Albion Process - Recent Developments on Copper Projects and Operations Peter Rohner Core Resources, Brisbane 24 th March 2011 www.coreresources.com.au
Company Overview Highlights • Specialist services: – hrl testing (metallurgical laboratory – operating over 25 years). – Marketing of licensed processing technology (Albion Process). – Process engineering, design and flowsheet development – Scoping and Feasibility Studies – Technology Development Partner • Strong Technical Team: – Hydrometallurgical expertise – Flowsheet development with an economic focus and outcomes that can be engineered and operated – Project development and commissioning experience
Independent Company Eberhard Krause - HydroMet Solutions Inc . (April 2008) “Initially, HS was somewhat concerned that Barrick had chosen Core, rather than an independent engineering firm, to carry out this pre-feasibility study (PFS), because one might have expected a positive bias towards the Albion Process option .... As was demonstrated by the outcome of the pre-feasibility study, which looked at three potential process options (Albion, Roaster and a hybrid roaster/Albion process), such worries were unfounded”
Copper Leach Flowsheets In-Situ ROM ore Leaching Metal Recovery Products Dump/Heap Acid Size - Cathode ROM ore SX/EW Leaching Alkaline - Sulphate SX/Crystallisation - Cement Fines - Oxide / Sulphide Precipitation - Other Cementation Concentration ROM ore Tailings (Gravity / Flotation) By-products - Gold/Silver Lower Grade Concentrate - Cobalt ROM ore Leach Neutralisation - Molybdenum - Rhenium - Indium Residue - Uranium - Other Concentrate High Grade - Lower Impurities (e.g. As,Sb) Concentrate
Albion Process Leach Flowsheets Metal Recovery Products Size - Cathode Coarse ROM ore SX/EW - Sulphate SX/Crystallisation - Cement Fines - Oxide / Sulphide Precipitation - Other Cementation Concentration ROM ore Tailings (Gravity / Flotation) By-products - Gold/Silver Lower Grade Concentrate - Cobalt Albion Neutralisation - Molybdenum Leach - Rhenium - Indium Residue - Uranium - Other Concentrate - Lower Impurities (e.g. As,Sb) High Grade Concentrate
Albion Process Overview • Originally developed by MIM Holdings in 1994. • Base technology owned jointly with Highlands Pacific. • 2004 - Xstrata PLC bought MIM Holdings with Xstrata more involved in base metal projects • 2005 - Albion Process launched by Xstrata Technology with the technology then available outside of Xstrata Group • 2005 - Core Resources became global marketing agent for Albion Process • Late 2005 - First licence issued for Las Lagunas Project – Gold • Late 2006 - Second licence issued for Certej Project – Gold • 2011 - Advanced stages of negotiating two new licences (Canada, Armenia) – Gold projects 6
Albion Process Overview • Combination of Fine Grinding and Atmospheric Oxidative Leaching to breakdown sulphide minerals releasing metals of value for downstream recovery + Stirred Mills Atmospheric Pressure Feed P 80 ~75 µm Temperature ~95 o C Product P 80 8-20 µm Oxygen Injection ~20-30 hours 7
Commercial Fine Grinding Examples - Installed IsaMill units Operation: Kumtor Operation: KCGM Owner: Centerra Owner: Newmont Mining Corp Location: Kyrgyzstan Location: Western Australia Treatment Rate: 30-35 tph pyrite Treatment Rate: 12 tph pyrite concentrate concentrate Grind Size: 10-12 µ m (ahead of CIL) Grind Size: 10-12 µ m (ahead of CIL) Equipment: 1 x M3000 IsaMill Equipment: 1 x M10000 IsaMill 8
Atmospheric Leaching Commercial plants • Direct atmospheric leaching of sulphides has been routinely practiced around the world in the zinc, copper and nickel industries for many years Company Plant Capacity Statis New Boliden Kokkola 1 50,000 tpa zinc Operational New Boliden Kokkola 2 50,000 tpa zinc Operational New Boliden Odda 50,000 tpa zinc Operational Korea Zinc Onsan 225,000 tpa zinc Operational Birla/Western Metals Mt Gordon 45,000 tpa copper Decommissioned Cobre Las Cruces Las Cruces 40,000 tpa copper Commissioning Zhuzhou Smelter Corp Shandong 180,000 tpa zinc Operational • Staged implementation within Xstrata Group 9
Albion Process Leaching Commercial plant at Xstrata Zinc operation in Spain 280 m3 Leach Tank Oxygen Sparger 10
Albion Process Leach Flowsheets Opportunities to Add Value • Alternative products • By-products • In-situ acid production – reduce acid cost • Use of alternative neutralising materials – reduce neutralising cost • Impurity removal • Integrated flowsheets • Additional metal recovery • Key drivers
Albion Process Leach Product Options Copper Cathode • Larger scale projects • Low/moderate power costs • Remote / high transport costs Copper Sulphate • Premium over metal • Smaller scale projects Cu 2+ + Fe = Fe 2+ + Cu • Power costs higher • Local demand – zinc flotation, fertilizer plant, feedlot Other (Cement, Copper Sulphide, Copper Oxide) • Copper cement – concentrates or low cost scrap iron available • Intermediate product – market nearby or integrated flowsheet
Copper Leach By-product Recovery Smelters don’t pay for many of these elements Leaching provides an opportunity to recover additional value e.g. Cobalt, Molybdenum, Rhenium, Indium, Uranium Oxide ore / Concentrate Air/ Oxygen Leach Circuit Acid Raffinate to Leach Limestone Neutralisation Bleed to by-product recovery Copper Solvent and neutralisation Extraction Advance to EW or Crystallisation
Copper Leaching In-situ Acid Production Generate excess acid in leaching circuit for oxide leach Separate pyrite oxidation circuit to generate acid - e.g. Sepon Underlying secondary Flotation Tailings FLOTATION and primary ore Recover more pyrite to leach circuit and oxidise Oxygen e.g. Freeport’s Leach Circuit Acid Morenci and Bagdad POX Oxide ore plants Limestone Neutralisation HEAP LEACH Raffinate to Leach SX/EW Raffinate to Heap Leach
Alternative Neutralising Materials Turn neutralising stage from cost to a credit e.g. Use copper oxide ore (high grade fines) or copper oxide concentrate instead of limestone / lime. Concentrate Oxide ore Oxygen Coarse Leach Circuit Fines Acid Neutralisation HEAP LEACH Raffinate to Leach SX/EW Raffinate to Heap Leach
Impurity Removal Many large undeveloped copper deposits have significant impurity issues. • Salobo, Brazil High Fluorine • La Granja, Peru High Arsenic • Tampakan, Philippines High Arsenic • Nena, PNG High Arsenic • Many other South American Copper Projects High Arsenic Core continues to be active further developing alkaline leaching technology to remove arsenic and antimony from copper concentrates.
Concentrate and Leaching Synergies Case Study Normal grade concentrate for sale vs. High grade concentrate for sale plus Low grade concentrate to leaching
Copper Recovery Copper Grade/Recovery 40 + + + + Liberated Chalcopyrite + 35 + Copper Grade - % Cu 30 Perfect Separation 25 Target Concentrate Grade -25% Cu 20 15 Max. Theoretical Recovery 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Copper Recovery %
Copper Recovery Copper Grade/Recovery 40 + + + + Liberated Chalcopyrite + 35 + Copper Grade - % Cu + 30 Perfect Separation Plant Separation Liberated Gangue recovered by "Entrainment" or "True" Flotation 25 Target Concentrate Grade -25% Cu 20 Plant Recovery 15 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Copper Recovery %
Copper Recovery – Case Study Copper Grade/Recovery 40 + + + + Liberated Chalcopyrite + 35 + Copper Grade - % Cu 30 Target Concentrate Grade -30% Cu 25 Concentrate for Sale 30% Recovery to 20 Lower Grade Copper Concentrate - 7.5% Cu 15 Concentrate for Leaching 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Copper Recovery %
Case Study - Project A • Copper/Cobalt concentrate recovered from tailings of existing copper operation • Grade of concentrate - 2.2% Cu and 0.28% Co • Prefeasibility testing followed by Albion Process Pilot Plant run • Pilot Results on ~600kg of concentrate over 24 day run • 94% Copper extraction • 81% Cobalt extraction • Downstream cobalt recovery testwork now being conducted • Client now progressing engineering for Feasibility Study • Project Capex in the order of $80M
Case Study - Project B • Copper/Gold concentrate recovered from tailings of existing copper operation (additional 17% Cu and 25% Au recovery) • Grade of concentrate - 2.4% Cu and 1.5 g/t Au • Tonnes of concentrate – 640,000 tpa , containing ~15,000 tpa Cu and ~30,000 oz Au/y • Scoping Study results • 93% Copper recovery • 85% Gold recovery • Client now progressing to Prefeasibility Stage • Project Capex in the order of US$200M
Project Development Program • Bench-scale testwork - hrltesting 23
Project Development Program • Pilot testwork - hrltesting 24
Recommend
More recommend
