Predicting Process Outcomes for Sudbury Platinum-Group Minerals Using Grade-Recovery Modeling From Mineral Liberation Analyzer (Mla) Data

Ford, Frederick Dean; Wercholaz, Cara R.; Lee, Andrew

doi:10.3749/canmin.49.6.1627

Cited by 18 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…A better understanding of the role of the texture of exposed hydrophobic grains -referring to their spatial arrangement -will help build the link between the empirical floatability component modelling approach (Runge, 2007;Harris, et al, 2002;Amelunxen & Amelunxen, 2009a;Amelunxen & Amelunxen, 2009b;Hay & Rule, 2003; and property-based flotation modelling (Grano, 2006;Ralston, et al, 2007;Evans, 2010;Bushell, 2012;Ford, et al, 2011;Yoon, et al, 2012). As such the aim of this thesis is to determine the impact of particle surface grain textures on flotation performance and the implications for forecasting flotation performance.…”

Section: Scope Of the Thesis And Research Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was acknowledged that galvanic interactions between chalcopyrite and pyrite could potentially influenced the observed rate constants of "pure" chalcopyrite and as such should be considered for more accurate predictions. Ford, et al (2011) applied a similar approach for Platinum Group Minerals (PGMs) by determining a relative rate constant (k p ) for each particle. This rate constant is determined by summing the products of the free perimeter (F p ) and mineral flotation factor (M f ), for each exposed mineral grain per particle:…”

Section: Property-based Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whereas the method by Luitjens (2006) and Evans (2010) used the calculated rate constants to directly determine flotation recovery, Ford, et al (2011) applied the relative rate constants to determine the probability of a particle reporting to the concentrate (F(t)), with the time factor in this instance dimensionless:…”

Section: Property-based Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of the latter, the overall composition of the exposed surface is the most widely studied feature and for composite particles the behaviour is frequently approximated by considering the behaviour of the mineral constituents of each particle surface, relative to their total proportions at the surface (Ralston, et al, 2007;Evans, 2010;Bushell, 2012;Ford, et al, 2011). The others -grain size, phase specific surface area (PSSA), intergrowth complexity and locking ratio -although known to affect the flotation process, are applied more as diagnostic parameters and have not found their place in property-…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Group Minerals (PGMs) minerals are also recovered due to their association with base metal sulfides (Godel, et al, 2007;Allison & O'Connor, 2011;Cawthorn, 2005;Maier & Barnes, 2003;Barnes & Maier, 2002;Ford, et al, 2011) and gold associated with pyrite (Newcombe, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of mineral grain textures at particle surfaces on flotation response

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This research investigates the contribution of the spatial arrangement of hydrophobic mineral grains at particles surface towards their flotation response and its implications for forecasting flotation response. The approach taken was to estimate this grain textural characteristic from particle sections and to identify how it affected the overall rougher and scavenger copper mineral flotation recovery from two industrial copper flotation circuits.For the second circuit the overall rougher flotation kinetic parameters for the copper mineral were also evaluated.The first contribution of this work is the demonstration that a novel textural indicator is relevant to understanding the contribution of exposed mineral grain texture on the flotation process. It is the first mineral grain textural indicator that considers both the size of the grains and the degree to which they are dispersed at the particle surface. When the indicator was applied to particle sections from flotation feed, concentrate and tail samples from two industrial copper flotation circuits, it was shown, for the first time, with confidence that while particle size and perimeter composition affect particle flotation response the spatial arrangement of the copper mineral grains at the particle surface plays a key role.For the iron-oxide-copper-gold ore, copper mineral grains in complex texture classes produced statistically higher overall rougher recoveries for the 0-20% perimeter composition class. Chalcopyrite grains in complex texture classes in the copper porphyry ore produced higher overall rougher and scavenger recoveries for the 20-40% perimeter composition class. For the 0-20% perimeter composition class statistically meaningful differences were observed for the +106 m size class. It was shown that the higher overall recoveries for the complex texture classes in this case were due to increases in the overall rougher rate of flotation, the proportions of recoverable chalcopyrite in the feed or both. For both ores the largest proportions of copper mineral within complex perimeter texture classes were within coarse particles and complex textures were less common when particle perimeters comprised more than 40% of the copper minerals. This demonstrated that in order to study the impact of this textural characteristic for the two ores it must be done within well-defined particle size and perimeter composition classes, an important outcome that has not been reported in the current literature.The second contribution is a three-step method for evaluating the flotation response of copper minerals within different grain texture classes namely; particle perimeter texture II estimation, determining coefficients of variation in the mass proportions of the target mineral within perimeter texture-composition classes and mass reconciliation and recovery calculations. Another key contribution is in applying the bootstrap resampling technique to estimate these coefficients. This demonstrated the sensitivity of seemingly feasible perimeter texture-compos...

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