T

he two most recent developments at the

Lundin-owned Neves Corvo mine in
Portugal are the Lombador Phase 1 mining
project and a major expansion of the zinc plant
to a 1 Mt/y capacity that has already been
completed, with a further expansion to 2.5 Mt/y
possible as a result of the Lombador
development post 2013. In September 2011,
Lundin Mining announced the results of the
main feasibility study for the Lombador Phase I
project, which is designed to exploit only the
upper portions of the Lombador zinc/copper ore
bodies. The conclusion was it can be developed
as a profitable and value accretive extension to
the Neves-Corvo mine. The following is a
review of some of the technical aspects of
implementing both of these major projects.
The new zinc plant is expected to run at its
full new capacity of 1 Mt/y in 2013 and 2014,
ramping up from 0.5 Mt/y in 2011/2012. The
production forecasts assume that the zinc plant
will be used exclusively to process zinc ore over
the next three years, although the plant has
already been proven to have the flexibility to
process either zinc or copper ores at the 1 Mt/y
throughput rate.
Lombador Phase 1: background
Lombador Phase 1 will utilise the existing shaft
and 550 level haulage systems to mine the
more readily accessible upper part, above the
260 level, of Lombador South and small areas
of Lombador North and East. Extraction of the
Phase One reserves will occur from three lifts
simultaneously, with average annual
incremental zinc ore production of 0.8 Mt/y,
and 0.3 Mt/y of copper ore. Production will be
truck hauled up an inclined ramp to the 550
level materials handling system, and then
onwards to surface via the Santa Barbara shaft.
The basis for the Lombador Phase One
expansion from a mining perspective is the
extraction of the Lombador South orebody,
together with portions of the Lombador East and
North orebodies. Maximum use is made of the
mines existing extraction facilities and
infrastructure. The first zinc ore production from
the Lombador Phase One expansion is expected
to occur in October 2013 from crosscut
development, and full-scale production
commences in late 2014. This schedule requires
aggressive development of the main Lombador
access ramp down to the base of Phase One at
the 255 level.
Three production panels are proposed
commencing at the 260, 360 and 460 levels with
mining progressing in an up-dip direction in
each panel. The orebodies will be mined using a
combination of optimised bench-and-fill (OBF)
and drift-and-fill mining methods, with the OBF
method being used in the massive sulphide zinc
orebodies, and drift-and-fill mining in the
stockwork copper ores.
The OBF mining method is a bottom-up
overhand mining method which involves a
primary secondary sequence of extraction,
with each stope being paste filled. Primary and
secondary stope dimensions are 15 m wide and
20 m high.
The mining areas will be accessed via a
footwall ramp extending down from the 550
haulage level. Conventional drill and blast
development, mucking and hauling, and rock
support will be used in all Lombador mining
areas. Longhole ring drilling is planned in the
zinc stopes, and drift-and-fill stoping will
maintain mining practices as used in the
existing operation.
Mucking will be via conventional LHDs to
stockpiles where front-end loaders will be used
to load the material into trucks which will haul
the material up the Lombador ramp to the 550
level materials handling system.
Lombador will be ventilated using a
combination of dedicated surface fresh air and
exhaust shafts, and some air from the Neves
and Corvo areas via the 550 level haulage.
Dewatering will be direct to the surface using
dirty water GEHO pumps. Mine services (water,
backfill, power, communications etc) will be
provided by extension of the existing facilities
into Lombador.
Deposit and current mining methods
The Lombador massive sulphide lens is the
largest of the five currently identified lenses at
Neves Corvo. It dips to the northeast at
approximately 35 and has a shallow plunge to
the northwest. The massive sulphide lens has
dimensions of up to 150 m in thickness,
approximately 1,100m down dip and at least
1,600 m along strike. Within this huge massive
pyrite lens are several zones of higher grade
zinc, copper and copper + zinc mineralisation.
These are described as the Lombador East
(LE) and Lombador South (LS) deposits (with
associated copper rich stockwork zones), and
the Lombador North (LN) area. The Lombador
South and East deposits comprise two high
grade zinc copper zones enclosed within the
much larger massive sulphide lens. The two
GREAT MINES Portugal
New projects
at Neves
After our overview article on Lundin Minings operations in
IM December, Paul Moore looks in detail at the newly
expanded Neves Corvo zinc plant, plus future underground
mining expansion plans focussed on the Lombador orebody
30 International Mining | JANUARY 2012
Aerial view of the Neves
Corvo surface operations
deposits are separated by
approximately 150 m of barren
pyrite. A copper-rich stockwork
zone in the footwall to the
massive sulphide lens trends
across this barren zone to
connect the two deposits.
Of the currently defined zinc
reserves at Neves Corvo over
47% are located in Lombador
and they are noticeable for
having a significantly higher
zinc grade. Lombador contains
almost 52% of the contained
zinc metal of the total zinc
reserves at Neves Corvo. The
copper reserves in Lombador,
whilst important, only currently represents 17%
of the total copper reserve and, with lower than
average grades, only 13% of the contained
copper metal.
Mining at Neves Corvo over its 20 year life
has been dominated by two primary mining
methods, Drift-and-Fill and Bench-and-Fill,
which have proved highly successful in the large
but locally complex high grade ores. In the
current operations two additional methods are
employed; mini bench-and-fill, and sill pillar
mining. Drift and fill was the original mining
method selected for Neves Corvo. Although the
method has relatively low productivity rates and
high unit costs, it was chosen because it is
highly flexible and can achieve high recovery
rates in high grade orebodies with complex and
flat dipping geometry. The initial copper
reserves at Neves Corvo, largely in the Graa
and Upper Corvo orebodies, averaged in excess
of 8% Cu, and it was important to select a
method that extracted all of this high grade
mineralisation. Drift and fill stopes at Neves
Corvo are normally accessed from a footwall
ramp with footwall access
drives driven along the orebody
strike at 20m vertical intervals.
Access crosscuts are driven
down into the orebody and a
horizontal slice is mined using
drifts developed either
longitudinally or transversely in
sequence. Standard drift
dimensions are 5 m x 5 m.
Following completion of a drift it
is tight backfilled with hydraulic
sand fill before the drift
alongside is mined. When a
complete 5 m high orebody
slice is mined and filled, the
back of the access drive is
slashed down and mining recommences on
the level above. Conventional electro-hydraulic
development drill rigs and diesel powered load-
haul-dump units, hauling to ore passes in the
footwall drives, are employed. Support is
generally provided by Swellex friction rock bolts
installed on a regular pattern.
Drift and fill is generally applied to areas of
the mine with a mining thickness of less than 10
m and has become the prevalent mining method
at Neves Corvo as the thicker parts of the
orebodies that are more suitable for bench and
fill mining have become exhausted.
The bench and fill mining method has long
GREAT MINES Portugal
The bench and fill mining method has long
been used at Neves Corvo in areas where the
mineralisation is of sufficient thickness and
continuity
been used at Neves Corvo in areas where the mineralisation is of sufficient
thickness and continuity. The method is significantly more productive and
has lower operating costs than drift and fill mining. The method is
generally applied in areas of the orebodies greater than 20 m in thickness.
Bench and fill stopes are again accessed from a footwall ramp with a
footwall drives driven along strike in waste at 20 m vertical intervals. Upper
and lower access crosscuts are driven across the orebody to the hanging
wall contact. The top access is normally opened up to the full 12 m stope
width and appropriate support installed. A slot raise is opened at the
hanging wall end of the stope and is then enlarged to a full stope width
slot. Vertical rings of large diameter drill holes are then drilled and blasted
on retreat to the footwall. Loading of the broken ore takes place from the
lower access using remote-controlled LHDs.
Bench and fill stopes have been mined up to 120 m long, but are more
typically broken in to 30 to 40 m across-dip lengths. The stopes are
normally mined in an up-dip primary secondary sequence. Primary stopes
are normally filled with cemented paste fill and then tight filled with
hydraulic sand fill. Secondary stopes are filled with either waste rock or
low cement paste fill and then also tight filled with hydraulic sand fill.
Mini bench and fill is a hybrid method providing greater productivity
than conventional drift and fill where orebody thicknesses are between 10
and 15 m. Accesses are again developed in the footwall via ramps and
footwall drives. In mini bench and fill, drilling and mucking take place on
different horizons but on a smaller scale than full bench and fill with
crosscuts 5 to 10 m apart vertically.
A sill pillar mining method was also developed at Neves Corvo to
extract ore remaining in the sill pillars, typically 20 m thick, created
between up-dip mining panels. Again, from the footwall access a central
crosscut is developed through the orebody to the hanging wall and is
heavily supported with cable bolts, pattern rockbolting and shotcrete. A
hanging wall access is then driven along the strike of orebody outside the
overlying backfill, and from this drive crosscutting drifts were developed to
the footwall contact. A final 8m thick slice beneath the overlying backfill is
mined in two stages - a normal 5m high drift is developed in advance, and
then the final 3 m is blasted down from the back in retreat. Backfilling is
undertaken using cemented rock fill placed with a slinger truck to achieve
as tight fill as possible. Successive crosscutting drifts are mined back to
the central access drive. The method has proven successful in achieving
circa 95% extraction of the high grade sill pillars.
The OBF approach
The OBF mining method is a bottom-up method utilising transverse stopes
accessed from footwall ramps and crosscuts. It involves the initial
extraction of primary stopes followed by the extraction of secondary
stopes formed between the previously mined and paste filled primary
stopes. Primary and secondary stopes will be 15 m wide by 20 m high and
will vary in length depending on the width of the orebody. The primary and
secondary stope extraction is completed before production starts on the
next level above.
The first step involves drilling and mucking crosscuts of the primary
stopes for the first mining level . Initially the drilling and mucking drifts of
the primary stopes will be mined from the footwall to the hanging wall; the
crosscuts will be 5 m by 5 m. After the mining of the drilling and mucking
drifts, the following sequence applies:
Specific diamond drilling will be required from the end of the ore
crosscuts to determine the position and nature of the hanging wall
shales contact. This is required in order to finalise hanging wall wedge
drill and blast designs, and cable bolting
Once the design is finalised, the last 8 m of the mucking crosscut next to
the hanging wall contact will be enlarged to the full stope width (15 m)
and supported
JANUARY 2012 | International Mining 33
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The roof of the enlarged area will be drilled
with up holes and blasted, creating the initial
void for the blasting of the hanging wall
wedge
Lastly, inclined holes will be drilled down
from the drilling crosscut, and the hanging
wall wedge will be blasted sequentially into
the void. If difficulties are encountered with
opening up, an alternative of pulling a slot
through may also be utilised.
The 5x5m drilling crosscuts are not enlarged
as they are in the bench and fill mining currently
used in other parts of Neves Corvo. Following
extraction of the hangingwall wedge, the
remainder of the stope will be extracted using
downhole rings, blasted and mucked in groups
of three rings.
Primary stopes will be backfilled using paste
fill (with 5% cement). Filling will normally be up
to the floor of the upper drill drift, but the option
is also available to fill this drift partially or fully
(and mine back through the fill at a later date), if
this would assist in minimising adverse ground
behaviour before development of the secondary
stopes commences. Following the filling of the
primary stopes the drilling and mucking
crosscuts for the secondary stopes are mined.
Extraction of the secondary stopes then
proceeds with hangingwall wedge blasting,
using the same drilling layout and sequence as
used for the primary stopes. Extraction of the
remainder of the secondary stopes then
proceeds, as for the primary stopes.
A review of the hoisting capacity of the Santa
Barbara shaft was completed by Stantec
Engineering during the Feasibility Study. The
annual hoisting capacity for the existing plant
(at baseline) is estimated at 4.5 Mtpa, or 12,900
tonnes per day (tpd), at 350 working days per
annum.
The PFS considered the use of conveyor and
truck haulage options for the transportation of
material from Lombador to the 550 level
crusher. It is worth noting that despite the
overall depth of Phase One (from 700 to 900m
below surface) it is only, at its maximum, 300
vertical metres from the existing conveyor
extraction facility on the 550 level.
This work demonstrated that the
development time necessary for an inclined
conveyor would result in a production start-up
date posterior to the next forecast high zinc
price cycle, hence ramp haulage was the
preferred alternative.
Truck haulage considerations
The feasibility study also sought to further the
understanding of two issues regarding
Lombador truck haulage. AMEC were engaged
to determine the production potential of the
truck haulage system using a discrete event
simulation model. Rockwell Automation's Arena
simulation software was used with input and
output interfaces developed in Excel.
The modelling was split into three stages,
progressively expanding the components
explicitly modelled from the Lombador ramp
only, to include the 550 level in detail, and then
to extend the whole model to the surface
stockpiles.
The model simulated haulage of ROM
material from the loading bays on each
Lombador production level to the 550 crusher.
Front-end loaders (FELs) were assigned to
loading points according to production ratios of
each location. It was assumed that the loading
bay was filled to its maximum capacity when the
loader arrived and that only one FEL could
operate at a loading bay. Haul trucks were
dispatched to the active loading bays until all
the material had been hauled to the crusher.
When the loading bay was emptied, the FEL
moved to another loading bay. While in transit,
the FEL was unavailable, in that haul trucks were
not sent to the FELs' destination location.
Traffic congestion on the Lombador Ramp
from haul trucks and auxiliary vehicles was also
included. Since the ramp is a single access,
vehicles travelling in opposing directions used
passing bays and sublevel take-offs for passing.
A complex series of factors were considered
in the analyses, including spacings of passing
bays, allowing tailgating of traffic, different
shift rosters, the number of other (non-truck)
vehicles, the impact of increased copper
production from Lombador North, whether a
traffic management system assisted, priority to
loaded trucks, the number of FELs, and
alternative locations for end-of-shift parking (in
the orebody, or at the crusher).
An important consideration as the work
evolved became the number of trucks operating
simultaneously on the ramp at any point in time,
as a consequence of possible ventilation
restrictions, and results were in part evaluated
to minimise this.
The simulation demonstrated that a truck
haulage system in the Lombador ramp can meet
the required production capacity under a variety
of conditions. It also allowed the potential
benefit of different management and control
systems to be evaluated.
Equipment selection
Consultants AMC were engaged in the
feasibility study to undertake a comprehensive
equipment selection process, and develop an
equipment replacement schedule. This included
capital and operating cost estimates to a
feasibility standard. Annual productivities for
the primary mining equipment were calculated
from first principles. Annual productivity rates
for cablebolt drilling and insertion equipment
and charging platforms were taken from the
PFS in preference to a first principles approach.
The Lombador life-of-mine stope mining
schedule and other assumptions were used to
determine the equipment requirements
specifically for Lombador below the 550 level. A
total site LOM was used to determine the total
site equipment requirements for the life of the
operation.
Based on the mining equipment replacement
strategy, the model determined a purchase
schedule for additional and replacement
equipment for the life of the operation. It was
recognised that some mining equipment from
the existing Neves Corvo mining areas could be
transferred to Lombador as the former mining
areas gradually become depleted.
The OBF mining method is not currently
practiced in Neves Corvo and its success is
highly dependent on accurate and productive
longhole drilling. Production blast holes, up to
21 m in length, must be fan and tilt drilled in the
primary and secondary zinc stopes using uphole
and downhole drilling techniques. Current
longhole drills at Neves Corvo are not capable of
this type of drilling to the accuracy required for
the OBF stopes. The production up-holes drilled
into the hanging wall wedge of the OBF stopes
will require some consideration with respect to
explosive charging. Currently all blast holes are
charged with pre-sensitised emulsion that does
not have the viscosity to remain in vertical and
near vertical up-holes. A number of blast
GREAT MINES Portugal
34 International Mining | JANUARY 2012
Schematic showing the concentration of zinc
mineralisation in the Lombador orebody
designs have been developed for the HW wedge
to minimise the number of up-holes required.
Charging of these up-holes would be with
packaged emulsion explosives. Different
explosive loading vehicles are preferred for the
large OBF stopes and the smaller and somewhat
physically constrained copper drift and fill
stopes.
It is highly preferable that additional
undergound haulage trucks purchased for
Lombador are able to travel unhindered up and
down the Castro ramp that leads from the
surface to the 550 level. Each truck will need to
traverse to the surface for major maintenance
during its life in the operation and the removal
of any large items to allow the truck to travel to
the surface or any other mining areas is highly
undesirable.
Given the long up-hill loaded travel by trucks
from the Lombador mining areas to the 550 level
crusher, the selection process for trucks aimed
to maximise haulage productivity through
increased payload, increased speed or both.
The proposed equipment selection has been
based on the following criteria: technical
functionality, including requisite technology;
equipment productivity; equipment
performance, actual or perceived; make and
model currently on site; and make and model
recently purchased for site. The following
summarises the selections that were made.
All operational development and drift and fill
drilling at Lombador will require conventional
twin boom Jumbo drill rigs. The existing twin-
boom Jumbo drill rig fleet consists of eleven
machines, predominantly Atlas Copco Boomer
282S rigs with three Sandvik Minimatic H205D
rigs. The last two drill rigs purchased were Atlas
Copco Boomer 282S rigs commissioned in
October 2006 and January 2008 and the
purchase of additional machines of this type has
been recommended for the Lombador project.
The existing rockbolting drill rig fleet consists
of eight machines, almost entirely Sandvik
Robolt drill rigs. The last two drill rigs purchased
were DS410-C rigs that were commissioned in
May 2009. However, an Atlas Copco Boltec 235
was selected as the preferred choice for the
installation of Swellex bolts, to standardise with
existing on site equipment and the preferred
supplier of other drilling equipment.
The OBF mining method requires tilted and
fan drilling of production blast holes in the
Lombador zinc stopes. Both uphole drilling and
downhole drilling are required. These drilling
methods are not currently practiced in the Neves
Corvo mining areas. Up-hole drilling is required
for the second stage of the HW wedge and
down-hole drilling from the top drive for stages
3 and 4 of the HW wedge, the central zone and
the FW wedge zone. The upper and lower access
drives are not initially widened to the full width
of the stope, hence parallel drilling is not
possible and fan drilling is required. Currently
on site there are three production drill rigs an
Atlas Copco Simba H157, Atlas Copco Boomer
281 and Tamrock Solo 07-7F (now sold as the
Sandvik DL420-7). All of these drills use a top
hammer drill module. The Tamrock Solo 07-7F
has a foot type attachment, while the two Atlas
Copco rigs have boom type attachments.
For the Lombador project a Simba M6C that
has a foot type attachment is recommended for
the ring drilled downholes and a Simba M7C
with the boom for the upholes. The use of
automated drill rig control systems to improve
hole positioning and in hole deviation along
with automated rod handling to improve
productivity is also recommended. Boom type
rigs have the flexibility to of also being able to
drill cable bolt holes. As a result, no separate
cable bolt drilling equipment is required.
The existing LHD fleet consists of fourteen
machines, five of which have achieved over
25,000 engine hours. The fleet primarily
consists of Sandvik Toro 0010 and LH514 LHDs.
However, the Caterpillar R2900G was selected
as the preferred machine for bench and fill and
stope loading of Lombador Phase 1. The
machines will be equipped with line of sight
remote control for in stope loading.
All ore and waste material will be loaded into
trucks by front end loaders at the stockpiles
located on each sub-level. Generally waste will
be dumped into secondary stopes below the
working level and all ore will be hauled to the
550 level crusher, where it will either be directly
tipped into the crusher or into a stockpile to be
re-handled into the crusher by a LHD or FEL.
Due to commonality between the currently
36 International Mining | JANUARY 2012
Equipment Type Make Model Primary Selection Reason
Jumbos Atlas Copco Boomer 282s Standardisation
Longhole Rig Atlas Copco Simba M6C Required for accurate fan and tilt drilling
Rockbolting rig Atlas Copco Boltec 235 Standardisation
Cablebolting/ Atlas Copco Simba M7C Required for cablebolt and production
production rig drilling
LHD Caterpillar R2900G Standardisation with recent purchase and
performance / acceptance
FEL Caterpillar 966H Standardisation
Trucks Sandvik TH550 Higher productivity and parts
commonality with existing 40t trucks
D&F charging Normet Charmec 1610B Standardisation
Stope Charging Normet Utilift 6405B Standardisation
Scaler Normet Scamec 2000S Standardisation
Grader Caterpillar 12M Grader Standardise supplier
Pickup Toyota Hilux Standardisation
Proposed Equipment Lombador Phase 1
Rockbolting in a main development drive
GREAT MINES Portugal
operated TH540 and the higher
productivity TH550, combined with the
familiarity of the mine maintenance
with the Sandvik equipment, the
TH550 is the preferred truck for the
Lombador operation.
The existing Neves Corvo mining
fleet is large, diverse and somewhat
aged. Based on the site replacement
strategy there are a number of
machines that need to be replaced
over the short to medium term. The
replacement program needs to reflect
the equipment required for the
Lombador expansion. Some mining
equipment from the existing Neves
Corvo mining areas can be transferred
to Lombador as the former mining
areas are depleted over time.
Cablebolting equipment is also
required in 2011 and 2012 to provide support in
development drives mined by contractors.
New zinc plant
Processing of zinc rich polymetallic sulphide
ores commenced in 2006 with the conversion of
the original tin plant at Neves Corvo. The zinc
plant uses the conventional processes of
crushing, grinding and flotation to produce a
zinc concentrate of around 50% zinc grade. This
facility had a design capacity of 365,000 t/y
and was debottlenecked to achieva a rate of
500,000 t/y, which has now been increased to
1Mt/y. The plant throughput rate has increased
since commissioning from 45 t/h to 60 t/h via
improvements in the grinding mill configuration
and up-sizing of pumps and piping across
various areas of the circuits. However, the
circuit was constrained in a number of areas
from further increases due to a lack of crushing
capacity, insufficient available grinding power
and insufficient flotation capacity. Additionally,
whilst the dewatering circuits could operate at
a slightly greater rate they could not
accommodate doubling of the throughput rate
as envisaged under the 1 Mt/y expanded
project case.
The final zinc concentrate quality is relatively
stable despite the large variation seen in the
plant ore feed on a daily and monthly basis.
However, this ore feed variation does impact the
overall metallurgical performance of the
operation. It can be seen that the zinc recovery
is largely a function of the ore feed grade with
lower grade ore giving slightly lower zinc
recovery to concentrate.
Crushing considerations
Zinc ores are first crushed underground before
being hoisted to surface. The mine has two
underground primary crushers located at 700
level and 550 level which are fed ore and waste
by the underground fleet of 40 t Sandvik Toro
trucks. The 700 level crusher station is
equipped with a Boliden Allis 1,050 x 800 mm
crusher of 600 t/h capacity that currently
crushes ore and waste from the Upper Corvo,
Neves and Graa orebodies, and Zambujal and
Corvo Southeast. The crusher feeds into four
1,500 t capacity storage bins ahead of the Santa
Barbara shaft loading pocket.
The 550 level crusher is equipped with a
Svedala Arbra 1,500 x 1,200 mm crusher of 400
t/h capacity that crushes ore from the Lower
Corvo orebody and other lower sections of the
mine. The crusher feeds into two storage bins of
600 and 400 t capacity. Material is crushed to
<250 mm and fed onto conveyor TP12 which is a
742 m long inclined conveyor on 25% gradient
which delivers the crushed material to the 700
level bins. The conveyor is suspended from the
roof of a 4 x 4 m conveyor gallery. It runs at a
speed of 3.2 m/s, and has an installed capacity
of 400 t/h. It is powered by two 225 kW motors.
Rock hoisting utilises a conventional ground
mounted 2.4 MW double drum winder, hoisting
opposed 17.5 t capacity bottom dump skips
each travelling on four 38 mm rope guides. The
hoisting speed is 12.5 m/s and the cycle time is
82 seconds.
After hoisting the crushed ore is fed to an
overland conveying and stacker system. The ore
is then dumped directly from the mine stacker
conveyor into a run-of-mine park. The capacity
of the stockpile area is around 150,000 t. The
ore is reclaimed via a front end loader and fed
into a chute for conveying to the existing jaw
crusher. A new pre-screen equal to the existing
copper pre-screen will be installed to
compliment the existing zinc crushing operation.
The screen will operate with a 20 mm
screen opening.
The crushing section of the zinc plant
is capable of crushing zinc ore to -11 mm.
The plant consists of a 750 x 500 mm jaw
crusher which is in open circuit followed
by two stages of cone crushing.
Secondary crushing takes place in a
standard H400 cone crusher, which is in
open circuit, followed by a tertiary
crushing stage using a H400 shorthead
cone crusher, which is in closed circuit
with a screen. The tertiary screen will be
increased from 11 mm to 20 mm to
increase capacity and provide a sizing
more suitable for a new rod mill. The
plant is designed for low tonnage. To
minimise spillage of ore, all conveyor
speeds are to be doubled.
Crushed ore from underground is
stockpiled in heap of up to 150,000 t capacity.
The ore is reclaimed via a front end loader. A
belt magnet is provided on the main overland
conveyor. Also a fixed magnet is installed on the
secondary crusher feed belt. Dust vacuum
collection systems are used as the main method
to control dust emission and spillage in and
around the concentrator crusher complex.
Milling improvements
ROM ore is dumped from the mine stacker to
the ore park. The ore is then fed to a pre-screen
for screening at 20 mm. The oversize reports to
the primary jaw crusher, while the undersize
reports directly to the fine ore bin. The crushed
coarse ore is conveyed to the secondary cone
crusher. The conveyor system has a rated
capacity of 200 t/h. The secondary crusher
product is conveyed to the tertiary crusher
screen with the oversize (+20 m) reporting to
the tertiary cone crusher and the undersize
reporting to the fine ore bin.
The crushed ore is reclaimed from the 1,500 t
fine ore bin via a single feeder and fed to the rod
mill feed conveyor. The grinding circuit consists
of a single line comprised of a 3.81 m diameter
by 4.877 m long rod mill and two 3 m diameter
by 4.1 m long (450 kW) primary ball mills and a
single stirred mill (930 kW). The rod mill product
is pumped to the ball mill circuit via two feed
distributors (one operating and one standby),
for distribution to two primary ball mill sumps.
The rod mill discharge together with the ball mill
discharge, is pumped to cyclone clusters for
classification. The cyclone clusters operate in
closed circuit with the ball mills. The cyclone
overflow, at a P80 product size of 200 microns,
is fed to the secondary grinding mill circuit. The
cyclone underflow returns to the ball mills.
The new rod mill is powered by a single 900
kW single ring gear pinion drive with a
38 International Mining | JANUARY 2012
The main mine ramp portal at Neves Corvo
GREAT MINES Portugal
frequency convertor driven squirrel cage
induction motor. Grinding media are steel rods.
Media addition is performed manually with a
rod loading device directly in front of the mill.
The mill motor power draw and mill load is
allowed to vary in response to changes in ore
grindability. Process water is added in ratio to
the solids feed rate to give a mill discharge
density of approximately 70% solids by weight.
The ground pulp discharges to a sump and
pumps deliver the slurry to the primary ball mill
cyclone clusters. The cyclone feed pump
capacity exceeds 120 m
3
/h.
The two existing ball mills treat
approximately 65 t/h each to give a product size
of around 80% passing 200 microns. The ball
mills operate as overflow discharge mills at ball
loadings of up to 35%. Balls are fed manually
into the mill based on power draw.
The primary cyclone overflow reports to the
secondary grinding circuit. The secondary mill is
a Metso vertical stirred mill VTM1250 fitted with
a 930 kW motor. The mill operates with 20 mm
steel balls which are feed via a ball loading
hopper. A final product of 45m is achieved. The
primary cyclone overflow together with the
secondary grinding mill discharge is pumped to
a cyclone cluster. The cyclone overflow, at a P80
product size of 45m, is fed to the flotation
circuit. The cyclone underflow returns to the
secondary stirred mill.
The flotation circuit consists of a row of new
rougher machines (20 m
3
) to complete the
aeration, copper roughing, lead roughing duties.
Zinc roughing and primary cleaning is carried
out in three banks of new 40 m
3
tank cells.
Subsequent cleaning of the various rougher
concentrates occurs in existing conventional
flotation cells. The product from the grinding
line reports to a conditioner tank prior to being
pumped to the aeration cell. The copper rougher
concentrate, combined with the copper cleaner
tail is reground in a 2.4 m diameter by 3 m long
(200 kW) ball mill.
The ground copper rougher and copper
cleaner block tail is pumped and cleaned in the
copper recleaner flotation machines. The copper
recleaner concentrate is pumped to the copper
first cleaner. The copper first cleaner
concentrate is then pumped to the copper
second cleaner. The copper first cleaner tail then
returns to the regrinding circuit. The copper
second cleaner concentrate is the final copper
concentrate and is pumped to the copper plant
thickener feed tank. The copper second cleaner
tail returns to the copper first cleaner. The
copper rougher tailing, together with the copper
recleaner tailing, both report to the lead circuit
conditioner tank. All copper cleaning duties are
carried out in existing 8 m
3
Denver flotation
cells.
The reject products from the copper circuit
report to a lead conditioner tank prior to
gravitating to the lead rougher cells. The lead
rougher concentrate, combined with the lead
cleaner tail are reground in a 3 m diameter by
4.1 m long (450 kW) ball mill. The ground lead
rougher and lead cleaner block tail are pumped
and cleaned in the lead recleaner flotation
machines. The lead recleaner concentrate is
pumped to the lead first cleaner.
The lead first cleaner concentrate is cleaned
in the lead second cleaner cells. The lead
second cleaner concentrate is the final lead
concentrate which is pumped to final tailings.
The lead second cleaner tailing is returned to
the lead first cleaner flotation cells. The lead
rougher tailings, together with the lead
recleaner tailings, report to the zinc circuit
conditioner tank. All lead cleaning duties are
also carried out in existing 8 m
3
Denver flotation
cells.
The reject products from the lead circuit
report to two zinc conditioner tanks prior to
being pumped to the zinc rougher flotation cells.
The zinc rougher concentrate, combined with
the zinc cleaner block tail, are reground in a
Metso VTM1250 Vertimill to a product size of 15
microns.
The ground zinc rougher and zinc cleaner
block tail are pumped and cleaned in the zinc
recleaner flotation machines. The zinc recleaner
concentrate is pumped to the zinc first cleaner.
The zinc recleaner tail returns to the zinc
rougher. The zinc first cleaner concentrate is
pumped to the zinc second cleaner with the zinc
first cleaner tail returning to the regrinding
circuit. The zinc second cleaner concentrate is
then pumped to the zinc third cleaner. The zinc
second cleaner tail returns to the zinc first
cleaner feed. The zinc third cleaner concentrate
is the final zinc concentrate and is pumped to
the zinc thickener feed tank. The zinc third
cleaner tail returns to the zinc second cleaner.
The zinc rougher tailing, together with the zinc
recleaner tailing, report to the final tailing
collection tanks for pumping to the copper plant
tail discharge system.
Final copper concentrate is pumped to the
existing copper plant thickener. Final lead
concentrate is discarded while final zinc
concentrate is thickened in a 20 m diameter
thickener. The thickened concentrate is pumped
to a concentrate storage tank. The thickened
slurry is filtered via two Metso VPM 1530-40
filter presses. The discharge from the filters is
conveyed to the zinc concentrate storage
building. Water recovered from the concentrate
thickening is combined with the water recovered
from the filters and reclaimed.
Flotation tailings are pumped to the existing
discharge system. Water reclaimed from the
tailing pond is returned to the industrial water
tank for recycling to the plant. Water from the
zinc concentrate thickener is collected in the
thickener overflow tanks and used in the zinc
flotation circuit and filtration. Reclaim water
from the tailings pond is also used as make-up
in the thickener overflow tanks. Fresh water is
provided as makeup water to the process water
reservoir. IM
40 International Mining | JANUARY 2012
This article discusses the zinc plant expansion
to a 1 Mt/y capacity but in the future it is
planned to up this to 2.5 Mt/y
GREAT MINES Portugal