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Flowsheet Development
SGS Minerals Services’ experienced team of metallurgical professionals develop and demonstrate bankable flowsheets and processes for environmentally sustainable metal and mineral extraction processing. These flowsheets are confirmed on-site through bench and pilot plant testing programs that are internationally recognized by the mining, engineering and financial communities.
Developing the most effective processing flowsheet reduces the technical risk. Alternative options can be assessed and a conceptual flowsheet developed which is then tested and optimized. Changes in ore-type, technology or environmental regulations can mean that existing plants must adapt their flowsheet strategies.
Pilot Plant Testing
Pilot testing is the best way to reduce risk associated with a new flowsheet or flowsheet changes. It will generate the data needed to design the full scale plant. As well, existing operations can be simulated at the pilot scale to evaluate new technologies or address problems without interrupting production. In a pilot plant, the actual process is constructed from appropriately sized equipment and the testing involves virtually all of the issues that a full processing plant will have to deal with.
SGS employs engineers having a combination of operating plant experience and laboratory/piloting experience. This is a rare combination in the industry and provides a much broader experience base than those that have exclusive exposure to either operating plants or laboratory/piloting testing.
Typical activities that can be undertaken during pilot testing include:
- Establish flowsheet viability. This is especially important for complex deposits, those utilizing new or unusual technologies or projects that are located in high risk areas
- Fine-tune flowsheet parameters
- Demonstrate continuous integrated operation
- Evaluate the impact of local water supply
- Develop a water balance
- Quantify the impact of ore variability
- Produce byproducts for specialized testing (e.g. environmental assessments)
- Generate bulk samples for market evaluation
- Train critical mill staff
SGS Minerals Services has run over 20 semiautogenous grinding (SAG) and metallurgical pilot plants on iron ores, including extremely large plants treating up to 1,000 tonnes of ore and lasting for 6 months. Many complex circuits using autogenous grinding, de-sliming, magnetic separation, gravity separation, selective flocculation, and flotation have been run in our laboratories. Smaller pilot plant operations have been set-up on-site in major operating plants to test specific operations such as flotation, gravity separation, and thickening.
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