XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3 749
with a high altitude (the cost of getting the water to a high
altitude encourages strict water management and maximum
recovery and reuse). Mines located in regions with ambient
temperatures below zero for much of the year also adopt the
process of filtering and dry stacking tailings because tailings
dams that are frozen prohibit water recovery.
By correctly configuring the filter press plate pack (cham-
ber thickness, fixed-volume or variable-volume chambers),
the cake moisture content and amount of water recovered
with optimized energy use (particularly in the cake blowing
step). To achieve this, it’s critical to conduct thorough bench-
scale filtration tests. It’s also critical to have a realistic target
cake moisture content specified by the geotechnical engineer
who is designing the dry stack. The particle size distribution,
morphology and mineralogy are also desirable inputs to
assist with the configuration of the filter press and ancillaries.
This approach has been used to assist in the configura-
tion of very large filter presses as demonstrated above.
A sophisticated process monitoring and tuning system
using AI has proven to be valuable for optimising the per-
formance and maintenance of filtration plants, particularly
those that are in remote locations. The system can be used
to closely monitor and optimise the recovery of water from
the feed slurry.
Figure 7. Very large filter press operating at a copper mine in Peru
Figure 8. Demonstration plant (at a copper mine in Peru)
with a high altitude (the cost of getting the water to a high
altitude encourages strict water management and maximum
recovery and reuse). Mines located in regions with ambient
temperatures below zero for much of the year also adopt the
process of filtering and dry stacking tailings because tailings
dams that are frozen prohibit water recovery.
By correctly configuring the filter press plate pack (cham-
ber thickness, fixed-volume or variable-volume chambers),
the cake moisture content and amount of water recovered
with optimized energy use (particularly in the cake blowing
step). To achieve this, it’s critical to conduct thorough bench-
scale filtration tests. It’s also critical to have a realistic target
cake moisture content specified by the geotechnical engineer
who is designing the dry stack. The particle size distribution,
morphology and mineralogy are also desirable inputs to
assist with the configuration of the filter press and ancillaries.
This approach has been used to assist in the configura-
tion of very large filter presses as demonstrated above.
A sophisticated process monitoring and tuning system
using AI has proven to be valuable for optimising the per-
formance and maintenance of filtration plants, particularly
those that are in remote locations. The system can be used
to closely monitor and optimise the recovery of water from
the feed slurry.
Figure 7. Very large filter press operating at a copper mine in Peru
Figure 8. Demonstration plant (at a copper mine in Peru)