|
SGS ADVANCED MINERALOGY NETWORK
For over thirty years, SGS Minerals Services has been providing High Definition Mineralogy support to hundreds of extractive metallurgy projects. With an extensive array of state-of-the-art equipment, our professional mineralogists provide quantitative assessments of mineral deportment and liberation to help maximise grade and recovery or increase operational efficiency.
TYPICAL OBJECTIVES OF PROCESS MINERALOGY STUDIES
Determining exact ore and gangue mineral assemblages
- Deportment of valuable elements (e.g. presence of several Cu minerals)
- Detecting favourable mineral species (e.g. acid-consuming carbonates)
- Upgrading concentrate quality (documenting flotable gangue minerals like talc)
- Detection of deleterious phase (e.g. small amounts of As, Pb, Se)
Ores with coarse and fine-grained intergrowths of pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite will pose difficulties during flotation.
Flotation concentrate quality is directly related to grind size, grain size and textural complexity.
Understand the influence of physical ore characteristics on metallurgical grade and recovery by quantifying:
- The particle size distribution of target minerals
- The textural associations of ore minerals with gangue
Clarify reasons for poor or unexpected ore mineral recovery and grade performance by reviewing:
- The degree of liberation of target minerals in feed and products
- The deportment of valuable minerals in tailings streams
- The deportment of gangue minerals in concentrates
PROCESS MINERALOGY STUDIES UTILIZE STATE OF THE ART INSTRUMENTATION
- QEMSCANTM systems are around the world
- ClemexVision image analysis
- X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD)
- Electron microprobe analysis
- Scanning electron microscopy
- Classical transmitted and reflected light microscopy
Figure 1: QEMSCAN Line plot showing cassiterite liberation by size fraction in a Scavenger Tail. Ore mineral liberation is poor in the +106 µm and +53 µm size fractions and improves into the finer size fractions. The combined liberation profile (red line) shows only 22% cassiterite liberation in the 90-100% liberated class.
Figure 2: QEMSCAN Bar chart showing cassiterite liberation by mineral association in a Scavenger Tail. Fully liberated cassiterite (green bars in front) chiefly occurs in the two finest size fractions (+21 µm and –21 µm). The remainder of the cassiterite occurs in complex ternary associations with gangue (red bars at back), and as middlings with phyllosilicates, quartz/feldspar, sulphides and other silicate gangue.
|
