CIM Magazine June-July 2019

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JUNE/JULV 2019 • JUIN/JUILLET 2019 MAGAZINE.CIM.ORG

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JUNE/JULY 2019 | JUIN/JUILLET 2019

feature story

40

Names to Know 2019 Influencers working to define, shape and refine the mining industry

By Matthew Coyte, Virginia Heffernan, Herb Mathisen and Kylie Williams

51 The Crush It! Challenge puts innovative Canadian comminution ideas in the spotlight

56 COM 2019 hosting COPPER 2019 Preliminary Program

By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 5

CIM MAGAZINE JUNE/JULY 2019 • JUIN/JUILLET 2019

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 Matthew Coyte

developments

16

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s new mining code created lots of controversy, but mining companies are reluctant to take action

16

By Sarah Treleaven

21

A new research centre for aluminum smelting technology joint venture ELYSIS set to open in Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean, Quebec

CIM Convention 2019

54

By Robert Hiltz

28

As the world’s gold production dips, Canada’s continues to grow thanks to decades of investing

By Sara King-Abadi

future prospects

32

Six thousand people gathered in Montreal to exchange ideas, celebrate excellence and engage with the mining community

mining lore

74

26

The Soviet Union’s coal mining hero

By Jordan Faries

Integra Resources CFO Andrée St-Germain offers advice on how young miners can become a “hot commodity”

contenu francophone

60 60 61

By Virginia Heffernan

Table des matières Lettre de l’éditeur Mot du président

columns

34

Opinion: For the mining industry, occupational safety must trump the right to engage in legal pot consumption

By Dan Demers

upfront

36

article de fond

62

32

Noms à connaître 2019 Des influenceurs à l’œuvre pour définir, façonner et parfaire l’industrie minière Par Matthew Coyte, Virginia Heffernan, Herb Mathisen et Kylie Williams

The National Research Council of Canada trials onsite gold analyzer

By Ashley Joseph

38

Kingston Process Metallurgy tests optical probe to help maximize copper recovery from concentrate in flash furnace

By Kylie Williams

6 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

Nous publions progressivement sur notre site Internet les articles du CIM Magazine en version française.

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editor’s letter

Carbon pricing climate

S

omething caught my eye as I was thrashing my way through the brambles of newsletters that my inbox has become. An American editorial outlet, reliably outraged by “political correctness,” the new class of congresswomen and reproductive rights, saved itself from the rare indignity of unsubscription with a useful report that a number of companies, including Shell and BP, would be spending the next few days lobbying lawmakers in Washington to legislate a carbon tax.

Beyond the effort being directed at U.S. lawmakers, major resource companies have been applying pressure within their sectors, leaning on industry associations whose job it is to represent their interests. Shell announced it would not renew its membership in the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers in April, citing the association’s support for rolling back fuel economy standards as well as its opposition to carbon pricing.

A few days after Shell released its “Industry Associations Climate Review,” Rio Tinto set out its own climate change policy criteria for partnering with industry associations, which includes establishing a price on carbon and support for the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. International pricing, these companies maintain, would reward efficient operations and technological innovation, set a clearer trajectory to lowcarbon power generation and improve long-term planning.

Canada’s biggest diversified miner, Teck Resources, which does much of its work under British Columbia’s carbon tax regime, likewise endorses carbon pricing and echoed support for the Paris Agreement. “We believe” the company states in its climate action strategy, “that broad-based pricing of carbon is

This issue’s cover Newtrax Technologies CEO Alexandre Cervinka

one of the most effective ways to incentivize real reductions in GHG emissions by ensuring that all emitters contribute to the solution.” If we accept the premise, as Shell, Teck, BHP and Rio Tinto among many others do, that reducing GHGs and transitioning to less-carbon intesive energy is a sensible longterm strategy, then a price on carbon – the more widely applied, the better – is a very good way to do that.

The efforts of the energy companies in Washington will likely have to be considered an investment toward some future return. The way forward, however, is never a straight line.

The new United Conservative Party government in Alberta made the repeal of the provincial carbon tax its first order of business not long after the federal carbon tax had taken effect for Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick.

While those gassing up their vehicles and heating their homes will be spared the dread tax, major emitters such as Teck’s Fort Hills mine and its neighbours will still be obliged to pay for carbon emissions under a pre-existing regulation. What will remain may not clear the bar as a broad-based policy, but that carbon pricing was not scrapped entirely in the country’s energy heartland makes it clear that it is setting down roots.

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; Matthew Parizot, mparizot@cim.org Editorial intern Matthew Coyte, mcoyte@cim.org Contributors Dan Demers, Jordan Faries, Virginia Heffernan, Robert Hiltz, Ashley Joseph, Sara King-Abadi, Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco, Herb Mathisen, Sarah Treleaven, Kylie Williams Editorial advisory board Mohammad Babaei Khorzhoughi, Vic Pakalnis, Steve Rusk, Nathan Stubina Translations Karen Rolland and Michèle Tirlemont Layout and design Clò Communications Inc., www.clocommunications.com

Photo by Riccardo Cellere

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

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

Printed in Canada

8 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

president’s notes

From compliance to commitment one of commitment. Commitment to do the right things, to go beyond legislated requirements, because we have a moral imperative to treat our resources, our people and our environment with respect.

I visited one of the projects I was working on a few years ago and one of our miners told me, “Whenever we drill a bad round we hear about it, but no one talks about the 99 other rounds that we drilled right.” Isn’t that mining in a nutshell? Everyone hears about it when something goes

“We all need to do a little more bragging about our industry”

W

hat are you proud of? Your kids, your partner, your team, your country, yourself? As Canadians, we have a lot to be proud of, we just aren’t allowed to tell anyone about it, that wouldn’t be Canadian. One thing I am proud of is the Canadian mining industry. That’s right, I said it, out loud even, and my passport still says I’m Canadian.

I recognize the importance of mining in general, how it improves the quality of life of everyone in the world and how it creates jobs and fuels alternative energy that will make our planet a better place to live.

But what I really like about mining, what makes me immensely proud, is the leadership role that Canada has taken in the mining industry. Often, advances in public safety and environmental stewardship are through legislation, a demand for compliance. I believe our industry has transcended that and has gone from an industry of compliance to 10 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

wrong, but it isn’t too often that a successful Indigenous partnership, an innovative technology to protect the environment, or advances in diversity in our industry make the front page.

So back to our miner. At the mine contracting company where I worked, we started formally recognizing not just the challenges on the job, but the achievements and the good work people were doing. You won’t be surprised to learn that morale, safety and performance all improved. A pat on the back has a far greater impact than a kick in the ass. That might not sell papers or get clicks, but that is how things work in the real world.

Part of my job, the easiest part, is to talk to as many people as I can about what a great industry the Canadian mining industry is. We all need to do a little more bragging about our industry – and don’t worry, you won’t be any less Canadian for it.

Roy Slack CIM President

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chatter @CIMorg

CIM – Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum

Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum

RE: INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATION (MAY ’19)

Heshan Fernando

FUTURE PROSPECTS

INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATION How universities are trying to reinvent mining education to meet tomorrow’s needs

Offroad Robotics students at Queen’s University working on innovative mining/construction vehicle designs

ver the last five years, the department of engineering at the University of British Columbia has been hiring young professors and researchers who specialize in new technologies. “We have Ilija Miskovic, who is heavily into big data and artificial intelligence, Sanja Miskovic, who uses data to help take mineral processing to the next stage, and Ali Madiseh, whose research area is in mine energy systems, which is very cutting edge,” said Malcolm MacLachlan, program manager at the university’s Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering. “We also have a lot more courses being developed in these new areas.

We have a data mining course. We have an automation course adjusted to what happens now and in the future. Heck, we’ve got a component of our 4th year capstone course that features mining on the moon.”

Meanwhile, Queen’s University has been developing “real and technically rigorous education for new mining engineers in the fields of mining automation and robotics,” said Joshua Marshall, an associate professor at the university’s Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining and lead at Offroad Robotics, a multidisciplinary engineering research group whose recent research projects working with the mining industry include robotic excavation and remote operator-assist systems. Queen’s also offers a graduate-level course on the fundamentals that automation engineers need to model and design nextgeneration autonomous mining vehicles.

But the mining industry will require more than just mining engineers. To succeed in a more digital and automated environment, companies will require mining and mineral processing engineers who can leverage their knowledge of artificial intelligence and machine learning with a holistic mine-to-mill approach to processing. Back in 2006, when Memorial University’s department of process engineering launched its

O

an industry perspective. “Right now, the industry wants to know how to use data to be more productive and efficient, and how we can use connectivity to deal with the shortages of people working in remote areas,” said Adams. “So we’re seeing a lot around how to apply these technologies to do things more remotely.”

Research partnerships between mining companies and universities have played a critical role for universities such as Queen’s in closing the gap between industry and education.

“Industry itself needs to recognize that it cannot rely on universities alone to foster this change,” said Marshall. “It needs to step up, participate in, and financially support university R&D that educates and attracts these students to the challenges of applying these new technologies in mining.”

Breaking the disciplinary silos

By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

first undergraduate program, it did so with a heavy focus on information analysis. The department has been implanting new digitalization technologies across its courses ever since, said Faisal Khan, the department’s head. “The challenge is to provide the students today with the needs of the mining industry in five to ten years,” he said. “So we have researchers in our team focused on data mining and digitalization and the digital twin process specifically for mineral processing.”

Working with industry To meet that challenge, universities are engaging with industry to get its feedback on trends and skills gaps.

“We have the advantage that Sudbury is a mining centre,” said Nicole Tardif, program coordinator for Laurentian University’s Goodman School of Mines. “So our professors relate closely with industry.”

While that keeps the school in the loop, Laurentian also digs deeper with its own research. Tardif recently surveyed more than 350 engineers, geologists, environmental scientists and managers working in mining on which area they would like to receive more training. Surprisingly, the top area had nothing to do with technology or digitalization. Instead, the professionals said they needed to learn more about the history and cultures of Indigenous people and how to work with them proactively. The school is now developing a course for its Career Path Mapping program for professionals. “At the same time, it’s going to also be available online to students at a discounted price and will fill the gaps for them before they get into the industry,” she said.

Mark Adams, Outotec’s regional manager for western Canada, said he believes the industry has an important role to play in all this. He sits on the Norman B. Keevil industry advisory committee, which informs UBC on trends and gaps from

32 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 3

Canadian Institute of Mining

@cim_mag

“In my view, the biggest challenge is one of disciplinary barriers,” said Marshall. “Mining tends to be a conservative industry and one that repeatedly believes that it can do it all itself.”

To break those barriers, Queen’s has opened up its robotics courses to non-mining engineers. “We have seen mechanical, electrical, and computer engineers trained in the unique challenges and interesting opportunities for the application of advanced technologies in mining,” said Marshall.

At UBC, walls are also coming down. “Mining is a very cross-disciplinary industry so we do try to break out of the traditional university silos and develop relationships across engineering, with sciences and with the arts,” said MacLachlan, citing the example of one of his department’s professors, Nadja Kunz, an engineer whose research focuses on sustainable water management in mining and works for both the arts faculty doing policy research and the mining engineering department.

Digital and autonomous technologies are important, said MacLachlan, but his department keeps an eye on the big picture and trains for the diversity of expertise the industry will need. “There are many other areas that are part of the change toward the future within the industry. Water is one of them,” he said.

Another area is the interface between humans and robots, said Greg Jamieson, a professor in the University of Toronto’s department of mechanical and industrial engineering who heads U of T’s Cognitive Engineering Laboratory, which conducts research through the lens of human factors engineering (the discipline that studies the interaction between people and technology). His course, which teaches students to anticipate and design for the impact of new technologies on the humans who interact with them, can be taken by the university’s mining engineering students as an elective. “Human factors engineering offers mining engineers a new perspective in thinking about the engineering work and problem solving,” he said.

“And gives them the skillset to try to avoid a situation in which an automation deployment is unsuccessful due to how people interact with the technology.”

Students themselves, said Jamieson, have a role to play in the silo-breaking needed for innovation and transformation.

“My advice to any engineering student now is to have the courage to take on something that’s slightly outside your expertise,” he said.

Revving up for more change As the high-tech revolution in the mining industry accelerates, however, universities are revving up their efforts to understand what else they will need to do to prepare the next generation. Ray Gosine, a Memorial University professor of electrical and computer engineering, for example, is currently a visiting professor at U of T, where he is researching the impact of the rapid technological shift in the resource industries – including mining – at the university’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy’s Innovation Policy Lab. “The work involves taking a step back from the day-to-day technology development and trying to put it in a somewhat broader context to understand how it intersects with public policy,” he said. “I’m interested in what we need to do as universities to better prepare our undergraduate and post-graduate students for future careers in these industries, which, like all industries, are subject to changes due to digitalization.”

More change is also in the works at UBC’s engineering department, which is currently reviewing all its curricula. The process includes gathering feedback from industry and First Nation communities. “Then next year, we will take what we get out of that and begin a process of reworking our curriculum,” said MacLachlan.

At Queen’s, “we are in the midst of developing a new research institute called Ingenuity Labs that will focus on robotics, mechatronics, and AI, and applications in a variety of industries, including mining,” Marshall said. “Stay tuned for some exciting opportunities for students to access a broader range of experts in these fields, including mining students and related industries.”

Of course, most of the bright minds that have developed the transformative technologies began as students at a university. “From my perspective, universities have played a huge role in developing and prototyping the fundamental technologies that have formed the basis for the increasing levels of autonomy emerging in the mining industry,” said Marshall.

“And through these university-based and collaborative research and development projects, we have trained significant numbers of highly qualified people who have become technology champions in the industry.” CIM

FUTURE PROSPECTS

The Keevil Mining School at U British Columbia is adapting to a rapidly changing industry. I’m looking forward to joining a great team of researchers and educators in July.

– John Steen @JohnubcB

From data mining and automation courses, to fostering relationships with communities, to mining on the moon (part of a capstone course), UBC’s mining engineering department is adapting to a constantly changing industry.

Proudly sponsored by

Throughout 2019 CIM Magazine will feature articles on how the mining workplace is changing and the strategies young professionals will need to build themselves a career in the digital mining industry. Do you have an idea for a story in this section? Reach out to tdinardo@cim.org.

– Lou Corpuz Bosshart @loubosshartubc

May 2019 • Mai 2019 | 33

Dr. Marshall’s course “Mining Systems, Automation and Robotics” has been one of my favourites during my mining engineering undergrad at Queen’s so far.

– Max Hajdecki

RE: GREEN GOOP YIELDS A BREAKTHROUGH (MAY ’19)

Tailings not all bad then.

– Ros Lund @RosLund1

RE: EXCELLON WINS THE WATER WAR (MARCH/APRIL ’19)

This was a challenging and exciting project for the team and fundamental to the successful turnaround at Platosa, we were thrilled that the CIM Magazine decided to feature it!

– Denis Flood, P. Eng.

RE: CIM CONVENTION 2019

There was a standing ovation for the outgoing CIM president at the Caterpillar Inc. Gala last night at CIMTL19. Huge congratulations to @CIMPrez for a successful year!

So impressed with the @GMGorg A.I. panel and their insights at @CIMorg.

– Néha T. Singh @NehaTSingh RE: SOCIAL STANDING (MARCH/APRIL ’19)

Glad to read such a good article. What troubles me is that mining is an industry that is constructively confronting important challenges, and one would think it would attract the large numbers of students for whom environment and social development are core values, yet numbers at all mining schools in Canada are down. The investment community is driving higher standards more effectively than regulations.

– Anne Johnson

– PACE @YourPACEca

ERRATA In “Lake Superior’s Silver Island” (May ‘19, p.74), the story was published with part of a sentence missing from the text.

The sentence should read: “After two years of trying to collect silver from the mine, the Montreal Mining Company sold it in 1870 to Alexander H. Sibley, who created the Silver Islet Mining Company to advance the project.”

In “Pretium Resources updates resource estimates for production ramp-up” (May ‘19, p.28), the mine was said to have proven and probably resources, rather than proven and probable reserves.

12 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

In “CIM Award Winners” (May ‘19, p.56), we unfortunately left out a few of our distinguished award winners. We sincerely apologize for our oversight. Congratulations to: • Catharine Shaw for her District Distinguished Service Award • Bruce Armitage for his Excellence in Sustainable Development Award • Chantal Lavoie for his J.C. Sproule Northern Exploration Award • Steve Courchesne for his McParland Memorial Award for Excellence in Maintenance, Engineering and Reliability

SAVE the DATE

Kamloops COAST KAMLOOPS HOTEL & CONFERENCE CENTRE

OCTOBER 20-23 2019 KAMLOOPS, BC, CANADA

memo2019.cim.org MEMO conference & trade show is owned and operated by the Canadian Instiute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum

tools of the trade

Roomy narrow-vein scoop loading There is no shortage of space in the operator’s seat of DUX Machinery’s DSL-300 scoop loader, the company’s first compact, narrow-vein machine. DUX president Hermann Bumueller said the cabin is designed for the comfort of the operator, hosting a side-seat with simplified controls and more leg room for operators as they manoeuvre with increased visibility. With 3,000 kg of tramming capacity, the DSL-300 holds slightly less than similar machines, but DUX’s loader focuses instead on increased manoeuvrability and operator comfort. The DSL-300 is currently available with a Cummins diesel engine and will soon be offered with a battery/electric drive. According to DUX, the engine needs only 30 minutes for a 75 per cent charge, allowing the DSL300 to keep working throughout the day.

Evolution in excavation

Defence against the cold Winter can be a trying time when it comes to conveyor belts. When temperatures drop, raw materials like bitumen can clump together and cause damage as they fall.

Fenner Dunlop’s new Dynaflight ZR2-ORB Steel Cord Belt with Dynabreaker fabric aims to fix that issue. The company has spent the last five years developing a compound of synthetic rubber with a steel cable strength member, which works to reduce damage from highimpact work and is better suited for harsher environments. “Companies have seen a greater return on their investment; [the belts] have exceeded tonnage and life cycle expectations.” Fenner Dunlop western Canada account executive Brent Fenty said. “Especially with how the costing has been with the oil market, downtime is even more crucial and the conveyor belts are a very crucial part of the operations in the oil sands.” According to Fenty, the belt has exceeded tonnage expectations and has been shown to have a higher life expectancy than other belts.

When Hitachi was designing its new EX1200-7 excavator, the company’s goal was to build a machine that could be fast, easy to maintain and efficient on any work site. “We’re always looking to give our customers machines that not only perform, but also help lower the total cost of ownership,” said Hitachi mining product marketing and applications manager Brian Mace. “With enhancements such as an improved hydraulic system, engine options and fuel consumption technology, the EX1200-7 was designed to deliver efficiency, reliability and durability while helping optimize mining operations.” With the EX1200-7 model, Hitachi says it has improved fuel economy by six per cent compared to its previous model. The total operating weight of the shovel is 260,146 pounds, and has a max dig reach of 37 feet nine inches.

Compiled by Matthew Coyte 14 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

St Barbara to take over Atlantic Gold

Hudbay and Waterton conclude lengthy shareholder conflict

Barrick offers Acacia buyout while it negotiates with Tanzania

Mount Nansen has new owners, and a long road of remediation ahead

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Developments New president and new mining code offers no answers for Congo miners The Democratic Republic of Congo’s new mining code created lots of controversy, but mining companies are reluctant to take action Courtesy of Barrick Gold

By Sarah Treleaven

Barrick’s Kibali mine in DRC produced 363,263 ounces of gold in 2018.

No one was surprised when the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) announced it was making changes to the country’s mining code. The previous code, in effect since 2002, had been set to expire after 10 years. As a result, negotiations between the DRC and mining interests stretched from 2014 until the code was signed into 16 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

law by then-President Joseph Kabila in March 2018.

What did come as a surprise is that despite those negotiations, mining companies’ concerns were largely ignored in the final drafting of that new code. The new code raised royalty payments, introduced a 50 per cent tax on “superprofits” (income

realized when commodity prices exceed 25 per cent above levels in a project’s bankable feasibility study), and eliminated a 10-year stabilization clause for companies presently operating in the country.

There are any number of reasons why those changes were implemented, said Indigo Ellis, Africa ana-

lyst with risk analysis firm Verisk Maplecroft: changing regional context, perhaps, or increasing sensitivity to the idea that the mining companies have structured their operations in such a way that limits their tax exposure and therefore reduces the revenue owed to the state. Regardless of the reason, the new mining code has raised the costs of operating in the DRC and has introduced an elevated sense of caution among international mining interests.

The initial reaction from mining companies was largely defiant. Randgold (which has since merged with Barrick), Glencore, Ivanhoe and other major players formed a new lobbying body, the Mining Promotion Initiative (MPI), in order to consolidate opposition and better bargain with the Congolese government. According to the MPI, its member companies represent 80 per cent of the DRC’s copper and cobalt production and 90 per cent of the gold output.

“A lot of the [anger] stemmed from the loss of the stabilization clause,” said Ellis. “That was the main bee in the bonnet of mining companies. They thought, we can get with the new program, but we need five years.” Such clauses, which fix the terms of an investment for the life of the project, exist to protect foreign investors against policy changes in the host country.

In contrast, the 2002 agreement, forged as the DRC was still emerging from a brutal civil conflict, had been tremendously favourable to international mining companies. “It was detrimental in many ways to the Congolese economy and companies were able to export as much profit as they liked,” said Ellis, noting that the 40 per cent repatriation of profits clause was commonly defied. “Mining companies knew the party couldn’t last forever.”

A valuable relationship Ellis says that this agreement is similar to those that other countries in the region, such as Tanzania and Zambia, have implemented in order to extract more concessions from the industry. “Despite unprecedented levels of industrial mineral production in the Congo, expected state revenue remained well below what was forecast,” said Ben Radley, a PhD researcher at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague who focuses on the political economy of mining in the DRC. “I think there’s been a feeling building in the Congolese government that there’s a need to generate more revenue from this sector.”

According to estimates from the United States Geological Survey, the 90 million tonnes of cobalt the DRC produced in 2018 was more than the rest of the world combined. The country was tied with the U.S. as the world’s fourth largest copper producer.

Ellis said that Tanzania and Zambia both have more onerous terms, but the DRC can be singled out for the red tape associated with operations in the country: the multiplicity of legislation, agencies and taxes that companies have to deal with. He also said that there has been uneven June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 17

application and enforcement of the mining code. At the end of 2018, after cobalt prices slipped, the DRC introduced a 10 per cent strategic resources tax on the metal. “To have it operate on a whim raises the regulatory risk of operating in the DRC,” said Ellis.

“A lot of the statements that came out right after the mining code was announced almost suggested that the DRC would become uninvestable, but I think people are kind of eating their words now when it comes to that,” said Ellis. In fact, Congolese mining revenues were up 147 per cent in the first nine months of 2018 over the same period the previous year. Promised international arbitration is seemingly on hold, despite threats from some mining interests to keep the Congolese government in court for years.

“We are seeing a more measured approach to expansion for existing operators,” said Ellis, who noted that many of the newest players are not large multinationals but rather Chinese state mining companies.

One year later, some companies are even signaling a more conciliatory tone. In early April, both Barrick and Ivanhoe released statements reaffirming the companies’ commitment to the DRC, with Ivanhoe’s co-chairmen emphasizing its “strong support for [President Tshisekedi’s] commitment to attract foreign investment and to accelerate the development of the DRC’s unparalleled mineral potential for the benefit of all stakeholders, as a key element of the country’s economic transformation.”

These kinds of statements might have something to do with the battery electric vehicle revolution and the DRC’s massive reserves of cobalt. “At the moment there’s no alternative like recycling cobalt or reducing the amount of cobalt in these electric batteries,” said Ellis. “Companies are going to need to continue to rely on DRC.” This softening, said Radley, may also be related to the fact that mining companies have thus far been unable to win any concessions. He suggests 18 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

that mining companies might now shift their attention to the question of implementation. “The evidence we’ve seen suggests that most of the Congolese subsidiaries are running at losses and therefore avoiding paying profit tax. Until you start to get more serious about financial transparency surrounding how these companies operate in the Congo, it’s going to be quite difficult to tax them effectively.”

New president, old rules Mining interests operating in the DRC might be holding their breath for President Felix Tshisekedi, the new head of state, to eventually form his cabinet, but there are few indications that he will change the terms of the code. Even more, under a power sharing agreement with Kabila, Ellis said that it is likely that Kabila’s party will continue to wield significant influence. In other words, Tshisekedi’s presidency has not yet provided the boost in investor confidence that many were hoping for.

In addition to the cabinet formation impasse and the seeming loyalty to the terms of the 2018 mining code, Tshisekedi has demonstrated incon-

New World Bank fund aims to support sustainable mining practices The World Bank launched the Climate-Smart Mining Facility in Washington, D.C. on May 1, a multi-donor trust fund “dedicated to making mining for minerals climate-smart and sustainable.”

In response to the increasing demand for strategic minerals and metals needed for clean energy technologies – such as wind, solar power and batteries for energy storage and electric vehicles – the fund will work with resource-rich developing countries and emerging economies to examine current strategies and practices throughout the mineral value chain and implement sustainable and responsible alternatives.

sistent – and at times incoherent – policy making. In April, just outside Lubumbashi, Tshisekedi made an announcement that all state security forces would be removed from mining sites. “By state security forces, did he mean army only? Did he mean police and army? Did he mean the mining police?” Ellis said. “Obviously, this would have a huge operational impact on miners operating in the DRC.” The DRC’s interventionism has also marked the country with a dubious accomplishment. A March report from Verisk Maplecroft listed the DRC next to Venezuela as the two countries at highest risk on the resource nationalism index, which looks at the likelihood of expropriation, pressure on companies to source goods from local suppliers, and the imposition of onerous fiscal terms.

For the immediate future, instability and uncertainty are likely to dominate. “It’s still unclear how much the mining companies will be able to get away with regarding the restructuring of taxes, how assiduously the repatriation of profits will be applied,” said Ellis. “So the next few months will really prove crucial.” CIM

The founding donors announced at the launch include the German government, Rio Tinto and Anglo American. The World Bank is targeting a total investment of US$50 million for the fund, to be deployed over the next five years.

“Developing countries can play a leading role in this transition: developing strategic minerals in a way that respects communities, ecosystems and the environment,” said Riccardo Puliti, senior director and head of the Energy and Extractives Global Practice at the World Bank, in a press release.

As a resource-rich developed country striving to advance sustainable mining practices, Canada has both the minerals necessary for clean technologies and sustainable mining knowledge to share with developing countries and emerging economies. Paul Lefebvre, parliamentary secretary to Canada’s

developments Courtesy of Rio Tinto

Minister of Natural Resources, Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastian attended the Facility launch in Jacques, who was in Washington Washington to share this message. for the launch of the Facility, said, “Governments must play a cen“We want to be part of the solution tral role in facilitating the transion climate change. And the best tion to a low-carbon economy and solutions will come from innovain encouraging climate-smart tive partnerships across competiinnovations,” said Lefebvre in a tors, governments and press release. “We look forward to institutions. Our collaboration continuing our work with internawith the World Bank and many tional partners, including the others is aimed at making a real Rio Tinto’s Diavik diamond mine in Northwest Territories.

World Bank, to advance climate- Rio Tinto is one of the founding donors of the Climatedifference by promoting sustainSmart Mining Facility. smart mining.” able practices across our industry.

The Facility will finance projWe look forward to supporting the ects that integrate renewable energy changes. That is why we are support- Climate-Smart Mining Facility by congeneration at mine sites, generate geoing the World Bank with this Facility, tributing not just funding but also logical knowledge about strategic minto provide funds that can transform expertise as a leader in sustainable eral endowments, support sustainable our industry for the future.” mining practices.” land-use practices, and develop regulaAccording to the Anglo American On Tuesday, over 50 anti-mining tions and policies that promote sus- press release, the World Bank has made organizations, including Earthworks tainable, responsible mining. an initial investment of $2 million and and MiningWatch Canada, joined Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani Anglo will provide $1 million to the forces to oppose the launch of the said in a press release: “To have a real Facility over the next five years. The Facility, encouraging the World Bank impact, we must work together with contributions by the German governto instead “prioritize recycling, circular governments and operators to bring ment and Rio Tinto were not disclosed. economy, public transit, and other

June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 19

Courtesy of Atlantic Gold

non-mining solutions as the primary components of its agenda.”

In a letter posted on the Earthworks website, the signatories noted with alarm that the World Bank “has closely partnered with mining companies in developing and launching its new Climate-Smart Mining Facility, putting mining company agendas and interests before protections to safeguard and benefit workers, communities and the environment.”

By Kylie Williams

Atlantic Gold acquired by Australian St Barbara Ltd for $722 million Canadian gold producer Atlantic Gold Corporation announced on May 14 that it had agreed to be purchased

by Australian gold producer St Barbara Ltd for $722 million, with Atlantic shareholders receiving $2.90 per share.

Atlantic Gold’s Nova Scotian Moose River consolidated project.

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developments according to Atlantic’s quarterly report.

Earlier in this year, Atlantic announced plans to expand the mine to produce 200,000 ounces annually, with expected AISC of $692 per ounce.

“The addition of Moose River to the portfolio diversifies St Barbara’s production base with a low cost producing asset in a very favourable and prospective jurisdiction,” said St Barbara CEO Bob Vassie. “It is a sustainable long life operation of scale with a low AISC position which generates impressive margins. The asset also has significant growth potential which St Barbara identifies as an exciting opportunity.”

St Barbara stated it will raise $490 million through a “concurrent underwritten accelerated non-renounceable entitlement” to fund part of the transaction, with the remainder of the funds coming from the company’s own cash reserves.

This deal marks the latest in a wave of consolidation in the gold industry.

Fellow Australian company Newcrest Mining Ltd entered a joint venture with Canadian Imperial Metals in their Red Chris mine back in March. Other significant consolidations include Barrick Gold and Randgold merging in early 2019, Newmont’s US$10 billion acquisition of Goldcorp that closed in

April 2019 and the Nevada joint venture between Barrick and Newmont Goldcorp.

“St Barbara has consistently communicated to the market that the company has been assessing a range of inorganic growth opportunities and the acquisition today demonstrates the Company’s commitment to executing inorganic growth that is strongly aligned with St Barbara’s strategic plan,” said Vassie in the company’s press release.

Following the announcement, Atlantic’s stock had jumped 37 per cent a share at time of publication. The sale is expected to be completed in July.

– Matthew Coyte

Rio Tinto and Alcoa bring carbon-free aluminum smelting to Quebec A new research centre for aluminum smelting technology joint venture ELYSIS set to open in Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean, Quebec

By Robert Hiltz

Two major aluminum producers with Canadian operations are set to open a new research facility where they will smelt aluminum without any carbon emissions. ELYSIS, a joint pilot project between Rio Tinto and Alcoa, will mark the first full-scale production test of the carbon-free process.

The new research centre will be located in Rio Tinto’s Complexe Jonquière, in the Saguenay-Lac SaintJean region of Quebec, and is expected to employ at least 25 people and come online in 2020. It is a nearproduction-scale operation that marks an important test for the new technology.

ELYSIS CEO Vincent Christ said his company’s process could mean a huge leap forward for the aluminum industry in Canada, and worldwide.

“In a nutshell, if all the smelters in Canada would be converted to this new technology, it’s like removing 1.8 million cars from the road,” Christ said. “This is probably the easiest way

to understand the magnitude of the breakthrough.”

So how do they take a process that usually generates two tonnes of carbon dioxide for every single tonne of aluminum produced and remove the carbon entirely?

It starts with the Hall-Héroult process, which uses electrolysis to separate aluminum from alumina, a refined material made from raw bauxite ore. A molten mixture of alumina and a solvent is put between an anode and a cathode in an insulated cell. As a current is passed through the molten metal, a reaction occurs at the anode. In a typical smelter, those anodes are made of carbon, and as carbon is consumed to produce pure aluminum, the reaction releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

But the ELYSIS process gets around this by using a proprietary aluminum-creating anode made of non-carbon materials. The new anode is inert, meaning it is not consumed as a necessary part of the process. No

carbon anode, no carbon dioxide released. Instead, the ELYSIS smelter produces only pure oxygen.

“I would say the breakthrough we had as a team is to find materials that make this process feasible, without reacting with the process. So what you get at the end, because of the absence of carbon, [is] aluminum on one side and oxygen on the other side,” Christ said.

They have also changed the geometry of a typical smelting cell, where the aluminum in an ELYSIS cell is produced horizontally, instead of vertically. This, Christ said, was necessary to make the process work at all.

“There have been attempts for a number of years to basically do it the simple way, where you remove the carbon anode and nothing else changes, you simply install an inert anode,” he said. “That has not yet [produced] the expected results. So we have taken a different avenue.”

The company expects operating costs to be lower than typical smeltJune/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 21

Kinross announced it will be streamlining its senior leadership. Paul Tomory will take over as executive vice-president and chief technical officer as well as assuming leadership of the company’s regional operations. Senior vice-president and COO Lauren Roberts and human resources senior vice-president Gina Jardine will both leave the company.

Patricio Varas has been appointed as CEO of Boreal Metals Corp by its board of directors. Varas is a geoscientist with over 30 years in the mining industry focusing on the discovery economic mineral deposits. Alexandra Woodyer Sherron and Donald Mosher have also been appointed to corporate development vice-president and capital markets vice-president, respectively.

Rockcliff Metals announced that Alistair Ross would be joining the company as its new president and CEO, as well as its board of directors. Ross spent seven years with Inco/Vale directing the rebuild of the company’s mining operations in Sudbury and was responsible for Vale’s Thompson, Manitoba and Voisey’s Bay operations.

Christ said the nature of the partnership between the three companies is what makes this such an attractive investment for both governments.

“The fact that Alcoa and Rio Tinto joined forces, and they [both] have some equity or ownership in every smelter in Canada, I think that’s a very important part,” he said.

The new research centre is an intermediate step before full production, which they hope to start by 2024. It makes for a last major hurdle, because not only does the new smelting process require reconfiguring the cells where aluminum is produced, but everything around the cell, too.

When asked whether the process will be ready by 2024 for full-scale aluminum production, Christ did not hesitate. “Absolutely,” he said. “And the reason why we have this level of confidence is that we’ve demonstrated a unit scale, meaning a realsize anode and cathode. Now I would say the next phase is simply to multiply the number of units.” CIM Courtesy of Yamana Gold

FROM THE WIRE

ing because of the inert anodes.

“Every 25 to 30 days, they need to replace an anode. With the ELYSIS technology, [we’re talking] about years before we change an anode,” Christ said.

They have also managed to tweak the technology to have an energy requirement quite close to that of a traditional smelter, he said.

The anodes used in the new smelting process are specially manufactured by ELYSIS, Christ said. In the future, this would replace on-site carbon anode production facilities usually found at a smelter. It would eliminate the need to bring in carbon products to make anodes. “We had [to create a] workaround so we don’t end up consuming more energy, simply because this wouldn’t be acceptable from a business point of view,” he said.

The project has the backing of both the Quebec and federal governments, which have kicked in a combined $175 million to jumpstart the facility.

Golden Star Resourceshas appointed Andrew Wray as its new president and CEO, where he will be replacing Sam Coetzer. Wray was CFO at Acacia Mines for seven years and before that spent 15 years with JPMorgan Cazenove advising companies on a range of capital-raising initiatives.

X-Terra Resources announced that Michel Chapdelaine will be resigning as director and exploration vicepresident. Jeannot Theberge, P. Geo. will step up to act as interim exploration manager while X-Terra searches for a replacement candidate.

Former Canadian ambassador to Japan Mackenzie Clugston has joined Irving Resources as an advisor to provide insight to help the company build relationships in Japan. Clugston spent 34 years with the Canadian Foreign Service and currently teaches at Kwansei Gakuin University as well as serves on the boards of several major Japanese corporations.

22 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

Yamana’s Chapada copper-gold mine is expected to produce 54,500 tonnes of copper and 100,000 ounces of gold in 2019.

Lundin Mining buys Yamana’s Chapada copper-gold mine for $1 billion Lundin Mining Corporation announced April 15 that it has entered into an agreement with Yamana Gold to purchase its Chapada copper-gold mine in Brazil for a total consideration of over US$1 billion.

The purchase has Lundin paying Yamana US$800 million in cash pending the closing of the deal and would also include further contingent considerations of US$125 million if certain gold price thresholds are met and US$100 million on the potential construction of a pyrite smelter. The deal also includes a two per cent net smelter royalty on future gold production at the Suruca gold deposit located seven kilometres northeast of Chapada.

developments Lundin claims that the purchase will help the company further its strategic goals, stating that Chapada is a high-quality, long-life copper project. According to Yamana’s 2018 resource estimate, Chapada contains proven and probable reserves of 1.681 million tonnes of copper and 3.484 million ounces of gold (664,629,000 tonnes of ore graded at 0.25 per cent copper and 0.16 grammes per tonne of gold). The project is expected to produce over 54,500 tonnes of copper and 100,000 ounces of gold – at costs of US$1.60 to US$1.80 per pound of copper and US$430 per ounce of gold – and is expected to have an over 20 year mine life.

“Chapada is a well-run, established operation with an experienced local workforce. Leveraging our technical expertise, base metals focus and financial strength, we believe further opportunities exist to create meaningful stakeholder value,” Lundin president and CEO Marie Inkster said. “The addition of Chapada further solidifies Lundin Mining’s position as a leading intermediate base metals producer with high-quality low-cost copper exposure.”

Lundin also says that it will be evaluating several expansion opportunities already started by Yamana to potentially increase the processing rate to a range from 28 to 32 million tonnes per year, as well as further development of the Suruca deposit.

The company will also enter into the existing sales agreements Yamana has previously made with Sandstorm Gold and Altius Minerals.

On Yamana’s end, the company stressed that selling the project will provide the company an immediate boost to its balance sheet, as well as the flexibility to maximize the value of its other operations and increase its dividend for its shareholders. Yamana says that it will be prioritizing repaying its revolving credit facility and its nearand medium-term credit facilities.

However, Yamana also mentioned that it will be making improvements to its current projects as well. The company is currently exploring methods to

increase production at its Jacobina mine in Brazil and working on developing the Odyssey and East Malartic deposits at its Canadian Malartic mine in Quebec.

“While Chapada has been a valued asset for Yamana, the sale transaction delivers a significant gain, delivers a high after-tax return and financially repositions the company with a significant and immediate improvement to overall financial flexibility, thereby allowing the Company to pursue nearterm value maximizing portfolio opportunities and also to increase shareholder returns, initially by way of a 100% increase in the annual dividend,” Yamana executive chair Peter Marrone said.

The purchase is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2019 and will not require stockholder approval from either company. The announcement gave Lundin’s stock price a bump, increasing 7.76 per cent at time of publication. Yamana shareholders were not as keen about the news, with the company’s price decreasing by 3.8 per cent at time of publication.

– Matthew Parizot

Hudbay and Waterton agree on proxy battle settlement The extended and heated proxy battle between Hudbay Minerals and investment firm Waterton Global Resource Management came to a close on May 3 as Hudbay announced both companies had reached a settlement agreement.

Hudbay revealed a slate of 11 director nominees agreed upon by both parties. Included in the list of nominees are current Hudbay chair Alan Hibben and Igor Gonzales, whom Waterton was looking to replace with its own nominees. Waterton nominees Peter Kukielski and Daniel Muniz Quintanilla are also included on the list.

While Hibben maintained his position on the list of nominees, Hudbay and Waterton both agreed to initiate a process to select a replacement for the

Tony Giardini has been named the new president at Ivanhoe Mines. Giardini previously spent time as executive vicepresident and CFO at Kinross. He replaces Lars-Eric Johansson who will be retiring at the end of June after leading the company for 12 years.

McEwen Mining has announced that Meri Verli will be replacing Andrew Elinesky as CFO. Verli has extensive experience in the gold mining sector, including acting as the CFO of PPX Mining Corp, senior vice-president of finance and treasury at Kirkland Lake Gold and vice-president of finance at Lake Shore Gold. McEwen also added Jack Henris as its General Manager for Nevada. His most recent previous position was as the vice-president of mining and geotechnical for Goldcorp.

Great Panther Mining has added Kevin Ross to its board of directors. Ross is a mining engineer with over 40 years of experience in operations around the world and is currently the COO of Orca Gold Inc. Stornoway Diamond Corporation took the decision to temporarily suspend open pit mining operations at its Renard 65 mine in Quebec due to a having “sufficient ore stockpiled to meet its planned processing requirements into the second quarter of 2020,” allowing Stornoway to reduce costs by idling part of its equipment fleet.

Noront Resources has picked Sault Ste. Marie as the site for its new ferrochrome production facility. Noront said that it chose the city over its alternate location in Timmins, Ontario, because of its location on the Great Lakes and the lower long-term operating cost advantage for the plant which has the potential for a 100-year life.

Taseko Mines posted losses of $14.4 million in its quarterly report, but its management is optimistic that the company’s in-situ copper mining testing facility in Arizona can help boost revenues in the near future. The first cathodes produced at the facility in midApril were assayed at over 99.9 per cent copper and the facility is expected to produce 85 million pounds of copper cathode annually.

– Compiled by Matthew Coyte

June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 23

Courtesy of Hudbay Minerals

Hudbay Minerals’ Lalor Mine in Manitoba, Canada.

chair position. According to Hudbay, Hibben will continue to serve in the position until the successor is found and he will remain on the board until the following shareholder meeting in 2020.

24 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

“Hudbay is pleased to have reached an agreement with Waterton that is in the best interests of shareholders,” Hibben said. “On behalf of the board, we look forward to welcoming our new

directors to the board and thank our departing directors for their valuable service to the company. We also thank shareholders for their continued support of Hudbay and firmly believe that the best is yet to come.”

The agreement between the two companies did not come easily. On April 16, Hudbay Minerals announced that Waterton had commenced legal proceedings against the company for allegedly spreading misrepresentations about the firm in a management information circular sent out on April 4.

In its own circular sent out April 15, Waterton stated that Hudbay “[fell] short of even the most basic standards of professionalism” and that the chairman and board were acting “childish.” More seriously, however, the firm also alleged that Hudbay accused Waterton of attempting to hurt Hudbay’s share price by seeding an article that appeared in Bloomberg in October 2018 in order to purchase

more shares of the company. Hudbay referred to the litigation as “frivolous.”

The Bloomberg article in question concerned rumoured plans that Hudbay was looking to purchase Mantos Copper, a Chilean mining company, for approximately $1 billion. The next day, Waterton demanded an “acquisition moratorium” to prevent Hudbay from making any more acquisitions before the company’s annual shareholder meeting in May, beginning the lengthy proxy battle between Hudbay and Waterton.

The conflict between the two continued to escalate. In November 2018, Hudbay announced that it had purchased Canadian copper company Mason Resources, despite Waterton’s protests. In January 2019, Waterton proposed a slate of eight new director nominees to replace the ones currently on Hudbay’s board of directors, though that number was eventually lowered to five.

Since beginning its proxy fight with Waterton back in October 2018, Hudbay’s share price has been on a consistent upward trend, thanks to improvements made at several of its mines (a feat that both Hudbay and Waterton attempted to take credit for during the proxy battle). Hudbay’s Lalor zincgold-copper mine in Manitoba completed a production ramp up to 4,500 tonnes per day in February 2018 and the company recently completed its long-delayed permitting process for its Rosemont copper mine in Arizona as well.

Hudbay held its annual shareholder meeting on May 7, where all of its proposed directors were elected by a majority of its shareholders.

– Matthew Parizot

“The most important thing to come out of a mine, is the miner.”

– Frédéric LePlay

Congolese copper project gets big investment Ivanhoe Mines got a big boost for its Kamoa-Kakula copper project from CITIC Metal, an investment firm owned by the Chinese state.

CITIC Metal is investing $612 million into the Canadian mining company to fund the development of the KamoaKakula project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This follows a $723-million investment from the firm last summer.

“The investment announced today will comfortably provide Ivanhoe with the equity cushion required to fast-track Kamoa-Kakula’s 6 Mtpa Phase 1 mine to production,” said Ivanhoe’s executive chairman Robert Friedland in a statement. “it also is a profound vote of confidence in our management, in our key stakeholders and partners, and in the promising future of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa.”

The project is a joint venture with Zijin Mining, who on May 15 provided US$454 million of the US$1.1 billion capital costs for the project, which Ivanhoe says will allow it to bring its Kakula and Kipushi projects to commercial production and advance production at its Platreef project in South Africa. The Kamoa and Kakula deposits, situated 11km from each other, represent one of the largest copper discoveries of the last decade. According to a technical report prepared by OreWin

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June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 25

Acacia on the sidelines as Barrick and the Tanzanian government determine its fate Acacia Mining, a former subsidiary of Barrick Gold, said May 22 that it remains on the outside of negotiations between Barrick and the Government of Tanzania regarding resolving a longstanding tax dispute between Acacia and the government in order to resume operations in the nation.

In a press release, Acacia stated that “it continues to be excluded from the discussions between Barrick and the [Government of Tanzania].” The statement added that the company has been notified by Barrick that it has made “significant progress” towards finalizing a proposed solution and that Acacia has received a letter from the government saying that they will not sign off on any proposed resolution unless it is “satisfied that substantial changes have been made to the management style of the Operating Companies and of their shareholders”.

Barrick said in a press release May 21 that a settlement has been developed, but not yet finalized over its meetings 26 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

Courtesy of Acacia Mining

mining consultants in March, the combined deposits have an Indicated Resource of 1.38 billion tonnes of ore with an average grade of 2.64 per cent copper and a cut off grade of 1 per cent total copper.

The project will be developed under the mining code the Congolese government revised last year that increased the government’s stake in new mining projects, the royalties it receives as well as a super-profits tax if commodity prices rise 25 per cent above the price assumed in the feasibility study of a project.

According to the March technical report from Ivanhoe, the new mining code “does not take into account the stability provisions granted to holders of existing mining licenses and remains a point of contention between the mining industry and the DRC Government.”

– Ryan Bergen

Acacia Mining’s North Mara gold mine in Tanzania.

with the Tanzanian government. However, Barrick also said that the government is “not prepared to enter into a settlement directly with Acacia.” Negotiations have been taking place over the past two years, and resolving the dispute would allow Acacia to resume their operations in the country.

Barrick owns just under 70 per cent of Acacia, and has presented a proposal to acquire all remaining shares in an exchange of 0.153 Barrick share per Acacia share bought. The proposal values Acacia at US$787 million, below the current US$832 million market capitalization of the company on the London Stock Exchange, according to data from Bloomberg. According to rule 2.6 of the United Kingdom’s City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, Barrick has until June 18, 2019 to make a decision if they intend to submit this offer to Acacia or not.

Acacia stated that its board is “considering these developments” and will be seeking to understand the government’s position, but urged its shareholders to take no action until an official announcement is made.

The dispute between Acacia and the government of Tanzania started when the country banned the export of unprocessed metals like gold and copper concentrates back in 2017. Thirty

per cent of its revenue and 65 per cent of Acacia’s production at its Tanzanian mines came from concentrates. In July 2017, the government of Tanzania fined Acacia US$190 billion for allegedly evading taxes by significantly under-declaring the amount of concentrate it was exporting. Acacia denied these allegations.

Back in February, Barrick arranged a deal to settle the dispute between Acacia and the government of Tanzania that proposed Acacia pay the government US$300 million and split the economic benefits of its operations 50/50. On May 20, the government of Tanzania fined Acacia another US$2.4 million for alleged pollution violations at its North Mara mine.

Earlier in May, Barrick’s CEO Mark Bristow expressed his frustrations with Acacia over a lack of progress in resolving this dispute. This was met with Acacia CEO Peter Geleta pushing back against Barrick saying that “Sadly, blaming Acacia for that is totally unacceptable.” Negotiations with the Tanzanian government were being handled by Acacia until the summer of 2017, when Executive Chairman of Barrick John Thornton stepped up to do the negotiating himself. Acacia said it has not been involved in discussions since that point.

– Matthew Coyte

developments

Standards group publishes new autonomous systems guidelines

autonomy, it hasn’t been a smooth ride and there are a number of lessons learned,” he said. “The guideline would be a good reference material to everyone to look at various aspects

while implementing autonomy. It is not meant to provide answers to every potential issue, but it at least may provide some guidance on what to look for.”

– Matthew Parizot

Industry standards organization Global Mining Guidelines Group (GMG) published its latest set of guidelines on April 23, focusing on how to properly implement autonomous systems at mine sites.

According to GMG, the guidelines provide a framework for mining companies to follow when they’re considering adding autonomous equipment to their operations and provide a maturity model for companies to emulate as they expand the scope of their autonomous fleets.

“There has been an incredible level of engagement in this project since its launch last year,” GMG working groups vice-chair and Symbiotic Innovations principal innovator Andrew Scott said. “The industry interest reflects the growing importance and relevance of autonomous systems in mining and the industry’s need for a unified framework for mitigating risks and managing change while maximizing the value of autonomy.”

Some of the potential hang-ups that are outlined in the guidelines include designing mines to accommodate autonomous vehicles, deploying the fleet and dealing with the changes to the workforce that follow the implementation of autonomous technology.

Some companies, such as Rio Tinto, have begun to opt for autonomous mining equipment for the potential benefits to safety and productivity, and mining equipment companies like Caterpillar have expanded the range of autonomous vehicles available on the market.

However, autonomous mining is still a relatively new frontier. According to Chirag Sathe, risk and business analysis technology principal at BHP and one of the co-leaders of the guidelines project, these new guidelines haven’t covered every possible setback a company might encounter.

“I would say that even though some mining companies have implemented June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 27

Canada to thrive through global gold setbacks As the world’s gold production dips, Canada continues to grow thanks to decades of investing

By Sara King-Abadi

Canada is the only major gold producing country set to continue significant increases in gold production over the next five years while global production decreases, according to a recent report from S&P Global Market Intelligence. While this spells good news for Canada – the country stands to surpass the United States in national gold production in 2019 and become the fourth-largest gold producing country – it is not a shocker.

“There’s significant investment in the industry and there has been for several years,” said Christopher Galbraith, research analyst with S&P and author of the report. “It’s not a surprise really to anyone to see the industry ramping up this way.” Fifty per cent or more of all exploration dollars are devoted to gold in Canada, he explained. According to Natural Resources Canada, precious metals, gold in particular, remained the leading target for exploration spending in 2017, at $1.4 billion.

That dedication to gold investment is thanks in part to Canada’s long history as a gold mining country, with mature, prolific gold belts that have been mined for over 100 years, like in northern Ontario and Quebec, said Galbraith. “There’s still a lot of gold in the ground there, and they’re going to continue to bear fruit.”

The continued investment has been paying off. Canada’s gold mining industry is still very much in a growth phase right now, he explained. The country’s gold output was an estimated 6.3 million ounces in 2018. Galbraith projects that number will rise to 8 million ounces by 2021 and climb to 9 million by 2024.

The increase in gold output goes back several years with a series of mine startups: the Canadian Malartic mine 28 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

All data from Natural Resources Canada

in northwest Quebec – the country’s largest operating gold mine – in 2011; Detour Lake in northeast Ontario in 2013, the Éléonore mine in Eeyou Istchee/James Bay in 2015. Then in 2017, the Rainy River, Brucejack and Hope Bay mines all achieved commercial production.

Few of Canada’s operating gold mines are facing depletion, Galbraith writes in the report, while still more mines are on the horizon which could affect Canada’s production over the next five years.

These include Western Copper and Gold’s Casino project in Yukon with production expected in 2023, Greenstone Gold Mines’ Brookbank in Ontario in 2021, New Gold’s Blackwater project in B.C. in 2022, Falco Resources’ Horne 5 in Quebec in 2022 and Sabina Gold and Silver Corp.’s Back River in Nunavut in 2023. These projects account for more than half of the five-year increase, at 1.9 million ounces, Galbraith wrote in the report.

As far as the market is concerned, it will be a “steady outlook” for gold

prices, according to Rory Johnston, commodity economist for Scotiabank, with prices expected to remain around the $1,300-an-ounce benchmark over the next couple of years, he said. The gold market has generally become numb to “headline” risks that point to uncertainty on the political landscape, so much so that Johnston thinks it would take an extraordinarily large event – which he does not see on the horizon – to get people to push into gold for risk reasons, like a market shift in U.S. federal reserve policy or a global recession.

Galbraith said he agrees that gold prices will not be jumping up, but will remain steady, something that he said he believes has been good for the industry as it forces producers to make sure that their mines are profitable at the $1,300-an-ounce benchmark For potential hindrances, Galbraith points to financing, in that the further down the five-year prediction you go, not every project is fully financed.

Nevertheless Galbraith remains confident in the forecast, even with multiple

developments significant drop in the amount of investment for gold production. “I think it validates a lot of the investment that’s been going in, to have it

ramping up the way it is right now,” he said. “I think that that’s meeting the expectations that have been placed on the industry.” CIM

Courtesy of B2Gold

projects just entering the feasibility stage. With many mining-friendly provincial governments in power at the moment, he does not expect to see a

B2Gold to expand mine fleet and upgrade production at Fekola B2Gold released its technical report on May 10 detailing its plan for the expansion of the Fekola Gold Mine in Mali after announcing the results of a preliminary economic analysis back in March.

B2Gold will be expanding its mine fleet, adding two to four excavators, large-end front loaders and new corresponding drills, trucks and support equipment which will cost the company around US$56 million. As well, the company will be upgrading its processing plant, including adding additional leach capacity, pebble crushers and implementing a new cyclone classification system. The upgrades to the plant will cost an estimated US$50 million over an 18month period.

With the upgrades, B2Gold expects processing throughput to increase by 1.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa), from the current baseline of 6 Mtpa to 7.5 Mtpa.

Since becoming a full-capacity operation in February 2018, Fekola has produced just over 439,000 ounces of gold. The company’s initial estimates expected the mine to produce an average of 345,000 ounces annually over the 10 year life of mine.

With this expansion, B2Gold states that the life of mine will be extended by two years from the initial 10 year prediction of 2028 to 12 years, until 2030. According to B2Gold’s expansion report, the company expects Fekola to produce more than 5 million ounces of gold over the new life of mine, which includes an increased production rate from an annual average of over 400,000 ounces to 555,000 ounces annually from 20202024.

B2Gold announced it will be expanding its Fekola mine in Mali after expansion report details potential for increased gold production.

The expanded mine’s all-in sustaining cost would increase to US$725 per ounce, up from US$533 in 2018.

The new Fekola will hold a pre-tax net present value of US$2.2 billion, a US$500 million increase over the current value. In 2018, the mine processed 5.59 million tonnes of ore at a grade of 2.54 grams per tonne. The expansion report indicated an Inferred Mineral Resource of 92 millions tonnes at a grade of 1.91 grams per tonne containing 5.73 million ounces, and 26.5 million tonnes at a grade of 1.61 grams per tonne containing 1.37 million ounces.

B2Gold expects the Fekola Mine to produce between 420,000 and 430,000 ounces of gold in 2019, according to its first quarter report.

– Matthew Coyte

Alexco and JDS purchase Mount Nansen gold mine from the government Alexco Resource and JDS Energy & Mining have been approved to purchase the long-shuttered Mount Nansen goldsilver mine, according to Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.

The purchase, announced on May 7

by Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett, marks the end of a lengthy period in which the mine was under the responsibility of the Canadian government and the nation’s taxpayers.

“Collaboration has led to an effective sales process that will clean up the Mount Nansen Mine site and ensure Yukoners and the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation benefit from this important project,” Bennett said in a press release. “We look forward to continuing our work together, moving the project forward to environmental assessment and then remediation.”

Mount Nansen, located 60 kilometres west of Carmacks in the Yukon, began operation in 1996 under BYG Natural Resources. Only three years later, however, BYG was convicted by the Yukon Supreme Court for failing to comply with the provisions of its water licence through actions such as constructing the tailings dam out of faulty materials and failing to assign anyone to ensure the water licence provisions were met.

Such negligence demonstrated “an attitude consistent with ‘raping and pillaging’ the resources of the Yukon, with little consideration for the detailed conJune/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 29

30 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

Courtesy of Yukon Conservation Society

ditions of the water licences granted to BYG,” Judge Heino Lilles wrote in the 1999 decision. “They demonstrate a disregard of the legal requirements. There is little evidence of any diligence, let alone due diligence, in the circumstances of this case.”

Five years later, BYG filed for bankruptcy and the government assumed control and responsibility for Mount Nansen. According to the Treasury Board of Canada, the government has spent over $37 million on remediation and almost $3 million on care and maintenance since taking control of the project.

In 2016, the courts approved a new clean-up plan for the mine and appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as receiver to find bidders to agree to buy the property and complete the work.

After announcing a shortlist of three potential buyers, Alexco and JDS were chosen as the preferred choice.

Before any mining activities can commence at Mount Nansen, the buyers will be obligated to enact the remediation plan – in cooperation with the Yukon government, and the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nations – in order to obtain a new water licence. The work is expected to take ten years to complete and will include the construction of a new water treatment plant, reworking of the tailings storage facility and an updated environmental assessment, according to the document detailing Alexco’s final proposal for the purchase.

The purchase will also require employment, training and benefits for the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nations, the village of Carmacks and the people of Yukon.

“After almost three decades of concern and constant pressure and monitoring from Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation government, the citizens of the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation will be pleased to see the finalization of the agreements that will lead to the remediation of the abandoned BYG mine site at Mount Nansen,” Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation chief Russell Blackjack said in a press release.

“Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation’s Council, our Development Corporation and our Senior Staff have worked to

BYG Natural Resources was found guilty of failing to uphold its water licence provisions at Mount Nansen.

ensure our future generations will be able to utilize this site once again for their traditional pursuits and values.”

– Matthew Parizot

Canadian government announces funding for climate change mining guidelines At a press conference on May 17, Paul Lefebvre, parliamentary secretary to the minister of Natural Resources, announced that the Government of Canada would be investing $325,000 in the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) for a “climate change adaptation project for the mining sector.”

According to Government of Canada’s press release, the “Climate Change Risk and Adaptation Best Practices for the Mining Sector” will help develop a set of guidelines for the mining sector centred around climate change and adaptation measures. The project, valued at $650,000, also received support from MAC, Golder Associates and Lorax Environmental Services. MAC CEO Pierre Gratton said that this investment will enable the mining industry to develop “the best practice guidance for our industry to both assess potential future climate changes at mine sites and assess potential impacts of those changes on mine operations and infrastructures.”

Lefebvre told CIM Magazine that the government is trusting the industry to come up with the guidelines. “We want to see these guidelines become the industry standards,” he said. “As we see flooding, forest fires, the thawing in the North, there’s so many things going on right now that if we don’t act now, look at the consequences. And the mining industry is at the forefront.”

This investment is intended to build on existing government initiatives, including the “Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan,” which included plans to continue reducing the mining industry’s environmental impact, as well as planning for potential climate change adaptations. With many mining operations in remote locations across Canada, Lefebvre said that it is important for the government and the mining industry to adapt to climate change.

Lefebvre, the MP for Sudbury, said that the government has “full confidence” in MAC, and expects a report that will be able to guide the industry to implementing the best practices and environmental standards, and stresses the importance of working with the industry to see these guidelines through.

“By investing in sustainable mining projects like this one… our government is helping ensure that our natural resources, including minerals and metals, play an important role in supplying the building blocks for clean energy across the world,” said Lefebvre. – Matthew Coyte

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FUTURE PROSPECTS

STANDING OUT FROM THE PACK Integra Resources CFO Andrée St-Germain offers advice on how young miners can become a “hot commodity” Courtesy of Andrée St-Germain

By Virginia Heffernan

G

rowing up in Gatineau, Quebec, Integra Resources CFO Andrée St-Germain relished her uncle’s stories about his life as a geologist in the Val d’Or camp, but did not consider a career in mining herself until she started work as an investment banker a decade ago.

After earning a bachelor in business administration from the Université du Québec (TÉLUQ) remotely from Whistler, B.C., it would have been natural for St-Germain to return to her home province to continue her studies. But with a budding interest in investment, she wanted to be close to the deal making on Bay Street. Dundee Capital Markets hired her as a junior member of its investment banking team after she graduated with an International MBA from York University’s Schulich School of Business in 2009.

“For the first few months, I was placed in a pool where I had the chance to work in several different industries. I had little interest in sectors such as biotech or IT, but I found mining – the idea that we’ve been finding and extracting metals and minerals from the ground for hundreds of years – fascinating,” said St-Germain, 39, recipient of the 2018 Eira Thomas Young Mining Professional Award. “Now, the industry is facing great challenges and taking concrete action to address them. It’s exciting to be part of that change whether it be gender diversity, new initiatives to attract, retain and develop talent, or new technologies that not only introduce efficiencies but reduce our environmental footprint.”

St-Germain found the 90-plus hour workweeks required at Dundee (she once went six months without a day off) demanding but exhilarating. After spending a few years learning about mining capital markets, advising companies on mergers and acquisitions, and assisting with financings, she was ready to make the leap to her favourite sector. In 2013, at 32 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

the age of 33, she joined Vancouver-based Golden Queen Mining as CFO, where she helped finance development and construction of the company’s Soledad Mountain gold-silver mine in California.

Armed with mine-building experience and fluency in two languages, St-Germain joined Vancouver-based Integra Gold as CFO in 2017 as the company was gearing up to develop the Lamaque gold project in Quebec’s Abitibi region, then helped facilitate Integra’s sale to Eldorado Gold.

Once the $590 million acquisition was complete, the former management group – including St-Germain and president and CEO George Salamis – formed Integra Resources and purchased the DeLamar gold-silver project in Idaho from Kinross Gold.

Late last year, in the midst of a tough financing environment (there was a 60 per cent year-over-year drop in the value of bought-deal financings for junior explorers in 2018, according to the PDAC), Integra raised $17 million through an oversubscribed bought-deal financing and a non-brokered private placement. The junior is currently using the money to develop DeLamar and expand its land package in Idaho.

St-Germain is also a director at Barkerville Gold Mines and Ascot Resources Ltd. She attributes her rapid rise through the ranks to a strong work ethic, willingness to take risks, financial acumen, problem-solving skills, initiative and language fluency.

“You have to see the opportunities, take those chances and then deliver,” she advised young professionals starting out in mining.

St-Germain said she thinks the industry is on the cusp of great change despite a tendency to cling to the status quo, and therein lies opportunity for graduates with a wide range of skills, from geologists and engineers who can explore for and develop ore deposits to social workers who can manage community relations.

“We sell an undifferentiated product. We don’t set the price and we don’t need to publicize. And that may be why mining companies have been so resistant to change and innovation – because we sell the same product we were selling a hundred years ago, “she told CIM Magazine during the PDAC Convention in March. “But it’s a great time to be joining the space. People are recognizing the need to change, to innovate, and to be more diverse.”

St-Germain was born in Haiti, where her father – a professor in the faculty of education at the University of Ottawa – was overseeing and training the Ministry of Education’s team managing the planning of educational projects across the country. Although she moved to Canada as a toddler, she retains ties with the Caribbean country. She sponsors six children from two villages there and spent a month helping to rebuild one of the villages after Hurricane Matthew struck in 2016, devastating the country’s infrastructure and causing thousands of deaths.

Despite her hectic schedule, one activity St-Germain always makes time for is exercise. She runs or bikes to work and aims to complete one or two half Ironman competitions (involving a 1.9 km swim, 90 km bike ride, and a 21.1 km run) per year.

She and her partner, a fellow mining CFO, motivate themselves to train by riding their stationary bikes while taking in the latest episode of Game of Thrones.

She suggests all young professionals build exercise into their routine to maintain mental and physical health and energy levels. She also advises gathering a circle of people, both inside and outside the organization, who can provide counsel when problems crop up. As for working in an industry where the quality of projects and management can vary widely, she recommends doing some research to find companies with management teams and projects robust enough to withstand an inevitable downturn.

“If you’re passionate and you work hard, companies will want to keep you,” said St-Germain. “You’ll become, in a way, a hot commodity.” CIM

FUTURE PROSPECTS

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June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 33

When an employee’s own time becomes your business

By Dan Demers

E

very Canadian has certain rights and freedoms: the right to live free from discrimination, the right to privacy, and freedom of speech. In turn, every Canadian is expected to conduct themselves lawfully. In Canada, employment is voluntary, in the strictest of legal terms, and through employment we agree to exchange our time, talent and efforts to further the objectives set out by our employer for compensation. When we consider how many legal protections are in place for the employee, the public and the employer, trying to figure out which consideration is most deserving of priority can be challenging. Despite our complex legal terrain and the new legal permissibility of cannabis use, occupational safety should be the highest priority and trump the right to consume cannabis, even on personal time, for those employed in the mining industry.

On Oct. 16, 2018, cannabis became legal for Canadians to consume recreationally. Most of the news and media coverage has focused on the distribution and the rules of public consumption of cannabis. There has been rare mention of the obvious risks to safety. While the safety risk cannabis presents on our roads and at our workplaces is not new, the size of this risk will only grow following legalization if it is not appropriately and proactively managed. According to a Statistics Canada report released in May, 646,000 cannabis users reported trying cannabis for the first time in the first quarter of 2019, nearly double the estimate of 327,000 for the same time period in 2018. That same report also found that over half a million workers reported using cannabis before heading to work or while on the job.

There was a time when the hazards of mining in Canada translated into relatively high injury, occupational disease, and death, but that time has passed and not by accident.

Today mining is one of Canada’s safest heavy industries because it has been so careful to identify safety risks and either eliminate or mitigate them. Mining’s complex operations, which often occur in remote locations, make incidents costly and challenging to address. That is why risk avoidance is so vital to the safety and productivity of mining operations.

Beyond the moral and financial responsibilities of avoiding known risks, we should consider the legal requirements of avoiding risk. Clause 217.1 of the Criminal Code of Canada stipulates, “Everyone who undertakes, or has the authority, to direct how another person does work or performs a task is under a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm to that person, or any other person, arising from that work or task.”

The Mines and Mining Plants Regulation of the Occupational Health & Safety Act of Ontario contains more 34 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

explicit requirements that obligate the employer to prevent access to a mine site to those possessing or under the influence of alcohol, drugs, narcotics or intoxicants. (R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 854, s. 15 (1-3)) Undoubtedly most Canadians have aligned how they view cannabis with how they view alcohol. We equate cannabis to alcohol because both are legal and both impair and therefore must also be similar in terms of risk and the management of that risk. Drawing this kind of conclusion is, however, incorrect and consequently dangerous to the workplace.

Cannabis use is more complicated than alcohol use in many ways. To begin, the effects of cannabis vary depending on the method of intake. The differences between smoking cannabis and eating it are dramatic. The onset of effects range from mere seconds to more than one hour, and the duration of the experienced effects can vary from six to 12 hours. The difference between smoking and eating cannabis exists even when the same amount of the drug is consumed.

Secondly, there are vastly variable levels of dosing. Unlike alcohol, cannabis contains more than 70 known psychoactive ingredients, called cannabinoids, which can be present at varying levels. The most known and prominent cannabinoid, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), can range from three per cent to over 20 per cent. Figuring out how much one can use and then safely operate a vehicle becomes considerably more complicated.

If dosing and timing were the only considerations, they maybe could be managed. However, one of the least known facts about cannabis use is that there are two phases of impairment. The user is aware of the first phase of impairment, but not the second. The second phase can impair the cognitive faculties necessary to complete dangerous work safely for 24 hours or more with a single use, and for weeks after chronic use, according to Health Canada.

Cannabis for medical purposes carries the same safetyrelated implications, much like many prescription drugs that are incompatible with dangerous work. At this point in time, the Occupational and Environmental Medical Association of Canada does not support medical cannabis use within 24 hours of safety-sensitive work. Employers of anyone prescribed medical cannabis must take reasonable measures to determine if accommodation is possible. However, an accommodation that compromises safety is considered undue hardship and would be knowingly putting the workplace and public at risk – in direct conflict with employer obligations under 217.1 of the criminal code.

To strike a balance of interests between safety, human rights, privacy and labour law, employers in the mining

columns industry must have reasonable assurances that employees are fit for duty. Employers must focus on risk reduction safety systems as a principal strategy in their fitness-for-duty standards. The three critical factors to establishing a fit-for-duty program include adequate policies and procedures, training and education programs, and compliance and deterrence measures.

Five questions employers should ask to identify gaps in their fit-for-duty program are: • Has the policy been updated since the legalization of cannabis?

• Are supervisors certified, able and comfortable to deal with an unfit worker in a dignified, private, appropriate and consistent manner?

• Has every employee been made aware of what is expected of them, including policy violations such as drug/alcohol possession and consumption, mandatory self-disclosure of addiction or medical treatments including cannabis without fear of reprisal?

• Are compliance measures, including work removal and testing, defensible and consistent with the policy?

• Are there means of returning workers to safety-sensitive duties, including monitoring and testing, after they have come forward with an addiction or have otherwise been accommodated?

Legalized cannabis presents complex and dynamic issues for Canadian society. Employment choice is voluntary, cannabis use is optional, and privacy is not absolute. For the Canadian mining industry, safety must remain the principal consideration. What we do on our own time matters when it comes to workplace fit-for-duty standards. We must all understand what is at stake; safer standards and safer choices on and off the job improve the odds of everyone making it home to their families. CIM Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CIM Magazine or the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. The information in this column should not be treated as legal advice.

Dan Demers is the director of business development for CannAmm Occupational Testing Services.

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 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 18-20, 2019 • 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 answer 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 best practices in the broader field of Mineral Resource estimation.

INSTRUCTORS Georges Verly, Wood, Canada and Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada • DATE September 23-27, 2019 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Mineral Project Evaluation: Due Diligence, Data, DCF, and Risk This course approaches the evaluation of a mineral project from the point of view of your role as the evaluator. Your task is to create and present a complete picture of the project using a discounted cash flow (DCF). The DCF model provides the means to assess the economics of the project and present the results and risks in a clear and meaningful way. Developing a mineral project evaluation is like putting together a large puzzle where the pieces are held by different participants in different disciplines. While the math is important, what really matters is sourcing and understanding the data, risks, and assumptions that go into the cash flow.

INSTRUCTOR Lawrence Devon Smith, Lawrence Devon Smith & Associates, Canada • DATE October 8-9, 2019 • LOCATION Montreal, Quebec, Canada

June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 35

Courtesy of the National Research Council

The National Research Council has developed the ProspectOre to expedite the process of analyzing ore grade on site to verify the block model and mine plan.

Striking gold The National Research Council of Canada trials on-site gold analyzer

By Ashley Joseph

C

anada is home to more than 50 active gold mines, and currently ranks as the world’s fifth largest gold producer. So it is no wonder that a new tool focused on boosting profit margins, improving yields and minimizing dilution is being developed by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and could soon make a major impact on gold extraction for mining companies across the entire sector.

Currently in the development phase, the ProspectOre tool was designed to expedite the process of analyzing ore grade on site to verify the block model and mine plan. The current process is fraught with challenges, from low parts per million (ppm) concentration levels to non-homogenous samples, plus a lengthy assaying procedure to sort waste from ore. While standard practices today entail a chain of events – extracting rock samples, analyzing them in a lab setting (be it on-site or 36 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

off-site), waiting on results and disseminating the information – this new tool could enable mining companies to fast-forward through those steps and test ore on the spot, with results in a matter of five seconds.

Paul Bouchard, senior research officer in Energy, Mining and Environment at the NRC, has been involved in the project since 2014, starting out on the team devoted to the development of applications for laser-induced plasma breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), the technology behind the device. “The aim was to be able to get down to the ppm level,” said Bouchard. “We wanted to devise an approach that would allow us to measure gold content with high sensitivity that would reach low limits of detection on-site with a system that would be portable.”

The tool works by applying a laser to the given material – be it solid, liquid or slurry – which then vaporizes part of the

innovation surface to form a plasma. That plasma (a gaseous mix of day,” Beaudry explained. “We will skip this step by having this atoms, ions and electrons) emits light, which is then collected type of equipment […] We will reduce the number of samples by the device and analyzed to yield a spectral signature to we send to the laboratory and we will reduce the cost.” identify and quantify elements within the material. The goal is Martin Perron, tactical technical service superintendent at to help companies speed up the decision-making process at Newmont Goldcorp’s Éléonore mine in northern Quebec, mine sites, reduce delays, manage tailings and, ultimately, pointed out the unique challenges presented by gold mining, increase the efficiency of ore drilling efforts. citing the existing sensing technology for mining companies To test the efficacy of the device in the field and obtain feed- dealing with other commodities, like copper, nickel, manback, the NRC launched a multi-party agreement in 2016 with ganese and iron. “In one tonne of rock in a typical copper a number of mining partners, including Agnico Eagle, Barrick mine, you can have 10,000 grams of copper, while in one Gold, Goldcorp (now Newmont Goldcorp), Hecla Mining, tonne of gold, you can have as low as five grams of gold,” said Alamos Gold and the Société de recherche et développement Perron. minier (SOREDEM). “The purpose was to devise a portable For companies like Newmont Goldcorp and Agnico, time system and then bring that system on-site to evaluate the per- savings can represent one of the greatest opportunities for formance in real, harsh conditions,” said Bouchard. His team improvement, with a 24-hour or more time lapse between the took their first in-mine measurements in October, with three sending of samples to assaying labs and the determination of more sites visited since then. whether ore or waste is present. “The way we do business, To test the accuracy of the results from the ProspectOre, speed is mandatory. The assay’s delay is detrimental to that Bouchard’s team compared the results from a sample analyzed speed of execution,” said Perron. “That technology will help us by the ProspectOre against samples analyzed the conventional be more efficient in the day-to-day mining activities.” way. So far, the data has been promising. “We succeeded in The devices could also represent a significant monetary developing a technology, which is based on optics and lasers, savings for teams like Perron’s. “The cost of one test is probaand is robust enough to bring into real mine environment con- bly 20 times smaller than chemical assays,” he explained. ditions,” said Bouchard. “We demonstrated that we were able “And the cost is very low compared to the actual return on to get to the gold concentration in the range that is needed by investment.” the mining industry,” which would be between one and five While the tool is still in its development phase, it represents grams per tonne. the world’s first mobile gold analyzer system, and could reach Dominique Beaudry, corporate director of innovation at the market in just a few years’ time. Currently, the NRC is Agnico Eagle, said the company was interested in participating looking for partners to take the tool from prototype to comin the trial because the technology can eventually help the gold mercial product. For mining professionals like Perron, that miner reach its goal of increasing its automation capabilities prospect is exciting. “Gold assaying is something that has not across its mining efforts. “It’s an important technology for us to changed a lot over the years […] For us, that gold analyzer is be able to categorize ore from waste instantaneously,” said bringing 21st century technology to the mining environment,” Beaudry. In her role, Beaudry is tasked with seeking out new he said. “That’s way cool.” CIM technologies to help the company reduce costs, improve productivity, streamline processes and add value to the business, with a focus on automation. “The mining applications we see from the tool in the longer term will enable us to reduce the energy we’re using, reduce the footprint of our operations and become a more automated corporation.”

“The results that we have for the prototype are very encouraging,” she continued. “We can be confident that this Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group specializes in a complete range of tire management equipment will be able to say if there is services in over 20 countries. As an gold or not […] So for us, it’s a success.” independent tire dealer with 45 years’ Beaudry highlighted the company’s experience, we ensure customers get the exploration work in remote areas as right product for the right application. another particular point of interest for the Through continuous innovation, we portable device. Teams currently can are able to meet the evolving needs of spend days extracting samples and sendmining customers and help them make ing them to assaying labs to determine the most of their tire investments.

KalTireMining.com whether or not ore is present. “That [drilling program] is costing a lot per

Defining Tire Management

June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 37

Courtesy of Kingston Process Metallurgy

Project leader Trevor Lebel and technologist Ashley Lamey adjust the gas flow and monitor the pressure sensors on the drop tower during a test.

An eye on the inside Kingston Process Metallurgy tests optical probe to help maximize copper recovery from concentrate in flash furnace

By Kylie Williams

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n optical probe for non-ferrous process metallurgy is being developed by a team of Canadian, German, and Chilean scientists and engineers to monitor the flame during flash smelting of copper concentrate.

The probe is designed to withstand the hot, dusty conditions in a flash furnace to provide instantaneous feedback and alert operators when intervention is required to maintain steady combustion. This enables the efficient use of energy and material inputs, environmental compliance and desired composition of end products.

Flash smelting is a relatively straightforward step at the beginning of the copper refining process. Copper concentrate, the product of flotation – composed mostly of sulfide copper minerals such as chalcopyrite, bornite and pyrite – is fed into the furnace. The concentrate, roughly one-third each copper, iron and sulfur, is mixed with oxygen-rich air and burnt at well over 1,000 C to oxidize the concentrate. The melt produced settles and separates into copper matte, which carries on through the metallurgical process, and slag, which is further treated to remove entrained and dissolved copper.

Any variation in the mineralogy of the concentrate blend being fed into the furnace can change the heat balance within.

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Some minerals ignite quickly, whereas others are slow to catch.

The mineralogy of the copper concentrate impacts the flash combustion behaviour, which in turn impacts the grade of the matte, the amount of copper in the slag, as well as dust generation and temperatures of the molten phases.

Over two-thirds of the 200 copper smelters worldwide employ flash smelting technology to turn copper concentrate, which is typically about 30 per cent copper, into a matte containing 50 to 70 per cent copper. The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) predicts that around 70 per cent of smelters will continue to use flash smelting until at least 2021.

Currently, furnace operators rely on experience to monitor performance. They can calculate the ratio of copper plus iron over sulfur for the feed, but there is currently little consideration given to the mineralogy of the concentrate going in or how this will impact combustion within the furnace.

“Furnace [performance] is currently based on feedback […] from matte and slag assays, so any change in the feed material will impact the process control considerably,” said Victor Montenegro, manager of process and flowsheet research, development and innovation at Aurubis, a global copper processing company with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany.

metallurgy An optical solution Aurubis is taking part in an operational study to test a new optical probe that “reads” the flame inside the flash furnace.

Over the past two years, Aurubis has sent concentrate samples to metallurgist Boyd Davis, principal of project development at Ontario-based Kingston Process Metallurgy (KPM), where they are working to commercialize a concept initiated and patented by Professor Roberto Parra at the University of Concepción in Chile.

“The system is based on an optical probe that collects and analyzes light from the flame,” said Davis. “The spectrum and brightness of the flame emission contains information about the combustion process.”

Optical sensors are used widely to monitor industrial processes and are not new to metallurgy. Pyrometers are often used to measure the temperature of a flame, but this optical sensor measures a wider range of frequencies on the electromagnetic spectrum to indicate mineral composition and physical changes in the flame rather than just temperature.

“We are looking at the entire visible and near infrared spectrum,” said Davis.

The drop test KPM developed a drop tower to simulate furnace conditions to test the probe in 2017. The drop tower, a vertical tube about six feet tall and 20 centimetres in diameter, is different from previous testing methods because it feeds a small amount of concentrate at a rate of a few grams per minute and controls the amount of oxygen within. The feeder is designed to release just the right amount of concentrate or pure material into the drop tower: not so small that the sample gets over-oxidized, and not so large that it is hard to control.

“We are getting results that are closer to an actual smelter operation,” said Davis.

Davis and Hans-Peter Loock, head of the Department of Chemistry at Queen’s University, co-supervised Arthur Stokreef, a master’s student at Queen’s, who evaluated the viability of optical emission spectroscopy as a means for monitoring flash combustion reactions at the burner.

“We required something simple and rugged that gives us information about the temperature and stability of the flame in a copper flash-furnace,” said Loock. “Operators don’t like to disrupt their processes, so we required an instrument that was fully compatible with existing operations and can be inserted without any downtime.”

The fibre optic cable itself, similar to the cable that brings television to homes, is enclosed in a solid, custom-made, aircooled sleeve to protect the fibre from the extreme temperatures it operates in and dust (dust is a problem as it can build up, forming accretions that block the incoming light). From within the protective housing, the fibre optic cable points at the flame and sends information to an external spectrometer.

Stokreef demonstrated that it is possible to obtain the temperature, brightness and stability of the flame in a copper flash furnace using the blackbody emission spectrum. He

developed flame brightness profiles for two concentrate samples supplied by Aurubis and two pure mineral samples, chalcopyrite and pyrite. Stokreef found that monitoring the flame brightness provided an early warning signal that can improve furnace availability and help stabilize matte grade and that the ratio of flame temperature to brightness was useful for monitoring feed distribution in the laboratory.

“The sensor only provides part of the picture,” said Loock.

“When combined with other sensors, such as composition of the flue gases or the feed, one can expect to see both an increase in the efficiency and a more consistent matte composition. It is important that the sensor provides instantaneous feedback and rapid intervention is possible.”

Gathering more data The optical probe has so far been tested at two Aurubis smelters, one near Hamburg the other in Bulgaria, and at the Chagres copper smelter north of Santiago, Chile, but more data are needed.

“The preliminary results show that the probe could be an effective monitoring or controlling tool for operation,” said Montenegro. Once a reliable database of combustion characteristics for different feeds with different mineralogy, combustion temperature and de-sulfurization behaviour is established, the combustion behaviour of different blends can be predicted.

“This prediction could be useful to adjust the operating parameters accordingly to maintain a consistent matte grade and minimize copper losses to slag, ultimately resulting in higher efficiency,” said Montenegro.

The next challenge is to generate enough data over a longer period. “Then you’re able to see operational upsets that happen and go to the data and see if you can predict those process upsets,” said Davis. “This takes time.

Forging ahead The drop tower designed by KPM has proven to be a useful tool for studying flash combustion processes. Experiments performed using the drop tower show that the mineralogy of the copper concentrate feed going into a flash furnace has a significant impact on the conditions required for the production of matte with consistent copper grade.

The ICSG expects that world refined copper production will increase by around 2.8 per cent in 2019 and 1.2 per cent in 2020. The majority of copper smelters worldwide will continue to employ flash furnace technology to recover copper from copper concentrate and also from recycled materials.

Monitoring and maximizing the efficiency of furnaces, such as using this inexpensive new optical probe, is necessary and especially significant for custom smelters, which may see several different blends in a day.

“I believe that we are just at the beginning in our effort to create sensor webs for non-ferrous metallurgical processes,” said Loock. “Optical sensors will certainly be part of this picture, but they will have to be integrated with other tools to optimize these complex processes.” CIM June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 39

Riccardo Cellere

[A productive partner]

Alexandre Cervinka CEO, Newtrax Technologies

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t is early May and Alexandre Cervinka, CEO of Montrealbased Newtrax Technologies, is on a train in Finland to Sandvik’s test mine in Tampere. The global mining giant brings customers there every week to see its equipment and other automation and digitalization solutions.

In April Sandvik announced it was intending to purchase Cervinka’s fast-growing technology company, which specializes in Internet of Things (IoT) solutions – visually rendering underground mining processes through careful and exhaustive data collection and monitoring. (The deal is expected to close in Q2 2019.) This comes a decade after Newtrax was founded with the aim of making underground mining safer and more efficient. But it was, Cervinka admitted, “a winding road” to get to this point.

After graduating with a bachelor’s of electrical engineering from McGill, Cervinka and some colleagues went into business using IoT technology to do everything from tracking cargo to monitoring borders. Eventually, a professor from the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue suggested there could be applications to underground hardrock mining.

This hunch proved prophetic.

Cervinka said there were good reasons why this sector lagged behind others in digitalization and automation. “It is just a much more dynamic and harsh environment than, say,

surface mining or oil and gas or other process industries.” For one, it is not easy to get communications networks close to where the actual work is happening. When you blast and muck at the mine face, for example, nearby monitoring infrastructure often gets destroyed. Plus, mobile equipment like drills and trucks were not generally designed with sensors and when they were, these systems were closed so mines could not access the data and see it in realtime.

“It was really a cemetery of failed technology projects,” said Cervinka, who realized the huge potential for Newtrax’s products when they began to measure Overall Equipment Effectiveness underground. In one instance, they discovered a roof bolter – used to secure rock from falling underground – was not only being used less than 20 per cent of the time, but that just 10 per cent of the bolts were being secured properly. “Only two per cent of the time is it actually doing useful work,” Cervinka said.

Newtrax can monitor, in real-time, anything from trucktire pressure to ground stability and water levels to haul truck loads. “We install payload sensors on trucks and put a display on the side of the truck so the loader operator can see if he needs to add an extra half-bucket for the truck to be at full capacity before it heads to the surface,” Cervinka said. If a round-trip takes two hours, those tonnes adds up. “Everybody’s obsessed with eliminating waste. This is a very wasteful process,” he said. By providing visibility into this and other processes, Newtrax allows operations to make data-driven changes to increase safety and productivity.

Cervinka is excited by the Sandvik acquisition. Newtrax will maintain its Montreal headquarters and operate as its own division, and Sandvik will promote the Newtrax OEM-independent IoT platform as the preferred source of big data for its mining process optimization software. Of the more than 700 underground hardrock mines on the planet, Cervinka said, Sandvik is “in like 99 per cent of them.”

There are some tantalizing possibilities to this partnership.

Mines could one day use Newtrax to monitor and optimize their processes and then link that data with Sandvik’s automated equipment to make the operation even more efficient, competitive and safe.

Cervinka may want to find an apartment in Finland.

– By Herb Mathisen June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 41

Courtesy of Julia Lane

[The Carlin whisperer] “I’ve been on this project since the beginning, and I would love to continue progressing and advancing it.”

Julia Lane

Vice-president of exploration, ATAC Resources

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hen fine-grained, sediment-hosted disseminated gold, aka Carlin-type mineralization, was first discovered in 2010 at the eastern edge of ATAC Resources Ltd.’s Rackla property in east-central Yukon, professional geologist Julia Lane had been working with the company for over two years. She had just been promoted to head logger at the core shack on the western end of the 1,700 kilometre property and, because of her strong interpersonal and data management skills, she was transferred east and entrusted with the company’s Osiris project, now known to host “the second-highest grade, pit-constrained resource over one million ounces of gold in North America,” according to ATAC. Lane’s is a story of both natural talent and leadership identified and nurtured, and of an individual who has stepped forward to embrace every opportunity that arose. Lane has managed exploration on the Rackla property since 2011 and became vice-president of exploration for ATAC in 2015.

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“In 2010, we ramped up to a much larger program where we had four drills operating,” said Lane. “Although I wasn’t specifically planning drill holes or managing the logistics of the program, I was working in the office in camp with the people who were, so I just absorbed it, engaging and being observant of all the aspects of the program, and asking questions.”

By 2011, Lane was leading a $30 million exploration program including six diamond drill rigs, four helicopters and 100 to 150 people across four camps. Her mentor, Robert Carne, chairman of the technical committee and director at ATAC, allowed Lane to “work it out on my own.”

“When I hit a roadblock and asked him, he was happy to engage,” said Lane, “but he wasn’t going to dictate what was being done.”

Lane never saw her gender as a limiting factor, even as a female exploration manager in her mid-20s directing numerous drill crews, helicopter operations and exploration camps.

She credits ATAC management for building a cohesive, supportive workplace culture with zero-tolerance for disrespectful behaviour. That supportive backing allowed her to focus on the growing project.

For almost a decade, Lane has overseen exploration activity on the entire Rackla gold property that spans 185 kilometres and is divided from west to east into the Rau, Orion and Osiris projects. The Carlin-style mineralization in the central Orion project attracted interest from Barrick Gold, who operate in the original Carlin gold trend in Nevada, and the two companies signed an earn-in agreement in April 2017.

“ATAC was the operator of the program, so I became responsible for managing the operations of the partnership program at Orion,” said Lane. “That involved meetings with their team members to help design the program and figure out the resources that were needed to complete that. In tandem with that, ATAC was running their own independent exploration program on the Osiris project and a little bit over at Rau. And so I had a dual role of overseeing both of those.”

Barrick elected to leave the project in December 2018, but Lane plans to stick around.

“So much of my career has developed around this program,” said Lane. “I’ve been on this project since the beginning, and I would love to continue progressing and advancing it.”

– By Kylie Williams

Courtesy of Denis Laviolette

[The data digger] “Data Miners” – graduate students at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) in Quebec City who were at the forefront of using machine learning and cloud computing to process geoscience data. The challenge offered $1 million in prize money to teams who could pinpoint the next prospective gold deposit at Integra’s Lamaque property in Val d’Or, Quebec, using historical data.

“When I saw their description I knew this was the future and I flew to Quebec City to meet them,” said Laviolette. “I knew I had the connections in the industry to help them and the vision to monetize their technology.”

“I saw some great assets that were getting no capital and horrible assets generating huge amounts of capital. It bothered me and I really wanted to upset that apple cart.”

Denis Laviolette

President and CEO, Goldspot Discoveries

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s a new geology graduate, GoldSpot Discoveries president and CEO Denis Laviolette often wondered why his bosses insisted on meticulous core logging, only to ignore the resulting observations; or hired consultants to produce detailed reports on a project, then shelved the information. The inefficiencies associated with exploration drove him crazy.

When he moved to the money side of the business to work for Pinetree Capital, which held investments in more than 400 resource companies in its heyday, something else started to nag: “I saw some great assets that were getting no capital and horrible assets generating huge amounts of capital. It bothered me and I really wanted to upset that apple cart,” said the 34-year-old graduate of Brock University’s Earth Sciences program.

In 2015 Pinetree all but collapsed after investors abandoned junior mining for other sectors with better returns.

Searching for new opportunities, Laviolette came across a pitch entered into the Integra Gold Rush challenge by the

The Data Miners took third place in the competition and GoldSpot Discoveries was born. GoldSpot went on to be a finalist in the 2017 Disrupt Mining challenge based on its unique algorithm, which uses machine learning to improve exploration targeting. The company’s geo and data scientists, whose average age is about 30, work collaboratively to train the technology, initially on data from more than 1,500 deposits in the Abitibi mining camp in Quebec.

GoldSpot uses the algorithm (called “resource quantamental” for the combination of quantitative data and fundamentals) to predict which juniors will make the best investments.

The company also helps mining companies find targets within their exploration data. One of its clients is Jerritt Canyon Gold, a private gold producer in northern Nevada with a historical resource of 12 million ounces of gold.

GoldSpot was hired to find correlations within a wide variety of data from Jerritt Canyon’s mines, identify targets and design a drill program to test the best ones.

Time will tell if GoldSpot’s algorithm leads to higher discovery rates, but some big names in the industry have taken equity stakes in the innovator, such as Eric Sprott (10 per cent) and Hochschild Mining (seven per cent). On February 21, GoldSpot listed on the TSX-V with about $8 million in the treasury.

“We went public because we knew that to go from where we were as a service company to where we need to be acquiring royalties and putting resource quantamental to work, we would require more capital,” said Laviolette. “We’ll bring our team into those stories to give them the polish they so desperately deserve.”

– By Virginia Heffernan June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 43

Courtesy of Steve Amos

[The patient planner] “Working in the DRC, there’s always a chance there will be a delay no matter what you are doing, but as long as you know that’s a probability you can work around it.”

Steve Amos

head of projects for the DRC, Ivanhoe mines

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uilding mines in a country where outbreaks of disease and violence are common requires a combination of experience, courage and awareness. Ivanhoe Mines’ head of projects for the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Steve Amos has that special mix.

The metallurgist has spent his whole career working in Africa, from his early days as a bursary student for former South African mining powerhouse JCI Limited to consulting for Tenke Fungurume, one of the DRC’s largest copper mines, to his current role overseeing the massive Kamoa-Kakula copper project and Kipushi zinc project in the southern part of the country.

Kamoa-Kakula is a greenfield discovery by Ivanhoe Mines that is operated by Kamoa Copper SA (KCSA), a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining Group, Crystal River Global Limited and the DRC government. Chinese state-run conglomerate CITIC, Ivanhoe’s largest shareholder, recently announced that it would up its stake in Ivanhoe Mines to 29.9 per cent with a US$454-million investment.

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A recent pre-feasibility study (PFS) for phase one of the Kamoa-Kakula project calls for a six million tonne per annum (Mtpa) operation with an estimated capital cost of US$1.1 billion. Construction has commenced and first concentrate is scheduled to be produced in early 2021.

Kipushi is a high-grade underground zinc-copper mine, which was mined for 70 years before being put on care and maintenance in 1993. Bringing that back into production will take two years and cost about US$337 million, according to a 2017 PFS. Amos’s experience includes a variety of skills such as base and precious metals metallurgy and processing, research and development, lab work, and mine commissioning and construction. Decades of working in remote parts of Africa have helped him develop an awareness of the risks in this part of the world, which allows him to get out ahead of problems before they arise.

“Working in the DRC, there’s always a chance there will be a delay no matter what you are doing, but as long as you know that’s a probability you can work around it,” said Amos, whose equipment trucks were stuck in a 50-kilometre queue at the DRC-Zambia border as he spoke calmly to CIM Magazine from head office in Johannesburg, South Africa. “I always try to hire the best people, people that I trust, and I like to empower them to be responsible for their part of the project.”

Amos also tries to ensure that the projects are self-sufficient. “You need to be able to do a lot of the work yourself and have everything on site because you can’t make a quick trip to the local hardware store.”

It helps that Kamoa-Kakula and Kipushi lie in the far south, tucked away from the regions affected by armed conflict and disease. “The Ebola outbreak is light years away from us. You need to worry more about snakes at the sites.”

Mining at three nearby areas on the Kamoa mining licence will follow the initial underground production at Kakula. As those resources are mined out, KCSA plans to develop separate mines at Kansoko, Kakula West and Kamoa North to maintain a production rate of 18 Mtpa.

As for his own responsibilities, Amos said that though his role has become purely managerial, “it’s going to become more and more challenging as we move into construction and start to spend the big money.”

– By Virginia Heffernan

Jive Photographic Productions

[The data collector] “We’ve got big company experience, but with a small company can-do attitude.”

S a l ly Goodman

chief geoscientist, Atlantic Gold

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pplying big company practices to small company ambitions has allowed Vancouver-based Atlantic Gold to thrive in a difficult market for juniors, according to Sally Goodman, the company’s chief geoscientist.

Instead of relying solely on consultants to interpret exploration results, for instance, Atlantic Gold has built a team of specialists with disparate skill sets, including a sedimentologist who understands the regional stratigraphy and a petroleum geologist who contributes geophysical expertise.

They work together to grow the Mineral Reserves and Resources while getting a better handle on what controls mineralization in the 45-kilometre exploration corridor between Atlantic Gold’s Moose River gold mine northeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the Fifteen Mile Stream deposit along strike.

“We intend to be here for a long time, so it makes sense to develop the skills base within the company,” said Goodman, who was recruited from Goldcorp in June 2018 to steer Atlantic Gold’s exploration program, joining CEO Steven Dean, former president of Teck Cominco, and president Maryse Belanger, former senior vice-president for Goldcorp, along with 250 other employees. “We’ve got big company experience, but with a small company can-do attitude.”

Her own role overseeing the collection and compilation of geoscientific data to steer exploration may sound routine, but it is key to the junior’s success. Over the past year, Atlantic

has increased Reserves by 27 per cent, extended the Moose River mine life to 10 years, and boosted Resources to 2.1 million ounces of gold, including 607,000 ounces at the Cochrane Hill satellite deposit farther northeast.

Her approach also reduces the risk of regional exploration. In the swampy, forested interior of Nova Scotia where outcrop is limited, discovery depends on a trifecta of information compiled into 3D models to improve targeting: historical data, clues from the openpit “laboratory” at Moose River, and incoming geological, geophysical and geochemical data.

“We’re diamond drilling across the corridor just to get geological information we can use to ground truth the geophysical interpretation,” said Goodman, a structural geologist who moved to Canada in the 1980s from the U.K. after completing post-doctoral work at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. “A lot of companies would not be willing to put that money in the ground purely for geological data, but it means that we have that much more confidence in our geological interpretation now that we’ve narrowed down the exploration to specific target areas.”

Moose River became the only producing gold mine in Nova Scotia when it achieved commercial production in March 2018. This year it is expected to produce 92,000 to 98,000 ounces of gold at less than US$566 per ounce all-in sustaining costs. The deposit lies within the Meguma terrane, a metamorphosed argillite-greywacke sequence where gold production has traditionally focused on narrow high-grade veins.

Atlantic Gold’s target is different: fine-grained gold disseminated in argillite with the potential to support bulk tonnage mining at a low strip ratio. And there is a lot of potential.

Goodman’s team is currently gearing up for a summer drill program to investigate several targets, including the 149 deposit, a 500-metre long low-grade gold zone discovered during last year’s information-gathering drill campaign.

“It’s a different geological concept applied to a historical mining area,” said Goodman, who worked as a consultant for SRK Consulting for a decade before joining Goldcorp in 2013 as director of geology and mineral resources. “And we’ve proven that the concept works – we mine this disseminated gold at Moose River and we have a pattern that we can apply in areas of similar geology throughout the Meguma terrane.”

The gold miner’s hard work appears to have paid off.

Atlantic Gold announced in mid-May that it had agreed to be purchased by Australia-based St Barbara Ltd for $722 million.

The sale is expected to be completed in July.

– By Virginia Heffernan June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 45

[The regulator] Courtesy of Ryan Barry

Affairs, who has the final authority to approve, reject or vary the Board’s recommendations.

The scale of the reviews can be staggering. Take Baffinland’s initial Mary River project proposal from 2008. “It was the biggest assessment in Canada at the time,” said Barry. “It was the first major development in the Baffin region that occurred under the framework of the Nunavut Agreement.” The proposal included a railway that cut across Baffin Island, icebreaking and year-round shipping, which were all were highly contentious among Inuit. Plus, Baffinland was a new company that had not put forward a mine proposal before and many in the region needed to be caught up to speed with NIRB processes to participate effectively. “It’s a combination of education, engagement and communication that’s always happening.”

“Nunavut has really come into its own as a mining jurisdiction, and we work hard to ensure development is successful for everyone.”

R ya n Barry

executive director, Nunavut Impact Review Board

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unavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) executive director Ryan Barry understands that, above all else, the regulatory agency needs to maintain its objectivity. When developers have billion-dollar investments on the line and some members of the public are vehemently opposed to seeing them go ahead, it is obvious why.

But “respectful advocacy,” as Barry calls it, is part of his job.

It is a skill he has worked on since taking the role in 2011.

(He has been with NIRB since 2007, when he moved north from PEI for a technical advisor position after completing a master’s in biology.) For one, he needs to ensure the board’s hardworking staff of about 25 – tasked with screening, reviewing and monitoring mineral development projects in Nunavut – is adequately funded and properly supported.

The board’s role is not always easy or well understood.

“Impact assessment is really about making sure that if projects proceed, they proceed the right way with all of the potential effects managed effectively and the opportunity for benefits maximized,” he said. “Essentially that you make the best projects possible through a transparent public process.” NIRB’s determinations are sent to the federal minister of Northern 46 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

This mandate is made all the more difficult by the logistical and infrastructure challenges the vast territory presents. NIRB will sometimes receive a physical delivery of a USB flash drive with hundreds of large files on it because transferring them online would be near impossible with local bandwidth. NIRB had to consider this when designing its website, so Nunavummiut could actually use it. “You try to do things that are less graphic-intensive, that load properly and display well, that have searchable databases that can present results very quickly without a lot of lag-time.”

Barry would love to livestream NIRB’s public hearings, but they cannot yet do it reliably. “With our mandate, we’re needing to engage regularly with communities, but the cost of physically travelling within Nunavut is so high that any improvements in those kinds of technologies really make a big difference for us.” Getting information and feedback from the public is key. Delays from weather or limited local capacity can hold up reviews, bringing less certainty to the process and, ultimately, to developers.

Right now, with more than 30 projects in screening, monitoring or under review, Barry and the NIRB staff are busy.

“Each region now has one or more operating mines, and the approved mines continue to seek amendments to grow and update their operations,” said Barry. “Nunavut has really come into its own as a mining jurisdiction, and we work hard to ensure development is successful for everyone.”

– By Herb Mathisen

Gage Skidmore/Flickr

[The reformer]

“I’ve been fighting for mining reform for years; it’s well past time for our mining laws to change.”

Raúl Grijalva Arizona Congressman

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hen U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant first enacted the “General Mining Act of 1872,” his goal was to develop the western states by exempting hardrock mining companies from paying a federal royalty for any mining done on public lands. The hope was that the law would encourage companies to prospect and mine minerals such as gold, platinum and silver.

Jump to 2019 and President Grant’s law remains relatively unchanged and hardrock mining is still exempt from federal royalties. That is why Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva, along with New Mexico Senator Tom Udall, both of whom are Democrats, has put forward “The Hardrock Leasing and Reclamation Act of 2019,” which would implement a 12.5 per cent federal royalty on all new hardrock mining operations on public lands, the same royalty percentage that currently exists on the oil and gas industry.

“The bill would end the outdated claim-staking and patenting system that gives miners unfettered access to nearly all public land in the United States,” said Grijalva in his bill summary. According to Grijalva, the mining industry has extracted around US$300 billion worth of minerals from public lands since 1872.

This proposed bill has been met with resistance from the National Mining Association, which said in a press release that changes to the current law would “increase the burden on U.S. mining and make it less competitive on the global stage.”

Despite the pushback, Grijalva said he believes there is an urgent need to update the country’s “obsolete” system.

“The mining industry likes to paint this image of a lone person roaming around doing prospecting [...] of the familyowned mine, but that’s not the case,” Grijalva told CIM Magazine. “These are massive conglomerates.”

According to Grijalva, 75 per cent of the funds generated by the royalty would go towards cleaning up abandoned mines and other areas impacted by mining. At the moment, abandoned mines in the U.S. release 50 million gallons of toxic wastewater a day, he said, and American taxpayers are left to pick up the US$50 billion cleanup bill.

The other 25 per cent would go to the state. The bill would also make certain lands off-limits to mining operations, require companies to have meaningful consultation with local Indigenous communities, require miners to provide proof of necessary funds for reclamation before purchasing land rights, and require mining operators to publicly report the amount and value of the minerals being extracted, all of which he said mining companies are not currently required to do.

This is not Grijalva’s first attempt to update hardrock mining royalties in the U.S. He has been part of two other efforts to do so. The first was in 2007 with a bill that proposed a four per cent royalty, which died in 2009. That same year, another reform was proposed, this one backed by the Obama administration, for an eight to 15 per cent royalty on hardrock mining, which died in 2011. Grijalva said he is “confident” that he can receive the support necessary to pass this bill, based on its reception from the public and his fellow members of Congress.

“I’ve been fighting for mining reform for years; it’s well past time for our mining laws to change,” said Grijalva in a press release. “The hardrock mining industry has enjoyed an outrageous sweetheart deal, unlike any other industry, where the mining companies get the gold and the taxpayer gets the shaft.”

– By Matthew Coyte June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 47

Courtesy of Michel Gamache

[The matchmaker]

“I think AI is a new tool that can be used, but it’s not magic.”

Michel Gamache

Professor, Polytechnique Montréal

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hen Michel Gamache enrolled in the mining engineering program at Polytechnique Montréal in the early 1980s, he had no experience in the industry aside from a vague interest in geology. Now, years after graduating with his undergraduate degree, and a PhD in optimization and mathematics to boot, Gamache is part of a wave of people in academia and industry looking to reimagine mining operations using artificial intelligence (AI).

Gamache found a position teaching at his alma mater in the optimization and mathematics department soon after finishing his studies. Over the years he has worked with large OEMs, such as Caterpillar (he helped them with their dispatch models), the technology consultancy Peck Tech on drill automation, as well as a number of Quebec mining companies to help solve mine planning issues. Gamache brings this industry experience to his role as a member of the Institute for Data Volarization (IVADO) – a publicly funded organization that connects industry professionals with academic researchers to help develop expertise in fields like data science, optimal resource use and AI – where he looks at how AI can benefit his main line of research: optimization.

“I believe that in the future, the mining industry will be able to react in real time to all of the information that is coming from the mine,” said Gamache. Optimizing Canadian mine operations using techniques like machine learning is the first step to accelerating problem resolution, said Gamache. He explained that machine learning could help mining engineers 48 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

with real-time mine planning, and could lead to reducing the computational time usually required to make these decisions.

Collecting quality operational data from the mine site is one of the fundamental challenges for all such projects, according to Gamache. Among his tasks is to combine his field knowledge with machine learning to sort out which data are useful for optimization and which are just noise.

Mine planning and optimization is a particularly difficult challenge, as every optimization model includes parameters based on available and variable data, such as the duration of a task and the number of metres that can be drilled in a shift.

Gamache said that by connecting field knowledge with the advantages of AI, the results will help produce more stable and reactive models. “With AI, we will be able to update our parameters, which will reduce the uncertainty and reduce the variability in our models,” explained Gamache. “We do our planning, but often the data that we have isn’t good, so the models have to be changed quite regularly.”

“I think AI is a new tool that can be used, but it’s not magic,” said Gamache. “There are people that think we can do anything with machine learning, but to use AI we have to have good data first. And since mines have a lot of data, I think part of what we can do is use that data to improve our process and to improve the models that we use, not just in optimization, but in automation as well.”

– By Matthew Coyte

Courtesy of Jose Vizquerra

[The natural]

Jose Vizquerra President and CEO, O3 Mining

G

rowing up, the family business was a fixture in Jose Vizquerra’s house. It would come up in conversations over breakfast and lunch. “We’d have dinner with our family and the common theme was the business,” he said.

It just so happened this business was Buenaventura Mining, founded by Vizquerra’s grandfather, Don Alberto Benavides de la Quintana, considered one of the most important figures in Peruvian mining history. Particularly spirited were Saturday gatherings – large family affairs that included about 20 people. “None of my cousins are mining engineers or geologists,” said Vizquerra, noting a philosopher, a media professional and an architect among the group. “These talks never stopped at mining.”

That suited Vizquerra’s grandfather just fine. He concerned himself not only with his business and the industry in general, but where mining fit in the bigger picture. He took a philosophical view: mining was a vehicle to build roads, improve quality of life and develop the Andes of Peru. Vizquerra, now president and CEO of O3 Mining, shares his grandfather’s set of beliefs and encourages young mining professionals to be proud of the positive effects mining can have on people and regions.

Vizquerra had a special bond with his grandfather.

“Because I liked mining and he knew it, he would invite me on the Saturday morning meetings he had with all of the different superintendents, the vice-president of exploration, and

mining and environmental, at his office,” he said. This tradition began when Vizquerra was 12 and continued into his early 20s. Those meetings were invaluable. “Listening to these guys dealing with every single discipline of mining and asking the right questions helped me to think better about the questions I would ask today.”

Vizquerra’s steady rise is proof of his perceptiveness. After three years as an underground geologist at Goldcorp’s Red Lake mine, his uncles hired him to find assets for Buenaventura outside of Peru. Soon he was being recruited to head two Canadian exploration companies – Oban and Braeval – to find copper assets in Peru and gold assets in the Americas. The opportunity was too good to pass up, so he went to break the news to his grandfather. “Once you work for the family business, it’s not easy to say that you want to leave and do your own thing.”

“Listening to these guys dealing with every single discipline of mining and asking the right questions helped me to think better about the questions I would ask today.”

Braeval made a discovery in Colombia and the company went public. Then, disaster. Vice-president of exploration Gernot Wober and five other employees were kidnapped by a Colombian terrorist group. “We had a company with a $50 million market cap. We became a company of $5 million market cap,” he said. (Wober and the others were released seven months later.)

Braeval hung onto its cash and soon Vizquerra and his team saw another opportunity in Canada. “It sounded like a crazy idea because I was coming from Peru to do exploration in [South and Central America] – that was the reason they brought me in to be president and CEO of these two companies, not to do Canadian exploration.” John Burzynski, Braeval’s chairman and a co-founder of Osisko – acquired by Agnico Eagle and Yamana Gold in 2014 – liked the shift in strategy. The companies merged and began exploring Quebec’s Urban Barry gold camp. The team soon proposed the purchase of three juniors in the area: Eagle Hill, Ryan Gold and Corona Gold. The deal was successful, and the companies became Osisko Mining with Burzynski as CEO and Vizquerra becoming his “right-hand.”

Fast-forward to February 2019, when Osisko Mining decided to focus on its Windfall Lake gold project and spin out its non-core assets to form O3 Mining. Vizquerra, 39, was named CEO and he is closer to fulfilling a promise he made when he left Buenaventura. “I made a bet with my grandfather saying I’m leaving because I want to build a bigger corporation than the one you built. I’m still very far from that – I can tell you that. We are not yet where Buenaventura is. But we’re working on that.”

– By Herb Mathisen June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 49

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technology

Before the era of energy gluttonous mineral processing becomes a relic of the past, we will need to establish the processes and technologies that will replace it. The Crush It! Challenge is designed to spark that change.

Ground M breakers The Crush it!

Challenge puts innovative Canadian comminution ideas in the spotlight

By Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco

ineral processing to liberate valuable minerals accounts for roughly six per cent of the world’s electricity consumption, and half of that is devoted to comminution. A significant portion of that crushing and grinding happens in Canada. So it makes sense that Impact Canada, the federally funded agency devoted to solving “Canada’s biggest challenges” chose to launch a national competition calling on innovators across the country to come up with a solution to reduce the energy it takes to perform this task. Of the original 65 projects competing in the Crush It! Challenge, six have advanced to the final stage. These finalists were announced by Paul Lefebvre, parliamentary secretary to the minister of Natural Resources, at the CIM 2019 Convention in Montreal. Each of the six teams received up to $800,000 to demonstrate their innovative solution over an 18-month period. The one that delivers the biggest breakthrough will be awarded a $5-million grand prize in March 2021 to help commercialize their technology.

Here are the concepts that crushed it:

Transcritical CO2 Pulverization Envisioning Labs, a Vancouver-based innovation consultancy, met the Crush It! Challenge with what could be a disruptive new approach to comminution that turns recaptured CO2 into a force that fragments the rock from inside. “That creates a very different energy equation,” said Cliff Edwards, the company’s chief innovation officer. “What we are envisioning is putting the ore into a chamber, pumping CO2 into it and pressurizing it June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 51

to its supercritical state, where it has properties of both its liquid and gaseous states […] The supercritical [CO2] will want to permeate the rock as much as possible. Then we drop the pressure extremely rapidly and that rapid decompression causes the supercritical fluid permeating the rock to flash into its gas state, causing a sudden expansion of the gas, almost like an explosion. We envision cycling the rock back and forth, basically blasting the rock apart from the inside.”

The system would require an initial investment in captured CO2, but the costs of replenishing it would be minimal. “We would be reusing it and recapturing the CO2,” said Edwards.

“There would be some loss because we are permeating the rock and some of it might go out with the rock, but most of it will be used again and again.”

Sanja Miskovic, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia’s Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, has joined the project as its lead academic, and MistyWest Energy & Transport is the project’s design and engineering partner.

Envisioning Labs believes its method has the potential to reduce the entire comminution circuit to just one process.

“That could be a real game changer and significant advantage over the traditional approaches,” said Edwards. “It’s kind of radical. We’re not miners. We are cross-disciplinary innovators, but if the hypothesis proves itself, it could be huge. It’s incumbent on us to do the very best to prove the hypothesis.”

One of the advantages of the technology is that the smaller the particle, the more efficiently the liquid CO2 can penetrate it. That is the exact opposite of conventional technologies, which use the most energy when grinding fines.

Selective-Heat Ore Treatment - S.H.O.T. “If you cut out the need to grind to the finest particle sizes, you are saving the largest amount of energy,” said Tracy Holmes, president of Toronto-based Jenike & Johanson, which specializes in bulk material handling, processing and storage.

That is because current flotation methodology requires ore to be finely ground so that every valuable mineral grain has some surface exposure. With conventional crushing technologies, rock breakage tends to occur randomly based on weaknesses in the rock and how and where the pressure is applied to the rocks. Grinding to very fine particle sizes is then necessary to ensure every mineral grain is exposed. This is why the Crush It! finalist team Holmes heads is focused on a pre-treatment technology using microwave energy and the different dielectric properties of the host rock and the valuable mineral it contains to form micro-cracks in the rock at the boundaries of the mineral.

Microwave technology, which has been refined by the University of Nottingham’s Sam Kingman over the last 25 years, applies short bursts of high-intensity industrial-strength microwave energy to the ore. The microwaves quickly heat up the valuable minerals, which then expand. Because the host rock does not heat up, micro cracks form around the mineral grain boundaries. “Our testing indicates that pre-treating the 52 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

ore can save up to 24 per cent of the energy required in a typical comminution system while achieving up to 30 per cent increases in throughput.” said Holmes. “Because the stress fractures have already started and form right around the valuable mineral, you don’t have to grind as fine to get good results on the downstream mineral processing.”

The monomode microwave technology, which features a focused and uniform microwave field, was originally proven with Rio Tinto on copper with two pilot plants to treat up to 200 tonnes per hour. The team will now test it on other ore types. “It’s very important that you apply that burst of energy quickly and to all the ore and in just the right way, so you have to have good control of your bulk material handling,” said Holmes, whose company was brought into the Rio Tinto project around 10 years ago, for its expertise in this area.

The team – which also includes Teledyne Dalsa, a company that designs and installs microwave generators for large-scale processing, and SGS, who will provide metallurgical characterization services – believes the next step in commercializing this technology is to install it in a mining operation with an hourly throughput of up to 500 tonnes per hour. The team is actively seeking interested end users and has been promised support from mining companies such as Teck Resources, Agnico Eagle, RNC Minerals, TMAC Resources, Canadian Malarctic, and Sherritt International.

CanMicro Erin Bobicki, assistant professor and comminution researcher at the University of Toronto’s Lassonde Institute of Mining, heads a team that is also using microwave energy to pre-treat the ore. Her team, however, is working with a multimode reactor, which can be scaled up to treat thousands of tonnes of ore per hour. “In monomode, you just have one peak of energy, which allows you to get really high microwave intensities concentrated in one area,” said Bobicki, “and that is really beneficial for enhancing breakage. But the size of cavity is limited to the size of the wavelength so scale up is challenging.”

Bobicki is working with a multidisciplinary team that includes Queen’s University mining professor Christopher Pickles, Kingston Process Metallurgy, Sepro Minerals Systems, the Saskatchewan Research Council, COREM, and the Canada Mining Innovation Council (CMIC). The proposed system will not only induce fracture within the ore but will simultaneously heat up the valuable minerals to enable sorting. “The microwave treatment essentially labels the rocks, and we use that thermal signature to sort the ore so only pre-fractured rocks that contain valuable minerals are sent to grinding,” said Bobicki. “While it’s a new application in mining, microwave technology is well established in other industries such as food processing. We aren’t engineering a new apparatus but combining industrial microwave and sorting technology into a new application.”

Conjugate Anvil Hammer Mill (CAHM) Bobicki’s project is not the only CMIC project selected as a finalist in the Crush It! Challenge. CMIC began championing

technology

the Conjugate Anvil Hammer Mill (CAHM) a couple of years ago when CMIC identified energy use in comminution as a key challenge for the industry. CMIC led a global technology scan that identified 26 promising technologies. “CAHM came up as the only one that had remarkable potential not only in energy reduction but also in the readiness for commercialization,” said Gillian Holcroft, CMIC innovation manager for processing who is the CAHM project lead.

The system was invented by Lawrence Nordell a decade ago. “He is a great innovator, but making the business case for the system required the input and collaboration of a multidisciplinary team and, most importantly, the interest of an early adopter from the mining industry,” said Holcroft. “CMIC was the catalyst to putting this group together.”

The CAHM platform is envisioned to replace SAG mills and/or high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGRs) while the Hammer Retrofit derivative is targeted to replace rod or ball mills resulting in a significantly simplified comminution circuit, explained Holcroft. CAHM consists of two rotating offset concentric rings. The surface of an outer anvil ring has pockets with openings that, like a sieve, allow the fine particles to sift through. The inner hammer ring has protrusions that mesh with the outer pockets. When the rock is fed into the machine, large rocks are broken between the two rings while the small rocks fall into the pockets where they are crushed by the hammers. “If you throw a big rock into a pile of sand, it will not break. The sand is going to absorb the impact,” said Holcroft. “The innovation is that CAHM allows the small particles to be removed right away, which is one of the reasons for the significant energy savings.

“The ore from the CAHM would then be transferred to the Hammer Retrofit, which is designed to replace a conventional ball mill. It’s basically a huge grooved cylinder sitting inside another grooved cylinder. It’s so heavy, it just stays at the bottom rolling around and crushing the rock,” said Holcroft. CAHM is being developed as both a stand-alone system and a retrofit.

That team, which includes support from Hatch, CTTI, COREM, Teck Metals, Agnico Eagle, Glencore XPS, Kinross, and Newmont Goldcorp, believes CAHM is so energy efficient it can improve both capital and operating expenses, making marginal mining projects viable.

Optimization of high-pressure grinding rolls COREM also has two projects of its own that made it to the finals. Claude Gagnon, the organization’s director of the nonferrous sector, heads a project focusing on optimizing energyefficient HPGR technology to grind fines.

“Our technology is under development,” said Gagnon. “But from our research, we believe the HPGR could also be used for fine grinding to replace the fourth stage in a comminution circuit, typically done with a ball mill, which is not very energy efficient.”

To do that, the team – which includes two HPGR and ball mill experts, UBC mining professor Bernhard Klein and Metcom Technologies chief metallurgist Robert McIvor – has to

overcome the HPGR’s difficulties grinding ore that hosts elevated moisture. “Our challenge is actually to first determine what the optimal conditions are for operating the HPGR to effectively achieve the 75-micron size that may be required for flotation and leaching. Then we have to determine the optimal classification and dewatering methods.”

Over the next year and a half, “we will be sampling the ore of two different mining companies to demonstrate the technology, using HPGR equipment at COREM and UBC and a new piston press test,” said Gagnon.

That piston press test, designed by Klein, breaks rock under compression, simulating the HPGR, and it has been shown to predict the relationship between energy consumption and particle size reduction, the tonnage, and the product particle size distribution in HPGRs. “We have people on board who can bring the technology to market very rapidly once it is demonstrated,” said Gagnon.

Those people include HPGR and classification manufacturers as well as Copper Mountain Mining, Detour Gold, Goldcorp and Quebec Iron Ore.

IntelliCrush COREM’s other finalist is an artificial intelligence project partnering with the world-renowned data science innovation centre, the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO) in Montreal, and engineering firm BBA. Led by Philippe Gagnon, director of innovation and digital solutions at COREM, IntelliCrush will rely on algorithms that have learned from years’ worth of COREM’s comminution data. It will use this knowledge to recommend eco-efficient circuits to mining operations that are the best match for their ore and application. And it will design experiments to validate the recommendations. As a perpetually learning technology, it will be able to do this with new comminution tools and equipment as they enter the market.

The Coalition for Eco Efficient Comminution has stated a 15 to 30 per cent energy reduction is a viable short-term target and up to 50 per cent over the next decade is possible, simply by using the optimal available or emerging technologies, explained Gagnon. “We believe the quick win to reduce energy consumption is not in comminution technologies. The opportunity right now is in technology transfer,” said Gagnon.

IntelliCrush will decrease the risks of using innovative flowsheets and will improve the uptake potential of the other innovators’ solutions. “By using the best technologies for each ore and application, we will have a global and significant impact on the industry.”

Future impact Regardless of whether or not they win the Crush It! Challenge, all the teams plan to continue with their projects, so keep an eye out for their innovative technologies in the coming years. They could all just end up part being part of the story of how the mining industry crushed one of its greatest challenges. CIM June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 53

CELEBRATE

This year’s CIM Convention made its mark, with a record-breaking 6,000 participants, as well as nearly 300 presentations and 475 exhibiting organizations. It was the place to exchange ideas, connect with the community and celebrate excellence. CIM 2019 may be over now, but the engagement continues online.

EXCHANGE

ENGAGE From the opening plenary through all the technical sessions, there was so much to see and so little time.

Many of the presentations are online now.

CHECK OUT the CIM Technical Paper Library for the CIM 2019 technical presentations, in the Library section of cim.org.

VISIT “The Changing Face of Mining” in the news section at CIM.org to watch the plenary session video.

COMING THIS FALL! The new CIM Academy will be your knowledge destination for videos, webinars and audio presentations.

Yes, more great CIM 2019 content will be there.

REGISTRATION

IS OPEN!

Register before June 18 for a discount rate!

COM 2019 Chair Edouard Asselin University of British Columbia Copper 2019 Chair JoĂŤl Kapusta BBA Inc.

COM 2019, the Annual Conference of Metallurgists, is the premier event in Canada for the extractive metallurgy and materials community MetSoc and CIM are honoured to host Copper 2019 at COM 2019, marking the milestone 10th Edition of the International Copper Conference Series. The success and outcome of the Copper Conference is the work of the eight leading International Professional Societies (IIMCH, GDMB, MMIJ, TMS, SME, MetSoc, NFSOC, SAIMM) who tirelessly persevere in bringing forth symposia of the highest quality to the delegates.

Copper 2019 Technical Chair Ahmad Ghahreman Queen’s University Poster Chair Ahmet Deniz Bas COREM

Co-organizers:

Sponsorship Chair Engin Ozberk Mitacs & University of Saskatchewan Secretary Mansoor Barati University of Toronto Short Course Chair Peter Lind Barrick Gold

56 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

com.metsoc.org

PLENARY Get inspired by the best in the industry: Meet the plenary speakers • STEPHEN AMOS, VP, DRC Projects at Ivanhoe Mines “The Kamoa-Kakula Project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo” Read more about Stephen Amos in this issue’s “Names to Know,” p.40.

• STEVEN HIGGINS, Senior VP & Chief Administrative Officer, FCX; President, Freeport-McMoRan Sales Company Inc. “Copper Market Drivers for the Short & Long Term” • JIA MINGXING, Chair, Nonferrous Metals Society of China (NFSOC) “Copper Industry Development in China” • PATRICIA MOHR, Economist & Commodity Market Specialist “Copper Price Outlook 2019-20 - Global Growth, Currencies & Commodity” • CARLOS R. RISOPATRON, Director of Economics and Environment, International Copper Study Group (ICGS) “Global Copper Value Chain Challenges 2020-2025 – A Quantitative Perspective” • DALE E. ANDRES, Senior Vice President, Base Metals, Teck Resources Limited

TECHNICAL PROGRAM Cu: Downstream Fabrication and Applications Cu: Economics, Markets, and Historical Perspectives Cu: Electrowinning and Electrorefining Cu: Health and Safety in Operations Cu: Hydrometallurgy Cu: Mineral Processing Cu: Process Control, Optimization, and Instrumentation

• THOMAS BÜNGER, CEO, Executive Board, Aurubis AG Cu: Pyrometallurgy (The Phillip Mackey Symposium) Cu: Sustainability and Waste Management

SPECIAL SYMPOSIA AND LECTURES Pyrometallurgy – The Phillip Mackey Symposium This symposium will honour the contributions of Phillip Mackey to the discipline of copper pyrometallurgy, including copper smelting technology. The response to the call for papers for this symposium was outstanding, and we are looking forward to more than 100 relevant and interesting paper presentations.

COM 2019 2nd China-Canada Nonferrous Metallurgy Forum POSTER SESSION: Over 80 posters presented from industry and students

View the complete schedule online at: com.metsoc.org

com.metsoc.org

June/July • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 57

LEARNING @ COM BEYOND THE TECHNICAL TALKS Participate in one of our short courses, social events or industrial tours.

SHORT COURSES SUNDAY AUGUST 18

HAVE FUN! YOUR SOCIAL PROGRAM @ COM PUB NIGHT in honour

• Assessing Sensor-Based Sorting for Greenfield and Brownfield Projects • Copper Electrowinning/refining: Theory and Practice • Copper Hydrometallurgy • Copper Pyrometallurgy in China • Copper Smelter Gas Handling: Technologies and Best Practices • Modern Comminution – An Introduction to Best Practices for Decision Makers

of Phillip Mackey

Join us at our local pub night, within walking distance from the convention centre, in honour of Phillip Mackey.

The evening will include a pub-style menu and drink.

Sponsored by

HYDROMETALLURGY LUNCHEON This annual luncheon is the Hydrometallurgy Section’s premier social event of the year featuring the Hydrometallurgy Awards.

Sponsored by

METSOC AWARDS AND CONFERENCE BANQUET On Tuesday, MetSoc will honour outstanding members by presenting awards. A three-course meal with wine and reception is included with your ticket.

INDUSTRIAL TOURS THURSDAY AUGUST 22

Evening sponsored by

• Sea to Sky Gondola + Britannia Mine Museum • Kemetco Research + BC Research Tours can be purchased during the online registration process for COM-Copper 2019.

HISTORICAL METALLURGY LUNCHEON, featuring the Fathi Habashi Lecturer

The luncheon will feature special invited speaker Jennifer Protheroe-Jones, principal curator of industry in the department of history and archaeology – National Museum Wales. The lecture title is “From leader to laggard: The Swansea (South Wales) copper industry and its reactions to new smelting and refining technologies in the late 19th century.”

Sponsored by

58 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

com.metsoc.org

NETWORKING @ COM Take a break and come visit some of our exhibitors

SPONSORS PREMIUM Teck

ANDRITZ • Ashland LLC • CASPEO • CiDRA Minerals Processing • Eco-Tec Inc • GEA Group • Glencore Technology • Industrial Precision Instrumets • International Metallurgical Consultants • Ionic Engineering • Jenike & Johanson Ltd. • Kamengo • Kemetco Research Inc • Limpact International Limited • Maverick Applied Science • METALEX LIMITADA • NORAM Engineering • Outotec • PMC Ltd + Hitachi Canada + Bruker + Opti-Tesch Scientific • Pultrusion Technique Inc • RHI Magnesita GmbH • Scantech International Pty Ltd • Sepro Mineral Systems • SGS • Skyline Assayers and Laboratories • SOLVAY • SysCAD • Univar Solutions • ZEISS Microscopy

Platinum Sponsor

Glencore Platinum Sponsor

Glencore Platinum Sponsor

Hatch Gold Sponsor

Freeport McMoRan Bronze Sponsor

WorleyParsons Advisian Bronze Sponsor

OTHER

NOTICE TO MEMBERS | AVIS DE CONVOCATION The Annual General Meeting of the members of the Metallurgy and Materials Society of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum will be held in Vancouver on Monday, August 19, at 8 a.m. at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

BBA Lanyards

FLSmidth Historical Metallurgy Luncheon

KPM Student and Pub Night

L’Assemblée générale annuelle des members de la Société de la métallurgie et des matériaux de l’Institut canadien des mines, de la métallurgie et du pétrole aura lieu à Vancouver, le lundi 19 août à 8h au Vancouver Convention Centre.

Kemetco Research Hydrometallurgy Luncheon

Sherritt International Monday Networking Reception

com.metsoc.org

June/July • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 59

lettre de l’éditeur

SECTION

FRANCOPHONE JUIN/JUILLET 2019

60 Lettre de l’éditeur 61 Mot du président article de fond

62 Noms à connaître 2019 Des influenceurs à l’oeuvre pour définir, façonner et parfaire l’industrie minière Par Matthew Coyte, Virginia Heffernan, Herb Mathisen et Kylie Williams

Nous publions progressivement sur notre site Internet les articles du CIM Magazine en version française.

Dans le climat de la tarification du carbone

A

lors que j’essayais de trier la myriade de bulletins d’information qui remplissent ma boîte de réception, un article a attiré mon attention. Véritablement outré par le « politiquement correct », la nouvelle caste de femmes siégeant au Congrès et les droits de procréer, un organe de presse américain s’est évité l’affront rare de la désinscription de ses abonnés en publiant une information utile selon laquelle un certain nombre de sociétés, dont Shell et BP, allaient dans les jours à venir faire pression sur les législateurs de Washington pour l’adoption d’une loi sur la taxe carbone.

Au-delà de cet effort qui concerne directement les législateurs américains, de grandes sociétés d’exploitation des ressources font pression au sein même de leurs secteurs, notamment sur des associations d’industries censées représenter leurs intérêts. Shell annonçait en avril qu’elle ne renouvellerait pas son adhésion à l’American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM, l’association des fabricants américains de pétrole et de produits pétrochimiques), car l’association est ouvertement partisane du rejet des normes de réduction de la consommation de carburant et s’oppose à la tarification du carbone.

Quelques jours après que Shell a publié son Industry Associations Climate Review (un rapport évaluant l’alignement de Shell sur des associations d’industries en matière de politique climatique), Rio Tinto a établi ses propres critères de partenariat avec des associations d’industries concernant sa politique sur les changements climatiques, qui incluent notamment la mise en œuvre d’un prix du carbone et le soutien à l’accord de Paris sur le changement climatique. D’après ces sociétés, l’adoption d’une tarification internationale récompenserait les activités écoénergétiques et l’innovation technologique, définirait une trajectoire plus claire vers la production d’énergie à faibles émissions de carbone et améliorerait la planification à long terme.

Teck Resources, la société minière canadienne la plus diversifiée dont la plupart des activités s’alignent sur le régime de la Colombie-Britannique imposant une taxe sur le carbone, approuve la tarification du carbone et soutient l’accord de Paris. Dans sa stratégie d’action sur le climat, la société déclarait « être consciente que la tarification générale du carbone constitue l’une des manières les plus efficaces de parvenir à des réductions réelles des émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES) en garantissant que tous les émetteurs contribuent à la solution ». Si, tout comme Shell, Teck, BHP, Rio Tinto et bien d’autres, nous reconnaissons que la réduction des GES et la transition vers des sources d’énergie à plus faibles émissions de carbone constituent une stratégie intelligente sur le long terme, la mise en place d’une tarification du carbone (son adoption à grande échelle garantira un impact maximum) est une bonne façon d’y parvenir.

Il faudra sans doute envisager les efforts déployés par les sociétés du secteur de l’énergie à Washington comme un investissement pour l’avenir. Toutefois, la voie vers le progrès est souvent parsemée d’obstacles.

Peu de temps après l’entrée en vigueur de la taxe fédérale sur le carbone dans les provinces de l’Ontario, de la Saskatchewan, du Manitoba et du NouveauBrunswick, le nouveau gouvernement du Parti conservateur uni en Alberta a placé la révocation de la taxe carbone provinciale en tête de ses priorités. Les personnes qui mettent de l’essence dans leurs véhicules et chauffent leurs maisons seront épargnées de cette redoutable taxe dans la province, mais les grands émetteurs tels que la mine Fort Hills de Teck et ses voisins seront toujours contraints de payer pour leurs émissions de dioxyde de carbone en vertu d’une réglementation préexistante. Ce qui restera de cette taxe ne permettra sans doute pas d’établir une politique générale, mais le fait que la tarification du carbone n’ait pas fait l’objet d’un tollé général au sein du secteur de l’énergie du pays montre bien que cette idée commence à être acceptée.

Ryan Bergen, Rédacteur en chef editor@cim.org @Ryan_CIM_Mag

mot du président

De la conformité à l’engagement

D

e quoi et de qui êtes-vous fier/fière ? De vos enfants, votre conjoint(e), votre équipe, votre pays, de vousmême ? En tant que Canadiens, nous avons lieu d’être fiers, mais nous ne nous autorisons pas à le dire aux autres, car cela serait trop peu conforme à notre réputation.

L’industrie minière canadienne est l’une des choses dont je suis fier. Ça y est, je l’ai dit, haut et fort… et j’ai toujours mon passeport canadien en main.

Je suis conscient de l’importance de l’industrie minière en général, de sa contribution à l’amélioration de la qualité de vie de beaucoup dans le monde et des emplois qu’elle offre, de son encouragement à adopter des sources d’énergie de remplacement qui feront de notre planète un monde meilleur.

Toutefois, ce qui me plaît réellement dans l’industrie minière, ce qui me rend véritablement fier, c’est le rôle prédominant que joue le Canada au sein de cette industrie.

Souvent, les progrès en matière de sécurité et de gérance de l’environnement sont le résultat de l’exigence absolue du respect de la loi. Notre industrie a, selon moi, dépassé cette étape et est passée du stade de la conformité à celui de l’engagement. L’engagement à faire ce qu’il faut, à dépasser les exigences législatives, car nous avons une obligation morale à traiter nos ressources, nos concitoyens et notre environnement avec respect.

Je me suis rendu sur le site d’un projet sur lequel je travaillais il y a quelques années, et l’un des mineurs me disait que « lorsqu’un forage se passe mal, nous faisons la une des journaux ; par contre, personne ne parle des 99 autres forages qui se passent sans incident ». Mais cela ne résumet-il pas l’histoire de l’industrie minière ? Tout le monde entend parler des catastrophes, des projets qui tournent mal ; par contre, on n’évoque guère les partenariats fructueux avec les Autochtones, l’avènement d’une technologie innovante visant à protéger l’environnement, ou les progrès réalisés en matière de diversité dans notre industrie.

Mais revenons-en à notre mineur. Dans la société contractante de services miniers dans laquelle je travaillais, nous avons commencé à reconnaître officiellement les enjeux de ce métier, mais aussi les accomplissements et l’excellent travail qu’effectuaient les personnes évoluant dans ce secteur. Vous ne serez pas surpris d’apprendre que le moral, la sécurité et la performance ont tous connu une grande amélioration. Les félicitations sont bien meilleures juges que les coups de pied aux fesses. Certes, on ne vendra pas autant de journaux et on ne générera pas autant de clics, mais dans la réalité, c’est ainsi que se déroulent les choses.

Mon travail consiste, entre autres, à montrer et à transmettre à autant de personnes que possible les bienfaits de l’industrie minière canadienne. Nous devons tous vanter les mérites de notre industrie ; et rassurez-vous, cela ne viendra pas entacher notre réputation de Canadien ou Canadienne.

Roy Slack Président de l’ICM

June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 61

Riccardo Cellere

[Un partenaire productif]

Alexandre Cervinka

chef de la direction, Newtrax Technologies

E

n ce début du mois de mai, Alexandre Cervinka, chef de la direction de Newtrax Technologies, une entreprise montréalaise, se trouve dans un train en Finlande, en direction de la mine test de Sandvik, à Tampere. Le plus gros fabricant au monde d'équipements pour les mines souterraines y fait venir des clients, chaque semaine, pour qu’ils découvrent ses équipements et autres solutions d’automatisation et de numérisation.

En avril, Sandvik a annoncé son intention d’acheter l’entreprise de haute technologie à croissance rapide de M. Cervinka, spécialisée dans les solutions Internet des objets (IDO) qui permettent de traduire visuellement les processus de l’exploitation minière sous terre grâce à la collecte minutieuse et exhaustive de données et à leur surveillance. (La transaction devrait être conclue au 2e trimestre 2019.)

Cette acquisition intervient une décennie après la fondation de Newtrax qui a été créée dans le but de rendre l’extraction souterraine plus sûre et plus efficace. Mais, comme l’a reconnu M. Cervinka, « la route n’a pas été de tout repos » pour en arriver là.

Après avoir obtenu un baccalauréat en génie électrique à l’Université McGill, M. Cervinka et quelques collègues ont lancé une entreprise utilisant la technologie IDO pour tout un tas d’applications depuis le suivi de marchandises lors de leur transport, jusqu’à la surveillance des frontières. Puis, un professeur de l’Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue leur a suggéré d’appliquer cette

technologie à l’exploitation minière souterraine en roche dure. Cette intuition s’est avérée prophétique.

D’après M. Cervinka, si ce secteur était en retard par rapport aux autres en matière de numérisation et d’automatisation, c’était pour de bonnes raisons. « C’est un environnement tellement plus dynamique et dur que, par exemple, celui des mines de surface ou du pétrole ou du gaz, ou bien encore que celui d’autres industries de processus. » Déjà, il n’est pas facile d’avoir des réseaux de communication à proximité de l’endroit où les opérations ont vraiment lieu. Lorsque vous faites du sautage et du halage à l’intérieur de la mine, par exemple, l’infrastructure de contrôle se trouvant à proximité est souvent détruite. De plus, l’équipement mobile, comme les foreuses et les camions, n’était généralement pas conçu avec des capteurs, et s’il l’était, les systèmes étaient fermés de sorte que les mines ne pouvaient avoir accès aux données pour les voir en temps réel. « C’était vraiment un cimetière de projets technologiques ayant échoué », a déclaré M. Cervinka, qui a réalisé le potentiel énorme pour les produits Newtrax quand ils ont commencé à mesurer le taux de rendement global (OEE/TRG) sous terre. Dans un cas, ils ont découvert qu’une boulonneuse utilisée pour empêcher la roche de tomber sous terre n’était non seulement utilisée que moins de 20 % du temps, mais que seuls 10 % des boulons étaient installés correctement. « La boulonneuse n’était vraiment utilisée efficacement que 2 % du temps en fin de compte », a dit M. Cervinka.

Newtrax peut surveiller en temps réel beaucoup de choses, depuis la pression des pneus des camions à la stabilité du sol et aux niveaux de l’eau, en passant par le tonnage déplacé par les camions. « Nous installons des capteurs sur la charge utile des camions, et nous mettons un écran sur le côté du camion afin que le conducteur de chargeuse puisse voir s’il a besoin d’ajouter un demi-seau supplémentaire pour que le camion soit utilisé à pleine capacité avant de remonter à la surface », a expliqué M. Cervinka. Si un aller-retour prend deux heures, ces tonnes s’additionnent. « Tout le monde est obsédé par la nécessité d’éliminer le gaspillage. Or, c’est un processus qui cause beaucoup de gaspillage », a-t-il ajouté. En donnant de la visibilité sur ce processus et sur d’autres, Newtrax permet aux opérations de procéder à des changements fondés sur des données afin d’accroître la sécurité et la productivité.

M. Cervinka est très heureux de l’acquisition par Sandvik. Newtrax conservera son siège social à Montréal tout en continuant d’exercer ses activités en tant que division distincte, et Sandvik fera la promotion de la plateforme IDO indépendante des équipementiers (OEM) de Newtrax comme source privilégiée d’une masse importante de données pour son logiciel d’optimisation des processus d’extraction minière. M. Cervinka rappelle que la société Sandvik est présente dans « environ 99 % » des plus de 700 mines de roche dure souterraines que compte la planète.

Ce partenariat laisse entrevoir des possibilités alléchantes. Les mines pourraient un jour utiliser Newtrax pour surveiller et optimiser leurs processus, puis relier ces données à des équipements automatisés rendant ainsi les opérations encore plus efficaces, compétitives et sécuritaires.

Il se pourrait que M. Cervinka veuille trouver un appartement en Finlande.

– Par Herb Mathisen

June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 63

Avec l’aimable autorisation de Julia Lane

[ L’a m at r i c e d e g i s e m e n t s d e t y p e C a r l i n ]

Julia Lane

Vice-présidente de l’exploration, ATAC Resources

C

’est en 2010, à l’extrémité est de la propriété Rackla de la société ATAC Resources Ltd., dans la région est-centre du Yukon, que l’on découvre pour la première fois de l’or à grain fin disséminé encaissé dans des roches sédimentaires. À l’époque, Julia Lane travaille pour ATAC depuis plus de deux ans. Elle vient d’être nommée préposée à la diagraphie au dépôt de carottes de l’extrémité ouest de la propriété de 1 700 kilomètres (km). Les compétences relationnelles et la gestion des données étant ses points forts, elle est transférée à la zone est et se voit confier le projet Osiris de la société. D’après ATAC, on sait aujourd’hui que ce projet abrite « des ressources que l’on ne trouve que dans la fosse de plus d’un million d’onces d’or affichant la deuxième plus haute teneur d’Amérique du Nord ».

Mme Lane associe un talent naturel et des qualités de dirigeante qu’elle a identifiés et cultivés ; son histoire est aussi celle d’une femme qui n’hésite à embrasser toutes les occasions qui se présentent à elle. Elle gère l’exploration sur la propriété 64 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

Rackla depuis 2011 et devient en 2015 vice-présidente de l’exploration pour ATAC. « En 2010, nous avons considérablement élargi notre programme, et avions désormais quatre foreuses en opération », déclarait Mme Lane. « Je n’étais cependant pas spécifiquement chargée de la planification des trous de forage et ne gérais pas la logistique du programme, mais je travaillais dans un bureau du camp avec les personnes qui s’occupaient de ces tâches.

Ainsi, je l’ai intégré, j’y ai participé et j’étais une observatrice de tous les aspects du programme ; je posais des questions. » En 2011, Mme Lane dirige un programme d’exploration d’une valeur de 31 millions de dollars, qui comprend six engins de forage au diamant, quatre hélicoptères et entre 100 et 150 employés répartis entre quatre camps. Son conseiller, Robert Carne, président du comité technique et directeur d’ATAC, la laisse « gérer seule ». « Lorsque je rencontrais un obstacle et lui demandais de l’aide, c’était toujours avec plaisir qu’il me répondait », indiquait Mme Lane, « mais en aucun cas il ne m’imposait une marche à suivre ».

Pour elle, le fait d’être une femme ne constitue en rien un obstacle, même lorsqu’elle se retrouve, vers ses 25 ans, responsable de l’exploration. Elle dirige alors plusieurs équipes de forage et est en charge de l’exploitation de plusieurs hélicoptères et de camps d’exploration. Elle félicite la direction d’ATAC d’avoir su instaurer un environnement de travail cohésif et favorable ne tolérant aucun comportement irrévérencieux. Ce soutien lui a toujours permis de se concentrer sur l’évolution du projet.

Pendant près d’une décennie, Mme Lane supervise l’activité d’exploration sur l’intégralité de la propriété aurifère Rackla, qui s’étend sur 185 km et est divisée d’ouest en est en trois projets : Rau, Orion et Osiris. La minéralisation de type Carlin dans le projet Orion, situé au centre de la propriété, attire l’attention de Barrick Gold, qui mène alors des activités dans le corridor aurifère original de type Carlin dans le Nevada. Les deux sociétés signent une entente d’option en avril 2017. « ATAC était à l’origine de ce programme, aussi j’ai dû gérer les activités liées au programme de partenariat sur le site d’Orion », expliquait Mme Lane. « J’organisais donc des réunions avec les membres de leur équipe afin que l’on conçoive ensemble le programme et que l’on détermine les ressources nécessaires pour le mener à bien. En parallèle, ATAC exploitait son propre programme d’exploration indépendant dans le cadre du projet Osiris, et un peu également dans le cadre du projet Rau. J’avais donc un double rôle dans la supervision de ces programmes. » Barrick a choisi de se départir du projet en décembre 2018, mais Mme Lane prévoit d’y rester. « Une si grande partie de ma carrière s’est développée autour de ce programme », expliquait-elle. « J’en fais partie depuis son commencement, et j’aimerais tant le voir progresser et se développer. » – PAR Kylie Williams

Avec l’aimable autorisation de Denis Laviolette

[Le foreur de données]

Denis Laviolette Président et chef de la direction, Goldspot Discoveries

T

out juste diplômé en géologie, le président et chef de la direction de Goldspot Discoveries Denis Laviolette s’est souvent demandé pourquoi ses patrons accordaient autant d’importance à la diagraphie pour ensuite laisser de côté les observations qui en découlaient. Il ne comprenait pas non plus pourquoi ils embauchaient des conseillers pour élaborer des rapports détaillés sur un projet, puis laissaient ensuite ces informations prendre la poussière sur des étagères. L’inefficacité entourant l’exploration le rendait fou.

Lorsqu’il s’est intéressé à l’aspect financier de ce domaine pour travailler chez Pinetree Capital, une société qui, à son âge d’or, détenait des investissements dans plus de 400 sociétés de ressources, un autre doute l’a alors envahi. « J’étais en présence d’actifs exceptionnels qui ne recevaient aucun capital, et d’actifs sans intérêt qui généraient des capitaux mirobolants. Cela m’interpellait, et je désirais vraiment inverser cette tendance », déclarait ce diplômé de 34 ans du programme de sciences de la Terre de l’université Brock.

En 2015, Pinetree n’a pas défailli lorsque les investisseurs ont délaissé les petites sociétés minières pour se tourner vers d’autres secteurs plus alléchants, bien au contraire. À la

recherche de nouvelles occasions, M. Laviolette a découvert un projet présenté par des étudiants de premier cycle de l’institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) de Québec, des « explorateurs de données » qui participaient au concours Ruée vers l’or d’Integra Gold. Ils étaient les premiers à utiliser l’apprentissage automatique et l’informatique en nuage pour traiter les données issues des sciences de la Terre. Ce concours offrait un prix en espèces d’une valeur d’un million de dollars aux équipes participantes qui parviendraient à découvrir le prochain gisement aurifère susceptible d’être exploité à Vald’Or, au Québec, à l’aide de données historiques. « Lorsque j’ai lu leur argumentation, j’ai su que l’avenir était tracé ; je suis alors allé les rencontrer à Québec », expliquait M. Laviolette. « Je connaissais dans l’industrie les personnes qui pouvaient les aider, et j’avais la vision qui permettrait de financer leur technologie. » Cette équipe d’explorateurs de données est arrivée en troisième place du concours, et GoldSpot Discoveries est née. Peu de temps après, la société était finaliste du concours Disrupt Mining en 2017 grâce à son algorithme unique qui utilise l’apprentissage automatique pour améliorer la définition des cibles d’exploration. Les géoscientifiques et scientifiques des données de la société, dont l’âge moyen est de 30 ans, travaillent en collaboration pour « former » la technologie en l’alimentant initialement avec des données provenant de plus de 1 500 gisements du camp minier de l’Abitibi au Québec.

GoldSpot se base sur cet algorithme, baptisé « approche quantamentale aux ressources » (le fruit d’une combinaison de données quantitatives et d’éléments fondamentaux) pour prévoir quelles petites sociétés minières effectueront les meilleurs investissements.

Elle aide aussi les sociétés minières à trouver des cibles au sein de leurs données d’exploration. Jerritt Canyon Gold, une société de production aurifère privée du nord du Nevada affichant des ressources historiques de 12 millions d’onces d’or, fait partie de ses clients. GoldSpot a été embauchée pour trouver les corrélations au sein d’une grande variété de données provenant des mines de Jerritt Canyon, identifier les cibles et concevoir un programme de forage afin de tester les meilleures.

Seul le temps pourra nous dire si l’algorithme développé par GoldSpot permettra d’augmenter les taux de découverte, mais certains des grands noms de l’industrie ont déjà pris des participations en capital auprès de cette société innovante, par exemple Eric Sprott (10 %) et Hochschild Mining (7 %). Le 21 février, GoldSpot figurait à la bourse de croissance TSX avec environ 8 millions de dollars en trésorerie. « Nous nous sommes introduits en bourse car nous savions que, pour nous propulser du rang de société de services que nous avons actuellement à celui que nous devons atteindre pour l’acquisition de redevances et la mise en œuvre de notre approche quantamentale aux ressources, il nous fallait un capital plus important », expliquait M. Laviolette. « Nous intégrerons nos équipes dans ces projets et pourrons désormais offrir aux sociétés les services dont elles ont tant besoin. » – PAR Virginia Heffernan June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 65

Avec l’aimable autorisation de Steve Amos

[Le planificateur patient]

Steve Amos

responsable de projet pour la rdc, Ivanhoe mines

L

a construction de mines dans un pays où les épidémies et les flambées de violence sont monnaie courante demande de l’expérience, du courage et une conscience des difficultés. Ce sont trois qualités que possède Steven Amos, responsable de projet pour la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) chez Ivanhoe Mines.

Ce métallurgiste a passé toute sa carrière en Afrique ; il a commencé en tant que boursier dans l’ancienne grosse société minière sud-africaine JCI Limited, puis est devenu conseiller pour Tenke Fungurume, l’une des plus grandes mines de cuivre de la RDC, avant de rejoindre son poste actuel qui consiste à superviser l’énorme projet d’exploitation du cuivre KamoaKakula et celui d’exploitation du zinc Kipushi dans la partie sud du pays.

Kamoa-Kakula est un projet de découverte en zone vierge de la société Ivanhoe Mines, exploité par Kamoa Copper SA (KCSA), une entreprise commune entre Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining Group, Crystal River Global Limited et le gouvernement de la RDC. Le conglomérat public chinois CITIC, le plus grand actionnaire d’Ivanhoe, a récemment annoncé la hausse 66 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

de sa participation à Ivanhoe Mines pour atteindre 29,9 %, avec un investissement de 454 millions de dollars américains.

Une récente étude de préfaisabilité pour la première phase du projet Kamoa-Kakula prévoit une exploitation de six millions de tonnes par an (Mtpa), avec un coût d’investissement estimé à 1,1 milliard de dollars américains. La construction a débuté, et la production du premier concentré est prévue pour début 2021.

Kipushi est une mine souterraine de zinc et de cuivre à haute teneur qui a été exploitée pendant 70 ans avant d’être placée en mode de soins et maintenance en 1993. D’après une étude de préfaisabilité de 2017, remettre cette mine en phase de production prendra deux ans et coûtera environ 337 millions de dollars américains.

L’expérience de M. Amos couvre un large éventail de compétences, notamment la métallurgie et le traitement des métaux communs et précieux, la recherche et le développement (R&D), le travail de laboratoire ainsi que la mise en service et la construction d’une mine. Des décennies de travail dans des régions isolées d’Afrique l’ont amené à prendre conscience des risques inhérents à cette région du monde, ce qui lui permet d’anticiper les problèmes avant même qu’ils ne se produisent. « En RDC, quel que soit votre domaine d’activité, il faut toujours prévoir des retards ; lorsqu’on en est conscient, on trouve toujours des moyens de contourner les problèmes », déclarait-il. Alors qu’il s’entretenait tranquillement avec l’équipe du CIM Magazine de son bureau à Johannesburg, en Afrique du Sud, M. Amos apprenait que ses camions de transport d’équipement étaient bloqués dans un embouteillage de 50 kilomètres à la frontière entre la RDC et la Zambie. « J’essaie toujours d’embaucher les bonnes personnes, des personnes en qui j’ai confiance, et j’aime leur donner les responsabilités qui accompagnent leur part du projet. » M. Amos essaie également de s’assurer de l’autosuffisance des projets. « Il faut pouvoir faire une grande partie du travail seul, et disposer de tout ce dont on a besoin sur place ; ce n’est pas comme si l’on pouvait courir chercher ce qu’il nous manque à la quincaillerie du coin. » Les projets Kamoa-Kakula et Kipushi se trouvent tout à fait au sud, loin des régions touchées par le conflit armé et les maladies. « L’épidémie d’Ebola se trouve à des années-lumière de nous. Ce dont il faut s’inquiéter, ce sont des serpents qui circulent dans les sites. » Une fois la production souterraine initiale à Kakula achevée, la société poursuivra l’exploitation minière de trois zones proches avec le permis d’exploitation de Kamoa. Lorsque ces ressources seront extraites, KCSA prévoit de développer des mines séparées à Kansoko, Kakula Ouest et Kamoa Nord pour maintenir un taux de production de 18 Mtpa.

Quant à ses propres responsabilités, M. Amos indiquait que s’il occupe un rôle purement orienté sur la gestion, « les complications vont aller crescendo à mesure que l’on approche de la phase de construction et que l’on commence à dépenser de grosses sommes d’argent. » – PAR Virginia Heffernan

Jive Photographic Productions

[La collectionneuse de données]

S a l ly Goodman

géoscientifique en chef, Atlantic Gold

D

’après Sally Goodman, géoscientifique en chef d’Atlantic Gold, basée à Vancouver, c’est en adaptant les pratiques propres aux grandes sociétés aux ambitions des petites qu’Atlantic Gold a pu prospérer au sein d’un marché difficile à conquérir pour les petites sociétés minières.

Plutôt que de s’en remettre uniquement aux conseillers pour interpréter, par exemple, les résultats d’exploration, Atlantic Gold a préféré mettre en place une équipe de spécialistes aux compétences diverses, comprenant notamment un géologue spécialiste en sédimentologie qui comprend bien la stratigraphie régionale et un géologue pétrolier qui contribue à l’expertise géophysique. Ils travaillent de pair pour développer les réserves et les ressources minérales, tout en appréhendant mieux ce qui contrôle la minéralisation du corridor d’exploration de 45 kilomètres (km) séparant la mine d’or Moose River d’Atlantic Gold au nord-est de Halifax, en Nouvelle-Écosse, du gisement Fifteen Mile Stream parallèlement à la direction. « Nous avons l’intention de poursuivre nos activités pendant un certain temps, aussi nous semble-t-il normal de développer une base de compétences au sein même de la société », déclarait Mme Goodman, recrutée dans les rangs de Goldcorp en juin 2018 pour diriger le programme d’exploration d’Atlantic Gold aux côtés du chef de la direction Steven Dean, ancien président de Teck Cominco, de la présidente Maryse Bélanger, ancienne première vice-présidente de Goldcorp, ainsi que de 250 autres employés. « Nous avons l’expérience d’une grande société, mais l’attitude positive propre à une petite société. » Mme Goodman supervise la collecte et la compilation des données géoscientifiques afin de guider l’exploration. Si ce rôle peut paraître routinier, il est pourtant essentiel à la réussite des petites sociétés minières. Ces dernières années, Atlantic a augmenté ses réserves de 27 % et prolongé la durée de

vie de la mine Moose River de 10 ans. Ses ressources sont passées à 2,1 millions d’onces d’or, dont 607 000 onces au gisement satellite de Cochrane Hill plus loin au nord-est.

Son approche permet également de réduire le risque d’exploration régionale. En Nouvelle-Écosse, une province marécageuse et boisée où l’affleurement est limité, la découverte dépend d’un tiercé gagnant d’informations compilées en modèles 3D pour améliorer les cibles, à savoir les données historiques, les indices du « laboratoire » à ciel ouvert à Moose River, et les données géologiques, géophysiques et géochimiques reçues. « Nous menons nos activités de forage au diamant dans tout le corridor pour obtenir les informations géologiques qui nous permettront de valider l’interprétation géophysique », expliquait Mme Goodman, spécialiste en géologie structurale d’origine britannique qui s’est installée au Canada dans les années 1980 après avoir terminé son projet postdoctoral à l’université d’Aberdeen, en Écosse. « Peu de sociétés souhaitent investir dans le sol pour n’obtenir que des données géologiques ; c’est aussi pour cela que nous sommes bien plus confiants dans notre interprétation géologique maintenant que nous avons limité notre exploration à des zones cibles spécifiques. » Lorsqu’elle a atteint le stade de production commerciale en mars 2018, Moose River est devenue la seule mine d’or en production en Nouvelle-Écosse. Cette année, elle devrait produire entre 92 000 et 98 000 onces d’or à des coûts nécessaires au maintien de la production de moins de 566 dollars américains l’once. Le gisement se trouve dans la zone de Meguma, une séquence d’argilite et de grauwacke métamorphosée où la production d’or se concentre généralement sur des filons étroits à haute teneur. La cible d’Atlantic Gold est différente ; elle s’oriente davantage sur l’or à grain fin disséminé dans l’argilite ayant le potentiel de supporter une extraction minière de ressources à fort tonnage et à faible coefficient de recouvrement. Le potentiel est important.

L’équipe de Mme Goodman se prépare pour son programme de forage cet été qui lui permettra d’étudier plusieurs cibles, notamment le gisement 149, une zone aurifère à faible teneur de 500 mètres de long découverte durant la campagne de forage de l’année dernière visant à collecter des informations. « C’est un concept géologique différent appliqué à une zone minière historique », déclarait Mme Goodman, qui a travaillé pendant dix ans en tant que conseillère chez SRK Consulting avant de rejoindre Goldcorp en 2013 au poste de directrice de la géologie et des ressources minérales. « Nous avons réussi à prouver que ce concept fonctionne. Nous extrayons cet or disséminé à Moose River, et obtenons un modèle que l’on peut appliquer à des zones à la géologie similaire dans toute la zone de Meguma. » Il semblerait que le travail acharné de la société d’exploitation aurifère ait porté ses fruits. En effet, Atlantic Gold annonçait à la mi-mai qu’elle acceptait d’être rachetée par la société australienne St Barbara Ltd. pour la somme de 722 millions de dollars. La vente devrait se finaliser en juillet.

– PAR Virginia Heffernan June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 67

Avec l’aimable autorisation de Ryan Barry

[Le préposé à la réglementation]

R ya n Barry

Directeur exécutif de la commission du Nunavut chargée de l’examen des répercussions

R

yan Barry, directeur exécutif de la commission du Nunavut chargée de l’examen des répercussions (CNER), est conscient que l’organisme de réglementation doit, par-dessus tout, préserver son objectivité.

Lorsque des développeurs mettent en avant des investissements de milliards de dollars et que certains membres du public s’opposent avec véhémence à les voir poursuivre leurs projets, on peut facilement comprendre pourquoi.

La « défense respectueuse des intérêts », comme la caractérise M. Barry, fait toutefois partie de son travail. C’est une compétence qu’il approfondit depuis qu’il a commencé son poste en 2011 (il travaille avec la CNER depuis 2007, lorsqu’il a quitté l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard et est parti s’installer dans le nord pour un poste de conseiller technique après avoir obtenu sa maîtrise en biologie). Il doit par exemple s’assurer que les 25 membres dévoués de la commission (qui sont chargés de la sélection, de l’évaluation et du suivi des projets de développement dans le Nunavut) reçoivent un financement suffisant et bénéficient du soutien approprié.

Le rôle de la commission n’est pas toujours facile et est souvent mal compris. « L’étude d’impact consiste réellement à s’assurer que, si les projets sont amorcés, ils le sont correctement, en gérant convenablement toutes les répercussions potentielles et en optimisant les avantages envisageables », 68 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

déclarait-il. « Essentiellement, il faut assurer une procédure publique transparente qui permettra de réaliser les meilleurs projets. » Les résolutions de la CNER sont envoyées au ministre fédéral des Affaires du Nord, l’autorité compétente chargée d’approuver, de rejeter ou de modifier les recommandations de la commission.

L’ampleur des évaluations peut être stupéfiante. Prenons par exemple la proposition initiale du projet Mary River de Baffinland en 2008. « Cette évaluation était la plus importante effectuée au Canada à l’époque », indiquait M. Barry. « Il s’agissait du plus gros développement dans la région de Baffin mené dans le cadre de l’accord sur les revendications territoriales du Nunavut. » La proposition comprenait la création d’une voie ferrée traversant l’île de Baffin, la mise en œuvre d’opérations brise-glace et la possibilité d’expédier des marchandises toute l’année, des projets qui étaient tous très controversés chez les Inuits. En outre, Baffinland était une nouvelle société, il s’agissait de sa première proposition de construction d’une mine, et beaucoup de personnes dans la région devaient être informées des procédures de la CNER afin de pouvoir participer. « On est toujours confrontés à ce mélange d’éducation, de participation et de communication. » Ce mandat est rendu encore plus complexe par les enjeux liés à la logistique et l’infrastructure que présente ce vaste territoire. La CNER reçoit parfois la livraison physique d’une clé USB contenant des centaines de fichiers lourds, car leur transfert par voie électronique serait quasiment impossible avec la bande passante locale. La CNER a dû en tenir compte lors de la conception de son site Internet, de manière à ce que les Nunavummiuq (les habitants du Nunavut) puissent l’utiliser. « On essaie de réduire les graphiques, de proposer du contenu qui se charge et apparaît correctement, des bases de données interrogeables dont les résultats s’affichent rapidement en réduisant au maximum le temps de réponse. » M. Barry aimerait beaucoup pouvoir diffuser en direct les audiences publiques de la CNER, mais cela n’est pas encore envisageable de manière fiable. « Dans le cadre de notre mandat, nous devons régulièrement communiquer avec les communautés, mais le coût d’un déplacement physique au sein du Nunavut est tellement élevé que toute amélioration apportée à ce genre de technologies nous facilite véritablement la tâche. » Il est aussi primordial d’obtenir des informations et les suggestions du public. Les retards engendrés par une météo capricieuse ou une capacité locale réduite peuvent repousser les évaluations, réduisant par là même la certitude envers la procédure et, au final, pour les développeurs. À l’heure actuelle, avec plus de 30 projets en cours de sélection, de suivi ou d’évaluation, M. Barry et le personnel de la CNER n’ont pas le temps de s’ennuyer. « On trouve maintenant au moins une mine en exploitation dans chaque région, et les mines dont l’exploitation a été approuvée demandent encore des modifications afin de s’élargir et de moderniser leur site », indiquait-il. « Le Nunavut est devenu une véritable province minière, et nous travaillons sans relâche pour garantir à tous un développement réussi. » – PAR Herb Mathisen

Gage Skidmore/Flickr

[Le réformateur]

Raúl Grijalva

Représentant de l’Arizona au Congrès

Q

uand le président américain Ulysses S. Grant a promulgué la « General Mining Act of 1872 », son objectif était de développer les États de l’Ouest en dispensant les sociétés d’exploitation minière de roche dure d’avoir à payer une redevance fédérale pour exploiter des terres publiques, espérant ainsi que cette loi encouragerait les compagnies à prospecter et à extraire des minéraux comme l’or, le platine et l’argent.

Nous voici en 2019, et la loi du président Grant est toujours en vigueur, relativement inchangée, et l’exploitation minière de roche dure est encore exempte de redevances fédérales. C’est pourquoi Raúl Grijalva, un représentant de l’Arizona au Congrès, ainsi que le sénateur Tom Udall du Nouveau Mexique, tous deux démocrates, proposent la « The Hardrock Leasing and Reclamation Act of 2019 » qui prévoit d’instaurer une redevance fédérale de 12,5 % sur toutes les nouvelles opérations d’exploitation minière de roche dure effectuées sur des terres publiques, la même redevance appliquée actuellement à l’industrie du pétrole et du gaz. « Cette nouvelle loi mettrait fin au système désuet de jalonnement de claims et de brevetage qui donne aux compagnies minières un accès illimité à presque toutes les terres publiques aux États-Unis », a indiqué M. Grijalva dans son sommaire du projet de loi. Selon M. Grijalva, l’industrie minière a extrait pour environ 300 milliards de dollars US de minéraux sur des terres publiques depuis 1872.

Ce projet de loi s’est heurté à la résistance de la National Mining Association qui, dans un communiqué de presse, a

déclaré que la modification de la loi actuelle « alourdirait le fardeau pesant déjà sur l’industrie minière américaine, et qu’elle rendrait celle-ci moins concurrentielle sur la scène mondiale ». Malgré la forte réaction négative suscitée par son projet de loi, M. Grijalva a indiqué demeurer convaincu qu’il est urgent et nécessaire de mettre à jour le système obsolète actuellement en place. « L’industrie minière aime entretenir l’image du travailleur solitaire arpentant le terrain de la mine familiale [...] en train de faire de la prospection, mais ce n’est pas le cas », a déclaré M. Grijalva à CIM Magazine. « En réalité, on a affaire à d’énormes conglomérats », a-t-il ajouté.

Selon M. Grijalva, 75 % des fonds générés par la redevance seraient consacrés à la restauration de mines abandonnées et autres secteurs impactés par l’exploitation minière. Il avance qu’à l’heure actuelle, les mines abandonnées aux États-Unis dégagent 50 millions de gallons d’eaux usées toxiques par jour, et que l’on fait payer aux contribuables américains une facture de 50 milliards de dollars US pour leur restauration.

Les 25 % restants reviendraient à l’État. Ce projet de loi empêcherait également d’exploiter certaines terres, obligerait les sociétés minières à largement consulter les communautés autochtones locales, les contraindrait à prouver qu’elles disposent des fonds nécessaires pour la remise en état des terrains avant d’acquérir les droits fonciers, et forcerait les opérateurs miniers à divulguer publiquement la quantité de minéraux extraits et leur valeur, autant de choses que, selon lui, les sociétés d’exploitation minière ne sont pas contraintes de faire actuellement.

Ce n’est pas la première fois que M. Grijalva essaie d’actualiser les redevances dans le domaine de l’exploitation de roche dure aux États-Unis. Il a déjà pris part à deux tentatives. La première fois, c’était en 2007, avec un projet de loi proposant une redevance de 4 % qui a finalement été écarté en 2009. Cette année-là, une autre réforme a été proposée, appuyée cette fois par l’administration Obama, et prévoyant une redevance de 8 à 15 % pour l’exploitation minière en roche dure. Ce projet de loi est mort en 2011. M. Grijalva a déclaré qu’il était « confiant » et qu’il pensait pouvoir bénéficier des appuis nécessaires pour faire adopter ce projet de loi cette fois-ci, étant donné l’accueil que lui ont réservé le public ainsi que ses collègues du Congrès. « Cela fait des années que je me bats pour la réforme de l’exploitation minière. Il est plus que temps que nos lois changent dans ce domaine », a déclaré M. Grijalva dans un communiqué de presse. « L’industrie de l’exploitation minière en roche dure, comme nulle autre industrie, bénéficie d’une entente qui lui est outrageusement favorable puisqu’elle permet aux sociétés minières de faire beaucoup d’argent pendant que les contribuables se font avoir. » – PAR Matthew Coyte June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 69

[ L’ e n t r e m e t t e u r ]

Michel Gamache

professeur, Polytechnique Montréal

L

orsque Michel Gamache s’inscrit au programme de génie minier de Polytechnique Montréal au début des années 1980, il n’a aucune expérience de l’industrie, mis à part un vague intérêt pour la géologie. Aujourd’hui, des années après l’obtention de son diplôme et un doctorat en optimisation et en mathématiques, M. Gamache fait partie de cette vague de personnes des milieux universitaire et industriel qui cherchent à réinventer les activités minières en s’appuyant sur l’intelligence artificielle (IA).

Peu de temps après avoir terminé ses études, M. Gamache décroche un poste d’enseignant dans son alma mater au sein du département d’optimisation et de mathématiques. Au fil des ans, il travaille avec de grands fabricants d’équipement d’origine (FEO) tels que Caterpillar (il les aide à concevoir leurs systèmes de gestion en temps réel d’une flotte de véhicules, ou dispatching), la société de conseil en technologie Peck Tech spécialisée dans l’automatisation du forage, ainsi qu’un certain nombre de sociétés minières du Québec pour les aider à résoudre des problèmes de planification des mines.

En tant que membre de l’institut de valorisation des données (IVADO), une organisation publique qui a pour vocation de regrouper professionnels de l’industrie et chercheurs universitaires afin de développer une expertise de pointe dans les domaines des sciences des données, de l’utilisation optimale des ressources et de l’IA, M. Gamache partage son expérience de l’industrie et examine les avantages de l’IA dans son domaine de recherche principal, l’optimisation.

70 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

« À l’avenir, l’industrie minière pourra répondre en temps réel à toutes les informations qui proviennent de la mine », déclarait M. Gamache. L’optimisation des exploitations minières canadiennes à l’aide de techniques telles que l’apprentissage automatique est la première étape pour accélérer la résolution des problèmes, indiquait-il. Selon lui, l’apprentissage automatique aidera les ingénieurs des mines dans la planification des mines en temps réel, et contribuera à réduire le temps de calcul généralement nécessaire pour prendre ces décisions.

La collecte de données opérationnelles de qualité sur le site minier est l’une des plus grandes difficultés que l’on rencontre avec ce genre de projets, expliquait-il. Ses tâches consistent notamment à associer ses connaissances de terrain à l’apprentissage automatique pour trier les données et déterminer celles qui sont utiles pour l’optimisation et celles qui ne servent pas à grand-chose.

La planification et l’optimisation des mines posent des difficultés particulières, car chaque modèle d’optimisation comprend des paramètres basés sur des données variables et disponibles telles que la durée d’une tâche et le nombre de mètres que l’on peut forer durant un poste de travail. D’après M. Gamache, en reliant les connaissances de terrain aux avantages qu’offre l’IA, les résultats aideront à générer des modèles plus stables et plus réactifs. « Avec l’IA, on peut mettre à jour les paramètres, ce qui permet de réduire l’incertitude et de réduire la variabilité de nos modèles », expliquait-il. « Lors de la planification, on se rend souvent compte que nombre de données sont peu utiles, aussi il faut changer les modèles régulièrement. » « Si l’IA est un nouvel outil que l’on peut utiliser, il ne faut pas pour autant s’attendre à ce qu’il fasse des miracles », indiquait-il. « Certaines personnes pensent que l’on peut tout faire avec l’apprentissage automatique, mais pour utiliser l’IA, il faut tout d’abord disposer de données pertinentes. Étant donné que les mines disposent d’une grande quantité de données, on peut les utiliser pour améliorer nos procédés ainsi que les modèles que l’on utilise, pas seulement dans le domaine de l’optimisation, mais aussi dans celui de l’automatisation. » – par Matthew Coyte

[Le talent inné]

Jose Vizquerra CEO, O3 Mining

L

e sens de l’entreprise familiale a toujours fait partie de la vie de Jose Vizquerra. Sa famille en parlait tout au long de la journée. « Nous étions à table, et tout le monde discutait affaires », déclarait-il.

Cette entreprise n’est autre que Buenaventura Mining, fondée par Don Alberto Benavides de la Quintana, le grandpère de M. Vizquerra et l’un des grands noms de l’histoire minière du Pérou. Les rassemblements du samedi, auxquels participaient 20 membres de la famille, étaient tout particulièrement animés. « Aucun de mes cousins n’était ingénieur des mines ou géologue », indiquait M. Vizquerra, qui précisait que dans le groupe se trouvaient notamment un philosophe, un professionnel des médias et un architecte. « Les discussions ne s’arrêtaient jamais à l’exploitation minière. » Le grand-père de M. Vizquerra s’en accommodait parfaitement. Il se préoccupait de son entreprise et de l’industrie dans son ensemble, mais aussi de tous les domaines où l’exploitation minière entrait en ligne de compte. Sa vision était philosophique ; l’exploitation minière était pour lui un moteur de construction des routes, de l’amélioration de la qualité de vie et du développement des Andes au Pérou. M. Vizquerra, aujourd’hui président et chef de la direction de la société O3 Mining, abonde dans le sens de son grand-père et encourage les jeunes professionnels du secteur minier à être fiers des répercussions positives de l’industrie minière sur les personnes et les régions.

M. Vizquerra entretient un lien spécial avec son grand-père. « L’exploitation minière est un domaine que j’aimais et auquel je m’intéressais, aussi il m’invitait les samedis matin aux réunions

qu’il avait avec tous les directeurs de travaux, le vice-président de l’exploration ainsi que les responsables de l’exploitation minière et de l’environnement dans son bureau », expliquait-il.

Cette tradition commence aux 12 ans de M. Vizquerra et se poursuit jusqu’à ses 20 ans. Ces réunions n’ont pas de prix. « C’est en écoutant ces personnes qui géraient chacune des disciplines de l’exploitation minière et posaient les bonnes questions que je me suis moi-même demandé quelles questions je devais poser aujourd’hui. » L’ascension régulière de M. Vizquerra est la preuve de sa perspicacité. Après trois années en tant que géologue souterrain à la mine Red Lake de Goldcorp, ses oncles l’embauchent pour trouver des actifs pour Buenaventura, en dehors du Pérou. Rapidement, il est recruté pour diriger deux sociétés d’exploration canadiennes (Oban et Braeval) afin de trouver des actifs cuprifères au Pérou et des actifs aurifères aux Amériques. Ne pouvant laisser passer cette occasion, il prévient son grand-père. « Lorsqu’on travaille dans l’entreprise familiale, il est difficile de dire que l’on souhaite partir et poursuivre un autre chemin. » Après une découverte en Colombie, Braeval est introduite en bourse. Puis, le désastre se produit. Le vice-président de l’exploration Gernot Wober et cinq autres employés sont kidnappés par un groupe terroriste colombien. « Notre société avait une capitalisation boursière de 50 millions de dollars ; après leur enlèvement, cette capitalisation a chuté à 5 millions de dollars », expliquait-il (M. Wober et les autres personnes kidnappées ont été relâchées sept mois plus tard).

Braeval conserve précieusement les fonds qui lui restent et bientôt, une autre occasion se présente pour M. Vizquerra et son équipe au Canada. « C’était une idée folle. Je venais du Pérou pour mener des activités d’exploration [en Amérique du Sud et centrale] ; c’est la raison pour laquelle j’ai été embauché comme président et chef de la direction de ces deux sociétés, pas pour mener des activités d’exploration au Canada. » John Burzynski, président de Braeval et l’un des cofondateurs d’Osisko (achetée par Agnico Eagle et Yamana Gold en 2014), apprécie ce changement de stratégie. Les sociétés fusionnent et commencent l’exploration du camp minier aurifère Urban Barry au Québec. L’équipe propose rapidement d’acheter trois sociétés minières dans cette région (Eagle Hill, Ryan Gold et Corona Gold). Cette transaction est une réussite, et Osisko Mining voit le jour, avec M. Burzynski comme chef de la direction et M. Vizquerra comme bras droit.

Nous voici maintenant en février 2019. Osisko Mining décide de se concentrer sur son projet aurifère Windfall Lake et d’utiliser ses actifs non principaux pour créer O3 Mining. À 39 ans, M. Vizquerra est nommé chef de la direction, et il pourra bientôt remplir la promesse qu’il a faite lorsqu’il a quitté Buenaventura. « J’avais fait un pari avec mon grandpère ; je lui avais dit que je partais pour créer une société plus grande que celle qu’il avait lui-même créée. J’en suis encore loin, c’est la seule chose de sûre. Notre société n’a pas encore atteint le stade de Buenaventura ; mais on y travaille. » – par Herb Mathisen

June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 71

technical abstracts

CIM Journal Abstracts from CIM Journal, Vol. 9, No. 4

Influence de l’ion ferreux et du métabisulfite de sodium sur la lixiviation acide des minerais oxydés cupro-cobaltifères S. Y. Tshipeng, SGS Minerals DRC, Université de Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga, République Démocratique du Congo andA. T. Kaniki, Université de Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga, République Démocratique du Congo

La lixiviation acide d’un minerai oxydé cupro-cobaltifère en milieu non réducteur et en milieu réducteur en utilisant le Fe2+ et le métabisulfite de sodium (SMBS) a été étudiée et les résultats ont été comparés. Les tests de lixiviation ont été effectués à température ambiante, dans une pulpe à 30 % solide, avec une vitesse d’agitation de 600 tr/min, un potentiel redox de 350 mV pour les tests en milieu réducteur, et un pH de 1,8. Les tests de lixiviation avec usage du SMBS comme réducteur ont donné la meilleure cinétique de lixiviation du cuivre. Pour le cobalt, c’est l’usage du Fe2+ qui a donné la meilleure cinétique de lixiviation.

L’augmentation de la dose du fer dans la solution au-delà de 5 g/L a influence négativement les rendements de lixiviation du cuivre et du cobalt.

Acid leaching of a copper-cobaltiferous oxide ore in a non-reducing environment and in a reducing environment using Fe2+ and sodium metabisulfite (SMBS) was studied and the results compared. The leaching tests were performed at room temperature, in a 30% solids pulp, with a shaking speed of 600 rpm, a redox potential of 350 mV for the tests performed in the reducing environment, and a pH of 1.8. The leaching tests using the SMBS as a reducing agent produced the best copper leaching kinetics.

As for cobalt, the best leaching kinetics was achieved using Fe2+. An increase in the amount of iron in the solution above 5 g/L negatively influenced copper and cobalt leaching yields.

Electroless plating of Ni-hBN composites for tribological applications M. Dadvand, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada; A. Dadvand, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada; G. Kipouros, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canadarri, British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

The ability to codeposit fillers within a nickel matrix has led to the production of a new generation of cermet coatings with properties useful for various applications. Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is a ceramic-type particulate matter with thermal conductivity, thermal stability, inertness, and lubricity properties that allow it to be codeposited. In this paper, a method was developed for modifying hBN surfaces to allow them to be uniformly dispersed in water-based solutions such as an electroless nickel plating bath. hBN surface modification improved wear performance of the electroless plated cermet due to enhanced interaction between the particulate and nickel matrix.

La capacité à effectuer un dépôt simultané de charges dans une matrice nickel a abouti à la production d’une nouvelle génération de revêtements cermet (une combinaison de céramique et de métal) dotés de propriétés très utiles pour diverses applications.

Le nitrure de bore hexagonal (h-BN) est une matière particulaire de type céramique utilisée pour ses excellentes conductivité et stabilité thermiques, son inertie ainsi que son caractère lubrifiant, qui permettent son dépôt simultané. Cet article explore une méthode mise au point pour modifier les surfaces du h-BN de manière à ce qu’elles se répandent uniformément dans des solutions aqueuses telles qu’un bain de dépôt autocatalytique de nickel. La modification des surfaces du h-BN a amélioré la résistance à l’usure du placage autocatalytique du cermet en raison d’une interaction accrue entre la matière particulaire et la matrice nickel.

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June/July 2019 • Juin/Juillet 2019 | 73

MINING LORE The Soviet Union’s coal mining hero

By Jordan Faries

A

74 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 14, No. 4

Courtesy of National Council of American-Soviet Friendship

lexey GrigoryeAs Stakhanov’s fame vich Stakhanov’s increased, so did his indiwork as a coal vidual status. He was miner in Soviet Russia is promoted to a mine the stuff of legend: his director in 1942, then incredible productivity received a position in the and the workers’ moveUSSR’s Ministry of Coal ment he inspired helped Industry. He held other pull back the curtain on management positions the complicated role of until his retirement in the working class in the 1974 and was awarded Soviet Union. two Orders of Lenin, the Stakhanov, who was highest civilian honour of born in the small village the Soviet Union, among of Lugovaya in 1906, other medals. By the end started his career as a of his career, the last Suncoal miner, a typical day of August was desigtrade. He worked for a nated as “Coal Miner’s while as a jackhammer Day” in his honour, and Alexey Stakhanov (right) gained fame and glory by mining 14 times his daily quota operator and received of coal. following his death in national attention for the 1978, the eastern Ukrainfirst time in August 1935 when it was reported that he mined ian town where he started his career was renamed “Stakhanov.” a record of 102 tonnes of coal in under six hours, equal to 14 While everything Stakhanov achieved was positively spun times his quota. by the Stalinist regime and widely celebrated, there was oppoHe topped that record three weeks later, bringing in an sition to the ideals he represented. Workers who were facing astounding 227 tonnes of coal in one shift. increased expectations and demands – and living a poorer Stakhanov quickly rose to prominence around the Soviet quality of life as a result – were understandably unhappy.

Union, as reports of his work were spread as a means of pro- Many blamed Stakhanov, with some groups going as far as to moting both innovative methods and simple hard work. threaten him.

Workers who were able to surpass their quotas were proudly Those familiar with George Orwell’s Animal Farm, an allereferred to as Stakhanovites, not only in the coal industry but gorical work critiquing Stalinist Russia, will recognize the parin other workplaces as well. allels between Stakhanov and the character of Boxer, a strong, This workers’ movement was championed by the ruling hardworking horse who faithfully does whatever work is Communist Party, as workers who took pride in making indi- asked of him and more, even in the face of the growing corvidual sacrifices to achieve staggering levels of productivity ruption of the leaders of the farm, portrayed by pigs. represented the collectivist ethos prevalent at the time. Tales of Boxer’s hard work pays directly into a system that further even more impressive feats of productivity emerged, with a oppresses workers and makes their lives more difficult, rather worker mining a reported 640 tonnes of coal in a single shift than easier. less than a year after Stakhanov’s feats.

Similarly, while Stakhanov’s individual exploits, on their Beyond individual exploits, this movement had a stagger- face, were impressive, their elevation in the heavily propaganing effect on the collective productivity of Soviet workers. dized Soviet system created a complicated legacy.

According to Soviet authorities, the level of productivity durAs Soviet politics shifted following Joseph Stalin’s death in ing the second five-year plan (short-term economic goals 1953, the Stakhanov movement gradually went out of fashion, enacted by Stalin from 1933 to 1937) when the Stakhanovite and some of the reports of Stakhanov’s impressive feats of promovement took off was double the growth from the first five- ductivity were disputed. A Soviet newspaper even claimed that year plan. Other initiatives were born from within the Stakhanov had other workers helping him during his recordStakhanovite movement, including the “two-hundreders” breaking shifts, while claiming sole credit for the eventual outmovement, which saw workers trying to routinely achieve put, and that the whole event was orchestrated by the double their shift quota. government with an eye on motivating workers. CIM

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THE DIFFERENCE IS ELECTRIFYING ELECTRIC. AUTOMATIC. EFFICIENT. SANDVIK DD422IE. The industry-frst twin-boom Sandvik DD422iE produces zero emissions during tramming by using electric energy from an on-board battery.

Develop extra meters every month with an optional 3D scanning system.

Reduce risk of down-time caused by hose failures with the optional less-hose boom. Add the ergonomic cabin with reduced noise, and your operators can work better for longer. With Sandvik DD422iE you don’t just save time and money, you make your operations so much more efcient.

The new Sandvik DD422iE. The diference is electrifying.

ROCKTECHNOLOGY.SANDVIK