PARTICLES-THE BRIDGE BETWEEN GEOLOGY AND METALLURGY (original) (raw)
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Increasing competition in the minerais industry and fluctuating coramodity prices require new ways of saving energy, lime, and general operational costs. A good understanding of physical processing or pre-processing streams that can potentially cut these costs requires detailed analyses of chemical and physical behaviours and processing responses during rainera]. processing. It is very useful to perform a detailed mineralogical and micro-textural characterization of materials (ore, tailings, and waste) that addresses, among other parameters, particle and grain sizes, as well as particle densifies. The choice and/or corabination of the 'best' processing approaches is crucial for processing efficiencies, and can be established and verified by using automated mineralogy with the associated software. A sample of low-grade iron ore from El Volcan, Mexico, serves as an example to demonstrate in a step-by-step approach how QEMSCAN® analyses provide processing information. Elements under consideration include iron, phosphorus, and sulphur.
Crimson Publishers LLC, 2020
Most ore deposits are complex and display a high degree of variability, arising from their inherent geological and mineralogical characteristics, which impact their beneficiation. Process mineralogy has been disruptive in the last two decades for geological exploration and for the mineral processing industry. Minerals are multicomponent elemental systems. Therefore, it is crucial and fundamental to understand the distribution of both minerals and metals they carry. Process mineralogy provides critical quantitative data i.e., mineral mass, liberation, and association of the minerals. Data can be used to determine variability of the ore, help to design, and develop the flowsheet to avoid extensive and time-consuming bench testing, and act as diagnostic to the beneficiation process. Automated mineralogy is commonly coupled with other advanced mineralogical techniques and can be implemented on projects throughout the mining chain, from initial stages of exploration to production. In this paper, we discuss concepts and examples of automated mineralogy applied to exploration and feasibility level.
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The discrete element method (DEM) has been widely employed to model processes in different industries, such as mining, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and food. One of the main lines of research, and in which different authors propose several approaches, is the calibration of parameters. Bulk calibration (BCA) is a common approach used that does not necessarily represent the individual behavior of each particle. On the other hand, direct measurement (DMA) is another approach employed in some cases. This work presents a comparison between calibration of DEM model parameters with non-cohesive spherical and polyhedral particles using a combination of direct measurement and bulk calibration. BCA is employed to calibrate friction parameters and DMA to characterize shape of the particles and coefficient of restitution of the contact between particles. Experimental data from Draw Down Tests are used to calibrate the friction parameters. Numerical optimization of the parameters is conducted b...
Test Methods for Characterising Ore Comminution Behavior in Geometallurgy
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Comminution test methods used within mineral processing have mainly been developed for selecting the most appropriate comminution technology for a given ore, designing a grinding circuit as well as sizing the equipment needed. Existing test methods usually require comparatively large sample amounts and are time-consuming to conduct. This makes comprehensive testing of ore comminution behavior – as required in the geometallurgical context – quite expensive. Currently the main interest in the conduct of comminution test lies in the determination of particle size reduction and related energy consumption by grindability test methods, which provide the necessary information about mill throughput. In this procedure mineral liberation is regarded as a fixed parameter due to missing this information in ore characterization as well as a lack of suitable comminution models. However, ignoring the connection between particle size and mineral liberation prevents the scheduling and controlling of...
Building a Geometallurgical Model in Iron Ores using a Mineralogical Approach with Liberation Data
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.
Grinding tests were conducted on an oxidized copper-cobalt ore using a pear-shaped ball mill. Twelve mono-sized ore fractions were prepared and wet ground batchwise. The mill was run for 0.5 to 30 min intervals. The shortest interval provided data more closely related to the breakage function (B) because less secondary breakage was hypothesized. Some selection function (S) and B parameters were determined. Remaining parameters were estimated using a population balance model simulator. To evaluate the kinetics model, an unsized ore sample was also milled. Predicted and measured particle size distributions (PSDs) agreed well, suggesting that S and B parameters can be used for continuous operation mass balances.