ADVANCED MINE TO MILL APPLICATION AT THE BARRICK CORTEZ MINE

M POWELL, S KANCHIBOTLA, V JOKOVIC, M HILDEN, B BONFILS, A MUSUNURI, P MOYO, S YU, J YOUNG, P YAROSHAK, E YALCIN AND B GORAIN

14^thAusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference, 29-31 August 2018, Brisbane, Australia

ABSTRACT

This work goes beyond the general perception of how the well-known mine to mill process can be applied, by

applying deeper knowledge along the mining chain. Grade deportment and dilution are considered at the

mining stage, and modelled with the new SMI blast movement simulator, linking with the block model data.

Assessing the shift to a considerably more competent section of the orebody is quantified via substantial

milling trials at standard and higher-intensity blasts. These were stockpiled for batch processing through the

mill to ensure feed integrity. The trial work included operating the mill at widely different fillings to develop

Grindcurve milling responses. Additionally, model informed process control is initiated via a mill prediction

tool.

It has been found that accounting for blast movement for the higher intensity blasts could generate additional

value of around $1.5M per blast. With the high-intensity blast and changing mill control, the plant was easily

able to exceed projected mill throughputs with the far more competent Pipeline ore. Strategies to shift the

workload and debottleneck the milling circuit were proposed and proven during the milling trials,

demonstrating an increase in throughput of 7 per cent despite running at a lower SAG mill speed, and

potential of 16 per cent for increasing the SAG mill to standard operating speed. A number of process

improvement opportunities have been identified to enhance current productivity and ensure long term

capability to process the considerably more competent future ores. All of this is being linked in with the major

digitisation program at the Barrick Cortez site, with an objective of linking all the data into a mine-wide

process optimisation system, that can embed the processes by providing process-wide data access and

production support via the future dynamic models linking ore body knowledge to productivity along the full

process chain.

AUTHOR DETAILS

M POWELL (1), S KANCHIBOTLA (2), V JOKOVIC (3), M HILDEN (4), B BONFILS (5), A MUSUNURI (6), P MOYO (7), S YU (8), J YOUNG (9), P YAROSHAK (10), E YALCIN (11) AND B GORAIN (12)

(1) FAusIMM, Professorial Fellow, Prof, Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, 4068, Australia. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(2) Professorial Fellow, Prof, Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, St

Lucia, Queensland, 4068, Australia. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(3) Senior Research Fellow, Dr, JKMRC, SMI, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland,

4068, Australia. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(4) Senior Research Fellow, Dr, JKMRC, SMI, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland,

4068, Australia. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(5) Research Fellow, Dr, JKMRC, SMI, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, 4068,

Australia. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(6) Consultant, JKTech, Indooroopilly, Brisbane, Queensland, 4068, Australia. Email:

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(7) Senior Metallurgist, Ms, Barrick Cortez Mine, Elko, Nevada, USA. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(8) Senior Metallurgist, Dr, Barrick Cortez Mine, Elko, Nevada, USA. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(9) Metallurgist II, Barrick Cortez Mine, Elko, Nevada, USA. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(10) Process Engineer, Barrick Cortez Mine, Elko, Nevada, USA. Email:

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(11) Digitization Manager, Barrick Cortez Mine, Elko, Nevada, USA. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(12) Director Strategic Technology Solutions, Dr, Barrick Gold Corporation, 3700-161 Bay Street, Toronto, ON M5J 2S1, Canada, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CEEC acknowledges and thanks The Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy for organising the 14^thAusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference (MillOps 2018). 

Abstracts can be found at the MillOps 2018 website.