Development and Characterization of the Performance of Geometallurgical Test Work for Carbonaceous Ore at Peñasquito Poly-Metallic Mine, México

Abstract

A geometallurgical approach was adopted by Goldcorp Peñasquito poly-metallic mine, which produces lead and zinc concentrates with payable amounts of gold and silver, to characterize the variability and metallurgical response of sedimentary ores with high organic carbonaceous material content. For this purpose a sequential rougher test was designed to simulate the final configuration of the industrial plant for characterization and variability testing. A proxy test was designed to provide organic carbonaceous material concentrates using a representative small size sample for rapid characterization of the material. Three different leach test procedures were developed as well as a preg robbing potential test to characterize the sequential rougher test product’s response to a leach circuit. Analysis tools used included optical microscopy, SEM EDS analysis and principal component analysis. The results indicated that the sequential rougher test designed produced partially positive results with acceptable distributions of organic carbonaceous material, lead and zinc sulfide minerals. Improvement on the recovery of iron sulfides can still de done through the recommendations suggested in this report. The proxy test presented good results comparable to those of the sequential rougher test but improvements have also been suggested to result in the production of higher grade organic carbonaceous material concentrates. The leach tests designed for this project did not produce acceptable results and further test work is suggested. Principal component analysis aided for preliminary class definition.