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Metallurgical Testing
Equipped with the results of the mineralogical examination, the metallurgist will generally begin the program by conducting crushing and grinding test. Most the time is required carry out tests to determine the time needed to grind the minus ten mesh ore to various sizes in a laboratory rod or ball mill. Attempts are made to establish grinding times which result in particle size distributions coarser and finer than the liberation size indicated by the mineralogist. These size distributions are developed from sieve analysis performed on the ground ore and can be plotted as a function of the grinding time.
Once completed the preliminary tests, the metallurgical engineer can select a flowsheet and reagent suitable for successfully treating the ore. Selection of these parameters is based on the experience of the metallurgist coupled with the current metallurgical processes. In other words, the test engineer will select the simplest conventional technology which has been used to treat similar ores successfully. He conducts preliminary tests to acquaint himself with the ore and determine the amenability of the deposit to the particular process chosen. If the results of the preliminary study are not encouraging, then the engineer will continue to try other processes until favorable results are obtained. If the ore is refractory to the process chosen will be necessary to rethink the treatment process.
The aforementioned testwork is usually conducted on a composite drill core samples which are considered representatives of the ore body. Nevertheless, some differences in ore type and mineralization may occur within any one particular deposit. For that reason it is advantageous to determine the amenability of the extreme ore type to the process developed for the average ore. It may also prove beneficial to developed similar information on ore composites which represent the type of ore to be treated at several time intervals throughout the life of the mine. The additional information obtained from testing several ore types no only reassures the lending institutions but also provide the first concepts required to operate a plant.
By the time the metallurgical process development studies have been done on drill cores, the bulk sample is available for testing. Flowsheet simulations tests are then performed on the bulk sample to verify the results of the initial investigation.
When a plant is working, the metallurgical tests are required to optimize the results obtained initially. Perhaps, at this time, the information generated in the industrial operation is the source of data due to the plant can be considered like the initial laboratory test. Also, test can be planned considering standard conditions and problems found in any specific step of the treatment.
The tools are the same in each step of metallurgical steps and only the experience obtained can tell where the weakness of any design is.
