International Journal of Mineral Processing, 7 (1980) 91--116 91

Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam -- Printed in The Netherlands

A HIERARCHICAL PROCEDURE FOR ADJUSTMENT AND MATERIAL

BALANCING OF MINERAL PROCESSES DATA

D. HODOUIN and M.D. EVERELL

D~partement de Mines et M~tallurgie, UniversitO Laval, QuObec (Canada)
(Received November 24, 1979; revised version accepted April 22, 1980)

ABSTRACT

Hodouin, D. and Everell, M.D., 1980. A hierarchical procedure for adjustment and
material balancing of mineral processes data. Int. J. Miner. Process., 7: 91--116.

In order to evaluate and model mineral processes, it is very useful to obtain consistent
data in order to satisfy mass conservation. Since collected data are often redundant and
erroneous due to natural disturbances, sampling errors, unreliable instrument readouts
and laboratory analyses inaccuracies, they must be adjusted. The proposed procedure to
minimize the weighted sum of squared residuals consists in a supervisory program
working on a set of independent variables necessary to define overall ore flow rates.
Within this algorithm, the variables are separated into two sets: the microscopic ones
(particle size distributions, chemical assays... ) and the macroscopic ones (flow rates,
mass fraction of solids in p u l p . . . ) , each set corresponding to a part of the sum of squares
criterion to be minimized. The minimum of the microscopic part of this function can be
found directly since the constraints are linear and the function quadratic. The macroscopic
part is minimized using the standard Powell algorithm which is also used as supervisory
algorithm. The material balance constraints are written using matrix formalism and flow-
network description of the circuit. Three industrial application examples are given: a flota-
tion circuit for which ten chemical elements were analyzed, a grinding circuit closed by
DSM screens and a three-stages grinding circuit with rod, ball mills and hydrocyclones.

INTRODUCTION

T o p r o p e r l y o p e r a t e a m i n e r a l b e n e f i c i a t i o n p l a n t o r p r o c e s s , it is e x t r e m e -
ly useful, in a basic step, t o h a v e s y s t e m a t i c e v a l u a t i o n s o f t h e p e r f o r m a n c e
o f t h e m a c h i n e r y , t h e p r o c e s s or t h e w h o l e p l a n t . W h a t e v e r t h e p u r p o s e o f
t h e s e e v a l u a t i o n s , w h i c h can s i m p l y be t h e k n o w l e d g e o f t h e i n p u t s / o u t p u t s
o f a p r o c e s s or, a t t h e o t h e r e n d , t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f an o p t i m a l c o n t r o l
s t r a t e g y in t h e c o n c e n t r a t o r , t h e s t u d i e s b e g i n i n v a r i a b l y b y a c o l l e c t i o n o f
m e a s u r e m e n t s . T h e m i n e r a l p r o c e s s i n g p l a n t s are g e n e r a l l y p o o r l y i n s t r u m e n t e d
a n d t h e r e is a c o n s i d e r a b l e l a c k o f i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e s t a t e o f t h e p r o c e s s .
F r e q u e n t l y , d a t a m u s t be c o l l e c t e d t h r o u g h h a n d s a m p l i n g a n d a n a l y s i s , since
t h e c o n t r o l - r o o m r e a d o u t s are o f t e n i n e f f i c i e n t t o o b t a i n a s h a r p i m a g e o f t h e
p r o c e s s . G e n e r a l l y , m a i n v a r i a b l e s such as t h e f l o w r a t e s o f v a r i o u s s l u r r y

0301-7516/80/0000--0000/$02.25 © 1980 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company

92

streams are n o t m e a s u r e d and m u s t be o b t a i n e d b y c o m p u t a t i o n . F u r t h e r -

m o r e , due t o the n a t u r e o f mineral processes, it is e x t r e m e l y difficult t o ob-
tain g o o d samples and g o o d m e a s u r e m e n t s . All these reasons explain w h y the
state o f mineral processes is generally n o t precisely k n o w n on a r o u t i n e basis.
T e c h n i q u e s o f d a t a a d j u s t m e n t and material balance, such as the one
p r e s e n t e d here, are very p o w e r f u l t o o l s t o s y s t e m a t i c a l l y o b t a i n the best
" i m a g e " o f the state o f the process. These p r o c e d u r e s are, f o r example, very
useful f o r process m o d e l l i n g and i m p r o v e n o t a b l y the q u a l i t y o f the m o d e l s
while decreasing the q u a n t i t y o f e x p e r i m e n t s necessary t o o b t a i n the desired
i n f o r m a t i o n . T h e y are also valuable t o o l s f o r d e t e r m i n i n g b e t t e r o p e r a t i n g
c o n d i t i o n s and i m p r o v i n g p l a n t e c o n o m i c s .
The raw d a t a o b t a i n e d a b o u t a mineral processing circuit are generally very
i n c o n s i s t e n t f r o m a material balance view-point, and are also r e d u n d a n t .
Calculation results c o n s e q u e n t l y d e p e n d on t h e m e t h o d used and this is
especially true f o r circulating loads w h i c h can be o b t a i n e d b y several formulae.
The p u r p o s e o f the least-squares p r o c e d u r e p r e s e n t e d here is to o b t a i n a
s y s t e m a t i c and versatile m e t h o d t o calculate various flow rates o f the streams
o f a process and t o c o r r e c t the raw d a t a f o r the errors o n m e a s u r e m e n t s in
o r d e r to m a k e t h e m consistent. First o f all, the material balance e q u a t i o n s
will be p r e s e n t e d using a general f l o w - n e t w o r k description. Then, a hierarchi-
cai t e c h n i q u e o f m i n i m i z a t i o n o f the sum o f squared deviations b e t w e e n cor-
r e c t e d and m e a s u r e d variables will be explained. T h r e e industrial e x a m p l e s
have been selected f o r a p p l i c a t i o n o f the p r o p o s e d m e t h o d .

NOMENCLATURE
_ L

a, ak, aki column matrices of microscopic measurements respectively all data,

data for k-th sub-network, data for k-th sub-network and i-th element
analyzed
Aki (or Ai) diagonal matrices of microscopic measurements aki
A k (or A) matrix (Akl . . . . . Ak~,... , Aknk)
b column matrix of macroscopic measurements
Bk, bk matrices for constraints on particle size distributions
D, D w column matrix of ore and water flow rates
Di, DI ore flow rate on j-th branch and first branch
D.TM water flow rate on j-th branch
1
d,d* column matrix of relative ore flow rates and an estimate
dk column matrix of relative ore flow rates in network k
Hmic, Hmac microscopic and macroscopic systems of constraints
i, j, k index of element, branch and micro-network
J, Jmio Jmac least-squares function for all data, microscopic data and macroscopic
data
Jk, Jk~ least-squares function for microscopic data in network k, and for
element i in network k
L,l matrices for transformation of independent relative ore flow rates to
all relative ore flow rates
Lki Lagrangian associated to Jki
number of nodes, water nodes and solid nodes
 93

mk flow-matrix of k-th sub-network

mk n u m b e r of solid nodes in the k-th sub-network
M, M w n e t w o r k matrices for ore and water
M , , M 2 , M w, M w sub-matrices o f the row-echelon forms o f M and M w
M block diagonal m a t r i x o f n k matrices m k
n k (or n) n u m b e r of microscopic elements in k-th sub-network
P, Pw, Ps n u m b e r of branches, water branches and ore branches
Pk n u m b e r of ore branches in k-th sub-network
q n u m b e r of microscopic sub-networks
r rank of matrix M
t rank of matrix M w
V, Vmic, Vma c covariance matrices of all data, microscopic data and macroscopic
data
Yk, %i covariance matrices o f microscopic data of n e t w o r k k and o f i-th
element in n e t w o r k k
x, x*, Xm, x u microscopic variables: all variables, one of their estimates, measured
variables, u n m e a s u r e d variables ( c o l u m n matrices)
x k , Xki, xk]i microscopic variables in k-th n e t w o r k : all variables, variables for i-th
element, variable for ]-th branch and i-th e l e m e n t
xki diagonal matrix of x k i
y, y* macroscopic measured variables and value after m a c r o s c o p i c variables
adjustment
y() f u n c t i o n expressing the relationship b e t w e e n y, D1, d and D w
Z, Z i intermediate matrices used for calculation o f adjustments on size
distributions
o~ matrix A M T M A
6, 5 k diagonal matrices corresponding to d and d k
~'i matrix m 6 V i 6 m r
x Lagrange multipliers c o l u m n m a t r i x
o c o l u m n matrix of i n d e p e n d e n t relative ore flow rates
T matrix transposition

SELECTION OF THREE INDUSTRIAL EXAMPLES

In order to test and demonstrate the use of the procedure developed here,
three practical examples have been selected, one for the flotation process and
two for the comminution process.

Flotation circuit

The circuit represented in Fig. 1 concentrates copper and lead sulfides of a

fine-grained pyritic Zn-Pb-Cu ore. After the roughing stage, there are three
cleaning stages and two scavenging stages. The railings of the cleaner scavenger
are combined with those of another parallel circuit, thickened and reground
before being recycled as rougher scavenger feed. The pulp flowing in this
circuit has been sampled as indicated on Fig. 1 and analyzed for Cu, Pb, Zn
and seven other chemical elements. A total of 150 assays is thus available
around this circuit but no flow rate measurements were performed. The
problem faced here is to optimally use the 150 assays in order to obtain a
good measure of the flows in the flotation circuit.
94

FEED
-O- ROUGHER I - - g ' - z - ~ I S C A V E N G E R
I

3
CONC.

THICKENER

,B To other flotation unit From other

t t7
secondary scavenger
O BRANCHES SAMPLED FOR I0 ELEMENTS ANALYSIS

Fig. 1. F l o t a t i o n circuit flow-sheet.

Comminution circuit with DSM classifiers

In the circuit represented on Fig. 2, the ore is firstly ground in a rod mill
and then preclassified in a two-stages unit of DSM screens. The oversize of
the screens is thickened by a screw classifier before being fed to a grate dis-
charge ball mill. Pulp samples have been collected at locations indicated on
Fig. 2 and analyzed for particle size distribution and for mass fraction of
solids in the pulp. The only flow rate measured was that of the wet ore fed
to the rod mill. The objective was here to obtain a complete and consistent
image of the circuit in order to elaborate a simulator of the c o m m i n u t i o n
circuit.

Comrninution circuit with cyclone classifiers

In the circuit represented on Fig. 3, the ore is ground in a rod mill and then
fed to two closed ball milling systems in series. In each stage, the ore is pre-
classified in a cyclopack before feeding the mill. The pulp was sampled in
various streams for sieving analysis and mass fraction of solids measurement.
For the secondary circuit, the particle size distributions were analyzed with
 95

r • JDSM I
13 5 ,i 4 i~~ 6 ~ D S M 2
HzOIL2 H20
£¢:~w , -'~ T O % M I N G
- ~ i ROD MILL ~.7"L'~.:.', . . . . H CIRCUITAND
~L~bblr"I#..~J FLOTATION

SUMP H20 H20

• SAMPLED FOR SIZE DISTRIBUTION AND PULP PERCENT SOLIDS.

0 FLOW RATE MEASUREMENT.

Fig. 2. Flow-sheet of the grinding circuit with DSM classifiers.

To thickener and flotation

_3j
Wet ore

14 0 • 0 tl2
H20

HzO H20
SAMPLED FOR { SIZE DISTRIBUTION
PULP PERCENT SOLIDS

0 FLOW RATES MEASUREMENTS

Fig. 3. Flow-sheet of the grinding circuit with cyclone classifiers.

a cyclosizer in the sub-sieve range and c o n c e n t r a t i o n analyses were performed

a r o u n d the s e c o n d a r y c y c l o n e . The ore feed rate to the circuit and various
water f l o w rates were also measured. The objective of the study was, as for
the previous example, to obtain appropriate data for the d e v e l o p m e n t o f a
mathematical simulator o f this circuit ( H o d o u i n et al., 1 9 7 8 ) .

FLOW-NETWORKS AND MATERIAL BALANCE EQUATIONS

It is very valuable to describe a mineral processing circuit in terms of a net-

w o r k o f branches and nodes, in order to formulate general e q u a t i o n s of
material flows and conservation. A branch corresponds t o a process element
in w h i c h o n l y material transport takes place, and a n o d e a l o c a t i o n where
96

various branches connect. This description, applied t o the overall flow of

ore and water, leads t o the macroscopic n e t w o r k and the corresponding
variables are called the macroscopic variables, and applied to the particle size
distributions or chemical analyses, it leads to the microscopic n e t w o r k and
to the corresponding microscopic variables.

Macroscopic network

F o r the overall material (pulp, water or ore), one can define a flow
diagram with m nodes and p branches. Within these p branches, there are Pw
and Ps branches in which respectively only water or only solids is flowing.
F u r th er mo r e, there are mw " w a t e r n o d e s " and ms " o r e nodes". A water node
is defined as a node at which only water branches c o n n e c t and similarly for
an ore node. As a consequence, there are p - P w - P s "pul p branches" and
m - r o w - m s " p u l p nodes".
Two sub-networks can be defined, one for the ore and one for the water.
The ore n e t w o r k contains p - p w branches and m - m w nodes and the water
n e t w o r k contains p - P s branches and m - m s nodes. For c o m p u t a t i o n purpose,
it is useful to a d o p t a matrix representation of these flow diagrams. The
matrix entries take the form 0, 1 or -1 depending upon the existence and
direction of flow of a process stream at a particular node (+1 for incoming
stream and - 1 for o u t c o m i n g stream). Dimensions of the n e t w o r k matrix of
the ore sub-diagram are ( m - m w , P-Pw) and those of the n e t w o r k matrix of
the water sub-diagram are ( m - m s , P-Ps).
F o r each o f these sub-systems, it is necessary, for c o m p u t a t i o n purposes,
to determine the i n d e p e n d e n t branches. A set of i ndependent branches is
such th at all the flow rates of the n e t w o r k can be calculated if the values for
the i n d e p e n d e n t branches are known. Such a set can be found by techniques
used for solving linear systems by gaussian elimination (Anton, 1977).
Elemen tar y operations on rows transform the initial n e t w o r k matrix into a
" r o w - e c h e l o n " f o r m in which the i n d e p e n d e n t branches becom e obvious. In
the present study, we use the following row-echelon form:
branches

X X X X X X ~ 0
nodes
X X X X X X ]8
X X X X X X X

where a cross stands for -1, 1 or 0, and ~ for -1 or +1, and 0 for null values.
Due to the simple structure of the flow diagram matrices which contain
only 1, - 1 or 0 terms, and a m a x i m u m n u m b e r of t w o elements differing from
zero in each column, one of the various row-echelon forms can be obtained
simply by m o d i f y i n g the initial ordering sequence of nodes and branches. By
this procedure, one obtains a new matrix which represents the same initial
 97

flow diagram and consists in the juxtaposition of two block matrices, one
which is rectangular and one which is lower triangular. The branches of the
first matrix block constitute a set of independent branches. Using this trans-
formation, the t w o n e t w o r k matrices for ore and water can be written as:
M = (M~, M=) (la)
Mw (M w,M w)
= (15)

where indices 1 and 2 stand, respectively, for rectangular and triangular blocks
and where dimensions are:
(m-row, p-pw-m+mw) forM1
(m-mw, rn-mw) forM2
(m-ms , p-ps-m+ms) form w
(m-ms , m-ms) for M w

Figures 4a, 5a, b and 6a, b give the networks of ore and water for the three
industrial examples considered. For illustration of the method, in example 2,
ROUGHER SCAVENGER I

FEED ~ ~ TAILINGS
/ N

o-M0crosco w0rk

CLEANER I I I~ I SCAVENGER2
CONCENTRATE ~ . . I ,,.~__L_%........~ ] . I " ' "

CLEANER
TAILINGS

FEED ~ i I
b-~cp~CemN~ ~ /Pulp in stream 6
analysis) 51 [ ,arrives from stream J
CONCENTRATE ~.L 12 \ 13 and other circuit./

Fig. 4. Macroscopic and microscopic networks for flotation circuit of Fig. 1.

 FEED SUMP I CYCLONE I SUMP 2 CYCLONE2 e.o
_. F~DMiLL SUMP .DSM 1 DSM 2 00
I .~ I 7 I j ( Humidity ) I .- i .-
I II "'2~ I II "'5" ]]I "~6 -T~7"7 , I 2 t- 5 "'" 6 "~ 7 I0 TO THICKENER
FEEDk.J' ~ 'CA,...,,. ~ TO DESLIMING "y "",.i/41,..~ ',.T j ~ ~ AND FLOTATION
(Humi~'y) T ~ ~ 26 CIRCUITAND
~I ~ ~ "1% FLOTAT,ON '" 1'~ ~ ;~ ._ 'tL ._"4..2
I ~ "F" SCREW
.CLASSIFIER a-Mocroscopic Nel o ( ) I mS:i I
~ I m,,:2 I
a-Mocr°s -- BALL MILL
F -~
I !:_:_4 j F~, ,, 4 5 , , 8 ", "l
(Ore) suIvIPI ~ C'I sUIMP2 L J j C'2
b-Mecroscopic Network (Ore)

q =5
SUMP I CI SUMP 2 C 2 ~
I P =1 I
ROD .-J .-"" I"" ~-'~
MIL~_ "" 5 " 6 " 7 ~10 [ ;, =91
I I
DIS % "T5 3Fo T9
CARGE'h ;5 t8 ;9 I"' :'61
(Sieve onolysis)
b- MGcroscqpi_£ (O_£e)

CI ~ I 0 ~
OVER-X.J V
FLOW 18 ;9
(Cyclosizer analysis )
2 ~ 5 ~ 7TODESLIMING
D ~'~ ~ ) ( Z--:~CIRCUITAND

C2 7 _ ~ IO b
FEEDy
(Chemicol ossay)
c- Microscopic Networks
U~O~,n~R~E "T / BALL MILL
c-Microscopic (Size distributions) ~11 FEED

Fig. 5. Macroscopic and microscopic networks for grinding Fig. 6. Macroscopic and microscopic networks for grinding
circuit of Fig. 2. circuit of Fig. 3.
 99

the M w matrix can be taken as:

branches

1 3 4 8 12 13 14 15 9 11 2 10 5 16 6 7

0 -1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 O'
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 -1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 0 1 0 0 0 0
nodes
0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 -1 0 0 0
0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 0 1 0 0
0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 -1 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 1 -1

Using this matrix description, it is easy to express the conservation of ore

and water at each node of t he networks. Considering the column matrices D
and D w o f the ore and water flow rates:
Dr = (D~, D 2 . . . , Dp_pw ) (2a)
D w~ = (D w, D ~ . . . , D pw_ p s ) (2b)
the ore and water balance equations can be written as:

MD = O, and (3a)
MWD w = 0 (3b)

Microscopic n e t w o r k

The same p r ocedur e can be applied f o r expressing the microscopic material

conservation. It m a y arise t h a t the microscopic flow diagram is identical to
the ore sub-diagram but, in general, it is not. The main reason for t h a t is the
presence of chemical reactions or grinding. Through a grinding mill, there is
conservation of macroscopic flow rates, but there is no conservation of size
distributions. So in a microscopic flow diagram, the nodes corresponding to
grinding mills must disappear. F u r t h e r m o r e , different analyses can be per-
f o r m e d on different sub-networks of the process. For example, on a flotation
circuit, Cu and Pb m a y be analyzed on a set of branches and Cu, Zn and Fe
on a d if f er ent set of branches. In this case, there must be t w o distinct micro-
scopic flow diagrams and each one is usually different from the macroscopic
one. Oth er reasons can also explain the difference between macro and micro
diagrams as will be shown in the industrial flotation example.
Let us consider t h a t q sub-networks are thus defined, each corresponding
100

to a type of analysis and indexed by k (k = 1 , . . . , q). In each sub-network k,

nk elements indexed by i (i -- 1, . . . , nk) have been analyzed (nk chemical
elements or nk particle size intervals). A matrix representation can be used as
in the case of macroscopic variables. If m k is the flow matrix of the k-th
microscopic sub-network containing P k branches, the conservation of micro-
scopic elements can be expressed by the following material balance equations:
mk Xkidk = mkSkXki = 0 (4)

where Xki is the diagonal matrix of the concentrations of element i (column

vector Xki ) and where Sk is the diagonal matrix of the P k relative ore flow
rates; the corresponding column vector d k is a sub-set of the d values defined
by:
d = D/D1 (5)
if the branch 1 is considered as the reference branch for ore flow rate (this
choice does n o t restrict the generality of the solution). Conservation of ore
flow rates leads to the following equations:

Md = 0 (6)
mk dk = 0 (7)

Figures 4b, 5c and 6c give the microscopic networks for the three industrial
examples considered. For the flotation circuit and for the grinding circuit
with DSM screens, there is only one sub-network, while there are three dif-
ferent ones for the grinding circuit with cyclones: one for screen analysis,
one for cyclosizer analysis and one for concentrations. The only difference
between microscopic and macroscopic flow-networks for flotation circuit
consists in the elimination of node VIII accounting for the possible differ-
ences between assays of the secondary scavenger tailings of the two flotation
circuits. Furthermore, for this circuit, it is assumed that D~6 is neglectible and
that D~7 is equal to Dis.

PRINCIPLES OF THE METHOD OF DATA ADJUSTMENT

Mathematical formulation

Let us suppose that a set of measurements a (column matrix) has been

obtained for the sub-set Xm of the microscopic variables x, and t h a t a set of
measurements b (column matrix) has been obtained for the set of macro-
scopic variables y. The microscopic mass balance eq. 4 can be reformulated
globally for all sub-networks as a system of equations:
H m i c (Xm, Xu, d ) = 0 (8)
where Xu is the subset of unmeasured x variables and d is defined by eq. 5.
The macroscopic variables y can be expressed as a function of ore and
 101

water mass flow rates. Thus, by adding this function to the two material
balance equations (eqs. 3), we can globally formulate the macroscopic
material balance equations by the system:
Hmac (O1, d, D w) = 0 (9a)
y = y (Dl, d, D w) (95)
If the measured values of y and Xm are substituted in the system, eqs. 8 and 9,
one obtains the following system of equations:

Hmi c (a, Xu, d) = 0 (10a)

Hmac (D1, d, D w) = 0 (10b)
y(DI, d,D w)-b = 0 (1Oc)
This system should be solved for the variables Xu, D1, d, D w. Four situations
are possible:
(1) The system has a solution, a case which arises when there is just
enough measurements to calculate the u n k n o w n variables or when more
measurements than necessary are available and satisfy material conservation
(an improbable case).
(2) The system is undetermined, a case which arises when there are not
enough measurements to calculate the u n k n o w n variables.
(3) The system is overdefined and has no solution, a case which arises when
there are too m a n y measurements and that they are inconsistent in a material
balance point of view.
(4) A hybrid situation in which some sub-sets of unknowns are undeter-
mined or exactly determined and other sub-sets of variables are redundant.
For example, the microscopic data can be redundant, which leads to an over-
defined ore balance and the macroscopic data can be such that the water
balance has an exactly defined solution.

The purpose of the present work is to solve the system (eqs. 10) in the cases
3 or 4 (redundant or partially redundant cases). Since the material conserva-
tion equations are n o t verified due to errors on measurements, one possible
way to solve exactly the system (eqs. 10) is to correct the measurements.
These corrections must be as small as possible and in agreement
with the reliability o f the measurements. The weighted least-
squares procedure is generally used to meet these requirements when the
errors are assumed to be normal and unbiased (Draper and Smith, 1966).
The weights are selected as the elements of the inverse of the measurements
covariance matrix V. Since it is not always certain that the errors are of a
normal type and unbiased (Klimpel, 1979 and Ragot and Aubrun, 1979), and
since the variances can only be estimated in general, we cannot prove that in
the present case this procedure leads to least-variance estimates; it seems to
be still reasonable, however, to adopt it (Wiegel, 1972).
102

The least-squares problem can be formulated as:

Find x, d, D1 and D w values which minimize:
j = [(Xm ' yr) _ (a r, br)] y-1 [(Xm ' yr) _ (a r, br)]r (11)
under the constraints:

Hmi c (x, d) = 0 (12a)

Hma c (D1, d, D w) = 0 (125)

y = y ( D I , d , D w) (12c)

Solving techniques

To solve the problem as stated by eqs. 11 and 12 in the case where errors
are uncorrelated (V diagonal), two procedures have been followed. Some
authors such as White et al. (1977, 1979) and Mular et al. (1976) use direct
minimization techniques which work on independent variables, i.e. on a set
of variables from which all other ones can be calculated using mass balance
constraints. Other authors such as Cutting (1976, 1979), Wiegel (1972, 1978,
1979) and users of the Wiegel method (Laguitton and Wilson, 1979a, b;
Tippin, 1979) assemble a new function named the Lagrangian which in-
corporates the constraints in the function to be optimized by defining new
variables named Lagrange's multipliers.
If the relative flow rates d are known, the microscopic material balance
equations (eq. 4) become linear with respect to the variable x. Some authors
such as Smith and Ichiyen (1973) and Hockings and Callen (1977) have used
this property to solve the system (eqs. 11 and 12) for the x values. Ragot et
al. (1978) extend this method of hierarchical minimization to the case where
macroscopic measurements are available, for data adjustment around a
cyclone and apply this m e t h o d to more complex flow-sheets where only
microscopic data are available (J. Ragot, pers. commun., 1980).
Another procedure, which can be called " m e t h o d of nodes imbalance", is
used by Lynch (1977), Tipman et al. (1978), Finch and Matwijenko (1977),
Klimpel (1979), when only microscopic measurements are available. It con-
sists in finding in a first stage the relative flow rates d and then to calculate
the x values. But this procedure is not iterated and leads only to an approxi-
mation of the solution, which is, however, in some cases quite sufficient. Their
m e t h o d of d calculation consists in finding the d values which minimize the
sum of squared deviations to zero of the mass balance equations (eq. 4) written
for the experimental values a.
The procedure developed in this paper uses some of the ideas found in
literature, extends their applications to the general solution of the problem
(eqs. 11 and 12) and formulates it in a systematic way.
It is established that the complexity of large dimension optimization
problems can be reduced by performing partition of the criterion to be op-
 103

timized (Titli, 1975). This partition is possible if the various sub-systems

corresponding to the parts of J are separable (or independent), t h a t is are n o t
functions of the same variables. This can be obtained by so-called horizontal
decomposition in which c o m m o n variables, called coordinating variables, are
monitored by a supervising algorithm. The decoupling must be performed in
such a way as to find easy to minimize sub-functions.
In the present case this property can be obtained by partitioning the J
criterion in two parts, one which contains the microscopic variables and
another one which contains the macroscopic variables. This is generally
possible since the errors on microscopic and macroscopic measurements are,
or can be assumed, independent. Therefore V is:
( Vmie 0 )
Y = \0 Yma c (13)

and J can be partitioned as:

J = Jmie + Jmac (14)
with:

Jmic = (Xm - a) r V~ic (Xm - a), and (15)

Jmac = (Y - b) r Y ~ a e (Y - b) (16)

In order to minimize Jmic and Jmac independently, it is necessary that the

variables c o m m o n to both Jmic and its associated constraints and Jmac and
its associated constraints be used as coordinating variables. There are no
c o m m o n variables in Jmic and Jmac but the microscopic constraints contain
the relative ore flow rates d which are also present in the macroscopic part.
Consequently, the coordinating variables must be the relative ore flow rates
on the various branches of the circuit.
Figure 7 summarizes the principles of decomposition of the optimization
technique. Jmic and Jmac are independently minimized for a d* value of d.
This leads to values x* and y* o f x and y which are used to calculate J and

Minimization J(d) = dmr¢ (X~) - Jmac ( Y * )

1
/

w th Md = 0
t
x~ d• d~ y~

Minimization Jmic (x) Minimization dmac ( y )

with Hrm c (d r , x ) : 0 with ;HmQ c (d* ,O 1 , D w) = 0

t
Ly = y ( d , " , D 1 , D w)

Fig. 7. Hierarchical decomposition of the minimization procedure of J.

104

minimize it with respect to d. The process is iterated until a stable solution is

obtained. The convergence cannot be proved here, but convergence problems
have never been observed.

COMPUTATION PROCEDURES

Supervisory program

A m e t h o d which does n o t require an analytical computation of the

derivatives has been selected in order to obtain a simple general solution to
the problem w i t h o u t introducing rigidity in the algorithm. The conjugate
gradient method, as developed by Powell (1969), and in its programmed
version given by Kuester and Mize (1973), has been used up to now and per-
forms satisfactorily, but no other methods, that could eventually perform
better, have been investigated.
The constraint equation (eq. 6) on the relative flow rates can be used
directly in this m e t h o d by performing the minimization only on a set of
independent relative ore flow rates. Considering that there are r = (p - P w ) -
(m - mw) independent ore branches, d can be written as:
d r = (1, d 2 , . . . , dr, d r + l , . . . , dp-pw) (17)
Using eq. 6, one can write:
(M1, M2) d = 0 (18)
which gives:

I dr+l 1
d2
= -M21M1 (19)

dp-pw 5r
So the supervisory algorithm works on the r - 1 search variables 0T =
(d2.... , dr) and the relative ore flow rates on all the branches are given by:

which can be written as:

d = LO + l (21)
where L is the first matrix of eq. 20 in which first column has been deleted.
 105

A d j u s t m e n t o f microscopic variables

Minimization o f Jmic (x) defined by eq. 15 requires the constraints Hmi c

to be properly written. It has been shown t hat the conservation of the i-th
analyzed e l e m e n t in the k-th sub-network can be formulated using eq. 4. But
in some cases, the xki values must verify ot her constraints, especially when
size analyses are concerned. The size distribution measurements of a branch j
are, for example, p e r f o r m e d by measuring particle masses retained on a sieve
series, following which these masses are converted in mass fractions. So in this
case, the sum of adjusted mass fractions o f a branch must have a value of 1.
F o r the branch j, one obtains:
nk
Xkji-1 = 0 (22)
i=l

Other constraints m a y arise when particle size measurements are p e r f o r m e d

on a sample with various methods. In such case, some connect i on constraints
are required to go from a m e t h o d t o another. These problems are specific to
each studied case and will n o t be discussed here. In order to guarantee that
eqs. 4 and 22 are linearly independent, eq. 4 must be written only for nk - 1
size intervals. Finally, the constraints f or particle size analyses must be written:
B k x k = bk (23)
with:

mk 5k

Bk = 0 (24)
mk 5k

I ........ I ...... I

() I (nk-1)_mk
bk = 1 (25)

i I pk

and:
= (x l, . . . x r ki, . . . x Tknk ) (26)

Criterion Jmic can be horizontally partitioned in parts Jk corresponding to

each sub-network k, if it is assumed t h a t there is no correlation of the errors
106
between the sub-networks. Jmic decomposes as follows:

q (27)
Jmic = ~ Jk
k=l
where:
Jk = ( x k - ak) r Vk I ( x k - ak) (28)
(It has been admitted that the sub-networks have been reduced to branches
where microscopic values are measured; this does not reduce the generality
of the method but simplifies the presentation since X m k becomes identical
to xk).

C h e m i c a l assays a d j u s t m e n t s
Since there is generally no constraint equation between the analyses of two
different elements and because it is assumed that there is no correlation of the
errors inside a sub-network, the J k criterion can be further partitioned in
terms related to each element:

nk (29)
Jk ; EJk/
i--1
Finally, the optimization to be performed is:
Minimize Jlei = (xki - aki) T V ~ (xki - aki) (30a)
under the constraint:
mk Xki dk = 0 (30b)
The solution to this problem can be found by forming the Lagrangian:
L k i = Jki + ~ m k X k i dk (31)
and writing the stationarity conditions with respect to Lagrange multipliers
and unknown x k i , which gives:
(32a)
x k / + 8k - aki = 0
(32b)
m k X k i dk = 0
whose x k i solution is:
(33)
x k i = aki - Vki ~rk turk (ink 6k Vki 5k turk) -~ m k 8k aki

Size distribution adjustment

When the sub-network k corresponds to a particle size distribution analysis,
the optimization to be performed is:
Minimize Jk = (Xk - ak) r V k I ( x k - ak) (34a)
 107

under the constraint:

Bk xk = bk (34b)
Usinu the same m e t h o d as above, the solution is:
x k = ak - Y k B ~ (Bk V k B ~ ) -~ ( S k a k - bk) (35)
For computation purpose, the sparsity of matrices is used to decrease com-
puter time (see details of calculation in Appendix).
In summary, the x* value of microscopic variables which minimizes Jmic
(d*, x) is directly obtained by eq. 33 or eq. 35 or both depending upon the
nature of the problem (see the decomposition flow-sheet on Fig. 8).

Jmic (x)
with Hmi C (d*, X) = 0

For a size analysis For a chernical analysis

min JK rnLn dk/ min Jkl . rain Jkn k

w~ ,~ x ~ : ,~ j m~ x~, :oI Lm~ x~,. =01 Im~ x~o;OI

Fig. 8. Horizontal decomposition of the minimization procedure of Jmic.

A d j u s t m e n t o f m a c r o s c o p i c variables

The following measured variables y can be introduced in the macroscopic

criterion depending upon the kind of devices which are used to take measure-
ments:
(a) ore flow rates;
(b) water flow rates;
(c) mass or volume flow rates of the pulp;
(d) mass or volume fractions of solids in pulp;
(e) mass or volume dilutions of pulp;
(f) pulp specific gravity.
Due to the nature of the measured macroscopic variables, the constraints
Hmac and y of eqs. 9 are not linear with respect to unknown variables. As a
consequence, no obvious analytical solution does exist. So in this case, the
constraints have been directly introduced in the Jmac criterion which can be
minimized by the Powell search algorithm working on a set of independent
108

variables. Whatever the kind o f m a c r o s c o p i c variables measured, t h e y can be

calculated using the ore and w a t e r f l o w rates on all the branches, which cor-
r e s p o n d t o p - P w + P - P s variables. T h e r e are m - mw e q u a t i o n s o f ore
balance and m - ms e q u a t i o n s o f w a t e r balance. So o n l y 2 p - Pw - Ps -
2 m + m w + ms variables are i n d e p e n d e n t in t h e sense t h a t all o t h e r macro-
scopic variables can be calculated f r o m t h e m .
T h e c o o r d i n a t i n g variables in the supervisory algorithm are t h e r - 1 relative
ore mass f l o w rates. So the t o t a l n u m b e r o f i n d e p e n d e n t variables which
remain in the m a c r o s c o p i c algorithm is p - P s - m + ms + 1 = t + 1. The ore
feed rate D~ and a set o f t i n d e p e n d e n t w a t e r flow rates can be selected as
search variables o f the algorithm. F r o m these search variables, all o t h e r useful
variables f o r calculation o f y can be d e d u c e d . K n o w i n g the 0 values selected
b y the supervisory algorithm, all the ore flow rates can be calculated by:
D = D1 d (36)
w h e r e d is o b t a i n e d b y eq. 21. T h e w a t e r f l o w rates can be calculated f r o m a
set o f values o f t h e i n d e p e n d e n t w a t e r flow rates D w, . . . , D~v b y the e q u a t i o n :

ow = w-I " (37)

\D~ v

Each e l e m e n t o f the m a t r i x y in the Jmac criterion can be n u m e r i c a l l y

evaluated k n o w i n g I)i, D7 f o r each b r a n c h ], the ore specific gravity and using
the a p p r o p r i a t e f o r m u l a d e p e n d i n g u p o n t h e e l e m e n t o f y is mass or v o l u m e
flow rate, or f r a c t i o n o f solids, or pulp dilution or pulp density. Thus, Jmac
can be evaluated at each i t e r a t i o n o f the Powell algorithm f o r the corre-
s p o n d i n g set o f i n d e p e n d e n t variables:
Jmac (d*, y ) = Jmac (O1, D w . . . . , D~v) (38)
and the o p t i m a l value y * d e t e r m i n e d .

Programming of the method

Flow-sheet
The a l g o r i t h m n a m e d B I L M A T has been i m p l e m e n t e d in A P L language.
T h e p r o g r a m is fully c o n v e r s a t i o n a l and can be used b y individuals n o t
familiar with the m a t h e m a t i c s o f the p r o b l e m . T h e p r o g r a m m i n g is general,
such t h a t a n y kind o f circuit can be treated. The s t r u c t u r e is o f a m o d u l a r
f o r m which allows fast m o d i f i c a t i o n s or additions t o the program.
The p r o g r a m begins, if r e q u e s t e d , b y a series o f e x p l a n a t i o n s on the m a n n e r
t o use it (see Fig. 9). T h e n , the p r o g r a m asks for the kind o f m e a s u r e m e n t s
which have been p e r f o r m e d (chemical assays, pulp density m e a s u r e m e n t s ,
size a n a l y s e s . . . ) . T h e circuit n e t w o r k is built up b y a series o f q u e s t i o n s /
answers a b o u t the branches t h a t converge o r diverge at each node. T h e n , the
 109
BILMAT

Explanations ~ I
l
Kind of measurements performed ?I
l

I i

Construction of macro networks I

i

1
Construction of micro networks ~] i

I
Data input : measurements and
associated variances
Initial values and controE
parameters of algorithm
I COmputatiOn I
t
I Print out I
t
jSpecial items J
IErr°r analysis I
IE ° ]
Fig. 9. Flow-sheet of BILMAT program.

J in:m(i~)ation ID1 ,D~, i ,Dt valuesl~

Fig. 10. Flow-sheet of the material balance algorithm.

independent branches are determined and the microscopic networks con-

structed. Depending upon the nature of the problem, the program requests
the values of the measurements and an estimate of their variances. After that,
the control parameters of the two Powell programs can be defined, and the
initial estimates of the search variables are calculated or requested (see below
the method used).
The minimization is performed following the flow-sheet of Fig. 10 until
110

the convergence is obtained. Then, an optional print~out is performed for

macroscopic and microscopic results. For each variable, the observed and
calculated values are given, as well as the relative adjustments and the
assumed standard deviations. The user can add special print-out modules if
needed. The mean standard-error and relative standard-error are calculated
for each branch and each analyzed element. And, finally, the covariance
matrix of the relative ore flow rates is calculated when only the micro-
scopic measurements are supposed to be used to define the ore flow rates
(to be published).

E s t i m a t i o n o f initial values o f f l o w rates

To initiate the calculation in the general algorithm, it is necessary to start

with good estimates of the independent ore flow rates in order to obtain a
fast convergence. These estimates can be easily obtained by the m e t h o d of
minimization of " n o d e imbalances" which has been mentioned earlier. The
m e t h o d consists in finding a least-squares solution 0 to the microscopic mass
balance equations of the sub-networks, written for the experimental values:

m k A k idle = 0 k = 1.. . q {39)

i = 1...nk

where A k i is defined for aki as X k i was defined for Xki. This system has
generally no solution unless the data are self-consistent. In general, the
problem is defined such as there exists a particular sub-network which is the
most informative and allows the computation of the whole set of 8 values.
The mass balance equations for this particular micro network can be written
as (the index k is omitted in order to simplify the equations):
mAid = 0 i = 1,...n (40)
which, using eq. 21 is equivalent to:
M A r (LO + l ) = 0 (41)
where M is the partitioned block diagonal matrice constituted of n block
matrices m, and where A is the row block matrix o f A i for the n analyzed
elements. The 0 solution of eq. 41 which minimizes the sum of square
residuals of each equation is obtained using the pseudo-inverse of_MArL:
0 = - ( L r ~ L ) -1 L r a l (42)
with: a = A M r M A (43)
For computation convenience, a can be expressed as:
tl

a = ~ A i m r m A i (44)
i=l
 111

Initial estimates o f macro search variables

The ore flow rate to the circuit is generally measured, so this value can be
used as an initial estimate. Crude approximations of the independent water
flow rates can be obtained using pulp percent solids or water flow rates
measurements. The estimates of macroscopic search variables are used only
the first time the macroscopic algorithm is used. Then, initial estimates of the
macro search variables are taken as the solution values of the previous macro-
scopic calculation, so the convergence of the macroscopic algorithm is faster
and faster and the initial values of macro search variables can be only crudely
estimated.

Application to the three selected industrial examples

Table I contains the results of an application of BILMAT to the flotation

circuit of Fig. 1. The initial estimates of relative flow rates using eq. 42 are
given in the first column. The n e x t two columns give the relative ore flow
rates calculated by BILMAT and their standard deviations as analytically
derived from those assumed for the microscopic measurements (see at the
b o t t o m of Table I) (to be published). The microscopic results are given in the
next columns for one of the ten elements analyzed (chemical c o m p o n e n t no. 2).
It appears from these results that, although the adjustments on measurements
are small, the standard deviations on some flow rates are high.

TABLE I

Material b a l a n c e results for f l o t a t i o n circuit o f Fig. 1

Branch Relative ore flow r a t e s Standard Measured Adjusted Relative

No. deviation concen- concen- adjustment
estimated calculated (%) tration tration (%)

1 1.000 1.000 0.0 449 456 1.5

2 0.888 0.887 0.5 199 196 1.5
3 0.112 0.113 4.4 2510 2494 0.6
4 0.045 0.131 6.6 1089 1099 0.9
5 0.157 0.244 4.2 .1688 1746 3.4
6 0.086 0.150 5.6 757 752 0.7
7 0.929 0.904 0.4 155 156 0.6
8 -0.004 0.010 45.7 1729 1731 0.1
9 0.133 0.299 8.6 2315 2257 2.5
10 0.066 0.193 13.0 1584 1601 1.1
11 0.116 0.249 6.5 949 935 1.5
12 0.030 0.101 10.2 1526 1541 1.0
13 0.086 0.148 5.6 521 520 0.2
14 0.067 0.106 4.9 3487 3448 1.1
15 0.071 0.096 3.7 3669 3631 1.0

Chemical component 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
A s s u m e d s t a n d a r d d e v i a t i o n (%) 6 3 4 2 2 4 26 11 6 70
112

TABLE II

Material balance results for grinding circuit of Fig. 2

Branch Relative Observed Calculated Relative Mean adjustment

No. ore flow % solids % solids adjustment of size distribution
rate (~) (% by weight)

2 1.00 72.9 72.4 0 0.56

3 0.549 33.0 33.03 0 0.13
4 0.033 4.8 4.82 0.2 0.11
5 1.581 22.9 23.28 1.5 0.03
6 1.222 20.1 20.07 0.4 0.67
7 1.000 18.4 18.33 0.4 0.16
8 0.359 51.1 51.11 0 0.13
9 0.549 62.1 62.09 0.1 0.17
10 0.581 44.1 43.42 1.5 0.30
11 0.549 79.6 83.39 4.7 0.49

TABLE III

Material balance results for grinding circuit of Fig. 3

Circulation ratios Branch Observed Adjusted Relative adjustment

Prim: 2.04, sec: 2.49 No. value value (%)

Ore feed rate -- 79.8 79.4 0.5

Ore humidity -- 3.0 3.2 5.0

Water flow rates 11 16.3 16.4 0.6

(m3/h) 12 16.6 17.1 1.4
13 26.4 23.8 9.8
14 6.7 6.8 3.5
15 10.1 10.0 1.0
17 121.0 116.8 3.0

Mass percent of 2 81.5 80.7 1.0

solids in pulp 4 80.7 80.1 0.7
5 85.6 87.5 2.2
6 63.0 65.0 3.2
8 78.7 76.1 3.3
9 82.7 79.1 4.3
10 32.2 33.2 3.1
3 74.3 78.5 5.6
7 54.4 56.7 4.2

T h e r e s u l t s f o r t h e g r i n d i n g c i r c u i t o f Fig. 2 a p p e a r i n T a b l e II; c a l c u l a t e d
ore flow rates, observed a n d c a l c u l a t e d p e r c e n t a g e of solids in p u l p a n d corre-
s p o n d i n g r e l a t i v e a d j u s t m e n t s are p r e s e n t e d . F o r t h e m i c r o s c o p i c r e s u l t s , o n l y
t h e m e a n a d j u s t m e n t s o f t h e p a r t i c l e size f r a c t i o n s r e t a i n e d are g i v e n s i n c e
t h e d e t a i l e d r e s u l t s will b e d i s c u s s e d e l s e w h e r e .
M a c r o s c o p i c r e s u l t s f o r t h e g r i n d i n g c i r c u i t o f Fig. 3 a p p e a r i n T a b l e I I I :
 113

ore and water feed rates, pulp percent solids are presented. Furthermore, this
example has been treated with a coupling of fine particles and water recycled
b y classifiers (Hodouin et al., 1978) and also with a simultaneous search of
cyclone efficiencies model parameters (Hodouin et al., 1980).

CONCLUSION

Raw data collected around a mineral processing unit can be treated by the
method presented here. The algorithm allows:
(a) the determination of flow rates in various locations of the circuit;
(b) the correction of the raw data in order to make them consistent in a
material balance view-point.
The method used is a weighted least-squares procedure and the minimiza-
tion is performed hierarchically. The variables are splitted into microscopic
ones (particle size distributions, chemical assays . . . ) and macroscopic ones
(flow rates, mass fractions of solids in p u l p . . . ) and the corresponding parts
of the function to be minimized are independently minimized. This indepen-
dence is obtained using a supervisory algorithm which works on a set of
independent relative flow rates. The constraints of the minimization prob-
lem are the material balance equations. They are written in a general form
using flow-networks and matrix calculations. The main advantages of the
method are:
(1) Very large numbers of micro variables can be handled. Due to the
existence of a partitioned analytical solution for the minimization of the
microscopic part, an increase of the microscopic data does not increase rapid-
ly the computation cost: in one of the examples given, the number of micro
data on one branch is as large as 23.
(2) The program is easy to use because of its conversational structure, even
for individuals n o t familiar with the technique.
(3) The program is general in the sense that very different processes and
measurement types can be accepted.
(4) The program is versatile. Due to the decomposition adopted and due to
the modular structure of the program, it is easy to implement special items
with minor programming. For example, the third industrial example has been
treated with incorporation of cyclone models.

The convergence speed varies from one system to another, depending on

its structure. It decreases when the number of independent flow rates increases.
The algorithm has n o t y e t been tested for very large flow-networks.
Some important problems associated with material balance calculations
have n o t been discussed in the scope of this paper, specially the problems of
selection of weighting factors, of physical constraints (adjusted values must
be positive), of sensitivity analysis of the results (principally flow rates).
These aspects will be discussed in another paper.
114

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work has been performed through t w o research contracts: one with
"Centre de Recherches min6rales, minist~re des Richesses naturelles du
Qu6bec", and one with CANMET (Minist6re de l'Energie, des Mines et des
Ressources du Canada). The authors are indebted to D. Laguitton and
I.B. K l y m o w s k y (CANMET) for participation to the sampling campaign, for
sample analysis and for many fruitful discussions. The authors are grateful to
W. Petruk (CANMET) for having provided flotation raw data. The grinding
data have been obtained through sampling campaigns performed in the Heath
Steele Mines concentrator and in the TMG services concentrator; the mill
superintendents G. Johnston (HSM) and M. R o b e r t (TMG) are here acknowl-
edged.

APPENDIX: CALCULATION OF THE ADJUSTED SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS

Solution of eqs. 34, deleting index k to simplify the formalism, is:

x = a- VBr(BVBr) -1 ( B a - b) (A1)
Using the partitioned form of B (eq. 24) and of V (if the errors o f the
various elements are assumed independent), one can write:
m8 Vt 8 m r
• . 0
BVB r = m8 ViSm r (A2)
0
*°'r$
V, 8m r ...... Vi8 .... E vi
i=i

Equation A1 can be written as:

x = a- VBrZ (A3)
with Z = ( B V B r ) -1 ( B a - b )
So, to obtain the value of Z, it is preferable, on a calculation cost basis, not
to invert B V B ~ b u t to solve for Z the linear system:
BVBrZ = Ba- b (A4)

z =
(z)
Z can be partitioned as follows:

Zn-1 (A5)
Zn !
 115

where Z~ to Zn-~ have dimension (n, 1 ) a n d Z n dimension (p, 1). Consequent-

ly, eq. A4 can be written as:
mSVi6mrZi + rn6 V i Z n = m6ai
i = 1,..., n-1 (A6)
~-1 /2

Vi 6 rnr Z i + ~ Vi Z n = 0
i=l i=l

w h i c h is e q u i v a l e n t t o :

Zi = (m6Vi6mr) -~ ( m 6 a i - m 6 V i Z n ) ; i = 1,..., n-1 (A7a)

[ vi,
n-1

i m 5Vi -
i=1
Vi Zn =
n-1

i=1
Vi m r S 7 ( 1 m S a i (A7b)

7i = m S V i ~ m r ; i=l,...,n-1 (ATc)
Finally, one can obtain the x solution by:
Xi = ai-VigmrZi-ViZn; i=l,...,n-1
(A8)
xn= an- VnZn
where Zn is obtained by resolving the linear system (eq. A7b) and Zi are ob-
rained by eq. A7a.

REFERENCES

Anton, H., 1977. Elementary Linear Algebra. John Wiley & Sons, New York, N.Y., 296 pp.
Cutting, G.W., 1976. Estimation of interlocking mass balances on complex mineral
beneficiation plants. Int. J. Miner. Process., 3: 207--218.
Cutting, G.W., 1979. Material balances in metallurgical studies: current use at Warren
Spring Laboratory. Paper 79-3, AIME Annual Meeting, New Orleans.
Draper, N.R. and Smith, H., 1966. Applied Regression Analysis. John Wiley & Sons, New
York, N.Y., 407 pp.
Finch, J. and Matwijenko, O., 1977. Individual mineral behaviour in a closed-grinding
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Hockings, W.A. and Callen, R.W., 1977. Computer program for calculating mass flow
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