The CIM convention in Vancouver, BC, is one of Canada’s leading mining trade shows. Each event is attended by more than 5,500 people, with hundreds of companies presenting a range of mining equipment, technology, tools, services and products.
Image Credit: Thermo Fisher Scientific – Solutions for Industrial and Safety Applications
The convention focuses on meeting new challenges, best practices and innovative insights in the mining industry, but a key draw for many attendees lies in the convention’s educational talks, workshops and activities
A Thermo Fisher Scientific representative introduced the ‘Application of Continuous Elemental Analysis and Sampling Zones for Flotation Plants’ in a session at a recent CIM.
An ongoing decline in head grades, coupled with the need to optimize metallurgical performance and operational costs, has led to increased attention being paid to the use of high quality representative slurry samplers and on-line elemental analyzers particularly in the case of flotation operations.
The talk explored how flotation plants can employ carefully selected and applied on-line analysis and slurry sampling zones as a trustworthy, reliable solution for flotation control and metal accounting. This approach helps ensure the realization of the anticipated ROI for these key investments.
These systems can be scaled from small setups to accommodating the extremely large flows found in contemporary mega-scale concentrators. Regardless of scale, accuracy and reliability are maintained with minimal primary process flow head-loss and significantly reduced maintenance requirements.
Recent years have seen the use of dedicated continuous analysis and sampling stations on key process streams becoming increasingly popular due to their potential to eliminate complicated and unreliable small bore pumped sample transport systems.
A range of flotation plant designs leverage the unique advantages of low head-loss integrated sampling and analysis stations. These examples also utilize the latest EDXRF immersion probes to maintain excellent analytical performance in base metal beneficiation processes.
There are several clear advantages of implementing dedicated sample analyzers, including the ability to combine metallurgical accounting and process control sampling functions in large base metal concentrators.
Engineering can be simplified, costs can be reduced and a low OPEX system can be delivered for the life of the mine, all via the elimination of sample transport systems. High assay data rates facilitate the rapid detection of process issues, with process control feedback enabling improved recovery gains.
The past decade has seen breakthroughs in the design of large flotation plants, utilizing over 40 samplers and analyzers without a single sample pump.
Acknowledgments
Produced from materials originally authored by Thermo Fisher Scientific
This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Thermo Fisher Scientific – Solutions for Industrial and Safety Applications.
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