An understanding of target mineral recovery is vital in the development of operational philosophy, control system design, and maintenance allocation for optimal processing plant performance. As ore feed and conditions within the plant change, missed recovery opportunities move between unit processes and quick identification of these areas can be used as a short interval control tool to maximise the recovery within the process plant.
Daily mineral recovery is calculated with the return of assay results; however, this data is only available two days post the recovery opportunity being missed.
This paper presents the development of a recovery opportunity tool implemented to create a zero financial spend, collaborative approach aimed at improving operational discipline and subsequent mineral recovery. Factors influencing mineral recovery were identified, their optimal values determined, and a short interval control model created to provide near real time information about when a factor has deviated from optimal operation. The model consists of operational variables measured online, combined with regression coefficients to determine the recovery opportunity currently available, as well as opportunity missed in the previous day to encourage maintenance focus on influential areas.
This approach has been implemented successfully at the Telfer Gold Mine with significant gold and copper recovery improvements seen as a result. The model proves valuable for not only operational discipline, but has resulted in a single focus between maintenance, operations, and process control. Missed recovery opportunity is used as a tool to enable the maintenance emphasis on identified areas within the plant, as well as providing financial justification for process control initiatives. The model is regularly updated to ensure that focus areas are still relevant and have not been surpassed by different unit operations within the plant.