Mineral Processing

SYMPOSIUM: 02 MINERAL PROCESSING

COD MP01 AUTHOR Lorenzo Reyes TITLE ABSTRACT USE OF BIOSOLIDS AND ITS MAIN COMPONENTS AS FROTH FLOTATION REAGENTS FOR THE CONCENTRATION OFF COPPER SULPHIDE ORE THE EVOLUTION OF MILL RELINING TECHNOLOGY GAS DISPERSION MEASUREMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL FLOTATION EQUIPMENT EMPIRICAL CORRELATION FOR ESTIMATING GRINDING MEDIA CONSUMPTION CHARACTERIZATION OF COPPER CLAYS AND GEOMETALLURGICAL IMPLICATIONS PROGRESS MADE IN PILOT AND LABORATORY THICKENING STUDY EFFECT OF FINES CONTENT ON YIELD STRESS OF COPPER TAILINGS STUDY ON SEPARATION OF ARSENIC FROM COPPER CONCENTRATE TECHNICAL EVALUATION OF THE REPLACEMENT OF CONVENTIONAL FLOTATION CELLS BY FLOTATION CELLS PNEUMATIC IN THE BENEFIT OF COPPER ORES NEXT GENERATION PRESSURE FILTERS FOR HARD ROCK TAILINGS SEAWATER USE IN ANTOFAGASTA MINING GROUP ANTAPACCAY - TINTAYA EXPANSION GRINDING CYCLE OPTIMIZATION FOR PROCESSING OF COPPER SLAG AT AURUBIS BULGARIA IMPROVED DEM MODEL FOR PREDICTING CONE CRUSHERS' PERFORMANCE THE EFFECT OF FLOCCULANTS AND THEIR DEGRADATION PRODUCTS ON MOLYBDENITE FLOTATION ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF BROWNFIELD PROJECTS FROTHER ROLES CHARACTERIZATION IN A LABORATORY FLOTATION CELL SAG MILL DISCHARGE SECTION OPTIMIZATION STUDIES AND REDESIGN INSTALLATION OF INTERNAL LAUNDERS ON 130 M FLOTATION CELLS AT MINERA LOS PELAMBRES CONCENTRATION OF COPPER OXIDE MINERAL WITH HYDROXAMATE GRINDING CHEMISTRY - THE APPLICATION OF GRINDING MEDIA TO IMPROVE METALLURGICAL RESPONSE OF COPPER ORES AMIRA P260 SILVER JUBILEE - 25 YEARS OF BENEFITS TO MINERALS FLOTATION NASH IN THE OPTIMIZATION OF COPPER FLOTATION CONCENTRATOR CUAJONE

MP02 MP03 MP04 MP05 MP07 MP08 MP09 MP11

Winston Rocher Luis Vinnett Carlos Rabanal Ursula Kelm R. Fuentes N. Rojas Shigeto Kuroiwa Sergio Arellano

MP13 MP16 MP17 MP18 MP19 MP22

T. Wisdom Francisco Abbott D. Garcia E.Visariev V. Murariu S. Castro

MP24 MP26 MP28 MP29 MP30 MP31

Fernando Pino C.O. Gomez David Meadows Felipe Henriquez H. Nematollahi Christopher J Greet

MP32 MP33

Zanin Massimiliano Jose Davila

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MP35

O. Angulo

MP36

Mira Bissengaliyeva

MP38 MP39 MP40 MP41 MP42 MP43 MP44 MP45 MP47

Rene Del Villar Raul Jara Iturre David Gwyther C.O. Gomez G. Debernardi Rodrigo Huenchulln G. Lorin Redden Jorge M. Menacho and Juan Rodrguez S.E. Snchez-Pino, S.A. SnchezBaquedano, R.M.Imhof, H. Sprenger Jorge M. Menacho

PREVENTING COPPER LOSS PRODUCTION AND FLOW PROBLEMS BY MEASURING THE MATERIALS FLOW PROPERTIES THERMODYNAMIC CONSTANTS OF MINERALS OF THE OXIDATION ZONE OF COPPER - ANTLERITE AND PSEUDOMALACHITE RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN FLOTATION COLUMN INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL OPTIMIZACIN METALRGICA DE UN MINERAL DE COBRE CON ALTA DISEMINACIN Y DUREZA MARINE TAILINGS PLACEMENT: EXPERIENCES AND LESSONS FROM THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION MODELLING BUBBLE HYDRODYNAMICS IN FLOTATION PRIMARY CRITERIA FOR PRESSURE COPPER LEACHING PROCESS SELECTION STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF RECLAIM TUNNELS ADDRESSED AS A MINGA IMPROVED COPPER AND GOLD RECOVERY AT KGHM INTERNATIONALS ROBINSON MINE MODELLING BUBBLES GOING THROUGH FLOTATION CELLS PNEUMATIC FLOTATION IMHOFLOT PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY IN CHILEAN MINING

MP48

REMOTE SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE PROCESS RESULTS AT CONCENTRATOR PLANTS

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MP01

USE OF BIOSOLIDS AND ITS MAIN COMPONENTS AS FROTH FLOTATION REAGENTS FOR THE CONCENTRATION OF COPPER SULPHIDE ORE

Lorenzo Reyes-Bozo Departamento de Ciencias de la Ingeniera, Facultad de Ingeniera, Universidad Andres Bello.

Alex Godoy-Fandez Facultad de Ingeniera, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile.

Jose Luis Salazar, Hctor Valds-Gonzlez, Eduardo Vyhmeister Escuela de Industrias, Facultad de Ingeniera, Universidad Andres Bello.

Ronaldo Herrera-Urbina Departamento de Ingeniera Qumica y Metalurgia, Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mxico.

ABSTRACT According to achieve a sustainable development, Chilean mining industry needs to embrace the best practices to its sustainable growth as engine developments. Relationships between mining industry and society have been historically complex due to its environmental impacts. Whereas the ore grade has declined continuously, this has involved an intensive energy and water consumption correlated to operational costs at different stages of process. Indeed, the amount of organic chemical reagents used in froth flotation of copper sulphide ores has a big impact on production costs as well as a huge effect on the environment. In this research was evaluated, via standard methodologies at laboratory scale, the use of biosolids and its main components (i.e., humic substances) as froth flotation reagents for sulphide ore concentration. These substances interact through physical and chemical ways due to differential affinities to mineralogical species such as chalcopyrite and pyrite. Aqueous solutions prepared with biosolids show good frothing characteristics whereas humic acid was found to act as collector for the concentration of a copper sulphide ore. Therefore, biosolids and its main components may open an opportunity to be used in copper sulphide flotation plants to partially replace conventional reagents, which are more hazardous and less environment-friendly.

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MP02

THE EVOLUTION OF MILL RELINING TECHNOLOGY Winston Rocher ABSTRACT Over the past fifty years, technology has advanced quicker than in any other time and this has impacted greatly on peoples lives, on the equipment and at work. The small grinding mills had an entry in the mill feed end for the spout feeder that didn't allow the entry of a person. The discharge of many of them had grates and the only way for people, liners and tools to get into them was via the manhole. The liners were installed manually with brute force, using tools like chain blocks, rope and chains, extending mills shutdown for many hours and increasing the risk of accidents. The increased size of mills and the high prices for metals means equipment designers and mining companies need to work constantly to surpass their mechanised technology, the quality of the materials and their components, increasing their capacity, by making them faster, more accurate and safer. In addition, the operators are working more strategically. The result has been a significant decrease of relining time and an increase in operator's safety.

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MP03

GAS DISPERSION MEASUREMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL FLOTATION EQUIPMENT

Luis Vinnett, Juan Yianatos

ABSTRACT

An extensive database of Sauter mean bubble diameters, D32, and superficial gas rates, JG, measured in different industrial flotation plants, is presented. Results involved mechanical flotation cells of 10 300 m3 from Rougher, Cleaner and Scavenger circuits and columns from Cleaner circuits. A significant effect of superficial gas rate on bubble diameter was observed in mechanical cells with different bubble generation mechanisms, cell design (self-aerated or forced air) and under different operating conditions (frother dosage, impeller speed). This result implies a dominant effect of the superficial gas rate on the gas dispersion. Also, higher D32 values were observed in flotation columns because of the bubble sparger system and mainly due to lack of maintenance. From the D32 and JG values, the bubble surface area flux, SB, was evaluated in order to determine normal operating conditions. The gas dispersion database is useful to select proper operating conditions and to define control criteria in flotation circuits.

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MP04

EMPIRICAL CORRELATION FOR ESTIMATING GRINDING MEDIA CONSUMPTION

Carlos Rabanal Moly-Cop Adesur S.A. crabanal@adesur.com.pe

ABSTRACT The concern regarding grinding media wear is as old as the invention of the tumbling mills. Over the years many materials and grinding media shapes have been tested, through all this, steel grinding balls have proved to be the most effective media for comminution in tumbling mills. In the same way, no accurate technique for estimating the wear of the ball charge has been developed. The mining industry still utilizes the Bond Abrasion test that was developed in the 60s, this test is based in the ore properties having an error higher than 60%. Lately in 2007, Radziszewski proposed a decouple total grinding media wear model, this model is based in decoupling the effect of abrasion, corrosion and impact wear mechanism, this new decoupled model gets an error of +/- 17% which is an improvement in comparison to Bond model, but still shows high degree of error. Also In 2007, Benavente from Moly-Cop Group presented an empiric model based in operational conditions that affect wear mechanism. This new model shows an average error of +/- 10% which represent a higher improvement in comparison with other models. This paper present the research developed by Moly-Cop in order to improve the capability of the empiric model developed by Benavente to estimated grinding media wear. The work performed includes extensive determination of Bond Abrasion Index for different kind of ores, operational information from concentrators and statistical analysis to determine the more significant variables over the wear. The result of the research let us to build a more robust and confident model to estimate grinding media wear rate. The average error of this new model was in order of +/5.0% which means a higher improvement over the models previously described.

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MP05

CHARACTERIZATION OF COPPER CLAYS AND GEOMETALLURGICAL IMPLICATIONS Ursula Kelm, Oscar Jerez, Sonia Helle, Marcos Pincheira Instituto de Geologa Econmica Aplicada, Universidad de Concepcin, Chile ABSTRACT Copper clays are a common mapping term to describe parts of argillic and advanced argillic alterations associated with Andean type copper deposits. They are very fine grained materials with a bluish hue, which may or not expand when humidified. These copper clays accompany chrysocolla, atacamite and secondary sulphide mineralization. Copper clays have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, Qemscan, Transmission Electron Microscopy and complemented by determination of cation exchange capacity. Observations are contrasted with literature data on (1) the attempts of synthesis of Cuphyllosilicates, (2) the modification of phyllosilicates with Cu bearing molecules for catalysis and (3) larger than clay-size phyllosilicates incorporating Cu phases between individual sheets. For the studied copper clays, discrete copper phases were found to be intercalated between individual phyllosilicate layers on a nanometric scale. For acid extraction of Cu from these combined clay and Cu phase aggregates, rock texture and acid stability of the phyllosilicate species are of fundamental importance.

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MP07

PROGRESS MADE IN PILOT AND LABORATORY THICKENING STUDY R. Fuentes, P. Garrido, T. Watt Centro de Investigacin JRI S.A., Santiago, Chile

ABSTRACT When designing thickeners, it is necessary to take into account the variety of geological units of different lithologies and alterations that may appear during the useful life of the mine, especially during the first five years. Ignoring these aspects leads to different operational problems in industrial thickeners of copper tailings and concentrate, which are unable to comply with the overflow quality or the percentage of solids required in the output. On the other hand, precision in determining the thickener unit area has great impact on the thickener CAPEX. Centro de Investigacin JRI S.A. (CdI-JRI) is developing a research line (I+D) oriented to studying thickening processes and whose main objective is focused on design. Standard measuring of geological attribute variability conducted in a laboratory is being contrasted with measuring carried out in batch and continuous pilot tests. CdI-JRI has designed and built two pilot columns for this purpose, 1 and 4 meters high respectively, equipped with a rake and different feedwells. Both implemented columns allowed Cdl-JRI to develop its own methodology for characterizing the thickening of mining slurries in batch and continuous tests. This paper presents the main results obtained: thickener unit area, concentrations of solids in underflow and overflow, the effect of the feedwell on the quality of the overflow, and the effect of the rake on the concentration of solids in the discharge.

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MP08

EFFECT OF FINES CONTENT ON YIELD STRESS OF COPPER TAILINGS

N. Rojas. Instituto de Minerales CIMEX, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medelln, Colombia.

P. Garrido. Centro de Investigacin JRI S.A., Santiago, Chile

ABSTRACT Thickening calculation and design, hydraulic transport of mine slurries, and final disposition of tailings are some of the areas in which a rheological characterization containing at least viscosity and yield stress is indispensable. These rheological parameters depend on a number of variables. Among others, concentration of solids, pH, particle size distribution, Zeta potential, and the reagents eventually added. On the other hand, this rheology is intrinsic to each treated slurry, and varies throughout the life of a mining operation mainly due to changes in the geological units and/or modifications in operating conditions. This paper studies the influence of particle- size distribution on the rheological characteristics of tailings. Three sizes known as fines are considered: material under mesh 200 (74 micron), material under mesh 400 (37 micron), under mesh 500 (25 micron). Each of these is incorporated into the original tailings at different percentages, generating tailings with a new particle-size distribution, which are then rheologically characterized. With these results we are able to conclude that the three sizes of fines that were studied, especially the 37-micron size (under Tyler mesh 400), generate an increase in yield stress, shifting the yield stress curves versus the percentage of solids towards the left. This may have a decisive impact on the thickening, transport and disposition of slurries.

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MP09

STUDY ON SEPARATION OF ARSENIC FROM COPPER CONCENTRATE

Shigeto Kuroiwa, Daisuke Sato, Tatsuya lto, Misturu Sawada Metallurgist, Niihama Research Laboratories, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., LTD Tsuyoshi Hlrajima Professor, Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Faculty of engineering, Kyushu University

ABSTRACT Sumitomo Metal Mining Co.LTD, Niihama Research Laboratories (NRL) has been developing Cu/As separation technology from chemical approach (investigating and optimizing solid-liquid interfaces) and physical approach (studying the effect of flotation equipment). lnfluence of oxidization on the contact angle of tennantite, chalcopyrite, bornite and pyrite was investigated. When the surface was not oxidized, tennantite indicated similar contact angle to non-arsenical copper minerals, chalcopyrite and bornite. The contact angle of tennantite became smaller than that of the non-arsenical copper minerals when weak oxidization was applied. Effect of physical parameters of flotation equipment on separability of arsenic was also investigated. Results agreed with proposed flotation models, however above mentioned effect was small.

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MP11 TECHNICAL EVALUATION OF THE REPLACEMENT OF CONVENTIONAL FLOTATION CELLS BY FLOTATION CELLS PNEUMATIC IN THE BENEFIT OF COPPER ORES

Sergio Arellano G., Gonzalo Reyes M., Vctor Conejeros T. Universidad Catlica del Norte

ABSTRACT A company of the mining medium, located in the II Region of our country, requires to increase the treatment capacity of the current plant. Long enough to make the modifications, settled into place 2 G-Cell 18 type pneumatic cells that replace 100% to the primary circuit. The implementation of this type of cells relies mainly to the reduced space that they occupy and almost no structural alteration of what already exists, in addition, update the process to a technology that most recent flotation that could result in improvements mainly metallurgic. The general objective of this work, is to evaluate technically and economically the use of pneumatic cells, type G-Cell in a primary circuit of copper concentration. The methodology of work considered historical results of conventional circuit, a physical, chemical and mineralogical characterization of minerals to evaluate, samplings of workflows to obtain data that will assist in the preparation of comparative balances of technical results and the economic assessment that will affect the final decision of what mineral is that will benefit. Two types of sulfide minerals were evaluated: Sulfurado 1 and Sulfurado 2.

The main conclusion, derived from the results, both technical and economic, is achieved by processing ore from the Sulfurado 2.

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MP13

NEXT GENERATION PRESSURE FILTERS FOR HARD ROCK TAILINGS

T. Wisdom

ABSTRACT

The use of slurry impoundments have traditionally been the primary method of disposal of waste slurry resulting from the recovery of metals and minerals. However, current difficulties in obtaining permits to build new impoundments for grass-roots plants, or as the existing ones near the end of their projected life, has made it necessary to explore other alternatives for tailings disposal. Fresh water resources are becoming more precious, and environmental pressures are increasing leading to the elimination of slurry tailings impoundments. It is becoming more prudent to consider filtration and dry stacking as a reasonable and sustainable alternative. There are several obstacles to filtration as a way to treat these tailings. Many tailings slurries are difficult to filter and higher plant throughputs have in the past made filtration operations both costly to buy and to operate. But as with the equipment used to mine and move the harder lower grade ores, equipment to process the resulting tailings slurries have increased in size, efficiency, and capacity to meet the demand, as well as to reduce the number of people needed to operate them. This paper discusses the technical and financial considerations, OPEX and CAPEX, that influence equipment selection and optimization of the filter pressing system to produce a satisfactory, transportable and stackable tailings product. Multiple tailings samples have been investigated incorporating lab and pilot scale testing. The impact of different minerologies and grain size will be discussed.

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MP16

SEAWATER USE IN ANTOFAGASTA MINING GROUP

Francisco Abbott Minera Esperanza Gustavo Tapia Antofagasta Minerals S.A.

ABSTRACT

The Antofagasta plc mining group has been pioneer in the use of raw sea water in metallurgical process at big scale. In the 90 decade, Minera Michilla began successfully the use of sea water in the process of leaching copper oxide and secondary sulfide ore followed by SX-EW. At the end of 2010, Minera Esperanza commissioned a grinding and flotation plant processing 97 ktpd of sulfide ore, using raw sea water and applied an alternative depressant for pyrite in the cleaning stage.

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MP17

ANTAPACCAY TINTAYA EXPANSION D. Garca and J. Villanueva Concentradora Antapaccay, Xstrata, Peru

ABSTRACT Xstrata recently completed construction of a new 70,000 tonne per day copper concentrator near Cusco, Peru. Plant start-up was accomplished during the last quarter of 2012. Comminution will be accomplished by primary crushing, SAG milling and pebble crushing followed by ball milling. The Concentrator is a single line configuration, comprising of one 40 ft. diameter x 22 ft. long (EGL) SAG mill driven by a 24,000 kW gearless drive. The SAG mill feeds two ball mills each 26 ft. in diameter x 40 ft. long (EGL), each driven by a 16,400 kW through gearless drive. This represents the higher power of SAG in the world and the first 40 ft. SAG in Peru. This paper reviews the projects technology. This represents the first Xstratas Standard Concentrator, the higher power of SAG in the world and the first 40 ft. SAG in Peru, an overland conveyor of 6.5 km with gearless drive, the use of an old pit as tailings dam in big mining and the higher torque of tailings thickener. This paper reviews the history, the background, the grinding circuit design and the operations start-up considering focus in safety, start-up strategies, main issues, improvement opportunities.

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MP18

GRINDING CYCLE OPTIMIZATION FOR PROCESSING OF COPPER SLAG AT AURUBIS BULGARIA E.Visariev D. Kirilov; V. Stoilov; E. Djurova; I. Bonchev; V. Stoyanova; aurubis bulgaria Industrial zone Pirdop, Bulgaria 2070 ABSTRACT At Copper smelter Aurubis Bulgaria, the slag from Flash furnace and Converters is processed by flotation. The scheme of slag processing comprise: crushing, two stage grinding and flotation. Till 2010 the first grinding stage was AG Mill 7023 worked with classifier and the second stage - ball mill 3.6/5.5 with hydrocyclone. In 2010, a new AG Mill 65x78 with hydrocyclone was commissioned in order to increase the plant throughput. The second stage of grinding cycle was not changed. The Old AG mill processed 55-60 t/h slag with 75% content of size - 0.071 mm or over 75 t/h with 35-40% content of size -0.071 mm. The new AG Mill was designed for throughput of 105 t/h with over 70 % content of size 0.071 mm. After start-up some problems with the equipment occurred block-up of AG Mills grate and pumps for cyclone feeding. One of the main problems was a fast wearing of new AG mill hydrocyclone sand nozzles. Different nozzles materials (rubber, ceramic and metallic) were tested. This paper presents: Comparison of optimal working parameters of old and new working scheme; Change of technological parameters with different sands nozzles and its effect on circulating load;

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MP19

IMPROVED DEM MODEL FOR PREDICTING CONE CRUSHERS PERFORMANCE

Dr. V. Murariu and Dusty Jacobson Metso Minerals Industries, Inc.

ABSTRACT

Cone crushers have been applied in mineral processing or comminution circuits for more than five decades. In that period of time, the principle of machine selection and optimization have evolved from purely empirical methods (capacity tables and product size curves based on best practice) to include newer simulation based approaches. These simulation techniques combine the strength of theory with traditional population balance techniques. Metsos crusher simulation employs DEM with a proprietary fast breakage technique using the concept of incremental damage. This paper provides an overview of the Metso cone crusher simulation technology, and highlights the value of the virtual machine for equipment design and optimization.

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MP22

THE EFFECT OF FLOCCULANTS AND THEIR DEGRADATION PRODUCTS ON MOLYBDENITE FLOTATION

S. Castro Department of Metallurgical Enginering, University of Concepcion,Chile J.S. Laskowski NB Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver,Canada

ABSTRACT

Modern ore processing plants must have closed circuits in which process water is recycled back after removal of fine particles in the solid/liquid separation unit operations. Flotation of Cu-Mo ores includes two steps: a bulk flotation where molybdenite is recovered together with Cu and Fe sulfides; and a subsequent selective flotation step where molybdenite is separated from depressed copper sulfides. Flocculants are usually employed in Cu-Mo concentrate thickeners preceding the selective molybdenite flotation plant. However, the floatability of molybdenite, similarly to other naturally hydrophobic minerals, is highly sensitive to the effect of both natural and synthetic polymers. In this work flotation testing demostrate that conventional flocculants of the polyacrilamide type (PAM) are strong depressants for molybdenite flotation. Additionally, shear degraded polyacrylamides, in spite of loosing flocculation ability, are still able to depress molybdenite flotation. Also polyethylene oxide (PEO) have been studied in this project. The results show that its ability to flocculate is pH dependent. In slightly acidic pH PEO and PAM showed similar flocculation efficiencies on molybdenite suspensions. In alkaline pH, the flocculating and depressing effects of PEO increased. In the case of PAM, a simultaneous loss of flocculating and depressing efficiency was observed in alkaline pH. The proper use and selection of flocculants for better molybdenite recovery is discussed.

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MP24

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF BROWNFIELD PROJECTS

Fernando Pino Senior Process and Commissioning Engineer Jacobs Engineering, Chile

ABSTRACT

Projects are classified as Greenfield or Brownfield, the latter corresponding to those dealing with expansion, modification and/or optimization of existing operations. Usual thinking is that Brownfield Projects are easier to define and develop than Greenfield or new Projects; however, evidence shows that rather the opposite is true. Advantages of Brownfield Projects are the available improved knowledge of ore characteristics, metallurgical processing, unit operations, equipment performance and personnel know how. However, there are serious hurdles to overcome, such as: coordination between the EPCM Company, the Owner Project Manager and the Operations Manager; building additional facilities within a running operation under acceptable safety conditions; need to maintain production level during construction; connections or tie-ins of new facilities to the existing ones; possible modifications required due to technological evolution or changes in the ore nature; in this paper, some general recommendations are drawn from the analysis of selected typical cases, comprising tie-in identification, design, engineering, coordination and implementation; and planning the execution of modifications during normal and extraordinary plant detentions. Additionally, cases are analyzed for which innovations can have important effects on commissioning and start up schedule for both project types.

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MP26

FROTHER ROLES CHARACTERIZATION IN A LABORATORY FLOTATION CELL

C.O. Gomez, P. and J. Alvarez Universidad of Concepcin Departamento de Ingeniera Metalrgica Edmundo Larenas Concepcin, Chile

ABSTRACT Frothers play two major roles in flotation: preservation of the formation bubble size and stabilization of the froth. Many tests have been proposed to characterize one of these two functions and to classify frother strength based on the results obtained. A technique to characterize these two roles simultaneously, using a laboratory flotation column, was developed and successfully used to screen and select a replacement candidate for a particular concentrator. The test requires column steady state operation maintaining a constant froth height, which entails large volumes of plant water. A technique based on batch testing around a laboratory mechanical cell not only would demand less water, but also would make possible on-site testing. This communication presents the development results of a batch test to characterize frother roles in a laboratory mechanical cell, which is done through the determination of the critical coalescence concentration and the water overflow curve. Frothers tested follows the same classification sequence previously obtained in the column tests.

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MP28

SAG MILL DISCHARGE SECTION OPTIMIZATION STUDIES AND REDESIGN

DG Meadows, Luis Vergara, Thomas McQuillan, Horacio Marin

ABSTRACT The SAG mill is the primary work horse on the majority of comminution circuits throughout the globe. With declining head grades the need for higher throughput circuits has become prevalent particularly in Latin America. This paper describes the recent design knowledge and practical experience gained in both the areas of pulp lifters and integrated trommel design. The importance of system efficiency in terms of pulp removal is described together with the need for enhanced slurry distribution onto the trommel screen itself. Redesign starts with the replacement of the original OEM discharge mill linings, generally made of Cr-Mo steel alloy castings, by liners made from a steel-rubber-ceramic composite that acts by using each material property for specific work and application. Thus, very hard ceramic takes care of wear resistance, the rubber matrix underneath helps absorb impact loads and steel gives structural support, offering a more efficient solution for the service required workloads in terms of resistance/weight ratio and endurance. The unique and complete discharge process from the mill grates to the pebble collection chute at the end of the trommel was studied in depth. The flow of pulp through the SAG mill, discharge trunnion and trommel was modeled in detail using modern techniques such as SPH/CFD and DEM. This enabled the integral design of the pulp lifters, trunnion section, trommel and trommel panels to be optimized and then finely tuned for maximum throughput of fresh ore. The final result with an optimized discharge performance allows a more efficient energy usage and or a better ore processing mill capability that enhances its performance and so may pay back significant investment costs. Practical data relating to the influence on circuit operating times and availability are also described.

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MP29

INSTALLATION OF INTERNAL LAUNDERS ON 130 m FLOTATION CELLS AT MINERA LOS PELAMBRES

F.D. Henrquez and L. Maldonado Minera Los Pelambres Santiago, Chile

ABSTRACT In the last decades flotation equipment has shown a significant increase in size. At the present moment, most of the concentrators plants operating in Chile have been fully equipped with 130250 m mechanical cells and the new projects are considering the 300 m cell on its flotation circuits. This dramatic increase in size poses new challenges in terms to develop better approaches to optimize the operations. Originally, Minera Los Pelambres rougher Cu Mo flotation stage was equipped with 130 m in volume WEMCO cells with no internal launders on it. This paper describes the metallurgical comparison between two parallel flotation lines, one of them with recently internal launders installed on the three first cells. For this purpose, a six month sampling campaign was developed in order to obtain the metallurgical parameters of concentrate grade and recovery. The analyzed data demonstrated an improvement in the Cu and Mo recovery of about 0,11% due the effects of internal launders on cells stabilization and increase on the available concentrate discharge perimeter. This result led to extend the installation of these devises on the other three lines remaining on the three firs cells.

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MP30

CONCENTRATION OF COPPER OXIDE MINERAL WITH HYDROXAMATE

H. Nematollahi, F. Kiani and M. Asgari-Mehrabadi kian mine pars co.

ABSTRACT Takhate-Gonbad porphyry copper mine is located at the 80 km northeast of Sirjan, Kerman Province, south-east of Iran. The main mineralization zones of Takhate-Gonbad mine include: leached, oxide, mixed and hypogene. The main purpose of this study is beneficiation of oxide zone minerals by flotation. The flotation tests are carried out on samples obtained from 4 boreholes. The average grade of these samples are from 0.33 to 0.86% Total Cu. The host rock of these boreholes are different. They are: micro-granodiorite, silicified rocks, tuff and metamorphic rocks and calcite tuff. Regarding presence of both sulphide (i.e. chalcopyrite, covellite) and oxide (i.e. cuprite, malachite) minerals, flotation tests are carried out in different conditions, using different reagents. Based on these tests, the best results are obtained at pH=10.2 with 25 g/t of PAX and 500 g/t of octyl-hydroxamate. Under this circumstance, the grano-diorite sample is concentrated with 83.8 % of recovery (the highest one) and the silicified sample is concentrated with 35.0 % of recovery (the lowest one). Base on obtained results, all 4 boreholes was mixed together and flotation tests were done. The results show that it is possible to reach concentrate with copper contents15.51% in cleaner stages and 62.9% copper recovery in rougher stage.

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MP31

GRINDING CHEMISTRY THE APPLICATION OF GRINDING MEDIA TO IMPROVE METALLURGICAL RESPONSE OF COPPER ORES

Christopher J Greet and Jessica Kinal

ABSTRACT Numerous studies completed by academia and at industrial scale have consistently demonstrated that grinding with an electrochemically inert grinding media has significant benefits when processing copper ores. This paper provides a summary of pulp chemical and flotation response data for a variety of copper ores classified by geological type prepared using forged steel and high chrome grinding media. The results intend to show that the mineralogical character of the ore has a profound impact on the pulp chemistry and this effects the flotation behaviour of the sulphide minerals. Further, the choice of high chrome grinding media, to better control the chemical environment during grinding, is driven by the mineralogy of the system under consideration.

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MP33

NASH IN THE OPTIMIZATION OF COPPER FLOTATION CONCENTRATOR CUAJONE

J. Dvila, R. Llerena, N. Benavides and C. Curo. SOUTHERN COPPER SOUTHERN PER Cuajone Mining Camp Moquegua, Per

ABSTRACT Since early 2011, the type of rock ore that reached Cuajone Concentrator Plant showed high contents of basaltic andesite, andesite Intrusive (% IA +% BA) and surface oxide ores. This type of mineral affected the low recovery of Cu, low tonnage of treatment, and high consumption of sparkling lime. In addition to operating flotation problems, low stability in the area of foaming Rougher flotation stage. To improve the recovery of copper, sulphidation was considered, which involves the addition of reagents to provide ionS2- and SH-. The role of these ions is to modify completely the phisycal chemical nature of its surface structure, allowing the adsorption of collectors on it, and its subsequent flotation. In our case we use the sodium hydrosulphide (NaSH) as an agent to enable the affected species in the flotation of copper sulphides, andesites and oxidized surface. Cuajone Concentrator Plant started its trial period in 2011. With no technical background in the industry on the conditions, dosages and addition points of NaSH, it was experimented in different parts of the flotation. And, from September 2011, it has been determined that the dosage of 15% concentration in the head Rougher flotation at pH 10, improved copper recovery, reducing the consumption of frother and milk of lime, is also achievement stabilize flotation. The average copper recovery improved 2.3%, consumption of Cal and frother declined by 21% and 28% respectively.

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MP35

PREVENTING COPPER LOSS PRODUCTION AND FLOW PROBLEMS BY MEASURING THE MATERIALS FLOW PROPERTIES

O. Angulo and F. Cabrejos Jenike and Johanson Chile S.A.

ABSTRACT Hundreds of millions of tons of copper-containing products in particulate forms (such as ROM, crushed, agglomerated or leached ore, concentrate, or tailings), having different characteristics (like particle size distribution, shape and density, moisture content, chemical, mineralogical and lithological composition), are daily handled, stored and conveyed in the world through different equipment at the different stages of the copper minerallurgical processes. In these processes, operators commonly face problems such as loss of production, flow blockages in the equipment, segregation, equipment wear, uncontrolled discharge and occasionally unexpected plant shutdowns. Due to the huge investments involved in world class projects, the mining industry is particularly sensitive to them. The purpose of this paper is to provide a cost effective solution to flow problems in the mining industry, by highlighting a well proven and scientific method used to ensure controlled and reliable flow of bulk solids, based on Jenikes flow of solids technology and laboratory testing [1]. Knowledge of the material flow properties allows designing new installations or modifying existing defective equipment, and preventing production stoppages due to the formation of chute pluggages, cohesive arches and/or ratholes in silos, which are the most common causes of flow problems in the copper mining industry.

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MP36

THERMODYNAMIC CONSTANTS OF MINERALS OF THE OXIDATION ZONE OF COPPER ANTLERITE AND PSEUDOMALACHITE

N.S. Bekturganov SC National scientific-technological holding Parasat 18 Republic Ave. Astana, Kazakhstan 010000 M.R. Bissengaliyeva, D.B. Gogol and Sh.T. Taimassova The Institute of problems of complex development of mineral resources 5 Ippodromnaya Street Karaganda, Kazakhstan 100019

ABSTRACT Minerals of the oxidation zone of copper deposits belong to the most difficult for enrichment. To transfer them into the easily floatable sulfide components it is necessary to have new technologies and methods of enrichment associated with solving of a number of theoretical issues to which the chemical enrichment refers. Optimization and intensification of the technology process for the purpose of more complete and complex utilization of raw materials require certain knowledge of thermodynamic properties of the oxidized minerals since the thermodynamic analysis and a preliminary simulation of the process are necessary for creation and choice of ore processing schemes. A basic sulfate of copper antlerite and a basic phosphate of copper pseudomalachite relate to these minerals along with malachite, azurite, atacamite, chrysocolla, brochantite, etc. This paper generalizes the results of experimental studies of thermodynamic properties of antlerite and pseudomalachite obtained by a number of the calorimetric methods (low-temperature adiabatic calorimetry, the Tian-Calvet high-temperature melt solution calorimetry). This resulted in obtaining such fundamental thermodynamic constants as the heat capacity, entropy, the change of enthalpy, the enthalpy of formation and the Gibbs energy of formation used in simulation of technological processes of processing of the oxidized and mixed copper ores.

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MP38

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN FLOTATION COLUMN INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL

R. del Villar, J. Bouchard Department of Mining, Materials and Metallurgical Engineering

A. Desbiens, . Poulin Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering LOOP (Laboratoire dobservation et doptimisation des procds) Universit Laval Qubec (QC), Canada

ABSTRACT For over two decades, the Process Observation and Optimisation Laboratory (LOOP) has been working in developing and/or improving specific sensors for flotation columns and their use for process control. Numerous papers have already been published for the Mineral Processing industrial and scientific community in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, e.g. for the Copper Conference series. This paper summarizes the latest completed milestones by the group, since the last Copper conference held in Chile in 2003, emphasizing on results presented in North America and Europe since Copper 2010. On the instrumentation side, developments encompass a more accurate method for measuring electrical conductivity for flotation column sensors, a device for estimating the bias rate, a better procedure for evaluating bubble size from images taken by bubble viewers, and a method for on line estimation of frother concentration. In terms of process control advances, the discussion will focus on results for bubble size control in a two-phase system, and the application of a 3x3 multivariable predictive control to a pilot flotation column running in parallel to industrial columns in a Qubec concentrator. Current investigations on bubble size distribution modeling and control, as well as matching bubble size to particle size will be discussed.

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MP39

METALLURGICAL OPTIMIZATION OF A HIGH DISSEMINATION AND HIGH HARDNESS COPPER ORE

Ral Jara Iturre Empresa Minera Altos de Punitaqui Miguel Aguirre 280 - Oficinas 47-48. Ovalle Luis Tello Muoz, Cristian Gonzalez Bravo, Hector Guinel Figueroa Empresa Minera Altos de Punitaqui Miguel Aguirre 280 - Oficinas 47-48. Ovalle

ABSTRACT Minera Altos de Punitaqui owns a concentrator plant near Punitaqui City, 12 km south from Ovalle City located in northern Chiles Fourth Region. This Concentrator plant processes about 3,500 DMT/day and produces 43,000 DMT/year of concentrate with 28% copper content and some silver content. In early 2012, the plants copper recovery was approximately 77%. According to mining standards, this is a low recovery rate, although earlier mineralogical and metallurgical studies indicated that the maximum possible recovery wouldnt be higher than 80% due to the high value dissemination in the feed ore. The plant superintendence and its technical team developed a work plan resulting in systematic enhancements to the flotation process; the operational variability decreased and relevant conditions were modified, including the flotation circuit and process variables; to end up that year with a steady state recovery of 80 82% with a quality of more than 27% copper, 2% higher than the 2011 average. In 2013 without any investment in flotation cells the flotation capacity has been increased from 3,100 DMT/day to 3,500 DMT/day with higher copper recovery. This comes with the bonus alternative of using the idle capacity to process other third party minerals adding further profitability to the Altos de Punitaqui site. This paper describes both the optimization strategy applied and the improvement results, underlining the virtuous triangle made up by a well-organized operation, the metallurgical laboratory support and the support received from the industrial process analysis, modelling and simulation.

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MP40

MARINE TAILINGS PLACEMENT: EXPERIENCES AND LESSONS FROM THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION

D. Gwyther Picton Group Pty Ltd 30 Malpas Drive Wallington Vic3222, Australia dg@pictongroup.com.au J. Waworuntu P.T. Newmont Nusa Tenggara, Jalan Sriwijaya 258 Mataram, Indonesia Jorina.waworuntu@nnt.co.id

ABSTRACT This presentation looks at some of the advancements in operating and monitoring that have accompanied the implementation of deep sea tailings placement (DSTP) in the Asia Pacific region over the past 20 years. It describes the guidelines and criteria that have been developed to ensure that DSTP systems are properly assessed and located prior to approval and throughout operation and closure. In considering the potential applicability of these experiences to countries such as Chile, substantial research will clearly be required to establish equivalent criteria to achieve the same objectives and environmental safeguards in the Chilean socio-political context. However, just as important for gaining acceptability will be the acknowledgement by governments and all sectors of the community of the existence of the dilemma now or at some time into the future that if the currently accepted land storage methods reach their physical or safety limits, alternative storage methods will need to be considered. DSTP cannot be a solution without broad community acknowledgement that a dilemma about future mine tailings management needs to be faced. It is the role of governments, informed by scientific study, to evaluate the best solution for future tailings management for the country in each case.

Mineral Processing MP41

MODELLING BUBBLE HYDRODYNAMICS IN FLOTATION

C.O. Gomez and J.A. Finch McGill University 3610 University Street Montreal, Canada H3A 2B2 cesar.gomez@mcgill.ca M. Maldonado Departamento de Ingeniera Metalrgica Universidad de Santiago de Chile Avenida Libertador Bernardo OHiggins 3363 Santiago, Chile

ABSTRACT Three parameters are generally used to describe gas dispersion in a flotation machine: superficial gas (air) velocity, gas holdup and bubble size. Techniques and sensors to measure local values of these parameters, including industrial flotation units, have been developed. A model relating these variables, which was developed based on a drift-flux analysis of bubble hydrodynamics, has been available for many years. The model has been mainly used to predict one variable (typically bubble size) from measurements of the other two. Gas dispersion measurements in laboratory and industrial units have demonstrated that in many cases significant differences between measurement and model prediction exist. A reliable model to predict properties of bubble populations would help in the selection and operation of flotation equipment. This work takes laboratory air-water data sets to establish the adequacy of the equations in the drift-flux model. The results demonstrated that ignoring the effect of frother on bubble terminal and swarm velocities is the reason for the poor model prediction.

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MP42

PRIMARY CRITERIA FOR PRESSURE COPPER LEACHING PROCESS SELECTION

G. Debernardi, R. Souyris and M. Gianetti DESSAU CHILE INGENIERA Ricardo Lyon 222, Piso 10, Providencia Santiago, Chile gianfranco.debernardi@dessau.cl raul.souyris@dessau.cl J. Menacho De Re Metallica Ingeniera Av. del Valle 601, oficina 31, Huechuraba Santiago, Chile jorgemenacho@drm.cl

ABSTRACT Several hydrometallurgical processes for high and moderate pressure leaching of copper sulfides have been developed in the past years, such as the Total Pressure Oxidation, Sepon, Platsol, Mt. Gordon, AAC/UBC, Dynatec, CESL, Activox and MT-DEW-SX processes. Nowadays, several are under industrial scale application, or well tested at pilot scale level. The basics and current status of these processes is briefly reviewed, with special consideration on their applicability to the leaching of different copper ores, depending on its sulfide mineralogy and occurrence of impurities such as arsenic and the presence of other valuable metals. A comparison of the general conditions in the autoclave leaching for each process is presented, and a decision tree is proposed for a simple choice of the best technology for a given application from a process point of view, before proceeding to perform feasibility study.

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MP43 STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF RECLAIM TUNNELS ADDRESSED AS A MINGA

Rodrigo Huenchulln G., Civil Structural Engineer, Sr.,

This work compiles the ideas contributed from both a number of structural engineers and designers who have addressed the structural design of reclaim tunnels as well as from people related to other engineering disciplines, as if it was a minga(*) in order to tackle the topic in a more comprehensive way. While in the process, an attempt will be done to shed more light on some concepts that in structural practice have been addressed in many different ways, mainly as a result of the scarce reference material on criteria and national and international codes to be applied on their design. Seismic and mineral-associated loads are specially analyzed as well as important design aspects.

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MP44 IMPROVED COPPER AND GOLD RECOVERY AT KGHM INTERNATIONALS ROBINSON MINE Lorin Redden FLSmidth Salt Lake City, Inc. 7158 South FLSmidth Drive Midvale, Utah 84098 lorin.redden@flsmidth.com Chase Stevens, Mark OBrien and Thomas Bender KGHM International Ltd., Robinson Nevada Mining Company 4232 West White Pine County Road 44 P.O. Box 382 Ruth, Nevada

ABSTRACT In an effort to recover additional copper and gold at KGHM Internationals Robinson Mine located near Ruth, Nevada, an in-plant study was undertaken to quantify potential flotation recoveries from the concentrators final tailings stream. Tests were conducted by passing a small continuous sample of final tailings though a single 1.5 m 3 demonstration flotation machine. Two phases of testing were conducted on differing ore types. Results indicated that up to 30% of the contained copper was recoverable along with significant quantities of gold. Based on these results, the existing flotation circuit was expanded by installing four (4) 160 m3 FLSmidth XCELL flotation machines to treat the final tailings stream. This paper reviews the results obtained from the in-plant testing with the single 1.5 m3 flotation cell and provides a comparison to the subsequent operational performance of multiple 160 m3 flotation machines.

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MP45 MODELLING BUBBLES GOING THROUGH FLOTATION CELLS Jorge M. Menacho and Juan Rodrguez De Re Metallica Consultant, Av. Del Valle 601, Oficina 31, Huechuraba, Santiago, Chile, (562)-738-4493, drm@drm.cl

ABSTRACT A new phenomenological approach is presented in this paper, in which bubble dynamics is described from the bubble generator, going through the slurry phase, where they move within a turbulent circulating field subjected to simultaneous rupture and coalescence phenomena, both controlled by the frother HLB and dosage. Size growth simultaneously occurs due to lower pressure as bubbles move up. After a time bubbles arrive to a compaction zone where porosity is reduced becoming a continuous bed. Then the bubble bed enter the froth phase moving upward in plug flow condition and capillary drainage occurs getting bubbles even closer and promoting further coalescence, such that in the final froth zone bubbles are nearly impervious to washing water. Equations representing the above-described physical model are presented and several examples of performance are given.

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MP47 PNEUMATIC FLOTATION IMHOFLOT PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY IN CHILEAN MINING

S.E. Snchez-Pino1, S.A. Snchez-Baquedano1, R.M.Imhof2, H. Sprenger2
1 2

Ingeniera de Minerales S A Maelgwyn Mineral Services L.

Washington St. 2653 Of. 501, Antofagasta, Chile, sanchezpinosamuel@gmail.com

ABSTRACT Pneumatic flotation technology (Imhoflot) is already in the Chilean Copper Mining Industry since 1992, Ingeniera de Minerales S.A. (IDM) together with the designer Dr. Rainer Imhof from Germany through his Company Maelgwyn Mineral Service Limited (MMS). Successful industrial application are already working at Los Pelambres in Molybdenum Plant, Codelco Andina as pre rougher to end concentrate, also Molybdenum Plant, Las Luces Plant in Copper concentrator, as pre rougher to end concentrate using sea water, Minera Valle Aconcagua processing a full automatic plant fed pre concentrate from Codelco Andina fresh tailing. Also it was a positive copper application at Minera Michilla, using sea water and Minera Tamaya for Copper Gold mineral. Positive operational changes in flotation circuit designs have been installed in production circuits using G cell and vertical cell, improving performance of flotation circuits and quality of end products. High concentration of bubbles and micro turbulence from aeration unit design, provide high probability of collision and attachment, reducing dramatically the residence time, self-sucking air, low maintenance, full automation process and small surface to montage this kind of plants are some of the main the advantages. Rotation phenomenon introduced in the vessel of the G Cell creates radial separation forces which are the main key to separate faster the bubbles with concentrate from the tailing and the high selectivity to get concentrate, introducing also a very short residence time in the separation vessel. As result of the industrial experience in Chile, the pneumatic flotation type G Cell can be regarded as a technology which has to be considered to remove quickly fines and ultra-fines liberated particles to end concentrate, reducing the recycling load in the conventional flotation circuits and this could be consider as a pre rougher cell to produce end concentrate directly.

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MP48 REMOTE SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE PROCESS RESULTS AT CONCENTRATOR PLANTS Jorge M. Menacho De Re Metallica Consultant, Av. Del Valle 601, Oficina 31, Huechuraba, Santiago, Chile, (562)-738-4493, drm@drm.cl

ABSTRACT A new approach to improve operational managing at concentrator plants is described in this paper. It combines robust process models connected to intelligent algorithms specially designed for specific goals, all settled into a powerful communication platform which assure maximum usability through remote applications. This approach combines expert knowledge and modern cloud computing technology to produce efficient tools for monitoring, optimization and control of critical operational issues. Specific examples are given showing potentiality of these tools, directed toward increasing of productivity and efficiency, reducing water and energy consumption and improving communities and environment friendship.