CIM Magazine March/April 2010

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CONTENTS CIM MAGAZINE | MARCH . APRIL 2010 | MARS . AVRIL 2010

16 NEWS 11

Mining industry comes together in Vancouver AME BC’s Roundup boasts a strong turnout for conference and speakers by P. Caulfield

12

Conference Board champions oil sands development A strategy to fight carbon emissions must target

13

A call to action Canadian miners must support Chinese

14

The Centre for Excellence in CSR Web portal now

more than just the oil sands, says report by P. Diekmeyer growth, Ivanhoe CEO tells Roundup crowd by P. Caulfield

15 16

open to stakeholders looking to expand their knowledge and networks by H. Ednie The Finnish Advantage Envoy of Finns tout the opportunities in the Scandinavian country rich in minerals and technology by J. Borsato BC to ban mining in Flathead Valley Provincial throne speech offers mixed message to mining industry by P. Caulfield

14 UPFRONT 18

The dream team Xstrata reaches out to mentoring

20

program to develop female talent within by H. Ednie Setting the CSR agenda Marketa Evans takes the lead as Canada’s first CSR counselor for the extractive industry by H. Ednie

22 24 26

Is Canada ready for the Jameson cell? Xstrata Tech is set on making a bigger mark in potash processing with a smaller footprint by M. Eisner Business intelligence systems Mining the greatest value from information technology demands a well-trained worker with the proper tools by S. Dessureault A decade at the helm in a sea of change Cameco CEO Jerry Grandey offers his reflections and projections for uranium by P. Diekmeyer

4 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

18

COLUMNS

FEATURES 29

A nuclear renaissance? Global politics, market forces and an evolving supply chain defy an easy

34

answer for the future of uranium by D. Zlotnikov Feeding the food supply Potash producers ready themselves for long-term demand by D. Zlotnikov

38

Une petite renaissance? La politique mondiale ainsi que les forces du marché et une chaîne

39

Alimenter la chaîne alimentaire Les producteurs de potasse se tournent vers l’avenir

d’approvisionnement en évolution auront un impact sur la réponse

48 49 50 52 53 54 56 58 60 62 63 64 65 94

Supply Side by J. Baird Standards by C. Waldie and J. Whyte Eye on Business by A. Gabrielson and C. Clapham MAC Economic Commentary by P. Stothart HR Outlook by B. Kirby Student Life by A. Dorval Safety by H. Ednie Women in Mining by B. O’Hara Engineering Exchange by H. Ednie Innovation by D. Bryman First Nations by J.C. Reyes Parlons-en par H. Thibault Mining Lore by G. Woodford Voices from Industry by A. Mulhall

CIM NEWS 66 67

What engineers do best Peter Tiley honoured for hoisting innovations by R. Pillo CIM Journal — Beyond information Quarterly journal for peer-reviewed technical papers makes its debut this spring by H. Ednie

68

Future industry leaders receive Cameco scholarships Three uranium industry prospects from UBC claim their rewards by M. Eisner

69

29

71

On the road towards a brighter future A

progress

74

FEATURED MINE MINE EN VEDETTE 41

69 70

La section de Québec encourage la relève par J.M. Charbonneau Coupe de science par J. Dallaire Branching out Misssissauga chapter a work in

78

The long view for Prairie potash operations Mosaic continues with expansion plans by D. Zlotnikov

45

Perspectives à long terme pour les activités liées à la potasse dans les Prairies Mosaic poursuit la mise en œuvre de ses plans d’expansion

by K. Shaw

discussion with CIM Distinguished Lecturer Engin Özberk by R. Pillo Reaching higher CIM activity earns professional development credits by H. Ednie and M. Kerawala Continuer d’apprendre au travail Obtenir des crédits pour perfectionnement professionnel en participant aux activités de l’ICM

HISTORY

41

83 86

Porphyry deposits (Part 4) by R.J. Cathro The beginnings of mineral processing research in Canada (Part 3) by F. Habashi

TECHNICAL ABSTRACTS 90

Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly

IN EVERY ISSUE 6 8 10 70 73 93

Editor’s message President’s notes / Mot du président Letters Welcoming new members Calendar Professional directory

March/April 2010 | 5

editor’s letter “Teaching is the highest form of understanding.” ~ Aristotle have to admit to having a bit of a soft spot for potash. Sounds peculiar, I know, but one of the very first assignments I undertook when I joined CIM Magazine almost two-and-a-half years ago was writing a profile of Potash Corporation’s Picadilly operation in New Brunswick. A virtual neophyte to the world of mining, I admit that I was quite surprised to discover that this potasium-rich material offers so much promise for the world’s food supply. Like so many others in the general public, before joining CIM, my primary source of information about mining was the media, which doesn’t always do the best job at giving a full or balanced portrayal of our industry. However, I do not think that this always reflects a bias on their part, but rather speaks to the complexity of the issues and to the fact that each commodity that we extract has its unique characteristics and challenges. Part of what we need to do, as an industry, is to educate ourselves and others about the benefits that mining brings to society. Understanding that our industry is vast — to put it mildly — and that few can be experts in everything, one of our primary objectives at CIM Magazine is to bring you the latest information, innovations and discourse about the issues that impact our industry. In this edition, we present a special focus on potash and uranium: two commodities that offer great promise on the sustainability front. Uranium — which has long been the industry “poster child” for political sensitivity — is now garnering great interest as an alternative energy source in supporting efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In our two feature articles, industry representatives, analysts and academics offer their views on the short- and long-term prospects for these two high-profile commodities. Also, read about The Mosaic Company’s expansion plans in Saskatchewan, as the world’s largest potash mine near Esterhazy readies itself to reach new recordsetting production levels. Our Upfront Q&A offers a candid and informative conversation with Jerry Grandey, president and CEO of Cameco Corporation. The people who power our industry are, by and large, high achievers when it comes to their thirst for knowledge and the pursuit of excellence — both in their careers and as good global citizens. In this issue, we provide an overview of the various continuing professional development requirements and outline some of the many opportunities CIM offers its members for acquiring them. As a community for leading industry expertise, CIM is very proud of its contribution towards fostering and furthering knowledge about this colossal and often complex industry. We’d like you to help us in this pursuit by bringing us your feedback on the editorial as well as your input on the issues that you would like to see covered in future editions.

I

Keep the mail coming! Contact us at

editor@cim.org

Editor-in-chief Angela Hamlyn, editor@cim.org Section Editors News, Upfront and Features:

Ryan Bergen, rbergen@cim.org Columns, CIM News, Histories and Technical Section:

Andrea Nichiporuk, anichiporuk@cim.org Technical Editor Joan Tomiuk, jtomiuk@cim.org Publisher CIM Contributors Jon Baird, Louise Blais-Leroux, Jeff Borsato, Douglas Bryman, R.J. Cathro, Peter Caulfield, Jean-Marc Charbonneau, Caroline Clapham, Josée Dallaire, Sean Dessureault, Peter Diekmeyer, Alexandre Dorval, Heather Ednie, Marlene Eisner, Andrew Gabrielson, Fathi Habashi, Minaz Kerawala, Barbara Kirby, Al Mulhall, Brian O’Hara, Robbie Pillo, Juan Carlos Reyes, Kerry Shaw, Paul Stothart, Hélène Thibault, Craig Waldie, James Whyte, Gillian Woodford, Dan Zlotnikov Published 8 times a year by CIM 855 - 3400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West Montreal, QC, H3Z 3B8 Tel.: 514.939.2710; Fax: 514.939.2714 www.cim.org; Email: magazine@cim.org Subscriptions Included in CIM membership ($150.00); Non-members (Canada), $168.00/yr (GST included; Quebec residents add $12.60 PST; NB, NF and NS residents add $20.80 HST); U.S. and other countries, US$180.00/yr; 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 National Account Executives 905.886.6641 Joe Crofts jcrofts@dvtail.com ext. 310 Janet Jeffery jjeffery@dvtail.com ext. 329

This month’s cover Radon testing at the face in McArthur River Mine. Photo courtesy of Cameco Corporation Layout and design by Clò Communications. Copyright©2010. All rights reserved. ISSN 1718-4177. Publications Mail No. 09786. Postage paid at CPA Saint-Laurent, QC. Dépôt légal: Bibliothèque nationale du Québec. The Institute, as a body, is not responsible for statements made or opinions advanced either in articles or in any discussion appearing in its publications.

Angela Hamlyn Editor-in-chief Printed in Canada

6 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

Bucyrus Acquires TEREX Mining

We Are One!

From now on, Bucyrus can offer you a unique, comprehensive product line for surface and underground mining operations! To expand our extensive product portfolio, we have acquired the mining equipment business of TEREX Corporation. We now own and manufacture the world’s largest hydraulic mining shovels, powerful haulage trucks, advanced drilling machines, and efficient highwall mining systems. Every day, our united team of 10,000 Bucyrus experts all around the world and just around the corner from your operation strives to let you experience the “Bucyrus difference”. We guarantee you the best product quality and the best support in the industry, as we all share the same passion for technology, innovation, and continuous improvement – a passion for mining! For reliable, profitable, and safe mining solutions, you can now count on one single brand: the strongest brand in the mining industry – the Bucyrus brand!

www.bucyrus.com Reliability at work

president’s notes On your marks, get set, grow! Welcome to the March/April issue of CIM Magazine. This latest edition explores the Canadian potash and uranium industries – both global leaders and powerful economic drivers in Western Canada and Saskatchewan in particular. Though their applications are vastly different, both of these commodities have the potential to fuel global growth for years to come. This issue, with the voices and perspectives from key industry players, gives focus to the potential opportunities and challenges facing the two industries. Thanks to each one of you who voted on and approved the new CIM by-law. With legislation in the works for non-profit societies in Canada, this was something CIM had to deal with, especially given that our by-law had not been updated since 1997. Having the new one in place means we are ahead of the curve and well prepared for the changes to come. CIM’s Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions continues to provide technical input and advice to the Canadian Securities Administrators on proposed updates to National Instrument 43-101, the regulation that governs disclosure of mineral resource and reserve information for publicly listed companies in Canada. I`d like to take this opportunity to thank John Postle, on CIM`s behalf, for his diligent work as head of this committee for almost 20 years. John’s leadership has been instrumental in furthering this important work that benefits the entire industry. John recently announced that he will be

stepping down. His replacement will be announced at the annual meeting in May. Keep an eye out for the inaugural issue of CIM Journal. This new quarterly publication, developed to provide a place for CIM members to publish peer-reviewed papers in the fields of geology, mining, mineral processing and metallurgy, will arrive with the upcoming May issue of the magazine. You can find more details about the CIM Journal on page 67 of this issue. As I write this, Vancouver is still basking in the afterglow of a historic and triumphant Winter Olympic Games. For those of you who will be here for the annual CIM Conference and Exhibition 2010 in May, I can promise that we in Vancouver will put on a show for you as good as we did for the Olympics (though we can’t promise the drama of an overtime finish).

Michael J. Allan CIM President

À vos marques, prêts, prospérez! Bienvenue au numéro de mars-avril de CIM Magazine. Ce numéro explore les industries canadiennes de la potasse et de l’uranium – toutes deux des chefs de file mondiaux et de puissants moteurs économiques dans l’Ouest canadien, particulièrement en Saskatchewan. Bien que leurs applications soient très différentes, ces deux produits de base pourraient potentiellement alimenter la croissance mondiale pour les années à venir. Le présent numéro, qui présente les réflexions et les perspectives des principaux acteurs de l’industrie, met en relief les possibilités et les enjeux potentiels auxquels ces deux industries sont confrontées. Merci à tous ceux qui ont voté et approuvé le nouveau règlement de l’ICM. La législation sur les sociétés sans but lucratif au Canada étant en préparation, l’ICM devait faire avancer ce dossier, d’autant plus que notre règlement n’avait pas été mis à jour depuis 1997. Le fait d’avoir ce nouveau règlement en place nous permet de toujours avoir une longueur d’avance et d’être bien préparés pour les changements à venir. Le Comité permanent de l’ICM sur les définitions des réserves continue de fournir des données et des conseils techniques aux Autorités canadiennes en valeurs mobilières en ce qui a trait aux mises à jour proposées de la Norme canadienne 43-101, règlement qui régit l’information concernant les ressources et les réserves minérales des sociétés inscrites en bourse au Canada. Je profite de l’occasion pour remercier John Postle, au nom de l’ICM, pour l’excellent 8 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

travail qu’il a accompli à la tête de ce comité pendant près de 20 ans. Le leadership de John aura contribué à faire avancer cette initiative importante pour l’ensemble de l’industrie. John a récemment annoncé qu’il quittait ses fonctions. Le nom de son successeur sera annoncé à l’occasion de l’assemblée annuelle en mai. Surveillez la parution du premier numéro du CIM Journal. Cette nouvelle publication trimestrielle, dont le but est d'offrir aux membres de l'ICM une tribune dans laquelle ils peuvent publier des articles évalués par des pairs dans les domaines de la géologie, de l’exploitation minière, du traitement des minerais et de la métallurgie, sera offerte avec le prochain numéro de mai de CIM Magazine. Pour obtenir de plus amples détails concernant le CIM Journal, allez à la page 69 du présent numéro. Au moment où j’écris ces lignes, Vancouver continue de savourer les records historiques et les triomphes réalisés lors de ses Jeux olympiques d’hiver. À ceux d’entre vous qui viendront ici pour le Congrès et salon commercial de l’ICM 2010 en mai, je peux assurer que nous ici, à Vancouver, vous offrirons une exposition digne des Olympiques (bien qu’on ne puisse vous promettre de moments aussi forts qu’une victoire en prolongation). Michael J. Allan Président de l’ICM

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letters Making the grade

Hi Patricia, Thanks so much for your feedback – it is greatly appreciated. I am very pleased to hear that CIM Magazine enjoys a following at Northern College’s Haileybury School of Mines. I’m also happy to Educational institutions are equipping tomorrow’s mining industry workforce with a competitive edge hear that you enjoyed the article “Surveying the future of the indusT try.� I am sorry that you were disappointed that Haileybury was not contacted for the article. We certainly value the incredible work being done at the school; however, unfortunately time and space constraints often limit the number of sources we are able to interview for articles. However, as we are looking to increase the coverage of and input from our world-class Canadian mining schools, we will certainly keep Haileybury on our editorial radar as a source for a future article. Again, thank you for the constructive feedback and please keep it coming.

The faculty and students of Northern College’s Haileybury School of Mines have always enjoyed reading your magazine. We look forward to each addition and ensure that all participants have the opportunity to read the issues, as we have a copy for each faculty and one in our library. I enjoyed your article entitled “Surveying the future of the industry.� However, I was quite disappointed that the world-renowned Haileybury School of Mines was not included with the institutions represented. The Haileybury School of Mines has been graduating students since 1912 and we are approaching our 100th anniversary in only a short time. Attached to this email is a booklet that describes our program. Please note that ours is a program that offers the student flexibility. Students study at their own pace, on site or at distance. We believe this to be the only Mining Engineering Technician program of its kind in Canada. Sincerely, Patricia Hamilton, Coordinator Haileybury School of Mines Northern College

Photo courtesy of Erik Eberhardt, UBC Dept. of Geological Engineering

outlook 2010

Graduate students carrying out field work in the Chilean Andes

by Marlene Eisner

o ensure Canada’s continued leadership in the global mining industry, attracting and keeping students in mining-related educational programs is critical. It is the only way to ensure that we have a skilled workforce for the future. Fortunately, Canadian post-secondary institutions are rising to the challenge, developing new strategies and relationships to remain vital, responsive and competitive in the education marketplace. Over 50 schools across Canada offer courses, certificates, diplomas and degrees that cover every aspect of mining. From geology and mining engineering to mineral technology and environmental sciences, these mining-related educational options prepare students for a vast array of

career choices. To get a sense of what is offered and how institutions are working to stay abreast of evolving market demands and student aspirations, we asked faculty members at a selection of campuses to walk us through their programs and to share their views on their students’ prospects.

Reputation and returns

Sandra Barr, acting head of the Earth and Environmental Science Department at Nova Scotia’s Acadia University, reports that enrolment in the geology and environmental geoscience programs is up. She ascribes this to the institution’s academic standing. “Acadia has a reputation for being an innovative place and always ranks one or two in the

30 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 4, No. 8

Regards, Angela Hamlyn, Editor-in-chief

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10 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

news Mining industry comes together in Vancouver “Don’t become so big that you can’t continue to grow,” cautions Goldcorp’s Jeannes By Peter Caulfield audience. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it hit $1,500 an ounce in the next year or two.”

Photo courtesy of AME BC

Sister conference

Goldcorp’s CEO Charles Jeannes

Nearly 6,000 people gathered in Vancouver for the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia’s (AME BC) Mineral Exploration Roundup in January, according to conference chair Jason Weber. The annual technical conference, held January 18 to 21, attracts individuals and organizations involved in exploration and mining around the globe. Speakers at this year’s Roundup covered such topics as exploration, deposit geology, corporate social responsibility, Aboriginal and community relations, and financing trends. “There were more exhibitors than last year and lots of positive buzz,” said Weber. Reflecting that optimism, Charles Jeannes, president and CEO of Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc., addressed a lunchtime crowd on the theme of growth. For mining companies, “growth is the most important attribute for long-term success,” he said. Jeannes outlined three challenges to sustained growth: replacing reserves, finding new prospects and successfully addressing what he called “the problem” — balancing size and growth. “Don’t become so big that you can’t continue to grow,” warned

Jeannes. To avoid this, he explained, it is essential for mining companies to hold on to their high-performing projects and continually dispose of those projects that are not adding value. “The key is to manage your portfolio in such a way as to add value, not ounces,” Jeannes said. “Your ultimate goal should be to grow the value of the company and to increase its share price.” He explained the ongoing success of a mine depends on reserve replacement at a company’s existing mines. “It’s easier and cheaper than making a new discovery,” he said. Jeannes offered a checklist for mining success: explore the mine site for new deposits; invest in new exploration projects; invest in early-stage project generation; and acquire new projects that add value and fit your company’s strategy. Jeannes also commented briefly on Goldcorp’s own growing pains. Barrick Gold is trying to halt the company’s planned acquisition from New Gold of a 70 per cent stake in the El Morro copper-gold project in Chile, which Barrick is also trying to acquire. “I’m bullish on gold,” Jeannes said, in response to a question from the

The Vancouver Resource Investment Conference, which took place January 17 and 18, also enjoyed a strong turnout. Howard Fitch, president of event producer Cambridge House International Inc., said this year’s conference attracted 8,000 visitors, compared to 6,000 in 2009. The conference, which was held at a pair of downtown hotels, also saw a jump in exhibitors — to 260, up from 230 last year — despite being displaced from Canada Place because of preparations for the Olympic Games. CIM

Also at Roundup… The Annual Awards Dinner gala celebrated the 2009 recipients of the AME BC awards for their contributions to the British Columbia mineral exploration industry. The awards and their winners were: •

The H.H. “Spud” Huestis Award, for excellence in prospecting and mineral exploration — Shawn Ryan

•

The E.A. Scholz Award, for excellence in mine development — Stephen Quin and Bruce McLeod

•

The Murray Pezim Award, for perseverance and success in financing mineral exploration — Channing Buckland

•

The Hugo Dummett Diamond Award, for excellence in diamond exploration and development — Barbara Scott Smith

•

The Colin Spence Award, for global exploration excellence — Mark Rebagliati

•

The Robert R. Hedley Award, for excellence in social and environmental responsibility — Judi L’Orsa

March/April 2010 | 11

news Conference Board champions oil sands development Consumers must shoulder their share of the carbon load By Peter Diekmeyer Always in the crosshairs of environmental pressure groups, Canada’s oil sands have, in the lead-up to and aftermath of the Copenhagen Summit, been portrayed as the sole cause of Canada’s ecological ills. However, a recent report by the Conference Board of Canada debunks this myth. The authors of the report argue that oil sands producers are neither exclusively to blame for Canada’s poor environmental performance nor solely responsible for improving it. Spreading this message, they say, should be part of a successful strategy for developing the oil sands in the future. The report, “Getting the Balance Right: The Oil Sands, Exporting and Sustainability,” was drafted for the Conference Board’s International Trade and Investment Centre, which focuses on the interplay of public policy, business strategy and global economic dynamics. Its authors, Len Coad and Glen Hodgson, contend that any comprehensive plan to address climate change needs to strike a balance

between reducing the carbon footprint of energy producers and that of consumers. “The oil sands produce about five per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,” they write. “In comparison, road transportation, primarily due to consumer demand for light-duty trucks, including SUVs, accounted for approximately 18 per cent of total Canadian GHG emissions in 2007.” The solution, they argue, is for both industry and drivers to do their share to keep pollution numbers in line. Coad and Hodgson also challenge those who say that oil sands production should be curbed. “Oil sands expansion is being driven by end demand for oil products in the United States, Canada and elsewhere. That demand will be met from someplace. Given accelerated efforts [by producers] to reduce environmental impacts (including GHG emissions), why not the oil sands?” The country is politically secure, the resource has very little exploration risk and oil

sands production, which generated $37.8 billion in revenues during 2008, is slated to rise significantly during coming years, they point out. Coad and Hodgson acknowledge that oil sands development has generated numerous environmental concerns related to land and water use and air quality. But the industry’s Achilles heel, they say, is the related GHG production, which is expected to skyrocket during the coming years as the oil sands activity steps up in response to projected demand increases. Greenpeace has labelled the oil sands as “one of the dirtiest and most damaging ways to get oil out of the ground ever devised.” Coad and Hodgson counter that oil sands production does not lead to that much more pollution than conventional oil. “On a wells-to-wheels basis (i.e. through the full chain of production, shipping, refining and consumption), GHGs per barrel from oil sands crude are between seven and 21 per cent higher than the lowest emitting crude oil currently used in the United States,” they say. The oil sands can and must be more efficient, assert the authors. The extent to which they succeed will depend on the level of investment in cleaner technology from both the producers and the government. The same is true for the country as a whole. The scrutiny directed at the oil patch, they insist, should not draw attention away from the impact that efficiency measures in vehicles — the largest contributors to GHG emissions — and behaviour change among drivers can have on the country’s environmental footprint. They point out that Canadians, on a per capita basis, rank as the world’s third-worst polluters, each producing an average of 23 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions annually. CIM www.conferenceboard.ca

12 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

RRedaHPS edaHPS HORIZONTAL MULTISTAGE SURFACE PUMP

A call to action Ivanhoe’s Robert Friedland rallies AME BC Roundup crowd

*Mark of Schlumberger. © 2010 Schlumberger. 10-AL-0022

Photo courtesy of AME BC

By Peter Caulfield

Robert Friedland, executive chairman of Ivanhoe Mines

“Get out there, do your job and go find minerals to feed China.” That was the message Robert Friedland had for a large and enthusiastic lunchtime audience in Vancouver on the final day of the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia’s (AME BC) Mineral Exploration Roundup in January. Friedland, founder and executive chairman of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., has certainly taken up his own gauntlet. In October 2009, Ivanhoe and Rio Tinto signed a long-term investment agreement with Mongolia for the construction and operation of the Oyu Tolgoi mining complex. Oyu Tolgoi is the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold project. It contains an estimated 79 billion pounds of copper and 45 million ounces of gold in measured, indicated and inferred resources. Initial indications are that the current resources will support planned open pit and underground mining for 60 years. Ivanhoe has announced a 2010 construction budget of US$758 million, which will be used to begin fullscale construction of the mining complex. Introduced by Jean Chrétien, the former Canadian prime minister, as “one of the greatest men in the mining industry,” Friedland returned the

favour, recognizing the foresight Chrétien showed in nurturing SinoCanadian relations. “Jean Chrétien is a true visionary,” Friedland said. “Years ago, he saw the emerging role of China, that one day everything would depend on that country.” Ivanhoe and Mongolia are wellpositioned to support that growth, he added. “Mongolia is like Canada. It’s big and cold and it’s full of resources that it exports to the country to the south of it, which in Mongolia’s case is China.”And China represents the future for mining, said Friedland. “The Chinese economy is booming,” he said. “By 2020 it will pass Japan as the second largest in the world. It’s resuming its former status as a global powerhouse.” Friedland also touted the prospects for copper: “Between 2007 and 2030, the world will consume 620 million tonnes of copper.” Much of the demand will come from car manufacturers. “China was number one in car sales in 2009,” he said. “The future of automobiles is the hybrid/electric car and there is between 150 and 250 lbs of copper in them. Lithium batteries need a lot of copper, too.” To support that demand, Friedland said the world needs a new generation of copper mines and, of course, the people to develop them. CIM

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March/April 2010 | 13

news The Centre for Excellence in CSR A web-based “one-stop shop” for expertise By Heather Ednie

14 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

CIM executive director, Jean Vavrek (left) and former Minister of International Trade Stockwell Day at a press conference announcing the launch of the Centre for Excellence in CSR.

Photo courtesy of DFAIT

The Centre for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was officially launched this winter. Part of the Canadian government’s action plan on CSR — Building the Canadian Advantage — announced last March, this initially web-based resource will provide access to relevant CSR-related information, tools and networks worldwide. “This new website will create a onestop shop with the latest information on corporate social responsibility rules, laws and best practices, as well as timely and practical information and advice on foreign countries, local networks and relevant experiences of Canadian companies, civil society and other stakeholders operating abroad,” said Stockwell Day, former Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway (currently president, Treasury Board). The Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) is spearheading the development of the centre, with the support of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. A multi-stakeholder interim executive committee (IEC) has been established, ensuring that a broad spectrum of perspectives are included and pave the way for the centre’s development. Although located within the CIM website, the centre is “owned” by all stakeholders. “As a community for leading industry expertise, CIM works with its members to continuously improve the extractive sector’s performance, so the development of the Centre for Excellence in CSR is one more logical step for us,” said CIM executive director Jean Vavrek. “We have played leading roles in the fostering of knowledge sharing and networking to raise the bar for our industry — be it in the creation of the CIM resource/reserve definitions and guidelines, community

engagement or safety standards. Through our publications and conferences, we have maintained a constant focus on CSR-related issues. Now, with our work on the creation of the centre, we’re able to really dig in to advance the accumulation of CSR developments with all stakeholders at the table.” A great deal of strategic development work will be carried out in the coming year to position the Centre for Excellence in CSR as the premier resource on CSR for Canadian extractive companies, the government, civil society organizations and communities. The centre will address the need for the various interested parties to work together to build a stronger CSR platform. “As a group of civil society organizations that were involved in the CSR Roundtables, we hope that the Centre for Excellence will provide a space for ongoing discussion between members of government, industry and civil society on issues related to the extractive sector, human rights and corporate accountability, and contribute to building a consensus around the implementation of best practices,” said Ian Thomson of KAIROS and chair of the Canadian Network on Corporate

Accountability, and member of the Centre for Excellence IEC. Over time, the expectation is that the Centre will enable greater understanding of effective partnering, relationships and tools available for the extractive industry and various stakeholders alike, beyond what can be achieved without collaboration. “The centre is a dynamic organism of diverse opinions, interests, experience and expertise that collectively has the ability to increase the impact of socially responsible mining practices within the Canadian mining industry,” said Lee Nehring, vicepresident, sustainability and human resources, Xstrata Nickel, and member of the centre’s IEC. “The focus on the core elements of sustainability — engagement, performance, transparency and accountability — is what drives my participation in the development of the centre. I look forward to working with an ever-expanding network of individuals and sectors to make this centre useful and relevant to Canadian mining companies and the communities.” CIM The Centre for Excellence in CSR can be accessed at www.cim.org/csr

news The Finnish advantage A promising balance of raw minerals and technological refinement By Jeff Borsato

Photo: Lehtikuva Oy/Prime Minister’s Office of Finland

Mauri Pekkarinen, Finland’s minister of economic affairs

Finland, with a well established industrial infrastructure and a wealth of mineral resources, is a land of opportunity for Canadian mining expertise and capital, Mauri Pekkarinen, the country’s minister of economic affairs, told trade officials and industry leaders gathered in Toronto in February. Pekkarinen was among a series of Finnish and Canadian business and policy experts who spoke at the “Canada-Finland Mining Opportunities Seminar,” a platform for discussions on awareness and development in mineral exploration and mining in the country of 5.2 million people. “There is a very positive attitude towards mineral exploration and development in Finland because so much of the land targeted for development is privately owned and in sparsely populated area,” explained Pekkarinen. He stressed that “a strong infrastructure, an educated and highly skilled workforce, and government policy focused on development and exploration of mineral wealth make Finland a mining-friendly nation.”

Because of the great scope and size of venture capital in Canada compared to Finland, Pekkarinen emphasized that Finnish partnerships with Canadian industry are an important part of mineral development. He also gave a nod to his nation’s burgeoning research and development industry. “As a global leader in industrial technology, there exist wonderful opportunities for Canadian companies to not only source new mine sites but also develop relationships with the very companies that contribute to their industrial processes.” Investment in R&D was a key theme of the seminar. Dr. Pekka Nurmi, research director of the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), highlighted some of the approximately 20 R&D projects Finland, along with other EU members, are actively involved in to provide expertise and technical information to both industry and policy-makers. With its Fennoscandian Shield among the most promising mineral regions in Europe, Finland is hardly

unknown to Canadian mining interests. Central Finland hosts Inmet Mining’s Pyhäsalmi project, an underground copper and zinc mine, and Agnico-Eagle’s Kittila open pit and underground operation in the country’s North is at the heart of one of the largest known gold deposits in Europe. Vancouver’s Cooper Minerals, recent acquisition of Finland’s Namura Finland Oy and all of its 34 mineral claim reservations, alongside a 50 per cent share in the Paukkajanvaara uranium project located in the Joensuu magistrate of eastern Finland, are just a few of the projects Canadian mining outfits have pursued in the country. PDAC president Jon Baird, outlined the current projects undertaken by various mining companies in Finland and stressed the importance of gatherings such as this, sponsored by Miller Thomson, the Embassy of Finland and Finnish business association Finpro, to foster ties and mutual understanding of each nation’s approach to business. CIM

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news BC to ban mining in Flathead Valley Mining industry surprised and disappointed By Peter Caulfield

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and safeguards on its use,” Brommeland said. Ross Stanfield, president of the East Kootenay Chamber of Mines in southeastern BC, is familiar with the Flathead Valley. He disputes environmentalists’ description of the area as “pristine wilderness.” “It’s beautiful, but it’s certainly not pristine,” Stanfield said. “There’s a long history of mining exploration and forestry going back to around 1900.” The ruling will affect all British Columbians because of the loss of billions of dollars in potential resource values, hundreds of potential jobs and millions of dollars in potential tax revenues. But Jamie Lawson, a University of Victoria political science professor who studies BC politics, suggested the news from the throne speech was not all bad for mineral development. He noted another part of the speech, citing the recent Supreme Court decision critical of the environmental assessment process applied to the Red Chris Mine, promises streamlined environmental reporting. According to the speech, “the government will work with other provinces and the federal government to establish one process for one project.” Lawson explained, “environmentalists will be skeptical because they will lose their procedural capacity to slow projects down. The Flathead Valley decision can be seen as a way to anticipate and offset their opposition by giving them a high-profile victory that will get lots of attention in the press.” CIM Photo copyright: Garth Lenz - iLCP

The British Columbia government recently announced plans to ban all mining and oil and gas development in the Flathead Valley in the southeastern corner of the province. The move, which follows years of protests and international campaigning by environmentalists, was announced during the February throne speech. There are two major projects affected by the ban: Max Resource Corp.’s Crowsnest gold project and Cline Mining Corporation’s Lodgepole coal project. Reaction to the announcement was swift. John Bergenske, executive director of environmentalist group Wildsight, praised the government’s initiative. “It’s a giant step in the right direction,” he said. For Max Resource, the news led to a loss of one-third of its market capitalization. “We are surprised and disap- The Flathead Valley in the southeastern corner of British Columbia pointed by the government’s action, given our outstanding explo- was “extremely disappointed” with ration results at Crowsnest in 2009 the announcement. “The Flathead said Stuart Rogers, president of Max Valley is located in a region that has an existing land-use plan that was Resources.” Despite his disappointment, Rogers created by the provincial governwas philosophical. “Better to find out ment with extensive local input,” now than in three years, when we she said. “The decision to ban minwould be closer to a mine,” he said. ing in the Flathead Valley disregards “There’s really nothing we can do this plan and planning process except ask for adequate compensation. completely.” Brommeland said politically popuBesides, we have three properties in lar decisions are not always good Nevada and they like us there.” Cline Mining’s vice-president and policy. “For example, the provincial CFO Ernest Cleave said the company government recently placed restric“is reviewing the ramifications of the tions on uranium and thorium exploration, mining and development in throne speech and our alternatives.” Association for Mineral Explor- BC, despite Canada being one of the ation British Columbia chair Lena world’s largest producers of uranium Brommeland said the association with the most stringent regulations

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upfront EDUCATION/OUTREAC H by Heather Ednie

The dream team Photo courtesy of Xstrata Nickel

Xstrata Nickel’s young leaders learn from Canada’s most powerful women classroom sessions and peer networking opportunities delivered by top business consultants, held in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The mentors share their wisdom with the next generation of Canadian women leaders. “It’s an opportunity for our award winners to keep in touch with the next generation, helping them to better understand the younger women’s needs, and apply that understanding in their own organization,” explains Jeffery.

Teaming up with the Top 100 In 2007, Xstrata Nickel worked with the WXN to develop a program to roll out to Xstrata Nickel sites in Canada. They outlined application criteria designed to indentify women in mid-level positions or with emerging talent who possess Front row, left to right: Janice Fernandes, Ian Pearce, Heather Sullivan, Rebecca Ng. Back row, leadership traits, the potential to grow, and who are left to right: Sharon Kelly, Danielle Kowal, Dominique Dionne, Anna Murray, Christine Petch, Claire Vivier making a difference in their team. Essentially, the company is looking for women employees that, if oday and into the near future, the demand for tal- lost to Xstrata Nickel, would pose a threat to future revenue ented young leaders in the mining industry far and the company’s talent bench. In the first year, seven outstrips supply. The imbalance is even more severe Xstrata Nickel employees applied, with the support of a for prospective leaders who happen to be women. team led by Dionne, and all were accepted. Mentorship programs are an excellent way to develop The next year, 17 candidates were admitted into the WXN human resources, but for women in mining, access to program, including four women from sites outside Canada. female role models is often hard to come by. Executives at “Everyone wanted to be part of the program, and we wanted Xstrata Nickel recognized the obvious problem of develop- all to benefit,” Dionne explains. “The WXN were worried at first [about reaching beyond the borders], but working ing a diverse workforce internally, so they reached out. Leading the newly formed company created by the acqui- together, we found a way, such as maximizing possibilities sition of Falconbridge by Xstrata plc in 2007, Xstrata Nickel with mentors who travelled and coaching from a distance.” CEO Ian Pearce sat down with Dominique Dionne, vice-president, corporate affairs, to identify programs to foster diversity, including the professional development of promising Jean Milliken was a 2008 participant in the WXNWisdom II program, while human women employees. In the process, they disresources manager for Xstrata Nickel’s Kabanga Project in Tanzania. Her mentor covered the Women’s Executive Network was Shelly Jamieson, Secretary of the Cabinet, Government of Ontario. Both (WXN). women report the program was an incredible learning experience. “We launched the Canada’s Most Powerful Milliken says the WXN program gave her the opportunity to see and experience Women awards in 2003,” explains WXN presthings she would otherwise only read about. “As I keep on communicating with ident Pamela Jeffery, “but it bugged me that Shelly and learning more about the things she has accomplished, it gives me we were handing out awards to an amazing more confidence each day and a greater belief in my capabilities,” she explains. group of women, but didn’t have a method to “The positive impact it has had on me has also benefited those around me back take what they’ve learned and impart it.” So home in Africa, as I have been sharing this experience with them.” they created the mentorship initiative, Jamieson is equally enthusiastic. Having had mentors throughout her career, as WXNWisdom II. a mentor she was astounded by how much she gained from the relationship. She The program matches between 100 and says the experience with Milliken was uniquely educational. “Her insights into the 150 protégées with mentors each year. They cultural aspects of business and government in Tanzania compared to Canada meet once every three months over a one-year have been fascinating.” period. In addition, protégées attend four

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upfront EDUCATION/OUTREAC H

“We’ve had 31 women go through the program so far,â€? says Dionne. “We’re developing a nice roster of female role models at Xstrata Nickel — these protĂŠgĂŠes come back ready to make a difference.â€?

Leading by example

at the world today and I see no reason that there shouldn’t be 50/50 representation in our industry — it should not be gender-biased at all,� Pearce says. “There are barriers — paradigms that exist in peoples’ minds, that need to break down. My job as CEO is to foster an environment, to open doors, unlock paradigms, so people can go further than they had ever thought possible.� CIM

The WXNWisdom II program is open to women across the country and throughout industries. There is a $1,600 protĂŠgĂŠe fee, plus the cost of travel to the four classroom ses- www.xstrata.com sions throughout the year. For their employees, Xstrata Nickel pays the fees and covers the travel costs, while enabling the women to spend time on the program. “To make a program like this work, you need support from senior management,â€? Dionne adds. Support it has. Pearce now sits on the WXN selection committee for the Top 100 awards, and says his involvement with the organization and attending their events has been inspirational. “There is fantastic talent in this country — it’s a matter of recognizing this talent and putting it on boards,â€? he says. “It’s something I’m very passionate about. It’s of utter importance that we get the message out there to women that they have an equal place in our workforce.â€? Xstrata Nickel’s efforts are noted. Jeffery says the company is an outstanding organization. “They place high value on providing training and development +GLC ?LB NPMACQQ P?U K?RCPG?JQ KMPC CDj AGCLRJW opportunities to their employees. They stand out right across the economy for 2FC +GLGLE 'LBSQRPW their commitment to mentoring.â€? "CK?LBQ &C?TWUCGEFRQ

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Breaking boundaries Having had such success with the WXN mentoring program, Xstrata Nickel aims to create a more comprehensive program for its female employees working internationally as well as for young male employees. “We want a program that is international in the true sense of the word,� Dionne explains. “It won’t be tapping into the Top 100 group, but instead we’ll identify women in the host countries to our operations that are making a difference and match them with women at our projects. We’re currently at the very beginning of piloting the program at our Tanzania operation.� With Pearce leading the way, Xstrata Nickel promises to continue to develop the leadership skills of a diverse team. “I look

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March/April 2010 | 19

upfront SUSTAINABILIT Y by Heather Ednie

Setting the CSR agenda CSR counsellor to assist companies meet performance standards o ensure Canada’s extractive industry meets corporate social responsibility (CSR) guidelines at all of its international operations, this spring the federal government will formally open the Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor’s office. The counsellor, one of the “four pillars” of the government’s CSR strategy, will work with those already devoted Marketa Evans, Canada’s first Office of to capacity building in host the Extractive Sector CSR Counsellor. countries, as well as promote key international CSR performance guidelines and the Centre for Excellence in CSR, one of the other of the four pillars that is being spearheaded by CIM. Work has already begun to shape a public consultation process that will drive the development of the rules of procedure which, in turn, will establish the review process of the counsellor’s office. Marketa Evans, appointed the first CSR counsellor in late October 2009, is charged with bringing the idea to action. She will communicate the federal government’s expectations regarding corporate conduct of Canadian extractive companies (including mining, oil and gas) abroad, assist companies and stakeholders in the resolution of disputes, and assist with the implementation of CSR performance standards. “The counsellor position is a great opportunity to create a better dialogue between industry and NGOs [non-governmental organizations],” says Evans. Evans is well-suited to the challenge. As the first executive director of the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, her research and teaching focused on the role of non-state actors in international development and on global corporate citizenship. She helped establish the Devonshire Initiative, a forum for partnership and dialogue between NGOs and the mining sector. Previously, Evans was a corporate banker with a major Canadian financial institution, as well as director of strategic partnerships at Plan International Canada, a world-leading development NGO. She also holds a PhD in political science from the University of Toronto. “My experience has helped me build a relationship between the private sector and the international development community,” says Evans. “The power of such a

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relationship can be harnessed for poverty alleviation. Thanks to my work in the banking community, I have a very strong understanding of the private sector perspective, and I can see how the private sector can fit within international development efforts. I like to think I have realistic expectations and understand what drives company motives. For instance, there’s nothing wrong with having a profit motive in what we do — in fact, it makes programs more durable.”

Laying the foundation A fundamental aim of the government’s overall CSR strategy is to clarify its expectations regarding performance standards. The counsellor will use these to evaluate company performance. As a framework, the government has identified four existing standards it expects Canadian companies to meet: • the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards • the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights • the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises • and the Global Reporting Initiative. The counsellor is appointed through an order in council, an administrative decision made by the federal cabinet and approved by the Governor General. Serving a threeyear renewable term, the counsellor reports to the Minister of Trade. The office enjoys close links with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian International Development Agency — the three sponsoring agencies of the government’s CSR strategy.

Shaping the pillar The order in council lays out the elements of the counsellor’s mandate, providing a description of a CSR review process for Canadian extractive companies operating outside Canada. A review would be initiated by a formal request from an individual, group or community that reasonably believes it is being, or may be, adversely affected by the activities of a Canadian company, and that these activities are inconsistent with CSR performance guidelines. As well, the counsellor may conduct a review at the request of a company that believes it is the subject of unfounded allegations. The order in council has identified five stages for the review process: initial assessment, informal mediation, fact-finding, access to formal mediation, and reporting. “The detailed process and rules of procedure need to be fleshed out before the reviews can commence,” Evans

upfront SUSTAINABILIT Y

explains. “That will be our key task of the coming months, through an extensive consultative process.” The key goal of the review will be to assist companies in meeting established guidelines and to help bring any out-ofcompliance companies into the fold. Public reports will be issued in all cases. “The process will be cemented in the practice of transparency and open communication,” Evans notes.

Tracking performance Collaboration and cooperation will be the backbone of the process. “We need all parties to agree to come to the table for successful improvements to be made,” explains Evans. “It is meant to be a non-judicial mechanism, based on the hypothesis that the reputational impact of such reports is very significant for industry. If a company refuses to participate, you can expect investors, bankers and other stakeholders to start asking some hard questions.” The counsellor will submit an annual report on the office’s activities to Parliament, at which time it will be published and made public. Evans expects the office’s review processes and resulting reports will be useful tools to help Canadian extractive companies meet CSR guidelines. In her experience, Evans says companies want to be part of the solution, so the office will provide the setting to bring all stakeholders together to find mutually acceptable solutions. “If the rules of procedure are properly constructed, [the companies] will come into the process with tremendous incentives to participate,” says Evans. The office, she adds, will take lessons from specific cases that can help guide other operators. A number of means of communicating these lessons are expected to evolve, including disseminating them through the Centre for Excellence in CSR. Evans notes her mandate does not include the power to impose sanctions but she believes companies found to be non-compliant will not risk breaching financial covenants or losing their social licence to operate. Exposure to such risks will incent them to voluntarily work with the counsellor to bring operations within the approved guidelines.

“We are absolutely encouraging public involvement in the consultation process,” Evans adds. “The more voices at the table, the better a solution we will build.” CIM For more information about the Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor, please contact: www.international.gc.ca/csr-counsellor; or www.international.gc.ca/conseiller-rse or email: csr-counsellor@international.gc.ca; conseiller-rse@international.gc.ca.

The Power of Collaboration The Mining Industry Human Resources Council

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Meet us at the CIM Conference Booth 905

March/April 2010 | 21

upfront PROCESSING by Marlene Eisner

Is Canada ready for the Jameson cell? Rethinking potash processing for a more efficient system The central feature of the cell is its downcomer. Feed slurry, channeled into the downcomer through a narrowed lens, forms a jet of liquid that shears and entrains air. The removal of air creates a vacuum within the downcomer. Once the separation tank is full enough to cover the base of the downcomer, slurry is pushed up the downcomer. The intense mixing of the jet with the slurry breaks the entrained air into fine bubbles. The intensity of the system encourages the mineral particles to collide and attach to the bubbles before they exit into the separation tank and float to the top. The design also does not rely on the mechanical agitation system that conventional flotation equipment does. The only moving part is the feed pump, which reduces energy, maintenance and labour costs.

Image courtesy of Xstrata Technology

Solid results with a smaller footprint

Fine air bubbles and mineral particles collide and attach during the high-intensity mixing inside the Jameson cell downcomer.

hile the Jameson cell, a high-efficiency flotation system, is not a new processing technology in the world’s mining and industrial mineral industries, it is just now beginning to make inroads in Canada. Xstrata Technology, which markets the Jameson cell, recently opened an office in Vancouver that supports projects throughout the Americas. Pilot campaigns at potash operations in Saskatchewan are among them. Developed in the late 1980s by Professor Graeme Jameson and his students at the University of Newcastle in Australia, and first tested onsite at Mount Isa Mines in Queensland, the Jameson cell has since been installed at operations around the world for the processing of base metals, coal and industrial minerals, including potash.

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Currently, there are 288 Jameson cells installed worldwide, according to Xstrata Technology. Almost half are used in the recovery of coal fines; a third are used for base metal flotation. Two potash producers, Cleveland Potash Ltd. and Israel Chemicals Ltd., have had the technology installed since the 1990s. Prior to that, Cleveland Potash, the operator of the United Kingdom’s only potash mine — which now produces more than a million tons of potash for fertilizers each year — employed only conventional flotation equipment called Denver cells. These consisted of cells that used agitators requiring motors. In 1993, the company performed trials using a pilot-scale Jameson cell. Following onsite test work, the company installed a single Jameson cell with six downcomers, which replaced sixteen 2.8 m3 Denver No. 30 DR flotation cells. A paper written by Hall, of the University of Nottingham, and Harrison, of MIM Process Technologies (now Xstrata Technology) in 1995, found that the single Jameson cell that replaced Cleveland Potash’s entire original slimes flotation circuit reduced the company’s equipment footprint by 80 per cent. As well, the authors listed a number of economic attributes of the cell, including a simplified circuit layout, compact equipment size, a reduced number of cells per flotation stage, reduced operating manpower requirements, greater operator understanding and rapid system stabilization after startup. Results of trials conducted by Cleveland Potash engineers Burns, Coates and Barnard (1994) were also positive. The authors noted that “immediately after commissioning, very little manipulation of metallurgical parameters — such as air flow, frother addition, depth of froth bed, levels of slurry in the downcomer and froth washing — was

upfront PROCESSING

required to establish optimum performance from the cell. Most of the test work was centred on the development of accurate sampling methods and continuous 24-hour operation with minimum supervision.” They concluded that the “Jameson cell showed net operational savings that were achieved by the additional site revenue gained from increased potash recovery and by the 80 per cent cost savings in both the ongoing maintenance and the energy drawn. A 76.6 per cent savings in energy was also realized due to the hydrodynamics of the Jameson cell downcomer, compared to the conventional cells with agitator motors of the original slimes circuit.”

starting to see a lot of interest and there currently seems to be an open minded attitude in the potash industry, where engineers are keen on improving plants’ performances using innovative technologies like the Jameson cell.” CIM Burns, M. J., Coates, G., & Barnard, L. (1994). Use of Jameson cell flotation technology at Cleveland Potash, Ltd., North Yorkshire, England. Transactions of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. 162-167. Hall, S. & Harrison, M. (1995). New Jameson cell flotation of industrial minerals. Industrial Minerals. 61-67.

Welcome.

Still running smoothly “The cells at Cleveland Potash have been working very well for over 15 years with minimal maintenance,” says Le Huynh, senior process engineer with Xstrata Technology, from Brisbane, Australia. The Jameson cell is an efficient, easyto-maintain system, says Huynh. “It’s the high intensity that makes it more efficient because you are able to recover something in seconds rather than in minutes,” she explains. “In potash, we look at the cleaning duties. In a lot of plants at the moment there is a cleaning and a recleaning set, two stages to get to the product with the grade they are targeting. If you are able to do that in one stage [with the Jameson cell], that’s more efficient.” Because one Jameson cell replaces a number of older-style cells, less maintenance and repairs are required. Canada has been slow to adopt the Jameson cell, but Xstrata Technology is making inroads. Josh Rubenstein, a senior processing engineer in the recently opened BC office, says that besides the test work they have been doing with the Saskatchewan potash company, they have had “expressions of interest from other companies.” “The message to Canadian potash companies is to open their minds to the technology,” says Huynh. “Generally, in mining people tend to be conservative but when they latch on to new technology they say ‘why didn’t we do it before?’ Once one company does it, it becomes the standard. As for Canada, we’re

Sam Walsh, Chief Executive Officer of Rio Tinto Iron Ore, is pleased to announce that Zoë A. Yujnovich has been appointed as the new President and CEO of the Iron Ore Company of Canada, effective 1 February 2010. Ms. Yujnovich has been with the Rio Tinto group since 1996. She has had a variety of roles, including engineering, business analysis, procurement, marketing and plant operations. Most recently, Ms. Yujnovich was the President of Rio Tinto Brazil. Ms. Yujnovich holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and a Masters of Business Administration. The Iron Ore Company of Canada welcomes Ms. Yujnovich to her new role and extends a warm welcome to her husband and three children as they settle into Canada.

March/April 2010 | 23

upfront TECHNOLOGY by Sean Dessureault

Business intelligence systems The next generation of innovation ver the past decade, technology vendors have either developed or consolidated to offer a full suite of information-based business intelligence solutions for every mining process, from production drill monitoring, fleet management systems through to integrated mine planning/performance management solutions. The mining industry is now immersed in the information age, drowning in the vast amount of data, yet starving for practical information. The advantage a specific vendor’s technology provides is often dwarfed by the enormous impact implementation and business process change plays in the outcome. Such changes can almost never be delivered by the vendors themselves. Any claims that complex business intelligence technology — any technology that uses information for making improved decisions — is easy to implement and use to its fullest extent are false. To effectively use these technologies and the data they generate requires education in information technology, systems engineering, business process redesign, and information management, which presents a distinct problem: none of these areas are part of a typical mining engineer or manager’s education.

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The mine of Babel In the pit, equipment monitoring technology has several benefits, primarily as an aid to the equipment operator. For example, a dozer operator using GPS-based dozer monitoring can have a virtual section and plane view of his machine and the position of the blade with respect to the ground, so that he can cut or fill to very exact specifications. The benefits of such operator-aids are relatively easy to achieve. This technology can also generate performance information, such as the productivity of the operator, delays or equipment health information. Taking a step back to make full use of this range of data requires much more effort, due, in part, to the challenge of integrating the databases from the range of these technologies because mines typically use products from a variety of vendors, which rarely truly cooperate. The industry must adopt the next order of innovation, a vendor-independent business intelligence system, to convert this data into useful and productive information that can help guide decision making.

Building a warehouse of data In practice, mine IT support staff do not have the skill set to develop nor maintain a business intelligence system. That role belongs to a business intelligence analyst who not only mines the data, but analyzes the findings, 24 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

allowing decision-makers to devise an operational response. Most vendor products are delivered with webbased reporting tools; however, those reports or dashboards are for keeping score or driving behaviour, not for analysis or problem solving, especially not in the multi-vendor patchwork found in most contemporary operations. The development of a data warehouse is an essential first step in extracting greater value from the expanse of data. A data warehouse is a subject-oriented, integrated, time-varying, non-volatile collection of data, used primarily in organizational decision making. In laymen’s terms it is a database of databases, linked in a manner that allows a business intelligence analyst to view data from a multitude of systems in a single format; in the case of the dozer, information relating to operating cost, maintenance records and productivity information often located in separate information systems. Traditionally, if mine planners want to determine dozing costs per unit of productive work, they would likely have to consolidate data from all those sources into a spreadsheet. A data warehouse can process a substantial amount of data in less time, collect data from

Adopting business intelligence technology – a checklist of the essentials By Sean Dessureault

EDUCATION At a minimum, all engineering and maintenance planning staff, performance measurement personnel and any employee with proven aptitude who is in a position dealing with data, reporting and analysis should be trained in the fundamentals of databases. The core curriculum: • Metadata — what it is, how to read it; how to add your own. • Entity-relationship (ER) diagrams — these diagrams represent how each table in the database is related to other tables. • The differences between views, tables, forms, queries, and reports. • How to access the databases through querying tools, relational database management systems (RDBMS), and spreadsheets. • How to manipulate datasets through Excel pivot tables.

upfront TECHNOLOGY

multiple sources, adapt information from users, and track processes over time in a far more controlled and sustainable manner than the traditional monster-spreadsheet approach. Within the data warehouse, the business intelligence analyst can mine the data using statistical algorithms or queries tools such as Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) cubes. OLAP cubes are a way of presenting information, where all possible combinations of data are pre-calculated during a cube processing step, allowing users to query extremely large data sets using complex calculations almost instantly. These tools can determine the causes of under- or over-performance of a specific business process and provide a range of practical solutions.

Managing change To avoid corporate exhaustion with underperforming technologies due to vendor overpromises and internal implementation challenges, experienced technophiles should communicate potential pitfalls so that they can be avoided. Due to time constraints, it is increasingly difficult for senior mine or corporate managers to participate in such knowledge sharing conferences,

ADOPTION When evaluating an information system (IS) product, decision-makers should have: • A realistic plan, budget, and schedule to implement the organizational and process changes necessary to take advantage of the IS product features. • An understanding of the R&D needed to take advantage of an IS product’s feature, as well as the cost and potential benefit of the R&D. • An analysis of the interoperability of the prospective IS product with existing systems. Getting the most from IS infrastructure at mines depends on the users; both their awareness of IS capabilities and their ability to use it. This demands: • An annual demonstration of the tools available. • On-line instructions through web-videos. • Scheduled audits to review the progress of new technology’s utilization, identify areas of potential improvement (usually specifically targeting the elimination of data entry by humans). • The creation of data flow maps for and by each department with the help of corporate advisors. • The documentation and understanding of data flows between departments, so that the impact of any changes in one department’s IS on a different department, is understood.

which leaves online or printed forums the ideal form of communication. Business intelligence technology can have a powerful impact on contemporary mining. Common industry missteps, such as thinking that to gain the benefits of such technology one can simply purchase it from a vendor, can be avoided. The industry requires a forum to garner advice from a variety of experts and showcase examples of business intelligence technology. Case studies are particularly important, since examples of less-than-successful implementations of technology are rarely discussed candidly. Currently, true experiences with technology are often communicated at international mining conferences, but only outside of the formal technical talks. CIM

About the author Sean Dessureault is an associate professor at the University of Arizona’s mining and geological engineering department and president of MISOM Consulting Services Inc. He has researched and consulted widely in automation, IT and sustainable development, and provides service to the industry through short courses and leadership roles in mining computer applications and continuous improvement symposia. sdessure@email.arizona.edu

ACCESS When vendors install database products, they should follow a standard setup along these guidelines. • The database is published to the network and Internet accessible. • The database should be login and password protected but the login and password should be stored in a safe and known place, as well as by the vendor. • Remote desktop connection as a means of accessing data should never be considered an appropriate solution. This makes the data effectively useless for anything other than reporting. Mines own the data that they generate and store in their information system infrastructure, so they should benefit from that data. Vendors should provide: • A data dictionary. • The ER diagram, or a list of primary and foreign keys in all tables. • The SQL code used to generate the standard reports (calculations). • Any upgrade or other changes to the structure (foreign and primary keys) and data definitions must be communicated, including the new definitions and structure. March/April 2010 | 25

upfront Q&A by Peter Diekmeyer

A decade at the helm in a sea of change Interview with Jerry Grandey, president and CEO of Cameco Corporation erry Grandey is among the most influential leaders in Canada’s natural resources sector. As the president and CEO of Cameco Corporation, he heads one of the world’s largest uranium producers, as well as one of the Financial Post’s 10 Best Companies to work for in Canada. He is also a board member of the Nuclear Energy Institute and is a former chair of the World Nuclear Association. His depth of experience and wide-ranging involvement in the industry affords Grandey unique insight into major developments in the field. CIM Magazine talked with him in mid-February.

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CIM: May will mark the 10th anniversary of your becoming Cameco’s president. How has it been so far? Grandey: What’s interesting is how much our industry has changed. Ten years ago, nobody was interested in nuclear power. At Cameco, we took advantage of the pessimism by acquiring the assets of those who wanted to get out. Then, as we expected, nuclear power was rediscovered. There were several reasons for this. For one, investors began to notice the increasingly evident success of United States nuclear power facilities, which began to run well at high levels of capacity and were thus quite profitable. In addition, after 9/11, the United States began placing more emphasis on energy independence issues. Increased awareness of nuclear energy’s potential role on the environmental front also contributed to this rediscovery. Personally, my greatest revelation was relearning just how difficult it is to effect meaningful change within an organization. To declare new policies and to put them down on paper is easy; but to get people to buy-in takes work. The other big change is that when I started, business pressures were mostly bottom-line related. Now there are a multitude of stakeholders clamoring for attention, ranging from regulators to environmental groups to 26 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

public officials. That said, I am also quite surprised at how much fun it can be when everyone pulls together and the results start coming. CIM: The global economic crisis put energy demand concerns on the back burner for a while. Now with the recovery, the issue is coming to the fore again. How do you see things unfolding from here? Grandey: Our long-term working forecast has been that uranium demand will grow steadily at about three per cent per year. However, the weak economy will continue to slow near-term demand growth slightly, particularly in Western countries. That said, reactor construction in Asia, particularly in Korea and China, has accelerated, even during the recession. This has somewhat counterbalanced sluggishness in the West. In fact, assuming current trends continue, I would not be surprised if, 10 years from now, growth happened even faster. CIM: Cameco’s stated plans are to double annual uranium production by 2018 to 40 million pounds per year. What progress have you made so far? Grandey: Bringing on stream the Cigar Lake project in Saskatchewan, which is the world’s largest undeveloped high-grade uranium deposit, is a key part of our strategy. But it has been a challenge. Our forecast is that output from the project, which we hold a 50 per cent stake in, will be about 18 million pounds per year. However, there have been some major setbacks. In 2006, the mine flooded, which completely disrupted our timetable. By 2008, we had plugged the initial water inflow source. But then the mine re-flooded, and we had to plug the second inflow source. As we are speaking, most of the water is out of the mine. Once dry, we will inspect the underground workings to see what damage has been done. Then we will make an assessment of what is needed to get back to development. The projected doubling of production will be done from existing assets. Our 60 per cent stake in the JV Inkai deposit in Kazakhstan is another big piece of the puzzle. We plan to boost total production there from two million pounds per year, to 5.2 million pounds by 2011, and then to 10.4 million pounds after that. We also plan to increase production in our Wyoming and Nebraska stakes, where the key bottleneck is getting the appropriate permits. Our investments in Australia’s Kintyre deposit and Saskatchewan’s Rabbit Lake and McArthur River will also contribute.

upfront Q&A

CIM: Cameco bills itself as a leader in low-cost uranium mining and production. What are some of the key techniques that the company uses to keep costs down? Grandey: We know a bit about this because, as I noted, uranium was suffering from depressed demand and selling prices for many years. The only way we could survive was to be a low-cost producer. As a result, many of the acquisitions that we made were of other low-cost sources and, gradually, we were able to build some good synergies. Generally, though, productivity depends on a variety of key factors ranging from the grade and size of the ore bodies to the extraction methodology and, crucially, to the way you incentivize employees. The good news is that by keeping our costs low, we were well-positioned when demand began to pick up.

sources such as TradeTech and Ux Consulting that the longer term price indicator will hover between $60 and $65 per pound. CIM: How do uranium price fluctuations affect Cameco? Grandey: Cameco deals with the uncertainty by dividing our portfolio into two pieces. About 40 per cent of Cameco’s output is sold at fixed prices, under long-term contracts. The balance (60 per cent) is also sold under long-term prices, but at spot prices, or the long-term price indicator at the time of delivery. There is some safety in the strategy in the sense that a lot of the portfolio related to spot prices has floor price protection. CIM: Cameco has been quite active on the exploration front. Can you tell us a bit about some of your major initiatives? Grandey: As uranium prices firmed, we began to put more effort into exploration. We currently have about 100 geologists and geoscientists on staff. We are also focusing heavily on Kazakhstan. Adjacent to our existing production facilities, we have 20 other drill rigs looking for more resources. We also explore in Canada, the United States and South America. CIM

CIM: Surrounding the Copenhagen Summit, there was strong public interest in climate control measures. What role does the nuclear power industry have in the current debate? Grandey: Nuclear power was, in many ways, excluded from the earlier Kyoto protocols. However, in Copenhagen, you began to see increased recognition of the huge contribution that nuclear power can make on the environmental front. If you replaced all of the existing 436 nuclear plants with coal facilities, emissions would rise astronomically. www.cameco.com That’s just existing plants. However, there are many new coal and gasfired plants being built, and many others are on the design table. If some of these were replaced by nuclear facilities, the industry could make an even greater contribution in helping to limit the growth of carbon emissions. The challenge is that the cost of building nuclear power units has become expensive. With the insistence upon ultra safety, Unsurpassed in quality, nuclear power facilities have a much North American higher hurdle to leap than do other Construction Group is power sources. That may or may not Canada’s premier provider of be appropriate, but it is expensive. heavy construction, mining, CIM: Uranium prices have come down considerably during the past few years, from close to $136 per pound to less than $43 per pound. Do you expect this trend to continue? Grandey: Well, the drop-off may be large but don’t forget, prices used to be $7 per pound during part of this decade. So we have lived through low prices before. In the last year, we have seen a lot of volatility, and I believe that will continue. However, we agree with projections by outside

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uranium

A nuclear renaissance?

Miners at Cameco’s Cigar Lake Mine

Uranium, geopolitics and power by Dan Zlotnikov

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ike most commodities, uranium has felt the impact of the financial crisis of 2009. Spot prices fell from a peak of $136/lb in 2008 to much more modest levels of just over $40/lb today. When commodity prices dip, junior companies tend to be the first to feel the pain, but well-established projects are not immune, says Alun Richards, manager of communications at AREVA Resources Canada, a subsidiary of the French energy multinational AREVA. The company has recently ceased production at its McClean Lake Mine and is expecting to put the mine on care and maintenance around the middle

of this year. “We’re running out of reserves we can economically develop at the existing price,” says Richards. The closure, Richards emphasizes, is a temporary measure. Of the 250 staff employed at McClean Lake, AREVA Resources will be retaining about 140 to maintain the facility or be reassigned to other projects, all in an effort to keep the expertise within the company. AREVA is continuing with exploration at McClean Lake, as well as a number of surrounding properties. In fact, Richards points out, AREVA’s exploration budget has remained at the same level as it was, highlighting the March/April 2010 | 29

Photo courtesy of Cameco Corporation

Photo courtesy of AREVA Resources

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Photo courtesy of Cameco Corporation

Photo courtesy of Cameco Corporation

Photo courtesy of Cameco Corporation

uranium

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company’s commitment to future operations in the region. The McClean Lake mill has always been intended to receive the ore from the Cigar Lake Mine, in which AREVA has a 37 per cent stake. But Cameco, 50 per cent owner and the project operator, had encountered significant challenges when the unfinished mine flooded. Cameco expects to resume work at Cigar Lake later this year and, based on current information, is targeting initial production to begin in mid2013. McClean Lake’s startup is closely tied to that of Cigar Lake, with the high-grade circuits needed to process Cigar Lake ore already finished and in place. But after a couple of years of shutdown, Richards says, the mill will need to be ramped back up to operation. To this end, AREVA Resources has proposed to regulatory authorities that some of the ore slurry from Cameco’s more distant McArthur River site be trucked to the McClean Lake mill for processing. The McArthur River shipments would allow AREVA Resources to restart the mill a full year before Cigar Lake is expected to begin operations, says Richards. One thing is not in doubt: Cigar Lake will be brought on-stream. The project remains the world’s largest undeveloped uranium deposit and, like many of Canada’s other uranium deposits, boasts very high-grade ore.

Nuclear redemption Without doubt, uranium holds the dubious honour of being the world’s most politically sensitive mineral. Its potential for use in weapons has ensured that the metal is strictly regulated, and this potential is the heart of an ongoing diplomatic row between the

Photos opposite page (clockwise from top): 1. Radon testing at the face in McArthur River Mine; 2. Checking freeze pipes at McArthur River; 3. Raise bore operator at McArthur River; 4. Mill employees working in the water treatment circuit of AREVA; 5. Concrete-reinforced underground tunnels at Cigar Lake

World leader in Mining & Metals Hatch is one of the world’s largest engineering companies providing safe and high-quality projects to the mining and metals, energy, and infrastructure sectors.

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Photo courtesy of AREVA Resources

uranium

Carbon columns in the yellow cake precipitation circuit at McClean Lake mill

United Nations and Iran. But recently, uranium has been drawing another kind of attention – environmental groups and politicians seeing nuclear power as an effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to a report released by The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), as of January 2010, 55 nuclear reactors were at varying stages of construction around the globe. In addition to projects already under way, U.S. President Obama has recently announced $8 billion in loan guarantees for new nuclear power projects – a crucial component of the U.S. administration’s proposed high-speed, clean electric rail system. All this is good news for the suppliers – especially since existing inventories and stockpiles are beginning to run out, explains Nick Carter, vice-president of uranium consultancy firm UxC. “For the past several years, it’s been pretty much an inventory-driven market, but it’s moved to being more of a production-driven one,” says Carter. Not all inventories have been exhausted, however, and the biggest inventory-based supplier of fuel-grade uranium is the U.S. government. Under what is known as the Highly-Enriched Uranium (HEU) agreement, Russia has been decommissioning its nuclear arsenal extracting uranium from its weapons, downblending it with either natural or depleted uranium and selling it to the U.S. for use in power generation. Signed in 1993, the 20-year-long agreement is due to end in 2013, but until then the two superpowers are keeping the market well stocked, to the tune of 24 million pounds a year. In 2008, Canadian mines produced only 19.8 million pounds.

An uncertain new era Of course, as Carter points out, this means that when the agreement ends, there will be an enormous gap for uranium miners to fill. The combination of this expected shortfall, the wave of new reactor projects starting up in recent years, and the higher price of the last few years combined to bring a new player to the forefront. 32 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

“As we approached the mid-2000s, there were some problems with the supply chain,” says Carter. “Cameco’s McArthur River project had flooding issues, and then Cigar Lake did. Price during that time ran up to about $136/lb at the peak, although some of that was driven by investors in the industry. But as the price spiked, it spurred a lot of new production, and the majority of that production has been coming from Kazakhstan.” Kazakhstan’s growth as a uranium producer has been spectacular. According to Carter, the country produced 2.8 million pounds of uranium in 1998. In 2009, the production volume had reached 35 million pounds, replacing Canada as the number one uranium producer. Predictions for 2010 put Kazakhstan production at 43 million pounds, a 23 per cent jump in a single year. But with the demand expected to continuously grow over the next decade, Carter feels the price should remain stable for the next few months, staying between high $30s and low $50s. In sharp contrast, the CIGI report, which examines the future of nuclear energy up to 2030, draws much less positive conclusions. Trevor Findlay, the report’s author and professor of international affairs at Carleton University, points to a number of issues that lead him to conclude the vision of nuclear renaissance is not likely to come to pass. First, though, he makes a distinction between the outlook for uranium – quite positive – and one for reactor manufacturers – much less so. Uranium producers, Findlay says, will be the main source of fuel for the reactors under construction today, especially when the HEU agreement comes to an end. Further, rather than being decommissioned, existing reactors across the world are being refurbished, adding as much as 30 years to their projected lifespan – and there is talk of life extension projects to add as much as 60 years to the veteran facilities. That said, Findlay points out that nuclear power plants continue to increase in costs, just as other alternative energy technologies are moving in the opposite direction. Natural gas, a comparatively environmentally friendly alternative to coal, has dropped in price recently, he says, as new technologies are developed to extract the gas from shale. Even compared to the more expensive alternative energy methods, nuclear power remains a very costly method – by far the most expensive per tonne of carbon dioxide kept out of the atmosphere. The situation may have been different if there was a stable, predictable carbon pricing scheme in place, says Findlay. But with Copenhagen talks failing to deliver such a scheme, one is not likely to be agreed upon anytime soon. Even if one were implemented, politicians would prioritize power generation techniques that can

deliver the fastest response for the smallest amount of money – something large, multi-year, multi-billiondollar nuclear power plants were never designed to do.

But what about China? Even China, with 19 reactors under construction, is not at the threshold of a nuclear renaissance, continues Findlay. The country’s nuclear energy sector is set to grow at a spectacular rate, until one considers the growth rate of its coal-burning plants. While the current projects will bring an almost fivefold increase in the percentage of power China gets from nuclear energy, this capacity represents a mere five per cent slice of the country’s total power output. Nuclear power means energy diversity for China, says Findlay, a hedge against rising coal and natural gas costs, and a source of constant base load power – the strongest point of nuclear energy. Yet it is worth remembering that even at five per cent of China’s total power needs, nuclear energy will make up an enormous figure in real numbers. Carter points out that while China has its own uranium mines, they are currently only producing about 2.5 million pounds a year, and he does not believe they can be expanded much beyond five million. The sizable gap between demand and internal supply means China will continue looking outside its borders for fuel for a long while yet. In fact, China has already been investing in uranium projects in Australia and Kazakhstan, and is expected to continue the trend. Making projections 10 and 20 years out is a tricky business and little is certain. Carter points to a possible economic slowdown in China, which he says would more than likely lead to some of the 19 nuclear projects being delayed or shelved completely. Findlay acknowledges that should a carbon trading scheme be implemented sooner rather than later, the nuclear reactor sector will gain some ground over coal. More reactors are going to be under construction in 2010 than in any of the previous 30 years. Whether that constitutes a renaissance, only time will tell. CIM March/April 2010 | 33

Photo courtesy of PotashCorp

potash PotashCorp’s Sussex, New Brunswick Mine

Feeding the food supply Potash producers look to 2010 and beyond by Dan Zlotnikov

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hether you realize it or not, if you like to eat, you like potassium. It is, along with phosphorus and nitrogen, the building block of virtually all plant life on earth – and the basis of modern agriculture. If you’re Canadian, or better yet, a Saskatchewanian, you like the potassium compound potash most of all. Saskatchewan is home to half of the world’s potash reserves. The three major operators in the province – Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, the world’s largest producer, along with The Mosaic Company and Agrium Inc. – account for 30 per cent of the global potash market. The three export their product via a jointly owned subsidiary called Canpotex. Russia and Belarus market their product in much the same way, with Russian Uralkali and Belarusian Belaruskali as joint owners of the Belarusian Potash Co. (BPC). Among them, Canpotex and BPC are responsible for 70 per cent of the world’s potash exports. Yet despite increasing global populations and what seemed to be a near-guaranteed long-term need for

34 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

potassium fertilizer, 2009 was a dark chapter in the history books. “2008 was a great year,” says Bill Johnson, PotashCorp’s director of public relations. “2009 was a lousy year.” Two years ago, potash spot prices crossed the $1,000 per tonne boundary, up from the $250 mark in late 2007, and 50 million tonnes of the product were sold. BPC and Canpotex both set their sights on the $1,000 per tonne starting price for 2009, just as the financial crisis rolled in. Farmers watched grain prices sink fast. Faced with decreased grain demand on one side and record fertilizer costs on the other, many decided they could not afford the same rate of potash use they had maintained in previous years. Sales slumped sharply, forcing producers to decrease output in response, or risk further swamping the market with product. Russian producer Uralkali had cut its first quarter production from the original projection of 1.3 million tonnes to 459,000 tonnes, a 63 per cent drop.

potash

Photo courtesy of PotashCorp

PotashCorp’s Allan Mine in south-central Saskatchewan

BPC, which markets Uralkali’s production, was forced to drop prices, announcing a 25 per cent drop to $750 per tonne in its March ’09 sale to Brazil. Across the ocean, Saskatchewan was feeling similar pains. PotashCorp saw sales volumes drop by 86 per cent in North America and 78 per cent worldwide. In all, Johnson says, PotashCorp produced 8.7 million tonnes in 2008, but that figure slumped by more than 60 per cent in 2009, to 3.4 million tonnes.

Finding solid ground Charles Neivert, head of agriculture and chemicals research at New York-based investment bank Dahlman Rose & Co., feels the situation was exacerbated by the length of time it took the producers to find a suitable price point. “What was clear is that for a long time, the potash industry couldn’t find the price where people were buying. If you ask for a price and everyone says ‘thank you very much, but no thank you,’ then you’ve got the wrong price,” he says.

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Conveyor and vehicle at PotashCorp’s Rocanville, Saskatchewan, operation. Inset: PotashCorp’s Patience Lake Mine

The industry tried to cut production to match the decreased demand, an approach that had worked in the past. This time, the cuts had to be truly drastic. “The cutbacks took the operating rates down to under 20 per cent of capacity at one point,” Neivert says. “Not a 20 per cent decrease, but under 20 per cent of capacity, in North America. And people still weren’t buying at that point. So the producers’ attempt to hold price at that point was just not working.” But why did all the experienced players miss the mark, and why did a strategy that Neivert says has been successful on previous occasions fall short this time? “There may have been a miscalculation with how much inventory was available in the system and how consumers would react to the high price and what they could do about it,” Neivert explains. “When you listen to the producers, they frequently talk about the inability of their customer base to do anything but continue to buy product.” Part of the problem with estimating the size of the existing inventories, Neivert adds, is that there is no such thing as a central potash repository. 36 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

“The producers may not have realized how much they’ve moved into the inventory chain. A lot of the supply is in the farmers’ fields. You only have soil tests and conjecture about how much potash or phosphate, which went through a very similar situation, is actually there.” If the potash concentrations in the soil are built up over years of fertilizer use, he continues, then farmers have the option of using that build-up as a “bank” of sorts, supplementing their fertilizer use to varying degrees or replacing it altogether. The high price compelled them to draw from the soil reserves, explains Neivert, “which really cratered the buying.” All that said, the demand slump is not likely to be permanent, or even long term, according to Johnson of PotashCorp. “Customers around the world lived off their inventories and reserves in 2009,” he says, “but you can only empty a warehouse once, and then you have to fill it again. I think they’re in a position now where they might not fill all these warehouses this year, but anything that goes into the ground will have to be purchased from the open market.”

potash An appetite for expansion Johnson is being proven right already. In early February, Canpotex announced a 350,000-tonne spot sale to China, a marked improvement over 2009, when the country did not purchase any Canadian potash at all. India followed suit, agreeing to buy 600,000 tonnes over the second quarter of this year. 2010, according to Johnson, is still going to be a slower year than others – a recovery period – but he expects to continue to see demand growing throughout the year, and into 2011. But demand is not the only thing expected to grow. As Johnson points out, potash operations require a very longterm outlook. Greenfield projects can take as much as seven years to begin production, and even brownfield expansions require anywhere from three to five years to come online, and so must be started well in advance to meet expected demand. PotashCorp did just that with an expansion program dating back to 2004. In total, the project will add a further 10 million tonnes of annual capacity by the end of 2014. But PotashCorp is not alone in its development work. “Mosaic and Agrium are adding capacity, as are Israel Chemical, Uralkali and Arab Potash,� says Neivert. “When you add it all up, there’s a fairly large amount of capacity coming on between the end of 2008 and 2013.�

their footsteps. This may still be the case in the future, says Neivert, but “there’s also BHP next to them saying, ‘I’m here too. I want to talk now. I’m not waiting.’� And with the production capacity still ahead of demand, strong performance for BHP will inevitably mean lower sales volumes for other potash producers. “Given the size [BHP] is looking to be at some point in the future, some people are going to have to get out of the way,� says Neivert. “China and India — BHP already has dealings with these countries,� Neivert adds. “They have no problem getting in front of the right people and making things happen. They’re not new to this aspect of marketing. There’s no learning curve there, or a minimal one at most.� Whether BHP upsets the existing order or not remains to be seen – the Wall Street Journal reported in an article on February 22 that BHP would need a price point of $500 per tonne to justify the $10 billion investment needed to bring its Saskatchewan properties to production. But the potash producers have not become the multibillion dollar companies they are today by being rash. With decades of operating time to look forward to and the world’s need for food not bound to suddenly stop, the industry’s long-term outlook is strong. All that remains to be seen is who ends up with the biggest slice of the potash market pie. CIM

A new player. A new game? In addition to the established producers, mining giant BHP Billiton announced in late January that it was buying Athabasca Potash, a Saskatchewanbased junior firm, for $341 million, following the 2008 acquisition of the Jansen advanced-stage exploration project. If all goes according to plan, BHP is likely to enter the potash market around 2015, working towards an annual capacity of eight million tonnes. BHP’s debut is not just a matter of added capacity. With 70 per cent of the production controlled by Canpotex and BPC, suppliers currently have the upper hand when it comes to price. Even major buyers like India and China have only so much leverage in price discussions. Neivert suggests BHP could undo the status quo and points out that part of the company’s investment is being spent on infrastructure, most significantly, port facilities. “That’s part of the reason to be in Canpotex, then you don’t have to build a port,� Neivert explains. “Whether you’re PotashCorp, Mosaic or Agrium, there’s a single port all their exports go through, and all the negotiations for these exported products — everything outside of North America — is done via Canpotex, so you don’t have to put up these resources. BHP is willing to put these resources into play.� Previously, BPC or Canpotex would take the lead in negotiations, with other suppliers following on

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March/April 2010 | 37 11:43 AM

Photo courtoisie de AREVA Resources

l’uranium Lorsqu’elle est en opération, la Mine AREVA McClean Lake tourne 24 heures/24, 365 jours par année.

Une petite renaissance? L

’uranium a subi l’impact de la crise financière de 2009 avec une chute de prix d’un sommet de 136 $/lb en 2008 à environ 40 $/lb actuellement. La production a cessé récemment à la mine McClean Lake. « Nous manquons de réserves économiques », dit M. Richards, directeur des communications chez AREVA Resources Canada. Mais selon lui, la fermeture sera temporaire. Des 250 employés, environ 140 entretiendront l’installation ou seront affectés à d’autres projets, afin de garder l’expertise dans la compagnie. L’usine de McClean Lake devait recevoir le minerai de la mine Cigar Lake, dont AREVA détient 37 % des intérêts. Cependant, Cameco, propriétaire à 50 % et l’exploitant du projet, a été confronté à des défis significatifs lorsque la mine a été ennoyée. Le travail devrait reprendre cette année et la production débuterait en 2013. L’uranium a l’honneur douteux d’être la substance minérale la plus politisée au monde. Son utilisation potentielle dans les armes fait qu’il est strictement réglementé. Les groupes environnementaux et les politiciens voient l’énergie nucléaire comme moyen de réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre. Selon un rapport du Centre pour l’innovation dans la gouvernance internationale (CIGI), 55 réacteurs nucléaires étaient en construction à travers le monde en janvier 2010. En plus des projets déjà en cours, le président américain a annoncé des garanties de prêts de 8 milliards de dollars pour des projets d’énergie nucléaire – une composante cruciale du système proposé de trains électriques. Ce sont toutes de bonnes nouvelles pour les fournisseurs, explique Nick Carter, vice-président la firme de consultants UxC. Dans le cadre de l’Accord pour l’achat d’uranium très enrichi, la Russie déclasse son arsenal nucléaire en extrayant l’uranium de ses armes et le combinant à de l’uranium naturel ou appauvri; cet uranium est ensuite vendu aux États-Unis pour la production d’énergie. Signée en 1993, l’accord se terminera en 2013. En attendant, les 38 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

deux superpuissances contribuent 24 M lb aux marchés par année; le Canada a produit 19,8 M lb en 2008. « Au milieu des années 2000, des problèmes d’approvisionnement se faisaient ressentir », dit M. Carter. « Les mines McArthur River et Cigar Lake ont été ennoyées. Durant ce temps, le prix a atteint 136 $/lb et cette hausse a stimulé de nouvelles productions, surtout au Kazakhstan. » En 2009, la production de ce pays avait atteint 35 M lb d’uranium et le Kazakhstan a pris la place du Canada en tant que premier producteur d’uranium. La demande continuera à croître durant la prochaine décennie mais le prix devrait demeurer stable à 30 - 40 $ au cours des prochains mois. Le rapport du CIGI sur l’avenir de l’énergie nucléaire jusqu’en 2030, tire des conclusions bien moins positives. L’auteur du rapport, Trevor Findlay, professeur à l’Université de Carleton, signale plusieurs enjeux qui remettent en question la renaissance nucléaire. Il distingue cependant entre les perspectives pour l’uranium – très bonnes – et celles des manufacturiers de réacteurs – beaucoup moins bonnes. Plutôt que d’être déclassés, les réacteurs existants sont remis à neuf, prolongeant leur vie de 30, voire de 60 ans. De plus, le coût des centrales continue à augmenter alors que baisse celui des énergies alternatives. Le secteur de l’énergie nucléaire en Chine semble croître de manière spectaculaire mais il faut le considérer par rapport aux centrales au charbon; les centrales nucléaires représentent seulement 5 % de sa production d’énergie. Selon M. Carter, ce pays produit environ 2,5 M lb d’uranium par année mais ne pourrait pas produire beaucoup plus que 5 M lb. Cet écart entre l’offre et la demande signifie que la Chine devra regarder au-delà de ses frontières; elle a déjà commencé à investir en Australie et au Kazakhstan. Il est difficile de prévoir les 10 ou 20 prochaines années, mais plus de réacteurs seront en construction en 2010 que dans les trente dernières années. Est-ce une renaissance? Seul le temps le dira. ICM

Photo courtoisie de Greg Huzsar pour The Mosaic Company

le potassium

Alimenter la chaîne alimentaire

Un quatre rotors en pleine action dans la mine souterraine K2 à Esterhazy

L

e potassium est la base de l’agriculture moderne et la Saskatchewan comporte la moitié des réserves mondiales de potasse. Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, le plus gros producteur mondial, Mosaic et Agrium Inc., représentent 30 % du marché mondial de la potasse. Ces compagnies exportent leur produit par une filiale commune, Canpotex. La Russie et le Bélarus ont une mise en marché semblable; les compagnies Uralkali et Belaruskali détiennent ensemble la Belarusian Potash Co. (BPC). Canpotex et BPC sont responsables de 70 % des exportations mondiales de potasse. « L’année 2008 a été formidable », dit Bill Johnson, directeur des relations publiques à la Potash Corporation. Il y a deux ans, le prix du disponible avait franchi les 1000 $/tonne, partant de 250 $ vers la fin de 2007; les ventes atteignaient 50 Mt. BPC et Canpotex visaient 1000 $/tonne comme prix de départ en 2009 mais ce fut le début de la crise financière. Confrontés à une demande moindre pour les grains et un prix record pour les engrais, plusieurs agriculteurs ont décidé d’utiliser moins de potasse qu’auparavant. Uralkali a coupé sa production projetée au premier trimestre de 63 % et BPC a été forcée de baisser ses coûts. En Saskatchewan, les volumes de ventes de la Potash Corp. ont chuté de 86 % en Amérique du Nord et de 78 % à l’échelle mondiale. La compagnie a produit 8,7 Mt en 2008, mais seulement 3,4 Mt en 2009. Selon Charles Neivert, de la banque d’investissement Dahlman Rose & Co., de New York, la situation s’est détériorée par l’attente d’un prix de vente adéquat. « Si vous demandez un certain prix et que tout le monde vous dit ‘non merci’, alors ce n’est pas le bon prix. À un moment donné, les taux de production étaient en deçà de 20 % de la capacité », dit-il. « La tentative des producteurs de maintenir les prix ne marchait tout simplement pas. »

Pourquoi une stratégie gagnante n’a-t-elle pas fonctionné cette fois-ci? « Un mauvais calcul des inventaires et la réaction des consommateurs au prix élevé peuvent en être la cause », explique M. Neivert. « Selon les producteurs, les clients ne pouvaient rien faire d’autre que de continuer à acheter. » Les agriculteurs ont cependant analysé la quantité de potasse déjà dans les sols; ils ont profité des réserves accumulées et ont ajusté l’utilisation des engrais. Potash Corp. planifie augmenter sa capacité annuelle de production de 10 Mt à la fin de 2014; les compagnes Mosaic, Agrium, Israel Chemical, Uralkali et Arab Potash agrandissent aussi. La minière BHP Billiton a annoncé récemment l’achat d’Athabasca Potash, une compagnie junior de la Saskatchewan pour la somme de 341 millions de dollars, et ce, après avoir acquis le projet d’exploration avancée Jansen en 2008. BHP entrera dans le marché de la potasse vers l’an 2015 avec une capacité annuelle de 8 Mt. Contrôlant 70 % de la production, Canpotex et BPC contrôlent aussi les prix. Cependant, BHP pourrait changer le statu quo en construisant son propre port. Potash Corp., Mosaic et Agrium expédient par le même port et Canpotex effectue toutes les négociations de prix pour l’extérieur de l’Amérique du Nord. L’entrée en jeu de BHP ne constitue donc pas uniquement une augmentation de la capacité. « BHP négocie déjà avec la Chine et l’Inde; la compagnie connaît ces marchés », ajoute M. Neivert. Selon le Wall Street Journal, BHP devra avoir un prix seuil de 500 $/tonne pour justifier les 10 milliards de dollars d’investissement requis pour commencer à produire en Saskatchewan. Les besoins mondiaux en alimentation seront toujours là. Les perspectives de l’industrie sont donc excellentes; il reste à voir qui aura la plus grande part du marché. ICM March/April 2010 | 39

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Photo courtesy of Greg Huzsar for The Mosaic Company

featured mine Mosaic’s Esterhazy Mine is the largest potash mine in the world, with an annual capacity of 5.3 million tonnes.

The long view for Prairie potash operations Mosaic continues with expansion plans by | Dan Zlotnikov

The recent ups and downs of the market have tested the producer, but the company is pushing ahead to add capacity at its three mines. The calculation is simple: potassium helps grow the food that feeds the growing global population. And so Mosaic grows.

W

When it comes to potash mines, is there such a thing as too big? That question is still open for discussion, according to The Mosaic Company one of the world’s premier potash producers. Mosaic’s Esterhazy Mine, located near Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, is already the largest potash mine in the world, with an annual capacity of 5.3 million tonnes. But in expectation of increasing demand, Mosaic has undertaken a series of expansion projects at the mine, which will see it reach new record-setting production levels by 2020.

The expansion is not limited to Esterhazy; Mosaic owns two other potash mines in Saskatchewan, Belle Plaine and Colonsay. All three saw additional development approved and begun in 2007, and will be entering their third season of expansion work as soon as weather permits — all this despite 2009 being a tough year for potash producers, to put it mildly. In fact, Norm Beug, Mosaic’s senior vice-president of potash operations, describes it as “the worst year on record, certainly in my career.” The economic downturn was not kind to March/April 2010 | 41

featured mine 2

1

3 4

42 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

featured mine farmers, which meant lower sales and falling prices for potash. The year that started with predictions of spot prices for the mineral hitting US$1000 per tonne ended with sales prices of around US$350 per tonne, approximately one-third of the expected level. Mosaic acknowledged the downturn in January of 2009 and announced temporary layoffs of 1,060 of its 1,500 Saskatchewan-based workforce. The company also sharply reduced its production goals for the year. Yet despite the downturn, Mosaic is expecting to spend over $1 billion on its expansion plans in 2010 alone. Beug points to a recovering global grain market and the consequent need for nutrients as one sign of an expected increase in price, but places the emphasis on what he feels is the foundation Mosaic is building on — the appetite of a growing global population. ”At the end of the day, we’re in the food business and an important part of the food chain. That’s how we look at it,” he says.

important resource, especially for countries with limited access to reserves of oil and natural gas. Additionally, the continued struggle to limit carbon emissions can be addressed by switching to ethanol-based fuels. Given that all of the ethanol sources being used today for fuel production are plant-based, Beug sees this as a boon for potash producers. “Even with cellulosic ethanol, if it comes, you’re still going to have to have nutrients to grow the plants you use for biofuel,” he explains.

Right Size. Maximum Yield. Minimum Fines. Every Time.

The world needs to eat The growth is going to be fuelled by more than just population increase, Beug explains. As the agricultural systems in developing countries become more modernized, using nutrients to increase yields will make more sense. On the other side of the equation, demand will be driven by two major factors Beug highlights: the increasing numbers of the middle class and the continued push for biofuels. “People are the same the world over; they want better quality food,”says Beug. “They want to be able to eat more poultry, more pork, more beef, have milk, yogurt, just like we do. We see that as a significant driver to our business. The shift to a more meat-based diet is a significant driver for potash demand.” When it comes to biofuels, Beug believes these will be considered a very Photos opposite page (clockwise from top): 1. Supervisor Ken Berg at the Colonsay underground storage bin – a piece of the phase one expansions (photo by David Ellis); 2. Operator John Gilchuk and a fourrotor mining machine (photo by Greg Huzsar); 3. The Colonsay operation (photo by David Ellis); 4. Underground at the Esterhazy Mine (photo by Greg Huzsar)

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March/April 2010 | 43

featured mine

Photo courtesy of The Mosaic Company

Glen Jouberz (left) and John Gilchuk by a four-rotor miner underground in Esterhazy’s K2 Mine

Growing underground

Set for the 21st century

situated on an immense mineral reserve, sufficient to keep the surface mills supplied for the next 100 years. This is, Beug points out, even after one takes into account the capacity increases being added today. With this time frame in mind it is not overly surprising that the company is not actively pursuing further exploration work and is instead focusing on brownfields-centric expansion projects. Even the significance of last year’s pains seems much diminished when weighed against the next century of growth and demand. “Our projects can be economical at those price fluctuations because we’re building off of existing infrastructure,” Beug says. “Where it becomes questionable is if you’re trying to develop a greenfields project somewhere.” Mosaic is also benefiting from the advantageous tax regime that Saskatchewan’s government introduced to make further development of the potash industry more attractive to the operators. “They have a policy of incenting investment to allow you to deduct your capital expenditures in a more rapid write-off against resource tax in the early years,” Beug explains. “But that’s a time value of money thing; this gets you to invest more and then they’ll get more resource tax revenue from you down the road.” The province, it seems, is also taking the long view when it comes to potash. Looking far into the future is never easy. There is no doubt that 100 years from now, the world will be a very different place. But our distant descendants in that much-changed world will still need to eat. As long as that is true, Mosaic’s long-term prospects are good. After all, as Beug is quick to point out, this mining company is actually in the food business. CIM

Very rarely is the longer term outlook as long as it is in Mosaic’s case. The company’s three Saskatchewan mines are

www.mosaicco.com

Because of the measured nature of the demand increase, Mosaic has staggered the expansion of the three projects so that, on average, only 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes of additional capacity will come online each year. “We’ll phase in the production gradually,” Beug says of the company’s plan. “This makes for a nice, orderly entry into the market.” Given the quantities involved, an orderly entry is vital. Since 2006, when a new hoist was installed, Esterhazy expansions took the mine from 4.2 million tonnes to its current 5.3 million tonne capacity; a further 1.8 million tonne increase is scheduled for completion by 2016, which will take the mine to a previously unseen 7.1 million tonne annual production level. Similarly, Colonsay and Belle Plaine are to see significant capacity boosts — by 2020, combined production for the two will increase by over three million tonnes. An additional 1.3 million tonnes, currently being produced at Esterhazy under a tolling agreement for a third party, will revert back to Mosaic once the agreement expires. All told, according to the company’s 2009 annual report, Mosaic expects to reach annual production levels of 17 million metric tonnes by 2020 – an increase of over 50 per cent from today’s production level. The company will also need to hire 700 to 800 new staff, a 35 per cent jump from 2008 levels. Of course, the long-term potential of potash isn’t a secret to others. Multinational mining giants BHP Billiton and Vale have acquired properties in Saskatchewan to make their entry into the market.

44 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

Photo courtoisie de David Ellis pour The Mosaic Company

mine en vedette

L’opération Colonsay de la compagnie Mosaic

Perspectives à long terme pour les activités liées à la potasse dans les Prairies Mosaic poursuit la mise en œuvre de ses plans d’expansion

Q

Quand on parle de mines de potasse, risque-t-on de voir trop grand? La question peut encore faire l’objet de discussions, selon Mosaic Co., l’un des principaux producteurs mondiaux de potasse. La mine Esterhazy de Mosaic, située près d’Esterhazy, en Saskatchewan, a une capacité annuelle de 5,3 millions de tonnes, ce qui en fait déjà la plus grande mine de potasse du monde. Mais en prévision de l’accroissement de la demande, Mosaic a entrepris une série de projets d’expansion de cette mine qui devrait atteindre d’autres niveaux records de production d’ici 2020. Les projets d’expansion ne se limitent pas à Esterhazy. Mosaic possède deux autres mines de potasse en Saskatchewan : Belle Plaine et Colonsay. Des travaux additionnels de mise en valeur des trois mines ont été approuvés. Ils ont débuté en 2007 et entreront dans leur troisième saison dès que les conditions climatiques le permettront. Et tout cela, en dépit du fait que 2009 a été une année difficile, ce qui est peu dire, pour les producteurs de potasse. En fait, Norm Beug, premier vice-président, exploitation de la potasse, à Mosaic, décrit 2009 comme « la pire année jamais enregistrée, du moins pendant ma carrière ». Le ralentissement

économique a fait mal aux agriculteurs, ce qui a entraîné une baisse des ventes de potasse et une chute des prix. L’année qui avait commencé par des prévisions de prix au comptant atteignant jusqu’à 1 000 $ US la tonne de minerai s’est terminée alors que les prix de vente tournaient autour de 350 $ US la tonne, soit environ un tiers du niveau qu’on attendait. Mosaic a pris conscience de la crise en janvier 2009 et a annoncé la mise à pied temporaire de 1 060 de ses 1 500 employés en Saskatchewan. La société a également nettement réduit ses objectifs de production pour l’année. Cependant, malgré la crise, Mosaic prévoit dépenser plus d’un milliard de dollars pour mettre en œuvre ses plans d’expansion, et ce, en 2010 uniquement. Norm Beug voit dans la reprise du marché mondial des céréales et dans la demande en nutriments qui en découle, le signe d’une hausse attendue des prix, mais insiste sur ce qu’il estime être la pierre angulaire du développement de Mosaic : l’appétit d’une population mondiale en augmentation constante. « En fin de compte, nous faisons partie du secteur alimentaire et nous sommes un important maillon de la chaîne alimentaire. C’est ainsi que nous envisageons la situation », dit-il. March/April 2010 | 45

mine en vedette Le monde a besoin de manger La croissance ne va pas être stimulée uniquement par la croissance démographique, explique Norm Beug. À mesure que les systèmes agricoles des pays en développement se modernisent, l’emploi de nutriments pour accroître les rendements sera incontournable. Dans l’autre partie de l’équation, la demande sera stimulée par deux facteurs clés sur lesquels Norm Beug met l’accent : le nombre croissant de personnes appartenant à la classe moyenne et la pression continue en faveur des biocarburants. « Les gens sont partout les mêmes; ils veulent des aliments de meilleure qualité. Ils sont comme vous et moi. Nous aimons nous rendre dans un restaurant qui va nous servir des produits de bonne qualité, eux aussi. Ils veulent manger davantage de volaille, de porc, de bœuf, consommer du lait et des yogourts, tout comme nous. Nous voyons cela comme un important stimulateur pour nos activités. Le virage vers un régime alimentaire dans lequel la viande aura une plus large part aura une incidence notable sur la demande en potasse. » Pour ce qui est des biocarburants, Norm Beug est d’avis qu’ils seront considérés comme une ressource très importante, en particulier dans des pays qui ont un accès limité aux réserves de pétrole et de gaz naturel. De plus, les efforts continus en faveur de la limitation des émissions de carbone peuvent être appuyés par un passage aux carburants à base d’éthanol. Étant donné que les sources d’éthanol qu’on utilise aujourd’hui pour produire du carburant sont végétales, Norm Beug y voit une aubaine pour les producteurs de potasse. « Même avec l’éthanol cellulosique, si on y vient, on aura toujours besoin d’utiliser des nutriments pour faire pousser les plantes servant à fabriquer du biocarburant. »

Croissance souterraine En raison du caractère modéré de la hausse de la demande, Mosaic a échelonné l’expansion de ses trois projets de façon à ce que, chaque année, une capacité additionnelle moyenne de 300 000 à 500 000 tonnes soit mise en service. « Nous augmenterons progressivement la production », explique Norm Beug à propos du plan de la société. « Cela nous permettra de procéder à une mise en marché bien organisée. » Compte tenu des quantités en jeu, il est en effet crucial de procéder à une mise en marché méthodique : depuis 2006, lorsqu’un nouveau treuil a été installé, les travaux d’expansion à Esterhazy ont fait passer la production minière de 4,2 millions de tonnes à la capacité actuelle de 5,3 millions de tonnes, tandis qu’une nouvelle augmentation de 1,8 million de tonnes devrait être atteinte d’ici 2016, ce qui porterait le niveau de production annuel de la mine au chiffre sans précédent de 7,1 millions de tonnes. De même, on prévoit des augmentations notables de la capacité de Colonsay et de Belle Plaine : d’ici 2020, la production combinée de ces deux mines augmentera de plus de 3 millions de tonnes. Un volume addi46 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

tionnel de 1,3 million de tonnes, actuellement produit à Esterhazy dans le cadre d’une entente d’exploitation à façon pour un tiers, reviendra à Mosaic à l’expiration de l’entente. Au total, selon le rapport annuel 2009 de la société, Mosaic prévoit atteindre des niveaux de production de 17 millions de tonnes métriques par année d’ici 2020, soit une augmentation de plus de 50 % par rapport au niveau actuel. La société aura également besoin d’embaucher de 700 à 800 personnes, un bond de 35 % par rapport à 2008. Bien sûr, le potentiel à long terme de la potasse n’est un secret pour personne. Les géants de l’exploitation minière que sont les multinationales BHP Billiton et Vale ont acquis des propriétés en Saskatchewan dans le but de pénétrer le marché.

Prête pour le 21e siècle Il est très rare que des perspectives à long terme aillent aussi loin que dans le cas de Mosaic. Les trois mines exploitées par la société en Saskatchewan sont situées sur une immense réserve minérale, suffisante pour approvisionner les usines de traitement de surface pendant les cent prochaines années. Ceci, souligne Norm Beug, même en tenant compte des augmentations de capacité qui s’ajoutent aujourd’hui. En ayant cet échéancier en tête, on ne sera pas trop surpris de savoir que la société ne mène pas activement d’autres activités d’exploration et qu’elle se consacre plutôt à des projets d’expansion centrés sur ses installations actuelles. Même l’importance des difficultés de l’an dernier semble beaucoup moins importante par rapport à la croissance et à la demande du siècle prochain. « Nos projets peuvent s’avérer rentables même face aux fluctuations de prix, déclare Norm Beug, car nous tirons parti de l’infrastructure existante. La chose serait moins certaine si on essayait de lancer un nouveau projet quelque part. » Mosaic profite également du régime fiscal avantageux que le gouvernement de la Saskatchewan a instauré pour rendre la mise en valeur du secteur de la potasse plus intéressant pour les exploitants. « Ils ont une politique favorisant les investissements qui vous permet de déduire plus rapidement vos dépenses en immobilisations des impôts sur les ressources pendant les premières années », explique Norm Beug. « Mais c’est une question de valeur temporelle de l’argent; vous êtes amené à investir davantage et, à long terme, le gouvernement tire davantage de recettes des impôts sur les ressources que vous lui versez. » La province, semble-t-il, a aussi une vision à long terme quand il s’agit de la potasse. Se projeter loin dans le futur n’est jamais facile; il ne fait aucun doute que dans une centaine d’années, le monde sera très différent. Mais nos lointains descendants vivant dans un monde qui aura beaucoup changé auront toujours besoin de se nourrir. Tant que cela est vrai, les perspectives à long terme de Mosaic sont bonnes. Après tout, comme Norm Beug ne manque pas de le souligner, cette société minière fait en réalité partie du secteur alimentaire. ICM

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COLUMNS | supply side Word to the wise Emphasize CSR efforts ❚ Jon Baird In the December 2009/January 2010 Supply Side column of CIM Magazine, I provided a background on corporate social responsibility (CSR), and explained why it has become the leading global issue for the mining industry, and why this is important for mining suppliers. The trend towards responsibility and sustainability — involving health and safety, the environment, human rights, community relations and other matters — affects mining suppliers as much as it affects their clients, the mining companies. With a history going back four decades, the public’s interest in sustainability issues has greatly increased over the last few years. This has been picked up by our politicians, some of whom have set policies in motion that will not be helpful to either the industry or to the resolution of perceived problems. Companies and associations in the mining industry have started to take action to mitigate problems, look for ways to operate more responsibly and participate in efforts to dispel the negative image that the public has about some aspects of our industry.

48 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

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

A case in point is Federal Bill can to bring forward the CSR aspects C-300. Now close to its third and of their own businesses. Their comfinal reading in the House of panies’ performance in health and Commons, this bill would define safety, environmental and human what CSR is and apply sanctions to rights issues should be prominent on Canadian companies in the extractive their websites. In addition to persector working in developing coun- suading clients to buy from them, this tries. This type of extra-territorial law will attract potential employees. could lead to halted projects, thus Of course, the CSR benefits that a affecting mining companies, suppli- company’s products and services will ers and investors alike. Collateral bring to client companies should damage would include the moving of also be emphasized. Mining compaCanadian mining head offices to nies will continue to place greater more welcoming countries. importance on CSR issues. Indeed, I feel it would be wise for mining CSR may become as important in supply marketers to look at the world their purchasing decisions as prothrough the eyes of their clients. ductivity. CIM Exploration and mining companies are rapidly realizing that there are www.camese.org major penalties to be paid if they do About the author not earn a social licence to operate. Jon Baird, managing Suppliers need to director of CAMESE and cater to this. the immediate past Thus, those president of PDAC, is shaping the corpointerested in collective rate images of approaches to enhancing mining supply the Canadian brand in the companies should world of mining. do all that they

standards |

COLUMNS

Knowing the tools at your disposal Commodity-specific guidelines available to QPs ❚ Craig Waldie and James Whyte National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) sets standards for the disclosure of scientific and technical information containing facts, context and balance, and cautions investors and their advisers on the need to make an informed investment decision. However, NI 43-101 does not regulate the procedures or practices used to collect, analyze or interpret this information — it places the responsibility of doing so upon the qualified person (QP). The QP should ensure that practices followed are based on methodology that is generally accepted in the industry. Industry best practice guidelines covering specific commodities available on CIM’s website currently include: Guidelines for Reporting of Diamond Exploration Results (March 9, 2003); Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines — Potash, Industrial Minerals, Coal and Uranium (November 23, 2003); and Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines — Rock Hosted Diamonds (May 4, 2008). The general “Best Practice Guidelines” (November 2003) for estimating mineral resources and mineral reserves, and the “Exploration Best Practice Guidelines” (August 2000, available on CIM’s website) are applicable to all commodities. However, the specific nature and characteristics of certain minerals can make additional guidance necessary, and CIM has provided that in its Commodity-Specific Guidelines section of the Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines. QPs are directed to the original documentation for complete information. Potash — The grade and thickness of many potash deposits are remarkably consistent over many tens of kilometres. One notable issue with potash is almost the inverse of the situation

for other mineral deposits — much of the exploration effort goes to defining the location and size of the non-mineable areas in an otherwise contiguous mineral resource. Industrial minerals — Industrial mineral deposits differ from metallic mineral deposits as their economic viability is related to marketing factors. Also, their mineral characteristics must meet the demands of the market. The economic viability of an industrial mineral deposit is significantly affected by factors such as the particular physical, chemical and quality characteristics of the mineral, the size and concentration of the market and transportation costs. Coal — The coal industry has, over time, developed its own set of definitions, concepts and parameters. Geological Survey of Canada Paper 8821, “A Standardized Coal Resource/ Reserve Reporting System for Canada,” facilitates the consistent categorization of coal deposits found in varied depositional and tectonic regimes. QPs must be aware that GSC Paper 88-21 includes mineral resource categories that are different from those of the CIM Standards required by section 2.2(a) of NI 43-101. Uranium — Uranium deposits have unique characteristics such as their radioactive nature and, in some cases, their amenability to in situ leach (ISL) mining. QPs must be familiar with the radioactive character of uranium, thorium and potassium minerals, and radioactive decay series that

result in various uranium isotopes and other daughter products. There are terms specific to uranium deposits (like disequilibrium, equivalent assay and K Factor) that the QP must properly understand. The QP should also know the specialized equipment and techniques used for acquiring radiometric data. Rock-hosted diamonds — Diamonds, like industrial minerals, do not have a set price and their value is related to the specific physical charteristics of the diamond and the recoverability of large marketable stones. Often the tonnage estimate for the host kimberlite can be determined long before the grade. Most importantly, the average value per carat — the critical component for assessing a diamond project’s economic potential — is not well known until several thousand carats have been valued. Although NI 43-101 does not specifically mandate the QP to follow CIM best practices guidelines and commodity-specific guidance, regulators generally take the view that in almost all cases, QPs, acting in compliance with the professional standards of competence and ethics established by their professional association, will use the procedures and methodologies that are consistent with industry standards and the best practices established by CIM or similar organizations in other jurisdictions. CIM www.cim.org/committees/guidelines Standards_main.cfm

About the authors Craig Waldie (L) and James Whyte (R) are senior geologists with OSC. Whyte is also responsible for NI 43-101 technical reviews of public disclosure by mining and exploration companies based in Ontario. March/April 2010 | 49

COLUMNS | eye on business Why go to a banker when you can go to a buyer? Off-take agreements are helping potash companies move their projects ahead ❚ Andrew Gabrielson and Caroline Clapham In recent years, it is has been widely reported that a burgeoning population, ever-growing demand for food and decrease in the availability of arable land have led to intensive farming practices that rapidly deplete nutrients to leave soils unsuitable for plant growth. As a result, the demand for fertilizer products continues to increase. Of these, potash is recognized by analysts as a high-margin product subject to increasing demand on a global scale. Canada is one of the few countries that have identified potash deposits of commercial significance. Our potash deposits lie mainly in the Prairies, particularly in Saskatchewan, with a few outlier deposits in New Brunswick. With the Prairie potash horizon generally occurring at a depth of 900 metres or lower, costly and technically challenging underground mine development is required for potash extraction. In Canada, the cost of taking a potash project from greenfield to commercial production can exceed $2 billion and take more than seven years. Given the significant upfront capital expenditures required, it is not surprising that many junior potash companies lack the capacity to raise the necessary capital to take their deposits into production. Traditional financing methods involve significant downsides such as massive dilution through equity financings or, if obtainable, expensive and inflexible senior project debt. Recently, however, some junior potash companies looking for development capital have begun to enter into off-take/financing agreements with strategic partners as a novel means of financing. For example, in November 2009, Allana Potash Inc. announced that it had secured a strategic off-take/financing agreement with China Mineral United 50 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

Management Ltd. to take its potash project in Ethiopia to production. China Mineral had initially participated in a $2 million private placement, and Allana’s November 2009 press release disclosed that China Mineral will commit to funding 35 per cent of the project costs (totalling approximately $280 million) in return for 20 per cent of Allana’s future potash production. China Mineral will acquire the potash at a price that, although discounted as compared to the market price, will allow Allana to recoup its operating and shipping costs plus a profit margin. Once China Mineral recoups its funding, the price will be renegotiated based on international potash market price benchmarks. With Potash One Inc. and Amazon Potash Corp. also publicly disclosing their intent to search for similar strategic partnerships, it appears that the trend towards off-take agreements will continue and is not limited to junior potash plays. For both project developers and off-take partners, off-take/financing agreements offer numerous and significant commercial advantages over traditional forms of financing. Perhaps the most significant advantage of such an arrangement for a project developer is that it allows them to obtain a portion or all of their required capital while usually avoiding the large fees, establishment costs or dilution associated with a large equity-raising or project financing exercise. In addition, the repayment of any funding (including interest thereon) is usually deferred for a period of time, often until the commencement of production, and does not commence on a drawdown of the funding. Like most commercial arrangements, off-take/financing agreements also have some drawbacks.

Project developers who harbour aspirations of ultimately being the subject of an accretive transaction in which their shareholders receive a premium can risk reducing their attractiveness to other players seeking to enter the potash market if they commit too much future production to an off-taker. If significant advances of funding are to be made, the off-taker may well want some form of security over the project with some of the features and covenants that are common to project financing (e.g. first ranking security, control on application of funding, independent engineers, etc.). Such security may impede or complicate subsequent attempts to obtain traditional project financing or negotiations with project financiers. Potential project financiers will undoubtedly require the offtaker to subordinate its security, while the off-taker may try to insist on certain inter-creditor protections. The difficulty in anticipating the negotiations required between the off-taker and the project financier makes the concurrent negotiation of the two facilities desirable. With other commodities (e.g. precious and base metals), this requirement can often be accommodated as the off-taker is often looking for a commodity stream that is not the principal commodity being produced (e.g. a silver stream from a copper project) and the off-taker’s security only extends to the by-product that it is off-taking. That is not the case with potash. An additional difficulty with offtake/financing agreements is that certain provisions, particularly those relating to price, must be drafted so as to cope with market changes over a lengthy period, usually decades. The off-taker will often want a product to be priced at a discount in perpetuity.

Even if they are willing to settle for a fixed-period discount, they will want to revert to market price at the end of any discount period. Regardless of the pricing structure adopted, it should reflect changes in production costs, the value of money, exchange rates, taxation and the price of competing products, and the likely shortand long-term demand of the offtaker. Reconciling the usually conflicting commercial aspirations and requirements of the project developer and the off-taker around these issues can be challenging. Despite some of the challenges referred to above, the benefits of offtake/financing agreements to junior companies lacking access to traditional sources of development capital are significant. In a global economic climate that continues to seek alternatives to traditional financing methods, solutions such as off-take/financing agreements could become increasingly popular among junior potash companies seeking to move their projects towards production. CIM www.fasken.com/global-mining/

About the authors Andrew Gabrielson is a partner of Fasken Martineau’s Global Mining Group. He provides advice to international and Canadian mining companies on mineral exploration, mine development and commercial mining operations. Caroline Clapham is an associate in the Securities, Business and Global Mining Groups at Fasken Martineau. She provides advice to mining companies on project finance and securities regulatory matters.

COLUMNS | MAC economic commentary An inefficient system A need to improve the effectiveness of foreign aid ❚ Paul Stothart The Canadian development aid community, like many aid providers around the world, is often described as slow, inefficient and disorganized. In a recent article in the Globe and Mail, aid consultant Ian Smillie noted that it takes Canada’s official agency CIDA an average of almost four years to move an aid project from concept to approval, while projects sent to the CIDA Minister for approval are often returned for revision a dozen times. It is important to note that the criticism levelled at Canada’s aid agency is not particularly new, nor is it restricted to the present government, or indeed to Canada. Many past studies and evaluations have lamented the inefficiency of global aid delivery. A recent report provided to Australia’s foreign minister concluded that the performance of AusAID suffers from having no clear objective. Globally, western democratic countries have spent $2.3 trillion on foreign aid over the last five decades, with minimal progress. Aid systems seem incapable of delivering cheap medicines to children or inexpensive bed nets to families to prevent malaria deaths. Extreme poverty and preventable diseases continue to kill thousands of men, women and children each year in developing countries despite these trillions of dollars in aid flow. Several factors contribute to this ineffectiveness. Certainly, overseas aid has typically been directed towards countries with poor governance and limited transparency, with the result that funds can be diverted and performance outcomes can lack scrutiny. As well, aid delivery often relies upon a preponderance of nongovernmental organizations — this can result in overlaps, lack of scale and an inordinate amount of time spent on fundraising, advocacy and 52 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

paperwork. In response to natural political pressures, aid agencies also have a tendency to “spread the wealth” — it is not unusual for Canada to send aid to over 50 countries, divided into dozens of categories, resulting in minimal scale and impact. Finally, the world’s aid systems and workers generally have a social bent with disdain for the business role, often minimizing the importance of economic development in the broad array of aid priorities. For its part, Canada has traditionally kept business involvement in aid delivery to a minimum. There are differing schools of thought regarding the efficiency of tying aid to donor country exports. Regardless of the direction of tied aid, however, a core vulnerability of CIDA lies in the fact that it does not have a reporting relationship with the trade side of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. CIDA’s ties have traditionally been to the foreign affairs side of the portfolio — with its culture of diplomacy, memoranda, officialdom and paperwork. Unfortunately, CIDA’s direct reporting links to the deputy minister responsible for trade, exports, investment and overseas business promotion are non-existent. The massive level of Chinese investment in the mining sector in Africa calls into question the core structure and culture of the traditional western aid delivery model. The implications of this trend are reverberating throughout the global aid community. In recent years, Africa has become China’s leading source of imported oil. The Chinese state oil company has invested billions

in Nigeria and Sudan. China recently provided $2 billion in aid/loans to Angola that included funds to build railroads, schools, bridges, hospitals and communications networks. A $2.5 billion iron ore project in Sierra Leone is being funded by China. Chinese firms have invested in mining off-take projects in Zambia, Congo and Zimbabwe. In recent years, China has cancelled $10 billion in bilateral debt from African countries. Exchanges of teachers, doctors and civil servants are growing rapidly. These China-Africa aid and trade interactions are not clouded by a culture of disdain for business involvement; on the contrary, the commercial role is of central importance. No one is denying the obvious — that aid and infrastructure is being provided to Africa in return for the right to develop projects and patriate minerals to China. A second mining-related reality also raises questions for the traditional western aid culture. Investment abroad by the Canadian mining industry has grown five-fold, from a stock of $13 billion in 1990 to $67 billion today. Leading Canadian companies have operations in Argentina, South Africa, Tanzania, Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, Turkey, Peru, New Caledonia, Brazil and elsewhere. Almost 5,000 mining projects financed through the Toronto Stock (continued on page 53)

About the author Paul Stothart is vice-president, economic affairs of the Mining Association of Canada. He is responsible for advancing the industry’s interests regarding federal tax, trade, investment, transport and energy issues.

HR outlook |

COLUMNS

Assessing competencies Mining industry workers to be certified in industry pilot ❚ Barbara Kirby Attracting and retaining top talent is a priority for the mining industry. One of the key strategies for addressing this is to define a set of nationally recognized occupational standards and to certify workers against them. Certifying workers to industrydefined standards ensures that the training, skills and experience of existing and potential new workers meet the needs of employers. Building a common understanding across the country about previously unrecognized or loosely defined occupations will help to support mobility in the labour pool and facilitate the recruitment of workers at new and existing mine sites. Workers who have trade designations such as electricians and millwrights hold qualification certificates that are recognized by employers across the country. However, there is no equivalent system to recognize skilled and experienced workers in “undesignated” occupations such as miners or minerals processing operators. As a result, mining sector employers may struggle to assess the qualifications of experienced candidates and may have to waste resources retraining new recruits in areas where they have already demonstrated competency. Furthermore, the lack of valid credentials may lead to frustration and a lack of loyalty to the sector and their

occupation among some mining employees. Workers with skill sets that are not recognized may seek opportunities elsewhere. For the past three and a half years, MiHR and a group of stakeholders have been working together to build a suite of National Occupational Standards (NOS) that create a common understanding of the skills, competencies and knowledge required to work safely and proficiently in various occupations in the mining industry. The NOS for underground miners, minerals processing operators and surface miners are now complete and others are in the development stages. These standards will be used as benchmarks for conducting workplace assessments and certifying workers who have demonstrated that their skills and knowledge meet or exceed the newly defined industry standards.

(continued from page 52)

investments. Teck Resources Limited, for example, is at the forefront through dietary and fertilizer supplement programs in addressing zinc micronutrient deficiency and malnutrition, which contributes to an estimated 800,000 child deaths per year in developing countries. Canadian mining companies, like those in other sectors, are fully aware that strong community relationships

Exchange are actually located outside Canada. These companies are creating jobs, taxes and supply linkages in developing countries, and are investing directly in schools, roads, electrical grids, hospitals, clinics, school breakfast programs, community meetings halls, child health and nutrition programs, and a range of other social

Piloting the program The certification program will be piloted at four to five sites across Canada early in 2010. The purpose of these pilot projects is to test the policies, procedures, assessment tools and certification process and to allow the Standing Committee on Certification to evaluate the program, to modify it to ensure its efficiency and effectiveness, and to develop recommendations for its full implementation across Canada. The identification of pilot locations is currently underway and a pilot project planning kit is being developed to help inform and guide program implementation at pilot sites. Support, advice and guidance will be available through MiHR’s Canadian Mining Credentials program staff and through members of the Standing Committee on Certification throughout the oneyear pilot phase. CIM www.mihr.ca

About the Author Barbara Kirby, senior director, workforce development, MiHR, is responsible for several initiatives including the Mining Industry Workforce Information Network (MIWIN) and the Canadian Mining Credentials program. Barbara holds a master’s degree in economics. She has over 20 years of experience in Canada and abroad, including in Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, Ghana, Botswana, India, Nepal and Jordan.

and socio-environmental investments are essential for a productive, profitable and sustainable mining operation. Canada’s aid delivery systems and central agency would be more effective if they recognized this reality and worked to help lead and support business engagement in global economic development. CIM www.mining.ca March/April 2010 | 53

COLUMNS | vie étudiante L’importance du stage en industrie Alexandre Dorval discute de son expérience à la mine Raglan d’Xstrata Nickel ❚ Alexandre Dorval

Quel beau environnement de travail /A beautiful place to work

Les stages d’étudiants en industrie sont des expériences très enrichissantes, tant au niveau de l’application des connaissances acquises en classe qu’à la découverte du côté pratique de la profession. De plus, les stages permettent d’approfondir les connaissances tout en mettant les étudiants à jour sur les dernières technologies utilisées. L’attribution d’un ou de plusieurs projets à un stagiaire lui permet d’améliorer ses connaissances, de développer des techniques de travail et de prendre contact avec les travailleurs de l’industrie minière dans un contexte moins académique et plus pratique.

Mode de vie à la mine Raglan Située à quelque 1660 kilomètres au nord de la ville de Québec, la mine Raglan n’est accessible que par avion. Sur le site, outre les journées de onze heures de travail, il y a beaucoup d’activités, dont une activité sportive dans le gymnase à presque chaque soir. De plus, il y a une salle de divertissements comportant : instruments de musique, tables de jeux, plusieurs salles avec écran géant et cinéma maison ainsi qu’une salle d’entraînement. Tant au travail, à la cafétéria, que dans les différentes salles de divertissements, il est possible rencontrer et de discuter avec de nouvelles personnes. 54 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

L’ambiance chaleureuse aide à ce que les jours se succèdent rapidement. La durée d’un stage est normalement de 13 à 16 semaines et consiste en une rotation de quatre semaines de travail suivi de deux semaines à la maison.

Les projets Pour ce stage, j’ai réalisé deux projets de natures différentes. Le premier consistait en la réconciliation des données des anciennes fosses afin de trouver un indice de consommation du diesel utilisé pour différentes activités. Cet indice pourrait, par la suite, être utilisé pour l’estimation des coûts lors de la planification financière d’une nouvelle fosse. La nature du projet rend intéressante l’application des apprentissages des cours d’estimation et statistiques et permet au stagiaire d’appliquer les connaissances acquises, plus théoriques. Le second projet partait sur les opérations de forage et sautage. Le stagiaire doit aider à mettre en place une méthode de contrôle de la qualité pour le contrôle de trous canons. Le but est de trouver le ou les facteurs causant les trous canons afin de diminuer leur influence lors des sautages suivants. Un projet de ce type est instructif pour un stagiaire, car celui-ci travaille en collaboration avec les ingénieurs, les arpenteurs

Le complexe à la mine Raglan / Mine complex at Raglan

ainsi que les mineurs. En rencontrant tous ces travailleurs, le stagiaire apprend à connaître le point de vue de chacun des maillons de la chaîne de travail, ce qui lui permet de comprendre les difficultés rencontrées à chaque étape. Outre les projets, le stagiaire a des tâches régulières à accomplir : assister à différentes réunions (santé et sécurité, production, planification de la semaine), remplir des rapports hebdomadaires, compiler des factures et faire le suivi de la production. Les tâches plus techniques consistent à dessiner des plans de forage et d’attachement sur AutoCAD. Ces tâches constituent la suite du second projet, ce qui les rend d’autant plus intéressantes. Finalement, en milieu de travail, il y a évidemment beaucoup de procédures à lire et on a l’occasion de suivre des formations. Les formations reçues sont très importantes, elles facilitent l’apprentissage. En plus des formations régulières de travail, il est possible d’assister à d’autres formations données dans les différents départements. Entre autre, j’ai pu suivre une formation sur les explosifs. Ces formations supplémentaires sont très appréciées, car elles permettent de joindre théorie et pratique et d’acquérir des connaissances plus spécifiques de la part de formateurs-experts.

student life |

COLUMNS

Jam-packed days of excitement and learning How a work term at Raglan Mine is benefiting a Laval University student Work terms in the mining industry are rewarding experiences. Students get the chance to apply what they learned in class and experience the true excitement of their profession. A work term is also a great opportunity to get up-to-date with the latest technologies and practices in use. Assigning different projects to students allows them to grow their knowledge base, develop work techniques and dive into the practical world of mining over the course of a 13- to 16-week placement.

Everyday life at Raglan Mine Conclusion En plus d’être des expériences de travail intéressantes, les stages permettent d’approfondir les connaissances pratiques des étudiants et de leur donner un avant-goût du travail qu’ils devront effectuer une fois qu’ils auront obtenu leur diplôme. Le passage en industrie permet donc aux stagiaires de rencontrer des employeurs potentiels, tout en permettant aux employeurs de voir les futurs ingénieurs à l’œuvre. ICM

Located 1,660 kilometres north of Quebec City, Raglan Mine is accessible only by air. At the mine, in addition to regular work, which goes on from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (with an hour’s break for lunch), there is a lot to do. Almost every night, there is a sporting activity underway at the gymnasium. There also is an entertainment room with musical instruments and table-top games, in addition to a few rooms with home theatre systems. There is ample opportunity to meet and speak with new people, who are almost, without exception, sympathetic and welcoming. The favoured hub of conversation is the cafeteria, which offers an excellent choice of diverse and healthy foods. The warm atmosphere helps the four weeks of work (three, for regular employees) before the two-week vacation to go by quickly.

My projects

Sur l’auteur Alexandre Dorval est un étudiant en 3e année en génie des mines et de la minéralurgie à l’Université Laval et stagiaire en ingénierie de surface à la Mine Raglan d’Xstrata Nickel.

In my work term, I was assigned two main projects. The first one focused on the reconciliation of data pertaining to diesel consumption by different mining activities. The objective was to create an index that would help better estimate the costs of diesel consumption in the financial planning of a new pit. This work gave me the opportunity to apply estimation and statistic notions learned in school. The second project related to drilling and blasting, where I had to set up a quality control method to prevent cannon

holes. The goal was to find out which factor influenced cannon holes the most in order to reduce their effect on the next blast. It was critical to minimize the incidence of fly rocks because the pit where the blasting occurs was quite close to the airstrip and the diesel tanks. This work was extremely interesting because it gave me the opportunity to work with engineers, technicians and miners. Working with people from different hierarchical levels, I was exposed to different points of view. It also helped me gain a better understanding of the distinctive challenges faced at each level of mining work.

Busy days Apart from their specific projects, work-term students have many general daily tasks to carry out, such as taking part in different meetings (for example health and safety, production and weekly planning), filling out weekly reports, checking explosives bills and following up on production. More technical tasks include drawing out plans for drilling using AutoCAD software. Working in the mining industry necessitates familiarizing yourself with a lot of procedures and completing numerous training sessions. In addition to the routine training given at work, there were opportunities to sign up for extra sessions. I attended one on explosives, conducted by Pierre Groleau of SNC-Lavalin. These special training sessions were greatly appreciated because those who conduct them often share their personal experiences — a factor missing in the textbooks. Work terms give students the opportunity to acquire and improve on practical and technical knowledge. They also provide a glimpse into their futures as fulltime employees in the industry and give future employers the chance to see students in action. CIM

About the author Alexandre Dorval is a third-year mining engineering student at Université Laval. March/April 2010 | 55

COLUMNS | safety A culture for zero Courageous leadership program drives Teck employees to make safety their top priority ❚ Heather Ednie Five years ago, Robin Sheremeta attended a session on courageous leadership at Teck’s Health and Safety Conference. The presentation by Vern Baker was modelled on the Barrick program developed by Don Ritz. Eager to implement the new ideas he had heard, Sheremeta, then general manager of Teck’s Greenhills coal operation, returned to work ready to make some changes. But, just one week later, on October 20, 2005, a fatal accident occurred on site. Heavy equipment operator Terry Twast was killed when his bulldozer went over the lip of the open pit and crashed to the pit floor. The tragedy turned Sheremeta’s eagerness into a burning drive to create a major cultural change at his operation. Sheremeta took immediate action, running everyone on site through Baker’s presentation and setting the expectations that Greenhills would go forward with in safety. Deeply shaken by the loss of their friend and colleague, the Greenhills workforce embraced the program and has since achieved 3.5 million hours without loss time incidence (LTI). Since then, Sheremeta has spearheaded the development of Teck’s Courageous Safety Leadership Program that today has been rolled out across all company sites. He was recently appointed Teck’s first vice-president of health and safety leadership. “When it comes to safety, my expectations are very high,” says Teck president and CEO Don Lindsay. “In this company, we value people over all other priorities. It is just so important to the culture of the company, to our reputation and just who we are. We are all responsible for safety at Teck.”

The journey begins In 2008, Lindsay requested that a Courageous Safety Leadership Program be implemented across the 56 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

Lunchbox of proud long-term Highland Valley Copper employee

company, with Sheremeta at the helm. “We took the work from Teck sites, and the knowledge developed by other companies such as Barrick and Newmont, and we created our own version of Courageous Safety Leadership,” Sheremeta explains. An eight-hour “journey” was developed taking participants through a logical step-by-step process of evaluating the requirements for safety success. Slides, video clips and group exercises show employees how to: • Introduce courage and leadership concepts, and set the stage for a journey, • Work through the concepts of values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours, • Weave these concepts into an understanding of what culture is and how it impacts safety in an organization, • Examine the organization’s challenges and bring to light the issues that must be resolved. • Clearly demonstrate the impact of personal leadership and make an emotional connection to becoming courageous safety leaders.

After focusing on the major elements of the plan, the day wraps up with a video featuring two stories that pack an emotional wallop: one is of a girl who lost her dad at a mine site and the other is of Terry Twast, which features his family, colleagues and friends sharing their memories of him and that fateful night in 2005, and their renewed focus on safety today. “The real challenge is how to get an entire workforce — a community — to hang on to a commitment to being better tomorrow than you are today,” Sheremeta notes. “That’s the emotional part — to create long-lasting commitment.” Before leaving the training session, each person must make two commitments to do things differently — one at home and one at work — to increase safety.

The roll-out In February 2009, every general manager and executive at Teck participated in the eight-hour Courageous Leadership Program. “They had the exact same program as all Teck employees,” Sheremeta says.

safety | COLUMNS Following the executive training, Sheremeta and Greg Brouwer (currently seconded to the International Zinc Association as director, Zinc Nutrient Initiative) conducted an impressive roll-out to all Teck operations. On site, the senior management team, facilitators and union representative gathered for a three-day training session with Sheremeta and Brouwer. The facilitators were responsible for ensuring all employees participated, without exception — a major challenge on sites of 1,000-plus employees and training sessions consisting of only about 25 people at a time. “Roughly 10,000 people went through the sessions this past year, including contractors on site and companies with particular interests with Teck,” Sheremeta says. “We presented to about 20 Teck sites, including the international operations. Lots of people said it couldn’t be done, but where there’s a will, you make it happen.” The program’s message has even spread beyond the workplace. “This journey has been fantastic; it’s amazing, the number of people impacted,” says Sheremeta. “One hourly employee in Trail, who became a facilitator, is a midget hockey coach. He’s now taking the kids on his team through the training and they are having the best hockey season in their league history. There are now so many stories like that.”

Keeping safety at the top of the agenda This year, in his new role, Sheremeta will continue to ensure courageous leadership is the cultural norm at Teck. Current plans for evaluating the success of the program rest in lag indicators — measuring the performance by the number of injuries sustained — though he says it is a depressing way to measure. He aims to develop a strategy to measure leading indicators like people’s commitment. Ultimately, he feels it is the proactive things we do that lead to success in safety and this is where the focus should be. Two programs will drive his safety programs this year. The first, Visible

Courageous Safety Leadership session at Teck Coal’s Elkview operations

Felt Leadership, strives to actively engage all employees across the organization in achieving the company’s objectives, particularly in safety. Targets are set for all levels of management — leaders need to be in the field, leading. The second program will aim to ensure that all Teck employees revisit the courageous leadership journey throughout the year, with monthly 15minutes videos on each of the steps. “The stories that are coming out from around the company will be used to build the emotional commitment,” says Sheremeta. “We’ll let those employees share in the story of courageous leadership. Each piece is critical to our success.” One such story is told in a video clip by Toni Foster, an accountant at Teck Coal’s Cardinal River Operations. Having gone through the Courageous Leadership Program, she was determined to do what she could to be a courageous leader for safety. In the video, she speaks about losing Gordon, her husband of 25 years, to an accident at a feed plant in Edmonton. She tells how Gordon was too afraid to speak up at work about safety issues he witnessed, and how she now has to struggle with his death. “At Teck, we are the human resource, the most valuable thing this company has,” Foster says. “They’ve asked us to be leaders. I don’t know if it takes courage or smarts, but we all

have a responsibility. Your families love you; even if you argued with your wife or husband for the past ten days, if you didn’t come home, trust me, their hearts would break.” Foster’s story will be shared at all Teck operations this year. She says part of her goal for courageous leadership is, “getting up and sharing this story because I believe we learn from example.”

The emotional commitment In five years, Sheremeta’s role has evolved from general manager of a major coal operation to spearheading vast cultural change throughout an international corporation. The experience has been an incredible journey for him, and Teck has supported him right along the way. “Don Lindsay is such an advocate for safety; Teck is a really good fit for me,” says Sheremeta. “I have found myself in a great situation where the corporation and I agree on values.” At the end of the day, Sheremeta himself is the perfect example of a courageous safety leader, fully committed to the new culture. “Terry’s accident was really hard on me; just being there was really difficult,” says Sheremeta. “As general manager, you take on the responsibility; it’s hard to go forward. It’s really driven me since then. Each day I need to be able to look in the mirror and know I’m doing what I can to avoid any more accidents.” CIM March/April 2010 | 57

COLUMNS | women in mining Championing the changing face of mining Tara Christie leads the way in sustainable practices

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Tara Christie, meeting with former Governor Sarah Palin in Haines, Alaska in March 2009

the Robert E. Leckie Reclamation Award in 2004 for its work on Dominion Creek. The same year, the company started a new mine site on Indian River that continues to be in production. Christie studied at the University of British Columbia, completing an undergraduate degree in applied science in geological engineering and a master’s degree in geological engineering, graduating at the top of her class. She won the Dr. Aaro E. Aho Gold Medal and the APEGBC award for demonstrating great promise. She is registered as a Professional Engineer in BC and the Yukon. In 2003, Christie was named Miner of the Year by the Klondike Placer Miners Association (KPMA) in recognition of her work as the association's president from 2001-2002. During her tenure, she was called upon to address serious threats to placer mining in the Yukon as a result of a decision by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to withdraw the collective environmental permit

Photo courtesy of Randy Powelson

Tara Christie is part of the new face of mining in Canada. At the age of 36, her early career has coincided with a time of commercial, social and political change in the industry. President of family-owned Dawson City, Yukon-based Gimlex Gold Mines, Christie is a successful entrepreneur whose family has embraced change as passionate industrial advocates. Beyond Gimlex, she juggles several board commitments with her work as a geological, environmental and alluvial mining consultant. On any given day, you are as likely to find her working at mining or exploration sites in the Yukon, Alaska, Northern Ontario or Africa as with mining and government executives in Whitehorse, Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa. Christie is proud of her firm hand on the bottom line, which she says comes from years of learning how to balance the financial requirements of her family-owned placer gold operation. The challenge of managing fuel costs, recruiting the right labour mix and locating cost-effective heavy equipment have honed her skills as a savvy financial director. Christie, her father Jim, her mother Dagmar and her brother Sheamus are all equal owners in the business, located just outside Dawson City, Yukon. Today, they are outspoken defenders of family-based placer mines in the Yukon and dedicated promoters of the sustainable mining practices that the Yukon exports to the world. It all started back in 1985 when the Christies started a venture, with four other partners, into placer gold mining on Scroggie and Mariposa creeks. They mined those sites until 1992. Meanwhile, the family explored other sites and started its own mine in 1992 on Dominion Creek, outside Dawson City. Gimlex went on to win

Photo courtesy of Palin staff

❚ Brian O’Hara

Picking cranberries on Quartz Hill near Dawson City, Yukon in fall 2008

under which all Yukon placer mining families had been operating. Christie negotiated the troubled political waters among Yukon miners, environmentalists, politicians in the North and in Ottawa, and First Nations interests to the ultimate satisfaction of all stakeholders. In awarding her the Miner of the Year award, the KPMA said, “Tara Christie has done the impossible: she has put the Klondike on the map in Ottawa.”

Sustainability pioneer Christie is a leader in promoting sustainable development within the mining industry in Canada. She was one of the original board members of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB), helping during its formative years to establish the board’s rules governing its environmental assessment process. She is especially proud of her nearly six years of work with the board and the role she has played in its recognition as an effective regulatory process that has now handled over 900 projects. She is an advocate of the benefits to be realized by industry partnering with First Nations communities to work toward mutually beneficial results. As a director of Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. — with projects in Haines, Alaska, and Northern Ontario — she has been involved in working with the Wahgoshig First Nation of Ontario to secure an exploration agreement. Early in the partnership, the positive working relationship resulted in a successful and costeffective drill assistant training program as part of a small $200,000 drill program. It is often difficult for small companies to invest in training, Christie notes, and this was a good example of how even a small program, with good communication, can be a success. Christie also acts as director of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canda (PDAC), currently as chair of the Finance and Taxation Committee, and most recently has agreed to join the Newmont team to assist with the Hope Bay Gold Project in Nunavut.

Get involved If Christie has advice for her younger colleagues, it is to “pick an association and an issue that is important to you and get involved.” “As a former director of AMEBC, YCM, KPMA and now PDAC, I have learned and made connections with others in the industry, in politics, in First Nations communities and in civil society,” she says. “The industry needs to have more people engaged in our industry’s issues — and more people representing the changing face of our industry. The contacts they make with other professionals and the broader understanding of the industry and the world in which we operate are invaluable.” Today, mining’s new leaders — like Tara Christie — believe that the industry can lead in sustainable practices that create opportunities for all segments of society and leave the land in better shape than it was found. CIM March/April 2010 | 59

COLUMNS | engineering exchange Deploying collaborative expertise for performance improvements UPSAT team carries out its first mission ❚ Heather Ednie In February, the Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil (INB) became the first organization to take advantage of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) new Uranium Production Site Appraisal Team (UPSAT) service. The service gives uranium companies access to world-class experts to help them promote best practices and safety. The inaugural assessment took place at INB’s Caetité uranium production site in the State of Bahia, Brazil. “The IAEA wishes to assist member states in their efforts to improve the quality of work in uranium mining through introduction of good the solvent extraction plant are (L to R): Luiz Alberto Gomiero, production coordinator, INB Caetite; Chuck Edwards, director, practice,” says Peter Waggitt, In metallurgy, AMEC and UPSAT team member; Heraldo Rangel Junior, process advisor, INB; and Keith Baldry, director, EPA South of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Australia and UPSAT team member. and Materials Section of the IAEA’s Department of Nuclear Energy. “The IAEA also Mission Brazil agement; radiation protection; monwishes to see uranium mining carried itoring systems; environmental After discussions with INB, the out in accordance with the relevant IAEA appointed Waggitt as project impact assessment; decommissionIAEA Safety Standards to ensure pro- coordinator. Waggitt and his col- ing planning; and environmental tection for the population and the leagues combed their networks to remediation planning. environment. This all becomes very select people with the right range of Chuck Edwards, director of metalrelevant now as the uranium industry skills and experience from uranium lurgy at AMEC Americas Limited, was is undergoing a resurgence of activity mining countries and companies to a member of the UPSAT team deployed after about 25 years of relative inactiv- provide a top quality peer review. to INB. With a long history in uranium ity. Nuclear power has come back onto “Everyone on the team had a signifi- production in Saskatchewan, Edwards cant track record in the uranium min- brought processing expertise to the the agenda.” An UPSAT mission provides a peer ing industry, as a consultant, an opera- team. The INB operation is currently an review of one or more phases of a ura- tor or a regulator,” says Waggitt. open pit and heap-leaching operation, A team of experts was pulled nium production operation by an interbut is moving into underground minnational team of experts. The technical together from four uranium-producing with a conventional mill, which exchange of experience and work prac- ing countries: Canada, Australia, the will triple its production capacity. The tices aims to strengthen the operation’s Czech Republic and France. The UPSAT team looked at both the presprograms and procedures and aid review focused on a number of major ent operation’ s impacts, capabilities implementation of new procedures on- areas: organization and manageand safety, and the future operation site. Performance is measured with ref- ment; general safety; mining and plans. Edwards says for him, the focus erence to the IAEA Safety Standards processing engineering; human was 90 per cent on the future mill. resources development; waste manand best international practices. 60 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

engineering exchange |

COLUMNS

Open pit operation at INB Caetite. The yellow ventilation equipment at top centre is the beginning of their new underground mine development. Inset: Picture of the main mill building at INB Caetite.

“I determined pretty quickly that the heap-leaching operation was good — I had very few comments to make — so my focus shifted to the conventional mill they are going to build,” he explains. Once the UPSAT team was in place, INB created a website for sharing information with the team, as well as background information, reports, plans and papers. An exchange of ideas was initiated well before the mission landed in Brazil. Once there, for the first couple of days on site, the group heard presentations from about a dozen people. “It was open and honest communications, providing us with a wealth of information to process,” Edwards says. “After those initial days, we scattered. I spent most of my time in the mill.” Costs associated with participating in the UPSAT team are shared. Edwards’ travel and living expenses were covered through UPSAT, and AMEC paid his salary. “At AMEC, we want to be seen as global players in the uranium industry — we want to be a part of these types of missions,” Edwards explains. “And I had a good

time, I really did. Brazil is a developing country but it’s certainly going in the right direction.”

The outcome The resulting UPSAT report will have five sections in all. Edwards’ section on uranium processing includes between 25 to 30 recommendations — some on the flow sheet, some to generate ideas. Overall, the UPSAT team concluded the Caetité operations are run in a clean and efficient manner without evidence of adverse environmental impact outside the mining licence area, and that the workforce at the facility is well-motivated and conscientious, with a well-developed safety culture. Areas for improvement of overall performance included further work to reduce risks of environmental impacts in ground water, likely related to the above-ground tailings and waste disposal. Once INB receives the UPSAT report, it will be analyzed carefully and the actual implementation recommendations studied. “Part of this work has

already begun, because ongoing studies are being carried out, based on the discussions held during the mission visit and on the preliminary conclusions stated at the close out meeting of the missions,” says Cesar Costa, licensing and quality manager, Mineral Resources Division, INB, and INB coordinator for UPSAT. “From our point of view, the mission has proven worthwhile,” Costa continues. “The mission team was a high level selection of experts. We note that INB personnel gained knowledge even just through discussions held during the on-site review process.” To date, there have been a couple of initial inquiries for further UPSAT missions, but it is still in its early stages yet and IAEA is not announcing details. Waggitt says a few items in the system and methodology may be adjusted in light of the Brazil experience, but nothing major. He is eager to see UPSAT deployed again. CIM More details on UPSAT can be found at http://www.iaea.org/OurWork/ST/NE/N EFW/nfcms_rawmaterials_UPSAT.html. March/April 2010 | 61

COLUMNS | innovation Treasure-hunting with space rays The application of cosmic ray muons in geophysical exploration is no science fiction fantasy ❚ Douglas Bryman Geological science is constantly on the lookout for new techniques to augment the tried-and-true methods of electromagnetic, gravity and seismic imaging. This is especially true when it comes to exploration, as imprecise findings can lead to wastefully expensive borehole drilling. A group at the University of British Columbia, TRIUMF (Canada’s National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics) and its spinoff, Advanced Applied Physics Solutions (a Canadian Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research), is working to identify more accurate, less expensive exploration techniques. Researchers from these institutions are developing a technique of geophysical tomography using cosmic rays. This is considered promising in part because the basic physics is well understood and most elements of the technique have already been demonstrated.

The science behind it High-energy protons originating from distant cosmological sources produce unstable elementary particles — pions (or pi mesons) — in the upper atmosphere. These particles rapidly decay to muons. The high-energy muons, a heavy type of ordinary electron, can penetrate the atmosphere. With energies in the trillions of electron volts, some of these muons can reach deep into the earth, and some can even reach kilometres below the earth’s surface. Since the intensity of the muons falls exponentially with depth, they can easily reveal dense deposits such as massive sulphides, which cause a significant reduction in the muon flux. Cosmic ray muons show up on standard types of charged particle sensors (e.g. scintillators), which produce flashes of light when pene62 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

Principle of cosmic ray muon tomography: (left) brownfield configuration with sensors A, B, C and A’, B’, C’ located in an existing drift; (right) greenfield configuration with sensors A, B and C in a borehole. The flux of muons passing through a high-density pod is attenuated.

trated by charged particles and gas proportional chambers in which residual ionization is detected. Although the idea itself is not new, its applications are. Tomography based on X-ray attenuation is common in medical imaging such as CT scanning. With appropriate underground sensors, cosmic ray muon tomography can also be a nondestructive method of imaging dense objects in the earth. Like gamma rays travelling through human tissue (a familiar phenomenon), high-energy muons travel in relatively straight lines. However, unlike X-rays, cosmic ray muons are able to penetrate very dense matter. Muons are routinely observed and tracked using instruments found in highenergy physics experiments around the world in labs like TRIUMF (Vancouver) and CERN (Geneva). Muon detectors are accurate enough to precisely locate highdensity regions with

dimensions as small as one metre at a distance of 100 metres from the detectors. Physicists have built numerous underground labs, such as SNOLAB in Sudbury, with detectors observing cosmic ray muons deep within the earth. For geophysical exploration, detectors can be placed in an underground mine drift or in boreholes to sense the presence and determine the direction of the cosmic muons, which penetrate to those depths. Advance Applied Physics Solutions is currently in the process of demonstrating the utility of this technology at an existing mine in British Columbia. CIM

About the author Douglas Bryman holds the J.B. Warren Chair and is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia. He is currently involved in research projects in fundamental particle physics, medical imaging and geophysical tomography.

first nations |

COLUMNS

Advice on managing public opinion for developing a uranium operation ❚ Juan Carlos Reyes For most people, the word “uranium” invokes a number of negative connotations. This is due mainly to having grown up hearing about nuclear catastrophes like Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island — which all equates to a poor rap for the mineral. I asked a few of my friends, family doctors, engineers, geologists, to tell me what came to mind when they thought about uranium exploration and mining. Not surprisingly, most of them had some reservations, but no one could give me specific reasons why they felt this way. Similar apprehensions, with little or no reasoning, might also explain why a group of doctors in Sept-Îles threatened to quit if uranium exploration continued in their region (http://tinyurl.com/yejgjef). But, I can’t blame my friends or these doctors for thinking the way they do. I would probably feel the same if it was not for a visit to Saskatchewan a few years ago (see my article in CIM Magazine, February 2009, page 63). There is a lot of negative information about uranium currently being circulated. For example, if you were to type the word “uranium” in Google, topping the list of results are current news items about Iran’s uranium enrichment scheme — a topic that, for most people, is linked to nuclear weapons. Also, the first website you will come across that actually talks about uranium mining and exploration is likely to be “Uranium: The Deadliest Metal” or other similarly disparaging articles, which offer scant references to scientific data or even statistics that are over 100 years old. Admittedly, there are a number of health risks involved in the handling, exploration and mining of uranium. Vice-Chief Don Deranger of the Prince Albert Grand Council, who

has worked in uranium mines for decades and has seen the industry when regulation was nothing but a pipe dream, admits that there are health risks involved in the industry. In Canada, however, because of our strict federal regulations, these risks are now virtually non-issues. Uranium is a naturally occurring element that can be found in low levels within all rocks, soil and water. According to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), studies demonstrate that present-day uranium workers, and the public living near a uranium mine or mill, suffer no additional health issues than the average Canadian. There is no evidence of illnesses in Canada attributed to uranium exposure. In 200809, all uranium mines and mills in the country were inspected by CNSC and provincial inspectors, with some being subjected to as many as eight CNSC inspections. The uranium mining and milling industry is the only mining industry in Canada licensed, regulated and monitored by the federal government.

When we move the uranium issue into the Aboriginal arena, where mining is already a contentious topic thanks to its environmental footprint, you have the makings of a potential nightmare. My advice to companies in this industry is to practice the “golden rules” of a successful engagement: • Prior to any work being undertaken, make it a priority to engage in respectful and meaningful dialogue right from the beginning, and keep the lines of communication open. • Be prepared to answer difficult questions and to bring in independent consultants who can provide the community with advice — and hopefully some reassurances. • Do not downplay the community’s feelings or the seriousness of the situation. Developing a uranium operation can be a very risky proposition. A lot of education needs to take place before moving too quickly. CIM www.learning-together.ca

About the author Juan Carlos Reyes is an Aboriginal consultant with efficiency.ca and the executive director of Learning Together. He is passionate about human rights and works tirelessly to help improve the lives of Canadian Aboriginal people.

Moving on up Richard Labelle has been appointed CEO at Norcast Wear Solutions. Labelle’s 22 years of experience include operations, services and supply. Most recently, he was COO of Dumas Contracting Limited, responsible for global operations, including strategic growth initiatives focused on expansion into new markets, as well as new client and service development.

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COLUMNS | parlons en Une nouvelle cité d’or Le Projet Canadian Malartic avance comme prévu ❚ Hélène Thibault L’année 2010 s’annonce riche en événements pour la Corporation Minière Osisko et son projet Canadian Malartic situé au Québec en Abitibi, et promet même de surpasser l’année 2009 pourtant fort bien remplie. En effet, durant la dernière année, Osisko a poursuivi sa transformation de société d’exploration minière à société d’exploitation. En moins de cinq ans depuis l’acquisition des claims initiaux, et à la suite de programmes de forage intensifs totalisant plus de 700 000 mètres, la Société a défini l’une des plus grandes réserves d’or dans un seul gisement au Canada et construit maintenant ce qui sera, dans un an, l’une des plus grosses exploitations aurifères au pays. La construction de la mine a débuté au début de l’automne 2009 et battra son plein l’été prochain avec 800 travailleurs sur le chantier. Cela représente un investissement de presque 1 milliard de dollars, soit le plus gros investissement privé au Québec présentement. Le développement minier demandait la relocalisation d’un secteur de la ville de Malartic. Avec la collaboration des résidents, un nouveau quartier a été développé au nord de la ville en 2008-2009 et plus d’une centaine de maisons y ont été déménagées. Cinq bâtiments institutionnels y ont également été construits en utilisant des technologies vertes telle la géothermie. Les travaux de relocalisation sont maintenant presque terminés. Le début de la production commerciale est planifié pour le deuxième trimestre 2011 avec une production moyenne de plus de 600 000 onces d’or par année, un taux d’usinage de 55 000 tonnes par jour, une durée potentielle de vie de la mine de 12,2 ans et plus de 450 emplois directs. Parallèlement aux travaux de construction, Osisko continue sa croissance avec des travaux de forage sur le projet Canadian Malartic afin d’y augmenter les ressources déjà définies ainsi que par la signature d’ententes d’exploration avec de tierces parties sur des propriétés au Québec, en Ontario et en Nouvelle-Écosse. Un total de 200 000 mètres de forage d’exploration et de définition est prévu en 2010. Depuis le tout début de ses travaux d’exploration, la Société a mis au cœur de son développement minier les principes de développement durable avec des efforts spécifiques en environnement et en développement communautaire. Ceci a donc inclus, entre autres, une information en continu, dans un souci de transparence, auprès de la communauté sous forme de nombreuses réunions d’informations, de chroniques dans les journaux locaux, l’ouverture 64 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

C’est la fin du quart de travail (une partie de la flotte minière sur le site Canadian Malartic en arrière plan).

d’un centre de relations communautaires au centre-ville, l’implication de la communauté avec la formation d’un Groupe de consultation de la communauté (remplacé maintenant, pendant les phases de construction et d’exploitation, par un Comité de suivi environnemental indépendant de la Société) ainsi que la création d’un fonds de développement durable, le FEMO (Fonds Essor Malartic Osisko). Au niveau environnemental, plusieurs initiatives sont mises de l’avant, telles que le choix de technologies plus vertes ainsi qu’un partenariat avec le gouvernement du Québec pour la réhabilitation d’un site minier abandonné. Avec une équipe d’expérience et passionnée, de solides ressources financières et un gisement de calibre mondial en plein développement, 2010 sera certainement une année charnière pour Osisko qui sans renier son excellence en exploration, s’apprête à devenir le prochain producteur de taille intermédiaire au Canada. ICM

L’auteur Hélène Thibault fut, pendant plus de 15 ans, partenaire d’une entreprise d’ingénieur-conseil et conseiller en gestion des affaires avant de se joindre au Centre local de développement de la Vallée-de-l’Or en tant que directrice générale. Depuis 2007, elle est directrice des communications pour la Corporation Minière Osisko.

The dark knight Sir Thomas Tait and the rise and fall of New Brunswick’s famous coalfields ❚ Gillian Woodford

L

ast December 31, New Brunswick’s storied coal mining industry breathed its last breath. One man towered over its tumultuous early years — the cigarchomping railway baron Sir Thomas Tait. Coal has always been mined from the rich deposits around Minto, New Brunswick. Industrial mining started around the turn of the last century, but was pretty small-time until Tait — a golfing fanatic who summered at St. Andrews, New Brunswick’s famous resort town — came on the scene. In 1913, fresh from a stint running Victorian Railways in Australia (for which he was knighted), the former Canadian Pacific Railway manager learned of the underexploited coalfields around Grand Lake. Using his CPR connections, he moved quickly, finagling the best coal assets from hapless locals and securing hefty government grants to finish the crucial 50kilometre railway link between Minto and Fredericton. The shrewd Tait kept the coal assets for himself and formed the Minto Coal Company. He soon landed two prime contracts: supplying coal to a nearby cotton mill and to his old pals at CPR. In those days, most miners spent the spring and summer farming and mined the rest of the year. This did not suit Tait at all. The Montreal-born son of a judge was used to getting his own way, so he lured the best workers from rival mines and informed them that the job was year-round and whoever did not like it could clear out. This encounter set the tone for Tait’s approach to labour relations in the coming years.

Things went well at first, at least for Tait. World War I brought lucrative contracts to Minto Coal, but Tait did not see fit to share the profits with his miners. The next years were characterized by union busting, evictions from the awful company housing, arbitrary pay cuts, increasingly unsafe conditions in the mines and strike after terrible strike. Two royal commissions were called to look into matters, but fortunately for Tait, the province had no legislation to enforce their many recommendations. Then, in 1932, five people died trying to rescue some local boys who were poisoned while playing in an abandoned mine shaft. The same year, 14 miners were disabled and two men killed in accidents at Minto Coal. The government could not ignore the problems in Minto any longer. It passed legislation the following year that forced the mines to reduce work hours, bar women and children from

mining, and improve safety in the mines. Tait accepted the last two, but refused to reduce work hours. The miners went on strike again. The strife was exacerbated by a fall in coal prices in the 1930s, which led to more pay cuts. By 1937, things came to a head and 1,000 miners at 11 collieries, including Minto Coal, walked out. Tait and the others held firm and when winter rolled around, the workers, impoverished and demoralized, returned to work. Things did gradually improve for both the miners and the mine owners. In the 1940s, new technology led to greater production, safety and profits. In 1944, Minto Coal, once so aloof, donated land and money to build the town’s first hospital. But credit for this bit of philanthropy cannot go to the dark knight of Minto. Thomas Tait died in 1940 in St Andrew’s at Link’s Crest, the luxury summer home he built from his coal riches. CIM

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cim news | award winners What engineers do best Peter Tiley raises award for hoisting innovations By Robbie Pillo Peter Tiley has spent most of his 30-year career making plants run more safely and efficiently. Ever since he joined his father’s company G.L. Tiley and Associates in 1977, Tiley has been working hard to increase productivity, reduce energy consumption and provide greater safety to mining companies. For this, he has earned CIM’s 2009 McParland Memorial Award, which honours innovators in engineering and design in plant management, improvements and maintenance. Born to a mine hoisting engineer, Tiley spent part of his childhood moving from one South African town to another and overcame the challenges faced when relocating. “You learn to be more social because you’re always mak- Tiley adjusting a Lilly controller ing new friends,” he says. In 1955, at the age of seven, Tiley He graduated from McMaster and his family emigrated to Canada. University with a degree in engineering The oppression of South Africa’s physics, and received a master’s degree apartheid regime was disheartening, in mechanical engineering from Bristol more so to his mother, who had emiUniversity in the United Kingdom by grated from Scotland when she married way of an Athlone Fellowship. He and could not abide the government’s returned to Canada in 1972 to begin policies. “It wasn’t long after arriving, his dream career at Atomic Energy of that my mother knew she wasn’t going Canada’s Chalk River facility. to stay,” he explains. Four years later, a rapid decline in Four years after their move to technology and research development Canada, the Tileys finally settled into at the facility made him take a second the home they built in the small townlook at his career opportunities. Tiley ship of Greensville, Ontario. “I switched gears and accepted an offer at remained in the same place from grade G.L. Tiley and Associates, a basementsix through university,” Tiley says. “It run consulting firm his father founded was more stable, I had a lot more with two former colleagues in 1972. It friends and I was able to forge lasting was a move he has never regretted. relationships.” “Mining has given me the opportunity Tiley didn’t plan to follow in his to do what engineers do best — build father’s footsteps. As a high school stuthings and watch them operate,” Tiley dent, he intended to become a nuclear says. “Many nuclear reactor designs I worked on were never built.” reactor engineer. “I was always interThroughout his 30-year career, Tiley ested in physics and science,” he has worked on several hundred hoists recalls. “Nuclear energy was the most worldwide and has led the commiscutting-edge technology of the time.” 66 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

sioning, upgrading and installation of over 50 hoisting plants. From his background in nuclear plant modelling to the brake pad materials found on the motorcycles he rode as a teenager, Tiley has used his past experiences to jump-start his innovative solutions. “You apply what you know and have learned,” he explains. A life lesson learned early in his career led Tiley to improve the health and safety standards within his own company. Flying into a mine site 5,000 metres above sea level in Peru one time, he never gave his body the chance to properly acclimatize to the new altitude. Suffering from severe headaches and nausea, coupled with the effects of sleeping pills prescribed by the mine site physician, Tiley went into shock and he spent the following week recovering at the local hospital. He made sure no one else in his company would suffer the same fate. Over the years, G.L. Tiley and Associates has grown to over 30 consultants and support staff, offering a complete range of mine hoisting systems solutions. In 1991, Tiley became president of the company. “I first joined the firm so that I could keep this knowledge and ability from dwindling. As president, I wanted to ensure its sustainability by passing it on to future generations,” he explains. Although he retired in 2008, Tiley stayed on board for occasional support to his former team. “The company is in good hands,” he says. Today, Tiley has returned to the industry he once left behind. Chair of the technical team for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, Tiley reviews the designs of the mine hoisting plant for an underground nuclear repository at the Bruce Power Station near Kincardine, Ontario. CIM

CIM Journal — beyond information Launching CIM’s new technical paper quarterly By Heather Ednie Check your mailbox this spring and find the leading expertise for the mineral industry of the future with the arrival of the CIM Journal. The new quarterly is the reinvigorated forum for CIM peer-reviewed technical papers and will replace the annual CIM Bulletin. “We’re making the move to publishing this way — on paper, in full colour — because people want it,” says Chuck Edwards, chair of the CIM Technical Publications Committee and CIM incoming president-elect. “People like to see their papers published. And colour is a big advantage — information is translated better through many types of images and figures. And let’s be real — it’s a definite challenge to read online from the bathtub!” Mailed along with the CIM Magazine to control postage costs, the CIM Journal will be available to members at no cost beyond the regular membership fee. Papers will be published in French or in English, with the abstracts provided in both languages. Initially, each issue of the journal will include eight to ten papers, but should there be a higher volume of high quality papers, it will expand. “We decided to make it a quarterly because we want to be selective,” Edwards explains. “We’re focusing on quality rather than quantity.” As the journal launches, some CIM societies — those with more robust conferences, proceedings and journal businesses — may be more well represented. However, Edwards and the Technical Publications Committee are available to assist the publications chairs of all CIM societies to ensure the interests of their members are served with quality papers. “The papers we publish won’t be just any old papers — they will be cutting edge, offering leading expertise,” Edwards explains. “This information will help members in their jobs. It will span across industry, not just focus on one field, to help members to bridge the gap;” hence the Journal tagline: “Beyond information — leading expertise for the mineral industries of the future.” The roster of papers for the May edition is already set. Now is the time for authors to get their submissions in for the summer, fall and winter. An online submission system is available from the home page of the CIM website at www.cim.org. Papers covering the diverse range of interests under the CIM umbrella are welcome — from geology and extraction to processing and beyond closure. “This is just what CIM needs to keep its reputation as a leading technical society,” Edwards adds. “I’m really excited about it. It’s going to be a huge benefit to CIM and to its members.” Edwards invites all members, authors and reviewers to send feedback, questions and suggestions — help build CIM Journal’s future. Contact Chuck Edwards at 306.477.1155, ext. 539 or chuck.edwards@amec.com. CIM

cim news | scholarship winners Future industry leaders receive Cameco scholarships By Marlene Eisner

Kyle Buckoll

For the second year in a row, three University of British Columbia (UBC) mining engineering students have each won a Cameco Mine and Mineral Process North American Engineering $5,000 Scholarship. Applicants were judged for academic achievement and a commitment to a career in the uranium and nuclear energy industry. Kyle Buckoll, 20, in his third year at UBC, grew up east of Vancouver. When he first entered university, he wasn’t sure what kind of engineering he would study, but knew he wanted to integrate office work with fieldwork. “Mining really offered a dynamic field that involved many aspects of engineering that I liked and it seemed like a great fit for myself,” he says. Last year, Buckoll was on a work term in Lanigan, Saskatchewan, which has a population of about 1,000 people. “There was bit of a culture shock at first,” he recalls. “It was really tough not knowing anyone.” However, when he became involved in local sports, he made friends and discovered that “whatever you put into a small town, you get out of the town — I had a great time there.” In Lanigan, Buckoll worked for PotashCorp on a variety of jobs, including ventilation and a mix of rock mechanics and mine planning. This summer, he has signed up to work at Cameco’s McArthur River operation, using Autocad and working on the future development of the mine. In five years Buckoll says he hopes to be involved in an EIT development 68 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

Ian Morrison

Brad St. Pierre

program “that will give me some solid operational experience, which will help me develop as a young engineer. After that I want to get involved in the economics of mining.” Ian Morrison, also 20, is studying mining engineering at UBC’s Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering. He says he was not sure if he would win the scholarship, but “I hoped through my essay I had effectively conveyed my interest in the uranium industry,” says Morrison. Heading into his first year, mining was the last discipline Morrison thought about. He says he was sure he would go into mechanical or civil engineering; however, a presentation by the mining department changed his mind. “Mining just seemed so much more exciting and interesting than any of the other options, so I decided to study it,” he says. Morrison has worked on Teck Coal’s Cardinal River Operations near Hinton, Alberta, and likes the exciting challenges of a work site. “From rock mechanics to maintenance to weather, no other industry has to consider so many influences,” he says. “It’s a very unique, interesting and challenging industry.” After experiencing the mining side of the industry last summer, Morrison will be conducting potash and oil sands porcessing research this coming one. Brad St. Pierre, a 21-year-old native of Black Creek, British Columbia, says he felt fairly confident

he would win again this year. “The reason I was so confident was that between last year’s scholarship and this year’s application, I had improved my GPA, obtained eight months work experience at Teck Coal and will be working at Cameco’s McArthur River Operation this summer.” St. Pierre was first enrolled in the honours civil engineering program at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. “Although I enjoyed the program, after one year I decided to transfer to UBC,” he says. “I made the choice to study mining engineering and have never looked back.” He says mining is filled with challenges, from the everyday running of the operation to bringing people from different social and educational backgrounds together to obtain positive results. However, he adds that the most significant challenge is changing the public’s perception of mining. “In the public eye, mines are polluters of the environment, destroyers of land and disrupters of social systems,” St. Pierre explains. “Although mining hasn’t been the most responsible industry in the past, they have been making tremendous strides towards sustainability in all areas.” Looking forward, he would “like to work for a company in various roles in an attempt to understand an array of responsibilities before choosing a definite direction.” CIM

cim news La section de Québec encourage la relève Par Jean-Marc Charbonneau La Section de Québec de l’ICM a tenu une soirée de conférences des étudiants de quatre programmes à l’Université Laval le 25 janvier dernier. La section locale a remis quatre bourses totalisant 1000 $ aux étudiants conférenciers suivants : Jacques Forest, Simon L’Heureux, Katerina Fleury, Jonathan Arel. Une quarantaine de personnes étaient présentes dont une vingtaine d’étudiants. Une consommation et un goûter ont été offerts, grâce à la participation financière appréciée des commanditaires Agnico-Eagle, l'Association minière du Québec, COREM, Fasken Martineau, Gestion SODEMEX inc., Instrumentation GDD inc., Mines Virginia, Soutex inc., et GENIVAR. ICM v Jean-Marc Charbonneau est président

de la Section de Québec de l’ICM.

Richard Laplante, de la Section de Québec de l’ICM, remet la coupe à une des deux équipes gagnantes : Marialle Gagné, Stéphanie Larente-Marcotte, Corina Moraru et Frédérique Tremblay-Auger.

Coupe de science Par Josée Dallaire Les 18 et 19 janvier derniers, l’ICM s’est joint en tant que partenaire principal au projet : La Coupe de science, un événement inscrit dans la lignée des activités du 34e Festival de Sciences et Génie de l'Université Laval. La compétition portait sur le transport de minérai dans une mine à ciel ouvert ayant subi un effondrement de terrain. Les jeunes devaient trouver des solutions pratiques afin que le camion puisse se rendre au sommet de la mine sans perdre son chargement. ICM March/April 2010 | 69

cim news Branching out CIM looking to expand its reach to Mississauga By Kerry Shaw Recently, a small group of CIM members in Mississauga, Ontario, have been working to bring a CIM presence to the area. On January 26, the group held its inaugural event to kick off this initiative, where members of the Mississauga mining community mingled over lunch and listened to CIM Distinguished Lecturer Stephen Scott give a talk on seafloor massive sulphide mining.

The lecture captivated the audience and generated some interesting discussions among the attendees. The event was a great success, with more than 60 people from over 15 different companies in attendance. The next luncheon lecture will be held on Wednesday, April 7. Sean Capstick, associate and group manager, Atmospheric Services Group,

Golder Associates Ltd, will be presenting: “Incorporating Climate Change Science into Mining Design Considerations.” For more information or to RSVP, email Panteha Momini at pmomini@hatch.ca. CIM v Kerry Shaw is a member of the CIM

Mississauga interim organizing committee.

CIM welcomes new members Allen, Cheryl, Ontario Araya, Rodrigo, Québec Bain, Duncan, Ontario Bartsch, Erik, Ontario Bassermanw, Robert, Ontario Bayona, Luis, Québec Bell, Alexander, Ontario Benoit, Serge, Ontario Bergeron, Sophie, Québec Blondeel, Chistopher, Saskatchewan Blum, Jonathan, Ontario Boaro, Joe, Ontario Boland, Howard, Ontario Bongajum, Emmanuel, Ontario Branscombe, Laura, Ontario Bray, Ken, Saskatchewan Briggs, Scott, Ontario Bronkhorst, David, Saskatchewan Brunelle, Guy, Québec Budgeon, Bruce, Québec Bussin, Isaac, Ontario Cartmill, Brianne, Ontario Carvalho, Jose, Ontario Caumartin, Richard, Québec Chinloy, Sasha-Li, Ontario Corey, Grant, Ontario Coulson, Adam, Ontario Coutts, Dave, Ontario Dahl, Brad, Ontario Day, Jennifer, Ontario de Oliveira, Gustavo, Ontario Dehghan, Mahdi, Ontario Desjardins, Ed, Ontario Dion, Sébastien, Québec Dorion, Jean-François, Québec 70 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

Dudley, Bruce, Ontario Dumont, Patrick, Québec Dunets Wills, Anna, Ontario Durr, Roy, Saskatchewan Dutka, Greg, Saskatchewan Evangelatos, John, Québec Fekete, Stephanie, Ontario Forest, Jacques, Ontario Fournier, Éric, Ontario Fréchette, Valérie, Québec Kennedy, Harry Frederick, Ontario Gelfand, Julie, Ontario Ghaffari, Hamed, Ontario Ghazvinian, Ehsan, Ontario Girard, Yves, Québec Gotz, Imola, Ontario Greyvensteyn, Rory, Ontario Griffith, Wesley, Ontario Grondin, Andre J., Ontario Hardy, Lee, Saskatchewan Hastings, Dave, Ontario Hawes, Ryan, Ontario Hendrickson, Barbara, Ontario Holl, Ian, Ontario Hume, Colin, Ontario Ichillumpa Flores, Cesar Edmundo, Ontario Izard, Doug, Ontario Jalbert, Michel, Québec Javid, Salar, Ontario Keenan, James, Ontario Khajeh Mahabadi, Omid, Ontario Kostyukov, Evgeny, Ontario Kühn, Esther, Ontario Kunkel, Ron, Saskatchewan Kurtenbach, Brad, Ontario

Lachance, Mario, Ontario Lambert, Patrick, Québec Langlois, Raymond, Québec LaPrairie, Joe, Ontario Lato, Matt, Ontario Lessard, J.C., Québec Lessard, Sylvain, Québec Lyle, Ryan, Ontario Lynn, Murray, Ontario MacLeod, Tracy, Ontario Mah, Peter, Ontario Masionis, Sal, Ontario Mattar, Patrick, Québec Matte, Paul G., Ontario Maybee, Bryan Maxwell, Ontario McCaughan, Sean, Ontario McDougall, James, Ontario McIver, Ray, Ontario Meagher, Cashel, Ontario Mohns, Wayne, Ontario Mommaerts, Guy, Ontario Ngabe, Barnabe, Québec Normani, Stefano, Ontario Ormsby, Tom, Ontario Ornella, Michael G., Ontario Pakalnis, Victor V., Ontario Paudyn, Krysta Magret, Ontario Paulsen, Eric, Saskatchewan Pearce, Ian, Ontario Peng, Sihong, Ontario Pineault, Rachel, Ontario Plouffe, Michel, Ontario Qin, Wen, Québec Rausch, Brian, Ontario Rector, Dave, Ontario Richard, Jim, Ontario Rico, Ingrid, Ontario

Rinaldi, Thomas, Ontario Ritz, Don, Ontario Saleem, Hamza, Ontario Salvatore, David, Ontario Schaming, Jim, Ontario Schreiner, Bryan, Saskatchewan Séguin, Gilles, Saskatchewan Selvadurai, Paul, Québec Simela, Julian, Ontario Slavin, John, Ontario Smith, William, Ontario Stephen, Mlot, Ontario Stewart, David, Ontario Sullivan, Heather, Ontario Sutherland, Scott, Ontario Swonson, Philip, Ontario Tan, Yue Hua (Hope), Québec Tatone, Bryan, Ontario Thottarath, Sujitlal, Ontario Tomins, John, Ontario Toth, Victor Vincent, Ontario van Niekerk, Willie, Ontario Vatcher, Jessica, Ontario Viljoen, Johanna, Ontario Wang, Greg, Ontario White, Christopher, Ontario Whitmarsh, Ryan, Ontario Wiebe, Janet, Ontario Wisniewski, Lauren, Ontario Woolward, Brett, Québec Wu, Xiangxi, Ontario Xia, Kaiwen, Ontario Zangooi, Azin, Québec Zisman, Raziel, Ontario

cim news On the road towards a brighter future Engin Özberk empowers the industry through innovation By Robbie Pillo vation and technology development at uranium producer Cameco Corporation, Özberk and his team are working diligently at creating new technologies that support Cameco’s quest in becoming the dominant nuclear energy company producing uranium fuel and generating clean electricity. His two-fold presentation, “Innovation and uranium mining from a Canadian perspective,” captures the insights and perspectives won from both of these pursuits.

CIM Distinguished Lecturer Engin Özberk enjoys making changes. As co-chair of the board of directors of the Canada Mining Innovation Council (CMIC), he seeks to shape the minerals industry into a global leader in innovation by engaging industry, universities, and provincial and federal governments towards this common goal. As vice-president of inno-

CIM: What are CMIC’s main priorities? Özberk: CMIC’s priority is to develop a network of academic, government and industry leaders working together to enhance the competitiveness of a responsible Canadian mining industry through excellence in research, innovation, commercialization and education. CIM: How does CMIC intend to increase this competitive advantage? Özberk: CMIC will focus on prioritizing and leveraging research efforts through greater collaboration, developing highly qualified people (HQP) to meet the industry’s

am r g Pro w c tifi e no n e n Sci onli

Copper – Indicator of the progress of civilization Continuously updated information on the Conference and Exhibition will be provided on the Copper 2010 web page www.cu2010.gdmb.de, which potential delegates are kindly invited to consult periodically.

March/April 2010 | 71

cim news demand, and strengthening the Canadian mining sector brand for excellence in sustainable development. CIM: CMIC plans on working with universities to ensure the industry’s supply of HQPs. How so? Özberk: We are looking at finding ways of sustaining Canada’s existing mining and minerals research programs while strategically developing new ones. Canadian universities need to work together to attract new students and keep them informed after they have graduated through targeted professional development courses. CIM: You were instrumental in engaging the Government of Saskatchewan, the first provincial government to join and support CMIC in their efforts. Why was this important for you? Özberk: The substantial amount of work being done and the growth activity taking place in the mining sector in this province makes Saskatchewan very attractive as a potential host for a centre of excellence in mining engineering education and research and development. Sustaining this growth requires technical resources and highly qualified people. One of CMIC’s goals is facilitating the establishment of these new centres with a certain rational and deliberation. Therefore, I believe Saskatchewan playing an active role in CMIC would benefit both the Council and the province. CIM: In the second part of your lecture, you outline the history of uranium mining and nuclear energy. Why was this aspect important to you? Özberk: So very little is known about uranium mining, milling and refining, and the nuclear industry – it is not even covered in most mining engineering school curricula. Yet, it is such a great Canadian story of scientific and technical accomplishments. This story has to be told. Innovation and nuclear fuel production are very closely related and there are so many real-life exemplary achievements. I am also proud of my company and our accomplishments; sharing that with CIM members and industry participants gives me great pleasure. To illustrate the point further, the world’s richest uranium ore bodies are in Northern Saskatchewan; however, they provide certain challenges to mine. We face challenges in every step of the nuclear fuel cycle. Determination, highly qualified skills, innovative solutions and exceptional management practices have succeeded in making those mines profitable and safe. I consider myself privileged to work with such a great team. CIM

Moving on up Alberta-based Maryn International appointed Paul Clark as senior mining advisor. Retired Director of Fuel Supply for TransAlta Utilities, Clark founded his own company, Ripley Canyon Resources Ltd. to provide advice to the coal, utilities and energy businesses. His career of over 40 years includes senior positions in engineering, operations and consulting.

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calendar CIM EVENTS

AROUND THE WORLD

Crowsnest Branch Technical Meeting (Guest speaker: CIM Distinguished Lecturer Don Thompson) May 5 Contact: Chris Ryan Email: chris.ryan@teck.com

Paste 2010 March 3-5 Delta Chelsea Inn, Toronto, Canada www.paste2010.com

CIM Conference and Exhibition 2010 May 9-12 Vancouver, BC www.cim.org/vancouver2010 Section Harricana Conférence technique: Projets Midway et McKenzie Break 19 mai Responsable : Gérald Lefrançois Tél. : 819.825.3702 Courriel : gerald@corriveaujl.com Toronto Branch Monthly Luncheon Meeting May 20 Contact: Rick Hutson Email: rick@cjstafford.com Section Thetford Mines Tournoi de Golf 28 mai Responsable : François Jacques Tél. : 418.338.7500 poste 251 Courriel : fjacques.lab@bellnet.ca Section Harricana Tournoi de Golf 5 juin Responsable : Jean-François Lagueux Tél. : 819-874-7822 poste 3258 Courriel : jean-francois.lagueux@agnico-eagle.com Sudbury Branch Annual Lobster Dinner & Dance June 11 Contact: Gary Poxleitner Email: gary.poxleitner@valeinco.com

Partners in Prevention 2010 May 4-5 International Centre, Mississauga, Canada www.iapa.ca ITA World Tunnel Congress 2010 March 14-20 Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, Canada www.wtc2010.org Alta 2010 May 24-29 Sheraton Hotel, Perth, Australia www.altamet.com.au Ace 2010: Air and Waste Management June 22-25 Calgary Telus Convention Centre, Calgary, Canada www.awma.org/ACE2010 Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference August 22-25 Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre, Townsville, Australia www.qrc.org.au/conference ICWCUCA: Wireless Communications in Underground and Confined Areas August 23-25 Centre des congrès à Val-d’Or, Val-d’Or, Canada www.icwcuca.ca IMPC 2010 September 6-10 Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Australia www.impc2010.org Mine Waste 2010 September 29 – October 1 Sheraton Perth Hotel, Perth, Australia www.minewaste2010.com

March/April 2010 | 73

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Reaching higher CIM activity builds professional development credits By Heather Ednie and Minaz Kerawala he dynamism of the Canadian minerals industry is a reflection of the dynamism of the stellar individuals driving it. Faced with rapidly advancing technological change, our mining industry professionals are cognizant of the need for continuing professional development. They proactively and energetically participate in activities and programs that extend well beyond their day-to-day jobs. By volunteering, attending professional development courses and mentoring the next generation of managers, engineers, scientists and technicians, these professionals ensure not only that they are abreast of the latest developments but also that they do their part to preserve, grow and propagate knowledge.

T

Fostering continued competency Canadian professional engineers and geoscientists are licensed by their respective provincial or territorial associations or orders. To qualify for and to retain a license, these professionals must meet province-specific standards and guidelines that may include continuing professional development. This helps ensure that Canadian engineers and geoscientists maintain a high degree of proficiency, competence, knowledge and safety-consciousness. In most provinces and territories, licensing requirements are governed by a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program. In some provinces and territories — such as British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut — the CPD program is strictly voluntary. Elsewhere, it is generally mandatory, and failure to comply with it could result in fines and even a loss of license.

Keeping at it to keep up with it In keeping with the diversity of roles played by engineers and geoscientists, the activities in which they can engage to earn professional development hours (PDHs) are diverse. Across the provinces and territories, the same types of activities are generally recognized as contributing towards the accumulation of CPD credits, although the number of hours required varies. These activities include: professional practice, formal activity, informal activity, participation, presentations and contribution to knowledge. PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE refers to the actual practice of engineering within one’s area of expertise. Usually, one PDH is awarded for every 20 hours of professional work, up to a maximum number. FORMAL ACTIVITY refers to participation in structured courses or programs, including those offered through universities, technical institutes and colleges; industry-sponsored courses, seminars and field trips; as well as employer training programs and structured on-the-job training.

74 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

INFORMAL ACTIVITY can include self-directed study; attendance at conferences, trade shows, technical, managerial or professional society meetings; and the structured discussion of technical or professional issues with peers. It may also include reading technical literature and contributing to professional journals, and mentoring/ championing students or young employees through various CIM activities. PARTICIPATION entails peer interaction that exposes one to new ideas and technologies. It could include mentoring

activities; serving on public bodies and/or technical committees; participation in educational events such as science fairs and career days; and elected public service. PRESENTATIONS may include technical or professional presentations at one’s company, conferences, workshops, schools or events sponsored by a technical society. CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE through participation in developing codes and standards, patents, published papers and articles, and reviewing and editing technical information.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE PROVINCIAL AND TERRITORIAL ENGINEERS’ ORDERS OF CANADA AND THEIR CPD REQUIREMENTS Province/ Territory

Professional body

CPD requirement

Website

Yukon

Association of Professional Engineers of Yukon

www.apey.yk.ca

Northwest Territories and Nunavut

Northwest Territories and Nunavut Association of Professional Engineers

British Columbia

Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia

Alberta

Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta

Saskatchewan

Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of Manitoba Professional Engineers Ontario Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick

A new (introduced in 2009) voluntary CPD program with a $50 fine for failure to submit an annual report. Based on target of 240 PDHs over three years (up to 180 PDHs allowed per year) in three of the six activity categories. Voluntary guidelines for a CPD program approved in June 2008. Recommended accumulation of 240 PDHs over a three-year period. Voluntary guideline for accumulating 30 PDHs per year (90 PDHs on a three-year rolling average basis), with a maximum of 20 PDHs in any one category in a year.* Mandatory accumulation of at least 240 PDHs over three years, with activities in at least three categories without exceeding the maximum PDHs annual allowance per category. Mandatory program based on the accumulation of 240 PDH credits over a three-year rolling timeframe. Voluntary guideline with no mandatory PDH requirements.

Manitoba

Ontario Québec New Brunswick

Nova Scotia

Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia

Prince Edward Island

Association of Professional Engineers of Prince Edward Island

Newfoundland and Labrador

Professional Engineers and Geoscientists Newfoundland and Labrador

Voluntary CPD guidelines (no specific requirements for professional development hours). No specific requirements for professional development hours for renewal of permit. Continued Competency Assurance Program. Mandatory accumulation of 240 PDHs over a three-year period. Assessment done by randomly reviewing a few hundred files annually. Failure to comply is treated as professional misconduct CPD Program (pending legislative approval) based on accumulating at least 80 PDHs per year, possibly over on a rolling three-year basis. and can lead to removal from registry. Mandatory program based on accumulating an average of 80 PDHs per year with a minimum of 60 PDHs over a three-year rolling period totalling 240 PDHs. Mandatory accumulation of at least 240 PDHs over three years, with a minimum of 60 PDHs per year.

www.napeg.nt.ca

www.apeg.bc.ca

www.apegga.org

www.apegs.sk.ca

www.apegm.mb.ca

www.peo.on.ca www.oiq.qc.ca www.apegnb.ca

www.apens.ns.ca

www.engineerspei.com

www.pegnl.ca

* The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEGBC) is set to vote later this year on making this a mandatory requirement.

March/April 2010 | 75

The CIM advantage When it comes to earning CPD credits, CIM members have a distinct edge over their non-member peers. As a professional body, CIM offers more opportunities for its members to develop themselves than most other similar organizations do. CIM’s many events, publications, meetings, committees and contributions to standards development offer ready-made opportunities for members to earn CPD credits. Regardless of what category of activity one is seeking to participate in to earn CPD credits, there is a CIM-related activity that fits the bill. CIM member David Leslie is making his CIM experience count. A registered member of APEGGA, Alberta’s professional body, he says that CIM-related activities make up a large part of his hours. “I believe I learn the most during informal activities such as the CIM Conference and Exhibition,

where there are relevant technical talks, talks on new projects and a trade show where vendors showcase their latest equipment or services,” he says. CIM’s incoming presidentelect Chuck Edwards echoes Leslie’s sentiments. Registered as a professional engineer in Saskatchewan, Edwards says, “I attend meetings and conferences, participate in CIM Council and the CIM Executive Committee, write papers and peer review, give talks and presentations. I have always gone way beyond the minimum, not to exceed the minimum but because it’s what I do.” Like Leslie and Edwards, every CIM member can, simply through active engagement in CIM, ensure that they maintain the high level of knowledge required by their profession. The following table provides glance at some of the ways CIM can help you meet CPD requirements:

EXAMPLES OF RELEVANT CIM ACTIVITÉS PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE Formal activity

• Attending CIM branch and society-level training programs • Attending CIM society-arranged short courses • Learning through CIM’s technical webinars

Informal activity

• Attending CIM’s national and branch-level events, especially those that feature technical presentations • Participating in the annual CIM Conference and Exhibition • Participating in CIM society conferences such as the Annual Canadian Mineral Processors Operators’ Conference and the Conference of Metallurgists • Participating in other CIM-sponsored seminars and meetings such as MEMO, APCOM, etc. • Learning through CIM’s technical webinars and workshops • Attending CIM Distinguished Lectures

Participation

• • • • • •

Presentations

• Being a CIM Distinguished Lecturer • Presenting at CIM events at the national, society and branch levels • Being part of international delegations that feature CIM involvement

Contribution to knowledge

• • • • •

Serving on CIM committees Serving on CIM branch and society executive bodies Being part of CIM Council Contributing on conference organizing committees and technical program committees Participating in activities through which CIM interacts with government bodies Contributing to CIM-government initiatives like the CSR Centre for Excellence

Participating in CIM’s Standards and Valuation committees Participating in CIM’s effort to develop and disseminate CSR best practices Contributing to CIM’s development of an online mining safety portal Submitting articles to CIM Magazine Submitting technical papers to CIM Journal, Exploration and Mining Geology journal and Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly • Serving as peer reviewer for any CIM-published journal, through any CIM society • Peer reviewing for CIM special projects such as the CSR initiative

As is evident from the above, there are many opportunities for earning PDHs available to committed CIM members. No matter what your particular professional interests may be, there is a CIM activity

76 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

that will help you become more competent, knowledgeable, up to date and competitive while you go about earning your CPD credits. All you have to do is take the first step, participate and climb. CIM

Strategic Risk Management in Mine Design: From Life-of-Mine to Global Optimization 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 is available. Instructors: Gelson Batista, AMEC, Canada, Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada, and Gerald Whittle, Whittle Consulting, Australia • Date: June 1-4 • City: Montreal

An Introduction to Cutoff Grade Estimation: Theory and Practice in Open Pit and Underground Mines 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, Consultant, United States • Date: September 8-10 • City: Montreal

Geostatistical Mineral Resource/Ore Reserve 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 the principles of N I43-101 and the SME Guide. Instructors: Michel Dagbert, Geostat Systems Int., Canada, Jean-Michel Rendu, Consultant, United States, and Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada • Date: September 13-17 • City: Montreal

Mineral Project Evaluation Techniques and Applications: From Conventional Methods to Real Options Learn the basics of economic/financial evaluation techniques, as well as the practical implementation of these techniques to mineral project assessments, how to gain a practical understanding of economic/financial evaluation principles, and how to develop the skills necessary to apply these to support mineral project decisions. Instructors: Michel Bilodeau and Sabry A. Abdel Sabour, McGill University, Canada • Date: November 8-11 • City: Montreal

NEW — Certification in Ore Reserve Risk and 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 • Date: Starts in May • City: Montreal • Info: www.mcgill.ca/ conted/prodep/ore

LE PERFECTIONNEMENT PROFESSIONNEL

Continuer d’apprendre au travail

Obtenir des crédits pour perfectionnement professionnel en participant aux activités de l’ICM e dynamisme de l’industrie minière canadienne est à l’image du dynamisme des individus brillants qui en sont les éléments moteurs. Devant l’évolution rapide des technologies, nos professionnels de l’industrie minière sont conscients de la nécessité de perfectionner sans cesse leurs compétences. Ils participent de façon proactive et dynamique à des activités et à des programmes qui vont au-delà de leurs tâches quotidiennes. En étant bénévoles, en participant à des cours de perfectionnement professionnel et en servant de mentors à la prochaine génération de gestionnaires, d’ingénieurs, de travailleurs scientifiques et de techniciens, ces professionnels s’assurent non seulement de se tenir au fait des tout derniers progrès, mais aussi de jouer un rôle dans la conservation, le développement et le transfert des connaissances.

L

Favoriser le maintien de la compétence Les ingénieurs et les géoscientifiques professionnels doivent détenir un permis d’exercer délivré par les associations ou les ordres professionnels de leur province ou territoire respectif. Pour pouvoir obtenir ce permis et le conserver, ces professionnels doivent respecter des normes et des lignes directrices spécifiques à leur province ou territoire, lesquelles peuvent comprendre des exigences en matière de perfectionnement professionnel continu. Ce système contribue à faire en sorte que les ingénieurs et les géoscientifiques canadiens maintiennent un niveau élevé de compétence, de qualifications, de connaissances et de conscience de la sécurité. Dans la plupart des provinces et des territoires, les exigences liées au permis d’exercer sont régies par un programme de perfectionnement professionnel continu (voir encart). Dans certaines provinces et dans certains territoires, comme la Colombie-Britannique, l’Ontario, le Manitoba, les Territoires du Nord-Ouest, le Nunavut et le Yukon, la participation au programme se fait sur une base strictement volontaire. Ailleurs, elle est généralement obligatoire, et l’omission de s’y conformer peut donner lieu à des amendes et même au retrait du permis d’exercer.

Poursuivre son apprentissage pour garder une longueur d’avance En ligne avec la diversité des rôles joués par les ingénieurs et les géoscientifiques, les activités dans lesquelles ceux-ci peuvent s’engager pour gagner des heures de perfectionnement professionnel sont variées. Dans les provinces et les territoires, les types d’activités reconnues pour accumuler des crédits de perfectionnement professionnel sont généralement les mêmes, mais le nombre d’heures requises varie. Parmi les activités répondant aux exigences de perfectionnement professionnel continu, citons celles-ci : LA PRATIQUE PROFESSIONNELLE désigne la pratique réelle de l’ingénierie dans le domaine d’expertise de l’intéressé. Habituellement, une heure de perfectionnement professionnel est attribuée pour chaque tranche de 20 heures de travail professionnel, jusqu’à un nombre maximum. LES ACTIVITÉS FORMELLES comprennent la participation à des cours ou à des programmes structurés, comme ceux offerts par les universités, les instituts techniques et les collèges; à des cours, à des séminaires et à des visites d’études parrainés par l’industrie; de même qu’à des programmes de formation organisés par l’employeur et des formations structurées en milieu de travail. LES ACTIVITÉS INFORMELLES peuvent inclure des études autonomes; la participation à des conférences, à des salons professionnels ainsi qu’à des colloques techniques, de gestion ou d’associations professionnelles; et des discussions structurées sur des 78 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

questions techniques ou professionnelles avec des pairs. Elles peuvent aussi inclure la lecture de documents techniques et la contribution à des revues professionnelles, ainsi que du mentorat d’étudiants ou de jeunes employés dans le cadre des diverses activités de l’ICM. LA PARTICIPATION consiste en une interaction avec les pairs pour une exposition à de nouvelles idées et de nouvelles technologies. Il peut s’agir d’activités de mentorat, de siéger à des

organismes publics ou des comités techniques, de participer à des événements liés à l’éducation tels que des expos-sciences et des journées d’orientation, et d’exercer dans un service public déterminé. LES PRÉSENTATIONS peuvent être des présentations techniques ou professionnelles dans l’entreprise ou dans le cadre de conférences, d’ateliers, de cours ou d’événements parrainés par une association technique.

UN APERÇU DES ORDRES D’INGÉNIEURS DES PROVINCES ET DES TERRITOIRES DU CANADA ET DE LEURS EXIGENCES EN MATIÈRE DE PERFECTIONNEMENT PROFESSIONNEL CONTINU Province/ Territoire Yukon

Territoires du Nord-Ouest et Nunavut

ColombieBritannique

Alberta

Saskatchewan

Manitoba

Ontario

Québec

NouveauBrunswick

NouvelleÉcosse

Île-du-PrinceÉdouard

Terre-Neuveet-Labrador

Organisme professionnel Association of Professional Engineers of Yukon

Exigences de perfectionnement professionnel continu

Nouveau programme (créé en 2009) facultatif de perfectionnement professionnel continu avec un amende 50 $ si on omet de soumettre un rapport annuel. Fondé sur un objectif de 240 heures de perfectionnement professionnel continu sur trois ans (jusqu’à 180 heures autorisées par an) dans trois de six catégories d’activités. Northwest Territories and Nunavut Lignes directrices facultatives pour un programme de Association of Professional Engineers perfectionnement professionnel continu approuvé en juin and Geoscientists 2008. Accumulation recommandée de 240 heures de perfectionnement professionnel continu sur une période de trois ans. Association of Professional Lignes directrices facultatives pour accumuler 30 heures Engineers and Geoscientists de perfectionnement professionnel continu par an (90 of British Columbia heures sur une base moyenne continue de trois ans), avec un maximum de 20 heures de perfectionnement pour chaque catégorie en un an.* Association of Professional Obligation d’accumuler un minimum de 240 heures de Engineers, Geologists and perfectionnement professionnel continu sur trois années Geophysicists of Alberta en participant à des activités dans au moins trois catégories sans dépasser le maximum d’heures autorisées annuellement par catégorie. Association of Professional Programme obligatoire fondé sur l’accumulation de 240 Engineers and Geoscientists heures de perfectionnement professionnel continu sur of Saskatchewan une période continue de trois ans. Association of Professional Lignes directrices facultatives sans aucune exigence Engineers and Geoscientists de perfectionnement professionnel continu. of the Province of Manitoba Professional Engineers Lignes directrices facultatives sur le perfectionnement Ontario professionnel continu (aucune exigence particulière sur le nombre d’heures). Ordre des ingénieurs Aucune exigence particulière sur les heures de du Québec perfectionnement professionnel pour le renouvellement du permis. Association des ingénieurs et Programme d’assurance de la compétence continue. géoscientifiques du Obligation d’accumuler 240 heures de perfectionnement Nouveau-Brunswick professionnel continu sur une période de trois ans. Évaluation effectuée en passant en revue quelques centaines de dossiers choisis annuellement au hasard. Le non-respect de cette exigence peut être considéré comme une faute professionnelle et mener à une radiation. Association of Professional Programme de perfectionnement professionnel continu Engineers of Nova Scotia (en attente d’approbation législative) fondé sur l’accumulation d’au moins 80 heures de perfectionnement professionnel continu par an, éventuellement sur une base continue de trois ans. Association of Professional Programme obligatoire fondé sur l’accumulation d’une Engineers of Prince Edward moyenne de 80 heures de perfectionnement professionnel Island continu par an (avec un minimum de de 60 heures par an) sur une période continue de trois ans totalisant 240 heures. Professional Engineers and Obligation d’accumuler un minimum de 240 heures de Geoscientists Newfoundland perfectionnement professionnel continu sur trois ans, avec and Labrador au moins 60 heures par an.

Site Web www.apey.yk.ca

www.napeg.nt.ca

www.apeg.bc.ca

www.apegga.org

www.apegs.sk.ca

www.apegm.mb.ca

www.peo.on.ca

www.oiq.qc.ca

www.apegnb.ca

www.apens.ns.ca

www.engineerspei.com

www.pegnl.ca

* The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEGBC) se prépare à voter plus tard cette année pour rendre ce programme obligatoire.

March/April 2010 | 79

cim news LES CONTRIBUTIONS À LA CONNAISSANCE peuvent consister en une participation à l’élaboration de codes et de normes, de brevets, d’études et d’articles publiés et à la révision et la modification d’informations techniques.

L’avantage d’être membre de l’ICM Pour gagner des crédits de perfectionnement professionnel, les membres de l’ICM ont un avantage particulier par rapport à leurs pairs qui n’en sont pas membres. En tant qu’organisme professionnel, l’ICM offre à ses membres plus de possibilités de perfectionnement que la plupart des autres organisations similaires. De nombreux événements, publications, réunions, comités et contributions de l’ICM à l’élaboration de normes offrent aux membres des occasions toutes prêtes de gagner des crédits de perfectionnement professionnel continu. Quelle que soit la catégorie d’activités à laquelle vous souhaitez participer pour obtenir des crédits de perfectionnement professionnel continu, il existe une activité liée à l’ICM qui vous convient. David Leslie, membre de l’ICM, fait en sorte que son expérience à l’ICM compte. Membre inscrit d’un organisme professionnel de l’Alberta, l’APEGGA, il déclare que les activités liées à l’ICM

représentent une bonne partie de ses heures de perfectionnement professionnel continu. « Je pense que c’est dans le cadre d’activités informelles telles que le congrès de l’ICM, comprenant des présentations techniques pertinentes, des présentations sur de nouveaux projets et un salon commercial où des fournisseurs exposent leur matériel le plus récent ou leurs services, que j’en apprends le plus », explique-t-il. Le prochain président élu de l’ICM, Chuck Edwards, fait écho aux propos de Leslie. Inscrit comme ingénieur professionnel en Saskatchewan, il déclare : « J’assiste à des colloques et à des congrès, je participe au congrès de l’ICM et je siège au comité de direction de l’ICM, je rédige des articles et je participe à des activités de contrôle par les pairs, je donne des allocutions et présente des exposés. J’ai toujours fait plus que le minimum requis, non pas pour simplement dépasser ce minimum, mais parce que c’est ainsi. » Tout comme messieurs Leslie et Edwards, chaque membre de l’ICM peut, simplement en s’engageant activement au sein de l’Institut, s’assurer de maintenir le niveau élevé de compétence exigé par leur profession. Voici un aperçu de la manière dont l’ICM peut vous aider à sastisfaire aux exigences en matière de perfectionnement continu :

EXAMPLES D’ACTIVITÉS DE L’ICM PRACTIQUE PROFESSIONELLE Activités formelles

• Participer à des programmes de formation organisés par des associations membres ou par des sections de l’ICM • Participer à des cours de brève durée organisés par des associations membres de l’ICM • Apprendre au moyen de webinaires techniques de l’ICM

Activités informelles

• Participer à des événements organisés par l’ICM à l’échelle nationale ou par des sections de l’ICM, en particulier ceux comportant des présentations techniques • Participer au Congrès et salon commercial de l’ICM • Participer aux congrès des associations membres de l’ICM tels que le congrès annuel de la Société canadienne du traitement des minerais et celui de la Société de la métallurgie • Participer à d’autres séminaires et colloques parrainés par l’ICM tels que MeMO, APCOM, etc. • Apprendre dans le cadre de webinaires et d’ateliers techniques de l’ICM • Participer à des conférences de l’ICM données par d’éminents spécialistes

Participation

• • • • • •

Présentations

• Être un éminent conférencier de l’ICM • Faire des présentations dans le cadre des événements organisés à l’échelle nationale par l’ICM ou à l’échelle régionale par les associations membres et les sections de l’ICM • Faire partie des délégations de l’ICM dans des événements internationaux

Siéger à des comités de l’ICM Siéger à la direction d’associations membres ou de sections de l’ICM Faire partie du conseil de l’ICM Contribuer aux comités organisateurs de congrès ou à des comités de programmes techniques Participer à des activités d’interaction de l’ICM avec des organismes gouvernementaux Contribuer à des initiatives menées par l’ICM et le gouvernement comme le Centre d’excellence de la RSE

Contributions • Participer aux comités d’évaluation et des normes de l’ICM à la connaissance • Participer aux efforts mis en œuvre par l’ICM pour développer et disséminer des pratiques exemplaires de RSE • Contribuer à la mise sur pied par l’ICM d’un portail Web sur la sécurité dans les mines • Rédiger des articles pour CIM Magazine • Rédiger des articles techniques pour les publications de l’ICM : CIM Journal, Exploration and Mining Geology Journal et Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly • Réviser les articles écrits par des pairs pour les publications de l’ICM, par l’entremise des associations membres de l’ICM • Participer à l’examen par des pairs de projets particuliers de l’ICM tels que le projet de RSE

Comme l’indique la liste d’activités ci-dessus, l’ICM offre à ses membres engagés de nombreuses possibilités d’obtenir des crédits de perfectionnement. Quels que puissent être vos intérêts professionnels particuliers, il existe une activité de l’ICM qui vous aidera à ren80 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

forcer vos compétences et vos connaissances et à vous tenir à jour pour rester concurrentiel tout en gagnant des crédits de perfectionnement professionnel. Tout ce que vous avez à faire, c’est de passer à l’action, de participer et de vous perfectionner. ICM

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May 10, 2010 Vancouver Convention Centre Vancouver, British Columbia

Tickets 1.800.667.1246 www.cim.org

cim news | award winners What engineers do best Peter Tiley raises award for hoisting innovations By Robbie Pillo Peter Tiley has spent most of his 30-year career making plants run more safely and efficiently. Ever since he joined his father’s company G.L. Tiley and Associates in 1977, Tiley has been working hard to increase productivity, reduce energy consumption and provide greater safety to mining companies. For this, he has earned CIM’s 2009 McParland Memorial Award, which honours innovators in engineering and design in plant management, improvements and maintenance. Born to a mine hoisting engineer, Tiley spent part of his childhood moving from one South African town to another and overcame the challenges faced when relocating. “You learn to be more social because you’re always mak- Tiley adjusting a Lilly controller ing new friends,” he says. In 1955, at the age of seven, Tiley He graduated from McMaster and his family emigrated to Canada. University with a degree in engineering The oppression of South Africa’s physics, and received a master’s degree apartheid regime was disheartening, in mechanical engineering from Bristol more so to his mother, who had emiUniversity in the United Kingdom by grated from Scotland when she married way of an Athlone Fellowship. He and could not abide the government’s returned to Canada in 1972 to begin policies. “It wasn’t long after arriving, his dream career at Atomic Energy of that my mother knew she wasn’t going Canada’s Chalk River facility. to stay,” he explains. Four years later, a rapid decline in Four years after their move to technology and research development Canada, the Tileys finally settled into at the facility made him take a second look at his career opportunities. Tiley the home they built in the small township of Greensville, Ontario. “I switched gears and accepted an offer at G.L. Tiley and Associates, a basementremained in the same place from grade run consulting firm his father founded six through university,” Tiley says. “It with two former colleagues in 1972. It was more stable, I had a lot more was a move he has never regretted. friends and I was able to forge lasting “Mining has given me the opportunity relationships.” to do what engineers do best — build Tiley didn’t plan to follow in his things and watch them operate,” Tiley father’s footsteps. As a high school student, he intended to become a nuclear says. “Many nuclear reactor designs I worked on were never built.” reactor engineer. “I was always interThroughout his 30-year career, Tiley ested in physics and science,” he has worked on several hundred hoists recalls. “Nuclear energy was the most worldwide and has led the commiscutting-edge technology of the time.” 66 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

sioning, upgrading and installation of over 50 hoisting plants. From his background in nuclear plant modelling to the brake pad materials found on the motorcycles he rode as a teenager, Tiley has used his past experiences to jump-start his innovative solutions. “You apply what you know and have learned,” he explains. A life lesson learned early in his career led Tiley to improve the health and safety standards within his own company. Flying into a mine site 5,000 metres above sea level in Peru one time, he never gave his body the chance to properly acclimatize to the new altitude. Suffering from severe headaches and nausea, coupled with the effects of sleeping pills prescribed by the mine site physician, Tiley went into shock and he spent the following week recovering at the local hospital. He made sure no one else in his company would suffer the same fate. Over the years, G.L. Tiley and Associates has grown to over 30 consultants and support staff, offering a complete range of mine hoisting systems solutions. In 1991, Tiley became president of the company. “I first joined the firm so that I could keep this knowledge and ability from dwindling. As president, I wanted to ensure its sustainability by passing it on to future generations,” he explains. Although he retired in 2008, Tiley stayed on board for occasional support to his former team. “The company is in good hands,” he says. Today, Tiley has returned to the industry he once left behind. Chair of the technical team for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, Tiley reviews the designs of the mine hoisting plant for an underground nuclear repository at the Bruce Power Station near Kincardine, Ontario. CIM

CIM Journal — beyond information Launching CIM’s new technical paper quarterly By Heather Ednie Check your mailbox this spring and find the leading expertise for the mineral industry of the future with the arrival of the CIM Journal. The new quarterly is the reinvigorated forum for CIM peer-reviewed technical papers and will replace the annual CIM Bulletin. “We’re making the move to publishing this way — on paper, in full colour — because people want it,” says Chuck Edwards, chair of the CIM Technical Publications Committee and CIM incoming president-elect. “People like to see their papers published. And colour is a big advantage — information is translated better through many types of images and figures. And let’s be real — it’s a definite challenge to read online from the bathtub!” Mailed along with the CIM Magazine to control postage costs, the CIM Journal will be available to members at no cost beyond the regular membership fee. Papers will be published in French or in English, with the abstracts provided in both languages. Initially, each issue of the journal will include eight to ten papers, but should there be a higher volume of high quality papers, it will expand. “We decided to make it a quarterly because we want to be selective,” Edwards explains. “We’re focusing on quality rather than quantity.” As the journal launches, some CIM societies — those with more robust conferences, proceedings and journal businesses — may be more well represented. However, Edwards and the Technical Publications Committee are available to assist the publications chairs of all CIM societies to ensure the interests of their members are served with quality papers. “The papers we publish won’t be just any old papers — they will be cutting edge, offering leading expertise,” Edwards explains. “This information will help members in their jobs. It will span across industry, not just focus on one field, to help members to bridge the gap;” hence the Journal tagline: “Beyond information — leading expertise for the mineral industries of the future.” The roster of papers for the May edition is already set. Now is the time for authors to get their submissions in for the summer, fall and winter. An online submission system is available from the home page of the CIM website at www.cim.org. Papers covering the diverse range of interests under the CIM umbrella are welcome — from geology and extraction to processing and beyond closure. “This is just what CIM needs to keep its reputation as a leading technical society,” Edwards adds. “I’m really excited about it. It’s going to be a huge benefit to CIM and to its members.” Edwards invites all members, authors and reviewers to send feedback, questions and suggestions — help build CIM Journal’s future. Contact Chuck Edwards at 306.477.1155, ext. 539 or chuck.edwards@amec.com. CIM

cim news | scholarship winners Future industry leaders receive Cameco scholarships By Marlene Eisner

Kyle Buckoll

For the second year in a row, three University of British Columbia (UBC) mining engineering students have each won a Cameco Mine and Mineral Process North American Engineering $5,000 Scholarship. Applicants were judged for academic achievement and a commitment to a career in the uranium and nuclear energy industry. Kyle Buckoll, 20, in his third year at UBC, grew up east of Vancouver. When he first entered university, he wasn’t sure what kind of engineering he would study, but knew he wanted to integrate office work with fieldwork. “Mining really offered a dynamic field that involved many aspects of engineering that I liked and it seemed like a great fit for myself,” he says. Last year, Buckoll was on a work term in Lanigan, Saskatchewan, which has a population of about 1,000 people. “There was bit of a culture shock at first,” he recalls. “It was really tough not knowing anyone.” However, when he became involved in local sports, he made friends and discovered that “whatever you put into a small town, you get out of the town — I had a great time there.” In Lanigan, Buckoll worked for PotashCorp on a variety of jobs, including ventilation and a mix of rock mechanics and mine planning. This summer, he has signed up to work at Cameco’s McArthur River operation, using Autocad and working on the future development of the mine. In five years Buckoll says he hopes to be involved in an EIT development 68 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

Ian Morrison

Brad St. Pierre

program “that will give me some solid operational experience, which will help me develop as a young engineer. After that I want to get involved in the economics of mining.” Ian Morrison, also 20, is studying mining engineering at UBC’s Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering. He says he was not sure if he would win the scholarship, but “I hoped through my essay I had effectively conveyed my interest in the uranium industry,” says Morrison. Heading into his first year, mining was the last discipline Morrison thought about. He says he was sure he would go into mechanical or civil engineering; however, a presentation by the mining department changed his mind. “Mining just seemed so much more exciting and interesting than any of the other options, so I decided to study it,” he says. Morrison has worked on Teck Coal’s Cardinal River Operations near Hinton, Alberta, and likes the exciting challenges of a work site. “From rock mechanics to maintenance to weather, no other industry has to consider so many influences,” he says. “It’s a very unique, interesting and challenging industry.” After experiencing the mining side of the industry last summer, Morrison will be conducting potash and oil sands porcessing research this coming one. Brad St. Pierre, a 21-year-old native of Black Creek, British Columbia, says he felt fairly confident

he would win again this year. “The reason I was so confident was that between last year’s scholarship and this year’s application, I had improved my GPA, obtained eight months work experience at Teck Coal and will be working at Cameco’s McArthur River Operation this summer.” St. Pierre was first enrolled in the honours civil engineering program at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. “Although I enjoyed the program, after one year I decided to transfer to UBC,” he says. “I made the choice to study mining engineering and have never looked back.” He says mining is filled with challenges, from the everyday running of the operation to bringing people from different social and educational backgrounds together to obtain positive results. However, he adds that the most significant challenge is changing the public’s perception of mining. “In the public eye, mines are polluters of the environment, destroyers of land and disrupters of social systems,” St. Pierre explains. “Although mining hasn’t been the most responsible industry in the past, they have been making tremendous strides towards sustainability in all areas.” Looking forward, he would “like to work for a company in various roles in an attempt to understand an array of responsibilities before choosing a definite direction.” CIM

cim news La section de Québec encourage la relève Par Jean-Marc Charbonneau La Section de Québec de l’ICM a tenu une soirée de conférences des étudiants de quatre programmes à l’Université Laval le 25 janvier dernier. La section locale a remis quatre bourses totalisant 1000 $ aux étudiants conférenciers suivants : Jacques Forest, Simon L’Heureux, Katerina Fleury, Jonathan Arel. Une quarantaine de personnes étaient présentes dont une vingtaine d’étudiants. Une consommation et un goûter ont été offerts, grâce à la participation financière appréciée des commanditaires Agnico-Eagle, l'Association minière du Québec, COREM, Fasken Martineau, Gestion SODEMEX inc., Instrumentation GDD inc., Mines Virginia, Soutex inc., et GENIVAR. ICM v Jean-Marc Charbonneau est président

de la Section de Québec de l’ICM.

Richard Laplante, de la Section de Québec de l’ICM, remet la coupe à une des deux équipes gagnantes : Marialle Gagné, Stéphanie Larente-Marcotte, Corina Moraru et Frédérique Tremblay-Auger.

Coupe de science Par Josée Dallaire Les 18 et 19 janvier derniers, l’ICM s’est joint en tant que partenaire principal au projet : La Coupe de science, un événement inscrit dans la lignée des activités du 34e Festival de Sciences et Génie de l'Université Laval. La compétition portait sur le transport de minérai dans une mine à ciel ouvert ayant subi un effondrement de terrain. Les jeunes devaient trouver des solutions pratiques afin que le camion puisse se rendre au sommet de la mine sans perdre son chargement. ICM March/April 2010 | 69

cim news Branching out CIM looking to expand its reach to Mississauga By Kerry Shaw Recently, a small group of CIM members in Mississauga, Ontario, have been working to bring a CIM presence to the area. On January 26, the group held its inaugural event to kick off this initiative, where members of the Mississauga mining community mingled over lunch and listened to CIM Distinguished Lecturer Stephen Scott give a talk on seafloor massive sulphide mining.

The lecture captivated the audience and generated some interesting discussions among the attendees. The event was a great success, with more than 60 people from over 15 different companies in attendance. The next luncheon lecture will be held on Wednesday, April 7. Sean Capstick, associate and group manager, Atmospheric Services Group,

Golder Associates Ltd, will be presenting: “Incorporating Climate Change Science into Mining Design Considerations.” For more information or to RSVP, email Panteha Momini at pmomini@hatch.ca. CIM v Kerry Shaw is a member of the CIM

Mississauga interim organizing committee.

CIM welcomes new members Allen, Cheryl, Ontario Araya, Rodrigo, Québec Bain, Duncan, Ontario Bartsch, Erik, Ontario Bassermanw, Robert, Ontario Bayona, Luis, Québec Bell, Alexander, Ontario Benoit, Serge, Ontario Bergeron, Sophie, Québec Blondeel, Chistopher, Saskatchewan Blum, Jonathan, Ontario Boaro, Joe, Ontario Boland, Howard, Ontario Bongajum, Emmanuel, Ontario Branscombe, Laura, Ontario Bray, Ken, Saskatchewan Briggs, Scott, Ontario Bronkhorst, David, Saskatchewan Brunelle, Guy, Québec Budgeon, Bruce, Québec Bussin, Isaac, Ontario Cartmill, Brianne, Ontario Carvalho, Jose, Ontario Caumartin, Richard, Québec Chinloy, Sasha-Li, Ontario Corey, Grant, Ontario Coulson, Adam, Ontario Coutts, Dave, Ontario Dahl, Brad, Ontario Day, Jennifer, Ontario de Oliveira, Gustavo, Ontario Dehghan, Mahdi, Ontario Desjardins, Ed, Ontario Dion, Sébastien, Québec Dorion, Jean-François, Québec 70 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

Dudley, Bruce, Ontario Dumont, Patrick, Québec Dunets Wills, Anna, Ontario Durr, Roy, Saskatchewan Dutka, Greg, Saskatchewan Evangelatos, John, Québec Fekete, Stephanie, Ontario Forest, Jacques, Ontario Fournier, Éric, Ontario Fréchette, Valérie, Québec Kennedy, Harry Frederick, Ontario Gelfand, Julie, Ontario Ghaffari, Hamed, Ontario Ghazvinian, Ehsan, Ontario Girard, Yves, Québec Gotz, Imola, Ontario Greyvensteyn, Rory, Ontario Griffith, Wesley, Ontario Grondin, Andre J., Ontario Hardy, Lee, Saskatchewan Hastings, Dave, Ontario Hawes, Ryan, Ontario Hendrickson, Barbara, Ontario Holl, Ian, Ontario Hume, Colin, Ontario Ichillumpa Flores, Cesar Edmundo, Ontario Izard, Doug, Ontario Jalbert, Michel, Québec Javid, Salar, Ontario Keenan, James, Ontario Khajeh Mahabadi, Omid, Ontario Kostyukov, Evgeny, Ontario Kühn, Esther, Ontario Kunkel, Ron, Saskatchewan Kurtenbach, Brad, Ontario

Lachance, Mario, Ontario Lambert, Patrick, Québec Langlois, Raymond, Québec LaPrairie, Joe, Ontario Lato, Matt, Ontario Lessard, J.C., Québec Lessard, Sylvain, Québec Lyle, Ryan, Ontario Lynn, Murray, Ontario MacLeod, Tracy, Ontario Mah, Peter, Ontario Masionis, Sal, Ontario Mattar, Patrick, Québec Matte, Paul G., Ontario Maybee, Bryan Maxwell, Ontario McCaughan, Sean, Ontario McDougall, James, Ontario McIver, Ray, Ontario Meagher, Cashel, Ontario Mohns, Wayne, Ontario Mommaerts, Guy, Ontario Ngabe, Barnabe, Québec Normani, Stefano, Ontario Ormsby, Tom, Ontario Ornella, Michael G., Ontario Pakalnis, Victor V., Ontario Paudyn, Krysta Magret, Ontario Paulsen, Eric, Saskatchewan Pearce, Ian, Ontario Peng, Sihong, Ontario Pineault, Rachel, Ontario Plouffe, Michel, Ontario Qin, Wen, Québec Rausch, Brian, Ontario Rector, Dave, Ontario Richard, Jim, Ontario Rico, Ingrid, Ontario

Rinaldi, Thomas, Ontario Ritz, Don, Ontario Saleem, Hamza, Ontario Salvatore, David, Ontario Schaming, Jim, Ontario Schreiner, Bryan, Saskatchewan Séguin, Gilles, Saskatchewan Selvadurai, Paul, Québec Simela, Julian, Ontario Slavin, John, Ontario Smith, William, Ontario Stephen, Mlot, Ontario Stewart, David, Ontario Sullivan, Heather, Ontario Sutherland, Scott, Ontario Swonson, Philip, Ontario Tan, Yue Hua (Hope), Québec Tatone, Bryan, Ontario Thottarath, Sujitlal, Ontario Tomins, John, Ontario Toth, Victor Vincent, Ontario van Niekerk, Willie, Ontario Vatcher, Jessica, Ontario Viljoen, Johanna, Ontario Wang, Greg, Ontario White, Christopher, Ontario Whitmarsh, Ryan, Ontario Wiebe, Janet, Ontario Wisniewski, Lauren, Ontario Woolward, Brett, Québec Wu, Xiangxi, Ontario Xia, Kaiwen, Ontario Zangooi, Azin, Québec Zisman, Raziel, Ontario

cim news On the road towards a brighter future Engin Özberk empowers the industry through innovation By Robbie Pillo vation and technology development at uranium producer Cameco Corporation, Özberk and his team are working diligently at creating new technologies that support Cameco’s quest in becoming the dominant nuclear energy company producing uranium fuel and generating clean electricity. His two-fold presentation, “Innovation and uranium mining from a Canadian perspective,” captures the insights and perspectives won from both of these pursuits.

CIM Distinguished Lecturer Engin Özberk enjoys making changes. As co-chair of the board of directors of the Canada Mining Innovation Council (CMIC), he seeks to shape the minerals industry into a global leader in innovation by engaging industry, universities, and provincial and federal governments towards this common goal. As vice-president of inno-

CIM: What are CMIC’s main priorities? Özberk: CMIC’s priority is to develop a network of academic, government and industry leaders working together to enhance the competitiveness of a responsible Canadian mining industry through excellence in research, innovation, commercialization and education. CIM: How does CMIC intend to increase this competitive advantage? Özberk: CMIC will focus on prioritizing and leveraging research efforts through greater collaboration, developing highly qualified people (HQP) to meet the industry’s

am r g Pro w c tifi e no n e n Sci onli

Copper – Indicator of the progress of civilization Continuously updated information on the Conference and Exhibition will be provided on the Copper 2010 web page www.cu2010.gdmb.de, which potential delegates are kindly invited to consult periodically.

March/April 2010 | 71

cim news demand, and strengthening the Canadian mining sector brand for excellence in sustainable development. CIM: CMIC plans on working with universities to ensure the industry’s supply of HQPs. How so? Özberk: We are looking at finding ways of sustaining Canada’s existing mining and minerals research programs while strategically developing new ones. Canadian universities need to work together to attract new students and keep them informed after they have graduated through targeted professional development courses. CIM: You were instrumental in engaging the Government of Saskatchewan, the first provincial government to join and support CMIC in their efforts. Why was this important for you? Özberk: The substantial amount of work being done and the growth activity taking place in the mining sector in this province makes Saskatchewan very attractive as a potential host for a centre of excellence in mining engineering education and research and development. Sustaining this growth requires technical resources and highly qualified people. One of CMIC’s goals is facilitating the establishment of these new centres with a certain rational and deliberation. Therefore, I believe Saskatchewan playing an active role in CMIC would benefit both the Council and the province. CIM: In the second part of your lecture, you outline the history of uranium mining and nuclear energy. Why was this aspect important to you? Özberk: So very little is known about uranium mining, milling and refining, and the nuclear industry – it is not even covered in most mining engineering school curricula. Yet, it is such a great Canadian story of scientific and technical accomplishments. This story has to be told. Innovation and nuclear fuel production are very closely related and there are so many real-life exemplary achievements. I am also proud of my company and our accomplishments; sharing that with CIM members and industry participants gives me great pleasure. To illustrate the point further, the world’s richest uranium ore bodies are in Northern Saskatchewan; however, they provide certain challenges to mine. We face challenges in every step of the nuclear fuel cycle. Determination, highly qualified skills, innovative solutions and exceptional management practices have succeeded in making those mines profitable and safe. I consider myself privileged to work with such a great team. CIM

Moving on up Alberta-based Maryn International appointed Paul Clark as senior mining advisor. Retired Director of Fuel Supply for TransAlta Utilities, Clark founded his own company, Ripley Canyon Resources Ltd. to provide advice to the coal, utilities and energy businesses. His career of over 40 years includes senior positions in engineering, operations and consulting.

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calendar CIM EVENTS

AROUND THE WORLD

Crowsnest Branch Technical Meeting (Guest speaker: CIM Distinguished Lecturer Don Thompson) May 5 Contact: Chris Ryan Email: chris.ryan@teck.com

Paste 2010 March 3-5 Delta Chelsea Inn, Toronto, Canada www.paste2010.com

CIM Conference and Exhibition 2010 May 9-12 Vancouver, BC www.cim.org/vancouver2010 Section Harricana Conférence technique: Projets Midway et McKenzie Break 19 mai Responsable : Gérald Lefrançois Tél. : 819.825.3702 Courriel : gerald@corriveaujl.com Toronto Branch Monthly Luncheon Meeting May 20 Contact: Rick Hutson Email: rick@cjstafford.com Section Thetford Mines Tournoi de Golf 28 mai Responsable : François Jacques Tél. : 418.338.7500 poste 251 Courriel : fjacques.lab@bellnet.ca Section Harricana Tournoi de Golf 5 juin Responsable : Jean-François Lagueux Tél. : 819-874-7822 poste 3258 Courriel : jean-francois.lagueux@agnico-eagle.com Sudbury Branch Annual Lobster Dinner & Dance June 11 Contact: Gary Poxleitner Email: gary.poxleitner@valeinco.com

Partners in Prevention 2010 May 4-5 International Centre, Mississauga, Canada www.iapa.ca ITA World Tunnel Congress 2010 March 14-20 Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, Canada www.wtc2010.org Alta 2010 May 24-29 Sheraton Hotel, Perth, Australia www.altamet.com.au Ace 2010: Air and Waste Management June 22-25 Calgary Telus Convention Centre, Calgary, Canada www.awma.org/ACE2010 Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference August 22-25 Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre, Townsville, Australia www.qrc.org.au/conference ICWCUCA: Wireless Communications in Underground and Confined Areas August 23-25 Centre des congrès à Val-d’Or, Val-d’Or, Canada www.icwcuca.ca IMPC 2010 September 6-10 Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Australia www.impc2010.org Mine Waste 2010 September 29 – October 1 Sheraton Perth Hotel, Perth, Australia www.minewaste2010.com

March/April 2010 | 73

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Reaching higher CIM activity builds professional development credits By Heather Ednie and Minaz Kerawala he dynamism of the Canadian minerals industry is a reflection of the dynamism of the stellar individuals driving it. Faced with rapidly advancing technological change, our mining industry professionals are cognizant of the need for continuing professional development. They proactively and energetically participate in activities and programs that extend well beyond their day-to-day jobs. By volunteering, attending professional development courses and mentoring the next generation of managers, engineers, scientists and technicians, these professionals ensure not only that they are abreast of the latest developments but also that they do their part to preserve, grow and propagate knowledge.

T

Fostering continued competency Canadian professional engineers and geoscientists are licensed by their respective provincial or territorial associations or orders. To qualify for and to retain a license, these professionals must meet province-specific standards and guidelines that may include continuing professional development. This helps ensure that Canadian engineers and geoscientists maintain a high degree of proficiency, competence, knowledge and safety-consciousness. In most provinces and territories, licensing requirements are governed by a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program. In some provinces and territories — such as British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut — the CPD program is strictly voluntary. Elsewhere, it is generally mandatory, and failure to comply with it could result in fines and even a loss of license.

Keeping at it to keep up with it In keeping with the diversity of roles played by engineers and geoscientists, the activities in which they can engage to earn professional development hours (PDHs) are diverse. Across the provinces and territories, the same types of activities are generally recognized as contributing towards the accumulation of CPD credits, although the number of hours required varies. These activities include: professional practice, formal activity, informal activity, participation, presentations and contribution to knowledge. PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE refers to the actual practice of engineering within one’s area of expertise. Usually, one PDH is awarded for every 20 hours of professional work, up to a maximum number. FORMAL ACTIVITY refers to participation in structured courses or programs, including those offered through universities, technical institutes and colleges; industry-sponsored courses, seminars and field trips; as well as employer training programs and structured on-the-job training.

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INFORMAL ACTIVITY can include self-directed study; attendance at conferences, trade shows, technical, managerial or professional society meetings; and the structured discussion of technical or professional issues with peers. It may also include reading technical literature and contributing to professional journals, and mentoring/ championing students or young employees through various CIM activities. PARTICIPATION entails peer interaction that exposes one to new ideas and technologies. It could include mentoring

activities; serving on public bodies and/or technical committees; participation in educational events such as science fairs and career days; and elected public service. PRESENTATIONS may include technical or professional presentations at one’s company, conferences, workshops, schools or events sponsored by a technical society. CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE through participation in developing codes and standards, patents, published papers and articles, and reviewing and editing technical information.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE PROVINCIAL AND TERRITORIAL ENGINEERS’ ORDERS OF CANADA AND THEIR CPD REQUIREMENTS Province/ Territory

Professional body

CPD requirement

Website

Yukon

Association of Professional Engineers of Yukon

www.apey.yk.ca

Northwest Territories and Nunavut

Northwest Territories and Nunavut Association of Professional Engineers

British Columbia

Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia

Alberta

Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta

Saskatchewan

Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of Manitoba Professional Engineers Ontario Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick

A new (introduced in 2009) voluntary CPD program with a $50 fine for failure to submit an annual report. Based on target of 240 PDHs over three years (up to 180 PDHs allowed per year) in three of the six activity categories. Voluntary guidelines for a CPD program approved in June 2008. Recommended accumulation of 240 PDHs over a three-year period. Voluntary guideline for accumulating 30 PDHs per year (90 PDHs on a three-year rolling average basis), with a maximum of 20 PDHs in any one category in a year.* Mandatory accumulation of at least 240 PDHs over three years, with activities in at least three categories without exceeding the maximum PDHs annual allowance per category. Mandatory program based on the accumulation of 240 PDH credits over a three-year rolling timeframe. Voluntary guideline with no mandatory PDH requirements.

Manitoba

Ontario Québec New Brunswick

Nova Scotia

Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia

Prince Edward Island

Association of Professional Engineers of Prince Edward Island

Newfoundland and Labrador

Professional Engineers and Geoscientists Newfoundland and Labrador

Voluntary CPD guidelines (no specific requirements for professional development hours). No specific requirements for professional development hours for renewal of permit. Continued Competency Assurance Program. Mandatory accumulation of 240 PDHs over a three-year period. Assessment done by randomly reviewing a few hundred files annually. Failure to comply is treated as professional misconduct CPD Program (pending legislative approval) based on accumulating at least 80 PDHs per year, possibly over on a rolling three-year basis. and can lead to removal from registry. Mandatory program based on accumulating an average of 80 PDHs per year with a minimum of 60 PDHs over a three-year rolling period totalling 240 PDHs. Mandatory accumulation of at least 240 PDHs over three years, with a minimum of 60 PDHs per year.

www.napeg.nt.ca

www.apeg.bc.ca

www.apegga.org

www.apegs.sk.ca

www.apegm.mb.ca

www.peo.on.ca www.oiq.qc.ca www.apegnb.ca

www.apens.ns.ca

www.engineerspei.com

www.pegnl.ca

* The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEGBC) is set to vote later this year on making this a mandatory requirement.

March/April 2010 | 75

The CIM advantage When it comes to earning CPD credits, CIM members have a distinct edge over their non-member peers. As a professional body, CIM offers more opportunities for its members to develop themselves than most other similar organizations do. CIM’s many events, publications, meetings, committees and contributions to standards development offer ready-made opportunities for members to earn CPD credits. Regardless of what category of activity one is seeking to participate in to earn CPD credits, there is a CIM-related activity that fits the bill. CIM member David Leslie is making his CIM experience count. A registered member of APEGGA, Alberta’s professional body, he says that CIM-related activities make up a large part of his hours. “I believe I learn the most during informal activities such as the CIM Conference and Exhibition,

where there are relevant technical talks, talks on new projects and a trade show where vendors showcase their latest equipment or services,” he says. CIM’s incoming presidentelect Chuck Edwards echoes Leslie’s sentiments. Registered as a professional engineer in Saskatchewan, Edwards says, “I attend meetings and conferences, participate in CIM Council and the CIM Executive Committee, write papers and peer review, give talks and presentations. I have always gone way beyond the minimum, not to exceed the minimum but because it’s what I do.” Like Leslie and Edwards, every CIM member can, simply through active engagement in CIM, ensure that they maintain the high level of knowledge required by their profession. The following table provides glance at some of the ways CIM can help you meet CPD requirements:

EXAMPLES OF RELEVANT CIM ACTIVITÉS PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE Formal activity

• Attending CIM branch and society-level training programs • Attending CIM society-arranged short courses • Learning through CIM’s technical webinars

Informal activity

• Attending CIM’s national and branch-level events, especially those that feature technical presentations • Participating in the annual CIM Conference and Exhibition • Participating in CIM society conferences such as the Annual Canadian Mineral Processors Operators’ Conference and the Conference of Metallurgists • Participating in other CIM-sponsored seminars and meetings such as MEMO, APCOM, etc. • Learning through CIM’s technical webinars and workshops • Attending CIM Distinguished Lectures

Participation

• • • • • •

Presentations

• Being a CIM Distinguished Lecturer • Presenting at CIM events at the national, society and branch levels • Being part of international delegations that feature CIM involvement

Contribution to knowledge

• • • • •

Serving on CIM committees Serving on CIM branch and society executive bodies Being part of CIM Council Contributing on conference organizing committees and technical program committees Participating in activities through which CIM interacts with government bodies Contributing to CIM-government initiatives like the CSR Centre for Excellence

Participating in CIM’s Standards and Valuation committees Participating in CIM’s effort to develop and disseminate CSR best practices Contributing to CIM’s development of an online mining safety portal Submitting articles to CIM Magazine Submitting technical papers to CIM Journal, Exploration and Mining Geology journal and Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly • Serving as peer reviewer for any CIM-published journal, through any CIM society • Peer reviewing for CIM special projects such as the CSR initiative

As is evident from the above, there are many opportunities for earning PDHs available to committed CIM members. No matter what your particular professional interests may be, there is a CIM activity

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that will help you become more competent, knowledgeable, up to date and competitive while you go about earning your CPD credits. All you have to do is take the first step, participate and climb. CIM

Strategic Risk Management in Mine Design: From Life-of-Mine to Global Optimization 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 is available. Instructors: Gelson Batista, AMEC, Canada, Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada, and Gerald Whittle, Whittle Consulting, Australia • Date: June 1-4 • City: Montreal

An Introduction to Cutoff Grade Estimation: Theory and Practice in Open Pit and Underground Mines 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, Consultant, United States • Date: September 8-10 • City: Montreal

Geostatistical Mineral Resource/Ore Reserve 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 the principles of N I43-101 and the SME Guide. Instructors: Michel Dagbert, Geostat Systems Int., Canada, Jean-Michel Rendu, Consultant, United States, and Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada • Date: September 13-17 • City: Montreal

Mineral Project Evaluation Techniques and Applications: From Conventional Methods to Real Options Learn the basics of economic/financial evaluation techniques, as well as the practical implementation of these techniques to mineral project assessments, how to gain a practical understanding of economic/financial evaluation principles, and how to develop the skills necessary to apply these to support mineral project decisions. Instructors: Michel Bilodeau and Sabry A. Abdel Sabour, McGill University, Canada • Date: November 8-11 • City: Montreal

NEW — Certification in Ore Reserve Risk and 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 • Date: Starts in May • City: Montreal • Info: www.mcgill.ca/ conted/prodep/ore

LE PERFECTIONNEMENT PROFESSIONNEL

Continuer d’apprendre au travail

Obtenir des crédits pour perfectionnement professionnel en participant aux activités de l’ICM e dynamisme de l’industrie minière canadienne est à l’image du dynamisme des individus brillants qui en sont les éléments moteurs. Devant l’évolution rapide des technologies, nos professionnels de l’industrie minière sont conscients de la nécessité de perfectionner sans cesse leurs compétences. Ils participent de façon proactive et dynamique à des activités et à des programmes qui vont au-delà de leurs tâches quotidiennes. En étant bénévoles, en participant à des cours de perfectionnement professionnel et en servant de mentors à la prochaine génération de gestionnaires, d’ingénieurs, de travailleurs scientifiques et de techniciens, ces professionnels s’assurent non seulement de se tenir au fait des tout derniers progrès, mais aussi de jouer un rôle dans la conservation, le développement et le transfert des connaissances.

L

Favoriser le maintien de la compétence Les ingénieurs et les géoscientifiques professionnels doivent détenir un permis d’exercer délivré par les associations ou les ordres professionnels de leur province ou territoire respectif. Pour pouvoir obtenir ce permis et le conserver, ces professionnels doivent respecter des normes et des lignes directrices spécifiques à leur province ou territoire, lesquelles peuvent comprendre des exigences en matière de perfectionnement professionnel continu. Ce système contribue à faire en sorte que les ingénieurs et les géoscientifiques canadiens maintiennent un niveau élevé de compétence, de qualifications, de connaissances et de conscience de la sécurité. Dans la plupart des provinces et des territoires, les exigences liées au permis d’exercer sont régies par un programme de perfectionnement professionnel continu (voir encart). Dans certaines provinces et dans certains territoires, comme la Colombie-Britannique, l’Ontario, le Manitoba, les Territoires du Nord-Ouest, le Nunavut et le Yukon, la participation au programme se fait sur une base strictement volontaire. Ailleurs, elle est généralement obligatoire, et l’omission de s’y conformer peut donner lieu à des amendes et même au retrait du permis d’exercer.

Poursuivre son apprentissage pour garder une longueur d’avance En ligne avec la diversité des rôles joués par les ingénieurs et les géoscientifiques, les activités dans lesquelles ceux-ci peuvent s’engager pour gagner des heures de perfectionnement professionnel sont variées. Dans les provinces et les territoires, les types d’activités reconnues pour accumuler des crédits de perfectionnement professionnel sont généralement les mêmes, mais le nombre d’heures requises varie. Parmi les activités répondant aux exigences de perfectionnement professionnel continu, citons celles-ci : LA PRATIQUE PROFESSIONNELLE désigne la pratique réelle de l’ingénierie dans le domaine d’expertise de l’intéressé. Habituellement, une heure de perfectionnement professionnel est attribuée pour chaque tranche de 20 heures de travail professionnel, jusqu’à un nombre maximum. LES ACTIVITÉS FORMELLES comprennent la participation à des cours ou à des programmes structurés, comme ceux offerts par les universités, les instituts techniques et les collèges; à des cours, à des séminaires et à des visites d’études parrainés par l’industrie; de même qu’à des programmes de formation organisés par l’employeur et des formations structurées en milieu de travail. LES ACTIVITÉS INFORMELLES peuvent inclure des études autonomes; la participation à des conférences, à des salons professionnels ainsi qu’à des colloques techniques, de gestion ou d’associations professionnelles; et des discussions structurées sur des 78 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

questions techniques ou professionnelles avec des pairs. Elles peuvent aussi inclure la lecture de documents techniques et la contribution à des revues professionnelles, ainsi que du mentorat d’étudiants ou de jeunes employés dans le cadre des diverses activités de l’ICM. LA PARTICIPATION consiste en une interaction avec les pairs pour une exposition à de nouvelles idées et de nouvelles technologies. Il peut s’agir d’activités de mentorat, de siéger à des

organismes publics ou des comités techniques, de participer à des événements liés à l’éducation tels que des expos-sciences et des journées d’orientation, et d’exercer dans un service public déterminé. LES PRÉSENTATIONS peuvent être des présentations techniques ou professionnelles dans l’entreprise ou dans le cadre de conférences, d’ateliers, de cours ou d’événements parrainés par une association technique.

UN APERÇU DES ORDRES D’INGÉNIEURS DES PROVINCES ET DES TERRITOIRES DU CANADA ET DE LEURS EXIGENCES EN MATIÈRE DE PERFECTIONNEMENT PROFESSIONNEL CONTINU Province/ Territoire Yukon

Territoires du Nord-Ouest et Nunavut

ColombieBritannique

Alberta

Saskatchewan

Manitoba

Ontario

Québec

NouveauBrunswick

NouvelleÉcosse

Île-du-PrinceÉdouard

Terre-Neuveet-Labrador

Organisme professionnel Association of Professional Engineers of Yukon

Exigences de perfectionnement professionnel continu

Nouveau programme (créé en 2009) facultatif de perfectionnement professionnel continu avec un amende 50 $ si on omet de soumettre un rapport annuel. Fondé sur un objectif de 240 heures de perfectionnement professionnel continu sur trois ans (jusqu’à 180 heures autorisées par an) dans trois de six catégories d’activités. Northwest Territories and Nunavut Lignes directrices facultatives pour un programme de Association of Professional Engineers perfectionnement professionnel continu approuvé en juin and Geoscientists 2008. Accumulation recommandée de 240 heures de perfectionnement professionnel continu sur une période de trois ans. Association of Professional Lignes directrices facultatives pour accumuler 30 heures Engineers and Geoscientists de perfectionnement professionnel continu par an (90 of British Columbia heures sur une base moyenne continue de trois ans), avec un maximum de 20 heures de perfectionnement pour chaque catégorie en un an.* Association of Professional Obligation d’accumuler un minimum de 240 heures de Engineers, Geologists and perfectionnement professionnel continu sur trois années Geophysicists of Alberta en participant à des activités dans au moins trois catégories sans dépasser le maximum d’heures autorisées annuellement par catégorie. Association of Professional Programme obligatoire fondé sur l’accumulation de 240 Engineers and Geoscientists heures de perfectionnement professionnel continu sur of Saskatchewan une période continue de trois ans. Association of Professional Lignes directrices facultatives sans aucune exigence Engineers and Geoscientists de perfectionnement professionnel continu. of the Province of Manitoba Professional Engineers Lignes directrices facultatives sur le perfectionnement Ontario professionnel continu (aucune exigence particulière sur le nombre d’heures). Ordre des ingénieurs Aucune exigence particulière sur les heures de du Québec perfectionnement professionnel pour le renouvellement du permis. Association des ingénieurs et Programme d’assurance de la compétence continue. géoscientifiques du Obligation d’accumuler 240 heures de perfectionnement Nouveau-Brunswick professionnel continu sur une période de trois ans. Évaluation effectuée en passant en revue quelques centaines de dossiers choisis annuellement au hasard. Le non-respect de cette exigence peut être considéré comme une faute professionnelle et mener à une radiation. Association of Professional Programme de perfectionnement professionnel continu Engineers of Nova Scotia (en attente d’approbation législative) fondé sur l’accumulation d’au moins 80 heures de perfectionnement professionnel continu par an, éventuellement sur une base continue de trois ans. Association of Professional Programme obligatoire fondé sur l’accumulation d’une Engineers of Prince Edward moyenne de 80 heures de perfectionnement professionnel Island continu par an (avec un minimum de de 60 heures par an) sur une période continue de trois ans totalisant 240 heures. Professional Engineers and Obligation d’accumuler un minimum de 240 heures de Geoscientists Newfoundland perfectionnement professionnel continu sur trois ans, avec and Labrador au moins 60 heures par an.

Site Web www.apey.yk.ca

www.napeg.nt.ca

www.apeg.bc.ca

www.apegga.org

www.apegs.sk.ca

www.apegm.mb.ca

www.peo.on.ca

www.oiq.qc.ca

www.apegnb.ca

www.apens.ns.ca

www.engineerspei.com

www.pegnl.ca

* The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEGBC) se prépare à voter plus tard cette année pour rendre ce programme obligatoire.

March/April 2010 | 79

cim news LES CONTRIBUTIONS À LA CONNAISSANCE peuvent consister en une participation à l’élaboration de codes et de normes, de brevets, d’études et d’articles publiés et à la révision et la modification d’informations techniques.

L’avantage d’être membre de l’ICM Pour gagner des crédits de perfectionnement professionnel, les membres de l’ICM ont un avantage particulier par rapport à leurs pairs qui n’en sont pas membres. En tant qu’organisme professionnel, l’ICM offre à ses membres plus de possibilités de perfectionnement que la plupart des autres organisations similaires. De nombreux événements, publications, réunions, comités et contributions de l’ICM à l’élaboration de normes offrent aux membres des occasions toutes prêtes de gagner des crédits de perfectionnement professionnel continu. Quelle que soit la catégorie d’activités à laquelle vous souhaitez participer pour obtenir des crédits de perfectionnement professionnel continu, il existe une activité liée à l’ICM qui vous convient. David Leslie, membre de l’ICM, fait en sorte que son expérience à l’ICM compte. Membre inscrit d’un organisme professionnel de l’Alberta, l’APEGGA, il déclare que les activités liées à l’ICM

représentent une bonne partie de ses heures de perfectionnement professionnel continu. « Je pense que c’est dans le cadre d’activités informelles telles que le congrès de l’ICM, comprenant des présentations techniques pertinentes, des présentations sur de nouveaux projets et un salon commercial où des fournisseurs exposent leur matériel le plus récent ou leurs services, que j’en apprends le plus », explique-t-il. Le prochain président élu de l’ICM, Chuck Edwards, fait écho aux propos de Leslie. Inscrit comme ingénieur professionnel en Saskatchewan, il déclare : « J’assiste à des colloques et à des congrès, je participe au congrès de l’ICM et je siège au comité de direction de l’ICM, je rédige des articles et je participe à des activités de contrôle par les pairs, je donne des allocutions et présente des exposés. J’ai toujours fait plus que le minimum requis, non pas pour simplement dépasser ce minimum, mais parce que c’est ainsi. » Tout comme messieurs Leslie et Edwards, chaque membre de l’ICM peut, simplement en s’engageant activement au sein de l’Institut, s’assurer de maintenir le niveau élevé de compétence exigé par leur profession. Voici un aperçu de la manière dont l’ICM peut vous aider à sastisfaire aux exigences en matière de perfectionnement continu :

EXAMPLES D’ACTIVITÉS DE L’ICM PRACTIQUE PROFESSIONELLE Activités formelles

• Participer à des programmes de formation organisés par des associations membres ou par des sections de l’ICM • Participer à des cours de brève durée organisés par des associations membres de l’ICM • Apprendre au moyen de webinaires techniques de l’ICM

Activités informelles

• Participer à des événements organisés par l’ICM à l’échelle nationale ou par des sections de l’ICM, en particulier ceux comportant des présentations techniques • Participer au Congrès et salon commercial de l’ICM • Participer aux congrès des associations membres de l’ICM tels que le congrès annuel de la Société canadienne du traitement des minerais et celui de la Société de la métallurgie • Participer à d’autres séminaires et colloques parrainés par l’ICM tels que MeMO, APCOM, etc. • Apprendre dans le cadre de webinaires et d’ateliers techniques de l’ICM • Participer à des conférences de l’ICM données par d’éminents spécialistes

Participation

• • • • • •

Présentations

• Être un éminent conférencier de l’ICM • Faire des présentations dans le cadre des événements organisés à l’échelle nationale par l’ICM ou à l’échelle régionale par les associations membres et les sections de l’ICM • Faire partie des délégations de l’ICM dans des événements internationaux

Siéger à des comités de l’ICM Siéger à la direction d’associations membres ou de sections de l’ICM Faire partie du conseil de l’ICM Contribuer aux comités organisateurs de congrès ou à des comités de programmes techniques Participer à des activités d’interaction de l’ICM avec des organismes gouvernementaux Contribuer à des initiatives menées par l’ICM et le gouvernement comme le Centre d’excellence de la RSE

Contributions • Participer aux comités d’évaluation et des normes de l’ICM à la connaissance • Participer aux efforts mis en œuvre par l’ICM pour développer et disséminer des pratiques exemplaires de RSE • Contribuer à la mise sur pied par l’ICM d’un portail Web sur la sécurité dans les mines • Rédiger des articles pour CIM Magazine • Rédiger des articles techniques pour les publications de l’ICM : CIM Journal, Exploration and Mining Geology Journal et Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly • Réviser les articles écrits par des pairs pour les publications de l’ICM, par l’entremise des associations membres de l’ICM • Participer à l’examen par des pairs de projets particuliers de l’ICM tels que le projet de RSE

Comme l’indique la liste d’activités ci-dessus, l’ICM offre à ses membres engagés de nombreuses possibilités d’obtenir des crédits de perfectionnement. Quels que puissent être vos intérêts professionnels particuliers, il existe une activité de l’ICM qui vous aidera à ren80 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

forcer vos compétences et vos connaissances et à vous tenir à jour pour rester concurrentiel tout en gagnant des crédits de perfectionnement professionnel. Tout ce que vous avez à faire, c’est de passer à l’action, de participer et de vous perfectionner. ICM

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history Porphyry deposits (Part 4)* “Guggenheim Exploration, with John Hays Hammond and later Pope Yeatman as general managers, was probably the most successful exploration group of all time. Their discoveries and acquisitions read like a litany of the most important copper discoveries of the twentieth century.” ~ Krahulec, 1997, p. 205

Statue of Daniel Jackling in the rotunda of the Utah State Capitol Building (The National Society of the Sons of Utah Pioneers,1954)

By 1910, Daniel Jackling had consolidated the ownership of the Bingham Canyon porphyry deposit with the takeover of the neighbouring Boston Consolidated Mining Company. He had also displayed impressive skill in managing and constructing a vast, integrated mining enterprise in a frontier area, and reaching a profitable level of production in a remarkably short period of time. By assuming a risk than no other firm was willing to consider, the Cross-section, looking west, showing the extension of the Bingham Canyon copper deposit and the new molybdenum zone beneath the Guggenheims gained a present pit huge competitive advantage that could be immediately used at several other worthy projects in their pipeline. Among the major copper deposits they controlled were Braden (El Teniente), Chile (1904); Ruth (Ely), Nevada (1904); Kennicott, Alaska (1906); Ray, Arizona (1907); Santa Rita (Chino), New Mexico (1909); and Chuquicamata, Chile (1910; sold to Anaconda in 1922). In addition to running the Bingham operation, Jackling was given the responsibility for utilizing the operating knowledge gained at Bingham to place the Ruth, Ray and Santa Rita porphyry deposits into production. That was achieved in 1908, 1911 and 1911, respectively. In common with all the early porphyry mines in the southwestern United States, the presence of copper was first noted by prospectors looking for gold or silver but it did not elicit much serious interest until railways were built nearby. Santa Rita had been known for many years before Mexicans began to mine it in 1800, and the other two were discovered about 1870, but the potential of the large porphyry deposits was not recognized until 1900 to 1906. Additional information on the geology and history of those mines can be found in Parsons (1933) and Titley and Hicks (1966). The Guggenheim family began to restructure their vast holdings around 1915 and chose Kennicott to be the holding company. The mine in Alaska was named after a nearby glacier but the name of the holding company became Kennecott because of a clerical error. Utah Copper Company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Kennecott in 1936 and its name was changed in 1938. Control of Kennecott and the Bingham Canyon Mine was acquired by Standard Oil Company (British Petroleum) in 1981 and by Rio Tinto in 1989. In the first decade or two of production, geology played a minor role in discovering or exploring the Bingham Canyon deposit. There was no reason for Jackling or his senior executives to know the difference between monzonite or monazite, * Except where otherwise cited, this chapter is derived mainly from Krahulec (1997), who also provided invaluable help in obtaining photos and other information. March/April 2010 | 83

Photo courtesy of Rio Tinto

By R.J. “Bob” Cathro, Chemainus, British Columbia

economic geology or to distinguish a gneiss from a gnu. Like any quartz monzonite porphyry dike-like plug and a outcropping deposit where it easy to visually swarm of later, narrow, east-northeast-trending distinguish ore from waste, common sense and dikes cut an early monzonite stock. The hypogene systematic sampling and assaying were suffiporphyry mineralization is concentrically zoned cient for production planning. Deep exploaround the quartz monzonite stock from a deep, ration began with nearly 100 churn-drill holes inner, low-grade core through progressively overduring the period from 1910 to 1919. Nine of lapping hypogene molybdenite, bornite-chalcocite, the holes were over 300 metres deep. The richchalcopyrite, and pyrite zones. These mineral est, hole 90, averaged 1.36 per cent copper over assemblages range from a deep, low-sulfidation a length of 530 metres, proving that the ore perbornite-chalcocite-covellite zone through the intersisted to depths that would not be mined durmediate-sulfidation disseminated chalcopyriteThe Jackling Award, presented ing Jackling’s lifetime. pyrite copper shell to local zones of high-sulfidation annually by the Society for Some significant milestones and pioneering Mining, Metallurgy and pyrite-nukundamite in quartzite. The inverted cupExploration achievements by the company follow. or molar-shaped copper shell is largely coincident • The supergene ore was mostly depleted by with potassic alteration and garnet skarns. The 1915. pyrite halo is spatially associated with propylitically altered • The first flotation tests were conducted in 1914. The rocks. Each of three major phases of co-axial porphyry intruforced shutdown caused by the postwar recession in cop- sions are followed by cycles of fracturing, veining, alteration and per prices from 1919 to 1921 was used as an opportunity metal introduction. The quartz monzonite porphyry stock and to double the daily capacity of the mills to 36,000 tonnes younger dikes are spatially coincident with the highest grades of and begin flowsheet revisions by converting from a gravity copper and gold in the ore body. The exposed quartz monzonite circuit to froth flotation, which was completed by 1926. porphyry stock is too small (about 0.5 km2) to have provided the This increased the copper recovery rate from 61 to 81 per fluids and metals for the district. Aeromagnetic data indicates cent and raised the average concentrate grade from 18 to the presence of a large batholith at depth. The outermost fringe of the pyrite halo is overprinted by the 20 per cent. This was immediately followed by the introduction of selective flotation in 1927, which increased the inner margin of a one-kilometre-wide, intermediate-sulfidation, concentrate grade from about 20 to 30 per cent copper. sphalerite-galena±tetrahedrite manto-vein zone where alterThe daily mill capacity was gradually increased to 98,000 ation is largely confined to the immediate vein walls. The outer perimeter of the Pb-Zn veins locally contains rhodochrosite tonnes by 1966. • A leach circuit was started during the 1920s to treat over and/or barite. The Barneys Canyon and Melco distal dissemi36 million tonnes of leached cap mineralization averaging nated gold deposits lie about seven kilometres north-northeast of between 0.3 and 1.0 per cent copper that had been stock- the center of the district, completely outside Bingham’s megascopically recognizable sulfide and alteration system, but on the piled during stripping of the ore body. • The mining equipment in the pit was converted from rail- outer fringe of the district’s weak As-Au geochemical halo.” According to Krahulec (2005), substantial reserves mounted steam shovels to crawler-track electric shovels between 1924 and 1926, and electric trains were intro- remain at Bingham, but the ore grades have decreased and duced into the pit in 1928. By 1930, the main line from the stripping ratio has increased as the deposit has deepened. the mine to the mills had been equipped with 50-kilogram In addition, the deeper ore is harder and more costly to rails and nine 300-tonne locomotives were in operation, process. Current plans envisage continued open pit operation until about 2019, probably followed by the initiation of pulling cars with a capacity of 90 tonnes. • First aid and safety training were introduced in the late underground block-cave mining of porphyry ore for 17 additional years. The underground development could eventually 1920s. Space limitations only permit the following brief sum- include large, high-grade skarn resources of the North Ore mary of the geology of this remarkable deposit (Krahulec, Shoot and Carr Fork. Lead-zinc potential also exists, although the current economics do not justify exploration or 2005): “The Oquirrh Mountains have seen active tectonism through- development. Last September, Rio Tinto announced that a rich deposit out much of geologic time, an important factor in the localizaof molybdenum has been discovered below the pit, which it tion of the porphyry-related mineral deposits. Tectonic features described as perhaps “the world’s largest molybdenum disinclude the east-west Uinta axis, the north-south Wasatch line, and the overlap between the Basin and Range extensional terrain covery since Climax and Henderson” (Colorado). The exploration target was reported to be 500 to 600 million tonnes and the Cordilleran fold and thrust belt. The Bingham mining district is centered on a giant, high-K, grading 0.1 to 0.15 per cent molybdenum. The Bingham Canyon porphyry district, including the calc-alkaline porphyry Cu-Au-Mo-Ag deposit. This deposit is largely hosted in a mafic-rich, strongly magnetic, composite genetically associated, peripheral lead-zinc mineralization, is monzonite stock dated at about 38 Ma. This stock intrudes a already the second richest mining camp in North America thick, intercalated sequence of Pennsylvanian-Permian marine (after Sudbury, Ontario). It ranks first in U.S. copper producquartz sandstones and limestones. A 120- to 330-metre-wide, tion, second in molybdenum and gold, and fifth in silver and 84 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

economic geology Photo courtesy of Rio Tinto

lead. Using June 2008 metal prices, Stanford University in Palo Alto, the total value of the metals proCalifornia. It consisted of a 21-room duced was $288 billion, of which mansion with an Olympic-size, outcopper accounted for 52 per cent door swimming pool on 35 hectares (18.9 million tonnes), molybde(140 acres). In 1925, he and his wife num 32 per cent (1.35 million replaced it with Jackling House, a tonnes), gold 12 per cent (1,235 Spanish Colonial-style mansion with tonnes = 39.7 million ounces), sil30 bedrooms. Designed by George ver 2 per cent (12,530 tonnes = Washington Smith, called the 403 million ounces), and lead “Founding Father” of Spanish (2.03 million tonnes) and zinc Revival architecture in the United (890,000 tonnes), 1 tonne each. States, it has been declared eligible Total production to the end of for the California Register of Historic 2007 was approximately: Places. Jackling died in March 1956, Aerial view looking southwest over the Bingham Canyon Mine • 2.45 billion tonnes of porphyry- (2003), situated at the crest of the the Oquirrh Mountains, Utah. at the age of 86, and his wife passed type ore (includes minor skarn away the following year. ore) averaging about 0.75% Cu, 0.033% Mo, 0.013 opt Au Jackling also purchased Cyprus, an 80-metre steam-powand 0.1 opt Ag. ered yacht with a crew of 50 that he used for holidays and • 30 million tonnes of lead-zinc manto, vein and replace- working trips along the Pacific coast. For field trips to visit ment-type ore averaging about 6.8% Pb, 2.8% Zn, 0.38% his mines in Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, he purCu, 1.4 g/t (0.041 opt) Au, and 125 g/t (3.65 opt) Ag. chased his own special railcar, a style of comfort and privacy • 28 million tonnes of sediment-hosted gold mineralization that is somewhat similar to travel by modern executives in averaging about 1.9 g/t (0.06 opt) Au. private company jets. In winter, the family moved from the Almost all of the porphyry ore, much of the copper-gold rigorous climate at Jackling House to a luxurious city apartskarn ore and most of the sediment-hosted gold ore was pro- ment that occupied an entire floor in the St. Frances Hotel. duced by Kennecott/Rio Tinto and predecessors. Most of the That was exchanged later for a new penthouse on the top lead-zinc ore was produced by United States Smelting, floor of the Mark Hopkins Hotel. Refining & Mining Company and predecessors. The final public interest in Jackling concerns the fate of Daniel Jackling was a larger-than-life figure, much like his Jackling House. It was eventually acquired in 1984 by Steve bronze statue installed in the rotunda of the Utah State Jobs, the CEO of Apple Inc., who wanted to replace it with a Capitol Building by The National Society of the Sons of Utah modern house. However, that caused a public outcry and led Pioneers in 1954. This was a unique honour that had proba- to the creation of an organization called “Friends of the bly not been bestowed on any mining engineer or geologist Jackling House,” which has successfully resisted his plan since the medieval period in Europe. His contributions to through lengthy court challenges. One wag has suggested mining were recognized with numerous prestigious awards, that a future owner might want to rename the estate La beginning with the Gold Medals of both the Society for Manzana (Spanish for Apple). It seems unusually ironic that Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) and the a prominent industrialist from the “clean” computer industry American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum would engage in a public fight to destroy an historic home Engineers (AIME), in 1926 and 1930, respectively. He built in 1925 by a prominent industrialist from the “rapareceived Honorary degrees from the Missouri School of cious” mining industry. CIM Mines, University of California, University of Southern California and University of Utah between 1933 and 1942, References the year he retired from Kennecott. Another very special tribute was received in 1953, when the SME established the Krahulec, K.A. (1997). History and production of the West Mountain (Bingham) mining district, Utah. In D.A. John & G.H. Ballantyne (Eds.), Geology and ore deposits of the Jackling Medal, awarded annually “for significant contribuOquirrh and central Wasatch Mountains, Utah. Society of Economic Geologists tions to technical progress in mining, geology and geoGuidebook, v. 29, pp. 189-218. physics.” This award is generally regarded as one of the highKrahulec, K.A. (2005). Brief summary of the Bingham mining district, Salt Lake County, Utah. In H. Rasmussen, J. Dilles, F. Breit, E. Saderholm, & J. Jory (Eds.). Porphyry est honours in North American mining and economic geoldeposits of the Great Basin. Geological Society of Nevada 2005 Symposium Field Trip ogy. In the citation inducting him into the U.S. National Guidebook #9, p. 69-74. Mining Hall of Fame in 1988, he was called both “The Father Parsons, A.B. (1933). The porphyry coppers. New York: The American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. of the Porphyries” and “The Father of Open Pit Mining.” For someone who had been orphaned as a child, raised in The National Society of the Sons of Utah Pioneers (1954). Presentation and Unveiling of the Statue of Daniel Cowan Jackling, August 14, 1954. The Daniel Jackling Memorial a modest farming background and built a career as an engiCommision. neer and manager, Daniel Jackling made a remarkably easy Titley, S.R. & Hicks, C.A. (1966). Geology of the porphyry copper deposits, Southwestern transition to the life of a wealthy industrialist. He moved his North America. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press. headquarters to San Francisco in 1915 and bought the Talbot www.friendsofthejacklinghouse.org (accessed on January 8, 2010). estate in 1921, located at Woodside, a few miles west of March/April 2010 | 85

metallurgy The beginnings of mineral processing research in Canada (Part 3) By Fathi Habashi, Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering, Laval University

The Canadian Bureau of Mines and the Mines Branch

Taking note of peat and coke

Nonferrous metals research

The first assay office The Department of Mines

Electric furnace research

metallurgy The beginnings of mineral processing research in Canada (Part 3) By Fathi Habashi, Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering, Laval University

The Canadian Bureau of Mines and the Mines Branch

Taking note of peat and coke

Nonferrous metals research

The first assay office The Department of Mines

Electric furnace research

metallurgy The beginnings of mineral processing research in Canada (Part 3) By Fathi Habashi, Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering, Laval University

The Canadian Bureau of Mines and the Mines Branch

Taking note of peat and coke

Nonferrous metals research

The first assay office The Department of Mines

Electric furnace research

metallurgy The beginnings of mineral processing research in Canada (Part 3) By Fathi Habashi, Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering, Laval University

The Canadian Bureau of Mines and the Mines Branch Eugene Haanel was born in 1841 in Breslau, Prussia (now, Wroclaw, Poland). An adventurous young man, he set sail for America at the age of 15. Within a few years of arriving, he joined the Unionists in the American Civil War. After the war, Haanel went to study at the University of Michigan and eventually returned to Breslau, where he obtained a doctorate in physics. In 1873, Haanel came to Canada to teach science at the Victoria University in Cobourg, Ontario. Later, he moved to the University of Syracuse in New York. One of Haanel’s former students, Clifford Sifton was to rise to prominence as Canada’s Interior Minister in 1896. In this capacity, Sifton offered his former teacher the directorship of the newly created Mining Section in his ministry, which was to be separated from the Geological Commission of Canada formed earlier. Haanel accepted the offer and in 1901, at the age of 60, he came to Ottawa to organize what later became known as the Mines Branch. Haanel directed the Mining Section and the Mines Branch for 19 years until he retired in 1920.

Taking note of peat and coke The next step in developing Canada’s mineral resources was to find and secure a supply of the reducing agent and the fuel that metallurgical processes required in great quantities. During their European visit, Haanel’s group had visited the Industrial Exhibition of Peat in Berlin (February 1904) and had been struck by the enormous potential of the resource. Noting that Canada was spending about $21 million to import coal and coke, Haanel pressed for the exploitation of the large deposits of peat in Ontario and Quebec. He also drew attention to the need to stop using wood as a fuel to conserve the forests.

Nonferrous metals research In 1905, the Mining Section commissioned consultants to evaluate the lead-zinc deposits in British Columbia. They recommended improving the beneficiation process so that an acceptable grade of concentrate could be obtained. In 1906, it was noted that cobalt recovered from silvercobalt ore in Cobalt, Ontario, was not in demand. Reports were also prepared on the nature of and exploitation methods for industrial minerals such as asbestos, mica, graphite and raw materials for cement manufacture.

The first assay office Haanel’s first order of business, within a month of assuming charge, was to create the Assay Office of The Dominion of Canada. This was necessary in view of the large amount of gold produced in British Columbia (229,000 ounces in 1900) and Yukon (1 million ounces in 1900), following the gold rushes of 1858 (British Columbia) and 1896 (Yukon).

Electric furnace research Seeking to encourage the exploitation of Canada’s iron ore deposits and the abundant electrical energy from Niagara Falls, Haanel organized a mission to Europe to study steel production using electric furnaces. Between January and April 1904, the mission visited Sweden, France, Italy and Germany. In 1906, building on what was learned on the tour, Haanel and his colleagues organized tests in Ottawa to smelt iron ores from all over Canada. The tests were supervised by Paul Héroult (1863-1914), the inventor of the electric furnace and the aluminum process, in a furnace of his own design. The tests confirmed the possibility of smelting Quebec’s large-deposit titaneferrous iron ores. The test results were published in Haanel’s 1909 book, Report on the investigation of an electric shaft furnace, Domnarfvet, Sweden, etc. 86 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

The Department of Mines As a result of all these studies, the Department of Mines was founded in Ottawa in 1907 with Haanel as its first director. In 1908, The Royal Mint was also established in Ottawa. It is noteworthy that the U.S. Bureau of Mines was founded only in 1910, three years after its Canadian counterpart. Canada’s Ministry of Mines played an important role in sensitizing authorities to the fact that people with know-how were required to exploit the natural resources of the country. The Ministry hired several professionals and specialists to study mineral resources in a series of studies over two decades, the results of which were published as Mines Branch Reports. Notable among these were: • A 1905 report on the flotation of sulphide minerals, especially molybdenite using oils. • A 1908 report on the bituminous schist of Alberta. • Studies on the production of copper in 1909. • Studies on the deposits of pyrite in 1911. Pyrite was thought to be good for export to the United States (which was importing it from Spain) and as a source of sulphur dioxide for the pulp and paper industry which had not yet been established in Canada. • Studies on the production of cobalt and mica in 1912. • A 1913 report on the bituminous sands of Athabasca.

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On this page: 1. The Mines Branch had its offices on Sussex Street in Ottawa from 1913 to 1957; 2. Eugene Haanel (1841-1927); 3. Paul HÊroult (1863-1914) was invited in 1906 to supervise the electric furnace smelting of iron ores at the Mines Branch; 4. The Assay Office in Vancouver; 5. Gilbert Labine (1890-1977); 6. Kenneth W. Downes (19091996), who headed the extractive metallurgy division at the Mines Branch, was well-known for his study of the aqueous oxidation of pyrrhotite to produce elemental sulphur and iron oxide; 7. Arvid Thunaes (1901-1987); 8. Lazare Ervant Djinghenzian (1896–1967); 9. R.J. Traill, who worked at the Mines Branch from 1916 to 1955, headed its mineral preparation and metallurgical operations division

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metallurgy • A 1915 study on molybdenum conducted at the request of the Colonial Institute of London, which was interested in the development of special steels for the war effort (World War I). • A 1918 report on silica. • A 1919 study on iron oxide pigments. • Studies on bentonite and graphite in 1920. • Studies in 1921 on talc and steatite from Flin Flon sulphide ore. • Studies on feldspar and abrasives in 1922 and 1923, respectively.

Hydrometallurgical research Serious hydrometallurgical research in Canada started in 1921 at the Ministry of Mines. There was an attempt to recover zinc from the complex sulphide ores at Flin Flon by roasting, followed by water and acid leaching. However, no concrete results had been obtained. A year later, chemist R.J. Traill started a modest program of research in hydrometallurgy and electrometallurgy, which grew gradually over the next few years. Traill sought to treat complex sulphides using the prevalent methods, but with the objective of recovering all the constituents of the ore. In 1925, hydrometallurgical tests were also conducted to recover gold and copper from pyrite supplied by Noranda. Agreements of cooperation were signed with the Base Metals Extraction Company of the United Kingdom and Canada’s Cassel Cyanide Company in 1927 and with the American Cyanamid Company in 1929. The Base Metals Extraction Company supplied and equipped a hydrometallurgical research laboratory, where work was initiated in 1929 to recover zinc from a sulphide concentrate by roasting, leaching and electrowinning. The Great Depression of 1929 dampened all this research activity. However, in the same year, a uranium ore in Haliburton County, Ontario, became the object of great interest, especially for the recovery of radium, an element that was in great demand at that time. In 1930, Gilbert Labine (1890-1977) discovered a rich uranium deposit containing silver at Echo Bay in Northwest Territories. Twenty tonnes of this ore were delivered in 1931 to the Bureau of Mines for hydrometallurgical treatment. The challenge of developing a method for the extraction of radium from this ore was taken up by none other than Traill. In 1933, Traill published his work in the Transactions of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (Vol. 36, 448-467). The paper, entitled “Extraction of Radium from Pitchblende of Great Bear Lake,” marked the beginning of Canada’s involvement in radioactivity research. At about the same time, Eldorado Gold Mines in Port Hope, Ontario, constructed a new on-site plant for the production of radium. Extensive research on the cyanidation of gold ores was also conducted in the 1930s. Driven by the need to wean the country of bauxite imports, research into the treatment of nepheline syenite from Ontario for the production of alumina began in the 1940s. 88 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

In 1957, the Mines Branch moved to its new premises on Booth Street. Under the leadership of Kenneth W. Downes, who had assumed charge of the extractive metallurgy division in 1961, visits were conducted to gold mills to collect data on commonly encountered problems, for which solutions were actively researched. As a result, the gold leaf test was standardized. It was used to test for the active cyanide in solution. Other rapid tests to determine the quantity of oxygen in solution were also developed. In January 1962, the superintendents of some 20 gold mills met for two days at the Mines Branch to examine the situation of gold extraction. This meeting resulted in the formation of the Canadian Committee of Gold Metallurgists in 1963 to encourage the exchange of information on gold technology. In 1968, the committee’s scope was expanded to include all aspects of mineral beneficiation. Consequently, its name was changed to the Mineral Processing Committee. While hydrometallurgists at the Mines Branch were actively exploring methods to improve the cyanidation process, metallurgists at the physical metallurgy division were studying the metallurgy of gold and its alloys to find new applications. During this period, the mineralogy of platinum metals was also examined. In 1947, Downes had conducted research on the recovery of chromium and manganese from low-grade Canadian ores by alkali roasting, followed by leaching. Niobium research started in the 1950s when the pyrochlore deposit at Oka in Quebec was discovered. It was possible to produce a high-grade flotation concentrate suitable for the production of ferroniobium. Tantalum research started a little later, after the discovery of a tantalite deposit at Bernic Lake in Manitoba. The Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada adopted the beneficiation flowsheet proposed by researchers at the Mines Branch. In 1969, the first batch of concentrate containing 50% Ta2O5 was shipped. A lithium concentrate was recovered as a byproduct. In the 1950s, there was a great demand for elemental sulphur. Downes and Bruce devised a hydrometallurgical method under pressure to transform nickel-containing pyrrhotite from the Sudbury region into iron oxide and elemental sulphur. However, the sulphur shortage proved to be short-lived, leading to the abandonment of the process despite great initial interest. Natural gas containing large amounts of hydrogen sulphide was discovered in Alberta, solving the sulphur supply problem. Decades later, the Downes-Bruce method has been applied by Inco after the discovery of the Voisey Bay nickel sulphide deposit, which is mainly pentlanditepyrrhotite. Elemental sulphur is formed together with iron oxide, while nickel goes into solution, and can be recovered by electowinning after solution purification by solvent extraction. In 1963, Petrofina Canada became interested in recovering vanadium from the residues of a refinery treating

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metallurgy Venezuelan petroleum. The residue was first transformed to coke, which was burned in boilers. The gases emitted in this process contained about ten per cent vanadium and some nickel. A hydrometallurgical process was developed and a plant was constructed two years later. With the closure of the Emerald tungsten mine in 1948, all of Canada’s tungsten concentrate came from a Canada Tungsten Mining Corporation mine in the Northwest Territories. The ore contained 1.5% WO3 in the form of scheelite. In 1965, a scheelite ore was leached by hydrochloric acid. Pure tungsten was obtained from the resulting solution by ion exchange purification. Zirconium research was conducted at Eldorado Nuclear and at a plant in Port Hope for producing zirconium tubes for the nuclear reactor.

Pyrometallurgical research In 1922, R.J. Traill pioneered Canadian pyrometallurgical research in connection with the treatment of titaniferous ores in an electric furnace to produce titanium oxide pigment for the paint industry. At the same time, research was also conducted to produce sponge iron by the reduction of Canadian iron ores. It should be noted that metallographic studies of iron and steel were included in this research until 1950, when they began to be conducted separately in a new physical metallurgy division. The refractories section was organized in 1923 under the leadership of L.P. Collin. Research aimed at the production of metallic titanium started in 1951. Large subventions were allocated to Professors Lloyd M. Pidgeon and J. Gordon Parr at the Universities of Toronto and British Columbia, respectively. The production of titanium oxide pigment from ilmenite was conducted in-house at the same time by B.J.P. Whalley who treated the concentrate with dilute sulphuric acid at 250°C in an autoclave. In 1955, the Quebec Iron and Titanium Company in Sorel, Quebec started producing titanium slag in an electric furnace. This slag was sold to pigment manufacturers, who treated it with concentrated sulphuric acid to produce titanium oxide pigment. In 1953, R.R. Rogers produced titanium slag containing 85% TiO2 and 1.2% Fe2O3 in an electric furnace by the thermal reduction of ilmenite from Lac Allard. The slag was further studied by A.T. Prince using X-ray diffraction and polished sections, while Norman Bright studied the phase diagram of the Ti-O system. In 1954, the Ministry of Defence signed an agreement with Montreal’s Shawinigan Water and Power Company. Under it, the company was to construct a pilot plant for the production of titanium tetrachloride from Sorelslag, which was then to be reduced electrically in a molten sodium chloride bath. The process was supposed to compete with the established Kroll process. However, after two years of experimental work, the project was abandoned because the failure to eliminate impurities such as oxygen, nitrogen and sodium. The Mines Branch then took over the project

under the supervision of Thomas R. Ingraham. The aim was to study the fundamental aspects of fused salt electrolysis in titanium production. However, the project was shelved because it encountered similar difficulties as those it faced under the defence ministry and because of a decline in the Canadian aerospace industry’s demand for titanium.

The radioactivity division The radioactivity division, created in 1948 with Arvid Thunaes (1901-1987) as its chief, was concerned with the analysis, beneficiation and extraction of uranium. Thunaes, who was was born in Ogndalen, Norway, came to Canada in 1924 after graduating as a metallurgical engineer from the Norwegian Institute of Technology. He worked in the Canadian and U.S. metallurgical industry, developing flotation processes for a variety of ores, and received numerous awards and medals for his research. In 1953, he left the Mines Branch to become the director of research at Eldorado Mining and Refining.

The reorganization of extractive metallurgical research In 1947, the division of metallic minerals was reorganized and renamed the Division of Mineral Preparation and Metallurgy. When physical metallurgy separated from this division, its name changed once again to the Division of Mineral Preparation and Metallurgical Operations. Headed by R.J. Traill, the division included the following laboratories: • The mineral preparation laboratory headed by A.K. Anderson and C.H. Freeman • The extractive metallurgy laboratory headed by K.W. Downes and G. Thomas • The chemistry laboratory headed by J.A. Fournier and R.A. Rogers • The spectroscopy laboratory headed by M.H. Haycock and B.J. Stallwod • The mineralogy laboratory headed by A.R. Graham • The physical chemistry and crystallography laboratory headed by A.T. Prince, S.A. Forman and P.D.S. St. Pierre • The water analysis laboratory headed by W.R. Inman and D.J. Charette As a result of the sudden decrease in demand for uranium, the extractive metallurgy division was created in 1957 by regrouping chemists and metallurgists from radioactivity, chemistry and other divisions. Research on the use of bacteria in metal extraction started in Canada in 1966 and was applied to uranium ores. In 1959, mineral processing became an independent division under Lazare Ervant Djinghenzian (1896-1967). Djinghenzian, who was born in Batom in the Caucasus, went with his family to London in 1920, where he graduated as a mining engineer from the Royal School of Mines in 1924. He immigrated to Canada in 1926 and worked in the mineral industry before joining the Mines Branch in 1948. CIM March/April 2010 | 89

technical abstracts CANADIAN METALLURGICAL QUARTERLY

Recent High Temperature Adventures in the Casting of Metals and their Potential Implications for the Near Net Shape Production of Steel Sheets R.I.L. Guthrie, McGill Metals Processing Centre (MMPC), McGill University, Montreal, Quebec

Effect of Nozzle Configuration on Cooling of a Hot Moving Steel Plate G.A. Franco, The Centre for Metallurgical Process Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, M.A. Wells, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, and M. Militzer, The Centre for Metallurgical Process Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Silicon Steel: Hot Working Constitutive Behaviour and Multistage Rolling Simulation A. Shen and H.J. McQueen, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec

Influence of Processing Conditions on Obtaining an Ultrafine Grain Structure A.M. Elwazri, McGill University, Department of Metals and Materials Engineering, Montréal, Quebec, P. Wanjara, NRC–IAR–AMTC, Montréal, Québec, R. Varano, G.R. Stewart, S. Yue and J.J. Jonas, McGill University, Department of Metals and Materials Engineering, Montréal, Quebec

Deformation Behaviour of Ultrafine Grained Steel Produced by Cold Rolling of Martensite S. Malekjani, I.B. Timokhina, I. Sabirov and P.D. Hodgson, Centre for Material and Fibre Innovation, Institute for Technology Research and Innovation, Deakin University, Geelong Victoria, Australia

90 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

Excerpts taken from abstracts in CMQ, Vol. 48, No. 3. Subscribe—www.cmq-online.ca

ABSTRACT The contacting of a liquid metal alloy with a freezing substrate during twin roll and belt casting operations commonly involves three phases: the contacting liquid metal, the colder substrate and/or superstrate being contacted and an intervening gas phase caught up and squeezed in between the two. This paper describes a number of interesting experiments and mathematical models that have been devised to understand the nature and role of interfaces and how they bear on casting machine productivity, sheet surface quality and as-cast microstructures. ABSTRACT The objective of this study is to develop an experimental database for modeling boiling heat transfer that occurs during run-out table cooling. Experiments have been carried out on a pilot scale run-out table with an emphasis on the effect of nozzle configuration on the overall heat extraction rate. Results from a series of tests are presented and discussed to examine quantitatively heat extraction for a moving steel plate as a function of nozzle configuration. ABSTRACT From torsion testing of silicon steel over the range 600 to 900 °C and 0.15 s-1, the constitutive analysis was performed by the sin h law to establish activation energies. As the temperature rose and strain rate declined, the fracture strain increased to as much as 14.3 and the subgrains in the elongated grains became larger. These results are shown graphically to agree with data from a wide collection of published reports on Si steels. Simulation of multistage rolling was done. Because of short intervals, the pass flow curves did not exhibit the yield points of isothermal tests. Two new measures were then suggested: a) the relative softening during an interval that decreased as temperature fell and b) relative reduction of the maximum pass stress relative to isothermal peak stress that increased at a decreasing rate as temperature declined. ABSTRACT For low carbon steels, thermo mechanical processing in the intercritical (austenite–ferrite) temperature region has potential for generating an ultrafine grained structure. By using compressive deformation, the influence of temperature, strain rate and strain on the transformation kinetics was considered for developing a room temperature microstructure of fine ferrite grains. The flow behaviour was also examined to determine the critical conditions for dynamic transformation and/or strain induced transformation using the stress–strain and strain hardening rate curves. Characterization of the microstructure after deformation in the intercritical region confirmed the occurrence of grain refinement with the presence of homogeneous and ultrafine ferrite grains. ABSTRACT An ultrafine grained Nb microalloyed steel was produced by cold rolling of martensite followed by annealing heat treatments at different times to study its effect on the microstructure and mechanical behaviour of the ultrafine grained steel. High strength was achieved by this thermomechanical processing due to the formation of cell and subgrain dislocation substructure; however annealing reduced both strength and elongation.

technical abstracts CANADIAN METALLURGICAL QUARTERLY

Microstructural Design of Multiphase Advanced High Strength Steels A. Mark, Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, M. Westphal, Materials Science and Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, D. Boyd, Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, J. McDermid, Mechanical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, and D. Embury, Materials Science and Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario

Effect of Grain Size and Martensite Fraction on the Dynamic Factor of Dual Phase Steel Microstructures J. Qu, Department of Mining, Metals and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, W. Dabboussi, J. Nemes, Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, and S. Yue, Department of Mining, Metals and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec

Neutron Scattering Methods Provide Insights into the Effects of Thermomechanical Processing on the Properties and Structure of Steels M.A. Gharghouri, Canadian Neutron Beam Centre, National Research Council Canada, Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, Ontario

Development of High Strength Line Pipe for Arctic Applications L.E. Collins, R. Klein and D. Bai, Frontier Pipe Research Unit, Evraz Inc. NA, Regina, Saskatchewan

Low Temperature Creep Behaviour of Pipeline Steels W. Chen, H. Zhu, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, and S-H. Wang, Industrial Materials Institute, National Research Council Canada, London, Ontario

ABSTRACT This paper summarizes recently published results on the effects of microstructure on the tensile properties of DP and TRIP steels and discusses these observations in terms of micromechanisms of plastic yielding, work hardening and fracture. For DP steels, all three properties are enhanced by developing a fine, uniform distribution of NFP grains. For TRIP steels, the volume fraction of hard NFP increases continuously with strain and the tensile properties are strongly influenced by the rate of austenite transformation (RA stability). RA stability increases with increasing carbon content, decreasing dimensions of RA islands and with increasing strength of the surrounding phase. An optimum combination of RA transformation rate and high strength/hardening is obtained with a TRIP microstructure comprising intercritical ferrite grains + granular bainite. ABSTRACT Dual phase microstructures with various ferrite grain sizes and martensite fractions were obtained by a variety of heat treatment conditions on the as-received cold rolled sheet steels. The static and dynamic mechanical properties of various microstructures were measured by means of shear punch testing. It was found that both static and dynamic strengths decreased with the increase of ferrite grain size. It was also observed that variation of the dynamic factor with static strength was independent of grain size, but a higher alloying level gave higher dynamic factor values. ABSTRACT The strength and formability of materials depend on the distribution and scale of precipitating phases, on the grain size and grain orientation distribution, on the distribution and scale of flaws and on the presence of residual stresses. Neutron scattering methods provide unique data to guide the development of improved materials and processes. Of particular interest are in situ experiments. In this paper, we illustrate the application of neutron diffraction to study 1) the behaviour of a TRIP steel under uniaxial loading and 2) the evolution of the microstructure of a plain carbon steel during gas tungsten arc welding. ABSTRACT The design of pipelines to transmit natural gas from the Mackenzie Delta and the Alaska North Slope to Alberta will place stringent new requirements on material performance. The necessity of transmitting large volumes of gas over long distances provides the impetus to increase operating pressures. In turn, the higher pressures require higher strength steels and/or greater pipe wall thickness. As well, Arctic construction in which the pipeline must traverse areas of continuous or discontinuous permafrost necessitates the use of low operating temperatures and strain-based designs. This presentation will highlight initial development of Grade 550 and Grade 690 line pipe for Arctic applications. ABSTRACT Room temperature creep behaviour of various grades of pipeline steels has been studied. Room temperature creep deformation was found to be strongly dependent on loading histories prior to creep loading. Pre-cold work generally increases the amount of room temperature creep deformation. Cyclic loading prior to creep loading often induces a burst of strain after a period of incubation ranging from a few minutes to a few hours. Mechanisms related to room temperature creep deformation in pipeline steels were also discussed.

March/April 2010 | 91

technical abstracts CANADIAN METALLURGICAL QUARTERLY

Use of the Holloman-Jaffe Tempering Parameter in the Development of High Strength Steel Plate J. Jordan, IPSCO Inc. Research and Development Regina, Saskatchewan, R. Bodnar and J. Dorricott, IPSCO Steel (Alabama) Inc., Axis, Alabama, U.S.A.

Effect of Surface Processing Variables on Hydrogen Embrittlement of Steel Fasteners Part 1: Hot Dip Galvanizing S. Brahimi, IBECA Technologies Corp., Montreal, Quebec, S. Rajagopalan, S. Yue and J. Szpunar, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec

Resistance Spot Welding Characteristics and Mechanical Properties of Galvannealed HSLA 350 Steel M.S. Khan, S.D. Bhole, D.L. Chen, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, G. Boudreau, E. Biro and J.V. Deventer, ArcelorMittal Dofasco Inc., Hamilton, Ontario

Influence of Weld Heat Input on the Fracture and Metallurgy of HSLA-65 C.J. Bayley, Dockyard Laboratory Pacific, DRDC Atlantic, Victoria, British Columbia, and A. Mantei, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia

Application of Shear Punch Testing to Study Microstructure-Property Relationships in Electron Beam Welded 17-4 Ph Stainless Steel P. Wanjara and M. Jahazi, National Research Council Canada, Institute for Aerospace Research, Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Centre, MontrĂŠal, QuĂŠbec

92 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

ABSTRACT Manufacturers of heavy mobile equipment are demanding higher strength steel plates with comparable flatness, formability and weldability to conventional HSLA steels. In addition to increasing load capacities, considerable weight and consequently energy savings can be achieved by using smaller components of higher strength steel. Its quench and temper line is capable of producing high strength products by heating the steel into the austenite regime, water quenching to martensite, then tempering to obtain desired properties. An example is provided to show how the laboratory procedure has been applied in the development of a steel product with a minimum yield strength of 900 MPa. ABSTRACT Incremental step load testing per ASTM F1940 was used to rank a number of industrial fastener coating processes for their propensity to cause internal hydrogen embrittlement. In the case of hot dip galvanizing, 4340 steel test specimens were severely embrittled, even in the absence of any exposure to hydrogen from the coating process. Evidently, the thermal shock caused during immersion in molten zinc releases otherwise innocuous trapped hydrogen. This hypothesis was confirmed with the help of a thermal desorption spectrometer, whereby residual hydrogen was extracted from test specimens prior to galvanizing, thus preventing their embrittlement. ABSTRACT Galvannealed high strength low alloy steel 350 (GA HSLA 350) is particularly attractive in transportation applications. The GA HSLA 350 steel was spot welded at different welding currents to identify a suitable welding current giving good spot welds. Failure loads in the tensile shear increased with increasing welding current. There was a concomitant increase in the nugget diameter and the failure mode changed from interfacial fracture to button pull-out failure. Cross tension and microhardness tests were also carried out. The fusion zone microstructure was martensitic with a microhardness that was twice that of the base metal. ABSTRACT HSLA-65 steel is regarded as an excellent naval ship steel. Its low carbon equivalent and strength-to-weight ratio make it an ideal candidate for future Canadian naval platforms. In this study, welds were fabricated using the flux core arc welding process using two different heat inputs. For the high heat input welds, the ductile-tobrittle transition temperature shifts above the minimum service temperature, while the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature for the low heat input case remains well below the service temperature. The reason for this significant shift in the transition temperature is examined, revealing that the sampling location of the Charpy notch is a significant factor, along with the underlying transformation product. ABSTRACT Electron beam weldments of 17-4 precipitation hardening martensitic stainless steel consisted of a series of distinct yet very narrow heat-affected zones (HAZ) with different microstructural characteristics. Considering the limited size of each HAZ, shear punch testing (SPT) offers a practical solution for evaluating the mechanical and fracture properties of individual regions within the weldment. This paper describes the use of SPT to determine the variation in the tensile strength (yield and maximum), ductility and strain hardening properties of different regions of the weldment and relate them to the microstructural gradient observed in each of them.

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ROAD BUILDING – the unique challenges of

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12 Wardrop Engineering 9 Xstrata 93 PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY Corriveau J.L. / 3D Survey & Scan BioteQ Environmental Technologies Inc

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March/April 2010 | 93

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Potash markets — strong global economic growth projected By Al Mulhall, senior director, market research, PotashCorp s the new year dawned, the International Monetary Fund projected strong growth for key global economies. World GDP is expected to grow 3.9 per cent in 2010, significantly above the 3.2 per cent long-term average. Economic growth in the developing world is projected to be 6.0 per cent, including a 10.0 per cent increase in China’s economic output and a 7.7 per cent rise in India’s GDP. The U.S. economy is anticipated to achieve a 2.7 per cent increase, higher than the 2.5 per cent average growth during the past decade. These and other positive economic indicators, including supportive crop prices, point to an increase in the consumption of potash and other fertilizers this year. Farmers around the globe are working to replenish the nutrients depleted from their soils due to fertilizer application reductions during the economic crisis. The prices for corn, soybeans and wheat, three important North American crops, are currently significantly above the previous ten-year average, providing farmers with an incentive to meet the strong global food demand. In addition, prices for several fruit and vegetable crops well above average are also encouraging farmers of these crops to boost their production. The markets for potash, a key fertilizer for which Canada typically supplies about one-third of the global production, are reawakening following a period of cautious buying during the economic downturn. In 2009 — during the global economic crisis — the world’s potash buyers deferred an unprecedented volume of their normal purchases, opting instead to draw down potash inventory levels in most key markets. As a result, 2009 global potash producer shipments plunged over 40 per cent. This cautious approach by the world’s potash buyers was also followed by farmers, with potash applications around the world reduced over 20 per cent. The economic downturn led to low potash levels in both soils and retail bins around the world. As it ratchets up potash purchases in 2010, on its path to achieving more normal application levels by 2011, the world’s entire supply chain may come under pressure to meet the anticipated escalation in demand.

A

94 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 5, No. 2

The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s ushered in a lengthy period of excess global potash capacity, during which low market prices for potash failed to meet reinvestment hurdles. Potash capacity growth stagnated while a growing global population and improving diets demanded higher crop production. The additional nutrients withdrawn from the soil by these crops required on going increases in the potash consumption level. By the middle of the last decade, the gap between global potash capacity and global potash demand had narrowed considerably and potash market prices had begun to respond to the tightening supply/demand balance. Installation of a greenfield potash mine/mill complex producing two million tonnes per year carries a capital cost of C$2.8 billion for facilities inside the plant gate. Inclusion of capital costs for infrastructure outside the plant gate, including possible acquisition of an ore body, utilities and transportation connections and possible port operations, could increase the capital outlay to around C$4 billion. The time frame to install the new facilities and develop the mine and mill production to achieve a cash flow sufficiently large to begin paying back the capital investment is projected to be a minimum of seven years. This large investment and the lengthy delay in the payback provide a major deterrent to many companies. PotashCorp, however, is well-positioned to bringing a large volume of new production on stream at its existing operations before needing a greenfield project. The company owns five potash operations located in Saskatchewan, and a sixth in New Brunswick, all with excellent potential for brownfield expansions. These are able to be constructed at a cost substantially below the greenfield cost, and brought into production in a shorter time frame. A CDN $7 billion multi-year expansion program implemented at PotashCorp is well advanced. Projects were completed on schedule at Rocanville (2005), Allan (2007), Lanigan (2008) and Patience Lake (2009). The economic downturn did not interrupt the schedule for the remaining projects, as global potash demand growth is expected to return to the trend level and continue to increase at a 3 to 4 per cent growth rate. Additional projects are planned to be completed at Cory in 2010 (and a second in 2012), New Brunswick in 2011, Allan in 2012 and Rocanville in 2013. Completion of this program is expected to nearly double PotashCorp’s operational capability to 17.1 million pounds of product by 2015. PotashCorp is preparing to meet the global increased need for food, and is looking forward to growing with the world. CIM

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