METS HIGH PROF:proof 27/2/09 15:24 Page 1
HIGH PROFILE
The importance of met accounts
Damian Connelly BAppSc, CPE(MET), MAusIMM is Principal Engineer of METS (Mineral Engineering
Technical Services). While he concedes that the title of this does little to ignite interest. He is
passionate about the importance of metallurgical accounting and wishes to air some thoughts on the
lack of attention metallurgical accounting receives
W
e all think we know how to do it
until something goes disastrously
wrong and we realise we never
really did know what we were doing to start
with. Thats when I, as Principal of METS, get
the phone call from the Chairman or similar to
come in wade the quagmire of spurious data
to make sense of the met accounts.
Met Accounting is identifying, measuring and
communicating economic information to permit
informed judgements and decisions. Metallurgical
accounting as it relates to mineral processing
plants substitutes metals, concentrates or
residues in place of monetary information. It
includes the collection of plant data, technical
information, record keeping, report production
and a more general scope of functions than most
people ever realise. It accounts for gold (or any
commodity) from the time the ore is broken at
the primary crusher until the time that we have
the final product in the form of metal bars,
concentrates and residues.
Considering what can go wrong, he notes
that if the met accounting is ineffective, the
team can be oblivious to issues, as you cant
address what you dont measure. If the met
accounting is reliable, issues can be identified,
managed and resolved. The following
anecdotes are issues that I have experienced,
they are not
alarmist
extremes
or worst
case
scenarios,
just simple
examples.
52 International Mining MARCH 2009
Stream losses: At one plant, a drain was
discovered allowing metal in solution to exit
the plant, to tailings, at irregular intervals. No
wonder the met accounts wouldnt balance!
Whilst I enjoy being the hero
and coming in to resolve the
metallurgical mess, I also want
our industry to pursue best
practice
Theft: The poor reconciliation with the
metallurgical accounting was sufficient cause
to call in the Gold Stealing Squad. The result
was the discovery of gold stealing on a grand
scale by a number of people and prosecutions
followed with the metallurgical accounting
used to determine the quantity of gold
stolen.
Preg robbing: Carbonaceous or graphitic ore
results in preg robbing from solution. Some
active clays have been reported as preg
robbers and where high copper ores are
treated, gold cyanide can precipitate on
sulphides.
Disposal of gold smeared steel from
gravity concentrators: Steel is removed
from the gravity concentrators and discarded.
Attached gold is difficult to remove from steel.
Re-precipitation: Gold-can re-precipitate
from solution if cyanide levels are too low.
Gold on old smelting pots: Old pots
contain gold prills and handling these is
difficult because the pots are made from clay
graphite, which should not be returned to the
mill.
Lock up of gold on mill liners, sumps, gold
traps etc: This is common. One operation
sold their old liners for scrap, until someone
suggested they be cleaned -the result was
10 kg of gold recovered.
Gold lost in slag: If copper or silver levels
are high in the gold room slag (matte phase)
the gold may not necessarily be recovered in
the CIP circuit if returned to the grinding mill.
The gold is in solid solution within the
matte/slag phase and therefore it is not
recovered by cyanide leaching.
Gold lost on fine carbon: Fine carbon can
carry gold to tailings. Often the fine carbon
screen blocks and these carbon fines are
returned to the CIP tanks and bypass the inter-
tank screens to tailings resulting in gold
losses.
Mill upsets and coarse grinds: Floods and
plant disruptions can occur, which may not be
picked up with infrequent sampling.
Gold settling in tanks, gold room sumps or
locked up in roasters: This can be difficult
to detect unless one goes looking for it or
there is a policy of regular clean up. Similar
problems occur in hydrometallurgical plants.
But the most frequent reason for the met
accounts not balancing is inexperienced
practitioners and human error. If we take a
root cause analysis view, I would suggest the
following is to blame in most cases:
No standard and written procedures
Inadequate priority given to the subject
Poor use of terminology or mixing terms up
Procedures not being followed due to
changes in personnel
Lack of training and knowledge of the subject
Difficult ore the nugget effector coarse
gold
Measurement difficulties
Accepting a fudge factor to balance the
books for no other reason than it works
Whilst I enjoy being the hero and coming
in to resolve the metallurgical mess, I also want
our industry to pursue best practice. IM