COURSE: GEOLOGY OF MINES

PROFESSOR: ENG. JOSÉ SALAS MEDINA

MEMBERS:
1. COLQUE CALIZAYA DANIEL
2. MAMANI MALADONADO JUDITH
3. MAMANI MAMANI CHRISTIAN
4. QUENTA ROQUE EDUAR
5. MAMANI MORALES MILER
6. HUARACHI LAURA OLIVER
7. RAMOS SANTOS ZENON
8. MAMANI CONDORI YEYSON
9. CHAMBILLA PANDIA JOSÉ
 GEOMETALURGIA

INDICE
I. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................2
II. BASES OF GEOMETALURGY ...................................................................................................2
III. CONTRIBUTIONS OF GEOMETALURGY ...........................................................................3
IV. WORK TECHNIQUES ..............................................................................................................3
CONCLUSIONS: ...................................................................................................................................4
BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................................5

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GEOMETALLURGY

I. INTRODUCTION
The geometallurgy is a tool that integrates information geology, geostatistics, extractive
metallurgy, mining planning and economic evaluation to maximize the net present value of
a mine, at the same time that minimizes the operational and technical risk. Since part of the
geometallurgy is the characterization of minerals from ore and gangue, this links the
Mineralogical variability and the textures of the tank with a model of blocks in three
dimensions (3D) and related costs. This allows to take into account the variability of the ore
in quality and production forecasts, the design of the infrastructure and the flowchart
throughout the production life of a mine.

illustration 1 GEOSTALLURGICAL WORKFLOW

II. BASES OF GEOMETALURGY

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The importance of the geometallurgy based their principle in understanding that ores are
combinations of minerals, not from chemicals, and since all processes deal with minerals,
are the physicochemical characteristics of these which determine the conditions of an
industrial recovery process. In a more specific way, then, are some of the bases
underpinning the geometallurgy:
 The ores are combinations of minerals. Then are the characteristics of these
determining conditions of industrial processes.
 Gangue minerals are much more abundant than the ore. These minerals can, by
themselves, determine conditions of processes of mining, milling, flotation, etc.
 In some ore important metal occurs in more than one mineral. The minerals tend
to have different behavior during the process; recoveries of an element may be
different for different minerals.
 The geometallurgical model is the result of the overall knowledge of the mineral
deposit in relation to their mineralogy, chemistry and behavior processes and
recovery.

III. CONTRIBUTIONS OF GEOMETALURGY

All the information that is derived from a study geometallurgical can be used in processes
related to the evaluation of resources, methods of exploitation and an Ore beneficiation
method.
Listed below, are some of these possibilities of information:
 Relationship of mineral species, textural characteristics between them, and laws.
 Relationship between ore and gangue minerals.
 Concentration of desirable or undesirable elements during a process.
 Hardness of the material (ease of grinding).
 Knowledge of the best mesh of release of the mineral particles (Figure 3).
 Metallurgical recovery.
 The ore relations with reagents consumption.
 During the exploitation or exploration drilling facilities.
 Facilities for the fragmentation operation.
 Characteristics of casting products.

IV. WORK TECHNIQUES

It is considered that for the exploitation and benefit of minerals, metallurgical units must be
defined that do not necessarily correspond to the lithological or alteration types that are
known in a given deposit.

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The definition of a geometallurgical unit must be made in agreement between the geologist,
the mining engineer and the metallurgist engineer and depends on the type of rock,
alteration, mineralogy of ore and gangue and the morphology and mineral textures.
Because of its importance, a geometallurgical unit must represent at least 5 or 10% of the
volume of economic resources that can be exploited. All the data of a geometallurgical study
can be introduced as geostatistical variables in the specialized software of the mines known
generically as "the model". In "the model" the mining plan is based and the geometallurgical
variables can be translated into economic calculations by blocks, before the ore is sent to a
beneficiation plant.
Like any research activity that works with samples, the most important thing is the
representativeness of the sample, which in this case must be extrapolated to tens or
hundreds of thousands of tons of ore. Therefore, those involved in a geometallurgical study
actively participate from the selection and sampling, to a final report.
The techniques of work ranging from the scale hectometric to the microscopic scale. A
general methodology involves the following aspects:
 Geological mapping of detail at the site (recognition of lithology, types and degrees
of alteration, types and degrees of mineralization).
 Detailed description of core drills diamond (recognition of prior parameters) and
sections for sample selection.
 Sampling and mineralized rocks representative types of ore for composites (in order
to define units geometallurgical and work of detail under a microscope).
 Study of thin films and polished sections under a polarizing microscope (definition of
lithological, mineralogical and textural characteristics under a microscope).
 X-ray diffraction studies X, mainly method Rietveld (composition of specific minerals,
mainly clay and unidentified General proportions under a petrographic microscope).
 Studies with the scanning electron microscope (SEM) with EDS (Energy Dispersive
System) (specific composition of minerals and textures on this scale).
 Use of a computer program (a program that allows an automated count of particles
by composition and calculation of the degree of release of particles).
 Reconciliation between global chemical composition of samples and fractions
calculated based on specific mineral compositions and the (mineral) modal
composition of the sample.

CONCLUSIONS:

 The geometallurgy is a tool that involves specialists in the field of microscopy, geology, mining
and extractive metallurgy to optimize the processes of exploitation and beneficiation of
minerals.
 The geometallurgy is also used to optimize production plans, make projections and reduce
risk.

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 The geometallurgy can be used in the design of new plants and during operations.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1) Pérez Segura, E. (2003). Contribuciones de la mineragrafía a los procesos

industriales de recuperación de minerales, Conferencia de ingreso a la Academia
de Ingeniería (AI), México, D.F. 28 p.
2) Lamberg, P. (2011). Particles-the bridge between geology and metallurgy,
Conference in Minerals Engineering, Alatalo, J. (ed), Lulea, 978-91-7439-220-3, p.
1-16.
3) Hallewell, M. (2009). Geometallurgy for mine data, Materials World, 17 (7), p. 48-
50. 4) Dobby, G., Bennett, C., Bulled, D. and Kosick, G. (2004). Geometallurgical
modeling – The new approach to plant design and production forecasting/planning,
and Mine/Mill Optimization, Proceedings of 36th Annual Meeting of the Canadian
Mineral Processors, January 20-22, 2004. Ottawa, Canada, Paper 15.

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