Abstract
The Santa Rita Mine, located in the State of Bahia, was the first Mirabela Mineracao operation in Brazil. Started in 2009, the nickel sulphide processing plant has undergone constant modifications, aiming to adapt to the changes in the ore. Main modifications included autogenous grinding converted to semi-autogenous, as well as the installation of a desliming stage aiming to remove ultrafine minerals which reduced the nickel recovery in flotation. A full survey and ore characterization campaign was carried out to assess alternatives for increasing grinding circuit capacity. Experimental data were balanced and used to calibrate mathematical models which were the basis for simulation exercises. This paper describes the main aspects related to circuit modeling and simulation, as well as assessing alternatives for increasing the grinding circuit capacity.
Highlights
Santa Rita is the greatest nickel sulphide discovery in the world in the last 20 years
This paper describes the main aspects related to circuit modeling and simulation, as well as assessing alternatives for increasing the grinding circuit capacity
The Bond WI test carried out on grinding circuit fresh feed resulted in a 21.1 kWh/t for a 0.150 mm closing test screen
Summary
Santa Rita is the greatest nickel sulphide discovery in the world in the last 20 years. It was discovered in 2004 and Mirabela Mineração started its operation in. The production was focused on high quality nickel concentrate, with nickel grade varying between 13% and 15%. The current processing capacity is 7.2 million t per year, producing approximately 20 kt of nickel in concentrates. Mined ore is hauled to two primary crushers at an average rate of 1300 t/h. The primary crushing stage product is conveyed to a 67 kt capacity stockpile
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
