WO2014094063A1 - Traitement de matériau extrait - Google Patents

Traitement de matériau extrait Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2014094063A1
WO2014094063A1 PCT/AU2013/001500 AU2013001500W WO2014094063A1 WO 2014094063 A1 WO2014094063 A1 WO 2014094063A1 AU 2013001500 W AU2013001500 W AU 2013001500W WO 2014094063 A1 WO2014094063 A1 WO 2014094063A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
fragments
mined material
electromagnetic radiation
magnetic field
alternating magnetic
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/AU2013/001500
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Samuel Kingman
Aled Jones
Georgios Dimitrakis
Christopher Dodds
Grant Ashley Wellwood
Original Assignee
Technological Resources Pty. Limited
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from AU2012905591A external-priority patent/AU2012905591A0/en
Application filed by Technological Resources Pty. Limited filed Critical Technological Resources Pty. Limited
Publication of WO2014094063A1 publication Critical patent/WO2014094063A1/fr

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Classifications

    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C22—METALLURGY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS
    • C22B—PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS
    • C22B1/00—Preliminary treatment of ores or scrap
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B02—CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING; PREPARATORY TREATMENT OF GRAIN FOR MILLING
    • B02C—CRUSHING, PULVERISING, OR DISINTEGRATING IN GENERAL; MILLING GRAIN
    • B02C19/00—Other disintegrating devices or methods
    • B02C19/18—Use of auxiliary physical effects, e.g. ultrasonics, irradiation, for disintegrating
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
    • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
    • B07C5/00—Sorting according to a characteristic or feature of the articles or material being sorted, e.g. by control effected by devices which detect or measure such characteristic or feature; Sorting by manually actuated devices, e.g. switches
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H05B—ELECTRIC HEATING; ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES, IN GENERAL
    • H05B6/00—Heating by electric, magnetic or electromagnetic fields
    • H05B6/46—Dielectric heating
    • H05B6/62—Apparatus for specific applications
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
    • G01N2223/00—Investigating materials by wave or particle radiation
    • G01N2223/60—Specific applications or type of materials
    • G01N2223/616—Specific applications or type of materials earth materials
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
    • G01N2223/00—Investigating materials by wave or particle radiation
    • G01N2223/60—Specific applications or type of materials
    • G01N2223/643—Specific applications or type of materials object on conveyor

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to treating mined material to facilitate subsequent processing of the mined material.
  • the present invention relates to using electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field to treat mined material to facilitate subsequent processing of the mined material to recover valuable material, such as metals, from the mined material.
  • the present invention also relates to recovering valuable material from mined material.
  • the term “mined” material is understood herein to include metalliferous material and non-metalliferous material. Iron-containing and copper-containing ores are examples of metalliferous material. Coal is an example of a non-metalliferous material.
  • the term “mined” material is understood herein to include, but is not limited to, (a) run-of-mine material and (b) run-of-mine material that has been subjected to at least primary crushing or similar size reduction after the material has been mined and prior to being sorted.
  • the term “mined” material includes mined material that is in stockpiles.
  • the term “mined” material includes geological core samples.
  • the present invention relates particularly, although by no means exclusively, to treating low grade mined material at high throughputs.
  • a particular, although by no means exclusive, area of interest to the applicant is mined material in the form of mined ores that include valuable material in the form of valuable copper-containing sulphide minerals and non-valuable material in the form of non-valuable sulphide minerals that are often found in nature intimately located together.
  • a particular example is chalcopyrite (CuFeS 2 ) and pyrite (FeS 2 ), which has a lower value than chalcopyrite, which are often found together in the same mineral grains. Due to the very small grain sizes that occur it is often very difficult to identify and separate such valuable and non-valuable sulphide minerals from each other in mined material.
  • the applicant has been involved in a research and development program in relation to processing mined material.
  • Microwave energy includes electric field and magnetic field components that cause direct heating of fragments of mined material depending on the composition of the fragments.
  • the present invention provides a method for treating a mined material to facilitate subsequent processing of the mined material that includes the steps of:
  • step (a) determining whether fragments in a feed mined material are amenable to being structurally altered when exposed to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field, (b) separating the fragments identified in step (a) from the remainder of the mined material, and
  • step (c) treating the selected fragments from step (b) by exposing the fragments to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field under conditions that cause structural alteration of the fragments to facilitate subsequent processing of the fragments.
  • a method of treating a mined material to facilitate subsequent processing of the mined material for example to recover a valuable material such as a metal from the mined material, the method including the steps of:
  • fragment is understood herein to mean any suitable size of mined material having regard to materials handling and processing capabilities of the apparatus used to carry out the method and issues associated with detecting sufficient information to make an accurate assessment of the mined material in the fragment. It is also noted that the term “fragment” as used herein may be understood by some persons skilled in the art to be better described as “particles”. The intention is to use both terms as synonyms.
  • Assessment step (a) and separation step (b) are in effect upstream sorting steps that assess mined material and then separate "reject" fragments of mined material and "accept” fragments of mined material.
  • Assessment step (a) may be any suitable step or steps, including steps that are based on exposing fragments to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field.
  • the "accept" fragments from this sorting stage are transferred to a treatment step (c) that includes exposing the fragments to
  • the electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field causes structural alteration, for example fracturing, of at least a significant portion of the fragments that facilitates downstream processing of the fragments.
  • structural alteration for example fracturing
  • the actual extent to which individual fragments will be altered structurally will vary depending on the mineralogy of individual fragments and other factors, including materials handling issues.
  • Assessment step (a) provides an opportunity to select from a feed mined material from a given mine or mines those fragments that are amenable to being structurally altered when exposed to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field to facilitate subsequent processing of the fragments.
  • the selected fragments that are separated from the remainder of the fragments in the mined material in separation step (b) can then be exposed to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field in treatment step (c).
  • the assessment step (a) and the separation step (b) make it possible to reduce the amount of mined material that has to be processed through an electromagnetic radiation exposure station or an alternating magnetic field exposure station in treatment step (c).
  • the assessment step (a) can be selected to be a lower cost and/or higher throughput processing step than the treatment step (c).
  • This opportunity is particularly advantageous in situations where the electromagnetic radiation exposure step (c) is selected to be based on the use of high power density electromagnetic radiation or a high power alternating magnetic field to cause structural alteration of fragments that produces extensive cracks in fragments.
  • the cracks may be desirable to facilitate subsequent fracturing of the fragments into smaller fragments or increase the internal porosity of the fragments to allow more effective penetration of leach liquor into the fragments.
  • there are high capital costs and high operating costs associated with such high power density electromagnetic radiation or alternating magnetic field technology particularly when scaled to process high throughputs and reducing the throughput to treatment step (c) is advantageous.
  • Structural alteration of the fragments in treatment step (c) may be the result of differences in thermal expansion of minerals within fragments, as a consequence of heating of minerals due to exposure to electromagnetic radiation or to an alternating magnetic field, resulting in regions of high stress/strain within the fragments and leading to cracking or other physical changes within the fragments.
  • assessment step (a) may include assessing the extent to which fragments are likely to be subject to differences in thermal expansion of minerals within the fragments.
  • the invention is applicable in situations where electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field, particularly high power density electromagnetic radiation or high power alternating magnetic fields, can be used selectively to produce micro-cracks in fragments that improve exposure of the ore to subsequent processing, such as by leaching, without substantially reducing the size of the fragments.
  • the latter point can be important in situations where coarse as opposed to fine fragments are preferred in the subsequent processing and it is therefore undesirable for electromagnetic radiation treatment or alternating magnetic field treatment to cause breakdown of fragments into fines.
  • leaching is used to remove a desired material from a mined material and there are unwanted reactive components within the mined material which consume excessive amounts of reagents if they are ground too finely.
  • the invention is also applicable in situations where electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field, particularly high power density electromagnetic radiation or high power alternating magnetic fields, can be used to selectively produce cracks in fragments that make the fragments susceptible to subsequent comminution to reduce the particle size of the fragments that have cracks to be within an optimum particle size range for subsequent processing of the ore.
  • electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field particularly high power density electromagnetic radiation or high power alternating magnetic fields
  • This is particularly important in situations where the fragments that contain valuable materials, such as metals, minerals or gemstones, are the most affected by the electromagnetic radiation treatment or the alternating magnetic field treatment and break down preferentially into smaller size fragments than the remainder of the fragments and thereby allow separation of the valuable smaller fragments from the remaining larger fragments by simple physical means.
  • the fragments which react to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field and break down may include unwanted impurities that can be separated to improve the value of the majority of the mined material, such as in the case of iron ores where the method can be used to remove contaminants, such as phosphorus and aluminium.
  • Assessment step (a) may include a fragment by fragment assessment of the mined material to determine whether there are fragments in the mined material that are amenable to being structurally altered when exposed to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field to facilitate subsequent processing of the fragments.
  • Assessment step (a) may include a bulk assessment of the mined material to determine whether there are fragments in the mined material that are amenable to being structurally altered when exposed to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field to facilitate subsequent processing of the fragments.
  • Assessment step (a) may include (i) exposing mined material to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field and (ii) detecting and assessing fragments on the basis of a characteristic of the fragments that indicate the suitability of the fragments to being structurally altered when exposed to electromagnetic radiation or the alternating magnetic field to facilitate subsequent processing of the fragments.
  • the electromagnetic radiation or the alternating magnetic field and the exposure conditions may be selected on the basis of lower cost and/or capacity for processing at a high throughput and/or a more effective option for selecting fragments that are suitable for the later treatment step (c) than processing all of the feed material through step (c).
  • the power density of the electromagnetic radiation will be significantly lower (i.e. at least one order of magnitude lower) than the power density required for treatment step (c).
  • the exposure times will be significantly longer (i.e. at least one order of magnitude longer) than the exposure times required for treatment step (c).
  • the characteristics of the fragments assessed in treatment step (a) may be any characteristics of the mined material that are helpful for assessing the suitability of fragments of the mined material for structural alteration in treatment step (c).
  • the characteristics may include any one or more of the characteristics of composition, mineralogy, hardness, porosity, structural integrity, electrical conductivity, and texture of the fragments.
  • One particular assessment option is to assess the thermal response of fragments to exposing mined material to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field. In a number of situations, the extent of heating of a fragment provides an indication of whether the fragments are adapted to being structurally altered when exposed further to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field.
  • the method may include exposing the fragments to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field in treatment step (c) and causing structural alteration of the fragments without significantly altering the mineralogy, i.e. composition, of the fragments.
  • the electromagnetic radiation for assessment step (a) and treatment step (c) may be any suitable electromagnetic radiation.
  • the radiation may be selected from X-ray, microwave and radio frequency radiation.
  • the electromagnetic radiation may be pulsed or continuous electromagnetic radiation.
  • the assessment step (a) may include exposing particles of the feed mined material to microwave radiation and treatment step (c) may include exposing particles to microwave radiation.
  • the assessment step (a) may include exposing particles of the feed mined material to microwave radiation and treatment step (c) may include exposing particles to radio frequency radiation.
  • the selection of exposure parameters, such as the type of radiation and the length of exposure, the power density, and the energy of the radiation for treatment step (c) may be based on known information regarding the mined material and downstream processing options for the mined material.
  • the electromagnetic radiation may be selected to be high power density and the exposure times may be selected to be very short exposure times.
  • the power density applied in step (c) may be selected to be at least 1 x 10 10 W/m 3 , typically at least 1 x 10 11 W/m 3 .
  • the exposure time applied in step (c) may be less than 1 s, typically less than 0.1 s, more typically less than 0.05 s.
  • the alternating magnetic field may be any suitable field.
  • an alternating magnetic field can indirectly induce electric fields in fragments of mined material which in turn induce electric currents in the form of eddy currents in the electrically conductive materials in the particles, with the electric currents causing sufficient selective ohmic heating of the electrically conductive materials in fragments in accordance with Joules First Law (i.e. the amount of heat (Q) produced in a specified time is the current squared (I 2 ) multiplied by the electrical resistance (R) of the materials in the fragments and the time period) to provide an indication that the fragments contain valuable material.
  • the heating also provides an indication that the fragments may be structurally altered, i.e.
  • indirect heating via induction heating are that the energy is only generated in materials in particles of mined material that are electrically conductive (which changes with frequency) e.g. chalcopyrite has an electrical conductivity of 20- 1000 S/m and quartz has a conductivity of 10e "14 S/m demonstrating the orders of magnitude differences between these two materials, one valuable and the other less valuable, often found together in copper-containing mined material which can be exploited to separate particles containing different amounts of these materials.
  • an optimum frequency can be determined for each valuable mineral or other valuable constituent material in a mined material in order to make it possible to allow mined material to be heated selectively compared to non-valuable material in mined material.
  • the method may include selecting the frequency of the alternating magnetic field to optimise the heating of valuable materials in the mined material when compared to non-valuable materials in the mined material to facilitate discriminating between the valuable and non-valuable materials in the mined material.
  • the method may include selecting the frequency of the alternating magnetic field to optimise the heating of chalcopyrite compared to the other materials in the mined material.
  • the method may include selecting the alternating magnetic field to cause structural alteration of the mined material.
  • the method may include selecting the alternating magnetic field to cause structural alteration of particles of the mined material as a result of differences in thermal expansion of minerals within particles causing regions of high stress/strain within particles and micro-cracking or other physical changes within particles.
  • the mined material may be processed continuously through assessment step (a) and the selected fragments separated from the remainder of the fragments in separation step (b) may be transferred directly to and processed continuously in treatment step (c).
  • the mined material may be transported through an assessment station on a conveyor belt, separated into an "accepts” stream and a "rejects” stream, and the "accepts" stream transported on a separate conveyor through an electromagnetic radiation treatment station.
  • the mined material may be processed through assessment step (a) and separated into the above-described "accepts” material and “rejects” material in separation step (b) and the "accepts” material may be stockpiled and processed through treatment step (c) at a later time.
  • the method may include treating mined material at a throughput of at least 100 tonnes per hour through step (a) and/or through step (c).
  • the method may include treating mined material at a throughput of at least 250 tonnes per hour through step (a) and/or through step (c).
  • the method may include treating mined material at a throughput of at least 500 tonnes per hour through step (a) and/or through step (c).
  • the method may include treating mined material at a throughput of at least 1000 tonnes per hour through step (a) and/or through step (c).
  • the method may include subsequent processing of the treated fragments from treatment step (c) to recover the valuable material from the mined material.
  • the subsequent processing of the fragments may include heap leaching of the fragments and recovering the valuable material from a pregnant leach liquor.
  • the subsequent processing of the fragments may include smelting the fragments.
  • the subsequent processing of the fragments may include hydrometallurgical processing the fragments and forming a concentrate of the valuable material.
  • the hydrometallurgical processing may include a flotation step.
  • the hydrometallurgical processing may include a milling step followed by a flotation step.
  • the subsequent processing may include smelting the concentrate and recovering the valuable material.
  • the subsequent processing of the fragments may include leaching one portion of the fragments and hydrometallurgical processing another portion of the fragments.
  • the subsequent processing of the fragments may include comminution of the fragments to reduce the sizes of the fragments to be within an optimum particle size range for subsequent processing of the mined material.
  • This step is particularly suitable for mined material where the product is not a fine powder such as is the case for iron ore and diamonds. It can also be beneficial in reducing the amount of mined material which needs to be ground finely for preparation of the final product if the composition of the different fractions can be directly measured and the components separated in a dry state.
  • Online analysis systems such as Laser Induced Fluorescence, X-Ray Diffraction of Neutron Activation Analysis are particularly suitable for use in combination with the electromagnetic radiation treatment.
  • the subsequent processing of the fragments may include processing the fragments from treatment step (c) and the fragments that are not selected in assessment step (a) to recover valuable material from the fragments.
  • This option is particularly suitable in situations where all of the feed mined material that is supplied to assessment step (a) is above a minimum threshold grade for a downstream recovery processing option and a part of the material is not suitable for that option.
  • the method makes it possible to select this part of the feed mined material and then treat the fragments in this part to structurally alter the fragments so that all of the feed mined material can be processed in the downstream processing option.
  • an apparatus for treating a mined material to facilitate subsequent processing of the mined material for example to recover a valuable material such as a metal from the mined material
  • the apparatus including: (a) an assessment station for determining whether there are fragments in the feed mined material that are amenable to being structurally altered, for example fractured, when exposed to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field so as to facilitate subsequent processing of the fragments,
  • an electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field treatment station for exposing the fragments of mined material that are determined to be amenable to being structurally altered when exposed to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field to electromagnetic radiation or an alternating magnetic field under conditions that are selected to cause structural alteration of the fragments to facilitate subsequent processing of the fragments.
  • the separator may be any suitable separator.
  • the separator may include a plurality of air jets that can be actuated selectively to displace fragments form a path of movement.
  • the apparatus may be adapted to treat mined material at any suitable throughput through the assessment station and through the treatment station.
  • the required throughput in any given situation is dependent on a range of factors including, but not limited to, operating requirements of upstream and downstream operations.
  • the apparatus may be adapted to treat mined material at a throughput of at least 100 tonnes per hour of mined material through the assessment station and/or through the treatment station.
  • the apparatus may be adapted to treat mined material at a throughput of at least 250 tonnes per hour of mined material through the assessment station and/or through the treatment station.
  • the apparatus may be adapted to treat mined material at a throughput of at least 500 tonnes per hour of mined material through the assessment station and/or through the treatment station.
  • the apparatus may be adapted to treat mined material at a throughput of at least 1000 tonnes per hour of mined material through the assessment station and/or through the treatment station.
  • the mined material may be any mined material that contains valuable material, such as valuable metals.
  • valuable materials are valuable metals in minerals such as minerals that comprise metal oxides or metal sulphides.
  • Specific examples of valuable materials that contain metal oxides are iron ores and nickel laterite ores.
  • Specific examples of valuable materials that contain metal sulphides are copper-containing ores.
  • Other examples of valuable materials are salt and coal.
  • the present invention is particularly, although not exclusively, applicable to treating low grade mined material.
  • low grade is understood herein to mean that the economic value of the valuable material, such as a metal, in the mined material is only marginally greater than the costs to mine and recover and transport the valuable material to a customer.
  • concentrations that are regarded as “low” grade will depend on the economic value of the valuable material and the mining and other costs to recover the valuable material from the mined material at a particular point in time.
  • the concentration of the valuable material may be relatively high and still be regarded as "low” grade. This is the case with iron ores.
  • fragments when used in a more general sense in the context of valuable materials is understood herein to mean fragments with no valuable material or amounts of valuable material that cannot be recovered economically from the fragments.
  • a method for recovering valuable material such as a valuable metal, from mined material, such as mined ore, that includes treating mined material according to the method described above and thereafter processing the fragments from treatment step (c) and recovering valuable material.
  • the processing options for the sorted fragments from treatment step (c) may be any suitable options, such as smelting and leaching options, or combinations of suitable options.
  • the method may include a plurality of downstream processing options, and the method may include varying the proportions of the treated fragments to the downstream processing options depending on the operational requirements of the method and the characteristics of the treated fragments.
  • the method may include processing the fragments from treatment step (c) and fragments that are not selected in assessment step (a) to recover valuable material from the fragments.
  • the method may include a downstream processing step of comminuting the treated material as a pre-treatment step for a downstream option for recovering the valuable mineral from the mined material.
  • the method may include a downstream processing step of blending the sorted material as a pre-treatment step for a downstream option for recovering the valuable mineral from the mined material.
  • the embodiment is described in the context of a method and an apparatus for recovering a valuable metal in the form of copper from a low grade copper-containing ore in which the copper is present in copper-containing minerals such as chalcopyrite and the ore also contains non-valuable gangue.
  • the present invention is not confined to copper-containing ores and to copper as the valuable material to be recovered.
  • the method assesses a feed stream of mined material, (b) selects fragments of mined material containing copper-containing minerals that are amenable to being structurally altered, i.e. fractured in this
  • the embodiment shown in the drawing is based on (a) exposing a feed mined material to microwave radiation and making an assessment of the material as a consequence of the exposure to microwave radiation, (b) separating the material into categories, namely (i) one category comprising selected fragments that that are amenable to being structurally altered, i.e. fractured in this embodiment, by exposure to electromagnetic radiation to facilitate downstream processing of the fragments to recover copper from the fragments and (ii) another category comprising the remainder of the fragments and (c) exposing the selected fragments to radio frequency radiation to treat the fragments by structurally alters, i.e. fractures in this embodiment, the fragments.
  • the embodiment shown in the drawing is based on, but is not limited to, a particular form of a microwave radiation-based sorting system that is described in general terms by the applicant as a "NuWaveTM" system that comprises the assessment and separation steps and a particular form of a microwave radiation treatment system that is described in general terms by the applicant as a
  • MicroHammerTM system that comprises the treatment step. It is noted that the "NuWaveTM” system and the “MicroHammerTM” system are not confined to the use of microwave radiation. Both systems may use any suitable electromagnetic radiation such as radio frequency radiation and combinations of different types of radiation.
  • the use of a MicroHammerTM system requires high power energy density. In situations where a valuable metal is a very small concentration in fragments and the fragments include a large amount of fragments that have no or very low concentrations of the valuable metal, the MicroHammerTM system may not be a viable option from an energy (cost) viewpoint.
  • the method shown in the drawing includes an upstream sorting stage that assesses whether fragments in an input stream of fragments are "accepts” and “rejects” fragments and then separates the "accepts” and the “reject” fragments.
  • the "accept” fragments are transferred to a MicroHammerTM station.
  • the upstream sorting stage may use a NuWaveTM system or any other suitable system.
  • a key feature of the method is to select the operating conditions for the upstream sorting stage in the process to identify fragments in a feed ore that are amenable to processing in the downstream MicroHammerTM step in the method.
  • the identified fragments are separated from the other fragments and are then transferred to the MicroHammerTM step.
  • the method makes it possible to focus the high power density and high cost MicroHammerTM step on fragments that are suitable for the MicroHammerTM treatment step. This is advantageous in terms of capital and operating costs.
  • a feed material in the form of fragments of copper-containing ore 1 is crushed by a primary crusher 3 to a fragment size of 10-25 cm and is supplied to a screen 5 and separated into a fines stream 9 of less than 15 mm and a coarse stream 7.
  • the coarse stream 7 is transferred to a first electromagnetic radiation treatment station 11.
  • This station exposes the feed ore to microwave radiation (or any other suitable electromagnetic radiation).
  • the microwave radiation may be either in the form of continuous or pulsed radiation.
  • the microwave radiation may be applied at an electric field below that which is required to induce fractures in the fragments.
  • the microwave frequency and microwave power density and the fragment exposure time and the other operating parameters of the station 11 are selected having regard to the information for downstream processing that is required.
  • the required information is information to assess the particular mined material for downstream exposure to another source of electromagnetic radiation, more particularly higher power density radio frequency radiation in this embodiment, that is capable of structurally altering, i.e. fracturing in this embodiment, the selected fragments to facilitate downstream recovery processing of the fragments.
  • characteristics such as grade, mineralogy, hardness, texture, structural integrity, and porosity that will provide the necessary information to make an informed decision about the selection of the fragments.
  • the assessment of the response of the fragments in the coarse stream 7 to microwave radiation may be made by any suitable options.
  • One option is to assess the thermal response of the fragments to microwave radiation. More particularly, if fragments are heated in response to exposure to microwave radiation in the first electromagnetic radiation treatment station 11, this is an indication that there may be differential thermal expansion within fragments when exposed to high power microwave or other electromagnetic radiation in a downstream treatment step that could fracture the fragments.
  • the selected fragments are separated from the other fragments of the feed material in a separator (not specifically shown in the drawing but part of the station 11) and form an "Accepts" stream 13.
  • the separator may be any suitable form of separator.
  • the separator may be a series of air jets that are responsive to control signals generated by the assessment system of the station 11.
  • the separated stream 13 of selected fragments is transferred to a second electromagnetic radiation treatment station 15.
  • the selected fragments are exposed to high power density microwave radiation (or any other suitable electromagnetic radiation) in the station 15.
  • the operating conditions including frequency, residence time, power density, etc., are selected so that the selected fragments are structurally altered, i.e. fractured in this embodiment, to facilitate downstream recovery processing of the fragments.
  • One downstream processing option is a concentration circuit generally identified by the numeral 23 that includes a mill that grinds the selected fragments and a flotation plant 19 which produces a copper concentrate.
  • Another downstream processing option is a heap leach operation 21 that produces a pregnant leach liquor containing copper in solution.
  • the selection of the operating conditions for the station 15 is dependent on the selected downstream processing option. As is described above, in some situations, particularly where leaching is a preferred downstream processing option, it may be preferred to cause extensive cracking of the fragments. In other situations, less extreme structural alteration of the fragments may be sufficient.
  • the fines stream 9 of less than 15 mm from the screen 9 is combined with the output stream of treated fragments from the treatment station 15. Depending on operation requirements, this combined stream is split between the concentrator circuit 23 and the heap leach operation 21.
  • the embodiment includes an option where all of the output from the treatment station 15 is transferred to one or the other of the downstream processing options.
  • the fragments that are not selected for the "Accepts" stream 13 form a "Rejects" stream 25.
  • This stream 25 may be transferred to a waste stockpile 27 or to a leach operation 29 or another downstream processing option to recover copper from the fragments.
  • the selection process in the "Copper NuWaveTM" station is not limited to grade and, hence, it is possible that there is valuable material in the "Rejects" stream.
  • the flow sheet shown in the drawing is an advantageous combination of an electromagnetic radiation-based sorting stage that selects particles that are suitable for beneficial treatment based on exposure to electromagnetic radiation that produces structural alteration of the particles that facilitates further processing to recover valuable material.
  • both steps may include separate induction heating coils that induce localised heating of the materials in the fragments depending on the electrical conductivity of the materials in the fragments.
  • the fragments are heated to different extents depending on the materials in the fragments.
  • the present invention is not confined to
  • an alternating magnetic field treatment step may be used in sorting step 11 and an electromagnetic radiation treatment step may be used in fragmentation step 15, and vice versa.

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  • Manufacture And Refinement Of Metals (AREA)

Abstract

La présente invention concerne un procédé et un appareil permettant de traiter un matériau extrait en vue de faciliter le traitement ultérieur dudit matériau extrait. Le procédé selon l'invention comprend les étapes consistant à : (a) déterminer si des fragments dans un matériau extrait d'alimentation sont aptes à être structurellement modifiés lors d'une exposition à un rayonnement électromagnétique ou à un champ magnétique alternatif ; (b) séparer les fragments identifiés au cours de l'étape (a) du reste du matériau extrait ; et (c) traiter les fragments sélectionnés au cours de l'étape (b) par exposition desdits fragments à un rayonnement électromagnétique ou à un champ magnétique alternatif dans des conditions provoquant une modification structurelle des fragments en vue de faciliter le traitement ultérieur desdits fragments.
PCT/AU2013/001500 2012-12-20 2013-12-20 Traitement de matériau extrait WO2014094063A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU2012905591A AU2012905591A0 (en) 2012-12-20 Electromagnetic radiation treatment of mined material
AU2012905591 2012-12-20

Publications (1)

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WO2014094063A1 true WO2014094063A1 (fr) 2014-06-26

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Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN108452926A (zh) * 2018-02-07 2018-08-28 周军 一种环保的建筑废弃物利用设备
CN109277168A (zh) * 2018-08-23 2019-01-29 王永亮 一种多功能选矿设备
CN109894268A (zh) * 2019-03-26 2019-06-18 赣州金环磁选设备有限公司 一种黑钨矿抛尾提精的选矿方法
WO2021124024A1 (fr) * 2019-12-19 2021-06-24 Anglo American Technical & Sustainability Services Ltd Rejet de gangue à partir de minerais

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2003102250A1 (fr) * 2002-05-31 2003-12-11 Technological Resources Pty Ltd Traitement de minerais par micro-ondes
WO2012016286A1 (fr) * 2010-08-04 2012-02-09 Technological Resources Pty. Limited Tri de matériau extrait de mines

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2003102250A1 (fr) * 2002-05-31 2003-12-11 Technological Resources Pty Ltd Traitement de minerais par micro-ondes
WO2012016286A1 (fr) * 2010-08-04 2012-02-09 Technological Resources Pty. Limited Tri de matériau extrait de mines

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN108452926A (zh) * 2018-02-07 2018-08-28 周军 一种环保的建筑废弃物利用设备
CN109277168A (zh) * 2018-08-23 2019-01-29 王永亮 一种多功能选矿设备
CN109894268A (zh) * 2019-03-26 2019-06-18 赣州金环磁选设备有限公司 一种黑钨矿抛尾提精的选矿方法
WO2021124024A1 (fr) * 2019-12-19 2021-06-24 Anglo American Technical & Sustainability Services Ltd Rejet de gangue à partir de minerais

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