leaching

New leaching facilities

At Aminpro we are constantly investing in the continuous improvement of our processes and facilities, in order to deliver the best service to our customers. That is why we have expanded our installed capacity to perform leaching tests at different scales.

We have new automated equipment for bottle leaching tests, with temperature, agitation, and timer control. We have also installed 30 6-meter high columns for 180-day irrigation tests.

We are currently conducting several tests of non-chloride leaching of copper ores, using 3 sets of columns in a series of 3, i.e. where the first column feeds the second column, etc. This allows us to study the behavior of the ore over long periods of time with different irrigation rates.

If you are looking for more information about our leaching work, please do not hesitate to contact us.

MinBond

MiniBond training for customers in South Africa

Our R&D Engineer Specialist, Dr Diego Mesa, conducted an online training for our customer’s technical staff in Johannesburg, South Africa. The training, conducted remotely, included fundamental and practical aspects of the MiniBond Test.

Several clients have shown great interest in this new hardness test, designed by Aminpro for the development of geometallurgical campaigns, allowing the inclusion of the Bond Work Index in block models at lower cost and in less time than the standard Bond test. The current project included the purchase of the new MiniBond mill, technical training and remote analysis of results for calibration.

The following video presents the main features of this new test.

geomet-blue-eng

New geometallurgical project

Aminpro is starting a new project of test work for geometallurgy, which considers the mapping, and comminution and concentration tests to inform the geometallurgical models of our client. The project includes the mapping of 6,000 m of cores, comminutions tests, flotation and magnetic separation, as well as sedimentation tests and rheology characterization.

The project also considers the pilot testing of magnetic separation, both dry and wet,  using magnetic drums – DFA – CDA – L-8, among others.

For more information about our projects and capabilities, don’t hesitate to contact us.

webinar

Aminpro gave a talk on a webinar for clients in Central America

Aminpro was invited by Anminco to give a talk on a free webinar for clients in Central America. Our Laboratory Chief Engineer, Esteban Rodríguez, talked about the added value of metallurgical tests for the development and evaluation of mining projects.

Esteban

The talk was very well received by the participants, who congratulated the organisation and our company. You can find the presentation (in Spanish only) here.

If you require more information about our work, please contact us.

DCIM101GOPRO

Virtual Access to Aminpro – Innovation during the Pandemic

At Aminpro we have always aimed to be an innovative company, with an open doors policy, looking to fulfil all the technical requirements of our clients, while meeting the most strict safety and quality standards.

We used to make ourselves proud to be always willing to open our doors to receive our clients, so they could oversee the development of their tests in-situ, and even offer them a physical workspace in our facilities for the whole duration of their project. However, the current pandemic forced us to stop this practice to maintain social distance and take care of the health of our clients, partners and workers.

That’s why we are proud to inaugurate a new and innovative service of Virtual Access to Aminpro! We have installed cameras with live streams that allow our clients to oversee their tests in real-time remotely, keeping instantaneous communication.

We have 6 high-resolution cameras (4K) with a 360 degrees field of view, which oversee the pilot plant and the metallurgical laboratory.

In Aminpro we are constantly checking our procedures and practices to incorporate innovative solutions that are useful for our clients. If you need more information about our services, please contact us.

mina hierro

Aminpro begins a big iron ore geometallurgical project

A big iron ore mine from the north of Chile has hired Aminpro to carry out test work that will define the first geometallurgical model for iron ore in Chile.

The program considers over 7000 Davis tube tests, over 700 hardness tests such as Bond tests and SMC, and over 200 magnetic separation tests using a wet drum separator.

This project occurs amid the recent increase of the iron price, being nowadays around 170 USD/DMT, due to the projected high demand for steel by China for the next years. Moreover, projects like this bring opportunities not only for the iron ore mining industry but also for the exploitation of other elements and metals that tend to concentrate alongside iron ore, such as titanium, phosphorous and rare earth.

Aminpro has consolidated itself as an expert consultancy company in iron ore processing, adding to its vast experience in copper, molybdenum, gold, among other ores. If you need more information about our work, please contact us.

servicio-serviciodeplanta

The importance of laboratory tests

Laboratory tests are crucial to characterize the mineral to be processed, in order to identify early opportunities for improvement and possible technical challenges, such as the presence of clays, complex gangues, changes in the grade, mineralogy, hardness, liberation, etc. The early detection of these problems allows the definition of processing strategies, reduces operational risk and technical-economic uncertainty, and generates opportunities for continuous improvement with the consequent increase in the value of the project. The technical and scientific literature shows many examples where complete projects have failed due to poor mineral characterization, which has resulted in serious design and operation problems. Some examples include:

  • Non-representative samples determined a much harder mineral than the real one, so the mineral tended to be over-ground.
  • Chemical and mineralogical analyzes of a copper mine did not include the identification of fluorite. By going through a bioleaching process, the fluorite-rich mineral killed the bacteria.
  • Many plants were designed around composites of an “average” ore, without considering variability and extreme values ​​in terms of hardness, grade, and so on. Then, every time a mineral of extreme values ​​passed through the plant (higher hardness, lower grade, etc.), the treatment capacity and metallurgical results fell for weeks.

Problems such as the above can be prevented by conducting quality geometallurgical campaigns. This requires representative tests, variability analysis and statistically robust studies, but also requires a team of specialist engineers who interpret these results and can provide timely technical recommendations.

At Aminpro we have vast experience in planning, conducting and interpreting metallurgical campaigns. We carry out crushing, grinding, flotation, leaching and tailings deposition tests, both on a laboratory and pilot scale. If you require more information about our work, do not hesitate to contact us.

Sources:

  1. Runge, Kym. ‘Laboratory Flotation Testing – An Essential Tool for Ore Characterisation’. In Flotation Plant Optimisation – A Metallurgical Guide to Identifying and Solving Problems in Flotation Plants, 19. Carlton, VIC: AusIMM: Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 2010.
  2. Connely, Damian. ‘It Might Have Been Different But’. Linkedin, 11 March 2016. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/might-have-been-different-damian-connelly/.
  3. Dominy, Simon, Louisa O’Connor, Anita Parbhakar-Fox, Hylke Glass, and Saranchimeg Purevgerel. ‘Geometallurgy—A Route to More Resilient Mine Operations’. Minerals 8, no. 12 (1 December 2018): 560. https://doi.org/10.3390/min8120560.
  4. Dominy, Simon, Louisa O’Connor, Hylke Glass, Saranchimeg Purevgerel, and Yuling Xie. ‘Towards Representative Metallurgical Sampling and Gold Recovery Testwork Programmes’. Minerals 8, no. 5 (4 May 2018): 193. https://doi.org/10.3390/min8050193
norteabierto

Aminpro initiates metallurgical support to Norte Abierto

Norte Abierto

The Norte Abierto project, located in the Atacama Region, started in 2017 after the merging of Cerro Casale and Caspiche, in order to extract gold and copper on a large scale. Aminpro has started giving technical support via a flotation testing program.

The program considers SKT flotation tests for sector-by-sector composites and variability samples, as well as open-cycle and closed-cycle test tests. The use of SKT tests allows us to simulate the industrial performance curve using our AminFloat simulator. We have also included sedimentation tests and rheological study of the tailings generated, to obtain a metallurgical characterization of the entire flotation process.

Aminpro has a large metallurgical laboratory, where we perform both standard tests, own tests and ad-hoc tests tailored to the particular needs of our customers. We also have a team of engineers who analyze the metallurgical results obtained, delivering detailed reports with recommendations, models, and proposals for continuous improvement.

If you need more information about our technical capabilities, don’t hesitate to contact us.

foto con polvo despues

Aminpro improves its Pilot Plant

At Aminpro we have a complete pilot plant for mineral processing, including crushing, milling, flotation and thickening operations.

Our flotation cells are modified square Denver cells, with capacities ranging from 80L for the rougher stage, to 5L to the cleaner.

During 2021, we have been modifying and improving our flotation cells in order to enhance our capacity to float coarse and heavy materials, such as iron ore. These improvements entail the modification of the overflowing system and some internal designs, in order to prevent solid settlement, thus obtaining a more efficient operation.

If you want to know more about our facilities, equipment and capabilities, just contact us.

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Presentacion Aminpro Procemin 2

Aminpro is at Procemin-Geomet 2020

Aminpro is part of Procemin-Geomet 2020, represented by Diego Mesa, our R&D Specialist, and Patricio Berríos, Chief of Engineering and Quality. This Thursday 26th of November they will be participating in the panel “Mineral Processing – Data analytics, modelling and optimisation”, where they’ll be answering questions about the work titled “Reprocessing of historic tailings – three Chilean case studies”.

In this work, they analysed the conceptual engineering of three Chilean projects that involve the reprocessing of tailings, and on which Aminpro was hired as consultants. Different problems and strategies are evaluated, considering particle size, pH, reagents and even different concentration methods such as flotation (for primary and secondary copper) and magnetic concentration (for a magnetite concentration project). The results are discussed from a metallurgical and economic perspective, using the software Aminfloat.

You can download the paper here, and watch the video-presentation next (video presented in Spanish).