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Size does matter

he Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mining Innova- fractions.
Ttion Hub (Kal Hub) has found West- Several sites with-
ern Australian Goldfields mine sites can in the Eastern Gold-
add value to their operations by focusing fields showed sig-
on small size fractions. nificant potential for
In recent decades, the primary driver separation by size to
to maximise profitability of mining op- provide value to their
erations has been to mine and process operations. This is
as much material as possible to exploit particularly the case
economies of scale. This has led to big- where either mar-
ger equipment, higher throughput plants ginal grades are pre-
and greater production but not necessar- sent or growing dis-
ily efficient use of resources. tances from face to
With concerns over declining grades, surface, or from mine Research has shown that mine sites can add value to their
more complex orebodies, greater haul- to mill, are subject to operations by focusing on small size fractions
age distances, higher energy costs and increasing transport
water usage, any approach that can alle- costs. chief operating officer Dr Luke Keeney
viate the impact of these issues is highly Research and test work by the Hub said the work conducted by the Hub was
desirable. show that natural grade by size deport- significant.
The Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mining Innova- ment during coarse rock breakage and “In a short amount of time the Hub has
tion Hub recently explored use of a pre- screening is a key lever for generating been able to bring together some of the
concentration technique known as grade high-value coarse separation. This in turn most innovative people in industry and
by size deportment. This technique ex- can drive better productivity and returns research, enabling collaborative innova-
ploits the propensity for some ores to for mine operators. tion to occur,” Dr Keeney said.
exhibit preferential breakage leading to Cooperative Research Centre for Opti- The Kal Hub was established in 2018
concentration of minerals in specific size mising Resource Extraction (CRC ORE) by the CRC ORE.

IndeX

Accelerate 56 Endeavour 25, 28 Lotus 56 Rox 36
AIC 12 Euro Manganese 56 Lynas 46 Rumble 12
Albermale 16 European Metals 56 Lundin 48
Altan 11 Salt Lake 52
AngloGold 38 Fenix 56 Mako 28 Sandfire 56
Arafura 46 Fin 56 Medusa 56 Saracen 52, 56
Ardea 56 First Quantum 25 MetalsTech 56 Sarama 54
Arrow 36 Meteoric 54 Shandong 28
Atlas 52 Gascoyne 6,8 Middle Island 55 Silver Lake 10
Aurelia 56 Gempart 45 MinRes 53 Sovereign 55
Genesis 56 Strategic 45
Bardoc 54 Gold Fields 25 New Age 56 Superior Lake 56
Base 19, 22 Gold Road 56 Newcrest 47
BHP 16, 52 Greenland 56 Newmont 47 Taruga 56
Black Rock 26 Nordgold 28 Thor 44
Blackstone 56 Habrock 8 Nova 10 Tianqi 16
Hanking 8 Titan 56
Calidus 56 Horizon Minerals 56 Ora Banda 6, 8 Todd River 56
Cardinal 28 Hot Chili 54-55 Oz 56 Torian 10
Centaurus 49 Troy 11
Challenger 48 Icopper 45 Perseus 19, 20, 21, 22, 24,
Codelco 4 IGO 12, 45, 47 28, 32, 56 Vale 4, 49
Core 44-45 Ioneer 56 Poseidon 56 Viva 45
Cupric 21 Inca 45 Predictive 32, 36
IronRidge 38 Prodigy 45, 47 West African 19, 20, 25, 32, 36
Dacian 6, 8 Western Areas 4
Dampier 10 Kazakhstan Potash 56 Red Metal 54 Wiluna 6
De Beers 14 King River 45 Resolute 19, 21, 22, 32
Kirkland 45 Rio Tinto 20, 53 Xanadu 56
EHR 56 Kogi 40-41 Roxgold 25

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