Post on 03-Jan-2016
transcript
Mining in Canada
Mining Area #1 - Elliot Lake
It is near Sudbury.
Uranium mining began in 1953
…mines closed in 1959 and re-opened in 1970 when Uranium became useful for Nuclear power plants. It is now closed again.
Uranium - first used for Weapons of Mass Destruction - later used for Electricity generation.
Canada produces 12% of the world’s Uranium
Mining for Uranium uses the UNDERGROUND METHOD
1. The Headframe is above ground
has …. Elevator motors, ventilation systems, air compressors, generators and conveyors.
A Headframe supplies all of the power and essential clean air for the many people working underground
After descending down the shaft in the elevator (Cage) …Exit the CAGE and move down a DRIFT (adit)
Electrical and Pnuematic lines supply power
DRIFTS (adits) are coated in traffic areas
Gas detectors, helmets and lamps for safety
Ceilings are drilled to attach wire mesh
Bolts and wire mesh are attached coating is later sprayed to prevent falling rock in busy areas.
Pneumatic (air) powered drilling
In Stope areas, holes are made to insert explosives
Pneumatic drilling
Much maintenance is required
Pneumatic lines
SCOOPTRAM
… is a Low profile, gas powered vehicle. It is assembled piece by piece. Used to move ore within mine – can be remote controlled.
Can also be operated by a person – The SCOOPTRAM OPERATOR
This is a step up from the MUCKER job
Trams also can have no scoops.
Muckers (labourers) work in the Stope.
Scaling rods knock down loose rock after blasting happens
Uranium Ore
Geiger counters can be used to detect radioactivity
Moving Ore from Stope to Chute
Down the Chute to the Crusher
Everything that’s goes down gets crushed
Maintenance is critical
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
Skilled trades are needed
Mechanics keep machines from breaking down
Conveyors move crushed rock to Skips
Elliot lake mines were closed in the late 1960’s as demand for Nuclear Bombs dropped.
Mines opened again in the mid 1970’s with the expansion of electricity generated from The CANDU Nuclear reactor
Now, Uranium has been stock-piled. There is more than enough Uranium for near future needs and the mines have pretty much all closed again.
Elliot Lake is known as a town with a BOOM, A Bust, Another Boom, then a final mining Bust and then a change to
a recreation based community.
Mining Area #2 – Sudbury Nickel Mining
Nickel prices have been going up since 2006
These metals make for a more stable economy than Uranium
Canada has 20% of the world’s nickel
Nickel is here because … a large Asteroid hit here over 1 billion years ago.
This cracked the Rock and melted metals in the rock. The metals flowed into cracks and are easier to mine.
Many metals worth many dollars are found in this basin
Nickel, Copper, Zinc, Silver and Gold are found here.
Shaft and Pit mining are used
Large Smelters were built to separate out impurities from the Ore. Lots of Sulphur was in these impurities.
The Super stack was designed to carry air pollutants away when metals were refined in Sudbury
Sudbury was used by NASA to train Astronauts in the nearly dead zone down wind of the Superstack
Everyone learned that the solution to pollution is not Dilution
Smelting metals
Disposing of slag
Shaft mines are planned from “bottom up”. Lets go on a tour.
Shaft mines are similar to Elliot Lake - Cages carry miners in and out
Ore carts run on rails here
Drifts are labelled enroute to the STOPE
ladders get assembled in the mine
Carts on a pulley system move tools
The trip to the Stope can be a long way
Enjoy fresh ventilation air
See the Pneumatic lines
Drifts get re-enforced
Old Drifts get filled with waste material (tailings)
Captive Machines - old ones get buried if they cost too much to maintain
Old drifts are filled in
New drifts get extended into new ore bodies
Portable Pneumatic drillers
Drills are used to recover core samples or to make holes for explosives
An older style detonator is shown here
Some of the Ore is visible Pyrite (fools gold)
Core samples look for new ore beyond the end of the stope
Drill Bits
Scooping Ore at the start of a shift
Ore goes down the Chute (covered by wood) to crushers, conveyors and skip elevators and ultimately to the Headframe conveyors to
the smelter.
Mining Area #3 - in Thetford Mines, Quebec
80 Km east of Montreal
Mine
Big City
Fire proof and fibrous Asbestos is mined using the OPEN PIT METHOD
Asbestos is fibrous and fire-proof but is also a carcinogen (causes Cancer)
Ore is processed and tailings get piled high
From a distance … you can spot a a town with an Open Pit Mine
Large Open Pits are not far from tailing piles
Roads spiral down into the Pits
Fibrous Asbestos is a visible mineral
Open Pits and houses are often very close together
Large Tailing piles have conveyors that add more tailings daily.
Some Piles look like mountains big enough to ski, snowboard or bike on
Map scales show that some of these pits are over 2 kilometres across
Sometimes … homes get moved when the pit widens
The EndSome terms to know…..
Pneumatic Skip Cage
Headframe Drift Shaft
Stope Tailing Ore
Mucker Crusher Smelting
NASA Captive Machine Scooptram
Geiger Core Sample Superstack