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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 | SEPTEMBRE/OCTOBRE 2018
feature story
46
Digital double Creating a simulation, or “digital twin,” of a plant or piece of equipment can help operators prepare for any eventuality By Eavan Moore
52 Update successful
56 The mechanics of a new era in maintenance
Hecla Mining’s efforts to improve safety, efficiency and productivity at the Casa Berardi gold mine are paying off
A combination of hands-on expertise and high-tech tools offer big wins to operators working to keep on top of downtime
By Kylie Williams
By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco
September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 5
CIM MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 • SEPTEMBRE/OCTOBRE 2018
in each issue
8 10 12
Editor’s letter President’s notes Chatter
tools of the trade
14
The best in new technology Compiled by Kevin Martine and Matthew Parizot
developments
16
Federal court quashes Trans Mountain approval By Matthew Parizot
25
Lack of major copper discoveries means supply will likely fall short of demand in next decade
16 Mining lore
74
By Sahar Fatima
28
While most base metal prices dropped due to ongoing trade tensions, nickel and cobalt buoyed by electric car enthusiasm
James Hutton, a failed lawyer and doctor, was the first person to suggest the Earth was millions of years old, and established geology as a true science By Kylie Williams
By Sara King-Abadi
we are mining
30
contenu francophone
40
Mining companies adopt flexible work policies to accommodate new mothers By Sara King-Abadi
columns
33
59 60 61
62
The costs and risks of poorly managed change By Jonathan Sanders, Matthew Wendtman and Alex Sexton
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56
Canadian mining companies look to test mines to develop new technology By Joel Barde
celebrating 120 years of CIM
The development of a technology to assess the risk of self-heating sulfides
44
By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco
42
Mot du président
Une réplique numérique Créer le jumeau numérique d’une usine ou d’un équipement pourrait aider les opérateurs à se préparer à toute éventualité Par Eavan Moore
upfront
38
Lettre de l’éditeur
article de fond
Measuring success through profit recovery By Brent Hilscher
35
Table des matières
Q&A: Diane Cameron of Natural Resources Canada discusses the potential of small modular nuclear reactors in Canada By Christopher Pollon
6 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
How CIM helped an industry rocked by scandal get back on the level
68
Une mise à jour réussie Hecla Mining récolte enfin les fruits de ses efforts d’optimisation et d’automatisation à sa mine à haute teneur Casa Berardi au Québec Par Kylie Williams
By Virginia Heffernan
Nous publions progressivement sur notre site Internet les articles du CIM Magazine en version française.
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editor’s letter
Case studies in consultation
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o win the right to govern in the 2015 election, part of the Liberal party’s pitch was a new, more conciliatory approach to Indigenous relations than the previous government’s. Their policy included plans “to develop a national strategy to deal with Aboriginal land claims and duties to consult within a reasonable time frame.” Late this summer, the government got some feedback on the progress they have made on that resolution from Federal Court of Appeal Justice Eleanor Dawson in her decision (pg. 16) on whether the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project should get the green light to begin construction. It was a decision the judge was compelled to make after a number of Indigenous groups took the federal government to court. “Missing,” Dawson wrote in her decision, “was a genuine and sustained effort to pursue meaningful, two way dialogue.” The fault, she explained, had much to do with the structure of the consultation. Those sent by the government to consult were acting in good faith, but they were not the people who could provide answers. The answers that ultimately came betrayed the lack of regard for the stakeholders’ concerns: “There was no indication that serious consideration was given to whether any of the Board’s findings were unreasonable or wrong. Nor was there any indication that serious consideration was given to amending or supplementing the Board’s recommended conditions.”
This issue’s cover Underground at the Casa Berardi mine. Courtesy of Hecla Mining
The unfortunate irony, if we are to accept Dawson’s telling of it, is that “in largest part, the concerns of the Indigenous applicants were quite easy to discuss, grapple with and respond to.” The Ontario Superior Court told a similar tale in July when it took away the drilling permit from Landore Resources Canada after the company and Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines tried to fast-track the consultation process with an Indigenous community (p. 21). Not long after these decisions, a Guatemalan court ruled that Tahoe Resources’ Escobal mine will not be allowed to resume operations until that country’s ministry of mines consults with the communities surrounding the mine. Given that it was community roadblocks and persistent resistance that led to the eventual suspension of Escobal’s mining licence, those eager to see one of the world’s richest silver mines go back into production should probably not get too hung up on when that will happen, but how.
Ryan Bergen, Editor-in-chief editor@cim.org @Ryan_CIM_Mag
Editor-in-chief Ryan Bergen, rbergen@cim.org Executive editor Angela Hamlyn, ahamlyn@cim.org Managing editor Michele Beacom, mbeacom@cim.org Section editors Tom DiNardo, tdinardo@cim.org; Kelsey Rolfe, krolfe@cim.org Web content editor Maria Olaguera, molaguera@cim.org Editorial intern Matthew Parizot, mparizot@cim.org Contributors Joel Barde, Sahar Fatima, Virginia Heffernan, Brent Hilscher, Robert Hiltz, Sara King-Abadi, Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco, Kevin Martine, Eavan Moore, Christopher Pollon, Jonathan Sanders, Alex Sexton, Matthew Wendtman, Kylie Williams Editorial advisory board Mohammad Babaei Khorzhoughi, Vic Pakalnis, Steve Rusk, Nathan Stubina Translations Karen Rolland and Annick Vallée Layout and design Clò Communications Inc., www.clocommunications.com Published 8 times a year by: Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum 1250 – 3500 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West Westmount, QC H3Z 3C1 Tel.: 514.939.2710; Fax: 514.939.2714 www.cim.org; magazine@cim.org
8 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
Advertising sales Dovetail Communications Inc. Tel.: 905.886.6640; Fax: 905.886.6615; www.dvtail.com Senior Account Executives Janet Jeffery, jjeffery@dvtail.com, 905.707.3529 Christopher Forbes, cforbes@dvtail.com, 905.707.3516 Subscriptions Online version included in CIM Membership ($197/yr). Print version for institutions or agencies – Canada: $275/yr (AB, BC, MB, NT, NU, SK, YT add 5% GST; ON add 13% HST; QC add 5% GST + 9.975% PST; NB, NL, NS, PE add 15% HST). Print version for institutions or agencies – USA/International: US$325/yr. Online access to single copy: $50. Copyright©2018. 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.
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president’s notes
One to grow on
“There has been tremendous progress in transforming from an organization of distinct groups to a unified technical institute.”
You can no doubt sense the change, the transformation and the excitement. Perhaps you have heard it mentioned or noticed a subtle difference, a new energy. It’s One CIM! One CIM is less of a “thing” and more of a state of mind. It is how we, CIM (10,000 plus individual and corporate members, 33 branches, 10 technical societies and numerous student chapters, committees and volunteers), will work together – combining and supporting the efforts and strengths of all as One CIM. One CIM is strongly aligned with CIM’s strategic goal of fostering a robust, connected and engaged CIM community, but it goes beyond that. By first seeking to understand members and stakeholders, CIM can promote the vital connections within the industry needed to maintain relevance. As well, by being a trusted voice in our sector, we aim to increase our membership, our reach and our ability as an organization to provide strong and relevant knowledge, improve mineral literacy and share best practices. We have started to engage with members, branches and societies to listen and understand the issues and opportunities, which will enable CIM National to better serve and collaborate with its constituents. Through the One CIM movement, there will be far greater mutual benefit – for members, industry and the sector we support. It is about the collective, breaking down silos and working collaboratively. In just a short while, there has been tremendous progress in transforming from an organization of distinct groups to a unified technical institute. While the identity of branches, societies and individual members remains, as a whole we are stronger than the sum of our parts. What can you expect from One CIM in the coming year? • Strong, integrated and relevant programming and technical content • Dynamic and diverse networking opportunities • An inclusive, supportive and relevant CIM These are exciting times with countless opportunities and fresh perspectives guided by communities of practice and experience. We want to hear from you. One CIM starts with listening and continues with engagement.
Janice Zinck CIM President
10 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
chatter @CIMorg
CIM – Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum
obituary
A guiding light in mineral processing passes away Klaus Konigsmann created a legacy built on his operational expertise and support of young engineers By Jan Nesset
T
him for his many contributions with the Airey and Life Member awards and a CIM Fellowship. “Klaus was Canada’s most respected and knowledgeable expert in the field of mineral processing,” said Alex Balogh, the retired CEO and chairman of Falconbridge and deputy chair of Noranda. “He practiced his profession tirelessly and walked through most of the world’s processing plants offering advice generously. He was honoured to receive lifetime achievement awards from his peers in the mining industry. But when I asked Klaus what achievement he was most proud of during his career, without hesitation he said, ‘My contribution to the Canadian Mineral Industry Education Foundation.’ Klaus, together with Graham Farquharson and the foundation directors, made possible the education of hundreds of young Canadians who aspired to an engineering career in the mining industry.” Ernie Marcotte, inaugural chairman of CMP in 1968–69, recalled that Klaus “was a very positive contributor to the many operations-oriented discussions that took place, as well as an obvious strong promoter of CMP. Klaus provided many positive suggestions and recommendations pertaining to the many mineral processing developments that were presented at the annual meetings. His appropriate leadership, knowledgeable comments and prudent suggestions were very much appreciated by the members, who had a very favourable regard and respect for Klaus and his contributions.” Klaus’ son Eric Konigsmann, a manager of project engineering at Teck Resources, said, “We will forever remember Klaus as a great father, a man who leaves a great legacy, a man who lived his life to the fullest, who never accepted compromise at the expense of anyone, a leader and a person upon whom we can only aspire to live up to.” Klaus is survived by his children Eric (Claudia), Ann (David) and Peter (Susan), and his grandchildren Peter, Mark, Jennifer, Tyler, Kyle and Sean. Klaus was preceded in death by his wife, Yolande, in 2007. CIM Courtesy of Klaus’ family
he mining community has lost an iconic figure. On April 26 Klaus Konigsmann passed away at age 88 after a brief illness. There are few in our industry who did not know, or know of, Klaus. He had an illustrious career in mineral processing and mining that spanned more than 50 years from his graduation from McGill University’s metallurgical engineering program in 1958 until his retirement as a consultant just a few years ago. Klaus Konigsmann The first several decades of his career were spent at operating sites in northwestern Quebec, including Noranda’s Mattagami Lake mines where he served as mill metallurgist when operations began in 1963, becoming mill superintendent in 1968. While at Mattagami, Klaus was one of the first to introduce onstream analysis and computer flotation control in mills. In 1977 he moved to Oakville, Ontario, to serve as director of milling for Noranda Minerals and eventually became vice-president of engineering until his retirement in 1995. This was followed by a very active period as a consultant to the industry with involvement in process design and evaluations on a global scale, including at the Antamina copper-zinc project in Peru, the Çayeli copper-zinc operation in Turkey and the Kemess copper-gold mine in British Columbia. Perhaps Klaus’ greatest legacy has been the many young engineers he mentored, encouraged and championed throughout his career. As noted by his son Eric during his eulogy to his father, Klaus’ advice to these young people was to “surround yourself with people smarter than you are and shine by reflected glory.” Many of these young people not only became successful colleagues in the industry but lifelong friends who admired his outgoing, gregarious and gracious nature. Klaus gave of his time and energy freely to causes that mattered to him. He was a strong supporter of the Canadian Mineral Processors (CMP) society and was involved at its transition from the Canadian Gold Metallurgists into CMP in 1968–69. CMP honoured him as the inaugural recipient of the Mill Man of the Year award in 1984 and as a Life Member in 1995. CIM and the Metallurgical and Materials Society (MetSoc) has recognized
Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum
@cim_mag
Canadian Institute of Mining
RE: A GUIDING LIGHT IN MINERAL PROCESSING PASSES AWAY (JUNE/JULY ’18)
I knew Klaus while he was at Mattagami and until the mid ‘70s, when I ventured down under to Australia. I always found Klaus to be a gentleman and well skilled as a metallurgical engineer. As mentioned, he was at the forefront of our profession with new innovations and equipment. I admired Klaus greatly and am sorry to see him go. – Roland Nice This was very well done. I got the opportunity to work with Klaus and cannot say enough about him. – Greg Rasmussen
Jan Nesset is the director of Nessetech Consulting Services Inc.
June/July • Juin/Juillet 2018 | 81
RE: THE ARCHITECT (JUNE/JULY ’18)
This article is on point! Kalev really is about “designing systems that connect human behaviour and technology.” Too often, I hear about other organizations that make decisions based on cost and not how human behaviour and technology can and will create efficiencies, thus positively affecting the bottom line. How humans embrace technology really affects everything from happiness to profits. – Don Leung
RE: LIBERATING SCOTLAND’S “SLAVES OF THE SOIL” (JUNE/JULY ‘17)
This Scottish example is part of the history of unfree labor in mining history, including the later use of enslaved people, then contract prison labor, for mining in the U.S. south. – Brian Leech, @brianleechphd
RE: AGNICO EAGLE GETS LTE UNDERGROUND AT LARONDE (MAY ‘18)
LTE underground is a key piece in enabling connectivity to deliver the step change in digital productivity & safety improvements the industry is looking for - impressive @agnicoeagle, @ericsson & Ambra Solutions. Great article, @CIMorg – Paul Maney, @Paul_Maney_
12 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
RE: MISSING THE RUSH (FEB ‘17)
Many very relevant points and questions regarding next upcycle in the mineral resources sector. With the exception of a few commodities related to green energy production, storage and use, it seems that the down-cycle started about five years ago keeps going on. One question difficult to answer: with much of the expertise in project development having left the sector, often involuntarily, how likely will the new projects meet stakeholders' expectations? – Germain Labonté
RE: CLOTHING AS CULTURE (MAY ‘18)
This is a great read from @CIMorg on role model & business leader extraordinaire, @AliciaWoodsCG of @Covergalls! – Techsploration @Techsploration
RE: POLITICAL RISK AND HOW TO REDUCE IT (AUG ’18)
Sound advice by Mauro Chiesa. For the first time, institutional investors have indicated to us that they will require political risk insurance for operations in the Dominican Republic. – GQCDominicana, @GQCDominicana
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Courtesy of Brokk
tools of the trade
Big power, small space
Courtesy of Epiroc
In confined spaces, size limitations can make it hard to maximize a demolition machine’s power and productivity. Brokk’s new line of remote-controlled demolition machines offer significantly improved power-to-weight ratios, while maintaining similar dimensions. The new models increase hitting power by 40 per cent, thanks to a new system that boosts the power coming from the motor by regulating the output, pushing out more energy in short bursts. “We’re not taking constant power from the motor, we’re taking intermittent power,” said Peter Bigwood, Brokk’s vice-president of sales. “So we’ve developed software to take more when we need it.” The smaller models use an electric powertrain, while the largest uses a diesel engine with improved fuel efficiency. Although they are designed for construction, the company said they are ideal for any confined space. Various attachments to the robotic arms can be used for crushing, drilling or digging rock, allowing it to be used for both tunnelling and processing. The machines are typically controlled from a distance of 25 metres by radio, although they have a 300-metre control range. The electric models are powered by cord from the mine power grid. – Kevin Martine
Increased haulage To improve on its 20-tonne Minetruck MT2010, Epiroc released its new Minetruck MT2200 underground haul truck, with an additional two tonnes of capacity. “It maintains its speed and ramp, and it has a bit more horsepower in the engine. So it’s a productivity increase for the customer,” said Epiroc product manager Erik Gert. The MT2200 comes with several on-board safety features, such as an operator compartment with three points of entry, hydraulic brakes and a rear-view camera. Epiroc says the MT2200 also shares the same “sleek dimensions” as its predecessor, making it easier to navigate tight mine tunnels. – Matthew Parizot 14 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
High-tech hard hat Hard hats are getting an upgrade. Jannatec Technologies’ new ENSO Platform hard hat comes equipped with much more than just a headlamp. The company said the hard hat should be considered an “industrial communication platform,” streamlining several communications devices into one product. The hat can be equipped with a camera to take videos and pictures, WiFi, Bluetooth and LTE compatibility for communication, and more. High-visibility LEDs and RFID tagging also helps ensure worker safety. “It allows the customer to have the flexibility to say, ‘I don’t need all of them, but if I do need tracking and proximity detection, I’ll just get that,’” Jannatec account manager Mark Burnett said. “If there’s a need for the other portions of the application for any reason, we can modularize it and give them a more custom application.” The ENSO Platform will start rolling out in the first half of 2019. – Matthew Parizot
B.C. miners largely untouched by province’s wildfire season
Ontario court dismisses junior miner’s exploration permit over failure to consult
Prospects good for long-term copper price, despite current volatility
Nickel and cobalt buoyed by electric car enthusiasm while other metal prices hit by trade tensions
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Developments Federal court quashes Trans Mountain approval Canadian government’s duty to consult with First Nations on the controversial pipeline expansion “not adequately discharged,” Federal Court of Appeal ruled
Courtesy of Trans Mountain Expansion Project
By Matthew Parizot
Construction on a section of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion.
The Federal Court of Appeal voided the final approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in a unanimous decision, ruling that the National Energy Board’s review of the project was not sufficiently broad, and that the federal government did not adequately consult First Nations groups. 16 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
Justice Eleanor Dawson wrote in the three-judge court’s August 30 decision that the federal energy regulator made a “critical error” in not reviewing project-related tanker traffic, and that as a result its report was “so flawed” the federal government could not have relied on it for its final decision.
In the NEB report, tanker traffic was not considered as it was not seen as a “physical activity that is incidental” to the pipeline. By this definition, the report would not have to consider it in order to gain approval for a “designated” project, which is carried out in Canada or on federal lands.
developments Dawson did not accept this definition, however, due to the massive increase in tanker traffic and the threat to the endangered southern resident killer whales that the pipeline expansion would produce. She also ruled that in the third phase of consultation, the duty to consult with First Nations “was not adequately discharged.” According to the decision, the government’s consultation with First Nations was limited to “listening and recording the concerns of Indigenous applicants and then transmitting those concerns to the decision-makers.” Phase three consultation does not give First Nations the power of veto over projects they disapprove of, she wrote, but it requires a back-and-forth negotiation, which the federal government failed to provide. The decision approving the pipeline expansion will be sent back to the federal government “for appropriate action, if it sees fit, to address these flaws and, later, proper redetermination.” Dawson did discard the majority of the claims in the case – a combination of several requests for judicial review from First Nations, environmental groups and two British Columbia cities – as “without merit” and dismissed all claims specifically against the NEB’s report because the board is not subject to judicial review. First Nations and environmental groups cheered the court’s decision. “I was anticipating an unhappy decision, but I’m quite happy that I was wrong and that the courts have upheld our arguments that we made throughout this whole thing,” said Squamish Nation councillor and spokesperson Khelsilem in a phone interview, “which was that the Canadian government did not behave honourably in their dealings with us.” Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers CEO Tim McMillan, however, said the verdict is emblematic of an unclear regulatory system. “The federal government now owns [the pipeline]. They own it because the proponents saw substantial lack of clarity or certainty in the regulatory
process,” McMillan said in an interview. “So yes, it will get built, but it speaks to a broader concern in Canada that private sector companies [are] increasingly stepping away from these major projects.” Less than an hour after the federal court’s decision was released, Kinder Morgan Canada shareholders approved
the company’s decision to sell the expansion project to the federal government for $4.5 billion, with 99 per cent of shareholders approving the decision. Finance Minister Bill Morneau said at a press conference hours after the decision was released that the federal government’s decision to pur-
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chase the pipeline and attempt to sell it to another investor was the correct one. “What we really saw today was a confirmation that our government’s decision to buy this pipeline because of political risks that were difficult for a private actor to manage was absolutely the right [one],” he said. “We know this pipeline, which is in the national interest, needs to get built. We know we’re the ones to de-risk it.” The project’s expected cost has risen several times from its original $4.1 billion, and Kinder Morgan’s most recent estimates have pegged it at $7.4 billion. But financial documents released in early August reported that the capital costs could increase to more than $9 billion. The controversial expansion project, first approved in 2016, would almost triple the pipeline’s capacity to 890,000 barrels per day, up from 300,000 currently. CIM
SEMAFO increases security after attacks on mine employees In response to two armed incidents that took place near its Mana and Boungou mines in Burkina Faso in August, Quebec miner SEMAFO said it increased its security measures for transporting employees to and from both mines. While operations at both mines were unaffected by the attacks, several employees and sub-contractors lost their lives. Five gendarmes and one sub-contractor were killed in the first attack on August 11, which took place en route to the Boungou mine in Burkina Faso’s Est region. The second occurred only six days later, on August 17, when an employee bus was held up by bandits while heading to the Mana mine from the
town of Bobo-Dioulasso. One of the company’s national employees and one sub-contractor were killed. The two incidents do not appear to be connected, according to the company’s early analysis. Burkina Faso, Africa’s fourth largest producer of gold, has seen a steady increase of terrorist activity over the past two years, prompting several countries, including Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom to issue travel advisory warnings recommending that citizens only travel there for essential business and avoid specific regions entirely. According to Marco Simonetti, West Africa regional manager at International Alert, an independent peacebuilding organization, increased terrorism in the country comes from ongoing conflict in Mali. “Violent extremism exploits chaos and instability, and of course the chaos that was created in Mali has brought
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18 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
developments that country to open conflict, and the conflict spills over into Burkina, Niger, and other countries in the region,” said Simonetti. “So it’s very much a function of the conflict in Mali, the way we observe it.” However, Simonetti said he does not believe SEMAFO or its employees were the intended target of the incidents. “The first [thought] that came to my mind was it was probably not the mining company, it was the gendarmes,” Simonetti said of the incident at Boungou. “Because the target of these people is the state. “Looking at the dynamics, it’s probably an incident that happened just because these people were at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Simonetti said. SEMAFO has resumed transporting employees and supplies to Boungou, which achieved commercial production on Sept. 1. To help ensure their safety, a ground military force has been
deployed along the route between the mine and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital. The employees will also be given a greater escort presence. Burkinabé employees headed to the Mana mine will also be provided with a larger escort, and any expatriate employees will be brought to the mines by helicopter transport, the company said. SEMAFO’s senior management, including CEO Benoit Desormeaux, went to Burkina Faso to oversee the improvements. – Matthew Parizot
B.C. court gives Taseko go-ahead to start drilling at New Prosperity The Tsilhqot’in Nation’s petition to stop Taseko Mines from carrying out drilling work at its New Prosperity project, which is close to the Nation’s declared title land, was dismissed by
the British Columbia Supreme Court on Aug. 23. The Tsilhqot’in are now calling on B.C.’s NDP government to cancel the exploration permit, which was granted in the B.C. Liberal government’s final days. “The proper steps would be to pull the pin on this permit,” said Chief Joe Alphonse, the tribal chairman of the Tsilhqot’in National Government, in a statement. “The NDP government has the power to do so and should do the honourable thing.” The petition, filed in 2017, argued the permit should be withdrawn, or at least be reconsidered, because the provincial government breached the duty to consult and accommodate. In his ruling, Supreme Court Justice Ward Branch wrote that he was “unable to agree that the province’s decision fell outside the range of reasonable outcomes,” and noted that the government’s permit had applied only to the exploratory work program.
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FROM THE WIRE Imperial Oil said in July it is testing autonomous haul trucks at its Kearl mine in the Alberta oil sands, and has already tested a 363-tonne Caterpillar 797F, which it called the world’s largest autonomous truck. Imperial said it will increase its fleet to seven vehicles, up from one currently, by the end of 2018. McEwen Mining appointed Chris Stewart its new president and COO, effective at the start of September. Stewart has worked in the industry for 25 years and was previously CEO of Treasury Metals and vice-president of operations for Kirkland Lake Gold. Stewart replaced Xavier Ochoa, who resigned in July. David Anonychuk was appointed M.Plan International Limited’s Managing Director as of Aug. 7, replacing Aron Cleugh. Anonychuk has nearly 25 years of mining and metallurgical experience, and was formerly the managing director at Aereus Technologies. He also received a CIM-Bedford Canadian Young Mining Leaders Award in 2011. Seafloor miner Nautilus Minerals announced the departure of its CEO, Mike Johnston, on Aug. 7. Independent director John McCoach was appointed Interim CEO following Johnston’s departure. Rio Tinto announced on Aug. 20 that it had opened the fourth diamond pipe, called A21, at Diavik in the Northwest Territories. The pipe, expected to be in full production by the fourth quarter, is set to provide a “significant source” of ore supply for the mine. Rio Tinto also reported in August it had approved an investment of US$146 million in its first ever “intelligent mine,” the Koodaideri iron ore project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The mine will incorporate autonomous drilling, haulage, and rail transport. All the designs for the mine will be digital, and the mine’s components will be constructed in 3D “digital twin” models for maintenance. If the project is approved, construction is planned to begin in 2019, with production set for 2021.
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“There are a number of additional hurdles to clear, and further opportunities for balancing the parties’ interests prior to full construction of any mine,” he added. “Hopefully, the parties will be able to consider their various interests in such a way that future accommodations can be made through mutual agreement rather than additional court interventions.” The decision will allow Taseko to conduct its work, which involves constructing roads, conducting geotechnical drilling, digging trenches and clearing seismic lines, near Teztan Biny, also known as Fish Lake, and Nabas, two areas of spiritual significance to the Tsilhqot’in. Alphonse said the Nation will be “exhausting all options” to prevent work from going ahead. “The Crown’s obligation is to consult with aboriginal people and to accommodate their interests where reasonable to do so. However, there is no duty or obligation to secure aboriginal support for the work being proposed,” said Taseko president and CEO Russell Hallbauer in a statement. “Last week’s decision provides important guidance to the evolving and often complex relationship between the constitutional rights of aboriginal people and the responsibilities, duties and obligations the government has to its citizens and their resources.” After Taseko was granted the permit in 2017, the Tsilhqot’in filed a request for injunction until its petition and a separate civil claim, arguing the permit is an “unjustified infringement” on Tsilhqot’in hunting, trapping and fishing rights, could be heard. The federal environment ministry then filed a request for a permanent injunction a week later, on the grounds that Taseko’s work would violate the 2012 Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. New Prosperity has already been rejected twice by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. In 2010, the agency’s panel rejected what was then known as the Prosperity project for its proposed use of Fish Lake for tailings storage. The second review in
2014 rejected a revised project, called New Prosperity, which would avoid the use of Fish Lake, on the grounds that the project would “cause an environmental effect” to Indigenous lands and resources. – Kelsey Rolfe
B.C. miners largely untouched by province’s wildfire season As British Columbia fire crews continue to fight back against the wildfires that have engulfed the province, mining companies working in the province have been preparing for the possibility their operations may also be affected. Teck Resources halted its lead smelting production in Trail after smoke from a fire forced the company to temporarily suspend its Linde plant, which provides oxygen to Teck’s Trail operations, due to the poor air quality. Zinc smelting production, however, was unaffected by the smoke. Less than a week after the shutdown, Teck announced that lead smelting operations had resumed. Teck spokesperson Chris Stannell wrote in an email that “regional air quality conditions continue to be actively monitored.” While the wildfires this year have been intense, they are not uncommon in British Columbia, and companies have been using previous experience to prepare them for the future. Taseko Mines spokesperson Brian Battison said that while none of the company’s operations have been affected by this year’s fires, it has procedures in place if they get too close. During a similar string of forest fires last summer, highway access to Taseko’s Gibraltar mine in south-central B.C. was blocked, forcing it to briefly shut down operations. New Gold took a more proactive approach to protecting its New Afton gold mine, west of Kamloops. The company sent out one of its personal fire engines as well as four firefighters to assist crews in the Burns Lake fire zone in central B.C. for three weeks. “We’re doing what we can to help,” said Scott Davidson, the environment,
Courtesy of Taseko Mines
developments
A month after rejecting a hostile takeover bid from Lundin Mining and hinting it had other offers in the pipeline, Nevsun Resources announced in early September it would be acquired by Chinese miner Zijin Mining for $1.86 billion. Zijin’s offer amounts to $6 per share, which Nevsun said was a premium of 57 per cent over the company’s closing share price of $3.82 on May 7, when Lundin first made public its interest in acquiring Nevsun. It is also $1.25 more per share than Lundin’s hostile bid of $4.75. Zijin said the company plans to extend the life of Nevsun’s Bisha copper-zinc mine in Eritrea and to speed up development of the Upper Zone deposit at Nevsun’s Timok copper-gold project in Serbia to bring it into production.
Taseko’s Gibraltar copper-molybdenum mine in south-central B.C.
social responsibility and tailings manager at New Afton. “We see an opportunity where we can help efforts, and we gladly join in.” New Gold has also opened a base camp at its Blackwater exploration project south of Vanderhoof for the province’s fire crews to use. “We opened up the camp and basically made the camp available because it’s a lot closer to where the fires are, so that the people that are actually working on attacking these fires are able to
be closer to where they’re needed,” Davidson said. According to the BC Wildfire Service, 2,060 fires have started since April, with over 200 still classified as active. The service estimates over 1.3 million hectares of land have been burned as of press time. In comparison, last year was classified as the worst wildfire season in B.C.’s history, with over 1,300 fires and more than 1.2 million hectares burned between April and November. – Matthew Parizot
Ontario court dismisses junior miner’s exploration permit Landore Resources and Ontario’s mines ministry failed to properly consult Eabametoong First Nation over drilling permit, Ontario Superior Court rules By Robert Hiltz
The Ontario Superior Court threw out a junior mining company’s permit for drilling work on Eabametoong First Nation’s traditional territory in northern Ontario after ruling that the company and the province had failed in their duty to adequately consult with the Nation.
Justice Harriet Sachs wrote in a mid-July ruling that Landore Resources Canada and Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM) did not meet the required level of consultation to be seen as “upholding the honour of the Crown” when dealing with Eabametoong.
Barrick Gold and NovaGold Resources received a record of decision and multiple permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for their jointventure Donlin gold project in Alaska in mid-August. The record of decision completes the National Environmental Policy process for the project. The project still needs several state and federal permits before construction can begin, and Barrick and NovaGold have said they plan to update a 2011 feasibility study. The proposed open pit project has proven mineral reserves of eight million tonnes at 2.32 grams per tonne gold, probable reserves of 497 million tonnes at 2.08 g/t gold and an expected 27-year lifespan. BHP acquired a 6.1 per cent interest in Australian gold and copper miner Solgold in early September for US$35 million to get exposure to the company’s Cascabel copper-gold project in Ecuador. Cascabel has an indicated resource of 430 million tonnes at 0.52 per cent copper and 0.43 g/t gold and an inferred resource of 650 million tonnes at 0.45 per cent copper and 0.30 g/t gold. Monarques Gold announced a temporary shutdown of its Beaufor mine, starting in mid-December, due to the low price of gold and the low-grade ore mined there recently. Monarques said it will look for methods to allow it to re-open Beaufor profitably, and will be pursuing its exploration activities at the site. – Compiled by Kevin Martine, Matthew Parizot and Kelsey Rolfe
September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 21
The judge wrote that both Landore and the MNDM dealt with Eabametoong in an opaque way that left the First Nation in the dark about why and how decisions were being made, and excluded them from parts of the process. Sachs remitted the exploration permit back to the government “pending completion of adequate consultation” with the First Nation. “Certain clear expectations were created by the Crown and its delegate, Landore, as to how the duty to consult would be fulfilled in this case and then, without meeting those expectations or offering an explanation as to why they could not be met, the Crown changed the process in such a way as to render it one that could not reasonably be considered to be a genuine attempt at ’talking together for mutual understanding,’” Sachs wrote in her judgment. Cameron Ferguson, a spokesman for the MNDM, said the government
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would not appeal and “will move forward with obligations set out in the Divisional Court’s decision. “The ministry values our relationship with Eabametoong First Nation. We look forward to working with the community in the future,” Ferguson said. “The government continues to review and evaluate Ontario’s approach to mineral exploration and development, including duty to consult, through collaboration with Indigenous communities, industry partners and other stakeholders.” Questions sent to Landore by CIM Magazine went unanswered. The company’s exploration permit is for claims on Treaty 9 lands near the Miminiska and Keezhik Lakes, some 40 kilometres west of Eabametoong First Nation, which is used extensively by members of the Nation for fishing, hunting and spiritual purposes. Relations between Landore and Eabametoong began amicably, with
Landore telling the First Nation at the beginning of the permit process, in 2013, that the company would not go forward with drilling without first agreeing on a memorandum of understanding (MOU). After two face-to-face meetings with the community, a third was promised with Landore’s CEO to address some of Eabametoong’s concerns. Eabametoong hoped to review the company’s drilling plans and work on the MOU, but Landore never responded to an email from the First Nation proposing a date for the third meeting. Both the ministry and Landore stopped trying to set up a meeting with Eabametoong. Landore had a private meeting with the ministry in January 2016 during which the company revealed they were in preliminary acquisition talks with Barrick Gold, the judgment said, and began to push the ministry to approve the permit as soon as possible, because of the negotiations.
developments should go beyond ticking boxes will have broader impacts through the industry. “I think this is a case that requires Ontario and mining companies to be mindful their consultation
processes in any case can be judicially reviewed and put under a microscope. And if they are not genuine, they will not stand,” Robertson said. CIM
Courtesy of BHP
The MNDM eventually emailed the Nation with a deadline of five business days to approve a list of proposed conditions on Landore’s permit. Despite Eabametoong’s objections to the deadline and the conditions, Ontario approved the permit. During the process, the Nation had sent a list of its concerns to the Ontario government but never heard anything back. In court, it came out that the ministry had done a detailed review of the concerns, but never took their analysis back to the community. All of these factors added up to a lack of consultation, Sachs wrote. “There was no real and genuine attempt by the Ministry or Landore to listen to Eabametoong’s concerns, provide feedback about those concerns and to discuss ways to meet those concerns (if possible),” the ruling says. “Instead, the concerns were noted, the expected opportunity for discussion was foreclosed without explanation and the Ministry proceeded in a unilateral way (without seeking or giving real feedback) to make its decision.” Sachs added that the ministry’s conduct “cannot reasonably be considered to be the type of conduct that would promote reconciliation between the Crown and Indigenous peoples.” One of the lawyers who represented Eabametoong, Krista Robertson, said the ruling is a relief to the people of the community. “It’s terrible for a First Nation to have to go through a case like this. It’s expensive. It’s stressful. Nobody wants these cases to end up in the courts,” Robertson said. “So I do hope that everyone pulls their socks up on the proponent and government side and does a better job, so that First Nations don’t have to go through the court process.” Robertson said that an overview of the process might look quite impressive, “but it really actually wasn’t responsive consultation or genuine consultation and I think that happened particularly with Landore, but also with Ontario.” She said she thinks the conclusion that the substance of the consultation
BHP and Escondida’s union reached an agreement through government mediation.
BHP, Escondida union reach agreement on contract offer Workers at BHP’s Escondida copper mine signed a new collective labour contract from the company on Aug. 17, avoiding a repeat of last year’s 44day strike. BHP and the Chilean mine’s union reached an agreement through government mediation. “The company made an enormous effort to reach this agreement,” said Patricio Vilaplana, vice-president of corporate affairs at BHP subsidiary Minera Escondida, in a statement. “We learned from previous processes, we were flexible and open to dialogue, and this agreement is the fruit of that attitude as well as of the disposition of Union N°1, which we appreciate.” Neither BHP nor the union have disclosed details of the new offer.
Last year’s strike at the world’s largest copper mine reduced the operation’s annual output by 7.8 per cent and significantly disrupted copper markets. The union invoked a rarely used legal provision that allowed them to revert to their existing contract for 18 months and end the strike. In early August, it seemed the mine and the union were headed for a similar standoff when workers voted to reject BHP’s offer of a US$18,000 signing bonus for each worker and a 1.5 per cent salary bump with increases for inflation, and said it would go on strike on August 6 if the company did not improve its offer. The union was requesting a bonus equal to four per cent of dividends distributed to shareholders in 2017, which roughly equates to US$34,000 per worker, and a five per cent wage increase. Chile’s labour laws allow for both the company and the union to call for September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 23
between five and ten days of government mediation. The mediation period was extended to allow the union to consult with its members, BHP said. The deal came as copper entered a bear market after the price dropped more than 20 per cent from its sustained peak in the past year. Ryan McKay, an associate commodity strategist at TD Securities, said August’s sudden drop was a combination of factors: the trade tensions between the United States and several other countries that have depressed prices since June; Turkey’s ongoing currency crisis; and a recent drop in Chinese export data caused by U.S. tariffs. News of the Escondida deal was the “straw that broke the camel’s back,� he said. The potential for a strike had previously been keeping prices from “tumbling too far.� McKay said he believes mid-August was the low point, and that heading into the U.S. midterm elections in the
fall there may start to be some trade deals that will help increase prices. He pointed to overnight news that the U.S. and China planned to begin new trade talks as a good sign. “If [trade deals] start to happen then we’ll definitely have seen the bottom here, and prices will start to trend higher,� he said. “The underlying fundamentals of copper are still good, it’s just getting beaten up a bit by sentiment.� – Kelsey Rolfe
Ontario to take federal carbon tax to court The Ontario government is launching a constitutional challenge to Canada’s carbon pricing plan. The challenge, announced by provincial environment minister Rod Phillips and attorney general Caroline Mulroney at a Queen’s Park news conference on Aug. 2, will be heard in the Ontario Court of Appeal.
“The understanding of how a carbon tax works requires the tax be charged at a level that’s going to be just devastating to this economy,� Phillips said. “During the provincial election, people were very clear; they don’t want more taxes and they don’t believe that kind of onerous tax is going to be effective in dealing with environmental issues.� The news came in the same week that Ottawa quietly softened its carbon pricing plan for industry emitters. The new guidelines, which the government drafted to address concerns of competitiveness from industry, will increase the benchmark at which industrial emitters begin paying for their carbon emissions. Companies will now begin paying when they exceed 80 per cent of an industry’s average emissions, and 90 per cent for cement, iron and steel, lime and nitrogen fertilizer producers. Previously the benchmark was 70 per cent.
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24 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
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developments The effect will dramatically reduce taxes for companies that are more efficient than their industry average. The worst industry emitters will also see their taxes reduced, but not by as much. Ontario has already registered as an intervenor in the Saskatchewan government’s constitutional reference case over the carbon pricing plan, which was launched in late April. During the election campaign, Premier Doug Ford promised to dismantle Ontario’s cap-and-trade system and
fight the federal government’s carbon tax, which would be imposed on the province if it did not have its own plan in place. The provincial government cancelled cap-and-trade earlier in July, and introduced legislation to wind down the program. The constitutional challenge is likely a fight that Ontario will lose. In an independent legal opinion for the government of Manitoba – where Premier Brian Pallister has also mulled suing Ottawa – Winnipeg lawyer
Bryan Schwartz wrote that the Supreme Court of Canada would be more likely to uphold carbon pricing based on Canada’s broad taxation powers. Mulroney said the government will use in-house lawyers to pursue the province’s challenge, and has reserved $30 million for its cost. “I’m very confident it will cost less than that,” she said. She did not address whether that cost would cover the potential for the lawsuit to stretch out over years. – Kelsey Rolfe
Prospects good for long-term copper price, despite current volatility Lack of major copper discoveries mean supply will likely fall short of demand in next decade Despite current operations’ ability to feed copper demand in the near term, the dearth of large-scale copper discoveries over the last decade means there will not be enough new deposits coming into production to keep the market balanced, an S&P Global Market Intelligence report says. “Large deposit discovery rates just haven’t turned around. There haven’t been any increases in the last five years, really,” the report’s author, Kevin Murphy, a senior analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Metals and Mining Research, said in an interview. Companies are spending more on finding new copper reserves than they have historically. In the last 10 years, global spending on copper exploration was US$26.6 billion, more than double the US$12.4 billion spent in the preceding 18 years, according to the report, which was released this summer. But only about 140 million tonnes of copper was defined in 29 discoveries over the last decade, compared with 862.8 million tonnes in 191 discoveries in the preceding period. There may have been other, smaller-scale discoveries, Mur-
Courtesy of Galore Creek Mining Corporation
By Sahar Fatima
Newmont’s decision to buy NovaGold Resources’ stake in Galore Creek (pictured) reflects its belief that the deposit has a potential for multi-decade production.
phy said, but they were not significant enough to have an impact on the market. (The report’s dataset includes all deposits containing over 500,000 tonnes in reserves, resources and past production, with rare exceptions.) Almost two-thirds of the copper discovered in the last decade is contained in the four largest deposits, the report says. The biggest is the Pampa Escondida deposit in Chile, co-owned by BHP, Rio Tinto and a Japanese industrial consortium, followed by Ivanhoe Mines’ Kamoa-Kakula discov-
ery in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But other than those few major discoveries, there has not been much, said Mark Ferguson, the associate director for metals and mining at S&P Global Market Intelligence. He said the concern is that there are “not enough new large deposit discoveries to feed the pipeline 10 years out.” London-based CRU Group predicts “small to large [copper] deficits between 2019 and the early 2020s,” and at the World Copper Conference in Santiago in April, Rio Tinto’s CEO of September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 25
26 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
Number of discoveries
Copper exploration budgets (US$M)
copper and diamonds, been pretty strong, so COMPANIES SPEND MORE ON EXPLORATION, Arnaud Soirat, said the we would therefore MAKE FEWER DISCOVERIES company expects a supexpect demand for cop5,000 25 ply deficit in the 2020s. per to be reasonably Copper is in the limestrong as well.” 4,000 20 light this year with NewCRU predicts 15 per mont Mining’s purchase cent of copper demand 3,000 15 of a 50 per cent stake in growth between 2016 the Galore Creek copperand 2021 to come from 2,000 10 gold-silver project in B.C. the automotive sector, 1,000 5 and Chinese company due to its use in electric Zijin Mining’s acquisivehicle batteries. 0 0 tions of Serbian copper “Pure battery elec2000 2005 2010 2015 2000 2005 2010 2015 project RTB Bor and coptric vehicles that conper miner Nevsun sume around 80 Resources, the latter of kilograms of copper FOUR LARGEST COPPER DISCOVERIES IN THE LAST DECADE which Lundin Mining per vehicle, compared previously attempted to to 30-55 kg in hybrid buy. Rio Tinto has also models, now account expressed interest in for upwards of 50 per acquiring a prime copper cent of the total (elecLOS HELADOS KAMOA-KALUKA KAMOA-KALUKA ESCONDIDA (KALUKA) (KAMOA) (PAMPA ESCONDIDA) asset. tric vehicles) compared 10.6 Mt 19.3 Mt 23.2 Mt 33.7 Mt Kevin Fox, the manto less than 30 per cent All data from S&P Global Market Intelligence aging director of Rio previously,” CRU prinTinto Ventures, told a mining conferbecause it is expected to play a large cipal analyst Robert Edwards wrote in ence in May the company was looking role in electric vehicles and renewable a report in February. “In addition, the at projects in the “battery minerals energy in the future. infrastructure piece should not be forsector,” including copper, but that it “When economies are doing well, gotten as it could add 30-50 per cent was difficult to find good assets, the demand for copper usually follows to copper demand over and above according to a Reuters report. that,” said Ferguson. “Aside from recent that just in the vehicles themselves.” The company is reportedly attempt- volatility and certain emerging concerns That includes charging stations, as ing to reduce its reliance on iron ore, over trade wars and such, the global well as the associated growth in renewand increase its access to copper picture in the macro environment has able energy.
developments “Many market analysts look at copper as a metal that will continue to be in strong demand for lots of purposes, with growing middle-class populations in Asia, and the need for copper in everything from housing to manufactured products to electric vehicles,” said Newmont spokesperson Omar Jabara. He said the company’s July decision to buy NovaGold Resources’ stake in Galore Creek and become Teck Resources’ new partner in the project reflects its belief that the deposit has the ability to generate a lot of value due to its “potential multi-decade production profile, low cost and manageable risk. And it has a sizeable gold resource there in addition to the copper.” Though Newmont remains primarily a gold producer, it also has assets that are copper-gold porphyries in Australia and Nevada, and previously Indonesia. “This isn’t anything outside of our comfort zone,” Jabara said.
Despite the demand, copper prices remain low as of press time, entering the bear market in August and hitting prices as low as US$5,773 per tonne. “There’s certainly been a lot of volatility in many of the base metal prices over recent months,” said Ferguson. “There’s been a lot of fear derived from trade wars, tariff wars, plus the U.S. dollar has done fairly well. “(But) we’ve been sort of forecasting more of a stable price through the rest of this year and we don’t expect that to change,” he added. “It’s certainly at the low end of where we expect it to be, but there’s so much volatility in the marketplace and sometimes news of the day can really start to change the price.” Still, that should not have a huge impact on the supply of copper, Murphy said. “Even if the price should plunge off the cliff, it would take quite a while for a lot of the miners to respond with serious cutbacks.”
Murphy said he predicts larger companies making offers on copper projects that are already welladvanced, such as those owned by junior miners, rather than starting a new project from an earlier stage and progressing it through the administrative chain of permits, studies, and construction. This is in line with some of the copper investments making the news this year, including Newmont’s deal. “It can take 20 years to go from when something is discovered to going to production,” Murphy said. “This timeline implies that the reduced discovery rates of the past decade will limit the pool of projects that could come online in 15 to 20 years,” he wrote in the report. “Unless discovery rates begin an upswing in the near future, there could be a lack of quality assets available for development in the longer term.” CIM
Strategic Mine Planning with New Digital Technologies, Risk Management and Mineral Value Chains At the time of a continuing rebound of metal markets, learn how the application of new digital technologies that can add substantial value to strategic mine planning and asset valuation. The new technologies and related tools integrate technical risk management while capitalizing on the synergies amongst the elements of mineral value chains through their simultaneous optimization – from mines to products to markets. INSTRUCTORS Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada and Ryan Goodfellow, Newmont Mining Corporation, USA • DATE September 19-21, 2018 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Geostatistical Mineral Resource Estimation and Meeting the New Regulatory Environment: Step by Step from Sampling to Grade Control This course is designed according to the latest regulations on public reporting of Mineral Resources. It aims at showing how state-of-the-art statistical and geostatistical techniques help answering the requirements of those regulations in an objective and reproducible manner. A particular emphasis is put on understanding sampling and estimation errors and how to assign levels of estimation confidence through the application of resource classification fundamentals. In addition to a solid introduction to mining geostatistics this course provides a comprehensive overview of industry’s best practices in the broader field of Mineral Resource estimation. INSTRUCTORS Georges Verly, Wood, Canada and Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada • DATE September 24-28, 2018 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Cash Flow Evaluations for Mineral Projects The purpose of the course is to familiarize the participant with the form and content of discounted cash flow evaluations as they are used in the mineral industry for studies and projects. The course focuses on several aspects of mineral project evaluations: the data and calculations required for a mineral project cash flow, the assessment of the viability (economics) of a mining project, and risk assessment. INSTRUCTOR Lawrence Devon Smith, Lawrence, Devon, Smith & Associates, Canada • DATE November 6-8, 2018 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada
September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 27
Metals hit hard by trade disputes While prices of most base metals dropped due to ongoing trade tensions, nickel and cobalt buoyed by electric car enthusiasm Despite projections of a strong year for metals across the board, which were expected to be buoyed by global growth, multiple commodities have been hit by depressed prices this year as ongoing trade disputes soured market sentiment. Even though the U.S. and China both saw strong economic growth, it is not reflected in the pricing of base metals, said TD Securities commodities strategist Ryan McKay. That can be traced back to June, when U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on foreign steel and 10 per cent on foreign aluminum. “As these trade wars started to come into play, we’ve really seen these metal prices disconnect from the fundamentals,” he said. Scotiabank commodity economist Rory Johnston had a similar view, writing in his Aug. 31 commodity price index that “despite mixed but still encouraging economic fundamentals, commodities are currently being driven by bets that growth will sour” due to trade disputes. Zinc, favoured at the beginning of the year to continue its upward trend due to tight supply, tumbled from its one-year high in February of $1.60/pound to a two-year low of just over $1/pound in August. The last two years of high prices “are now seen as having done their job of incentivizing new mine supply investment,” Johnston wrote. He added that demand has slowed because of reduced growth in China’s construction sector and U.S. tariffs on steel, but felt that the current rout was “overdone” and prices are likely to rebound. “The momentum was pushing [zinc] higher. It just had that much further to fall when overarching growth concerns [prompted by trade wars] kind of manifested,” Johnston said in an interview. 28 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
Courtesy of Trevali Mining
By Sara King-Abadi
Despite a drop in zinc prices this year, Trevali Mining, which owns the Caribou zinc mine in New Brunswick, reported a net income of $23.5 million in the first half of 2018, in comparison to $126,000 in the same time period last year.
Despite zinc’s drop, Canadian producers Teck Resources and Trevali Mining did well in the first half of the year. Trevali, which last year acquired two zinc operations from Glencore, reported net income of $23.5 million, in comparison to $126,000 last year, and mined more than 807,000 tonnes of zinc, up from more than 371,000 in Q2 2017. Teck attributed its quarterly gross profits of $1.2 billion, up from $1.1 billion last year, to “favourable prices” of zinc and steelmaking coal. Copper’s fall was well reported, dropping more than 20 per cent from its sustained peak last year into a bear market in August. The metal was expected to do well this year based on its still-strong long-term prospects (see more on pg. 25) and the number of labour contracts up for renewal at copper operations in Peru and Chile. However, trade tensions have not held down all commodities. Aluminum prices remained high even as the metal has been the target of U.S. tariffs. Rio Tinto, which has aluminum operations in Canada, reported that an 18 per cent increase in aluminum prices over the past year and “higher market premiums for aluminum” were among the factors
that contributed to a US$604-million increase in its adjusted earnings (EBITDA) in the first half of 2018, compared to the same time last year. Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques said in the company’s 2018 half-year results Q&A he is confident that “the supply chain is so integrated between the US and Canada, that common sense will prevail.” Jacques added that to date the company has not been impacted by trade disputes, but that it is watching the potential situation “very carefully.” Nickel and cobalt have also defied the market-wide slump thanks to continued growth in electric vehicle interest. “They’re very, very high today in part because of this forward expectation of such strong demand from the battery sector,” Johnston said. Electric vehicle (EV) sales worldwide grew 69 per cent in the second quarter, compared to the same period in 2017, though the rate was not quite as high as expected. The number of EVs on the road is largely dependent on the policy environment and subsidies. China had a strong subsidy policy to support demand, then started to reduce subsi-
developments dies on shorter range (the distance a vehicle can travel on a battery charge) EVs at the end of 2017, explained Alex Laugharne, a principal consultant with CRU Group based in New York. “They’re not producing quite as much, so EV numbers have been slightly lower than might have been expected for this year so far,” he said. “But regardless of that, certainly the uptake of EVs is already having a big impact on various metals markets.” Cobalt prices have stayed high thanks to what CRU director Paul Robinson said at PDAC were “critically low” stocks of the metal. Increased adoption of EVs could create a “persistent market deficit.” CRU projects that 63 per cent of the demand growth for cobalt between 2016 and 2021 will be from the automotive sector. “There’s a lack of availability,” said Laugharne. “If you can’t get a hold of the material, that makes it very difficult to make the batteries you want to make.”
This uptick should spell continued good news for Vale. The company reported its cobalt sales revenue at US$94-million in the second quarter, compared to US$60-million last year, yet sold nearly the same volume as last year, at 1.2 million tonnes. Nickel’s fortunes have also rebounded from last year, reaching an average of US$14,476 per tonne in Q2, its strongest since the first quarter of 2015, according to Vale’s report. That is thanks, in part, to manufacturers pushing to transition to nickel-heavy batteries, a move that will lead to a battery with higher energy density that would be less dependent on batteryquality cobalt. Vale also reported a 21 per cent increase in its adjusted EBITDA from the first quarter, which it attributed to “higher nickel and copper realized prices, higher by-product volumes, and higher nickel and copper volumes.”
In June, the company also greenlit development of its Voisey’s Bay underground nickel-copper-cobalt mine, which is expected to produce around 45,000 tonnes of nickel, 20,000 tonnes of copper and 2,600 tonnes of cobalt per year. The cobalt streaming agreement it signed with Wheaton Precious Metals and Cobalt 27 Capital was “one of many factors that make this an attractive project,” said Cory McPhee, Vale’s vice-president of corporate affairs and communications. Stepping back to the outlook for base metals on the whole, their shortterm prospects remain up in the air. “All of this is very much a kind of contest between rationality – in that trade wars hurt everyone – and personality, in terms of having very personality-driven trade negotiations style in the White House,” Johnston said. “And at this stage, it’s really a question of how long that aggressive trade stance is going to be maintained.” CIM
Cameco extends shutdown at McArthur River and Key Lake indefinitely
which owns 30 per cent of McArthur River, the world’s largest uranium mine. Cameco CEO Tim Gitzel said on a July 26 conference call that the company will begin buying uranium from other suppliers to meet its existing supply contracts, since the market price of uranium is lower than on Cameco’s fixed price contracts. “We’re not willing to enter into longterm contracts at today’s prices. We think that’s giving shareholder value away and we’re not prepared to do that,” Gitzel said on the call. “It’s a pretty dramatic step we have to take here and obviously has a big effect on our workforce, so it’s a difficult decision, but it’s a difficult market, and we think someone has to show leadership in this regard.” The shutdowns at McArthur River and Key Lake are the latest of Cameco’s moves to deal with depressed uranium markets. In November, when it announced the temporary production halt at both operations, it also cut its dividend to $0.08 per share, from $0.40 previously. In 2016 the company shut down its Rabbit Lake mine and cut 500 jobs.
Mike Kozak, a uranium analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, said the decision makes sense and matches industry trends. “It’s purely a function of where spot prices are. They’re not at a level that would enable a lot of these companies to make money,” he said. Kozak said uranium’s supply overload will ease thanks to the shutdowns by Cameco and others. “With McArthur River, you have a lot of that excess supply coming offline finally,” Kozak said. “If demand is there on the utilities side, which I believe it is, then prices are going to have to go higher for production to scale back up.” The uranium market has struggled in recent years, as prices have fallen more than 70 per cent since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011. Kozak added that the United States Department of Commerce’s recent national security review of uranium imports has also contributed to uncertainty. The layoffs will cost Cameco $40 million in severance payouts in the third quarter. – Kevin Martine
Cameco extended the shutdown at its McArthur River mine and Key Lake mill indefinitely and permanently laid off 550 employees in July, due to continued weak uranium markets. Some 210 employees will remain at the sites for care and maintenance work. The company also laid off an additional 150 employees at its head office in Saskatoon. Cameco reported the shutdown in its second quarter results, where it disclosed a net loss of $76 million. Cameco has been drawing down its uranium inventory as it waits for prices to rise, and as it looks to obtain more long-term contracts. McArthur River and Key Lake have been shut down since January, when Cameco began a temporary 10-month production halt. The move was supported by Orano Canada, formerly Areva Resources,
September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 29
Courtesy of Nancy Komperdo
“People are going to start demanding those things” Mining companies adopt flexible work policies to accommodate new mothers By Sara King-Abadi
What’s important for parents returning to work is having options available to them, BHP’s Nancy Komperdo said.
I
t wasn’t until she had her first child that Charlotte Sovis, a senior mining engineer with AMC Consultants based in Perth, Australia, realized why some people do not return to work after having children. “I didn’t know how to find a balance,” she said. The mother of two did not want to be away from her children from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., five days a week, and have to front the cost of childcare. After interviewing with multiple companies, she went with AMC because of the flexible schedule the company offered, even though she had more lucrative options. “I didn’t know that a company would be flexible enough to give me that opportunity,” said Sovis. “Honestly, at some point I felt like I would never go back to work.” Starting a family while maintaining a career can be a difficult decision, but there are ways that employers can help ameliorate that transition through workplace policy. Women say flexible work hours, communication with employees and having a diversity and inclusion policy in place are a strong start to keeping mothers in the workforce and calming the fear that starting a family may negatively impact their careers. Some mining companies have started making programs available. Most recently, Rio Tinto implemented a global minimum of 18 weeks’ paid parental leave last September, and BHP rolled out flexible work hours last year. Goldcorp also has flex hours, and Australian iron ore giant Fortescue Metals has a childcare facility in its Perth office, as well as paid parental leave and flexible work arrangements. 30 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
Being given options is how Sovis said she was able to get back to work after a five-year break to focus on parenting. She now works full-time: two days a week from home, three at the office, and, for the time being, she is not travelling for work, which her manager is on board with. “If the person has potential and you know they can add value to your company, define their hours by productivity rather than by the number of hours that they are sitting in the office,” said Sovis. When Nicole Adshead-Bell, director of Cupel Advisory Corporation, spoke on the necessity of diversifying the workforce in the mining industry during the CIM 2018 Convention in May, she admitted that not having children of her own has been advantageous to her career. “When you look at studies about increasing women in the workforce, the biggest challenge they have is having children and that’s not going to change,” she said, adding that remote locations are a particular challenge in the industry when it comes to having children. Equating having a family with being a career killer is a faulty approach for an employer to take, according to Anna Tudela, vice-president of diversity, regulatory affairs and corporate secretary for Goldcorp. “Sooner or later, people are going to start demanding those things, and people are not going to work for companies that don’t have flexible times and accommodation for parental leave.”
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32 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
Courtesy of Anna Tudela
Valerie Wilson, a senior geologist at Roscoe Postle Associates and mother of two, has amicably been left off of travel rotation by her employers for now, with the promise that it will not affect her career. While she is still nursing her 20-monthold, being away from home for about one week every two months, like her colleagues who travel, would be difficult. Though Wilson admits that, as a geologist, not traveling regularly for work can be concerning. “In order to be the senior author [on technical reports], you have to go to sites,” she said, “so I’m not getting as much experience in the field.” She said her employer is supportive of her traveling more when she is able, and she feels confident that her career will not be affected. When a principal consultant with 13 years’ experience in mining decided to stay active in the industry after having her second child by taking contracts that involved working at remote sites for up to three weeks at a time, she was still breastfeeding. (Her name has been withheld from publication for reasons of privacy.) In order to ensure that she could keep nursing when she returned home, the consultant packed her breast pump for her work trips, and would covertly excuse herself to the washroom to go pump. “You want to make sure that you are getting the experience and staying active in your work life, but still make the choice of having kids,” said the consultant. “So, we know the challenges that we have to take on all the time, which I think are a little bit more complicated when you’re a woman than when you’re a man.” One of those differences is the expectation for women to juggle career and parenthood. For Wilson, the conversation around mothers in the workforce centres too much on the presumption that women should “have it all” and take on being a mother in the workplace. “Children are very distracting,” said Wilson. “To be asked to contribute intellectually to a workbased problem while having a child by your side, to be frank, I kind of think it’s ludicrous.” Though there is no right or wrong when it comes to balancing motherhood and career, Wilson said she believes that focusing on removing barriers, such as the price of childcare, the perception of women’s role in the workplace, and income inequality would only further benefit employers. “We’re very efficient, we are valuable for our own ideas, our education and our experience that we bring to a workplace,” said Wilson. “If we, as a society, commit to addressing those challenges, I feel like everybody will win.” What’s important is having options available to parents, said Nancy Komperdo, principal business integration with BHP, who recently took home the CIM-Bedford Canadian Young Mining Leaders Award and the Diversity and Inclusion Award at the CIM 2018 Convention. “If you don’t want to have your child come to your meetings and you don’t want that split, you don’t want to feel that you have that expectation to do it all either,” she said. “It’s also important to recognize that.” As a mother of two, Komperdo benefits from BHP’s flex time. “[My kids are] of the age where it’s not necessarily just
Equating having a family with being a career killer is a faulty approach for an employer to take, Goldcorp’s Anna Tudela said.
daycare and school drop-off, but there’s also all the extracurricular activities.” Policies that support diversity and inclusion are part of a larger change in workplace culture that will benefit companies in the long run, making teams more productive, said Komperdo. “Feeling that sense of inclusion and knowing that they’re welcome there and feeling that their ideas are appreciated and listened to and valued, [employees] are more productive for the company,” she said. “You’re actually going to have better productivity and you’re going to make more money.” Overall, Goldcorp’s Tudela said, it is important that a policy does exist, and that employees feel comfortable communicating their needs to their managers. “The more diverse that the team is, the better ideas a team comes up with, and the more efficient it is,” she said. “So by increasing the number of women in the mining industry, we are changing the way things are getting done.” CIM
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Measuring success through profit recovery By Brent Hilscher
I
t is easy for mining operations, and humans in general, to develop tunnel vision when it comes to focusing on a few easily measured key performance indicators (KPIs). In mining and mineral processing, the three big KPIs tend to be tonnage, recovery and product grade. Profit is very rarely used as a serious metric for operators and engineers. Losing sight of the big picture – profit – can lead to mines spending millions of dollars processing waste in an effort to boost tonnage and metal recovery, while missing opportunities to reject waste and therefore improve profits. Profit recovery is a simple way of viewing your mill feed in order to maximize profit, not just tonnage or metal recovery. Profit recovery was developed to evaluate the potential and the performance of ore sorting systems, particularly in a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) feed. It is similar to metal recovery, but takes into account the cost of processing and tailings disposal. Once costs are accounted for, a low-grade rock could lose an operation money if processed. Like metal recovery, any high-grade ore accidentally rejected by the sorting system hurts the recovery. But unlike metal recovery, any low-grade waste rocks sent to the mill will hurt profit recovery since money is lost in processing the waste. By admitting the losses involved in processing waste, we are able to create a more useful and concise metric to measure performance. A CMP 2018 paper demonstrated that three different sites operated by three different companies – Barrick Gold, McEwen Mining, and New Gold – each experienced a 50 to 75 per cent profit recovery range in their current layout. A 50 per cent profit recovery indicates that half of the potential mill profit is spent processing waste. A 75 per cent profit recovery indicates that a quarter of potential profit goes to waste-processing costs. Testing indicated all three operations could use sensor-based ore sorting to boost profit recovery to over 90 per cent. Every operation is different, but about half of the rocks in a typical SAG mill feed are below cut-off grade. Rejecting most of those waste rocks and replacing them with ore will yield tremendous economic and environmental benefits. The new metric of profit recovery is simple and visual. It is a conservative measurement, as it does not include the potential to increase the resource or mill metal production. The metric also omits the environmental benefits of reduced power consumption, CO2 emissions, and water consumption. Complex benefits are included in later economic studies, but KPIs need to be simple to calculate and track. Profit recovery focuses on the big picture cost savings realized in
processing fewer waste rocks. How companies optimize after that is up to them. As innovation in mining accelerates, the most successful engineers and companies will be those who can see beyond their local KPIs and understand the larger picture. These engineers and their companies will have the rare opportunity to lead the industry in both environmental stewardship and corporate profitability. CIM
Brent Hilscher is principal engineer at Sacre-Davey Engineering.
You are invited to share comments at editor@cim.org
September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 33
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The costs and risks of poorly managed change
Contributions: Matthew Wendtman (Glencore Coal)
Alex Sexton (Glencore Copper)
By Jonathan Sanders (Klohn Crippen Berger)
T
he actions we take today will determine mine closure outcomes and the social acceptability of the industry for future generations. When changes are made in areas that impact life-of-mine (LOM) strategic decisions and those impacts are undervalued, the accumulation of these decisions can result in unacceptable mine closure residual risks. Changes following mine construction are inevitable (e.g., mine reserve estimate updates, mine waste re-classification, water management infrastructure changes, disturbance footprints, predicted to actual performance, etc.), and are part of improving operational efficiency and adaptive management. But long-term planning objectives can be overshadowed by short-term production and compliance key performance indicators. Although both are important, when long-term planning objectives are not properly managed, operators can lose sight of mine closure objectives and be unaware of risks that accumulate over time, such as improper mine waste characterization, unidentified surface water and seepage pathways, and changes to community expectations for post-mining end land uses. Industry pressures can also influence strategic decision making during operations, which affects closure planning outcomes. Market cycle fluctuations, for one, can result in stretching available resources and prioritizing short-term goals over strategic planning. During downturns, focus typically shifts towards operational compliance and
production risks. During upturns, priorities can shift towards resource expansion with schedule-driven goals. Both fluctuations may include new ownership through mergers and acquisitions, which also introduces change. Additionally, regulatory creep and operational compliance can result in permit conditions that are not aligned with closure objectives. And internal operational pressures, such as competing priorities, silos between departments, team continuity issues caused by staff turnover, and a growing knowledge gap due to the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation can make strategic long-term planning difficult. The impact of changes made during operations may not be fully recognized until later in the LOM or into closure. Recent examples of how poor change management has contributed to unintended consequences are the tailings dam failures at Mount Polley in Canada and the Fundão dam in Brazil. The independent post-mortem assessments highlighted change management issues such as poor observational approach methodology, key personnel changes, and a lack of integrated mine planning and water balance as contributing factors to the dam break failure modes. While these two incidents occurred during operations, the same residual risk can extend to post-operation. The Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) defines change management as “the practice of applying a structured approach to tran-
sition an organization from a current state to a future state to achieve expected benefits”. Mine closure planning shares a similar definition although it is often not thought of as the same process. When it comes to mine closure planning, “achieving expected benefits” is typically promoted as a conceptual ideal: broadbrush, feel-good statements of relinquishment of post-mine landscapes, sustainable closure solutions, and stable and non-polluting landforms. In reality, closure hazards, such as physical and geochemical stability, and desired end land use generally result in residual risks that require active care and maintenance by the owner and long-term financial liability. There are various practices over the LOM that may increase a mine operator’s adaptability during change, reducing the potential of known or new residual risk to creep in. A Plan-DoCheck-Act framework (see below) is a useful model for managing change and can be applied to mine closure planning in the following ways: Annual LOM planning: Change is captured within mine planning cycles to review objectives, assess short- and long-term risks and implement management programs. Significant risks should be supported by an assessment of critical controls and reviewed by corporate governance, which may include independent technical review panels. Asset retirement obligation (ARO) estimates should reflect material changes onsite, highlight the assumptions used, and
Plan-Do-Check-Act Framework PLAN: Establish a sense of urgency, define vision and objectives, gain consensus and readiness for change, define roles/responsibilities, and assess positive/negative risk through structure decision analysis.
DO: Execute the plan with required skills, incentives and resources, while removing inefficiencies.
CHECK: Review implementation/effectiveness with project and review teams, inform and align stakeholders, and communicate short-term wins and lessons learned.
ACT: Review vision, objectives, and action plans as part of annual and long-term business planning cycles. Sustain change as part of corporate culture.
September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 35
KEY
INSET
ct
Integrated standards (e.g., risk, change management, project life cycle)
n Pla
DoC
Formal integrated closure planning
CLOSURE RISKS & UNKNOWNS
G E
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Internal / external stakeholder engagement
Year n (formal integrated closure plan)
POOR PRA CTICE
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Plan-Do-Check-Act: Framework for annual life of mine planning of risks and changes
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The figure above (adapted from ICMM Planning for Integrated Mine Closure toolkit) represents a useful guide to integrate the above processes into decision making.
apply international financial reporting standards risk factors. Unplanned LOM changes: Standards for risk management and project lifecycle that involve change management triggers (e.g., a CAPEX project greater than a specific dollar amount or technically challenging and uncertain projects) and a structured decision analysis approach help maintain focus and continuity in assessing the effects of change on the business and integrating these into annual business and closure planning. Formalized LOM closure planning: This process, typically conducted every four to five years, involves meaningful engagement with stakeholders on closure objectives (e.g., end land use), analysis of risks and opportunities, revising a closure design basis, developing closure alternatives and design criteria, and establishing programs with quantitative performance and success criteria developed to demonstrate how closure objectives are achieved.
36 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
Mine closure risk and opportunity assessments are crucial to mine management and should be evaluated independent of day-to-day operational risks, as these can carry a much longer likelihood return period. Meaningful collaboration with stakeholders in identifying a positive land use legacy is critical and complementary to determining the range of residual risk tolerance. This will vary for each site but can be categorized as: • Tolerable, where the site can demonstrate evidence of a safe, stable, non-polluting landscape; • Intolerable, where effects can be practically reduced to a tolerable level through a range of preventative controls; or, • Intolerable, where effects may result in long-term legacy issues or active care and maintenance. A great deal of effort should not be required to better manage and track legacy risks in the resources industry. When an initial closure plan is technically flawed and lacks stakeholder buyin or when the requirements to achieve
an approved, beneficial plan are not adapted well during operations, mine closure can be very costly in terms of cash, reputation and long-term liability. The “conceptual ideal” level of mine closure design during initial permitting should be changed to a “pre-feasibility” level that is supported with design and costs at about 30 per cent accuracy. The closure design basis and supporting studies, design and LOM ARO cash flows can then be optimized and advanced to “feasibility” level project definition during operations. Mine closure needs to be recognized during operations as a business risk and as a defined LOM change. Hopefully, an integrated LOM approach to change management can be adopted and improved on by practitioners, with concern for local issues and mine project definition stages. CIM Jonathan Sanders is a senior environmental scientist at Klohn Crippen Berger. Matt Wendtman is a health and safety coordinator at Glencore Coal. Alex Sexton is a health, safety and environment business partner at Glencore Copper.
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A digital playground Canadian mining companies look to “test mines” to develop new technology By Joel Barde
Before it committed to installing LTE throughout all of LaRonde, Agnico Eagle first tested it out in Zone 5, its dedicated test mine.
t can be challenging to roll out new digital initiatives at large-scale mining operations; there is the potential for major losses if things go wrong. Nevertheless, miners recognize that technological advances can dramatically increase productivity and earnings. Therefore, some companies are turning to test mines to explore new ideas. Such mines take various shapes. Test mines can be highlyproductive mines, marginal, cordoned-off sections of operating mines or dedicated third-party mines where production is not the priority. Whatever form they may take, test mines are seen as innovation centres for emerging technology to be rolled out, developed and even invented. Access to one can position a company to benefit from the digital revolution.
I
The company installed Wi-Fi in the mine, allowing it to develop a short interval control system that collects real-time data from all of Cortez’s moving parts and personnel. “It allows supervisors to look across all of the tasks and make sure that they are being coordinated and scheduled in an optimal manner,” said Ash, adding that the system has subsequently been implemented at Turquoise Ridge, another Barrick gold mine in Nevada. With a digital backbone in place at Cortez, Barrick is exploring equipment automation, including an autonomous open pit trial, introducing artificial intelligence, and using predictive algorithms to enhance the precision and speed of its gold recovery.
Barrick’s “flagship digital operation”
Vale innovates at Totten and the 114 orebody
In 2016, Barrick Gold announced its “digital reinvention” in a joint partnership with Cisco, and decided to make one of its largest operations the testing ground for that work. Rather than prove out new technology at one of its smaller properties, Barrick decided to use its Cortez gold mine, which is expected to produce about half of the two million ounces of gold at Barrick’s Nevada operations this year. The mine is now considered Barrick’s “flagship digital operation.” “We felt that if digital technologies could add value to a mine that was performing exceptionally well, then they would make an even greater difference at mines that weren’t performing quite as well,” said Michelle Ash, Barrick’s chief innovation officer.
After purchasing Inco in 2006, Vale realized that its newly acquired underground mines in the Sudbury region, many of which dated back to the 1960s, could use some updating. According to Samantha Espley, Vale’s director of the Technology and Innovation Centre for Mining and Mineral Processing, the company knew it wanted to increase its technical capabilities and focused its efforts on Totten, which had been closed since 1972 and was reopened in 2014. “We knew we had the opportunity to leverage new technology” and have it serve as Vale’s “first fully digital mine,” said Espley. Totten has since emerged as one of the company’s “core mines” and is used to both train employees on new technology and serve as a working model for other Vale operations in
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innovation Sudbury that are making the digital transition. The plan, as Espley recalled, was very “deliberate” from the start. Vale, she said, put in high-speed Ethernet networks and fibre optic cables, which were used to tie into new wireless technology. Now everything – from people to fixed and mobile equipment – is tagged and tracked, allowing personnel to monitor mining processes and guard against mistakes. Moreover, the tracking generates reams of data about the mine’s operations that is used by cutting-edge analytical programs and artificial intelligence that employs machine learning to pinpoint ways that processes can be optimized. Vale’s 114 orebody next to the Copper Cliff North mine also serves as a dedicated test mine. Because the near-surface deposit is relatively small and less integral to Vale’s overall operations, it lends itself well to experimentation. In 2012, the company successfully installed a Rail-Veyor at the 114. Developed by Sudbury-based Rail-Veyor Technologies Global, the energy-efficient system is used to quickly haul ore from the mine to the surface. Lighter and easier to install than a traditional rail system, the Rail-Veyor is seen as a cost effective way to move material up and down the ramps in the mines. According to Espley, the next project at the 114 is to test out a mechanical cutter system that could eliminate the need for explosives. While mechanical cutter systems have been used in softer rock like coal, they have not yet been used to great success on hard rock mines, like the 114. “We tried in the 1990s, and as an industry we failed,” said Espley. Espley said she believes that with the right drive and focus, getting it right could translate into enormous gains for the company, especially if the mechanical cutter system could be linked up with the Rail-Veyor, creating a continuous mining system. Rather than a traditional process of setting up, drilling, blasting, and then mucking rock or ore, it would allow miners “to keep on cutting, cutting, cutting,” said Espley. Espley said technology that was piloted at Totten – including the company’s wireless infrastructure, tagging and tracking, and ventilation control systems and mobile apps – are being, or have been, rolled out across Vale’s Canadian underground mines. An integrated planning and scheduling system with real-time updates is also being designed for roll-out. The company’s Voisey’s Bay underground mine, when it becomes operational, will have the same underground technology that is being used at Totten.
Agnico starts small at LaRonde Zone 5 Earlier this year Agnico Eagle announced it was rolling out LTE-4G technology throughout LaRonde, the company’s flagship mine in northwestern Quebec. But before it committed to installing it through the entire mine, Agnico started small in Zone 5, an easy-to-mine deposit near the surface that also functions as a dedicated test mine. Christian Goulet, LaRonde’s general manager, said that because of LaRonde’s depth and the way the ore body extends
away from the mine shaft, it is already a challenging operation to mine. Agnico did not want to “bring new risks” by testing out new technologies there, he said. “We felt that it would be best to test [at Zone 5], and then, if it worked well, we could transfer it to LaRonde or our operations in Nunavut,” Goulet said. With its LTE in place, Agnico is now looking to test out an automated loading and hauling solution. Working with Sandvik, the gold miner said that it will test two automated trucks and one scoop tram at Zone 5 in the fourth quarter. Goulet said Agnico is hoping an automated scoop and trucking system will allow it to go even deeper at North America’s deepest mine, from 3.1 kilometres currently to 3.5 km below ground, adding multiple production levels through 2028. Going so deep can be problematic from a labour productivity perspective, said Goulet, citing the increased time needed for workers to travel to and from such depths. The company is therefore hoping that an automated system would also allow it to keep its productivity at the same level, even though production will be farther from the shaft. “It could be an opportunity to stabilize productivity,” said Goulet. “We’re going to test it in Zone 5, and, once we master the technology, bringing it to LaRonde could be an option.”
Where do the mining tech companies go? Major mining companies understand that innovation is key to long-term success, and in addition to developing their own technologies, they are keen to look to external technology companies for solutions. Yet historically, many mining tech companies have struggled to find actual mines to develop and showcase their products in. That is where NORCAT’s Underground Centre comes in. “The Underground Centre is designed to provide startups, small-medium enterprises, and international companies a place to develop, test, and showcase innovative and emerging technologies in an operating mine environment,” said NORCAT CEO Don Duval. For more than 20 years, the Underground Centre has provided a home for mining tech companies without the resources – and actual physical mines – to develop their products. Clients include Hard-Line, a supplier of heavy-duty mining controls and mining automation systems, which has a dedicated drift within the Centre, and Redline Communications, which has used it to demo its LTE solution for underground mining. Duval said he believes having a third-party test mine not tied to one of the big miners is critical to fostering innovation in mining. “Very often mining companies will ask the mining tech companies ‘Where do you have your technology installed, and can I come see it?’” he said. Global mining companies want to “look and touch and feel” emerging technologies before making an investment in them, said Duval. “We’ve quite proudly branded it as the global one-stop shop for all that is the future of mining.” CIM September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 39
Courtesy of BBA
BBA engineer David Dobney at the company’s lab at McMaster University’s Innovation Park in Hamilton, Ontario.
The key to a burning problem The development of a technology to assess the risk of self-heating sulfides By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco
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ver the last 15 years, many of the world’s major mining companies have turned to scientists Frank Rosenblum and Jan Nesset and a technology used for research in a lab at McGill University to help them understand a rarely discussed issue: self-heating sulfide material. According to Colin Hardie, director of mining and process studies at Canadian engineering firm BBA, companies often reach out to Rosenblum and Nesset when a fire has unexpectedly broken out somewhere in their operation and they are not sure what has caused it or how to prevent it from recurring. Scratching their heads, alarmed and confused, they ask around and inevitably someone tells them about Rosenblum and Nesset, whose McGill lab houses the FR-2, the world’s only apparatus specifically designed to test sulfides for self-heating properties. Now, Rosenblum, who invented the technology in the 1970s, and Nesset have decided to pass the baton to BBA. They also want the mining industry to start discussing the reality and risks of self-heating sulfides more openly and proactively, rather than dealing with it by quietly putting out fires.
The burning issue “These fires sneak up on you. You don’t see anything, and then the fires start,” said Rosenblum. “Fires have been reported in the literature for a very long time, as far back as the Sullivan mine in British Columbia in the 1920s.” 40 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
However, there have been many more fires than those reported. Rosenblum and Nesset have done more than 1,000 tests over the years for clients dealing with this problem. “Most mining companies don’t advertise this issue or publish papers on it,” said Nesset. “But they come to us. Usually, their first reaction is ‘What the heck is going on?’ They don’t understand it. But once you understand it and the science behind it, there’s a chance to engineer your way around it and it’s not such a big issue anymore.” When minerals typically associated with sulfides — such as iron, copper, nickel, lead, cobalt, silver and zinc — are dug up, fires can break out wherever the material is collected, whether in stopes on a mine site, stockpiles, the processing plant, tailings ponds or waste rock, as well as on the ships and trains that transport concentrate. It does not happen often, but when it does, it comes with the potential for catastrophic consequences, including loss of life. Two of the most notable examples of recorded fires are the 1939 fiery sinking of the N.Y.K. Liner S/S Bokuyo Maru due to self-heating copper concentrate, and fires in the mid1970s and ‘80s at stopes in then Noranda’s Brunswick zinc mine, located near Bathurst, New Brunswick, resulting from the use of self-heating waste rock as mine backfill. In fact, it was the Noranda fires that sparked the beginning of Rosenblum’s career as a specialist in the field and the invention of the self-heating measurement technology.
metallurgy Unravelling the self-heating mystery In 1975, as the stopes of the Brunswick mine were burning and generating sulfur dioxide gas, Rosenblum was a researcher at the Noranda Technology Centre in Quebec. Klaus Konigsmann, the company’s chief metallurgist, asked Rosenblum and fellow researcher Paul Spira to develop a test to measure the self-heating properties of sulfide material. The hope was that Noranda would be able to take the unpredictability of self-heating sulfides out of the equation and develop preventive solutions. “When we started, we had no concept of what was going on with the material,” said Rosenblum. The two researchers set out to unravel the mysteries of self-heating sulfides. They discovered it was a very complex puzzle. “It turns out there are different exothermic mechanisms at play at different temperatures,” said Rosenblum. “Below 100 C and in the presence of moisture and oxygen or air, there are a series of reactions that cause the heating, which we have termed Stage A. When the moisture evaporates at around 100 C and the temperature continues to rises toward 380 C, there is another mechanism which we have termed Stage B.” The formation of elemental sulfur in Stage A becomes the fuel that burns to produce sulfur dioxide gas in Stage B. “The problem is that self-heating of sulfides is a process that evolves,” said Rosenblum. “It may start with material that doesn’t heat and then with time and the right conditions, oxidation and subsequent heating start. It’s a moving target. Some material will heat and some will not and some will not heat when it’s fresh but will with a little time and oxidation.” “We now have a pretty good understanding of the mineralogical basis behind the reactions,” said Nesset, “and can often predict the heating behaviour based on the mineralogy of these sulfide mixtures.” The technology Rosenblum invented in the late 1970s, working first with Spira, and then with Nesset starting in the 1990s, focused on measuring that moving target, which differentiates it from other general self-heating materials tests that typically involve only one stage and were not designed specifically for sulfides. Such tests can produce false negative results and therefore increased transportation and storage risks. Instead, the FR-2 apparatus subjects the sulfide sample to a two-stage test at the different temperatures, essentially exposing it to an accelerated version of the weathering period that plays such a critical role in self-heating. Throughout, the sample’s self-heating rate is measured.
Engineering solutions When Noranda shut down its Montreal technology research centre in 2003, the FR-2, Rosenblum and Nesset, now an industry consultant and adjunct professor at McGill, relocated to that university’s department of mining and materials engineering. There, Rosenblum continued researching self-heating sulfides, working with graduate students and other McGill researchers to improve the technology. Meanwhile, miners dealing with self-heating sulfides continued calling and asking for help.
The demand for self-heating tests has continued to grow across the world. Three years ago, Rosenblum and Nesset decided it was time to transfer the technology to an engineering firm that could provide both the testing and the engineered solutions to clients. They selected BBA to carry on with the technology. BBA has since built a lab at McMaster University’s Innovation Park in Hamilton that will provide this and other testing services. The firm will be using next generation technology of the FR-2 apparatus with increased automation and improved efficiencies. With today’s technology, BBA can monitor the FR-2 testing remotely, 24/7. “The tests are easier to do and will require smaller quantities of material, which reduces costs for the client,” said Hardie, who first benefited from Rosenblum and Nesset’s expertise as one of their clients when he was working for Falconbridge’s Raglan mine and the company was dealing with self-heating sulfides. “If a client’s test results indicate that there is a potential risk for self-heating, within BBA we have all the engineering expertise in place to develop better designs, operating procedures and HSE plans for all areas of a mining operation,” said Hardie. That applies not only to existing mining operations but also for new projects under development. Depending on the situation, said Lou Bruno, a material handling specialist and BBA’s executive director for Central Canada Operations, there are various options to prevent selfheating sulfides from bursting into flames. These include drying the material to near zero moisture, sealing it with a blanket of inert gas, chemical treatment, compaction to starve it of oxygen, or incorporating self-cleaning features in the design of processing and handling equipment. “The material should always be visible and moving and not allowed to remain at rest for extended periods of time,” said Bruno. “That’s when it can ignite.” Facilities can also be designed or retrofitted to prevent selfheating dust from accumulating on any surface, including minimizing flat ledges. “In addition, lighting and instrumentation fixtures can get hot, so you need to also limit the surface temperature on such equipment,” said Bruno.
Moving forward Rosenblum will continue researching at McGill while working closely with BBA. Nesset has agreed to continue assisting BBA with assessing results and promoting the technology. “We want to be up to date on the latest research in the field so we can help our clients implement the best solutions,” said Hardie. Rosenblum and Nesset’s goal is that the mining industry increases its awareness of the realities and risks of self-heating sulfides and becomes more proactive. “If self-heating sulfides were to cause a significant fire or sulfur dioxide incident near a populated area, a lot of the mining industry would be affected and the regulators could impose unnecessarily stringent conditions,” said Nesset. “We want to be able to stay ahead of the curve in terms of regulation. We want to have the answers and solutions before there are any major incidents.” CIM September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 41
A SMRt energy alternative Diane Cameron of Natural Resources Canada discusses the potential of small modular nuclear reactors in Canada By Christopher Pollon
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mall modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) could one day bring clean energy to remote mining sites and small northern communities around the country. At this point, it is still early days, but Diane Cameron, director of the Nuclear Energy Division at Natural Resources Canada, is forging a path forward for this emerging technology. SMRs are coming, she says, but the unsettled question is whether Canada will lead the industry or follow it.
CIM: What was your career path to your current position? Cameron: I did my undergraduate studies in Waterloo, followed by a Masters in technology policy at MIT. I started my career in the U.S. private sector. I pivoted into public service about 10 years ago, starting with Global Affairs Canada. The common thread throughout my career has been the intersection of economic and environmental policy.
CIM: What does your job entail? Cameron: I oversee a team of 10 to 15 people; we lead on nuclear energy policy at the federal level for Canada, in close collaboration with a wide range of partners within the federal government, in provincial and territorial governments, and across the industry. 42 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
CIM: What is an SMR? Cameron: SMRs are small nuclear reactors with less than a 300-megawatt (MW) electric generating capacity. For a comparison, full-scale Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactors, which operate in Ontario and New Brunswick, are on the order of 900 MW electric capacity. You can think of SMRs in three categories: very small [under 10 MW electric], which could be applied to power off-grid communities. Reactors in the medium 20-60 MW electric range may be suited to heavy industry applications, like off-grid mines. Then there are 150300 MW units for on-grid power generation, especially in provinces that might be interested in getting off coal.
CIM: What fuel do SMRs run on? Cameron: There are at least 150 SMR designs around the world, and virtually all of them use uranium, which is the same thing we use in our CANDU reactors. The only difference would be that most SMRs would use low-enriched uranium, unlike CANDU reactors, which use natural uranium.
CIM: Where are SMRs already in use? Cameron: China is actively building [a demonstration project]. Argentina has been working on one too, which they are hoping to finish in the 2020s. Russia is in the process of
energy fueling and commissioning one on a barge in the Arctic powering an off-grid community. In Canada, we have not built an SMR, but we are actively working on identifying good options for demonstration. Same for the U.S., the U.K. and others, which are all working toward demonstration.
have expressed interest in how SMRs might work in conjunction with wind and solar to meet their overall energy needs.
CIM: What is the potential for using SMRs in mining and resource extraction? Cameron: A lot of these designs are small and modular, so
it is intermittent. So they require either a backup or some kind of storage technology. One promising area of innovation is hybrid energy systems that may provide a seamless integration of the backup SMR with wind or solar. The SMR would not be in competition with solar or wind, but an enabler.
they can be factory produced, which would make transport and construction easier. The size is geared to what a mine might need, and we’ve heard a great deal of interest from the mining sector in particular because off-grid locations are dependent on diesel, which is very costly and logistically challenging. The technology is well suited to any heavy industrial application that requires high-quality steam or heat.
CIM: Tell me about Canada’s SMR Roadmap that was launched in February. Cameron: With this roadmap project, we really wanted to understand the viability and level of interest in Canada in this technology on the demand side. We looked at the Canadian supply chain and we talked to utilities, mining companies, oil sand operators, remote and northern communities, and Indigenous representatives. We oversaw expert working groups on technology, regulatory readiness, waste management, Indigenous and public engagement, and economics and finance. We are pulling all of that together in a final report that will be ready in November, with recommendations to follow.
CIM: As part of this process, has there been any interest from the private sector in advancing this technology? Cameron: There are 10 SMR vendors that are already engaged in pre-licensing discussions with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. And Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, which is exploring demonstration projects in Canada, have been engaged with more than 20 SMR vendors who have expressed an interest.
CIM: How challenging is the cost of small nuclear in a place like the oil sands, given the low cost of natural gas to generate steam? Cameron: That market might not be viable now, but in the future that could change, as the cost of SMRs comes down with experience and economies of scale, and in particular if the price of gas were to increase. There could also be a desire to pursue deep decarbonization. If so, SMRs might be of interest there. Right now, the most competitive spot will likely be heavy industry off-grid.
CIM: How might this work for remote communities? Cameron: There are 200-plus small communities that are reliant on diesel, and that poses challenges in terms of energy security and environmental impacts. Some off-grid communities
CIM: So an SMR could provide the firm energy required as a backup for wind or solar? Cameron: Yes. A main challenge with wind and solar is that
CIM: I presume it’s still undetermined whether Canada will lead or follow others with this technology? Cameron: Correct. Decisions taken by the private sector and public policymakers in the next six to 18 months will determine whether Canada chooses to lead. The option may also exist to let others develop the technology and to buy off the shelf.
CIM: In terms of challenges, what happens to the spent fuel? How much of a problem will disposal be? Cameron: Through the roadmap, we are anticipating the waste stream coming from SMRs and are setting up the necessary measures in advance. It helps that we already have one of the most rigorous nuclear waste management frameworks in the world.
CIM: I’m presuming government will need to play a strong regulatory role in a future where there are SMRs in many locations, even just keeping track of them? Cameron: Yes, but I don’t think it represents an increased role. We’ve learned a lot of lessons from the implementation of successive generations of nuclear technologies, and Canada has a strong nuclear regulator. With many of the reactor designs being considered, in the event of an abnormality, some extraordinary weather or incident of some kind, you would literally be hands off and the laws of physics would drive the reactor to zero. And that stands in contrast to what we call active safety features, which are present in many earlier generation reactors, where you have to actively intervene or have engineered layers of safety on top of the reactor. And remember, we’re talking about SMRs that might be five to 50 MW electric, so it’s much simpler and smaller, which translates to safer.
CIM: What are the future prospects of seeing SMRs out in remote mines and communities in Canada? Cameron: I think we will see the deployment of SMRs in Canada for sure. We have two provinces – Saskatchewan and New Brunswick – that are seriously looking at SMRs as an alternative to coal, and we already have off-grid mining companies looking at SMRs as an alternative to diesel. And we know that in the future, say 15 to 20 years out, there could be interested remote communities as well. CIM September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 43
Courtesy of Flickr/Joseph Morris
Standard-bearers How CIM helped an industry rocked by scandal get back on the level By Virginia Heffernan
ven for a convention known for its parties, the 1997 PDAC was a grand affair. The March event in Toronto attracted a record number of participants, cash was flowing into exploration, and Canadian junior Bre-X Minerals was winning awards for finding one of the largest gold deposits in the world. Champagne corks could be heard popping throughout the hallways of the Royal York hotel as the industry succumbed to Bre-Xphoria. But shortly after the revellers disbanded, Bre-X’s exploration manager fell to his death from a helicopter. Mounting evidence suggested that the junior’s Busang project in Indonesia was a hoax and that samples had been salted with gold from other sources. In May 1997, Bre-X was delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE), wiping out $3 billion in
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investments as the company’s shares – trading for nearly $200 apiece a year earlier – became worthless. “They were enjoying the party so much, they forgot to call the cops,” Maureen Jensen recalled a colleague quipping when the scandal hit. Jensen is a professional geologist (P.Geo) and Chair and CEO of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). At the time, she was Chair of Noble Peak Resources, a former junior exploration company. But the cops, in the form of the TSE and OSC, were quick to respond once the fraud was exposed. They formed the Mining Standards Task Force to instil professionalism and investor confidence by developing the strictest disclosure rules for mining companies of any jurisdiction in the world. Jensen, who joined the TSE in 1998, was a member of that task force.
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“Before Bre-X, the public rules for disclosure were very nebulous,” she said. “When it came to reporting on technical matters, it wasn’t necessary for companies to use any common definitions and there were no standards.” Fortunately, CIM was already in the process of developing definitions for Mineral Resources and Reserves and had published its guidelines in the September 1996 CIM Bulletin. Under the leadership of John Postle and Bernie Haystead, the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions accelerated its efforts in lockstep with the task force. The CIM Guidelines for the Estimation, Classification and Reporting of Resources and Reserves was to become an integral part of National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101), the set of rules for reporting and displaying information from mineral properties owned by companies listed on Canadian exchanges that came into effect on Feb. 1, 2001. “The Canadian securities commissions were writing the disclosure rules, but they had to look to industry for definitions of Mineral Resources and Reserves and best practice standards to accompany those,” said Deborah McCombe, P.Geo, President and CEO of Roscoe Postle Associates, who was the chief mining consultant for the OSC in 2000 when NI 43-101 was in the final stages of industry comment and approval. “CIM took a major role in developing those standards.” McCombe says one of the key benefits of the standards is that they allow investors, analysts and peers to compare projects to similar ones anywhere in the world and make better judgements based on those comparisons. A cornerstone of NI 43-101 is the Qualified Person (QP) who writes the technical reports and is responsible for signing off on any news releases or other disclosure. The QP has to be a qualified engineer or geoscientist with experience relevant to the project and in good standing with a professional organization. The trouble was that at the turn of the millennium, no such professional body existed in some provinces, including Ontario. That is when the Association of Geoscientists of Ontario (AGO), a group representing about 1,000 geoscientists in the province, got to work. The Professional Geoscientists Act received Royal Assent on June 23, 2000, to establish the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (APGO). The legislation protects investors by giving APGO the power to accept only qualified geoscientists and to discipline members for professional misconduct. “To get royal assent just in time for 43-101 to come into force was quite an achievement” said McCombe. “Many geologists in Ontario would not have been able to write NI 43101 reports otherwise.” There was considerable pushback to NI 43-101 from both junior companies, who felt that complying with the rules would be too costly and time-consuming, and from QPs who were responsible for ensuring the accuracy of any technical information disclosed by their employer.
years
But educational sessions that were – and continue to be – held at events, such as the PDAC and CIM conventions, provided a degree of comfort for juniors and geoscientists. CIM also published several articles explaining how to put NI 43101 into practice. “The intent was never for the QP to bear all the liability, but simply that someone with the proper background, knowledge and experience was calculating your Reserves and Resources and would do that to some standard,” said Jensen. “Before there was no obligation to involve someone who was qualified.” NI 43-101 and the definitions, standards and best practices that provide the foundation for the instrument continue to evolve. Initially the rules were designed for early stage projects where the opportunity for deception is greatest, but NI 43101 has been revised for use on producing properties too. And in 2014, CIM updated the Definition Standards and Guidelines to align with reporting codes used in Australia and South Africa with the ultimate goal of creating one international standard though CRIRSCO, the international reserve definition committee. CIM standards are also expanding beyond traditional metals to include resources such as lithium brines and other sources of battery metals that are facing growing demand from automakers for electric vehicle production. Bouts of market exuberance can still encourage rushed, sloppy work that, even though it may be NI 43-101 compliant, ends in heartache for investors (Rubicon Minerals is a recent example). And no amount of legislation can stop a determined fraudster. But NI 43-101 and the standards the instrument employs have transformed a somewhat maverick sector into one that insists on professionalism, transparency and a level playing field. CIM plays an integral role in maintaining those virtues. “Technical standards are important for keeping a profession up to date, and professional bodies like CIM have practitioners who can help in setting those standards,” said Jensen. “Otherwise, we leave standards up to regulators and academics who don’t deal with the real world.” CIM
Are you looking to dig deeper into the subject? CIM has just launched a completely redesigned site for all of its Standards, Best Practices & Guidance for Mineral Resources & Mineral Reserves materials, including the 2014 update of CIM Definition Standards. Find it at mrmr.cim.org
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Original photo courtesy of OceanaGold
Digital double
By Eavan Moore
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What if you could simulate your entire operation before it went into production?
n November 2010, the first documented use of the phrase “digital twin” appeared in a technology roadmap by NASA. The agency envisioned simulations so true to actual vehicles or systems that a mission could be flown virtually in its entirety before it launched. Digital twins would be based on physical models, sensor updates, fleet history and other data sources. They would help test different parameters and flight plans, provide continuous health predictions based on real-time operating data and guide troubleshooting. Since then, the term has found its way into manufacturing and, eventually, into mining. Sohail Nazari, business development manager at Andritz Automation, explained that there is no official definition of digital twins for process industries. “However, there are three important aspects that are common throughout various descriptions,” he said. “When simulation is a core functionality of the process, along the entire life cycle of the plant, with direct linkage to operation, that process has a digital twin.” Some of the data that might be used to model a process plant during the design phase, for example, include the pump specs, plant elevation, the length of the pipes in the plant, and mineral characteristics sourced from a licensed database. How these variables will affect operations is predicted by models that rely on first principles of physics and chemistry. Project consultant William Thomas, who has used the technology in project design for Hudbay Minerals and other clients, said an iterative process adds more detail from the initial project assessment through the detailed design. Once the plant is running, operating data is fed back into the model. Some mines that have been operating for long enough to have years of historical data – ranging from weather conditions to drill and blast settings – can use that to build a simulation using machine learning.
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Original photo courtesy of OceanaGold
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According to Anderson, the digital twin can give more immediate feedback on whether any given setting change is going to help or hurt. 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1
Digital twins at the Haile gold mine Andritz has offered digital twin technology to the mineral processing industry for offline applications for several years, however the company’s first customer for its real-time online digital twin offering was OceanaGold’s Haile gold mine in South Carolina, which started up in 2017. “We have the same mindset that we’re both looking to try newer things,” said Caelen Anderson, metallurgical superintendent at Haile. 48 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
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“We’re trying to take our plant and fully automate it, effectively. From crushing all the way to the tail end of the plant.” Part of that vision is the digital twin, which Haile is just beginning to integrate into operations. “We have a digital twin on our cyclone feed line that they’ve been tracking for about a year,” said Anderson, “and that was more of a proof of concept to really show it’s reliable and we can use it.” In August, Andritz and Haile began tuning the model using operating data. They recently added digital twins for the cyclone underflow and overflow as well.
According to Anderson, the digital twin can give more Stewart said she thinks this is a substantial improvement immediate feedback on whether any given setting change is over pilot-testing rock samples. “The sample size is tiny with going to help or hurt. “Right now I’m relying on guys to go respect to what you’re going to put through that plant over out there manually and sample every hour,” he said. “But the life of the mine,” she said. “This is where companies [run when you’re operating the control room and you’re making into problems] because they think they’ve done a decent job changes to feed densities and pressures, you’re not seeing the of predicting with these samples, but then they go through effects immediately when you’ve only got an operator doing areas that they haven’t sampled or that aren’t captured well in it once an hour.” the empirical model. They get results that are, let’s just say, It also helps indicate pump performance by alerting oper- undesirable outcomes.” ators when actual data differ too widely from model predicAt GE Transportation, the Digital Mine team is using digital tions. “If your pump is running at a twins for asset and operation perforcertain speed and a certain power, mance management, drill guidance, and you know the slurry density, you and collision awareness. Kevin “We’ve had the Shikoluk, global strategic marketing should be putting out X amount of volume from the pump,” explained virtual instrument leader for Digital Mine, explained the Anderson. “If you see that perfordifference between predictive maintein our cyclone nance and digital twins: “Asset performance start to drop off, it’s a great indicator that something might be feed running for mance management could predict wrong with your pump. This can save that you have an issue with a pump well over a year, such as corrosive slurry in the pump, a lot of time and money by keeping minor failures from turning into and it’s close! or you may have a valve that’s going major ones.” to break down,” he said. “The digital Like, really close.” twin will show you what happens if Anderson said he thinks the benefits substantially outweigh the costs. you don’t self-correct, or if you don’t – C. Anderson “If my cyclones start to have issues, fix the issue in the pump. The digital and I’m alerted by this soft instrutwin allows you to play with level setment, that’s going to save me from some pretty significant tings in real time before you execute in the plant.” plant downtime, reduced tonnage or opportunity lost, just by Shikoluk said that about a third of GE Transportation’s Diggetting a guy up there immediately,” he said. “It can pay for ital Mine customers are using digital twin concepts and strateitself very quickly.” gies. “They could be trying to digitalize an asset, or they could Andritz and Haile are also working on monitoring the be digitalizing their entire plant’s operation,” he said. The first thickener underflow. “If you lose that instrument, you are kind step is trying to decide where to collect data, how often, and of vulnerable to upset,” said Anderson. The digital twin helps what data should be collected. Then GE and the customer to check the density meter’s accuracy, takes its place in auto- need to agree which parameters to analyze and how to define mated operations when it fails, monitors the pump’s impeller acceptable ranges. condition, and detects sanding in the pipe (whereupon an In April 2017, GE and Perth, Australia-based miner alarm goes off and the system temporarily increases the pump South32 announced a three-year deal, nine months after speed to wash out the sanded slurry). South32 paid a visit to GE’s MINExpo booth. “With South32, we were successful because we were able to would isolate specific assets that we would want to demonstrate success on, A growing field, and a caveat and then once we were able to demonstrate success on a small Penny Stewart, managing director of Petra Data Science, subset of assets, we would scale to the plant and operations divides her company’s simulation solutions into four cate- level,” said Shikoluk. gories: drill and blast, geometallurgical prediction, process For an industry with a conservative reputation, the rate of control and reliability engineering. In one scenario, historical adoption that GE has seen is impressive. However, in drill and blast data can be used to simulate how changing the Thomas’s experience as a consultant, there is substantial resisburden and spacing of blast holes will affect SAG mill tance to trusting a digital twin to design new facilities – not throughput. “By bringing the holes closer together, then just because of conservatism, but also because it could reduce they’re getting a small uplift [in throughput],” Stewart said, work for EPCMs. “The problem is, the whole industry makes demonstrating a digital twin created for PanAust’s Ban money by man-hours,” he said. “After I gave this PowerPoint Houayxai mine in Laos. “I think it’s two per cent; on a mine presentation asking [an EPCM employer] for more computers site where your SAG mill is the bottleneck, it directly trans- to do this stuff on, one of the VPs at the end said, ‘So what lates into two per cent more cash out of that operation.” you’re telling me, Mr. Thomas, is if you use this technology, Over the past few years, Petra has developed machine learn- we can design a plant in half the time for half the money.’ I ing models for simulating how geology affects a processing said, ‘Yup.’ You know what he said? ‘You’re out of your effing plant. The digital twin integrates 3D geological data with time mind. I make money by charging hours.’” series processing data. Each new accumulation of data is fed back into the model, building its depth and breadth over time. September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 49
Original photo courtesy of OceanaGold
“Once we build a fully dynamic digital replica of the plant, we can use it as an operator training simulator, the same way a flight simulator works.” – S. Nazari
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Accuracy and uptake Digital twins need to be accurate and reliable if they are to be trusted. Anderson said his initial reaction to the idea was skeptical. “But we’ve had the virtual instrument in our cyclone feed running for well over a year, and it’s close!” said Anderson. “Like, really close. Just yesterday, when I had one of the guys from Andritz here, we were actually running our entire circuit based off of a virtual instrument.” The effect of tuning to operation data is obvious. In one cyclone feed density data sample shared by Nazari, adding ten days of operating data to the model brought its difference from physical instrument measurements to one per cent RMSD from two per cent. (RMSD is root-mean-square deviation, found by squaring the difference between each set of data points, averaging them, and taking the square root of the average.) “Bottom line, the most important thing is the fidelity of the models,” said Nazari. “Fidelity means how accurate the digital twin represents the reality. At Andritz, we ensure 50 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
fidelity by combining first principle models with whatever data is available, including chemical, mechanical, metallurgical, and control.” At the end of August, Anderson’s operators had not yet seen the digital twin in action and still needed to buy in. “In my job, that’s probably one of the biggest challenges I have,” he said. “They’ve been running the plant manually for their entire lives, and I come in and say, ‘Hey, you know this thing that doesn’t exist? Well, we’re going to run the plant based off that now.’” But Anderson thinks his operators will likely be won over.
From static to real-time simulation Although historical data from an operation are useful, they are not strictly necessary for building a digital twin. Andritz’s IDEAS simulator was first used to optimize feasibility studies on new projects.
“A lot of times, the plant is not even built yet, so there’s no operational data available right now,” said Nazari. “As we go along, we incorporate the information that is available. For example, we start with the models for the SAG mill based on manufacturing information, and we add information as the breakage functions are available from the lab samples.” Andritz’s digital twin technology has many applications, from automated circuit design at the pre-feasibility stage to detailed piping and instrumentation diagram validation to decrease cascading cost in detailed engineering. “Once we build a fully dynamic digital replica of the plant, we can use it as an operator training simulator, the same way a flight simulator works. Once the plant is operational and running, we connect these high fidelity models to real-time operation.” Thomas takes issue with EPCMs and equipment manufacturers over-designing plant capacity to be on the safe side. He argued that precision in modelling can cut down on capex and related opex, and sometimes save a potentially economic project from rejection. “The bottom line is that most facilities are at least 125 per cent more expensive than necessary to meet the initial business case,” said Thomas. “This needs to be addressed.” Better computer power and communications technologies have allowed simulations to incorporate real-time operating data, expanding the ways they can be used. If the simulation is accurate enough, it can fill in missing data when a sensor malfunctions, and highlight problems if there is a discrepancy between actual and virtual measurements. In real-time installations, multiple simulations are running a number of different what-if scenarios parallel to operation. There are still quite a few hours spent integrating this new technology. Right now it takes about six to eight weeks to integrate a new mine’s data into the digital twin for mine value chain optimization that Petra markets as MAXTA, for example. Stewart said she expects that integration period to become shorter as partnerships and collaborations with other service and software providers further standardize the data required for the model. “What was an eight-week requirement might drop down to a few weeks.” The company is working with Maptek to integrate with its 3D mine planning software. “There’re lots of other companies that do this same thing and we’re just as open to talk to any of them,” said Stewart. “But this company actually approached us and said, ‘Would you like to collaborate to do this?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, that’s a great idea.’ Because what that means is a mine planning engineer can evaluate the mine schedule in the MAXTA digital twin and see what effect it has on that processing plant.”
Work in progress Some measurements and processes are easier to simulate than others. For Nazari, the “holy grail” of comminution is the virtual measurement of the mill charge. It would help to further optimize SAG mill performance, but the physical sensors in question are not available. At GE, said Shikoluk, digital twins are strong at the asset level, but creating a digital twin of an entire plant’s process,
such as smelting or refining, is a “roadmap” item. “We have the ability to create digital twins of components of mining sites,” he said. “We don’t have the ability, nor does the competition, to create a digital twin of an entire process or operation.” There are also many questions that could be fruitfully addressed by future research. For example, when operations move to a new area of the mine, will a model built on historical data continue to be useful? In collaboration with industry partners, Petra is currently applying for grant funding from the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia to study just that. She hypothesizes that the models will still be applicable because they are based on intrinsic properties of the rock – geochemistry, percentage of different elements, what minerals are present. That is in contrast to more traditional subdivisions into Rock Type A, Rock Type B, and so on. Nazari remarked that historical operating data are better at describing normal conditions than abnormal conditions, anyway. “You need those models to be able to react when your densometer or your pump fails,” he said, “but those do not happen too much, so you don’t have that much data for that. If we build [models based on first principles], those models are valid not only for normal conditions, but for abnormal conditions.”
Manufacturing as a model? The European Union is working with Siemens on a research project to develop digital twins in manufacturing. However, Stewart said she believes this project will be of less value for mining than NASA’s research because it excludes spatial grid-based data simulation. “A lot of the variability in how a processing plant performs is related to the spatial variability in the rock,” she said. “Whereas in manufacturing, you don’t have that intrinsic variability because you’re dealing with known quantities [that are] very well understood from a physics-based point of view.” Stewart said that linking spatial mineralization to time series process data is complicated, because the ore needs to be tracked on its journey to and through the processing plant – something she says her company’s software is able to do. Asked about the effects of ore variability, Nazari answered that it depends on the application. “The ore body doesn’t have any influence on a densometer, for example, because we use a dynamic model of the density based on the pump’s power consumption, pressure, and things like that,” he said. But it does influence the virtual instrument for finding p80 and the SAG mill charge. “We try to make it independent from the variables that are out of our control,” said Nazari. “If independence is hard to achieve, we require additional information.” In any case, the existing uses have proven themselves – in some quarters, anyway. “It’s really amazing technology,” said Anderson. “I was probably one of the more skeptical people about it. But now that I’ve seen it, and I’ve seen what you can do with modelling around the plant, I’ve been pretty impressed.” CIM September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 51
Equipment upgrades at the mine included the commissioning of a Sandvik TH540 automated haul truck.
Courtesy of Hecla Mining
UPDATE >> successful
project profile
The numbers are in. Hecla Mining’s efforts to improve safety, efficiency and productivity at the Casa Berardi gold mine are paying off. By Kylie Williams
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Courtesy of Agnico Eagle
hen Hecla Mining made its bid for Casa Berardi in 2013, part of its pitch to Aurizon’s shareholders was the expertise that the then-120-year-old company had in underground hard rock mining at its operations in Idaho and Alaska. At that time, the average mill throughput at Casa Berardi was 1,600 tonnes per day. By the end of 2017, that number had nearly doubled to 3,551. Casa Berardi first went into production in 1989 and operated until 1997, when it was put on care and maintenance. It resumed commercial production in 2007. Today the processing plant receives ore from two mining zones underground as well as a shallow open pit, which began producing in 2016. The underground mining method consists of longhole transversal stoping for wider mineralized zones and longitudinal retreat stoping for narrower ore bodies. Currently, the mine life is estimated to be nine years. Alain Grenier, vice-president of Hecla Quebec, and the general manager at Casa Berardi, is pleased with the progress and the savings he has seen at the mine. He has managed the mine for four years, overseeing a number of massive changes, including an overhaul of the production schedule, deployment of remotely operated and autonomous machinery, and installation of production-boosting and safety-enhancing telemetry and communication technologies. The first step, however, was to improve the mining process using what was already in place, said Grenier. The company began by focusing on scheduling, planning and improving the current operation using its existing infrastructure. Then it was on to constructing the underground garage and the ore pass/waste pass network and investing “a lot of time” in planning the production schedule. By 2015, the operation added 600 tonnes of ore to the daily throughput of the mill to bring the rate up to 2,200 tonnes per day.
>> Steps with tech At the end of 2015, Hecla invested $200,000 in a remote rock breaker operated from the surface and developed inhouse automated hoisting and remote loading technologies. The automatic hoisting has helped move an additional 120 tonnes per day, and all three technologies provide a safer work environment by moving workers above ground. “Implementing these technologies bridged the dead zone between day shift and night shift, those two hours for the dust and smoke evacuation,” said Grenier, referring to the period when workers would previously be moving around between shifts and machinery was unable to operate. “Following that, we moved on to production drill automation. We gained at least 15 metres per day with the automated drill, moving from 335 metres per day to 350 per day, so it was a serious gain there.” In 2016, Casa Berardi became the third operation in the world to invest in the new 40-tonne fully autonomous Sandvik TH540 articulated underground dump trucks, after Petra Diamonds’ Finsch mine in South Africa and Barrick’s Hemlo mine in Ontario. The first truck unit monitored and controlled from a room at the surface is improving payloads by eight per cent and reducing energy use by 17 per cent, a true win-win said Grenier. “During its first eight months of operation, the first automated Sandvik TH540 has delivered 20 per cent higher availability at 25 per cent lower maintenance costs than the average manned truck in the mine’s fleet,” said Grenier. The fleet of older AD30 Caterpillar underground haul trucks on site was reduced from 13 down to nine with the introduction of the two new Sandvik trucks. Hecla installed sensors for telemetry on two of the older trucks to track the location and performance data of each piece of equipment in September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 53
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Courtesy of Hecla Mining
Courtesy of Hecla Mining
Courtesy of Hecla Mining/Mathieu Dupuis
Courtesy of Hecla Mining/Mathieu Dupuis
project profile real time. The AD30s fitted with sensors are trucks here at the mine and some operations PROJECT SPECS now being migrated from the west mine to run 60-tonne trucks underground. It is our the east mine as exploration drilling generresponsibility to install devices to prevent Mine life ates new reserves in the east. collisions with human beings.” 9 years “We follow the engine temperature, oil Despite the transition to automation, the Throughput 2017 temperature, transmission data, payload workforce has grown by 200 people from Underground and, of course, tire pressure,” said Grenier, 750 workers on site in 2014 to 950 working 724,542 Tonnes commenting on the benefits of predictive in May 2018. What group of workers is Open pit maintenance and the ability to fix mechanigrowing the fastest? Information techni377,259 tonnes cal issues or replace parts before a breakcians. On site there are four information down or scheduled maintenance. “The technology people with at least 10 programAverage grade mechanics are now able to fix issues on the ming, instrumentation and control techniUnderground 4.3 g/t trucks before maintenance calls. It’s the reacians, plus another 15 people for Open pit 2.25 g/t son we were able to crank up the volume of communication and control. Gold production ore handled by the underground equipment 2017: 156,700 oz >> Building a fibre optic backbone by eight per cent.” 2016: 145,700 oz The automation transition was not all “We feel we’re into a new era in the opersmooth sailing. Although the new automated ation mode,” said Grenier. “The next step for All-in sustaining cost Atlas Copco jumbo S2C drill provided a 17 to us is the LTE technology to use cell phones for 2017 20 per cent increase in metres per shift and underground.” Hecla expects to have that $1174/oz won over the approval of the operators, the deployed by 2020 in the eastern section of Employees shift was successful when Hecla tried to retrothe mine, which will enable workers under950 fit two of the decade-old jumbos in 2017. ground to exchange data with those on the “One of our challenges is making sure surface via cell phones and tablets. what you see is what you get,” said Grenier. Mobile Wi-Fi access points to support “If the retrofits work as promised, the worktelemetry systems on mobile machines are ers will be happy, otherwise they start to grumble.” currently being deployed throughout the mine and mounted in selected supervisor or service vehicles. In addition, by the >> Harmony between people and machines end of 2018, 15 access points or “hotspots” will be installed in In contrast, the automated hoisting and remote rock break- strategic locations, and extended in 2019 and 2020. Hecla ing systems were well accepted by the workforce in part plans to continue the Wi-Fi deployment underground via a because they were designed in-house. On the surface at Casa fibre optic cable “backbone” in the western section of the Berardi, workers remotely operate the jet washer and three underground mine and deploy LTE technology for the surface rock breaking stations located underground, which were open pit and the eastern section. Hecla is working with Mondesigned, programmed and wired on-site. treal-based technology company Newtrax to eliminate the cur“We are really proud of the automated hoisting,” said Gre- rent digital divide between surface and underground. The goal nier. “We had help programming the hoist, but all the devices to is more efficient communication between people and equipautomate the hoist were made in-house by our workers. Even ment. the remote control for the four hydraulic rock breaker units.” While Grenier is pleased with the collection of various The incident frequency rate, calculated using OSHA’s for- automation technologies now assembled at Casa Berardi, and mula, at Casa Berardi in 2017 was down to 4.1, less than a the safety, production and environmental improvements that third of the rate it was in February 2014, when it peaked at accompany them, he is also looking forward to the next gen15.8. Telemetry, said Grenier, has had a big impact on worker eration, when Hecla achieves interoperability at the mine. safety. In areas where personnel have not been removed from “Within the next three years, trucks and scoops will recogunderground, sensors are being installed on equipment to be nize each other, I’m sure of that,” said Grenier. Overall, the able to recognize workers, and collision avoidance devices are process is to guide the mine closer to what is referred to as being added to the heavy equipment. “Industry 4.0,” an interactive network of robotics, sensors and “Equipment is getting bigger and bigger, but humans are machines regulated by data-driven computer algorithms and still the same size,” said Grenier. “In 1997, a 15-tonne truck controlled via the Internet and its users across Hecla’s operawas a huge piece of equipment, now we operate 40-tonne tions, while keeping a sharp focus on the end results. “What spurred the decision to automate was basically to ensure the sustainability of the operation and the employOpposite page, clockwise from top: The mill receives ore from underground workings as well as a small open pit; with the help of ment,” said Grenier. “We’ve focused on ways to enhance proequipment monitoring, the mine has improved availability using duction while improving worker safety and the environment, predictive maintenance; due in part to increased automation, which and it’s lowering our costs. We have the tools now to handle removes workers from risky situations underground, safety performance at the mine has improved; Casa Berardi general manager Alain Grenier anywhere in the economic cycle.” CIM September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 55
The mechanics of a new era in maintenance Artificial intelligence is a powerful new tool for mobile equipment upkeep
Courtesy of Teck Resources
By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco
Teck Resources has added machine learning to its mobile equipment monitoring to help better identify patterns that may predict failure.
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eck Resources recently launched a machine learning initiative to improve its preventive and condition-based mobile equipment maintenance program. Goldcorp is currently speaking with potential partners and planning to do the same in the very near future. There is a lot of buzz in the mining industry these days about the potential for artificial intelligence applications for maintenance of mobile equipment. “Two years ago, not many people were asking about machine learning and predictive analytics,” said Colin Donnelly, vice-president of product management at Dingo Mining, a company that provides condition management and predictive maintenance of equipment for mining companies across the globe. “Now it’s the first thing they ask us.” Miners are hoping new artificial technologies can connect all the onboard and sensor data points on equipment to map out a far more effective approach to condition-based maintenance. It is in its early days still, but the journey to that revolutionary new approach has begun.
maintenance Ahead of the curve Teck Resources has had a mobile equipment monitoring program since 2011 to track the health of its haul trucks at its steelmaking coal operations. “Across our fleets, we collect 1.5 billion data records from [the equipment’s] sensors every 24 hours,” said Chris Stannell, a spokesperson for the company. “The program involves reviewing this data to identify failing components so that maintenance can be triggered earlier than without the program. This reduces costs and increases asset uptime.” Now, in partnership with Google Cloud and global IT-consulting company, Pythian, Teck has also deployed machine learning algorithms that scan through millions of data points from its Komatsu 930E haul truck fleet at its Fording River, Greenhills and Elkview steelmaking coal operations in British Columbia’s Elk Valley region. “The failures that this algorithm identifies are not typically discernible to a human looking at the data,” said Stannell. “To illustrate the point, consider that the system will give various intermittent warnings that come and go as a haul truck is operated. Some of these warnings don’t mean anything on their own; however, the pattern of warnings can indicate if there is a real underlying issue or not. The algorithm makes sense of these patterns and informs us of the risk of failure.”
A complex and moving problem It is no wonder the industry is hoping software and machine learning algorithms will come to the rescue – or at least play a big part in it. Mobile equipment maintenance is a highly complex and expensive challenge. In a single mine, the costs can easily run in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually, not including the added cost of unscheduled downtime. The factors that can result in sudden failures are as dynamic as the weather or the ground conditions on a mine site across the seasons. As well, the equipment and many of its components face a ton of potentially damaging pressures and forces every hour of use. As equipment has grown in size, these have multiplied, said Tim Joseph, a mining consultant and associate dean at the University of Alberta’s school of mining and petroleum engineering. Consider the six tires of a haul truck that carry the load of 300-plus tonnes of material in addition to the truck’s weight as it travels down a roadway, bouncing and pitching and rolling. “That movement doubles or triples the impact of the load on the tires,” he said. As a result, component failure fatigue has increased over the last decade and a half. During the last ten years, thanks to sensor and onboard technologies as well as software tracking systems such as Dingo’s Trakka, the opportunity for condition-based maintenance has opened up. This approach to maintenance tracks the condition of equipment daily, monitoring temperatures, pressures, fuel emissions and the quality of fluids passing through the system as well as the efficiency of the burn on the fuel. Instead of servicing and repairing equipment based on assumptions and
averages that ignore the equipment’s actual condition, mining operations can maintain the equipment’s availability and health based on the actual readings and operating conditions. This opens the door to pre-emptive repairs and greater avoidance of major failures, in some cases. “Sometimes you can replace a $10 part and save a million dollar failure,” said Jami Dwyer, a consultant and former head of the predictive maintenance project at Barrick’s digital transformation team. Other times, the savings come from avoiding unnecessary work. “You don’t have to replace parts automatically after say 8,000 hours,” said Donnelly. ”You can get 20,000 hours from the part if we treat the equipment right and pay attention to the data. And basically make the right decisions.” To some extent, everyone is doing at least a bit of conditionbased monitoring, said Dwyer. But a bit does not get the same results as a comprehensive, condition-based monitoring system, which involves collecting and analyzing a lot of data and records.
Connectivity One of the most critical tools for an effective conditionbased monitoring program, let alone an artificial intelligence one, is network connectivity. Without that, all the valuable data from the sensors and onboard systems cannot be gathered and analyzed for real-time, or at least daily, monitoring. “For areas where you have intermittent connectivity issues, condition-based maintenance starts with the ability to collect real-time or near real-time data,” said Kirk Petroski, president and CEO of Symboticware, which has developed a telemetry technology that collects data in real-time and can send the data forward when a network connection becomes available, thus eliminating data gaps. He added, “consistent, high frequency real-time data enables condition-based and future machine learning applications.” There are a number of reasons why Goldcorp is now looking at the possibility of adding machine learning to its mobile equipment maintenance program but, according to Luis Canepari, the company’s vice-president of technology, “ “we now have the backbone and the connectivity in our mines that is allowing us to capture the data from the fleet in real time. We are starting to use telemetry systems in several of our mines that is enabling us to collect sensor data from our mobile fleet, regardless of the manufacturer, which is the foundation for a proactive condition monitoring program.”
Human and machine interface Dingo does not simply offer tracking and analytical software. It also uses a team of human reliability experts to analyze the data and recommend actions. “The reason we’ve done that is we have had experience providing the software to large mining companies. We saw one flourish and one be in trouble,” said Donnelly. “We found the difference was due to the application of the software. Software doesn’t do anything if you don’t use it correctly to make the right decisions.” September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 57
Courtesy of Goldcorp
tions. The real key is having a very good understanding of interactions between the equipment and the ground.” Whether it is to develop algorithms or interpret sensor data, Joseph and Dwyer said they believe that taking full advantage of new technologies for condition-based mobile equipment maintenance will require building a better-trained workforce that combines technology and mechanical knowledge. “We are seeing the adoption of condition-based monitoring technologies at a faster pace than we’ve ever seen before,” said Joseph. “The challenge is the educational institutions are still teaching the way they taught 20 years ago. Grads are walking into operations as instrumentation technologists and they are lost.” The mining industry is at a breakthrough moment in terms of predictive analytics technologies, said Dwyer, and with that will come changes. “I think there needs to be people in the industry who are able to marry the mechanical and computer analytics together,” she said. On the other hand, added Dwyer, “sometimes it’s pretty hard to find a really good qualified mechanic for a mine to operate at maximum efficiency. I think if you can leverage the knowledge of a master mechanic and make it accessible to anyone, that will be a big win for the future.”
The future Goldcorp has embarked on a growth and innovation journey, partnering with key technology and mining suppliers and servAs more of a mine's equipment and sensors are connected to a network, the potential to ice providers “to accelerate the pace of innoanalyze and improve preventive maintenance continues to grow. vation and enable our mines to achieve our strategic objectives,” said Canepari. In fact, the most critical tool today for condition-based and In the not-too-distant future, however, he said he envipredictive maintenance continues to be a human brain, well sions hundreds of thousands of sensors at Goldcorp contrained to interpret the sensor data, which contains a far bigger nected in real time through its systems, and a team of story than just the equipment’s vital signs. Based on onboard maintenance schedulers and reliability engineers enabled by sensor data, said Joseph, it is possible to deduct such things as the new technologies. “They will analyze all the data from a the road conditions and structural fatigue in the equipment data science perspective as well as from a mechanical perand develop strategies to better adapt the operation of even spective. They will be looking for patterns, so we will be able mammoth-sized equipment to avoid failures. “I don’t even to predict when an equipment is going to fail, not only from have to look at the road. I can get all that from the onboard the equipment sensors but also all the other aspects, such as system,” he said. how the operator is driving it, the environment and inteEffective condition-based management, said Joseph, “is also grated weather data,” said Canepari. “And how a machine is about examining and tracking the operating conditions,” he behaving in a particular mine and affected by all these factors said. “The operating circumstances are giving rise to the defi- benchmarking it against all our mines. Once you have all the ciencies and unknowns when it comes to maintenance. We are holistic data with the computer power we have today, the looking at not just the machine itself but the operation condi- sky’s the limit.” CIM 58 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
SECTION
FRANCOPHONE SEPTEMBRE/OCTOBRE 2018
60 Lettre de l’éditeur 61 Mot du président article de fond
62 Une réplique numérique Créer le jumeau numérique d’une usine ou d’un équipement pourrait aider les opérateurs à se préparer à toute éventualité Par Eavan Moore
68 Une mise à jour réussie Hecla Mining récolte enfin les fruits de ses efforts d’optimisation et d’automatisation à sa mine à haute teneur Casa Berardi au Québec Par Kylie Williams
Nous publions progressivement sur notre site Internet les articles du CIM Magazine en version française.
lettre de l’éditeur
Des études de cas en consultation « Si les personnes déléguées par le gouvernement pour consulter agissaient en toute bonne foi, elles n’étaient en aucun cas qualifiées pour fournir les réponses. »
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our obtenir son droit de gouverner dans l’élection de 2015, le parti libéral avait adopté un discours nouveau et une approche plus conciliante que le précédent gouvernement envers les relations avec les Autochtones. Sa politique comprenait des projets « visant à développer une stratégie nationale pour gérer les revendications territoriales et les obligations de consulter des Autochtones dans un délai raisonnable ». À la fin de l’été, le gouvernement a obtenu des retours sur les progrès réalisés dans le cadre de cette résolution de la part de la juge de la cour d’appel fédérale Eleanor Dawson (voir p. 16 en anglais) concernant le projet d’expansion de l’oléoduc Trans Mountain, et quant au fait de lui donner ou non le feu vert pour commencer la construction. C’est une décision que la juge a été tenue de rendre après que plusieurs groupes d’Autochtones aient amené le gouvernement fédéral devant les tribunaux. « Nous avons constaté l’absence d’un effort sincère et soutenu pour poursuivre un dialogue bilatéral sérieux », déclarait Mme Dawson. Selon elle, on pouvait essentiellement attribuer la faute à la structure de la consultation. Si les personnes déléguées par le gouvernement pour consulter agissaient en toute bonne foi, elles n’étaient en aucun cas qualifiées pour fournir les réponses. Les réponses qui ont fini par être apportées trahissaient une absence de considération certaine pour les préoccupations des parties prenantes. « Aucune considération sérieuse ne semble avoir été accordée aux réponses du conseil pour déterminer si elles étaient raisonnables ou erronées. Aucune indication ne permet par ailleurs de penser qu’il a été sérieusement envisagé de modifier ou de compléter les conditions préconisées par le conseil. » L’ironie regrettable, d’après les dires de Mme Dawson, est « qu’il aurait été relativement simple de débattre, d’aborder et de répondre à la majeure partie des préoccupations des requérants autochtones ». La cour suprême de l’Ontario avait rapporté une situation similaire en juillet, lorsqu’elle a retiré le permis de forage à Landore Resources Canada après que la société et le ministère du développement du Nord et des mines de l’Ontario aient essayé d’accélérer le processus de consultation avec une communauté autochtone (voir p. 21 en anglais). Peu de temps après ces décisions, une cour guatémaltèque a statué que la mine Escobal de Tahoe Resources n’aurait pas l’autorisation de reprendre ses activités avant que le ministère des mines du pays ait consulté les communautés vivant aux alentours de la mine. Le permis d’exploitation de la mine Escobal ayant été suspendu en raison des blocages routiers et de la résistance soutenue de la communauté, les personnes souhaitant voir la production reprendre dans l’une des mines d’argent les plus prolifiques au monde ne devraient pas trop s’attarder sur le moment auquel vont reprendre les activités, mais plutôt sur la façon dont elles recommenceront.
Ryan Bergen, Rédacteur en chef editor@cim.org @Ryan_CIM_Mag
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mot de la présidente
Unissons-nous pour aller de l’avant « Ensemble, nous sommes plus forts que la somme de nos parties constituantes. »
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ous aurez certainement perçu le changement, la transformation, l’enthousiasme. Peut-être en avez-vous entendu parler ou avez-vous remarqué une légère différence, une énergie nouvelle. Je vous présente l’initiative Un ICM pour tous ! Un ICM pour tous, c’est avant tout un état d’esprit. C’est la façon dont nous tous, à l’ICM (plus de 10 000 membres individuels et corporatifs, 33 sections, 10 sociétés techniques et de nombreux comités, bénévoles et sections étudiantes) allons travailler main dans la main ; nous unissons nos forces et soutenons les efforts de tous pour représenter d’une seule voix l’ICM, un ICM pour tous. Un ICM pour tous, c’est une idée qui s’aligne sur l’objectif stratégique de l’ICM visant à promouvoir une communauté de l’ICM solide, connectée et engagée, mais qui va audelà. En s’efforçant de comprendre ses membres et ses parties prenantes, l’ICM promeut des liens cruciaux au sein de l’industrie, des liens nécessaires pour préserver sa cohésion. Parce que nous sommes un porte-parole de confiance dans notre secteur, nous nous efforçons par ailleurs de consolider notre base de membres, d’élargir notre portée et notre capacité en tant qu’organisation à transmettre des connaissances solides et pertinentes, d’approfondir l’initiation aux minéraux et de partager les meilleures pratiques. Nous avons commencé à nouer le dialogue avec nos membres, nos sections et nos sociétés afin d’entendre et de comprendre les problèmes et les possibilités, qui permettront au bureau national de l’ICM de mieux servir ses membres constituants et de collaborer avec eux. Un ICM pour tous, c’est un mouvement qui amplifiera les avantages mutuels pour les membres, l’industrie et le secteur que nous soutenons. Cette initiative repose sur la notion de collectif, d’élimination des cloisons et de travail en collaboration. En très peu de temps, nous avons réalisé de grands progrès qui nous ont permis de passer d’une organisation constituée de groupes distincts à un institut technique unifié. Si l’identité des sections, des sociétés et de chacun de nos membres reste inchangée, ensemble, nous sommes plus forts que la somme de nos parties constituantes. • Que pouvez-vous attendre de l’initiative Un ICM pour tous durant l’année à venir ? • Une programmation et un contenu technique solides, intégrés et pertinents • Des possibilités de mise en réseau dynamiques et diversifiées • Un ICM qui vous offre inclusivité, soutien et cohérence C’est une période exaltante que nous abordons, une période qui offrira des possibilités infinies et des perspectives nouvelles dictées par des communautés de pratique et d’expérience. Votre avis compte pour nous. Un ICM pour tous, c’est avant tout une initiative qui est à votre écoute, et qui vous invite à participer.
Janice Zinck Présidente de l’ICM
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Photographie originale fournie par OceanaGold
Une réplique numérique
Par Eavan Moore
Imaginez que vous puissiez simuler votre exploitation entière avant même de commencer la production...
n novembre 2010 apparaît pour la première fois l’expression « jumeau numérique » dans une feuille de route technologique de la National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, l’administration nationale de l’aéronautique et de l’espace). L’agence gouvernementale avait alors imaginé des simulations se rapprochant tellement de véhicules ou de systèmes réels qu’elles avaient permis de vivre une mission virtuelle dans son intégralité avant de la lancer dans l’espace. Les jumeaux numériques étaient basés sur des modèles physiques, des mises à jour de capteurs, l’historique des flottes et d’autres sources de données. Ils aidaient à tester différents paramètres et plans de vol, offraient des prédictions continues relatives à la santé fondées sur des données d’exploitation en temps réel, et aiguillaient le personnel pour les dépannages. Depuis, cette expression s’est étendue au secteur de la fabrication, puis à l’industrie minière. Sohail Nazari, responsable du développement à Andritz Automation, expliquait qu’il n’existe pas de définition officielle de l’expression jumeaux numériques pour les industries de transformation. « Cependant, on retrouve trois aspects importants dans les diverses descriptions », déclarait-il. « Lorsque la simulation constitue la fonctionnalité principale du procédé, durant tout le cycle de vie de l’usine, et qu’elle affiche un lien direct avec l’exploitation, ce procédé possède un jumeau numérique. » Parmi les données dont on peut se servir pour modéliser une usine de traitement pendant la conception figurent les caractéristiques de la pompe, la hauteur de l’usine, la longueur des canalisations dans l’usine, ainsi que les caractéristiques des minéraux tirées d’une base de données sous licence. L’incidence de ces variables sur les activités est prédite par des modèles qui reposent sur les principes fondamentaux de la physique et la chimie. Le conseiller en projet William Thomas, qui a utilisé cette technologie dans la conception de projet pour Hudbay Minerals et d’autres clients, expliquait qu’un processus d’itération offre davantage d’informations depuis l’évaluation initiale du projet jusqu’à la conception détaillée. Une fois que l’usine est en service, les données d’exploitation sont réintégrées dans le modèle. Certaines mines exploitées depuis suffisamment longtemps pour posséder des années de données historiques (des conditions météorologiques aux réglages pour le forage et le dynamitage) peuvent les utiliser pour développer une simulation à l’aide de l’apprentissage automatique.
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Photographie originale fournie par OceanaGold
Les jumeaux numériques à la mine d’or Haile La société d’Andritz a proposé le concept de jumeau numérique à l’industrie du traitement des minéraux pour les applications hors ligne pendant de nombreuses années. Toutefois, la mine d’or Haile d’OceanaGold en Caroline du Sud, qui a ouvert ses portes en 2017, a été le premier client de la société qui a proposé pour la première fois son concept de jumeau numérique en ligne en temps réel. « Notre état d’esprit est identique ; nous souhaitons tous deux tester de nouvelles techniques », déclarait Caelen Anderson, directeur de la section Métallurgie à Haile. « Nous essayons d’automatiser intégralement et efficacement notre usine, du concassage au traitement final. » C’est dans cette vision que s’inscrit le concept de jumeau numérique, concept que la mine Haile commence tout juste à intégrer à ses activités. « Nous disposons d’un jumeau numérique pour le circuit d’alimentation de notre cyclone, que nous surveillons depuis environ une année », expliquait M. Anderson. « Il s’agissait davantage d’une validation de principe nous confirmant que ce concept est fiable et que nous pouvons l’utiliser. » En août, Andritz et la mine Haile ont commencé à mettre ce modèle au point à l’aide de données d’exploitation. Ils ont récemment ajouté des jumeaux numériques au tamisat et au refus de crible du cyclone. D’après M. Anderson, le jumeau numérique offre un retour plus immédiat quant à l’incidence positive ou négative de tout 64 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
changement dans les réglages. « À l’heure actuelle, je m’en remets à des personnes qui procèdent aux changements manuellement et effectuent un échantillonnage environ toutes les heures », indiquait-il. « Cependant, lorsqu’on travaille en salle de contrôle et qu’on applique des changements afin d’intégrer les densités et les pressions, on ne peut constater les effets immédiatement lorsqu’un seul opérateur procède à ces changements une fois par heure. » Le jumeau numérique permet aussi d’indiquer le rendement de la pompe aux opérateurs en les alertant lorsque les données réelles s’éloignent trop des prédictions du modèle. « Si la pompe fonctionne à une vitesse et une puissance données et que l’on connaît la densité des boues, on peut alors retirer un volume X de la pompe », expliquait M. Anderson. « Si le rendement commence à décliner, cela indique bien qu’il pourrait y avoir un problème avec votre pompe. On peut gagner beaucoup de temps et épargner de l’argent en empêchant les pannes mineures de devenir des pannes importantes. » D’après M. Anderson, les avantages compensent largement le coût de ce concept. « Si mes cyclones commencent à battre de l’aile et que cet instrument numérique me prévient, les temps d’immobilisation de l’usine en seront grandement diminués et nous réduirons les pertes en termes de tonnage ou de possibilités en envoyant un employé immédiatement pour régler le problème », expliquait-il. « Cet instrument peut se révéler très rapidement rentable. » Andritz et Haile surveillent également le tamisat de l’épaississeur. « Si cet appareil a un problème, vous pourriez être
contrarié », déclarait M. Anderson. Le jumeau numérique aide à vérifier la précision du densimètre, à le remplacer dans des activités automatisées lorsqu’il tombe en panne, à surveiller la condition de la turbine de la pompe ainsi qu’à détecter l’ensablement dans la canalisation (auquel cas une alarme se déclenche et le système augmente provisoirement la vitesse de la pompe afin de nettoyer la boue sableuse).
Des réserves envers ce domaine en plein essor Penny Stewart, directrice générale de Petra Data Science, répartit les solutions de simulation de sa société dans quatre catégories, à savoir l’exploitation par forage et dynamitage, les prévisions géométallurgiques, le contrôle de procédé et l’ingénierie de la fiabilité. Dans l’un des cas de figure, les données historiques relatives au forage et au dynamitage servent à simuler l’incidence qu’auront sur la capacité du broyeur semi-autogène (broyeur SAG) le changement de la charge et l’espacement des trous de mine. « En rapprochant les trous, [la capacité] augmente légèrement », expliquait Mme Stewart, faisant la démonstration d’un jumeau numérique créé pour la mine Ban Houayxai de PanAust, au Laos. « C’est une augmentation de 2 % si je ne m’abuse ; sur un site minier où le broyeur SAG constitue le facteur limitant, ce changement se transforme en 2 % de profits supplémentaires pour l’exploitation. » Au cours des dernières années, Petra a mis au point des modèles d’apprentissage automatique pour simuler l’incidence de la géologie sur une usine de traitement. Le jumeau numérique intègre des données géologiques en 3D au traitement de données des séries chronologiques. Chaque nouvelle accumulation de données est réintégrée dans le modèle, lui conférant au fil du temps profondeur et ampleur. D’après Mme Stewart, il s’agit d’une amélioration importante pour les échantillons de roches soumis à des essais pilotes. « L’ampleur de l’échantillon est insignifiante en comparaison de ce que l’on va traiter dans l’usine tout au long de la durée de vie de la mine », expliquait-elle. « C’est là où les sociétés [rencontrent des problèmes] ; elles pensent avoir fait un bon travail de prédiction avec ces échantillons, mais elles se rendent alors dans des zones qu’elles n’ont pas échantillonnées ou qui ne sont pas correctement interprétées dans le modèle empirique. Disons qu’elles obtiennent des résultats indésirables. » Chez GE Transportation, l’équipe du département Digital Mine utilise les jumeaux numériques pour gérer le rendement des actifs et des exploitations, l’orientation en matière de forage et la sensibilisation aux collisions. Kevin Shikoluk, chef de file en matière de marketing stratégique à l’international pour le département Digital Mine, expliquait la différence entre la maintenance préventive et les jumeaux numériques. « La gestion du rendement des actifs pourrait prévoir qu’il y aura un problème avec une pompe, par exemple des boues corrosives apparaissent dans la pompe, ou qu’une soupape risque de se briser », indiquait-il. « Le jumeau numérique montrera ce qui risque de se produire si l’on ne rectifie pas nous-mêmes ou si l’on ne corrige pas le problème de la pompe. Le jumeau numérique permet ensuite de jouer avec les réglages de niveau en temps réel avant de le mettre à exécution dans l’usine. »
D’après M. Shikoluk, environ un tiers des clients du secteur des transports de Digital Mine de GE utilisent les concepts et les stratégies des jumeaux numériques. « Ils peuvent essayer de numériser un actif, ou une opération de leur usine entière », expliquait-il. La première étape consiste à essayer de décider où, à quel rythme, et quelles données doivent être collectées. GE et ses clients doivent ensuite se mettre d’accord sur les paramètres à analyser et établir des gammes acceptables. En avril 2017, GE et la société minière South32 basée à Perth, en Australie, concluaient un contrat de trois ans, neuf mois après que South32 se soit rendue au kiosque de GE à l’occasion du salon MINExpo. « Avec South32, nous avons réussi parce que nous avons été en mesure d’isoler des actifs spécifiques dont nous souhaitions démontrer le succès puis, après l’avoir démontré sur un petit sous-ensemble d’actifs, nous passions au niveau de l’usine et des opérations », expliquait M. Shikoluk. Pour une industrie qui a la réputation d’être conservatrice, le taux d’adoption constaté par GE est impressionnant. Avec son expérience de conseiller, M. Thomas observait cependant une résistance importante envers ce nouveau concept de jumeau numérique et un manque de confiance concernant la capacité du logiciel à concevoir de nouvelles installations. Cette réticence ne provenait pas uniquement d’un conservatisme marqué, mais également du fait que cette technique pourrait réduire le travail des sociétés d’IAGC. « Le problème est que les profits de l’industrie entière découlent des heures personnes », indiquait-il. « Après avoir demandé à [un employeur d’une société d’IAGC] s’il pouvait me fournir d’autres ordinateurs pour que je termine ma présentation PowerPoint, l’un des vice-présidents m’a interpellé ; il voulait que je lui confirme qu’on pouvait concevoir une usine en une fraction du temps pour une fraction du prix. » J’ai répondu par l’affirmative. Savez-vous ce qu’il m’a répondu ? « Vous avez perdu la tête. C’est en payant mes employés à l’heure que je réalise mes bénéfices. »
Précision et adoption Pour faire confiance aux jumeaux numériques, ils doivent être précis et fiables. M. Anderson avoue s’être montré sceptique initialement. « Cet instrument virtuel est installé dans le circuit d’alimentation de notre cyclone depuis plus d’un an, et les résultats sont proches de la réalité, extrêmement proches », indiquait-il. « Hier encore, un employé d’Andritz était ici et nous testions l’intégralité de notre circuit basé sur un instrument virtuel. » L’effet des réglages sur les données d’exploitation est évident. Dans un échantillon des données sur la densité de l’alimentation du cyclone qu’a partagé M. Nazari, l’ajout de 10 jours de données d’exploitation au modèle numérique a réduit la différence avec les mesures effectuées par un instrument physique à un écart-type (RMSD, de l’anglais root-mean-square deviation) de 1 %, une différence qui s’élevait à 2% précédemment (le RMSD est obtenu en élevant au carré la différence entre chaque ensemble de points de données et en établissant leur moyenne, puis en prenant la racine carrée de la moyenne). « Le but ultime, ce qui importe le plus, c’est la fidélité des modèles », déclarait M. Nazari. « La fidélité signifie la manière dont le September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 65
jumeau numérique reflète la réalité. Chez Andritz, nous assurons la fidélité en combinant les modèles de premier principe à toutes données disponibles, c’est-à-dire les données chimiques, mécaniques, métallurgiques et de contrôle. » Fin août, les opérateurs travaillant pour M. Anderson n’avaient pas encore observé le jumeau numérique en action, aussi nous restait-il à les convaincre. « C’est indéniablement l’une des plus grandes difficultés que je rencontre dans mon travail », ajoutait-il. « Ces opérateurs gèrent l’usine manuellement depuis le début de leur carrière, et je viens bouleverser leurs habitudes en leur annonçant qu’il existe un nouveau concept et que nous allons désormais l’utiliser pour gérer l’usine. » M. Anderson est toutefois convaincu que ses opérateurs tomberont sous le charme.
De la simulation statique à la simulation en temps réel Si les données historiques d’une exploitation sont utiles, elles ne sont pas indispensables pour développer un jumeau numérique. Le simulateur IDEA d’Andritz a initialement servi à optimiser les études de faisabilité dans le cadre de nouveaux projets. « Souvent, l’usine n’est même pas encore construite, aussi aucune donnée opérationnelle n’est disponible », expliquait M. Nazari. « Au fur et à mesure, on incorpore les informations disponibles. Par exemple, on commence par les modèles réalisés pour le broyeur SAG fondés sur les informations liées à la fabrication, puis on ajoute les informations à mesure que les fonctions d’abattage deviennent disponibles dans les échantillons de laboratoire. » Le concept de jumeau numérique d’Andritz comporte de nombreuses applications, de la conception de circuits automatisés à l’étape de préfaisabilité pour la validation détaillée du schéma de tuyauterie et d’instrumentation à la baisse des coûts en cascade en ingénierie détaillée. « Une fois la réplique dynamique et entièrement numérique de l’usine construite, nous pouvons l’utiliser comme simulateur pour la formation des opérateurs de la même manière qu’on le ferait avec un simulateur de vol. Dès que l’usine est opérationnelle et fonctionnelle, nous relions ces modèles de haute fidélité aux opérations en temps réel. » M. Thomas conteste la sécurité de la notion de surconception de la capacité des usines prônée par les sociétés d’ingénierie, d’approvisionnement et de gestion de construction (IAGC) et les fabricants d’équipement; selon lui, la précision dans la modélisation permet de réduire les dépenses d’investissement et les dépenses d’exploitation connexes, et parfois d’éviter à un projet potentiellement rentable d’être rejeté. « Le fait est que la plupart des installations sont au moins 125 pour cent plus coûteuses que nécessaire pour réaliser l’analyse de rentabilisation initiale », déclarait M. Thomas. « Ce problème doit être abordé. » Les progrès réalisés en matière de puissance informatique et de technologies de communications ont permis d’intégrer des données d’exploitation en temps réel dans les simulations, élargissant ainsi leur gamme d’utilisations possibles. Si la simulation est suffisamment précise, elle permettra de compléter des données manquantes en cas de mauvais fonction66 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
nement d’un capteur, et elle mettra en avant les problèmes en cas de divergence entre les mesures réelles et les mesures « virtuelles ». Dans les installations en temps réel, des simulations multiples exécutent un certain nombre de cas de figure hypothétiques parallèlement à l’exploitation. Il faudra encore passer de nombreuses heures à étudier cette nouvelle technologie pour s’y acclimater et l’intégrer. À l’heure actuelle, il faut compter entre six et huit semaines pour intégrer les données d’une nouvelle mine dans le jumeau numérique pour une optimisation de la chaîne de valeur, que Petra commercialise notamment sous la forme de son logiciel MAXTA. D’après Mme Stewart, la période d’intégration devrait diminuer à mesure que des partenariats et des collaborations avec d’autres prestataires de services et de logiciels normalisent davantage les données nécessaires au modèle. « Les huit semaines actuellement requises pourraient être réduites à seulement quelques semaines. » La société collabore avec Maptek pour intégrer son logiciel de planification de la mine en 3D. « Beaucoup d’autres sociétés pratiquent cette même approche, et nous sommes tout à fait ouverts à engager la discussion avec elles », indiquait Mme Stewart. « L’une de ses sociétés nous a contacté et nous a demandé si nous souhaitions collaborer sur ce projet ; nous avons bien évidemment accepté. Ceci signifie qu’un ingénieur en aménagement des mines peut examiner le plan d’exploitation de la mine dans le jumeau numérique MAXTA et observer les répercussions sur l’usine de traitement. »
Travaux en cours Certains procédés et mesures sont plus simples à simuler que d’autres. Pour M. Nazari, mesurer la charge virtuelle du concentrateur constitue le « Saint-Graal » du broyage. Ceci contribuerait en effet à optimiser davantage le rendement du broyeur SAG, mais les capteurs physiques en question ne sont pas disponibles. Pour GE, indiquait M. Shikoluk, les jumeaux numériques sont un outil puissant au niveau des actifs, mais la création du jumeau numérique d’un procédé d’une usine entière, par exemple la fusion et l’affinage, est un « point qui requiert encore beaucoup de travail et qui devra faire l’objet d’une feuille de route ». « Nous pouvons créer les jumeaux numériques de parties de sites miniers », déclarait-il. « Ni nous ni nos concurrents n’avons cependant la capacité de créer le jumeau numérique d’un procédé entier ou d’opérations. » Les recherches futures pourraient répondre à énormément de questions. Par exemple, lorsque les activités se déplacent vers une nouvelle zone de la mine, un modèle construit sur la base de données historiques sera-t-il toujours utile ? En collaboration avec des partenaires de l’industrie, Mme Stewart a déposé une demande de financement auprès du Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA, l’institut de recherche sur les minéraux d’Australie-Occidentale) afin d’étudier la question. Elle émet l’hypothèse selon laquelle les modèles seront encore applicables, car ils sont basés sur des propriétés intrinsèques de la roche (la géochimie, le pourcentage de différents éléments, les minéraux présents). Ceci
contraste avec des sous-divisions plus traditionnelles en type de roches A, B, etc. M. Nazari faisait remarquer que, dans tous les cas, les données historiques d’exploitation décrivent mieux les conditions normales qu’anormales. « Ces modèles nous permettent de réagir lorsque le densimètre ou la pompe tombent en panne », indiquait-il. « Cependant, cela ne se produit pas souvent, aussi on ne dispose pas de beaucoup de données pour ces cas précis. Si l’on développe [des modèles reposant sur les principes fondamentaux], ils seront valides non seulement pour les conditions normales, mais aussi pour les conditions anormales. »
Le secteur de la fabrication comme modèle ? L’Union européenne (UE) collabore actuellement avec Siemens dans le cadre d’un projet de recherche pour développer des jumeaux numériques adaptés au secteur de la fabrication. Cependant, indiquait Mme Stewart, ce projet ne sera sans doute pas aussi précieux pour l’industrie minière que les recherches de la NASA, car il ne tient pas compte de la simulation des données spatiales fondées sur le réseau. « La variabilité au niveau du rendement d’une usine de traitement est majoritairement liée à la variabilité spatiale dans la roche », précisaitelle. « Dans le secteur de la fabrication, cette variabilité
intrinsèque n’existe pas puisqu’on gère des quantités connues [qui sont] très bien comprises dans le monde réel. » Mme Stewart indiquait qu’il est très complexe de relier la minéralisation spatiale à un procédé chronologique, car le minerai doit être suivi tout au long de son cheminement vers et au sein de l’usine de traitement ; selon elle, c’est quelque chose que peut faire le logiciel de sa société. Concernant les effets de la variabilité du minerai, M. Nazari répondait que cela dépend de l’application. « Le corps minéralisé n’a aucune influence sur un densimètre, par exemple, car on utilise un modèle dynamique de la densité en fonction de la consommation d’énergie de la pompe, la pression et autres », indiquait-il. Cependant, cela influence l’instrument virtuel pour trouver le P80 (le 80e centile) et la charge du broyeur SAG. « Nous essayons de le séparer des variables qui ne dépendent pas de nous », déclarait M. Nazari. « Si l’indépendance est difficile à atteindre, nous avons besoin de renseignements supplémentaires. » Quoi qu’il en soit, les utilisations existantes sont éprouvées, tout au moins dans certains cas. « C’est une technologie absolument fascinante », déclarait M. Anderson. « Je faisais partie des plus sceptiques initialement ; maintenant que je l’ai vu à l’œuvre et que j’ai compris ce que l’on peut faire avec la modélisation autour d’une usine, je suis vraiment impressionné. » ICM
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Sous terre à la mine Casa Berardi
Avec l’aimable autorisation de Hecla Mining
UNE MISE À JOUR >> rÉussie
profil de projet
Les chiffres ne mentent pas. Hecla Mining récolte enfin les fruits des efforts déployés par la société pour améliorer la sécurité, le rendement et la productivité à sa mine d’or Casa Berardi. Par Kylie Williams
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Courtesy of Agnico Eagle
orsque Hecla Mining a lancé son offre pour Casa Berardi en 2013, une partie de sa présentation aux actionnaires de Mines Aurizon Ltée portait sur l’expertise qu’avait cette société, alors âgée de 120 ans, en matière d’exploitation minière souterraine en roche dure, comme en témoignaient ses exploitations en Idaho et en Alaska. À l’époque, la capacité moyenne du concentrateur à Casa Berardi était de 1 600 tonnes par jour. Fin 2017, cette capacité avait pratiquement doublé pour atteindre 3 551 tonnes par jour. La production à Casa Berardi a commencé en 1989 ; son exploitation s’est poursuivie jusqu’en 1997, date à laquelle la mine a été placée en mode de soins et maintenance. La production commerciale a repris en 2007. Aujourd’hui, l’usine de traitement reçoit du minerai de deux zones minières souterraines ainsi que d’une mine à ciel ouvert peu profonde, dont la production a commencé en 2016. Les méthodes d’extraction employées dans la mine souterraine sont l’exploitation transversale par gradins en trous profonds pour les minéralisations plus larges, et l’exploitation rabattante longitudinale pour les corps minéralisés plus étroits. Actuellement, la durée de vie de la mine est estimée à neuf ans. Alain Grenier, vice-président de Hecla Québec et directeur général de Casa Berardi, se dit satisfait des économies et des progrès réalisés. Il dirige la mine depuis quatre ans, et supervise un certain nombre de grands changements, notamment un remaniement complet du calendrier de production, le déploiement de machines autonomes et actionnées à distance, ainsi que l’installation de technologies de communication et de télémétrie qui permettront de stimuler la production et de renforcer la sécurité. La première étape consistait cependant à améliorer le procédé minier avec les équipements existants. La société s’est tout d’abord concentrée sur l’ordonnancement, la planification et l’amélioration de l’exploitation en s’appuyant sur son infrastructure existante. Elle s’est ensuite attelée à la construction du garage souterrain et du réseau de cheminées à minerais et à stériles, puis a investi « énormément de temps » dans la planification du calendrier de production. En 2015, la capacité quotidienne du concentrateur de l’exploitation avait augmenté de 600 tonnes, portant à 2 200 tonnes sa capacité de traitement quotidienne.
>> Des étapes franchies grâce à la technologie Fin 2015, Hecla a investi 200 000 dollars dans un briseroche actionné à distance par des employés en surface, et a développé en interne des technologies d’extraction automatisée et de chargement à distance. L’extraction automatique a permis de déplacer 120 tonnes de minerai supplémentaires par jour ; par ailleurs, ces trois technologies offraient toutes un environnement de travail plus sûr aux employés, qui restaient désormais en surface. « La mise en œuvre de ces technologies a permis de combler le creux entre les postes du matin et ceux du soir, ces deux heures dont nous avons besoin pour évacuer la poussière et la fumée », déclarait M. Grenier, faisant référence à la plage horaire durant laquelle les employés changeaient de poste et les machines ne pouvaient fonctionner. « Nous avons ensuite décidé d’automatiser le forage d’exploitation. Ceci nous a permis de gagner au moins 15 mètres par jour et par forage, et nous sommes passés de 335 mètres à 350 mètres par jour ; c’est un gain considérable ». En 2016, Casa Berardi devient la troisième exploitation au monde (derrière la mine Finsch de Petra Diamond en Afrique du Sud, et la mine Hemlo de Barrick en Ontario) à investir dans les nouveaux camions articulés TH540 à benne basculante de 40 tonnes de Sandvik pour ses mines souterraines. Ce camion, commandé et actionné depuis une salle en surface, améliore les charges utiles de 8 % et réduit l’utilisation d’énergie de 17 %, ce qui, d’après M. Grenier, est un grand avantage. « Pendant les huit premiers mois d’exploitation, le premier Sandvik TH540 automatisé a offert une disponibilité de 20 % supérieure à des coûts d’entretien de 25 % inférieurs à la moyenne pour un camion du parc automobile de la mine conduit par un humain », déclarait M. Grenier. Au vu de l’achat des deux nouveaux camions Sandvik, l’ancien parc de camions de transport souterrain AD30 de Caterpillar sur le site a été réduit à neuf camions (treize initialement). Hecla a installé des capteurs pour la télémétrie sur deux des camions plus anciens afin de contrôler leur emplacement ainsi que les données relatives à la performance de chaque engin en temps réel. Les AD30 équipés de capteurs sont envoyés de la mine Ouest à la mine Est, car le forage d’exploration génère de nouvelles réserves dans la mine Est. September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 69
Avec l’aimable autorisation de Hecla Mining
Avec l’aimable autorisation de Hecla Mining/Mathieu Dupuis
« Nous nous trouvons dans une nouvelle ère du mode d'exploitation » – A. Grenier
La surveillance des équipements a permis à la mine d’améliorer sa disponibilité à l’aide de la maintenance préventive.
« Nous surveillons la température du moteur et de l’huile, les données de transmission, la charge utile et bien entendu, la pression des pneus », indiquait M. Grenier, expliquant les avantages de la maintenance préventive et la capacité à réparer des problèmes mécaniques ou à remplacer des pièces avant que ne se produise une panne ou que n’ait lieu l’entretien systématique. « Les mécaniciens sont désormais en mesure de régler des problèmes sur les camions avant les entretiens prévus. C’est la raison pour laquelle nous avons pu augmenter de 8 % le volume de minerai traité par l’équipement souterrain. » La transition vers l’automatisation n’a toutefois pas été simple. Si le nouveau jumbo automatisé S2C d’Atlas Copco a permis une hausse de 17 à 20 % en termes de mètres forés par poste, et s’il a fait l’unanimité auprès des opérateurs, un problème s’est bel et bien posé lorsque Hecla a tenté de moderniser deux de ses anciens jumbos de plus de dix ans en 2017. « L’une des difficultés que nous rencontrons est de nous assurer que les résultats soient conformes aux attentes », indiquait M. Grenier. « Si les [rénovations] fonctionnent comme convenu, les travailleurs seront contents ; dans le cas contraire, ils ronchonneront. »
>> Harmonie entre les hommes et les machines En revanche, les systèmes d’extraction automatisée et de concassage de roches à distance ont été bien accueillis par le personnel, en partie car ils ont été conçus en interne. En surface à la mine Casa Berardi, les employés commandent à distance l’engin de lavage à pression et trois stations de concassage des roches souterraines qui ont été conçus, programmés et installés sur place. 70 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
« Nous sommes très fiers de notre système d’extraction automatisée », indiquait M. Grenier. « Nous avons obtenu de l’aide pour la programmation du treuil d’extraction minière, mais c’est notre équipe en interne qui a fabriqué tous les dispositifs permettant de l’automatiser, même la commande à distance pour les quatre unités hydrauliques de concassage des roches. » Conformément à l’Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA, l’agence gouvernementale fédérale des ÉtatsUnis dont la mission est la prévention des blessures, maladies et décès dans le cadre du travail), le taux de fréquence des accidents à la mine Casa Berardi en 2017, calculé à l’aide d’une formule relative aux normes de l’industrie, se situait à 4,1 % par travailleur, soit moins d’un tiers du taux qui prévalait en février 2014, lorsque la société affichait un taux record de 15,8 %. La télémétrie, expliquait M. grenier, a eu une grande incidence sur la sécurité des travailleurs. Dans des zones où le personnel continue de travailler en souterrain, nous avons installé des capteurs sur l’équipement de manière à reconnaître les employés, et des dispositifs permettant d’éviter les collisions sont ajoutés à l’équipement lourd. « Si l’équipement devient de plus en plus volumineux, les hommes, eux, gardent la même taille », déclarait M. Grenier. En 1997, un camion de 15 tonnes constituait un équipement énorme ; à l’heure actuelle, la mine possède des camions de 40 tonnes et certaines exploitations envoient même sous terre des camions de 60 tonnes. Il est de notre responsabilité d’installer des dispositifs permettant d’éviter les collisions avec les hommes. » Malgré la transition vers l’automatisation, la société a embauché 200 personnes supplémentaires. En mai 2018, la
Avec l’aimable autorisation de Hecla Mining/Mathieu Dupuis
profil de projet
CAHIER DES CHARGES Durée de vie de la mine 9 ans Capacité en 2017 Mine souterraine 724 542 tonnes Mine à ciel ouvert 377 259 tonnes Teneur moyenne Mine souterraine : 4,3 g/t Mine à ciel ouvert : 2,25 g/t Production aurifère 2017 : 156 700 onces 2016 : 145 700 onces Coûts nécessaires au maintien de la production pour 2017 1174 $ /once Le concentrateur est alimenté en minerai extrait des chantiers souterrains et d’une petite mine à ciel ouvert.
mine comptait 950 employés, par rapport à 2014 où l’effectif s’élevait à 750 personnes. Le groupe de travailleurs qui évolue le plus rapidement reste indéniablement les techniciens de l’information. Sur le site, quatre spécialistes des technologies de l’information travaillent aux côtés d’au moins 10 techniciens de la programmation, de l’instrumentation et du contrôle, et d’une quinzaine de spécialistes de la communication et du contrôle.
>> Déploiement d’un réseau d’interconnexion par
fibre optique
« Nous nous trouvons dans une nouvelle ère du mode d’exploitation », expliquait M. Grenier. « La prochaine étape pour nous consistera à nous doter de la technologie d’évolution à long terme (LTE), qui nous permettra d’utiliser les téléphones portables sous terre. » Hecla espère déployer cette technologie d’ici 2020 dans le secteur Est de la mine, ce qui permettra aux travailleurs sous terre d’échanger des données avec les employés en surface par le biais de téléphones portables et de tablettes. Afin d’assurer le bon fonctionnement des systèmes de télémétrie installés sur les engins mobiles, des points d’accès sans fil portables sont en cours de déploiement partout dans la mine et sont installés sur certains véhicules de service ou utilisés par les superviseurs. En outre, d’ici la fin 2018, 15 points d’accès sans fil (les hotspots) seront installés dans des lieux stratégiques, et le réseau sera développé en 2019 et 2020. Hecla prévoit de continuer à déployer le WiFi sous terre en installant « l’épine dorsale » d’un réseau de câbles à fibres optiques dans le secteur Ouest de la mine souterraine, et de déployer la technologie LTE
Nombre d’employés 950
dans la mine à ciel ouvert et le secteur Est de la mine souterraine. Hecla collabore avec la société montréalaise Newtrax spécialisée dans la technologie pour éliminer le fossé numérique qu’il existe actuellement entre les exploitations à ciel ouvert et souterraine. L’objectif est de parvenir à une meilleure communication entre les hommes et l’équipement. M. Grenier se dit satisfait de la série de nouvelles technologies d’automatisation désormais rassemblées à la mine Casa Berardi ainsi que des améliorations qu’elles ont permis en termes de sécurité, de production et d’environnement. Cependant, il attend aussi avec impatience la prochaine génération pour Hecla, celle de l’interopérabilité à la mine. « Dans les trois années à venir, les camions et les pelles se reconnaîtront, j’en suis convaincu », déclarait-il. Globalement, le processus consiste à rapprocher la mine du concept d’« industrie 4.0 » (ou industrie du futur), un réseau interactif associant robotique, capteurs et machines régulés par des algorithmes informatiques guidés par les données et contrôlés par le biais d’Internet et par ses utilisateurs dans toutes les exploitations de Hecla, tout en restant très axé sur les résultats finaux. « Notre décision de nous tourner vers l’automatisation a été motivée par notre désir de garantir la durabilité de notre exploitation et des emplois », indiquait M. Grenier. « Nous avons orienté nos efforts sur la manière de renforcer la production tout en améliorant la sécurité de nos employés et en ne portant pas atteinte à l’environnement, et nos coûts ont diminué. Nous avons désormais en main les outils qui nous permettront de faire face à divers cycles économiques. » ICM September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 71
technical abstracts
CIM Journal Abstracts from CIM Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1
Human factors and human error in the mining industry: A review and lessons from other industries A. Yaghini, Y. Pourrahimian, and R. A. Hall, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Human factors (HFs) play an important role in the mining and mineral industry, affecting operational and maintenance efficiency and safety. Despite the introduction of new technologies and automation in this sector, it is well known that a significantly large proportion of total human errors occur during the operation and maintenance phase. A comprehensive literature review of HFs across several industries is provided. From this review, the impact of HFs on operation and maintenance is summarized, with a focus on what the mining industry is currently doing and what opportunities exist for additional improvements. Future research directions and themes are also identified.
Drillhole placement subject to constraints for improved resource classification D. S. Silva, Centre for Computational Geostatistics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; A. Jewbali, Newmont USA Limited, Denver, Colorado, USA; J. B. Boisvert and C. V. Deutsch, Centre for Computational Geostatistics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Drillhole placement involves benefits, costs, and constraints. Benefits are related to the drilling campaign value, which includes maximizing “indicated” and “measured” resources. Costs include drilling, rig movement, and access construction. Constraints include infeasible areas, maximum and minimum angles of drilling, maximum depth of drilling, and budget. Manually planning drillholes that meet these constraints is suboptimal. A framework for straight drillhole optimization that accounts for benefits, costs, and constraints is presented. The method aims to maximize the value of resources converted from “inferred” to indicated and measured. The framework is demonstrated for a Nevada gold deposit and outperforms manually selected drillholes.
New failure prediction method for underground excavations D. Milne and G. Snell, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
A new method to predict stope hangingwall failure in underground excavations is proposed. This method compares movement rate for stope hangingwalls, determined from changes in strain or deformation, with changing opening geometry. This geometry is represented by the effective radius factor (ERF), a measure of relative distance to supporting abutments from an opening surface point. This strain-ERF (SERF) approach is applied to an instrumentation program for Brunswick mine near Bathurst, New Brunswick. The SERF method for this case study predicted failure at an ERF of 13.9 m and hangingwall failure actually occurred at an approximate ERF of 12.4 m.
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September/October • Septembre/Octobre 2018 | 73
MINING LORE The father of modern geology By Kylie Williams
L
74 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 13, No. 6
Courtesy of Wikimedia
ooking back, James Hutton and landscapes on his travels was in the right place at prethrough Scotland, England, and cisely the right time. Hutton France. was born in 1726, the son of a prosSeveral now-iconic locations perous merchant and city officearound Scotland had a significant holder in Edinburgh, just a few years impact on the formation of Hutton’s before the Scottish capital became a revolutionary ideas. In 1785, Hutton “hotbed of genius” as the epicentre of visited Glen Tilt, a valley in the the Scottish Enlightenment between Cairngorm Mountains of central 1730 and 1820. The environment Scotland, and observed boulders of was primed for big ideas, and Hutcountry rock intruded by veins of ton’s concept of uniformitarianism granite. He proposed that the granite shaped an entire scientific discipline. had been liquid when it intruded the Hutton’s theory was that the earth country rock and then cooled. He is millions of years old rather than reinforced this theory with observa6,000 years old, which was based on tions near his home at the base of the the literal interpretation of the Bible Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh’s Holycommonly accepted at the time. His rood Park. At what is now called theory of uniformitarianism pro- A portrait of James Hutton by British painter Sir Henry Hutton’s Section, he studied rocks posed that rocks and landforms Raeburn. exposed in a small quarry and conobserved at the Earth’s surface today cluded that molten volcanic rock record evidence of past changes and are the result of uniform had been injected along the planes between sedimentary layprocesses acting over long periods of time. Hutton’s idea chal- ers, leading him to propose the idea of uniformitarianism. lenged the belief that the natural world was static and At Siccar Point, a rocky headland on the Berwickshire coast unchanging, and disrupted the fundamental principle of geol- east of Edinburgh, Hutton noted in 1788 differences between ogy. But it was not easy to convince others and he did not igneous and sedimentary rocks and evidence of the gradual receive full credit for shaping the field of geology until well geomorphic processes, such as weathering and erosion, that after his death in 1797. form sediments. At what is now a must-see site for geologists, Geology was not Hutton’s first choice. At 14, he was Hutton observed gently dipping Devonian sandstones juxtaenrolled at the University of Edinburgh to study Latin and phi- posed against vertical Silurian greywackes, the classic angular losophy, although his interest in chemistry was piqued by one unconformity. of his philosophy lecturers during this time. His blasphemous ideas were not well-received by the clergy After graduating in 1743, Hutton briefly worked as a or other scientists at the time, although doubt from the latter lawyer’s apprentice before re-enrolling at the University of was partly because of his confusing writing style. Hutton’s TheEdinburgh to study science and medicine, and eventually ory of the Earth, originally published in Transactions of the travelled to France and the Netherlands to complete his med- Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1788, was rewritten more clearly ical degree. At 23, Hutton established a medical practice in and published in 1802 by his friend John Playfair, a professor London. It failed to thrive, and he returned to Edinburgh in of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. 1750. Hutton’s work would have a significant impact on future Together with a colleague from University of Edinburgh, scientists. He was the first to state the principle of natural James Davie, Hutton built a successful business producing selection in 1794, suggesting that “...organised bodies… will ammonium chloride. The two had experimented with the be best adapted to continue, in preserving themselves and process years earlier, extracting the valuable salt from chimney multiplying the individuals of their race” which is thought to soot. Profits from this business and income from several rental have influenced Charles Darwin in developing his groundproperties in Edinburgh supported his travels and research. breaking 1859 work, On the Origin of Species. Once financially stable, Hutton set out to visit the two James Hutton’s big ideas became the cornerstone of modfarms he had inherited from his father, and took a keen interest ern geology, and for that his fellow Edinburgh-born geoloin farming practices. He quickly realized the importance of soil gist Sir Archibald Geikie named him the “Father of Modern health to farm productivity and began to observe soils, rocks Geology.” CIM
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