EARLY-STAGE RISK MINIMIZATION IN PROCESS FLOWSHEET DESIGN

Of increasing importance in the design of extractive metallurgical process flowsheets is the early identification of techno-economic, occupational safety and environmental risks potentially associated with the project. This is particularly the case for semi-refractory low-grade, high-volume mineral resources, where it is essential to constrain both capital and operating expenses to the minimum. An approach is presented that serves to minimize the upfront costs of project assessment, allowing the stakeholders either an early exit or decision to proceed to the next level. This is achieved via the integration of several modern tools available to the process engineer, including historical data mining and analysis, quantitative mineralogy techniques such as QEMSCAN (R) or MLA, `sighter level physico-chemical testwork and short-form process and economic modelling. The current global economic position is limiting access to mineral process development funding; hence, the ability to produce meaningful process development decisions on a limited budget is of great value.