CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH SULFIDATION EPITHERMAL GOLD-DEPOSIT ORE

AND THEIR EFFECT ON THE BREAKAGE PROPERTIES

PhD Research Proposal

Proposed by: Sedarta

17/20471/STK/00667

Supervised by: 1. Dr.rer.nat. Arifudin Idrus, ST., MT.

2. Dr. Himawan Murti Petrus, ST., MEng.
3. Ir. Agus Prasetya, MEng.Sc., PhD.

POSTGRADUATE STUDY-PROGRAM
GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING – UNIVERSITY OF GADJAH MADA
In nature, minerals are mutually bound, either physically,
chemically or combination of both BACKGROUND

Grinding
Mineral Mineral
Size reduction is one of the most critical stages in all mineral industries
resources benefication

c, r & y are related to

the grinding parameters
and ore characteristics

Controlling the efficiency of

a mineral resource
 Gold is a necessity for modern societies
 Gold is the third largest metal commodity, by value of production (Arndt et
al., 2017)
BACKGROUND

Au demand

Hydrothermal ore
characteristics & the
breakage properties

Essential

In the process of size

reduction, liberation,
Value of deposit type (Arndt et al., 2017) Global gold production (Adam, 2016) and recovery
 Characteristics of Epithermal Ore-Deposits Literature review &
High Sulfidation & SUPERGENE ENRICHMENT Problem identification

SO

MO In the latest stages of

mineralization, the
meteoric water oxidizes
the ore minerals resulting
Schematic of intrusion-related deposits (Hedenquist WO
et al., 2000; Hedenquist and Lowenstern, 1994) in secondary minerals
and an enriched gold
zone

These processes may result in a two- to ten-fold

increase in metal grade (Reich and Vasconcelos, 2015;
Illustration of alteration Craw and Kerr, 2017)
zones in a HSED (Arribas, Oxidized zones tend reddish in color (SO; MO), whereas
1995; Stoffregen, 1987) primary zone as a result of hypogene alteration tends
bluish (WO)
 Literature review &
Characteristics of a gold ore – HSE Deposits Problem identification

In Martabe deposits (Sutopo, 2013): hematite (hm) replacing goethite. Pyrite and Barite crystals, filling a vug and encrusting-jarosite (yellow).
leucoxene or anatase in quartz (qtz) vug wall, as inclusions in barite Goethite (dark brown) coating fractures after pyrite

In Pascua deposits (Chouinard, 2003); These infer that:

Pyrite occurs in 4 mineralization stages
(Py-1, …, Py-4), each has distinctive  Ore from oxidized-zones varies not only in
mineralogy and textures. mineralogy but also in structures. The strong
Pyrite underwent oxidation partially. In oxidized-zone is more abundant in pore than that
fact, only is Py-2 oxidized to be of the other zones
Szomoinokite while enriched with gold.
Py-2 has far higher gold content than
 In common, gold is hosted only in certain
the other Py-. minerals having specific characteristics
Ore Milling Literature review & Problem identification

 Milling aims at disintegrating the inter-mineral bonding

 Milling may be performed by using tumbling- or stirred-mill,

i.e. a horizontal hollow cylinder (shell), filled with grinding-
media together with ore in a certain volume and ratio

 Rotating the shell causes the media and ore minerals

within the cylinder to collide each other.

 Tumbling mill with ball- or rod-formed media is the most

frequently used particularly for free-milling gold ores

 Size reduction takes place randomly, particularly by action

of an impact or abrasion.
 An aggregate of ore minerals fails only if it undergoes a
stress exceeding the limit of the elasticity and plasticity.
 Milling Operation Literature review & Problem identification

o It is a generally understandable fact that the

higher the reduction energy the smaller the
ground grain size.
 Ores, of gold-bearing pyrite [A] and copper
sulfide [B] milled at different energies of
breakage have distinctive ground grain size
distribution (Mariano and Evans, 2018)
 Ore [B] has higher curves than ore [A] has,
indicating that ore [B] is softer than ore [A]

 A SAG pulverizing the gold-bearing pyrite ores at 3 different energy

levels resulted in the undifferentiable particle size distributions.
This research also reported that for both valuable and non-valuable
mineral phases, the size-by-size liberation properties of particles
were independent of the breakage method used to produce them

These infer that each minerals, in a certain range of size, has

its own milling properties (progeny fracture) that are
independent of the energy level and the methods of milling
Research Question

The questions of the proposed research related to the ores from different oxidized
zones either in a certain degree or in a combination; among others, are:

1) What characteristics (minerals and texture) dominating the ore-composing

component?

2) What characteristics controlling the ore breakage properties?

3) When different-characterized ores are milled in an un-proportionally

mixture,
does it have a distinctive reduction ratio?
 Hypothesis Research
Methodology
The previous literature review infers a few hypotheses, among others:
1) Ores from each oxidation zone have a specific mineral composition and texture
 The oxidized or reduced solution may leave the leached pore and then be refilled with secondary minerals, thereby leading specific textures e.g.
cementing or replacement
 The mineral composition implies an index (oxidation)

2) The breakage properties and the goethite abundance have a good correlation
index
The correlation index determines minerals controlling the ore breakage properties
 The oxidation index and breakage properties have a correlation

3) Mixture of different-characterized ores inevitably affects the breakage rate

o Population balance equation expectedly estimates the ore characteristics affecting the milling operation
o Simulation aims at determining milling schedule
 Research
Field work Methodology

1. In each sampling point, collecting the ore fragments:

size of 5-10 cm, amount ±75-100 kg
2. Describing the outcrop and taking the profile
pictures
3. Testing the rock strength using a Point Load Index
(PLI)
4. Taking the picture of blasted-rock piles
5. Accessing the geochemistry data and drilling-log
related to area of interest

Sampling points in a mining front

 Research
Laboratory work Methodology

Laboratory responsible for each analysis

method:

 Thin and Polished section : Geological

Engineering Department - UGM
 Vickers : Mechanical Engineering
Department – UGM
 Porosity and Bulk density: PPSDM-
Geominerba – Bandung
 PLI: ITM-Medan

 XRF, XRD, SEM, ICP-MS Sandwich

Program

X = Not analyzed; √ = gained from the observation or milling-experiment data


Milling experiment
Milling operation parameters
Research
Methodology
Sample preparation:
1. A 10.0-mm screen hammer-mill comminutes the 5-10-cm-sized ore
fragments. Each grinding uses a feed of 12.5-kg ore
2. Ground-ore used for the feed of ball milling is those sized -4 + 10#
or -5.6+4.76 mm
3. A 8-chute universal splitter divides these ground-ore into 2 parts.
Splitting the ground-ore in 4 stages results in 32 division
4. A pycnometer measures the density of the ground-ores in each part
5. A digital microscope observes the grain characteristics
Experiment:
1. Milling time variation: 5, 15, 30, 60 and 120 minutes
2. The number of experiment for each ore type and milling time: 4
3. Milling ratio: charge to mill = 40% and feed to media = 1:1; by
volume, respectively
4. Mill rotation speed: 58 rpm or 67% critical speed
 Research
Sieve analysis Methodology

Milling product size distribution

1. An E-11 ASTM sieve-shaker separates the milled-ore
into 13 parts appropriate to its size, or according to
the capability of every particles to pass the aperture
sizes used
2. Sieving period: 25 minutes
3. A digital-balance measures the weight of each milled-
particles retained in each sieve/pan
4. A correction for fractional weight may be necessary
to equate the total weight of milled-particle fractions
and the feed weight used
 Research
Milled-particle analysis Methodology

1. The milled-particles sized -10+20#, -100+120#, -

170+200# and -270# each is characterized using
analysis method: Petrography, XRD, SEM,
EDX/ICP-MS, Vickers, Porosity

Matrix of the milling product and tested-samples

 Research
Data analysis and interpretation Methodology

All analysis aims at describing:

1. The characteristics of ore, feed and milled-particles
2. Reduction ratio and breakage properties
3. Index of oxidation and its spatial distribution; based on the
modal mineralogy, geochemistry, and rock-strength or
mechanical properties

The analysis aims at interpreting:

1. The spatial distribution of ore characteristics  ore-body profiles
2. Rosin-Rammler parameters: moduli of distribution (α) and size (β)
3. The function of breakage rate and breakage distribution
4. Ore characteristics controlling the breakage properties

The flow chart of data-analysis

 Research
Simulation Methodology

1. Milling simulation is based on the equation of PBM

2. The algorithm is implemented by programming
language of Visual Basic for Application (VBA)
embedded in Ms. Excel
3. The ore characteristics simulated are those having the
highest and the lowest reduction ratio
4. When the model valid, the rate of oxidation degree
(oxidation index) on the milled-particle size
distribution is also simulated

Index Oxidized Alteration & Ferruginization Index

 Research
Output and Time schedule Methodology
This research expectedly discloses:
1. Characteristics of supergene-associated hypogene-mineralized ores
2. Ore characteristics controlling the breakage properties
3. The milling productivity of ore of various breakage properties mixed unproportionally

Time schedule
 Mill type The estimation of milling experiments
Parts Dimension Size Unit Screen dimension Screen aperture Product -4+10# Product -4#
Crushing Perimeter 1100 mm Screen
No Length Width Thickness Area Diam. No. Area
Hammer-mill Chamber Wide 222 mm
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm2) (mm) (hole) (mm2)
Eff. (%) Min (%) Max (%) Min (%) Max (%)
Number 22 pcs
1 556 222 4 123,432 3.0 2242 15,847.8 12.84 0.01 1.20 - -
Thinkness 10 mm
Length 125 mm 2 556 220 4 122,320 5.0 1066 20,930.9 17.11 14.00 30.00 - -
Hammer 3 556 221 4 122,876 7.5 478 21,117.4 17.19 25.00 36.50 - -
Shape Rectangle
Weight 288 gr 4 551 222 4 122,322 10.0 345 27,096.2 22.15 33.00 45.00 3.50 7.50
Clearance 5 mm 5 555 222 4 123,210 12.5 266 32,643.1 26.49 37.00 50.50 8.40 17.50

Existing Mill Specification Media Specification (Ball) Feed (ground ore)

Critical Media Media Percent
Ball-mill Outer Inner
Length
Inner
Volume
Charge Rotation Diam. Weight Density Number
rotation Volume Weight Volume
Size
Bulk
density
Amount
Diam. Diam. (cm) (gr) (gr/cm3) (pcs)
(cm) (cm3) (rpm) (Mesh) (gr)
(cm) (cm) (cm3) (%) (cm3) (gr) (%) (gr/cm3)
20 19.5 49 14,633.73 5,853.49 57 2 15.54 3.71 455 56.37 1,905.9 7070.7 13.02 -4+10 1.65 4,829.13
2.46 28.33 3.63 245 55.62 1,909.7 6940.9 13.05 +4 1.85 5,414.48
3.51 84.75 3.74 85 53.88 1,924.6 7203.8 13.15

New Mill Specification Media Specification Feed (ground ore)

Critical Media Media Percent
Ball-mill Outer
Inner
Length Volume Charge Rotation Diam. Weight Density Number
rotation Volume Weight Volume Size
Bulk
density
Amount
Diam. (cm) (gr) (gr/cm3) (pcs) (Mesh) (gr)
Diam. (cm) (cm3) (cm3) (rpm) (%) (cm3) (gr) (%) (gr/cm3)
(cm)
12.7 12.08 20 2,292.21 916.88 90 2 15.54 3.71 72 67.55 301.6 1118.9 13.16 -4+10 1.65 756.43
2.46 28.33 3.63 39 65.99 304.0 1104.9 13.26 +4 1.85 848.12
3.51 84.75 3.74 14 62.29 317.0 1186.5 13.83