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By G. Dellas, R. Mangera, A. Voigt

"X-ray transmission (XRT) sorting has become the preferred recovery technology option in several parts of the diamond-winning flow sheet. In the De Beers Group, applications of XRT are found across kimberlite, alluvial, and marine operations. This is the result of intensive R&D conducted over the years to arrive at a suite of machine embodiments capable of sorting and auditing diamonds across all size ranges.The first applications in the marine environment used the technology in an auditing mode, and served as a useful early predictor of diamond content weeks ahead of sorthouse returns. The same machines are now available with ejection capability to produce high final product grades. The next application was tests on coarse alluvial gravels as an alternative to dense medium separation. The results were very encouraging, and tests are planned for both green- and brownfield kimberlite environments, as well as to explore an alternative to conventional techniques in final diamond recovery. At the Jwaneng mine Large Diamond Pilot Plant (LDPP), the objective is to recover diamonds in the size fraction –45 +25 mm.The technical challenge remains in the finer sizes, for high-capacitymachines as direct alternatives to conventional diamond recovery technologies. This is an area of ongoing R&D and it is only a matter of time before the breakthrough emerges. X-ray transmission fundementalsXRT makes use of X-ray imaging techniques to analyse objects and materials, and has a wide range of applications from baggage scanning for security purposes (Martz et al., 2016), to recycling of waste material (Owada, 2014). During the last decade XRT has been applied to an increasing extent in the minerals processing industry (von Ketelhodt and Bergmann, 2010; Sasman, Deetlefs, and van der Westhuyzen, 2018). Dual-energy XRT (DE-XRT), in which images of the target material are obtained at both high and low Xray energies, allows for elemental analysis and therefore can be used to discriminate between various minerals.A DE-XRT system makes use of a dualenergy X-ray line scan sensor to generate images of transmitted X-rays (Figure 1). Dualenergy refers to the camera, which contains two sensors, one responding to low-energy Xrays and one to high-energy X-rays. Feed material can be imaged either while on the belt, or while in flight."

Feb 1, 2019

By R. Weideman, K. du Preez

Biological sulfate reduction has become a successful treatment alternative for acid mine drainage and Mintek is developing biological processes for treatment of highsulfate mine waters. Treatment of these high-sulfate waters is achieved by sulfatereducing bacteria that reduce sulfate to produce sulfide as a product, in the form of H2S and HS− at neutral pH. This introduces the opportunity to apply treated effluents from biological treatment processes for the recovery of metals, such as copper, from metallurgical waste streams. This study models the kinetics of copper sulfide precipitation from a complex bioleach liquor. The results indicated a rapid rate of reaction and the formation of covellite, suggesting the potential to use biogenic sulfide to recover copper as a metal sulfide product.

Jan 1, 2023

By W. P. Nel

A fuel cell is an electrochemical engine that converts the chemical energy of a fuel, such as hydrogen, and an oxidant, such as oxygen, directly into electricity. The emerging fuel cell industry may represent a major opportunity for the global platinum mining industry. This is because low temperature fuel cell systems use platinum group metals as catalysts. Fuel cell vehicles may become the most important driver of future platinum demand within years of their commercialization. A great number of factors impact on and drive the diffusion of fuel cell vehicle innovation. Such drivers range from energy security to environmental concerns and the technological development of fuel cells and systems. Such factors and drivers of fuel cell vehicle diffusion are combined with the generic ?body of knowledge? on ?technology forecasting? and ?diffusion of innovation? to design a framework that provides a holistic approach to the analysis of this complex enterprise. An attempt is made in this paper to address the following questions: Which types of fuel cells require platinum group metals? Which types of fuel cells will achieve dominant design status? Will fuel cell vehicles diffuse successfully? How big will the impact of successful fuel cell vehicle diffusion be on future platinum demand? How well do fuel cell vehicles compete with incumbent technologies such as spark-ignited and compression-ignited internal combustion engine-driven vehicles? How soon will oil depletion start to drive the diffusion of fuel cell vehicles? How important is hydrogen as a fuel? What impact does the inadequate hydrogen fuelling infrastructure have on fuel cell vehicle diffusion? The paper contains some initial results of a research project that has the aim of producing a schedule of future platinum demand generated from fuel cell vehicles. Keywords: diffusion of fuel cell vehicles, technology forecasting, platinum demand forecasting.

Jan 1, 2004

By M. J. King, W. K. B. Loftus, H. S. Simpson

SYNOPSIS The history of the early diamond fields and primitive methods of diamond recovery are traced, giving a brief description of the improvements made in final diamond recovery processes and techniques up to the present day. In particular the emphasis is on the effect of improved equipment in reducing final hand sorting time and labour, better security and greater recovery of fine diamonds.

By D. vas As, Constance M. Vleggaar, P. D. Toens

A facility at the National Nuclear Research Centre, Pelindaba, for the calibration of gamma survey meters used in uranium-prospecting operations by P. D. TOENS, D.Sc. (Fellow), D. van ASt, M.Sc. (Visitor), and CONSTANCE M. VLEGGAAR, B.Se. (Visitor) Ground radiometric surveys in uranium prospecting have in the past suffered from two serious shortcomings. Owing to varying instrument sensitivity and the often arbitrary height at which readings are taken, it has been impossible to compare results obtained in different surveys and, moreover, to relate such readings to actual U30s concentrations. A set of calibration sources designed to overcome these problems has recently been constructed on the site of the National Nuclear Research Centre, Pelindaba. A discussion of the standards applied and the instrument calibration procedure is presented.

By S. Konetschnik, E. Dreyer, A. Filzwieser

"More intense furnace operations require effective cooling in order to achieve low refractory wear and good furnace lifetimes, making cooling technology an important aspect of furnace operations. However, the use of water - today’s standard cooling medium - has some disadvantages, as it can cause problems both during furnace start-up and operation, namely hydration problems, corrosion, and explosions. Apart from these aspects, the energy that is removed by extensive cooling cannot be recovered and is normally lost in the cooling towers.With METTOP’s new patented cooling technology it is possible to overcome the disadvantages of water by using an alternative cooling medium, namely ionic liquids (ILs). The main advantage of ILs is the fact that there is no risk of explosion should this liquid come in contact with molten metal. Furthermore, ILs can be used at higher temperatures than water - up to 200°C. This relatively high cooling medium temperature avoids hydration and corrosion problems and allows recovery of the energy by combining the ILTEC system and the organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology, for example.Due to the removal of the explosion risk, much higher safety standards can be achieved, particularly in critical areas such as tap-holes"

Jan 1, 2014

By R. D. Cromarty, J. Du Toit

"Penetration of matte into tap-hole bricks causes detrimental refractory wear, which can lead to furnace breakouts. The ability of the tap-hole clay to form a protective layer on the brick, thereby limiting matte penetration was investigated by examining the interaction between platinum group metal (PGM) matte, tap-hole clay, and alumina-chrome refractory bricks on a laboratory scale.Samples containing clay and brick as well as samples containing clay, brick, and matte were heated to different temperatures to establish the clay-brick interaction and the extent of matte penetration. The greatest degree of physical contact between the brick and clay was achieved at curing temperatures of 600°C. Poor clay-brick contact was observed in the sample that was heated to 900°C.Matte displaced the clay in the clay-brick-matte sample that was heated to 1350°C, with significant matte penetration into the brick. Less matte penetration was observed when the clay-brick-matte sample was heated to 1500°C. Less matte penetration was also observed in the claybrick- matte sample in which the clay and brick were pre-baked at 800°C, and the sample then reacted with matte at 1350°C. IntroductionFloatation concentrate from ore from the eastern Bushveld Complex of South Africa, specifically the Platreef, Merensky, and UG2 reefs, forms the feed to the Polokwane platinum smelter (Hundermark, De Villiers, and Ndlovu, 2006). The ore from the UG2 Reef has a high chromite content, which requires high operating temperatures (1500–1700°C) to avoid chromium spinel build-up in the furnace hearth. These high operating temperatures lead to matte superheats in the vicinity of 500– 600°C, which put increased demands on the refractory materials (Nelson et al., 2005).Upon tapping, the matte moves through the tap-hole, which consists of an aluminachrome refractory brick-lined tapping channel (Hundermark, De Villiers, and Ndlovu, 2006). The flow of molten matte is stopped by the injection of tap-hole clay to form a plug in the tap-hole. The tap-hole clay hardens and strengthens during curing to obtain the required hardness and refractoriness against penetration, corrosion and erosion (Nelson and Hundermark, 2014)."

Jan 1, 2016

By G. L. Gomes-Sebastiao, W. W. de Graaf

"Gomes Sand is a quarry operation that produces sand and aggregate for the construction industry. The quarry is experiencing inconsistencies in the fragmentation and poor pit conditions as a result of poor drilling and blasting practices. This results in excessive downtime in the load and haul and crushing processes.A benchmarking exercise of the blasting practices was conducted to evaluate the effect of the inconsistency on the mining cycle. After changes in the blasting practices the downtime was reduced, which improved the crushing plant utilization by 4.9%. The improved blasting practices and more consistent fragmentation decreased the average number of loads lost each month due to jaw crusher blockages from 9.2% to 3.9% of plant throughput. The change in blasting practices also improved pit conditions. IntroductionGomes Sand is a quarry operation that has been in operation since 2009, producing sand and stone for the construction industry. The quarry was experiencing unacceptable blasting results. The repercussions included uneven pit floors, large amounts of oversize rock (>500 mm), and inconsistent fragmentation.The blast results affected the load and haul operations as well as the efficiency of the crusher. This resulted in downtime in the daily operations, and consequent production and revenue losses.The crusher product should have a top size of 50 mm. A blast fragmentation of <50 mm would improve the downstream operations and the crusher throughput.An investigation into the blasting practices was carried out to assess whether the downstream delays can be eliminated by improving the blast results. The exercise included:* Assessing if the designed blast layout is adhered to on the bench* Observing the quality and control of drilling* Observing the charging procedure of the blast-holes* Benchmarking the fragmentation consistency of the blasted rock using current blast design and practices* Analysing the throughput of the crushing plant* Investigating the power consumption of the crushing plant and determine if a change in blasting practices will affect this* Evaluating the hours spent by the hydraulic hammer on secondary breaking."

Jan 1, 2017

In many practical situations, the samples available to estimate a block of ore are not located on a regular grid. The sample sizes and orientations are not constant, and the number and relative position of the samples used for valuation of each block change from block to block. Estimation of a block W might be very complex and time consuming if each sample in the neighbourhood of the block were considered individually. A practical solution consists of grouping the samples in blocks Wi (i = 1, 2, . . . n) in the neighbourhood of W, and estimating µw as a weighted average of the mean xi of the samples in Wi. Possible ways of grouping the samples are illustrated in Fig. 1 1.1. More complex patterns can be found in the literature (Krige, 1966) To calculate the kriging estimator of pw, we must be able to calculate the variance of xi, the covariance of xi and xj, and the covariance of xi and pµw. The purpose of this chapter is to show how these quantities can be calculated when we ignore the position of the samples in the block Wi. We consider the samples to be randomly distributed in Wi; kriging with this assumption is known as random kriging.

Jan 1, 1978

Scrap printed circuit boards were selectively smelted at 1 200°C to produce a metallic alloy having three phases. These phases were identified as a lead-rich phase, a low tin content alpha bronze phase, and a high tin delta phase. Electrochemical leaching studies on this alloy were done in 1 mol/dm3 sulfuric acid or in 2 mol/dm3 hydrochloric acid (adjusted to an ionic strength of 3 mol/dm3). The lead rich phase was more strongly passivated in sulfate media, and in this medium the high tin content delta bronze was more resistant to corrosion than the lower tin alpha bronze phase. In chloride medium the lead phase and both bronze phases corroded readily, but with current densities about an order of magnitude lower than in sulfate medium (static conditions) for the bronze phases. The high tin delta bronze phase was found to form a passivating layer in sulfate media. A similar layer was not seen in chloride medium. The leaching studies in sulfate medium also showed the existence of an alpha bronze phase of lower tin content in the centres of the alpha phase grains. This phase was quite resistant to leaching in sulfate medium.

Jan 1, 2009

By L. Cortez, Á. Magalhães, F. Durão

Methods based on regionalized variables theory, commonly known as geostatistics, have been widely used since more than three decades to predict/estimate spatial distributed data, namely mineral resources, with quite good results. However, some restrictive theoretical assumptions, such as the need of some kind of stationarity of data and the linearity of the predictor/estimator, are often wrong options in many applications. An alternative approach based on a finite mixture modelling, or cluster weighted modelling (CWM) technique, is presented and compared, in its theoretical and practical aspects, with the geostatistical methodology. CWM is a general non-linear framework based on the estimation of joint density functions allowing the calculation of the conditional probability function of the target values given their locations. Validation tests are performed in a 2D case study, where testing data proceeds from a soil contaminated by a heavy metal. The results of ordinary kriging and CWM estimations show a very good agreement with actual data. Keywords: Non-linear regression, Geostatistics, Ordinary kriging, Finite mixture modelling, Cluster weighted modelling.

Jan 1, 2003

"Chairman: Mr R. A. PLUMBRIDGE Rapporteur: Dr D. M. HAWKINSPapers:The relevance of computer methods to the economics of the mineral industry by R: A. PerlmanDynamic control of a mining enterprise by R. G. CoyleAn economic model of the mineral sands industry by G. P. A. HoweMr M. Splaine, in opening the discussion on Mr Perlman&apos;s paper, asked whether the model, as fitted by data up to 1963, predicted the rise in the price of copper in 1967, and whether the model could be used to capitalize on short-term price fluctuations.Answering the second question first, Mr Perlman said that the horizon used is six months to one year. In the very short term the activities of speculators obscured the effect of the fundamental econometric variables. This effect, however, was removed if one moved to a longer term, say, quarterly. In 1963 the model had predicted a price rise in 1964 and 1965 and a drop in price in 1966. The rise in 1967 had been caused by a strike, and imponderables such as large strikes were difficult to include in the model since they were unpredictable. Model simulation can be used to show the effect of strikes on price and the effect of small strikes is small.Mr B. R. van Rooyen said that because models are both calibrated and tested on historical data a bias was introduced which gave rise to an overoptimistic estimate of the accuracy of the forecasts. To this Mr Perlman replied that there seemed to be no alternative to the use of historical data for calibrating and testing models, and thus little hope of avoiding the bias. A second point made by Mr. van Rooyen was that manage¬ment tended to be suspicious of complex models and that frequently more heuristic models were sufficiently accurate and preferable for investment decisions. He added that if management were not involved in the model building the econometrician might easily go astray, Mr Perlman replied that symbiosis between data analysts and users of the model was essential and that the experience of the practitioner must be reflected in the model.Mr M. R. Fuller-Good remarked that a clear understanding of future price trends was essential for effective capital planning, and asked, first, how one went from the compiled data on supply and demand to the determination of their effect on price, record, whether necessary data, for example, capacities, could be obtained timeously, and, third, when strikes restricted supply, whether stockpiling by consumers induced large price fluctuations."

Jan 1, 2014

"Chairman: Professor E. P. PFLEIDER Rapporteur: Mr P. R. JANISCHPapers:Optimum design of an open pit by D. A. PhillipsAn open pit design system for stratiform ore bodies by L. A. J. Pronk van Hoogeveen, J. R. Cutland and M. WeirAn open pit design model by R. H. Robinson and N. B. PrennThe Chairman in opening the session highlighted the current situation in the United States of America where some 85 to 90 per cent of all mining (except for coal) is done by open pit methods, and where some 40 per cent of the coal is mined by open pit. The South African industry is, of course, dominated by the deeper level underground gold mines; however, with the aid of an extensive open-pit technology developed in other countries, South African companies arc continuing to explore possibilities of open-pit exploitation of base mineral, coal and diamond deposits. Several successful ventures are already in operation at Phalabora, Optimum Colliery, Kimberley and elsewhere, and South Africa is undoubtedly benefitting in this regard by drawing on the experience of others.The papers of this session were therefore particularly pertinent, particularly when viewed in conjunction with those presented at an earlier South African conference devoted specifically to open pit mining.Two themes dominated the discussion which followed presentation of the three papers at this session. The first related to the practicability of using the reported techniques as a tool for management, and their acceptability as such to mine management. This was, of course, not peculiar to this particular session, but rather the major point of debate over the entire conference.The second theme concerned the reliability of the initial drill hole data on which any open-pit design must necessarily be based. This gave added emphasis to the problem of practicability, for no management is likely to accept an elaborate pit design unless confidence can be placed in the ore reserve assessment.In noting these two features of the discussion, it should be remembered that all the three papers dealt largely with design and pre-planning; there was an unfortunate lack of papers or discussion on the subject of controlling the day-to-day mining of open pits, and this is an area where the potential impact which can be made by the computer is even greater.In introducing his paper, Mr D. A. Phillips pointed out that it was concerned only with optimization, and that it therefore assumed, firstly, an adequate subdivision of the orebody into ore blocks characterized by grade, rock type, structure, etc., and, secondly, an acceptable forecast of costs and mineral prices in order to generate a suitable profit matrix. However, programs dealing with these problems for both massive, disseminated and stratiform ore bodies are available to Roan Consolidated Mines. The method of optimization which he had described had been used on a region split into 28 000 blocks, for which the program used three hours of C.P.U. time on an IBM 360/40 computer. The computer design had provided a three per cent improve¬ment on a normal design of the same area."

Jan 1, 2014

By A. Chryss

Tailings management aims to dispose of tailings at the minimum cost consistent with meeting or exceeding imposed standards, including legislative obligations. This simple business objective requires managing the tailings storage facility (TSF) risks associated with surface water, groundwater, dust, sustainable closure, and potential catastrophic failure. The individual nature of every orebody and specific site topography ensures that no one size fits all. It has been suggested that paste and thickened tailings (P&TT) provides the ability to tailor the production and transportation of tailings to suit the deposition site, rather than the traditional approach of accepting that the deposition site has to accommodate tailings of high variability. While the traditional approach can be made to work, it is directly linked to the catastrophic failures of tailings impoundments, where large volumes of decant water have triggered failures due to overtopping, piping or slope instability, or saturated tailings have simply liquefied. P&TT offers an ability to mitigate these risks, and when implemented into new projects with variable tailings streams there are significant benefits to be realized. This paper identifies the interdependencies between the various tailings disposal processes, such as thickening, pumping, and deposition. It demonstrates that there are benefits in taking a more integrated approach to the design and operation of tailings disposal facilities. A collaborative industry project to tackle this challenge is described.

Jan 1, 2012

By K. A. Annan

The last seven hot rolling passes of the ferritic stainless steel AISI430 were simulated on a Gleeble-1500D® thermo-mechanical simulator to investigate the effect of temperature, strain rate, and interpass time on the texture. The compression tests were carried out over a wide range of strain rates (0.1 s-1 to 5 s-1) and temperatures (1100°C to 820°C) with different interpass times (2, 10, 20, and 30 seconds). The dynamic recrystallization to dynamic recovery transition temperature was determined from examining the relationship between the mean flow stress and the inverse of the deformation temperature in multi-pass tests. It was found that the texture in the central layer of the compressed sample is a strong recrystallization-type. The through-thickness textural and microstructural banding, to a large extent, were found to be weakened by hot deformation in the two-phase (a+ ?) region, as opposed to the single-phase (a) region.

Jan 1, 2013

By V. E. Ross

These effects were investigated in batch flotation studies, and by the measurement of rest and pulp potentials. At Iow additions of sulphurous acid as the pH regulator, flotation rate increased with increasing concentrations of dissolved oxygen. The recovery of chalcopyrite dropped significantly below a pH value of about 6,5 at 25 p.p.m. of dissolved oxygen, and below a pH value of about 6 at a dissolved-oxygen concentration of 8,2 p.p.m. The rest and pulp potentia Is measured indicated that dixanthogen is the dominant species formed on chalcopyrite surfaces during flotation with sodium ethyl xanthate. The results suggested that the same species might have formed on galena surfaces in the pulp after the ore had been milled in a ceramic mill under nitrogen. Increased additions of sulphurous, sulphuric, and hydrochloric acids increased the rest potentia Is, while the addition of sodium sulphite decreased these potentials.

Jan 1, 1985

It is well understood that to develop wagon wheels with higher abrasion resistance, fracture toughness, and fatigue resistance, steels with lower amounts of inclusions need to be used. Clean steels are produced with technologies that minimize the amount of inclusions in the microstructure. The demand for cleaner steels is high, and lowering of non-metallic oxide inclusions and controlling their morphology, composition, and size distribution is vital. Reduction of residual impurity elements such as sulphur, phosphorus, hydrogen, nitrogen, and trace elements is essential in the production of cleaner steel. Material cleanliness is vital for fatigue endurance, since oxide inclusions may act as stress concentrators and initiation points for fatigue cracks. To better understand the relationship between the cleanliness and toughness of the 34-inch cast wagon wheels, two samples of different levels of cleanliness were supplied for investigation. This paper presents the results of metallurgical analysis using scanning electron microscopy(SEM), energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS), and mechanical tests for the pearlitic high-performance cast rail wagon wheel (identified as Class B) that are currently being used. The Charpy V-notch impact test results for the three samples from wagon wheels were compared. With the aid of SEM/EDS analysis system, non-metallic inclusions in these steels were detected, and it was possible to determine the position, size, shape, and composition of each particle. Alumina and manganese sulphide inclusions could be identified as the dominant inclusion types in the investigated samples. Fracture surface analysis of the Charpy specimen with high inclusions indicated that transgranular cleavage was the predominant fracture mode. Fractography of fracture surfaces of Charpy impact test samples also showed improvement of toughness properties on the clean sample.

Jan 1, 2013

By M. Bester, R. Carey, T. Russell, J. van Heerden

"In order to reach the goal of optimal and safe extraction of the mineral reserve, the mining industry is increasingly focusing on reconciliation across the mining value chain to ensure that the mining process occurs in a progressively more predictable manner. This will consequently improve the understanding of mine plans and their associated implementation risks, ultimately leading to increased investor confidence. In terms of geotechnical engineering, mine to design performance assessment is a critical aspect of mine to plan adherence focusing on the complex aspects influencing slope performance. A mine to design reconciliation process therefore needs to systematically track implementation and geotechnical aspects in order to review or update slope design criteria and pit layouts according to the mine planning cycle as the mine is developed. This paper describes the development and implementation of a standardized mine to design reconciliation system for operations utilizing laser scanning technology, analysis tools, as well as associated key performance indicators. Performance is evaluated on final pit boundaries in terms of geometry achieved as well as blast performance evaluation of face conditions. These aspects as well as the resulting catch berm capacity should be captured in an information system, enabling longer term trend analysis and detailed root cause analysis where unsatisfactory outcomes occur. Adverse outcomes should subsequently be incorporated into the mine’s risk management process informing risk mitigation measures including blast design adjustments, slope design changes, or rockfall protection measures. IntroductionIn order to reach the goal of optimal and safe extraction of the mineral reserve, the mining industry is increasingly focusing on reconciliation across the mining value chain to ensure that the mining process occurs in a progressively more predictable manner. This will consequently improve the understanding of mine plans and their associated implementation risks, ultimately leading to increased investor confidence. In terms of geotechnical engineering, mine to design performance assessment is a critical aspect of mine to plan adherence focusing on the complex aspects influencing slope performance. A mine to design reconciliation process therefore needs to systematically track implementation and geotechnical aspects in order to review or update slope design criteria and pit layouts according to the mine planning cycle as the mine is developed."

Jan 1, 2016

By H. L. Zimba

Flotation involves the selective levitation of mineral and its transfer from cell to launder. The flotation rate is the rate of this transfer. It may be defined by the slope of a recovery-time curve for any cell in a bank or at any time in a batch operation. The objective in flotation rate study is an equation expressing the rate in terms of some measurable property of the pulp. This can be either the concentration of floatable mineral in weight per unit volume or a relative concentration, which will be a function of the recovery. A rate equation for an actual flotation pulp will contain at least two constants, both to be determined from the collected data. The data used in this paper were collected from bench-scale flotation tests on Konkola primary mill cyclone overflow at various pulp densities and pre-flotation thickener underflow at a pulp density of 35% solids by weight.

Jan 1, 2009

By R. M. Lamya

A semi-empirical kinetic model was developed for the atmospheric leaching of a Ni-Cu matte in copper sulphate-sulphuric acid solution. Kinetics of the leaching process was studied as a function of initial copper ion concentration, initial acid concentration, temperature, stirring rate and particle size distribution. The kinetic model was developed on the basis of the leaching mechanism and chemical reactions of the leaching system investigated, and was evaluated by comparing the model predictions to experimental data. The model was found to satisfactorily fit the trends in the leaching of the metals, namely copper, nickel, cobalt and iron.

Jan 1, 2009