1506 XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3
The authors believe this is the first test of its kind that com-
bines coarse particle breakage with sensor amenability. This
test can be economically done on dozens of samples as a
precursor to proceeding to larger mass, performance testing
(pilot runs) currently being offered by sorter manufactur-
ers. As an added advantage, all work is completed by an
independent laboratory—as is the case for other forms of
metallurgical testwork.
It is SRK’s objective to progress toward an industry
standard test protocol so that data can be shared and bench-
marked between projects at different levels of study. This
test procedure can be done by any competent metallurgi-
cal laboratory or research facility with the associated testing
apparatuses and the XRT sensor response can be replicated
using the same unit or alternative XRT sensor. There is no
licensing fee and the protocol is made public in order to
achieve an industry standard.
The SRK test protocol provides estimates of coarse
breakage and metal deportment on samples before they
are crushing and prepared for downstream testing. This is
the only opportunity to evaluate representative samples for
early-stage studies. Test costs are designed to be as economi-
cal as possible (e.g., including limited number of assays) to
allow as many samples to be tested as possible.
For existing operations, larger samples can be collected
using crushing/screening plants for stockpiles or sampling
primary crusher product streams. In addition, AG/SAG
mill pebbles and crushing circuit coarse streams can be
assessed using this protocol. With a growing database of
results, SRK will pursue methods to include pre-concentra-
tion results as part of geometallurgical modelling programs.
REFERENCES
CRC ORE, 2022, Grade Engineering. www.crcore.org.au
/solutions/grade-engineering (viewed Dec 2023).
Dance, A. 2022. Opportunities for Pre-Concentration:
Development of a Lab-Scale Evaluation Test, SME
Annual Conference &EXPO, Salt Lake City, Feb 27 to
Mar 2, 2022.
McCarthy, B. 2019. Exploiting Heterogeneity: Improving
Head Grade and Project Value, World Gold 2019
Conference Proceedings, Perth, pp 430–440.
Saskatchewan Research Council, 2023, Sensor-based
Sorting. www.src.sk.ca/services/sensor-based-sorting
(viewed Dec 2023).
SimSAGe, 2024. HIT—Portable Device for Rapid
Hardness Index Testing. www.simsage.com.au/hit-2/
(viewed Dec 2023).
SMC Testing, 2024. Technical Information. www.smc
testing.com/about/technical-information (viewed Dec
2023).
Source: SRK 2024
Figure 11. Simulated pre-concentration flowsheet from SRK protocol (manganese sample)
The authors believe this is the first test of its kind that com-
bines coarse particle breakage with sensor amenability. This
test can be economically done on dozens of samples as a
precursor to proceeding to larger mass, performance testing
(pilot runs) currently being offered by sorter manufactur-
ers. As an added advantage, all work is completed by an
independent laboratory—as is the case for other forms of
metallurgical testwork.
It is SRK’s objective to progress toward an industry
standard test protocol so that data can be shared and bench-
marked between projects at different levels of study. This
test procedure can be done by any competent metallurgi-
cal laboratory or research facility with the associated testing
apparatuses and the XRT sensor response can be replicated
using the same unit or alternative XRT sensor. There is no
licensing fee and the protocol is made public in order to
achieve an industry standard.
The SRK test protocol provides estimates of coarse
breakage and metal deportment on samples before they
are crushing and prepared for downstream testing. This is
the only opportunity to evaluate representative samples for
early-stage studies. Test costs are designed to be as economi-
cal as possible (e.g., including limited number of assays) to
allow as many samples to be tested as possible.
For existing operations, larger samples can be collected
using crushing/screening plants for stockpiles or sampling
primary crusher product streams. In addition, AG/SAG
mill pebbles and crushing circuit coarse streams can be
assessed using this protocol. With a growing database of
results, SRK will pursue methods to include pre-concentra-
tion results as part of geometallurgical modelling programs.
REFERENCES
CRC ORE, 2022, Grade Engineering. www.crcore.org.au
/solutions/grade-engineering (viewed Dec 2023).
Dance, A. 2022. Opportunities for Pre-Concentration:
Development of a Lab-Scale Evaluation Test, SME
Annual Conference &EXPO, Salt Lake City, Feb 27 to
Mar 2, 2022.
McCarthy, B. 2019. Exploiting Heterogeneity: Improving
Head Grade and Project Value, World Gold 2019
Conference Proceedings, Perth, pp 430–440.
Saskatchewan Research Council, 2023, Sensor-based
Sorting. www.src.sk.ca/services/sensor-based-sorting
(viewed Dec 2023).
SimSAGe, 2024. HIT—Portable Device for Rapid
Hardness Index Testing. www.simsage.com.au/hit-2/
(viewed Dec 2023).
SMC Testing, 2024. Technical Information. www.smc
testing.com/about/technical-information (viewed Dec
2023).
Source: SRK 2024
Figure 11. Simulated pre-concentration flowsheet from SRK protocol (manganese sample)