Abstract
Dewatering and material handling challenges typically arise where a finer grind is required to liberate the minerals of interest of a given mining project and fine tailings and concentrate are produced. At some point, the design and operational effort required to maintain good material flowability and prevent problems related to dusting, freezing, and liquefaction become too costly to justify the added benefits typically gained by further liberating minerals through additional grinding. But where is that limit? Benchmarking of operations transporting similar types of material in similar conditions can go a long way in identifying a safe operation range. However, when considering operation outside of that range, a first-principle approach is required.
A methodology to determine the impact of particle size distribution and moisture content on material handling properties is outlined in this paper in context of optimizing the benefit for a case study of an iron ore producer in Northern Canada.