Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005

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Minerals Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng

Rock hardness and copper recovery prediction using textural clustering

Javier Merrill-Cifuentes a, b, *, Matthew J. Cracknell a, b, Angela Escolme a, b
a
ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Transforming the Mining Value Chain (TMVC), University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia
b
Centre for Ore Deposit and Earth Sciences (CODES), University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The benefit obtained from the exploitation of an ore body is a result of the balance between its content of
Texture valuable metals and their recovery, and the cost of all the activities associated to the obtention of a commercial
Hyperspectral product. Rock characterisation data is crucial to understand, evaluate and optimise this balance. The description
Machine learning
of rock composition through geochemistry and mineralogy, thanks to the past century’s technological devel­
Clustering
Recovery
opment, is well understood. Nevertheless, rock texture plays an important role in many stages of the business, but
Hardness it remains elusive in its modelling and further quantitative application. In this study, the Mineral Co-Occurrence
Probability Fields feature extraction method has been applied to a large dataset of hyperspectral imaging of rocks
belonging to a South American porphyry copper deposit, with the aim of incorporating textural features into
predictive modelling of rock comminution hardness (Semi-Autogenous Grinding Power Index – SPI) and copper
flotation recovery. The results show a robust increase in precision and a potential increase in accuracy of the
predictions when incorporating textural data, implying that the routine acquisition of hyperspectral imagery
from drill cores can significantly improve the forecasting of metallurgical parameters reliant on rocks’ textures.

1. Introduction (Djordjevic, 2010), e.g., redistribution of power between comminution

In the last decade, the balance on the overall costs of all the activities
associated to a mining project, once mainly driven by the mine’s ex­
penses, now it is very often leaning towards the processing stages (Curry
et al., 2014). Furthermore, given the decrease of grades and increase of
mineralogical complexity in the newly discovered ore bodies and the
reserves of the already mined ones, the share of the costs held by the ore
processing stages is expected to significantly increase. Particularly, the
energy costs shared by the comminution stages alone range from
70—90 % of the total energy expenses at an operating mine (Norgate
and Haque, 2010), from which approximately 97 % of the energy con­
sumption occurs at the grinding stage (Jeswiet and Szekeres, 2016). One
of the main reasons behind this issue is the necessity to reach finer grain
size products to allow an adequate liberation of the valuable species for
their recovery, indicating that the energy share of the grinding stage is
expected to largely increase, and recovery is likely to decrease.
In order to improve the energy consumption in comminution stages,
three main pathways have been identified (Valery and Jankovic, 2002):
comminute less material (Hesse et al., 2017), e.g., sorting, pre-
concentration, reduced dilution; comminute more efficiently
gear, newer technologies, optimization of plant parameters; or blast
induced fragmentation (Valery and Jankovic, 2002), e.g., optimized size
distribution after blasting. In any case, rock mechanical properties,
particularly comminution hardness, becomes essential information for
decision-making and optimisation processes behind any attempt to
tackle this problem (Carrasco et al., 2017).
The forecasting of metallurgical and environmental parameters may
have profound impact on the final economic, social, and environmental
outcomes from the exploration, exploitation, and closure of a mine. For
example, at early stages of the business, geometallurgy may enable a
better estimation of the value of a project, particularly for orebodies
with complex mineralogy, where for example, for an acceptable grade of
a valuable species the recovery may be challenging (Wang et al., 2015).
This type of information may enable improved design of the mine
extraction plan, and the concentration plant circuits and equipment
(Carrasco et al., 2017).
As mining operations enter the production stage, rock characterisa­
tion data becomes more abundant and spatially denser. The develop­
ment of geometallurgical models at this stage enable the optimisation of
the extraction sequence at the mine (Navarra et al., 2018), enable smart

* Corresponding author at: ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for Transforming the Mining Value Chain (TMVC), University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay,
Tasmania, Australia.
E-mail address: javier.merrill@utas.edu.au (J. Merrill-Cifuentes).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2023.108005
Received 22 June 2022; Received in revised form 9 January 2023; Accepted 13 January 2023
Available online 31 January 2023
0892-6875/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al. Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005

uses of resources such as energy and water (Pamparana et al., 2019), as Table 1
well as helping to optimise the plant operation (Lund et al., 2015), and a Model descriptions.
better handling of environmental hazardous materials (Parbhakar-Fox Model Predictive variables datasets Predicted variable
and Lottermoser, 2015).
HG Logging SPI®
From an engineering point of view, rock mechanical properties are Geochemistry
rather complex and as heterogenous as rock themselves. This has led to HGM Logging SPI®
the development of metallurgical tests that are robust and reliable when Geochemistry
used for the design and selection of facilities and/or equipment for rock Hyperspectral mineralogy
HGT Logging SPI®
processing (Bond, 1961; Mwanga et al., 2015). Two such tests produce Geochemistry
data on rock comminution hardness, obtained by the SAG Power Index® Textural clustering
(SPI®) test, patent owned by SGS (Amelunxen et al., 2014) and HGMT Logging SPI®
recovery. Geochemistry
Hyperspectral mineralogy
SPI® is a laboratory controlled tumbling mill test that aims to
Textural clustering
characterise the amount of energy needed to comminute a certain RG Logging Cu flotation recovery
amount of a particular sample from a certain feed grain size distribution Geochemistry
to a product one in a Semi-Autogenous mill. As the transition from RGM Logging Cu flotation recovery
secondary copper mineralogy (covellite, chalcocite, malachite, etc.) to a Geochemistry
Hyperspectral mineralogy
primary-one (chalcopyrite, bornite) occurs throughout the exploitation RGT Logging Cu flotation recovery
of most copper porphyries, an increase of hardness is expected along Geochemistry
with it. This transition also changes the gangue mineral association Textural clustering
(Goodall and Bradshaw, 2013), often entailing the mining of harder RGMT Logging Cu flotation recovery
Geochemistry
rocks due to the higher contents of quartz, feldspars and other me­
Hyperspectral mineralogy
chanically resistant minerals. Since copper porphyries are the main Textural clustering
source and reserve of copper in the world (Singer, 2017), it is important
to study these deposits and develop good practices regarding commi­
nution and energy consumption to face the challenges to come (Garrido relatively low cost, high spatial resolution, and semi-automated data
et al., 2019). capture and processing, particularly when applied to data acquired from
On the other hand, recovery is calculated from the ratio of the net drill core (Schodlok et al., 2016). These characteristics allow the crea­
content of a valuable mineral or metal contained in the sample fed to the tion of large digital repositories of objective and easy-accessible core
flotation process, and the net content of the same valuable species logging information, in contrast to the time consuming and subjectivity
contained in the concentrate generated from that flotation after a certain of visual core logging (Auscope, 2013).
time. Recovery tests are conducted at a laboratory scale using carefully In this study, a large database of hyperspectral images of drill core
designed protocols and equipment, in order to make those results scal­ has been used to account for mineralogical composition and for texture,
able to the actual plant size and throughput of a concentration plant as the particularity of hyperspectral imaging, is that it not only captures
(Lamberg, 2011). Ndlovu et al. (2013) review numerous publications the composition of rocks, but also the original spatial arrangement of the
into the problem of low recoveries achieved in newer deposits, due to spectral response in a spatially contiguous arrange of pixels (Green­
the high presence of clays and disseminated mineralisation that are berger et al., 2015). The textures of the rocks belonging have been
increasingly more common. In this challenging scenario, counting with analysed using the Minerals Co-Occurrence Probability Fields extraction
tools to estimate recovery becomes as important as grade when it comes method (MCOPF) (Merrill-Cifuentes et al., 2022). This algorithm allows
to the valuation of a mining project at any stage. Furthermore, these data a repeatable way to characterise and classify rock textures from large
are crucial for making decisions for the short – midterm at a running imaging datasets. In this case, the imaging dataset consists of hyper­
mine site, for estimating the costs involved in processing and profit, spectral scans of drill core collected at the same location where metal­
which can be highly volatile given the nature of the consumables and the lurgical samples were obtained.
metals market. Finally, the purpose of this study is to assess the potential benefit of
Metallurgical data, such as the SPI® and recovery, are often very incorporating the MCOPF quantitative textural assessment method in
scarce and sparsely distributed within the volumetric domain of the ore the prediction of geometallurgical variables such as the SPI® and copper
body, mainly due to the high costs involved in the tests to obtain that flotation recovery.
data (Amelunxen et al., 2014). It is common practice to use interpolation
techniques, e.g.; Co-Kriging, to fill block models with these metallurgical 2. Materials and methods
properties, often with the integration of relevant geochemical mea­
surements (Escolme et al., 2019). Nevertheless, certain rock properties Four different models are compared in their ability to predict the two
and their impact upon downstream process rely not only on composi­ metallurgical parameters: hardness (SPI®), and copper flotation recov­
tional characteristics but also on mineralogical texture (Ozturk et al., ery Table 1. The models differ on the set of predicting variables used,
2004; Hecht et al., 2005; Lamberg, 2011; Yusof and Zabidi, 2016). that way allowing the comparison of the incorporation of different
Nowadays, thanks to the advent of computational sciences and im­ pieces of information in terms of the accuracy and precision of the
aging rock characterisation techniques, it is possible to account for model.
texture in a quantitative manner in the context of geometallurgical
modelling (Gui et al., 2013; Xu et al., 2015). This has the potential to 2.1. Datasets
increase the accuracy and precision of the estimations of metallurgical
properties for the rocks for which metallurgical data is not present, by In geometallurgy, often the main challenge is related to the way
feeding spatially denser and more accurate data into the ultimate spatial datasets from different origins are joined together to develop, train, and
interpolation stage (Ozturk et al., 2004). validate the models. Mainly because different pieces of information,
A rock imaging technique that has seen rapid development in recent such as metallurgical data, compositional data, mechanical data, etc. are
years, especially within the mining industry, is hyperspectral imaging presented at highly variable spatial resolutions. For example, metallur­
(Harraden et al., 2019; Leroy and Pirard, 2019). The popularity of gical data is often the scarcest, and it is sparsely distributed in space,
hyperspectral imaging can be explained by its non-destructive nature, with sample sizes in the order of tenths to even hundreds of kilograms of

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J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al. Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005

Table 2 Table 4
Dataset description. HCI-3 specifications.
Data Description Columns Specification HCI-3

Metadata Data associated to each Lab assay ID, hole ID, From, To Spectral range 450–2500 nm
sample Spectral bands 514
Geochemistry Suite of elements and Ag, Al, Ba, Be, Bi, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Spatial resolution 500 μm
sulfide minerals Fe, Ga, K, La, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Spectrometers 3
abundance Nb, Ni, P, Pb, Sb, Sc, Se, Si, Sn, Sr, Spectral resolution ~4 nm
Te, Ti, V, Zn, Zr, Cc, Cov, Cpy, Py Scanning speed ~10 mm per second
Hyperspectral Abundance of each of alunite, aspectral, atacamite, Data volume ~400 Mb per metre
mineralogy the 12 mineral carbonate, chlorite, chrysocolla,
categories gypsum, kaolinite, montmorillonite,
phlogopite, sericite, tourmaline
Textural Core-length weighted TC_0, TC_1, TC_2, TC_3, TC_4, TC_5,
classification abundance TC_6, TC_7, TC_8
Logging Logging codes for Alteration, Lithology
alteration and
lithology
Metallurgy Metallurgical data SPI®, Recovery
obtained for each
sample

Table 3
Spectral ranges description (Schodlok et al., 2016).
Acronym Name From To Mineral groups
(nm) (nm)

VNIR Visible near 400 1000 Iron Oxides, Rare- Earth bearing
infrared minerals
SWIR Short wave 1000 2500 Al(OH) group, Sulphates, Si(OH)
infrared group, Ammonium-bearing, Fe
(OH) group, Mg(OH) group,
Carbonates, OH-bearing silicates,
Zeolites, others
MIR* Mid wave 2500 6000 OH-, CH-, Carbonates, SiO-,
infrared others
TIR Thermal 6000 14,500 Silica, Feldspars, Plagioclases,
infrared Pyroxenes, Olivines, Garnets,
Serpentines, Sulphates,
Carbonates, Phosphates, Borates,
Oxides, others

CoreScan Pty Ltd. (2021).
rock depending on the test, and low sampling rates in terms of total
number of samples (Dominy et al., 2018). On the other hand, whole rock
geochemical sampling, which can be considered an industry standard at
this point, normally consists in composites of a couple of meters, and
typically every drill core is continuously sampled from top to bottom. In
the case of the hyperspectral images used in this study, the data consists
of images of 0.5 × 0.5 mm pixel size that cover entire drillholes (Cor­
eScan Pty Ltd., 2014), but normally only a small fraction from the total
of the drillholes available at a mine site would be scanned with this
technology.
At the time of putting together all the sources of data, the amount of
useful data for training the models is a significantly reduced from the
original complete datasets. The main cause in this particular study is the
lack of hyperspectral images for most drill cores at the mine site,
explained by the recent application of the technology. The scarcity of
metallurgical samples further reduces the amount of data available.
Finally, further reduction in useable data was necessary through data
transformations incurred to make the different datasets match in space.
Despite a total of approximately 209,000,000 geochemical data mea­
surements, 1065 metallurgical samples, 16 drillholes fully mapped with
Corescan©, only 82 samples with all sources of information were found
for the training and calibration of the models. The description of the full
dataset can be found in Table 2. The data used in this study belongs to a
Cu-Mo deposit in south America.
Fig. 1. A: RGB image of a drill core. B: Mineral map. C: MCOPF polar repre­
sentation for the sericite-sericite pair (Merrill-Cifuentes, Cracknell and
Escolme, 2022).
2.2. Hyperspectral images and mineral maps
Each pixel in hyperspectral images contain a reflectance spectrum
over the surface of the imaged sample. The electromagnetic spectral
range, measured in wavelength, will vary depending on the technology
used, which is carefully chosen depending on the application of the
generated data. For example, for geological purposes, the most common
ranges of application are described in Table 3.
The data used in this study was acquired by the Corescan© HCl-3
(Table 4) system across 16 drillholes, representing a total 8772 m of
core analysed. This equipment operates on the VNIR-SWIR range
(400–2500 nm). The analysis of the spectral features in these ranges,
allows the detection of common gangue minerals in porphyry systems,
such as silicates, sulphates, hydroxides and oxides, carbonates, and
phosphates (Schodlok et al., 2016). In this dataset, one out of 12 mineral
categories have been assigned to each pixel: alunite, gypsum, kaolinite,
atacamite, montmorillonite, carbonate, phlogopite, chlorite, sericite,
chrysocolla, tourmaline, and a “aspectral” category for those spectral
signatures devoid of well-defined features and/or a consistent negative
slope across the VNIR-SWIR range.
To represent texture, the hyperspectral mineral maps were processed
using the Mineral Co-Occurrence Probability Field (MCOPF) based
textural clustering method (Merrill-Cifuentes et al., 2022). This clus­
tering technique uses an unsupervised learning method to group images
based on their geological texture similarity. Textural similarity is

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J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al.
Table 5
MCOPF input parameters, modified from (Merrill-Cifuentes,
Cracknell and Escolme, 2022).
MCOPF parameter Value
distance step 5 px = 2.5 mm
maximum distance 40 px = 2 cm
angular step 12◦
cell size 3180 px–1.6 m
defined from the polar distribution of the probability of occurrence of
pairs of pixels with determined categorical values, e.g., minerals, in the
sample images.
A graphical representation of the MCOPF can be seen in Fig. 1. The
rock sample (RGB image: Fig. 1A) shows three quartz-sericite veins with
the same orientation in a montmorillonite-altered porphyritic matrix.
The mineral map derived from the hyperspectral image of that sample is
shown in Fig. 1B. On it, the spatial relationships of the detected minerals
are accurately depicted. The MCOPF for the sericite-sericite pairs of
pixels (blue) is plotted in Fig. 1C. The colour of each cell of the polar grid
represents the probability of two pixels at that distance (radius,
measured in pixels) and direction (angle) to be labelled as sericite. As a
result, in this example, the quartz-sericite veins and their preferential
orientation is captured by the MCOPF and can be mathematically
compared to other samples. Ultimately, each sample image is assigned,
in this case the image of a core tray section, to a cluster that contains
other images that exhibit similar mineralogy and similar spatial
distribution.
The MCOPF based clustering has a series of input parameters that
allow the user to seek for spatial patterns that occur at different scales.
The selection of this parameters was based on the idea of generating a
useful output for geometallurgical modelling of the textural variability
present in the ore body and captured by the hyperspectral core scanning.
The distance step corresponds to the finest distance relationships
considered by the MCOPF algorithm, which in this case corresponds to 5
pixels (px), or 2.5 mm given the resolution of the system used, as lower a
distance step did not yield noticeable improvement in the classification.
On the contrary, the maximum distance is the furthest away pair of pixels
that will be accounted for, selected as 40 px or 2 cm to match half of the
width of the core image, that way avoiding the edge effects produced
when the maximum distance exceeds the shortest dimension of the image.
Then, the angular step provides the user with the ability to decide the
finest angular sensitivity with which directional relationships will be
captured. For this classification, differences lower than 12◦ in orienta­
tion were deemed irrelevant. Finally, the cell size is the length of the core
sections to be assigned to a cluster, which was selected as 1.6 m (3180
px) to match the tray sections for practical purposes. All this information
is summarised in Table 5.
Ultimately, each core tray section has been assigned with a textural
cluster label that can be understood as a categorical variable to be
included in predictive modelling. These textural clusters are described
by visual inspection in Table 6, with examples provided in the adjacent
figures, with mineral legend provided in Fig. 2.
To enquire further about this clustering technique and its results for
this particular dataset, please refer to (Merrill-Cifuentes et al., 2022).
2.3. Hardness index (SPI®)
The SPI® comminution hardness index is widely used by the mining
industry across all stages of a mines life (Alruiz et al., 2009; Mwanga
et al., 2015). For example, at early stages, hardness is used for sizing and
designing grinding circuits. During mining operations, this parameter is
mainly used for the estimation of the throughput (tons per hour) that the
mill can process, since harder rock will mean longer grinding times. This
throughput has an impact on the value/cost of the project as it reflects
the volume of metal that can be refined for a given amount of resources
4
Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005
consumed, e.g., water, energy, time. This index is obtained by a batch
grinding test, where two kilograms of ore are ground in a standardised
mill setup (10 cm diameter by 30 cm long). The index is obtained by a
mathematical relationship to the time required to grind a sample 80 %
passing 12.5 mm to 80 % passing 1.7 mm (Amelunxen et al., 2014).
2.4. Flotation recovery
Flotation recovery tests are conducted in standardised setups that
allow the upscaling of results to the size of an actual flotation plant.
During this test a range of reactants (collectors, frothers, and de­
pressants) are trialled with the aim of finding the optimal configuration
for a particular ore. The recovery test consists in feeding a sample of ore
to a laboratory flotation cell, with a predefined dosage for each reactant,
and then performing a laboratory scale batch flotation. At previously
defined time intervals, the froth is collected and then characterised in
terms of its composition. Finally, the recovery for a particular sample is
represented by the ratio of all the accumulated metal in the concentrate
during that defined time interval versus all the metal content on the
feed. The data used in this study represents recovery of copper for 84
core samples after 20 mins of flotation.
2.5. Logging data
In addition to metallurgical sampling, each sample underwent a vi­
sual logging process to identify the main alteration and lithology types.
These data are represented as a categorical variable, in this case a code,
indicating a particular alteration and lithological unit from a list of
identified units within the ore body. The description of each code can be
found in Table 7 and Table 8.
2.6. Geochemistry
In this paper, the term geochemistry refers to a dataset with
elemental composition of the rock samples. Geochemical data were
obtained through of acid digestion and ICP-MS of rock composites every-
three meters. These composites were continuously collected along all
the cores at the mine site. Samples were analysed by aqua regia diges­
tion, which consists of a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid at a
molar ratio of 1:3. This type of digestion, while effective to quantify the
presence of copper and gold and other metals, it is a partial digestion
method, meaning that most alumino-silicates and other families of
minerals are not dissolved (Kelley et al., 2003). Moreover, the elements
present in those resistant minerals will be inconsistently underreported.
The implications of this in the present study are considerable, as
metallurgical behaviour, especially at stages before concentration, is
dominated by many of these gangue species rather than valuable spe­
cies, as they represent around 99 % of the mass of a run-of-mine sample.
As a result of the availability only of aqua regia geochemical data it is
expected that the models based on these data will generate low accuracy
and precision, as geochemistry is the main source of information for the
prediction of hardness and recovery due to its stoichiometric relation­
ship with mineralogy. Nevertheless, this situation will still allow for the
assessment of the predictive power of models based on textures and
hyperspectral mineralogy.
2.7. Pre-processing
Prior to training and validating models, data was assigned appro­
priate attributes and formatted according to the requirements of the
methods used. These mathematical transformations aim to integrate the
different sources of information for model training and validation in
terms of their spatial resolution and variable types.
J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al. Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005

Table 6
Textural cluster summary table.
Cluster Textural description Sample image

0 Kaolinite alteration with minor sericite. Occurrence of aspectral pixels associated to quartz-pyrite veins with
and without sericite halos. Patchy alunite and montmorillonite are also observed.

1 Veins with broad sericite alteration halos that become pervasive sericite alteration, kaolinite is subordinated
to sericite. Aspectral regions associated with quartz alteration.

2 Large domains of aspectral pixels with minor sericite and montmorillonite in patches and veins.

3 Pervasive sericite alteration. Scarcity of veins.

4 Pervasive sericite alteration, with patchy aspectral regions.

Breccia zones are reasonably frequent.

5 Pervasive montmorillonite altered rocks with quartz stockwork veining defined by aspectral pixels. Sericite
and broader aspectral domains are also present.

6 Sericite and montmorillonite altered rock with sparse veins that have sericite and/or aspectral (likely quartz)
halos.

7 Pervasive montmorillonite alteration.

8 Pervasive chlorite alteration.

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J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al. Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005

Equation 1: Geochemistry matched by core-length weighted

average
Where mj,e is the concentration of element e in metallurgical sample j,
I is the set of spatially matched geochemical samples to metallurgical
sample j, li is the core length shared by the geochemical sample i and
metallurgical sample j, L is the total length of metallurgical sample j, and
E is the set of elements analysed. This calculation assumes a constant
bulk density.
1 ∑ 1, p(i) = c
mj,c = ∀c ∈ C
A i∈I 0, otherwise

Equation 2: Hyperspectral mineralogy matched by image area

weighted average
Where mj,c is hyperspectral mineral abundance of mineral c in
metallurgical sample j, p(i) is the value of pixel i, I is the spatially
Fig. 2. Mineral map colour legend. matched image of metallurgical sample j to the hyperspectral mineral
maps, A is the total number of pixels in image I, and C is the set of 12
categories in the hyperspectral mineral maps.
Table 7
Lithology logging codes. 1 ∑ li , t(i) = k
mj,k = { ∀k ∈ K
L i∈I 0, otherwise
Lithology Code Description

ABX1 Igneous breccia 1 Equation 3: Textural data matched by core-length weighted

ABX2 Igneous breccia 2 textural cluster abundance
BRXH Hydrothermal breccia Where mj,k is the abundance of the textural cluster k in metallurgical
FP Feldspar porphyry
IND Undifferentiated siltstones sample j, t(i) is the textural cluster of core tray segment i, I is the set of
QFP1 Quartz-feldspar porphyry 1 core tray segments spatially matched to metallurgical sample j, li is the
QFP2 Quartz-feldspar porphyry 2 core length shared between core tray segment i and metallurgical sample
j, and K is the set of textural clusters.

Table 8 2.9. Compositional data

Alteration logging codes.
Alteration Code Description After the transformations described above, the geochemistry,
hyperspectral mineralogy and the textural clusters are compositional
KB Potassic (biotite subzone)
KF Potassic (K-feldspar subzone)
data, becoming vectors of positive numbers summing to one. In other
QS Quartz - sericite words, the components for each of the variables describe parts of a
A Argillic whole and are therefore not independent from each other. For this
Cl Chloritic purpose, the centred log-ratio has been applied to extract relative in­
formation from the original variables (Aitchison, 1982; Mateu-Figueras
2.8. Spatial resolution and Pawlowsky-Glahn, 2008).
( ) mj,l
clr mj,l = log √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
̅∀l ∈ P, ∀P ∈ {E, C, K}
The substantially different spatial resolutions among the datasets ∏
p∈P mj,p
n

present a challenge to their integration. In increasing order of resolution

with respect to core length. Equation 4: Centred log-ratio transform
( )
Where clr mj,l is the centred log ratio for metallurgical sample j and
• metallurgical data consists of one observation for an average of the variable l, n is the number of components in the set P, and E, C, and K
approximately 16.4 m of core (in depth) with a variability of 9.5 m of are the geochemical, hyperspectral mineralogy and textural clusters
standard deviation respectively. Note that the denominator is the geometric mean for each
• geochemical data comprise measurements taken for composites on set of variables.
average every 17.38 m of core with length (in depth) variability of
8.7 m of standard deviation
2.10. Elimination of correlated variables
• textural classes are defined for every row of a core tray, which is
roughly 1.3 m with a depth variability of 0.9 m
In order to improve model stability, replicability and interpretability,
• hyperspectral mineralogy data is structured in a bidimensional array
variables with high correlation were filtered, eliminating one of them
(image) of square pixels of 0.5 mm along the entire length of core
according to their absolute Pearson correlation index with a threshold of
0.85.
Hyperspectral based mineral maps were transformed into hyper­
⃒ ⃒〉
spectral mineralogy by a pixel count per area for each of the 12 mineral ⃒ρ ⃒ 0.85
X,Y
categories, matching the core samples from the metallurgical dataset
using the metadata (‘from’, ‘to’). The geochemistry, hyperspectral cov(X, Y)
mineralogy, and textural data were then upscaled to match the spatial ρX,Y =
σX σY
resolution of the metallurgical dataset using the following rules.
Equation 5: Correlation filtering criteria
1∑ Where ρX,Y is the Pearson correlation index between any two vari­
mj,e = li si,e ∀e ∈ E
L i∈I ables X and Y, cov(X, Y) is the covariance of those two variables, and σ
the variance.

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J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al. Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005

Table 9 with a low number of observations compared to the number of predic­

Original logging variables.
Sample Lithology
Example1 FP
Although the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selector Operator
(LASSO) regression method used in this study intrinsically deals with
correlated variables, prefiltering correlated variables was emploted to
avoid inconsistent LASSO filtering results. For example, during the
validation process different correlated variables would be filtered by
LASSO due to slight variations in the training dataset.
2.11. Encoding categorical variables
To include categorical variables in the models, the “one hot encoder”
approach was used. This approach transforms each categorical variable,
in this case alteration and lithology, into n binary variables, where n is
the number of unique values acquired by each of those variables. An
example of this conversion can be found in Table 9 and Table 10.
2.12. Target variable transformation
Given the non-linear nature of the targeted variables; the exponential
behaviour in the case of SPI®, and the finite (from 0 to 100 %) char­
acteristic of copper flotation recovery, a pertinent transformation of
each was conducted before the training of the model. The histogram of
the values transformed can be found in Fig. 3.
′
y = lny
Equation 6: SPI® target transformation
y
′
y = logit(y) = ln
1− y
Equation 7: Recovery target transformation
2.13. Regression
A characteristic of regression is that it can overfit models when faced
tive variables available (Luo et al., 2021). In these circumstances the
Alteration model fits to noise within the training data and fails to capture the
structure of the desired signal, therefore failing to generalise well on
KB
new data. To address the problem of a low number of samples compared
to the number of variables, the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selector
Operator (LASSO, Equation 8) regression method was chosen. LASSO is
a linear regression method, but it employs an optimisation cost to non-
cero coefficients. In other words, LASSO aims to fit regression co­
efficients using the minimal number of available variables, helping to
address the problems of stability and overfitting described above.
1
min w‖Xc − y‖22 + α‖c‖1
c 2nsamples
Equation 8: LASSO regression objective function
Where, X are the predictive variables, y is the target variable, c is the
coefficient vector of the model, α is the regularisation parameter, w is the
sample weight vector, ‖ • ‖1 is the l 1 -norm and ‖ • ‖2 is the l 2 -norm.
In a LASSO model, the hyperparameter α can be interpreted as the
unit cost of a non-zero coefficient, or in other words, the penalty for
including variable into the model. Given the conditions of the dataset in
this study, this hyperparameter becomes particularly useful for model
optimisation. By analysing the behaviour of the error when increasing
the value of α, it is possible to train a model that avoids overfitting and
can fit to the structure in the data successfully with a minimum number
of predictor variables.
Within the context of simulating a practical application scenario, the
samples have been weighed based on the priorities of metallurgical
processing, at the same time counteracting the deformations induced by
the target variable transformations. In the case of the prediction of SPI®,
the samples with a high hardness index have been given a higher weight
for the training of the model (Equation 9). In contrast, when training the
recovery model, higher weight has been assigned to samples with a low
recovery value (Equation 10). Both decisions were made under the
assumption, from a geometallurgical perspective, that it is more
important to account for the occurrence of hard rock and low recovery
units. In the case of hardness, the logarithm (Equation 6) will compress
the upper values, underrepresenting their importance in the scoring
metric. For recovery, the logit function (Equation 7) amplifies the values

Table 10
Encoded logging variables.
Sample Lithology Alteration

ABX1 ABX2 BRXH FP IND QFP1 QFP2 KB QS A Cl KF

Example1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0

Fig. 3. Histogram for the transformed target variables: SPI (A) and recovery (B).

7
J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al. Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005

close to the extremes as it tends to negative infinite for 0 % and positive 2.16. Model scoring
infinite for 100 %. In contrast to the effect seen for hardness, given the
distribution of the values for recovery, the importance of high recoveries To compare models, error metrics that considered the target variable
is amplified in the scoring metric. The following weight equations were data types were used. For the prediction of recovery, as it is in per­
used to compensate for these effects: centage, the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) was chosen, allowing a
straightforward interpretation of the error metrics as direct percentage
yj − min(y)
wj = 19 +1 points deviation from measured recovery values. In the case of the SPI®
max(y) − min(y) target variable, the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) was
Equation 9: Sample weight for SPI® modelling employed, as the objective in this case is to know how far the predictions
are from the actual values in proportion to the measured value.
− yj + max(y)
wj = 19 +1
max(y) − min(y) 2.16.1. Mean absolute error (MAE)
Equation 10: Sample weight for recovery models The absolute error (AE: Equation 12) consists in the absolute dif­
Where wj is the statistical weight of sample j, yj is the observed ference between measured and predicted values. The MAE (Equation
response for the sample j, max(y) and min(y) are the maximum and 13) is a simple scoring method that disregards the directionality of the
minimum value for the predicted variables respectively. error (under or overprediction) calculated as the mean of the absolute
error. This metric is expressed in the same unit of measurement of the
predicted variable.
2.14. Coefficient analysis yk|
AEk = |yk − ̂

In order to further assess the value supplied by each of the variables Equation 12: Absolute error
considered for each model, the coefficient of the models trained with the 1∑n
full data were compared. As the values for each of the predictive vari­ MAE =
n k=1
yk |
|yk − ̂
ables differ substantially, they must be normalised using the standard
deviation for each of the variables according to Equation 11. The nor­ Equation 13: MAE
malised coefficient will be referred as coefficient importance.
√̅̅̅̅ 2.16.2. Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE)
c̃l = cl σ l The absolute percentage error (APE: Equation 14) comprises the
ratio between the absolute error (AE) and the measured value. The MAE
Equation 11: Coefficient importance
(Equation 15). The MAPE is calculated as the mean of the absolute
Where c̃l is the coefficient importance, cl is the coefficient for the
percentage error. This provides a proportional indication of the
variable l and σ l is the variance of the variable l.
magnitude of the error, keeping in mind any transformation applied
over the variables.
2.15. Leave-one-out cross validation |yk − ̂y k |
APEk =
yk
Given the limited number of observations accounted for the training
of the models, a Leave-one-out (LOO) cross validation approach was Equation 14: Absolute percentage error
selected. This method proceeds by leaving one of the observations out of ⃒ ⃒
1∑n ⃒⃒yk − ̂y k ⃒⃒
the model training set and then attempts to predict its value with a MAPE =
n k=1 ⃒ yk ⃒
retrained model using the remaining observations. This process is
repeated for all samples in the dataset, making this type of validation Equation 15: MAPE
computationally intense, but unbiased, unlike other cross validation
approaches such as shuffle split or k-fold. At the completion of LOO cross 2.16.3. Weighted error
validation an array of predicted and measured values for every obser­ For both, MAPE and MAE, a weighted version has been calculated
vation in the dataset is produced, from which a score that enables the based on the weight vectors obtained by Equation 9 and Equation 10, to
comparison of the models is obtained. better understand the quality of the predictions for those samples

Fig. 4. α parameter vs SPI error (A: MAPE, B: wMAPE).

8
J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al.
Fig. 5. SPI prediction absolute percentage error for each sample during LOO (α
= 0.01). The horizontal lines represent the maximum value, the mean and the
minimum value from top to bottom for each distribution.
considered more important. This will be referred as wMAPE and wMAE
respectively.
2.17. Statistical tests
A high error is expected for models given the challenging dataset
conditions. Therefore, statistical tests were considered necessary to
robustly compare the error distribution of the different models. To
describe and compare the different models in terms of their accuracy
and precision, the mean, and the standard deviation of the scores for
their LOO cross validation trials were considered. To compare these
distributions two statistical tests were used: the Student’s T test was used
to assess the differences in the mean of the error, and given the non-
normal distribution of the error, the Fligner-Killeen test was selected
to assess the differences in the variance of the error (Fligner and Killeen,
1976). These tests return a measurement of the certainty with which it
can be stated that, in this case, the error metrics actually differ from
model to model, and it is not only a result of spurious sample bias.
Fig. 6. SPI prediction model comparison for α = 0.01 (A: MAPE, B: APE standard deviation).
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Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005
Fig. 7. SPI measured vs predicted (α = 0.01), diagonal represents x = y.
Commonly, a p value of 0.05 (1-p = 0.95 meaning a 95 % certainty) is
the threshold used to approve or reject the test’s hypotheses, however in
this case smaller certainties are expected given the nature of the datasets
available.
3. Results
3.1. Hardness (SPI®)
3.1.1. Lasso α parameter
The error on the validation process (LOO) of the models generated
with different values for the regularisation parameter (α) was calculated.
For higher values of α, the models become less complex in terms of the
number of parameters (non-zero coefficients) for the estimation of the
SPI® and recovery. Ideally the simplest model with acceptable error will
be selected. Fig. 4A shows the error (MAPE) in the SPI® estimations
when varying the regularisation parameter, and Fig. 4B shows the
weighed error (wMAPE), where the error on the prediction of harder
samples has been assigned with more importance according to Equation
J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al. Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005

Table 11 9. The optimal model has been selected based on the minimum wMAPE,
SPI prediction Student’s T test, p values (α = 0.01). which corresponds to the HGM model for a regularisation value of α =
HGM HGT HGMT 0.01.
Despite being HGM the optimal model, Fig. 4 indicates that MAPE
HG 0.456 0.554 0.570
HGM 0.873 0.844 and wMAPE are lower for the models that include texture with larger
HGT 0.972 regularisation parameter values. It can also be seen how wMAPE is
overall lower than the MAPE, meaning that the sacrifice in the fit for the
softer samples is surpassed by the improvement in the prediction of the
Table 12 hard samples under the calculated weight (Equation 9).
SPI prediction Fligner-Killeen test, p values (α = 0.01).
HGM HGT HGMT 3.2. Error distribution
HG 0.274 0.638 0.752
HGM 0.442 0.471 Fig. 5 compares the absolute percentage error distribution for all the
HGT 0.889 samples during the LOO cross validation for α = 0.01. While the absolute
percentage error distributions are similar across all models the HGT
model has fewer extreme values. Fig. 6A shows the MAPE for each of the
models and Fig. 6B the standard deviation of the absolute percentage
error, where it can be concluded that the best fitting model in terms of

Fig. 8. SPI prediction model coefficient comparison (α = 0.01).

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J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al. Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005

Fig. 9. α parameter vs recovery error (A: MAE, B: wMAE).

accuracy the HGM and in precision is HGMT.

3.3. Statistical tests

Fig. 7 compares LOO cross validation predicted to measured SPI and

indicates that differences between the models are subtle. As well, it can
be seen than harder samples (SPI>~150) are commonly underestimated
(SPI<~150). In order to provide a quantitative answer regarding the
differences in the success of models, statistical tests were applied to
assess the degree of certainty in the difference in mean (Table 11) and
standard deviation (Table 12) of the error of the models.
Table 11 shows the p values for a Student’s T test for the differences
in absolute percentage error (APE) distributions for each sample during
the leave-one-out (LOO) validation process, among the models
compared. No statistical differences were found between the models
with different predictive variables.
Table 12 shows the p values for a Fligner-Killeen test for the LOO APE
variance difference among the models compared. The value p value of
0.274 for the comparison of the HGM and the HG models could be a very
weak suggestion an improvement with the incorporation of hyper­
spectral mineralogy, while for the HGM model versus the HGT model
there is no evidence that suggests an improvement when adding textural
variables.

3.4. Coefficient interpretation
The coefficients for each variable across the models was normalised
according to Equation 11 to provide a quantitative assessment of their
predictive importance. In Fig. 8 all non-zero coefficients are displayed
for the models trained to predict the SPI®. The decreasing importance of
alteration and lithology logging can be seen when incorporating
mineralogy and, in particular, texture. In addition, based on variations
in their importance across the models, some elements appear to inform
models that incorporate mineralogy (Zr, Ag), texture (Mg) or both (Zn,
V, Bi, Be). The largest positive influence predictors of hardness are TC_4
(textural cluster 4) and Mg, while for the negative influence are Ag and
Mo.
3.5. Recovery
3.5.1. Lasso α parameter
The regularisation parameter optimisation carried out for the re­
covery prediction models show those that include texture (RGT and
RGMT) have lower errors than the other models. In Fig. 9A RGM, RGT
and RGMT share similar error for low alpha values, however, when
Fig. 10. Recovery prediction absolute error for each sample during LOO (α =
0.075). The horizontal lines represent the maximum value, the mean and the
minimum value from top to bottom for each distribution.
observing the wMAE metrics in Fig. 9B, indicating that texture con­
tributes with very important for constructing models that accurately
predict low recovery behaviour. The optimal model has been selected
based on the minimum wMAPE, which is the RGT for a regularisation
value of α = 0.075.
3.6. Error distribution
Fig. 10 compares the AE distribution for all models during the LOO
cross validation for α = 0.075. The RGT model exhibits the lowest MAE
in Fig. 11A and the lowest standard deviation for the absolute error in
Fig. 11B.
3.7. Statistical tests
In the scatter plot shown in Fig. 12 presents the measured versus
predicted values for each sample during the LOO cross validation. Low

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J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al. Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005

Fig. 11. Recovery prediction model comparison for α = 0.075 (A: MAE, B: AE standard deviation).

Table 14
Recovery prediction Fligner-Killeen test, p values (α = 0.075).
RGM RGT RGMT

RG 0.503 0.021 0.007

RGM 0.120 0.059
RGT 0.836

3.8. Coefficient interpretation

Fig. 13 shows coefficient importance (α = 0.075) for the four re­

covery models. Changes in importance for geochemical variables are
observed when including hyperspectral mineralogy and textural infor­
mation. These changes may suggest redundancy in the information
provided by different variables, providing targets of study for the
development of proxies. For example, the importance of Ag, Bi and Pb is
decreased when adding textural variables, indicating a possible rela­
tionship between both. In a similar way, the importance of Mg, Ti and Cc
(chalcocite) decrease when including the hyperspectral mineralogy,
while Se and Mo decrease with both, mineralogy and texture. The var­
iables with the biggest positive impact on recovery are Cpy (chalcopy­
rite) and Se, while the most important variables that decrease recovery
are TC_6 (textural cluster 6) and Ti.

4. Discussion
Fig. 12. Recovery measured vs predicted (α = 0.075), diagonal represents x
= y.
4.1. Comparison of models

Table 13
The error metrics used, MAPE/MAE and APE/AE standard deviation,
Recovery prediction Student’s T test, p values (α = 0.075). can be understood as a quantitative measurement of accuracy and pre­
cision respectively. Despite the suboptimal conditions regarding the
RGM RGT RGMT
datasets available for this concept study, the methodology successfully
RG 0.881 0.175 0.229 quantifies the value of adding variables into different geometallurgical
RGM 0.235 0.301
models. Nevertheless, adjusting current sampling protocols and data
RGT 0.858
acquisition scope has been pointed out as fundamental for the devel­
opment of a successful geometallurgical model. In general terms, the
recovery samples are systematically overestimated by the models that results obtained suggest that there is potential in the inclusion of routine
don’t account for texture. In terms of the statistical tests applied to the hyperspectral core scanning for geometallurgical modelling.
error distribution of the different models. In terms of the statistical test results for the SPI® predictive model,
Table 13 shows a p value of 0.175 for the comparison of the RGT and the evidence suggests no improvement in accuracy (MAPE), with only a
the traditional RG model, suggesting a lower mean absolute error (MAE) p value of 0.456 between the traditional model based only on
when incorporating textural variables. The same is seen in Table 14 for geochemistry (HG) versus the best performing model (HGM) which
the variance of the error, with a strong p value of 0.021. incorporated hyperspectral mineralogy. On the other hand, in terms of
precision, the tests weakly suggest (p = 0.274) that there is a difference
in the variance of the absolute percentage error of the best performing
model (HGM) and the traditional one (HG). Despite an observable

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J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al. Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005

Fig. 13. Recovery prediction model coefficient comparison (α = 0.075).

increase in the model’s mean error when adding textural variables, the 4.3. Modelling challenges
statistical tests accept the null hypotheses that the differences are not
significant. However, the prediction of the SPI® for the very hard rocks Data integration is the largest portion of the labour conducted in this
in particular, seem to be improved by the addition of the textural type of solutions and holds the key for the development of a successful
clusters. model. During the data integration stage, the interaction of the user’s
For the prediction of recovery, the p value of 0.175 suggests a dif­ experience and the machines will occur. Manmade decisions, based on a
ference in accuracy of the best performing model (RGT) based on profound understanding of the practical problem aimed to solve, as well
geochemistry and texture and the traditional geochemical model (HG). as its mathematical implementation, in terms of spatial resolution, data
Furthermore, the improvement in precision is strongly suggested by a p availability, types of variables, data acquisition timing, mining work­
value of 0.021 between the two models. These results indicate a flow and its flexibility, etc., will ensure that the implementation of
reasonable potential for the use of textural information for the predic­ developed models are feasible and provide relevant information at a
tion of recovery, particularly improving the prediction of low recovery mining operation.
samples. The spatial matching of the samples is a fundamental step from
which the machine can relate the correlations within the different
samples from where the data was generated. Ideally, metallurgical
4.2. Coefficient importance
samples should come from duplicates of the rutinary chemical assay
samples. For example, in the case of this study, every metallurgical
From a geometallurgical point of view, the presented workflow
sample accounted with a thorough chemical and mineralogical charac­
provides a powerful tool by the analysis and interpretation of the co­
terisation analysis by QEMSCAN©, XRD, etc., nevertheless, this data was
efficients of the models. These coefficients shed light over the complex
not available for the rest of the drill cores as it was not part of the
interdependent relationship between the predicted and predictive var­
rutinary chemical characterisation, therefore was disregarded for the
iables. In this case, by comparing the different models used to predict a
development of predictive models.
metallurgical parameter, it is possible to speculate hypotheses regarding
Additionally, since metallurgical sampling is expensive and therefore
the nature of those relationships, that way generating knowledge and
sparser in space, the sample selection process should be based on
eventually models that can transcend a particular orebody. In Table 15
consistent quantitative analysis of data, ideally, from a non-destructive
and Table 16, hypothesis that provide explanations for coefficients with
characterisation technique that can be applied beforehand such as
considerable importance are conjectured based on the ore body type and
hyperspectral imaging, pXRF, LIBS, imagery, etc. This will ensure that
trends observed by the expert geologists on this site (Bunker et al.,
the databases available for the training of predictive models have a good
2019). The variables shown in the tables were not selected under any
balance in terms of representativity of deposit rock units, also helping to
strict mathematical criteria, but rather on the intention of showing the
mathematically capture the isolated metallurgical behaviour of those
possible reverse-engineering application that predictive models like this
units, leading towards an endmember unmixing approach for the
have.
metallurgical behaviour prediction. In the dataset used for this study,
Moreover, by comparing the models trained with different sets of
the low representativity of certain geological and textural units, and also
predictive variables, conclusions can be made from the way in which the
low recovery and high SPI® samples, introduced bias within models
coefficient importance change as new predictive variables are added:
during the fitting stage. Approaches such as the addition of artificial data
geochemical, hyperspectral mineralogical, and textural variables. For
using a data derived noise function, or the optimisation of the target
example, a noticeable drop in coefficient importance can be observed for
variable transform function were considered. Nevertheless, these types
the aspectral mineral abundance in Fig. 8 when including the textural
of approaches were disregarded prioritising the simplicity of result
variables. Therefore, it can be speculated that the textural clusters,
interpretation.
which have been calculated from the same original data source than the
The ability to predict precise and accurately metallurgical behaviour
hyperspectral mineralogy, are indirectly providing information
lies in accounting with the routinary acquisition of the right
regarding the spectrally inactive mineralogy of the rocks.

13
J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al.
Table 15
SPI model variables interpretation.
Source Sign Variable Hypothesis
Geochemistry Positive Zr As an immobile element (
Huston and Cozens, 1994), Zr
likely reflects the primary
lithology influence on
hardness.
Mg In this porphyry, Mg occurs
mainly in tourmaline, biotite.
Tourmaline is the hardest
common silicate at this
deposit. Biotite is associated
with potassic alteration, and it
is expectable that these rocks
will be harder as they are
dominated by feldspars and
quartz vein stockworks (Mohs
hardness 6 and 7 respectively)
compared to those impacted by
pervasive phyllic alteration,
which transforms the feldspar
dominant mineralogy to a
muscovite-dominant
assemblage, as muscovite is
softer (Mohs hardness = 3.5).
V As an immobile element, V
most likely reflects primary
lithology.
Negative Ag Most likely this reflects the
weak advanced argillic/
epithermal overprint.
Zn Muscovite is a significant host
for trace Zn, high Zn is likely
correlated with increased
phyllic alteration which would
reduce the competency of the
rocks as feldspars are
converted to muscovite.
Mo Mo-rich ore zones are also
potassic altered areas that have
a montmorillonite overprint,
reducing rock competence.
Hyperspectral Positive Tourmaline Very hard mineral.
mineralogy Aspectral The aspectral minerals at this
deposit are mainly quartz and
feldspar, with minor presence
of sulfides. The aspectral
regions in the Corescan data
reflects areas dominated by
feldspars and/or quartz
stockworks or vein halos. This
hypothesis is dependent on the
aspectral minerals in a
particular set of samples.
Montmorillonite Soft clay mineral.
Textural Positive TC_4 The textural cluster is
characterised by aspectral
regions and pervasive sericite
and includes domains of
magmatic breccia. While
pervasive sericite is not hard,
the rocks are feldspar/quartz
dominant, nevertheless sericite
is the only spectrally active
mineral.
TC_2 Characterised by large
aspectral regions reflecting
quartz-feldspar dominant
mineralogy.
Negative TC_6 This cluster reflects pervasive
sericite and montmorillonite
alteration with only sparse
veins, this is interpreted as a
late argillic (clay) overprint on
phyllic altered rocks. Whilst
cluster 7 also shows a
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Minerals Engineering 193 (2023) 108005
Table 15 (continued )
Source Sign Variable Hypothesis
montmorillonite alteration,
this is interpreted to be an
argillic overprint on the
potassic alteration zone where
we might also expect to see
more feldspars preserved than
in the phyllic.
Table 16
Recovery model variables interpretation.
Source Sign Variable Hypothesis
Geochemistry Positive Chalcopyrite Common grade/recovery
relationship, recovery testwork
optimised for chalcopyrite rather
than other Cu-sulfides/oxide
minerals.
Negative Mg Associated with phlogopite, may
be showing lithological control as
a proxy for a low recovery
mineralisation style.
Chalcocite Chalcocite is associated to finer
grains, increased kaolinite, and
more complex copper mineralogy
some of which are not amenable
to floatation (supergene
mineralisation or advanced
argillic hypogene overprints).
Hyperspectral Negative Phlogopite While phlogopite is associated to
mineralogy the potassic part of the ore zone,
an increase in its abundance could
reflect a lithology control as it is
associated to proximal altered IND
rocks that are not strongly
stockworked. The sulfides in this
lithology are very fine.
Textural Negative TC_6 This cluster is characterised by the
presence of montmorillonite.
Moreover, this cluster has sparse
veins, therefore copper
mineralisation is likely to be
disseminated rather than veins
hosted, this can have an impact in
copper liberation.
characterisation data and a traceable sampling from its acquisition to
the metallurgical testing samples. From a practical point of view, this
idea contrasts with the cost of such workflow. Academic research on
understanding the minimal amount of characterisation data that will
ensure an acceptable error in the predictions seems a viable way for
dealing with this issue.
5. Conclusions
The mining industry is challenged by the decreasing grades and
increasing complexity of the mineralogy of the ore bodies exploited. As
grade decreases and minerals with deleterious behaviour in the
concentrating process increase in abundance, geometallurgy appears as
a discipline aimed to tackle this growing issues. As most of the copper
production, and copper reserves of the world, consist in primary sulfide
mineralogy, grinding – flotation circuits are expected to increasingly
dominate the processing lines for the obtention of this commodity.
Moreover, in the past decade, grinding became the highest energy
consumptive stage in most copper mines, mainly explained by the fine
grain size products needed to liberate the low-grade ore being exploited.
In this context, geometallurgical models may provide crucial informa­
tion to reduce energy costs, optimise profits and reduce environmental
impacts.
J. Merrill-Cifuentes et al.
In this study, the value of the information provided by the Mineral
Co-Occurrence Probability Fields textural clustering algorithm was
assessed in terms of its ability to aid in the prediction of two geo­
metallurgical parameters, SPI® hardness and copper flotation recovery.
The results of the regression analysis indicated that the inclusion of
textural information can improve accuracy and precision of the pre­
dictions of geometallurgical variables, nevertheless, room for improve­
ment was identified at the data collection stages. The idea of using the
same geochemical, hyperspectral, and textural information to inform
metallurgical sample selection processes may seem like a cheap and
feasible way of improving the parameters modelling. The results suggest
that there are textural traits that explain the energy consumption at the
grinding stage occurring at a lower scale than the resolution of the
hyperspectral images used. On the other hand, copper recovery shows a
robust link to the textural patterns captured by the hyperspectral images
used. The increase in precision in both cases suggest that hyperspectral
mineralogy and texture can provide a piece of the puzzle for achieving
robust and reliable ore deposit geometallurgical models. For the vali­
dation and extension of these results, the amount of data available for
this type of studies needs to increase.
The fields of geometallurgy, geology, mining engineering, and
metallurgical engineering must converge together to find optimal solu­
tions. The evidence shown here encourages the industry to acquire
routine imaging characterisation data to increase the amount and
quality of the available information for the spatial interpolation of
geometallurgical variables to populate block models. Moreover, the
environmental impact of mining and its associated activities such as
energy consumption, are matters of public concern, the development of
publicly available data repositories should be enforced, stimulating the
development of geometallurgical and geoenvironmental solutions.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
The data that has been used is confidential.
Acknowledgement
This research was conducted by the ARC Research Hub for Trans­
forming the Mining Value Chain (project number IH130200004) within
AMIRA International project P1202 ‘Finding and defining the next
generation of tier 1 ore deposits’ led by David Cook (University of
Tasmania). Authors acknowledge the support of all project sponsors and
other members of the P1202 research team. The authors also acknowl­
edge the additional financial support provided for this research by the
Minerals Council of Australia. Finally, the main author expresses his
gratitude for scholarships kindly granted by the Chilean National
Agency for Research and Development (ANID), and the Banks family
from Tasmania.
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