1
24-029
Digital One Enterprise Expert Operating System on Production
Line at Doe Run’s Buick Mill—Expert-Control of Flotation,
Grinding and Things (EOT)
Weishi Mang
The Doe Run Company, Boss, MO
Adam Steimel
The Doe Run Company, Centerville, MO
Andrea Deml
The Doe Run Company, Boss, MO
Brian Mangogna
The Doe Run Company, Viburnum, MO
Justin Dix
The Doe Run Company, Boss, MO
Erwan Yap
Metso
Jeff McKay
Metso, South Jordan, UT
Craig Romrell
Metso
ABSTRACT
The Doe Run Company (Doe Run), a global supplier of
lead (Pb), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) concentrates, and
lead metal alloys, installed an enterprise expert control sys-
tem—termed as Digital One—on the company’s Pb, Cu
and Zn circuits at its Buick Mill in December 2022. Digital
One was developed with Metso and deploys Metso’s prod-
uct, VisioFroth ™. This automated system is now running
and optimizing the flotation processes for all three circuits
(Pb, Zn and Cu), all plant air and methyl isobutyl carbinol
(MIBC). In addition, Digital One also controls a second,
newly built, modern flotation reagent system. Digital One
also paves the way for automation and expert control of the
entire mill, integrating grinding, thickening and filtration.
Digital One is digitally immersed in a universal distributed
control system (DCS) therefore, today’s mineral processing
plants may be upgraded to it or designed around it. This
presentation will explore the plant design and operation of
this technology at the Doe Run Buick Mill.
INTRODUCTION
Doe Run’s Buick Mill processes complex ores containing
Pb, Zn, and Cu with dolomite, pyrite, and marcasite gangue
materials. These ores are processed using a traditional sul-
fide flotation scheme including a bulk Pb/Cu float, a float
to separate Cu from Pb, and a Zn float to separate Zn from
the bulk tails. This process has been the core of Buick Mill’s
operations since its creation.
In recent history, Buick Mill primarily relied on oper-
ator-set automatic controls for most of the milling process,
including darts on float cells, air flow to float cells, and
chemical reagent dosing. This is managed by a tried, tested,
and thoroughly proven DCS. This system is well suited to
handle the typical ores which Buick Mill receives but strug-
gles with some complex ores such as marcasite rich ores.
To expand Buick Mill’s capacity to handle increasingly
complex ores such as these marcasite ores, a secondary addi-
tional reagent system was added. These reagents are potent,
and their usage is indicated by changes in the mill feed
and concentrates that are typically rapidly evolving. This
includes anything from rapid changes in feed grade to sud-
den spikes in marcasite content, both of which have signifi-
cant repercussions on the stability of the flotation process.
While these potent reagents can be directly controlled
by a human operator, it has been found that these reagents
require nearly constant attention to attain the best perfor-
mance. It is exceedingly easy to overdose these reagents,
so it is vital to turn them off once they are not required.
Incorporating this dosing control into an expert control
system is thus one of the requirements for this reagent sys-
tem to be maximally effective.
24-029
Digital One Enterprise Expert Operating System on Production
Line at Doe Run’s Buick Mill—Expert-Control of Flotation,
Grinding and Things (EOT)
Weishi Mang
The Doe Run Company, Boss, MO
Adam Steimel
The Doe Run Company, Centerville, MO
Andrea Deml
The Doe Run Company, Boss, MO
Brian Mangogna
The Doe Run Company, Viburnum, MO
Justin Dix
The Doe Run Company, Boss, MO
Erwan Yap
Metso
Jeff McKay
Metso, South Jordan, UT
Craig Romrell
Metso
ABSTRACT
The Doe Run Company (Doe Run), a global supplier of
lead (Pb), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) concentrates, and
lead metal alloys, installed an enterprise expert control sys-
tem—termed as Digital One—on the company’s Pb, Cu
and Zn circuits at its Buick Mill in December 2022. Digital
One was developed with Metso and deploys Metso’s prod-
uct, VisioFroth ™. This automated system is now running
and optimizing the flotation processes for all three circuits
(Pb, Zn and Cu), all plant air and methyl isobutyl carbinol
(MIBC). In addition, Digital One also controls a second,
newly built, modern flotation reagent system. Digital One
also paves the way for automation and expert control of the
entire mill, integrating grinding, thickening and filtration.
Digital One is digitally immersed in a universal distributed
control system (DCS) therefore, today’s mineral processing
plants may be upgraded to it or designed around it. This
presentation will explore the plant design and operation of
this technology at the Doe Run Buick Mill.
INTRODUCTION
Doe Run’s Buick Mill processes complex ores containing
Pb, Zn, and Cu with dolomite, pyrite, and marcasite gangue
materials. These ores are processed using a traditional sul-
fide flotation scheme including a bulk Pb/Cu float, a float
to separate Cu from Pb, and a Zn float to separate Zn from
the bulk tails. This process has been the core of Buick Mill’s
operations since its creation.
In recent history, Buick Mill primarily relied on oper-
ator-set automatic controls for most of the milling process,
including darts on float cells, air flow to float cells, and
chemical reagent dosing. This is managed by a tried, tested,
and thoroughly proven DCS. This system is well suited to
handle the typical ores which Buick Mill receives but strug-
gles with some complex ores such as marcasite rich ores.
To expand Buick Mill’s capacity to handle increasingly
complex ores such as these marcasite ores, a secondary addi-
tional reagent system was added. These reagents are potent,
and their usage is indicated by changes in the mill feed
and concentrates that are typically rapidly evolving. This
includes anything from rapid changes in feed grade to sud-
den spikes in marcasite content, both of which have signifi-
cant repercussions on the stability of the flotation process.
While these potent reagents can be directly controlled
by a human operator, it has been found that these reagents
require nearly constant attention to attain the best perfor-
mance. It is exceedingly easy to overdose these reagents,
so it is vital to turn them off once they are not required.
Incorporating this dosing control into an expert control
system is thus one of the requirements for this reagent sys-
tem to be maximally effective.