March12 1

MARCH 2012
Informed and in-depth editorial on the world mining industry

www.im-mining.com
COMMINUTION
WATER
MANAGEMENT
UNDERGROUND
RAIL
PERU AND
COLOMBIA:
Latin Leaders
OPERATION FOCUS:
Shandong Gold
and Barro Alto
metso.com email: minerals.info@metso.com
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customers to increase productivity, while saving capital and energy costs. We continue that tradition today with the
introduction of the worlds largest mill, a 42-ft. (12.8m) x 25-ft (7.6m), 28MW giant planned for the Conga gold and
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CONTENTS
MA R C H 2 0 1 2
AROUND THE WORLD 3 The Leader 4 World Prospects 119 Classifieds 120 Forthcoming events
COVER: Komatsu
The Komatsu PC 5500, a 540 t hydraulic mining shovel, has become one of most successful mining
shovels in the world. The machine has been proven in the most arduous mining conditions, such as
Arctic temperatures as low as -50C, high ambient temperatures and high altitudes up to 5,000 m.
With a standard bucket capacity of 29 m
3
(38 yd
3
) and engine power of 1,880 kW (2,520 hp) is it an
excellent loading machine, proven in all applications. The powerful machine is easy
manoeuvrable and designed for high-performance, low-cost operation. The KomtraxPlus
electronic monitoring system informs continuously about the machine conditions. Safe and easy
access to all service points is incorporated into the design. Diesel-drive or electric-drive models
are available as well as a front shovel or backhoe attachment based on the customer and mine
requirements. www.komatsu-mining.de
10
10 OPERATION FOCUS Shandong Gold
Two SD-Gold mines gear up for expansion:
John Chadwick reports from Chinas Shandong Province
on one of the countrys premier gold producers
18 OPERATION FOCUS Barro Alto
Paul Moore visited the Anglo American Barro Alto
nickel mine and ferronickel plant northwest of Brasilia,
to see one of the worlds newest and most efficient
operations of its type
25 GREAT MINES Tenke Fungurume
In our final Lundin Mining article, John Chadwick
describes one of the worlds great new copper/ cobalt
operations, which is now expanding into its Phase 2
operations for 195,000 t/y of copper cathode and
15,000 t/y of cobalt. The mine is 57.75% held by
Freeport and 24.75% by Lundin
36 MOBILE WATER
How portable water treatment technologies are
moving with the times
38 WATER MANAGEMENT
Desalination, more effective wastewater treatment and
reuse: new ideas and technologies for water handling.
John Chadwick examines one of the industrys most
critical issues
56 COMMINUTION
From primary crushing to ultrafine grinding, new
comminution technology continues to give mines the
edge in recovery and efficiency, reports Paul Moore
74 HEAVY ENGINEERING
Paul Moore looks at some of the specialist engineering
companies that help deliver solutions in areas of the
industry such as crushers, mills, truck bodies and
shovel buckets
88 UNDERGROUND RAIL
Paul Moore looks in-depth at underground mining rail
solutions, a little known but still important part of the
industry that is an option for major block cave haulage
levels and other areas
97 LEVEL BEST
Level measurement technologies: what is available and
what is effective
100 LATIN LEADERS
Investor-friendly countries will grow fastest in 2012;
Peru and Colombia (along with Chile) are the leaders in
Latin America, both are expected to see growth of 4.5%
or more this year, according to the International
Monetary Fund, reports John Chadwick
MARCH 2012
Informed and in-depth editorial on the world mining industry
www.im-mining.com
COMMINUTION
WATER
MANAGEMENT
UNDERGROUND RAIL
PERU AND COLOMBIA: Latin Leaders
OPERATION FOCUS: Shandong Gold and Barro Alto
MARCH 2012 | International Mining 1
38
18
56
25
110 DUST CONTROL
A look at some of the regulations
that affect permitted dust levels in
mines; and some of the available
dust control options for operators
112 MAINTENANCE AND RELIABILITY
Idcons Tor Idhammar discusses how
mines can reduce downtime with
improved planning and scheduling
114 HIGH PROFILE Weihai Haiwang
John Chadwick discussed the cyclone
business with Weihai Haiwang
Hydrocyclones president, Huang
Aixiu and John Zhang, who manages
overseas business
116 INNOVATION NEWS Jonggu
Jonggu coal mine, an established
user of Sandvik roadheaders, is
buying a number of smaller
roadheading machines from the new
Sandvik/Shandong Energy
Machinery joint venture,
John Chadwick reports
100
74
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Copyright 2012, Weir Slurry Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
T
he modern mining industry is a marvel
considering the extreme climactic and
geological settings in which new mines must
be located. Few people understand the
increasingly difficult process to procure metals and
minerals from increasingly remote and hostile
settings throughout the world. The capital costs for
development and construction of a new mine
require billions of dollars. The technological
advances in mining, beneficiation and engineering
cannot maintain the pace needed to extract limited
quantities of metals from dwindling ore grades
forcing mining of ever increasing volumes of
material. Compounding the technological
challenges is the seemingly overwhelming maze of
environmental, cultural, financial, governmental,
legal, regulatory and social issues that must be
comprehensively and simultaneously addressed in
the multi-year process from concept through
construction. To meet the ever expanding global
population expected to reach nearly 10 billion in
this century over 50 billion tonnes of material are
now mined each year. Of that material, 40% is
waste with over 50% of the ore produced being
aggregates and the remainder split between metals
and coal. With rising populations and standards of
living demand for mined products will increase
substantially this century, recognising already each
year demand outstrips supply of many mined
products creating a natural resource deficit.
The logistical issues associated with mining are
exceedingly complex with none more important
and often underappreciated than those associated
with water. Mine water management demands
constant vigilance and cooperation between
mining, process, and environmental personnel.
Although the global mining industry uses about 2%
of the global total fresh water supply versus nearly
75% consumed by agriculture, there is a growing
conflict between the demands of increased food
production and the extractive industries. Since the
mid 20th century demand for fresh water has
tripled and will double again by mid century. The
protection of fresh water supplies for agriculture is
a hotly debated issue amongst people residing
near a mine and has become a contentious issue
when addressing the concept of the social license.
The overarching goal remains to keep clean
water clean and to minimise the volume of fresh
water used which is not an easy task in many
locations. Ongoing review of water balances for
new and existing mining operations usually yield
improvements measurable in dollars and sense.
The concept of a zero water balance is alluring as
it suggests no need for discharges during mine
life, circumventing the arduous process of
permitting and the
associated technical pitfalls
surrounding nonexistent,
misinterpreted,
incomprehensible, out of
date, immeasurable, overly
stringent, and unachievable
water quality standards. The realisation has
become that a water management system does not
exist solely to meet the demands of beneficiation
and environmental and social issues having
become the tail that wags the dog. Ignoring the
complexities of a dynamic water balance often
leads to severe water management crises during
mine life for which implementation of needless
expensive and energy intensive treatment
technologies could have been avoided.
It has been estimated the mining industry will
spend nearly $8 billion in 2012 on water related
infrastructure with pumping and treatment costs
alone exceeding $1 billion. A mining operation is
unlike any other industrial, manufacturing, or large
retail outlet exhibiting a fixed footprint on the
landscape. It cannot be situated in the most
practical or environmentally friendly location due
to the manner in which ore bodies were originally
generated within the earths shallow crust over
geologic time. The ever increasing footprint of the
open pit mine, heap leach pads and surface waste
rock disposal areas demands a dynamic water
balance and management situation that must be
constantly evaluated and updated, to avoid being
blindsided by an unanticipated environmental
incident. Accompanying increasing water demands
are the growing volumes of sulphide waste and the
prospect for inevitable and perpetual treatment of
acid rock drainage. The vast majority of major
environmental incidents in the mining industry
have had mismanagement of water as the core
cause. As has been noted before, the mining
industry is not responsible for the existence of risk
but it surely is for ignoring it.
Terry I. Mudder, Ph.D., CHCM
IM Editorial Board
cyanara@bresnan.net
References
Hinde, Chris, Salt, stupid, Mining Journal, August 26,
2011; Resource overdraft", Mining Journal, September 23,
2011 and Still counting, Mining Journal, October 28, 2011.
Kenrick, Vicky, The challenges of water management,
Mining, People and Environment, pp26-27, October 2011.
Mudder, Terry, Water Management, IM, January 2012.
Robertson, Andrew, Mine Waste Management in the 21st
Century, Proceedings of the Tailings and Mine Waste
Conference 2011, Vancouver, November 6-9, 2011.
THE LEADER
VOLUME 8 NUMBER 3
A thirst for balance
Publisher
John Chadwick
Email: john@im-mining.com
Editor
Paul Moore
Email: paul@im-mining.com
Associate Editor
Chris Cann
Email: chris@im-mining.com
Editorial Board
Professor Malcolm Scoble
Robert E. Hallbauer
Chair in Mining
Engineering.,
University of BC,
Vancouver
Jeff Roschyk
Vice President of
Product Management
& Marketing, P&H Mining, USA
Peter Knights
BMA Chair & Prof. of Mining
Engineering University
of Queensland
Stephen Stone
West One Management
Perth, Western Australia
Dr. Andrew M. Robertson
President, Robertson
GeoConsultants
Vancouver, Canada.
Ed McCord
Project Consultant
Caterpillar Global Mining, USA
Jason Nitz
Mining Systems Strategist
Newcrest Mining Ltd, Australia
Dr Terry Mudder
Managing Director
TIMES Ltd, USA
Simon Tarbutt
Consultant, Santiago, Chile
Dr. Mike Daniel
Comminution Process Consultant
Ausenco Minerals & Metals, Australia
Editorial Enquiries:
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Advertising Sales:
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Email: phil@im-mining.com
+44 1442 87 77 77
Advertising Production
Emma Smith
Email: emma@im-mining.com
Publishing Consultant
Robin Peach
Design & Production
Trevor Sheldon
Email: sheldonmann@gmail.com
Website:
www.im-mining.com
Annual Subscription Enquiries:
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Email: emma@im-mining.com
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International Mining is published
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Printed by The Manson Group, St Albans
Team Publishing Ltd 2012
ISSN 1747 -146X
WORLD PROSPECTS
A
BB has supplied a vast array of power and
automation solutions for Antofagastas
new flagship Esperanza copper mine in
Chile. The solutions include three of the worlds
largest gearless mill drives (GMDs), process and
electrical control systems, power quality
systems, a substation and an integrated
operations centre that controls the entire
production process, including onshore facilities
at a purpose-built port 145 km from the mine.
Officially opened in April 2011, Esperanza is
known for its deployment of cutting-edge
technology. For example, it is the first large-
scale mine to use raw sea water in its mineral
processing operation - the water being pumped
from the coast through a 145 km pipeline to the
mine, 2,300 m above sea level. ABB equipment
also powers the purpose-built port and the
seawater pumping station.
Esperanza has a daily throughput capacity of
97,000 t of ore. After extraction in the open-pit
mine, the ore is crushed in a 40 ft diameter SAG
mill and two 27 ft diameter ball mills, all three of
which are driven and controlled by ABB GMD
systems with power outputs of 22.4 MW and
18.6 MW respectively.
When the contract for the GMD systems was
awarded to ABB in 2007, Esperanza was only
the second mine in the world to install a SAG
mill and the first to install ball mills with
these capacities and power ratings. These
records have subsequently been superseded by
ABB at other mines, but at the time they were at
the technological limit of what SAG and ball
mills were mechanically capable of.
The GMD systems enable the grinding mills
to achieve the best possible grinding results and
process efficiency by adjusting the speed or
direction of the mega-sized mills and ensuring a
constant particle size, regardless of changes in
the size or hardness of the ore. Each ABB GMD
system comprises a large gearless synchronous
motor that is wrapped around the mill like a
ring. The power and control equipment of the
system is located in a purpose-built E-house
container with built-in cycloconverter, motor
control centre and programmable logic
controller (PLC), converter transformers and
excitation transformer.
The ore is transported to and from the mills
by long heavy-duty conveyor belts. The belt
motors are driven by powerful ABB medium-
voltage variable speed drives, which provide
dynamic control of the motors and enable soft
starting and stopping of the belts, thereby
saving energy and minimising mechanical wear
and tear. After processing, the concentrate is
transported through the pipeline to the port
where it is thickened and stockpiled, ready for
loading onto bulk vessels. An ABB 110/23 kV
substation connects the site and its onshore and
offshore facilities to the power grid.
A mine and ore processing plant like Esperanza
consumes huge amounts of electric power, and
requires power quality equipment to maintain
voltage stability and a high power factor. The
sites power distribution network is controlled
by an ABB supervisory control and data
acquisition (SCADA) system and is protected from
destabilising voltage spikes and harmonics-
induced power losses by an ABB filter system.
One of the key ABB solutions for Esperanza is
the System 800xA distributed control system,
which integrates all the automation systems
process, power distribution, gearless mill drive,
motor and conveyor, pipeline, and port into a
common control environment and provides
interfaces with the plant management and
maintenance systems. Full visualisation and
control of the whole process (crusher area,
processing plant, pipelines and port) is provided
by ABBs EOW-x Integrated Operations Centre - a
unified and ergonomic control room
environment that is designed to maximise
operator efficiency.
www.abb.com/minerals
W
ith an estimated mining explosives
sales potential for Africas greenfield
operations estimated at $500 million
over the next five years, suppliers and service
companies need to step up and provide quality
solutions that yield greater results and ensure
sustainability. This was the focus of AEL Mining
Services presence at this years Mining Indaba
in Cape Town. AELs Wayne du Chenne,
Executive Director Global Business Services,
comments, Gone are the days of being a
commodity provider with a one-size fits all
promise. Mining solution providers need to
proactively play an important and creative role
in assisting with solving production,
environmental and socio-economic challenges
in partnership with their customers, which is
pivotal to contributing to future economic
growth and sustainability in Africa. He added:
To remain relevant, our cutting edge R&D
department, which is based in Johannesburg,
plays a vital role in keeping our global
operations relevant. Tasked with the delivery of
two ground-breaking innovations per year, the
R&D team is actively involved in assisting AEL
engineers and our mining optimisation team
develop solutions for specific mining
applications.
AELs recent innovation list includes the 3rd
Generation (3G) Shock Tube Uni-delay
assembly, aimed at harsh and demanding
ABB solutions for Esperanza
4 International Mining | MARCH 2012

ABB GMD powered ball mills, Esperanza
Piped emulsion among AEL innovations
AEL has invested in new plants in Burkina Faso
and DRC
OUR RUGGED
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om
SSING
WORLD PROSPECTS
narrow reef mining applications to improve
environmental performance. These specific
applications consume large amounts of shock
tube detonators, resulting in large amounts of
plastic waste which has environmental impact.
AELs new 3G Shock Tube Uni-delay assembly
addresses this challenge.
This product is designed and manufactured at
AELs Initiating Systems Automated Plant (ISAP)
in Modderfontein a completely automated
production environment and has less plastic
components. Further enhancements are underway
to develop this into a completely lead-free
product that is even more environmentally
friendly. The removal of lead solids from delay
detonator assemblies could lead to a reduction
in negative environmental impact.
Another first from AEL is The Vertical Drop.
This is an innovation that AEL believes is set to
revolutionise how mining is done globally, by
ushering in a new way of transporting emulsions
underground. Most underground operations rely
on Mobile Charging Units which travel distances
of up to 5 km underground transporting
explosives to the face, which results in high fuel
and maintenance costs for the trucks, risk to
workers and inventory control issues. Wayne du
Chenne comments: Meeting the on-going
challenge of going deeper to extract minerals,
innovative solutions are imperative. Our vertical
drop solution currently delivers emulsion
underground through a 200 m vertical pipe in 20
min as opposed to conventional methods. We
are intent on upping the bar and researching
technologies that will enable us to transport
emulsion up to 400 m deep.
Another aspect of R&D is a customised
approach. Extracting platinum at one of AELs
customers underground operations requires an
out-of-the box solution, as in this case in terms
of rock fragmentation, uniformity is not always
what the mine requires as there are plant
processing issues. They want both big and small
rock fragmentation to ensure compatibility and
a smooth output from their plant. With this
understanding and intelligence, the AEL mining
optimisation team developed an explosive
solution that ensured that blast results met the
mines expectations. A small modification to the
explosives solution can make a huge difference
to blasting productivity, which exponentially
affects the bottom line.
In operational agility terms, AELs says that its
capabilities to provide a quick, remote and high-
end solution anywhere in the world comes from
its experience servicing remote regions in Africa
from its hubs in Central, East and West Africa
and its facilities in Egypt. The groups experience
evolved from delivering solutions to the deep-
level underground market to large complex
surface operations. This experience was useful
when AEL decided to globalise and expand into
select international markets over six years ago.
A key contract was meeting the demands of an
Indonesian customer in South East Asia for 10
million shock tube initiating systems per year
from a site that was set up for production in less
than 3 months. AEL has the ability to mobilise in
a short turn-around time with its plug and play
modular facilities, coupled with a sophisticated
logistical network and security of supply. AEL
has invested in plants in the DRC, as well as
Burkina Faso, and has secured substantial long
term contracts over the last couple of years
through its listed company on the Lusaka stock
exchange in Zambia, as well as with mining
customers in Egypt, Ghana, Botswana, and
Zimbabwe. www.explosives.co.za
S
andvik Mining, whose parent company
spent ZAR 3.5 billion in research and
development in the 2011 financial year,
has been undertaking intensive research in
partnership with RAG-Deutsche Steinkohle,
Germanys largest coal mining company, aimed
at improving automation processes of face
mining machines using the Sandvik MR620
roadheader as the coal face model. Sandvik has
compiled a report on the progress of the
research with the focus on profile definition and
the automatic cutting cycle. The challenges lies
in the fact that the mining system has to fulfil a
lot of different features, like cutting, loading,
roof supporting, following the coal seam and
keeping communication to many other
underground components, the researchers
indicate. A lot of information and many degrees
of freedom have to be managed at the same
time. The aim for the performance of
the new automated system is to reach
the operational cutting performance of
an average machine operator, but to
deliver stable performance without
significantly overloading of the system.
This results in smoother machine
loading and consequently in higher
system reliability, less downtime and
reduced operational costs as well as
more comfort for the underground
team. Addressing the issue of machine
positioning and recognition of coal
seam, the researchers state a different
and simplified algorithm needs to be
developed to fulfil the requirements of machine
navigation with the following features:
The machine has to be positioned in front of
the face just roughly by the machine operator
With a laser scanning process the position of
the coal seam in front of the machine is
measured and evaluated
Afterwards a target plate on the boom needs
to be positioned into the laser beam in order
to get accurate machine position information
With all this measurement information the
horizontal and vertical translation as well as
rotation of the profile is evaluated by the
software automatically
All the profile positioning parameters are set
as default values by the control system, but
they have to be approved and might be
changed by the operator by real time
visualisation. Now all the necessary data
should be available in order to cut the face in
front of the machine.
Besides the location and orientation of the
profile to be cut, the shape of the profile itself
might be changed by the operator due to several
different reasons. All these parameters are set
and modified by the operator. By means of an
online visualisation he can check their
consequences in comparison with a reference
profile, the researchers say. The strategy
behind cutting automation is to feed the PLC
with cutting paths which are automatically
processed. In order to overcome the limitations
of the generation systems, especially regarding
the flexibility of the automation solution, on the
ITSM the cut paths are planned online by an
algorithm. There now is almost no limitation on
the number influencing factors to be taken into
account. The report indicates that when
analysing typical cutting operations on a road
header with a transversal cutter head one can
discern several different operation modes
generally classified as sump-in, cutting
upwards, cutting downwards and loading, and
profiling.
In other Sandvik news, following the
successful deployment of three LH514 14
LHDs at its South Deep gold mine about 45
km south-west of Johannesburg, Gold
Fields has placed a new order for five more
units, which will also go into commission
at South Deep. This order follows in the
wake of the recent underground
commissioning of a Sandvik DS210L-M
underground bolting rig the only fully
mechanised rock bolter available in the
South African mining industry. The first of
the five new units will be delivered in
March 2012, followed by a staggered
delivery of the remaining LHDs over the course
of the year.
www.mining.sandvik.com
Sandvik advances roadheader automation with new face cutting research
The power of
innovative mining
Innovative mining requires innovative thinking. The power of
Atlas Copcos solutions comes from almost 140 years of experience
in developing groundbreaking technology in close cooperation
with our customers. This is what we call sustainable productivity.
atlascopco.com
miningandconstruction.com
youtube.com/atlascopcoug
facebook.com/AtlasCopcoUnderground
twitter.com/ac_underground
WORLD PROSPECTS
P
utzmeister is in the process of being
acquired by the rapidly growing Chinese
giant, Sany HE, first announced on January
27, 2012. Sany, together with the Chinese
Private Equity company CITIC PE Advisors as a
minority shareholder, is buying 100% of
Putzmeister. The final closing of the deal is
subject to approval by the relevant authorities
and the customary closing conditions. Both
parties agreed not to disclose the financial
terms of the transaction. Sany, based in
Changsha, China, is a large Chinese producer of
construction machinery and market leader for
concrete pumps in China, which is the largest
and fastest-growing market for concrete pumps
and other industrial equipment world-wide. The
statement said: The business activities of
Putzmeister and Sany are highly complementary
geographically. The merger of the Chinese
market leader in concrete pumps with the
leading provider in most markets outside of
China thus follows a clear strategic and
industrial rationale: the creation of the global
market leader for concrete pumps. Both
partners benefit substantially from the
combination. Sanys financial strength secures
Putzmeisters growth prospects and provides a
significant competitive advantage. Sany adds to
its portfolio technologically cutting-edge
products and innovations.and acquires a
strong distribution and service network outside
of China. Karl Schlecht, founder of Putzmeister,
said: This merger is a global showcase
transaction. Sany is one of the few large Chinese
conglomerates which is personally operated by
the founder, who is also the majority
shareholder. In fact, Liang Wengen is one of
Chinas most successful entrepreneurs. He not
only shares our entrepreneurial spirit, but also
Putzmeisters visions and corporate values.
Aichtal in Germany will become Sanys new
headquarters for concrete machinery in the
world outside China. Putzmeister will continue
to operate with a high degree of independence
in day-to-day management. Sany will focus on
operations in China where Putzmeister will
continue to be the premium brand. Norbert
Scheuch will remain in his position as CEO of
Putzmeister within Sany and will join the Sany
executive board. Liang Wengen, Chairman and
founder of Sany, said: With this merger
Putzmeister and Sany will create a new and
global market leader for concrete pumps.
Putzmeister will remain as an independent
brand with its own management within the Sany
group. We are looking forward to work with the
Putzmeister management, which made this
business so successful.
The Putzmeister Underground Division is to
present its latest series of shotcrete equipment
and a new low-profile concrete mixer as a
complete system for shotcreting in mining at the
Expomin show in Santiago, April 9-13 2012. With
the SPM 4210 WETKRET series, Putzmeister
believes that it has reached a new stage in the
development of shotcrete equipment for mining.
The reinforced spraying arm, designed and
manufactured by Putzmeister, provides a vertical
spraying reach of 10 m; the maximum concrete
output of the double-piston pump mounted on
the equipment is 20 m
3
/h. The proportional
remote control, which can be operated by cable
or wireless, allows an easy operation of the
spraying arm as well as the regulation of the
concrete output and the adjustment of the pre-
defined additive dosage. With state-of-the-art
axles and a reinforced turning system, the SPM
4210 WEKTRET series is suitable for the harsh
working conditions in mining.
To facilitate its use in every working
environment, the SPM 4210 WETKRET series
includes three different versions which are
designed in accordance with different jobsite
requirements. The standard version SPM 4210
WETKRET is electrically operated and includes
an on-board, electrically or diesel driven air
compressor. If required, the machine is also
available without air compressor. The version
SPM 4210 WETKRET DUAL DRIVE has a dual
operating system, so that all the components
can be both operated by diesel or electrically.
The equipment is available with an on-board,
electrically or diesel driven air compressor. The
version 4210 WETKRET ROTOR works with a
rotor pump, so that the equipment can be used
for both the wet and dry spraying process. This
version also includes an on-board air
compressor.
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Project News (21) June 10, 2007
News from those projects making progress towards production more every two weeks
A collection of recent starts and progress reports from around the world - updates on
projects around the globe likely to be in the market for equipment and services.
A collection of recent starts and progress reports from around the world - updates on projects around the globe
likely to be in the market for equipment and services. ..................................................................................................1
PREFEASIBILITY.........................................................................................................................................................2
MEXICO - Tyler Resources - COPPER/GOLD....................................................................................................2
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Harmony Gold - COPPER/GOLD...............................................................................3
PERU - Strike Resources - IRON ORE.................................................................................................................3
SLOVAKIA - Tournigan Gold - GOLD.................................................................................................................4
ZAMBIA - African Eagle Resources - COPPER....................................................................................................4
COLUMBIA - Greystar Resources - GOLD/SILVER...........................................................................................4
USA - Galway Resources - MOLYBDENUM/TUNGSTEN.................................................................................5
CANADA - Geodex Minerals - TUNGSTEN/MOLYBDENUM/COPPER.........................................................5
AUSTRALIA - Heron Resources - NICKEL.........................................................................................................6
ARGENTINA - Minera Andes - COPPER..............................................................................................................6
AUSTRALIA - Independence Group - GOLD.......................................................................................................6
RUSSIA Polymetal - GOLD................................................................................................................................6
FEASIBILITY STAGE..................................................................................................................................................7
BURKINA FASO - Goldbelt Resources - GOLD.................................................................................................7
USA - Great Basin Gold - GOLD/SILVER.............................................................................................................7
AUSTRALIA - Moly Mines - MOLYBDENUM....................................................................................................8
CHINA - Golden China Resources - GOLD...........................................................................................................8
AUSTRALIA - Goldstar Resources - GOLD.........................................................................................................8
CANADA - Western Copper Corps - GOLD/SILVER.........................................................................................9
AUSTRALIA - Minotaur Exploration/ Helix Resources - GOLD/SILVER............................................................9
SOUTH AFRICA - Eastern Platinum - PGMs .......................................................................................................9
USA - American Lignite Energy/ Headwaters Energy Services/ Great River Energy/ The North American Coal
Corp LIGNITE.10
CHILE - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold / Codelco - COPPER.......................................................................10
USA - FutureGen Alliance - COAL.......................................................................................................................10
CANADA - Atlantic Gold - GOLD.......................................................................................................................10
MEXICO - Baja Mining - COPPER/COBALT/ZINC/MANGANESE..............................................................11
GREENLAND - True North Gems - RUBY.........................................................................................................12
CANADA - North American Tungsten Corp - TUNGSTEN................................................................................12
MONGOLIA - Western Prospector Group - URANIUM.....................................................................................12
ALGERIA - Terramin Australia - ZINC/LEAD....................................................................................................13
INDONESIA - Finders Resources - GOLD/COPPER........................................................................................13
COTE DIVOIRE - Etruscan Resources - GOLD...............................................................................................13
SAUDI ARABIA - ADV Group/ Bariq Mining - GOLD/COPPER........................................................................13
BRAZIL - Mirabela Nickel - NICKEL...................................................................................................................14
PERU - Monterrico Metals - COPPER/MOLYBDENUM...................................................................................14
AUSTRALIA - Gindalbie Metals/ Anshan Iron & Steel Group - IRON ORE........................................................15
CANADA - Canadian Royalties - NICKEL/COPPER/PGM..............................................................................16
1
ALL dollars are US unless otherwise stated, and all units are metric. The subscription to IM Project News is personal and the
content is copyright. IM Project News should not be passed on to others, either as forwarded emails, as photocopies, or copies in any
other form. Intranet subscription details are available from emma@im-mining.com
Contact emma@im-mining.com PROJECT NEWS
Project News (21) June 10, 2007
News from those projects making progress towards production more every two weeks
A collection of recent starts and progress reports from around the world - updates on
projects around the globe likely to be in the market for equipment and services.
A collection of recent starts and progress reports from around the world - updates on projects around the globe
likely to be in the market for equipment and services. ..................................................................................................1
PREFEASIBILITY.........................................................................................................................................................2
MEXICO - Tyler Resources - COPPER/GOLD....................................................................................................2
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Harmony Gold - COPPER/GOLD...............................................................................3
PERU - Strike Resources - IRON ORE.................................................................................................................3
SLOVAKIA - Tournigan Gold - GOLD.................................................................................................................4
ZAMBIA - African Eagle Resources - COPPER....................................................................................................4
COLUMBIA - Greystar Resources - GOLD/SILVER...........................................................................................4
USA - Galway Resources - MOLYBDENUM/TUNGSTEN.................................................................................5
CANADA - Geodex Minerals - TUNGSTEN/MOLYBDENUM/COPPER.........................................................5
AUSTRALIA - Heron Resources - NICKEL.........................................................................................................6
ARGENTINA - Minera Andes - COPPER..............................................................................................................6
AUSTRALIA - Independence Group - GOLD.......................................................................................................6
RUSSIA Polymetal - GOLD................................................................................................................................6
FEASIBILITY STAGE..................................................................................................................................................7
BURKINA FASO - Goldbelt Resources - GOLD.................................................................................................7
USA - Great Basin Gold - GOLD/SILVER.............................................................................................................7
AUSTRALIA - Moly Mines - MOLYBDENUM....................................................................................................8
CHINA - Golden China Resources - GOLD...........................................................................................................8
AUSTRALIA - Goldstar Resources - GOLD.........................................................................................................8
CANADA - Western Copper Corps - GOLD/SILVER.........................................................................................9
AUSTRALIA - Minotaur Exploration/ Helix Resources - GOLD/SILVER............................................................9
SOUTH AFRICA - Eastern Platinum - PGMs .......................................................................................................9
USA - American Lignite Energy/ Headwaters Energy Services/ Great River Energy/ The North American Coal
Corp LIGNITE.10
CHILE - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold / Codelco - COPPER.......................................................................10
USA - FutureGen Alliance - COAL.......................................................................................................................10
CANADA - Atlantic Gold - GOLD.......................................................................................................................10
MEXICO - Baja Mining - COPPER/COBALT/ZINC/MANGANESE..............................................................11
GREENLAND - True North Gems - RUBY.........................................................................................................12
CANADA - North American Tungsten Corp - TUNGSTEN................................................................................12
MONGOLIA - Western Prospector Group - URANIUM.....................................................................................12
ALGERIA - Terramin Australia - ZINC/LEAD....................................................................................................13
INDONESIA - Finders Resources - GOLD/COPPER........................................................................................13
COTE DIVOIRE - Etruscan Resources - GOLD...............................................................................................13
SAUDI ARABIA - ADV Group/ Bariq Mining - GOLD/COPPER........................................................................13
BRAZIL - Mirabela Nickel - NICKEL...................................................................................................................14
PERU - Monterrico Metals - COPPER/MOLYBDENUM...................................................................................14
AUSTRALIA - Gindalbie Metals/ Anshan Iron & Steel Group - IRON ORE........................................................15
CANADA - Canadian Royalties - NICKEL/COPPER/PGM..............................................................................16
The company
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WETKRET shotcreting
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S
handong Gold Mining Co (SD-Gold) is a
large listed company in China integrating
exploration, mining and smelting. The
company was established in January, 2000. Into
it went a number of established gold mines in
Shandong Province, including Xincheng and
Sanshandao. Both mines are close to Laizhou
City, and both produce gold with some silver as
a byproduct. Xincheng is located in Jiaodong
Peninsula on the shore of the Bo Sea, with
Sanshandao lying on the north coast of the
Shandong Peninsula. SD-Gold is the third
largest gold producer in the country.
Sandvik recently received a contract from SD-
Gold to deliver 20 mining machines to the three
gold mines in operation in Shandong
Sanshandao, Jiaojia and Xincheng. The fleet
deliveries for the equipment are scheduled to
take place before end of 2012, and will be
comprised of Sandvik drill rigs, LHDs and trucks.
China is of course the worlds top gold
producer these days and in 2010 SD-Gold
produced 24.50 t of gold, while the country saw
a new record of 340.88 t in 2010 - a rise of
8.57% over the previous years figure. SD-Gold
has been expanding rapidly recently and will
expand further in the coming years. Its output of
2010 was an almost 90% increase on the 13.06 t
produced in 2006.
The new machines will provide improved
reliability and operating performance for the
mines along with a wide range of productivity
features. Sandvik says the contract represents
the largest single order ever for mining units in
China and solidifies Sandviks position as
Chinas leading provider of mining technology.
Sandvik was initially selected as we
demonstrated a low risk option, an excellent
understanding of their operations and the ability
to deliver on all the required machines and
services. This is a win-win and we look forward
to our continuing relationship with Shandong
Gold, said Sandviks Schubert Huang.
Both Xincheng, which first went into
production in 1980, and Sanshandao (1989)
mines use cut and fill (CAF) mining and are also
undertaking trials of open stoping with Sandvik
longhole drills. Both mines have ramp access (4
m x 4 m) and use large numbers of mechanised,
trackless equipment. SD-Gold says that
Sanshandao has more equipment than any
other gold mine in China and is the most
mechanised in the country.
Xincheng has gradually built up production
from a level of just 500 t/d in 1984, to 1,250 t/d
in 1995, to 1,600 t/d in 2006 to 4,000 t/d in
2011. It will mine 4,500 t/d in 2012, but is also
embarking on a major expansion. Xincheng
produced 3 t of gold in 2010 and was expecting
to produce 3.4 t in 2011.
Xincheng is currently mining two orebodies,
No 5, the larger, and No 9. No 5 orebody is some
60 m thick, inclined at 30-40o, and has a strike
length of 300 m. The average grade of the ore is
3 g/t. Most of the current production comes
from a depth of some 600 m underground. The
mine has 20 Mt of gold ore in resources in the
No 1, 5 and 9 orebodies. Up to June 2011, the
mine had produced 57.7 t of gold since it first
started producing.
Face drilling at Xincheng employs one
Sandvik DD210 jumbo and four DD310s, with
two new DD311s on order. They are drilling 3.7 m
holes to achieve an advance of 3.4-3.5 m per
blast. The open stoping trials in No 5 orebody
are using a Sandvik DL330 jumbo to drill 10 m
long, 64 mm diameter holes. Two more of these
jumbos are on order. With three longhole drilling
units on the mine, one will be dedicated to
drilling cable bolting holes for the secondary
CAF stopes.
The Sandvik DD210 is a compact and flexible
single-boom electro-hydraulic jumbo for face
drilling with the HL 510 rock drill in cross
sections up to 26 m. The DD310 and DD311 are
Two SD-Gold mines gear up for expansion:
John Chadwick reports from Chinas Shandong Province
on one of the countrys premier gold producers
OPERATION FOCUS
Sanshandao is largely
developed under the sea
The Xincheng mine headframe
also single-boom rigs,
giving face coverage of
over 40 m. Sandviks
DL330-5 is a versatile
single-boom electro-
hydraulic longhole
drilling jumbo for small
and medium scale
production drilling. It is
capable of drilling
several lines of parallel
holes, up and down, up
to 23 m depth, from a
single machine
position over the width
of 5.5 m. The 360
rotation in full parallel
coverage area and wide
tilt angle ranges forward and backward make
the robust universal telescopic boom suitable to
various drilling applications. The long reach of
the boom also allows safe access to unsafe or
narrow places such as vein drilling or raise
drilling. Good visibility for the operator and
good rig balance along with the powerful four-
wheel-drive articulated carrier aid fast and safe
manoeuvring in narrow drifts.
At Xincheng, and Sanshandao is very similar,
the CAF stoping is carried out in 50 m high
mining blocks. These are divided into sublevels
mined at 10 m vertical intervals in the footwall. A
5 m pillar is left at the bottom of the mining
block and 6 m at the top. From the sublevels,
working up from the bottom, the block is mined
in 3.3 m slices and backfilled. Primary stopes
are 8 m wide and the secondary ones 7 m wide.
Fill is placed to
within 1 m of the next
slice to be mined so
that there is free space
to blast into. Backfill is
piped hydraulically into
the stopes. The
standard mix is one part
cement to ten parts
tailings, but for the top
of each slice, to make a
good floor from which
to mine the next stope,
a 1:4 mix is used.
After blasting and removal of the ore, the roof
of each advance is rock bolted to the face. Both
mines use Sandvik bolting jumbos exclusively.
Xincheng has three DS310, with two more on
order. Sanshandao has four of these units. The
DS310 is a one man operated, compact and
modular rock bolter that is able to tram and
install all the most common type of rock bolts in
small and medium size headings. It is suited to
mines with small and medium cross sections up
to 7.5 m height. It can install all the common
bolt types or a combination, in lengths from 1.5
to 3 m. Mechanisation of the bolting process
ensures efficient, constant and durable ground
support.
The mine has standardised on 3 m
3
capacity
LHDs and has 14 units equivalent to the Sandvik
LH 307. Three more LH 307s are on order. These
load a mixed truck fleet of smaller Sandvik
EJC417 and GHH units, and larger 20 t trucks
from Atlas Copco and Volvo (25 t machines). Ore
is truck-hauled up to the ramp to ore passes
feeding the current main haulage level, which
connects to the hoisting shafts.
Xincheng expansion
As the orders show, Xincheng immediate
expansion will largely be based on Sandvik
trackless equipment. Further into the future, the
mine plans to expand
to 10,000 t/d of gold
ore. This major increase
in output is based on a
newly-acquired
orebody that lies within
3 km of the existing
infrastructure. Tengjia
is a 16.5 km
2
exploration and mining
area. To date an
orebody inclined
similarly to those
currently being mined
has been discovered
with its top lying 620 m
below surface and its
bottom defined at 1,200
m below surface. S-D Gold estimates this
contains 71 t of gold at an average grade of 3 g/t.
The current plan is to develop Tengjia with
four 1,300 m shafts, including one new 1,300 m
shaft at Xincheng to hoist the additional ore.
The ramp will also be deepened. A new main
haulage level will connect the new mining area
to the hoisting shaft at Xincheng. The mine is
currently choosing between rail and conveyor
haulage for this new main level. The gold plant
will be significantly expanded as the plan is to
raise daily throughput to 10,000 t/d.
The current processing plant, which includes
a new Sandvik crusher, employs closed-circuit
crushing and grinding, coarse and fine flotation,
cyanidation and smelting. Of the waste, 60%
goes back underground as backfill, with the
remainder pumped to the tailings facility.
OPERATION FOCUS
Ramp entrance at
Xincheng mine
Control room at Xincheng and (inset) position of newly discovered
orebody shown on the main relative to the current workings
Biggest in Asia
Sanshandao is also embarking on a significant
expansion, from 9,200 t/d to 12,000 t/d. On
surface there are currently two processing
plants, one of 5,000 t/d capacity and one of
4,200 t/d capacity. For the expansion, the
smaller of the two plants will be closed and
replaced with a new 12,000 t/d facility.
The mine is exploiting what SD-Gold says is
the biggest known gold orebody in Asia. It is
inclined at 40-50, is 20-30 m thick and 2-3 km
along strike, and the orebody remains open at
depth. The average grade is 2 g/t Au.
The current main haulage level is at 250 m
below surface, but a new one is to be developed
on the 600 m level, where much of the stoping is
now focussed. This new level is to have a rail
haulage system with 6 m
3
ore cars pulled by 30 t
locos. A new shaft is being sunk to 800 m to
widen the current mining area and into the
future the plan is to sink a sub-vertical shaft to
1,000 m below surface. This will deliver ore to
the 585 m level, from which orepasses will feed
it to the 600 m haulage level. The current ramp
system goes down to 780 m below surface.
The mine will be taking delivery of a number
of new Sandvik machines in 2012. Of the current
12 face drills, eight are Sandvik DD310 units.
Four more of those are due for delivery. The
loading fleet is a mixture of Atlas Copco (ST 2D
and ST 3.5D) and Sandvik units of which three
are Sandvik LH203s, with five more of those
coming.
Sanshandao is largely developed under the
sea and salt water underground is a constant
problem. One of the counter measures taken is
to use a special paste on all electrical
connections to prevent corrosion. For hydraulic
cylinders, which start pitting after just one
month if they are chrome plated, the mine has
found nickel plating to be a solution. Nickel-
plated cylinders are three times stronger than
the chrome ones. Salt water is even used for
flushing of the drills.
Currently the truck fleet comprises 24 units,
mainly 12 and 16 t capacity trucks of the mines
own making. There are also Volvo 25 t units, two
Kiruna Electric K-635E trucks (payload 35 t) and
a number of Sandvik TH430 30 t capacity
Sandvik trucks, with two more of the latter on
order. Shandong Gold is also planning to
develop its own 35 t capacity electric trolley
truck for underground haulage.
The mine expected to produce approximately
5 t of gold in 2011 and is looking for a 22%
increase in 2012 to around 6 t.
Shandong Gold Mining stock rose 1.9% on
the news that it had won approval from the
National Development and Reform Commission
to increase daily production capacity at
Sanshandao.
Shandong Gold Group
SD-Gold says its mining equipment and
mechanisation level is among the top within the
domestic mining field; in particular, the
configuration of underground trackless mining
equipment. Among its other mines, it notes
Linglong gold mine with most cumulative gold
production volume in China or even in Asia and
Jiaojia gold mine, the first national numerical
control mine and the largest refinery in terms of
the trade volume of mining gold in China.
Shandong Gold Group is a large-scale state-
owned enterprise directly affiliated with the
Shandong Provincial Government. Besides the
Xincheng, Jiaojia, Linglong and Sanshandao
gold mines, it owns the Yinan and Pingdu Xinhui
gold mines and other large and medium-sized
mines. It owns 51% of Jinzhou Mining Co and
73.5% of Inner Mongolia Chifeng Chaihulaizi
Gold Mining Co. Domestically, Shandong Gold
Group has succeeded in building five mining
bases with four outside Shandong, in Hainan,
Inner Mongolia, Henan and Qinghai.
Recent news from Shandong Gold Mining
includes the acquisition of the remaining 25% in
Shandong Jinshi Mining for RMB415 million
Yuan. The mine was reported to have mineral
reserves of 21.44 Mt, containing 71,395 kg of
gold. Following the acquisition, Shandong Gold
will be the sole shareholder of Jinshi Mining.
Shandong Gold Non-Ferrous Mining Group Co
was established in August 2008. It owns 12
mining enterprises: the Guilaizhuang, Hainan
and Penglai Hexi gold mines, Henan Songxian
Shanjin Mining, Henan Songxian Tianyun
Mining, the Inner Mongolia Shanjin Hongling
and Shanjin Aerhada lead and zinc mines,
Changyi iron mine, Inner Mongolia Shanjin iron
mine, Pingyi Jinxin gypsum mine, Baotou Lujin
OPERATION FOCUS
Both mines are undertaking trials of
open stoping using Sandviks DL330-5
jumbos their coverage is shown here
An older Sandvik unit drilling in a cut-and-fill
stope at Sanshandao
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fluorite mine and the Venezuela Jinyan gold mine. It operates a 100,000-t/y
lead smelter and a 200,000-t/y zinc smelter. It is also developing a
molybdenum mine in Inner Mongolia.
Its sales revenue in 2008 was RMB0.23 billion Yuan and the profit was
more than RMB10 million Yuan. Sales revenue in 2009 was RMB0.427
billion, twice that in 2008; the profit was RMB0.123 billion Yuan, 10 times
that of 2008. In the first half of 2010, the sales revenue increased 6.2 times
year on year and gold production increased 3.2 times year on year. The
anticipated profit was RMB0.4 billion Yuan, four times that of 2009; and
sales revenue RMB1.2 billion Yuan, three times that of 2009.
In the coming years, the company aims to develop gold, silver, lead, zinc,
copper, molybdenum and iron projects. It says it will aggressively
purchase mines at home and abroad, process non-ferrous metals, expand
and innovate current mines, deploy overseas resources development,
extend industrial chain, produce lead and zinc with high added value, make
it in a leading position in the national non-ferrous field in terms of capital
size, sales income, economic benefit, management and technological level
and gradually forge the company into a large non-ferrous mining group
with international competitiveness.
Shandong Gold Mining Resources Group Co is an important platform for
Shandong Gold Group to acquire and expand resources and boost
production. In recent years the company has acquired Laizhou Jincang
Mining, Sizhuang, Henan Tianyun, Chifeng Chaihulanzi, Hainan Baolun and
other gold mines. For future development, the company insists on high-end
resources expansion and operation.
Shandong Gold International Mining Group Co is responsible for the
expansion of Shandong Golds overseas mining.
In November Shandong Gold Group made an unsolicited bid for Jaguar
Mining, a gold producer in Brazil with operations in a prolific greenstone
belt in the state of Minas Gerais. Jaguar is also engaged in developing the
Gurupi Project in the state of Maranho.
Based on its development plans, Jaguar is one of the fastest growing
gold producers in Brazil. The Company is actively exploring and developing
additional mineral resources at its approximate 256,300-ha land base in
Brazil. IM
OPERATION FOCUS
The company has discovered a significant molybdenum deposit in Inner
Mongolia
Mining Contractors and Engineers
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T
he Barro Alto project is located in the state
of Goias, Brazil, approximately 170km from
Anglo Americans existing Codemin nickel
operation. The project was approved in
December 2006 and first metal was produced on
schedule in March 2011, with the overall project
having a capital cost of $1.9 billion. The site
represents the first of four near-term strategic
growth projects in nickel for the company, and is
set to produce an average of 36,000 t/y of nickel
in ferronickel from the second half of this year
and over a remaining mine life of 25 years.
Actual production in the initial five years will be
about 41,000 t/y from early 2013 onwards as the
highest grade nickel ore is processed. Total
mineral resources are 1.27 Mt at 1.48 % Ni. The
total plant feed is 74.51 Mt at 1.6 % Ni over 31
years. This includes the previous plant supply to
Codemin part of the Barro Alto ore deposit has
been processed since 2004 at the ferronickel
plant there. In 2007 the construction of the
Barro Alto plant began and since 2011 Barro Alto
ore has been processed at the Barro Alto plant.
The Barro Alto site is state-of-the-art and
brought Anglo Americans operating nickel
assets up to three along with Loma de Niquel
(91% held) in Venezuela, and Codemin 100%),
also in Brazil, as well as nickel produced as a
by-product of platinum processing at Anglo
Platinum in South Africa. The company
estimates its current share of the global nickel
market at about 11% with the new operation. In
2011, Codemin saw 9,500 t of nickel in
ferronickel produced. The same year, Loma
produced 13,400 t of nickel in ferronickel and
Barro Alto 6,200 t. Overall, nickel production in
2011 increased by 44% from 2012 to 29,100 t.
Another Brazilian project, Jacare in Para state,
is also 100% owned. The Jacare project has
some 500 Mt of nickel ore with about 3.9 Mt
(resources) of contained nickel. The project will
enter the pre-feasibility stage this year. The
mine would either produce nickel metal or
nickel in ferronickel like the other sites, and
Phase 1 would see 34-35,000 t/y production
with Phase 2 potentially delivering a further
50,000 t/y with cobalt by-products for a total of
85,000 t/y.
Further exploration programs to confirm
Jacare's reserves are underway, with feasibility
studies set for completion in 2014/2015. A
second new project, Morro Sem Bon, is also in
Brazil and would produce 30-32,000 t/y of nickel
in ferronickel. Morro Sem Bone is a smaller
project but the deposit has higher ore grades.
Nickels main use is as an alloying metal,
along with chromium and other metals, in the
production of stainless and heat resistant steel.
Approximately 66% of nickel is used to
manufacture stainless steel and around 25% in
other steel and non-ferrous alloys. Primary
nickel is used in the form of pure nickel metal,
ferronickel, nickel oxide and other chemicals.
The steel industry is also supplied by recycled
nickel and, in a more recent development, by
nickel pig iron (NPI) in China. However, NPI
production, which is a highly energy intensive
process, decreased in 2010 due to the initiatives
implemented by the Chinese government in
order to save energy.
Geology and mining
The Barro Alto mineral resource is primarily
saprolite overlain by laterites and extends for 35
km in an arc from southwest to northeast. The
deposit is in the Barro Alto mafic-ultramafic
complex, which is part of the Pre-Cambrian
shield in the state of Gois. The complex is
composed of a sequence of serpentinised
dunites and pyroxenites, enveloped by gabbros.
The mineralisation corresponds to the surficial
weathered portions of the serpentinites. There
are three types of saprolitic ore. The West type
ore tends to have higher nickel grades and
silica/magnesia ratios than the East type and
Plain type ores.
The project consists of an open pit mine and a
ferronickel plant. The shallow pits forming the
mine extend over an area 35 km long with a
width of no more than 2 km. The plant uses a
classical RKEF process to produce ferronickel by
processing a nominal 2.4 Mt/y (dry basis) of
ore. No blasting is required to access the
relatively soft laterite/saprolite ore, which is
loaded by a fleet of eight 365CL and four 330CL
Caterpillar backhoe hydraulic excavators with a
maximum working bench height of 2.5 m. These
load a fleet of 44 Scania 35 t trucks with
Rossetti bodies, which transport the material to
a ROM stockpile. These are operated by
contractors Minax and TGL. The mining team
uses DataMine and SmartMine programs to
conduct short to medium term planning.
This ore is then transported via a fleet of 12
30 t trucks by contractors CTBA and TGL from
the mine to the ore preparation yard at the plant
site. The ore is dumped into a horizontal grizzly
Paul Moore visited the Barro Alto nickel mine
and ferronickel plant northwest of Brasilia, to
see one of the worlds newest and most
efficient operations of its type
OPERATION FOCUS
Tapping ferronickel at Barro Alto plant
Project Location Ni capacity t/y
Codemin Brazil 10,000
Loma de Niquel Venezuela 17,000
Barro Alto Brazil 36,000
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Writing the history of gearless mill drives
Largest sizes, most power, highest elevations.
after which it goes through a three stage
(primary, secondary, tertiary) process using two
roll crushers followed by a Sandvik CH660 cone
crusher, before conveying and stacking on a
homogenisation stockpile; reclaiming to dryers
subsequent and screening. The dryers are 32 m
in length and 4.6 m wide. At the
pyrometallurgical part of the plant the 2.4 Mt/y
of dried ore is fed by a Sandvik MGS conveyor
(Sandvik 51% MGS 49%) into the huge rotary
kilns along with pellets that have been
produced with FEECO pelletising discs from
recycled plant dust from the dedusting system
and coal. The rotary kilns themselves can use
gas or pulverised coal for firing. Ore is heated at
very high temperatures in the rotary calcination
kilns, which remove moisture and water
crystallisation from ore and starts the
metallurgical process, pre-reducing the ore
before feeding it to two rectangular SMS Siemag
electric-arc induction furnaces for smelting at
1,500-1,520C, each of which has six 83 MW
electrodes. Each FLSmidth rotary kiln is 185 m
long and 6.1 x 7 m in diameter, which the
company believes are the longest to be installed
to date in the industry. Reagents are added to
the resulting FeNi metal in a refining ladle
furnace (carbon and impurities are removed in
slag) that produces the final molten metal
product; this 25-30% Ni ferronickel is tapped
from a tundish vessel and granulated using
water and classified for shipment. The refining
slag is stockpiled for future recovery.
ASM Automation worked with SMS Siemag
AG on commissioning of the furnaces and
dedusting system including PC and PLC software
support. For the central control room, FLSmidth
developed the state-of-the-art burner
management system controls and software for
use on the dryers and rotary kilns. All systems
and equipment are controlled from the main
control room, and managed and operated
through the use of software programs
incorporated into the overall control system.
These include the overarching Siemens PCS7
system.
Additional infrastructure included an
electrical main station (maximum demand 210
MW) and a water dam. Energy and water
considerations during design included the plant
layout which allows solids gravity flow; kiln
waste heat recovery; high efficiency electric
motors; and water usage in a closed circuit.
Barro Alto timeline
1960 Deposit discovered
1970 Exploration started
1998 Anglo American options the deposit,
first feasibility study commenced
2002 Anglo American acquires mineral rights
2004 Mine operations begin feeding Codemin
plant. Barro Alto plant feasibility reviewed
2006 Barro Alto project approved
2007 Construction starts with SNC-
Lavalin/Minerconsult EPCM
2011 Q1 first metal production on schedule.
Third party commissioning
The EPCM work was carried out by SNC-Lavalin
along with local partner Minerconsult
Engenharia, which signed a $100 million
contract with Anglo American Brasil. The EPCM
contract also includes project management and
related technical services for expansion work on
the mine's existing infrastructure and
operations. Capital cost of the new metallurgical
facility and mine expansion. Detailed
engineering and procurement work on the Barro
Alto plant began in January 2007 with
construction commencing in November 2007.
Shortly after this August 2007 announcement,
SNC-Lavalin announced the acquisition of
Minerconsult.
SGS has also been involved from September
2010 to September 2011, when it was contracted
to perform complex commissioning services and
management as well as executing various tests
in order to ensure a successful start for the
facility operation within its planned schedule.
The SGS statement said: In order to proceed
with such an extensive project in compliance
with all relevant regulations and requirements
within schedule, Anglo American, one of the
worlds largest mining companies, looked for a
reliable inspection, verification, testing and
certification company. In September 2010, SGS
Industrial division in Brazil was assigned the
contract to provide specialist third-party
services during the commissioning of the Barro
Alto Nickel Project due to its extensive
experience and competence in projects of this
kind. SGS executed a wide variety of tests to
aid transfer of the plant from construction to
operation in the areas of instrumentation and
power as well as through effective use of the
dedicated Commissioning Management
Software developed by SGS. The SGS
Commissioning Management Software, known
as the CRI system, includes a database capable
of generating management reports on
mechanical, piping, instrumentation and
electrical services. The software presents the
actual commissioning situation and generates
information about pending work to be executed,
including identification of the critical path for
start-up, precise and up-to-date information for
use in daily meetings, document control as well
as information for calibration and testing
situations.
OPERATION FOCUS
Process flow diagram for Barro Alto mine and
plant
A Caterpillar hydraulic excavator loading a
Scania truck with nickel ore at the Barro Alto
mine
Anglo Research Nickel ARNi
Nickel is recovered from two major ore types.
Sulphides, though only representing 30% of
known resources, are the source of 70% of the
worlds nickel; while laterites, which account for
70% of known resources, are responsible for the
remaining 30% of global nickel output. The
widely held industry view is that the future of
the nickel industry lies in the economic
exploitation of laterite deposits. However, owing
to the complex nature of laterite deposits, which
consist of weathered iron-rich limonite and un-
weathered magnesium-rich saprolite, there is
currently no commercial process that can treat
the entire orebody. Currently, the limonite
portion is treated using the High Pressure Acid
Leach (HPAL) process but this has had a very
low success rate to date. The saprolite portion
has been successfully processed using the
Rotary Kiln Electric Furnace (RKEF), but this
remains an energy- and capital-intensive process.
Any organisation that can develop a
methodology for treating the whole orebody in a
single, cost-effective process will have a
significant competitive advantage. To this end,
the ARNi process has been developed by Anglo
American. In this process, the limonite fraction
is leached at atmospheric pressure to dissolve
nickel, cobalt and iron. The saprolite material is
then used as a primary neutralisation agent,
with the added benefit that additional nickel
and cobalt are leached from the saprolite.
Another unique feature of the process is that it
is capable of regenerating the major reagents
required in the process such as magnesia,
sulphur dioxide and hydrochloric acid. The
process has been successfully tested at mini-
plant scale and a larger, fully integrated pilot
plant has now been constructed. This plant was
hot commissioned in January 2011 and will
process approximately 30 kg/h of laterite
feedstock sourced from the Jacare nickel
deposit. A pre-feasibility study commenced in
late 2011 and a demonstration plant will be
constructed at Barro Alto during 2012/13 to
thoroughly test and commercialise the process
using both Barro Alto and Jacare ores. IM
OPERATION FOCUS
Sandvik MGS conveyor and FLSmidth rotary
kiln (inset close-ups)
T
enke Fungurume Mining (TFM) has
invested more than $2 billion in its copper
and cobalt operations in the DRCs
Katanga province. It was a long time coming,
almost 100 years. Drilling on the Tenke
Fungurume deposits goes back as far as 1919.
Back in the 1970s when a consortium Soc
Minire de Tenke Fungurume (SMTF) led by
Anglo Americans Charter Consolidated started
developing the project (only to abandon it in
1976 due to perceived political risk at the time)
Harry Oppenheimer described it as the best,
known, undeveloped copper project in the world
(IM, December 2006, pp28-33). Between 1971
and 1976 SMTF spent $280 million on
exploration, various studies, equipment and site
infrastructure.
It was always destined to be a truly great
mine and today TFMs (partnership between
Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold [FCX],
Lundin Mining and Gecamines) concessions
encompass over 1,500 km
2
located some 175 km
northwest of Lubumbashi and remain
extensively under-explored. The deposits are
made up of oxide, mixed oxide/sulphide and
sulphide zones.
Production of copper cathode commenced in
the first quarter of 2009. Phase 1 name-plate
capacity at this time was 115,000 t/y of copper
cathode and 8,000 t/y of cobalt in hydroxide
form. However, debottlenecking, plant upgrades
and an increased mining fleet has allowed
production to increase to 10,000 t/d of process
plant throughput for the production of 130,000
t/y copper cathode and some 10,000 t/y cobalt
hydroxide.
TFM started mining at the Kwatebala deposit
and subsequently completed plans for project
activities at Tenke and Fwaulu orebodies,
development of an on/off heap leach test
facility, expansion of stockpile facilities at
Kwatebala, and an expansion of the plant
facility. Together, these projects are referred to
as the Tenke Fungurume Phase 2 Expansion. The
Mwadinkomba, Kansalawile, Fungurume,
Mambilima and Pumpi deposits are also
included in the 29 year mine plan.
The Phase 2 Expansion is expected to
increase copper production by approximately
50% to 195,000 t of copper cathode and 15,000 t
of cobalt in hydroxide, targeted for completion
in 2013. The approximately $850 million
expansion includes additional mining
equipment, mill upgrades, acid plant expansion
and a doubling of existing tankhouse capacity
that will result in excess SX-EW capacity of
copper cathode production. This excess capacity
is a cost effective addition to the Phase 2 project
that will be used as Tenke Fungurume continues
to expand in the future through potential heap
leaching of low grade ore combined with future
mixed/sulphide ore expansions, which are
currently being advanced with metallurgical test
work and conceptual level studies.
The Phase 2 mine plan contemplates average
feed grades of about 4.0 % total Cu and 0.40 %
total Co and average recoveries of 89% copper
and 74% cobalt over the next five years. The
strip ratio in the open pits over this period is
approximately 3.3:1. Test scale on/off heap
leach test pads are in operation at site to
evaluate the potential of commencing heap
leaching of the low grade material, which is
currently being mined and stockpiled.
Expansion feasibility study
Hatch was responsible for completing the
feasibility study for the expansion; coordinating
and integrating the input from others into a
single, comprehensive document. Hatchs role
primarily consisted of process and discipline
engineering required for the expansion of the
process plant and infrastructure. Hatch also
worked with TFM/FCX to develop the project
implementation plan and schedule.
AMECs responsibilities were concentrated on
the life of mine (LOM) tailings and Return Water
Pond (RWP) planning.
Hydrogeologica provided water management
technical support and LOM water balance
modelling.
Jacobs completed feasibility engineering of
the SO2 plant upgrades including two new 60
t/d trains.
TFM/FCX undertook environmental permitting
and licensing, the mine plan, the mine capital,
operating and sustaining capital cost estimates,
operational logistics, the infrastructure cost
estimate, the Owners cost estimate, input to the
project implementation plan, the copper and
cobalt marketing study and developing the
financial model. The total capital expenditure
required to provide the incremental capacity is
$850 million.
Key Phase 2 Expansion scope/budget items
include:
Expansion of the mine equipment fleet to
increase material moved from 23 to 54 Mt/y
The installation of a new jaw crusher and a
SAG mill pebble crusher to the grinding
circuit and, potentially, the addition of a ball
mill at a later date
Upgrades and reconfiguration throughout the
leach, CCD and copper and cobalt purification
plants to pumps, piping, thickeners and
clarifiers to cater for the increased flows.
The completion of four new mixer settlers in
the Solvent Extraction (SX) section of the
process plant
A 100% expansion of the existing Electro-
Winning (EW) tankhouse with 280 new cells,
two high speed stripping machines and two
new cranes
An additional sulphuric acid storage tank and
additional acid capacity
Two additional 60 t/d burners in the SO2
plant.
The detailed Technical Report Tenke
Fungurume Phase 2 Expansion, dated December
15, 2011 can be found on SEDAR.
Currently, there is a plant site at Kwatebala,
along with stockpile facilities and a tailings
storage facility (TSF). Mining started at Fwaulu
in 2011 and should start at Tenke this year.
Besides the Tenke and Fwaulu mines, the
expansion includes the provision of:
Stockpile facilities to the north and south of
Tenke orebody
An on/off heap leach test facility and heap
leach waste facility to the east of Tenke
orebody
A new stockpile facility south of Kwatebala,
and an expanded stockpile facility north of it
Tenke
Fungurume
John Chadwick describes one of the worlds
great new copper/cobalt operations, which
is now expanding into its Phase 2
operations for 195,000 t/y of copper
cathode and 15,000 t/y of cobalt
GREAT MINES Democratic Republic of Congo
Single-stage FL Smidth
Minerals SAG mill (6.7 m
diameter x 7.925 m in length)
Storm water ponds downstream of project
areas at Tenke, Fwaulu and Kwatebala mining
areas.
Currently there is a 24 ft diameter SAG mill on
site. Ground ore slurry is fed to agitated leach
tanks. A thickener and CCD (Counter Current
Decantation) recover dissolved Cu and Co and
the slurry is sent to PLS ponds.
The Kwatebala Plant Expansion Project
includes expansion of applicable plant
components to allow for an average processing
rate of around 14,000 t/d of ore. There are two
additional sulphur dioxide units rated at 60 t/d
capacity each and a new sulphuric acid plant
with one new sulphuric acid storage tank.
Massive reserves
The Tenke-Fungurume deposits are sedimentary
copper deposits located in the Lufilian Arc, an
800 km fold belt formed between the Angolan
Plate to the southeast and Congo Plate to the
northwest. The Central African Copperbelt lies
within the Arc and contains the worlds largest,
known resource of cobalt and is one of the most
significant copper-bearing regions of the world.
Tenke-Fungurume copper mineralisation is
stratabound and generally restricted to two
horizons with an intervening unit that is more
sporadically mineralised. The upper mineralised
stratigraphic unit is identified as SDB (Schistes
Dolomitiques de Base-dolomitic shale), the
middle, intervening unit RSC (Roches Siliceuses
Cellulaires-silicified dolomite) and the lower unit
RSF (Roches Siliceuses Feuilletees-laminated
dolomitic shale). The mineralised units are
between 5 and 15 m thick and the intervening
RSC is typically 20 m. Copper mineralisation is
known to continue into the RAT (Roches Argilo-
Talcueses) below the RSF and into the RSC from
the SDB above and RSF below. The RSC has
potential to produce cobalt ore. Oxidation has
resulted in widespread alteration producing
malachite, pseudomalachite, chrysocolla and
heterogenite. Metamorphism is variable through
the Arc, being highest grade in Zambia, and
lower in the DRC with perhaps some very low-
grade metamorphism indicated by the presence
of talc.
2010 open-pit mineral reserves estimated for
Tenke Fungurume are reported based upon
break-even net ore value using variable recovery
and operating costs that reflect variable gangue
acid consumption and acid soluble grades. The
2010 mineral reserves are based on pit limits
defined in the current mine plan, use a cut off
grade of 0.99% Cu equivalent and a Co to Cu
equivalency factor of 4.0.
Surface miners for selectivity
Kwatebala was the largest of the three deposits
in the Phase 1 mine plan, with 65 Mt of ore.
Mining of this deposit began in the fourth
quarter of 2007. The primary open-pit mine
equipment includes Vermeer surface miners
and Caterpillar wheel loaders and haul trucks.
The mining rate approximates to 72,000 t/d.
The life-of-mine strip ratio at Kwatebala is 2 to 1.
Ore Cu% Co%
Kwatebala
Proven 23,620,770 2.65% 0.35%
Probable 9,600,142 2.46% 0.35%
Sub-total 33,220,911 2.60% 0.35%
Tenke
Proven 13,642,508 3.30% 0.31%
Probable 16,957,780 2.53% 0.40%
Sub-total 30,600,288 2.88% 0.36%
Fwaulu
Proven 1,513,486 3.77% 0.23%
Probable 7,330,022 2.54% 0.26%
Sub-total 8,843,508 2.75% 0.26%
Mwadinkomba
Proven 45,845 2.23% 0.22%
Probable 6,075,635 3.62% 0.20%
Sub-total 6,121,481 3.61% 0.20%
Kansalawile
Proven 766,094 3.43% 0.13%
Probable 6,089,588 3.21% 0.15%
Sub-total 6,855,681 3.23% 0.15%
Mambalima
Proven 681,849 2.95% 0.23%
Probable 15,783,391 3.34% 0.15%
Sub-total 16,465,239 3.33% 0.15%
Fungurume
Proven 12,506,870 4.35% 0.44%
Probable 4,979,948 3.31% 0.39%
Sub-total 17,486,818 4.05% 0.42%
Pumpi North & East
Proven 89,964 3.68% 0.19%
Probable 7,624,257 3.17% 0.16%
Sub-total 7,714,221 3.17% 0.16%
Fungurume VI
Proven 821,936 2.84% 0.47%
Probable 5,155,195 2.55% 0.39%
Sub-total 5,977,132 2.59% 0.40%
Kazinyanga
Proven 103,923 1.74% 0.43%
Probable 1,867,066 1.45% 0.37%
Sub-total 1,970,989 1.47% 0.37%
Kato L3K
Proven 32,929 1.77% 0.28%
Probable 4,353,607 1.73% 0.60%
Sub-total 4,386,536 1.73% 0.60%
Shinkusu
Proven 315,465 3.02% 0.66%
Probable 1,221,246 2.84% 0.56%
Sub-total 1,536,712 2.88% 0.58%
Summary
Proven 54,141,640 3.26% 0.36%
Probable 87,037,876 2.84% 0.30%
Subtotal 141,179,516 3.00% 0.32%
WIP 14,480,000 1.10% 0.40%
TOTAL 155,659,516 2.82% 0.33%
Tenke Fungurume mineral reserves
Because of the nature of the orebody, surface
miners were chosen to allow selective mining of
the high-grade ore. Selective mining of the high
grade ore is a key to the operations success.
Ore grades can vary significantly, so the higher
grade ore is hauled to the processing plant and
lower-grade ore is stockpiled for future
processing.
The importance of keeping dilution and
losses of mineralised material to a minimum is
heightened here because processing costs and
relative strip ratios are high and so are ore
values. The mineralised zones are long and
narrow, typically 10 to 15 m wide, faulted and
folded. Mining operations also have to be
planned to account for areas where copper and
cobalt have an inversely proportional
relationship. Contacts between ore and waste
are usually relatively sharp. Mining blocks are 5
m x 2.5 m x 2.5 m.
The Kwatebala pit has been designed to
include five development phases. It is to be
some 2,350 m long and 950 m wide at
completion. Haulage roads exit on the north
side of the pit towards the ore and waste
stockpiles.
Waste mining takes place on 5 m benches
using Caterpillar 992 12.2 m
3
and 988 6.3 m
3
wheel loaders and Caterpillar 777 90 t and 772
45 t trucks. Waste is drilled and blasted. Ore is
identified and then broken on 0.625 m deep
slices using the Vermeer surface miners. The
broken ore is excavated using wheel loaders and
loaded into 45 t trucks. The average daily mining
rate during continuous operations is 72,000 t/d
(10,000 t ore, 6,000 t low-grade ore and 56,000 t
waste).
In order to increase productivity and reduce
mining costs, the expansion mine plan will
integrate larger shovels into the existing fleet.
This expansion fleet of Caterpillar RH120E and
RH90C hydraulic shovels will work with the 777
haul trucks and will also mine waste in 10-m
benches. The smaller capacity waste mining
fleet will be phased out as replacements
become necessary during the mine life.
The mining sequence begins by identifying
ore and waste. A 100-mm wide cut is made
across the strike of the ore zones with a Vermeer
rock saw. The trench cuttings are sampled in
2.5m intervals between rock units. Samples are
sent to the laboratory where total and acid
soluble grades and gangue acid consumption
are determined. The assays from the lab are
used to develop an ore control model from
which the ore zones can be designed. Surveyors
stake the outlines of the ore zones in the field
after the surface miner has fragmented the rock.
Material types and destinations are controlled
by ProVision, a routine which functions inside
the mines Modular Mining Dispatch system.
ProVision machine guidance solutions use
augmented GPS to provide continuous
navigation and guidance to equipment
operators, facilitating the achievement of
planned targets and tasks. Realtime data
exchange reduces re-handle, misdirected loads,
and manual survey.
Ore polygons (ore types and grades), are
uploaded into ProVision following determination
by the engineers and geologists. A screen in the
loader operators cab shows him the polygons in
the area in which he is digging via the high-
precision GPS set to the location of his bucket.
As operators get ready to load a new truck,
they key in the polygon where they will be
digging and ProVision either accepts or rejects
the designation based on where it sees the
bucket location. When the truck is loaded, the
loader operator releases it and sends a signal to
Dispatch that the truck is loaded.
ProVision then sends a signal to the truck
screen which tells the operator what is being
carried and where to take it.
Dispatch then knows where the truck should
be going and which beacons it should pass. If
the truck strays off route and passes a beacon it
is not supposed to pass, Dispatch will send a
signal to the truck operator and the Dispatch
operator that it is off-route and a correction is
made.
The current owner operated mining fleet
includes 11 Cat 988 wheel loaders, two Cat
992s, one CAT RH90 excavator, 28 45-t capacity
Cat 772 haul trucks, six 90-t capacity 777 haul
trucks, two 2 Cat 772 water trucks, three
Vermeer surface miners, four 4.3 m graders,
nine D8 dozers, two D10 dozers, one 824 wheel
dozer, five production drills and two Vermeer
rock saws for sampling.
The surface miners cut the ore zones first.
High-grade ore is delivered to stockpiles near
the mill feed chute were a two-month stockpile
is maintained. Wheel loaders provide an
optimised blend to the mill. The Vermeer miners
are used to fragment ore and some waste.
Careful planning is essential at the interface of
the 5 m waste bench mining and the 0.625-m
ore cuts to minimise issues with access and
interference from blasting in the waste.
The mine has found that surface miners can
be at least four times as selective in rock
fragmentation compared with drilling and
Isometric view of the distribution
of the ore and waste on a typical
bench and how it is mined over a
period of a week
Millions of tons of
With over 100 years of experience, FLSmidth is globally-
recognized for its reliable crushing and milling technologies. Many
of the worlds plants operating today depend on the outstanding
performance offered by our gyratory crushers, low-speed sizers,
jaw crushers, cone crushers, hammermills, feeder-breakers, HPGR
technologies, and a variety of mills including SAG, AG, Rod, Ball,
Pebble, and Vertical Roller Mills.
Bringing you the worlds leading brand names and an aggressive
product development program, FLSmidth is your One Source for
all of your mineral processing needs. As well as crushing and
grinding, we offer solutions for material handling, otation,
sedimentation, ltration, classication, pyroprocessing,
metallurgical testing, ore characterization and engineering. All
of these technologies and services are available and supported in
your local area around the globe.
For more information, visit us at www.smidth.com
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blasting. They avoid the mixing and
displacement issues inherent in blasting and
eliminate the need for a crusher. Based upon
operational experience to-date the current
expectation is that the surface miners will produce,
on average, 650 t/h with an overall availability
of 70% and utilisation is 70% for a combined
overall asset efficiency of 70% x 70% = 49%.
Waste mining generally follows ore removal.
Blastholes (127-mm diameter) are drilled 6 m
deep on a 5 m by 5 m pattern or 11 m deep on a
6 m by 6 m pattern. The mixed drill fleet of top
hammer hydraulic drills on crawler carriers
includes five Atlas ROCL8s and 2 Sandvik
DP1500 drills. They are capable of angle drilling
to the horizontal at penetration rates up to an
average 52 m/h in the rocks found at site.
AEL, African Explosives Ltd, as contractor
primes and loads the holes for blasting with
emulsion as the primary explosive agent. The
original waste fleet of 988 wheel loaders and
772 haul trucks (loading in five passes) was
supplemented with the larger 992s and 777 haul
trucks to increase waste stripping rates.
The Phase 2 Expansion case mine schedule
will supply the mill with an ore grade of 3.94%
ASCu at 14,000 t/d. Mill construction and
commissioning are scheduled in two stages:
installation to increase the capacity from 10,000
to 12,000 t/d to be completed by the end of this
year and the final installation to provide an
increase from 12,000 to 14,000 t/d by the end of
the first quarter 2013. Not accounting for
additional high grade discovery, nor further
debottlenecking and expansion, the mine plan
recoverable metal delivery target of 195,000 t/y
of copper will be achieved for seven years,
decreasing gradually in the following 20 years to
an average of 83,000 t/y of copper. The cobalt
production for the 29 years averages 11,800 t/y.
The maximum overall mining rate will be 55
Mt/y.
Expanded processing
plant
The expanded Phase 2
processing plant will be
capable of processing at
least 14,000 t/d (dry) of ore
to produce at least 195,000
t/y of copper cathode and
an average of 15,000 t/y of
cobalt contained in cobalt
hydroxide.
Run-of-mine (ROM) ore is
delivered by haul truck to
the ROM pad. Wheel
loaders feed a blend of ore
to a mobile jaw crusher and the suitably sized
ore is conveyed to a single stage FL Schmitt
Minerals SAG mill (6.7 m diameter x 7.925 m in
length). The SAG mill operates in closed circuit
with a cluster of Krebs GMAX 33-20-3225
hydrocyclones and a Cedar Rapids RC 45III
pebble crusher to achieve the desired grind size.
The ground slurry is thickened, pumped to
the first of five leach tanks and mixed with
sulphur dioxide (SO2), sulphuric acid (H2SO4)
and raffinate to achieve a leach feed pulp.
Copper and cobalt leach extractions are
achieved in the leach operation. The leached
slurry is thickened and the overflow is clarified
and pumped to the high-grade (HG) pregnant
leach solution (PLS) pond. After cooling the HG
PLS is clarified to remove colloidal silica and
suspended solids and then reports to the HG SX
circuit.
Thickener underflow is pumped to the
counter current-decantation (CCD) circuit to
recover dissolved copper and cobalt values from
the leached solids. CCD 1 overflow is clarified
and pumped to the low-grade (LG) PLS pond.
The washed solids from CCD 5 are pumped to
the neutralisation circuit. CCD 5 underflow,
excess CCD wash solution and Fe/Al/Mn (FAM)
residue slurry streams are neutralised using
hydrated lime. Hydrated lime is added to
precipitate magnesium and trace heavy metals.
The final neutralised slurry is pumped to the
polyethylene-lined TSF.
The SX facility is being expanded to include
an additional four mixer settlers. The mixers are
supplied by Mixtec and the reverse flow settlers
are similar to the originally installed settlers
designed by the EPCM company for FCX and
constructed by Styria. The new configuration will
be 2E(HG)-2E(LG)-2S-2E(HG)-2S. The expanded
circuit will consist of ten mixer settlers. The HG
circuit has four extraction stages, the LG circuit
has two extraction stages and the common
organic stream is stripped in four stages. The
circuit is configured to run in either a common
organic loop or as a separate organic loop with
2E-2E-2S configuration of the existing circuit
and 2E-2S for the expansion circuit.
Copper is extracted from the PLS solution
using an organic extractant. The copper is
subsequently stripped from the organic phase to
produce strong electrolyte. The strong
electrolyte is filtered to remove any entrained
organic, prior to reporting to the EW tankhouse.
The HG raffinate, electrolyte bleed and
electrolyte filter backwash solutions are
combined in the HG raffinate pond and are
predominantly returned to the leach circuit to
reduce fresh H2SO4 consumption and to
achieve the desired pulp density. Excess HG
Equipment Maximum Average operating Scheduled
fleet size hours/y replacement (hours)
CAT 772 truck 29 5,600 60,000
CAT 777 truck 33 5,600 60,000
Mercedes 50-t truck 8 5,600 60,000
Grizzly feeder 5 5,600 N/A
CAT 988 loader 11 5,600 35,000
CAT 992 loader 3 5,270 35,000
RH120 shovel 3 5,600 35,000
RH90C shovel 1 5,600 35,000
T1255 Surface Miner 5 4,030 20,000
ROC L8 drill 4 5,600 30,000
DM45 drill 5 5,600 33,075
CAT D8R track dozer 8 4,710 30,000
CAT D10N track dozer 6 4,720 35,000
CAT 824G RT dozer 5 4,720 35,000
Vermeer rock saw 4 2,550 20,000
CAT 14M grader 3 4,710 45,000
CAT 16M grader 5 4,710 45,000
CAT 345 excavator 2 4,730 35,000
Expansion Plan Major Equipment and Operational Parameters
Vermeer rock saw makes a 100-mm wide cut
across the strike of the ore zones. The trench
cuttings are sampled and analysed to
determine copper and cobalt grades
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raffinate, is pumped to the LG raffinate pond.
LG raffinate is pumped to the cobalt circuit
where iron, aluminium and manganese (FAM
circuit) are precipitated using ground limestone
mined by TFM at a nearby quarry. Milk of lime is
added to the solution from the FAM circuit to
precipitate the remaining soluble copper.
Sulphur dioxide and air are sparged into the
agitated tanks to promote the precipitation of
any remaining manganese. The slurry is
thickened and the solids are returned to the
leaching circuit for recovery of the precipitated
copper.
Milk of magnesia is added to the solution
from the copper precipitation circuit to produce
cobalt hydroxide. Two stages of precipitation are
used to improve the purity of the hydroxide
precipitate and consequently reduce the
consumption of magnesia. Magnesia is added in
the first stage of precipitation and milk of lime is
added in the second stage. Thickened underflow
solids from the second stage recycle back to the
FAM circuit. Thickened cobalt hydroxide is
filtered and bagged as a wet product or flash
dried and bagged as a dry product for export.
The cobalt-free solution is predominantly used
as CCD wash solution, with the excess reporting
to the neutralisation circuit.
Sulphuric acid for use in the leach circuit is
produced by burning sulphur. Waste heat from
the acid plant is used for raising steam and is
supplemented with steam produced from
electric boilers, for various heating duties
throughout the plant. The original acid plant had
a design capacity of 600 t/d, however the plant
is currently operating at an average production
exceeding 700 t/d.
Huge future potential
During 2009 and 2010, TFM drilled about
50,000 and 40,000 metres of diamond drill core
respectively. More than 600 holes were drilled
during this time, with typically eight or more
diamond drill rigs and one reverse circulation
rig employed. This allowed Mineral Reserves to
be estimated for the first time at Fungurume,
Mambilima and Pumpi. In addition, drilling was
completed on other orebodies including further
deposit at Fungurume, Shinkusu, Kazinyanga,
Mudilandima, Kakalwe, Kamakoka, Katuto and
Leta. Resource modelling of some of these
orebodies is underway and they are likely to
provide upside to the overall mineral resources
and ultimately reserves on the concession.
In 2011, exploration targeted the replacement
of the mineralisation depleted, further increases
in oxide resources and ongoing investigation of
deeper sulphide resources. A further 50,000 m
of drilling was planned including infill and
Vermeer surface miners break the ore
in 0.625 m deep slices
deeper drilling on the known orebodies of Tenke, Fwaulu and Fungurume
together with greenfield target drilling on the Zikule, Zakeo and Lutanda
outcrops.
Despite all the exploration and drilling of the last few years, there
remain large parts of the Tenke Fungurume concession that remain
prospective and unexplored. The annual budget for 2011 was $37.5 million
for exploration and $4 million for infill drilling. A similar amount will be
spent this year.
The expansion feasibility study notes the expectation ongoing
exploration will increase the oxide resources, plus upgrade the confidence
of known resources. In addition, mixed and sulphide resources will
continue to be added. Metallurgical test work and flowsheet development
continue in support of developing additional resources and reserves for
processing of low grade, plus mixed and sulphide resources through
significant additional expansions in the future.
Sustainable Katangan development
This huge mining project is the largest private foreign investment in the
DRC, providing thousands of jobs, supporting social development and
creating economic opportunities across the region and the nation. Some
98% of direct TFM operational employees are DRC citizens. The town of
Fungurume is one of the fastest-growing population centres in Katanga
province. This growth brings additional employment and economic
opportunity.
TFM is actively working with the provincial government, consultants and
the private sector to help the local towns of Fungurume, Tenke and other
communities in the area grow in an organised and healthy way.
TFMs direct contributions through the payment of taxes and other fees
from the project inception in 2006 through 2011 were more than $516
million. TFM considers investments in social and community development
to be a priority. During the same period, it made social investments of $45
million to support sustainable community development initiatives.
Additionally, TFM contributes 0.3% of net metal sales revenue to the TFM
Social Community Fund, and since the commencement of commercial
production, these contributions have totalled more than $7.5 million. The
TFM Social Community Fund aims to improve quality of life for residents by
investing in sustainable community development projects supporting
infrastructure and relevant services including health, education and
agriculture. The Fund is a Congolese non-governmental organization,
governed by a Board of Directors consisting of a representative appointed
Solution from the copper precipitation circuit is treated to produce cobalt
hydroxide
GREAT MINES
by the provincial government, two
representatives nominated by the local
community and four TFM representatives. A
Stakeholder Forum consisting of community
leaders and representatives advises the Board
on community priorities and project funding
decisions.
Due to a shortage of skilled workers in the
area, a massive training and development
program is readying people from the local
communities for future work opportunities.
Hundreds of individuals are enrolled in
company-provided training programs. TFM says
it considers its investments in local education
as one of the most important components of
[its] sustainable development program.
The company has constructed six new
elementary schools. Construction and
renovation of three high schools were
completed in Fungurume last year and
construction is underway on a fourth in Tenke.
Schools are managed in partnership with the
government and local education providers. The
new schools (existing and planned) will provide
educational opportunities for an additional
7,000 students. Other initiatives include
scholarship programs, university partnerships
and internships.
Working with government health agencies,
international expert organisations and the
mines neighbours to build healthy communities
is at the root of TFMs sustainable development
program.
The results of the highly successful
Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) include not only
improved housing, but access to clean water,
health centres and schools, and provide a
significant improvement in the quality of life
and, TFM says, set a new standard for
resettlement projects in the region. The
program is also committed to livelihood
restoration for any household that was
economically displaced, including provision of
replacement farmland, material and technical
assistance support, and training to provide new
and improved skills development.
Agricultural support programs promote new
small business start-ups and enhancing food
security in the region. Training is provided for
farmers and along with seed and fertiliser
initiatives has provided a tripling of crop yields.
A number of farmers have become suppliers of
fruit and vegetables to TFM.
TFM supports small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) via access to credit and technical
support and training. These SMEs in turn
generate local employment.
A second RAP is underway to support families
being moved because of the mine expansion.
More farmland is being acquired by the
operation, and in order to mitigate impacts,
improved seeds and fertiliser will be provided
for three years to help restore livelihoods to
previous levels or better. Other alternatives also
will be explored to support future economic
opportunities in the area. As conducted with the
first RAP, TFM will monitor the income levels of
project-affected people to measure the
effectiveness of livelihood restoration activities.
TFM also conducts internal and external
monitoring of the Resettlement Action Plan
implementation, including an annual third-party
audit.
TFM has constructed dozens of clean water
wells in villages in and around its concession,
and provided access to clean water in urban
areas. Significant resources are dedicated to
reducing public health risks in the area. After a
major cholera epidemic during the 2008-2009
rainy season, TFM, in collaboration with the
local Heath Zone, installed tanks of potable
water throughout the town of Fungurume and in
outlying communities. This brought a dramatic
reduction in cholera and other waterborne
diseases with no cholera cases reported in the
area during the past two rainy seasons. TFM has
since installed a new clean water distribution
system with community taps in Fungurume.
In establishing the Phase 1 operations, TFM
and a local NGO constructed latrines, hand
washing facilities and waste disposal areas to
benefit over 2,000 households. This program
received recognition from UNICEF and the
Katanga Government for a Clean Community
declaration for Fungurume.
TFM has refurbished medical clinics in
Fungurume and Tenke and supports a mobile
health clinic that serves outlying communities in
the region.
An integrated malaria control program in the
project area is reducing malaria infection among
the workforce and the communities. Along with
indoor residual insecticide spraying of dwellings
to control mosquito malaria vectors, the
program has also included monitoring and
treatment of mosquito breeding sites, distribution
of insecticide-treated bed nets, and awareness
and education on malaria prevention measures.
Malaria prevalence surveys among local
school children are conducted twice a year to
quantify the effectiveness of the intervention
measures. The average prevalence rate of 31%
from the May 2010 school survey indicated a
decrease of 9% in malaria prevalence compared
to the previous year and a 60% decrease
compared to the baseline (pre-control) survey
conducted in 2007.
TFM also provides support for employees and
their families through a robust HIV/AIDS
prevention, counselling and treatment program.
TFM often supports major health initiatives
across the region, including a recent vaccination
program in coordination with the Health Zone
and international health groups to address a
measles epidemic in the region.
In addition to construction of infrastructure
for its operations and numerous community
facilities in its mining concession, TFM has
invested in major infrastructure improvement
projects that will bring benefits at the provincial
and national level. For example it is investing
over $200 million in refurbishing the NSeke
Hydro-Power Station, an improvement with far-
reaching regional impact. TFM directly funded
repair and refurbishment of the National
Highway between the towns of Likasi and
Fungurume.
TFMs environmental management program is
based on its objectives to minimise and
mitigate environmental impacts and to preserve
and enhance biodiversity in the areas where we
operate. TFM implements data-driven risk
management strategies in conformance with
international best practice, and reports its
performance against Global Reporting Initiative
indicators.
Among TFMs environmental commitments
was the installation of a permanent synthetic
liner beneath the TSF to prevent any impacts to
groundwater. This investment was the first of its
kind at a base metal mining facility on the
African continent.
TFM is implementing a plan to salvage and
transplant endemic flora species from the
primary orebody to conservation areas,
engineered ecosystems or to seed banks
located in the DRC and internationally. This plan
is being implemented with leading scientists
from Gembloux University in Belgium and
faculty of the University of Lubumbashi. IM
Monitoring environmental quality
Haver Eccentric Screens process high capacities of up to 5,000
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Haver Eccentric and Linear Screens redefne your choice in
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HAVER ECCENTRIC SCREENS
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F E D E R
l h T h
c i r t n e c c E r e av H
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I
n mining mobile resources have become a
mainstay to doing business. From portable
housing and food services to excavation
equipment, operations demand flexible
approaches to keep their activities up and
running.
One of the biggest deployment requirements
at any mine site is wastewater treatment.
Depending on the circumstances and urgency
mining operations can use portable water
treatment systems to address both short- and
long-term requirements.
There are a number of situations where a
portable solution can contribute to the
continued success of the operation. For
example, a mine expansion plan can trigger the
need to meet new water quality limits, which
puts the onus on the operator to upgrade
existing water treatment processes. Given that
an upgrade or replacement of a facility can take
months or years to complete, a portable system
can be installed as an interim measure to allow
the expansion to proceed while meeting the new
regulations and avoiding potential delays or
shutdowns.
Weather anomalies can also put a burden on
existing water treatments. Unseasonably heavy
rains, heavy snows and excessive melting in the
spring, or flooding can push water treatment
volumes beyond the capacity of on-site facilities.
In these cases, portable water treatment systems
can be used as a supplemental remediation measure.
Portable facilities can also be mobilised to
accelerate start-up of new mines. The ability for
rapid deployment of a water treatment system
can have positive impacts on the near-term
profitability of a project.
The use of portable water treatment systems
is nothing new. Portable systems have been in
use for many years to speed deployment and/or
address interim or emergency water treatment
needs.
In recent months there have been a number
of development breakthroughs on the portable
front for sulphide precipitation and ion
exchange technologies both of which have met
with growing acceptance and success in the
mining industry. These technologies offer a
number of benefits over more conventional
portable systems, including higher water
recovery rates (in excess of 95%), lower energy
costs, less waste, and the ability to extract
metals from wastewater for sale to offset
treatment costs.
Sulphide precipitation based technologies
have been successfully applied as fixed facilities
at active and closed mine sites to treat large
volumes of waste water containing elevated
concentrations of dissolved metals. Portable
sulphide systems are now in development.
These advanced technologies use biological or
chemical sources of sulphide to selectively
precipitate dissolved metals such as copper,
zinc, nickel and cobalt as individual metal
concentrates. Other heavy metals such as
arsenic, antimony, cadmium, lead, and
manganese can also be removed from the
wastewater to meet water quality criteria. In
many cases, the recovered metal by-products
can be sold to generate a revenue stream, and
the clean water can be re-used or discharged
safely to the environment.
Ion exchange technologies can effectively
remove dissolved metals and sulphates from
water to meet strict water quality requirements.
These processes use specialised resins that
selectively remove the target constituents from
wastewater, meeting very strict water quality
requirements. Mobile ion exchange systems will
be deployed later this year at several sites in
Canada.
The availability of these water treatment
technologies in a portable system provides mine
operators the same benefits as their on-site
fixed facility counterparts. The flexibility of
portable water treatment systems can also
provide the additional benefits of mitigating
production disruptions, meeting temporary
water treatment demands, and fast-tracking
production start-ups.
As the resource sector boom continues, the
demand for flexible, environmentally compliant
water treatment systems is expected to grow.
With the latest mobile water treatment
technology offerings, mining operators can rest
assured that their water treatment needs
whether it be interim, seasonal, supplemental or
urgent can be met, while continuing to meet
regulatory and environmental benchmarks. IM
David Kratochvil*
explains how the
technologies are
moving with the
times
WATER MANAGEMENT
*David Kratochvil is the President and COO of BioteQ
Environmental Technologies, a Vancouver-based water
treatment company that applies innovative technologies
and operating expertise to solve challenging water
treatment problems. BioteQ has been named one of
Canadas Top 50 Most Socially Responsible Corporations,
and has received national and international awards for
the sustainability of its processes and operations,
including the Syncrude Award for Excellence in
Sustainable Development, and the PDAC Award for
Environmental and Social Responsibility.
Recent advances have
made sulphide
precipitation and ion
exchange technologies
available in portable
systems, offering
benefits that include
higher water recovery
rates, lower energy
costs, less waste and
the ability to recover
saleable metals from
wastewater
U
sing the same water over and over again
is one way mines conserve water and
manage its emissions. However,
Raymond Philippe, Chile Water Director and
Hubert Fleming, Global Director Water at Hatch,
writing recently in WaterWorld note one of the
major disadvantages of recirculating and
recycling water to be the possible build-up of
contaminants in the water balance. If less fresh
water is used and instead more contaminated
water is being reused, there will be a higher risk
of contaminant retention in the system that may
have various negative chemical effects, such as
corrosion, scale formation, modification of
metallurgical chemistry and so forth. As a result
the mine may start suffering economic
consequences due to less plant availability,
higher maintenance requirements or even less
metallurgical recovery and production.
Although huge savings may be obtained in
water supply requirements, this has to be offset
against possible bleed stream requirements due
to a build-up of contaminants in the process
water circuit to avoid these downsides. This may
especially be the case in mineral processing
systems that consider the use of poor quality
water such as direct seawater or brackish well
water.
They also note that desalinated water is
proving a vital source but with mines in Chile
and Peru, for example, up to 200 km from the
coastline water transport and networks are a
major consideration.
Most of the large number of Latin American
projects will be executed in very challenging
geographical settings, often high up in the
Andes Mountains. It is the search for
sustainable water sources to support both
existing and new mineral processing needs that
will prove even more challenging for these
projects, and others in places like Western
Australia, than electricity supply.
In many places, mines are competing for the
same resources as other users, putting at risk
any long-term project development depending
on the same stretched hydrological resources.
Conversely, and even in semi-arid regions,
during part of the year mining operations may
experience a surplus of water in their
operations. In places like the Andes, wet
seasons or snow and ice melt may enter the
mining operations: mine pits, tailings ponds,
waste dumps and leach pads. As a result, some
of this water may have to be discharged
temporarily to the environment. And,
environmental discharge legislation is becoming
more stringent for mining companies. Peru and
Chile, for example, have implemented some of
the strictest environmental effluent discharge
legislations worldwide, with some critical
parameters required to meet standards even
below potable water, Philippe and Fleming
explain.
In most cases, the use of seawater requires
significant investments of marine structures,
Desalination, more effective
wastewater treatment and reuse:
new ideas and technologies for
water handling. John Chadwick
examines one of the industrys
most critical issues
MWH has developed a
low-energy process to
treat acidic, metal-
laden water at the
Holden mine
Pipeline Length (m)
A
l
t
i
t
u
d
e

(
m
a
s
l
)

Intake
Outfall
Desalination Plant
Water Conveyance System
(Pipeline + Pump Stations)
Mine Area
Electrical Supply
Environment & Community
WATER MANAGEMENT
GE Energy
Power Conversion
ge-energy.com/electrifyingchange
electrifying precision
Converteam is now GE Energys Power Conversion business.
And were at work. In the farthest reaches. Beneath the deepest
earth. Applying our power conversion expertise to help increase
process yield, operational precision, and system reliability.
Working with our mining customers to meet the demands and
opportunities of the new electric age. Were making change
happenelectrifying change.
desalination plants, energy supply systems and
moreover very complex water conveyance
systems. They also note the local political and
economic challenges. These include local
geography, community relations, environmental
impacts, and energy requirements, for the
implementation of large seawater treatment and
conveyance systems. As such, there is a limit to
alternative designs that can be considered for
this type of coastal infrastructure projects. In
order to achieve significant savings in
investment and operational costs, the design of
water supply projects must also involve the
development of an accurate water balance. This
is so that the seawater treatment plants,
pipelines, and pumping stations, are not over
(or under) designed. Project logistics must also
reflect progressive change in the water demand
and may need to consider a modular,
expandable design.
Although the majority of the seawater supply
projects are being identified as seawater
desalination projects, in reality they are a result
of a complex integration of marine works, a
desalination treatment system combined with a
high pressure conveyance pipeline and an
energy transmission project. In practice, mining
companies consider the project as a whole, and
require a complete supply solution. This may
result in a disconnect with the actual market
because of the limited size of the desalination
plant compared to the overall project.
Furthermore, it is not always logical that
desalination OEM providers would manage the
complete project, as they might in more
conventional public sector desalination projects
around the world.
Other important aspects to consider for
design and construction in a mining
environment, besides a required heavy duty
design, are the very demanding quality, health
and safety demands that the mining industry
imposes. These must be reflected both in design
as well as in project execution.
Consequences and costs are sometimes
underestimated by process and equipment
providers and construction companies,
especially when their background experience is
mostly in municipal potable and wastewater
plants. The entire design, specification and
procurement process is unique for the mining
industry.
The high energy demand required for
conveying the water, due to the great distances
and elevations involved, and the availability of
an energy supply source represent a significant
challenge. Hence, a strong focus on
optimisation is crucial to delivering a successful
seawater treatment and conveyance project in
northern Chile, for example. Previous design
experience is fundamental in developing and
delivering successful water supply projects,
considering the large number of issues, various
aspects and interactions encountered during
design that must be taken into account.
They go on to explain that the use of
untreated seawater rather than desalinated
water is generally a trade off between capital
and operating costs. That operating cost must
include the impact of seawater on operations of
the mine as well, including effect on metallurgy
of mine equipment, as well as efficiency of the
mining or beneficiation or ore recovery
processing plant. There is often a substantial
difference in benefits associated with comparing
parameters as metallurgical recovery and even
effective production time due to plant
availability between seawater and desalinated
water.
Direct cost for desalinated seawater supply,
depending on altitude and distance from the
coast, and price of energy, will vary between $1
and $4/m
3
. This cost is evaluated against the
benefits of water to mine production. In the case
of copper mining, desalinated seawater supply
cost may represent 3% to 20% of total direct
operational costs. It's clear to see how water
becomes one of the most impacting
consumables. In addition, with lower quality
metal contents in available mineral resources,
net higher water consumption per pound of
metal produced is required, further driving up
water costs as a percent of total cost of
operations.
South American mines are looking at
strategies to improve water usage, especially
focusing on better water recycling rates.
Processes are being optimised to improve water
return from tailings storage facilities (TSF), to
avoid water losses due to evaporation and
infiltration, and to avoid generation of effluents.
A concentrator with a conventional TSF, for
example, may retain up to 50% more water than
newer developments such as thickened tailings
or paste technology.
Philippe and Fleming stress the risks
associated with water usage optimisation that
must be evaluated, which are not always
understood or even considered when aiming at
low make-up water supply. These risks can only
be quantified through an analysis of both the
quantitative water balance as well as a
qualitative water balance.
Mineral processing sites may use various
feed water qualities, to which reagents are
being added to the process streams, and may
even suffer from geochemical processes like
acid mine drainage generation. As a result,
generally there is imbalance between the water
quantity and quality distributions.
One of the major disadvantages of
recirculating and recycling water is the possible
build-up of contaminants in the water balance. If
less fresh water is used and instead more
contaminated water is being reused, there will
be a higher risk of contaminant retention in the
system that may have various negative chemical
effects, such as corrosion, scale formation,
modification of metallurgical chemistry and so
forth. As a result the mine site may start
suffering economical consequences due to less
plant availability, higher maintenance
requirements or even less metallurgical recovery
and production.
Although huge savings may be obtained in
water supply requirements, this has to be offset
against possible bleed stream requirements due
to a build-up of contaminants in the process
water circuit to avoid these downsides. This may
especially be the case in mineral processing
systems that consider the use of poor quality
water such as direct seawater or brackish well
water.
Last year Kennecott Eagle Minerals awarded
Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies a
WATER MANAGEMENT
mwhgl obal .com
WATER.Proof
W A T E R - R E L A T E D S E R V I C E S :
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
STORAGE
OPTI MI ZATI ON
TREATMENT
Water is fundamental to mining.
The unique and innovative approach
MWH applies to mining-related
issues capitalizes on our advanced
methodologies to solve environmental,
infrastructure and water challenges,
from mine waste management to
water resource management and
treatment. MWH provides solutions to
deliver water where its most needed,
when its most needed.
www.pioneerpump.com
+1 (503) 266 4115
www.pioneerpump.co.uk
+44 (0) 1449 736777
www.pioneerpump.co.za
+27 (0)11 8240085
At Pioneer Pump, we believe in keeping things simple.
You want water out of your mines, we build pumps to
do exactly that.
In fact, we build over four hundred a month, every month,
for our customers around the world.
Simple.
Keeping it simple.
contract for the wastewater treatment plant at
its Eagle mine located in Michigans Upper
Peninsula. This will be the only primary nickel
mine operating in the USA and is expected to
produce some 300 Mlb of nickel and 250 Mlb of
copper over the life of the mine. Kennecott Eagle
Minerals aims to protect the surrounding
environment including groundwater, streams,
rivers and lakes and has teamed up with Veolia
to treat the mine water to meet and exceed
water quality standards set by its mining
permits. Veolias treatment solutions include the
patented OPUS
high recovery membrane

process and Liquid Evaporation and Distillation
(LED) evaporators and crystallisers for brine
management to achieve Zero Liquid Waste
Discharge at the mine site.
The wastewater treatment process includes
precipitation softening and clarification,
filtration, ion exchange softening and a final two
pass reverse osmosis (RO) polishing system.
The discharge streams from this patented
wastewater treatment process include treated
effluent water, metals precipitation sludge, ion
exchange regenerant and RO concentrate. The
treated effluent water will be suitable for reuse
in the mining process or to release back into the
groundwater by a treated water infiltration
system. The ion exchange regenerant and RO
concentrate liquid wastes will then be sent to
the evaporator and crystalliser system and
converted to solids which will be disposed of
off-site as a non-hazardous solid waste.
The system is designed to treat 100 to 500
gallons per minute (0.72 million gallons per day)
of mine water and began operations late in 2011,
started up and commissioned by Veolia.
Energy Resources Australia (ERA) has
selected brine concentrator technology from
Veolia to treat and reduce process water
inventory from its Ranger uranium mine in
Australias Northern Territory. This project is a
critical part of ERAs overall water management
strategy and environmental protection
initiatives.
The brine concentrator will be provided by
subsidiary HPD and will treat approximately
1,830 mega litres of water annually (1.3 million
gallons per day). ERA considers this technology
a proven, long-term solution to minimise the
environmental impact of operations and
significantly reduce process water inventory at
Ranger. The brine concentrator uses thermal
energy to evaporate water, which produces
clean distillate that will meet strict water quality
requirements for release into ERAs constructed
wetlands system.
HPD was selected for this project because of
its extensive experience in volume reduction
applications, the ability to meet future needs of
the mine, and testing capabilities. This includes
shipment of a pilot-scale brine concentrator unit
to Australia for demonstration of the process.
Commissioning of the brine concentrator plant is
expected to be completed in mid-2013.
The contract for the design and supply of a
1,000 m/d effluent treatment plant to serve
Trevali Minings Halfmile zinc-lead-silver-copper
mine in New Brunswick has been awarded to
Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Canada.
The new zinc-lead-silver-copper mine is situated
60 km south of Bathurst and commenced
production in January 2012. The scope of this
fast-track design/build project includes the
entire treatment plant as well as the
construction of the building. The treatment plant
will provide precipitation, decantation and
filtration plus pH correction to provide a treated
mine effluent that meets the Canadian Council
of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) Water
Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic
Life.
Trevali is pleased to be working with Veolia
in providing a compact turnkey water treatment
solution for the Halfmile mining project, said
Paul Keller, Trevalis Vice President of
Operations. Having the peace of mind of
working with a major solution provider allows
the company personnel to focus on mine
development and production activities. The
plant incorporates metals precipitation using
the ACTIFLO TURBO, a high-rate, small footprint
clarification process. The ACTIFLO process uses
WATER MANAGEMENT
sand-ballasted settling and a TURBOMIX draft
tube reactor that allows for a very compact
design with high overflow rates and short
detention times. This design enables the unit to
perform well under dynamically changing flow
rates without impacting final effluent quality. By
combining the proprietary Hydrex reagent to
magnesium hydroxide, the solids produced in
the ACTIFLO unit will be larger than sodium
sulphide, which facilitates downstream filtration.
After clarification, the water undergoes sand
filtration to remove any remaining solids,
followed by pH correction. Also, the
instrumentation and automation package
permits remote monitoring of the entire water
treatment plant, which is a major benefit for the
operation of the plant. The building will be a 15
m x 22 m steel building with all ancillary
services, including a 2 t overhead crane and
water quality laboratory. The plant is currently in
the final construction phase. Trevali has been
constructing the Halfmile project civil works
since March 2011, and commenced production of
the water treatment plant in January 2012, with
a planned production ramp-up to a rate of 2,000
t/d.
Low-energy treatment
Dan Dupon and his fellow engineers at MWH
have developed a low-energy process for
treating acidic, metal-laden water at the Holden
mine in the remote reaches of the Northern
Cascades of Washington State, USA.
Conventional mine water treatment methods
could not be seriously considered for the site
because they require more energy than is
available. A remote site, the inactive Holden
mine is not reached by any utilities, roads or line
power. Thus, the unique conditions presented
required a more creative approach to water
treatment.
Operated during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, the
underground operation left large tailing dumps
located adjacent to Railroad Creek (the main
drainage for the valley), a dilapidated mill site,
waste piles, and a small village that housed the
miners and their families. The mine is located in
one of the many steep valleys along glacial Lake
Chelan and the only access to the site is by
boat. The small village is now an international
summer retreat centre and is supported by a
micro-hydropower plant located on a nearby
creek. Power produced by the plant is limited
by low river flows in the winter months,
requiring the village to restrict its population
seasonally.
The mine site is now undergoing remediation
to address the waste and tailings piles as well
as contaminated water issues. A major part of
WATER MANAGEMENT
Low-Energy treatment
process
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the remediation activities involve collecting and
treating impacted waters to control the
discharge of metals to Railroad Creek. The
waters to be collected and treated include
shallow ground water beneath the tailings piles,
seeps, and drainage from the partially flooded
underground mine workings. Metals
concentrations in the treated effluent need to be
very low, consistent with aquatic water quality
criteria.
The treatment approach defined in the project
feasibility study identified two treatment
systems, one for the mine workings flow and
another for the shallow ground water. The
limited available power meant that each of
these systems would need to operate by gravity
and be located in separate areas of the site. The
total amount of water requiring treatment is
predicted to be between 63 and 95 litres/s
(1,000 and 1,500 gpm).
Alkalinity would be added to a cascading
stream to neutralise acidity and oxidise iron.
The process of neutralisation would cause
aluminium, copper, cadmium, iron, and zinc to
precipitate as solids which would then
accumulate in settling ponds. Overflow from the
ponds would then be treated further, to remove
suspended particles, through either a large sand
filter system or a surface wetland. This
approach was predicated on the assumption
that gravity would be the only driver of flow.
MWH identified several potential problems
with the proposed approach: (1) the method of
alkalinity addition would be inefficient and
unable to control solution pH, (2) the method of
aeration would be insufficient for complete
oxidation of ferrous iron, and (3) separate
treatment of the two waters would not produce
the most effective removal of the metals. MWH
revised the approach to compensate for these
potential problems.
The first change was to combine the flows
into a single stream to take advantage of the
high iron concentration in the shallow
groundwater (dissolved iron was undetectable
in the mine workings water). Combining the
flows would allow copper and cadmium in the
mine workings water to react with the elevated
iron of the shallow ground water, yielding low
dissolved concentrations. The second change
took advantage of the elevation of the mine
workings water, allowing it to be delivered to
the plant location under pressure. This pressure
was used to drive a jet eductor pump for
efficient addition of alkalinity, thus conserving
chemicals and providing adequate process
control. Finally, MWH selected a low-profile,
weir cascade system to aerate and oxidise the
elevated ferrous iron (>200 mg/litre) present in
the raw water. he cascade aerator system
maximises oxygen transfer through increased
water surface area and turbulent mixing in a
relatively small unit.
This revised approach was then tested on-site
in an MWH design pilot-scale system. A test
plan was developed to appropriately size
equipment, identify the best target pH for
optimum removal of metals, and evaluate sand
filtration methods. Results of the test work have
been developed into full-scale design criteria.
The performance of this low-energy process
meets or exceeds that of conventional
mechanical systems and is capable of meeting
expected discharge criteria, MWH says. Design
of the full-scale system is slated for 2012.
MWH was able to overcome the challenges
and develop an effective treatment process
capable of handling up to 95 litres/s of flow that
is expected to consume less than 10 kW of power.
In other treatment news, speciality resins
company Purolite has published an Iphone/Ipad
App of useful resources related to water
treatment, especially ion exchange. The free app
can be downloaded from the App store, where it
can be readily found by searching for Purolite.
It has unit conversion calculators, a periodic
table of elements, tables for screen size
equivalents and regenerant strength plus other
resources. Our goal is to help our customers
find the information they need as quickly and
easily as possible. Much of the information in
this App is on our website, said Gary
Thundercliffe, Global Marketing Manager for
Purolite.
Purolite products are also used in the
recovery of uranium, gold, molybdenum,
rhenium, nickel, copper and other valuable
metals. Purolite has a range of products tailored
for all methods of industrial hydrometallurgy.
Such methods include sulphuric acid and
bicarbonate leaching of uranium, metals recovery
from clarified solutions, either heap or in-situ
leaching (ISL) operations; and uranium, gold
and basic non-ferrous metals sorption from pulps
at resin-in-pulp and resin-in-leach operations.
Arsenic removal
Piia Suvio, Product and Process Solution
Specialist, and colleagues at Outotec are
working on methods for removing arsenic from
metallurgical process streams. They report that
being very abundant in the earths crust,
arsenic is typically encountered in the
processing of gold and copper ores and
concentrates, where it is typically associated
with minerals such as arsenopyrite and enargite.
Depending on the metallurgical process in
question and the state in which As occurs in the
processed mineral, As can either be in trivalent
(As
3+
) or pentavalent (As
5+
) form. In aqueous
solutions within metallurgical applications
arsenic is typically present in acidic form as
either H3AsO3 or H3AsO4.
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WATER MANAGEMENT
Arsenic-rich liquids require treatment prior to
discharge or reuse as process water. The most
typical ways considered for removing As from
mining and metallurgical effluents industry
include:
Calcium arsenate precipitation (Ca3(AsO4)2)
Calcium arsenite precipitation (Ca3(AsO3)2)
Basic ferric arsenate precipitation
(FeAsO4
*
xFe(OH)3)
Scorodite precipitation (FeAsO4
2H2O)
Arsenic precipitation as sulfides (As2S3)
Adsorption
Coagulation
Ion exchange
Membrane separation
Biological precipitation.
Arsenic precipitation with lime is to date
perhaps the most straightforward and cost-
effective means of removing arsenic from solution.
However, the stability of the generated calcium
arsenite or arsenate sludges is poor. An effective
alternative to lime precipitation is provided by
ferric precipitation (Fe2 (SO4)3), a chemical
process that generates ferric arsenate sludges,
out of which the crystalline scrorodite or ferric
arsenate dihydrate (FeAsO4
2H2O) is the most

stable form. Precipitation of scorodite requires,
however, highly controlled process conditions.
Any precipitation-based process will benefit
from advanced equipment technology and
process design, but best results are achieved
using customer and process-tailored equipment
and process control, which allow stable, safe,
reliable and cost efficient operation of the
process.
With correct process design significant
benefits are obtained, including:
Lower chemical consumption
Less scaling less maintenance
Stable pH profile, allowing precipitation
reactions to take place in the reactors and
providing stable effluent
High quality sludge with uniform chemical
composition long term safe storing of As
residues
High quality solid residue with minimum
moisture lower disposal costs and higher
water retention
Process effluent with low, residual As-
concentrations and low solids carry over.
Lime can be used to precipitate arsenic out of
solution in both, trivalent (arsenite) and
pentavalent (arsenate) states, forming calcium
arsenite or calcium arsenate, respectively. The
precipitation of calcium arsenite Ca3(AsO3)2 is
presented below.
2 H3AsO3 + 3 Ca(OH)2 Ca3(AsO3)2 + 6 H2O
Depending very much on the way of operating
the process, residual As concentration can reach
levels between 1 mg/litre and 100 mg/litre when
pH is raised above 10. The sludge so formed is
typically a combination of gypsum, calcium
arsenites/arsenates and heavy metal
hydroxides.
Ferric iron can be used to precipitate As out of
solution. Depending on the precipitation
conditions, either basic ferric arsenates
(FeAsO4*xFe(OH)3) or crystalline scorodite
(FeAsO42H2O) are formed.
Typical iron dosing for basic ferric arsenate
precipitation aims at Fe:As ratios between 4 and
10, whereas in scorodite precipitation the ratio
is nearly stoichiometric (close to 1). High iron
dosing typically allows lower residual As in
effluent, but simultaneously increases the
chemical costs and the amount of sludge
produced.
Depending on the way of operating the
process, residual As concentration after
precipitation with ferric iron can reach levels
below 1 mg/litre. The produced solid residues
are more stable than the respective calcium
arsenite and arsenate precipitates. Depending
on the Fe:As-ratio and precipitation process, the
ferric arsenate precipitates pass the EPA TCLP
test limit of 5 mg As/litre1.
Atmospheric scorodite precipitation is carried
out in three stages:
Oxidation of arsenic, and
Supersaturation controlled precipitation of
scorodite
Polishing stage.
Complete oxidation of trivalent arsenic
(arsenous acid, H3AsO3) to pentavalent arsenic
is completed prior to the precipitation stage, in
order to ensure formation of arsenic acid
(H3AsO4), which will further react with ferric
ions. Oxidation of arsenic in the process is
performed by means of hydrogen peroxide
(H2O2). Scorodite precipitation takes place step-
wise in a series of precipitation reactors with
controlled pH. Slurry pH is adjusted by sodium
hydroxide solution to ensure formation of pure
crystalline scorodite. The reactions involved in
the process are shown in these equations:
H3AsO3(aq) + H2O2 (aq) H3AsO4(aq) + H2O
H3AsO4(aq) + Fe
3+
(aq) + 2H2O FeAsO4(H2O)2
(s) + 3H
+
(aq)
The process is complemented by a polishing
stage by means of co-precipitation at elevated
pH. Part of the sludge generated is recycled
back to the process. Following the polishing
stage, arsenic concentrations below 0.5 mg/litre
are achieved.
Suvio and colleagues conclude that
Precipitation processes play a major role in As
removal from metallurgical process streams. For
relatively simple and straightforward As removal
processes like calcium arsenite precipitation,
advanced process and reactor technology can
provide possibilities especially for decreasing
reagent consumption and maximising water
recovery through efficient solid dewatering. For
more complex and sensitive processes, like the
ambient scorodite precipitation process,
sophisticated process control allows careful
step wise processing that produces pure and
stable crystalline scorodite.
Pump specification
Simon Ruffles, Managing Director of Pioneer
Pump notes that providing water to a mine is
more than just about pump selection; its about
understanding the design of the mine and its
particular water requirements.
Most mines around the world handle water in
the process of either removing it from a mineral
source or in the processing of minerals. Quite
often the mine usually finds it has either too
much or too little water and most commonly one
or the other at the wrong time.
In order to overcome the supply issues it is
quite common for mines to use open storage
lagoons (sometimes called dams) to store
water for when needed, creating a buffer and
allowing the mine to optimise its water
resources. Some use old underground mines for
storage and this has challenges in its own right.
Quite often these lagoons will be man
made, Ruffles continues, by the mine as part of
the original consultant designed layout and one
Typical flowsheet for ambient pressure
scorodite precipitation process using
Outotec equipment. *Option: FeSO4 +
O2, **Option: Ca(OH)2
WATER MANAGEMENT
of the key aspects
would be to stop
recirculation of the
water from the storage
point back into the
working area of the
mines. This is commonly
done by lining the
excavation but also by
placing the lagoons far
way from the mines,
sometimes as far as 2
km and quite often over challenging topographical conditions.
Any pump company should consider these points when specifying not
only the pump but also the driver, whether it be an electric motor or a
diesel engine driving the pump and from that, how best to utilise the
equipment in order to minimise the costs of running the equipment and the
environmental impact.
Pump companies quite often offer fixed speed solutions dictated by
frequency of electric motors for example 1,500 rpm on a fixed speed four-
pole motor or by an engine which in most cases is flat out due to lack of
operator training, which leads to excessive power requirements and fuel
burn and in the worst cases equipment damage due to cavitation.
Recent open-pit developments in Africa have however, he says, used an
alternative approach whereby mines are being offered electric driven pump
sets which are often mounted on pontoons that are controlled by remote
variable frequency drives (VFD) which are monitored and controlled by flow
meters and pressure switches. This development has led to infinite control
of the pumping application reducing power consumption thus reducing the
lifetime costs of the projects particularly energy costs.
One such project has been completed where a 250 kW electric pump
set was specified for a project where the water had to be pumped out of a
lagoon at a flow rate of 400 m
3
/h. This generally would have called for 200
mm diameter pipe however, the distance required to pump was almost
1,500 m so careful consideration had to be given to friction losses in the
system and thus the diameter of the pipework.
Pumping from the lagoon the water had to rise a static head of 150 m
which was fine. However, after reaching the crest it fell away 110 m which
meant once the system was primed the actual static head was only 40 m.
On this basis therefore the pump experienced the following conditions in
each cycle of operation:
1) Pump start, filling the line and rising 150 m of static head over a distance
of 600 m in 300 m giving a total dynamic head of 165 m when one
considers bends, entrance losses and an element of safety factor. To do this
a self priming pump with a 525 mm impeller would have to run at 1,900
rpm or close to 65Hz through a VFD and would require 275 kW to complete
the duty.
2) Once the pumpage reached the crest of the mine wall and began to fall
away, the static head reduced and the total dynamic head fell as well
causing the pump to experience less pressure resistance thus allowing the
pump to generate more flow, possibly too much flow and leading to
cavitation.
3) Once the pumping cycle is completed the pump would need to be shut
down and this would now have to be undertaken in a controlled ramp down
Pioneer Prime
PP64S17-75 kW mine
dewatering pump
operating on a remote
VFD pumping 280 m
3
/h
through a 1.2 km
pipeline at 6.5 bar
WATER MANAGEMENT
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manner to ensure a minimum amount of water hammer which can destroy
pipelines and pumps very quickly.
The most cost effective way around these three challenges is to use a
variable speed drive. In the first cycle of filling the pipe, because the flow is
starting from a static head of zero, any pump operating at the 1,900 rpm,
required at the top of the mine would lead to excessive flow rates causing
possible cavitation. To control this, a flow meter in conjunction with a
pressure switch would ramp the pump set up from a low speed of say 1,000
rpm through to 1,900 rpm over the entire cycle of the pipe filling on the
rising leg.
This would mean that the motor could be designed to optimise the
process where in the initial stages flow may be at 400-500 m
3
/h to allow
for fast filling. Then as it reaches the top and the static head is maximised,
flow may momentarily be allowed to drop to say 300 m3/h at 160 m (lower
friction losses at lower flow rate) to allow the priming duty to be completed
by a 250 kW motor rather than a 275 or 300 kW motor were the 400 m
3
/h
process flow rate developed.
Once the pipe was full and flowing over the top of the mine wall and
down the other side, static head would begin to be reduced and therefore
the flow rate would naturally increase.
At this point the signals from the flow meter and pressure switch would
signal for the motor to slow down again and continue to slow until such
time it generated a duty point of the required 400 m
3
/h at a total dynamic
head sufficient to overcome the 40 m of static, the friction losses of the
said flow rate through the entire length of the pipework and any
subsequently introduced losses such as additional static head that may
occur as the pontoon mounted pump set would experience as the level of
the lagoon went down.
The challenge of the application therefore is not necessarily selecting a
pump set and system to achieve a duty point of 400 m
3
/h at say 65 m but
to understand that in order to get to that point and being able to manage
the safe delivery of water to the mine, the pump and systems including the
driver control will experience a large range of conditions and if the
equipment specifiers select equipment only for worst case scenarios (e.g.
400 m
3
/h at 165 m head) then the chances are they are over specifying the
equipment causing increased capital and operational costs to the mine.
If there is a moral to this story then it is twofold, firstly to carefully look
at the management of the water as soon as possible in the design of the
mine and secondly to make sure that the chosen suppliers have the
technical capability or desire to offer the most efficient solution, because
there is always a huge difference between the cost of [for example] a 300
kW slurry pump being used for such a duty with a 50% hydraulic efficiency
and a valve at the end of a line to control the system, and an 75% efficient
water pump requiring only a 250 kW motor and variable speed drive, that
may cost the same in terms of capital expenditure but over five years may
well save the mine $175,000 of electricity - or the price of the pump set and
VFD in the first place.
In another example of dewatering, Xylem has been working with
Dannemora Mineral since May 2009 to pump water from the Swedish
Dannemora mine, which is being re-opened, and ensure it remains water-
free throughout the operation. Water had accumulated at a rate of 10 m/y
in the main shaft and drifts since the mine was closed 20 years ago. The
bottom of the main shaft is 620 m below ground; water had reached 323 m
by 2007.
Xylem designed a customised dewatering system and in May 2009,
when the water level was at 311 m below ground, four parallel Vogel pump
systems, each with a capacity of some 60 litres/s, hanging in 180 m long
steel pipes, at levels of -480 m and -300 m, were installed. Since then 3.4
million m
3
of water have been drained from the mine.
As well as the initial dewatering and drainage work, Xylem has designed,
and is in the process of installing, a permanent system that will ensure the
WATER MANAGEMENT
Environmental
Data Analytics
The Alaskan Pebble Project collected over 21,000
groundwater level measurements and 1,400
groundwater quality samples between 2004 and
2011. Using our integrated data
analytics solution, the large amounts
of data were processed to generate
meaningful spatial and temporal
distributions that assisted in
making defensible planning
decisions, mitigating risk, and
minimizing potential environmental
impacts. The project is condently
addressing the water quality
concerns from the public and
the shing industry to develop an
environmentally responsible and
sustainable mine.
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2012 Schlumberger
Jennifer Hurley
Senior Hydrogeologist
Data Analytics Specialist
mine stays dry and in operation.
Lars Thoro, Consortium Manager with Xylem,
said, The permanent dewatering system
consists of 12 Vogel and Flygt pumps which
together remove 20 litres/s of water. The Flygt
2400 and Flygt 2630 pumps are ideal for this
type of operation as they are specifically
designed to withstand tough operating
conditions. They are ideal for dewatering
applications such as Dannemora, delivering
highly consistent performances over a long
period of time.
According to Xylem, special features unique
to the Flygt brand of dewatering pumps such as
Dura-Spin, a hydraulic system which
minimises impeller wear; Spin-Out a system
designed to prevent clogging and protect the
outer seal and the K-Impeller, a hard iron
impeller specifically designed for high efficiency
and wear resistance, make the company the
experts in mine dewatering.
Thoro continued, A great addition to the
Dannemora dewatering operation is a Scada
system which enables the operation to be
monitored from above ground. A Flygt APP521
pump controller at each pump station manages
operation of the pumps. This information is then
communicated back to a computer system at
ground level. This gives operators access to
critical data from one location above ground
allowing operators to monitor equipment,
troubleshoot and identify trends, diagnose and
resolve issues, quickly and easily. The end result
is a pump station control system that provides
ease of operation, flexibility and reliability,
ensuring more uptime, greater energy savings
and less operating and maintenance costs.
Pump efficiency
John Schulkins, Business Development Director
at TAS Online points out that pumps are at the
heart of industry and consume 15% of the
worlds electricity output. If the other machinery
in industrial plants which is directly affected by
pump efficiency is taken into account, this
proportion rises to approximately 30%.
Due to neglect, poor design and, above all,
lack of visibility of the efficiency of the system,
much of this electricity is wasted turned into
heat, vibration and noise rather than producing
throughput. Well managed and maintained
pumps can drastically reduce overall energy
consumption, but instead they continue to be
overlooked.
International studies show that pumps
typically operate at low efficiency levels
often between 15% and 40% away from
optimum
Are very costly to run electricity bills
account for up to 90% of life cycle cost
Tie up scarce skilled manpower in time, travel
and avoidable maintenance
Pump efficiency levels can be improved by an
average of 20% when viewing the pump
stand-alone
If viewed as part of the overall process,
efficiency savings between 30%-50% are
possible by optimising the entire pumping
system.
The TAS PumpMonitor provides the technical
and financial data required to cut excessive
energy consumption from pumping systems. In
addition to quantifying electricity wastage per
unit pumped and analysing its causes, the data
fed from pump to desktop via the internet
identifies equipment failure before it manifests.
This facilitates relevant, timeous maintenance
and saves man hours and costly production
losses.
Schulkins says traditional condition
monitoring is reactive it only detects a
problem once the pump has begun to destroy
itself. One-off on-site pump testing is not a
viable alternative to regular monitoring because
it is costly, ties up manpower and only provides
a snapshot of current operation, not a view of
performance over time. TAS PumpMonitor is the
only cost-effective, pro-active system enabling
engineers and operators to accurately assess
long-term pump performance from their office or
control room. It offers two options:
Manual input of data derived from readings
taken on-site at regular intervals using
WATER MANAGEMENT
portable instrumentation. This is appropriate
for smaller pumps in stable, low-wear
systems and for initial system assessment. It
is an effective low-cost option as no
permanent instrumentation is required
Real-time input of data from permanently-
installed instrumentation attached to each
pump and transmitted off-site at frequent
intervals. This is more expensive due to the
cost of purchase and installation of
instruments but amply justified where large
pumps are consuming large amounts of
electricity, where systems have fluctuating
demand or where large pumps are pumping
in parallel
The following data is required:
For clear water - suction and discharge
pressure and power absorbed flow can be
derived by PumpMonitor
In addition, a flow meter is necessary for
slurries, plus pump speed and specific gravity
where these vary.
TAS PumpMonitor compares current
operation against the optimum duty defined by
the tested current Pump Performance Curve, the
most reliable source outlining a pumps potential
performance. Data is then analysed in numerous
ways and wastage quantified, per unit pumped,
in both electrical and financial terms and results
delivered to the required personnel.
It also classifies inefficiencies where savings
can be made into three types Wear, Duty and
Volumetric. This distinction helps users identify
the best corrective actions which, when
implemented, result in savings throughout the
systems lifecycle.
Among the many benefits this technology
offers is to provide an accurate understanding of
pump requirements in future system designs,
eliminating the need for redundant capacity
frequently built into pumping applications to
account for unit failure. TAS PumpMonitor also
identifies surplus units that could be better
used elsewhere.
TAS PumpMonitor integrates seamlessly into
a plants existing communications infrastructure
and to date applications have helped reduce
short term operational pump electricity costs by
between 10% and 15%. Long term savings are
still being established and should be in the
region of 15%-30%
WATER MANAGEMENT
New pumps
Xylem says it now boasts one of the most
extensive portfolios of dewatering pumps on the
market with the addition of three new sludge
pumps to its flagship Flygt 2600 drainage
range. The company, which was spun off from
ITT Corp in October 2011, specifically designed
these versatile pumps (models 2620.280,
2630.280, and 2640.280) to meet customer
demands for multi-purpose drainage pumps that
can serve the evolving needs of mining and
other markets. Available for rent or purchase the
pumps have new features which are easy to
install and service, reducing the total cost of
ownership.
The portable Flygt sludge 2600 pumps have a
range of 1.5 to 5.6 kW for 50 Hz countries and
2.4 - 8.9 hp for 60 Hz countries. Capable of
flows up to 28 litres/s and heads to 38 m, these
sludge pumps are ideal for open-pit and
underground mine dewatering and emergency
site drainage.
Wear-resistant, they handle solids up to 80
mm and sand concentrations of approximately
20% by weight, due to a larger inlet and pump
volute, Hard-Iron (60 HRC) vortex impeller,
polyurethane-lined pump housing and side
discharge design.
Peter Hansen, Product Manager says
because the hydraulics of the sludge pumps
and drainage pumps are interchangeable,
customers can adapt one 2600 pump to handle
many applications. The hydraulic ends share
drive units and common parts, and are
interchangeable with similar sized models of the
2600 drainage series. This interchange ability
allows end users the flexibility to adapt to
changing application requirements and reduce
spare parts inventory.
Flygt customers already familiar with the
easy-to-service 2600 design will find
maintaining the sludge pumps just as simple
and quick. The new sludge series features the
patented Flygt Plug-In seal, which provides a
double mechanical seal in a compact and easy
to replace single cartridge. External oil and
inspection plugs, allow for seal-condition check
and oil change without dismantling the pumps,
and the removable top gives quick access to all
electrical components.
The three new models also incorporate the
latest enhancement in Flygt pumps: the terminal
board. By sealing off the junction box from the
motor, the terminal board prevents any water
from passing between compartments, thereby
reducing repair costs. Plus the screwless spring-
loaded terminal design assures reliable
connections and simplified wiring.
Another recent addition to the Flygt drainage
range is the two-stage Flygt pump 2660 SH.
Twin impellers enable the 2660 SH to pump
fluid higher. With 10 kW rated power the 2660
SH can be used in a broad range of applications
in mining. A zero leakage 'Active Seal' increases
the service life of the pump and contributes to
longer intervals between oil changes and
maintenance check-ups. A unique hydraulic
system developed by Xylem, the Dura-Spin
effectively protects the impeller gap by
transporting abrasive particles outwards. A
Spin-Out system includes a special design of the
seal chamber. Solid particles will be transported
via a spiral groove in order to protect the seals
and the bottom of the oil housing from
sediments and wear. IM
Reference
1. Riveros P.A., Dutrizac J.E., Spencer P. 2001. Arsenic
disposal practices in the metallurgical industry,
Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly, Vol 40, No 4: 395
420.
Kennecott Eagle Minerals has teamed up with
Veolia to treat mine water to meet and exceed
water quality standards set by its mining
permits
A
reas such as optimisation, modelling and
lab or pilot scale testwork are now crucial
in getting it right when it comes to
comminution at whatever particle size and
process stage. But just as in reality there is no
average ore or rock type, every comminution
application is unique and requires its own study.
By putting up alternatives against each other,
capital and operating costs can be calculated
and compared in order to find an optimal
solution for an individual application case. This
can require co-operation between equipment
OEMs, academics, consultants and engineering
groups together with the mining groups, to
come up with a way forward. Specialist events
such as SAG 2011 and Comminution 2012 help to
bring these stakeholders together and drive
technology advances.
Arguments can even come down to the
relative importance of crushing versus
milling/grinding in terms of cost and efficiency.
And despite the moves towards ever more
advanced milling/grinding circuits, crusher
technology is not standing still. Robert Picard,
Applications Marketer - Mining Crushing &
Screening at Sandvik comments: Milling is the
dominant energy consumer as well as having a
high cost for mill media. We believe therefore
that it is generally cheaper to crush than grind
in size reduction. Today, with more efficient
crushers a circuit can be built with fewer units
and especially a lower energy requirement.
Liners in crushers are exposed to wear. However,
design and operation of a modern crusher
makes it possible to have a high degree of
interparticle crushing rather than against the
liners. This has improved cost for wear parts
considerably. Still crushers require more
frequent maintenance than mills. However it can
be dealt with if liner changes are planned into
scheduled maintenance stops so that
production loss is minimised or even totally
eliminated.
Ultrafine grinding
Ultra-fine grinding (UFG) remains a key area to
achieve higher recovery rates in many mineral
processing applications. But milling is inherently
inefficient and this inefficiency increases
dramatically as the particle size decreases.
Current developments in UFG mills have tended
towards high intensity mills with high rotational
speeds and grinding disk tip speeds ranging
from 12 to 20 m/sec. This is coupled with the
development of higher density media to help
achieve higher breakage rates. An installed
power of 3 MW is common and installations of
up to 8 MW are running successfully with the
potential for even larger examples. But with
research suggesting that as little as 3-5% of the
input energy is actually used for grinding, some
in the industry argue that there is considerable
scope for energy saving.
Maelgwyn Mineral Services (MMS) new twin
drive horizontal mill development aims to
reduce this waste of energy by using a novel
drive and generator system to reclaim and
recycle energy from the moving media mass
while grinding. It consists of a rotating drum
fitted with wall mounted grinding disks, driven
through a gearbox and an internal shaft, also
fitted with grinding disks, coupled to a motor
but configured as a generator. The interspaced
drum and shaft mounted disks form a labyrinth
for the slurry flow. MMS has built two prototype
mills, a 400 mm diameter drum with an internal
volume of 30 l and an 800 mm diameter drum
with an internal volume of 150 l.
The drum is driven at a maximum rotation
while the frictional resistance of the media on
the internal rotor, in turn, drives the rotor. The
internal rotor is braked electrically to control the
speed of the rotor so that the relative rotational
motion and consequent grinding action can be
optimised. The inverters that control the drum
motor and rotor motor (as a generator) are
configured so that the energy generated by the
rotor can be fed back to the drum drive. The
power demand on the main supply is reduced to
the difference required by the system.
The interspaced disks segregate the media
into individual grinding chambers that reduces
From primary crushing to
ultrafine grinding, new
comminution technology
continues to give mines
the edge in recovery and
efficiency, reports
Paul Moore
An Xstrata Technology M10000 IsaMill, similar
to the one that will be commissioned at Russian
Copper Companys (RCC) Miheevsky project in
Cheylabinsk
COMMINUTION
the hydraulic packing of the media and
together with a novel disk design,
provides an axial load on the media to
increase the force applied during media
interactions.
The 400 mm mill has been tested
quite extensively recently using fly ash
in a project together with Cardiff
University. The data generated by this
initial trial phase has shown that the
concept has some potential. The trials
carried out at Cardiff University have
been designed to prove the concept but
has also compared the twin drive
concept to typical high intensity
horizontal and vertical mill
configurations. The initial test results
showed savings of 30% on specific
energy to P90 of 10 m, and 15% to P90
of 5m from a feed F90 of 275 m.
Comparative test work was carried out using
Saint Gobain Zirmil media with specific gravity
of 6.2 and 2 mm diameter. Current analysis
suggests that more efficient results can be
obtained with finer bead sizes and lower density
media. Zirmil are ceramic microgrinding beads
produced from a unique yttria-doped zirconia
powder.
Through its research partnership at Cardiff
University MMS has also invested in Discrete
Element Method (DEM) and Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) analysis packages to aid in the
understanding of the milling environment and
the effects of the process variables on the
performance of the mill. The impact frequency
and the energy distribution throughout the
media volume is key to understanding the
grinding mechanisms involved in UFG. This
software has been used to model the twin drive
mill configuration, as well as some comparative
configurations. The actual mill data was then
used to verify the model and a relatively high
correlation was achieved. MMS told IM: This
analysis has been indispensable in explaining
the differences in grinding mechanisms, and
especially what is behind the good performance
at below 10 m. DEM analysis of the twin drive
mill and comparison with models of high
intensity mills shows an order of magnitude
increase in the frequency of impacts per bead in
the mill, with a more uniform energy
distribution, indicating that the twin drive
concept increases its efficiency by effectively
using a greater percentage of the overall volume
of media. Other high intensity configurations
rely on a very small portion of the media volume
limited to the immediate inner circumference of
the drum where excessively high intensity
impacts effected the grinding while the bulk of
the media contributed very little. CFD analysis
was used to investigate the flow of slurry
through the mill. Whilst not an essential
parameter for the analysis of the test work that
was carried out, as all the mills were operated in
a batch mode, in terms of scale up to a full scale
installation, the residence time distribution is an
important factor. All the mills showed fairly
normalised distribution curves but it has shown
that the auto-classification effect of the
vertically orientated mill provides a measurable
benefit to efficiency and grind curve control.
Further trials are planned as there is still a
significant amount of work required to fully
understand the potential of this configuration.
These trials aim to optimise energy capture, disk
design and bead specification over a wider
range of substrates. A technical paper will be
presented at the MEI Comminution 2012
conference in South Africa from April 17-20
providing more detail on MMSs mill
development and the test work that has been
carried out.
UFG technology relies on the micro-bead
quality as well as technical assistance to get the
best results for Mainstream Inert Grinding (MIG)
and UFG. Industrie Bitossi is a global leader in
the production of Al2O3 based grinding beads.
The company states: Our R&D department
continuously investigates new formulas in order
to achieve lower consumption rate and higher
grinding efficiency. In order to keep the costs
down our research aims to achieve the best
results with alumina products in terms of wear
and energy savings. Alumina micro beads
properties such as chemical composition,
hardness, smoothness, roundness, specific
gravity and microstructure have been
specifically tailored for high intensity stirred
milling. The smooth surface of the beads
reduces the loss of energy caused by friction, it
increases energy efficiency and it grants
a longer lasting life to the internal mill
wear components. In addition to this,
the company pointed out the benefits of
inert grinding in the flotation process.
Considering that for metal recovery,
ultra-fine grinding represents a very high
percentage of the total costs, the usage
of cost-effective micro-media
considerably helps to reduce overall
operational costs.
Aside from in-house lab testing, for
technical assistance, the group can
assist mining customers on site in order
to verify, on an industrial scale, bead
wear results and also evaluate
empirically all the parameters involved in
the grinding process. The company
states: We have experienced how
important it is to work on-site to have a
clear picture of what it can happen during the
grinding process. In this way we can share with
each single customer the experience of many
plants located all around the world. Streamlined
grinding conditions optimise the micro-beads
performance with a consequent beads wear cut
down and they stabilise the full plant. We have
also found that, to avoid abnormal increases in
micro-bead wear, it is very important to have a
constant slurry flow in terms of quantity and
solids content.
The grinding charge distribution has to
comply with the mill size, raw material chemical
and physical features, raw material grading, end
particle grading, and mill rotation speed.
Grinding charges are developed to have, for
each specific application, the most efficient
micro-bead diameter, fraction and size for
refilling.
UFG is also applicable to process optimisation
technology. Loesche's LM_Master is a new
model-based predictive process optimisation for
ecologically increasing plant performance and
support the operators of Loesche vertical mills.
LM_Master provides for fully automatic control
of the grinding process and continuously
optimises regular plant operation. Online
optimisation is achieved through precise
depiction of the processes and increases
throughput, energy efficiency and availability,
states Loesche. The company comments: The
most important component in putting such a
project into practice is knowledge of all aspects
of the process. Loesche has the necessary
experience and know-how from a diverse range
of fields such as automation, commissioning
and servicing, design, and R&D. This knowledge
makes it possible to create models which reflect
the process as accurately as possible in order to
be able to derive the necessary calculations
from them. These calculations show the future
COMMINUTION
Eirich MaxMill with Bitossi alumina-based
ultrafine grinding beads
Our mobile grinding plant is ready for proof of concept on your site.
Take your chance and choose a new grinding technology. For further
information please call +49 211 5353-777 or visit www.loesche.com/ores
COMPACT, MOBILE, FLEXIBLE,
IMMEDIATELY OPERATIONAL
VERTICAL ROLLER MILLS
ON THE RIGHT
TRACK
plant status with the aid of historic
data and current process values,
manipulated variables and
disturbance variables.
The vertical roller mill is stabilised
during regular operation by means of
a continuous adaptation of the
controller operating points. The plant
is therefore operated as closely as
possible to its specified limits. This in
turn increases plant performance.
The software platform required for
this purpose is, irrespective of the
manufacturer of the automation
system, installed on a separate
industry PC. With only a few
interventions in the existing
automation system and low
investment expenditure it is thus
possible to increase the efficiency of
the grinding plant. The new process
optimisation solution is intended for
use with Loesche vertical roller mills in all areas
of material comminution. The application is also
intended for both new installations and existing
grinding systems.
The dry milling of ores in Loesche vertical
roller mills has significant process advantages,
as well as economic and ecological benefits,
according to the group. To demonstrate these, a
mobile ore-grinding plant, the OGPmobile, has
been developed. This allows the customer to
test the effectiveness of Loesches grinding
technology and its influence on the total
material flow of the existing processing plant.
The degree of mineral liberation, particle size
distribution, energy consumption and
throughput can be optimised individually for
each deposit and each treatment process,
depending on the ore characteristics. The main
advantages of the Loesche grinding technology,
compared to conventional milling technology,
are stated as: increased value recovery due to
improved mineral liberation; reduced
operating costs through lower specific energy
consumption; less wear of grinding parts;
narrow particle size distribution; rapid
adaptation to changes in ore characteristics
within a deposit; automatically controlled mill
circuit using online control system; and reduced
total water consumption due to dry grinding and
classifying. Loesche told that past experience
has shown that these benefits are achievable on
various ore types with differing characteristics,
such as lead/zinc and nickel.
The OGPmobile is a fully functional grinding
plant, which is comparable with the test circuits
in the Loesche Test Centre in Neuss, Germany.
The flexible circuit allows operation in an airflow
as well as in overflow mode without external
classifying. Large samples of milled material
200-300 t for further direct processing in
subsequent process steps can be produced.
The quality of the milled products is checked
by analysis in the integrated laboratory. The
OGPmobile consists of three, 40 ft-long, cubic
profile ocean containers, which makes global
transportation easy. The mechanical equipment
for grinding, sizing, material handling and
product separation is installed in two
containers. In the third one, the laboratory and
process-control system is installed, along with
the control room.
The minimum requirements for operating the
OGPmobile are an appropriate power supply
and a compacted base measuring approximately
17 m x 7 m. The first OGPmobile is currently
being used in southern Asia, where its
transport to site was handled by
Loesche logistics experts. The
operation of the facility and the testing
program is being carried out in close
co-operation between the customer
and with Loesche specialists on-site.
After the series of tests has been
completed, further deployments are
planned.
In addition to the OGPmobile,
Loesche offers the Containerised
Grinding Plant or CGPmobile. This
newly developed containerised
construction plant provides for the
local supply of thermal processes and
can be used at any site. This plant type
fills the gap in the supply of coal dust
in that it eliminates long transportation
routes in special vehicles. The use of
coal instead of gas and oil that is made
possible by this plant reduces
operating costs dramatically according to
Loesche.
In the mining industry, the need for efficient
fine grinding processes is increasing rapidly. As
demand for ores with finer mineral intergrowth
rises, grinding technology is being developed to
keep up.
Jon Allen, Metsos Project Manager for Stirred
Milling Technologies, notes: What were seeing
now are deposits that have more finely
disseminated valuable mineral. The fact is,
those deposits require finer grinding to achieve
adequate liberation. The challenge in fine and
ultrafine grinding applications is the increasing
energy requirements and the diminishing
returns that occur as operations approach
smaller product sizes. The solution Metso
argues is energy-efficient stirred milling
machinery that maximises wear life and
availability all while achieving desired product
size and maintaining profitability. This solution
COMMINUTION
The new SMD-1100-E, Metsos largest-scale
Stirred Media Detritor
The new OGPmobile is a fully functional mobile
grinding plant
Xstrata Technology Australia
|
Ph: +61 7 3833 8500
Xstrata Technology Chile
|
Ph: +56 2 478 2211
Xstrata Technology South Africa
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Ph: +27 82 441 7482
Xstrata Technology Canada
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Ph: +1 604 699 6400
Xstrata Technology UK
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Ph: +44 (0) 2077 426 721
We specialise in transferring our expertise to your site.
www.xstratatech.com
MINERAL PROCESSING:
Grinding and Flotation
HYDROMET:
Leaching, Gas Injection and Modular Slurry Tanks
Rock solid solutions for
your operation, proven
at our operations.
has evolved into the most cost-effective fine
grinding technology from the Vertimill to the
latest Stirred Media Detritor (SMD) E-Series,
featuring the SMD-1100-E, Metsos largest-scale
SMD. The Vertimill and SMD are not
competitors, but were developed as
complementary products. The Vertmill can work
with a 6 mm to 20 micron feed, and the SMD
from 100 microns to a 5 micron feed size.
Metso states: The SMD-1100-E is bringing
efficient ultrafine grinding to large-scale
throughput. This machine is the future of fine
grinding because its efficiency and
specialisation enable it to provide the lowest
total cost of ownership to operators who need
to achieve fine grinds.
It is often said that lowest total media
consumption is a major influencer of lowest
total cost. However, if a machine requires less
media but at a higher cost per tonne, the
savings afforded by lower media consumption
are eclipsed by the material cost. The consumables
the grinding media are the number-one
operating cost in a mill. The entire SMD-E-
Series, including the SMD-1100-E, offers the
lowest cost per tonne processed of between
$300 and $1,300 according to Metso. With
lower energy inside the SMD-E-Series mills, the
wear life is also extended.
The company states: The increased volume
of the SMD-1100-E is key to maximising the
cost-saving potential of lower-intensity
grinding. But space is also an important
consideration in a plant, and the solution was to
go vertical. By doing this, we can make use of a
larger volume without worrying about affecting
the footprint of the unit. An additional benefit of
a vertically configured machine, when compared
with the horizontal unit, is a simpler mechanical
design. Because the vessels are pressurised,
horizontal stirred milling machines require shaft
seams, feed pumps for slurry and media, plus
additional shaft bearings, and more concrete for
the foundation. The SMD-1100-E is a streamlined
unit that can achieve higher availability.
With regard to maintenance, every wear
component of the SMD-1100-E can be changed
with the mill in place without removing or
disassembling the shell. Additionally, the top
plate can be rotated in 45 increments, and side
plates are interchangeable for multiple feed
arrangements. Metso also kept ancillary
equipment to a minimum with the SMD-E-Series
as only one pump per SMD is needed not five
or six as on other stirred mill designs.
Maintaining one pump is much simpler and less
expensive. After installing a smaller SMD-355-
E at the Mototolo platinum mine in South Africa
and seeing the operational benefits, Anglo
American wanted to scale up. The SMD allows
us to achieve fine grinds at a high level of
efficiency, says Chris Rule, Head of
Concentrator Technology at Anglo Platinum,
and the mechanical improvements with the E-
series result in more uptime. In any operation,
thats how you achieve long-term success: the
more tons we get through, the more revenue
well see, and the SMD-1100-E is going to help
us do that. It always comes back to our bottom
line. Anglo Platinum expects the SMD-1100-E to
provide the longest wear life and highest uptime
of any fine grinding technology they have
trialled. The unit is schedule for start-up in
September 2012 at the Anglo Platinum Union
Mortimer concentrator.
HPGRs and IsaMill
Moving from UFG technology to other milling
and grinding developments, high pressure
grinding rolls (HPGRs) continue to get a lot of
attention in the industry. Coalition for
Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC)
members Greg Lane, Chris Morley
and Mike Daniel of Ausenco in
Australia have reviewed this topic
in some detail in a
paper submitted to
IM by CEEC that looks at HPGR units already
installed at the Argyle, Whyalla and Boddington
operations. Issues and opportunities that have
arisen include the impact of moisture and
particle size on roll wear; as well as issues
associated with wet screening. The review also
looks at circuit design issues in the context of
operability, and eco-efficiency.
The authors believe that HPGRs are being
widely acknowledged as comminution tools that
can be used to reduce overall comminution
energy requirements when used in an
appropriate circuit configuration. This is a
concept that CEEC and Ausenco are trying to
actively support and promote.
The expectation of the authors is that
enthusiasm for the technology will continue to
wax and wane as the technical, cost and
operating issues arise and are overcome. This
will lead to the establishment of the technology
for particular applications, for example relating
to the scale and ore characteristics, that SAG
milling and other conventional technologies are
not particularly suited to.
There are several HPGR units operating at
Australian mine sites: two at Whyalla processing
magnetite ore; four at Boddington processing
very competent gold ore; and three at Argyle
Diamond Mines.
Other HPGR units have been installed in
Australia at Spinifex Ridge (molybdenum),
Bendigo (gold) and Tropicana (gold) amongst
others. In addition, an HPGR has just been
installed at Cadia which is to be commissioned
in 2012. Some early Australian HPGRs had wear
issues after installation but a recent HPGR
optimisation program at Cerro Verde in Peru
(it has four Polysius units with studs) on the
wear protection tyres improving stud
design and grade has resulted in an
increase of the lifetime to more
than 5,000 h with a potential
to finally exceed 6,000 h
with the next design
change. Other high wear
HPGR operations are
expected to benefit from
these developments.
Argyle introduced
HPGR technology in 1990 to
counter the problem of
increased ore hardness of the
deeper competent unweathered
lamproite (Bond ball mill work index 18
kWh/t and Bond abrasion index 0.60) in the
mine and also to increase throughput capacity.
The first of two ThyssenKrupp Polysius units
(both installed at Argyle in the 1990s) has
dimensions of 2.2 m diameter and 1 m width
had twin 1,200 kW motors with fixed speed
drives. The second unit was installed with twin
1,800 kW motors with variable speed drives.
Both units have customised bypass rock boxes
in place of the convention cheek plates. A
unique on-line grinding device has been
adapted to the back of the rolls to allow for
regular grinding of the roll surface to prevent
unacceptable bath tub profiles on the segments.
A KHD machine was installed in the re-crush
plant in 2002 to increase diamond liberation
and recovery by reducing the overall crushed
particle size. The KHD unit, with a diameter of
1.7 m and a width of 1.4 m with two 950 kW
variable speed motors, is in the quaternary
crushing building. The feed to the roller press
has a top size of 20 mm and is truncated at 6
mm. The product particle size is 80% passing 8
Schematic of KHD HPGR. The company has
numerous installations including Argyle
Diamond Mines
COMMINUTION

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MARCH 2012

Informed and in-depth editorial on the world mining industry

Minerals replacement parts. And

4 International Mining | MARCH 2012

to work safely every day in extreme

is designed to be the strongest, best

high recovery membrane

2H2O) is the most

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