COPPER PROCESSING
Responsible recovery
As industry continues to demand more copper in line with the global electrification transformation , the mining community is being required to produce more red metal in a responsible manner . Dan Gleeson heard from three leading OEMs on how they are helping miners meet such expectations
Copper ’ s place as the key metal in the electrification of the planet is leading the mining sector to adopt innovation at a pace it has historically struggled with .
Whether it is leveraging new leaching technologies to recover low-grade ores , implementing comminution alternatives to optimise crushing and grinding , or making use of new metallurgical processes to expand mine lives , the industry is progressively becoming more receptive to innovation .
Kim Fagerlund , VP , Technology and R & D , Metals business area at Metso Outotec , says copper ’ s role in the electrification transformation driven by global megatrends , such as sustainability , is providing the needed technology catalyst .
“ In general , the overall mining and metallurgical industry has been seen as conservative in trialling new technology ,” he told IM . “ However , increasing demand arising from circularity , electrification and decarbonisation has now changed the overall atmosphere ; thus , willingness to implement new solutions is high .”
Jesus Pelayo , VP Global Key Accounts for Copper at FLSmidth , agreed with Fagerlund ’ s sentiments .
“ What we are seeing is that concerns around ESG and sustainability have made an impact with the bigger miners and increasingly with small and medium players ,” he told IM . “ This has resulted in Tier One miners embracing and accepting new technologies at a faster pace – and it needs to happen if they are to hit the emissions and sustainability targets that many , such as BHP , Rio Tinto , Freeport-McMoRan and Anglo American , have set .”
Mining OEMs and suppliers have responded to this trend with a host of solutions that are helping miners produce more copper with a lower footprint .
Game-changing acceptance
As a provider of technology and solutions to the copper mining industry , FLSmidth says it has a central role in the development of a more efficient and more sustainable process flowsheet .
The Denmark-headquartered company has been able to implement more recent technologies in copper mining , such as high pressure grinding rolls ( HPGRs ) and its 600 cu . m Series 600 SuperCell flotation cells , but it still needs to promote better acceptance of “ gamechanging technologies ”, such as Rapid Oxidative Leach ( ROL ), the REFLUX™ Flotation Cell and EcoTails ® , Pelayo said .
ROL , which FLSmidth says leaches 97-99 % of copper directly on-site in six to eight hours from
“ As a full flowsheet provider , we integrate our equipment at the process level , taking into account both upstream and downstream operations , in order to provide the best solution for our copper customers when it comes to productivity optimisation ,” FLSmidth ’ s Jesus Pelayo says
concentrates as low as 5 % Cu , has made some headway lately with Trevali Mining signing up for a pilot plant testing program using Caribou runof-mine and milled material at FLSmidth ’ s ROL process testing facility in Salt Lake City , Utah .
The Reflux Flotation Cell technology was invented by Professor Kevin Galvin of the University of Newcastle in Australia and has an entirely new internal design compared with traditional flotation methods , according to the company . In late 2020 , it was named as the recipient of the annual EIT RawMaterials KAVA Upscaling Projects grant where a consortium of mine sites , chemical companies and universities , led by FLSmidth , would upscale the technology and accelerate commercialisation during the three-year project .
FLSmidth ’ s EcoTails solution , highlighted at FLSmidth ’ s Tailings Forum in Tucson , back in May 2019 , is expected to reduce water costs , tailings dam risks and miners ’ environmental footprint .
All three of these technologies are factored into the company ’ s MissionZero Mine concept , which supports zero water waste , zero emissions and zero energy waste by 2030 , and serves as the roadmap for FLSmidth ’ s R & D work towards zero emissions in mining .
As the above examples would indicate , optimising the copper flowsheet is a major driver for FLSmidth in terms of R & D spend and focus ,
24 International Mining | MARCH 2022