Rio Algom Research Articles

Impact of consolidation on the mining industry

Alex Davidson, senior vice-president, exploration of the major gold mining company Barrick Gold, in a presentation to the Producers & Developers of Canada (PDAC) Annual Convention last March, offered an analysis of the mining industry’s consolidation over the last few years which has an uncanny resemblance to the oil industry experience. We publish a printed version of the paper. The last half decade or so has been one of the harshest stretches for exploration that I’ve seen in 30 years’ experience. The main culprits are obvious: low metal prices across the board, whether in gold, copper, nickel or other metals, and the flight of speculative capital along with investor confidence. But these alone don’t account for all the changes we’ve been through. Consolidation is also impacting the picture, both in combination with low prices and apart from them. These factors have contributed to a decline in exploration spending that promises to have continued effect on production supply going forward. Let me start with an overview of consolidation and the forces driving it, how it’s reshaping the industry, and then assess its impact on exploration. As we’ll see, while low metal prices may have helped start the consolidation wave, rising prices don’t mean an end to consolidation, or its effects on exploration. While my observations can be applied to the mining industry in general, my examples will be mainly drawn from the gold industry, which I know best. This wave of consolidation started in 2000, and it started mainly with the base metal companies: Billiton bought Rio Algom, Phelps Dodge bought Cyprus Amax, Grupo Mexico got Asarco and Rio Tinto got North. The wave picked up momentum through 2001 with the BHP Billiton merger and then the gold companies picked up on the trend. Since mid-2001 there have been over 14 company mergers/acquisitions and over 10 mine transactions in the precious metals industry.

The mobility of radium-226 and trace metals in pre-oxidized subaqueous uranium mill tailings

The exchange of 226Ra and trace metals across the tailings-water interface and the mechanisms governing their mobility were assessed via sub-centimetre resolution profiling of dissolved constituents across the tailings–water interface in Cell 14 of the Quirke Waste Management Area at Rio Algom's Quirke Mine, near Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada. Shallow zones (<1.5 m water depth) are characterized by sparse filamentous vegetation, well-mixed water columns and fully oxygenated bottom waters. Profiles of dissolved O 2, Fe and Mn indicate that the tailings deposits in these areas are sub-oxic below tailings depths of ∼3 cm. These zones exhibit minor remobilization of Ra in the upper 5 cm of the tailings deposit; 226Ra fluxes at these sites are relatively small, and contribute negligibly to the water column activity of 226Ra. The shallow areas also exhibit minor remobilization of Ni, As, Mo and U. The release of these elements to the water cover is, however, limited by scavenging mechanisms in the interfacial oxic horizons. The presence of thick vegetation ( Chara sp.) in the deeper areas (>2 m water depth) fosters stagnant bottom waters and permits the development of anoxia above the benthic boundary. These anoxic tailings are characterized by substantial remobilization of 226Ra, resulting in a relatively large flux of 226Ra from the tailings to the water column. The strong correlation between the porewater profiles of 226Ra and Ba ( r 2=0.99), as well as solubility calculations, indicate that the mobility of Ra is controlled by saturation with respect to a poorly ordered and/or impure barite phase [(Ra,Ba)SO 4]. In the anoxic zones, severe undersaturation with respect to barite is sustained by microbial SO 4 reduction. Flux calculations suggest that the increase in 226Ra activity in the water cover since 1995 (from <0.5 to 2.5 Bq l −1) can be attributed to an increase in the spatial distribution of anoxic bottom waters caused by increased density of benthic flora. The anoxic, vegetated areas also exhibit minor remobilization with respect to dissolved As, Ni and Zn. The removal of trace metals in the anoxic bottom waters appears to be limited by the availability of free sulphide. Collectively, the data demonstrate that while the water cover over the U mill tailings minimizes sulphide oxidation and metal mobility, anoxic conditions which have developed in deeper areas have led to increased mobility of 226Ra.

Progress in Establishing Wetland Plants in Permanently Flooded UraniumTailings

Trials are taking place on flooded pyritic uranium tailings near the city of Elliot Lake, Ontario to establish deep water aquatic plants. It is anticipated that the wetland eventually formed will produce organic matter that will hinder oxygen penetration into the tailings and help to keep acid production to a minimum. In 1993, plots and vegetation islands of cattail, common reed, beaked sedge and wool rush were transplanted into water less than 0.75 m deep. By 1995, these plants had overcome any transplant shock and islands of several species were expanding. In 1995, a large scale transplant was undertaken to establish vegetation in deeper water. A total of 50 sites of varying depths were established within Rio Algom Limited's Quirke Waste Management Area (WMA). These sites were planted during the month of August with 10 units of plant material with substrate from their source wetland. The term ‘unit‘ represents 2 different planting methods. One method involved placing plant roots/rhizomes and substrate in a biodegradable burlap bag and the other being direct planting, into the tailings substrate. White water lily, pickerel weed, pondweed, watershield, hardstem bulrush and bladderwort were planted in 50 locations ranging in depth from 0.34-4.53 m. Each planting unit received approximately 70 g of bonemeal (2- 11 -0) at the time of planting. Survival rates near 40% were recorded for fragrant water lily, and 80% for bath pickerel weed and hardstem bulrush. Watershield survival was minimal at 10%. Pondweed and bladderwort transplants were not successfully transplanted. Transplants were relocated and survived in Cell 14 only as turbidity levels were extremely high in Cell 15 the year of and the year following transplant. Analytical results with respect to elemental, nutrient and radionuclide concentrations in plants, substrate and water are presented for source sites and the large scale transplant in the WMA cells.

Mobility and choices for miners and their families: Lessons from Elliot Lake

Abstract Mining is a mobile industry and it is becoming more so as the industry restructures in search of greater flexibility and global expansion, making mining employment more unstable. There are specific problems in the organisation of the mining industry that make the more frequent relocations required of workers and their families particularly complex. The following paper will identify these in the light of the experiences when Denison Mines and Rio Algom closed the uranium mines in Elliot Lake in Northern Ontario and more than 4 000 workers were laid-off.

Waveform analysis of mine induced seismic events recorded at Rio Algom's Quirke Mine : Semadeni, T; Rochon, P; Niewiadomski, J Proc 2nd International Symposium on Rockbursts and Seismicity in Mines, Minneapolis, 8–10 June 1988P195–198 Publ Rotterdam: A A Balkema, 1990

Waveform analysis of mine induced seismic events recorded at Rio Algom's Quirke Mine : Semadeni, T; Rochon, P; Niewiadomski, J Proc 2nd International Symposium on Rockbursts and Seismicity in Mines, Minneapolis, 8–10 June 1988P195–198 Publ Rotterdam: A A Balkema, 1990

Waveform analysis of mine induced seismic events recorded at Rio Algom's Quirke mine : Semadeni, T; Rochon, P; Niewiadomski, J Proc 2nd International Symposium of Rockbursts and Seismicity in Mines, Minneapolis, 8–10 June 1988P267–277. Publ Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1988

Waveform analysis of mine induced seismic events recorded at Rio Algom's Quirke mine : Semadeni, T; Rochon, P; Niewiadomski, J Proc 2nd International Symposium of Rockbursts and Seismicity in Mines, Minneapolis, 8–10 June 1988P267–277. Publ Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1988

Uranium-bearing stratiform organic matter in paleoplacers of the lower Huronian Supergroup, Elliot Lake--Blind River region, Canada.

The Elliot Lake-Blind River, Ontario, paleoplacer deposits in the basal Matineda Formation, lowermost member of the 2.25-2.45 Ga old Huronian Supergroup, contain organic matter chemically consistent with kerogen. This substance is also referred to as thucholite. Uranium ores and some gold occur here, and these minerals may be in close association with the kerogen. Two uraniferous and auriferous stratiform kerogens, obtained from the Denison Mines Limited's Denison mine and Rio Algom Limited's Stanleigh mine, have been analyzed by combined high-vacuum pyrolysis--gas chromatography--mass spectrometry and by neutron activation. The reflectances of these samples have also been determined. Related samples containing dispersed kerogen have been examined by backscattered scanning electron microscopy. The polymer-like matrix of the two stratiform kerogens consists of aromatic, alkyl aromatic hydrocarbon, and sulphur moieties and contains 20 and 32% uranium with gold abundances in the parts per billion range. The reflectances of the two kerogens are generally higher than those of the dispersed kerogens; the atomic H/C ratios of the former are approximately 0.6 and approximately 0.4. Backscattered scanning electron microscopy and petrographic observations reveal a complex diagenetic history. Stratigraphic position and supportive analytical data suggest that the stratiform kerogens were probably derived from ancient mats of cyanobacteria, subjected to various radiation-induced reactions, and, at least in part, were affected in a manner similar to the surrounding rocks. The latter experienced physical and chemical diagenetic reactions, which often caused repeated mineral fracturing and led to the local development of authigenic carbonates and feldspar. Some of the chemical nature and history of the stratiform kerogens resemble those of the Witwatersrand carbon seam kerogen.

A lysimeter comparison of the effects of uranium tailings deposition methods on the release of environmental contaminants

Results of small lysimeter tests on Elliot Lake uranium tailings show that pyrite oxidation is decreased when these tailings are deposited by the thickened discharge method of Robinsky [1] or when pyrite is partially removed from these tailings prior to random deposition. Pyrite oxidation is not decreased when these tailings are deposited by the layered sub-aerial method of Knight and Piesold [2], but is decreased when such tailings are subjected to freezing and thawing. Radium-226 liberation is not decreased sufficiently by any of these disposal methods to permit discharge of effluents in conformation with the accepted federal guidelines of 10 pCi/L. The concentrations of iron-oxidizing bacteria in the lysimeters are 100- to 100,000-fold greater than in an unvegetated area of the Rio Algom Nordic tailings deposit at Elliot Lake, Ontario. By deposition of Midwest uranium tallings (high AsNi) from northern Saskatchewan in layers (in comparison to random deposition) the concentrations of arsenic and radium-226 in the effluent were decreased, but not sufficiently to permit direct discharge of these effluents without further treatment in order to conform to the federal guidelines of 10 pCi/L of radium-226 and of 0.5 mg/L of arsenic. Concentrations of nickel in the effluents of these tailings did not exceed the federal guidelines of 0.5 mg/L.

Stanleigh mine, Rio Algom's deepest at 4500ft : Can Min J, V102, N12, Dec 1981, P33–38

Stanleigh mine, Rio Algom's deepest at 4500ft : Can Min J, V102, N12, Dec 1981, P33–38

Permeability Monitoring Technique of the Near-Field and Far-Field Interface of Underground Openings

In July/August 1981 and February/March 1982 we sampled water for isotope analysis from water-bearing fractures of two mines in Elliot Lake. Permission for sampling was given to Ontario Hydro by Denison Mines Ltd and Rio Algom Ltd, Quirke Mine in conjunction with the CANMET Mine Safety Tests. The purpose of the investigation was to find out whether there is a relationship between the water present in some fractures in a deep mine and the shallow groundwater in the far-field of the mine. The investigation was done in co-operation with University of Waterloo.

United States: Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Decision in Re: Westinghouse Electric Corporation Uranium Contracts Litigation (Compliance with Discovery Order; Enforcement of Letters Rogatory in Canada)

Rio Algom Corporation appeals from an order adjudging it, and its president , George R. Albino , to be in will ful and in excusable civil contempt of court for failing to comply with a discovery order of the United States District Court for the District of Utah, Central Division. Rio Algom was ordered to pay into the registry of the court the sum of $10,000, per day, until such time as Rio Algom complied with the order. It was further provided that should Rio Algom fail to pay the ordered fine, the United States Marshal was authorized and directed to enter upon the property of Rio Algom at La Sal, Utah and seize "any and all property of Rio Algom of sufficient value to satisfy the above sums." Our study of the matter leads us to conclude that the trial court erred in holding Rio Algom in contempt and in imposing the severe sanction in connection therewith. We therefore reverse.

SURF-HARD

Abstract SURF HARD is a nitriding alloy steel designed for those applications requiring exceptionally hard wear resistant surface and a tough core, such as heavy duty gears, spline shafts, rubber and paper mill rolls, cylinder liners, etc. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, hardness, elasticity, and tensile properties as well as fracture toughness and fatigue. It also includes information on corrosion resistance as well as forming, heat treating, machining, and joining. Filing Code: SA-246. Producer or source: Atlas Alloys Division, Rio Algom Corporation.