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A leach pad's fluid flow characteristics greatly affect the recovery of metals from heap leaching. Mining companies often overlook potential problems associated with fluid flow until it is too late. A better understanding of the fluid flow characteristics could increase the percent recovery and profitability of current leaching operations.
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Originaltitel
Fluid Flow Analysis of a Model Leach Pad Using Temperature Probes
A leach pad's fluid flow characteristics greatly affect the recovery of metals from heap leaching. Mining companies often overlook potential problems associated with fluid flow until it is too late. A better understanding of the fluid flow characteristics could increase the percent recovery and profitability of current leaching operations.
A leach pad's fluid flow characteristics greatly affect the recovery of metals from heap leaching. Mining companies often overlook potential problems associated with fluid flow until it is too late. A better understanding of the fluid flow characteristics could increase the percent recovery and profitability of current leaching operations.
A leach pads fluid flow characteristics greatly affect the recov-
ery of metals from heap leaching. However, because there are other factors such as particle size distribution, application rate and method, and chemical reactions to consider, mining companies often overlook potential problems associated with fluid flow until it is too late. In an effort to better understand the dynamics of fluid flow in leach pads, a series of experiments were preformed using temperature probes. A model leach pad was set up using a particle size distribution, fluid application rate, and application method common to modern leaching methods. Variable water temperatures were applied in suc- cession and data gathered from the three dimensional grid of tem- perature probes built in to the model. Current work is analyzing these data along with visual observations of the model, computer simula- tions, past mining experiences, and other related research, in an attempt to develop a low cost test that could be performed prior to large scale leaching to determine the fluid flow characteristics of a particular ore. This paper will summarize the work and findings to this point as well as suggest areas of additional related research. INTRODUCTION Heap leaching allows ores previously thought useless to be mined economically. High volumes of very low grade ore are mined and placed on large piles. A leach solution is applied to the tops of the piles causing a chemical reaction that dissolves the precious metal. The pregnant solution is then collected as it exits the pile where it is processed into a saleable product. Recent statistics show that about 12% of gold and 15% of copper production in the world is from heap leaching operations. This simple sounding process does have difficulties, which the mining industry has not solved to this point. After 30 years of con- tinuous improvement, the current status of heap leach design can be characterized more as educated guess work than art, there is still much to learn (Scheffel 2002). One area of heap leaching that is not properly understood is the fluid flow inside the pad. A better under- standing of the fluid flow characteristics could increase the percent recovery and profitability of current leaching operations. It could also lower the cutoff grades of these types of operations, which would increase reserves and create new projects. In the past several decades, considerable research has been devoted to improving the recovery of precious metals from heap leaching. Much of this research centers on optimizing the particle size distribution, with a primary goal of achieving good mineral liberation. Column tests are performed to test this liberation with laboratory recoveries usually above 90%. However, numerous sources report that recovery at operating leach pads typically range from 65 85% for gold and copper. This discrepancy may in large part be due to unknown fluid flow characteristics in a heap. Dr. Jan Miller (2003) of the University of Utah performed a detailed analysis on copper bearing ore at the Zaldivar mine in Chile. This analysis found the optimal size distribution the mine should grind to for maximum liberation of the copper. While this research is extremely useful, it does not optimize the final recovery of the copper because it ignores the effects that grinding to that size will have on the flow of leaching solution through out the pad. To make matters more complicated, particle size distribution is not the only factor that will affect the fluid flow. Material placement method, compaction, application rate, application method, and weather conditions all affect the fluid flow. Certain areas of the pad may be completely bypassed by the solution due to channeling of flu- ids. Other areas may accumulate fluids, trapping the precious preg- nant solution in areas called perched water tables. Once these prob- lems develop, there is no cheap way of correcting the problem. Leach pads that are very large and contain multiple lifts increase the chances of having these problems. The complexity of a fluid flow system containing millions of tons of material with thousands of water point sources and one exit is mind boggling. But by increasing the knowledge of what is occurring inside the heap, future pads can be designed to prevent problem areas or make it easier to handle the problems once they start. This paper summarizes the research and experiments that were analyzed to see if temperature probes could be used to perform a simple test to analyze how fluid flow through a particular ore would occur. The primary goal was to see if this method has the potential to help characterize ore prior to leaching. A secondary goal was to find out if certain problem areas can be identified using this method. METHOD Materials and Equipment The rock materials used in the model are very important to the results. As mentioned earlier, fluid flow characteristics are very sen- sitive, so drastically different results can occur from small changes in the rock material used. Several aggregate products were acquired and sieved to known size distributions. These products were then mixed in a standard cement mixer in percentages calculated to pro- duce an ore that was very close to Millers ultimate size distribution (XMT-2). Miller (2002) shows the sieve analysis of this distribution. Table II shows the actual products mixed to approximate the distribu- tion of the XMT-2, and a simulated agglomerated product that was also prepared, eliminating the fines for better permeability. SME Annual Meeting Feb. 23-25, Denver, Colorado Preprint 04-141 FLUID FLOW ANALYSIS OF A MODEL LEACH PAD USING TEMPERATURE PROBES M.G. Nelson G.G. Gold Univ. of Utah Salt Lake City, UT 1 Copyright 2004 by SME Table I. Particle Size Distributions from Miller (2002) Table II. Particle Size Distribution used in experiment The temperature sensors used were J-type thermistor probes made by U.S. Sensor. They were used because they were extremely small (0.75cm x 0.15cm). It was important to have small probes to minimize the effect they would have on fluid flow. They are insulated in a polymide tube and coated with epoxy to make them waterproof. This allows them to be very sensitive to quickly changing tempera- tures. Figure 1 is a graph showing the sensitivity of a thermistor placed between fingers and then released. It is important to point out that these thermistors were not all calibrated to read identical absolute temperatures. However, when measuring the changes in temperature these thermistors were quite precise. To negate the dif- ferences in absolute temperatures, scans were started just prior to application of the new water so that analysis could be performed the change in temperature from that first scan point. Several other pieces of equipment were needed to complete the experiment. They include a data logger to scan and record the ther- mistor data sets, a small pump and distribution system, a constant temperature warm water bath, a cold water tub, and a max-emitter made by OreMax. This equipment is described in detail by Gold (2002). Model Setup The model leach pad was constructed on a small platform build of plywood. The platform dimensions are 94 cm by 102 cm with 5-cm sides to prevent spillage. The platform was placed at small angle to encourage the water to move toward the exit point. A plastic liner was placed on the platform and covered by a layer 1 to 2.5-cm layer of drain materials. The drain materials contained stone from 0.5 to 1cm with no fines. This enabled water to quickly move to the outlet of the pad after it had moved through the leach material. A 3.8-cm layer of ore was then placed on the drain materials with the first level of ther- mistors on top. Then a 5-cm layer of ore, a second level of thermis- tors, a 5-cm layer of ore, a third level of thermistors, and finally a 2.5- cm layer of ore were added in succession. The top of the pad had dimensions of 37.5 cm by 45 cm. A basic diagram of this configura- tion can be seen in Figure 2. Thermistor Array As seen in Figure 2, the thermistors were placed in three hori- zontal levels in the model. The bottom level had 13 probes, while the middle and upper levels had 12 probes each. The probes were placed in three rows of four probes each, except in the bottom level where the middle row had five probes. A top view of the middle level of the thermistor grid with the position of the drip point can be seen in Figure 3. The drip point is approximately 7.5 cm above the middle level of probes. Each level had slightly different spacing but known distances were maintained between the probes in each row and between the rows for experiments 2 4. This grid was designed to try to capture horizontal and vertical spread of fluids from the emitter point. Three other thermistors were place in other positions to record data important to the experiment. One probe was placed on the sur- face, directly in the water dripping from the emitter. Another was placed in the outlet of the model heap. A final probe was in close proximity to the model to measure the ambient air temperature dur- ing the experiments. Permeability Tests A constant-head test for permeability was performed on both the agglomerated and non-agglomerated ores. This allowed the calcula- tion of the hydraulic conductivity constant (k) for each type of ore under saturated conditions within one order of magnitude. Using Darcys Law one can then determine the amount of water that would need to be emitted to achieve saturated conditions. A leach pad must remain unsaturated for the chemical processes to work properly, so the flow rate must be below this level. The k value is needed as an input variable for computerized simulation. This test also allowed the sizing of the pump and emitter required in the experiment so that sat- uration did not occur. SME Annual Meeting Feb. 23-25, Denver, Colorado 2 Copyright 2004 by SME 20 23 26 29 32 35 38 0 10 20 30 40 Time (seconds) T e m p e r a t u r e
( C e l c i u s ) Figure 1: Sensitivity of thermistors Figure 2: Basic Pad Setup Experimental Runs A total of five experiments were performed. The first experiment was a test run to ensure all the equipment was working properly. The results of this test were not analyzed; however, several important things were learned. These include thermistor grid spacing, proper duration of hot or cold water application (100-minutes), number of times water temperature should be changed during an experiment (4), and the optimal time interval for scans (5-seconds). The drain materials were changed to a coarser size and the angle of the pad increased for the remaining experiments, based on findings from experiment 1. Experiments 2 & 4 used a heap built of non-agglomerated ore while experiments 3 & 5 used agglomerated ore. Experiment 4 had two impermeable caps, or blocking devices, one placed below a thermistor to pool water around it, and one placed above a thermis- tor to keep flow from the thermistor. Experiments 3 & 5 were built to see if similar results could be duplicated using all the same tech- niques. The same grid spacing, scan intervals, water temperatures, application rate, application method, and construction techniques were used in all three experiments so the data could be analyzed based on these known differences. These four experimental runs allowed three different compar- isons. A comparison between the results of experiments 3 and 5 would indicate whether or not the models could be built in manner which would produce similar results. This was not yet complete at the time of publishing, but will be found in Gold (2004). Comparing the results of experiments 2 and 3 or 5 would indicate whether differ- ences between agglomerated and non-agglomerated ore can be seen with this technique. Comparing the results of experiments 2 and 4 would allow one to see if the technique could be used to identify problem areas in a leach pad. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS A full discussion of the results of this research is found in Gold (2004). The analysis here will concentrate only a summary of how the data was analyzed and on deciding whether or not the goals men- tioned earlier in this paper were achieved. An analysis of the heat transfer and other thermodynamic processes inside the pad were beyond the scope of this project. However, it was recognized that these processes could greatly affect the analysis of the fluid flow in these types of experiments. Some properties of water, especially viscosity, change quite significantly over a range of 50 o C. To neutralize these effects, only data with waters of approximately the same temperature and with approxi- mately the same change in temperature were compared. A large amount of data was produced by the experiments. The raw data was imported, formatted, processed, and graphed using Microsoft Excel. A summary of important events and comparison points follow: Graphs of time versus temperature for each scan Graph of straight line distance from the drip point to a thermis- tor versus time till each thermistor had major (15%) change in temperature Time until the first water begins to flow out of the model Total amount of water put into the model and water that flowed out of the model Examples of the graphs that were generated for analysis can be found in Figures 4 & 5. New ways of analyzing and comparing this data continues to be explored. The primary goal of this research was to determine whether this method would allow mining companies to learn something about the fluid flow of their leach ore before full scale leaching begins. At this time, it appears that this procedure could provide significant informa- tion about the fluid flow in leach pads. By setting up these type of experiments and comparing results between different size distribu- tions and types of ore, a mining company could potentially optimize the size distribution needed for even fluid application and flow in their leach pads. However, more research is needed to confirm and quan- tify the results and see if the results on this small model are scalable to mine size. The secondary goal of this research was to determine if com- mon problem areas in a leach pad flow system could be located. These problem areas are perched water tables and channeling of flu- ids. Evidence of channeling was seen in all of the experiments. In experiment 4 the blocking devices placed into the model produced significant changes in the time required for temperature changes at the effected thermistors as well as in the overall results when com- pared to experiment 2. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The technique of placing a 3-D grid of thermistors into a model leach pad shows significant potential in helping identify how a partic- ular leach ore will affect fluid flow. It also appears that this type of experiment could help to optimize emitter spacing and investigate the interaction of multiple emitters or other application methods. At this time, more research is needed to prove the results are conclusive, but there is enough evidence to spur future research. Continuing research should include the following: Additional experiments in a controlled environment to quantify ways of identifying problems with the fluid flow Larger scale allowing multiple emitters, more thermistors, and tighter thermistor grid to be investigated Thermodynamics of the experiments and how they effect the fluid properties and results SME Annual Meeting Feb. 23-25, Denver, Colorado 3 Copyright 2004 by SME Figure 3: Top view of the middle level of the thermistor grid used in experiment 2 - 4. (7.5 cm spacing) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Support for this research program was provided by donations from the following organizations: Geneva Rock - Draper, UT Aggregate products A.J. Dean Concrete - SLC, UT Aggregate products OreMax - Fresno, CA Max-Emitters AMEC - SLC, UT Lab for permeability tests REFERENCES Gold, G.G. 2004 (to appear). Fluid flow analysis of a model leach pad using a 3-D thermistor array. M.S. Thesis. University of Utah, Salt Lake City. Miller, J.D., Lin C.L., Garcia, C., and H. Arias. 2002. Ultimate recovery in heap leaching operations as established from mineral exposure analysis by x-ray microtomography. SME Annual Meeting. Preprint 02-170. Miller, J.D., Lin C.L., Roldan, C., and Garcia, C. 2003. Estimation of ultimate recovery in heap leaching operations using high resolution cone beam x-ray microtomography (XMT). SME Annual Meeting. Preprint 03-066. Scheffel, R.E. 2002. Copper heap leach design and practice. Proceedings Mineral Processing Plant Design, Practice, and Control. Vol. 2. 1571-1605. SME Annual Meeting Feb. 23-25, Denver, Colorado 4 Copyright 2004 by SME SME Annual Meeting Feb. 23-25, Denver, Colorado 5 Copyright 2004 by SME EXPERIMENT 4 - SCAN 3 - WARM WATER (Middle Level) -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Time (minutes) T e m p e r a t u r e
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( C e l c i u s ) 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 201 202 203 204 205 Inflow Outflow Air Figure 4: Example of the graphs for analysis Figure 5: Example of the graphs for analysis