Geometallurgical modelling and Ore 2 tracking at kittilä mine

Abstract

Geometallurgical modelling of an orebody provides benefits to a mine by 5 gaining a better understanding of the ore characteristics and how these affect the 6 performance of the concentrator. With this knowledge, plant operating conditions 7 can be adjusted to optimise throughput and recovery in advance of the arrival of 8 particular ore types. Therefore it is extremely important that the origin of the ore 9 being processed is known as accurately as possible. Depending on the homogeneity 10 of the ore characteristics, reliance on assumptions about stockpile residence times, 11 scheduling and material handling can render the best geometallurgical models 12 useless. The solution adopted at Kittilä was to utilise Metso SmartTags ™ and 13 in-house expertise to develop a system that continuously and accurately links 14 geotechnical and lab data from the mine to the performance of the plant. This 15 application presented several unique opportunities and challenges. For example, 16 this was the first installation of a SmartTag ™ system for geometallurgical mod- 17 elling in an underground mine. Challenges included the fact that the system 18 installation is routinely subjected to temperatures below -20 °C. The system was 19 installed and commissioned in early 2013 and has been operating continuously 20 since. Kittilä has begun to see the benefits of the system with an increased 21 understanding of how different ores are processed in the concentrator. Other 22 advantages include the ability to alert operators about the arrival of difficult ores and a better understanding of their ore handling systems. This paper describes the 24 installation and use of the system at Kittilä, and details some of the geometallurgical 2256 relationships that have been developed using the data collected so far.