Optimisation of gold mining operations over the whole value chain from ore to saleable product requires efficient use of expertise from various disciplines including but not limited to geology, mining, minerals processing, extractive metallurgy and environment. Ore and particle property-based process modelling, incorporating process chemistry, aims to assess the value chain from mine to saleable product. The geometallurgical simulation aided assessment optimises mining, process metallurgy and economics in terms of revenue and operating costs - for different operational scenarios. Here, HSC Chemistry(R) platform was applied, demonstrating its capability to integrate the relevant information of various disciplines, and providing support and guidance to mining projects and operations with an aim to maximise the generated value. < />
Sensor-based ore sorting has gained popularity during the past few years in the gold mining industry. Sorting has the potential to improve the operational performance and reduce the operating and capital costs per gold ounce produced by removing barren or deleterious particles from the material stream during the crushing stage prior the more energy and water intensive processing stages. In the example cases, we present and compare several operational scenarios on how to modify the gold production when the ore properties change during the life of mine from oxide dominant ore to more sulphide rich ore. The applied geometallurgical simulation models were calibrated based on test work data and plant operations. The presented geometallurgical simulation model comprises the main events in the mining value chain from extraction through minerals processing to saleable product. The comparison of different processing routes (CIL with sorting and/or flotation) evaluates both the technical performance and associated operational costs for each operational stage as well as the overall revenue from the operations. The operational scenarios show differences in their gold recoveries (77.0-81.5%), operational costs (696-754 USD/Au oz) and daily revenue (102-145 kUSD).
CITATION:Talikka, M, Remes, A and Scheidema, M N, 2019. Ore to be sorted? Guidance via geometallurgical modeling of gold mining value chain, in Proceedings World Gold 2019, pp 466473 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).