Search Documents

By J Carswell, K McTyer

The Pajingo gold operation in Queensland is approximately 50 kilometres south of Charters Towers and 134km south-west of Townsville. The resource was discovered in 1983 and first open pit gold production began in 1986. The mine traditionally employed a bottom-up sequence – a combination of modified and traditional Avoca methods with run-of-mine waste backfill. This practice caused many high-grade crown pillars to be left in place, yet accessible. In recent years, these crown pillars have been extracted by injection grouting of rockfill. This process facilitated blind up-hole open stoping. To date, thirteen separate injection campaigns have been completed, of which ten were deemed successful. In general, the two key technical difficulties in this mining technique are: maintaining a consistent high-quality ground consolidation of the rock fill material; and controlling the drill and blast practices during stoping. Here, effective drill-and-blast control was found to be essential to achieve the dual aims of 100% extraction, and maximum sill pillar stability to minimise dilution. During stoping, the technical performance of the consolidated rock-fill was recorded; both to verify the design, and to identify operational improvements. The results showed that Pajingo has realised both reduced production down-time through use of early strength gain grout, and more rapid and thorough grout consolidation through changes to the emplacement method. The optimisation of consolidated rock fill has led to several quantifiable benefits to the mine, including: profitable extraction of previously sterilised crown pillars resulting in both increased ore reserves and production profile; improvements to the stability of grouted stope crowns, thereby reducing safety and production related; risks associated with open up-hole stopes; reduction in cost and time constraints, with respect to the grouting of loose fill; and reduction in grout curing time – from 14 days to 8 days – thereby minimising production down-time. This paper is a case study of the evolution and optimisation of the up-hole open stoping mining method at Pajingo. The challenges and successes are discussed in terms of their key mining outcomes. CITATION:McTyer, K and Carswell, J, 2018. Evolution of rock fill consolidation at Pajingo Gold Mine, in Proceedings The Fourth Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference (AusRock), pp 66–77 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 30, 2018

By C Zhang, I Canbulat, G Fan, D Zhang, C Wang

A clear understanding of the intensity of coal and rock burst is the basis for future research on burst mechanism and control. There has been a wide variety in the description of coal and rock burst damage at different countries using multi-methods, which makes the common understanding even more challenging. Therefore, this paper presents a broad review on the quantifications of intensity of coal and rock burst and seismic risk around the world, considering critical factors including seismic energy, magnitude, peak particle velocity and ejection velocity. It is found that the seismic energy of coal and rock burst can widely range from 0.002 MJ to 60000 MJ, with equivalent Richter magnitude from -1 to 4. The daily seismic energies can be used for seismic risk potential assessment, with energy levels from 0.1 KJ to 10 MJ, which is much lower than the burst sources. The magnitude of the seismic events can be also estimated based on the weight of damaged coal mass and human senses of vibration and sound. For the seismic intensity represented by peak particle velocity (ppv), it keeps constant within fault radius and attenuates with a speed of 1/r4 and 1/r in near and far field respectively, thus it is possible for a small seismic event to induce considerable ppv causing severe damage if the epicentral distance is small enough. There has not been a strong correlation between the ejection velocity and ppv, as seismic energy is only one of the energy sources that contribute to the kinetic energy of burst damage. CITATION:Wang, C, Zhang, C, Canbulat, I, Zhang, D and Fan, G, 2018. Intensity quantification of coal and rock burst risk – a review, in Proceedings The Fourth Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference (AusRock), pp 223–233 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 30, 2018

By H Masoumi, I Canbulat, Y Zhao, J Oh, H Lin

Borehole breakout is a drilling induced phenomenon caused by overstress of rock around the borehole. Its depth usually aligns with the minimum horizontal principal stress direction. For this reason, it has been used to determine stress orientations and a series of researchers also argued its dimensions can be indicative of stress magnitudes. If the stress dependencies of breakout geometries are well understood, it is possible to estimate stress magnitudes based on these data. This paper investigates the influences of critical parameters on breakout dimensions, including absolute stress magnitudes, stress ratios and borehole diameter. Several experiments have been conducted on cubic (120 x 120 x 120 mm3) sandstone samples with pre-drilled holes (22 mm and 30 mm) under true tri-axial loading conditions using UNSW self-designed equipment. Experimental results confirm the increasing maximum horizontal principal stress magnitudes result in larger angular span and longer breakout depth at constant minimum horizontal and vertical principal stresses. There is also a considerable discrepancy observed between experimental results and the analytical model. Findings of this study imply a potential on the estimation of stress magnitudes using borehole breakout. CITATION:Lin, H, Oh, J, Canbulat, I, Masoumi, H and Zhao, Y, 2018. Experimental investigation on borehole beakout and its implication on stress magnitudes, in Proceedings The Fourth Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference (AusRock), pp 266–273 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 30, 2018

By CIM Mineral Resource, Mineral Reserve Committee

The CIM Mineral Exploration Best Practice Guidelines (the Exploration Guidelines) have been prepared to assist professional geoscientists and engineers to conduct consistently high-quality work in order to maintain public confidence. The Exploration Guidelines are meant to assist professional geoscientists and exploration practitioners in planning, supervising, and executing exploration programs. In Canada, there are generally two types of public resource reporting: “Disclosure”, as defined by NI 43-101, is the reporting of technical information to the public and market participants for securities legislation purposes where a Qualified Person (QP) must be involved, and reporting of exploration information for governmental agencies to support obligations under laws including the Mining Acts of each of the Provinces and Territories. The Exploration Guidelines are also relevant where the results will not be publicly reported but are intended for internal company use. While this document is intended as guidance for work conducted or supervised by geoscientists in Canada, many of the practices described herein can be adapted to mineral exploration activities in other countries. The Exploration Guidelines are not intended to inhibit original thinking, or to prevent the application of new approaches that may develop into fundamental components of successful mineral exploration programs. Rather than provide prescriptive solutions to specific issues, they include general guidelines for current professional practice and to demonstrate and defend the merits of new methods. These guidelines do not preclude individuals and companies from developing more detailed guidelines specific to their own requirements. The initial version of the Exploration Guidelines was prepared by the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Exploration Best Practices Committee and adopted by CIM Council on August 20, 2000. On January 9, 2018, CIM Council formed a new committee, the Mineral Resources and Reserves Committee (CIM MRMR Committee) with a mandate to, among other things, update the Exploration Best Practice Guidelines. The mandate for the committee was accepted by CIM Council on March 2, 2018. The new document was adopted by the CIM Council on November 23, 2018.

Nov 23, 2018

By Giuseppe Pintaude, Carlos Mauricio Lepienski

The evaluation of the tribological behavior of thermochemically treated surfaces, such as carburising and nitriding, is of uppermost importance for the productive chain of tools, molds and matrices. However, the use of tribological tests for these surfaces should be well selected to avoid erroneous evaluations, in particular considering the effect of the substrate at different levels. In this context, the linear scratch test may be well suited to distinguish the roles of the surface and the substrate. For that purpose, this paper presents a review on the use of this type of test for tribological evaluation in terms of the performance of thermochemically treated surfaces. The approach used is multiscale, considering what types of results are obtained from each load range used and the applications for each one of them.

Nov 22, 2018

By Paulo de Tarso Rossi Haddad, Eric Valmir Spósito, Cristiane Sales Gonçalves

The heat treatment is a process that acts as a key factor in the tool life of tools made with hot work tool steels. Due to their applications, the main desirable metallurgical properties of this material class are toughness and hot resistance, without which the tools may suffer premature failure, and may lead to increases in the cost of producing articles made using such tools [1, 2]. Therefore, special attention must be given to the heat treatments practiced in these steels, whose operations involve quenching and tempering. The present work carried out the effects of the austenitizing and tempering temperatures on the microstructural condition, hardness and impact properties of TENAX300IM®, modified AISI H11 with lower silicon content. Hardness was measured by the Rockwell method, C scale; the toughness was evaluated by the Charpy-V impact test; and the microstructure for each condition was evaluated by optic microscopy. It was shown that higher austenitization temperatures resulted in increased grain size and hardness; higher tempering temperatures resulted in reduction of hardness, and secondary hardening peaks were observed for some austenitization conditions. The impact resistance showed an inverse behavior to that of the hardness, remaining initially constant, up to ~ 550 ° C of tempering temperature, and then increasing with the tempering temperature. The microstructures presented great dissimilarity, mainly due to the dissolution of carbon and alloying elements in the matrix.

Nov 22, 2018

By Carlos Renato Inchoste Meure, José Ernesto Boff

Nowadays, many companies have the idea where to be occupied is to be productive, this work aims to show with practical tests that to get the best performance of the machine with tools of high performance and yield is the best option for a company to become productive and economic at the same time . The company targeted for this work began its activities in the Metallurgical branch more than 75 years, Metisa Metalúrgica Timboense serves the national and international market with several product lines. Due to its large backlog of overdue hours, a job was started in the tooling sector to make the process faster and more economical. In this context, this work has as general objective the restructuring of the critical processes of the tooling sector, aiming at a better functioning of the organization and greater satisfaction of its direct clients. In addition, this work has specific objectives, such as (1) application of high performance tools, (2) analysis and improvement of existing processes, development and application of new processes, (3) (High Speed Machining) (4) production monitoring and technical support for maintenance of new processes. Thus, after the implementation of the process improvements, it was possible to obtain a reduction of 81% in the final cost and 80.5% in the process time. In addition, with some of the new processes deployed, there was a reduction in the use of personal resources and better management of machine hour load and a significant gain in the sector response time.

Nov 22, 2018

By K Biegaj, S C. Dominy

A high-nugget effect and presence of coarse gold characterises many styles of gold mineralisation. The effective sampling of these deposits is often difficult because of the relatively low concentrations involved and erratic nature of the gold or other minerals. Geometric and/or metallurgical complexities often compound this effect. Underground development, in-fill drilling and bulk sampling/trial mining are generally required to delineate Ore Reserves. Similarly expensive definition strategies often apply to surface mining in complex orebodies of gold and other minerals, including precious stones. Development, particularly winzing is a historical technique that was used to gather geological, grade and metallurgical data during underground and near-surface exploration. It permits access to the mineralised structure below the surface datum to determine viability. Winzing has always been considered an arduous and dangerous task. Modern winzing technology has led to the development of the Mobile Supersucker – essentially a giant vacuum cleaner with underground and surface capabilities. By the elimination of shovel-loaded blasted winze material into a kibble and hoisting, this system permits safe and highly efficient winzing activities, and allows the collection of bulk samples for grade and metallurgical evaluation, as well as access to the mineralisation for geological and geotechnical mapping. Bulk samples from horizontal development have long been collected to help define mineable grade via pilot processing. However, when defining blocks below current development, there has been over-reliance on ineffective ‘small sample’ drill data. The Mobile Supersucker permits the development of winzes and off-winze sub-levels. These provide critical information to a mine technical team when trying to justify capital to go deeper or commence or deepen an existing open pit. CITATION: Biegaj, K and Dominy, S C, 2018. Lowering risk in complex mineralisation: application of mobile supersucker development, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 113–115 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By M Tayebi-Khorami

There is an increasing trend in the extraction and development of copper resources from complex deposits. The complex deposits pose mineral processing challenges, as they often contain low grade copper ore, relatively large quantity of clay minerals, complex texture, very fine disseminated ore, high amount of pyrite, and high level of impurity elements such as arsenic. With the amount of arsenic in concentrates increasing and with environment, occupational health and safety regulations becoming more restrict, there is a need for a processing method that results in no arsenic emissions and captures all arsenic while immobilizing it in a compound that is stable under a wide range of conditions, so it is suitable for long-term disposal. Some development work has been undertaken to examine the most effective arsenic treatment option for complex orebodies that contain arsenic, but a technically robust and economically viable option has not yet been developed. Previous research has demonstrated the possibility of separating arsenic-copper sulphides from other copper minerals by controlling the potential of the flotation pulp in the single mineral systems. The selective flotation of enargite from copper sulphides in a real complex ore system was studied by Tayebi-Khorami (2016), which is summarised in this paper. CITATION: Tayebi-Khorami, M, 2018. Arsenic in complex orebodies, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 132–134 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By K Tungpalan, E Wightman, M Edraki, E Manlapig, L Keeney

The depletion of easily mined high-grade ore bodies resulted in the industry having to exploit lower grade, complex resources (Albanese and McGagh, 2011; Darling, 2011; Randolph, 2011). The trend is now towards mining and processing of low-grade and complex ores (Darling, 2011; Yingling, 1990). Variable geological and mineralogical characteristics, and complex mineralogy and texture can result in large variations in metallurgical response and also cause challenges in processing. (Carson, 1995; Lorenzen and Barnard, 2011; Yingling, 1990). Variability and the complex nature of ores are fundamental sources of risk that often cause the greatest economic impact (Dusci et al., 2007; Williams and Richardson, 2004). Hence it is important to effectively characterise these types of ore bodies and assess their processing performance (ie recovery, grade). To enable this, there is a need for the following: (i) characterisation of geological, mineralogical and metallurgical variability in the ore body; (ii) effective selection of drill core with characteristics that represent the range of ores in the entire ore body. CITATION: Tungpalan, K, Manlapig, E, Keeney, L, Wightman, E and Edraki, M, 2018. A systematic approach of sample selection to predict processing performance of an ore body, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 67–70 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By R Valenta, J Owen, D Kemp, E Lebre, G Corder, J Thomas

Numerous recent analyses have shown that future demand for a broad range of critical commodities is unlikely to be met by new discoveries and recycling alone. The only practical alternative source to address this shortfall comes from orebodies which are currently either uneconomic or inaccessible. A common assumption is that a simple rise in commodity price will render these deposits economic. The mining industry has a long history of innovation allowing economic production from increasingly low grade and technically challenging orebodies. Industry “roadmaps” have been produced on a regular basis, with the aim of identifying future innovations which will allow this progression to continue. At the same time, there have been relatively few systematic analyses of the actual range of challenges facing undeveloped orebodies. The aim of this study is to analyse the mix of challenges faced by a group of undeveloped orebodies in order to better understand the relative importance and necessity of innovations applicable to the deposits, with the ultimate aim of determining the relative value and impact of possible innovations to the economic viability of those deposits. CITATION: Valenta, R, Lebre, E, Kemp, D, Owen, J, Corder, G and Thomas, J, 2018. Can a simple price-rise unlock complex copper orebodies?, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 71–72 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By F Shi, G Ballantyne, K Runge

There has been minimal innovation in the methods used to process an ore over the last 50 years. Productivity increases have largely resulted in increased equipment size without implementation of parallel improvements in technology. Complex orebodies of the future will need mining operations to adopt new technologies and techniques to make future ore treatment economically viable. Three emerging technologies, namely high voltage pulse (HVP) pretreatment, fine screening and the HydroFloat<sub>TM</sub> coarse particle flotation cell will be presented in this paper and the potential benefits that may result if they are adopted in mineral processing circuits will be outlined. The barriers that must be overcome before they can be adopted by industry with confidence will also be discussed. CITATION: Runge, K, Shi, F and Ballantyne, G, 2018. New technologies that will potentially enable processing of complex orebodies, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 126–129 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By R Valenta, A Littleboy

Geological heterogeneity is one dimension of complexity in mining. Significant effort is put into developing an understanding of this complexity so it can be used in resource estimation, mine planning and economic modelling. However, over the decadal lifespan of a mining venture, many other dimensions add to the complexity of a mining operation. These include: technological evolution, market fluctuations; investor confidence; social norms; local expectations; and ecosystem functionality. As with geology, these factors are all heterogeneous, uncertain, time varying and represented through sparse and incomplete datasets. Recent work (Valenta et al) is beginning to show us how these risks correlate in different global settings. By analysing data relating to known, but as yet undeveloped copper deposits, this work (the complex ore body database) is demonstrating that it is the combination of issues (both price sensitive and non price-sensitive) that determine the viability of a deposit for extraction in the 21st century.CITATION: Littleboy, A, Plint, N and Valenta, R, 2018. Mining as a complex system: do we need a new model?, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 41–43 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By T Craske, J Sykes, T C. McCuaig, M Jessell, A Trench

The prevalent strategic approach in the mining industry is one of planning. However, it is widely recognised that planning does not work in complex and uncertain situations (Mintzberg, 1994), such as those associated with ‘above ground’ non-technical orebody complexity (Trench, Packey and Sykes, 2014). Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel (2009) suggest the focus instead should be on strategic ‘thinking and doing’ and using the many ways to think about strategy to make sense of complex, uncertain, and unique situations. They therefore place great value in cognitive flexibility. Scenarios development utilizes several different thinking styles and thus assists with this type of flexible strategic thinking (Figure 1). The ‘Centre for Exploration Targeting (CET) Scenarios’ were developed with the ‘Oxford Scenario Planning Approach’ (OSPA) (Ramírez and Wilkinson, 2016). The OSPA aims more to improve the thinking skills of decision makers, rather than forecasting per se (Wack, 1985a, 1985b). As such, this paper focuses less on the content of the scenarios and instead on the practical value of scenarios in strategizing. CITATION: Sykes, J, Trench, A, McCuaig, T C, Jessell, M and Craske, T, 2018. Strategic thinking about long-term ‘above ground’ orebody complexity using scenarios, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 60–64 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By R Valenta

Most developing projects face a range of technical and non-technical challenges, and examination of development histories can potentially provide insights into improved approaches to project development. The Kestanelik project in the Canakkale region of Western Turkey was acquired by Chesser Resources Ltd in 2008. Turkey is a significant and growing source of gold production, with sector participation by both domestic and international companies. While the broad ranges of challenges faced by developing projects is well known, there are relatively few case studies in which the range of technical, environmental, social and governance challenges are presented in a single contribution. Recent studies of undeveloped complex orebodies have particularly shown the extent to which environment, social and governance (ESG) complexities contribute to project delays and failures. The Kestanelik project faced a full range of technical and ESG complexities, and provides an illustrative example of the associated challenges. CITATION: Valenta, R, 2018. A case study of technical, social and environmental challenges for a gold project development in Western Turkey, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 73–74 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By N Madani, Y Abildin, E Topal

Mine planning is a crucial part of all mining industry projects, and nowadays, geometallurgical mapping through advanced computer technologies provides an opportunity to involve metallurgical responses of a deposit into 3D block model in order to optimise mine planning activities, especially for production forecasting. Including these metallurgical parameters apart from traditional geology and grade-based attributes into resource modelling leads to an extensive approximation for the economic maximisation of mine production due to better forecasting, planning and increasing certainty and the reliability of the resource model (Macfarlane and Williams, 2014). Commonly, geostatistical techniques and algorithms are used to produce models with the high resolution (Brissette et al. 2014; Deutsch et al. 2014; Tolosana-Delgado et al. 2015). The accuracy of the modelling procedure deeply depends on a reliable block model, produced by spatial analysis of corresponding variables that define the geological, metallurgical, mineralogical and chemical behaviour of the deposit. However, there are special cases, where the application of enhanced geostatistical methods is required, to solve the occurred difficulties between variables with multivariate complexities. For example, in oxide copper deposits, the soluble copper grade is a percentage of total copper grade and recoverable by heap leaching processes (Emery, 2012; Hosseini and Asghari, 2015). Hence, the joint spatial modelling of these variables has two difficulties.CITATION:Abildin, Y, Madani, N and Topal, E, 2018. Forecast the mineral processing destinations based on spatial interpolation of geometallurgical variables, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 2–5 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By R Valenta, I Fahey, M Klawitter, N Spanswick

Zinc-Lead-Silver (Zn-Pb-Ag) mineralisation at the George Fisher Mine occurs in multiple structurally-disrupted stratiform orebodies hosted within a mid-Proterozoic sequence of calcareous siltstones and variably pyritic shales (e.g. Valenta, 1994; Chapman, 2004). The geological model for the mine has been constructed based on a large number of stratigraphic domains which have been defined using recognised patterns of the constituent rocktypes, aided by recognition and mapping of K-rich tuff marker beds (TMBs). The continuity of these domains has been affected by the presence of several sets of faults which are extensional in the plane of stratigraphy, leading to the common occurrence of fault-related stratigraphic gaps in drillholes. Recent improvements to the detail of the geological model have led to significant improvements in the head grade of ore at George Fisher, with relatively small loss of metal. Recognition and accurate logging of these domains requires a high level of knowledge and expertise amongst mine geologists. In order to aid this process, the George Fisher mine installed a Minalyzer CS (core scanner) on site, with the aim of using high resolution X-ray fluorescence (XRF) geochemical data and core photography to increase the speed, accuracy and consistency of the site geological logging system. This contribution describes some preliminary results from a research project aimed at using the Minalyzer CS XRF data to perform high-resolution rocktype identification and domain boundary mapping in drillcore at George Fisher. CITATION: Spanswick, N, Klawitter, M, Valenta, R and Fahey, I, 2018. Rocktype classification and domaining of complex stratiform Zn-Pb-Ag mineralisation at the George Fisher Mine using high resolution XRF Core scanning, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 58–59 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By P Gilroy

In recent technical investigations that were triggered from ore for rail shortfalls at Yandi, BHP Iron ore has identified a gap in resource knowledge relating to geo-metallurgical characteristics that predict materials handling performance and throughput. Within these investigations BHP has learnt that this lack of resource knowledge has translated to a lack of predictability associated with mine planning inputs which has resulted in poor compliance to plan and deviation management practices. A business value chain was developed in an attempt to identify the best possible solution to unlock this resource knowledge in the short, medium and long term planning horizons. A fast fail approach was taken with the implementation of hyperspectral blasthole analysis, which was chosen to deliver the best possible value driver for the asset. This report will detail the Yandi journey in expanding the hyperspectral and geo-metallurgical value chain, unlocking resource knowledge along the way. CITATION: Gilroy, P, 2018. Development of an empirical geo-metallurgical model that unlocks value of the mineral resources at Yandi Mine, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 85–87 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By M J. Davies, R S. Davies

Despite increased expenditure, the global discovery rate of world-class ore deposits has been in decline for over a decade (Schodde, 2017). Mineral exploration has traditionally followed an empirical approach, searching for evidence of mineralisation upon the surface of the planet, then drilling to define the extent of an ore body beneath the surface. As outcropping deposits in well-defined areas are depleted, there is a need for exploration to extend to less well-explored search spaces. One popular new frontier is exploration at greater depths beneath the Earth's surface. However, exploring for deep deposits with limited surficial evidence requires the implementation of predictive targeting methodologies (Hronsky, 2011; McCuaig & Hronsky, 2014). The Mineral Systems Concept (Hronsky & Groves, 2008; McCuaig et al., 2010) provides a framework for predictive exploration targeting. Ore deposit formation is recognised to be a focused mineralising event. These events represent self-organising critical systems and are underpinned by the interaction of complex, non-linear processes. Through the collection and analysis of datasets that map mineralising processes, it may be possible to predict the size and location of resultant ore bodies. CITATION: Davies, M J and Davies, R S, 2018. Beyond below-ground geological complexity: Developing adaptive expertise in exploration decision-making, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 95–98 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By B Bonfils, P Lois Morales, C Evans

One of the main challenges for current and future mining and processing methodologies is to understand the characteristics of the rock so that its behaviour in one or more parts of the mining process chain can be predicted. Features such as rock texture, mineralogy or border complexity between minerals control how the rock behaves from the processing plant through to the final products, including tailings disposal and thus can affect the feasibility of the project from technical, economic and environmental impact perspectives. Understanding how the mineralogy and texture of rock affect its behaviour in mineral processing is a demanding area of research and is essential knowledge in predicting the processability of complex ores in different stages. This study aims to demonstrate that different types of relevant information can be extracted from a range of currently available analytical methods. However, this information can be used in a complementary way for building a more comprehensive rock characterisation at the microscale and better-predicting ore processing characteristics from the intact rock through to tailing disposal. CITATION: Lois Morales, P, Evans, C and Bonfils, B, 2018. Multisource rock characterisation at microscale for a better understanding of processing characteristics, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 44–48 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018