BIOLEACH: NEW PRODUCTION PLANNING SIMULATOR Francisco Troncoso Díaz, Víctor Cabezas, Jorge Menacho Llaña

De Re Metallica Spa

THE DRM.BIOLEACH® MODEL

As the mine exploitation gets deeper, sulfides appear as predominant species so it is a growing need to have tools for the planning and process optimization of bioleaching industrial operations.

The BioLeach® model developed since by DRM includes a detailed description of the bioleaching process at any scale, including column, box, heap or dump leaching, so it also can be used for scale up purposes.

It is based on transport phenomena principles and biochemical kinetics of bioleaching and it incorporates operational and process variables involved in the bioleaching process.

THE DRM.BIOLEACH® MODEL

QON QEV

QOFF

Air

Solution

Transport

Air

Transport

O2, CO2

Transport

Fe II

Transport

Fe III

Transport

Copper

Transport

Strain

Transport

Energy

Transport

Acid

Transport

Dump, Heap

or Column

Abiotic Leaching: DRM.ACIDLEACH

THE DRM.BIOLEACH® MODEL

Solution Transport: The Richards’ equation and the van Genuchten's permeability model are used to estimate liquid flowrate through the porous media.

Solutes Transport: Reactive advection- dispersion equations coupled with biochemical kinetics of dissolution of copper and iron species.

Energy Transport: energy exchange between gaseous and liquid phases inside the porous media, considering energy of bioleaching reactions of copper and iron species.

Air Flowrate

Liquid Flowrate

DRM.BIOLEACH®: COPPER PRODUCTION SIMULATOR

SX/EW

Raffinate PLS

Aeration

MINE PLAN STACKING PLAN

IRRIGATION PLAN

Copper Cathodes

Stacking Discharge

Drainage

Wetting Irrigation Washing

DRM.BioLeach

DRM.BIOLEACH®: MULTI-LAYER SIMULATION

Layer 1

Layer 2

Layer 3

Layer 4

Under irrigation

Under repose

Irrigation rate q1

[Composition]1

T°1

Irrigation rate q2

[Composition]2

T°2

Composition-1 Temperature-1

Composiction-2

Temperature-2

Irrigation rate q3

[Composition]3

T°3

FLOW DIAGRAM DRM.BIOLEACH®

DRM.BIOLEACH® Model

Transport Phenomena

Biochemical Kinetics

Operational Variables

Flow, concentration and

temperature solutions

+1/2”, -100#

Process Variables

Tonnage

Evaporation rate

Height

Irrigation area

Heat transfer area

Copper Grade, Mineralogy, UGM

Mineral and Solutions Properties

Bulk and solid density

Initial and final moisture

Liquid density and viscosity

Air density and viscosity

Principal Response

Irrigation Unit

OFF Flowrate

Concentration of Cu2+

, H+, Fe3+, Fe2+

Cu Extraction

Temperature OFF

StrainPopulation OFF

Global Response Integration of

Irrigation Unit PLS Flowrate to SX Concentration of

Cu2+, H+, Fe3+, Fe2+ in PLS Flowrate to SX

Cu Transferred in SX

THE DRM.BIOLEACH® SOFTWARE

The DRM.BIOLEACH software is a desktop application written in C# language. It is implemented on a .NET platform, supported by windows operating system.

Is provided with a database (SQL) that allows information management in order to have a global vision of the bioleaching process, aimed to estimate cathode production, thus making the DRM.BIOLEACH software a useful tool for Production Planning and Operational Optimization.

BIOLEACH

INDUSTRIAL SIMULATION

INDUSTRIAL SIMULATION

INDUSTRIAL SIMULATION

INDUSTRIAL SIMULATION

INDUSTRIAL SIMULATION

INDUSTRIAL SIMULATION

INDUSTRIAL SIMULATION

MINE PLAN EVALUATION Forecast

Production

Process

Optimization

Evaluation of

operational

changes in

dynamic state

MINE PLAN EVALUATION Anticipate

Negative Events

Stacking strategy

Irrigation strategy

Mineralogical

species of

copper and iron

in the Mine Plan

Operational

changes

CONCLUSIONS

Along 10 years, DRM has developed a comprehensive model for bioleach industrial operations, now packaged into a formal software.

DRM.BIOLEACH is a powerful tool for the Production Planning and Process Optimization.

The use of transport phenomena allows DRM.BIOLEACH to anticipate negative events in the process and evaluate the effect of operational changes in transient state in a dynamic system as the real industrial process.