Ore Sorting · 2023
Key Factors for Bulk Sorting in Cave Mines
How cut-off grade, metal prices and the link between copper and gold grades decide whether bulk sorting pays at a gold-copper panel cave.
- Project
- Cadia East
- Location
- New South Wales, Australia
- Application
- Bulk ore sorting
- Samples
- Block model of active and future caves
- Compared against
- Sorting cut-off grades and metal prices
PaperKey Factors Determining the Bulk Ore Sorting Potential in a Caving Mine · Minerals Engineering
Read the paperContext
Cadia East measures grade on its main conveyor with two bulk sensors. Gold and copper both drive the mine's economics, and gold is hard to measure directly, so copper has to act as its proxy.
The Work
The bulk sorting potential of the three active and two future panel caves was assessed across sorting cut-off grades and metal prices, and mapped across each cave footprint.
Results
In the ideal case with no mixing, only one active cave could benefit from sorting. Above a threshold cut-off grade, too much gold and copper is lost to the rejects. Low-grade parts of the caves are the most favourable, but they are a small share of the orebody.
