Pre-concentration of Mount Polley copper ore

A previous feasibility study performed at UBC on the Mount Polly samples showed that dense media separation gave copper recoveries of 95.8% at a specific gravity of 2.9. The purpose of this research project is to confirm the applicability of dense media separation for Mount Polley ore preconcentration.

A lab test will be performed as a part of this project to determine the optimal particle size for pre-concentration. The mineralogical properties of the ore will be examined to explain why dense media separation would or would not be applicable to sorting the ore. Testing will be conducted to further assess X-ray Flouresence, Optical Sorting and Microwave-Infrared Temperature sensing systems. Results of the DMS and sensing systems will be compared.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Bern Klein

Student:

Libin Tong, Esau Arinaitwe

Partner:

Mt Polley-Mining Corporation

Discipline:

Engineering - other

Sector:

Mining and quarrying

University:

University of British Columbia