A Methodology for Geometallurgical Mapping and Orebody Modelling

摘要

Geometallurgy is not a mechanism designed to replace current geological and metallurgical depositrncharacterisation but an added component required to understand orebody variability. Currentrngeological characterisation approaches focus on understanding deposit genesis aimed at identifyingrnnew mineralised regions and metallurgical characterisation determines parameters required forrnengineering design of processing plants. Geometallurgical integration has the task of drawing onrnaspects of each stream to enable spatial mapping of performance indices across a deposit. It isrna complimentary activity to current practice and adds a new dimension to orebody knowledge.rnAlthough the notion of conducting an integrated geological and metallurgical analysis is not arnnew concept, limited publications exist in the fi eld proposing integrated methods, with severalrntechnical issues existing in current geometallurgical integration approaches. An iterative methodrndrawing on existing geological and metallurgical characterisation and new measurement tools andrninputs is proposed. The integrated method comprises of discrete components dynamically linkedrntogether through iterative feedback loops with each component having a specifi c purpose achievedrnby applying a range of data acquisition technologies and statistical tests. The key outcomes of thernmethod are:rn1. overcoming the lack of optimised geometallurgical domains relevant to processing performance,rn2. development of a rigorous approach to identifying parameters controlling processability,rn3. improved protocols for relevant metallurgical test data and sample selection, andrn4. ability to generate greater data support to enable rigorous geostatistical modelling ofrngeometallurgical attributes.rnThis paper outlines the integrated mapping and modelling method developed and draws onrnmultiple data acquisition technologies applied within the AMIRA P843 GeMIII Project.