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These projects only include mining projects which were under active
consideration by the Environmental Assessment Office during the last quarter.
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Exploration projects where there is a preliminary definition of the mass and
geometric configuration of reserves (i.e., three dimensional outline) and some degree of
knowledge or estimation of the composite value of the minerals in these reserves. In
metals exploration reserves at this stage of project development are often drill inferred
with in-ground-values estimated in terms of grade and tonnage. In coal and
industrial mineral deposits, in-ground-values are stated in terms of grade-qualities
(such as, thermal coal, chemical grade lime, etc.) and tonnages. Although these
projects cover a wide range of completed effort and detailed assessment, they are
generally positioned between the near pre-feasibility stage and the near bankable
feasibility stage.
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Series of sequential mining operations or activities on a particular deposit,
often interrupted by the passage of time (weeks, months, years), meant to build a
sufficient stockpile of ore to supply a continuous mineral processing operation.
This style of mining is most common in industrial mineral mining which also leads to the
term "Intermittent mining operations".
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Clean coal or washed coal is produced by a cleaning process (e.g., coal output
from a coal wash plant). Generally the coal is washed free of clay, shale and other
deleterious substances for transport to users.
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Enriched ore of copper, lead, zinc, etc. after the removal of waste in a
beneficiation mill. Typically, ore from the mine is crushed, ground and run through
a beneficiation process to produce concentrate.
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Includes all construction materials which are comprised predominantly of sand,
gravel, crushed rock, clay and other naturally occurring and generally low-value (less
than $20 per tonne at the pit/quarry gate) fine grained materials. Construction
aggregates are generally sourced from unconsolidated to loosely consolidated material,
with the exception of crushed rock (which is often only used because of the unavailability
of unconsolidated material that will meet specifications). These materials are
generally used in the construction industry, as the predominant aggregate component in
concrete and asphalt and for fill and/or load-bearing purposes. "Construction
aggregate" is West Coast terminology, roughly equivalent to the Federal Government's
term, "Structural materials". These minerals do not include the generally
higher value-added, processed industrial minerals where major use is by industry sectors
outside the construction aggregate industry.
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Employees working for a mineral producing or processing enterprise.
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Aggregate generally comprised of sand, gravel and soil which has been removed by
machine from under water, for example, from rivers, lakes and oceans. (Sand and
gravel dredged from the Fraser River in BC is an important source of aggregate for the
Lower Mainland market.)
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All activities and support, including capital expenditures, which are carried
out (on or off minesite) to search for, discover, and/or carry out the delineation of a
mineral deposit to establish its potential economic value and to justify further
work. Typically, activities include prospecting, regional mineral reconnaissance,
mapping and remote sensing, geology, geochemistry, geophysics and drilling and rock work
including trenching, bulk sampling, "trial" mining, etc. See also NRCan's
Survey definition for Exploration expenditures:
http://mmsd1.mms.nrcan.gc.ca/mmsd/exploration/default_e.asp#definitions
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Refers to the "freight on board the ship" value of the mineral
commodity, which includes the cost of rail shipping and transfer at port to ship's hold.
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Those hydrocarbon components recovered from natural gas as liquids. These
liquids include, but are not limited to,. ethane, propane, butanes, pentanes plus and
condensate and may include small quantities of non-hydrocarbons such as, sulphur.
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Employees working in an enterprise which directly supports and owes its
existence to a mineral producing or processing enterprise. This number is estimated
on a ratio of one direct to one indirect employee on average throughout the industry,
based on tentative verification from BC's input/output model.
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Employees who neither work in a "direct" nor an "indirect"
enterprise but are employed as a direct result of a mineral producing or processing
enterprise (e.g. a teller at a bank who is hired because of additional banking activity in
a town, resulting from a mine opening). This number is estimated on a ratio of one
direct to one induced employee on average throughout the industry based on tentative
verification from BC's input/output model.
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Include all non-metallic
and non-fuel minerals. This group includes
gemstones and excludes construction aggregates (structural materials). They comprise
rocks, minerals and other naturally occurring substances or mineral waste streams, of
economic value.
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A coal which can be used to produce metallurgical coke which has a high
compressive strength at elevated temperatures for use in metallurgical furnaces, not only
as fuel, but also to support the weight of the charge (particularly in iron and steel
making).
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Includes all activities carried out on a producing mine or mining project
committed to production to outline, block out and gain access to the ore and prepare it
for production. It also includes drilling, rock work and support to extend known
mineral deposits in production or committed to production. See also NRCan's
definition of Mine Development expenditures:
http://mmsd1.mms.nrcan.gc.ca/mmsd/exploration/default_e.asp#definitions
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Real transactional-price or estimated price of ore, concentrate, mineral or
other mineral product, purchased on the minesite i.e., before the mineral product is
transported through the "gate" marking the boundary of the minesite.
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Natural and manufactured industrial mineral and rock materials that provide bulk
and strength in Portland cement concrete, bituminous concrete mixes, and plaster or stucco
surfaces. They may also provide special characteristics such as thermal and
acoustical insulation, weight, surface textures, abrasion resistance, and impermeability
to various concrete products and mixes.
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Any excavation from which mineral substances were taken during the period
denoted, where the corporate intent was to make an operating profit or build continuously
toward a profitable enterprise.
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A form of operation designed to extract minerals that lie near the surface.
Waste, or overburden is first removed and the mineral is broken and loaded.
(Similar terms: Opencast Mining, Open Cut Mining)
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A natural mineral compound of the elements of which one at least is a metal
(e.g., copper, lead, molybdenum, zinc, gold). The term is applied more loosely to
all metalliferous rock and occasionally to the compounds of nonmetallic substances and
industrial minerals such as, sulphur ore. In economic terms, an ore is a mineral of
sufficient value as to quality and quantity that it may be mined at a profit.
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In this web site, Pits and Quarries generally refer to the depression left on
the earth's surface from which construction aggregates have been taken out.
Typically, sand and gravel and other unconsolidated or loosely consolidated mineral
materials are extracted with mechanical digging and moving equipment from pits.
Where crushed rock is needed because of the absence of sand and gravel in a region or a
high quality aggregate is specified for a particular project(s), rock may be extracted
from open or surface quarries; typically, where drilling and blasting are required.
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A plant in which metal or valuable mineral is extracted from an ore or
concentrate. Usually such a plant would be described as an extraction plant or
chemical treatment plant. By comparison, refining is the purification of crude
metallic products which produces nearly pure metal product.
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Any metallurgical operation in which metal is separated by fusion from
those impurities with which it may be chemically combined or physically mixed, such as in
ores. The smelting process is distinct from roasting, sintering, fire refining and
other pyrometallurgical operations. The two most important operations are reduction
smelting which produces molten metal and molten slag and matte smelting which produces
molten matte and molten slag. Slag is a waste product and matte is the resulting
metallic sulphide mixture containing the valuable minerals (e.g., copper, lead, nickel,
etc.), ready for refining.
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Term includes essentially the same mineral materials as Construction Aggregates.
(Construction Aggregates is more commonly used in West Coast jurisdictions and
Structural Materials, by Natural Resources Canada.) Includes all construction
materials (natural, crushed and in aggregate form) which are comprised predominantly of
sand, gravel, crushed rock, clay and other naturally occurring fine grained materials, as
well as various other minerals and rocks used for structural purposes such as dimension
stone and rip-rap. These materials are generally used for fill and/or load-bearing
purposes and do not include ornamental, landscaping or other beautifying minerals and
rocks.
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Coal used for burning in thermal plants to generate electricity.
Thermal coals are generally in the bituminous quality range, having a lower heat
content (joules or BTU's British thermal units) than metallurgical coals, but a higher
heat content than lower grade coals, such as lignite.
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Extraction of ores, rocks and minerals from below the surface of
the ground. Generally access to the underground mine workings is through an adit
(entrance in the side of a hill), down a mine shaft or through some other tunnel
configuration.
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Raw metal products such as aluminum and zinc which have not been
hammered into shape or worked into a finished condition.
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