AEMAPresentationtratamentodeminerios.ppt

Tratamento de minérios

1. Slide Title
INNOVATION IN MINERAL PROCESSING
AND
EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY
Dr. Corby G. Anderson
Harrison Western Professor
Kroll Institute for Extractive Metallurgy
Colorado School of Mines

2. PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATION PHILOSOPHY

3. Colorado School of Mines
•Est. 1874
•Golden, Colorado
•21 Technical Majors
•About 200 Faculty
•About 6600 Students
•“…has a unique mission in energy, mineral,
and materials science and engineering…”
•“has the best balance between teaching
and research of any public university.”
•“QS ranked #1 in the World for Mining and
Mineral Engineering” by Business Insider.
•“Ranked as #1 US Engineering school” by
USA Today.
•“Mines has the brainiest students of any
public university.” Luminosity survey.
•“the average starting salary of a BSc
Mines graduate is $ 10 K more
than an Ivy League graduate.”

4. The Kroll Institute for The Kroll Institute for
Extractive MetallurgyExtractive Metallurgy
Dr. Patrick R. Taylor, Director KIEM
Department of Mining Engineering,
Colorado School of Mines

5. kiem.mines.edu

6. MY HOMETOWN - BUTTE AMERICA
“A Mile High and a Mile Deep but the People are on the Level”

7. ANDERSON ANCESTORS 1891
FROM LINDBERGE PARISH, HALLAND, SWEDEN
BUILT & OPERATED THE ANACONDA SMELTER

The Stack was built by the Alphons Custodis Chimney Construction Company
of New York. At the time it was built, May 5, 1919 it was the tallest masonry
structure of any kind in the world at 585 feet.
“Nothing is good enough if it could be made
better and better is never good enough if it
can be made best.”

8. HARRINGTON CORBY ANCESTORS 1873 COPPER MINERS
FROM ALLIHIES PARISH, BEARA PENINSULA,
COUNTY CORK, IRELAND
“Irish people are educated not only about artistry
but local history.” – Fiona Shaw

9. MY INITIAL THOUGHTS

10. The Bronze Age
•Metals were first used in tools and weapons manufacture.
•Pure copper and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, were used
indiscriminately at first; this early period is sometimes called the
Copper Age and it occurred around 4000 B.C.
•The development of a metallurgical industry coincided with the rise of
urbanization.
•The organized operations of mining, smelting, and casting undoubtedly
required the specialization of labor and the production of surplus food
to support a class of artisans.
•The search for raw materials stimulated the exploration and
colonization of new territories.
MY INITIAL THOUGHTS

11. The Iron Age
•The casting of iron did not become technically useful until the
Industrial Revolution.
•The Iron Age developed the basic economic innovations of the Bronze
Age and laid the foundations for feudal organization.
•They utilized the crops and domesticated animals introduced earlier
from the Middle East. Ox-drawn plows and wheeled vehicles acquired
a new importance and changed the agricultural patterns.
•For the first time humans were able to exploit efficiently the
temperate forests. Villages were fortified, warfare was conducted on
horseback and in horse-drawn chariots, and alphabetic writing based
on the Phoenician script became widespread.
•Distinctive art styles in metal, pottery, and stone characterized
many Iron Age cultures.
MY INITIAL THOUGHTS

12. MY INITIAL THOUGHTS

Dr. William Justin Kroll was a Luxembourg
metallurgist.
He is best known for inventing the Kroll process in
1940 in conjunction with the USBM which is used
commercially to extract metallic titanium and
zirconium from ores.
 
This created an entirely new material and industry !
Born:
 November 24, 1889, Luxembourg
Died:
 March 30, 1973, Brussels, Belgium
“good metallurgists are not born. They are made with the ample money of the
companies which hire them, and since they usually make their mistakes on a
grand scale, they are the nightmares of business management.”
1943 Perkin Award Speech Quotation by Dr. William Kroll

13. “KIEM - Excellence in Education and
Research for the Mining, Minerals
and Metals Industries”
•Objectives: The objectives of KIEM are
to provide research expertise, well-
trained engineers to industry, and
research and educational opportunities
to students, in the areas of : minerals
processing, extractive metallurgy,
recycling, and waste minimization.
•History: The Kroll Institute for Extractive
Metallurgy was established at the Colorado
School of Mines in 1974 using a bequest
from Dr. William J. Kroll after he died.
•This effort was led by Professor Al
Schlechten. For over 45 years, the Kroll
Institute has provided support for a
significant number of undergraduate and
graduate students who have gone on to
make important contributions to the
mining, minerals and metals industries.
 
MY INITIAL THOUGHTS

14. 10/13/24 14
MY INITIAL THOUGHTS
In any bureaucracy, there's a natural tendency to
let the system become an excuse for inaction.
Chris Fussell

15. INNOVATION IN MINERAL PROCESING
AND EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY
“Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.”
Aesop

16. FROTH FLOTATION
The generally recognized first successful commercial flotation process
for mineral sulfides was invented by Frank Elmore who worked on the
development with his brother, Stanley.
It had previously been noted that sulfide minerals would float with
application of oils.
The Glasdir copper mine at Llanelltyd, near Dolgellau in North Wales
was bought in 1896 by the Elmore brothers in conjunction with their
father, William.
In 1897, the Elmore brothers installed the world's first industrial size
commercial flotation process for mineral beneficiation at the Glasdir
mine.

17. FROTH FLOTATION

18. Georgius Agricola (24 March 1494 – 21 November 1555) was a German scholar
and scientist. Known as "the father of mineralogy", he was born at Glauchau in
Saxony. His real name was Georg Pawer; Agricola is the Latinised version of his
name, Pawer/(Bauer) meaning farmer. He is best known for his book De Re
Metallica. Translated to English by Herbert and Lou Hoover.
There were other Hoovers prominent in mining too !
FROTH FLOTATION

19. Developments elsewhere, particularly in Broken Hill, Australia by Minerals Separation,
Limited, who Herbert Hoover’s brother T J worked with, led to decades of hard fought
legal battles and litigations.
In 1911, James M. Hyde a former employee of Minerals Separation, Ltd., modified the
Minerals Separation process and installed a test plant in the Butte and Superior Mill in
Basin, Montana, the first such installation in the USA.
In 1912, he designed the Butte & Superior zinc works, Butte, Montana, the first great
flotation plant in America.
Minerals Separation, Ltd., which had set up an office in San Francisco, sued Hyde for
infringement as well as the Butte & Superior company, both cases were eventually
won by the firm in the U. S. Supreme Court.
FROTH FLOTATION

20. GOLD CYANIDATION
John MacArthur

21. GOLD CYANIDATION
John MacArthur was a chemist in Glasgow Scotland.
He purposefully studied cyanide and successfully applied it to gold.
He was financially backed by the Forrest brothers who were physicians.
Patents were lodged and cyanide was introduced in Australia and South
Africa.
The South African gold industry became dominant and they refused to
honor the cyanide patents due to excessive royalty requests.

22. Increase In World Gold and Silver Production Between 1900
and 1910 As a Result of Cyanidation
GOLD CYANIDATION

23. GOLD CYANIDATION
The Carlin Trend in Northern Nevada.
Now the largest producer of gold in the world.
My Son and Daughter in Law
live and work here.
Thank you John MacArthur !

24. CHATEAU DES BEAUX, FRANCE
Why here ?????
What mineral ???
What metal ???

25. ALUMINUM
A RARE METAL BEFORE 1887
Element
Abundance
percent by
weight
Abundance
parts per million
by weight
Oxygen 46.1% 461,000
Silicon 28.2% 282,000
Aluminum 8.23% 82,300
Iron 5.63% 56,300
Calcium 4.15% 41,500
Sodium 2.36% 23,600
Magnesium 2.33% 23,300
Potassium 2.09% 20,900
Titanium 0.565% 5,650
Hydrogen 0.14% 1,400
The 10 Most Abundant Elements in the Earth's Crust
Source: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 77th Edition.

26. ALUMINUM
•High purity alumina was desired for the fabric
industry.
•Le Chatelier had proposed a soda ash roasting
process.
•Bayer instead used high temperature selective
leaching followed by selective crystallization.
•Filled the need for fabrics. What else though ?

27. Karl Joseph Bayer
ALUMINUM

28. BAYER ALUMINA PROCESS 1887

29. ALUMINUM
•Charles Martin Hall at sixteen years old was a student at
Oberlin College.
•In his second term he attended a lecture by Oberlin Professor
Frank Fanning Jewett who said "if anyone should invent a
process by which aluminum could be made on a commercial
scale, not only would he be a benefactor to the world, but
would also be able to lay up for himself a great fortune."
•Independently, Heroult also researched this in France.

30. Hall Heroult Process
22 Years Old ! 23 Years Old !

31. Hall – Heroult Aluminum Process Process 1887
ALUMINUM

32. ALUMINUM
Bayer
Process
Hall Heroult Process
Now the largest non ferrous resource industry.

33. Bayer Hall & Heroult Process Global Impact
!!!!!!!!!!
ALUMINUM

34. •General Mills had an off beat research project using oximes for liquid
liquid extractions.
•General Mills had very limited interest in it as it was not a core
business.
•The copper industry did not want it or accept it and rejected it.
•Joe House kept it alive with bandit research just like sticky notes at
3M.
•Maxie Anderson accepted the technology risk and implemented it at
his Rancher’s Bluebird copper mine 50 years ago.
COPPER SOLVENT EXTRACTION

35. COPPER SOLVENT EXTRACTION
Selectively Recover Cu
+2
With Organic
2[R-H
+
]

+ Cu
+2  
R
2
-Cu
+2
+ 2H
+
Org
OrgCu
+2 2H
+ Aqueous
Solution
Org
Org

36. COPPER SOLVENT EXTRACTION
Now 30 % of World Copper Production

37. Swansea, Wales
The first copper ingot was produced at Swansea's historic
Hafod Copperworks site in 1811 years ago and continued until
1980.
COPPER ELECTROREFINING

38. •The world’s first copper electrorefinery started production in
1869 at Pembrey in South Wales and was closed in March 1912.
Refining principles pioneered there form the foundation of
modern electrorefining practice.
•It was invented in 1865 by James Elkington to remove precious
metals from copper by collecting slimes.
•No real use then for high purity copper.
•Then the electrical age hit the world.
COPPER ELECTROREFINING

39. Utilizes a soluble anode and an impressed voltage.


Anode Reaction Cathode Reaction
COPPER ELECTROREFING

40. COPPER ELECTROREFINING
Now 70% of World Copper Production

41. For the Manhattan Project, scientists needed pure uranium, lots of it, fast and at a low price.
HYDROMETALLURGY
TWENTY THIRD LECTURE
THE RARE EARTHS

42. THE RARE EARTHS
Rare-earth impurities in uranium could prevent a nuclear reactor from working by
absorbing the neutrons needed to keep the chain reaction going.
So the rare earths had to be removed.
Yet the chemical similarity of the lanthanides makes it extremely difficult to isolate
them from one another and to separate them from uranium and other actinides.
Iowa State chemistry professor Frank H. Spedding, an expert on rare earths, helped
guide solution processing efforts to make tons of pure uranium oxide and a new high-
temperature smelting method—called the Ames process—to make tons of pure
uranium metal.

43. THE RARE EARTHS
Existing Rare Earths separations technology before the Manhattan Project.

44. \
Ion Exchange Displacement Chromatography Ion Exchange Elution
Chromatography
THE RARE EARTHS
Rare Earths separations technology after the Manhattan Project.

45. THE RARE EARTHS
After WWII, in 1947, Spedding helped create and became director of
 Ames Laboratory, a U.S.
Department of Energy national laboratory with a mission to further develop rare earths,
initially for military uses and space exploration.
Building on their earlier work, Spedding and his team developed an
 ion-exchange method to
extract rare earths from minerals, enabling better separation of the rare-earth metals on a
larger scale.
Rare-earth research became commonplace after the groundbreaking work performed in Ames
in the 1940s and 1950s,” explained materials scientist
 Vitalij Pecharsky of Iowa State and Ames
Laboratory, another RERC organizer.
Spedding and his colleagues made pure rare earths available in quantities required for broad
chemistry and physics research and applications for the first time.

46. THE RARE EARTHS
A new term, “rare earthers,” was created for attendees of the 5th
Rare Earth Research Conference when the Holiday Inn welcomed
them to Ames, Iowa, in 1965.Credit: Vitalij Pecharsky/Ames
Laboratory

47. 10/13/24 47
HISTORICAL INNOVATION PATH

48. 10/13/24 48
CURRENT INNOVATIONS

49. •1. HPGR – Cerro Verde & Boddington. For competent (uniformly hard) orebodies with little or no clay content,
HPGR is a great alternative to SAG milling. Freeport McMoRan’s Cerro Verde operation (Peru) recently
expanded to 360 kt/d (397,000 stpd) processing capacity using HPGR and ball milling technology. There are
significant energy and wear savings compared with conventional SAG milling. This has enormous implications
for our industry.
•2. SAG mill performance predictor tests and methodologies. The development of SAG and AG performance
indicators has provided a number of effective tools for the design and optimization of comminution circuits.
Importantly, these tests are relatively low in cost, use modest amounts of sample, can be run on drill core, and
provide rapid results. In some cases, there is no substitute for pilot plant testing in 1.8-m (6-ft)-diameter mills.
•3. Sea water for flotation and leaching. The use of sea water in major copper flotation and leaching facilities
in Chile and Peru is having a big impact on how fresh water is managed and used. It is also helping to reshape
the socio-political conversation around mining in these countries.
Marsden’s Top Ten Mineral Processing Innovations in the Last 20 Years

50. 4. High-efficiency centrifugal gravity concentrators (and intensive leaching). The Knelson and
Falcon concentrators introduced widely in the 1990s and 2000s have revolutionized gravity
concentration for gold and silver recovery. When coupled with intensive cyanide leaching of the
concentrates, this is an effective one-two punch for gold metallurgists. We have Byron Knelson and
Andre Laplante to thank for this, among others.
5. Ultra-fine grinding (Glencore IsaMill, Metso Stirred Media Detritor, Metprotech, etc.) The ability
to efficiently grind down to 7-10 µm has opened the door to new hydrometallurgical approaches to
treat refractory and semi-refractory gold/silver ores, and for emerging base metal sulfide
concentrate treatment options.
6. Pressure leaching of copper/ molybdenum concentrates. Pressure leaching of copper
concentrates continues to gain momentum.
Marsden’s Top Ten Mineral Processing Innovations in the Last 20 Years

51. 7. Rapid, automated SEM (MLA/ QemSCAN/TESCAN). We have witnessed a major revolution in process
mineralogy with the advent of rapid, automated SEM technology that can provide quantitative mineralogy on
representative samples of material in a timely manner.
8. The Derrick Stack Sizer. This is a very clever device that provides significant fine screening area within a small
footprint. Derrick does it again.
9. Alternative anodes for copper electrowinning. Alternative anode technology introduced by Freeport-
McMoRan and Republic Anode Fabricators at Chino (New Mexico) and El Abra (Chile) has helped reduce the
energy consumption for electrowinning and is eliminating lead from EW tankhouses.
10. Thiosulfate leaching. Barrick Gold has developed and implemented “CaTS” (calcium thiosulfate) leaching
for gold extraction and recovery from highly carbonaceous, pre-robbing refractory sulfide ores at Goldstrike in
Nevada.
Marsden’s Top Ten Mineral Processing Innovations in the Last 20 Years

52. SUMMARY THOUGHTS
AND CONCLUSIONS

53. SUMMARY THOUGHTS
-Innovation in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy has had significant
impacts on humanity.
-It created the Iron and Bronze ages and civilization as we know it.
-It created new materials and new industries like aluminum and titanium.
-It has often been created for a need other than it actually found use in.
-It was always created by people willing to put perspiration into the effort, overcome
failures and accept a risky challenge.
-It was not always rewarded by wealth or fame and often met rejection.
-So, how do we continue to Innovate in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy ?

54. SUMMARY THOUGHTS
Why would anyone be a Professor ? Why do you do research ?
Are you now retired ? What do you do with your summers off ?
Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Castletownbere, County Cork
built in 1907 AFTER mass emigration to Butte, America circa 1872.
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”
Pablo Picasso

55. SUMMARY THOUGHTS

Dr. William J. Kroll
World famous Metallurgist and Benefactor of the Colorado School of Mines.
Inventor of commercial processes for the production of titanium and
zirconium. Philanthropist and advocate for Metallurgical education.

56. SUMMARY THOUGHTS

The
 
Sons of Martha is a poem written by Rudyard
Kipling who admired engineers. It is inspired by
the biblical story of Jesus at the home
of
 Martha and Mary. It celebrates the careful work
done by engineers and builders like Martha to
provide for others physical needs. In the Bible
story,
 Christ visits a home where two
sisters,
 Mary and Martha, live. Mary sits nobly at
the visitor's feet to listen to him while Martha races
about attending to the hospitality until her patience
runs out, and Martha calls on Jesus to direct Mary
to help her. Jesus chides Martha for her mundane
concerns and is told: "Mary has chosen what is
better". It is recited at US and Canadian
Engineering Order Inductions.

57. SUMMARY THOUGHTS
And the Sons of Mary smile and are
blessed---they know the Angels are on
their side.
They know in them is the Grace confessed,
and for them are the Mercies multiplied.
They sit at the feet---they hear the Word---
they see how truly the Promise runs.
They have cast their burden upon the Lord,
and---the Lord He lays it on Martha's Sons !
Howard
A Son of Martha
Sheldon
A Son of Mary

58. SUMMARY THOUGHTS
-There are about 8 US schools left that teach and research Mineral Processing and
about 5 that teach and research any Extractive Metallurgy.
-There is no distinct degree in Mineral Processing or Extractive Metallurgy offered any
longer in North America.
- The average age of the faculty engaged in these activities is well over 50 years old.
- An H Index is more important for hiring, tenure and promotion of faculty than any
real world practical engineering knowledge that can be passed on to students.

59. SUMMARY THOUGHTS
-The US Bureau of Mines no longer exists so there is no single agency that fully
represents a relatively globally large GDP sector for the USA.
-The majority of the Western world mineral research is done by the METS service
sector.
-Corporate research and development barely exists.
-Over one half or more of the experienced mineral and metallurgical engineers will
retire in less than ten years.
-As an analogy, will you now hire a plumber if you need an electrician ?

60. SUMMARY THOUGHTS
Central South University, Changsa China
The largest of 38 Mineral Processing schools in China.
1000 Undergraduates and 500 Graduate Students !
Extractive Metallurgy is in an equally large but separate school !

61. SUMMARY THOUGHTS
So, Rare Earths are not Rare at all.
In the USA, Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy are very Rare.
The Chinese now control what the USA had created in Rare Earths because they
control now Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy.

62. 10/13/24 62
SUMMARY THOUGHTS

63. SUMMARY THOUGHTS
-The world’s growing population needs a vast amount of future skilled
mineral and metallurgical engineering professionals to provide the
additional global minerals and metals demands.
-Where will be doing innovative research in 20 years ?
-Who will provide the increasing minerals and metals and the innovations
needed to produce them more efficiently from more complex, lower grade
and more remote orebodies ?
-Who will create entirely new metal industries like Kroll did ?
-Who will create an enduring educational and research legacy as Kroll did ?

64. SUMMARY THOUGHTS
KROLL’S DESCENDANTS

“ I am happy that a gracious fate has allowed me to carry, for a while, the flag of rare metals
research, around which many young people have now gathered to carry on where I have left off “
1943 Perkin Award Acceptance Speech Final Statement by Dr. Kroll

65. CONCLUSION

66. Conclusion
- In order to innovate, you must be motivated and dedicated to continually invest
effort, time and money.
- Luck and success in innovation directly reflects this
investment in effort, time and money.
- You likely will NOT achieve what you intended but you will likely achieve
something.
- You likely will not get rich or famous and may be rejected.
- The key is to continue to give back to create the future
as you move forward.

67. INNOVATION IN MINERAL PROCESSING
AND EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY

68. CONCLUSION
It was a privilege and pleasure to present this.
I am glad to take any questions and
answer …….. some of them 
Thank you !