FLOWSHEET DEVELOPMENT:
PATFIO consultants are unparalleled in their ability to identify the perfect flowsheet for your project. Through meticulous examination of the ore body, mining schedule, and processing requirements, they meticulously model and assess all feasible flowsheet options, ultimately providing recommendations for the most efficient circuit configuration. These assessments typically emphasize efficiency alongside capital and operational costs. Leveraging proprietary modeling techniques developed for design, PATFIO utilizes test work derived from drill core or whole rock samples to size circuits, facilitating a comparison of alternatives to determine the optimal path forward. An engineering design brief is meticulously crafted, outlining the circuit description, process flow diagrams, mass balance, and essential equipment selections that constitute the foundation of the selected flowsheet. PATFIO boasts extensive expertise in process design across a wide range of commodities, including gold, nickel, copper, cobalt, lead, zinc, rare earth elements, platinum group metals, iron ore, uranium, phosphates, and mineral sands.
METSIM PROCESS MODELING SERVICES:
PATFIO is celebrated for its mastery in creating elegant process models using METSIM software (www.metsim.com). Our expert team can promptly craft a customized process model designed specifically for your needs, providing the native file to guarantee you receive an outstanding interactive model—removing the need for your team to master METSIM or the APL programming language. Moreover, we can create tailored APL subroutines and functions that are perfectly aligned with your modeling goals, while seamlessly incorporating dynamic links to external aqueous chemical equilibrium calculators. With our vast experience in both steady-state and dynamic modeling, we are ready to elevate your process from its initial idea to a comprehensive characterization through a METSIM process model. Furthermore, PATFIO offers on-site training for your staff to proficiently manage and update the model, or we can arrange for remote training.
HEAP LEACHING DYNAMIC MODELING:
The sophisticated art of heap leaching for extracting precious metals like gold, silver, or copper is a complex undertaking, marked by numerous reactions, inventories, and recycling streams. PATFIO Consulting has refined its skills in creating heap leach models using the advanced METSIM simulation software. These carefully designed models integrate the mine block model while considering the heap’s geometry, leaching cycles, leach curves, reagent consumption, pregnant solution collection, and the intricate processes involved in metal recovery (CIC, SX/EW). This dynamic modeling environment provides daily mass balances for the entire operation, ensuring both precision and efficiency. Models can be tailored for new heap leach projects, expansions, or existing operations. During the initial phases of a project, laboratory column leach test modeling is invaluable, allowing for an early assessment of leach kinetics, measuring reagent consumption, and aiding in the extrapolation of potential metal recoveries. Data obtained from column tests can be effortlessly incorporated into a model for the comprehensive heap leach operation.
Why model a heap leach?
- Develop accurate forecasts for metal production as a function of time (monthly, quarterly, annually)
- Conduct “What If?” analysis with mine plan, leach curves, ultimate extractions, lift heights, number of lifts, interlift liners, etc.
- Estimate the build-up of impurities in leach solution (e.g., copper build-up in a gold/silver heap leach)
- Estimate metal and reagent inventories within heap pore solution
- Estimate reagent and fresh water consumptions over the project life
- Dynamic models consider solution recirculation and the “sponge” effect of multiple lifts
- Couple models with aqueous chemistry calculators to evaluate:
- Metal-cyanide equilibrium
- Ferrous/ferric distribution
- Gypsum saturation
- Solubility of minor constituents