependant s’avérer énormes. La collecte et l’analyse en temps réel des don-

nées, associées à une technique de forage peu coûteuse et rapide, pourrait se traduire par un moyen quasiment instantané de guider l’exploration. On pourrait effectuer le carottage le jour même dans les zones particulièrement prometteuses, et mener une analyse sur place afin de vérifier les indications de fond de trou.

Les autres recherches sont plus obscures. La biogéochimie analyse les oligo-éléments que l’on trouve dans les plantes à la surface dans l’espoir de détecter les sources minérales (par exemple de grands corps minéralisés) enfouies en profondeur.

Détecter des éléments traces si infimes (à l’échelle des parties par billion) est une chose ; comprendre les mécanismes par lesquels les signaux géochimiques traversent des centaines de mètres de terrain de recouvrement en est une autre. Cette science est jeune mais prometteuse.

La société mère d’Acme, Bureau Veritas, est un contributeur important au projet DET CRC, et Acme lui-même mène automatiquement d’importantes activités de recherche et de développement en géochimie. Mais le financement de la R&D en exploration devra également provenir des principaux bénéficiaires, à savoir les grandes sociétés minières qui exploiteront les gisements découverts grâce à ces techniques. À leur honneur, l’élite des acteurs industriels est membre du consortium DET CRC. Le projet est financé à hauteur de 117 millions $, somme qui prend en compte les contributions gouvernementales de contrepartie. Malheureusement, les initiatives de cette envergure sont rares et elles devront se multiplier si l’on souhaite surmonter les difficultés associées à l’exploration de terrains profonds de recouvrement.

Qui détient le projet de loi ?

Au cours des deux dernières décennies, les grandes sociétés minières se sont de moins en moins intéressées aux activités d’exploration par leurs propres moyens. Leur souhait de s’impliquer à l’avenir du point de vue financier ou logistique est loin d’être clair. Mais si elles ne s’impliquent pas, qui d’autre s’attèlera à cette tâche ? « Il s’agit là de l’éternelle question à 64 000 $ », déclare M. Quinn. « Ou devrais-je dire de la question à 100 milliards $.

Il est évident que les petites sociétés qui réalisent une bonne partie de l’exploration ne disposent pas des fonds suffisants pour financer de grands programmes de R&D. Mais Barrick at-elle réellement envie d’investir de grosses sommes d’argent dans la R&D en ce moment ? La société met un frein à ses propres programmes d’exploration, aussi il ne faut pas s’attendre à ce qu’elle finance des programmes universitaires pour que quelqu’un essaie de mettre au point une nouvelle technique géophysique. » Outre le financement occasionnel de recherches fondamentales au niveau universitaire, le gouvernement du Canada, tout comme celui d’Australie, associe souvent la valeur monétaire des contributions de l’industrie à la recherche. M. MacFarlane explique que ce genre d’investissement est vital. Il est bien placé pour en parler : c’est lui qui coordonne la recherche interne et externe chez Acme.

D’après John Gravel, vice-président technique d’Acme et patron de M. MacFarlane, bien que certains projets tels que

DET CRC soient très bien financés par les grandes sociétés minières, peu d’activités de recherche fondamentale sont menées avec l’argent de ces dernières. Les grandes sociétés minières doivent justifier leurs dépenses auprès de leurs actionnaires, aussi elles devront se traduire par un avantage quantifiable aux activités de la société. « Elles ne financeront pas par altruisme », explique M. Gravel. « Leur investissement devra avoir une application directe dans un type d’exploration sur lequel elles travaillent. »

L’avenir du minerai Il faudra cependant qu’à un moment donné, le groupe profitant le plus des découvertes de gisements de minerais couvre une partie des dépenses engendrées pour les trouver. Personne d’autres n’a d’intérêt direct dans la recherche. « Les grandes sociétés minières, le gouvernement et les universités vont devoir unir leurs forces pour développer de nouvelles techniques », pense M. Perron. Il reconnaît cependant que Thompson Creek ne prendra pas cette initiative dans un futur proche.

La société possède deux exploitations de molybdène dont les durées de vie sont de 13 et 16 ans respectivement. La production à Mont Milligan, la nouvelle mine de cuivre et d’or de Thompson Creek, débutera au cours du premier trimestre 2014 ; sa durée de vie escomptée est de 22 ans. Mis à part des activités mineures d’exploration autour de leurs sites existants en vue d’accroître leurs réserves, M. Perron affirme dans un refrain, hélas, bien connu, que l’exploration n’est pas une priorité pour la société.

Pourtant, sans la technologie nécessaire pour s’assurer de trouver des gisements profonds, les petites sociétés minières, alimentées au compte-gouttes, ne seront sans doute jamais plus en mesure de faire d’autres découvertes avec autant de facilité que dans le passé. Elles ne disposent tout simplement pas des fonds suffisants pour mener à bien les développements technologiques qui seront nécessaires pour découvrir de futurs gisements. Qu’il s’agisse de financer la R&D, de financer les petites sociétés minières directement ou de mener l’exploration par leurs propres moyens, les grandes sociétés minières devront renforcer leur engagement à l’avenir.

Plus que tout, il faudra que quelqu’un ait foi en la nouveauté, ajoute M. Quinn. « Il faudra trouver une société ou un groupe qui soit sérieusement déterminé(e) à exploiter ces activités et à suffisamment perfectionner sa technologie pour que l’on puisse réellement l’utiliser. » La seule question en suspens est de savoir qui fera le premier pas. Les coûts engendrés seront sans doute durs à avaler pour les actionnaires impatients et pour le directeur général chargé de leur annoncer la nouvelle lors de l’assemblée générale annuelle, mais l’industrie n’a pas vraiment le choix. Et cela vaut sans doute la peine de prendre une longueur d’avance.

Les grandes sociétés minières qui disposent des droits de propriété intellectuelle ou de l’expérience nécessaire pour développer la prochaine génération de techniques et de technologies d’exploration pourraient bien se voir propulsées au premier plan de l’industrie. Les sociétés qui n’ont pas cet avantage risquent en revanche de rester loin derrière, et de se demander où sont passés les actionnaires (et l’argent). ICM February 2014 | 55

From Totten Project to Totten Mine &RQJUDWXODWLRQV 9DOH

'HYHORSPHQW 8* &RQVWUXFWLRQ 5DLVH %RULQJ 0LQLQJ

0HFKDQL]HG 5DLVLQJ 6KDIW 6LQNLQJ (QJLQHHULQJ

ZZZ FHPHQWDWLRQ FRP

| project profile All images courtesy of Vale/Mining Industrial Photographer

TOTTEN

Vale’s “Team Totten” had to overcome difficult ground conditions and unfamiliar geology before it could bring the mine into production last fall.

THE NEXT GENERATION IN NICKEL MINING The Sudbury basin has a long history of nickel production, and Vale’s latest mine – its first new nickel mine in the area in decades – continues this tradition. The Totten mine is also an ideal opportunity for the company to put a new set of tools to work in an old mining community.

BY | CORREY BALDWIN

e anticipate that Totten mine will become a template for the development of other Vale mines in the future,” says Kelly Strong, vice-president of Ontario and U.K. operations. “It’s not often that we have the opportunity to build a new mine, so a decision was made early on in the project to build Totten with some of the best technology, automation and environmental management in the industry.”

Bob Booth, who oversaw development as senior project manager and who is now operations manager, agrees: “It began with the idea of how to build a mine with a potential for a 20-year mine life that would have a small environmental footprint with the highest focus on health and safety.”

“W

Vale built its own management team to oversee project planning, and Booth says this in-house team – dubbed Team Totten – was key to successfully bringing the project through some difficult engineering challenges. “Numerous costefficiencies were gained by utilizing internal resources,” he says. “And with a more thorough understanding of our organization, Vale’s own project team was also able to achieve more creative solutions to project challenges.”

Programmed logic Totten is Vale’s most automated underground mine. One particular achievement is the automated ventilation on demand system (VOD). A series of vent-monitoring stations February 2014 | 57

project profile | T O T T E N keeps track of ventilation volumes, as well as temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels. All equipment and personnel cap lamps are equipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags that are recognized by the system supplied

by Simsmart Technology. Should the ventilation demands increase or decrease, control louvers and variable speed drives will adjust the volumes accordingly.

“Rather than supply levels that are inactive with expensive ventilation, we can direct the ventilation in the right places,” explains Erick Jarvi, chief engineer for operations. “If there are any issues that cannot be resolved with additional ventilation, the operations centre is alerted immediately and the operator is contacted. This system has drastically improved blast clearing times as well.”

Booth says the energy savings are significant: “We’re not wasting our community’s valuable energy on running a fan that isn’t required.”

VOD is just one part of Totten’s distributed control system, or DCS, furnished by ABB. The DCS – a first for Vale’s Sudbury operations – covers everything from ventilation and heating, to hydraulic pumps and motors, to the crusher, loading pockets, hoists and conveyor belts.

Mine automation commonly uses individual control boxes called programmable logic controllers (PLCs), each of which usually controls one component of the mining process. The DCS uses controllers similar to a PLC. These controllers are all tied together into one centrally controlled automation network that is monitored by the central control system.

“It’s basically a bunch of computers in the mine, all linked together, with the main brains located on the surface in a central computer bank, which communicates with the PLCs or controllers,” says Jack MacIsaac, automation lead at Totten.

“The central control room looks a bit like the bridge of the starship Enterprise,” jokes MacIsaac, describing the wall-towall computer screens with system-wide data and crisp video footage from throughout the mine. “Every system creates a visual graphic, which the operator can interface with.”

The DCS monitors and records data on the performance of every piece of equipment in every system, and is automated to adjust this performance when necessary, thereby maintaining efficiency.

“In the case of the VOD system, workers and machinery are tagged and tracked,” explains MacIsaac. “That information is gathered by the DCS system, which then makes adjustments to ventilation equipment automatically to ensure the air gets to where it is needed.”

An operator can access data in real time and interact with each system through the DCS to adjust various operations or correct systems if production variables change. Maintenance crews can track equipment performance to better diagnose a breakdown, or anticipate equipment breakdown before it occurs; and historical data can be analyzed to develop more effective maintenance schedules. Any deviation in a data set – raised engine temperature or RPM in a haul truck, for example – would set off an alert, to which the DCS and its operators would respond.

58 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

The first production blast was performed in October.

Data gathered by the DCS can be used to improve every aspect of running the mine. For Booth, it is a key component of personnel safety management: “We know where everyone is underground, as well as the equipment. We can monitor how they interact around the different workplaces to ensure that our people are working safely.”

“The DCS removes people from higher-risk jobs,” he says.

“It reduces the risk of something adverse happening in that interrelationship of equipment and people.”

On the other hand, says Booth, this increase in automation increases the need for high-tech jobs. Vale employs two fulltime operators working on the system, along with a crew of field workers and electricians. “We require fibre-optic specialists, networking specialists and wireless network specialists, and automation technicians who are familiar with DCS,” says Booth. “As well, production and maintenance employees are trained to understand the technology and automation features of Totten mine, and how those features impact their work environment.”

In total, Totten will employ a workforce of around 175 people. Some of these individuals come from Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation due to employment and training opportunities made available in an Impact Benefit Agreement that was signed in 2012.

Vale worked with several contractors, including Cementation Canada, to bring Sagamok employees onto Totten’s construction teams, updating their skills through a new miner training program. Totten’s relationship with the Sagamok community continues into production, both through direct employment and through operational contractors. T. Bell Transport, which has been hired to haul ore from Totten to the mill, is hiring Sagamok members as drivers, mechanics and office staff.

Challenging ground conditions The economic potential of the Totten mine ore body has been known for over a century. First discovered in 1884, Inco acquired the property in 1935, and sunk two shafts in the 1960s. But, says Jarvi, “the mine sat from 1972, flooded.”

TOTTEN

| project profile

Lance Howland is the chief geologist for the Totten mine; Totten is Vale’s most automated mine. A distributed control system manages a number of operational functions including ventilation on demand that responds to factors such as production demands, air conditions and the location of personnel and equipment to manage air flow and quality.

When Vale acquired Inco in 2006, the company immediately began plans to develop Totten mine. The second shaft sunk by Inco, which Vale planned to use for Totten, would have to be dewatered before any other work could begin. Vale contracted AMEC to design and build a wastewater treatment plant, which treated 300 million gallons of water pumped from the mine during the dewatering phase of the project.

“A lot of the original ground support had deteriorated,” says Jarvi. “When they were dewatering they discovered a lot of ground condition issues.” Totten brought Cementation Canada to rehabilitate the 40-year-old timbered shaft and bring it up to today’s standards. In 2007, Cementation assessed and stabilized the shaft, and also designed and managed the construction of a new head frame and hoist house.

“When you’re going into an existing mine access, like an old timber shaft, there are a lot of unknowns,” says Eric Kohtakangas, Cementation Canada vice-president of operations. “When you begin to pump the mine out, and you begin to expose things, that’s really when you begin to see the conditions. You’re also introducing air into the mine, and that’s when you start to get a little bit of rotting, until you can get the entire new infrastructure in place.”

“If you put water in any type of opening, it creates a certain amount of lateral force. It holds things in place.” Unstable ground conditions are created, explains Kohtakangas, when this pressure is taken away. And Totten was no exception.

These difficult ground conditions proved to be more extensive than expected, and necessitated a delayed start date (from March 2011 to the end of 2013) and a budget update (from $450 million to $760 million).

2013 was a busy year. By August, Totten had developed 43,200 feet of lateral mine workings. “We’re going to start out with two mining fronts,” says Jarvi, “one at the 3,150 level and another one at the 3,850 level. By 2016 or so, we’re going to establish a third mining front at the 4,170 level.”

An underground jaw crusher was installed at the 3,880 level. “We have a crusher that was installed in Elliot Lake in the

1970s,” says Booth. “We’ve had it refurbished with some of our engineering and fabrication partners to tie in hydraulic toggle technology.” The crusher will be capable of handling 2,200 tpd of fine ore, which will then be hoisted to the surface and shipped by haul truck directly to Vale’s Clarabelle Mill for processing, 40 kilometres away.

After a 23-month ramp-up, Totten will hit full production by 2016, running at 2,200 tpd, or 750,000 tpa.

A new geological model Totten is situated along an offset of the Sudbury Basin, known as the Worthington Offset. This meant that although Totten is Vale’s sixth operating mine in the Sudbury area, the company could not model the mine after its other projects in the Basin.

“Our offset environment has presented some challenges due to contrasting rock properties,” explains Jarvi. “But as our underground diamond drilling programs got underway and development advanced, core logging and underground mapping began to develop a more complex geological picture of the Totten deposit.” Once the team was able to back up this data with visual confirmation of the different rock types and their interactions, strengths and structures, Jarvi says they were able to develop a dynamic ground control strategy.

The ore body itself is a high-grade nickel-copper deposit, also containing precious metals. “The ore body is very steeply dipping,” says Jarvi. “And the footwall and hanging wall contacts seem to be quite well defined, which is a benefit. It lends itself well to the blast hole stoping mining method we’ve adopted. It’s going to be a nice ore body.”

Totten currently has a 12-year mine life, with an additional eight to 10 years based on currently known mineral resources and exploration targets. Meanwhile, exploration drilling continues on the Totten property, and Booth is optimistic that Totten’s resource will grow: “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that we always mine below shaft bottom at any mine in the Sudbury Basin.” CIM February 2014 | 59

Avec l’aimable autorisation de Mining Industrial Photographer/Vale

profil de projet | T O T T E N

L’équipe Totten de Vale a dû surmonter des conditions de terrain difficiles et un cadre géologique non familier avant de pouvoir mettre la mine en production l’automne dernier.

L’EXPLOITATION DU NICKEL NOUVELLE GÉNÉRATION Le bassin de Sudbury est connu depuis longtemps pour la production de nickel, et la toute dernière mine de Vale (la première nouvelle mine de nickel de la société dans cette région depuis des décennies) perpétue cette tradition. La nouvelle mine Totten est également l’occasion idéale pour la société de mettre en service toute une série de nouveaux instruments dans une ancienne communauté minière.

PAR | CORREY BALDWIN

ous nous attendons à ce que la mine Totten devienne un modèle pour le développement d’autres mines par la société Vale à l’avenir », déclare Kelly Strong, vice-présidente des opérations en Ontario et au Royaume-Uni chez Vale. « Nous n’avons pas souvent l’occasion de construire une nouvelle mine, aussi nous avons pris la

«N

60 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

décision dès le début du projet de construire la mine Totten avec des technologies, des techniques d’automatisation et des méthodes de gestion de l’environnement parmi les meilleures du secteur. » Bob Booth, qui surveillait le développement en tant que chef de projet et est désormais directeur de l’exploita-

TOTTEN

tion, est tout à fait d’accord : « Tout a commencé par l’idée de construire une mine dont la durée de vie potentielle serait de 20 ans, qui aurait une faible empreinte écologique et serait fortement axée sur les questions de santé et de sécurité. » La société Vale a créé sa propre équipe de direction pour surveiller la planification du projet, et M. Booth insiste sur le fait que c’est grâce à son équipe interne (baptisée Équipe Totten) que le projet a pu surmonter certains enjeux techniques difficiles. « Nous sommes parvenus à réduire les coûts dans de nombreuses situations grâce à nos ressources internes », déclare-t-il. « Parce qu’elle comprend mieux notre organisation, l’équipe interne du projet de Vale a également pu trouver des solutions plus créatives aux enjeux soulevés par le projet. »

Une logique programmée

| profil de projet

L’automatisation des mines repose généralement sur l’utilisation de boîtes de commande individuelles appelées automates programmables (PLC - programmable logic controllers), lesquels contrôlent chacun un élément du processus minier. Le SCD utilise des automates semblables aux PLC. Ces automates sont tous reliés en un réseau d’automatisation contrôlée commandé par un système de contrôle central. « C’est une version consolidée du modèle de PLC », explique Jack MacIsaac, responsable de l’automatisation à la mine Totten. « En fait, il s’agit d’une série d’ordinateurs dans la mine qui sont tous reliés les uns aux autres ; les principaux ‘cerveaux’ sont situés en surface dans une banque de données informatique centrale qui communique avec les PLC ou les contrôleurs. » « La salle des commandes centrale ressemble un peu au pont du . vaisseau spatial Enterprise », plaisante M. MacIsaac en décrivant les écrans d’ordinateurs accrochés au mur qui affichent les données de tout le système et des séquences vidéo nettes et précises de toute la mine. « Chaque système crée une interface graphique visuelle à laquelle peut se connecter l’opérateur », ajoute-t-il.

Le SCD surveille et enregistre les données relatives à la performance de chaque appareil dans chaque système, et est automatisé de manière à ajuster cette performance lorsque cela s’avère nécessaire, maintenant ainsi une efficacité optimale. « Dans le cas du système VOD, les employés et les machines sont catalogués et suivis », explique M. MacIsaac. « Ces informations sont collectées par le SCD, qui procède ensuite aux ajustements automatiques de l’équipement d’aérage pour s’assurer que l’air soit envoyé là où il faut. » L’opérateur a accès aux données en temps réel et peut interagir avec chaque système par le biais du SCD afin d’ajuster les diverses opérations ou de rectifier les systèmes si les variables de production changent. Les équipes de maintenance peuvent suivre la performance de l’équipement, ce qui leur permet de mieux prévoir une interruption ou d’anticiper les pannes avant qu’elles ne se produisent. En outre, on peut analyser les données historiques pour mettre en place des calendriers de maintenance plus adéquats. Toute déviation dans un ensemble de données (par exemple une augmentation de la température des moteurs ou des T/M dans un camion) déclenchera une alerte à laquelle le SCD et ses opérateurs répondront.

Les données collectées par le SCD serviront à améliorer chaque aspect du fonctionnement d’une mine. Pour M. Booth, il s’agit là d’un élément essentiel de la gestion de

On connaît le potentiel économique du corps minéralisé de la mine Totten depuis plus d’un siècle

Totten est la mine souterraine la plus automatisée de Vale. Une réalisation notable concerne le système automatisé d’aérage à la demande (VOD – ventilation on demand). Une série de stations de surveillance de l’aérage contrôlent les volumes d’aérage de la mine ainsi que la température, l’humidité et les niveaux de dioxyde de carbone. Tout le matériel ainsi que les lampes de mineurs utilisées par le personnel sont équipés d’étiquettes d’identification par radiofréquence (RFID) qui sont reconnues par le système fourni par Simsmart Technology. S’il faut augmenter ou réduire l’aérage, les grilles d’aération de contrôle et les variateurs de vitesse ajusteront les volumes en fonction. « Plutôt que de fournir des niveaux qui sont inactifs avec des systèmes d’aérage coûteux, nous pouvons diriger l’aérage au bon endroit », explique Erick Jarvi, ingénieur en chef chargé des opérations. « Si l’on rencontre des problèmes qui ne peuvent être résolus avec un aérage plus fort, on alerte immédiatement le centre des opérations et l’opérateur est contacté. Ce système a aussi énormément amélioré les délais d’évacuation en cas d’explosion. » M. Booth ajoute que les économies d’énergie sont loin d’être négligeables : « Nous ne gaspillons pas l’énergie précieuse de notre communauté en faisant fonctionner un système de ventilation qui n’est pas nécessaire. » Le système VOD ne constitue qu’une partie du système à commande décentralisée (SCD) de la mine Totten fourni par ABB. Ce SCD, une grande première pour les activités de Vale à Sudbury, couvre toutes les applications, de l’aérage et du chauffage aux pompes et moteurs hydrauliques en passant par les concasseurs, les trémies doseuses, les treuils d’extraction minière et les transporteurs à courroie.

February 2014 | 61

profil de projet | T O T T E N la sécurité du personnel. « Nous savons où se trouvent nos employés et notre équipement sous terre. Cela nous permet de surveiller la façon dont ils communiquent sur les différents lieux de travail, et donc de nous assurer que notre personnel évolue en toute sécurité. » « Le SCD permet d’éliminer les risques élevés associés à certaines activités », ajoute-t-il. « Il réduit le risque d’un événement délétère grâce à cette communication entre l’équipement et les employés. » Par ailleurs, explique M. Booth, cette automatisation accrue renforce le besoin en spécialistes dans le secteur de la haute technologie. Vale emploie deux opérateurs à plein temps qui travaillent sur le système, ainsi qu’une équipe d’hommes de terrain et d’électriciens. « Nous avons besoin de spécialistes des fibres optiques, de la mise en réseau et des réseaux sans fil, ainsi que de techniciens spécialisés dans l’automatisation qui connaissent bien le SCD », ajoute M. Booth. « En outre, les employés chargés de la production et de la maintenance sont formés afin de comprendre les spécificités de la technologie et de l’automatisation à la mine Totten, et également l’impact de ces spécificités sur leur environnement de travail. » Au total, Totten embauchera environ 175 personnes, dont certains membres de la Première nation Sagamok Anishnawbek, et ce grâce aux opportunités d’emploi et de formation rendues possibles par l’entente sur les impacts et les avantages signée en 2012.

Vale a collaboré avec plusieurs contractants, dont Cementation, pour embaucher des membres de la communauté Sagamok Anishnawbek dans ses équipes de construction de Totten, en leur proposant d’actualiser leurs compétences grâce à un nouveau programme de formation des mineurs. La relation de Totten avec la communauté Sagamok se poursuit dans la production, par l’intermédiaire de l’emploi direct et des contractants opérationnels. La société T. Bell Transport, qui sera chargée de transporter le minerai de Totten au concentrateur, emploie des membres de la communauté Sagamok comme conducteurs, mécaniciens et employés de bureau.

Des conditions au sol difficiles On connaît le potentiel économique du corps minéralisé de la mine Totten depuis plus d’un siècle. Découverte en 1884, Inco achète la propriété en 1935 et fore deux puits de mine dans les années 1960. Malheureusement, explique M. Jarvi, « la mine a été inondée en 1972. » Après le rachat d’Inco en 2006, Vale a immédiatement élaboré des projets de développement de la mine Totten. Le second puits foré par Inco, que Vale pensait utiliser pour la mine Totten, devait être asséché avant de commencer d’autres travaux. Vale a signé un contrat avec AMEC pour la conception et la construction d’une station d’épuration des eaux usées, laquelle a traité les 300 millions de gallons d’eau pompée dans la mine pendant la phase d’assèchement du projet.

62 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

« Une grande partie du soutènement original était détérioré », indique M. Jarvi. « Lors de l’assèchement, on a découvert de nombreux problèmes au niveau des conditions au sol. » Totten a fait appel à Cementation Canada pour restaurer le chevalement en bois de 40 ans du puits de la mine et le mettre aux normes actuelles. En 2007, Cementation a évalué et stabilisé le puits, et également élaboré et géré la construction d’un nouveau chevalement d’extraction et de la structure abritant le treuil d’extraction minière. « Quand on s’aventure dans un accès existant à la mine, par exemple un puits de mine garni de cuvelage, on fait face à beaucoup d’inconnus », déclare Eric Kohtakangas, vice-président en charge de l’exploitation à Cementation Canada. « Quand on commence à assécher la mine et à exposer son intérieur, c’est là que l’on commence à comprendre les conditions dans lesquelles elle se trouve. On laisse également pénétrer l’air dans la mine, ce qui favorise la pourriture jusqu’à ce que la nouvelle infrastructure soit en place. » « L’eau qui pénètre par n’importe quelle ouverture engendrera une certaine force latérale et maintiendra les parois en place. » C’est lorsque l’on élimine cette pression que les conditions instables au sol apparaissent, explique M. Kohtakangas. La mine Totten ne faisait pas exception à la règle.

Ces conditions difficiles au sol se sont révélées plus importantes que prévues et ont entraîné un retard dans la date escomptée d’ouverture (de mars 2011 à fin 2013), ainsi qu’une actualisation du budget (de 450 millions $ à 760 millions $). Malgré ces contretemps (qui ont coïncidé avec la chute du cours du nickel de 24 $ US/livre en 2007 à peine plus de 4 $ US en 2008), la mine Totten a ouvert ses portes avant la date prévue par le calendrier révisé et avec un budget inférieur à celui escompté.

2013 a été une année bien remplie. Au mois d’août, Totten avait déjà assuré le développement latéral de 43 200 pieds de chantiers miniers. « Nous allons commencer avec deux fronts d’exploitation minière », explique M. Jarvi, « le premier au niveau 3 150 et le second au niveau 3 850. D’ici 2016, plus ou moins, nous établirons un troisième front d’exploitation au niveau 4 170. » Un concasseur à mâchoires a été installé sous terre au niveau 3 880. « Nous avions installé dans les années 1970 l’un de nos concasseurs dans la région du Lac Elliot », indique M. Booth. « Nous l’avons remis à neuf avec l’aide de nos partenaires spécialisés en ingénierie et fabrication afin d’y ajouter la technologie de commutateur hydraulique. » Ce concasseur pourra traiter 2 200 tonnes par jour de fines, qui seront ensuite hissées à la surface et directement envoyées par camion au concentrateur Clarabelle de Vale pour son traitement, à 40 kilomètres de là.

Après cette accélération sur 23 mois, Totten, dont la durée de vie est actuellement estimée à 12 ans, tournera à plein régime d’ici 2016 avec une capacité de 2 200 tonnes par jour, ou 750 000 tonnes par an. ICM

Communication skills

technology

UNDERGROUND NETWORKS

By Eavan Moore

Courtesy of Hudbay Minerals

Underground operations are notoriously tough environments for communication technologies, but todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s system suppliers are answering the demands for safety, performance and durability with a spectrum of network solutions.

HudBay Mineralsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Lalor mine, once completed, will feature a communications system that combines the use of fibre-optic and Ethernet networks and a leaky feeder radio system.

The burdens borne by underground mine communication networks have grown in the last decade, as monitoring and remote control functions generate new potential data streams for every piece of mobile and stationary equipment. At the same time, a series of underground coal mine accidents in the United States in 2006 opened a flood of public research funding into fail-safe communication systems. The result has been an incremental improvement in the day-to-day technologies used and a big boost for less familiar ideas.

Shocked by the deaths of miners who might have been saved had they been located earlier, the U.S. Congress, with the development of the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response (MINER) Act, adopted the vision of a completely wireless underground communications system. That remains a physical impossibility right now, but most mines need better access to the underground network through the use of Wi-Fi Access Points, according to Eric Brouillette, vice-president of sales at Laird global mining February 2014 | 63

Courtesy of Hudbay Minerals

At Lalor some assets such as specific hoists and remote-controlled rock breakers will rely on a fibre-optic network.

environment drives up their price.

“Right now, if you look within Canada at organizations that provide purpose-built solutions for the mining industry centred around wireless and voice-overinternet protocol (VOIP), there’s less than a handful that do it,” he says.

“There’s a whole bunch standing on the periphery trying to take solutions that are built for surface and bring them underground. And the challenge there is that they’re not fit for purpose, for a dusty, dirty environment.

They just won’t hold up.”

Nevertheless, Gladu believes that wireless and VOIP solutions will become less expensive, as did the now-ubiquitous leaky feeder technology. He thinks the foreseeable future will include a need for hybrid technology: leaky feeder in the vast majority of the mine and wireless/VOIP in key areas. division. Surveyors benefit from continuous communication to surface, and most advanced fleet management solutions and programmable logic controllers have Wi-Fi available as a medium. “You need to deploy a Wi-Fi backbone in key areas underground, and the technology is available now,” says Brouillette.

But the density of coverage required for having seamless roaming makes installing wireless access points expensive.

Plus, according to Joe Gladu, Canadian general manager at PBE Group, the rarity of such systems in the underground

64 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

The old with the new

Several developers, including Becker Varis and PBE Group, have sought to add data capability directly to leaky feeder lines. Although no technology out there can match the bandwidth of fibre-optic cable – nearly limitless at thousands of megabits per second (Mbps) – mines do not necessarily need that much capacity. Brouillette estimates that most will need no more than 50 to 100 Mbps over the next few years. Mine operators approach fibre-optic cable, which requires more

specialized skills to repair compared to the coaxial cable used in leaky feeder systems, with caution.

PBE’s Centrian leaky feeder, installed in upwards of 30 mines, uses a CMTS (cable modem termination system) at the leaky feeder head end and an amplifier that supports a direct radio frequency link to an external cable modem, which in turn can be connected to any Ethernet-based device at about 22 Mbps downstream. Becker Varis’ Smart Com uses amplifiers similarly, with an advertised bandwidth of 54 Mbps downstream.

Taking the same idea in a different direction, the SIAMnet system sold by Laird adds antennas that allow the coaxial cable to be installed in shotcrete or protected by metallic pipes. At that point it is no longer a leaky feeder system, as the cable itself does not radiate RF energy. “Our system is an extension of the surface Ethernet network into the underground mine,” says Brouillette. The company has responded to customer requests by shrinking components and improving bandwidth to the current 150 Mbps from 20 Mbps in 2005.

Hudbay Minerals is drawing on several of these elements for its Lalor mine in Manitoba. “I’d say the technology we’re deploying is at the upper end of what’s currently available,” says Richard Trudeau, mine manager of the Flin Flon and Snow Lake mines. Still under construction, Lalor will eventually have a leaky feeder radio system with 60 Mbps Ethernet data capability and three 10 gigabit Ethernet networks (for corporate, video, and process functions). It will also have separate fibre-optic networks for specific hoists and for remotecontrolling rock breakers. Some areas of the mine will have Wi-Fi coverage.

For phone service, Trudeau says most offices and shop telephones will use the corporate Ethernet network, but up to 50 copper phone lines are planned for critical locations like shafts and refuge stations. This is part of a general backup strategy that includes four key requirements: redundant power sources; backup battery systems; redundant, ring-style installations; and communication that can be powered from surface, which is true of the radio and copper lines at Lalor.

Better backup

In addition to these standard safeguards, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has worked with U.S. regulators, industry and labour unions to speed up nascent alternatives. In the early days after Congress passed its 2006 MINER Act, mandating better communications and personnel tracking in underground coal mines, NIOSH and the Mines Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) set up a test area at a coal mine and invited various vendors to test their equipment.

“It was amazing,” says NIOSH researcher John Burr, “that while these things might work very well above ground, when you get in the confined area of an underground coal mine with all the conductive media and noise sources around you, very few of these technologies showed any promise at all. And for the ones that did, it was obvious that a significant engineering

A MINE OF SOLUTIONS Technical, economic and feasibility studies NI 43-101 technical reports Mine planning, design and simulation Plant design and simulation EPCM projects Commissioning assistance Power generation and T&D Automation and industrial IT Telecommunications Optimization of drilling and blasting applications Process optimization and control

Join us at the PDAC Convention! Booth 245 February 2014 | 65

Expert, quality advice.

D ŽŶƐƵůƚĂŶƚƐ ŝƐ Ă ůĞĂĚŝŶŐ ŝŶĚĞƉĞŶĚĞŶƚ ŝŶƚĞƌŶĂƟŽŶĂů mining consultancy, providing services exclusively to the ŵŝŶĞƌĂůƐ ƐĞĐƚŽƌ͘ KƵƌ ƉƌŝŶĐŝƉĂů ĐĂƉĂďŝůŝƟĞƐ ŝŶĐůƵĚĞ͗ ͻ ͻ ͻ ͻ ͻ ͻ ͻ ͻ

Mining engineering Geology services Geotechnical engineering Coal and energy services Corporate consultancy ^ƚƌĂƚĞŐLJ ŽƉƟŵŝƐĂƟŽŶ Feasibility studies Business analysis and improvement

To find out more, visit www.amcconsultants.com AMC - the business of mining 66 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

Courtesy of PBE Group.

effort would be required to adapt them. And most of the vendors at that point did not have the willingness to proceed. And that’s where NIOSH really stepped to the plate with its funding strategy, to see if we couldn’t take the most promising one and push it.”

That was how defence-focused Kutta Technologies entered the mining world. The company has since commercialized a medium-frequency backup system called DRUM that “hitchhikes” on existing mine infrastructure, so that metal conveyor frames and phone lines become communication conduits. The portable version of the repeater unit can be stored in key areas and grabbed in case of emergency.

Using some extra wiring, DRUM can also be installed so as to be interoperable with high-frequency radio handsets. Interoperability is another strong interest at NIOSH, according to Jeffery Kohler, director of the office for mine safety and health research at NIOSH. “You can think of it as having little electronic interfaces distributed in the mine, such that the interface is capable of receiving a signal on, say, the medium-frequency band, but then converting it to and attaching it to the infrastructure for the leaky feeder or for the fibre-optic router-based system. When you start to

talk about those options, you The MINER Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 2006, was a really expand your ability to catalyst for the development have post-accident functional- and deployment of more robust safety tools such as proximity ity,” he says. detection systems.

Through-the-earth communication – TTE, or as Kohler calls it, “the holy grail” – could find its place in such an interoperable system. Truly wireless, low-frequency signals can penetrate from surface through thousands of feet of rock, but their uses until recently have been limited to simple one-way messages via a very large surface loop antenna. Several NIOSH-funded alternatives have improved on that: Lockheed Martin’s MagneLink allows two-way communications, as does E-Spectrum’s Rescue Dog. But Kohler would like to see something even better: a TTE system that could catch another system’s signal and send it to surface.

Although TTE itself is in its early stages, the basic principle of interoperability and the other secondary systems available have been proven, according to Kohler. “I think we can say that there aren’t serious technical limitations holding back the adoption of these secondary systems,” he says. “I think the technology is there, it’s demonstrated, it’s reliable; it’s more a question of people deciding how they work it into their operating strategies.”

The sector matures

Whatever the uptake on the user end will be, it will rely on a limited number of suppliers. Joe Gladu says that after the MINER Act passed, “it was a very interesting time to be on the supply side, because it created this boom for organizations such as PBE and a lot of others that had communications solutions.” That resulted in consolidation as large players like PBE sought to marry different technologies by buying smaller companies, while companies with lower-tech solutions were unable to compete.

“Once MSHA was satisfied that those solutions were in place, you saw that boom and that demand for technologies drop significantly,” continues Gladu. “So the result is you had a consolidation in terms of the numbers of players that were there. And it’s probably a handful of people that play in that space now versus what you saw in 2008.” CIM

CIM community Going where the action is

Oleg Shteyner, a University of Toronto mineral engineering student, said long sessions were involved in putting together his team’s presentation at the National Mining Competition. Working alongside Shteyner were fellow students Matthew Dolowy-Busch, Thomas Bamford and Jonathan Adomait.

In just its second year, the National Mining Competition, an undergraduate mining case study contest held in Saskatoon, continues to grow in popularity. This year’s event, held in late-October and early-November, featured 14 groups of future mining professionals from across Canada, along with a team from the United States.

Oleg Shteyner, a fourth-year University of Toronto Lassonde Mineral Engineering student, currently on an internship with Lake Shore Gold, describes his experience as part of U of T’s four-member team:

Following the success of a one-week field trip last September, which took 12 Université Laval mineral processing students to six different gold mine sites and plants in Quebec, students in the program are hoping to organize another trip this year. The eightday tour saw the students visit Hecla Mining’s Casa Berardi mill, Glencore’s Horne concentrator and smelter, Iamgold’s Westwood concentrator, Agnico-Eagle’s Laronde and Lapa mines and later its Goldex mill, and finally Osisko’s Canadian Malartic mine, learning about the unique conditions and challenges associated with each operation.

“This field trip gave us a good opportunity to see many different operations in the field of mineral processing and to speak with professionals about the advances in gold hydrometallurgy,” said Ahmet Deniz Bas, a PhD student in metallurgical engineering at Université Laval. “This visit may also provide the opportunity to increase the collaboration between our university and the Quebec gold industry.” Although a similar field trip has not yet been formalized as an annual event, Bas said there is a desire to replicate it again this year.

Courtesy of Ahmet Deniz Bas

Courtesy of Oleg Shteyner

Students feel the pressure at National Mining Competition

“The team was presented with three hypothetical gold projects in Nunavut, and we were told to choose the most viable one for a company to develop, if any. We had 36 hours to complete the case before submitting our presentation. The final presentations mimicked presenting to the majority shareholders of the company in question.

“Our engineering instincts told us that none of the projects were actually economically viable, but we ignored them on the basis that we thought we had to sell an idea to be successful in a business competition. We were wrong, as were many other teams. In retrospect, we should have told the hypothetical company that all projects ought to be sold off or put on hold, as the winning team noted. Despite the fact that our team did not win the competition, we were able to produce an excellent presentation. (…)

“Overall it was a great experience to learn how to develop an economic feasibility study and present it in an environment that resembled the Dragon’s Den TV show. The practice sessions definitely helped in our case development, as we all got to know each other well enough to work as a high-performance team with tight deadlines. That being said, we still got some relaxing time to network with other delegates and build important connections.”

The team was sponsored by the CIM Toronto Branch, U of T’s civil engineering department, Barrick Gold, Lake Shore Gold, and professor Edward T.C. Spooner.

Université Laval mineral processing students pose in front of Osisko’s SAG mill, during an eight-day tour of Quebec gold mining and mineral processing sites in September.

February 2014 | 67

CIM community

CIM president Robert Schafer, right, was part of a Canadian delegation that travelled to Mongolia with Gov. Gen. David Johnston, left, in October.

Governor general invites CIM president to Mongolia At the request of Gov. Gen. David Johnston, CIM president Robert Schafer travelled to Mongolia in October, as part of a small delegation of business and education professionals, and met with the country’s president, prime minister and various cabinet members. The trip focused on three areas: business, education and civil service. “Mongolians certainly want more Canadian-Mongolian trade and investment, and view Canada as a role model for public-private sector relations,” said Schafer, adding that Canada is already a major investor in Mongolia, particularly in mining. “Like Canada, Mongolia sees itself as a country whose economy will grow and prosper based on the development of natural resources.”

Recent pressure on mining companies in Mongolia to increase the royalties they pay to the government, however, has led investors to think twice about developing projects in the country. “That created a lot of uncertainty in the investment world,” said Schafer, noting that “those overtures towards more resource nationalism were probably politically motivated because of the [2013] elections. Hopeful parliamentarians were looking to attract votes by appealing to their national pride through promises to return control of major mining projects to Mongolians, despite large investments by Canadian corporations.”

The Canadian delegation brought forward a request to formalize a foreign investment protection agreement between Canada and Mongolia, so that once companies sign a business agreement, it can only be reopened if both sides are willing to do so. Schafer said a number of Canadian companies had been actively exploring in Mongolia, but due to the government’s tactics, coupled with the global exploration downturn, investment has suffered in recent times. He said the mining world is watching how Mongolia moves forward in discussions with operators that are active in the country. “If it goes positively, the winds will be positive in terms of future investment,” he said.

68 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

CIM signed a memorandum of understanding late last year with three other mining organizations to create the Global Mineral Professionals Alliance. Under the agreement, CIM will grant members of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), the U.S.-based Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration Inc. (SME) and the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) visitor status in Canada for one year, meaning they can benefit from the various services and resources available to CIM members. CIM members will also be granted such privileges with those organizations when working in those regions. “Among CIM, SME, AusIMM and SAIMM, this means our members will have broader access to a range of benefits and tools necessary for continuous improvement in professional development,” said Robert Schafer, CIM president.

CAMECO SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS New recipients: Patrick Gagnon, Robert Murray, Cathy Xiao Renewals: Everett Piper, Jennifer Taylor, Caitlyn McKinley

Courtesy of Lucie Xiang

Courtesy of Sgt. Ronald Duchesne, Rideau Hall

Mining is a global business

And the Turnbull Cup goes to…

Lucie Xiang, a mining engineering student at the University of British Columbia, has won the CIM Vancouver Branch’s Turnbull Cup, awarded annually to the best mining photograph submitted to the branch from earth and mineral science undergraduate students in B.C. Xiang’s aerial photo of the Diavik diamond mine, in the Northwest Territories, was selected. The competition has been a regular Vancouver branch event since 2006.

Visit magazine.cim.org to look at past Turnbull Cup winners.

Compiled by Herb Mathisen

The Image Commission

MINING 4 EVERYONE MINES POUR TOUS

Preliminary Program Programme préliminaire VA NC O U VER CO N VENTI O N C ENT RE | CE N TR E DE S CON G RÈ S DE VA NCOU V E R VAN COU V E R 2 0 1 4 . C I M. OR G

Welcome to Bienvenue ~a

VANCOUVER “Mining 4 Everyone” is the theme that will drive topics of discussion at the upcoming 2014 CIM Convention taking place at the Vancouver Convention Centre from May 10 to 13. The convention is expected to attract more than 6,000 mining industry professionals.

Why “Mining 4 Everyone”? Firstly, mining provides value to multiple stakeholders – communities in which mining companies operate or, ultimately, the end users of the minerals mined. From another perspective, we must speak of diversity in mining – where opportunities exist for people of diverse skills and backgrounds. Over the course of the CIM Convention, we will be tackling the many issues emanating from the growing shortage of skills, making succession planning for the industry a challenge. More than 140,000 new workers will be required by 2020, and creating great opportunities for all workers, including women, aboriginal communities and immigrants, can ensure the future of mining in Canada.

Understanding the opportunities that mining can provide, using due care, and paying attention to the environment, will give mining companies the social licence to operate. Mining can either be tolerated or considered the lifeblood of generations of workers. CIM has always been a firm advocate for opportunities available in the business, and the 2014 convention is set to create further awareness of the full range of these opportunities and potentially give mining practitioners further tools to successfully engage and enlist people to the industry.

The technical program will feature seven streams including: Global Dimensions of Mining; Innovations; Harnessing our Diverse World; Managing Operations: Mine to Mill; Rock Engineering; Construction to Production; and, for the first time, the CIM Convention will host the Ethics in Mining Symposium, in partnership with the Canadian Business Ethics Research Network (CBERN).

CIM 2014’s three-day technical program will kick off with an electrifying plenary session featuring a marquee lineup of industry leaders examining the convention’s theme, moderated by the award-winning investigative journalist and co-host of the CBC’s The Fifth Estate, Mark Kelley. At CIM 2014, the boldest and most innovative change-masters will exchange ideas and initiate promising change.

The Expo! – In conjunction with the CIM Convention, the CIM Exhibition (now called The Expo!) will be celebrating its 31st anniversary. Sold out again this year, it will host more than 500 exhibiting companies featuring the latest in mining equipment, tools, technologies and services. The Expo! is Canada’s mining marketplace.

M4S (the educational show on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Materials) – Showcasing the number and variety of careers available directly and indirectly in the mining industry, M4S will help increase participants’ knowledge of the entire mining cycle – from exploration and extraction to production and reclamation. Teachers, students and the general public are typically surprised at how positively mining impacts their daily lives and how many careers and jobs the sector generates – in every sector of employment. The interactive activities at each of the thematic pavilions are sure to make visitors’ experiences unforgettable.

We look forward to seeing you in Vancouver!

Patty Moore Convention General Chair 70 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

Robert Schafer CIM President 2013–14

CONGRÈS ICM 2014 CIM CONVENTION

« Mines pour tous » est le thème général qui servira d’inspiration pour les sujets de discussion au Congrès de l’ICM 2014 qui se tiendra du 10 au 13 mai au Vancouver Convention Centre. On s’attend à ce que plus de 6 000 professionnels de l’industrie minière assistent à ce congrès organisé par l’Institut canadien des mines, de la métallurgie et du pétrole (ICM).

Pourquoi « Mines pour tous »? Tout d’abord, l’exploitation minière procure de la valeur à de nombreux intervenants dont les collectivités dans lesquelles les sociétés minières exercent leurs activités et même les utilisateurs finaux des minéraux exploités. D’un autre point de vue, l’industrie minière est un milieu caractérisé par une grande diversité où de nombreuses possibilités existent pour des personnes possédant différentes compétences et provenant de différents contextes. Plus de 140 000 nouveaux travailleurs seront requis d’ici 2020. En offrant des possibilités intéressantes à tous les travailleurs, y compris les femmes, les collectivités autochtones et les immigrants, nous pouvons assurer l’avenir de l’exploitation minière au Canada.

En faisant preuve de la diligence nécessaire pour comprendre les possibilités que peut offrir l’industrie minière et en se souciant de l’environnement, les sociétés minières pourront obtenir l’acceptabilité sociale dont elles ont besoin pour exercer leurs activités. L’ICM a toujours été un fervent défenseur des possibilités qu’offrait le milieu et, dans le cadre du congrès de 2014, elle se prépare à sensibiliser davantage les gens à toutes ces possibilités et à donner aux professionnels miniers d’autres outils pour réussir à recruter des travailleurs qui s’impliqueront dans l’industrie.

Le programme technique comprendra sept thèmes dont les suivants : « Dimensions mondiales de l’exploitation minière », « Innovations », « Maîtrise de la diversité mondiale », « Gestion des opérations – du traitement à la transformation », « La mécanique des roches » et « De la construction à la production ». De plus, pour la toute première fois, le Congrès de l’ICM accueillera le symposium « Éthique et industrie minière » présenté en partenariat avec le Canadian Business Ethics Research Network (CBERN).

Le programme technique s’échelonnera sur trois jours et débutera par une plénière électrisante réunissant les plus grands leaders de l’industrie qui examineront le thème général du congrès. Cette séance sera animée par Mark Kelley, journaliste-enquêteur primé et coanimateur de l’émission The Fifth Estate à CBC. Au Congrès de l’ICM 2014, les maîtres du changement les plus audacieux et les plus innovateurs échangeront des idées et amorceront des changements prometteurs.

L’Expo! : À l’occasion du Congrès de l’ICM, le Salon de l’ICM (dorénavant appellé l’Expo!) célèbrera son 31e anniversaire. Complet encore une fois cette année, le Salon accueillera plus de 500 entreprises exposantes offrant de l’équipement, des outils, des technologies et des services de pointe pour l’exploitation minière. L’Expo! est le marché de l’industrie minière au Canada.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE COMITÉ ORGANISATEUR CIM PRESIDENT | PRÉSIDENT DE L’ICM Robert Schafer CIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | DIRECTEUR EXÉCUTIF DE L’ICM Jean Vavrek CONVENTION GENERAL CHAIR | PRÉSIDENTE GÉNÉRALE DU CONGRÈS Patty Moore PLENARY CHAIR | PRÉSIDENT DE LA PLÉNIÈRE Bob McCarthy SPONSORSHIP | COMMANDITES Sean Waller Robert Schafer Jean Vavrek TECHNICAL PROGRAM | PROGRAMME TECHNIQUE Greg Rasmussen TECHNICAL PROGRAM TRACK CHAIRS | PRÉSIDENTS DES THÈMES TECHNIQUES Global Dimensions of Mining Wes Carson Innovations Andy Lemay Harnessing our Diverse World Patty Moore Christy Smith Construction to Production Tim Watson Managing Operations from Mine to Mill Jo-Anne Boucher Rock Engineering Denis Thibodeau Ethics in Mining Symposium Wesley Cragg Janis Shandro Angelique Slade Shantz Management & Finance Day Lawrence D. Smith Jane Spooner DIRECTOR OF CONVENTIONS & TRADE SHOWS | DIRECTRICE DES CONGRÈS Lise Bujold STUDENT PROGRAM | PROGRAMME DES ÉTUDIANTS Andrew Crook Brent Hilscher

M4S – le salon éducationnel sur les mines, les minéraux, les métaux et les matériaux met en évidence le grand nombre et l’étonnante diversité de carrières qu’offre directement et indirectement l’industrie minière. Les professeurs, les étudiants et les membres du grand public sont généralement surpris de l’effet positif qu’a l’exploitation minière sur leur vie et leurs activités quotidiennes. Les activités interactives présentées à chacun des pavillons thématiques offriront aux visiteurs des expériences inoubliables.

WORKSHOPS AND FIELD TRIPS | ATELIERS ET VISITES DE MINES Claudia Lopez

Patty Moore Présidente du congrès

THE EXPO! & CIM JOB FAIR | L’EXPO! ET LA FOIRE DE L’EMPLOI DE L’ICM Martin Bell Nadia Bakka

Robert Schafer Président de l’ICM 2013–14

GUEST PROGRAM | PROGRAMME DES INVITÉS Patti Schafer Deb Waller M4S SHOW Laurie Ashley Lucie Vincent

CONVENTION COORDINATOR | COORDONNATRICE DU CONGRÈS Chantal Murphy REGISTRATION & CUSTOMER CARE | INSCRIPTIONS ET ASSISTANCE À LA CLIENTÈLE Carol Lee February 2014 | 71

WORKSHOPS | ATELIERS The Winning of Uranium

The Image Commission

This workshop serves as a complete introduction to the winning of uranium and as a refresher course detailing the latest technology. The course begins with a discussion of the role of uranium in providing low-carbon emission power as the fuel for nuclear power reactors. The nuclear fuel cycle is described for general background information and to provide an understanding of the position of uranium production in it. A survey of uranium mineralogy, deposit types and mining methods sets the stage for milling. Each uranium milling unit operation and its variations are presented. Equipment choices for each unit are presented and evaluated. Uranium refining and reactor fuel fabrication are described. What radiation is, where it comes from, and how we protect ourselves from it are described in detail. Uranium as a byproduct and byproducts from uranium mining are reviewed. Selected uranium operations around the world are shown and discussed throughout the course. The course closes with a discussion of nuclear power reactor accidents.

FACILITATOR: CHUCK EDWARDS, DIRECTOR, METALLURGY, AMEC TIME: SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, MAY 10 &11 | 8:00 TO 17:00 ON BOTH DAYS

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE APERÇU DU PROGRAMME SATURDAY, MAY 10 | SAMEDI 10 MAI 8:00–17:00 Workshops 13:00–17:00 Registration SUNDAY, MAY 11 | DIMANCHE 11 MAI 7:30–11:00 Leadership Congress for CIM Officers 8:00–17:00 Workshops 8:00–20:00 Registration 8:00–20:00 International Delegation Lounge 10:00–16:00 M4S show – General Public Day 11:00–12:00 CIM Annual General Meeting 11:30–15:00 Guest program: Nature and Art Boat Cruise 14:00–16:00 Surface and Underground Mining Societies’ Reception 15:00–20:00 Business Class Lounge/Media Room 15:00–20:00 Presenters’ Preparation Room 16:30–17:00 SMS Equipment & Komatsu Welcome Ceremony 17:00–20:00 Opening Reception in The Expo!

72 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

MONDAY, MAY 12 | LUNDI 12 MAI 7:00–8:30 Breakfast for Monday’s Presenters and Session Chairs 7:30–8:30 Knowledge Breakfast: Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation 7:30–9:00 CEO and Plenary Speakers’ Breakfast 7:30–10:00 Guest Hospitality Room 7:30–17:00 Registration 7:30–17:00 Presenters’ Preparation Room 7:30–17:00 Business Class Lounge/Media Room 8:00–17:00 International Delegation Lounge 9:00–11:30 Plenary Session 9:00–16:00 M4S show – Schools 10:00–17:00 The Expo!/CIM Job Fair/Student Poster Program 12:00–14:00 Lunch in The Expo!

13:00–14:45 Guest program: Walking Tour of Granville Street 14:00–16:30 Technical Program: - Global Dimensions of Mining - Innovations - Harnessing our Diverse World - Construction to Production - Managing Operations from Mine to Mill - Ethics in Mining Symposium 15:30–17:00 Networking Cocktail Reception in The Expo!

18:00–19:00 CIM Awards Gala Reception 19:00–23:00 CIM Awards Gala

CONGRÈS ICM 2014 CIM CONVENTION

Guidance to the New Rules Under NI 43-101

Aerobic and Anaerobic Biotechnology for Treating Mining-Influenced Waters

The new rules under NI 43-101 took effect on June 30, 2011, and since then the Canadian Securities Regulators have published a series of staff notices on how the mining industry is adopting these rules. Unfortunately, there has been a high frequency of non-compliant technical reports filed since the new rules took effect, particularly for technical reports prepared on advanced mineral projects (preliminary economic assessments, prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and life-ofmine reports).

There are a wide variety of active and passive treatment processes that can be used to treat mining-influenced waters (MIWs) such as acid rock drainage (ARD) and neutral mine drainage (NMD).

This short course will address the chemistry, biology, design, modelling testing, and operation of semi-passive, in-ground engineered bioreactor (EB) systems that incorporate aerobic and anaerobic bioreactors as their secondary wastewater treatment basins (cells), and also may involve upstream primary treatment cells such as limestone drains and sedimentation ponds as well as downstream tertiary treatment cells such as those for phosphate removal and polishing. The kinds of secondary treatment bioreactors addressed in detail during the course will include aerated bioreactor engineered wetland (BREW) bioreactors, denitrification bioreactors (DNBRs), successive alkalinity producing systems (SAPS bioreactors), sulphatereducing anaerobic biochemical reactors (BCRs), and specialty BCRs for treating specific oxyanions such as those of arsenic, chromium, and selenium.

This course will review the common issues of non-compliance identified by Canadian Securities Commission staff and provide suggestions on how to prepare mining technical disclosure documents that are more likely to be in compliance with current Canadian and U.S. mining disclosure standards.

FACILITATORS: GREG GOSSON, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR OF GEOLOGY & COMPLIANCE, AND STELLA SEARSTON, PRINCIPAL GEOLOGIST, AMEC TIME: SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 8:00 TO 16:30

FACILITATORS: JAMES HIGGINS, SENIOR EXECUTIVE CONSULTANT & DIRECTOR OF ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING, STANTEC CONSULTING INC., AND AL MATTES, GEOMICROBIOLOGIST TIME: SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 8:30 TO 16:30

TUESDAY, MAY 13 | MARDI 13 MAI 7:00–8:30 Breakfast for Tuesday’s Presenters and Session Chairs 7:30–8:30 Knowledge Breakfast: A Changing International Landscape 7:30–10:00 Guest Hospitality Room 7:30–17:00 Registration 7:30–17:00 Presenters’ Preparation Room 7:30–17:00 Business Class Lounge/Media Room 8:00–17:00 International Delegation Lounge 8:30–16:30 Technical Program: - Global Dimensions of Mining - Innovations - Harnessing our Diverse World - Construction to Production - Managing Operations from Mine to Mill - Rock Engineering - Ethics in Mining Symposium 9:00–16:00 M4S show – Schools 10:00–15:00 Guest program: Morning at the Museum 10:00–17:00 The Expo!/CIM Job Fair/Student Poster Program 12:00–14:00 Lunch in The Expo!

12:00–14:00 Student-Industry Luncheon 15:30–17:00 Networking Cocktail Reception in The Expo!

17:00–19:00 Women in Mining Reception and VIP Reception 20:00–00:00 Joy Global Gala

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14 | MERCREDI 14 MAI 7:00–8:30 Breakfast for Wednesday’s Presenters and Session Chairs 7:30–14:00 Registration 7:30–14:00 Presenters’ Preparation Room 7:30–14:00 Business Class Lounge/Media Room 8:30–12:15 Technical Program - Global Dimensions of Mining - Innovations - Harnessing our Diverse World - Managing Operations from Mine to Mill - Ethics in Mining Symposium - Management & Finance Day 12:00–13:30 Closing Luncheon hosted by CIM and Vancouver Board of Trade 14:00–17:00 Technical Program: Management & Finance Day 14:00–17:00 Special Session: Extractive Sector Multistakeholder Dialogue Session

February 2014 | 73

Health and safety impacts of conflict, violence and humanrights abuse linked to security operations. These are some of the most severe outcomes that extractive industries face in international communities. In addition to their human toll, they can cause significant damage to a company’s reputation worldwide. International attention focuses on these risks through International Finance Corporation Performance Standard 4 on Community Health, Safety and Security; the Equator Principles; and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR). But managing them can be a serious challenge for operations managers and corporate directors due to gaps in knowledge and best practices. This one-day workshop addresses those gaps and goes deeper to examine the under-appreciated drivers that often trigger conflict, focusing on the linkage of health and community safety with company security. This workshop is appropriate for management-level extractive industry professionals who need to effectively identify and manage risk and want to create opportunities for mutual benefits for company and community.

FACILITATORS: GARY MACDONALD, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS, TOM GREEN, SENIOR MANAGER, AND JANIS SHANDRO, DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT, MONKEY FOREST CONSULTING LTD. TIME: SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 8:30 TO 16:30

Critical Aspects of Water Management in Mining Water is essential for mine start-up and operations and is often the lasting legacy at closed mines. As a fundamental part of every mine, how water is managed affects the technical and financial feasibility of greenfield projects and active mines.

Water balance modelling and water treatment are two of the “critical aspects” of water management, mine development, operation and closure planning.

This dynamic workshop will provide an interactive forum to learn, interact and discuss the critical aspects of mine water planning with experienced practitioners.

FACILITATORS: PATRICK G. CORSER, GLOBAL MINING PRACTICE LEADER, TATYANA ALEXIEVA, GLOBAL WATER & TAILING MANAGEMENT LEAD, AND KARLA KINSER, GLOBAL MINE WATER TREATMENT LEADER, MWH GLOBAL TIME: SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 8:30 TO 16:30

Overview of Resources Estimation from Data Collection to Model Validation A significant risk to proper valuation of a mining project is associated with data collection, geological interpretation and resource estimation methodology.

This workshop is an overview of resource estimation from data collection to estimated resource model validation. It will start with a discussion on the sources of uncertainty and risk in mineral deposit modelling and how to mitigate them with good governance and quality management. The resource estimation steps are then covered one at a time: data collection and importance of good QA/QC; geological interpretation and domaining; exploratory data analysis including de-clustering, top-

74 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

The Image Commission

Health, Safety and Security & the Extractive Sector

cutting and geological contact analysis; analysis of spatial variability; change of support and selectivity (we collect samples but we mine blocks); estimation methods such as nearest neighbour, inverse distance to some power, and kriging; precision of estimation; estimated model validation; and classification.

FACILITATOR: GEORGES VERLY, CHIEF GEOSTATISTICIAN, AMEC TIME: SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 8:00 TO 16:30

Transparency International AntiCorruption Tools and Resources For Corporate Risk Management Systems Corruption has been a key focus recently with amendments to the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA), convictions under the CFPOA, and impending regulations on revenue transparency in the extractive industry. Corruption was also a key topic at the recent G8 summit and a focus of the Canadian government.

This session will examine the tools available to companies to foster a corporate culture of responsibility and ethical business practices. Looking at the experience and materials developed by Transparency International, the facilitators will review recent anti-corruption global events related to the extractive industry and explain strategies and practices that companies can implement to ensure compliance, even in highrisk locations.

FACILITATORS: BRONWYN BEST, SENIOR ADVISOR, TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL CANADA, AND PETER DENT, PRESIDENT OF TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL CANADA, PARTNER AND NATIONAL LEADER OF FORENSIC & DISPUTE SERVICES AT DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP, AND JOE RINGWALD, DIRECTOR OF TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL CANADA, PRESIDENT & CEO OF SELWYN RESOURCES LTD. TIME: SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 8:30 TO 16:30

Minesite Selenium Regulatory Compliance Strategies, and Treatment Methods and Approaches for Effluent Permits, Receiving Water Quality Standards, and the Federal Metal Mine Effluent Regulation This workshop will provide the full scope of regulatory and selenium treatment requirements relative to the Environmental Assessment, Permitting and Permit Compliance phases (focusing on B.C. requirements as a surrogate). It will also

CONGRÈS ICM 2014 CIM CONVENTION provide an overview of several selenium treatments and treatment approaches, their relative effectiveness, stage of development and cost of selenium removal.

FACILITATORS: JAY HARWOOD, GE WATER & PROCESS TECHNOLOGIES, ANDREW HALL, BIOTEQ ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES, JACK ADAMS, INOTEC, DAVE ENEGESS, ENVIROGEN TECHNOLOGIES, AND JOHN CLARK, JOHN CLARK CONSULTING TIME: SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 8:30 TO 16:30

Communication Tools for Gaining, Maintaining or Re-Establishing Social Licence to Operate Over the past decade, the primacy of the proponent has diminished in relation to the influence of external stakeholder, making social licence to operate a critical factor in decisionmaking, particularly for risk-averse government regulators.

Having a social licence is like having a bank of trust and goodwill that can be drawn upon when issues arise. Failure to gain and maintain this “licence” has negative impacts on the project and can result in missed opportunities. This workshop will provide insight on how to build successful community engagement, earn project acceptance, identify opportunities for stakeholders’ benefit, and to develop trust – all key attributes in a social licence to operate.

FACILITATORS: ROBERT SIMPSON, PRESIDENT, AND JOCELYN FRASER, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, PR ASSOCIATES TIME: SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 8:30 TO 16:30

Mining 101 – An Introduction to Mining and Mineral Processing Mining 101 is an introduction to mining and mineral processing using basic concepts and many examples. It consists of five parts: the activities of a mining company; geological concepts; mineral resources estimation and reporting; open pit and underground mining; and mineral processing.

FACILITATOR: GEORGE MCISAAC, GEOLOGY & MINING EVALUATION CONSULTING (G-MEC) TIME: SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 8:30 TO 12:30

IMPORTANT REGISTRATION | INSCRIPTION Take advantage of early-bird registration prices until April 1. Registration to the CIM Convention includes access to the Ethics in Mining Symposium.

BEFORE AS OF APRIL 2 APRIL 2

CIM NATIONAL MEMBERS Business class (access to the VIP lounge) Regular member Presenter and session chair Student, unemployed, retired Life member

$840 $715 $650 $80 $270

$960 $840 $770 $105 $270

$1,040 $915 $800 $80 $180

$1,160 $1,040 $920 $105 $205

ETHICS IN MINING SYMPOSIUM ONLY Delegate Presenter

$295 $200

$295 $200

EXHIBITION ONLY Visitor to the Expo! only VIP visitor to the Expo! only Exhibitor staff

$40 Free Free

$40 Free Free

NON-CIM MEMBERS (Fee includes one-year membership to CIM) Business class (access to the VIP lounge)

Regular non-member Presenter and session chair Student Unemployed, retired

One-day pass, guest registration and more information available online.

HOTELS | HÉBERGEMENT Gender Diversity Awareness for Management and Leadership Attracting, retaining and advancing talented women in the mining sector brings benefits to mining and exploration organizations including addressing skills gaps, sustaining growth and driving innovation. The Gender Diversity Awareness Workshop for managers and leaders provides an opportunity to share practical information on developing and strengthening inclusive workplaces.

FACILITATORS: SUSAN HOLLETT, PRESIDENT, HOLLETT AND SONS INC., AND CAROLYN EMERSON, RESEARCHER, MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY TIME: SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 8:00 TO 12:00

Diversity and Inclusion 101 According to Statistics Canada, by 2017, the number of visible minorities in Canada is expected to double and account for around 20% of Canada’s population. In 2006, 51% of new

Conference Direct is the official housing bureau for the CIM Convention. The online one-stop reservation central makes it seamless for you to reserve your room at the group rate. Space is limited so reserve early! Please refer to our hotel reservation webpage: vancouver2014.cim.org, and book via QUICKLINKS at the bottom of the page.

AIR TRAVEL INFORMATION | TRANSPORT AÉRIEN We have appointed Air Canada as the official airline for the CIM 2014 Convention & Expo! in Vancouver. For online reservations, go to www.aircanada.com and enter the convention code K246DMB1 in the search engine.

February 2014 | 75

We live in a country that is becoming increasingly diverse. We value working with different talent; however, diversity conversations are not easy ones. We have different values, beliefs, experiences and perceptions, understanding these differences and commonalities can be challenging but it can also bring opportunities. Diversity and inclusion awareness help us: (1) attract and retain talent which is essential to be an effective and productive organization; (2) manage retirement and labour shortages more efficiently; (3) better understand the needs of our clients so we can provide better services; and (4) foster creativity, innovation and problem solving.

The Image Commission

immigrants reported that they held university degrees, compared to only 19% of the Canadian population. The aboriginal labour force is young and is growing at twice the Canadian rate.

FACILITATORS: MAFALDA ARIAS, FOUNDER, MAFALDA ARIAS AND ASSOCIATES TIME: SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 9:00 TO 12:00

A Global Mindset The geography of knowledge has shifted. Technological superiority is no longer a geographic privilege. New communication tools have levelled the information and knowledge playing field. The newest technology and innovation may come from anywhere. Competent technical services are available worldwide at less cost. What do we do? How do we stay competitive in the field? How can we collaborate efficiently on a global scale? Can you imagine working on a project with the best global talent? The potential for global collaboration is exponential; however, how do we manage the misunderstandings of multiple languages and cultures? The importance of solid technical skills is unquestionable, but to remain competitive in the global workplace we must expand our set of skills. Which soft skills you should acquire to remain competitive?

FACILITATOR: MAFALDA ARIAS, FOUNDER, MAFALDA ARIAS AND ASSOCIATES TIME: SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 13:00 TO 16:30

Controlling Dust in the Mining Industry • • • •

Fundamentals of dust control in the mining industry Identifying generation sources Sampling protocols Strategies for control, specialized ore considerations, road and ramp considerations • Solution equipment overview FACILITATORS: DAVID BEHR, MINING INDUSTRY CORPORATE ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE, SCOTT SMITH, NORTH AMERICAN COMMERCIAL LEADER, AND BRETT PERSON, SPECIALIST, GE POWER &WATER TIME: SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 13:00 TO 16:30

VA NC O UVE R 201 4. C I M.O R G

SPECIAL SESSION Extractive Sector Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue Session CIM’s Environmental & Social Responsibility Society, in collaboration with the Centre for Excellence in CSR, launched the Extractive Sector Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue Series last May in Toronto at the CIM Annual Convention. Dialogue sessions followed in Montreal at the World Mining Congress in August, and in Quebec City at Québec Mines in November 2013.

To ensure diversity, participants that register are assigned to specific round tables where they will engage in facilitated round table discussions under the Chatham House Rule and in an informal “world café” format. They will engage in a first dialogue on mutual values to build a constructive basis. A second dialogue will focus on key concerns and challenges facing the extractive sector and of concern to all stakeholders.

Facilitators assigned to each table will then share results with the group. This session is free of charge.

TIME: WEDNESDAY, MAY 14 | 14:00 TO 17:00 COST: FREE (Limited seats – must be registered before May 1) LOCATION: VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE

CONGRÈS ICM 2014 CIM CONVENTION

FIELD TRIPS | VISITES DE MINES New Gold, New Afton Mine, Kamloops, B.C. The New Afton copper-gold mine is located around 350 kilometres northeast of Vancouver in the south-central interior of British Columbia. The property is only 10 kilometres from the regional hub of Kamloops and is easily accessible by paved road.

The New Afton mine occupies the site of the historic Afton mine, a previous Teck Resources Limited (Teck) operation that includes an open pit, underground workings, historic support facilities, a new concentrator and recently constructed tailings facility. The deposit extends to the southwest from immediately

beneath the Afton mine open pit. New Afton began production in June 2012 and began commercial production ahead of schedule in July 2012. The underground operation is expected to produce, on average, 85,000 ounces of gold and 75 million pounds of copper per year over a 12-year mine life.

DATE: THURSDAY, MAY 15 | 7:00 TO 19:00 COST: $1,200 (INCLUDES BUS TO/FROM THE AIRPORT, CHARTER FLIGHT, BUS AT THE SITE AND LUNCH) MORE FIELD TRIPS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE AS THEY ARE CONFIRMED.

WE’RE ALL 4 CONNECTING Join the global CIM Convention online community!

VANCOUVER2014.CIM.ORG

February 2014 | 77

Sponsored by

STUDENT PROGRAM | PROGRAMME ÉTUDIANT

Student Poster Competition Submit your abstract online before March 1, 2014, and take advantage of this perfect opportunity to showcase your talents to leading mining industry professionals on a wide range of topics, from geology and mining to processing and sustainability. vancouver2014.cim.org

The Image Commission

And there’s more!

Student registration also includes access to all of the same elements as regular registration:

The CIM 2014 Convention in Vancouver will be the ultimate opportunity for you to network and meet with professionals and peers in your fields, as well as with managers throughout the mining industry. When it comes to looking for that perfect job – or perhaps co-op opportunity or research support – a strong network can be the key to getting straight As! The student program will ensure the 2014 CIM Convention is both informative and educational. It will enable you to put your best foot forward and make a lasting impression. And, it is one of the greatest opportunities to make friends with your peers from schools across the country.

• Complete technical program • CIM Plenary • Free online access to the papers and presentations after the conference • The Expo! (formerly the CIM Exhibition) • CIM Job Fair • CIM Opening Reception • Monday lunch in the Expo!

• CIM Student-Industry Luncheon • Joy Global Gala Rick Hutson, senior consultant at C.J. Stafford & Associates, and Larry Smith, senior manager, project evaluations and strategic analysis at Barrick Gold Corporation, will provide relevant information on networking, resumé writing, how to create effective business cards, and other useful careerbuilding tips and hints. You do not want to miss it!

KNOWLEDGE BREAKFASTS These knowledge breakfasts are meant to kick-start your day with like-minded peers and a keynote presentation to boost your energy. These short morning presentations will fill your head with tips and tricks you read about on LinkedIn and Management & Leadership blogs – small strategies meant to make our day-to-day business planning and dealing more seamless, things we need to be reminded of regularly! A deluxe continental breakfast will replace room service.

Book your tickets and join us!

78 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

CANADA’S ANTI-SPAM LEGISLATION (CASL): IS YOUR COMPANY READY? MONDAY, MAY 12 7:30 to 8:30 | Cost: $35 Speaker: Rachel Stephan, President, Sensov

PLANNING IN A CHANGING INTERNATIONAL LANDSCAPE TUESDAY, MAY 13 7:30 to 8:30 | Cost: $35 Speaker: Jean Vavrek, Executive Director, CIM

The Image Commission

The Image Commission

CONGRÈS ICM 2014 CIM CONVENTION

THE EDUCATIONAL SHOW ON MINING, MINERALS, METALS AND MATERIALS | LE SALON ÉDUCATIF SUR LES MINES, MINÉRAUX, MÉTAUX ET MATÉRIAUX Now in its ninth year, CIM’s M4S show is expected to welcome more than 4,000 students, teachers and members of the general public over the course of three days. M4S features eight interactive pavilions exploring the wide range of activities that represent the full mining cycle: from exploration, mining and processing to product fabrication, safety, sustainability and education, and space and deep sea mining. M4S demonstrates the importance of the mining industry in our daily lives and

presents some of the diverse career opportunities offered through this enviable industry. With an estimated 140,000 jobs to fill in the mining and minerals sector by the year 2020, educating and training the future workforce about the wide variety of professions related to the sector has become more important than ever. M4S is made possible through the collaboration, participation and generous support of numerous industry, academic and government exhibitors, sponsors and volunteers.

M4S SCHEDULE VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE HALL A

PLAN 4 IT

SUNDAY, MAY 11 | 10:00 to 16:00 Open to the general public (Free!)

Get the Convention mobile app as of April 2014.

MONDAY, MAY 12 | 9:00 to 16:00 Scheduled visits by registered schools TUESDAY, MAY 13 | 9:00 to 16:00 Scheduled visits by registered schools

www.m4society.org Contacts: Lucie Vincent, M4S Coordinator lvincent@cim.org Laurie Ashley, M4S Chair, Vancouver 2014 laurie@lashleystrategy.com

> Build

VANCOUVER2014.CIM.ORG

your personalized schedule sessions and exhibitor booths with the interactive floor map > See who’s attending and connect onsite > Stay up to date with event alerts > Locate

February 2014 | 79

SOCIAL PROGRAM | PROGRAMME SOCIAL

SUNDAY, MAY 11 CIM SURFACE & UNDERGROUND MINING SOCIETIES RECEPTION Mix and mingle at the CIM Surface Mining & Underground Mining Societies Reception. Come enjoy the entertainment and have a drink on us. Gifts are up for grabs so be sure to bring extra business cards to enter the draws.

TIME: 14:00 TO 16:00 | LOCATION: VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE | COST: INCLUDED IN THE DELEGATE AND EXHIBITOR REGISTRATION

OPENING CEREMONY & WELCOME RECEPTION This grand networking event is sponsored by SMS Equipment & Komatsu. Year after year, participants gather at the opening reception of the CIM Convention for an evening of guest speakers and live entertainment.

You will be treated to hors d’oeuvres and buffet stations in the exhibition.

TIME: 16:00 TO 20:00 | LOCATION: THE EXPO! IN EXHIBIT HALL B & C | COST: INCLUDED IN THE DELEGATE REGISTRATION FEE

The Image Commission

The Image Commission

The Image Commission

A myriad of social activities has been planned to maximize your networking opportunities. Make sure to reserve your tickets early or you will miss out on all the excitement!

MONDAY, MAY 12 & TUESDAY, MAY 13 CIM NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES Lunch and cocktail receptions in the Expo! are being held on Monday and Tuesday, 12:00 to 14:00 and 15:30 to 17:00. Lunch and one drink ticket per day are included with each delegate registration.

MONDAY, MAY 12 CIM AWARDS GALA The CIM Awards Gala celebrates the true leaders of the Canadian mining industry – both past and present. This year’s headline entertainment features Canadian comedian and impressionist extraordinaire AndréPhilippe Gagnon. A sumptuous dinner will be served.

RECEPTION: 18:00 TO 19:00 | DINNER: 19:00 TO 23:00 LOCATION: VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE COST: $175

The Image Commission

The Image Commission Kent Kallberg Studios

TUESDAY, MAY 13 STUDENT-INDUSTRY LUNCHEON

VIP RECEPTION

This luncheon has proven to be the perfect opportunity for students to meet industry leaders and establish indispensable contacts. Stars of the ever-popular “Rick and Larry Show” – Rick Hutson and Larry Smith – will provide relevant information on networking, resumé writing, creating effective business cards, and other useful career-building tips and hints. You do not want to miss it!

Senior industry leaders and contributors, and invited guests will gather for a high-powered networking session.

TIME: 12:00 TO 14:00 | LOCATION: VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE | COST: INCLUDED IN THE STUDENT REGISTRATION FEE

Get ready for an evening of non-stop entertainment. The Joy Global Gala features live music, delectable finger foods and refreshments. This event closes the social program with a bang – literally!

WOMEN IN MINING RECEPTION

TIME: 20:00 TO MIDNIGHT LOCATION: VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE COST: INCLUDED IN THE DELEGATE AND EXHIBITOR REGISTRATIONS

Join us for a drink, appetizers and a chance to win one of many door prizes at the Women in Mining & VIP Reception. This year, Women in Mining Vancouver is partnering with the CIM 2014 Convention to host our annual event. Come meet and network with a rich and diverse group of industry professionals. Keynote speaker: Anna Tudela, Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs & Corporate Secretary, Goldcorp Inc. TIME: 17:00 TO 19:00 | LOCATION: VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE | COST: $35

TIME: 17:00 TO 19:00 | LOCATION: VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE | BY INVITATION ONLY

JOY GLOBAL GALA

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14 CLOSING LUNCHEON Supported by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the CIM Closing Luncheon will be held in conjunction with the Vancouver Board of Trade. Luncheon speaker Karina Briño, president & CEO of the Mining Association of B.C., will present “Mining builds communities.”

TIME: 12:00 TO 14:00 LOCATION: VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE COST: $75

The Image Commission

THE EXPO!...CANADA’S MINING MARKETPLACE | L’EXPO! LE CARREFOUR DES AFFAIRES More than 480 exhibiting companies will be pulling out all the stops in showcasing the latest in mining equipment, tools, technology and products at the CIM Expo! – Canada’s premier mining show. This year’s event features five pavilions in which a number of companies have chosen to exhibit: 48e Nord; Saskatchewan Trade & Export Partnership (STEP); China (Beijing United, Beijing Joint Union & the CCPIT), Denmark (Danish Mining Technology Group) and Australia (Mining Media Inc.).

Have an interesting story to share, or an innovative product or service that you would want the industry to know about? Stop

by the the CIM Magazine Lounge in the exhibition to chat with one of our editors or advertising sales team.

Lunch and cocktail receptions are being held in the Expo! on Monday and Tuesday, May 12 and 13, at 12:00 to 14:00 and 15:30 to 17:00. Lunch and one drink ticket are included in the delegate registration fee.

Check out our exhibitors’ list online and in the complete preliminary Expo! Guide in the next issue of CIM Magazine.

CIM JOB FAIR | SALON DE L’EMPLOI MONDAY, MAY 12 AND TUESDAY, MAY 13 Looking to start fresh down a new career path or just starting off your career? Representatives from 13 companies looking to hire will be accepting resumés from promising candidates, so come prepared.

Brunel • Cameco Corporation • Canadian Natural Resources Limited – Horizon Oil Sands • Detour Gold • Goldcorp • Imperial Oil Limited Kearl Oil Sands • KGHM International Ltd. • Norwest Corporation • Sherritt International Corporation • Suncor Energy Inc. • Syncrude Canada Ltd. • Teck Resources Ltd. • The Mosaic Company

82 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

The Image Commission

EXHIBITORS

CONGRÈS ICM 2014 CIM CONVENTION

FREE FOR CIM CONVENTION DELEGATES | GRATUIT POUR LES DÉLÉGUES DU CONGRÈS DE L’ICM Did you know that a full-paying delegate to the CIM Convention benefits from all of the following: Reduced fee for all convention workshops Delegate tote bag including all convention materials Access to the Ethics in Mining Symposium Access to all technical program proceedings at www.cim.org

Mobile device charging station in main foyer Finger foods and refreshments in the Expo! during the opening night reception Refreshments in the Expo! during Monday and Tuesday cocktail receptions Lunch in the Expo! on Monday and Tuesday Visiting privileges for the M4S show on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Materials

Access to the Expo! and Job Fair

Access to the CIM Surface Mining and Underground Mining Societies’ reception

Internet access stations in the Expo!

Access to the Joy Global Gala

Tourism Vancouver/ Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)

GUEST PROGRAM | PROGRAMME DES INVITÉS

SUNDAY, MAY 11 NATURE AND ART BOAT CRUISE

MONDAY, MAY 12 WALKING TOUR OF GRANVILLE STREET Come take a walk along historical Granville Street.

Hear stories about when the area was home to Vancouver’s Vaudeville Theatre, as seen through the eyes of Lord Fothrington-Appleby. The tour will last close to two hours, so wear comfortable walking shoes.

Join us for an afternoon of humor and history.

TIME: 13:00 TO 15:00 COST: $35 DEPARTURE: FROM THE HOSPITALITY SUITE AT THE VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE

TUESDAY, MAY 13

Enjoy the panoramic views of the city skyline, the surrounding Coastal Mountain Range and many of Vancouver’s most famous landmarks on an afternoon cruise with one of Canada’s top naturalists, Rob Butler, managing director of The Nature Trust of British Columbia. The three-hour cruise will take you past Granite Falls Marine Park, to Bishop’s Creek and on to Silver Falls. Local Canadian artists from the Artists for Conservation will also be onboard to exhibit and sell their work.

Lunch will be served.

Join us on a private tour of the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at the University of British Columbia. The museum houses one of the world’s finest displays of First Nations art in a spectacular building overlooking the mountains and the sea. A 90-minute tour will be followed by lunch and free time to explore the museum or browse the MOA shop. Transportation will be provided from the convention centre.

TIME: 11:30 TO 15:00 COST: $150 DEPARTURE: FROM THE HARBOUR NEAR THE VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE

TIME: 10:00 TO 15:00 COST: $65 DEPARTURE: FROM THE HOSPITALITY SUITE AT THE VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE

MORNING AT THE MUSEUM

February 2014 | 83

PRELIMINARY TECHNICAL PROGRAM | GRILLE DU PROGRAMME TECHNIQUE GLOBAL DIMENSIONS OF MINING DIMENSIONS MONDIALES DE L’EXPLOITATION MINIÈRE

INNOVATIONS Andy Lemay

HARNESSING OUR DIVERSE WORLD MAÎTRISE DE LA DIVERSITÉ MONDIALE

Wes Carson

AM

PM

Patty Moore & Christy Smith

OPENING PLENARY

Global Projects Update Mise à jour de projets internationaux Mike Petrina

Green Mining/Mining Innovations Council Exploitation minière responsable Janice Zinck & Carl Weatherell

Mining for Accountants, Bankers, Brokers and Lawyers L’exploitation minière pour les comptables, banquiers, courtiers et avocats Carlos da Costa & Keith Spence

Global Landscapes & Transparency Portrait global et transparence Alan Franklin

Innovation in Energy Minerals Innovation dans les minéraux à propriétés énergétiques Brent Hilscher & Melanie MacKay

Diversity 101 - Part 1 Diversité 101 - 1ère partie Lana Eagle

NGOs - Partners in Development ONG : partenaires du développement Alan Franklin & Matthieu Asselin

Power Your Mine Mise en fonction d’une mine Gareth Clarke

Diversity 101 - Part 2 Diversité 101 - 2ième partie Lana Eagle

Social & Environmental Stewardship Direction sociale et environnementale William Napier

Innovations in Maintenance & Reliability Innovations en maintenance et Fiabilité Ted Knight

Maximizing the Workforce - Part 1 Maximisation de la main d’oeuvre 1ère partie Kerris Hougardy

Water, Mining & Agriculture Gestion de l’eau, l’industrie minière et l’agriculture Monica Ospina & Mireille Goulet

Bridging the Research to Innovation Gap Combler le fossé entre la recherche et l’innovation

Maximizing the Workforce - Part 2 Maximisation de la main d’oeuvre 2ième partie Kerris Hougardy

Tailings Management and Utilization Gestion et utilisation des résidus Janis Shandro

Innovation for Corporate Sustainability Innovation pour la durabilité d’entreprise Michelle Levesque

Maximizing the Workforce - Part 3 Maximisation de la main d’oeuvre 3ième partie Kerris Hougardy

AM

PM

AM

Now we’re talking Joignez la conversation @AnnualCIM #CIMBC14

PM

The Image Commission

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14 | MERCREDI 14 MAI

TUESDAY, MAY 13 | MARDI 13 MAI

MONDAY, MAY 12 | LUNDI 12 MAI

MINING 4 EVERYONE

THE ETHICS IN MINING SYMPOSIUM IS INCLUDED WITH REGISTRATION FOR CIM DELEGATES. VISIT VANCOUVER2014.CIM.ORG REGULARLY FOR TECHNICAL PROGRAM UPDATES.

84 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

CONGRÈS ICM 2014 CIM CONVENTION

MINES POUR TOUS CONSTRUCTION TO PRODUCTION DE LA CONSTRUCTION À LA PRODUCTION Tim Watson

MANAGING OPERATIONS MINE TO MILL GESTION DES OPÉRATIONS - DU TRAITEMENT À LA TRANSFORMATION

ROCK ENGINEERING MÉCANIQUE DES ROCHES

ETHICS IN MINING SYMPOSIUM SYMPOSIUM : ÉTHIQUE ET INDUSTRIE MINIÈRE

Denis Thibodeau

Wesley Cragg, Janis Shandro & Angelique Slade Shantz

Jo-Anne Boucher

PLÉNIÈRE Mining, Ethics and the Challenge of Diverse Needs and Perspectives L’exploitation minière, l’éthique et le défi des besoins et des perspectives diversifiées Wesley Cragg

Case Studies - Part 1 Études de cas - 1ère partie Rahul Lakhote

Safety - Part 1 Sécurité - 1ère partie Jeff Colden

Case Studies - Part 2 Études de cas - 2ième partie Rahul Lakhote

Mining Exploitation minière Jeff Colden & Anoush Ebrahimi

Developing in Non-Mining Cultures Développement dans des communautés non minières Barnard Foo

Processing Traitement Janice Zinck

Case Studies in Rock Engineering Études de cas en mécanique des roches Doug Milne

Where is the Market Value for Ethical Performances?

Où est la valeur marchande de la performance éthique?

Assessing the Construction Project Évaluation du projet de construction Lon Plaskett

Integration for Optimization Intégration pour optimisation Adam Hesse

Rock Engineering Practices and Techniques Pratiques et techniques de la mécanique des roches Martin Grenon

Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Communities: Rights and Regulations Communautés autochtones et non autochtones : droits et règlements Lana Eagle

Economic Outlook Perspectives économiques Jane Spooner

Lowest Cost Mine Services Les coûts les plus bas pour des services miniers Dean Millar

facebook.com/ CIMConvention

Expecting the Unexpected S’attendre à l’inattendu Larry Smith

Safety - Part 2 Sécurité - 2ième partie Glenn Lyle

Low-Cost Mine Energy Faible coût de l'énergie dans les mines Vic Pakalnis

ca.linkedin.com/in/ CIMConvention

Building Equitable Partnerships Bâtir des partenariats équitables Jim Cooney

Community Experiences with the Extractive Sector Expériences communautaires avec le secteur de l’extraction Janis Shandro The Past, Present & Future Passé, présent et futur Gary MacDonald

Due Diligence – Watch Your Step!

Vérification diligente – attention!

Louis Archambeault Panel Discussion Panel de discussion David Jennings Reception & Networking Réception et réseautage

The Image Commission

MANAGEMENT AND FINANCE DAY | JOURNÉE GESTION ET FINANCES

MANAGING OPERATIONS - MINE TO MILL

L’ACCÈS AUX SÉANCES TECHNIQUES DU SYMPOSIUM : ÉTHIQUE ET INDUSTRIE MINIÈRE EST GRATUIT POUR LES DÉLÉGUÉS DE L’ICM. VISITEZ VANCOUVER2014.CIM.ORG POUR DES MISES À JOUR RÉGULIÈRES DU PROGRAMME TECHNIQUE

February 2014 | 85

TECHNICAL PROGRAM | PROGRAMME TECHNIQUE Note : Les présentations du programme technique se feront en anglais.

Seule la séance plénière offrira la traduction simultanée de l’anglais vers le français.

Green Mining/Mining Innovations Council

MONDAY, MAY 12 | 14:00

Stream: INNOVATIONS

Global Projects Update

Chairs: Janice Zinck, Manager, Processing and Mine Waste Management, CANMET – Mining and Mineral Sciences Laboratories, and Carl Weatherell, President and CEO, Canada Mining Innovation Council

Stream: GLOBAL DIMENSIONS OF MINING Chair: Mike Petrina, Chief Operating Officer, Probe Mines Limited

Internationally, there are a number of projects in various stages. This session provides an update of specific projects or types of project in progress worldwide. What direction are new projects going in terms of efficiency, new technologies, old technologies, sizes of operations, et cetera?

The session will look at lessons learned and case studies, based on challenges and successes.

The mining supply chain of the future Martin Provencher, IBM

Rapid development in Canada, myth or reality?

An underground mining contractor’s perspective Guy Hubert and Paul Healy, J.S. Redpath Limited

Network communications and ICT as a basis for safety and efficiency of optimized underground operations Christoph Mueller, Mine Tronics

Five presentations will be confirmed.

Two more presentations will be confirmed.

PLENARY | PLÉNIÈRE MINING 4 EVERYONE | MINES POUR TOUS MONDAY, MAY 12 | 9:00 to 11:30

The Image Commission

After captivating audience members last year, Mark Kelley is back to moderate the plenary session. Kelley, a member of the Fifth Estate team, has a career that spans more than two decades at CBC News, including his award-winning work as an investigative journalist and co-host of CBC News: Disclosure. He is a former correspondent for The National, host of Connect with Mark Kelley as well as CBC News: Morning, Kelley.

The panel will include speakers from the mining sector as well as government and special interest organizations. Each panel member has been successful in creating or facilitating opportunities for a variety of stakeholders, particularly those who have not traditionally engaged in mining. These include, but are not limited to: women, indigenous peoples, non-mining cultures, uneducated or low-skilled workers, etc.

Already confirmed are Edward (Ted) Thomas, executive director, The Devonshire Initiative; and the Honorable Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women. Other C level leaders are being secured.

Check out our website in the coming weeks. The listing of our panel members will be updated as speakers are confirmed.

Note: La séance plénière offrira la traduction simultanée de l’anglais vers le français.

86 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

CONGRÈS ICM 2014 CIM CONVENTION

Mining for Accountants, Bankers, Brokers & Lawyers Stream: HARNESSING OUR DIVERSE WORLD Chairs: Carlos da Costa, Student, Simon Fraser University, and Keith N. Spence, President and Partner, Global Mining Capital Corporation

Canadian trade in the next decade: a two-way street Peter Hall, Export Development Canada

Future of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency

A case study on dust abatement for mining projects Abdul Elkadri and Tony Manzi, GECAN, and Chris Dechkoff, ACP

Five tactics for successful design and implementation of constructed wetlands for the treatment of mine-impacted waters James W. Castle and John H. Rodgers, Jr., Clemson University, and Vanessa Pittet and Monique Haakensen, Contango Strategies

The Voisey’s Bay underground mine project Matt Stewart, Vale Newfoundland and Labrador

Bluford (Blu) Putnam, CME Group (Chicago Mercantile Exchange)

Navigating Asia’s future, charting Canada’s strategy Eva Busza, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada

What is Canada doing? CIMVal and other international standards Keith N. Spence, Global Mining Capital Corporation

Safety – Part 1 Stream: MANAGING OPERATIONS FROM MINE TO MILL Chair: Jeffrey Colden, Mining Engineer, Teck Coal Limited

Challenges for Chinese valuators

The zero index: a strategic approach to safety for the mining industry

Joe Hinzer, Watts, Griffis and McOuat Limited

Michael Hajaistron, BST

Case Studies – Part 1 Stream: CONSTRUCTION TO PRODUCTION

Smarter safety David Carter, IBM

Chair: Rahul Lakhoté, General Manager, ACP Applied Products Ltd.

Application of bowtie analysis in assessing the risk of major hazards in the mining industry

The Reed copper project

P. J. Foster and Glenn Lyle, MIRARCO

Steve Polegato and Brent Christensen, Hudbay Minerals Inc.

Building a safety technology toolkit

Capital optimization – or how to cut CapEx by 15% to 30% without sacrificing NPV

Peter Wan, Teck Resources Limited

Ross Middleton and Thomas Vogt, The Boston Consulting Group

One more presentation will be confirmed.

February 2014 | 87

TUESDAY, MAY 13 | 8:30 Global Landscapes & Transparency

Diversity 101 – Part 1 Stream: HARNESSING OUR DIVERSE WORLD Chair: Lana Eagle, Director of Aboriginal Engagement, PR Associates

Stream: GLOBAL DIMENSIONS OF MINING

New paradigms for gender diversity in the mining sector

Chair: Alan Franklin, Consultant

Courtnay Hughes, HR Research Analyst

This session discusses the challenges mining companies face in the various countries and jurisdictions where they are active.

Creating value through long-term aboriginal partnerships

How are these challenges affecting the advancement and interest in global projects, and what, if anything, can be done to change the landscape in this regard.

Identifying, retaining and promoting diverse talent: the mining industry at the forefront of next-level inclusion

This session will be a panel discussion.

One more presentation will be confirmed.

Innovation in Energy Minerals

Sean Willy, Cameco Corporation

Joshua C. Collins, Florida International University

Case Studies – Part 2

Stream: INNOVATIONS

Stream: CONSTRUCTION TO PRODUCTION

Chairs: Brent Hilscher, Senior Process, Hatch Ltd. and Melanie MacKay, Consultant, Trillium Geoscience Ltd.

Chair: Rahul Lakhoté, General Manager, ACP Applied Products Ltd.

Sustainable heavy minerals production from oil sands tailings Kevin Moran and John Oxenford, Titanium Corporation

Anthabasca bitumen upgrading with hydrodynamic cavitation Max Fomitchev-Zamilov, Quantum Vortex, Inc.

Effects of organic liquids on coking properties of a high-inert western Canadian coal KaWing NG and Louis Giroux, CanmetENERGY, Ross Leeder, Teck Coal Ltd., Tony MacPhee, CanmetENERGY, Maria E.Holuszko, Teck Metals Ltd., and Melanie Mackay, Trillium Geoscience Ltd.

One more presentation will be confirmed.

Wolverine Mine: site-specific electro-biochemical system development to meet process water selenium and other treatment discharge targets – bench to full-scale Dennis Jack Adams, Aleksandra Opara and Michael John Peoples, Inotec Inc., David Flather, Lorax Environmental Services, and Robin McCall, Yukon Zinc Corporation

Designing science-based effluent permits for the mining industry John Clark, Allnorth Consultants Limited

The successful design and construction of a 7,000 tpd production hoisting facility using a large diameter raise bored shaft Patrick Hudd, Cementation Canada Inc., Luc Guimond, AuRico Gold Inc., and RichardBartlett, AuRico Young Davidson Project, Cementation Canada Inc.

Engaging the workforce to achieve perfection Rob Gulbronson, RLG International

MINING SOCIAL MEDIA | MINES ET MÉDIAS SOCIAUX Join us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to take part in an exchange about current issues and best practices with peers and mining industry leaders.

The conversation will be carried out live during the CIM Convention

Mining Stream: MANAGING OPERATIONS FROM MINE TO MILL Chairs: Jeffrey Colden, Mining Engineer, Teck Coal Limited, and Anoush Ebrahimi, Principal Consultant, SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc.

Next generation mine planning – advanced scientific approach to optimize the extraction sequence Daniel Spitty, Schneider Electric

Modern structural geology in mining Wayne Barnett, SRK Consulting

“Like” us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CIMconvention

Weather and production analytics for performance improvement and better planning

“Follow” us on twitter: @AnnualCIM,

Making better economic mining decisions

hashtag is #CIMBC14.

“Connect” on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/cimconvention

Gregory Johnson, Schneider Electric Fraser John Rowe, Runge Pincock Minarco

Low Cost Mine Energy Chair: Vic Pakalnis, President and CEO, MIRARCO Mining Innovation

Natural gas for mining and rail Bruce Hodgins, Westport Power Inc.

88 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

CONGRÈS ICM 2014 CIM CONVENTION Mining and renewable energy: Cross-sector synergies and the emergence of end-to-end energy solutions combining hybrid power & novel fuel supply chains Resja Campfens, Sea Breeze Power Corp.

Case study: Using synchrophasors and off-the-shelf protection and automation equipment for electrical load-shedding services Roham Bazarjani, Autopro Automation Consultants Ltd.

Air solubility and its impact on the business case for hydraulic air compressors Dean Millar, MIRARCO / Laurentian University

Developing in Non-Mining Cultures Stream: CONSTRUCTION TO PRODUCTION Chair: Barnard Foo, Senior Mining Engineer, Micon International Co. Ltd.

The Cañariaco Copper Project - Mineral exploration and development within the context of a diverse and complex Andean community in northern Peru James Taylor Armstrong, Candente Copper Corporation

Creating a foundation of support for the resource industry through education in a non-mining culture

TUESDAY, MAY 13 | 10:30 NGOs – Partners in Development Stream: GLOBAL DIMENSIONS OF MINING Chairs: Alan Franklin, Consultant, and Matthieu Asselin, Program Manager, Latin America, SOCODEVI

Mining companies are expanding their operations into complex environments where NGO development agencies have worked for decades. These companies are already significant development actors in their own right, but complex development problems cannot be solved through routine approaches.

Innovations and new partnerships between non-governmental organizations and the private sector offer unique avenues to help ensure that major Canadian economic investments translate into a development pattern that benefits all. How are NGOs working with the mining companies? What are the benefits and challenges of working with NGOs?

Four presentations will be confirmed.

Powering Your Mine Stream: INNOVATIONS Chair: Gareth Clarke, Sector Manager–Industrial Marketing, BC Hydro

Energy management – it’s all about the doing

Olivia Brown, Ooleepeeka Consulting Ltd., and Pujjuut Kusugak, Kusugak Consulting

Developing in non-mining cultures Frazer Bourchier, Nevsun Resources Ltd.

One more presentation will be confirmed.

Processing Stream: MANAGING OPERATIONS FROM MINE TO MILL Chair: Janice Zinck, Manager, Processing and Mine Waste Management, CANMET – Mining and Mineral Sciences Laboratories

Modelling and simulation of mill structure behaviour in a tumbling mill Bertil I.Pålsson, Luleå University of Technology, Kent Tano, LKAB, Pär Jonsén, Luleå University of Technology, Andreas Berggren, Boliden Minerals, Jan Stener, Luleå University of Technology, and Hans-Åke Häggblad, Luleå University of Technology

Investigation of utilization of milling facilities in Ontario to minimize electricity costs Michelle Levesque, Laurentian University, and Dean Millar, MIRARCO

RME mill reline director – large mill reline optimization Alan John Russell, Russell Mineral Equipment Pty Ltd.

Andrew Cooper, New Gold Inc., New Afton Mine

The role of colloidal precipitates in the interfacial behaviour of long-chain ionic surfactants

Teck, energy management and TSM

Marek Pawlik and Wenying Liu, University of British Columbia

Chris Adachi, Teck Resources

Electricity conservation and key performance indicators (KPI) in mining Roger Yu, Thompson Rivers University

Strategic energy management in B.C. mines Robert Greenwald, Prism Engineering

Diversity 101 – Part 2 Stream: HARNESSING OUR DIVERSE WORLD Chair: Lana Eagle, Director of Aboriginal Engagement, PR Associates

Harnessing resource wealth for inclusive and economic development in communities influenced by mining Suzette McFaul and Andre Xavier, Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering

Expanding notions of diversity: opportunities outside the mine fence Chris Anderson, Rio Tinto

The business case for diversity Cassandra Dorrington, CAMSC

Case Studies in Rock Engineering Stream: ROCK ENGINEERING Chair: Doug Milne, Associate Professor, University of Saskatchewan

Application of numerical modelling to predict seismic probability and mitigate associated risks during the Craig pillar extraction at Morrison Mine, KGHM International.

Katherine Kalenchuk, Dean Switzer, Julian Watson, Matt Larose and Neil Milner, KGHM International

Slope and ground stability monitoring in open pit and underground mines with advanced radar interferometry Alain Arnaud, Oscar Mora, Blanca Payàs and Marie-Josée Banwell, Altamira Information

A numerical analyses of two adjacent backfilled stopes Nooshin Falaknaz, École Polytechnique de Montréal

Slope monitoring practices used by open pit porphyry mines in British Columbia Dwayne D. Tannant, Sam Nunoo and Warren Newcomen, University of British Columbia

One more presentation will be confirmed.

February 2014 | 89

TUESDAY, MAY 13 | 14:00 Social & Environmental Stewardship

A comparative analysis of mining policy and regulations: a focus on rare earth elements and health Linlin Zhang, University of British Columbia

One more presentation will be confirmed.

Stream: GLOBAL DIMENSIONS OF MINING

Innovations in Maintenance & Reliability

Chair: William A. Napier, President, W.A. Napier Consulting Ltd.

The missing link between mining and sustainable development: social responsibility?

Stream: INNOVATIONS

Louis Guay, Saint-Paul University

Chair: Charles E. (Ted) Knight, Regional Manager, Risk & Reliability, Hatch Ltd.

The next big thing in CSR: sourcing your social licence through local procurement

RCM advances and relevance in the new age of asset management

Jeff Geipel, Engineers Without Borders

James Reyes-Picknell, Conscious Asset Management

Sustainable community development using shared value approach – an alternative to corporate social responsibility in the mining industry?

Thiess mining story: predictive maintenance and quality

Allan McNeil, AMIS InterAg, Glenn Hughes, GRC Services, and Mahesh Jayaraman, World Wide Water Services

Jim Simpson, IBM

How can asset management be the path to financial enlightenment?

Stephen Koro, Ausenco Rylson

ETHICS IN MINING SYMPOSIUM | SYMPOSIUM: ÉTHIQUE ET INDUSTRIE MINIÈRE MONDAY, MAY 12 TO WEDNESDAY, MAY 14 The symposium is included for convention delegates or you can register for the Ethics in Mining Symposium only for $295 (delegate price) or $200 (presenter price).

TUESDAY, MAY 13 | 8:30–10:10 BUILDING EQUITABLE PARTNERSHIPS Chair: Jim Cooney, Professor of Practice in Global Governance, McGill University

A gold mine of opportunity: aboriginal readiness strategy

MONDAY, MAY 12 | 14:00–16:20 MINING, ETHICS & THE CHALLENGE OF DIVERSE NEEDS AND PERSPECTIVES

Edith Garneau, SNC-Lavalin

Chair: Wesley Cragg, Senior Scholar and Professor, Project Director and Principal Investigator, Schulich School of Business – York University

Shared value: the business approach to ethics in mining

Mining within the context of a “preferential option for the poor” Jim Cooney, McGill University

Human rights, ethics and corporate social responsibility – the past, present and future Simon David Handelsman, University of British Columbia, Simon D. Handelsman, Global Issues Advisors, and Marcello Veiga, University of British Columbia

Negotiating a social licence: understanding the role and nature of procedural justice Julian Lamont, The University of Queensland, and Justine Lacey, CSIRO

Social licence to operate – a new perspective Murray Lytle, Snowden Mining Industry Consultant Ltd.

Practical processes to develop ethical solutions in corporatecommunity conflicts Yoseline Leunens, HEC Montreal, Sebastian Siegele, Sustainability Agents SUSA GmbH, Francis Schweigert, Metropolitan State University, and Martha Sañudo, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey

90 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

Ethical readiness for equitable partnerships Candace Ramcharan, Rio Tinto Fer et Titane Qasim Saddique, Shared Value Solutions

The mismatch between mineral exploration and community engagement: some ethical questions Bardolf Paul, Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta

TUESDAY, MAY 13 | 10:30–12:10 WHERE IS THE MARKET VALUE FOR ETHICAL PERFORMANCE? Chair: To be confirmed

Capital and reputational risk management through the development and permitting curve in the extractive sector Karim Ramji, Donovan & Company

Responsible mining standards at work: demonstrating value to stakeholders and investors Christopher Tucker and Jessica Bratty, Responsible Mineral Sector Initiative

Corporate sustainability reporting and the mining industry Si Hao, University of British Columbia

Promoting transparency in mining development in Central African countries Chilenye Nwapi, Canadian Institute of Resources Law

CONGRÈS ICM 2014 CIM CONVENTION Optimizing sustaining maintenance investment while mitigating risk David James, Hatch Ltd.

2014 BC Mining HR Diversity Award winner Kerris Hougardy, Hays Recruiting Group, and Jill Tsolinas, BC Mining HR Taskforce

The future corrosion risk to mine operating performance due to the use of lower quality water sources Emily Moore, Zoe Coull and Sergio Gonzalez, Hatch Ltd.

Maximizing the Workforce – Part 1 Stream: HARNESSING OUR DIVERSE WORLD Chair: Kerris Hougardy, Manager, Resources and Mining, Hays Recruiting Group

Creating opportunities in mining for First Nations communities: how training, employment and business development can boost the social value of any project Michelle Nahanee and Laurie Sterritt, BC AMTA

The right people in the right jobs at the right time – attracting skilled immigrants

PANEL DISCUSSION Chaired by Dave Bazowski (chair of the BC Mining HR Taskforce), and focused on providing innovative and tested solutions to the issues surrounding diversity and inclusion in today’s workforce. Six industry leaders (TBC) will share their thoughts, experiences and suggestions on the benefits of employing a diverse workforce – from top to bottom – as well as discussing some of the challenges and successes when implementing initiatives in their own businesses.

Kelly Pollack, IEC-BC

TUESDAY, MAY 13 | 14:00–16:20 INDIGENOUS & NON-INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES: RIGHTS AND REGULATIONS Chair: Lana Eagle, Director of Aboriginal Engagement, PR Associates

Free, prior and informed consent: is it required and what’s the standard?

Kevin O’Callaghan and Dani Bryant, Fasken Martineu LLP

Moving from engagement and consultation to implementing free, prior informed consent of indigenous peoples for the exploration, development, and utilization of mineral resources

Tracking Aboriginal community health in light of mine development Ben Bradshaw, Peter Siebenmorgen, Robert Klinck and Sophie Maksimowski, University of Guelph

Extractive industry risks to vulnerable women and children in British Columbia, Canada Alison Stockwell, University of British Columbia

Indigenous economic development and implications for ethical mining practice Dwight Newman, University of Saskatchewan

Cynthia Callison and Michael Segelken, Callison & Hanna

FPIC – scope, recent developments and practical application Maya Stano, Gowlings

Deepening sustainability and shared value through a child rights approach Simon Chorley and Cicely McWilliam, UNICEF Canada

One more presentation will be confirmed.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14 | 8:30–10:10 COMMUNITY EXPERIENCES WITH THE EXTRACTIVE SECTOR Chair: Janis Shandro, Research Fellow, University of British Columbia (UBC)

Environmental health perspectives of the Esdilagh First Nation in relation to the Gibraltar mine in British Columbia, Canada Edwin Kolausok, Eslidagh First Nation, Karim Ramji, Donovan & Company, and Chief Bernie Mack, Esdilagh First Nation

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14 | 10:30–12:10 THE PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE Chair: Gary MacDonald, Principal, Monkey Forest Consulting

Junior mining enterprises and NGO added value: Socodevi and Candente Copper Corp. Inc. – a case study Matthieu Asselin, SOCODEVI

Legacy management: looking to the future through the lens of the past Amy Robinson, University of Waterloo

Benefits of corporate grievance mechanisms and practical tips on implementation Kevin O’Callaghan and Julie-Anne Pariseau, Fasken Martineau LLP

Legacy issues and big project failure: lessons learned from the past, for the present and future Sofane Baba, HEC Montréal

February 2014 | 91

Integrated operations to relocate, collaborate and align

Assessing the Construction Project

Mike Boudreaux, Emerson Process Management

Stream: CONSTRUCTION TO PRODUCTION Chair: Lon Plaskett, Mine Electrical Planner, Teck

Engineering information life cycle for complex engineering Keith Rogers and Kevin Reardon, IBM Canada

Cost containment through effective project management

Benefits achieved at Osisko, Malartic through optimization of inventory management Robert Lamarre, IMAFS Inc., and Roch Trépanier, Osisko

One more presentation will be confirmed.

Steven Cuneo and Stephen Cabano, Pathfinder, LLC

Rock Engineering Practices & Techniques

Innovative approaches to developing mining projects Michael Young, Kiewit

Stream: ROCK ENGINEERING

A risk management plan – plan the work, work the plan

Chair: Martin Grenon, Professor, Université Laval

David Brady, DBrady Risk Associates Ltd.

Streamlining the steps to optimized production: pre-project process modelling; simulator-based training; and advanced loop control for optimized operation – case studies Chris Madin, Andritz Automation Ltd.

Effect of low temperature on backfill quality in permafrost condition Bernard Tungol, Bernie Ting and Betty Lin, Hatch Ltd., and Brian O’Hearn, Cement Lafarge

Importance of geo-mechanical data acquisition Denis Thibodeau, Stantec Consulting Ltd.

Integration for Optimization Stream: MANAGING OPERATIONS FROM MINE TO MILL Chair: Adam Hesse, Vice-President, North American Operations, FLSmidth

A vision for integrated operations in mining Matthew Coleman, Calibre Global, and Iain Thompson, IBM

Universal reconciliation – a multidisciplinary approach across the entire mining value chain to identify loss of value and maximize the operational performance C. Morley, S. Helm and Rayleen Hargreaves, Snowden

High accuracy LiDAR in underground mines for ground movement and convergence monitoring Mark Diederichs, Queen’s University, Matthew Lato, RockSense GeoSolutions, Katherine Kalenchuk, Mine Design Engineering , Adam Dulmage, Mine Design Technologies, Craig Sheriff, Tulloch Mapping Solutions, and Klaus Weinhardt, Queen’s University

Strength prediction of mine shaft concrete liner cured under freezing condition Amir Golpaygan and Jimmy Susetyo, Hatch Ltd.

Shell thiocrete: an innovative and cost-effective building material for waste management at mining operations Marcel Dabkowski, Shell

MINE 4 BUSINESS Explore what 500 exhibitors have to offer.

Look for The Expo! Guide in the March issue of CIM Magazine!

See who’s exhibiting:

VANCOUVER2014.CIM.ORG

92 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

CONGRÈS ICM 2014 CIM CONVENTION Making mines safer through innovative approaches to monitoring and modifying rockmass behaviour during extraction Damien Duff, Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation

Maximizing the Workforce – Part 2 Stream: HARNESSING OUR DIVERSE WORLD Chair: Kerris Hougardy, Manager, Resources and Mine, Hays Recruiting Group

Getting it right: how to meet the HR components of IBAs

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14 | 8:30 Water, Mining & Agriculture Stream: GLOBAL DIMENSIONS OF MINING Chairs: Monica Ospina, Founder and Director, O trade and market access, and Mireille Goulet, Executive Coordinator, CIM

Traditionally, the mining and agriculture industries have competed for resources. As there are many parallels between the two, both have often thrived in similar geographic regions, thus putting pressure on surrounding natural resources. In recent years, the decreased global supply of clean water resources has stimulated global debates and has put into question industry management of water resources.

Today, collaborative initiatives between the private sector, namely the mining and agriculture industries, and local communities is resulting in the development of highly effective solutions for mitigating the harmful industry effects on water.

This session will present an analysis of how the mining industry can contribute to sustainable water use and how collaborative efforts between mining and agriculture can lead to effective management of water resources.

Water, the essential resource and the lasting legacy: why mine water management matters and how to do it well

Alana Kennedy and Melanie Sturk, The Mining Industry Human Resources Council

Case study – New Gold’s New Afton mine: First Nations participation in the workforce Ann Wallin, New Gold

1 + 1 = 3: maximizing a workforce through partnerships and education Danielle Smyth, Northwest Community College, School of Exploration and Mining

One more presentation will be confirmed.

Lowest Cost Mine Services Stream: MANAGING OPERATIONS FROM MINE TO MILL Chair: Dean Millar, Chair of Energy in Mining, MIRARCO

Less is more - operational savings using peristaltic technology to move fluids, particularly, the challenging fluids Duncan Brown,Verder UK Ltd

Reducing maintenance costs with mixed flow fans for mine ventilation Paula Oransky, Howden

Tatyana Alexieva and Resa Furey, MWH

Safety, reliability and energy and maintenance savings of LED luminaires in the harsh and hazardous locations of the mining industry

Three more presentations will be confirmed.

William Lupton and Devon Jenkins, Eaton's Crouse - Hinds Business

Ensuring operational power quality: A case study

Bridging the Research to Innovation Gap

Oliver Canean and Joe Fox, ABB Inc.

Stream: INNOVATIONS Chair: To be confirmed

There is ongoing research in which the results focus on driving innovative changes. This session will look at the potential and actual value research results used to drive innovation.

VA N C OUV E R20 14. C I M .OR G

Four presentations will be confirmed.

February 2014 | 93

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14 | 10:30 Tailings Management & Utilization Stream: GLOBAL DIMENSIONS OF MINING Chair: Janis Shandro, Research Fellow, University of British Columbia (UBC)

This session will offer a series of industry presentations related to best practice, lessons learned and remaining challenges towards optimizing the management of tailings deposits.

Four presentations will be confirmed.

Innovation for Corporate Sustainability Stream: INNOVATIONS Chair: Michelle Levesque, Student, Laurentian University

Sustainable mining through innovation Kenneth Collison, Ucore Rare Metals Inc.

Sustainability information in mining: technologies and process for assessments, data aggregation, management and reporting Fabio Mielli, Schneider Electric

Seeking innovation towards sustainable mining through interdisciplinary collaboration Jocelyn Fraser and Malcolm Scoble, Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia

One more presentation will be confirmed.

MANAGEMENT & FINANCE & FINANCE DAY DAY | | FINANCE ET GESTION MINIÈRE

CIM Management and Economics Society

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14 PRICE: INCLUDED FOR CONVENTION DELEGATES; DELEGATES, LUNCH CLOSING TICKET $75; LUNCH TICKET $75; ONE-DAY PROGRAM INCLUDING ONE-DAY PROGRAM LUNCH, $365 INCLUDING LUNCH, $365

The sixth annual Management & Finance Day, organized by the CIM Management and Economics Society (MES), will feature expert expert speakers speakerssharing sharingtheir theirexperiences experience and insights around key topics driving the industry, including project risk assessment, examination of important legal issues and estimation of capital costs. As in previous editions, a moderated panel discussion, with all speakers and session chairs, will allow the audience to share thoughts, questions and ideas derived from presentations.

ECONOMIC 8:30 TO 10:00 OUTLOOK Chair: Jane Spooner, Vice-President, Micon International Co. Ltd. ECONOMIC OUTLOOK Time: 8:30–10:00 Chair: Jane Spooner, Vice-President, Micon International Co. Ltd.

Metal Metal markets markets adrift adrift – – with with no no compass compass David David Davidson, Davidson, Paradigm Paradigm Capital Capital Inc. Inc.

Maximizing the Workforce – Part 3

Mining Mining projects projects and and market market cycles cycles

Stream: HARNESSING OUR DIVERSE WORLD

David David Laing, Laing, Endeavour Endeavour Mining Mining

Chair: Kerris Hougardy, Manager, Resources and Mining, Hays Recruiting Group

Gold: Gold: where where to to from from here? here?

Martin Martin Murenbeeld, Murenbeeld, Dundee Dundee Capital Capital Markets Markets

What do mining professionals want?

Jackie Burns and Thea Watson, Hays Specialist Recruitment

Growing a diverse workforce for business continuity: principles for effective leadership

EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED 10:30 TO 12:00 Chair: LawrenceTHE D. Smith, Director, Project Evaluations and EXPECTING UNEXPECTED

Laura Methot and Anne-Marie Michaud, CLG

Strategic Analysis, Gold Corporation Chair: Lawrence D.Barrick Smith, Director, Project Evaluations and Time: 10:30–12:00 Strategic Analysis, Barrick Gold Corporation

Diversity and inclusion: defining the business case for your operations

Access Access to to mining mining capital capital – – how how companies companies are are responding responding

Greg Morris, Gordon Orlikow and Rosaleena Marcellus, Korn/Ferry International

What What goes goes wrong? wrong?

Gordon Gordon Bogden, Bogden, Black Black Loon Loon Group Group

Achieving high performance in inclusion and diversity

Chris Chris Gypton, Gypton, Hecla Hecla Mining Mining Company Company

José Suárez, Jamile Cruz and Linda A. Brown, Accenture

Mining Mining industry industry top top 5 5 risks risks Lee Lee Hodgkinson, Hodgkinson, KPMG KPMG LLP LLP

Safety – Part 2 Stream: MANAGING OPERATIONS FROM MINE TO MILL Chair: Glenn Lyle, Associate, Health and Safety, MIRARCO

Safety in mining is something that is always at the forefront of any operation. Statements such as “ensuring our mine workers return home safely after each shift is of paramount importance to our company” are always important to hear, and companies want to be recognized internationally for their excellent mine safety record; however, no system is perfect.

What is being done individually or cooperatively to improve mine safety?

Four presentations will be confirmed.

94 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

DUE 14:00DILIGENCE TO 15:00 – WATCH YOUR STEP! Chair: Louis Archambeault, Investment Banker, CIBC DUE 14:00–15:00 DILIGENCE – WATCH YOUR STEP! Time: Chair: Louis Archambeault, Investment Banker, CIBC

Title to be confirmed Title to be confirmed Gregory Gosson, AMEC Gregory Gosson, AMEC

Going to the source Going to the source Joe Hinzer, Watts, Griffis and McOuat Limited Joe Hinzer, Watts, Griffis and McOuat Limited

PANEL DISCUSSION 15:30 TO David 17:00Jennnings, Marsh Canada Moderator: PANEL DISCUSSION Time: 15:30–17:00 Moderator: David Jennnings, Marsh Canada

Followed by a closing reception Followed by a closing reception

SPONSORS | COMMANDITAIRES PLATINUM | PLATINE

DIAMOND | DIAMANT

GOLD | OR

®

SILVER | ARGENT

COPPER | CUIVRE

FRIENDS | AMIS

MEDIA | MÉDIAS

96 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

WHERE TO

STAY

Paul Lowry

The only five-star hotel in the city is also the only one with a multilingual concierge service. The Ouro Minas Palace Hotel, located in the Ipiranga neighbourhood, is close to the Cidade Administrativa (the state government complex), shopping malls, restaurants and the metro. In addition to all the usual amenities, it offers a convention centre capable of hosting 900 people. ourominas.com.br

The Mercure Lourdes Hotel and the Mercure Belo Horizonte Belvedere Hotel, part of the Accor Hotels chain, are both strategically located. The former is downtown, on Avenida do Contorno, Belo Horizonte’s main strip, close to bars and restaurants and to major businesses located in the city. The latter is in the Belvedere neighbourhood, with easy access to the airport and many corporate headquarters. Both hotels have impressive amenities (cable, pool, gym, wireless Internet and a complete restaurant) and are business-friendly. mercure.com 98 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

DINE

Brazilians view lunches and dinners as opportunities to socialize and do business. In Brazil, there is no “grab-a-sandwich” culture, especially in Belo Horizonte, where the “mineira” (which means “from Minas Gerais” in Portuguese) cuisine is offered at its most refined.

Xapuri (Rua Mandacaru, 260, Pampulha) Xapuri (pronounced sha -pu-REE) was voted the best authentic Minas Gerais cuisine by several Brazilian food guides.

Chef Nelsa Trombino has created signature versions of traditional local dishes, such as her famous pork ossobuco with sweet potatoes and collard greens. This place is also famous for

its local dessert buffet.

Meals from $30 to $70.

Courtesy of Visit Brazil

Courtesy of Ouro Minas Palace Hotel

WHERE TO

Fogo de Chão (Rua Sergipe, 1208, Savassi) With eight restaurants in Brazil and more than 20 locations in the United States, Fogo de Chão is the definitive Brazilian steakhouse. It is a prime spot to experience all-you-can-eat Brazilian barbecue. The restaurant is a local favourite for business lunches. Meals at $50 (drinks and desserts not included).

Verdemar (Av, Nossa Senhora do Carmo, 1900, Sion) The delicious “pão de queijo” (Brazilian cheese bread) is Minas Gerais’s gift to Brazil and the world. In Belo Horizonte, lots of bakeries sell excellent pão de queijo, but for a sure bet go to Verdemar Minimart’s coffee shop. It goes for $14 per kilo.

Courtesy of whitiebrass

By Júlia Ribeiro

S

Courtesy of Wilson Hui

TRAVEL Belo Horizonte

urrounded by beautiful mountains and graced with mild weather, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (or simply “BH” {beh-ah-GAH} to locals), with a population of about 2.4 million, is the capital of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais and one of the host cities for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Minas Gerais (“General Mines” in Portuguese) has been the centre of the country’s mining activity since colonial times, providing the Portuguese Court with gold, gems and diamonds. Nowadays, the state holds more than 50 per cent of the country’s mining operations, with more than 300 active mines in its territory – the main product being iron ore.

HOW TO

GET THERE

FIT IN Wendy Longo

Courtesy of Visit Brazil

HOW TO

EXPLORE

GETTING

Courtesy of Visit Brazil

Right in the heart of Belo Horizonte, the Pampulha neighbourhood is home to some of Brazil’s modern architectural highlights including the world-famous Pampulha Architectural Complex designed by renowned Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. He also designed the Pampulha Museum of Art and the beautiful Church of Saint Francis of Assisi: a project so controversial for its uniqueness that the Catholic Church refused to consecrate it for more than a decade.

If you are interested in learning more about Brazil’s colonial mining history, take a drive to the city of Ouro Preto (about 100 kilometres from Belo Horizonte). The city is one of Brazil’s best-preserved colonial towns and a UNESCO world heritage site. There you can visit Mina da Passagem, which was a gold mine under Portuguese colonial rule. In addition to the fascinating old mine workings, there is also a striking underground lake.

Although there are no direct flights to Belo Horizonte from Canada, Air Canada offers a daily 10-hour flight from Toronto to Sao Paulo’s international airport, which offers connections to many others cities in Brazil. The flight from Sao Paulo to BH takes an hour and a half. Another option for Canadian travellers is an American Airlines’ eight-hour direct flight to BH from Miami. On both airlines, flights range from around $1,200 for economy to around $8,000 for first class.

Courtesy of Visit Brazil

WHERE TO

Business fashion is similar to Canada’s, and Brazilians dress casually for the most part – blazers and casual button down shirts are common.

That said, the suit and tie still predominate in formal – especially legal – office settings.

Brazilians tend to speak loudly and informally, especially in casual situations, and BH locals are no different.

Long, animated conversation is a favourite Brazilian habit brought even to business meetings.

Touching arms and elbows during conversation is normal. Brazilians speak in very close proximity, with lots of physical contact.

AROUND

Most major credit cards are accepted in Brazil, but all foreign currency must be exchanged for Brazilian real (BRL). One Canadian dollar is worth about 2.16 Brazilian reals.

A growing number of Brazilian executives and government officials speak some English. However, on

setting up an appointment, you should always ask if your contact speaks English or would feel more comfortable with an interpreter.

As service in restaurants, taxis and stores is mostly in Portuguese, try to learn a few key words to help you navigate the city.

A 10 per cent service charge is added to most hotel and restaurant bills, so it is not necessary to tip your server. Brazilians also do not normally tip taxi drivers, although they may round up the total.

Taxis in Brazil operate by the meter, and in Belo Horizonte the charge starts from 4.10 BRL (around $2). Although anyone can get a cab on the street, for security reasons tourists and business people are advised to ask the hotel, restaurant or company they are visiting to call a registered car from a

reliable taxi service. If you must flag a cab, make sure the car is white, has the “taxi” sign on top, the “Belo Horizonte” sticker on the side, and red licence plates.

The Tancredo Neves International Airport is about a 40-minute drive north of downtown BH. The trip costs about 100 BRL.

February 2014 | 99

TECHNICAL ABSTRACTS

CIM

journal

Excerpts taken from abstracts in CIM Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1.

To subscribe, to submit a paper or to be a peer reviewer—www.cim.org

Improving flotation separation efficiency of quartz-coal mixtures by using polyethylene oxide H. Wang and M. Cao, Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada J.-C. Sztuke and A. Stradling, Applied Research & Technology, Teck Metals Limited, Trail, British Columbia, Canada Z. Xu and Q. Liu, Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT Wash water and polyethylene oxide (PEO) were used in the flotation of quartz and coal. Wash water decreased entrainment of –15 µm quartz. The optimum superficial wash water rate was 0.05 cm/s. PEO also lowered entrainment. The combination of wash water and PEO led to a slight further reduction in entrainment. For 1:1 mixtures of –15 µm quartz and –300 µm oxidized coal, the combined use of wash water (0.05 cm/s) and PEO increased the separation efficiency from approximately 30% to > 70%, whereas wash water alone at 0.05 cm/s did not lead to a discernible increase.

RÉSUMÉ L’eau de lavage et le polyéthylène oxyde (PEOX) ont été utilisés dans la flottation du quartz et du charbon. L’eau de lavage a diminué l’entraînement du quartz -15 µm. Le taux optimal d’eau superficielle de lavage était de 0,05 cm/s. Le PEOX a aussi diminué l’entraînement. La combinaison de l’eau de lavage et du PEOX a produit une légère réduction supplémentaire d’entraînement. Pour des mélanges 1:1 de quartz -15 µm et de charbon oxydé -300 µm, l’utilisation combinée d’eau de lavage (0,05 cm/s) et de PEOX a augmenté l’efficacité de séparation d’environ 30 % à plus de 70 %, alors que l’eau de lavage seule à un taux de 0,05 cm/s n’a pas donnée une augmentation discernable.

Zen and the art of specification writing R. A. Nemchek, Independent Consultant, Parker, Colorado, USA

ABSTRACT Concentrator plant design has evolved from large numbers of small grinding mills to small numbers of large mills. Consequently, plant performance often hinges on the productivity of a single large semi-autogenous grinding mill.

Industry attempts to address the grinding mills’ critical nature frequently result in specifications that can be made simpler, more economical, and better focused on the project’s goals. This paper surveys current specification writing practices and proposes an improved approach recognizing that product design, procurement, manufacturing, and quality are interrelated in a successful project. The lessons learned here can apply to all types of machinery specifications.

RÉSUMÉ La conception d’usines de concentration a grandement évolué d’un grand nombre de petits broyeurs vers un petit nombre de gros broyeurs. C’est pourquoi le rendement des usines tient souvent de la productivité d’un seul gros broyeur semi-autogène. Les efforts de l’industrie pour traiter de la nature critique des broyeurs a souvent conduit à des spécifications qui pourraient être simplifiées, rendues plus économiques et qui cibleraient mieux les objectifs du projet. Le présent article analyse les pratiques courantes de rédaction de devis et propose une approche améliorée qui reconnaît que la réussite d’un projet dépend de l’interdépendance de la conception du produit, de l’approvisionnement, de la fabrication et de la qualité. Les leçons apprises ici peuvent être appliquées aux spécifications de tout type de machinerie.

Determining the oil sands mining limit with Lerchs-Grossmann optimization L. Chunpongtong, Independent Consultant, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT The mining limit in oil sands is regulated by the ratio of total mining volume (ore, interburden, and overburden) one has to mine per volume of bitumen in place (TV/BIP). This paper presents a mathematical solution for creating the most economical pit outline where the TV/BIP ratio upper limit is 12, by combining mining economic theory and the Lerchs-Grossmann (LG) algorithm.

100 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

RÉSUMÉ La limite d’extraction dans les sables bitumineux est fonction du rapport entre le volume total qui doit être extrait (minerai, morts-terrains en surface et intermédiaires) et le volume de bitume en place (VT/BP). Le présent article propose une solution mathématique pour déterminer la limite la plus économique de la fosse, avec une limite supérieure de 12 pour le rapport VT/BP; la méthode utilisée combine la théorie économique appliquée aux mines et l’algorithme de Lerchs-Grossmann.

TECHNICAL ABSTRACTS

CIM

journal

Excerpts taken from abstracts in CIM Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1.

To subscribe, to submit a paper or to be a peer reviewer—www.cim.org

Analysis of the effect of the TyreSense tire monitoring system on tire performance: a case study J. Zhou, Fountain Tire Mine Service Ltd., North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada R. A. Hall, Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada S. Klingmann, JDS Energy and Mining Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

ABSTRACT In this paper, we used data collected from the Gibraltar mine to analyze the effect of the TyreSense tire monitoring system on tire performance by reducing tire wear and preventing premature tire failure or damage. We analyzed the relationship between tire temperature, tire pressure, and tire failure or damage to help better understand the importance of controlling high tire temperature and pressure. The results enhance and expand the knowledge of the management of tire operational pressure and temperature.

RÉSUMÉ Dans cet article, nous utilisons des données provenant de la mine Gibraltar pour analyser l’effet du système de suivi de pneus TyreSense sur le rendement des pneus en réduisant l’usure des pneus et en prévenant la défaillance prématurée ou des dommages aux pneus. Nous analysons la relation entre la température du pneu, la pression du pneu et la défaillance ou les dommages au pneu pour mieux comprendre l’importance de contrôler les températures et les pressions élevées des pneus. Les résultats renforcent et accroissent notre compréhension d’une gestion optimale de la température et de la pression de fonctionnement des pneus.

Principles for selection and risk assessment of new technologies: a case study for ironmaking process technology selection Y. Gordon and S. Kumar, Hatch, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT A methodology based on a two-stage approach was developed for process technology selection. The first stage includes evaluation of available technologies, followed by shortlisting the best technologies based on mass and energy balance modelling, financial analysis, and risk analysis. The second stage involves detailed analysis using refined input data, mass and energy balance modelling, and capital and operating cost estimation, as well as a more detailed financial analysis. A case study covering the selection of ironmaking technologies for a company in the Russian Federation is presented to illustrate the critical elements of the methodology and the analysis process.

RÉSUMÉ Afin de bien choisir une technologie de procédé, nous avons développé une méthodologie basée sur une approche en deux étapes. La première étape comprend une évaluation des technologies disponibles, suivie du listage des meilleures technologies en se basant sur la modélisation des bilans massique et énergétique, l’analyse financière et l’analyse des risques. La seconde étape comporte une analyse détaillée qui utilise des données d’entrée plus précises, une modélisation des bilans massique et énergétique ainsi qu’une estimation des coûts en capitaux et d’exploitation, en plus d’une analyse financière encore plus détaillée. Une étude de cas traitant du choix de technologies dans l’élaboration du fer pour une compagnie de la Fédération de Russie est présentée pour illustrer les éléments critiques de la méthodologie et du processus d’analyse.

Impact-induced damage on foliated ore pass walls K. Esmaieli and J. Hadjigeorgiou, Lassonde Institute of Mining, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT We conducted a series of numerical experiments to investigate the influence of rock mass foliation on impactinduced damage on ore pass walls. The 2D Particle Flow Code was used to simulate three distinct rock masses surrounding an ore pass, characterized by foliation angles of 60°, 90°, and 120° (clockwise from horizontal). Subsequently, we projected a rock fragment against the ore pass walls at a constant impact angle and velocity. The resulting damage increased when the angle of intersection between the ore pass wall and the rock mass foliation decreased.

RÉSUMÉ Nous avons effectué une série d’expériences numériques pour étudier l’influence de la foliation de la masse rocheuse sur le dommage aux parois des cheminées à minerai causé par des impacts. Le 2D Particle Flow Code [code numérique modélisant l’écoulement de matériel granulaire en deux dimensions] a été utilisé pour simuler trois masses rocheuses distinctes autour d’une cheminée à minerai caractérisée par des angles de foliation de 60°, 90° et 120° (sens horaire depuis l’horizontal). Nous avons ensuite projeté un fragment de roche contre les parois de la cheminée à une vitesse et à un angle d’impact constants. Le dommage résultant augmentait lorsque l’angle de l’intersection entre les parois de la cheminée à minerai et la foliation de la masse rocheuse diminuait.

February 2014 | 101

TECHNICAL ABSTRACTS

CIM

journal

Excerpts taken from abstracts in CIM Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1.

To subscribe, to submit a paper or to be a peer reviewer—www.cim.org

Freeze-thaw dewatering of Albian mature fine tailings Y. Zhang, AMEC Americas, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada D. C. Sego, University of Alberta, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Markin/CNRL Natural Resources Engineering Facility, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT This paper evaluates the potential of freeze-thaw dewatering using Albian mature fine tailings (MFT). Freezing tests were first performed to study the effect of freezing rate on dewatering efficiency. Lower freezing rate resulted in higher thawed solids content and shear strength. Subsequently, large strain consolidation tests were conducted to investigate consolidation behaviour and how it is affected by freeze-thaw. The consolidation behaviour was presented in terms of effective stress versus void ratio and permeability versus void ratio. The results can be used to predict the field behaviour of Albian MFT and optimize the application of freeze-thaw for MFT dewatering.

RÉSUMÉ Le présent article évalue le potentiel de déshydratation par gel-dégel des résidus fins matures (RFM) de la mine Albian. Les premiers essais de gel étudiaient l’effet du taux de gel sur l’efficience de la déshydratation. Un taux moindre a conduit à un contenu plus élevé de solides dégelés et une plus grande résistance en cisaillement. Par la suite, des essais de consolidation à grande déformation ont été effectués pour étudier le comportement de consolidation et sa réaction au gel-dégel. Le comportement de consolidation est expliqué en termes de contrainte effective par rapport à l’indice des vides et de perméabilité par rapport à l’indice des vides. Les résultats peuvent servir pour prédire le comportement sur le terrain des RFM de la mine Albian et optimiser l’application des cycles gel-dégel pour déshydrater les RFM.

Freeze-thaw dewatering of Albian mature fine tailings Y. Zhang, AMEC Americas, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada D. C. Sego, University of Alberta, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Markin/CNRL Natural Resources Engineering Facility, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

ABSTRACT This paper evaluates the potential of freeze-thaw dewatering using Albian mature fine tailings (MFT). Freezing tests were first performed to study the effect of freezing rate on dewatering efficiency. Lower freezing rate resulted in higher thawed solids content and shear strength. Subsequently, large strain consolidation tests were conducted to investigate consolidation behaviour and how it is affected by freeze-thaw. The consolidation behaviour was presented in terms of effective stress versus void ratio and permeability versus void ratio. The results can be used to predict the field behaviour of Albian MFT and optimize the application of freeze-thaw for MFT dewatering.

RÉSUMÉ Le présent article évalue le potentiel de déshydratation par gel-dégel des résidus fins matures (RFM) de la mine Albian. Les premiers essais de gel étudiaient l’effet du taux de gel sur l’efficience de la déshydratation. Un taux moindre a conduit à un contenu plus élevé de solides dégelés et une plus grande résistance en cisaillement. Par la suite, des essais de consolidation à grande déformation ont été effectués pour étudier le comportement de consolidation et sa réaction au gel-dégel. Le comportement de consolidation est expliqué en termes de contrainte effective par rapport à l’indice des vides et de perméabilité par rapport à l’indice des vides. Les résultats peuvent servir pour prédire le comportement sur le terrain des RFM de la mine Albian et optimiser l’application des cycles gel-dégel pour déshydrater les RFM.

Process histories and aerosol exposures for electrolytic nickel refining at Vale Canada (Inco) B. R. Conard, Oakville, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT Understanding process histories and worker exposures in nickel production operations is critical in determining the role nickel compounds play in respiratory cancer incidence. As part of a series on Vale Canada’s (previously known as Inco) nickel processing operations, this paper includes descriptions of Ni electrolytic operations at refineries in Port Colborne, Ontario (1922–1984), and Thompson, Manitoba (1961–present). Industrial hygiene measurements, by area and personal sampling, of workplace aerosols at these operations are reported.

102 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

RÉSUMÉ Il est essentiel de mieux comprendre les historiques de procédés et les expositions des travailleurs dans les opérations de production de nickel pour déterminer le rôle que jouent les composés de nickel dans l’incidence des cancers des voies respiratoires.

Dans le cadre d’une série sur les opérations de traitement du nickel chez Vale Canada (anciennement Inco), le présent article décrit des opérations électrolytiques sur le Ni aux affineries de Port Colborne, Ontario (1922–1984) et de Thompson, Manitoba (1961 à ce jour). Les mesures d’hygiène industrielle, par région et par échantillonnage des personnes, concernant les aérosols en milieu de travail à ces installations sont aussi abordées.

TECHNICAL ABSTRACTS

canadian metallurgical quarterly Excerpts taken from abstracts in CMQ, Vol. 52, No. 4.

To subscribe – www.cmq-online.ca

Study on removing Mo from tungstate solution using coprecipitation adsorption method based on novel Mo sulphidation process Z. W. Zhao, W. G. Zhang, X. Y. Chen, C. F. Cao, J. T. Li, and X. H. Liu, School of Metallurgical Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China

ABSTRACT A coprecipitation adsorption method based on a novel Mo sulphidation process is proposed for deep removal of molybdenum from tungstate solutions. First, a new sulphur source, P2S5, is used to provide HS− for the Mo sulphidation process. The MoO42− can be thoroughly converted into MoS42− while tungsten still exists as WO42−.

Next, in the sodium tungstate solution, 99·4% of MoS42− is removed with precipitated ‘nascent’ CuS under 6 h reaction at 30°C when the molar ratio Cu/Mo is 3. Similarly, in a commercial (NH4)2WO4 solution, by controlling the molar ratio Cu/Mo at 6, 98·4% of MoS42− is removed after 1 h at 30°C. Subsequently, phosphorus introduced during Mo sulphidation is removed using the magnesium ammonium phosphate method allowing the ammonium paratungstate to reach the GB 10116-88 APT-0 standard.

RÉSUMÉ On propose une méthode de co-précipitation et adsorption basée sur un nouveau procédé de sulfuration du Mo pour l’enlèvement en profondeur du molybdène de solutions de tungstate. Premièrement, on utilise une nouvelle source de soufre, P2S5, pour obtenir le HS– pour le procédé de sulfuration du Mo. Le MoO42– est entièrement converti en MoS42– alors que le tungstène existe encore sous la forme de WO42– . Ensuite, 99·4% du MoS42– est enlevé de la solution de tungstate de sodium avec le CuS ‘naissant’ précipité, en moins de 6 heures de réaction à 30°C lorsque le rapport molaire de Cu/Mo est de 3. De façon similaire, 98·4% du MoS42– est enlevé d’une solution commerciale de (NH4)2WO4, après une heure à 30°C, en contrôlant à une valeur de 6 le rapport molaire de Cu/Mo. Subséquemment, le phosphore introduit lors de la sulfuration du Mo est enlevé en utilisant la méthode du phosphate ammoniaco-magnésien, permettant ainsi au paratungstate d’ammonium d’atteindre la norme GB de 10116-88 APT-0.

Effects of Fe and Ni additions on emerging Al-4·5Cu-1·5Mg powder metallurgy alloy E. D. Moreau, Department of Process Engineering and Applied Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; I. W. Donaldson, GKN Sinter Metals, Auburns Hills, Michigan, USA; R. L. Hexemer, GKN Sinter Metals, Conover, North Carolina, USA; and D. P. Bishop, Department of Process Engineering and Applied Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

ABSTRACT In recent laboratory studies, a method designed to modify an emerging Al-Cu-Mg powder metallurgy alloy with Fe and/or Ni additions was successfully developed. The objectives of this research were designed to expand upon this work with an emphasis on characterising the industrial processing behaviour and thermal stability of the alloy with and without additions of these transition metals. All powder compacts exhibited an industrial sintering response that mirrored prior laboratory findings thereby confirming commercial viability. Subsequently, tensile specimens were machined from industrially sintered bars, heat treated to the T6 temper and then subjected to various conditions of thermal exposure at temperatures up to 280°C. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) data confirmed that Fe/Ni additions reduced the precipitation kinetics of the S-type phases responsible for peak strengthening at temperatures <160°C and thereby enhanced the thermal stability of important tensile properties such as yield strength. At higher temperatures (>200°C), the Fe/Ni additions were less effective with both alloys exhibiting comparable levels of strength degradation.

RÉSUMÉ Lors d’études récentes en laboratoire, on a développé avec succès une méthode conçue pour modifier un alliage émergeant de la métallurgie des poudres, Al-Cu-Mg, avec des additions de Fe et/ou de Ni. Cette recherche a pour but d’élargir ce travail avec une emphase sur la caractérisation du comportement du traitement industriel et de la stabilité thermique de l’alliage, avec ou sans additions de ces métaux de transition. Tous les compacts de poudre exhibaient une réponse industrielle de frittage qui reflétait les trouvailles antécédentes en laboratoire, confirmant ainsi la viabilité commerciale. Subséquemment, on a usiné des échantillons pour mesure de résistance à la traction à partir de barres frittées industriellement et on les a traités thermiquement à l’état T6. On a ensuite soumis les échantillons à des conditions variées d’exposition thermique à des températures allant jusqu’à 280°C. Les données de DSC ont confirmé que les additions de Fe/Ni réduisaient la cinétique de précipitation des phases de type S, responsables de l’endurcissement de pointe à des températures <160°C et augmentaient ainsi la stabilité thermique des propriétés importantes de résistance à la traction comme la limite d’élasticité. À des températures plus élevées (>200°C), les additions de Fe/Ni étaient moins efficaces, les deux alliages exhibant des niveaux comparables de dégradation de la résistance.

February 2014 | 103

professional directory | innovation showcase BELLEDUNE PORT AUTHORITY Situated on the Bay of Chaleur in northeastern New Brunswick, the port facilities are located in a rural area with no congestion. Belledune has an artificial harbor equipped with a breakwater, 4 terminals and 6 berths. The port has multi-type cargo facilities, including one of the most modern roll on- roll off and general cargo terminals in Atlantic Canada. More than 2 million metric tonnes of bulk, breakbulk and project cargo flow through the port every year.

Since 2009 over $80 million in infrastructure improvements were made, including a new roll on-roll off/barge terminal, 27 acres of storage adjacent to the terminals and a new Modular Component Fabrication Facility. The Fabrication Facility has a 19.8 meter clear height and is equipped with two 20 tonne overhead cranes, 20 welding stations and is located along a straight 1.6km route from the port terminals. This industrial zoned site provides unlimited possibilities for fabrication, metal working, assembly, and storage allowing you to save time and money at eastern Canada’s mining port. www.portofbelledune.ca

CEMTEC CEMTEC Cement and Mining Technology is nowadays one of the worldwide specialists in wet and dry grinding technologies for the most wide-ranging bulk materials, industrial minerals and ores.

CEMTEC’s product range also includes solutions for thermal treatment (drying and cooling), and mechanical treatment (such as mixing, washing, conditioning and pelletising) for bulk materials, minerals and ore. CEMTEC offers complete turnkey projects as well as single machinery; from engineering through to commissioning.

CEMTEC has not only manufactured Europe’s largest cement mill with ø5.2 x 16.75 m, an installed main motor capacity of 2 x 4,200 kW and a capacity of 200 tph, but also manufactured one of the world’s largest ball mills. This 18 MW wet grinding ball mill operating in overflow design and closed circuit (with hydro cyclones) with ø8.2 x 14.0 m (27’ x 46’) is designed for a fresh feed quantity of 1,230 tph gold ore. www.cemtec.at

Advertise in CIM Magazine Contact Dovetail Communications at 905.886.6640

104 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

ad index ADVERTISERS 25

AMEC

66

AMC Consultants

65

BBA

7 13

Breaker Technology Ltd

56

Cementation

44

DRA Americas Inc

18

Eriez Manufacturing

27

Forage M.S.E. Drilling Inc.

23

FWS Group of Companies

64

Galaxy

12

Garda

37

Graham Group

3

IN THE NEXT ISSUE POWER MOVES

Boart Longyear

HLS Hard-Line Solutions

14

International Precious Metals Institute

21

Klohn Crippen Berger

39

Knight Piesold

43

Laird Technologies

41

Les Industries Fournier Inc.

The cost of fuel is rising, while the cost of energy from renewables continues to fall.

We examine how mining operations are negotiating the changing energy landscape.

29

Luff Industries Ltd.

OBC

Mammoet Canada

IBC

McLanahan Corporation

IFC

Mecanicad

PRAIRIE FIRE

15

Mintec

Our special report on Saskatchewan explores this hotbed of mine development.

28

Norwest Corporation

11

Petro-Canada Lubricants

TUNNELLING IN MINING

33

Redpath Group

31

Ruukki

FOCUS ON COMMINUTION

17

SSAB

19

SRK Consultants

PLUS

20

Tetra Tech

CIM 2014 EXPO Preliminary Showguide

16

Valard Construction

9

104

Outotec

Professional Directory Advanced Construction Techniques KASI Technologies

104

Innvocation Showcase Belledune Port Authority Cemtec

February 2014 | 105

Lake Superior’s ancient copper mining mystery

by Correy Baldwin

I

106 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 9, No. 1

Wisconsin Historical Society

n the summer of 1952, 13-yearEuropeans? If you put that quesold Donald Baldwin was tion to a professional archaeolodigging around in an old gravel gist, he or she would give you a quarry near Oconto, Wisconsin, short answer: No. when he unearthed a pile of human No rock hieroglyphs have been bones. Thankfully, archaeologists linked to an ancient Nordic lanwere called to the scene rather than guage by an archaeologist, no the local police, as young Donald blond-haired, blue-eyed tribes have had found an ancient burial turned up, and the “unknown race” ground. The skeletons, buried amid was likely just another migrating copper artifacts, turned out to be native group. In fact, no evidence of the earliest evidence of an exan ancient European presence tensive, ancient trading culture (Norse or Phoenician or otherwise) based heavily on copper mined on has ever turned up at an archaeothe Keweenaw Peninsula and Isle logical site in North America. As for Royale, along the shores of Lake the ancient copper pits, more careThe mystery of who mined massive copper deposits along the shores Superior. ful estimates suggest that less than of Lake Superior more than 5,000 years ago has provided the fuel for But ever since, figuring out who many outlandish tales.

1.5 billion pounds of copper was mined this copper – and how – has mined, and that the mining activity been the base for wild historical speculation. Amateur histori- ended 2,000 years before the European Bronze Age, which began ans argue that the Lake Superior copper was mined during the roughly 5,000 years ago. same period as the European Bronze Age, with their rough This, however, only makes the industriousness of the estimates suggesting that 1.5 billion pounds of copper was ancient North American miners all the more impressive. Using mined from the region, far more than seems to have been used little more than stone hammers and hatchets, they extracted by the native peoples. enough tonnes of copper to support a trading network that Could it be possible that ancient Europeans came to North spread over much of the continent. Lake Superior copper has America to mine the copper and bring it back to Europe? been found as far west as the Rocky Mountains, as far north as Imagine ancient Phoenicians and Norse Kings crossing the the Arctic, and as far south as Louisiana.

Atlantic in flotillas weighed down with New World copper.

The region’s copper was almost entirely pure, making preThere are rumours of a Menominee tale from Wisconsin of industrial extraction possible. The ancient miners dug around light-skinned men mining the copper from nearby Lake Supe- 5,000 pits, some with five-metre deep shafts that included rior. Further north near Peterborough, Ontario, a large, flat some tunnelling. We know very little about ancient mining stone appears to have been engraved with a pre-runic alphabet techniques though, as most sites were destroyed when modern that some suggest was used by the ancient Norse. Could it be mine developers used the ancient pits to determine the best evidence of the Norse King Woden-lithi, who some say trav- locations for building their own operations. elled to North America in 1700 BC to establish a copper trade?

The ancient miners chipped away nuggets, preferring Could Baltic and Celtic ships have also made unrecorded pieces small enough to form with just a stone hammer. Other voyages? There are stories of English explorers coming across pieces were flattened into sheets through repeated hammering. a native tribe with blond hair and blue eyes, speaking a lan- The copper was made more malleable when heated over fire. guage that carried a hint of Gaelic. Are these the descendents They shaped the nuggets into various tools and weapons like of the Welsh prince and explorer, Madoc, who, according to knives, spear points, fishhooks, chisels, wedges, awls and folklore, sailed to North America in AD 1170? clasps, and decorative objects like beads, bracelets and rings.

Not even the Ojibwe know who originally mined the cop- Copper also likely held a spiritual significance, and a reverence per on their territory, which only fuels speculation. The for both the metal and the ore deposits continued with the Ojibwe migrated into the region long after the mining is said Ojibwe, who also made use of copper for hunting and fishing to have ceased, discovering the abandoned copper pits when purposes. they arrived.

Although many questions surrounding Lake Superior’s preWho, then, was this “unknown race of people” who origi- historic copper mining mystery remain, it is a story of ancient nally mined the copper? Could it have been ancient ingenuity worthy of modern admiration. CIM

PROCESSING SOLUTIONS To make a buck in today’s challenging marketplace, you need to be more efficient and productive on every ton you process. At McLanahan, we’ve built our reputation on helping customers do more by custom engineering safer, simpler and smarter processing solutions – all with your bottom line in mind.

Family-owned since 1835, McLanahan has experienced engineers on staff ready to solve your dry or wet processing needs. Our team is committed to helping you do more.

Joe Adams

Rob McGee

Scott O’Brien

Director of Safety McLanahan

Director of Continuous Innovation McLanahan

Director of Process Engineering McLanahan

mclanahan.com

When it comes to lifting, transporting, installing and decommissioning large structures, we believe your biggest challenges aren’t about size, They’re about time. Uptime, turnaround time and time-to-market. While the right equipment is essential, its often not enough to get a job done in time.

Mammoet brings deadlines forward through careful planning, innovative innovative engineering and safe deliver delivery. y. tailor-made Mammoet provides tailor -made solutions for engineered heavy heavy logistics.

If you are facing challenges in construction, maintenance or decommissioning, give us a call. Time Time may not be set in concrete or forged heavy. in steel. It isn’t even all that that hea vy. And yet, it’s it’s the biggest thing we move.

www.mammoet.com www .mammoet.com Head Office for W Western estern Canada Edmonton 780-449-0552

Alberta Calgar Calgaryy Pincher Creek B Bonnyville onnyville FFort ort McMurray

403-252-0551 403-627-4554 780-826-2253 780-791-5049

BC VVancouver ancouver

778-828-6516

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan Regina 306-523-4511