Towards the development of an integrated modelling framework underpinned by mineralogy
type: CreativeWork
description: The mining industry is under increased pressure from many stakeholders to be forward thinking in its approach to sustainability. This requires a holistic approach to address techno-economic, environment and social issues, rather than just focusing on individual aspects of sustainability practice. The ability to do so requires an integrated modelling framework, underpinned by mineralogy so that the effect of ore variability on one or more of these factors can be simultaneously evaluated and optimised. This study focuses on the steps towards the development of this proposed framework using a case study of a polymetallic sulfide ore flotation circuit. The initial focus in the framework development is on integrating the techno-economic and the environmental aspects of sustainability. Thereafter the framework is used to consider a variety of scenarios evaluating the balance between techno-economic value and environmental burden. A sampling exercise was conducted around the intermediate and terminal streams of the flotation circuit processing polymetallic sulfide ore. All samples were characterised using both chemical assays and mineralogy (QEMSCAN). This formed the input data for the development of an ore specific element to mineral conversion (EMC) recipe that converts chemical assays to mineral grades. The EMC technique has the advantage of being fast, inexpensive and can be used on a routine basis. The recipe for this specific polymetallic sulfide ore was designed to calculate nine minerals in four different rounds, using least square method in the first two rounds and non-negative least square in the last two rounds. Sulfide minerals (chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite) were calculated in the first round, barite was estimated in the second round, silicate minerals (garnet, biotite and quartz) were determined in the third round and pyrrhotite and magnetite were calculated on the last round. Data validation for EMC was performed by comparing calculated mineral grades …
abstract: The mining industry is under increased pressure from many stakeholders to be forward thinking in its approach to sustainability. This requires a holistic approach to address techno-economic, environment and social issues, rather than just focusing on individual aspects of sustainability practice. The ability to do so requires an integrated modelling framework, underpinned by mineralogy so that the effect of ore variability on one or more of these factors can be simultaneously evaluated and optimised. This study focuses on the steps towards the development of this proposed framework using a case study of a polymetallic sulfide ore flotation circuit. The initial focus in the framework development is on integrating the techno-economic and the environmental aspects of sustainability. Thereafter the framework is used to consider a variety of scenarios evaluating the balance between techno-economic value and environmental burden. A sampling exercise was conducted around the intermediate and terminal streams of the flotation circuit processing polymetallic sulfide ore. All samples were characterised using both chemical assays and mineralogy (QEMSCAN). This formed the input data for the development of an ore specific element to mineral conversion (EMC) recipe that converts chemical assays to mineral grades. The EMC technique has the advantage of being fast, inexpensive and can be used on a routine basis. The recipe for this specific polymetallic sulfide ore was designed to calculate nine minerals in four different rounds, using least square method in the first two rounds and non-negative least square in the last two rounds. Sulfide minerals (chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite) were calculated in the first round, barite was estimated in the second round, silicate minerals (garnet, biotite and quartz) were determined in the third round and pyrrhotite and magnetite were calculated on the last round. Data validation for EMC was performed by comparing calculated mineral grades …
author: Ntlhabane, Sithembiso
language: eng
date published: 2018
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:22:37Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Centre for Minerals Research

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29593