PROCESS DESIGN
be submitted to SGS Laboratories in Lakefield, Ontario to use the Re-20X process to develop samples for evaluation for the Asian battery market. This is a proprietary hydrometallurgical process to create high-purity cobalt powders.
Elsewhere, Sayona Mining recently reported the third phase of metallurgical testing results for the Authier lithium project. The new results have continued to demonstrate the ability to achieve 6 % Li 2O lithium concentrate grades at 80 % metallurgical recoveries or better. In addition, two of the tests were conducted using unprocessed water collected at the Authier site with similar results to tap water. The metallurgical testing program was undertaken with a new representative sample from the Authier deposit. The new sample represents both the expected feed grade and expected mineralogy of the deposit over the life-of-mine. The new results will be incorporated into the Definitive Feasibility Study. A new diamond drilling program is underway and will provide approximately 5 t of drill core to be used on a pilot scale metallurgical testing program.
The objective of the Phase 3 metallurgical testing was to assess flotation performance with Authier project site water. The testing program was completed at SGS Lakefield. The two most recent phases of metallurgical testing have included variations in the grind size, flotation residence times, reagent dosages, adjustments to magnetic intensity, using unprocessed Authier site water, and assessing the impact of waste dilution on metallurgical outcomes. The objective of the programs is to improve on the February 2017 Pre-Feasibility Study assumptions of a 5.75 % concentrate at 80 % metallurgical recovery. The new metallurgical testing program was undertaken with a new representative sample of the Authier deposit from drill core from the Company’ s Phase 1 and 2 diamond drilling programs. The new sample represents the average grade and expected mineralogy of the deposit over the life-of-mine. The sample was collected from three diamond drill cores and totalled approximately 63 kg.
AMIRA updates on PQ9
The current iteration of the AMIRA International P9 program, called P9Q, is making a change to the way its research products are delivered to the sponsors. The P9 program( Optimisation of Mineral Processes by Modelling and Simulation) has been running since 1962. In its more recent iterations it has made significant progress in enhancing the equipment models to improve their usability, in particular in how they respond to multi-component feed.
These models have been developed by the global network of researchers assembled by AMIRA and managed by the Julius Kruttschnitt
Mineral Research Centre( JKMRC) in the Sustainable Minerals Institute( SMI) of the University of Queensland in Australia. The full network is made up of Hacettepe University in Turkey, the University of Cape Town in South Africa, Chalmers University in Sweden, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and of course the JKMRC itself. P9Q is focused on building on previous research by verifying and validating the models in as many multicomponent situations as possible so that they can be applied with confidence across the industry.
“ It is not surprising that both mining and equipment manufacturing sponsors are very keen to apply the new models as soon as they become available. To ensure this, the sponsors asked for the models to be made available in a suitable cloud simulation platform. In previous project iterations, the models developed during the project were added to JKTech’ s software after the project ended. In the current project it was agreed that the researchers would deliver the models in 6-monthly‘ project delivery cycles’ in CRC ORE’ s Integrated Extraction Simulator( IES) and that they would be released immediately to sponsors.”
CRC ORE’ s IES platform is unique in the metallurgical simulation field because it is deployed in the cloud. When updated models are installed into IES, the sponsors can immediately apply them to their particular problem by accessing them through the internet. There is nothing to download or update because a special private environment of IES was created for P9Q and made available exclusively to P9Q sponsors and researchers. Because IES is being developed as the successor technology to the JKTech’ s very popular SimMet / SimFloat products it is very easy for users to transition flowsheets into IES in order to use the new models and leverage the enhanced features.
The first Sponsor’ Review Meeting( SRM) of AMIRA International’ s P9Q was held on 22-23 August 2017 in Brisbane at The University of Queensland’ s Sustainable Minerals Institute( SMI). Representatives from all 11 sponsors were present at this important meeting. The project is being sponsored by: Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Barrick, Newmont, South32, Vale, BGRIMM, JKTech, Magotteaux, Metso, and Weir Minerals. The project started on 8 February 2017. At this first SRM, researchers from The University of Queensland, Chalmers University, Hacettepe University, University of Cape Town and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in collaboration with the IES development team from CRCORE delivered models for SAG mill, cone crusher, dry coarse screen, HPGR, hydrocyclone and jig which are being implemented in the IES platform for P9Q.“ The IES development team and in particular
Robert Watkins and Greg Shapland have made a significant effort in implementation of process models in IES. On the first day of SRM, technical aspects of each process model including the capabilities and limitations of each model have been reviewed.” On the second day of SRM, features of the IES were presented by the development team from CRC ORE and participants learned to use the IES through creating few test simulation in practice. In addition, practical training using examples was delivered by researchers on the application of each process model. Participants used each of the process models in IES to create their own simulation and use process models in practice.
It is planned to add a simple help document and video instruction for using each process model in the IES environment for each of the AMIRA P9Q process models. On the next SRM in South Africa in February 2018, the first implementation of four new process models including dense medium cyclone model, mechanistic mill model, Weir Minerals specific HPGR and cyclone models and second implementation of four existing process models including HPGR, dry screen, jig model, and SAG VR2 model is planned for delivery.
Gekko helping rebirth at Radio Hill
Artemis Resources has announced that engineers have now turned the lights back on at the company’ s fully permitted Radio Hill treatment plant at the Radio Hill nickel / copper / cobalt mine, and have commenced refurbishment and upgrade works in earnest. The mine and plant were shut down in 2008 as a result of the slump of base metals prices and have since been kept on active care and maintenance.
The company and its contractors are working towards having the plant fully operational as a multi-metals processing facility by end of June 2018. In addition, a new + A $ 3 million Gekko gold recovery plant has been ordered and will also be installed prior to the end of June 2018. Gekko Systems Pty Ltd have been asked to provide a comprehensive two stage gravity gold plant with a nominal capacity of 70-100 t per hour. These stages are specifically designed to target all available gravity gold from very fine gold( 30-50 micron) all the way up to coarse nuggets of plus 4 mm in size( up to 20 mm). The circuit is to be integrated with the existing crushing and grinding areas.
The Radio Hill mine and processing plant and infrastructure was purchased by Artemis in April 2017 with the aim of providing Artemis with regional processing capability, that can be used to process a range of ores from the company’ s own projects in the West Pilbara region. The existing Radio Hill plant, which has a nominal capacity of around 500,000 t / y was historically used to processing nickel / copper / cobalt ores
70 International Mining | JANUARY 2018