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By Antony Amberg, Gonzalo Saldías, Romke Kuyvenhoven, Catherine Souza, Heriban Soto, Francisco Soto

"Vizcachitas is an advanced stage copper–molybdenum porphyry deposit, fully owned by Los Andes Copper and located in Central Chile. The property contains an indicated resource of 1,038 million tonnes grading 0.37% Cu and 0.012% Mo, and an inferred resource of 318 million tonnes grading 0.345% Cu and 0.013% Mo (Coffey & Alquimia, 2014). The deposit occurs in the same geological belt as several other giant copper-molybdenum porphyry deposits including Río Blanco-Los Bronces, Los Pelambres-Pachon and El Teniente. In 2018, the original Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) study from 2014 was updated; this paper presents the geometallurgical testwork that was performed to support that update. The testwork focused on the metallurgical characterization of 40 DDH samples and the development of a more profound orebody knowledge by relating geological features with metallurgical performance. The scope of work included complete chemical and mineralogical QemSCAN characterization; SAG, ball mill and abrasion testing; complete rougher and cleaner kinetics including locked-cycle-test; environmental ABA and settling tests on rougher tailings. The results show that the ore can be classified as medium-hard, with a hardness that is slightly below the average for large Cu/Mo deposits in the region. A good correlation was found between lithology and breakage characteristics, implying that the specific energy consumption (kWh/t) is well correlated to rock type. The results of the flotation tests were very encouraging and did not show significant variability. An overall Cu recovery of 91% can be expected for the flotation circuit. The use of a relatively coarse primary grind size gave good final recovery and grade for both Cu and Mo, and deserves further attention in future work, as this impacts positively both energy consumption and water recovery.INTRODUCTION Los Andes Copper Ltd. is a Canadian exploration and development company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of advanced stage copper deposits in Latin America. The company owns 100% of the Vizcachitas project in Chile, the largest copper deposit in the Americas not controlled by the majors. Vizcachitas is a copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit, located 120 km north of Santiago, in an area of very good infrastructure."

Jan 1, 2018

By Liu Jin

"In order to reduce the dosage costs and increase the economic benefits of a full floating process in a low grade complex multi-metals W-Mo ore, based on the study of the magnetic characteristics of the main gangue minerals, a joint process by magnetic separation and floatation technology is adopted. The first step of the flowsheet is to recover magnetite by magnetic separation, then remove the magnetic gangues by high gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) and finally recycle the W-Mo from the magnetically separated tailings by flotation. Results of the lab experiment show that in comparison with the full flotation process, the floatation feed tonnage of the combined flowsheet are only 46%. The grade and the recovery of Mo in the rough Mo-Bi concentrate is similar with the original one while the WO3 in the tungsten rough concentrate is increased from 3.85% to 6.64%. The dosage costs are reduced by 53%. The new process can significantly improve the plant economically. INTRODUCTION With the continuous exploitation of scheelite resources, the easily obtained resource is gradually depleting. The ""lean, fine and complex"" scheelite resource has become the main research object of tungsten beneficiation (Lou et al., 2010) (Xiao et al., 2013). The passive situation of tungsten beneficiation can be reversed by enhancing technological innovation and investment in science and technology, changing the business philosophy and mode of production, optimizing the process structure and process conditions, improving various technical indexes and reducing production costs of reagents, which will maximize economic benefits (Jiang et al., 2012 ) (Zhu et al., 2016). A polymetallic deposit of tungsten molybdenum bismuth original process adopts a full flotation process. With the expansion of stope mining, the content of valuable metals in the ore continues to decrease, resulting in a high cost per ton of concentrate produced and a low output value (Li et al., 2015)."

Jan 1, 2018

By M. Samuels

"Block and panel cave mining methods are being increasingly proposed as they allow massive, deeply situated ore-bodies to be mined economically at a time when discovery rates of significant near surface deposits are declining. Cave-to-Mill, a mine-to-mill approach for block cave mines, defines ore block models with respect to both mine and mill performance. A cave-to-mill study for the New Afton block caving operation focused on identifying value opportunities related to fragmentation and sorting for a future lift as development progresses deeper. The lack of selectivity and potential for dilution associated with the block cave mining method results in many caving operations having to mine and either dispose of or process material that is below cut-off grade at certain stages of production. As an outcome of the study, the variation in cave fragmentation size and the sensitivity of mill throughput to feed size was examined. To evaluate the amenability of bulk and particle sorting, Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis and X-Ray Fluorescence sensors were tested. A conceptual bulk and particle sorting flowsheet is presented. Grade data from regular underground sampling was used to predict the performance of a bulk sorter. A heterogeneity analysis of material reporting to drawpoints helped to identify areas of the extraction level that experience high variations in grade and thereby stand to benefit from dedicated ore and waste material handling systems should underground bulk sorting be implemented.INTRODUCTION Block and panel caving are low-cost underground mass mining methods that are suitable for excavating weak, massive and steeply-dipping orebodies. Accordingly, cave mining methods have predominantly been used to mine copper porphyry and diamond bearing deposits. Due to the increasing depletion of near-surface orebodies, it is expected that block and panel caving methods will be increasingly used in the copper-gold industry. Their implementation holds significant potential to extend the life of existing open-pit operations by providing an economic means to access ore located at depths that are beyond the practical limits of open-pit mining. Examples of cave mines proposed for British Columbia include the Kwanika Mine, Red Chris underground, Kemess Underground project, and the Iron Cap and Mitchell cave mines of the Kerr-Sulphurets and Mitchell (KSM) project (Moose Mountain Technical Services, 2017; Imperial Metals, 2017; Golder Associates, 2017; Tetra Tech, 2016)."

Jan 1, 2018

By Chen Jianhua, Shen Zhenchang, Zhang Ming, Chen Feifei

"With flotation cells scale-up, the performance of flotation cells is increasingly variated for short-coming and dead zones existing. The residence time distribution which shows the movement of tracers can assess the unexpected flows such as short circuit and dead zone in a flotation cell. In this paper, the residence time distribution of pilot flotation cell is investigated with CFD simulation. Based on the theoretical model, the short-coming probability and dead zone probability are quantitative. The ideal average residence time is similar with the actual average residence time. The mixing effect of the flotation cell approaches the ideal continuous stirred tank reactor. The operating parameters such as speed and feed velocity have complicated influence on residence time distribution. The research would be helpful to understanding flow in flotation cell and improving performances of flotation cell.INTRODUCTION Froth flotation is a method which purifies minerals according to difference of physical and chemical surface characters of different mineral particles (Shen, Z., Chen J, 2012). Flotation cell is a key equipment for froth flotation method. The flotation cell performances have great influences on flotation index.It is difficult to evaluate flotation cell how to improve flotation procedure to complexity. The main flotation cell performances are aeration volume, air dispersion, solid suspension and residence time distribution, etc (Shen, Z., Lu, S., 2008). Residence time distribution is an important fluid hydrodynamics which could reveal the flow of pulp, mixing of particles and air bubbles. In the flotation cell, the ideal average residence time of pulp could obtain easily. But the fluid differential units would be different flow paths. The residence time of the fluid differential units is variation and would be longer or less than the average residence time. The residence time distribution would reveal the mixing effect and predict the not ideal flow in the flotation cell such as shorting cutting, dead zone, etc. As we know, the shorting cutting and dead zone would be decreased the real flotation time and it is disadvantage to better flotation effect, especially for large flotation cell. It is impossible to eliminate the not ideal flow totally. It is very important to reveal and decrease the shorting cutting and dead zone probability in the flotation cell."

Jan 1, 2018

By B. P. von der Heyden, P. Neethling, M. Tadieb, L. Babedi

The effects of trace element substitutions in sphalerite mineral structure on optimised floatation response have, as yet, not been fully constrained or fully understood. To further this important field of study, this contribution focusses specifically on mineral and surface chemistry, and electro-chemistry of Cd- and Co- substituted synthetic sphalerites using Raman spectroscopy and Zeta potential experimentation. Raman spectroscopy illustrates that the presence of these impurities results in the introduction of a new mode, the relative intensity of which can be correlated (Cd r2=0.95 and Co r2= 0.99) to the dopant concentration. Comparison to X-ray Diffraction results measuring the unit cell parameter further shows that this relative intensity (Cd r2=0.81 and Co r2= 0.99) may provide insights into the degree of lattice strain within the mineral structure. The zeta potential distribution of an un-activated Cd-sphalerite show no detrimental effect as function of Cd content. Although the iso-electric point shifted from 2.45 at 1 wt.% Cd to 2.69 at 3.68 wt.% Cd, the zeta potential remained negative at alkaline media. Conversely, cobalt at low concentration of 0.36 wt.% had a detrimental effect on the surface charge, resulting to a close to neutral zeta potential at different pH. The adsorption of Cu ions on the surface of Co-bearing sphalerite conditioned in an alkaline media slightly increases the zeta potential of Co-sphalerite. While the Cd-bearing sphalerite decrease in negative zeta potential at >1 wt.% Cd indicating a complete exchange between Cu and Zn. The results presented herein illustrate that, based on the chemical nature of the substituting metal; sphalerite will exhibit multiple response to flotation reagents. Maximum recovery of zinc can thus only be achieved through multidisciplinary study and fundamental understanding of the effects of cation substitution on mineral structure and surface chemistry, the latter necessarily affecting the floatation response.

Jan 1, 2018

By V. V. Zakopaylo, M. V. Lukyantseva, V. A. Ignatkina, V. A. Bocharov, L. C. Khachatryan, D. M. Altynamanov, A. A. Kayumov, R. H. Sharipov

"This research was aimed to explain the reasons of low floatability of tennantite from refractory pyrite ores of non-ferrous metals and to create a reagent regime for selective increasing a recovery of copper sulfide minerals from arsenic-containing copper pyrite ore. ?opper-zinc ore of the Uzelga deposit has 89% of pyrite, some part as melnikovite; copper is assayed as 3.58% of tennantite and 0.25% of chalcopyrite; there is 2.19% sphalerite. Sulfide minerals are very finely disseminated. Tennantite is genetically related to primary copper sulfides. Graphene was identified on the surface of tennantite by a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) method. The recovery of tennantite was rose up by using the collector M-TF. M-TF is the mixture of diisobutylditiophosphate (DTF) and O-isopropyl-N-methyl (ethyl) (TC) in the certain ratio. M-TF change up a kinetic of copper sulfide flotation in a slightly alkaline medium, but pyrite has slowly floatability at this moment. A depressing effect of thiosulfate ions in a liquid phase of pulp flotation tennantite from pyrite ore has been established. A copper recovery up 14.2% (from 67.7 to 82.0%) into a copper concentrate level off copper grade of 18.65% (butkx) and 18.68% (M-TF) has been increased by the new technology with M-TF compared to a standard technology with butkx. A main copper recovery up to 50 % in an inter-cycle copper concentrate assaying 19-21% Cu in case of using M-TF was gotten. A zinc concentrate with recovery of 50% and a zinc assay of 41.76% by a standard flow sheet with butyl xanthate was obtained. A zinc recovery of 70.3% with a zinc grade of 44.17% by the M-TF technology was achieved.INTRODUCTION The pyrite copper-zinc ores of the Urals region are considered refractory. The distinctive features of these ores include a high content of pyrite (90-95%), the presence of arsenopyrite and arsenical pyrite, and the simultaneous presence of chalcopyrite, bornite, tennantite with the predominance of the latter (Andreasen et al.,2008;.Dobrotsvetov, 2009; Chanturiya et al. 2016). The flotation properties of tennantite differ from those of chalcopyrite (Xumeng Chen, Yongjun Peng, Dee Bradshaw. 2014), which is the reason why a comprehensive study was under taken of the flotation activity of tennantite and a process for its recovery was developed. The proposed agent treatment and flotation process make it possible to produce salable copper and zinc concentrates."

Jan 1, 2018

By Yang Zhao, Tao Xiu-xiang, Chen Song-jiang

"China is rich in low-rank coals that account for 45.68% of existing coal reserves in China. The clean and efficient utilization of low rank coals is of great significance for ensuring the effective energy supply and promoting economic development and environmental protection. In order to solve the difficult problem in flotation of low rank coal, it has become the focus of research in the related field that oily bubbles instead of air bubbles are taken as a carrier in flotation to improve the attachment efficiency and recovery of low rank coal. In this paper, low rank coal slime collected from Shendong mining area was used as the experimental material, and it focused on the characteristics of oily-bubble flotation process of low rank coal. Additionally, difference in conventional flotation and oily-bubble flotation was discussed. The induction time between air bubbles, oily-bubbles and fine low rank coal particles was measured. The results indicated that the induction time between oily-bubbles and coal particles was obviously lower than that of air bubbles. By comparing the foam height of air and oily bubbles, it was found that the amount of oily bubbles is less than air bubbles, causing relative low flotation rate of oily-bubble flotation at initial stage. Besides, the maximum foam height and half-life of air bubbles and oily-bubbles were measured respectively. The results showed that the stability of oily-bubbles was higher than that of air bubbles, which is benefit for the enrichment of concentrates. The clean coal water recovery of oily-bubble flotation is lower than that of air bubble flotation, which indicated oily-bubble flotation is lower in water entrainment. INTRODUCTION China is the largest energy consumer in the world, accounting for 23% of global energy consumption in 2016 and 27% of global energy consumption growth. Whereas coal is taken as the major primary energy source and its share of China’s primary energy consumption is 62% in 2016, in which the low rank coals, such as lignite, long-flame coal, weakly caking coal, and non-caking coal, accounted for about 50% of total coal production capacity (China’s energy market in 2016, BP). Moreover, the exploitation and utilization of low rank coals and other coals that are difficult to float have been an important strategy for China’s sustainable development of the coal industry (Liu et al., 2014). However, the combustion of low-quality coals leads to a serious environmental pollution. In addition, the deterioration in geological conditions of coal resources, and the increasing improvement in the mechanization for mining significantly caused the increased amount of fine coal."

Jan 1, 2018

By R. Schlüter

"The global mining industry is facing increasing challenges in terms of geological, technological and social aspects. Potential exploi-tation of deposits shows a tendency to increasing depth with complex ores and decreasing grades. A promising approach to deal with these constrains is by applying alternative extraction methods like (bio-)hydrometallurgy as in-situ leaching (ISL) technology. The Bergakademie Freiberg University of Mining and Technology established the “Biohydrometallurgical Center for strategic Elements” (BHMZ) to foster the interdisciplinary research along the entire biohy-drometallurgical process chain to extract indium from sulfide ores. The involved Department of Underground Mining Methods deals with the design and implementation of a pilot-scale underground testing facility for microbial in-situ stope leaching in its “Research and Educational Mine”. This paper discusses the potential of in-situ bioleaching under technological aspects. In addition, different conditioning approaches based on hydraulic and explosive methods for enhanced permeability in the formation are introduced and the gathered data will be presened. INTRODUCTION A reliable, substantial and sustainable supply of raw materials is of crucial importance for any industrialized country. This dependency applies to “strategic elements” including rare earth elements (REEs), platinum group metals (PGMs) as well as a variety of other metals like indium and germanium which are needed for high-tech industry and products such as electric and electronic devices, fibre optics and laser technology (Barakos et al., 2016; European Commission, 2010). Due to the economic growth of the BRIC-countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China), the resource policy of China as well as the volatile world mar-ket prices of different metals the availability of these critical raw materi-als and therefore the dependency of the high-tech producing countries has become increasingly important (Barakos et al, 2016). Adequate supply is often affected by the increasing depth of de-posits, lower metal concentrations and more complex ore mineralogy. In addition, mining activities are increasingly restricted by their envi-ronmental and social impact and footprints. As a consequence, con-ventional mining and processing methods are limited by high energy consumption and technical constraints."

Jan 1, 2018

By E. V. Koporulina, I. Zh. Bunin, M. V. Ryazantseva

"We studied the mechanism of structural and chemical transformations of columbite, tantalite, zircon and feldspar surface during the treatment by high – power electromagnetic pulses (HPEMP) using the methods of X - ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), analytical electron microscopy (SEM - EDX), Kelvin probe force microscopy and flotation experiments. According to XPS and SEM - EDX data, major changes in the atoms chemical state of investigated minerals surface are related with formation and modification of functional cover and changing in concentration (% at.) of hydroxyl groups on the mineral surface, leading to increase in the contrast of technological properties of the rare metals minerals. Research has identified the optimal parameters of HPEMP - treatment of rare - earth minerals Npuls ??104, Ttreatment ??100 sec. improving the selectivity of the flotation separation of columbite and zircon. The difference in mineral recovery into the froth (? e) before and after HPEMP - treatment was about 11 % and 24.5 %, respectively. No significant increase was observed in the flotation activity of feldspar. This study's findings demonstrate the effectiveness of HPEMP - treatment in inducing a controlled change in the structural and chemical properties of rare - earth minerals and improving the process efficiency for the processing of rougher tantalum - niobium gravity concentrates.INTRODUCTIONThe importance of improving the processing methods of tantalum-niobium ores and concentrates is explained by the mineralogical properties of rare - earth ores. These are properties such as the variable mineral, chemical, and grain size composition, complex morphometric properties, and the dissemination of ore mineral grains of micro - and nanometric size. Iron oxide and hydroxide films on the mineral surfaces neutralize the surface physicochemical and absorption properties of the minerals. Both in Russia and globally, nonconventional (non - mechanical) methods are being developed based on physicochemical, electrochemical, and pulsed energy impacts to improve the efficiency of disintegration and liberation processes of disseminated mineral complexes and to enhance the contrast of the structural, chemical, and technological (floatability) properties of refractory ores. This study is devoted to the investigation of the applicability of high – power electromagnetic pulses (HPEMP – treatment) for the change in the structural and chemical properties of rare - earth minerals and improving of the flotation properties contrast."

Jan 1, 2018

By L. A. Vaisberg, E. V. Shishkin, S. V. Kazakov

"This research is targeted at finding solution to the problem of reduction of specific energy consumption during disintegration of solid materials with the help of machines, operating in a quasiresonant mode. The objective of the research is the development of an energy-saving method of disintegration of supestrong rock and by-products on the basis of vibrational units with two movable crushing elements, operating in a rigorous synchronous-antiphase mode without stringent kinematic links. In the course of investigations a mathematical analysis of the dynamics of vibrational units was performed to determine required mechanical parameters, allowing for adjustment of the machine actuating elements to high-frequency synchronous-antiphase oscillations in the quasiresonant frequency range. As a result of performed pilot tests, the reliability of desktop studies was confirmed and the dependency of process parameters on the machine regulated parameters in the quasiresonant frequency range was identified. The analysis of obtained data showed that during machine operation with cone-shaped crushing elements in the quasiresonant frequency range, the yield of the high-quality finished product (WFA grits of -3+1 mm grain size class) in one pass reaches 35%, whereas the form of the particles corresponds to the grain form with sharp edge. The quasiresonant operation mode of the vibrational unit with two freely suspended crushing elements (without stringent kinematic links) provided substantial reduction of energy intensity during crushing down to 0.16 kWh/t, which shows reduction of power consumption for crushing by more than 15% compared to conventional equipment.INTRODUCTION The most common and energy-consuming processes in the mining industry are the crushing and grinding of various solid materials. Such large energy costs are due to the fact that the capabilities of the existing crushing and grinding machines are based on traditional methods of destruction, and are limited by their kinematic features, which do not allow to reduce the energy intensity of processes, to lower the irreversible loss of useful components, to improve the quality of marketable products. In connection with the foregoing, the task of energy costs reducing for disintegration is one of the most important issues in the enrichment of both minerals and processing of man-made raw materials. The solution of this problem is possible only through the creation of a fundamentally new highly efficient technique and technology for processing raw materials [1, 2]. It seems that the greatest prospects in this respect are the vibration methods of disintegration, in particular, the vibratory cone crusher based on a two-mass system without rigid kinematic connections between the crushing bodies, with vertical vibrations of the working bodies. In this machine, the principle of rational material destruction is realized – crushing without re-grinding [3-5]."

Jan 1, 2018

By A. Rousselet, H. Gilbert-Tremblay, A. Berton

"Robex Resources interrupted production at the Nampala Mine in September 2014 following throughput and gold recovery results which were below expectations during the first months of operation. After a thorough plant audit, an important brainstorming took place in order to identify an economical path to resume production. It was clearly identified that a significant investment was necessary at the concentrator prior to restarting the plant, namely the addition of a ball mill and a new elution system.The mineral processing simulation software USIM PAC was used in order to simulate the grinding circuit in design. The simulations’ outputs allowed the ball mill characteristics and the surrounding classification devices to be designed with more accuracy. Many ball mills available from second hand retailers were therefore studied in the simulated circuit. The chosen ball mill, which was in perfect condition, had the advantage of being available for rapid delivery on site.The paper first describes the ball mill sizing method in comparison with the conventional Allis Chalmers method. It then describes the phase 2 concentrator start-up (that took place in 2016) with the commissioning of the ball mill, the classification circuit, the gravity concentration, the four (4) new carbon-in-leach (CIL) tanks, and the Zadra elution system (The phase 1 start-up took place in 2014). It finally provides production data compared to expected simulation data, as commercial production was reached in January 2017.IntroductionDesigning a new concentrator or new equipment within an existing concentrator requires significant efforts to identify possible bottlenecks and their causes (i.e. limiting equipment or sectors) and accurate sizing of major equipment can have a tremendous impact on the economy of the whole project. In the presented case study, the ball mill was the critical equipment and oversizing it could have brought the Capex to a level where the project would not have gone through. Inversely, undersizing the mill could have resulted in lower production and therefore no economic viability for the project once it is in operation.During engineering studies, equipment sizing often relies on a static mass balance and one-by-one sizing of all pieces of equipment. The sizing is then left to the equipment manufacturer or in the case of mills, evaluated with empirical models mostly relying on the Bond equations (Allis Chalmers method) [Rowland and Kjos, 1978]. This methodology shows the disadvantage of not considering interaction between equipment in a mineral processing circuit, especially when recirculation occurs. Also, it has the disadvantage of not using the more advanced grinding models that include the use of the whole particle size distribution as well as phenomenological components by only using limited parameters in the ore particle size distribution (i.e. the P80). This can be explained by the lack of data that sometimes needs to be gathered in order to tune the more advanced models but also by the conservative mindset in mineral concentration engineering which does not always favor the use of process simulation. In many aspects of process engineering, Soutex has demonstrated its affinity to using simulation in order to size equipment with more accuracy, consider process variability, simulate complex systems, and study supply chain management (Berton et al., 2015)."

Jan 1, 2018

By V. V. Morozov, I. S. Barmin, A. V. Tugolukov, V. V. Polivanskaya

"It was presents the results of research on improving reagent regime and scheme of enrichment of slime classes of Apatite-Staffelite ores and tailings stockpile of Kovdorsky enrichment plant. It was investigated the regularities of flocculation in the processes of thickening and selective flotation apatite-bearing ores. It was established character of the influence of flotation reagents on the flocculation process. It was shown that the sodium silicate and soda ash have a stabilizing effect by thickening of sludges. Neonol and oleic acid have a coagulating or flocculating effect. It was tested the new regime flotation, involving an initial conditioning with using of reagent - dispersants before feeding the pulp into the flotation and subsequent conditioning with reagents having a coagulating effect. The flowsheet and reagent regime for enrichment of fine-grained tailings stockpiled was developed, which providing production of standard apatite concentrate and increasing the recovery of valuable components. There are presented results of the research of activities of strong organic surfactant on solubility of colloidal form fatty acid collector and aggregate stability of fine minerals in the process of thickening and flotation. Surfactants such as Neonol have been investigated for increasing the activity of the collectors. When using the process of thickening sludge fraction with flocculant Praestol 2540 and stadial conditioning of sludge were obtained concentrates containing up to 38.1% P2O5 at recovery. INTRODUCTION A feature of the Apatite-Staffelite ores of the Kovdorsky deposit is the presence of a large number of fine mineral particles and a reduced hardness of phosphate minerals (Beloborodov et al., 2010, Tugolukov et al., 2012). Formed in the ore-preparation process, sludges are lost with a discharge in the thickening operation. Sludge is characterized by an increased content of phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5). Losses of P2O5 at enrichment of the stale tailings of Kovdorsky GOK reach 14.0%. The high losses of P2O5 caused a profound study of the behavior of thin apatite classes under conditions of thickening and flotation."

Jan 1, 2018

By S. I. Anufrieva, N. A. Permyakova, E. G. Likhnikeevich

"Russia’s rare metal reserves are composed of compositionally and structurally complex ores and are characterized by an increased content of natural radionuclides due to their geochemical similarity with rare metals. For instance, concentrates of Zashikhinsky daeposit are characterized by an increased content of uranium (0,06%) and thorium (0,59%); Beloziminsky deposit holds pyrochlore-apatite-magnetite-carbonate ores characterized by increased radioactivity (130 mkR/h) and containing 0,0016-0,0025% of uranium; Etykinsky deposit is characterized by columbite-pyrochlore-microlith mineralization with an average ore grade of 0,013% of uranium and 0,0020% of thorium; eudialyte concentrate of Lovozero deposit (Alluaiv area) belongs to Class II of mineral reserves. Industrial development of these mineral reserves involves the need to comply with environmental standards, public health requirements applicable to finished core and by-products, to take into account the amount and class of the generated radioactive waste, the possibility of disposal or recycling of the radioactive production waste. Concentration processes of radioactive rare metal feeds most often lead to a concentration of natural radionuclides and their accumulation in concentrates. Comprehensive hydrometallurgical processes are currently under development for such concentrates, aimed at producing salable products compliant with the radiation safety standards. The choice of the hydrometallurgical processing method for radioactive rare metal concentrates is based on the mineralogical component of the concentrate, textural and structural features, the distribution of valuable components and impurities, and the content of radionuclides. A systemic approach to the selection of processing methods, in particular integrating several methods, is an effective solution. Methods may not only be combined, but also inextricably linked with each other. Hydrometallurgical processing methods include leaching by acidic and alkaline agents; sulfatization for selectively decomposing the minerals and moving the bulk of U and Th into solution; fluorine extraction process. Methods of precipitation and co-precipitation, extraction (by liquid and solid extractants), sorption, and ion exchange are used to decontaminate the solutions by removing thorium, mezathorium, uranium, and their radioactive decay products. Agents used in hydrometallurgical processing of radioactive rare metal ores include sulfuric, nitric, hydrochloric, hydrofluoric acid, alkali (NaOH, KOH), sorbents (for example, AB-17) for sorption of uranium and extractants (mono- and bidentate organophosphorus compounds, diamides, etc.) for the extraction separation of rare, rare-earth, and radioactive elements."

Jan 1, 2018

By D. E. L. Zapata, O. J. R. Baena

"INTRODUCTION Mining is a fundamental part of the historical and economic development of a country. In Colombia, this is reflected from pre-Columbian jewelery, to being now one of the first exporters of coal worldwide, in 2017, the Colombian mining sector contributed approximately 6% of GDP (Ministerio de Minas y Energía, 2017). Coal, nickel, gold, platinum, emeralds, limestone, salt, phosphate rock, clays, siliceous sands and to a lesser extent copper, manganese, magnesite, barite, gypsum and various types of ornamental rocks, among others are produced (UPME, 2016). The contributions of mining activity in the economic dimension is more measurable, on the contrary in other dimensions, as the social and environmental, for this, every day there are new proposals and tools oriented to strengthen how to evaluate the contributions in terms of the sustainability and responsibility, with the aim of quantifying, concreting and non-utopian, to improve the life quality of a community and not only to comply with reporting and gaining prestige. Colombia has a generalized increase in the mining sector where the levels of informality and illegality are evident only 10% of mining activity is legal (UPME, 2014), also, the mining sector is accused of human rights violations, high levels of inequality, poverty and the affectation of ecosystems due to bad environmental management, among other situations (ACNUDH Colombia, 2015). This problem has generated rejection to the realization of the mining activity in many places of Colombia. At this point, it is important to clarify this problem is more complex, different actors are involved in this conflict, but it is an evidence that is needed a sustainability model for specific realities such as the Colombian mining. This situation in the current mining activity, is similar to the chemical industry situation three decades ago, because of an extensive problem in relation to repeated work accidents, natural disasters and indications as a highly polluting and unsustainable industry, with the aim of improving, not only this public perception, but also in the way of carrying out the business activity. Thus, in 1985, the Canadian Chemical Producers Association released the Responsible Care Program (RCP) (ICCA, 2015). Being aware that companies were responsible for the affected lives in some way by the operation and needed to improve workers safety, environmental protection and most importantly how legal persons should comply with the law, but go beyond this. RCP is most recognized sustainability initiative in the chemical sector, companies associated are recognized for having high quality standards, continuous improvement, visibility, corporate ethics, environmental and social management (ACC, 2015). In addition, to meeting the objectives is set out the creation of a model that increasing reputational sector levels. This initiative is considered to be a worldwide successful case of reporting corporate responsibility indicators and contributions to sustainability from the industry sector to local development (BASF Group, 2016)."

Jan 1, 2018

By L. J. Li, Q. Zhang, Z. H. Liu, Q. L. Chen

Phosphogypsum (PG) is an industrial waste from the production of phosphate fertilizer. The utilization of PG is restricted by its containing impurities, and the pretreatment is crucial to eliminating these impurities. The purpose of the research is to recycle pretreatment PG as raw material for preparation of a-calcium sulfate hemihydrate (a-HH) by salt solution method. The effect of pretreatment technologies of lime neutralization and washing on dehydration rate, phase composition and morphology evolution of a-HH were investigated by crystal water content analysis, XRD and SEM. Furthermore, the change of pH in the reaction process was also discussed in detail. The results show that the dehydration rate of conversion PG to a-HH increases and the corresponding induction period, crystal growth period and total time decrease with an increase in CaO dosage from 0.2% to 0.6%. In the presence of 0.4% CaO or 0.6% CaO, the a-HH presents a long hexagon-prism-shaped crystal with a purity of 94%, and the end face of a-HH presents polyhedron. The system pH sharply decreases with the reaction time under different CaO dosage, and the pH variation from the initial alkalinity to acidity. The main reason is that as the co-crystallized phosphorus dissolved and released HPO42-, and with the pH decreasing to 4-5, HPO42- transformed into H2PO4-. The dehydration rate of washing PG is lower than that of original PG. Compared with the original PG, a-HH with the larger width and smaller aspect ratio can be achieved from the pretreatment PG subjected to lime neutralization and washing, meanwhile the crystal surface is more smooth.

Jan 1, 2018

By Mingfei He, Yude Gao

"The leaching kinetics was studied during leaching of indium-bearing zinc oxide to recover indium. The effects of temperature, sulfuric acidity, particle size, stirring rate on dissolution rate of indium were investigated. Results showed that the leaching process was controlled by chemical reaction at the condition of low sulfuric acid concentration. While the acidity increased to 1.8 mol/L, the leaching process was transformed into an internal diffusion controlling model . The corresponding value of reaction orders under low acidity and high acidity were 1.194, 0.156, respectively. Further calculation results indicated that the leaching reaction activation energy was only 10.97kJ/mol under the condition of high acid. The leaching rate constant was inversely proportional to the square of particle size, while the effect of stirring rate on leaching process was insignificant. The leaching process can be enhanced by increasing the temperature and acid concentration, as well as the decrease of particle size. And a final kinetics eqution was proposed. KEYWORDS Indium, extration, leaching kinetics, zinc oxide INTRODUCTION Indium[1,2] plays an important role in many aspects of living and industrial production owning to its special physical and chemical properties. The reserve of indium is rare on the earth, and most of indium is distributed in some other minerals[3]. Some researchers [4,5] have proposed that indium mainly substitutes for the lattice of other minerals by isomorphous. Therefore, the extraction of indium should take into account of the production technologies of those minerals to comprehensively recover the valuable metals."

Jan 1, 2018

By S. J. Prout, J. M. Lang, D. Lascelles, K. Sarinas

"There is a growing demand for ore characterization methods to support metallurgical development programs from a true geometallurgical perspective. Today, there are multiple automated mineral analysis systems on the market, many of which are based on conventional mineral liberation data. However, liberation data can be limited when assessing the floatability of a mineral to predict its recovery as it doesn’t consider the surface area available for collector absorption and bubble attachment; whereas mineral exposure measurements can. Using the First-Order Rate equation to predict the recovery versus time of variously exposed particles, a model has been developed to predict the recovery of copper sulphides at a particular grind size. This model provides the opportunity for the prediction of copper recovery and grade from multiple, small-scale samples. These predicted values can be imported into resource modeling software, and guide the domaining of geometallurgical units within the ore body. Data has been analyzed from various global copper porphyry systems and compared with actual flotation testwork.IntroductionAs part of the development of a mining project, resource estimation primarily focuses on the definition of the quantity and grade of the ore in the deposit; as the project evolves from preliminary economic assessment through to feasibility, the geological model is usually further populated with hardness and recovery data.The CIM Definition Standards (2011) identifies measured mineral resource as the part of a mineral resource for which quantity, grade or quality, densities, shape, and physical characteristics are estimated with confidence sufficient to allow the application of “modifying factors” to support detailed mine planning and final evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit as an asset. The modifying factors include, but are not restricted to, mining, processing, metallurgical, infrastructure, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental factors.With market fluctuations, many investors in the mining industry have become more and more risk averse which has increased the demand for more reliable data to support these modifying factors. This has led to the widespread use of geometallurgy and statistical analysis to better inform the resource estimation. Geometallurgy is used to characterize ore variability and is especially useful for highly variable or strongly zoned deposits, several close deposits that will be milled together, projects requiring complex or new metallurgical approaches, brownfields or sight-of-mine exploration, expansion projects that exploit new, deeper or adjacent reserves, and projects with significant legacy drill core that are being re-evaluated due to new economic circumstances."

Jan 1, 2018

By D. Jamróz, A. Surowiak, T. Niedoba, P. Pieta

"The separation of coal material of three types of coals originating from three various Polish hard coal mines (types 31, 34.2 and 35, according to Polish nomenclature, which were steam coal, semi-coking coal and coking coal) into particle size fractions and then into particle density fractions was done and then the following parameters were measured for each particle size-density fraction: combustion heat, ash contents, sulfur contents, volatile parts contents, analytic moisture. In this way a 7-dimensional vector of data was created. Using methods of factor analysis the important features of coal were selected, which decide about their membership to individual types. To evaluate the appropriateness of the applied method the Bartlett’s sphericity test as well coefficient of Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin (KMO) were used. To select important factors the Kaiser criterion and Cattell’s scree test were used. The obtained results were compared with the results obtained in previous works by means of observation tunnels method. The results showed which particular features are crucial to define the type of coal what is also important to select appropriate method of its enrichment.INTRODUCTION Coal extracted from the mine is often a mixture of coals of various quality originating, for example, from various coal layers. One of the most important issues is to determine its quality, what means to verify if it fulfills certain requirements. Usually, such parameters as combustion heat, ash contents, sulfur contents, volatile parts contents and analytic moisture decide what the coal quality is (Drzymala, 2009). Such investigations are expensive and time consuming. That is why it seems to be important to determine the mutual connections and interactions between them what would make possible to reduce the amount of the necessary parameters. This issue was already investigated with successes in several works [Jamróz and Niedoba, 2013; 2014; Niedoba, 2015]. This work is another approach to this problem. Here, the investigation of possible reduction of researched parameters was done on the basis of the factor analysis. The obtained results confirm the earlier observations."

Jan 1, 2018

By M. K. Jain, Z. T. Xu, M. Bruhis, V. Hegedekatte

"Strain rate and temperature dependent deformation conditions are present during elevated temperature forming of aluminum and other metallic materials. While many constitutive laws have been proposed to represent such deformation conditions, a closer investigation often reveals their limited applicability in terms of fit to the experimental data, and interpolation within and extrapolation outside of the range of experimental stress-strain curves. This is often because material-specific primary deformation mechanisms of temperature-dependent strain and strain rate hardening are poorly captured. In the present work, the Voce-Kocks constitutive model based on mechanics of dislocations storage and annihilation has been found to be suitable for many metallic materials. The model was modified to include the effect of temperature dependent shear modulus. The modified model is then employed to represent the experimental data obtained from uniaxial tensile tests on AA7075-O sheet at elevated temperatures and strain rates. Also, hot gas bulging tests were conducted to verify the applicability of this model. Further, finite element simulation of the hot gas bulge test was performed by incorporating the model as a user material subroutine. Good general agreement was observed between the experimental and FE model predicted results. Some sources of discrepancy in the prediction are also discussed.INTRODUCTION There has been much interest in light-weighting of automobiles from automotive related industries to reduce overall carbon footprint and increase energy efficiency of the vehicles. Aluminum alloys, and especially the medium-strength 5xxx and 6xxx series alloys, have been the primary focus in the last 3 decades to reach the above environmental goals (Huo, Hou, Zhang, & Zhang, 2016) whereas aerospace industry has traditionally focused on high strength 7xxx series aluminum (Al-Zn-Mg-Cu) alloys for structural components (Deng, Yin, & Huang, 2011). Recently, there has been much interest in high strength 7xxx series aluminum as a replacement for heavier steel automotive structural parts such as A-pillar, B-pillar, side impact beams etc. (Harrison & Luckey, 2014). This is both interesting and challenging since the above aluminum structural parts will need to not only meet impact safety standards but also possess sufficient formability for manufacturing such complex parts. Since the formability of high strength 7xxx series materials is quite poor at room temperature, much interest has focused on improving both formability and final part strength via high rate hot stamping, in-die quenching, and subsequent artificial ageing process steps (Kumar & Ross, 2016)."

Jan 1, 2018

By C. Hazotte, M. -O. Simonnot, V. Houzelot, B. Laubie, M. Guilpain, B. Jally

"More than 400 plants in the world are able to accumulate nickel (Ni) in their aerial parts at concentrations higher than 10 g per kg of dry biomass. Then, Ni can be recovered from the biomass of these hyperaccumulator plants. Agromining is a chain consisting in growing such plants and producing metal. It has been developed thanks to the combined know-how of agronomy and hydrometallurgy. Hydrometallurgical processes have been designed; two different pathways were developed: i) acid leaching of ashes after biomass combustion and ii) direct Ni water extraction after biomass grinding. Experiments with 2 species of Ni hyperaccumulators (A. murale from the Balkans and R. bengalensis from Malaysia) have shown that the first process is very robust and transposable. For the second one, the way Ni is stored in the plant has a strong influence on extraction. A. murale transformation was explored in more details from the lab scale to the pilot scale. Results proved that Ni is totally transferred into the aqueous phase after 2 hours at 90 °C. A life cycle assessment has clearly shown the environmental interest of this approach (especially by detoxifying agricultural soils). INTRODUCTION Agromining is an emerging phytotechnology aiming at recovering metals thanks to hyperaccumulating plants (van der Ent et al., 2018). These plants are able to accumulate very high concentrations of metal in their aerial parts. For example, for nickel, the hyperaccumulation threshold is 0.1%, i.e. 10 grams of metal per kilogram of dry biomass. There are some advantages to use this technology instead of conventional mining techniques: •,Treating unconventional metal resources: they can be (i) natural soils with low concentrations but also low fertility because of the metal presence (like serpentine soils for Ni) (Bani et al., 2015), (ii) mine tailings or (iii) industrial wastes (like surface treatment sludge) after soil construction (Rue, 2017);"

Jan 1, 2018