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A Methodology for the Simulation of Synthetic Geometallurgical Block

Models of Porphyry Ore Bodies

Presentation · December 2018

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.36062.48962

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Mauricio Garrido Exequiel Manuel Sepúlveda

University of Chile University of Adelaide
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A Methodology for the Simulation
of Synthetic Geometallurgical Block
Models of Porphyry Ore Bodies
Mauricio Garrido, Exequiel Sepúlveda, Julián M. Ortiz,
Felipe Navarro and Brian Townley
๏ Geometallurgy has become an important sub-field in
mining engineering because of its benefits on the ore
quality on mine planning, plant performance and
product quality.

๏ The access to real geometallurgical block models is

very limited in practice, making difficult for
practitioners, researchers and students to test
methods, models and reproduce results in the field of
geometallurgy.

๏ These simulations can be used for several proposes,

for example, benchmarking geometallurgical
modelling methods and mine planning optimization
solvers.
๏ To simulate the GMBM, five steps are performed:
Identification of variable types
Generation of consolidated database

Compositional Multivariate Simulation

Geochemical / Geomechanical / Other variable simulations

BWI-SPI / Specific energy consumption / Recovery / Klimpel K

๏ Each simulation is performed in cascade approach to

propagate the geological uncertainty to the
geometallurgical process
Samples: Mineral characterization
The mineral characterization relates or explains the
metallurgical behavior of the rock according to the
present mineralogy and its operational factors

Mineral relave Mineral concentrado

For the model of co-regionalization, cross variograms are
modelled under an intrinsic assumption based on the
Pearson correlation coefficient between variables according
to the following equation, for mineralogical variables (i, j)

Cij h  bij  h

Table. Correlations between mineral proportions in zone primary with high chalcopyrite content
Chlorite Sericite Calcite Clays FeOxides Calcosine Bornite Chalcopyrite
Chlorite 1.00 0.16 -0.26 0.41 0.47 -0.14 -0.50 0.19
Sericite 0.16 1.00 -0.03 0.37 0.03 -0.03 -0.44 0.27
Calcite -0.26 -0.03 1.00 -0.15 -0.38 -0.11 0.28 0.02
Clays 0.41 0.37 -0.15 1.00 0.36 0.04 -0.36 -0.02
FeOxides 0.47 0.03 -0.38 0.36 1.00 0.20 -0.25 -0.21
Chalcosite -0.14 -0.03 -0.11 0.04 0.20 1.00 0.31 -0.48
Bornite -0.50 -0.44 0.28 -0.36 -0.25 0.31 1.00 -0.34
Chalcopyrite 0.19 0.27 0.02 -0.02 -0.21 -0.48 -0.34 1.00
Validation in proportions
50 realizations
Co-simulation in primary mineral with high chalcopyrite
content unconditional considering the distributions of
EDA references.
๏ Red color represents a high proportion of the simulated variable, Blue color
represents a low proportion of the simulated variable.
๏ The multivariate simulation on PrimaryCpy preserves the spatial distribution of
the geological simulation.
๏ 50 Different scenarios to capture spatial variability.

Low High
Elemental grade calculation Total Copper calculated

To simulate the head copper grade (associated

with the sulfide flotation process), the percentage
of copper was calculated based on the co-
simulated percentage of the copper minerals
(chalcosite, bornite and chalcopyrite).

Simulated values Calculated values

% bornite Fine bornite
Fine chalcopyrite
% chalcopyrite + Fine chalcosite
% chalcosite
Fine copper head

Mineral Elemental composition Copper

Bornite Cu5FeS2 63.30%
Chalcopyrite CuFeS2 34.61%
Chalcosite Cu2S 78.85%
Multivariate simulation : BWI - SPI
To simulate grindability variables (BWI - SPI), high
correlations (approx. 0.7) were found with
geochemical variables to generate a simulation
model (in Gaussian space) based on the
construction of a synthetic variable.

Co-simulation
Multivariate simulation : Energy Consumption
Grindability variables (BWI-SPI) are simulated
from their relationship with a synthetic variable
that depends on the geochemical variables.

Energy Consumption

Calculation
Multivariate simulation : Recovery Recovery

To simulate the copper concentrate, a recovery

distribution was associated to each mineral
(bornite, chalcopyrite and chalcocite) with mean μ
and variance σ2. These values depend on the type
of flotation test carried out (operational factors)

Simulated values Calculated values

% bornite Fine bornite * Rsim(Cu5FeS2)
Fine chalcopyrite * Rsim(CuFeS2)
% chalcopyrite + Fine chalcocite * Rsim(Cu2S)
% chalcosite
Fine recovery copper

Mineral Recovery Variance

bornite µ(Cu5FeS2) σ2(Cu5FeS2)
Chalcopyrite µ(CuFeS2) σ2(CuFeS2)
chalcocite µ(Cu2S) σ2(Cu2S)
Multivariate simulation : Klimpel K
The kinetic constant of flotation (Klimpel K)
depends on the buoyancy of the mineral and the
flow of surface area, and can be calculated as:

Floatability of mineral Surface area flow

Depends on geology, chemistry, p80 Operational parameter
Variable in the simulation Constant in the simulation

Depending on the type of test, relationships between

Metallurgical Recovery and Klimpel K exist:

Typical for Rougher

flotation samples
Multivariate simulation : Klimpel K
It can calculate the kinetic constant of flotation
(Klimpel K), it depends on the buoyancy of the
mineral and the flow of surface area:

Recovery Klimpel K
 Uncertainty
The simulation of geometallurgical attributes allows
generating a metallurgical response distribution
propagated from the geological uncertainty

Simulation of
geometallurgical
attributes

Distribution of
Geological uncertainty geometallurgical variables
 Coefficient of variation
The distribution of the geometallurgical responses was
quantified spatially through the coefficient of variation
(quotient between standard deviation and the average over
the 50 scenarios)
CV for K Klimpel

CV recovery
CV for Specific consumption
 Geochemical distribution
The copper in minerals (Total Cu [%] in
minerals) was calculated through the
simulations of the mineral percentages of
bornite, chalcosite and chalcopyrite
(QEMSCAN samples).

The copper in minerals was compared

through a qqplot with the elemental copper
calculated with AAS (Total Cu [%] in
samples) which was not included in the
simulation process.

Statistical consistency between simulated

copper (mean 0.86 and standard deviation
0.443) and copper in samples (average 0.85
and standard deviation 0.485) is observed
 Year 1 Year 2
Cu=1.6% Cu=0.8%

BWI design : 19
Planning only • Processing problems in year 1
considering copper Year 1: 1.6%, BWI: 20 • Decrease in plant capacity
BWI: 20 BWI: 16
grade • Decrease in NPV 1
Year 2: 0.8%, BWI: 16

Year 1
Cu=1.3%
Cu=1.1%
Planning Year 2
considering BWI design : 19
• No processing problems
geometallurgy Year 1: 1.3%, BWI < 19 • Copper grade decreases year 1
BWI < 19 • Decrease in NPV 2
BWI < 19 Year 2: 1.1%, BWI < 19
 Year 1 Year 2
Cu=1.6% Cu=0.8%

BWI design : 19
Planning only • Processing problems in year 1
considering copper Year 1: 1.6%, BWI: 20 • Decrease in plant capacity
BWI: 20 BWI: 16
grade • Decrease in NPV 1
Year 2: 0.8%, BWI: 16

Year 1
Cu=1.3%
Cu=1.1%
Planning Year 2
considering BWI design : 19
• No processing problems
geometallurgy Year 1: 1.3%, BWI < 19 • Copper grade decreases year 1
BWI < 19 • Decrease in NPV 2
BWI < 19 Year 2: 1.1%, BWI < 19
 Year 1 Year 2
Cu=1.6% Cu=0.8%

BWI design : 19
Planning only • Processing problems in year 1
considering copper Year 1: 1.6%, BWI: 20 • Decrease in plant capacity
BWI: 20 BWI: 16
grade • Decrease in NPV 1
Year 2: 0.8%, BWI: 16

NPV 1 ≤ NPV 2?
Year 1
Cu=1.3%
Cu=1.1%
Planning Year 2
considering BWI design : 19
• No processing problems
geometallurgy Year 1: 1.3%, BWI < 19 • Copper grade decreases year 1
BWI < 19 • Decrease in NPV 2
BWI < 19 Year 2: 1.1%, BWI < 19
 Geometallurgy in planning
๏ Optimization considering plant restrictions
(mill as a bottleneck)
๏ Case 1: First high grades
Geometallurgy in planning
 Geometallurgy in planning
๏ Optimization considering plant restrictions
(mill as a bottleneck)
๏ Case 2: dilution and re-handling programs
Geometallurgy in planning
 Geometallurgy in planning
Optimization considering plant restrictions

Case 1: optimization without grinding Case 2: optimization with grinding

Average Average
Period BWI VPN BWI VPN
grade grade
1 1.21 16.31 $ 281,740 1.17 16.52 $ 269,815
2 1.16 16.91 $ 190,069 1.17 16.66 $ 258,517
3 0.64 16.80 $ 104,179 0.63 16.76 $ 101,639
4 0.70 17.32 $ 65,130 0.57 17.23 $ 52,775
5 0.80 17.29 $ 78,709 0.96 17.33 $ 54,937
6 1.05 17.22 $ 5,615
SUM $ 725,445 $ 737,684
 Geometallurgy in planning
Optimization considering plant restrictions

Case 1: optimization without grinding Case 2: optimization with grinding

Average Average
Period BWI VPN BWI VPN
grade grade
1 1.21 16.31 $ 281,740 1.17 16.52 $ 269,815
2 1.16 16.91 $ 190,069 1.17 16.66 $ 258,517
3 0.64 16.80 $ 104,179 0.63 16.76 $ 101,639
4 0.70 17.32 $ 65,130 0.57 17.23 $ 52,775
5 0.80 17.29 $ 78,709 0.96 17.33 $ 54,937
6 1.05 17.22 $ 5,615
SUM $ 725,445 $ 737,684
 Geometallurgy in planning
Optimization considering plant restrictions

Case 1: optimization without grinding Case 2: optimization with grinding

Average Average
Period BWI VPN BWI VPN
grade grade
1 1.21 16.31 $ 281,740 1.17 16.52 $ 269,815
2 1.16 16.91 $ 190,069 1.17 16.66 $ 258,517
3 0.64 16.80 $ 104,179 0.63 16.76 $ 101,639
4 0.70 17.32 $ 65,130 0.57 17.23 $ 52,775
5 0.80 17.29 $ 78,709 0.96 17.33 $ 54,937
6 1.05 17.22 $ 5,615
SUM $ 725,445 $ 737,684
๏ We have presented a reproducible methodology
for the simulation of a geometallurgical block
model, with special interest in preserving the
coherence between geology, mineralogy and
grades. Four response attributes were included in
the GMBM: BWI, specific energy consumption,
copper recovery, and Klimpel K.

๏ Starting with real or synthetic drillholes and

following the steps in the proposed methodology, a
GMBM can be successfully simulated. All methods
and programs used in the methodology are public
and free to use.
A Methodology for the Simulation
of Synthetic Geometallurgical Block
Models of Porphyry Ore Bodies
Mauricio Garrido, Exequiel Sepúlveda, Julián M. Ortiz,
Felipe Navarro and Brian Townley

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