Pertti Lamberg | Luleå University of Technology (original) (raw)

Papers by Pertti Lamberg

Geometallurgy is a growing area within a mineral processing industry. It brings together tasks of... more Geometallurgy is a growing area within a mineral processing industry. It brings together tasks of geologists and mineral processing engineers to do short and medium term production planning. However, it is also striving to deal with long term tasks such as changes in either production flow sheet or considering different scenarios.
This paper demonstrates capabilities of geometallurgy through two case studies from perspective of Minerals and Metallurgical Engineering division Lulea University of Technology. A classification system of geometallurgical usages and approaches was developed in order to describe a working framework.
A practical meaning of classification system was proved in two case studies: Mikheevskoye (Russia) and Malmberget (Sweden) projects. These case studies, where geometallurgy was applied in a rather systematic way, have shown the amount of work required for moving the project within the geometallurgical framework, which corresponds to shift of the projects location within the geometallurgical classification system.

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Minerals Engineering

Comminution tests aim to measure the comminution properties of ore samples to be used in designin... more Comminution tests aim to measure the comminution properties of ore samples to be used in designing and sizing the grinding circuit and to study the variation within an ore body. In the geometallurgy context this information is essential for creating a proper resource model for production planning and management and process control of the resource’s exploitation before and during production.

Standard grindability tests require at least 10 kg of ore sample, which is quite a lot at early project stages. This paper deals with the development of a method for mapping the variability of comminution properties with very small sample amounts. The method uses a lab-scale jaw crusher, standard laboratory sieves and a small laboratory tumbling mill equipped with a gross energy measurement device. The method was evaluated against rock mechanics tests and standard Bond grindability test. Within this approach textural information from drill cores is used as a sample classification criterion.

Experimental results show that a sample of approximate 220 g already provides relevant information about the grindability behavior of iron ores at 19% mill fillings and 91% fraction of the critical mill speed. The gross energy measured is then used to calculate an equivalent grinding energy. This equivalent energy is further used for predicting the variations in throughput for a given deposit and process.

Liberation properties of the ore connected to grindability elaborates energy required for grinding and significances of it when deciding to move to higher grinding energy considering the improvement of liberation of the desired mineral. However, high energy significantly enhanced the degree of liberation of magnetite and is expected to improve the concentrate grade after downstream treatment. The higher the magnetite content the better is the liberability of magnetite and the lower the energy required to liberate the desired mineral. Liberability of magnetite is also affected by texture classes containing low magnetite content. A methodology that combines this information has been developed as a practical framework of geometallurgical modeling and simulation in order to manage technical and economic exploitation of resource at early, project stages and during mining operations.

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A geometallurgical model is currently built in two different ways. The first and the most common ... more A geometallurgical model is currently built in two different ways. The first and the most common way relies on geometallurgical testing, where a large number of samples are analysed for metallurgical response using small-scale laboratory tests, eg Davis tube testing. The second, mineralogical approach focuses on collecting mineralogical information over the orebody and building the metallurgical model based on mineralogy. At Luleå University of Technology,
Sweden, the latter method has been adopted and taken further in four ongoing PhD studies. The geological model gives modal composition by the help of element-to-mineral conversion and Rietveld X-ray diffraction. Texturally, the orebody is divided into different archetypes, and liberation measurements for each of them are carried out in processing fineness using IncaMineral, a SEM-based technique. The grindability and liberation spectrum of any given geological unit (sample, ore block, domain) are extrapolated from the archetypes. The process model is taken into a liberation level by mass balancing selected metallurgical tests using the particle tracking technique. The approach is general and can be applied to any type of ores. Examples of ongoing studies on iron and massive sulfide ores are given.

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Minerals Engineering

The antimony (Sb) content of the Rockliden complex Zn–Cu massive sulphide ore lowers the quality ... more The antimony (Sb) content of the Rockliden complex Zn–Cu massive sulphide ore lowers the quality of the Cu–Pb concentrate. The purpose of this study is to characterise the Sb mineralogy of the deposit. The Sb-bearing minerals include tetrahedrite (Cu,Fe,Ag,Zn)12Sb4S13, bournonite PbCuSbS3, gudmundite FeSbS and other sulphosalts. On a microscopic scale these minerals are complexly intergrown with base-metal sulphides in the ore. Based on these observations mineralogical controls on the distribution of Sb-bearing minerals in a standard flotation test are illustrated. Deposit-scale and rock-related variation in the Sb-content and distribution of Sb-bearing minerals were found. This underlines the importance in understanding the geological background as a basis of a 3D geometallurgical model for Rockliden. Such a model is expected to predict the Sb content of the Cu–Pb concentrate, among other process-relevant factors, and helps to forecast when the Cu–Pb concentrate has to be treated by alternative processes, such as alkaline sulphide leaching, before it is sold to the smelter.

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Minerals Engineering

This is the first step in establishing a geometallurgical program for the Malmberget iron ore dep... more This is the first step in establishing a geometallurgical program for the Malmberget iron ore deposit, northern Sweden. Geometallurgy captures geological and metallurgical (processing) information into a spatially-based predictive model of mineral processing characteristics. This paper describes the develop- ment of a practical, fast and inexpensive technique to quantify minerals from routine chemical assays. Ore samples and process samples from two different orebodies were used in the process of developing this element to mineral conversion technique that involved electron microprobe (EPMA), X-ray fluores- cence (XRF) and SATMAGAN analyses. The method was validated against QEMSCAN analyses. From the calculated modal mineralogy an ore classification system was established based on the iron mineralogy, iron mineral grades and gangue mineralogy to create a preliminary geological/geometallurgical model of the ore. However, in a geometallurgical context the modal composition is not sufficient and the geological model requires information on mineral textures, too.

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$Research paper thumbnail of Combining chemical assays (XRF) and quantitative X-ray diffraction (Rietveld) in modal analysis of iron ores for geometallurgical purposes in Northern Sweden$

Mineralogical information forms an essential basis in geometallurgy. Minimum information required... more Mineralogical information forms an essential basis in geometallurgy. Minimum information required in a mineralogical approach of a geometallurgical program is: modal mineralogy (mineral quantities) and mineral textures. Based on this information it is possible to link geological model with production model. Modal analysis is currently mostly done with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) based image analysis, often called as automated mineralogy. As this method is tedious, slow, and costly, and has some limitation, an alternative technique was developed by combining quantitative X-ray diffraction (XRD) and chemical assays by X-ray fluorescence (XRF). In iron ores in Northern Sweden combined method gives a quantity of about ten minerals with adequate accuracy.

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