Process Minerology online course
The Process Minerology online course is an introduction for metallurgists, mining and process engineers, and operators in the early stages of their career to useful process mineralogy tools and techniques.
Included in the course are strategies for selecting the most appropriate characterisation tools and assessing the quality of mineralogical data. Selected case studies and real data are used to demonstrate the benefits derived from appropriate mineralogical characterisation and show its applicability across the process chain.
Course Objectives
By the end of this program, participants will be able to:
- Describe the basic components of ores and the linkage between texture, liberation and processing options;
- Understand the tools available for providing mineralogical data and their advantages and limitations;
- Analyse and interpret mineralogical data in a processing context; and
- Demonstrate the value of process mineralogy in plant diagnostics, troubleshooting and optimisation.
Course Outline
Online delivery of the course takes place over a period of eight weeks. Four learning modules will cover the following topics:
- What metallurgists need to know about minerals – The properties of minerals and how they are classified, the use of calculation methods to convert elemental assays to mineral data (including trace elements) and examples of how the type of deposit impacts processing, with particular emphasis on mineral texture and liberation.
- Tools for characterisation – Introduces the current suite of tools used in mineralogical characterisation, enabling participants to identify which tools to apply in what circumstances.
- Managing and using the data – This module will focus on the application of data from automated-SEM based tools.
- Applying the skills, identifying opportunities and troubleshooting – How to use mineralogical knowledge to analyse and interrogate data and diagnose the source of processing problems (i.e. ore or process).
Each module uses a range of the latest online learning techniques to deliver knowledge in an interesting and informative way. As a professional development activity, the course contact hours are equivalent to a three day face-to-face course.
The modular format allows participants to learn at their own pace over the eight week duration of the course.
