Selective Comminution Applied to Mineral Processing of a Tantalum Ore: A Technical, Economic Analysis

• There is an increasing demand to simulate and optimize the performance and profit of comminution circuits, especially in low-grade ore processing, as is the case with critical metals minerals. Recent research has shown that the optimization result is greatly influenced by quality aspects of the products, such as cost, profit, and capacity. This paper presents a novel approach to performing a multi-objective technical and economic analysis of tantalum ore processing to increase the production of critical metals minerals. The article starts with mineral composition analysis to highlight the potential of strategies for balancing the process layout for maximized production. The introduction of a combined technical and economic analysis presents the possibility of improving the profit by rearranging the mass flow given the rock's mineral composition. Results show that selective comminution can improve process capacity by 23% and decrease production cost by 10% for the presented case.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Produktionsteknik, arbetsvetenskap och ergonomi (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Kemiteknik -- Kemiska processer (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Chemical Engineering -- Chemical Process Engineering (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Industriell bioteknik -- Bioenergi (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Industrial Biotechnology -- Bioenergy (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Naturresursteknik -- Mineral- och gruvteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Environmental Engineering -- Mineral and Mine Engineering (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

plant efficiency

flowsheet recommendation and design

selective comminution

mass flow model

process design

cost analysis

tantalum ore

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