Why do we need the test work?
Mineral testing allows you to get detailed information about the ore properties, which in turn provides more support and help for your later geological prospecting.
The test work helps decide the design and construction of the ore beneficiation plant. Ores in different areas vary in properties. So do the beneficiation processes and technological conditions for each. Therefore, before dressing an ore, it is necessary to conduct the test work rather than simply apply the flows of other ore beneficiation plants. It is the test work that helps you develop an optimum beneficiation route and obtain the best mineral product and highest recovery.
What's more, mineral processing test helps you choose the most reasonable equipment stack and find the balance point of input, cost, index and economic benefits, so as to reduce the early investment and production costs, obtain the largest economic benefits and reduce resource waste. It's not an exaggeration to say that the beneficiation test is the vital element to the dressing plant after the mineral resource are determined.
The beneficiation test can also provide straight scientific support for the transformation of the existing dressing plant, so as to fix problems including low grade concentrates, high impurity concentration, low recovery rate, high production cost and improper equipment selection.
Have you done the beneficiation test? Remember to do it before losing your money!
When to do the test?
- Prior to the purchase of ores—to make sure it is profitable
- Prior to the detailed prospecting of geology—to determine whether further investigation is necessary to reduce the risk of geological investment
- Prior to acquiring your mining license
- Prior to the construction of your plant—to determine the optimum beneficiation process, production cost as well as other investment
- When changes in ores’ properties happened—to adjust beneficiation process to reduce economic losses
- When products fail to meet your expectations
- In case of low recovery rate
- In case of high cost
- In case of reclamation of waste water
- When choosing the reagent business
- During each year of production
What kinds of test to conduct?
- Simple exploration test of beneficiation—for investment analysis and the initial value assessment of investment before buying a mining claim
- Feasibility test of ore beneficiation—for detailed geological investigation and analysis, to meet the requirements of evaluation and certification, and to determine reasonable process and technological indexes
- Systematic process test—to find out the rules and determine the final solution and the best process index before the construction of plant
- Technical research and test—for unsolved mining technology, the needs of improving benefits, the cases of unqualified products, low recovery rate and high cost.
- Verification test of process flow—for ore properties comparison, the selection of reagent plants, the determination of adaptability of different ores in mines.
- Process check—for the existing plants to check the cause of problems.
What does the test work involve?
- Determination of ore type — Spectral analysis and rare element analysis are involved.
- Identify the specific properties of the ore — Multiple element analysis is required to determine the content of valuable and deleterious elements.
- Figure out the relationships between different minerals in the ore, analyze the composition and content — Rock identification will be of great significance.
- Assays of concentrates and tailings are required to identify valuable as well as harmful elements.
- Determination of specific gravity of water and minerals in ore and concentrate—for the calculation in actual ore dressing process.
