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Albion Process - Recent Developmentson Copper Projects and Operations
Peter Rohner
Core Resources, Brisbane
www.coreresources.com.au 24th March 2011
Company Overview
Highlights• Specialist services:
– hrltesting (metallurgical laboratory – operating over 25 years).– Marketing of licensed processing technology (Albion Process).– Process engineering, design and flowsheet development– Scoping and Feasibility Studies– Technology Development Partner
• Strong Technical Team:– Hydrometallurgical expertise– Flowsheet development with an economic focus and outcomes that can
be engineered and operated– Project development and commissioning experience
Independent Company
Eberhard Krause - HydroMet Solutions Inc. (April 2008)
“Initially, HS was somewhat concerned that Barrick hadchosen Core, rather than an independent engineering firm,to carry out this pre-feasibility study (PFS), because onemight have expected a positive bias towards the AlbionProcess option .... As was demonstrated by the outcomeof the pre-feasibility study, which looked at threepotential process options (Albion, Roaster and a hybridroaster/Albion process), such worries were unfounded”
Copper Leach Flowsheets
In-SituLeaching
Metal RecoverySX/EW
SX/Crystallisation
Precipitation
CementationTailings
ROM ore
Products- Cathode- Sulphate- Cement- Oxide / Sulphide- Other
Dump/HeapLeaching
Concentration(Gravity /Flotation)
ROM ore
ROM ore
Leach Neutralisation
Lower Grade Concentrate
Residue
Acid
AlkalineSize
Fines
By-products- Gold/Silver- Cobalt- Molybdenum- Rhenium- Indium- Uranium- OtherConcentrate
- Lower Impurities (e.g. As,Sb)High GradeConcentrate
ROM ore
Albion Process Leach Flowsheets
Metal RecoverySX/EW
SX/Crystallisation
Precipitation
CementationTailings
Products- Cathode- Sulphate- Cement- Oxide / Sulphide- Other
Concentration(Gravity /Flotation)
ROM ore
ROM ore
AlbionLeach
Neutralisation
Lower Grade Concentrate
Residue
Size
Fines
By-products- Gold/Silver- Cobalt- Molybdenum- Rhenium- Indium- Uranium- OtherConcentrate
- Lower Impurities (e.g. As,Sb)High GradeConcentrate
Coarse
Albion Process Overview
6
• Originally developed by MIM Holdings in 1994.
• Base technology owned jointly with Highlands Pacific.
• 2004 - Xstrata PLC bought MIM Holdings with Xstrata more involved in basemetal projects
• 2005 - Albion Process launched by Xstrata Technology with the technology thenavailable outside of Xstrata Group
• 2005 - Core Resources became global marketing agent for Albion Process
• Late 2005 - First licence issued for Las Lagunas Project – Gold
• Late 2006 - Second licence issued for Certej Project – Gold
• 2011 - Advanced stages of negotiating two new licences (Canada, Armenia) –Gold projects
Albion Process Overview
7
• Combination of Fine Grinding and Atmospheric Oxidative Leaching tobreakdown sulphide minerals releasing metals of value for downstream recovery
+Stirred Mills
Feed P80 ~75 µmProduct P80 8-20 µm
AtmosphericPressure
Temperature ~95oCOxygen Injection
~20-30 hours
Commercial Fine Grinding
8
Examples - Installed IsaMill units
Operation: KCGMOwner: Newmont Mining Corp
Location: Western AustraliaTreatment Rate: 12 tph pyrite concentrateGrind Size: 10-12 µm (ahead of CIL)
Equipment: 1 x M3000 IsaMill
Operation: KumtorOwner: Centerra
Location: KyrgyzstanTreatment Rate: 30-35 tph pyrite
concentrateGrind Size: 10-12 µm (ahead of CIL)Equipment: 1 x M10000 IsaMill
Atmospheric Leaching
9
Commercial plants• Direct atmospheric leaching of sulphides
has been routinely practiced around theworld in the zinc, copper and nickelindustries for many years
• Staged implementation within XstrataGroup
Company Plant Capacity Statis
New Boliden Kokkola 1 50,000 tpa zinc OperationalNew Boliden Kokkola 2 50,000 tpa zinc OperationalNew Boliden Odda 50,000 tpa zinc OperationalKorea Zinc Onsan 225,000 tpa zinc OperationalBirla/Western Metals Mt Gordon 45,000 tpa copper DecommissionedCobre Las Cruces Las Cruces 40,000 tpa copper CommissioningZhuzhou Smelter Corp Shandong 180,000 tpa zinc Operational
Albion Process Leaching
10
Commercial plant at Xstrata Zinc operationin Spain
280 m3 Leach TankOxygen Sparger
Opportunities to Add Value• Alternative products• By-products• In-situ acid production – reduce acid cost• Use of alternative neutralising materials – reduce neutralising cost• Impurity removal• Integrated flowsheets• Additional metal recovery• Key drivers
Albion Process Leach Flowsheets
Copper Cathode• Larger scale projects• Low/moderate power costs• Remote / high transport costs
Copper Sulphate• Premium over metal• Smaller scale projects• Power costs higher• Local demand – zinc flotation, fertilizer plant, feedlot
Other (Cement, Copper Sulphide, Copper Oxide)• Copper cement – concentrates or low cost scrap iron available• Intermediate product – market nearby or integrated flowsheet
Albion Process Leach Product Options
Cu2+ + Fe = Fe2+ + Cu
Smelters don’t pay for many of these elements
Leaching provides an opportunity to recover additionalvalue e.g. Cobalt, Molybdenum, Rhenium, Indium, Uranium
Copper Leach By-product Recovery
Oxide ore / Concentrate
Leach CircuitAir/ Oxygen
Acid
Copper SolventExtraction
Raffinate to Leach
Bleed to by-product recoveryand neutralisation
Advance to EW or Crystallisation
NeutralisationLimestone
Copper Leaching In-situ Acid Production
Oxide ore
Underlying secondaryand primary ore FLOTATION
Leach Circuit
Flotation Tailings
OxygenAcid
HEAP LEACH
SX/EW
Raffinate to Leach
Raffinate to Heap Leach
e.g. Freeport’sMorenci and Bagdad POXplants
Generate excess acid in leaching circuit for oxide leachSeparate pyrite oxidation circuit to generate acid - e.g. Sepon
Recover more pyrite to leachcircuit and oxidise
NeutralisationLimestone
Alternative Neutralising Materials
Oxide ore Concentrate
Leach CircuitOxygen
Acid
HEAP LEACH
SX/EW
Raffinate to Leach
Raffinate to Heap Leach
Turn neutralising stage from cost to a credite.g. Use copper oxide ore (high grade fines) or copper oxide concentrate instead
of limestone / lime.
Neutralisation
FinesCoarse
Impurity Removal
Many large undeveloped copper deposits havesignificant impurity issues.• Salobo, Brazil High Fluorine
• La Granja, Peru High Arsenic
• Tampakan, Philippines High Arsenic
• Nena, PNG High Arsenic
• Many other South AmericanCopper Projects High Arsenic
Core continues to be active further developing alkalineleaching technology to remove arsenic and antimonyfrom copper concentrates.
Concentrate and Leaching Synergies
Case Study
Normal grade concentrate for sale
vs.
High grade concentrate for sale
plus
Low grade concentrate to leaching
Copper Recovery
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Co
pp
erG
rad
e-
%C
u
Copper Recovery %
Copper Grade/Recovery
+ + + + ++
PerfectSeparation
Target ConcentrateGrade - 25% Cu
Liberated Chalcopyrite
Max. TheoreticalRecovery
Copper Recovery
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Co
pp
erG
rad
e-
%C
u
Copper Recovery %
Copper Grade/Recovery
+ + + + ++
PerfectSeparationPlant Separation
Target ConcentrateGrade - 25% Cu
+
Liberated Chalcopyrite
Liberated Gangue recovered by "Entrainment" or "True" Flotation
Plant Recovery
Copper Recovery – Case Study
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Co
pp
erG
rad
e-
%C
u
Copper Recovery %
Copper Grade/Recovery
+ + + + ++
Target ConcentrateGrade - 30% Cu
Liberated Chalcopyrite
30% Recovery toLower Grade Copper
Concentrate - 7.5% Cu
Concentrate forSale
Concentrate forLeaching
Case Study - Project A
• Copper/Cobalt concentrate recovered from tailings of existingcopper operation
• Grade of concentrate - 2.2% Cu and 0.28% Co
• Prefeasibility testing followed by Albion Process Pilot Plant run
• Pilot Results on ~600kg of concentrate over 24 day run• 94% Copper extraction• 81% Cobalt extraction
• Downstream cobalt recovery testwork now being conducted
• Client now progressing engineering for Feasibility Study
• Project Capex in the order of $80M
Case Study - Project B
• Copper/Gold concentrate recovered from tailings of existingcopper operation (additional 17% Cu and 25% Au recovery)
• Grade of concentrate - 2.4% Cu and 1.5 g/t Au• Tonnes of concentrate – 640,000 tpa , containing
~15,000 tpa Cu and ~30,000 oz Au/y
• Scoping Study results• 93% Copper recovery• 85% Gold recovery
• Client now progressing to Prefeasibility Stage
• Project Capex in the order of US$200M
Project Development Program
23
• Bench-scale testwork - hrltesting
Project Development Program
24
• Pilot testwork - hrltesting
Key drivers that provide opportunities to use AlbionProcess
• Can only produce “dirty” unsaleable concentrates• Concentrate transport costs high - far from markets• Rising treatment charges• Low power costs• Limestone/other neutralising material available and low cost• Acid available and low cost (or low power cost)• Existing infrastructure available (old oxide leaching operation SX/EW plant)• Local demand for copper sulphate or intermediate• Potential for by-products credits• Significant recovery improvements
Summary
Questions ?
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