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97-497: The project was majority-owned by Canadian mining company Gabriel Resources (with 80.46%) and by state mining company Minvest Deva (19.31%) and other minority shareholders. Some local residents refused to sell their properties to the Roșia Montană Gold Corporation and, in order for the project to commence, the state would have needed to exercise eminent domain . Frank Timiș , a Romanian-born Australian, founded

194-533: A company, Gabriel Resources , in the Channel Island of Jersey in 1995. Timiș negotiated with the Romanian state and, in 1996, they signed a contract with state-owned Regia Autonomă a Cuprului Deva for the creation of a joint venture (Eurogold Resources) for the exploitation of auriferous residues from previous exploitations. Gabriel Resources was allowed to have 60% of the shares in the new company but, in

291-476: A decade. They - Utah Copper (Kennecott), Nevada Consolidated, Chino Copper, Ray Con and other Jackling firms - eventually settled, in 1922, paying a substantial fee for licenses to use the Minerals Separation process. One unfortunate result of the dispute was professional divisiveness among the mining engineering community for a generation. In 1913, the Minerals Separation paid for a test plant for

388-467: A large quantity of rock: 218 million tons according to the technical file of the project or 262 million tons according to the project memorandum, resulting a dust having particles with a diameter between 74 and 150 micrometres. The dust would be leached with cyanides in order to extract the gold; due to the small diameter of the particles, the resulting sludge would have a large quantity of cyanide compounds: according to RMGC estimates, about 500 tons, out of

485-402: A letter that has since disappeared. Between 1999 and 2000, the operating perimeter was increased from 12 km² to 20 km² and later 42 km (16 sq mi). In 2000, RMGC paid $ 20 million for a pre-feasibility study (done by American company Pincock Allen & Holt) which resulted in an estimate of 8 million ounces of gold. The company claimed to invest $ 250 million (raised from

582-486: A more rapid investigation of oils, froths, and agitation led to proven workplace applications, especially in Broken Hill, Australia, that brought the technological innovation known as “froth flotation.” During the early 20th century, froth flotation revolutionized mineral processing. Initially, naturally occurring chemicals such as fatty acids and oils were used as flotation reagents in large quantities to increase

679-510: A new protocol a year later, the Gabriel Resources stake was increased to 80%, while state's participation (through Minvest) was reduced to 18.8%, while being still allowed to exploit just around the existing mine. The company was renamed "Roșia Montană Gold Corporation" in 1999. The extraction licenses owned by state-owned Minvest Deva were transferred to the joint venture following a call by Minister of Industries Radu Berceanu in

776-406: A significant position into the 1930s. During this period the company also developed and patented flotation processes for iron out of its Hibbing lab and of phosphate in its Florida lab. Another rapid phase of flotation process innovation did not occur until after 1960. In the 1960s the froth flotation technique was adapted for deinking recycled paper . The success of the process is evinced by

873-518: A specific feed grade and feed rate. The flotation process is also widely used in industrial waste water treatment plants, where it removes fats, oil, grease and suspended solids from waste water. These units are called dissolved air flotation (DAF) units. In particular, dissolved air flotation units are used in removing oil from the wastewater effluents of oil refineries , petrochemical and chemical plants , natural gas processing plants and similar industrial facilities. The ore to be treated

970-563: A systematically biased favorable campaign media coverage from certain newspapers and television stations. The controversy includes commercials being withdrawn due to unsupported claims and Gabriel Resources employees spamming online editions of media outlets and blogs with editorial oversight with favorable propaganda using proxies when necessary. The debate over the Rosia Montana mine project inspired four documentaries. A short documentary, The price of gold , showing views of both sides

1067-463: A total of 214.9 million tons of sludge . The sludge would be deposited in a 45-hectare tailings pond , which would be built on the valley of the Corna River, requiring a dam 600 metres wide and 185 metres high and changing the course of river. Roșia Montană Gold Corporation claimed that the pond would be safe from infiltration due to the impermeable clay formations on the hillsides. This

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1164-594: A type of surfactant that increase the natural hydrophobicity of the surface, increasing the separability of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic particles. Collectors either chemically bond via chemisorption to the mineral or adsorb onto the surface via physisorption . The collision rates for fine particles (50 - 80 μm) can be accurately modeled, but there is no current theory that accurately models bubble-particle collision for particles as large as 300 μm, which are commonly used in flotation processes. For fine particles, Stokes law underestimates collision probability while

1261-409: Is "poised for increased activity due to their potential usefulness in environmental site cleanup operations" including recycling of plastics and metals, not to mention water treatment. Flotation processes are described in ancient Greek and Persian literature. During the late 19th century, the process basics were discovered through a slow evolutionary phase. During the first decade of the 20th century,

1358-474: Is a process for selectively separating hydrophobic materials from hydrophilic . This is used in mineral processing, paper recycling and waste-water treatment industries. Historically this was first used in the mining industry, where it was one of the great enabling technologies of the 20th century. It has been described as "the single most important operation used for the recovery and upgrading of sulfide ores ". The development of froth flotation has improved

1455-463: Is also home to ancient Roman mining galleries, which were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 2021. The Project, the largest undeveloped gold deposit in Europe, is owned through Rosia Montana Gold Corporation S.A. (RMGC), a Romanian company in which Gabriel Resources holds an 80.69% stake and CNCAF Minvest S.A. , a Romanian state-owned mining enterprise, the rest. Gabriel is headquartered in

1552-600: Is estimated to produce 626,000 ounces of gold annually during its first five years of operation , with an estimated average of 500,000 ounces of gold and 1.79 million ounces of silver per year over its 16-year mine life. The project is in an area which has been mined for many centuries and as recently as 2006 was subject to open pit mining by CNCAF Minvest. The project is subject to many protests. In September 2013, street protests took place in Bucharest , Cluj Napoca and other Romanian cities (see 2013 Romanian protests against

1649-519: Is ground into particles ( comminution ). In the idealized case, the individual minerals are physically separated, a process known as full liberation . The particle sizes are typically in the range 2–500 micrometers in diameter. For froth flotation, an aqueous slurry of the ground ore is treated with the frothing agent. An example is sodium ethyl xanthate as a collector in the flotation of galena (lead sulfide) to separate it from sphalerite (zinc sulfide). The polar part of xanthate anion attaches to

1746-510: Is often undertaken in specialized regrind mills , such as the IsaMill . The rougher flotation step is often followed by a scavenger flotation step that is applied to the rougher tailings to further recover any of the target minerals. To be effective on a given ore slurry, the collectors are chosen based upon their selective wetting of the types of particles to be separated. A good collector will adsorb , physically or chemically, with one of

1843-473: The thiourea thiocarbanilide . Fatty acid carboxylates, alkyl sulfates , and alkyl sulfonates have also been used for oxide minerals. For some minerals (e.g., sylvinite for KCl), fatty amines are used as collectors. A variety of compounds are added to stabilize the foams. These additives include pine oil and various alcohols : methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC), polyglycols , xylenol (cresylic acid). According to one vendor, depressants "increase

1940-529: The Baia Mare mine. In order for the project to proceed, a number of archeological sites, as well as some historic buildings must be destroyed. This includes large parts of the well-preserved 2000-year-old Roman mine galleries, which have attracted talk of a possible nomination to become a UNESCO World Heritage site. The company attempted to get a $ 100 million loan from the World Bank in 2002, however

2037-593: The CEO position which had held for eight years. On March 8, 2024, Gabriel Resources lost a damage claim against Romania for the failed gold mine project. An arbitration panel of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes rejected Gabriel's claim for damages resulting from Roșia Montană being blocked by the Romanian government, and instead awarded Romania US$ 10 million in legal fees and expenses. Flotation process Froth flotation

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2134-672: The Elmore brothers installed the world's first industrial-size commercial flotation process for mineral beneficiation at the Glasdir mine. The process was not froth flotation but used oil to agglomerate (make balls of) pulverised sulphides and buoy them to the surface, and was patented in 1898 (revised 1901). The operation and process was described in the April 25, 1900 Transactions of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy of England, which

2231-645: The Elmore brothers work. Recent writers, because of the interest in celebrating women in science, champion Carrie Everson of Denver as mother of the process based on her 1885 patent. Omitted from this list are the engineers, metallurgists and chemists of Minerals Separation, Ltd., which, at least in the American and Australian courts, won control of froth flotation patents as well as right of claimant as discoverers of froth flotation. But, as historian Martin Lynch writes, "Mineral Separation would eventually prevail after taking

2328-558: The Elmores who, ultimately, lost as the Elmore process was superseded by more advanced techniques. Another flotation process was independently invented in 1901 in Australia by Charles Vincent Potter and by Guillaume Daniel Delprat around the same time. Potter was a brewer of beer, as well as a chemist, and was likely inspired by the way beer froth lifted up sediment in the beer. This process did not use oil, but relied upon flotation by

2425-463: The Everson process had been made at Georgetown and Silver Cliff, Colorado, and Baker, Oregon. She abandoned the work upon the death of her husband, and before perfecting a commercially successful process. Later, during the height of legal disputes over the validity of various patents during the 1910s, Everson's was often pointed to as the initial flotation patent - which would have meant that the process

2522-690: The Gabriel Resources shares have plummeted. In November 2013 the Senate of Romania rejected the project, followed by the Chamber of Deputies in June 2014. Gabriel Resources, the Canadian majority owner of the project, ran a geological survey in 2000, which gave an estimation of 330 tons of gold and 1600 tons of silver in the four mountains surrounding the town of Roșia Montană, if the exploitation would use blasting and cyanide extraction. The project would grind

2619-590: The Inspiration Copper Company at Miami, Arizona. Built under the San Francisco office director, Edward Nutter, it proved a success. Inspiration engineer L. D. Ricketts ripped out a gravity concentration mill and replaced it with the Minerals Separation process, the first major use of the process at an American copper mine. A major holder of Inspiration stock were men who controlled the great Anaconda mine of Butte. They immediately followed

2716-594: The Inspiration success to build a Minerals Separation licensed plant at Butte, in 1915–1916, a major statement about the final acceptance of the Minerals Separation patented process. John M. Callow, of General Engineering of Salt Lake City , had followed flotation from technical papers and the introduction in both the Butte and Superior Mill, and at Inspiration Copper in Arizona and determined that mechanical agitation

2813-703: The Mammoth gold mill, Tintic district, Utah, but without success. Because of Butters' reputation and the news of his failure, as well as the unsuccessful attempt at the LeRoi gold mine at Rossland, B. C., the Elmore process was all but ignored in North America. Developments elsewhere, particularly in Broken Hill, Australia by Minerals Separation, Limited , led to decades of hard-fought legal battles and litigations (e. g. Minerals Separation, Ltd. v. Hyde ) for

2910-650: The Roșia Montană Project ) and the presidential candidate Crin Antonescu unexpectedly declared in a press conference that in his opinion the project should be rejected. The Prime Minister Victor Ponta has also digressed claiming that the Government has approved the bill to prevent being sued for compensations and the Parliament will definitely vote against it closing the subject. Following this development,

3007-402: The Roșia Montană Project ). As a result, Gabriel shares dropped 64 percent (to a total of 41 percent drop this year). The company now known as Gabriel Resources was formed on 19 July 1986. The Rosia Montana properties were transferred from the communist-governed state of Romania around its destruction in 1989 to a company controlled by Frank Timis , who brought his titles to Toronto , which

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3104-464: The Roșia Montană gold mine project are explored in a documentary entitled Gold Futures  [ ro ] by Tibor Kocsis. This film presented the plight of the anti-Gold Corporation residents of Rosia Montana, with a strong emphasis on the cultural and natural treasures of the area. The tourism attracted by the natural beauty and tranquillity of this isolated spot of the world is presented versus

3201-690: The Sulman-Picard-Ballot process after company officers and patentees. The process proved successful at their Central Block plant, Broken Hill that year. Significant in their "agitation froth flotation" process was the use of less than 1% oil and an agitation step that created small bubbles, which provided more surface to capture the metal and float into a froth at the surface. Useful work was done by Leslie Bradford at Port Pirie and by William Piper , Sir Herbert Gepp and Auguste de Bavay . Mineral Separation also bought other patents to consolidate ownership of any potential conflicting rights to

3298-706: The UK, listed in Canada and holds its Romanian assets through a Dutch company. Since 2015, it has been in a dispute with the Romanian state at the World Bank 's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes for the failed mine project. According to its website, "the ICSID Arbitration has now become the core focus of the Company." On 8 March 2024, the Arbitration ruled in favor of Romania and ordered

3395-454: The US had fallen to only 0.6 percent. Flotation is used for the purification of potassium chloride from sodium chloride and clay minerals. The crushed mineral is suspended in brine in the presence of fatty ammonium salts. Because the ammonium head group and K have very similar ionic radii (ca. 0.135, 0.143 nm respectively), the ammonium centers exchange for the surface potassium sites on

3492-587: The United States had been less than spectacular. Butters's failures, as well as others, was followed after 1904, with Scotsman Stanley MacQuisten's process (a surface tension based method), which was developed with a modicum of success in Nevada and Idaho, but this would not work when slimes were present, a major fault. Henry E. Wood of Denver had developed his flotation process along the same lines in 1907, patented 1911, with some success on molybdenum ores. For

3589-436: The bottom of a tall column while introducing slurry above. The countercurrent motion of the slurry flowing down and the air flowing up provides mixing action. Mechanical cells generally have a higher throughput rate, but produce material that is of lower quality, while flotation columns generally have a low throughput rate but produce higher quality material. The Jameson cell uses neither impellers nor spargers, instead combining

3686-442: The bottom of the pond. The Geological Institute also voiced concerns that the method of exploitation would lead to the loss of large quantities of germanium , tellurium , arsenic , lead , and zinc . The existence of notable quantities of copper, lead and zinc in the ore would lead to an increase in the usage of cyanide, a lower recovery rate for gold and silver, as well as leading to sulphocyanide -rich sludge. The company denies

3783-412: The bubble, with the perimeter of the collision tube corresponding to the grazing trajectory. The attachment of the particle to the bubble is controlled by the induction time of the particle and bubble. The particle and bubble need to bind and this occurs if the time in which the particle and bubble are in contact with each other is larger than the required induction time. This induction time is affected by

3880-537: The case to the US Supreme Court [and the House of Lords], and in so doing earned for itself the cordial detestation of many in the mining world." Froth flotation efficiency is determined by a series of probabilities: those of particle–bubble contact, particle–bubble attachment, transport between the pulp and the froth, and froth collection into the product launder. In a conventional mechanically-agitated cell,

3977-533: The collection and cleaning zone of a flotation column. Significant issues of entrainment of fine particles occurs as these particles experience low collision efficiencies as well as sliming and degradation of the particle surfaces. Coarse particles show a low recovery of the valuable mineral due to the low liberation and high detachment efficiencies. Flotation can be performed in rectangular or cylindrical mechanically agitated cells or tanks, flotation columns, Jameson Cells or deinking flotation machines. Classified by

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4074-479: The commercial use of the process worldwide. In 1900, Charles Butters of Berkeley, California, acquired American rights to the Elmore process after seeing a demonstration at Llanelltyd, Wales. Butters, an expert on the cyanide process , built an Elmore process plant in the basement of the Dooley Building, Salt Lake City, and tested the oil process on gold ores throughout the region and tested the tailings of

4171-504: The company to pay Romania's legal costs. Its share price is 0.01 CAD , as of 14 November 2024, a 97.44% collapse compared to the price one year ago. The history of the Rosia Montana mine site goes back at least to Emperor Trajan 's time. Rosia Montana is the largest undeveloped gold deposit in Europe, hosting measured and indicated resources of 10 million ounces of gold and 47.6 million ounces of silver, together with an inferred resource of 1.2 million ounces of gold. The project

4268-783: The course of the Cernea River is not possible because of the springs on the bottom of the Corna Valley. Opposition to the project was originally organized by Eugen David, a local farmer who refused to sell his land to Roșia Montană Gold Corporation. He was among the founders of " Alburnus Maior ", an association of activists bearing the Roman name of the town. David gained the support of Teddy Goldsmith , an Anglo-French environmentalist and of Swiss-born journalist Stephanie Danielle Roth , who moved to Roșia Montană to help David's quest. With help from Stephanie Danielle Roth , David's group

4365-768: The destruction of the area's unique Roman mines. The major churches of Romania, the Romanian Orthodox Church , the Roman Catholic Churcha and the Greek-Catholic Church , oppose the project, as does the Romanian Academy . On 1 September 2013 thousands of Romanians protested against the project in dozens of cities across the country, the protests continuing the following days in Bucharest. Major issues regarding

4462-456: The early period of flotation as the mechanical phase while by the late 1910s it entered the chemical phase. Discoveries in reagents, especially the use of xanthates patented by Minerals Separations chemist Cornelius H. Keller, not so much increased the capture of minerals through the process as making it far more manageable in day-to-day operations. Minerals Separation's initial flotation patents ended 1923, and new ones for chemical processes gave it

4559-530: The efficiency of the flotation process by selectively inhibiting the interaction of one mineral with the collector." Thus a typical pulverized ore sample consists of many components, of which only one or a few are targets for the collector. Depressants bind to these other components, lest the collector be wasted by doing so. Depressants are selected for particular ores. Typical depressants are starch, polyphenols, lye, and lime. They are cheap, and oxygen-rich typically. A variety of other compounds are added to optimize

4656-407: The environmental impact of the Roșia Montană Project regard the usage of cyanides , as well as the practice of open-pit mining, which would require the usage of a large area, including four mountains, which would, according to the opponents, "be turned into a desert". The usage of cyanides has been a contentious issue, especially due to the fears of spillage into rivers and the groundwater. This fear

4753-606: The existence of metals in notable quantities, which is contradicted by the Geological Institute. In October 2013, during the hearing at the Senate, Ștefan Marincea, the President of the Geological Institute, accused his predecessor of signing a notice saying there are no fault lines in Roșia Montană, which Marincea contended is false and that there are many fault lines in the area. Marincea also argued that changing

4850-552: The first "bulk oil flotation" patent, though there is no evidence of its being field tested, or used commercially. In 1877 the brothers Bessel (Adolph and August) of Dresden, Germany, introduced their commercially successful oil and froth flotation process for extracting graphite , considered by some the root of froth flotation. However, the Bessel process became uneconomical after the discovery of high-grade graphite in Sri Lanka and

4947-487: The first great flotation plant in America. Minerals Separation, Ltd., which had set up an office in San Francisco, sued Hyde for infringement as well as the Butte & Superior company, both cases were eventually won by the firm in the U. S. Supreme Court. Daniel Cowan Jackling and partners, who controlled Butte & Superior, also refuted the Minerals Separation patent and funded the ensuing legal battles that lasted over

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5044-571: The flotation process - except for the Elmore patents. In 1910, when the Zinc Corporation replaced its Elmore process with the Minerals Separation (Sulman-Picard-Ballot) froth flotation process at its Broken Hill plant, the primacy of the Minerals Separation over other process contenders was assured. Henry Livingston Sulman was later recognized by his peers in his election as President of the (British) Institution of Mining and Metallurgy , which also awarded him its gold medal. Developments in

5141-412: The fluid viscosity, particle and bubble size and the forces between the particle and bubbles. The detachment of a particle and bubble occurs when the force exerted by the surface tension is exceeded by shear forces and gravitational forces. These forces are complex and vary within the cell. High shear will be experienced close to the impeller of a mechanical flotation cell and mostly gravitational force in

5238-449: The froth are referred to as the flotation tailings or flotation tails . These tailings may also be subjected to further stages of flotation to recover the valuable particles that did not float the first time. This is known as scavenging . The final tailings after scavenging are normally pumped for disposal as mine fill or to tailings disposal facilities for long-term storage. Flotation is normally undertaken in several stages to maximize

5335-405: The generation of gas formed by the introduction of acid into the pulp. In 1903, Potter sued Delprat, then general manager of BHP , for patent infringement. He lost the case for reasons of utility, with Delpat arguing that while Delprat's process, which used sulphuric acid to generate the bubbles in the process, was not as useful as Delprat's process, which used salt cake. Despite this, after the case

5432-426: The hydrophobicity of the valuable minerals. Since then, the process has been adapted and applied to a wide variety of materials to be separated, and additional collector agents, including surfactants and synthetic compounds have been adopted for various applications. Englishman William Haynes patented a process in 1860 for separating sulfide and gangue minerals using oil. Later writers have pointed to Haynes's as

5529-581: The issue of the project, which led to coverage in the international press. A number of organizations and groups opposed the project, including a group of 83 Romanian professors of economics, a group of artists and intellectuals (among which Horia-Roman Patapievici , the head of the Romanian Cultural Institute ) who published a letter in The Guardian in 2006 and a number of international archeologists who voiced their concerns over

5626-477: The loan was canceled at the personal intervention of World Bank president James Wolfensohn . The Roșia Montană Project has been widely accused by opponents, the media and politicians as being corrupt. For instance, a Deutsche Welle editorial said that the project "practiced bribery through professional and systematic processes". The "Alliance for a Clean Romania", an NGO that fights corruption in Romania called for

5723-482: The majority of the people of the village support the mine, and the investment. The film presents foreign environmentalists as alien agents opposed to progress while residents are depicted as eagerly awaiting the new opportunity. In 2012 the director Fabian Daub released an hour-long documentary about the story of Roșia Montană. In November 2013, the freelance journalist Mihai Gotiu launched his book „The Roşia Montană Affair” („Afacerea Roşia Montană”). The author followed

5820-406: The metal as float off the concentration process. The 1886 patent was to capture this "float" using surface tension, the first of the skin-flotation process patents that were eclipsed by oil froth flotation. On August 24, 1886, Carrie Everson received a patent for her process calling for oil[s] but also an acid or a salt, a significant step in the evolution of the process history. By 1890, tests of

5917-436: The method of air absorption manner, it is fair to state that two distinct groups of flotation equipment have arisen:pneumatic and mechanical machines. Generally pneumatic machines give a low-grade concentrate and little operating troubles. Mechanical cells use a large mixer and diffuser mechanism at the bottom of the mixing tank to introduce air and provide mixing action. Flotation columns use air spargers to introduce air at

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6014-527: The most part, however, these were isolated attempts without fanfare for what can only be called marginal successes. In 1911, James M. Hyde , a former employee of Minerals Separation, Ltd., modified the Minerals Separation process and installed a test plant in the Butte and Superior Mill in Basin, Montana , the first such installation in the USA. In 1912, he designed the Butte & Superior zinc works, Butte, Montana,

6111-471: The number of claimants as "discoverers" of flotation. In 1961, American engineers celebrated "50 years of flotation" and enshrined James Hyde and his Butte & Superior mill. In 1977, German engineers celebrated the "hundredth anniversary of flotation" based on the brothers Bessel patent of 1877. The historic Glasdir copper mine site advertises its tours in Wales as site of the "discovery of flotation" based upon

6208-563: The ore particles and the non-polar hydrocarbon part forms a hydrophobic layer. The particles are brought to the water surface by air bubbles. About 300  g / t of ore is required for efficient separation. With increasing length of the hydrocarbon chain in xanthates, the efficiency of the hydrophobic action increases, but the selectivity to ore type decreases. The chain is shortest in sodium ethyl xanthate that makes it highly selective to copper, nickel, lead, gold, and zinc ores. Aqueous solutions (10%) with pH = 7–11 are normally used in

6305-537: The other side of the political spectrum, Democratic-Liberal MP Theodor Paleologu claimed to oppose the project due to "the corruption of politicians and journalists". In October 2013, Liberal Senator Sorin Roșca Stănescu accused Traian Băsescu of receiving bribes from RMGC over the Roșia Montană Project through an offshore bank account in Seychelles. Gabriel Resources has a big advertising budget, receiving

6402-413: The particle and bubble. The mechanisms for the bubble-particle attachment is complex but is viewed as consisting of three steps: collision, attachment, and detachment. The collision is achieved by particles being within the collision tube of a bubble and this is affected by the velocity of the bubble and radius of the bubble. The collision tube corresponds to the region in which a particle will collide with

6499-514: The particles of KCl, but not on the NaCl particles. The long alkyl chains then confer hydrophobicity to the particles, which enable them to form foams. Froth flotation is one of the processes used to recover recycled paper . In the paper industry this step is called deinking or just flotation. The target is to release and remove the hydrophobic contaminants from the recycled paper. The contaminants are mostly printing ink and stickies . Normally

6596-430: The process. This slurry (more properly called the pulp ) of hydrophobic particles and hydrophilic particles is then introduced to tanks known as flotation cells that are aerated to produce bubbles. The hydrophobic particles attach to the air bubbles, which rise to the surface, forming a froth. The froth is skimmed from the cell, producing a concentrate ("conc") of the target mineral. The minerals that do not float into

6693-459: The project to be canceled due to the "non-transparent manner" through which everything was developed. Politicians, both on the left and right sides of the political spectrum, accused their adversaries of being bribed in order to support the mining project. While in opposition, Social-Democratic leader Victor Ponta opposed the project claiming that the Roșia Montană Project stalled because "not all politicians can be bought like President Băsescu". On

6790-583: The project will help restore the environment. The analysis was however described as bad science by a government panel in Hungary, which claimed that its data is "insufficient, deficient, inaccurate or not considered to be representative". Since Romania joined the EU, mining in Romania is now subject to strict regulations regarding cyanide concentration. The Rosia Montana mine complies with these regulations and its cyanide concentration will be 20 times less than that of

6887-402: The recovery of the target mineral or minerals and the concentration of those minerals in the concentrate, while minimizing the energy input. The first stage is called roughing , which produces a rougher concentrate . The objective is to remove the maximum amount of the valuable mineral at as coarse a particle size as practical. Grinding costs energy. The goal is to release enough gangue from

6984-579: The recovery of valuable minerals , such as copper - and lead -bearing minerals. Along with mechanized mining, it has allowed the economic recovery of valuable metals from much lower-grade ore than previously possible. Froth flotation is applied to a wide range of separations. An estimated one billion tons of materials are processed in this manner annually. Froth flotation is a process for separating minerals from gangue by exploiting differences in their hydrophobicity . Hydrophobicity differences between valuable minerals and waste gangue are increased through

7081-433: The risks of using huge amounts of cyanide in the gold ore processing . Gold Futures was based on Kocsis' previous multiple award-winning documentary on the subject entitled: "New Eldorado. Gold. The Curse of Rosia Montana." More recently a new documentary partially funded by Gabriel Resources, Mine Your Own Business , asserts that environmentalists' opposition to the mine locks people into poverty. The film claims that

7178-480: The selective adhesion of air bubbles to mineral surfaces in a mineral/water slurry. The air bubbles attach to more hydrophobic particles, as determined by the interfacial energies between the solid, liquid, and gas phases. This energy is determined by the Young–Dupré equation : where: Minerals targeted for separation may be chemically surface-modified with collectors so that they are more hydrophobic. Collectors are

7275-408: The separation process, these additives are called modifiers. Modifying reagents react either with the mineral surfaces or with collectors and other ions in the flotation pulp, resulting in a modified and controlled flotation response. Prior to 1907, nearly all the copper mined in the US came from underground vein deposits, averaging 2.5 percent copper. By 1991, the average grade of copper ore mined in

7372-570: The setup is a two-stage system with 3,4 or 5 flotation cells in series. As in any technology that has long been conducted on the multi-million ton per year scale, flotation technologies have the potential to threaten the environment beyond the disruption caused by mining. Froth flotation employs a host of organic chemicals and relies upon elaborate machinery. Some of the chemicals (cyanide) are acutely toxic but hydrolyze to innocuous products. Naturally occurring fatty acids are widely used. Tailings and effluents are contained in lined ponds. Froth flotation

7469-542: The shares. In June 2010, the BSG increased its investment in Gabriel by C$ 100 million. In 2013, its rating was suspended by Scotia Capital . In fall 2013, the Romanian government proposed to give Gabriel the right to expropriate land; this triggered mass protests and influenced the 2014 Romanian presidential election . In January 2015, Newmont Corporation was listed as a substantial shareowner in Gabriel, which had at

7566-627: The slurry with air in a downcomer where high shear creates the turbulent conditions required for bubble particle contacting. For many ores (e.g. those of Cu, Mo, W, Ni), the collectors are anionic sulfur ligands. Particularly popular for sulfide minerals are xanthate salts, including potassium amyl xanthate (PAX), potassium isobutyl xanthate (PIBX), potassium ethyl xanthate (KEX), sodium isobutyl xanthate (SIBX), sodium isopropyl xanthate (SIPX), sodium ethyl xanthate (SEX). Related collectors include related sulfur-based ligands: dithiophosphates , dithiocarbamates . Still other classes of collectors include

7663-440: The stock market, banks and mutual funds) and it promised that within three years the project would create 25,000 jobs. The Social Liberal Union has drifted away from its platform prior to the parliamentary elections and the Government approved a draft law regulating the conditions of participation, passing it to the Parliament for debate. This has sparked massive spontaneous protests still ongoing (see 2013 Romanian protests against

7760-703: The time a market capitalisation of C$ 250 million. In June 2017, the company sued the government of Romania for $ 4.4 billion at the World Bank Tribunal , due to delays in the Rosia Montana project. Gabriel claimed that there were several breaches of international investment treaties. The company was delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange in January 2018, and re-listed on the TSX-Venture . In June 2018, Jonathan Henry departed

7857-419: The types of particles. The wetting activity of a surfactant on a particle can in principle be quantified by measuring the contact angles of the liquid/bubble interface. Another important measure for attachment of bubbles to particles is induction time, the time required for the particle and bubble to rupture the thin film separating the particle and bubble. This rupturing is achieved by the surface forces between

7954-621: The unfolding of the project at Roşia Montana for the last 11 years, and the book presents his findings, including internal documents of the Roșia Montană Gold Corporation, diplomatic mail, and other documents that suggest lobbying strategies and pressures from important figures in Washington, London, Brussels or Bucharest. Gabriel Resources Gabriel Resources Ltd. is a Canadian TSX-V -listed resource company focused on permitting and developing contested Roșia Montană gold and silver mine located in western central Romania . Rosia Montana

8051-425: The use of surfactants and wetting agents. The flotation process is used for the separation of a large range of sulfides , carbonates and oxides prior to further refinement. Phosphates and coal are also upgraded (purified) by flotation technology. "Grade-recovery curves" are tools for weighing the trade-off of producing a high grade of concentrate vs cost. These curves only compare the grade-recovery relations of

8148-440: The valuable mineral to get a high recovery. Some concentrators use a preflotation step to remove low density impurities such as carbonaceous dust. The rougher concentrate is normally subjected to further stages of flotation to reject more of the undesirable minerals that also reported to the froth, in a process known as cleaning . The resulting material is often subject to further grinding (usually called regrinding ). Regrinding

8245-419: The void fraction (i.e. volume occupied by air bubbles) is low (5 to 10 percent) and the bubble size is usually greater than 1 mm. This results in a relatively low interfacial area and a low probability of particle–bubble contact. Consequently, several cells in series are required to increase the particle residence time, thus increasing the probability of particle–bubble contact. Froth flotation depends on

8342-402: Was a drawback to the existing technology. Introducing a porous brick with compressed air, and a mechanical stirring mechanism, Callow applied for a patent in 1914 (some say that Callow, a Jackling partisan, invented his cell as a means to avoid paying royalties to Minerals Separation, which firms using his cell eventually were forced to do by the courts). This method, known as Pneumatic Flotation,

8439-563: Was able to obtain grants from international NGOs (including George Soros 's Open Society Institute ) and to raise the issue of the mine on national level by organizing a hearing with 40 Romanian NGOs, including sections of international organizations such as Greenpeace . Alburnus Maior gained support from British actress Vanessa Redgrave , who, when receiving a prize at the Transilvania International Film Festival , she used her acceptance speech to bring

8536-562: Was augmented by the precedent of another gold mining company in Romania, which similarly promised a state-of-the-art, self-contained, environmental-friendly project, having a dam burst (see 2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill ) and the cyanide-laced water of the tailings pond flowed into the Danube, leading to one of Europe's biggest environmental disasters. The company claims that the local area has been polluted by 2000 years of bad mining techniques and that its environmental-impact analysis shows that

8633-609: Was developed in 1902 by Arthur C. Cattermole, who emulsified the pulp with a small quantity of oil, subjected it to violent agitation, and then slow stirring which coagulated the target minerals into nodules which were separated from the pulp by gravity. The Minerals Separation Ltd., formed in Britain in 1903 to acquire the Cattermole patent, found that it proved unsuccessful. Metallurgists on the staff continued to test and combine other discoveries to patent in 1905 their process, called

8730-434: Was disputed in a 2013 report by the Geological Institute of Romania, which claimed that the company ignored the real geological context as the left hillside is made of highly porous sandstone . The Institute argued that the valley cannot be used safely to deposit such a large quantity of tailings and proposed as a solution the reduction of the quantity of tailings through a flotation process combined with porosity sealing of

8827-489: Was largely forgotten. Inventor Hezekiah Bradford of Philadelphia invented a "method of saving floating material in ore-separation” and received US patent No. 345951 on July 20, 1886. He would later go on to patent the Bradford Breaker, currently in use by the coal industry, in 1893. His "Bradford washer," patented 1870, was used to concentrate iron, copper and lead-zinc ores by specific gravity, but lost some of

8924-529: Was not patentable again by later contestants. Much confusion has been clarified recently by historian Dawn Bunyak. The generally recognized first successful commercial flotation process for mineral sulphides was invented by Frank Elmore who worked on the development with his brother, Stanley. The Glasdir copper mine at Llanelltyd , near Dolgellau in North Wales was bought in 1896 by the Elmore brothers in conjunction with their father, William. In 1897,

9021-509: Was once the world's mining finance centre. Timis then bought an idle publicly listed Yukon company and renamed it Gabriel Resources, and into Gabriel transferred his titles. Gabriel Resources was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in year 2000. At some point in 2005, Vanessa Redgrave called Gabriel "a modern-day vampire". In November 2009, the Beny Steinmetz Group (BSG) invested US$ 64.4 million in Gabriel, for 9% of

9118-504: Was over BHP began using sulphuric acid for its flotation process. In 1902, Froment combined oil and gaseous flotation using a modification of the Potter-Delprat process. During the first decade of the twentieth century, Broken Hill became the center of innovation leading to the perfection of the froth flotation process by many technologists there borrowing from each other and building on these first successes. Yet another process

9215-606: Was recognized as an alternative to the Minerals Separation process of flotation concentration. The American Institute of Mining Engineers presented Callow the James Douglas Gold Medal in 1926 for his contributions to the field of flotation. By that time, flotation technology was changing, especially with the discovery of the use of xanthates and other reagents, which made the Callow cell and his process obsolete. Montana Tech professor Antoine Marc Gaudin defined

9312-626: Was released in 2004. Worthy persons like Ionel Haiduc , President of the Romanian Academy, Ioan Piso  [ ro ] , Director of the National History Museum of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca , Ștefan Răgălie, General Director of Industrial Economics Department of the Romanian Academy , Corina Borș, archaeologist, etc. expressed their firm disapproval regarding the mining project. The controversies surrounding

9409-575: Was reprinted with comment, June 23, 1900, in the Engineering and Mining Journal , New York City. By this time they had recognized the importance of air bubbles in assisting the oil to carry away the mineral particles. As modifications were made to improve the process, it became a success with base metal ores from Norway to Australia. The Elmores had formed a company known as the Ore Concentration Syndicate Ltd to promote

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