Abstract
Sulfides extracted from porphyry-type deposits can contain a number of metals critical for the global energy transition, e.g., Co and precious metals such as Au and Re. These metals are currently determined on composite mineral samples, which commonly results in their dilution. Thus, it is possible that some metals of interest are overlooked during metallurgical processing and are subsequently lost to tailings. Here, an advanced geochemical characterization is implemented directly on metal-bearing sulfides, determining the grade of each targeted trace metal and recognizing its specific host mineral. Results show that pyrite is a prime host mineral for Co (up to 24,000 ppm) and commonly contains Au (up to 5 ppm), while molybdenite contains high grades of Re (up to 514 ppm) and Au (up to 31 ppm). Both minerals represent around 0.2% of the mineralized samples. The dataset is used to evaluate the possibility of extracting trace metals as by-products during Cu-sulfide processing, by the addition of unit operations to conventional plant designs. A remarkable advantage of the proposed workflows is that costs of mining, crushing, and grinding stages are accounted for in the copper production investments. The proposed geochemical characterization can be applied to other porphyry-type operations to improve the metallic benefits from a single deposit.
Highlights
Nowadays, metal resources are more crucial than ever to current global energy transition efforts [1,2,3,4], especially metals needed for the development of clean energy technologies [5,6]
We present the results of a high-resolution geochemical characterization performed in situ on sulfides from Cu-mineralized samples belonging to a porphyry-type deposit
We have shown that the metallic potential that could be assessed from a porphyry-type mining operation and how a high-resolution geochemical characterization of sulfides can be used to determine the concentration of trace metals as by-products
Summary
Metal resources are more crucial than ever to current global energy transition efforts [1,2,3,4], especially metals needed for the development of clean energy technologies [5,6]. To evaluate the economic metal content of a porphyry-type deposit, Velásquez et al [10] proposed a high-resolution mineral and geochemical characterization, which should allow efficient determination of the grade of targeted metals and recognition of specific host minerals. The fact that Anglo American Sur S.A. is evaluating the conditions for mining operation development in the coming years for the Los Sulfatos deposit, offers a rare opportunity to propose a multi-metal metallurgical processing in a porphyry Cu-Mo mining operation by implementing the high-resolution characterization proposed by Velásquez et al [10]. The case study is focused on porphyry-types deposits due to the increased need for copper in the coming years, which implies that the mineralized material will be extracted and processed to supply this metal and, the goal for mining geologists is to improve the metallic benefits drawn from each deposit.
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