COPPER EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY IN THE XXI CENTURY

Jorge M. Menacho, General Manager, De Re Metallica Ingeniera drm@drm.cl Extended Summary An overview on the current and future mining technology is presented. The analysis is set within the Kondratieff wave theory establishing occurrence of around 50-year socialeconomic and technological cycles. These curious cycles are well documented since at least 300 years ago. Within this frame Figure 1 shows some outstanding innovations in the mining field along the last century.

Figure 1. Kondratieff cycles. K-wave theory indicates we are entering a depression economic phase and at same time, we are living an expanding cluster of technology which would settle the paradigms for the next decades. If historian now see the turn of the 19th century as the dawn of the industrial revolution, I hope they will see the turn of the 21th century as the dawn of the energy revolution (Rob Routs, Director Royal Dutch Shell, June 2007). Solar, wind, biomass and clean carbon energy will grow fast within the next 20 years. Nuclear power is always an option, but it will really grow after 2030. Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) is expected to occur after 2020. By 2055 the US and the EU are expected to use about 33% less energy per capita than today. On that time Chinese energy has also peaked and India is still climbing its energy laddler.

The copper mining activity will be faced with stronger environmental constraints as well as to a much stronger competence from the secondary copper recycle industry compared to current situation. Process Options Today Mineral processing and hydrometallurgy are the usual process routes to bring copper minerals into metallic copper as shown in Figure 1.

MINERALS:
HIGH-GRADE
Coarse crushing Fine crushing SAG Milling Ball Milling Refinery

Tailing Flotation
Flotation

Primary Sulphide
Secondary Sulphide Oxides LOW-GRADE Primary Sulphide Secondary Sulphide Oxides
ROM Leaching

ER - Cathode

Smelting

Coarse Crushing

Fine Crushing

Aglomeration

Stacking

Heap Leaching SX

EW - Cathode

EW

Ripios Leaching

(< 0.2% Cu)

Figure 2. Process options today. Relevant innovations of today and tomorrow are reviewed below. Better and Bigger Crushers Crushers are among the most efficient comminution machines and probably they will continue growing in technology and size as illustrated in the Figure 3 (P. Mujica, Metso, Personal Communication, October, 2012).

Figure 3. The new MP-2500 cone crusher. SAG Milling The original idea that SAG milling could replace secondary crushing, tertiary crushing and coarse grinding soon disappeared and now is mainly limited to a non recognised tertiary crushing. The following question is whether the SAG milling is the best option to perform this fine crushing task? Eventhough significant improvements in SAG mill design, operation and control have been introduced in the last decade, other technological options are moving faster. SAG mills will probably end up as huge ball mills. From first POLYCOM to HRC HPRG is nowadays a real option for fine crushing tasks (Figure 4), either as tertiary or quaternary step and also as pebble crusher in SABC circuits.

CURRENT APPLICATIONS:
Tertiary crusher Quaternary crusher Pebble crusher in SABC circuit

Same metallurgical concept but improved mechanical features (arc-frame, bearing arrangement and flanges).

Figure 4. New generation HPRG machines. Microwave Assisted Comminution The ability to alter properties of ores to reduce its strength and improve liberation is ultimately the only way that step changes in the efficiency of comminution processes will be made. One of such ways to change the fundamental properties of the ore is microwave pretreatment. Recent microwave experiments have shown that by maximising microwave power density (volumetric heating rate) and reducing cavity residence time, significant benefits are attained, with microwave energy inputs of less than 1 kWh/t. It is hard to conceive industrial applications in the copper industry before 2040. It will take some time, but microwave or similar force field technology will come anyway.

Figure 6. Microwave applicator arrangement (taken from Kobusheshe, Microwave Enhanced Processing of Ores, Ph.D. Thesis, June 2010, School of Chemical Environmental & Mining Engineering, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. It has been demonstrated that microwave pre-treatment improves beneficiation at sizes suitable for flotation. Significant improvement in liberation of up to 20% were achieved in particles treated using a single mode cavity at energy inputs lower than 2 kWh/t. The liberation benefit affects mainly the coarse fraction of the ore. Some selected results taken from the Kobusheshe thesis are reproduced in Table 1. Table 1. Results on microwave pre-treatment of ores according to Kobusheshe.

Comminution Start at the Mine Electronic initiation in blasting operations is a reality today; this has provided flexibility to obtain appropriate size distribution profiles from the Mine.

Plasma fragmentation is another promising technique to improve energy efficiency under higher safety level. Fragmentation is produced by transforming an electrolyte inside a barrel from liquid to plasma state by applying 8,000 V in 1 ms. The fast increase in temperature and volume induce the rock fragmentation. Many options are available today but still this is a young technology (see Figure 7).

Figure 7. Plasma fragmentation technology. http://www.dattatreyainc.com/division/turn_key_contract/Rock%20Excvations/Broacher/KA PRA%20catalog.pdf. Road Map for Comminution Flowsheets Figure 8 includes probable comminution flowsheets between year 2000 and 2050. SAG milling would continue goes down against an increasing predominance of the HPGR technology. In the long-term microwave devices are expected to arise as the most relevant breakthrough, working together with much giant ball mills.

Main route in the 2000s:

Selective Blasting Primary Crushing Precrushing 2ry Crushing

Pebbles Crushing SAG Milling Large Ball Milling

Possible flowsheet in the 2020s:

Selective Blasting Primary Crushing Precrushing 2ry Crushing HPGR SAG Milling Giant Ball Milling

Coupled Blasting

Primary Crushing

Secondary Crushing

HPGR

Giant Ball Milling

Possible flowsheet in the 2050s

Coupled Blasting Intensive 1ry Crushing Huge HPGR Microwaving Giant Ball Milling

Figure 8. Comminution flowsheet evolution. Flotation Gigantism continues Size of flotation machines have increased about 20 times since 1970 up to now. Tendency clearly indicates that gigantism is still underway and 500 m3 cells could be achieved within few years. Deterministic is Better than Random Different approaches will arise from modern bright minds. An outstanding example is the novel Urzar Cell, where collection occurs within a dynamic gas-pulp mixer filled with low density bodies free to move followed by a froth separator like a thickener provided with an inclined bottom to get the tails as shown in Figure 9.