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New Plant design for Cu and Mo recovery from Piuquenes tailings dam “Marginal Resources” Eduardo Morin Graduate Engineer Gino Slanzi, Feiruz Barham Superintendence of Innovation and Technological Development INTRODUCTION The Piuquenes tailings dam: • The first tailings deposit for Codelco Andina. • Operated from 1970 to 1978 • With a total tonnage of nearly 33 million tons. • With an average grade of 0.23% Cu and 0.0055% Mo, recovery of the same could be commercially profitable. INTRODUCTION A feasibility study was carried out to design a Cu and Mo collection flotation plant by way of conventional technologies. Benchmarking records were used for the recovery rates of the various equipment. • Removal of 33 million tons at a rate of 10 KTPD • CuT Grade 0.23% • Mo Grade: 0.0055% • Operational Schedule: 300 days per year • Project Duration: 10 years • Concentrate Collective Product Grade : 26% Cu / 0.5% Mo The economic evaluation study delivered good economic indicators. WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM? Laboratory tests to analyze the metallurgical results of the tailings from the Piuquenes dam showed evidence of high quantities of undetected chalcopyrite. This would imply the future requirement of a fine mill to achieve Cu liberation, in addition to flotation cells that would facilitate its adequate treatment. The design was carried out of an industrial plant with conventional technologies scaling the Grade and Recovery results obtained in the laboratory tests. The results of the economic evaluation diminished considerably, thus making the project unfeasible. CHALCOPYRITE LIBERATION GRADE Composito Primero B.5 Rel 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% % Chalcopyrite in Mass Fraction Mass in Chalcopyrite % 0% Global -600/+300um -300/+210um -210/+150um -150/+75um -75/+53um -53/+38um -38/+3um Chalcopyrite Locked 41,43 78,57 82,83 58,50 64,01 47,64 38,85 11,19 Chalcopyrite Sub-Mid > 20% 19,48 21,43 16,45 30,58 14,91 27,98 22,64 16,39 Chalcopyrite Mid > 50% 21,50 0,00 0,72 10,34 21,08 15,85 25,97 33,06 Liberated Chalcopyrite > 80% 2,15 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 8,54 2,55 3,54 Free Chalcopyrite 15,44 0,00 0,00 0,59 0,00 0,00 10,00 35,83 Sample SOLUTION Analysis of incorporating distinct alternatives of equipment processes and configurations to the traditional plant design. The technologies that presented the major impact were the following: - Inert Mill Incorporation The intense friction of IsaMill with ceramic balls improves the metallurgical performance in comparison to conventional steel grinding media. The high power intensity enables the IsaMill™ to process relatively coarse feed particles into the fine product size. SOLUTION - Pneumatic Flotation Incorporation The Jameson Cell was analyzed, which is characterized by the recovering of fine particles with high grade concentrates in a single stage. Laboratory tests were carried out in the SGS Lakefield facilities in conjunction with the coordination of the Xstrata Technology to validate the efficiency of these technologies. TEST PLAN • A flotation test in a mechanical cell with and without grinding in a ball mill. • A flotation test in a mechanical cell with grinding in a ball mill and and IsaMill mill. • A flotation test in a mechanical cell and Jameson cell with IsaMill milling. EFFECT of GRINDING in the BALL MILL Regrind Effect Primary Composite 100 90 80 70 60 oo Without regrind 50 Recovery, %Recovery, Cu 40 With regrind 30 20 10 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Flotation Time (min) The potential was demonstrated to grind the mineral before being recovered by flotation. EFFECT OF GRINDING TYPE Conventional Regrind 100 The copper recovery does 90 80 not substantially improve as 70 Regrind 38 um 60 grinding becomes finer, 50 Regrind 25 um 40 achieving copper recovery 30 Regrind 20 um Recovery,% Cu 20 10 of approximately 65%. 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Flotation Time (min) IsaMill TM Regrind 100 90 80 70 Regrind 38 um This was not the case when 60 50 Regrind 25 um 40 grinding is performed by Regrind 20 um Recovery, %Recovery, Cu 30 20 IsaMill, where the recovery 10 reaches 70%. 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Flotation Time (min) EFFECT OF FLOTATION TYPE Effect Flotation Cell Type - 20 um 25 Upon comparing 20 mechanical cells and Mechanical 15 Cell Jameson cells, it is clear Jameson Cell 10 that both cells operate in Copper GradeCopper[%] 5 two completely different 0 ranges. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Copper Recovery [%] The particles can be Effect Flotation Cell Type - 30 um recovered to a final 25 concentrate in one step. 20 15 Mechanical It should be noted that the Cell 10 Jameson cell has very Jameson Cell different flotation kinetics to CopperGrade[%] 5 0 those of a mechanical cell 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 with lower residences time. Copper Recovery [%] SCALING UP • The mill has a scaling up of 1:1 is due to using media of the same specification and size in full scale mills and test units. In both, the full scale industrial operations and the IsaMills™ testing, the media slurry is agitated by a similar method; and the mill layout in both full scale and test units is the same. • The same occurs in the Jameson cells, due to the fact that the laboratoy tests and industrial scale cell test utilize the same Downcomer design, and therefore, the same mix variables, energy intensity and controlled conditions. • DAND standard conditions were used for the scaling of conventional laboratory cells for this type. FLOW DIAGRAM CONCLUSIONS • The results showed a positive effect of inert grinding in the IsaMill mill in comparison to the conventional ball mill. • The Jameson cell may be used at the beginning of the flotation circuit, to recover ore particles released in rapid flotation generating a high grade final concentrate. • The combination of these technologies has had a direct impact on the recovery of fine particles, with the IsaMill mill creating a suitable particle size distribution which when fed to the Jameson flotation cell, allows a high grade concentrate to be created in a single flotation cell. CONCLUSIONS • The results of these lab tests justified carrying out a profile engineering study for the design of an industrial collective flotation plant for copper and molybdenum from the Piuquenes dam. • The metal balances were made considering previous results, obtaining a total recovery of: 57% copper and 52% molybdenum. • Based on this study, the Andina Division is currently undergoing the next stage of a conceptual engineering study to incorporate this new technology. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors gratefully acknowledge Mr. Steve Smith, Mrs. Karina Arburo and Mr. Cristián González from Xstrata Technology for their support during the study. Likewise Mr. Gustavo Leyton from SGS Lakefield Research Chile for undertaking the lab tests. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION.