Large quantities of iron-ore tailings are being generated annually in the world from mining and processing of iron ores. It has been estimated that around 10-15% of the iron ore mined in India has remained unutilized and discarded as slimes during mining and subsequent processing. Soil contamination resulting from mining activities affects surrounding flora and fauna and presents a large clean-...

The Eskay Creek gold-silver mine, located in northwest British Columbia, is an unusually high-grade ore deposit. The mining industry continues to spend more than $2 million each year on exploration for similar deposits in the area. The geologic setting at the minesite is well studied, but large tracts in north-central British Columbia require more detailed surveys to determine if favourable sit...

How Mining Releases Toxic Metals Large amounts of waste rock and tailings contaminated with toxic metals can be produced by mine sites. In the case of the Donlin Creek mine, there are only 0.072 ounces of gold for every ton of ore, a figure that does not take into account the waste rock. Toxic substances contained within the rock and tailings are more easily released once these substances are p...

Integrated Optimization can find optimized solutions for a project to define open pit and mine scheduling with greater reliability. This work aims demonstrate how the insertion of geometallurgical variables significantly change financial return project. Two are considered in planning simulations. Specific energy corresponds consumed comminution ore, process recovery measures percentage metal in...

1. Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) is a by product of the steel industry. Blast furnace slag is defined as “the non-metallic product consisting essentially of calcium silicates and other bases that is developed in a molten condition simultaneously with iron in a blast furnace.” [1] In the production of iron, blast furnaces are loaded with iron o...

A crucial problem in the mining industry is to determine the optimal sequence of extraction of blocks, in which the mine has been structured for exploitation. Typically a mine can be constituted by several thousands or millions of blocks. The sequencing models for this structure are very complex giving rise to very large combinatorial linear models. Operational mine plans are usually produced o...