Albion Process - Recent Developments on Copper Projects and - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Albion Process - Recent Developments

• n Copper Projects and Operations

Peter Rohner Core Resources, Brisbane www.coreresources.com.au 24th March 2011

Company Overview

Highlights

• Specialist services:

– hrltesting (metallurgical laboratory – operating over 25 years). – Marketing of licensed processing technology (Albion Process). – Process engineering, design and flowsheet development – Scoping and Feasibility Studies – Technology Development Partner

• Strong Technical Team:

– Hydrometallurgical expertise – Flowsheet development with an economic focus and outcomes that can be engineered and operated – Project development and commissioning experience

Independent Company

Eberhard Krause - HydroMet Solutions Inc. (April 2008) “Initially, HS was somewhat concerned that Barrick had chosen Core, rather than an independent engineering firm, to carry out this pre-feasibility study (PFS), because one might have expected a positive bias towards the Albion Process option .... As was demonstrated by the outcome

• f the pre-feasibility study, which looked at three

potential process options (Albion, Roaster and a hybrid roaster/Albion process), such worries were unfounded”

Copper Leach Flowsheets

In-Situ Leaching Metal Recovery

SX/EW SX/Crystallisation Precipitation Cementation Tailings ROM ore

Products

• Cathode
• Sulphate
• Cement
• Oxide / Sulphide
• Other

Dump/Heap Leaching Concentration (Gravity / Flotation)

ROM ore ROM ore

Leach Neutralisation

Lower Grade Concentrate Residue Acid Alkaline

Size

Fines

By-products

• Gold/Silver
• Cobalt
• Molybdenum
• Rhenium
• Indium
• Uranium
• Other

Concentrate

• Lower Impurities (e.g. As,Sb)

High Grade Concentrate

ROM ore

Albion Process Leach Flowsheets

Metal Recovery

SX/EW SX/Crystallisation Precipitation Cementation Tailings

Products

• Cathode
• Sulphate
• Cement
• Oxide / Sulphide
• Other

Concentration (Gravity / Flotation)

ROM ore ROM ore

Albion Leach Neutralisation

Lower Grade Concentrate Residue

Size

Fines

By-products

• Gold/Silver
• Cobalt
• Molybdenum
• Rhenium
• Indium
• Uranium
• Other

Concentrate

• Lower Impurities (e.g. As,Sb)

High Grade Concentrate

Coarse

Albion Process Overview

6

• Originally developed by MIM Holdings in 1994.
• Base technology owned jointly with Highlands Pacific.
• 2004 - Xstrata PLC bought MIM Holdings with Xstrata more involved in base

metal projects

• 2005 - Albion Process launched by Xstrata Technology with the technology then

available outside of Xstrata Group

• 2005 - Core Resources became global marketing agent for Albion Process
• Late 2005 - First licence issued for Las Lagunas Project – Gold
• Late 2006 - Second licence issued for Certej Project – Gold
• 2011 - Advanced stages of negotiating two new licences (Canada, Armenia) –

Gold projects

Albion Process Overview

7

• Combination of Fine Grinding and Atmospheric Oxidative Leaching to

breakdown sulphide minerals releasing metals of value for downstream recovery

+

Stirred Mills Feed P80 ~75 µm Product P80 8-20 µm Atmospheric Pressure Temperature ~95oC Oxygen Injection ~20-30 hours

Commercial Fine Grinding

8

Examples - Installed IsaMill units

Operation: KCGM Owner: Newmont Mining Corp Location: Western Australia Treatment Rate: 12 tph pyrite concentrate Grind Size: 10-12 µm (ahead of CIL) Equipment: 1 x M3000 IsaMill Operation: Kumtor Owner: Centerra Location: Kyrgyzstan Treatment Rate: 30-35 tph pyrite concentrate Grind Size: 10-12 µm (ahead of CIL) Equipment: 1 x M10000 IsaMill

Atmospheric Leaching

9

Commercial plants

• Direct atmospheric leaching of sulphides

has been routinely practiced around the world in the zinc, copper and nickel industries for many years

• Staged implementation within Xstrata

Group

Company Plant Capacity Statis New Boliden Kokkola 1 50,000 tpa zinc Operational New Boliden Kokkola 2 50,000 tpa zinc Operational New Boliden Odda 50,000 tpa zinc Operational Korea Zinc Onsan 225,000 tpa zinc Operational Birla/Western Metals Mt Gordon 45,000 tpa copper Decommissioned Cobre Las Cruces Las Cruces 40,000 tpa copper Commissioning Zhuzhou Smelter Corp Shandong 180,000 tpa zinc Operational

Albion Process Leaching

10

Commercial plant at Xstrata Zinc operation in Spain 280 m3 Leach Tank Oxygen Sparger

Opportunities to Add Value

• Alternative products
• By-products
• In-situ acid production – reduce acid cost
• Use of alternative neutralising materials – reduce neutralising cost
• Impurity removal
• Integrated flowsheets
• Additional metal recovery
• Key drivers

Albion Process Leach Flowsheets

Copper Cathode

• Larger scale projects
• Low/moderate power costs
• Remote / high transport costs

Copper Sulphate

• Premium over metal
• Smaller scale projects
• Power costs higher
• Local demand – zinc flotation, fertilizer plant, feedlot

Other (Cement, Copper Sulphide, Copper Oxide)

• Copper cement – concentrates or low cost scrap iron available
• Intermediate product – market nearby or integrated flowsheet

Albion Process Leach Product Options

Cu2+ + Fe = Fe2+ + Cu

Smelters don’t pay for many of these elements Leaching provides an opportunity to recover additional value e.g. Cobalt, Molybdenum, Rhenium, Indium, Uranium

Copper Leach By-product Recovery

Oxide ore / Concentrate

Leach Circuit

Air/ Oxygen Acid

Copper Solvent Extraction

Raffinate to Leach Bleed to by-product recovery and neutralisation Advance to EW or Crystallisation

Neutralisation

Limestone

Copper Leaching In-situ Acid Production

Oxide ore Underlying secondary and primary ore

FLOTATION Leach Circuit

Flotation Tailings Oxygen Acid

HEAP LEACH SX/EW

Raffinate to Leach Raffinate to Heap Leach e.g. Freeport’s Morenci and Bagdad POX plants

Generate excess acid in leaching circuit for oxide leach Separate pyrite oxidation circuit to generate acid - e.g. Sepon

Recover more pyrite to leach circuit and oxidise

Neutralisation

Limestone

Alternative Neutralising Materials

Oxide ore Concentrate

Leach Circuit

Oxygen Acid

HEAP LEACH SX/EW

Raffinate to Leach Raffinate to Heap Leach

Turn neutralising stage from cost to a credit

e.g. Use copper oxide ore (high grade fines) or copper oxide concentrate instead

• f limestone / lime.

Neutralisation

Fines Coarse

Impurity Removal

Many large undeveloped copper deposits have significant impurity issues.

• Salobo, Brazil

High Fluorine

• La Granja, Peru

High Arsenic

• Tampakan, Philippines

High Arsenic

• Nena, PNG

High Arsenic

• Many other South American

Copper Projects High Arsenic

Core continues to be active further developing alkaline leaching technology to remove arsenic and antimony from copper concentrates.

Concentrate and Leaching Synergies

Case Study Normal grade concentrate for sale vs. High grade concentrate for sale plus Low grade concentrate to leaching

Copper Recovery

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Copper Grade - % Cu Copper Recovery %

Copper Grade/Recovery

+ + + + + +

Perfect Separation Target Concentrate Grade -25% Cu Liberated Chalcopyrite

• Max. Theoretical

Recovery

Copper Recovery

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Copper Grade - % Cu Copper Recovery %

Copper Grade/Recovery

+ + + + + +

Perfect Separation Plant Separation Target Concentrate Grade -25% Cu

+

Liberated Chalcopyrite Liberated Gangue recovered by "Entrainment" or "True" Flotation Plant Recovery

Copper Recovery – Case Study

10 15 20 25 30 35 40 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Copper Grade - % Cu Copper Recovery %

Copper Grade/Recovery

+ + + + + +

Target Concentrate Grade -30% Cu Liberated Chalcopyrite 30% Recovery to Lower Grade Copper Concentrate - 7.5% Cu

Concentrate for Sale Concentrate for Leaching

Case Study - Project A

• Copper/Cobalt concentrate recovered from tailings of existing

copper operation

• Grade of concentrate - 2.2% Cu and 0.28% Co
• Prefeasibility testing followed by Albion Process Pilot Plant run
• Pilot Results on ~600kg of concentrate over 24 day run
• 94% Copper extraction
• 81% Cobalt extraction
• Downstream cobalt recovery testwork now being conducted
• Client now progressing engineering for Feasibility Study
• Project Capex in the order of $80M

Case Study - Project B

• Copper/Gold concentrate recovered from tailings of existing

copper operation (additional 17% Cu and 25% Au recovery)

• Grade of concentrate - 2.4% Cu and 1.5 g/t Au
• Tonnes of concentrate – 640,000 tpa , containing

~15,000 tpa Cu and ~30,000 oz Au/y

• Scoping Study results
• 93% Copper recovery
• 85% Gold recovery
• Client now progressing to Prefeasibility Stage
• Project Capex in the order of US$200M

Project Development Program

23

• Bench-scale testwork - hrltesting

Project Development Program

24

• Pilot testwork - hrltesting

Key drivers that provide opportunities to use Albion Process

• Can only produce “dirty” unsaleable concentrates
• Concentrate transport costs high - far from markets
• Rising treatment charges
• Low power costs
• Limestone/other neutralising material available and low cost
• Acid available and low cost (or low power cost)
• Existing infrastructure available (old oxide leaching operation SX/EW plant)
• Local demand for copper sulphate or intermediate
• Potential for by-products credits
• Significant recovery improvements

Summary

Questions ?