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By Keith Mayhew

Ante la alta demanda de cobre por el crecimiento urbano e industrial y para la construcción de infraestructuras, la industria del cobre necesita una solución para el desarrollo sustentable de los recursos minerales de cobre con alto contenido de arsénico. En ese sentido, Teck Resources Limited (Teck) y Aurubis AG (Aurubis) están trabajando juntas para desarrollar una tecnología que sea aceptable desde los puntos de vista regulatorio, medioambiental, social y económico. Por ello, el presente trabajo señala los resultados obtenidos por Teck-Aurubis conjuntamente, como consecuencia del programa técnico desarrollado desde 2010 para el tratamiento con éxito de concentrados de cobre con alto contenido de enargita usando la tecnología CESL.

Sep 12, 2011

By Guido Huarcaya

El control de costos es una actividad en la minería que se relaciona con la gestión de la empresa en diversos aspectos. En ese sentido, el presente texto plantea los modelos de control de costos empleados en dicha compañía durante el período 2004-2011, donde se reduce los diversos ratios de consumo, de forma que permanezca ubicada en el primer cuartil de las empresas mineras en costos unitarios de producción.

Sep 12, 2011

By Javier Linares García

El presente texto describe las etapas de producción y tonelaje de la compañía minera Antamina durante sus 10 años de operación a través de un gráfico, donde se muestra el promedio de toneladas tratadas por año, el porcentaje que se mantuvo cada año con el tonelaje de diseño, así como el funcionamiento del equipo de molienda del diseño original.

Sep 12, 2011

By Hernando Valdivia Lozada

Actualmente, los estudios metalúrgicos comprende las mediciones de los factores hidrodinámicos al interior de la celda de flotación, así como la naturaleza de los fenómenos a nivel microscópico. En ese sentido, el departamento de Metalurgia Concentradora de Compañía Minera Antamina instala y evalúa siete mecanismos de agitación de pulpa: Rotores Float Force en la Fila C de Flotación Rougher de Cobre, los cuales fueron evaluados en paralelo con las otras filas que operan con mecanismo convencional, como parte de un ambicioso proyecto para incremento de recuperación de cobre. Por ello, el objetivo del presente texto señala el uso de estos nuevos mecanismos para el recuperación del cobre y el soporte técnico para evaluar dichos mecanismos en la Flotación Rougher de Zinc.

Sep 12, 2011

By Otto Sandovel Zea

El compromiso de minería perfecta se limita no solo a la preservación del medio ambiente, sino a la prevención de riesgos por desprendimiento de rocas y aplastamiento en el interior de la mina. En ese sentido, el presente texto señala la factibilidad de minar a sección plena todos los tajeos a través de la simulación de las condiciones más favorables y desfavorables de la mina, determinando como la alternativa más viable la bóveda en arco. Dicha estructura otorga estabilidad a las labores de minado -en tanto da sostenimiento activo a través del (Shotcrete SFR y Pernos Hydrabolt), así como desarrolla mayor productividad y menores niveles de riesgo por desprendimiento de rocas, menores grados de sobre excavación y genera de vibraciones al haber implementado la voladura de Pre-corte en sus labores.

Sep 12, 2011

By V. Navarro Torres

El presente texto analiza la estabilidad de los tajeos de explotación del depósito de cobre y zinc de Feitais de la mina Aljustrel. Para ello, se realiza la medición de tensiones verticales y horizontales “in situ” y luego realizar simulación tridimensional usando el método de elementos finitos diferenciados. En consecuencia, la estabilidad de los pequeños y grandes tajeos se garantiza que varían de 6 a 20 en las aberturas de los tajeos y de 16 a 57 en los pilares.

Sep 12, 2011

By Jesús Cruces

La fragmentación de rocas es unos de los procesos más importantes dentro del proceso productivo global Mina- Concentradora -en tanto genera rentabilidad y mayor tonelaje tratado durante la etapa de trituración y molienda. En esta perspectiva, el presente texto señala no solo el incremento de la producción en la Concentradora (toneladas/hora que tratan las trituradoras y molinos), sino también de las palas, mejorando el volumen cargado. Para ello, se optimiza el llenado de las tolvas de los volquetes y los vagones con material homogéneo y menor espacio intersticial desperdiciado.

Sep 12, 2011

By Raymond Rivera

El presente texto describe la evaluación desarrollada por INGEMMET donde se analiza el potencial de los depósitos minerales en el Batolito Andahuaylas, Yauri, así como el potencial de algunas zonas que presenten características geoeconómicas importantes, utilizando herramientas geológicas como geocronología, isótopos radiogénicos, geoquímica de rocas y sedimentos, petromineralogía y geología estructural.

Sep 12, 2011

By Martín E. Mendoza

En 2010 se identificó un peligro potencial en la pared Norte del Tajo Chaquicocha, donde existía fallas pre-existentes, catch bench reducidos (subestándar) y bloques colgados que presuponían condiciones de mala voladura de control. Por ello, se planteó la modificación del diseño Final del Tajo Chaquicocha, ya que la continuidad de estos malos resultados arriesgaba el minado de los Bancos inferiores. En ese sentido, el objetivo del presente texto estriba en lograr voladuras masivas, sin afectar la estabilidad de las paredes del Tajo Chaquicocha, así como tener beneficios económicos en la reducción de tiempo de minado por cada banco, y en la productividad (Dig Rate) de los equipos de carguío.

Sep 12, 2011

By . Jaime G Tapia Aguirre

La Unidad Minera Rosaura del Grupo Glencore fue considerada la mina subterránea más segura del país durante los años 2005, 2006 y 2007. Sin embargo, cuando el Grupo Glencore adquirió la concesión de Rosaura, el panorama minero era de una mina marginal, de bajas leyes. Por esta razón, el único metodo a ejecutar para hacer de Rosaura una mina rentable era el de utilizar un método masivo. Em ese semtido, el presente texto señala la operación de mina cone el análisis y conocimiento de causa raíz en la prevención de caída de roca.

Sep 12, 2011

By José M. Chiroque

Ante la necesidad de ventilar las labores de la profundización en la rampa Rick 3, se genera el proyecto de ventilación denominado Raise Borer RB12 como un circuito de extracción de aire viciado. Sin embargo, por las características geológicas de las rocas encajonantes de esta chimenea y por la intemperización de las mismas por cercanía a superficie, se identificó desprendimientos de roca de las paredes de este RB, comprometiendo su estabilidad con posibilidades de atrancamiento y taponeo con carga. En consecuencia, se perjudica la ventilación de la profundización y los costos de inversión por la necesidad de construcción de una nueva chimenea. Por ello, el objetivo del presente trabajo busca garantizar la vida útil de la chimenea a través del diseño y construcción de un sistema mecánico de izaje y descenso para la chimenea RB 12A, donde se utiliza un winche, cables y una jaula, considerando todas las medidas de seguridad. Luego, fue lanzado el shotcrete y colocación de ductos metálicos en la zona ensanchada, cumpliendo con el objetivo de la recuperación y garantizando la vida útil de esta chimenea.

Sep 12, 2011

By Marco Taipe

Uno de los mayores costos del proceso minero es el de perforación, en tanto emplea aire comprimido. Por tal motivo, la industria minera busca diferentes alternativas para reducir los costos del aire comprimido o eventualmente a través del uso del sistema electro-neumático. Este sistema es de fácil instalación y mantenimiento puesto que se basa en electricidad y agua, reduciendo costos y a su vez mejorando las condiciones de trabajo a través de la versatilidad del presente sistema.

Sep 12, 2011

By Víctor Carlotto

Los estudios geológicos definen los nuevos dominios geotectónicos del territorio peruano -en tanto esta división es la base para elaborar los nuevos mapas metalogenéticos del Perú. En este sentido, el presente texto describe los mapas de dominios geotécnicos y metalogenéticos peruanos como herramientas aplicables a la prospección y exploración de los recursos minerales, como en la planificación del territorio. El mapa es presentado desde la perspectiva de la geología regional y muestra 25 franjas metalogenéticas, basadas en los 13 dominios geotectónicos previamente evidenciados.

Sep 12, 2011

By Mafalda Arias

The role of our industry is essential to future societal needs and to set the foundation for a better world, it?s important to built trust and relationships inside your global team, within communities and together with stakeholders. The objective of this paper is to raise awareness of the importance of including “culture” as one of the four pillars of sustainability and to highlight the disjointed nature of the existing concept of sustainability and the goal of that concept. In other words, the conflicting propositions between the western beliefs that set the foundation of the sustainability concept and the eastern beliefs that aims to have sustainability as an end result. The incorporation of “culture” aims to find a balance, which unites these opposite perspectives to result in a more harmonious solution for society.

Sep 12, 2011

By A Stradling

For a geometallurgical program to be successful, linkage must be made between the geologists and geostaticians who understand and model the orebody, the metallurgists who determine the value that can be extracted from the different geometallurgical units, and the mine planners who develop and optimise the plan to extract maximum economic value from the resource. One of the primary purposes of geometallurgical models is in the determination of the economic cut-off between ore and waste. Recognition of the level of confidence required in the estimation of grade, throughput and recovery is critical to the planning of a successful geometallurgical program. It also helps clarify the scope of work needed to mitigate risk at each stage in the development of a new mine projectThis presentation provides some of the author’s experience with development and application of geometallurgical models for existing base metal operations. It discusses how geological units defined by lithology, structure, alteration etc, can be translated into geometallurgical ore types defined by mineralogy, ore hardness, and flotation behaviour. Examples of how these characteristics have been used to estimate key economic parameters such as mill throughput and flotation recovery at two brown-field operations are provided. The first example relates to the modelling of metallurgical performance at Teck’s Red Dog zinc-lead mine in Alaska. Prior to 2000, zinc, lead and silver recoveries from a block of ore at Red Dog were either assumed constant, or were varied according to simplistic models. Throughput was not thought to vary substantially between blocks, so an average value was used for each blended stockpile. It is quite possible that some ore-value blocks were classified as waste, and some waste-value blocks treated as ore, as a result of poor understanding of the true economic cut off across the wide range of ore types observed at Red Dog. After an extensive flotation test program, the first assay-based zinc recovery model was developed for the Main pit reserve in 2003.**This is an abstract only. No paper was prepared for this abstract**

Sep 5, 2011

By M Oyarzún

Direct relationships between rock texture and BWi (grindability index) have been established based on geological and metallurgical information supported by optical microscopy observations, gathered from 731 samples.Each recognised rock texture is observed to be related to a certain BWi range and, this texture is also characteristic of distinct lithological subunits (recognisable at mapping scale). Therefore, this relationship may provide an important tool for early milling in situ estimation.Since each textural type is a response to rock formation conditions, the causality of the relationship between BWi and texture is based on such conditions and, particularly, on the interfacial free energy among its components.According to the abovementioned textural features, the greater the free interfacial energy between mineral components, the greater the necessary energy required to break its grain boundaries and, consequently, the greater the necessary energy required for milling.If the textural evidence indicates that the rock was able to adjust the shape and/or size of its components – in a natural tendency of all systems to minimise energy– then the necessary energy required to break its grain boundaries will be lower.

Sep 5, 2011

By D Lawie

Prior to resource modelling, sample scale data is normally grouped into spatial domains that reflect zones of homogenous properties. These domains are usually based on a combination of grade and other variables that reflect, for example, geology and alteration, or variables known to correlate with properties of the samples that affect downstream processing. Domaining and wire-framing sample scale data is a time intensive task and it is difficult to track more than a few variables simultaneously while establishing domain boundaries. This is especially the case in operations with complex data, for example, a combination of multi-element assaying of total element concentrations, and/or phase specific assaying such as sulfide sulfur, carbonate carbon, cyanide available gold, and/or downhole geophysical measurements. To minimise unintentionally grouping samples of contrasting properties within the same domain, unsupervised statistical methods are available that can automatically identify samples atypical of the domain, both as univariate tests, and as tests that take correlation within the domain into account. Unsupervised methods in this context means methods of identifying atypical samples that require just the selection of the domain and input variables. Thresholds are derived robustly from the data itself, and the results are therefore repeatable and operator independent. Atypical samples may be thought of as outliers, ie, samples that are separated from the ‘majority’ of the data. If these atypical samples are themselves spatially associated, they may be allocated to an alternative existing domain or allocated to a new domain. Care should always be taken to ensure that identified outliers are due to meaningful causes and not due to data coding and storage errors, although the identification of the latter is still valuable. *This is an abstract only. No paper was prepared for this abstract.*

Sep 5, 2011

By L Keeney

Geometallurgy is not a mechanism designed to replace current geological and metallurgical deposit characterisation but an added component required to understand orebody variability. Current geological characterisation approaches focus on understanding deposit genesis aimed at identifying new mineralised regions and metallurgical characterisation determines parameters required for engineering design of processing plants. Geometallurgical integration has the task of drawing on aspects of each stream to enable spatial mapping of performance indices across a deposit. It is a complimentary activity to current practice and adds a new dimension to orebody knowledge. Although the notion of conducting an integrated geological and metallurgical analysis is not a new concept, limited publications exist in the field proposing integrated methods, with several technical issues existing in current geometallurgical integration approaches. An iterative method drawing on existing geological and metallurgical characterisation and new measurement tools and inputs is proposed. The integrated method comprises of discrete components dynamically linked together through iterative feedback loops with each component having a specific purpose achieved by applying a range of data acquisition technologies and statistical tests. The key outcomes of the method are:overcoming the lack of optimised geometallurgical domains relevant to processing performance,development of a rigorous approach to identifying parameters controlling processability,improved protocols for relevant metallurgical test data and sample selection, andability to generate greater data support to enable rigorous geostatistical modelling of geometallurgical attributes. This paper outlines the integrated mapping and modelling method developed and draws on multiple data acquisition technologies applied within the AMIRA P843 GeMIII Project.

Sep 5, 2011

By G Turner-Saad

An improvement to cut-off grade optimisation theory based on geometallurgy has been completed. The improvement fundamentally consisted of taking into account mineralogical and textural characteristics instead of grades. These characteristics are related to the spatial variability of mineral abundance, association, particle size and liberation properties. Additionally, the improve- ment considered the spatial variability of mineral processing liberation and selectivity properties associated with mineralogy and texture. The enhanced optimisation enables estimation of the economic value of mining operations based on an optimum cut-off policy attributed to liberated and selected ore minerals.The enhanced optimisation was developed as an essential component of a joint cut-and-fill mining and mineral processing methodology based on mixed integer mathematical programming. The formulation considers static and dynamic modifying factors that vary over the projected life of mining. The objective function of the mathematical formulation consists of maximising the realistic expected economic value of concentrates or products of liberated and selected ore minerals, whilst minimises liberated and selected gangue minerals. The optimal solution is obtained when the objective function is subject to geological, mining, processing, marketing, smelting, refining, environmental and financial constraints. The methodology accesses geometallurgical multivariate resource models, which integrate the spatial variability of mineralogical and textural characteristics and mineral processing liberation and selectivity properties.The geometallurgical process concurrently optimises stope geometries, ore reserves, mining sequences, and mining and mineral processing production based on the enhanced cut-off of liberated and selected ore minerals. In addition, the process considers additive and non-additive transfer functions associated to mutually exclusive geometallurgical spatial domains. The transfer functions also take into consideration the blending of mineralogical and textural characteristics with mineral processing liberation and selectivity properties.This contribution presents an example of cut-off grade optimisation via mineralogical and textural characteristic, and liberation and selectivity processing parameter optimisation for a spatially variable orebody.

Sep 5, 2011

By P Kittler

In the spectrum of mining-related disciplines, geometallurgy sits between resource geology and metallurgical engineering. Unlike its neighbours, it is a relatively young discipline and its concepts, procedures and techniques are still evolving. Relevant geometallurgical issues differ from one deposit to the next so there is no single template that can be used in all situations, meaning that geometallurgy programs are nearly always customised and tailored to the deposit and the situation.Over time, a number of key mistakes are seen to emerge regularly. The eventual impact of these mistakes can vary from suboptimal performance of mine and plant to complete failure of the operation. For instance, poor characterisation of ore lithologies and their spatial distribution can have negative impacts on processing plant throughput. However, when combined with failure to identify critical blending constraints it can result in a totally inoperable plant.A number of common mistakes committed during geometallurgical programs are discussed and some preferred alternative approaches are suggested

Sep 5, 2011