JKTech Specialist ConsultingApplied and Process Mineralogy

The JKTech mineralogy consulting team comprises of highly skilled experts with world-wide experience in both applied and process mineralogy.

Process Mineralogy

PredictionThe ultimate goal of a mineral processing plant is to maximize the recovery of the valuable mineral(s) from the ore (at the required product quality specification) to achieve the best economics.

Process mineralogy is a combination of the fields of mineralogy and metallurgy and plays an important role in all stages of mineral processing operations, with prediction and trouble-shooting being two major objectives. Process mineralogy consulting services offered at JKTech include:• Base metals mineralogy• Precious metals mineralogy• Mineral sands mineralogy• Industrial minerals• Automated mineralogy• Process mineralogy training

A comprehensive mineralogical study at the beginning of a mineral processing project will provide important information for predicting the behaviour of valuable minerals and deleterious elements in a conventional process and assist in the selection of the mineral processing techniques and optimisation of the flowsheet. It has been proved that the extractive metallurgy of most valuable minerals is largely driven by mineralogical factors such as grain size, liberation and association with other minerals. For some ores (such as gold and silver), coatings and rimmings, presence of cyanicides, oxygen consumers and preg-robbers, presence of refractory gold and silver minerals and locking of submicroscopic gold and silver in sulfide mineral structure can also cause processing problems and metal losses. Therefore, knowing your ore is extremely important in process design and flowsheet development.

More free-milling More refractory

Liberated

Flotation, Fine-grinding &

Cyanide leaching

Coarse grinding & Cyanide leaching

Flotation (?)

Flotation Pre-oxidation &

Cyanide leaching

Gravity, Cyanide leaching, flotation

Coarse, locked Fine-grained, locked

Submicroscopic Gold

Impact of Mineralogy on Gold Metallurgy

JKTech Pty Ltd40 Isles Road, Indooroopilly QLD 4068, AUSTRALIA | Telephone: +61 7 3365 5842 | Facsimile: +61 7 3365 5900 | info@jktech.com.au | www.jktech.com.au

JKTech Pty Ltd40 Isles Road, Indooroopilly QLD 4068, AUSTRALIA | Telephone: +61 7 3365 5842 | Facsimile: +61 7 3365 5900 | info@jktech.com.au | www.jktech.com.au

TroubleshootingAlthough the process is well designed and the flowsheet is well developed, the recoveries of valuable minerals may be not satisfactory due to the complexity of the ore and the change of operating conditions. Therefore, periodic mineralogical analyses of feed, intermediate process streams and final products can be used as a trouble-shooting tool for plant optimisation. For example, gold and silver are usually recovered by gravity or by flotation into copper concentrate in processing of base metal ores containing these two metals. For Pb-Zn-Ag ores, silver is usually recovered by flotation into lead concentrate. It has been found that gold and/or silver may report to zinc concentrate and tailings even when they are liberated and with floatable grain size. A detailed deportment study will determine why and how the misplacement and losses of gold and silver occurred, which will assist the plant metallurgist in optimising their operations.

Applied MineralogyApplied mineralogy covers all mineralogical studies required during an exploration program and for other geological research programs, such as:

• Exploration mineralogy• Genetic mineralogy • Environmental mineralogy • Separation and concentration of minerals of interest• Routine conventional and advanced instrumental analyses

The Mineralogy Consulting Group works closely with other groups at JKTech, including world renowned specialists in geology, mining, geometallurgy and mineral processing, to provide the best value to our clients.

Commercial MLA analyses are conducted by JKTech’s joint venture company, ALS Mineralogy.

JKTech’s range of technologies is supported by the ongoing research activities of the Sustainable Minerals Institute at The University of Queensland.

JKTech Services• Consulting (comminution, flotation, mineralogy, mining & geometallurgy,

social responsibility, risk management, and sustainability)• Specialist Software (JKSimMet, JKSimFloat, JKMultiBal, JKSimBlast)• Specialist Equipment (ore breakage characterisation, flotation characterisation) • Metallurgical Laboratory Services • SMI Knowledge Transfer