LAKEFIELD PASSES THE 50 MARK

Thayer Lindsley had an undisputed talent for finding and developing mines. Patience, however, wasnt one of his strong points. As president of the rapidly expanding Ventures Group in the early 1940s, Lindsley wanted to be able to provide practical, no-nonsense and quick solutions to technical problems encountered by the growing number of operations in his empire. Thus the genesis of Lakefield Research. Independent and self-contained with world-class analytical capabilities, it fulfilled Lindsley’s vision that his companies would be provided with the best support services possible. Lakefield today has been serving the mining and mineral industries in processing research and flowsheet design for 50 years.

In the 1940s, Lakefield focussed on sulphide gold roasting and pressure oxidation. The lab made a name in selective flotation through work with Nevada Eureka mine and in column flotation for Opemiska in the early 1950s. Then, through the 1960s, in iron and uranium and in selective flotation work for the newly discovered Kidd Creek massive sulphide deposit.

At the time, Mike Amsden, now president of Lakefield, had just joined the staff as project engineer. Lakefield was working with a number of prominent consultants during the 1960s, including A.R. MacPherson on semi-autogenous grinding, and Buzz Neil. It was also during the ’60s that the transition began from lab to pilot-plant studies. With crushing, grinding, flotation and leaching sections, information obtained from Lakefield’s pilot plant facilitates the design of the production mill flowsheet and processing information for the specification of mill equipment.

The 1960s also saw a new focus on porphyry copper. Lakefield Research did work for Teck Corp.’s Highland copper mine in British Columbia and for Rio Algom Ltd.’s Mexican property, Cerro Verde. Through the 1970s, the lab became heavily involved in carbon-in-pulp as a means of recovering gold. Not a new technology, but only recently proven, the process was optimized and demonstrated by Lakefield for clients like El Indio in Chile and Hemlos Golden Giant mine.

By the time the 1980s rolled around, Lakefield was concentrating on improving the efficiency of their technologies. With expertise in solvent extraction, resin technology, fluid bed roasting, pressure oxidation, grinding and flotation, Lakefield had the luxury of refining their processes and finding new ways to maximize their service to clients. During the ’80s, the facility also developed expertise in phosphates, rare earth oxides and non-metallics, and improved its strength in hydrometallurgy to handle these new projects and increase its capacity.

The last five years have seen Lakefield doing what it has successfully done for the previous 45 responding to clients’ needs with practical, workable solutions. As any business can attest today, client needs are changing and Lakefield is changing with them. The newest focus of the facility is on environmental work and on-site process consulting. Lakefield is moving aggressively into both fields by helping clients understand their environmental liabilities and optimize their processes.

Lakefield’s original mandate dictated that it would be a reliable service laboratory, providing support to geologists, mine operators and design engineers. That mandate hasn’t changed. Its reputation for quick service and practical solutions has carried it through 50 successful years. Having recently entered a joint venture agreement with Hazen Research, the lab has taken over A.R. MacPherson’s SAG expertise and continues to refine its efficiency in all areas of the business, with long-time experts like Bert Wyslouzil and Srdjan Bulatovic sharing their experience as consulting engineers.

In its first half-century, Lakefield has done over 5,000 projects in 75 countries, maintaining the standard of service and quality of results envisaged by Lindsley more than 50 years ago.