Laboratory Testing & General Mineral Processing Engineering

Laboratory Testing & General Mineral Processing Engineering

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Mine Tailings Sampling Technique (9 replies)

(unknown)
8 years ago
(unknown) 8 years ago

What is the most appropriate sampling technique for mine tailings (Pb-Zn) for the characterization and recovery?

Victor Bergman
8 years ago
Victor Bergman 8 years ago

Generally you have to process all the tails as grade control in tails, stockpiles and dumps is difficult to impossible in most cases.
Tails samples (or mill material balance) from when mill was running may tell you tails total tonnes and grades.
How deep, wet and fluid are tails now? This in critical in determining how to sample. (Dry and shallow a backhoe pit MAY work, Dry and deep auger or RC drilling MAY work.).Wet and fluid is more difficult.
Beware of classification by size and density in any sampling method.
Bottom of tails surface may be difficult to determine.
If tails have changed over time (e.g. oxidized) you need assay method appropriate to proposed process (i.e. met test work)

Gruppen
8 years ago
Gruppen 8 years ago

We've had success sampling and characterizing mine dumps and tails piles using sonic drilling techniques (sleeved core recovery) and assaying composite interval samples from the core. Geostatistical methods can then be applied to the results to determine grade distribution and tonnages of material. Sonic drills work well in unconsolidated and wet materials and have high recoveries of the material drilled.

U
Unterstarm
8 years ago
Unterstarm 8 years ago

In addition to his reply i can back that up with pictures and or user references.

Also in the past sonic was limited to unconsolidated and wet materials however time didn’t stood still and the new sonic dual wall core barrel and sonic wire line developments allow to sample even in granite, dry ore bodies or saprolite nickel stock pile material with 99% recovery.

Zander Barcalow
8 years ago
Zander Barcalow 8 years ago

Your suggestion is highly relevant. Tailings are variable by essence with mining and processing. For instance, early Pb-Zn tailings are generally pyrite-poor as pyrite was valorized for sulphur. Since a few decades, pyrite is dumped in tailings, changing radically their composition (and AMD behavior). We should talk of tailings stratigraphy here. Other variations may be observed with depth.

On the opposite, the horizontal variations are much less important, apart from water gradient, and sometimes a bit of grain size or density sorting through sedimentation or hydrocycloning.

Sampling tailings with carefully placed drill holes from deposit surface is therefore best. Collecting cores, as preserved as possible, is preferable to other approaches, as vertical variations can be sharp, reflecting past mining or processing decisions. Sonic sampling is probably the most efficient answer to the challenge of investigating a few millions of tons of old tailings. It (process all) is still the best for small deposits. 

(unknown)
8 years ago
(unknown) 8 years ago

In heap sampling, it is my understanding, from friends who have used sonic drills that sonic drills can go right through hard boulders within old pad and waste pile material. With a good pattern, they provide, as noted, perhaps the best method for sampling and assessing heaped material.

I believe speed and total operating cost limits broader application. Do you have site link / model information on who makes a sonic drill that is able to drill fast in hard ore? Maybe some cost/benefit studies? I find the potential interesting.

(unknown)
8 years ago
(unknown) 8 years ago

You can try out some of the soil sampling tools used for foundation work - look up 'geobore' on the web - they managed to core the mud in the base of the Thames river with this tool so I expect a tailings dam would be no problem. The tool fits to a standard diamond core rig.

U
Unterstarm
8 years ago
Unterstarm 8 years ago

If you can get me more parameters on depth, diameter, total meterage to be sampled etc I can provide you with a cost per meter on sonic sampling.

Please click on the link to view pictures of a client applying CompactRotoSonic for stock pile sampling up to 20 meters. Cores are 4" taken with our 4x7 system (4" core barrel and 6,5/8" casing) 100% recovery of very difficult to sample material!

http://is.gd/Bu5YiC

H
Hariharan
6 years ago
Hariharan 6 years ago

Hi All,

Is there any specific sampling technique suitable for thickened and paste tailings.

Just for academic interest I am putting this question.

Hariharan

 

 

N
Nurettin
6 years ago
Nurettin 6 years ago

Sonic drill is the most suitable one. 

But if it’s moisture is less than 15 you need water addition for cooling after 5meter. Be careful about this water addition effects. it can be 1m3 for 10meters. Deciding the diameter is important. 

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