Flowsheet Development on the Island….
The Blue Coast Group’s Approach to Metallurgical Testwork & Consulting Services
VIX Group Meeting, June 26th 2013 Parksville, BC
Informal Agenda
› 7:00pm – Meet & Greet, Refreshments.
› 7:30pm – Introduction & Presentation by Dave Middleditch.
› 8:00pm – Tour of Mineral Processing Lab & Practical Demonstration of Flotation &
Superpanner/MAT table.
› 8:30pm – Tour of Analytical Lab (Fire Assay & Wet Chemistry).
› All times are approximate!
› Location of washrooms and fire escapes…
Prospecting to Production> The main steps… simplified..
Prospecting(10,000+)
Drilling (1,000+)
Economic Evaluation More Drilling…
More Evaluation…(100+)
FinancingConstruction & Commissioning
Production(10+)
Economic Evaluation
› What do you need for a Positive economic evaluation?
› A good Resource (sufficient drilling, accurate block model etc…)
› A workable and economic Mining Method (open pit, underground cut and fill etc…)
› A viable Process that recovers the valuable minerals into saleable products.
› Need to show a Positive Net Present Value (NPV) to the potential shareholders/investors.
› High metal prices and a favourable, mining friendly jurisdiction help but are not prerequisites
for success…
› TEAMWORK – A project needs good Geologists, Mining Engineers and Metallurgists to realise
its full potential..
› Most mining companies rely on consultants and service providers to provide the majority of
the project team members…
Who Are Blue Coast?
› A group of Metallurgists, Mineralogists, Technicians & Administrative personnel
focused on providing mining companies with the optimum mineral processing
flowsheet for their project.
› Greenfield and brownfield development projects specialising in base metals and
gold
› Also provide “Plant Support” to existing operations around the world
› Projects are located across the globe but our clients are predominantly Vancouver
or Toronto based…
The Blue Coast Group
Met Testwork
Fire Assaying
Wet Chemistry
Met Consulting
Flowsheet Development
Project ManagementPlant Support
Est. 2011
Est. 2008
~15 Employees
~4 Employees
Metallurgical Testwork> Why go to the trouble?
› Assess and Evaluate the most appropriate processing technologies – All orebodies
are unique!
› Define the metallurgical grade and recovery projections – Ever increasing
confidence required from PEA up to Detailed Engineering…
› Reduce Risk – Technological risk as well as the risk of inaccurate numbers.
› Optimise or refine existing flowsheets or operations – Sometimes projects get to
production with the “wrong” flowsheet…
› Compliance with NI-43101 Standards – Qualified Persons in high demand. 43-101
guidelines for metallurgical testwork are under review and will get tighter. Blue
Coast respected name in the issuance of 43-101 compliant metallurgy
Metallurgical Testwork> First Steps…
› Sample Selection: Spatially representative, grade representative, lithologically
representative, Master Composite(s), variability composites…
› Head Characterisation: Assays & trace element scans.
› Mineralogy: Automated mineralogy (QEMSCAN) is best for base metals. Optical/D-
SIMS best for gold for visible/refractory gold respectively.
› Best done by Geologists working with Metallurgists…
Mineralogical Analysis> QEMSCAN
› QEMSCAN = Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscope
› Hundreds of thousands of particles measured in one specimen
› SEM combined with X-Ray (EDS) locates and identifies minerals to provide:
› Modal Abundance
› Mineral Liberation Data
› Association Data (what type of gangue is attached to your chalcopyrite?)
› Deportment (if mineral compositions are known – can be measured or assumed)
Mineralogical Analysis> QEMSCAN
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
EDPCuZn VAR1 EDPCuZn VAR2 EDPCuZn VAR3 EDPCuZn VAR4 EDPCuZn VAR5 EDPCuZn VAR6 EDPCuZn VAR7
Min
eral
Ab
un
dan
ce (
wt.
%)
Chalcopyrite Bornite Enargite Covellite Chalcocite Cu Textures Pyrite Sphalerite
Pyrrhotite Galena Quartz Amphiboles Feldspar Epidote Other Silicates Barite
Carbonates Kaolinite Mica Chlorite Fe Oxides Other
Mineralogical Analysis> QEMSCAN
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
EDPCuZn VAR1 EDPCuZn VAR2 EDPCuZn VAR3 EDPCuZn VAR4 EDPCuZn VAR5 EDPCuZn VAR6 EDPCuZn VAR7
Mas
s (%
Cu
)
Elemental Deportment (Mass % Cu)
Cu Textures
Chalcocite
Covellite
Bornite
Chalcopyrite
Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection
› What flowsheet is the most appropriate?
› Experience with similar projects?
› Industry standard
› Although no two orebodies are ever the same, the optimum process will ultimately
share features and characteristics with similar orebodies.
› For example, if testing a greenfield BC copper porphyry new discovery with
straightforward mineralogy a good place to start would be the flowsheet used at
Teck’s Highland Valley Copper operation.
Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection – Copper Porphyry
› What primary grind?, what regrind?, collector dose? Residence time? Number of
stages of cleaning? Is gold recovery important etc..?
Final Product
Recirculating Stream
Primary Grindp80 = 130 microns Regrind (mild steel)
p80 = 25 microns
Rougher
Cleaner 1
Cleaner 2
Cleaner 3
Rougher Tail
Cleaner Scav Tail
Cleaner 2 Tail
Cleaner 3 Tail
Cleaner 3 (Final) Concentrate
Cleaner 1Scavenger
Cleaner Scav Conc
Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection – Polymetallic
› What primary grind?, what regrind?, collector dose? Zinc depressant dosage?
Ability to produce separate and saleable copper and zinc concentrates?
Primary Grindp80 = 70µm
Copper RougherFlotation
Zinc RougherFlotation
Copper Cleaner 1Flotation
Zinc Regrindp80 = 28µm
Zinc Cleaner 1Flotation
Zinc Cleaner 2Flotation
Final Zinc Concentrate
Final Tails
Final CopperConcentrate
Copper Cleaner 2Flotation
Zinc Cleaner 3Flotation
Copper Regrindp80 = TBDµm
Copper Cleaner 2Flotation (req'd
for low Cu head grades)
Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection – Gold
› Gravity, flotation & leaching are the main process options for gold
recovery. Which one, or which combination is the most appropriate?
› GRG gold? Fine grained associated with pyrite? Refractory?
› Can a high grade gravity conc be produced?
› At what grind are we able to achieve GRG recovery?
› Can we float pyrite hosted gold into a flotation concentrate?
› When leached, is the gold recovered from concentrate? What CN
concentration is required? Is whole ore leaching more appropriate?
› If gold is refractory, other processing options can be considered –
POX, BiOX, roasting etc… Need to produce economic feeds for these
processes as they are expensive to operate.
Metallurgical Testwork> Comminution
› World’s Largest SAG Mill – Kansanshi Copper Mine, Zambia
› 40’x29’, 28MW
› 130,000 tpd throughput
› Millions of $$ CAPEX – success of the whole operation relies
on correctly sized crushing and grinding circuits.
› Need to do testwork on representative samples in order to
conduct proper circuit design.
› Variability must be considered
› Bwi, Rwi, SMC, JK Dropweight, Cwi, Ai, Macpherson Test etc…
Metallurgical Testwork> Flowsheet Selection Tools
› Batch Flotation Tests (rougher & cleaner)
› Locked Cycle Tests (flotation) inc. full element scans of concentrates (ICP).
› Bottle roll cyanidation tests (gold/silver leaching) – CIL, heap leach etc…
› E-GRG and GRG tests (gravity recovery)
› Bond Ball Work Index Testing
› Assaying – wet chemistry and fire assay done in house
› Associated sample prep – crushing, blending, sizing, bucking etc…
› Interpretation – BCR personnel have worked on 100s of projects over
many years in the lab and in plant operations.
Analytical Services> Wet Chemistry & Fire Assay
› Integrated assay laboratory geared towards metallurgical
testwork assays
› Fire Assay (gold and silver) & Wet Chemistry (base metals
and silver by AR/4A with AA finish)
› Relatively low volume but high quality
› Quick TAT – 24 hour base metals, 48 hour gold assays
› Participate in SMA round robin program (30 labs in total
participating)
› Rigorous internal QA/QC program. BCR + 3 External
Commercial Labs (SGS Lakefield, Actlabs, Florin Analytical)
Metallurgical Testwork> How much is enough?
› Tradeoff between risk mitigation & $$ spent on testing
› Is it possible to remove All process risk? Yes, but… it would be a very expensive testing
program!
› Is it possible to do met testwork cheaply? Yes, but… the potential for process risk would likely
be higher.
› Value for money is the key.
Pre- Scoping Scoping Study/PEA
Prefeasibility Study
Feasibility Study
Detailed Design &
Engineering
Reduced Risk
Metallurgical Testwork> How much is enough?
Level Sample Representivity
Sample Mass (Kg)
Mineralogy Hardness Flotation Testing
Variability Pilot Plant
Pre-Scoping Best sample available at time 10-15Kg
Yes – Basic Optical study on MC
2-3 Batch Tests
Master Comp
Scoping Study/PEA Effort made to match average resource grade & spatial representivity
50kgYes – QEMSCAN size by size on MC
Yes – Basic BWi/RWi
10+ Batch Tests + LCT
Main Zone Master Comps
Prefeasibility Study Multiple drill holes, spatial variability samples, reasonable coverage of various zones 200kg
Yes – QEMSCAN variability study & MC(s)
Yes – full circuit plus variability
50+ Batch Tests + multiple LCTs
Main Zones + Variability Comps
Feasibility Study Absolute confidence in samples required. Thorough coverage of all zones and variability 2000kg
Yes – QEMSCAN variability study & MC(s)
Yes – JK tests, JK model, power based design
100+ Batch Tests + multiple LCTs
Main Zones + Variability Comps + blend tests
Detailed Design As needed – focus on specific zones if required +10000kg
for Pilot Plant
Yes – if not completed prior
Check design – third party review
Confirmatory Not Required
Case Studies> The cost of getting it wrong…
› CASE STUDY A – Vancouver Based Junior, polymetallic project, East Africa
› Prior to BCM involvement the company contracted a Vancouver based testwork lab to perform scoping
level metallurgical testwork.
› Company needed favourable results form program in order to make “go forward” decision on the project
before relinquishing property to the government.
› Polymetallic orebody – complex metallurgy but easily workable using the correct process flowsheet.
› 2008/2009 lab testwork program (~$150k) failed to produce saleable products at economically viable
recoveries.
› Company sought second opinion on testwork program from BCM (Chris Martin) due success of similar
project in the same country.
› Testwork repeated at different met lab with conventional flowsheet.
› 2013 – Company completes positive feasibility study. NPV of $692 million
› Financing & construction expected in 2014 – Blue Coast still involved…
Case Studies> The cost of getting it wrong…
› CASE STUDY B – PGM Operation, Ontario
› Mill expansion in 2001
› SAG mill undersized by 40% - Pebble crusher had to be
installed after the fact… extra CAPEX
› Flowsheet developed proved unworkable requiring complete
change on startup
› Initial losses were ~-15% in Pt+Pd recovery
› After optimisation losses were still ~-5% recovery
Analytical Services> Proposed Geochem Fee Schedule
› Based on batches of >100 samples*
› Package 1 (Cu, Pb, Zn, Fe, Ni, Co) = $19.00 for first element +$4.50/additional
element
› Package 2 (As, Ag) = $22.50 for first element +$4.50/additional element
› Au Fire Assay (30g fusion) = $19.50/sample
› Au/Ag Fire Assay (30g fusion) = $29.50/sample
› Crushing of core (<1500g) = $7.50/sample
› Pulverising of ~200g Subsample to 75µm = $6.00/sample
› TAT = 2-3 Days for Base Metals, 3-4 Days for Gold. (Less 24 hours if prep is not
required)
› Exclusive to VIX Group Members/local prospectors and developers
› Batches <100 samples refer to metallurgical price list
Questions/Comments?
“Thank you for your attention…”