XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3 1593
blending the feed to the concentrator to avoid poor flota-
tion performance during operation.
CONCLUSION
The test work completed over the past decade has dramati-
cally increased Kennecott’s understanding of how to process
and characterize the underground skarn ore. The following
key conclusions and implications for Kennecott have been
drawn from this work:
• Incremental expansion of knowledge during study
stages was crucial to understanding how to integrate
underground ores into the Kennecott value stream
and avoid decreasing concentrator performance.
• Early OoM assessment of the flotation behavior
allowed Kennecott to select co-mingling as the base-
case processing method, thus avoiding the capital
cost of a new milling circuit in the PFS.
• Additional PFS investigation into variability of
underground ore was critical in reducing the number
of ore types being assessed and being able to domain
the ore into either high or low sulfur responses driven
by head grade, increasing the accuracy of internal
models.
• Comprehensive FS blending tests were critical to bet-
ter understand the implications on recovery and con-
centrate grade of blending underground ore at dif-
ferent ratios and with different open pit ores. It was
found that blending resulted in a synergistic recovery
effect, supporting the use of co-mingled feed, and
enabling successful integration of high-grade under-
ground ore into the Kennecott value stream.
REFERENCES
[1] U.S. Geological Survey (2013), Copper Minerals
Yearbook 2012: Volume 2, Minerals Data,
pp. 131–140.
[2] U.S. Geological Survey (2023), Minerals Yearbook
2021: Volume 2, Minerals Data, pp. 245–254.
Figure 5. Schematic of Copperton Concentrator Process Indicating Ore Blending Point
blending the feed to the concentrator to avoid poor flota-
tion performance during operation.
CONCLUSION
The test work completed over the past decade has dramati-
cally increased Kennecott’s understanding of how to process
and characterize the underground skarn ore. The following
key conclusions and implications for Kennecott have been
drawn from this work:
• Incremental expansion of knowledge during study
stages was crucial to understanding how to integrate
underground ores into the Kennecott value stream
and avoid decreasing concentrator performance.
• Early OoM assessment of the flotation behavior
allowed Kennecott to select co-mingling as the base-
case processing method, thus avoiding the capital
cost of a new milling circuit in the PFS.
• Additional PFS investigation into variability of
underground ore was critical in reducing the number
of ore types being assessed and being able to domain
the ore into either high or low sulfur responses driven
by head grade, increasing the accuracy of internal
models.
• Comprehensive FS blending tests were critical to bet-
ter understand the implications on recovery and con-
centrate grade of blending underground ore at dif-
ferent ratios and with different open pit ores. It was
found that blending resulted in a synergistic recovery
effect, supporting the use of co-mingled feed, and
enabling successful integration of high-grade under-
ground ore into the Kennecott value stream.
REFERENCES
[1] U.S. Geological Survey (2013), Copper Minerals
Yearbook 2012: Volume 2, Minerals Data,
pp. 131–140.
[2] U.S. Geological Survey (2023), Minerals Yearbook
2021: Volume 2, Minerals Data, pp. 245–254.
Figure 5. Schematic of Copperton Concentrator Process Indicating Ore Blending Point