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By Bruce Conard

For many years, Bruce Conard has been engaged in reading about and discussing the desired sustainability of the mining and metals resource industry. He has, however, become concerned that there is a greater issue that requires our urgent attention: what challenges do we face as a global society? His Distinguished Lecturer presentation traces the idea of environmentally sustainable economic development but concludes that a business’ interest in its sustainability is predicated on the sustainability of our global society. Conard reviews some of the most serious challenges, including population growth, clean energy supplies, freshwater availability and climate change, and calls on scientists and engineers not only to apply their skills in helping solve these challenges, but most urgently, to speak with intelligence and passion about the need to act now.

Jan 1, 2014

By David Colloby, Darelle T. Janse van Rensburg

Premature coating failures of new and refurbished structural steelwork of clarifiers have been a common occurrence at power generation plant in recent years. Several of these failures have ended in disputes regarding which party was actually to blame for the early degradation of the coating system, i.e. quality of the power station?s water, poor application, substandard materials, outdated corrosion protection specifications, etc. Having investigated several of these premature failures, it is clear that the corrosion protection of clarifier steelwork is a highly complicated process and that the painting work needs to be closely monitored in order to ensure long-term protection by whichever product that is applied. The need for quality control inspections during the painting of the plant is often underrated during the project planning stage, also the importance of detailed corrosion protection specifications that consider not only the practical application of the materials, but also the quality control responsibilities of the Contractor, End User and Third Party Inspectorates that may be involved. This paper considers the application constraints of coatings to clarifier structural steelwork and importance of stringent quality control procedures in order to ensure the long-term performance of the corrosion protection systems.

Jan 1, 2006

By R. Schulz, K. King

Concentrating Line 6 just went down again. The control room operator checks the graphic display. Only one piece of equipment shows an alarm. Clicking on the ball mill icon, he discovers the culprit was the low flow lube switch. The flow looks okay now, but it is the third time this week the switch has stopped the line. Maintenance is called, the switch replaced and the line is up running again. Sending the right person to the right spot immediately can save hundreds of hours of downtime every year. This paper discusses the principles behind implementing smart First-Out Fault Detection to dramatically reduce equipment downtime in new, or existing control system architectures. Methodologies are presented to maximize the system benefits, while minimizing development costs. Case histories are presented for a number of successful implementations in mineral processing plants.

Jan 1, 2001

By Gene R. Reid

The contract objective is the development and in mine testing of an Automatic Fire Control System (AFCS) for mobile underground metal mining equipment. The effort described by this report covers the period from June 21,1975 through June 30,1976 and accomplished the following tasks: ? Preparation of Data Handling Plan and data acquisition which included visits to twenty mine sites in eleven states, visits to Bureau and MESA facilities, and a literature survey. ? Data analysis which determined the most hazardous type of vehicle for use in the demonstration, and design requirements for the AFCS, ? Development of recommended design concepts for the AFCS. ? Design and development of the AFCS including tests on a full-scale mock-up of a load-haul-dump (LHD) vehicle. ? Underground fire tests on an ST-2B-LHD vehicle at the Hecla Lakeshore mine Casa Grande, Arizona.

Jan 1, 1976

By Frank G. Miller

Controlling natural-water drives to effect efficient and economic production of petroleum, through wells, from reservoir sands and rocks is a problem of major importance in the oil-producing industry. Water-drive fields are characterized by large quantities of mobile water under high pressure immediately below the oil in the flanks or extraneous parts of reservoir formations, Hence, the water, which is in fluid connection with the oil and a source of a large proportion of the energy available for moving it, advances up-structure to replace it. This phenomenon of water moving crestward into the oil-bearing parts of the reservoir and replacing oil is termed edgewater encroachment. The mechanism by which oil is flushed out and continually replaced by water as the hydocarbon content of the field is depleted must be understood if natural-water drives arc to be used successfully to, induce efficient recovery of oil from its reservoir rocks. Until recently, the function of water in the production of oil has been somewhat obscure and was not given the consideration it deserved in early petroleum production-research programs because of the greater importance associated with and the effort devoted to investigations concerning the relations of natural gas to production of oil. Thus, with virtually no fundamental information at hand, it is not surprising that at first edgewater was considered a necessary evil, and the manner in which it was dealt with depended largely on the experience of the operators. During the intervening years, however, practical information on encroachment of edgewater in oil sands has been widely disseminated as a result of studies of oil-field depletion, and many theories pertaining to petroleum-reservoir energy and performance have been advanced; these theories necessarily included consideration of edgewater as an integral -art of the reservoir fluids and a source of energy for propelling hydrocarbon fluids through the reservoir and to the surface of the ground.

Jan 1, 1941

By T. Lux, M. Hanel, Degel, A. Filzwieser, R., H. Joubert

It is the increasing demand for an economic and cost saving operation mode that requires effective cooling in order to achieve low refractory wear and good furnace lifetime, which is making cooling technology an important aspect of furnace operation. In addition, the requirements for safety are getting more and more into focus. However, the use of water—today’s standard cooling medium—has major drawbacks as it can cause problems both during furnace start up and operation, namely hydration problems, corrosion, and explosion. Not to forget the severe risks for the operators as well as economical damage in case of a malfunctioning water cooling system. With this new and patented cooling technology ILTEC and the ionic liquid IL-B2001 as the cooling medium, it is possible to realise a water-free cooling solution and therefore the door is wide open to rethink existing and conventional cooling solutions. Furthermore, there is also the chance to recover heat from the process in a more efficient way. However, since the technology is novel and unique there are a lot of concerns and doubts regarding safety for plant operators and employees. The paper is intended to cover both: highlighting the enormous potential of the technology but also to eliminate concerns mainly caused by rumour and unawareness. INTRODUCTION All of us are aware of the risks when water is used as a coolant and placed in the vicinity of the liquid metal phase. Unsuitable design solutions or wrong operation modes of the furnaces or failures of refractories can cause a direct contact of water with liquid metal. The consequences can lead to equipment failures, vessel destruction but even worse to injuries and even fatalities. Over the past decades, countless incidences were reported. Fatal accidents caused by water coming into contact with liquid metal happen every year (Oterdoom, 2014; Filzwieser, Konetschnik, Filzwieser, Wallnerm & Preiss, 2014). With the novel ionic liquid cooling technology virtually all negative effects of a water cooled system regarding safety are eliminated and even additional benefits can be provided (Voermann, Ham, Merry, Veenstra, & Hutchinson, 1999;Verscheure, Kyllo, Filzwieser, Blanpain & Wollants 2006; Wallner, Filzwieser & Kleicker 2006). The fact that no explosion occurs when IL-B2001 gets in contact with molten metal results in a revolutionary solution for the metallurgical industry in terms of safety—new safety standards can be achieved.

Jan 1, 2019

By Pierre Pelletier, Julie Fournier, Gianni Bartolacci, Yves Breau, Dominique Girard, Ahmed Bouajila, Carl Duchesne

"The development of on-stream analyzers (OSA), such as those based on X-ray fluorescence (XRF), has been key to improve metallurgical performance of flotation processes. However, since these analyzers are shared between several streams, they typically provide grade measurements every about 10-15 minutes. In general, this frequency is too long compared to process dynamics and so, implementing an efficient feedback control strategy based on OSA can be difficult. In addition, due to the limited capacity of OSA systems, several important intermediate streams are not analysed, but could provide relevant information about the state of a flotation circuit.To overcome this problem, vision systems have been developed in the past to predict concentrate grade based on froth color – this could be very useful to control flotation performance between OSA measurements. However, applications reported in the literature typically use univariate summary statistics of the full red, blue, and green color distribution of froth images, while RGB images are truly multivariate. Although, in some cases, grade prediction was achieved with reasonable accuracy, one may, by using only summary statistics, miss important information about the state of the flotation process.This paper investigates the application of Multivariate Image Analysis (MIA) concepts to flotation froth images. These techniques are based on multivariate statistical methods such as PCA and PLS, which have the ability to analyze large databases (such as digital images) and summarize the relevant information content of the data into a small number of latent variables, capturing the most important features of the images for concentrate grade prediction. The potential of application of these methods in the mineral processing industry is illustrated using a few industrial case studies."

Jan 1, 2003

By Frank G. Miller

Controlling natural-water drives to effect efficient and economic production of petroleum, through wells, from reservoir sands and rocks is a problem of major importance in the oil-producing industry. Water-drive fields are characterized by large quantities of mobile water under high pressure immediately below the oil in the flanks or extraneous parts of reservoir formations. Hence, the water, which is in fluid connection with the oil and a source of a large proportion of the energy available for moving it, advances up-structure to replace it. This phenomenon of water moving crestward into the oil-bearing parts of the reservoir and replacing oil is termed edgewater encroachment. The mechanism by which oil is flushed out and continually replaced by water as the hydrocarbon content of the field is depleted must be understood if natural-water drives arc to be used successfully to, induce efficient recovery of oil from its reservoir rocks. Until recently, the function of water in the production of oil has been somewhat obscure and was not given the consideration it deserved in early petroleum production-research programs because of the greater importance associated with and the effort devoted to investigations concerning the relations of natural gas to production of oil. Thus, with virtually no fundamental information at hand, it is not surprising that at first edgewater was considered a necessary evil, and the manner in which it was dealt with depended largely on the experience of the operators. During the intervening years, however, .practical information on encroachment of edgewater in oil sands has been widely disseminated as a result of studies of oil-field depletion, and many theories pertaining to petroleum-reservoir energy and performance have been advanced; these theories necessarily included consideration of edgewater as an integral part of the reservoir fluids and a source of energy for propelling hydrocarbon fluids through the reservoir and to the surface of the ground.

Jan 1, 1941

By A. Tylczak, C. Shook, A. Doogan-Smith, S. Loif, B. Hilscher, P. Nayak

"This paper discusses how to effectively conduct energy efficiency studies during the design of new mineral processing plants and plant expansions. Energy management studies for new plants are ideally conducted as part of the feasibility study, but can also be done at the detailed design stage prior to the purchasing of equipment. Energy management engineers work as part of the mineral processing plant design team.Such studies usually result in energy savings of approximately 3-8% of the predicted plant’s energy consumption and energy demand. Potential cost savings can be significant. A variety of mineral processing systems – crushing/grinding, pumping, materials handling, fans/blowers, compressed air, and others – are assessed within this study.Energy Management Information System (EMIS) studies can also be performed for the new plant or plant expansion, as an independent study. EMIS can be incorporated into the electrical and controls design of the plant.Most Canadian Utility companies fund new plant design studies and provide financial incentives based on the predicted energy savings and incremental cost of the more energy-efficient design. A new plant energy efficiency study improves the potential for energy reduction because only the incremental equipment cost is included in the project return-on-investment calculation. After the design and construction phases, energy efficiency projects must justify the entire cost of the upgrade, which is significantly higher than the incremental cost alone.This paper outlines the major steps of a new plant/plant expansion energy efficiency study, the available utility company incentives, and the areas yielding the largest potential energy savings.IntroductionThis paper discusses energy efficiency studies and energy management systems with regards to mining operations. Energy management refers to the systems of monitoring, analyzing, and optimizing energy usage within a facility. It includes energy efficiency optimization of the initial plant design as well as the implementation of an Energy Management System (EnMS) and Energy Management Information System (EMIS) for optimizing energy usage over the lifetime of the facility. An EnMS is the organizational framework and procedures for managing energy use; an EMIS is the system of monitoring, reporting, and tracking process energy use against targets."

Jan 1, 2016

By R. W. Fatzinger

The accident-frequency rate for placer mining in 1942 is reported as 36.923 accidents per million man-hours worked. This figure places placer-mining accident frequency slightly higher than that given for quarrying-35.7-but considerably under the 78.0 for coal mining and 56.5 for metal mining.4 Placer mining is subdivided into four types of activity: Underground, surface, dredging, and hydraulicking. It is the purpose of this paper to present and discuss safety practices in dredging and hydraulic mining; therefore, the following considerations will be limited to these two types of placer mining.

Jan 1, 1948

By A. Roca, G. Ríos, I. Ruíz, M. Cruells

Flash Smelting Furnace (FSF) hot dust-laden is cooled in a waste heat boiler (WHB) and then dedusted in electrostatic precipitators (ESP’s) before being treated, together with the Peirce Smith Converters off-gases, in the sulfuric acid plants for SO2 removal. FSF dust is sulfated by SO2 and O2 in the WHB. Typically, 70% of the dust from the FSF drops in the WHB while the remainder is caught in the ESPs. The collected dust is recycled to the FSF for Cu recovery. Some smelters have developed hydrometallurgical treatments to recover Cu from the dust; impurities, such as As and Bi, are bled as leach plant residues. This paper presents a study (laboratory scale), of leaching the FSF dust, generated in Atlantic Copper Smelter using the weak acid bleed from the gas scrubbing/cooling section (GSCS) of sulfuric acid plants. Leaching was performed with 0.5 mol L-1 sulfuric acid concentration, 60ºC, and a solid/liquid ratio 1/3. After leaching, H2O2 was used for arsenic and iron oxidation. pH was adjusted for precipitation of arsenic and iron as scorodite or as scorodite and arsenical jarosite. The precipitation was carried out at 95ºC during 3-6 h. Liquids after precipitation are suitable for subsequent treatments of electrolysis. INTRODUCTION The copper smelter dusts are usually recirculated totally or partially to the flash furnace. This practice increases the amount of impurities feeding the furnace. Some authors have developed processes for treatment of these materials for copper and zinc recovery and for arsenic, antimony and bismuth inertization. The processes for the treatment of copper smelter dusts can be pyrometallurgical (Yu, 1987; Carter, Vance, Aldridge, Zaw, & Khoe, 1994; Fu, Jiang &Wang, 2000), hydrometallurgical, or mixed processes (Yin et al, 1992; Mulale, Mwema, & Mashala, 1999; Gorai, Jana, & Khan, 2002). Hydrometallurgical processes have been extensively studied and, in some cases, applied to an industrial scale. The most important chemical reagent proposed for leaching the dusts has been sulfuric acid (Roman-Moguel, Plascencia, Pérez, & Garcia, 1995; Gabb, & Evans, 1997; Larouche, 2001; Morales, Cruells, Roca, & Bergó, 2010; Cáceres, Cruells, Morales, & Roca, 2012; Ecometales, 2013; Yang, Fu, Liu, Chen, & Zhang, 2017). Processes developed in alkaline media, and in some cases with the presence of sulfide, have also been carried out (Gabler, & Jones, 1988; Morales, Hevia, & Cifuentes, 2009; Alguacil, Garcia-Diaz, Lopez, Rodriguez, & Alonso, 2013), as well as by using a bioleaching process (Massinaie, Oliazadeh, & Seyed Bagheri, 2006; Bakhtiari, Atashi, Zivdar, Seyedbagheri, & Fazaelipoor, 2011).

Jan 1, 2019

By D. Komljenovic, V. Kecojevic

Selection of the best possible truck type (model) is of crucial importance for the mine decision-makers. In this paper, authors contribute to the body of knowledge by developing a novel methodology for the selection of mining truck. Both the Coefficient of Technical Level (CTL) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methods were used in this study. The CTL represents a mathematical function which takes into consideration the interrelations among the main technical parameters of mining trucks. The authors developed a hierarchical structure where both attribute categories and their importance, i.e. priority or weight in the selection process were determined. For each category, a number of sub-attributes and their priorities were assigned, and a pairwise comparison among them was performed using the AHP method. In the final part of the study, the CTL was integrated into the AHP and represents a holistic approach in the selection of mining trucks. A case study on 180 tonnes truck category offered by five manufacturers was carried out. A sensitivity study of obtained results was also performed indicating a very stable solution. The methodology presented in this paper may be used by mining operators to help in the selection of a specific type when acquiring a new truck. It may also be used by equipment manufacturers to help in analysis of potential benefits of envisaged modifications concerning an existing truck type and/or development of a new type.

Jan 1, 2007

A tectonic interpretation of the Coromandel Peninsula which suggests that the basement underwent tensional collapse at its northern and southern ends would permit more ready penetration of late stage magmatic fluids. This hypothesis is consistent with regional trends of the chloride content of low grade geothermal waters and of the yield of gold and silver per unit weight of quartz worked. The consequences of such a model are that mercury should not only be a good pathfinder for Coromandel gold, but that it should be correlative with ratios of base metals high in the zoning or paragenetic sequences to those lower in the sequences. This is demonstrated successfully in an area of mineralisation in the southern Coromandel.

Jan 1, 1987

By C. Sun

In this study, numerical simulations of yield pillars employing the finite element method with time-dependent Drucker-Prager material model are conducted. The stress control mechanism of yield pillars on weak floor strata is studied. The development of pillar yield zone, the distribution of pillar stress and the development of failure zone in the weak floor strata are investigated. The study indicates that a properly selected yield pillar size may significantly reduce the peak stress induced in the weak floor strata and effectively control the development of failure zone in the floor.

Jan 1, 1999

By Kazutoshi Haga, Batnasan Altansukh, Atsushi Shibayama

In this study, the dissolution behavior of copper and arsenic from five different copper concentrates containing 21-34.7 %wt. of Cu, 1.3-7.3 %wt. of As and 15.6-27.5 %wt. of Fe were investigated under high pressure oxidative leaching conditions. Leaching experiments were conducted using different leaching reagents such as ferric sulfate, sodium chloride, deionized water, sulfuric acid and ferric sulfate-sodium chloride mixture in order to compare the effectiveness of each on the dissolution of copper and arsenic from copper concentrates. The effects of ferric sulfate (0.1-1 mol/L), sodium chloride (0.1-0.5 mol/L) and leaching temperature (100-180C) were investigated under 1 MPa autoclave pressure , particle size >45 m, pulp density of 100 g/L, stirring speed of 750 rpm and leaching time of 60 min. Results showed that the most effective leaching reagents for the dissolution of copper are 0.34 M NaCl and a mixture of 0.1 M Fe2(SO4)3 - 0.34 M NaCl, in which As extraction did not exceed 7%. The copper concentration in the pregnant leach solution obtained after leaching using 0.1 M Fe2(SO4)3 - 0.34 M NaCl was 13-30 g/L, while the concentration of As and Fe were in a range between 0.3-1 g/L and 0.2-10 g/L at 160C. INTRODUCTION Copper sulfide minerals, such as chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), chalcocite (Cu2S) and covellite (CuS) are used for the production of copper in mining and metallurgical industries worldwide. The conventional pyrometallurgical processing followed by electrorefining is a common process for the production of high purity copper (Moskalyk, & Alfantazi, 2003; Padilla, Aracena, & Ruiz, 2012). However, the degradation of copper content and an increase in the amount of metal impurities, especially arsenic (As), antimony (Sb) and bismuth (Bi) in copper concentrates cause serious problems to the production of copper and environmental pollution (Basha, Selvi, Ramasamy, & Chellammal, 2008; Long, Peng, & Bradshaw, 2012). Hydrometallurgical processes are used to recover metals from refractory ores, concentrates and tailings by leaching (Long, Peng, & Bradshaw, 2012; Masloboev, Seleznev, Svetlov, & Makarov, 2018). During the last decades, hydrometallurgical processing for the recovery of copper from enargite-bearing copper ores and concentrates has been extensively investigated due to its relatively more environmentally benign and less capital costs than the conventional pyrometallurgical processes (Long, Peng, & Bradshaw, 2012; Masloboev, Seleznev, Svetlov, & Makarov, 2018; Choubey, Lee, Kim, & Kim 2018). However, several issues facing the hydrometallurgical processing are incomplete extraction of copper associated with the coprecipitation of iron compounds, difficult stabilization of toxic impurities and production of a contaminated copper product (Dreisinger, 2003; Safarzadeh, Moats, & Miller, 2014). Hence, a number of studies have been conducted on the selective dissolution of copper from copper ores and concentrates or selective removal of arsenic leaving a clean copper residue using various leaching reagents or lixiviants (Safarzadeh, Moats, & Miller, 2014; Mihajlovic, Strbac, Zivkovic, Kovacevic, & Stehernic, 2007; Tongamp, Takasaki, & Shibayama, 2009). More extensive studies on the selective extraction of copper from enargite- bearing copper ores and concentrates are much needed to improve copper recovery.

Jan 1, 2019

By Paulo José Costa Couceiro Junior, Manuel Lopez Cano

The biggest Port of Latin America - the Santos Port in São Paulo, Brazil - has been drilled and blasted by controlled underwater techniques in order to remove around 40,000 m3 (52,318 cubic yard) of rock divided in two outcrop rocks: Teffé and Itapema. Underwater pumped explosive, in combination with small cartridges areas, was successfully used in order to reach a target depth of -15m (-49 ft) and a width of 220m (722 ft) in the navigation channel. It was the first time that a pumped explosive was used in underwater blasting in Brazil and it represents a historic benchmark for projects of this kind in this country. The main challenges faced in this project include the control of the ground vibration, due to the necessity to carry out detonations 40m (131 ft) away from the quay wall - where the passenger terminal and the 80 year-old warehouse were located – and the rush schedule available, in order to finish the underwater drilling and blasting phase before the coming cruise season. Therefore, the perfect combination of an ideal pumped product with an effective pumping system has permitted to carry out the project in a record of less time than 3 months (against to the original expected time of 18 months), with all vibration events under control as result of the special ground vibration program carried out.

Jan 1, 2016

By Carlos Virrueta Zevallos

El presente texto describe los lineamientos necesarios para construir un sistema de control de perdidas sólido en la Corporación HOCHSCHILD MINING DNV, el cual se basa en un liderazgo, compromiso y administración efectiva del sistema como puntos vitales para el éxito, protegiendo la vida de las trabajadores, la propiedad, los procesos y medio ambiente.

Sep 12, 2011

By W Valery, A Jankovic

The ball mill in closed circuit with hydrocyclones is an industry standard, and well known methodologies exist for equipment sizing, selection and design. However, the potential to improve the capacity of ball mill circuits by replacing cyclones with screens has been recognised for many years and recently has been successfully realised, thanks to developments in fine screening technology. Proper methodology for equipment sizing and selection is required to capitalise on this opportunity, but there is currently insufficient information and few guidelines available on how to design such a circuit. This paper discusses the differences between ball mill circuits closed with cyclones and with screens. A methodology is described for equipment sizing and selection for a circuit closed with screens, and the laboratory testing requirements are described for low grade base metal ores and magnetite ores. An economic evaluation is also presented for a case study demonstrating the potential benefits of closing a ball mill circuit with screens.CITATION:Jankovic, A and Valery, W, 2013. Energy efficient ball mill circuit - Equipment sizing considerations, in Proceedings MetPlant 2013 , pp 285-295 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 15, 2013

The design/optimization of the pump and cyclones to maximize grinding circuit efficiency first requires a concise understanding of, and clearly defined specifications for, desired grinding circuit performance. Subsequently, the pump and cyclone performances that provide the desired grinding circuit performance can be defined. Once the performance requirements of each process unit are determined, selection of physical equipment parameters that will deliver those performances can be carried out. The Functional Performance Equation shows that there are two distinct efficiencies in closed circuit ball milling. One of these, ?Circuit Classification System Efficiency? (CSE), is the fraction of ?coarse? material inside the ball mill upon which grinding energy is deliberately expended, versus the remaining fraction of ?fines? or finished size material inside the mill, upon which grinding energy is wasted (on over-grinding). The role of the pump and cyclones is to maximize CSE, which is the desired grinding circuit performance. The obtainable, target CSE for any given circuit can be estimated, for example by referring to a plant data base of CSE?s. Design/optimization guidelines then allow us to specify the pump and cyclone performances that will achieve the target CSE. This paper outlines the step-by-step, systematic method of pump and cyclone selection which maximizes CSE. Numerous examples of its successful application are provided.

Jan 1, 2011

By C. Velásquez, W. Bergholz, C. Spence, P. Lind

NuevaUnión SpA (NuevaUnión) is a development project located in the Huasco province of the Atacama region of Chile. It is held in a joint venture company owned 50:50 by Teck Resources Limited (Teck) and Newmont Goldcorp. It includes the Cu-Mo Relincho deposit and the Cu-Au La Fortuna deposit, with plans to utilise a single concentrator to be built at the Relincho site. The Relincho site is at an altitude of 2,000 masl and is 40 km from the La Fortuna site which is at an altitude of 4,100 masl. The project is currently completing a Feasibility Study and is reviewing equipment selection and flowsheet options. This paper is based on the current thinking, and design decisions will be finalized at the completion of the Feasibility Study. NuevaUnión is currently planning for phased operation, processing Relincho ore at 104 ktpd followed by processing ore from La Fortuna at 116 ktpd. Plans for the third phase include doubling the main processing lines and returning to Relincho ore at a processing rate of 208 ktpd. The NuevaUnión concentrator will incorporate comminution and flotation circuits that are being designed to maximize the overall economic value of the combined ore deposits. Major ore characteristics differ between the two ore bodies, such as ore competency, grindability, liberation grind size, pulp rheology, tailings properties, minerals and metals of value, as well as gangue mineralogy. Mineral processing choices have been made to optimise value from each deposit and the combined project. INTRODUCTION Between 2010 and 2013, two significant mining projects were being developed in Chile: Goldcorp’s El Morro project had recently finalized a Feasibility Study and, in 2011, had received its environmental approval for construction; and Teck Resources Limited’s (Teck) Relincho project was finalizing a Feasibility Study and preparing its Environmental Impact Study. Both projects were: Geographically close, at only 40 km apart. Considering similar infrastructure. Each was planning to have its own concentrator, tailings management facility, high voltage power line, port, concentrate transport system, seawater desalination plant and pumping system to mine site.

Jan 1, 2019