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The Olympic DamOlympic Dam operationOperation consists of an underground mineMine, mineral processingMineral Processing plant and copper smelterCopper smelter and refinery. The Olympic DamOlympic Dam breccia-hosted Fe-oxide Cu-U-Au-Ag (IOCG) deposit is, like all ore deposits, zoned with respect to the ore, gangue and deleterious/sub-economic minerals. This zoning can also be further disrupted by significant post-mineralisation vertical faulting. Short-range variabilityVariability from drill core to blast packet to production stope and mineMine area scale typifies the deposit. Often, geometallurgyGeometallurgy is associated with millMill throughputThroughput or flotationFlotation recoveryRecovery; however, the vertically integrated operationOperation means that the geometallurgyGeometallurgy program must consider all minerals and elementsElements which affect the millsMill, concentratorConcentrator, hydrometallurgyHydrometallurgy plant, smelterSmelter and ultimately the copper refineryCopper refinery. During an extensive drilling and testing program in the Southern MineMine Area of the deposit, an area of higher bismuthBismuth (Bi) and antimonyAntimony (Sb) was identified. Using a combination of mineralogyMineralogy and metallurgical testworkTestwork, the geometallurgyGeometallurgy program predicted the levels of Bi and Sb in concentrateConcentrate would significantly increase on historic levels and would likely exceed the level that the existing refinery impurity removalImpurity removal system could manage. Therefore, a project was initiated to add a BismuthBismuth and AntimonyAntimony Removal System (BARS) to the refinery based on ion exchangeIon exchange technologyTechnology. This system was commissioned in 2023. This paper describes the focus of our geometallurgyGeometallurgy program on deleterious elementsElements which affect the refinery and copperCopper cathode qualityCathode quality, discusses impacts on the refinery of elevated Bi and Sb as we began miningMining in the SMA, and presents early results from the new removal system.

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Bismuth and Antimony at Olympic Dam: The Connection Between Orebody Knowledge and the Copper Refinery

  • 会议论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年

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  • Vanessa Liebezeit,
  • Kathy Ehrig,
  • Peter Dospisil,
  • Elise Naumann

摘要

The Olympic DamOlympic Dam operationOperation consists of an underground mineMine, mineral processingMineral Processing plant and copper smelterCopper smelter and refinery. The Olympic DamOlympic Dam breccia-hosted Fe-oxide Cu-U-Au-Ag (IOCG) deposit is, like all ore deposits, zoned with respect to the ore, gangue and deleterious/sub-economic minerals. This zoning can also be further disrupted by significant post-mineralisation vertical faulting. Short-range variabilityVariability from drill core to blast packet to production stope and mineMine area scale typifies the deposit. Often, geometallurgyGeometallurgy is associated with millMill throughputThroughput or flotationFlotation recoveryRecovery; however, the vertically integrated operationOperation means that the geometallurgyGeometallurgy program must consider all minerals and elementsElements which affect the millsMill, concentratorConcentrator, hydrometallurgyHydrometallurgy plant, smelterSmelter and ultimately the copper refineryCopper refinery. During an extensive drilling and testing program in the Southern MineMine Area of the deposit, an area of higher bismuthBismuth (Bi) and antimonyAntimony (Sb) was identified. Using a combination of mineralogyMineralogy and metallurgical testworkTestwork, the geometallurgyGeometallurgy program predicted the levels of Bi and Sb in concentrateConcentrate would significantly increase on historic levels and would likely exceed the level that the existing refinery impurity removalImpurity removal system could manage. Therefore, a project was initiated to add a BismuthBismuth and AntimonyAntimony Removal System (BARS) to the refinery based on ion exchangeIon exchange technologyTechnology. This system was commissioned in 2023. This paper describes the focus of our geometallurgyGeometallurgy program on deleterious elementsElements which affect the refinery and copperCopper cathode qualityCathode quality, discusses impacts on the refinery of elevated Bi and Sb as we began miningMining in the SMA, and presents early results from the new removal system.