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MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 1MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 1
Driving Productivity by Increasing Feed Quality Through Application Of Innovative Grade
Engineering® Technologieswww.crcore.org.auSteve Walters
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 2Australian Multi-factored Productivity
MINING HAS WELL KNOWN PRODUCTIVITY PROBLEM
Millennium super cycle
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 3
DECLINING GRADE AS A MAJOR COMPONENT OF PRODUCTIVITY
Global Cu Head Grades
Anglo American PGE Grades
After Rule et al 2015
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 4
ALIGNING CRC ORE TO THE CHALLENGE OF FEED QUALITY
‘GOING LARGE’ DOESN’T DELIVER PRODUCTIVITY GAINS
Increasing production with duplication (more trucks, more mills, etc.) delivered higher Capex and lower productivity
Reducing Opex has helped productivity
Now need to focus innovation on improving feed quality not just quantity
POINT SOLUTIONS DON’T DRIVE TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE
Mining is not short of potential new or better technologies in and out of sector
Challenge is to combine point solutions into integrated solution stacks
Delivering transformational change requires a clear view of system-value
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 5
AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO IMPROVING FEED QUALITY
Taking a New View of Ore Deposit Heterogeneity
Sustaining System Value and Execution
Selecting Effective Coarse Separation Technologies
Mapping Economic Benefit Over Life of Mine
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 6
DRIVEN BY COARSE SEPARATION IN DIG AND DELIVER INTERFACE
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 7
SHARE WHERE THE GRADE ENGINEERING JOURNEY BEGAN
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 8
COARSE SEPARATION OPPORTUNITY DRIVEN BY FIVE ‘LEVERS’
SEPA
RATI
ON
MEC
HANI
SM
Screens Diverters Jigs
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 9
GRADE ENGINEERING EXPLOITS ORE DEPOSIT HETEROGENEITY
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 10
GRADE ENGINEERING EXPLOITS ORE DEPOSIT HETEROGENEITY
Heterogeneity can occur at mining scale (10’s of metres) or particle scale (10’s of cm)
Compositing smooths out grade heterogeneity which is regarded as not useful in current practice
Coarse separation is just another rock property attribute
Property needs to be embedded into routine logging and testing
Cu at blast bench scale Cu at drill core scale
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 11
COMPARATIVE YIELD/RESPONSE RANKING ACROSS LEVERS
Building integrated coarse separation solution stacks needs a comparative testing regime
This includes small-scale geometallurgical type testing as well as bulk testing
Facilitates comparative ranking and definition of complimentary versus competitive levers
Grade Engineering involves a Response Ranking approach to facilitate mine planning
RESPONSE RANKING CURVES
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 12
COMPARATIVE RESPONSE RANKINGS BETWEEN DEPOSITS
Comparative deposit scale Response Rankings for preferential grade deportment by size
RESPONSE RANKING BY DEPOSIT75th
25th
percentile
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 13
COMPARATIVE RESPONSE RANKINGS WITHIN A DEPOSIT
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 14
EXAMPLE OF RESPONSE RANKINGS IN RESOURCE BLOCK MODEL
Porphyry Cu deposit block model
500 m
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 15
USING RESPONSE RANKINGS IN DYNAMIC MINE PLANNING
Selection of optimal coarse separation lever combinations and yield/response is an objective value function in mine planning software
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 16
OUTCOMES DEFINE ASSIGNMENT OF SEPARATION DOMAINS
Mill
Dump leach
Waste
Grade by size
Differential blasting
GRADE ENGINEERED
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 17
EVALUATING COARSE SEPARATION AS A VALUE PROPOSITION
Reduce Capex
Improve economic returns e.g. NPV, IRR
Manage bottlenecks
Extend mine life
More dynamic operating scenarios
Unlock stalled feasibility projects
POTENTIAL BENEFITS
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 18
SOME TAKE HOME MESSAGES AROUND GRADE ENGINEERING
OPPORTUNITY IS DRIVEN BY SCALE-DEPENDENT HETEROGENEITYCurrent geological and resource definition practice smooths out heterogeneity which restricts understanding of opportunity
ATTRIBUTES NEED TO BE EMBEDDED INTO GEOLOGICAL DEFINITIONCoarse separation is simply another machine-rock performance attribute that needs to populated into resource block modelling
GRADE ENGINEERING® IS AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM-VIEW APPROACH Solution stacks more resilient than point solutions for coarse separation – consider rougher and cleaner type circuit designs
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 19
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TO CRC ORE CONSORTIUM
METSHatchIMDEXJKTechMETS IgnitedOricaSedgmanSodernMETS ASSOCIATESMIPAC, Whittle, Split Datamine, SRKComet, ScantechGekko, Bear Rock
RESEARCHERSAMIRA Mining3
ClareoCSIROCurtinKellogg’s Institute (KIN)MRIWANRC CanadaQUTUniversity of AdelaideThe University of QldUTAS
MINERS
Anglo AmericanAnglo Gold AshantiBHP BillitonNewcrestGlencoreTeckSumitomo
MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 20MINING GEOLOGY 2017 - 20
Driving Productivity by Increasing Feed Quality Through Application Of Innovative Grade
Engineering® Technologieswww.crcore.org.auSteve Walters
