Virtual mineral processing simulation in software MLALookUP

Designing a more effective and productive mineral processing plant is a major objective for engineers and researchers. An optimized flowsheet produces one or more concentrates with high recovery and grade of the target mineral(s) and low impurities of minerals that reduce the value of the concentrate. In the initial stages of flowsheet development, lab-scale experiments are prepared and meticulously reviewed. This process is very time-consuming and cost-intensive. Furthermore, the results of these experiments can be inconclusive.
To overcome these problems, a virtual mineral processing simulation software called MLALookUP was developed. The simulation model helps to predict the performance of a processing plant and to find the optimal order of processing techniques to reach the targeted concentrate composition. MLALookUP uses data from mineral liberation analysis (MLA), a tool that generates and analyses high-resolution images with compositional particle information by combining scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.
The software uses geometallurgical properties of the material that was analyzed with MLA. Depending on these properties, MLALookUP runs virtual separation machines, which are prepared and analyzed by the user on the basis of threshold parameters. Starting with the feed material, a sequence of virtual separation machines simulates all processing steps until the final concentrate. In this way, the values of grade, recovery and mass proportion are predicted in each stream. The software gives the possibility to vary processing threshold parameters and to define the optimal order of processing experiments in a flowsheet.