TY - JOUR 
A1 - Toro Villarroel, Norman Rodrigo
AU - Castillo, Jonathan
AU - Hernández Avendaño, Pía Carolina Andrea
AU - Navarra Lafontaine, Alessandro
AU - Saldaña Pino, Manuel
T1 - Optimization of the Heap Leaching Process through Changes in Modes of Operation and Discrete Event Simulation
Y1 - 2019
SN - 2075-163X
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10317/9474
AB - The importance of mine planning is often underestimated. Nonetheless, it is essential in achieving high performance by identifying the potential value of mineral resources and providing an optimal, practical, and realistic strategy for extraction, which considers the greatest quantity of options, materials, and scenarios. Conventional mine planning is based on a mostly deterministic approach, ignoring part of the uncertainty presented in the input data, such as the mineralogical composition of the feed. This work develops a methodology to optimize the mineral recovery of the heap leaching phase by addressing the mineralogical variation of the feed, by alternating the mode of operation depending on the type of ore in the feed. The operational changes considered in the analysis include the leaching of oxide ores by adding only sulfuric acid (H2SO4) as reagent and adding chloride in the case of sulfide ores (secondary sulfides). The incorporation of uncertainty allows the creation of models that maximize the productivity, while confronting the geological uncertainty, as the extraction program progresses. The model seeks to increase the expected recovery from leaching, considering a set of equiprobable geological scenarios. The modeling and simulation of this productive phase is developed through a discrete event simulation (DES) framework. The results of the simulation indicate the potential to address the dynamics of feed variation through the implementation of alternating modes of operation.
KW - Explotación de Minas
KW - Process optimization process
KW - Heap leaching
KW - Modes of operation
KW - Discrete event simulation
KW - 2503 Geoquímica
KW - 2507 Geofísica
KW - 5312.09 Minería
KW - 3318 Tecnología Minera
LA - eng
PB - MDPI
ER -