| Anita Project Niobium-Tantalum Mine | ||
Lac Saint-Jean, Quebec, Canada. |
The mine is expected to produce 115,000kg of tantalum a year. |
The mine will begin commercial production in 2012-13. |
| Arizona 1 Uranium Project | ||
The Arizona 1 uranium project is one of four mines under full or partial development in the Arizona Strip. |
Mineral resources at the site were estimated to be 120,000t at an average grade of 0.545% U3O8. |
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| Athabasca Oil Sands | ||
Suncor's Oil Sands plant, located north of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Suncor's vision is to more than double oil sands production to over half a million barrels per day in the next decade. |
Syncrude Mildred Lake plant. The yellow structures are the bases of pyramids made of sulphur, behind which is the tailings pond. |
Extraction separation cell. Suncor's primary extraction plants separate raw bitumen from the sand in giant separation cells. |
Truck and shovel mining at Albian Sands. |
Firebag SAGD well pad. The steam assisted gravity drainage technology uses underground wells to inject steam into the oil sands deposits and collect the bitumen released by the heat. |
Map showing the extent of the Athabasca Oil Sands. |
Oil sand bitumen is a mixture of sand, water and clay. |
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| Aurora | ||
The Aurora mining complex is located in North Carolina, USA. |
Aurora is one of very few operations in the USA to use bucketwheel excavators for overburden stripping. |
The phosphate ore is mined using draglines then slurried and pumped to the processing plant. |
Schematic of the Aurora mill flowsheet. |
Products are loaded on to enclosed barges for the journey to the export port at Morehead City. |
PCS has received both US and state awards for its reclamation work at Aurora. |
| Bachelor Lake Gold Mine | ||
In November 2004 Metanor Resources Inc acquired the rights to Bachelor Lake from Campbell Resources for $2.3m. |
The mine consists of 177 claims and two mining concessions spread across 4,837.4ha of land. |
By December 2008 the operating capacity of the mill was increased by modifying and installing new motors. |
The mine is located at an elevation of 100m and is covered by coarse and sandy glacial deposits. |
The total measured and indicated resources of the mine are estimated to be 841,591 metric tons at a grade of 7.79g/t Au. |
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| Bajo de la Alumbrera | ||
Bajo de la Alumbrera is located at an altitude of 2,500m in Catamarca province, some 1,100km north west of Buenos Aires. |
Plant construction in the remote region of the Argentine Andes. |
Geological cross-section though the orebody. Very little surface material needed stripping before mining began. |
Developing the first few benches with the mine's new equipment. |
Caterpillar 789B haulers make up the mine's truck fleet. |
The flotation section at Alumbrera's concentrator includes Jameson cells developed and supplied by MIM. |
| Bear Run Coal Mine | ||
An example of the advanced technologies used at the site. |
An industrial spur is currently being built. |
Bear Run is predicted to be the biggest surface mine in the eastern US. |
| Bingham Canyon | ||
Bingham Canyon copper mine is two-and-a-half miles wide and half a mile deep. It is one of the most efficient copper producing mines in the world. |
Bingham Canyon mine is the largest man-made excavation on earth. |
Bingham Canyon mining equipment. |
The power plant. |
Four grinding lines composed of four semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mills and eight ball mills and corresponding flotation cells. |
The company operates two concentrators. |
The technically advanced and cleanest smelter in the world is part of an $880 million modernisation programme. |
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| Black Thunder | ||
Coal at Coal Creek comes from two seams with a combined thickness of approximately 33ft. |
Black Thunder is the largest producer of coal in North America. |
The BE-1300 Dragline, originally built at Coal Creek, was walked across the prairie to Black Thunder. |
The BE-2570 WS dragline known as 'Ursa Major'. |
Electric shovels loading the haul trucks at Black Thunder. |
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| Brunswick | ||
The surface installations at the Brunswick No.12 mine. |
Three-dimensional image of the No.12 orebody. |
Ore is recovered by blasting then dumping, followed by crushing and finally hoisting to the surface for treatment. |
Oversize rocks in the stopes are drilled and charged using the Weasel remote-controlled rig. |
Using a raiseborer to drill orepasses from one level to the next. |
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| Buckhorn Gold Mine, | ||
The proposal for the Buckhorn gold mine changed from being an open mine to an underground mine. |
Buckhorn is located just south of the Canadian border. |
One million ounces of gold are estimated to be in reserve at the Kinross Buckhorn gold mine. |
| Campbell | ||
A shaft hoist in operation at the Campbell mine. |
A loader with a scoop of gold-bearing rock. |
A jackleg drill in operation. |
Driller at the Campbell mine. |
Gold pour at Campbell. |
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| Carlin Trend | ||
Newmont land position, Carlin, Nevada. |
The gold quarry pit, Carlin Trend, Nevada. |
Underground mining on the Carlin Trend. |
Underground operations at Carlin Trend. |
The Twin Creeks mega pit. |
The refractory ore treatment plant (roaster) at Carlin. |
Close-up of the refractory ore treatment plant. |
The plant is highly computerised and is the largest of its type in the world. |
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| Coal Mountain | ||
Location of Coal Mountain. |
Landscape of Coal Mountain. |
Typical cross-section at Coal Mountain operations. |
Coal Mountain processing plant. |
Trucks and loader. |
Canadian Pacific Railway Co’s 112-car unit trains to transport its products to tidewater. |
Westshore terminals, with an annual throughput capacity exceeding 22Mt. |
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| Copper Mountain Project | ||
Copper Mountain is an open pit porphyry copper mine. |
The deposit at the project site is classified as an alkali porphyry copper deposit with gold admixture. |
The project mining property and associated permits are under Similco Mines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Copper Mountain Mining Corporation. |
| Cordero Rojo | ||
Cordero Rojo seen from high up on one of the mine’s loading silos. |
Draglines are the main stripping tool at Cordero Rojo. |
Looking along one of the operating pit areas. |
The P&H drilling rig, used for overburden blasting. |
Loading coal using a P&H shovel and Komatsu Haulpak 830E trucks. |
A Komatsu Haulpak 830E electric-drive hauler. |
Cordero and Caballo Rojo have their own coal storage and loadout silos. |
Unit trains carry Cordero Rojo coal to Midwestern US customers. |
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| Cortez Gold Mine, NV | ||
The jewel of the Cortez joint venture, Pipeline will have PDG's lowest costs. Foreground is the Crescent pit, with the Pipeline pit behind and the new mill. |
The first gold doré bar at Pipeline. |
Mining the Pipeline pit. |
The Pipeline mine feeder system. |
Grinders in the mill. |
The Pipeline project under construction in 1996. |
Carbon Columns, part of the gold recovery process at Cortez. |
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| Crandall Canyon | ||
Satellite view of the Crandall Canyon mine site, just off Utah State Route 31 in the Manti-LaSal National Forest. |
Longwall underground coal production; this technique played a major part in boosting the mine’s production. |
Map showing the extent of the mine. |
A high resolution dual lens camera system waiting to be lowered into an 1,868ft shaft as part of the rescue effort. |
Diagram detailing the boreholes drilled during the rescue attempt. |
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| Cripple Creek and Victor, | ||
Blasting at Cripple Creek and Victor mine, now 100% owned by AngloGold |
A Cripple Creek and Victor employee; some are now in prison after stealing around $3m of gold from the mine since 1999. |
The CC&V Cresson Project is a low-grade, open-pit operation. |
| East Manhattan Wash | ||
A comprehensive bulk sampling programme at the mine was completed in May 2009. |
Samples taken ranged between 0.05ppm to 0.32ppm gold. |
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| Ekati | ||
BHP Diamond's site map. |
The Koala pit in the foreground with the plant site in the background. |
Installation of the secondary scrubber feed conveyor at the Ekati plant. |
The Koala plant site showing the process plant and coarse ore storage. |
The Koala site camp with fuel storage to the right and power plant. |
Diamonds from the Ekati mine. |
| Fording River | ||
The location of Fording River coal mine. |
The Fording River coking coal mine produced 7.9Mt of clean coal in 1998. |
11,400t of cleaned coal leaves on its 1,175km trip from Fording River operations to the deep-sea port of Roberts Bank. |
Electric shovel and truck in operation. |
The coal preparation plant. |
Washing and drying process schematic. |
Typical Eagle Mountain cross-section at Fording River Operations. |
Landscape of Eagle Mountain. |
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| Galore Creek Project | ||
Discovered in 1955, the Galore Creek gold project is one of the largest copper-gold-silver mines located in north-west British Columbia. |
The Galore Creek gold mine has approximately 1,300mt of high-grade copper, gold and silver resources. |
The proposed 90km road will improve access to the mine, largely eliminating the need for helicopter transportation. |
| Godfrey Gold Property, Ontario | ||
Godfrey Gold project map. |
Map of the Timmins area. |
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| Great Panther Topia Mine | ||
The Topia is located in Durango State, Mexico. |
The Topia mining district is among the oldest in Mexico. |
Most of the mine’s veins lie on the Great Panther property. |
| Greenhills | ||
Location of Greenhills coal mine. |
Landscape of Greenhills. |
Typical cross-section at Greenhills operations. |
GPS technology in surveying and drilling applications. |
Open-pit coal mining at Greenhills schematic. |
A Marion 301-M with a 45m³ capacity bucket. |
Truck and loader. |
Greenhills washing and drying process schematic. |
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| Highland Valley | ||
The Valley pit, source of most of Highland Valley’s ore, with the Lornex pit behind. |
Highland Valley's mining operations are centred on P&H shovels and a Caterpillar haul fleet. |
Twin semi-mobile in-pit crushers handle the run-of-mine ore, feeding the conveyors to the mill. |
The grinding circuit in the Highland mill. |
The Valley tailings pond is contained at one end by the L-L dam. |
Reclaimed tailings are home to the cattle. |
| Idaho Cobalt Mine | ||
Cobalt refining operations at Big Creek, Idaho. |
Equipment on site in Salmon, Idaho. |
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| Jacobs Ranch Mine | ||
Jacobs Ranch is allowed to produce 55 million tons of coal every year. |
The mine was acquired by Rio Tinto through its subsidiary Kennecott Energy from Kerr-McGee Coal in 1998. |
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| Johnson Camp Mine, | ||
The Johnson Camp Mine includes two existing open pits, one of which is the Burro pit. |
The Johnson Camp Mine uses the solvent extraction, electrowinning (SX-EW) process. |
There are two raffinate ponds at the Johnson Camp site. |
Copper barron raffinate is used for leaching of copper ores. |
Copper hit a record price of $8,820 in March 2008. |
The Johnson Camp is expected to produce 25 million pounds of copper cathodes annually over a mine life of 16 years. |
Nord has already purchased the primary crushing station from the Newmont Gold Quarry operation for use at Johnson Camp. |
Sandvik H6800 secondary crushers are to be used at the Johnson Camp site. |
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| Kidd Creek Copper and Zinc Mine, Ontario | ||
Kidd Creek is situated close to the city of Timmins in northern Ontario. |
The steeply dipping orebody was mined first as an open-pit, then in progressively deeper stages underground. |
Two shafts dominate the surface at Kidd Creek’s mining division. |
Drillers underground at Kidd Creek. |
Kidd Creek’s metallurgical division is separate from the mine, and consists of both smelters and refineries. |
The concentrator at Kidd Creek produces base metal concentrates for smelting and refining. |
The Kidd Creek copper smelter flowsheet. |
Zinc ingots awaiting shipment at the Kidd Creek zinc plant. |
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| Lone Mountain | ||
The mine is located in a district that hosts the Santa Rita-Chino and Tyrone open-pit copper mines. |
Mineralisation in the lone deposit includes copper porphyry, polymetallic skarns and a large copper oxide-carbonate-sulfide blanket that lies near-surface. |
The intrusive rocks present in the prospect are composed of quartz monzonitic-granodioritic-latite. |
| Morenci Copper Mine, Arizona | ||
Phelps Dodge's Morenci operations are in southern Arizona, 250km southeast of Phoenix. |
An electric mining shovel and its trucks in the pit bottom. |
A P&H 2800 mining shovel loading a Caterpillar 973 hauler. |
Hauling waste rock to backfill the worked out pit requires a big truck fleet. |
One of Morenci's Caterpillar 797, 272t (300st) capacity mechanical-drive haul trucks. |
Higher-grade ore is heap-leached within the pit, with the leach liquor being pumped up to the solvent-extraction plant. |
Low-grade ore is ball-milled before being agglomerated and dump-leached to recover its copper content. |
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| Musselwhite | ||
Aerial view of Musselwhite. |
Schematic of a section through the Musselwhite mine. |
A longhole drill in operation underground. |
Trainee miners operating a jackleg drill underground. |
Ore transportation at the mine. |
The Musselwhite mill with grinders in the foreground. |
Pouring gold at Musselwhite. |
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| Myra Falls Zinc, Copper, Gold | ||
The Myra Falls mines are located in the Strathcona provincial park in the Myra valley on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. |
Exploration near the Myra Falls mine. The mines are located in a stratigraphic sequence of volcanic rocks over 6km long and 450m thick. |
Long-hole drilling underground at Myra Falls. |
The ore milling section in the Myra Falls concentrator. Mined ore is hauled to an underground crusher and then hoisted to the surface. |
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| NovaGold Rock Creek Project, | ||
NovaGold's Rock Creek project is set to produce an estimated 100,000oz of gold per year. |
Rock Creek has been designed as a 7,000t/day conventional open-pit year-round operation. |
Using inexpensive gravity methods, combined with flotation and cyanidation, overall gold recovery at Rock Creek is anticipated at 88%. |
Detailed design and engineering for the mill facility has been carried out by Samuel Engineering Inc, of the US. |
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| Peñasquito Polymetallic Mine, Zacatecas | ||
The Goldcorp mine at Peñasquito will produce gold, silver, lead and zinc. |
RoM sulphide ore will be processed through a conventional crushing, milling and flotation facility at the Peñasquito mine. |
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| Pinto Valley | ||
| Raglan Nickel Copper Mine, Quebec | ||
Raglan is located in the far north of Quebec, in an area accessible only by air, or by ship during the ice-free season. |
Raglan’s mining crews operate on a fly-in/fly-out basis, with high-quality camp accommodation provided for those currently on duty. |
Very harsh natural conditions make mining at Raglan a challenge. |
Drilling in one of the early open-pits. |
Drilling underground, where brine is used instead of fresh water for flushing the drill holes. |
The Raglan concentrator flowsheet. |
Raglan’s concentrates are shipped to Falconbridge’s Sudbury smelter, using ice-breaking vessels that have lengthened the annual shipping ‘window’ considerably. |
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| Red Dog | ||
Red Dog occupies a very small ‘environmental footprint’ in the Alaskan wilderness. Red Dog’s capacity has recently been uprated from treating 2.5Mt/y of run-of-mine ore to 3.2Mt/y. |
Construction of the new concentrate storage buildings at Red Dog’s port. |
Red Dog mill flowsheet. |
Cross-section through the Aqqaluk and Paalaaq deposits, where exploration is continuing to increase Red Dog’s reserves. |
Cross-section showing the location of the present pit. |
The zinc flotation circuit at the Red Dog mill. |
Loading concentrates during the brief shipping season. |
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| Rocanville Potash Mine, | ||
The Rocanville mine is one of six operated by PCS in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. |
Rocanville’s headframe, processing building and potash storage are all constructed for protection against the Canadian prairie winter. |
Production at Rocanville comes from the mine’s fleet of Marietta four- and two-rotor miners, developed specially for high productivity in potash. |
Each miner rotor cuts a circular profile, giving a three-pass cut to produce a final room width of 20m. |
The potash recovery building is equipped with electrostatic dust precipitators, designed to minimize dust emissions to the environment. |
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| Ruby Hill | ||
Ruby Hill open-pit gold mine. |
Loader depositing ore into haul truck (Caterpillar 777D). |
Ore being stockpiled from the secondary crusher (low-grade ore). |
The ball mill inside the process plant. |
View of the agglomerator (lower left) looking out to the heap-leach pad. |
View of the top of the heap-leach pad (hose is for delivering cyanide solution onto the ore). |
The process plant. |
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| Snap Lake Mine | ||
The diamonds extracted in the process plant are sent to De Beers' valuation facility in Yellowknife. |
The process plant was commissioned during August 2007 and diamonds were recovered in the same month. |
Construction of the Snap Lake project commenced in 2005 with an investment of $975m. |
| Star Diamond Project | ||
Kimberlite core sample. |
Star Kimberlite is among the largest diamond bearing kimberlites worldwide. |
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| Stillwater / East Boulder | ||
Location of the Stillwater and East Boulder projects. |
The Stillwater mine lies in the Stillwater Valley. |
Handheld drilling is still a vital part of Stillwater’s production system. |
Loading out broken ore using an LHD. |
One of two tunnel-boring machines being used to mine access drives. |
Underground development is already under way at East Boulder. |
Molten matte containing palladium and platinum is emptied from the furnaces. |
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| SUFCO | ||
SUFCO is located in central Utah and is served by truck haul routes to its rail loadouts. |
The terrain around the mine site is very rugged, presenting space problems for the surface infrastructure and variable rock stress conditions underground. |
The Joy 7LS-3 shearer underground, capable of producing over 4.5Mt/y of coal on its own. |
The surface facilities at SUFCO, where the mine loadout can handle two 38t-capacity trucks per minute. |
The rail loadout, where Union Pacific trains are loaded for the journey to Los Angeles. |
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| Syncrude | ||
The Mildred Lake facility. The yellow structures in front of the tailings pond are sulphur stockpiles; the extraction plant is just to the right of this photograph and most of the mine lies to the left. |
P&H electric cable shovel loads a CAT 797 haul truck. |
Wood bison – over 300 live in habitats developed by Syncrude in partnership with the Fort McKay First Nation. The company plans to leave regenerated lands once mining ends. |
The oil sand feed to the cyclofeeder (North mine). |
Inside a flotation cell at the Aurora extraction facility. |
The hydrotransport pipeline leads to the primary separation vessel (Aurora). |
Komatsu Heavy Hauler (North mine). |
The Syncrude plant site. |
Aerial view of Fort McMurray, showing the Grant MacEwan bridge over the Athabasca River. |
| Twentymile | ||
Twentymile is located in northern Colorado, 30km from Steamboat Springs and 180km north west of Denver. |
Twentymile’s coal stockpiles dominate the mine site, the area behind the current mine having been worked previously by a strip mine and then restored to productive ranch land. |
Installing rock bolts and protective steel mesh in a gateroad development heading. |
Coal being discharged from one of the electric-powered shuttle cars used in gateroad development. |
The Long-Airdox Electra 3000 shearer, which can cut a 900 mm-thick slice of coal at speeds of over 40 m/minute along the longwall face. |
The rail loadout at Twentymile; 95% of the coal produced is sold as mined, with only crushing and screening to size. |
Twentymile is serviced by the Union Pacific Railroad, which runs two or three 10,000t-capacity unit trains per day from the mine. |
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