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By L. Garrigues, M. Jarvis, M. Halhead, O. A. Bascur

"Large variability of ore types, escalating variables operating costs and increased throughput require large investment in sensors and systems in mineral processing operations. Mining and mineral processing plants collect and manage more data than a small city with much in real-time. The data is changing rapidly as internal and external conditions evolve. As corporations buy and sell assets, and reengineer their staff, the structure and tools that were used to understand this data is lost. This results in significant deterioration in the ability to maintain a smart operation. When data is recognized as a critical asset and managed as part of an infrastructure, it become a key enabler to help transform the entire operations. In many situations, all partners in business collaboration—such as join ventures, contract manufacturer, expert service providers, and operations and maintenance companies—need access to production and asset data. The emergence and maturation of Cloud technologies make it possible to easily connect the plants to external equipment suppliers and operational support service.This paper will share examples of how mineral processors have adopted new data strategies such as self-service business intelligence, cloud computing and internal/external collaboration.INTRODUCTIONOne of the main challenges in mineral and metallurgical processing plants is effective energy and water management. The lowering of ore grades requires higher throughputs while the ores are getting more complex with variable mineralogical compositions. Electrical energy supply is becoming a restriction in many countries. Rising water management costs has a direct impact on the profitability of the operations. Grade recovery versus energy consumption in copper production for both open pit and underground mines has been described by Fuerstenau (2001). Comminution uses over 55% of the energy to produce nonferrous metals while other operations require much less energy (Nelson, Richins, & Lelinski, 2013)."

Jan 1, 2016

By G. J. Kipouros, N. Dadvand

"In recent years coatings of alloys have been produced for a wide range of applications including many for wire bonding application. The main characteristic of the baths of electroless plating is the presence of sodium hypophosphite as a reducing agent and also as the supplier of phosphorus. In the electroplating of alloys the Watts bath is predominantly used. This presentation compares the two techniques, electroless plating and electroplating, and discusses the possibilities of cross utilization of sodium hypophosphite in an attempt to formulate baths that eliminate the waste disposal issue related to some components.INTRODUCTIONThe importance of surface characteristics and the linkage of surface coating process to surface characterization has given rise to the evolution of surface engineering. Not only the surface preparation and morphology has become very important to the coating technology but also the knowledge of surface area exposed to the process of coating or corrosion is absolutely essential in ascertaining the behaviour of coatings and their adherence to the substrate. The above concepts are not unknown to researchers involved in the protection of surfaces, particularly metallic, from corrosion and/or erosion corrosion. However, the complexity of the surface defects, roughness, porosity, interconnected porosity and other related factors have contributed to the uncertainty of the true surface area versus the nominal surface area. Therefore critical parameters such as current density and chemical surface intensity although have been studied extensively at the atomistic level by carefully prepared surfaces are very difficult to be determined at the practical scale required during the coating processes.The most pronounced case calling for an understanding the relationship between the surface area and the effective protection is the coating of surfaces of items produced by compression or consolidation of powdery materials. With the advent of nanomaterials and the additive manufacturing through 3D metal printing this issue is becoming more important. Certain experience in this field come from the accumulated knowledge resulted from the attempts to characterize the electrochemical behaviour of powder metallurgy metals and alloys. Powder metallurgy has been a well-established process for half a century on basic metals such as iron, copper and their alloys. Recently the development of powder metallurgy process for aluminum, titanium and attempts to develop powder metallurgy processes for magnesium and its alloys has brought to light another important issue that of the development of coatings on difficult to plate reactive metals such as aluminum and magnesium. Despite of many successes in the development of powder metallurgy alloys the exact characterization of the corrosion behaviour of the coatings and the substrates is difficult to determine because of the unknown morphology of the exposed area i.e. the exact morphology and area of the exposed surface (Samal, 2007)."

Jan 1, 2016

By B. Tanda

A process has been developed at Curtin University whereby glycine is used in an alkaline environment to leach gold, silver and copper from their ores, concentrates, process intermediates and wastes. Copper mineralisation investigated includes various oxides, sulfides and native copper. The leach process utilises an oxidising environment such as oxygen. Glycine is a non-toxic, non-volatile, edible, low cost reagent which is produced in large industrial quantities for use in several industries. Glycine and its copper and precious metals complexes are stable over wide pH, Eh and temperature ranges. Other than losses in leach residues, the glycine is recovered and recycled for leaching. Iron dissolution is insignificant in the pregnant leach solution. Iron in pyrite remains unaffected, whereas iron associated with base metal sulfides (e.g. chalcopyrite and bornite) is converted to a readily filterable iron hydroxide. Efficient separation of copper by solvent extraction and conventional electrowinning has been shown to be feasible for a number of organic extractants, whereas gold and silver glycinates adsorb very well onto carbon allowing CIP/CIL/CIC (carbon-in-column) based processes. The process is ideal for ores containing acid-consuming gangue, concentrates with high arsenic or halide contents and for copper-gold ores with significant sulfide mineralisation. The process eliminates many of the problems associated with the processing of copper-gold-silver ores, such as elemental sulfur formation, silica gels, unwanted metal co-dissolution, and jarosite precipitation. The reagents used and process residues are much safer and environmentally benign than conventional process options. The processing technology can be applied to in-situ, heap and vat, or agitated tank leaching at temperatures ranging from ambient to below 100?C at atmospheric pressure and is currently being commercialised. This paper will focus on copper leaching and recovery and iron rejection from a chalcopyrite flotation concentrate.

Jan 1, 2016

By A. Ghahremaninezhad, E. Jorjani, A. Riahi, Islamic Azad University, B. Nazari, H. Hani, Z. Manafi

The presence of a high iron concentration, 9.1 g/L, in the raffinate of the Sarcheshmeh copper heap bioleach process led to the formation of various types of jarosite, (K,Na,NH4,H3O)Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6, on the heap mineral surfaces. This study probes iron removal from the raffinate using a bio-oxidation process based on A. ferrooxidans bacteria in the presence and absence of jarosite seed. The jarosite seed was biologically synthesized using A. ferrooxidans bacteria. The effect of solution pH (1.5 to 2.5) and jarosite seed dosage (0 to 15 wt.%) on iron removal was examined. It was demonstrated that the concentration of iron ions present in the raffinate decreased from 9.1 g/L to 2.5 g/L with the addition of 10 wt.% jarosite seed at pH 2 and 130 rpm mixing rate at 32°C. Three different types of raffinate including (1) native raffinate containing 9.1, 3.4, 5.7 g/L of total, ferric and ferrous iron, respectively, (2) bio-oxidized raffinate in the absence of the jarosite seed containing 8.5 g/L total iron (mainly ferric with negligible ferrous), (3) bio-oxidized raffinate in the presence of jarosite seed containing 2.55 g/L total iron (mainly ferric with negligible ferrous) were used in mesophilic, moderate thermophilic and thermophilic bioleaching processes. The results of the flask tests showed that the highest copper bioleaching recoveries of 9.4, 49.4 and 90.8 % were achieved using raffinate (3) with mesophilic, moderate thermophilic and thermophilic bioleaching processes, respectively.

Jan 1, 2016

By E. Bratygin, G. Gazaleeva

"The article describes the analysis of methods and criteria of selectivity of optimal ore preparation schemes. Traditional criteria based on study of physical-mechanical properties of ores give the comparison of obtained figures with a reference standard or statistic data and the selection of the ore preparation scheme is made on a basis of a similar scheme from the existing production.Further on estimation is given to different criteria of the crushing selectivity, the new criterion is offered, the definition of which is done by results of an optical microscopy– the estimation of a valuable mineral release degree. The final estimation of the crushing process selectivity L? is performed by a calculation of a ratio of the valuable mineral free grains quantity in a desired size grade of a crushed material to the valuable mineral free grains quantity in a desired size grade of a raw product.Besides, optimality assessment of using the specific crushing unit is preliminary performed according to a maximum crushing degree of a material, however, the priority is given to the maximum selectivity criterion. The check of the proposed criterion was done when comparing the crushing of niobium bearing ores of the Vishnevogorskoye deposit in cone inertial and centrifugal impact crushers. Different operation modes of crushers were also checked. The comparison of the crushing selectivity criterion L? showed that the centrifugal impact crusher (CC) has the value of the selectivity criterion lower than the cone inertial crusher (CIC). For the crusher CC the criterion L? is 0.82 – 0.87 units, whereas for the crusher CIC – 1.43-1.755 units. The best crushing mode for the crusher CIC-300? is as follows: turning angle of debalance is 120°, peripheral speed of a cone rotation – 1,420 rpm, specific energy consumption – 6.99 kW?t/t.INTRODUCTIONIt has been shown that the most efficient techniques of mineral raw materials disintegration are selective crushing enabling to produce liberation of particles at maximum use of destruction techniques by borders of minerals cleavage. These days, such techniques are usually called special disintegration techniques (Jankovic & Valery, 2015), and they are used in 3–4 crushing stages. The selection of optimal crushing techniques is performed based on the following main parameters:- degrees of crushing, calculated based on granulometric features of raw and crushed products;- selectivity criterion defined according to useful mineral release and slime ability degree; and- traditional criteria (Gazaleeva et al., 2015) of choice based on study of physical-mechanicalproperties of ores gives the comparison of obtained figures with a reference standard or statistic data and the selection of the ore preparation scheme is made on a basis of a similar scheme from the existing production."

Jan 1, 2016

By Neillm Alastair S.

"This paper looks at what has happened in the past decade in the rare earth industry, particularly for those companies outside China trying to develop alternative projects to the Chinese dominated supply chain. The rare earth industry has gone through a metamorphosis over the past decade. The industry was basically unknown outside China until overnight it became the next hot topic on the financial streets of Canada and Australia. Suddenly various junior miners shifted from uranium and other out-of-favor commodities to rare earths as funds were easy to access from an investment community that did not understand the complexities of the space. The initial funding was done on traditional junior mining metrics of grade and deposit size. This has morphed over time to:1) Lights versus heavies2) Making a concentrate3) The importance of separation4) Off-take agreementsAt the peak of the market frenzy certain flagship operations were built using the “Not Made in China” moniker. Unfortunately certain errors were made during implementation, which are finally coming to the surface and making the rest of the pack wondering what will happen next. A review and update of some of the mistakes made and lessons learned will be discussed.BACKGROUNDAbout ten years ago awareness started to form around the rare earth industry and various groups recognized that because of the closure of Molycorp, Mountain Pass, and the dominance of China, there was a risk of uncertainty of reliable supply. This was not news for those active in the industry like Rhodia (now Solvay), the Japanese, South Koreans and other key consumers but to others it was like a light went on and rare earths became the new “.com” trend for investment banks, investors and some mining companies looking for the next hot topic.In the late 1990’s Molycorp accounted for around 20-25% of the world’s supply of rare earths, mostly lights (La, Ce, Pr and Nd), with small amounts of heavies from other sources. Then environmental issues forced the closure of the operation at Mountain Pass. Within six months China had increased production to plug the gap in supply. Around that time China was developing a strategy to leverage their position in rare earths and implemented a series of regulations to increase the value added component of rare earths inside China."

Jan 1, 2016

By Yves Pépin, Sylvain Lefebvre, Dimitrios Filippou, Guillaume Hudon

"Titanium dioxide pigment plants using the so-called “chloride process” produce considerable amounts of chloride waste, which contains predominantly iron chloride. In most cases, this waste is dissolved in a weak hydrochloric acid solution and then neutralised. The metal content of the waste is dumped as hydroxide sludge, while its chloride content is lost in an effluent.Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium has developed a new proprietary process whereby pure metallic iron and chlorine gas are recovered from chloride waste by electrolysis. This process uses a two compartment cell separated by an anion exchange membrane to prevent iron cycling between its trivalent and divalent valence. The cathode is made of titanium Grade 7, while the anode is a dimensionally stable one of the type “metal–mixed metal oxide” (MMO) for the evolution of chlorine gas. The catholyte is concentrated and pH-adjusted iron-rich chloride solution originating from chloride waste. The anolyte is recirculating solution containing alkali or alkali earth chlorides such as MgCl2, NaCl, etc. Current efficiencies above 90% can be achieved at temperatures about 80°C using catholyte solutions almost saturated in iron chloride and other chlorides.In this paper, we discuss the details of this process, and how this could be integrated within a chloride pigment plant for the treatment of chloride wastes."

Jan 1, 2016

By Tong Qin, Jinxia Zhang, Fusheng Niu, Limei Bai

"The interaction between a deformable bubble and a rigid particle in viscous liquids under microgravity conditions is studied by direct numerical simulation via an Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method. Due to the microgravity, the bubble will stay as a sphere in the fluid without external forces and its deformation is caused by the moving particle. In this study we assume the flow field is axisymmetric and the motion of the gas inside the bubble is neglected. The particle equations and the Navier-Stokes equations for the fluid are solved in a unified finite element framework. The particle obtains an impact velocity by an external force and the impact velocity is varied over a wide range. A ‘critical time scale’ T0 was identified for the interaction process. For successful contacts between particle and bubble, the time scale of their relative motion must be less than T0.INTRODUCTIONThe particle-bubble interaction is an important process in many applied industrial domains such as water treatment, froth flotation and liquid steel purification. It is a complex three phase process in that it embraces many research areas: fluid hydrodynamics, interfacial forces, particle and bubble behaviour and solution chemistry.Derjaguin and Dukhin(1961) clarified the particle-bubble interaction by introducing three-zone model for small and medium size particles. When the particle is far away from the bubble surface, the hydrodynamic forces are dominant. The particle is driven toward the bubble surface by the particle inertial and gravity. This region is regarded as Zone 1 and the interaction in this zone is a collision subprocess. As the particle gets close to the bubble, it exits a zone where the liquid flow around the bubble surface creates a tangential stream from the upper surface of the bubble toward the rear of the bubble. This is Zone 2 which is called the diffusiophoretic zone. In Zone 3, the particle is very closed to the bubble, surface forces like van der Waals, electrostatic and structural forces are considered. Contrast to Zone 1, Zone3 can be regarded as an attachment subprocess."

Jan 1, 2016

By X. J. Luo, F. Zhang

"Metallurgical slag (MS) such as steel slag, copper slag is a renewable resource and its compressive strength exceeds 200MPa in general. Because pure metal slug can easily be mixed into MS, complex recycle system is necessary in order to realize MS’s recycling. Meanwhile, there is high equipment failure rate in conventional crushing system. New crushing systems with inertial cone crusher could solve this problem very well. Recovery rate of MS tailings requires that crushing product can’t contain too much oversize product, so the essential equipment include two crushers and one sieve in the traditional crushing system. The new crushing system which only includes two crushers can meet the requirement and simplify the crush process. Investment of crushing equipment and infrastructure can be cut down. Operating and maintenance costs can be obviously reduced due to the simple process, which also could achieve high energy saving and excellent economic efficiency.INTRODUCTIONMetallurgical Slag (MS) such as steel slag, copper slag is a typical industrial solid waste and it threatens our environment’s safe. Metallurgical enterprises must take action to settle these wastes in order to protect our environment. Because pure metal slug can easily be mixed into MS, its uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) will exceed 200Mpa. If crushing station employs traditional crushing equipment, equipment failure will be easily caused because of these pure metal slugs. Coarse crushing equipment usually adapts jaw crusher in traditional Crushing technology and rod mill will be utilized to finish the secondary and fine crushing works. And the same time screening machinery should be used to ensure the suitable particle size (Figure 1)."

Jan 1, 2016

By Orlando Rojas, Javier Pizarro, Romke Kuyvenhoven, Francisco Soto

"The concept of geometallurgy has been extensively mentioned and used in the mining industry in the past years. However, each mining firm has a different understanding of what geometallurgy means, and its actual value varies significantly from site to site. Even in the case of properly constructed geometallurgical models, it is fairly common to observe a sub-utilization of the model in the actual operation, because of its low production forecasting capability on the short term. This disconnect between the geometallurgical model and operations is typically caused by a lack of tuning between the original model and the actual plant operation. Also, the absence of procedures and other standards for reconciliation, affects the confidence and the predictive quality of the model. The geometallurgical model should consist of three different levels: (I) adequate capture of information, (II) data analysis and modelling, and (III) development of the block model. Once the geometallurgical in-situ model is finalized, a process model should be developed of the plant at industrial scale, in order to scale up the in-situ geometallurgical parameters from their base or standard condition, to the actual operating reality of the plant. Finally, the stage of reconciliation will close this process, assuring that any deviation between the geometallurgical model and the actual plant operation is not due to lack of tuning, but due to operational issues such as unattended maintenance requirements or poor process control in the operation. The methodology as described in this paper has been applied at several large mining sites in Chile. The paper presents the characteristics of the proposed methodology, and quantitatively describes its benefits with examples from actual operations.INTRODUCTIONIt probably is fair to say that geometallurgy became widely used in greenfield projects in the Andes region during the mining boom of the 90’s, when massive orebodies were studied and developed, and upfront metallurgical characterisation proved its use for accurate economic evaluation including estimates of plant throughput, energy consumption, final product quality and overall recovery. A few examples of such greenfield studies for concentrator plants in the 90’s are Minera Los Pelambres (Antofagasta Minerals, Chile), Minera Escondida, Laguna Seca (BHP Billiton, Chile), and Rio Blanco (then Montterrico Metals, Peru). Large size hydrometallurgical operations such as Cerro Colorado, Quebrada Blanca and Lomas Bayas (all in Chile), also recognised early on the importance and value of relating ore mineralogy, geological characterisation and metallurgical behaviour."

Jan 1, 2016

By K. Chomyn, R. Veenstra, P. Zangeneh, Hatch Ltd., C. Van der Woude, H. Ghorbani

"The furnace is the heart of smelting operations, and therefore the performance, reliability, and campaign life of the furnace are critical considerations. Furnace refractory is exposed to high temperatures and other harsh operating conditions causing brick erosion, crushing, and cracking, typically limiting the furnace campaign life and requiring costly furnace shut-downs for refractory re-lining. Despite extensive study, the in-service thermal / mechanical stresses in these complex refractory systems are not generally well understood. Hatch has developed a thermal-mechanical finite element analysis (FEA) based furnace refractory modeling approach that allows for the quantification of refractory movements, load distribution, and thermal / mechanical stresses.Due to the complexity of the refractory system, a range of models are used to identify and assess damage mechanisms and design improvements, including: 2D models, to capture expansion and movement of individual bricks, changes to load paths, and thermal stresses; and 3D models, to include the effect of differential expansion between bricks in each course, and assess overall load distributions. The 2D and 3D analyses include the effect of nonlinear temperature-dependent properties, thermal expansion, movement of individual bricks with frictional contacts (i.e., gaps can open, bricks can slide), and brick tensile or compressive failure. Both as-built and damaged conditions can be investigated (e.g., after bath zone brick erosion), for circular and rectangular furnaces. 3D models also include papering and brick joint & interface action.Analyses using these models have shown the importance of thermal stresses, papering, and geometry / arrangement of individual bricks. Results have been used to identify and assess damage mechanisms, showing good alignment with furnace autopsy observations. By using this FEA-based approach to quantify the refractory design, the risk of damage can be significantly reduced, low-cost design changes can be identified, and the furnace campaign life can be extended.INTRODUCTIONThe furnace is the heart of smelting operations and therefore the performance, reliability, and campaign life of the furnace are critical to the success of the smelting operation. Furnaces are inherently exposed to high temperatures, often in excess of 1600°C (Holappa, 2004), and furnace operating power has progressively increased over time (Voermann, Gerritsen, Candy, Stober, & Matyas, 2004). The refractory system must withstand high temperature, high heat flux, and other harsh operating conditions. These conditions are particularly significant for the furnace hearth, and can lead to damage including brick erosion due to molten material flows, crushing due to thermal expansion loads, and cracking due to severe thermal gradients within the bricks. Refractory damage typically limits the furnace campaign life, requiring costly furnace shut-downs for refractory re-lining (repair or replacement). In some cases the refractory may lose integrity causing damage to nearby equipment and harm to personnel."

Jan 1, 2016

By J. Mizera, B. Adamczyk-Cieslak, K. J. Kurzydlowski, A. Dobkowska

"AZ31 is the one of the most popular magnesium alloy using in the modern industry. It is well known, that compared with steel, magnesium alloys posse better properties, such as light mass, high specific strength or thermal conductivity. It should be noted that their application is limited by poor corrosion resistance. In this work the corrosion behavior of AZ31 magnesium alloy as cast and after heat treatment were described with the use of testing in neutral salt spray atmosphere.To characterise corrosion resistance and describe layers built on the surface it was necessary to do the metallographic observations with the use of optical microscopy. After that influence of heat treatment for AZ31 corrosion resistance was examined. Measurements were conducted by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and by neutral salt spray tests in artificial atmosphere. Surface and cross section morphology after removal of corrosion products were observed with the use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM).The weight loss measurements show that there is no significant difference between alloys as cast and with following heat treatment.INTRODUCTIONMagnesium and magnesium alloys are popular in modern industry because of the low density and good formability. Magnesium alloys are described by few properties which have got significant influence for their application in transportation and electronics industries (Feliu & Liorente, 2015). Their wide application is limited by poor corrosion resistance. As it is well known Mg is one of the chemically most active metal. Corrosion resistance of Mg alloys depends on several factors, such as impurities, chemical composition or working conditions (Cheng, Qin, Wang, & Zhang, 2009). That all causes that there are many different ways to find well defined and good solution of magnesium alloys processing to improve their corrosion resistance.There are many different versions about the influence of aluminum on the corrosion resistance of magnesium alloy. It is known that intermetallic compounds such as Mg17Al12 due to ß-phase content plays the minor role for corrosion resistance. It is proved ß-phase acts as cathode and it has good ability to build passive layer in broad pH ranges. However it should be noted that mentioned behavior depend on size and distributions of ß-phase in the microstructure (Singh, Singh, & Das, 2015)."

Jan 1, 2016

By K. K. Mamyrbayeva, G. Z. Guseinova, V. A. Luganov

This paper presents the results of theoretical and technological studies on leaching ore of Bozshakol deposit. The major oxidized copper mineral of Bozshakol ore is atacamite, and the content of malachite, azurite, cuprite, copper sulfide minerals is insignificant. The chemical composition of the test sample, with mass, %: 0.9 Cu; 55.00 SiO2; 22.40 AI2O3; 9.00 Fe2O3; 2.24 CaO; 3.56 MgO. Technological studies on leaching the ore were carried out with sulfuric acid 5, 15, 25 and 50 g/dm3 in one and multistage (up to 4 stages) countercurrents. Size of ore 1 mm, the ratio S : L 1: 4. It was found that with increasing of acid concentration from 5 to 50 at one-mode leaching the copper extraction reaches 55 %. At multistage leaching the copper recovery reaches 73 %, a productive solution containing g/dm3: Cu - 4; Fe – 1.2; Al – 1.1 at a pH of 2.8. When leaching the cinders obtained by ore roasting in an atmosphere with limited value of oxygen, with increasing of the roasting temperature from 650 up to 750 °? the extraction of copper from the Bozshakol ores reduced from 31.5% down to 24.4%. The rate of filtration is markedly increased compared with the crude ore. When leaching the cinders obtained by roasting in a nitrogen atmosphere a marked increase up to 87.2-88 % of copper extraction from Bozshakol ores is observed. As an extractant for the extraction of copper from the pregnant solution used LIX984N extractant in kerosene. On the basis of the calculations it was built extraction isotherm and modeled processes of copper recovery with the circuit 2E + 1P, allowing up to 93 and 96% extraction. The through extraction of copper from the ore in the electrolyte was 67 %. Technology is recommended for semi test.

Jan 1, 2016

By S. Kelebek, B. Ingram, C. Gibson, T. MacNeil, M. Aghamirian

"The beneficiation and upgrading of pyrochlore from its ores is carried out through flotation. In industrial practice, upgrading is conducted in a two-stage flotation process in which pyrochlore flotation is carried out after gangue mineral pre-flotation (carbonate, silicate, sulphide or phosphate reverse flotation). In this study, the flotation of pyrochlore from a low grade carbonatite ore was performed at the laboratory scale following a two-stage flotation process in which carbonate minerals were floated in advance of niobium minerals. In parallel, a simplified flotation process was developed in which pyrochlore was floated directly from gangue minerals at increasingly acidic pH. Laboratory results indicated that both two-stage and direct flotation provided similar results in terms of niobium grade-recovery. Based on these results, a large scale, integrated pilot plant was conducted using a direct flotation flowsheet. While the elimination of reverse gangue flotation resulted in flowsheet simplification, the dissolution of carbonate minerals and the subsequent effect of dissolved cations on the floatability of pyrochlore added an element of complexity. A comparison of results from locked-cycle laboratory testing and pilot plant testing highlights the challenges of scaling up a complex flowsheet. A case is made for the direct flotation process and the key parameters to achieving success in large scale direct flotation of pyrochlore are discussed.INTRODUCTIONPyrochlore (Ca,Na)2Nb2O6(OH,F) is a niobium bearing mineral which has been the primary global source of niobium since the first pyrochlore mine commenced operations in the late 1960s (Gibson et al., 2015a). Preceding the discovery and development of high grade pyrochlore deposits in North and South America, the majority of global niobium supply came from gravity concentration operations of columbite (Fe,Mn)Nb2O6, across Africa (Perrault and Manker, 1981)."

Jan 1, 2016

"Energy efficiency in mining and minerals processing has attracted considerable public and industry attention because of the significant quantities of energy consumption involved. In this context the question of what are worthwhile targets for energy efficiency improvements ought to be of the highest priority. It is however worth taking a step back to avoid falling in the trap of taking preconceived ideas that have been reiterated repeatedly before as gospel. The aim of this paper is to highlight areas where new or alternative approaches could potentially be the better way forward. Some may come as a surprise to conventional industry thinking. Ultimately any such solutions are attractive to practitioners not just in an environmental but also in an economic sense, and hence should be targeted through applied research and development efforts. This paper highlights key aspects of each group of opportunities and some of the individual approaches to provide an overview of the current status quo.MINING INDUSTRY POWER UTILISATION – WHERE IS THE BIGGEST BANG FOR THE BUCK?The question of where is the biggest bang for the buck when trying to determine worthwhile targets for energy efficiency improvements has not always been reported on broadly enough, typically because industry practitioners operate in specific areas of expertise and comfort zone. Looking beyond the familiar doesn’t always come easy. Any technology or methodology consideration to address energy efficiency needs to take into account the context of alternative opportunities of superior value or risks not achieving desired uptake. The following sub-chapters have been ordered by magnitude of improvement potential as best as is possible, starting with the biggest first, and the smallest last. Some may be a surprise relative to conventional mining industry thinking."

Jan 1, 2016

By Vladislava A. Ignatkina, Victor D. Samyguin

"Within the limits of two-phase approach, considering mass transfer with pulp and air streams was shown that each bubble appears to be an elementary carrier, transporting particles from the collection zone into the froth. The kinetics of flotation was described by the exponential equation in which first order flotation speed constant has to be replaced with two-phased coefficient of a mass transfer. Criteria of selectivity of two ore fractions separation, based on determination of optimum time at which maximum difference between extractions and components content in separated fractions were offered. An interrelation between optimum time of pulp residence in a flowing chamber of a flotation machine, time of bubbles mineralization and an optimum airflow has been ascertained. Cumulative criterion of mass transfer efficiency of flotation process has been ascertained to be a form of the spectrum and its position on axis of three-phase coefficient of a mass transfer.INTRODUCTIONRegularities of a mass transfer of three bearing streams: pulp stream, air stream and froth stream underlie theory of mineral complexes flotation (Samygin, Filippov, & Shekhirev, 2003)However, only description of mass transfer in pulp stream by means of kinetic equations that were simple and convenient for practical use, has gained a full distribution (Tykhonov, 2009;Rubinstein&Filippov, 1980; Saleh, 2010).Within the limits of a single-phase approach, the role of gas stream in increase of speed and selectivity of flotation, was associated with an improvement of hydrodynamic mode. An influence of particles and bubbles sizes (Rubinstein&Filippov, 1980; Rubinstein&Samygin, 1998, Samygin et al., 2003; Dai, Fornasiero,& Ralston, 2000), of pulpflow and airflow (Finch& Dobby, 1990) and turbulent energy intensity (Shubert, 1979; Massinaei, 2007) on the flotation process has been studied. It was stated that flotation selectivity is increasing by means of gradual airflow increase from first to final cameras of the impeller flotation machine (Aslan&Boz,2010; Finch, 2011) and by means of using a multizone flotation machine (Samyguin, Filippov, Matinin, Lekhatinov, &Tertyshnikov, 2013)."

Jan 1, 2016

By S. Parent, J. -F. Lepage, S. Glover

"Goldcorp – Eleonore’s 7 000 tonnes per day gold mill was started up in October 2014 and achieved commercial production in April 2015. During the first year, operation has faced challenges from grinding, flotation, sulfide cyanidation and tailing filtration to achieve targeted throughput, availability and recovery.The optimization of non-sulfide tails filter cloth lifetime and filter press availability had the most significant impact on ramp-up of both mill throughput and availability. A change in steel ball addition size to the grinding circuit was made to meet the targeted p80 of 65 µm. Various optimization efforts were conducted on the flotation circuit, intended to recover all sulfide-bearing minerals. The goal is to attain the environmental target of 0.12% sulfur in flotation tails (to eliminate acid mine drainage or AMD), while an average of 0.31% sulfur was obtained over the first months of 2015. Collectors, frothers, activators and hydrodynamic parameters were tested to improve the circuit desulfurization efficiency. High sulfide reactivity in pre-oxidation and cyanidation severely impacted dissolved oxygen levels and cyanide consumption. Studies were undertaken to understand the effects of mineralogy, grind size and leach conditions on gold dissolution kinetics and cyanide consumption. Efforts were focused on pre-oxidation to restore dissolved oxygen levels as well as optimizing both lead nitrate addition and pre-oxidation time.INTRODUCTIONGoldcorp Eleonore’s mill commissioning started in September 2014. It was considered to operate the mill at 3 500 tpd during design, as the mine was planning to operate at this throughput for the first year. However, with the stockpile of ore and a higher throughput from the mine, the mill was able to run at higher tonnage than initially anticipated.While increasing tonnage, a few bottlenecks were discovered and overcome in areas such as filtration and cyanide destruction. There were also recovery issues which were addressed in areas such as grind and sulfide leach. This paper focusses on the first complete year of operation ending September 30th 2015. A process description and the flowsheet are presented below and it will then go into detail about operational, metallurgical, mechanical and design issues experienced during the year."

Jan 1, 2016

By Bern Klein, A. Tugba Cebeci, Libin Tong

"Sensor based sorting faces two main challenges related to limited capacity/throughput and the ability of sensors to accurately discriminate based on estimated grades. This paper is aimed at improving sensor discrimination. Sensors have the ability to measure more than a single response. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) can detect and provide concentration information about a range of elements. Similarly, electromagnetic sensors (EMs) can generate magnetic susceptibility and conductivity responses over a range of frequency levels. The sensors thereby provide a response signature rather than a simply a single response that is a proxy for a metal grade. Furthermore, integrating sensor responses can improve the discrimination of metal bearing rock from waste. A study was conducted on a gold ore to assess sortability using XRF and EM sensors. A multi-variable regression approach was used to develop models that included a range of responses. Correlations improved significantly when compared to single response correlations. The approach showed that both positive and negative correlations contributed to the improved correlations. Stepwise regression simplified the models and showed that 2nd order interaction effects can be important. The approach also showed that combining different responses can improve discrimination accuracy. An important outcome of the study was that an ore that had been consider not to be sortable was determined to be sortable through the application of an approach that used the sensor responses in a more intelligent manner.INTRODUCTIONMining is aimed at recovering valuable minerals from their host rocks. Many methods are used to recover valuable minerals, and finding efficient and cost-effective ways is the key in research and production. . Ore sorting technology is fitting this definition. It not only discards waste rocks away from the concentrator but also recovers metal bearing ore particles that could be lost to the waste dump. The benefits of ore sorting include increased energy efficiency and reduced water and reagent usage in the downstream operations (Bamber, 2008; Gunson, Klein, Veiga, & Dunbar, 2012; Mazhary & Klein, 2015; Robben, Wotruba, Robben, von Ketelhodt, & Kowalzcyk, 2013)."

Jan 1, 2016

By K. E. Waters, E. R. L. Espiritu, G. R. da Silva

"Rare earth (RE) elements are essential components of emerging green technologies. The increase in demand for these applications have driven the search and development of new rare earth deposits such as the Niobec project in Quebec, Canada. This deposit consists primarily of dolomite with significant amount of RE minerals bastnäsite and monazite, the primary sources of RE elements. Due to the minerals’ fine liberation sizes, flotation is commonly used as a concentration method. To develop an efficient process, the electrokinetic properties of the minerals must be understood. In this study, the surface properties of bastnäsite, monazite (RE minerals) and dolomite (a common gangue mineral) were investigated by zeta potential measurements. These measurements are affected by various ions present in solution; for bastnäsite, monazite and dolomite, some of these ions are H+, OH-, PO43- and CO32-. Dolomite, being a sparingly soluble mineral and a primary component of the ore, may be the greatest contributor of these ions in solution in the form of CO32- ions. Thus, different sources of CO32- ions (from dolomite dissolution and from Na2CO3) were investigated. The research work aims at elucidating how these reagents may influence the minerals’ surfaces. The results have shown that dolomite supernatant and sodium carbonate greatly affect the electrokinetic properties of each minerals. The addition of dolomite supernatant have resulted to relatively similar zeta potential of the minerals; while, sodium carbonate have affected them differently. These observations could be useful in efficient flotation of bastnäsite and/or monazite from bastnäsite-monazite-dolomite system.INTRODUCTIONThe increase in the demand for rare earth (RE) elements has driven the search and development of new deposits. Out of 53 rare earth projects in the world, 19 can be found in Canada (Hatch, 2015). These include the Niobec project of Magris Resources Company in Quebec. This deposit contains a significant amount of rare earth minerals (such as bastnäsite and monazite), with carbonates (such as dolomite) as the primary gangue minerals."

Jan 1, 2016

By Deepak Bhadouriya, Saurabh Singh, Aditya Raj Suman

"An experimental study of chemically enhanced filtration and dewatering of fine coal slurry with and without additives was carried out. The experiment involved determination of effect of slurry concentration, additives (cationic, anionic and nonionic), filter area, filtration velocity, particle size and cake resistance on dewatering and filtration using vacuum filtration cell. Finally, the rate of filtration and dewatering and optimum amount of additives used were determined under suitable filtration condition. Overall, it was found that the filtration and dewatering characteristics were enhanced by increased slurry concentration, larger filter area and larger particle size. In addition of additives, the kerosene was found to be best for enhancing the filtration which yielded cake moisture reductions of approximately 17% by weight. At optimum dosages, the final cake moisture contents were reduced by 3.6% and 5.8% by weight using the appropriate surfactant and flocculent, respectively.INTRODUCTIONFor India, it is estimated that coal constitute a principal source of energy for the next several decades. It is majorly used at thermal power plants to generate electricity and also to a great extent in steel and cement industry. It has been observed that its consumption is increasing so as to meet the energy requirements of the country. It has been found that in a coal preparation plant; approximately 20-25 percent coal is of the mined coal of the range below minus 0.5 mm (28 meshes). Generally, this fine fraction is discarded due to its high cost of processing and further utilisatisation is very minimal. But with ongoing research and development for advanced clean coal technology, various new techniques have been evolved to maximize the utilization of available coal. In recent time technologies such as column flotation, cleaning of fine size coal to lower the ash content and low pyretic sulfur is feasible at high recovery value. But in various researches it is found that one of the biggest hurdles in utilization of fine coal cleaning technology by the coal industry is the economic dewatering of the fine clean coal product. Thus, until an economical and practical solution to dewatering of fine clean coal is achieved, the efforts devoted to developing fine clean coal technology will be wasted. In this paper an effort toward enhancing and developing the optimum technique of dewatering and filtration of fine coal slurry has been made."

Jan 1, 2016