The mining and minerals industry face challenges of declining ore grades and increasing ore competence.
Researchers at The University of Queensland (UQ) have discovered that high voltage pulse (HVP) energy is attracted to mineralised particles and when applied to an ore stream HPV has been shown to selectively break high grade particles while keeping the barren particles intact. This finding has led to the development of a novel HVP enabled ore pre-concentration technique whereby ore particles can be broken as a function of their grade and then separated by screening into high-grade and low-grade streams.
To enable this operation to be conducted, the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) at UQ has developed an integrated HVP and separator system in a device that can be operated continuously.
Key features
- One step ore concentrator and separator
- Increased circuit capacity and reduction in ore wastage
- Reduction in downstream comminution energy requirements
- Reduction in costs of ore haulage.