CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IN MINERAL PROCCESSING

 Havilah Consulting Pty Ltd minimise the impact of mineralogy and head grade on continuous improvement:

         ...Continuous improvement is making consistently improving  over time, the underlying processes  in  an ore processing facility to maximise performance independent of mineralogy and head grade...   

As an example, consider an On Stream Analyser (OSA) in a flotation circuit :

• The OSA assays drive manual and automated changes to operating variables. 
• Consistently accurate OSA assays with regular reviews and updates of the decision making logic will lead to better production statistics independent of mineralogy and head grade.

There are multiple opportunities  for this philosophy in any ore processing facility.

This approach to Continuous Improvement was developed by Newmont Technical Services (Perth). A five star audit process was also developed.

More on the process and the audit tool can be found in the following paper: 

 McCallum, W and Dunne, R, 2012. Metallurgical
management tools for continuous improvement, in Proceedings 11th AusIMM Mill
Operators’ Conference, pp 225-230 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).