Geometallurgy—A Route to More Resilient Mine Operations

Abstract

Geometallurgy is an important addition to any evaluation project or mining operation. As an integrated approach, it establishes 3D models which enable the optimisation of net present value and effective orebody management, while minimising technical and operational risk to ultimately provide more resilient operations. Critically, through spatial identification of variability, it allows the development of strategies to mitigate the risks related to variability (e.g., collect additional data, revise the mine plan, adapt or change the process strategy, or engineer flexibility into the system). Geometallurgy promotes sustainable development when all stages of extraction are performed in an optimal manner from a technical, environmental, and social perspective. To achieve these goals, development of innovative technologies and approaches along the entire mine value chain are being established. Geometallurgy has been shown to intensify collaboration among operational stakeholders, creating an environment for sharing orebody knowledge and improving data acquisition and interpretation, leading to the integration of such data and knowledge into mine planning and scheduling. These aspects create better business optimisation and utilisation of staff, and lead to operations that are more resilient to both technical and non-technical variability. Geometallurgy encompasses activities that utilise improved understanding of the properties of ore and waste, which impact positively or negatively on the value of the product, concentrate, or metal. Properties not only include those that impact on processing efficiency, but also those of materials which will impact on other actions such as blasting and waste management. Companies that embrace the geometallurgical approach will benefit from increased net present value and shareholder value.

Fusion of Mid-Wave Infrared and Long-Wave Infrared Reflectance Spectra for Quantitative Analysis of Minerals

“…This gap in the current analytical methodology and the promising findings [33] reported recently have motived the present study. Its main aims are thus (1) to investigate the use of diffuse reflectance infrared (MWIR and LWIR) spectra for quantitative analysis of mineral mixtures in polymetallic sulphide ore samples, and (2) to evaluate the data fusion methods using linear (PLSR and PCR) and non-linear (SVR) multivariate regression techniques. The implemented low-level data fusion approaches are data fusion without feature selection (fusion of the entire variables in the MWIR and LWIR data blocks) and with feature selection (fusion of the extracted features of the two data blocks).…”

“…Thus, it would be highly beneficial in mining operations, where indications of mineralogical concentrations can have significant financial implications.for geometallurgical applications is not limited to knowledge on the grades of valuable elements and their variability, but also extends to the gangue minerals, as their composition and volume also play a crucial role in ore processing. Extant studies highlight the importance of mineralogical information for the sustainability and energy efficiency of geometallurgical processes [1,2]. Ore minerals occur in veins, disseminated in the host rock and/or in pores with varying concentrations of other associated minerals such as silica, oxides and carbonates.…”

Incorporation of Geometallurgical Attributes and Geological Uncertainty into Long-Term Open-Pit Mine Planning

“…Many definitions of geometallurgy can be found in the literature (see [6][7][8][9] and references therein). In the context of this work, geometallurgy seeks to characterize and model the spatial variability of the deposit's attributes related to metallurgical performance.…”

Mineralogical and Chemical Characterization of Zr-REE-Nb Ores from Khalzan Buregtei (Mongolia)—Approaches to More Efficient Extraction of Rare Metals from Alkaline Granitoids

“…The geometallurgical approach considers mineralogical features of deposits in a quantitative manner with respect to their significance for mine planning and mineral processing [25]. The main focus lies on the most effective exploitation by accurate adjustment of the entire process chain from mining, mineral processing, and metallurgical procedures to mineralogical and textural ore properties [25][26][27].…”