Traditional engineering design for flotation circuits use the Rule of Thumb approach. Typically this uses a nominated maximum head grade for design. A scale-up factor is applied to laboratory flotation tests for residence time. This scale-up factor is usually based on a designers experience at other flotation sites and may or may not be relevant to the circuit being designed, or the flotation equipment being used. A small number of locked cycle tests are assumed to represent the ore body and the results of these are often used for financial analysis, independent of changes in mine plan throughput and mineralogy._x000D_
The engineering Rule of Thumb approach is only strictly accurate where there is very little variability in throughput, head grade and mineralogy. It may provide accurate design for mature established operations where a brownfield expansion is being considered but is unlikely to provide accurate design for a new, greenfield site._x000D_
The use of geometallurgical modeling with floatability component simulation provides a design methodology with significantly less associated risk. The use of geological data for optimisation of operating plants has become a significant part of the modern process mindset. The underlying principle is to use spatial metallurgical information to drive production planning, mine planning, blast design, blending strategies and plant set-up. At a design stage the process designer can use geometallurgical information to evaluate bottle necks and potential design flaws and propose the best investment strategy for the project benefit._x000D_
This paper details thegeometallurgical characterisation of the Andash deposit and methodology used toreview the project's detail design and projected production._x000D_
FORMALCITATION: Harbort, G,Cordingley, G and Phillips, M, 2011. The integration of geometallurgy with plantdesign, in Proceedings MetPlant 2011, pp 339-365 (The Australasian Instituteof Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).