Comprehensive Mineralogical

Characterisation at the Cerro

Corona Cu-Au Porphyry Mine
theFundamental Key for
Geometallurgical Applications
R Baumgartner1, P Gomez2 and G Escobar3

ABSTRACT
The Cerro Corona mine consists of a Cu-Au porphyry deposit located in the Andes of northern
Peru. The deposit comprises a typical Cu-Au multiphase porphyry mineralisation that has been
overprinted by an epithermal event. This has generated a complex pattern of argillic alteration
facies, which was accompanied by a locally structural-controlled Au-Cu mineralisation with the
presence of gold and limited Cu sulfides and sulfosalts. These features, along with the porphyry-
style mineralisation, produced a multifaceted occurrence of gold.
Since the beginning of operations at Cerro Corona in 2008 there has been a continuous
improvement of the geological and mineralogical knowledge. All mineralogical studies have
mainly focused on host rock types and, to a lesser extent, alteration minerals, but little work has
been done on the mineralisation itself. As a consequence, limited mineralogical information was
available for use in the process optimisation initiatives.
In the last two years, a series of mineralogical characterisation studies were undertaken with two
main goals. First, to gain an understanding of the mineralisation genesis and second, to obtain a
detailed characterisation of copper and gold minerals to support ongoing process optimisation.
The first goal was achieved by conventional optical microscopy while the second required
electronic microscopy and other microanalyses due to the necessity of quantifying several minerals
of interest for the processing.
The results were used to refine pre-existing geometallurgical domains, explain copper and
gold losses in the flotation process and to some extent, improve copper and gold recoveries.
The mineralogical characterisation is an ongoing work. Mineralogy provides the basis for any
optimisation exercise since it looks in detail at the material to be treated and therefore, should be
part of all geometallurgical programs.

INTRODUCTION
Geometallurgy is now embedded in a large number of
operations around the world. A constant increasing number
of people and companies are applying geometallurgy
to improve the extraction of their resource. The roots of
geometallurgy lie in the mineralogy and there are numerous
papers showing that a detailed mineralogical characterisation
permits to optimise the process (Williams, 2013; Olson Hoal,
2013; Brissette and Roman, 2012; Rocha, Ulloa and Diaz, 2012;
Lamberg, 2011).
The Cerro Corona mine has been in operation since mid-
2008 and has estimated resources of 3.05 Moz of gold at
0.81g/t and 108 Mt copper at 0.42 per cent and reserves of
1.75 Moz of gold at 0.9 g/t and 60.5 Mt copper at 0.47percent
(Gold Fields, 201). The mineralogical knowledge of the
deposit has improved since the beginning of operation
through mineralogical studies. However, these studies
were qualitative and therefore, a quantitative study was
necessary to be able to obtain additional information than
only the mineral species and texture of a limited number of
samples. For this reason, a detailed mineralogical study has
been conducted in order to characterise the current mineral
domains used at the mine, through quantitative mineralogy
and particle analysis. The results of the characterisation are
presented in this paper.

1. MAusIMM(CP), Senior Geoscientist, Gold Fields La Cima SA, Santiago de Surco, Lima 33, Peru. Email: regina.baumgartner@goldfields.com.pe
2. Geology and Exploration Manager, Gold Fields La Cima SA, Santiago de Surco, Lima 33, Peru. Email: paul.gomez@goldfields.com.pe
3. Geometallurgy Superintendent, Gold Fields La Cima SA, Santiago de Surco, Lima 33, Peru. Email: gustavo.escobar@goldfields.com.pe

the third ausimm international geometallurgy CONFERENCE / perth, wa, 1516 june 2016 221
R Baumgartner, P Gomez and G Escobar
GEOLOGICAL OVERVIEW
Cerro Corona is a typical Cu-Au porphyry deposit and
is located in the northern Andes of Peru. The deposit
geology consists of a series of Miocene porphyritic diorite
stocks intruding a Tertiary limestone sequence (Figure 1).
Dioritic, monzodioritic and granodioritic porphy intrusive
rocks occur also in the region (Figure 1). The Cerro Corona
porphyritic diorite is composed of a total of six stocks within
the Cerro Corona diorite and only four of them generated
hydrothermal alteration within the adjacent stocks or in the
adjacent limestone sequence with Cu-Au mineralisation.
The largest and earliest stock altered adjacent limestone
to a marble facies but does not appear to have precipitated
economic mineralisation. Only scarce occurrence of skarn
mineralisation in the limestone has been observed to date.
The alteration facies observed in the altered and mineralised
stocks are typical of porphyry-style alteration and show
potassic, scare phyllic and propylitic alteration. Argillic and
silicification alteration overprints the previous alterations.
Advanced argillic alteration occurs in the upper parts of
the deposit, is structurally controlled and overprints part
of the porphyry-style alteration. Porphyry-style alteration
and mineralisation have been therefore overprinted to some
extent, resulting in gradational boundaries between alteration
types as well as remnants of typical porphyry-style alteration.
The argillic alteration is the main challenge since there are
subtle mineralogical variations which deserve a subalteration
facies classification (ARG1, ARG2 and ARG3). The main
difference of the subalterations is the type and quantity of
clay minerals. Table 1 shows the main alteration present at
Cerro Corona and their characteristics.
The main economic copper minerals are chalcopyrite and to
a lesser extent chalcocite and covellite. Gold minerals include
mainly native gold and smaller amounts of electrum (up to
ten per cent). Pyrite is present in all parts of the deposit and
FIG 1 Regional geological map of the surroundings of the Cerro Corona mine.
222 the third ausimm international geometallurgy CONFERENCE / perth, wa, 1516 june 2016
does not show an occurrence zonation as it is the case in other
porphyry copper-gold deposits.
MINERALOGY STUDIES
In order to characterise the overall modal mineralogy, grain
size as well as liberation of the principal copper mineral,
chalcopyrite, a series of techniques have been used. In order
to obtain representative samples from the different alteration
types and spatial locations, samples from different sources
have been collected.
Samples
Samples have been collected from three different sources:
1. drill hole samples (diamond drill hole (DDH), 6 m adjacent
intervals)
2. pit wall samples (10 kg channel sample)
3. production polygons (split of blastholes composite).
It is clear that the third type of sample represents a large
tonnage of rock and therefore, may show smoothed results, as
opposed to a more local sample such as the first and second
type. In each type of samples, the different alterations are
represented depending on the total tonnage of each alteration
in the life-of-mine (LOM) mining plan. In Table 2, the details
of the sample types and alteration are shown.
All samples were selected in order to cover the most
important rock types by tonnages and ounces equivalent. The
spatial distribution has been taken into account whenever
possible due to the availability of mined polygons at the time
of the sample collection, DDH coarse rejects and access to pit
walls. Figure 2 shows the spatial distribution of all samples
collected. The copper and gold head grades of the samples
collected were distributed among the distribution curve of the
LOM resource model in order to cover most representative
 COMPREHEnSIVE MInERALOGICAL CHARACTERISATIOn AT THE CERRO COROnA CU-AU PORPHyRy MInE

TABLE 1
Key minerals and principal sulfide assemblages in the different alteration types.

Alteration type Key minerals Principal sulfide assemblages Occurrence

Silicification (SIL) Quartz, Fe oxides-hydroxides
Argillic 1 (ARG1) Quartz, kaolinite, muscovite
(illite), smectite
Argillic 2 (ARG2) Quartz, feldspars, montmorillonite,
kaolinite, illite, carbonates
Argillic 3 (ARG3) Quartz, montmorillonite
muscovite (illite), chlorite
Potassic (K) Quartz, K-feldspar, biotite,
Fe Oxides (magnetite)
Supergene enrichment (SSH, weathering Quartz, feldspars, kaolinite,
facies rather than alteration) montmorillonite
Fe sulfides-chalcopyrite
Fe sulfides-chalcopyrite
( chalcocite+covellite)
Chalcopyrite-(Fe sulfides)
Chalcopyrite-(Fe sulfides)
Chalcopyrite-(Fe sulfides)
Chalcopyrite-chalcocite-
covellite, (Fe sulfides)
As intense stockwork around barren cores
Upper parts of the deposit
Replacing locally K alteration
Abundant in deep parts, and core
of the quartz-diorite stocks
Supergene weathering, upper
part of the deposit

head grades. Figure 3 shows the copper and gold head grades
TABLE 2 by alteration type for the collected samples.
Summary of the sample collected for the mineralogical study.
Analytical methods and test work
Alteration Polygons Pit wall DDH Total samples
Complementary mineralogy studies were conducted on the
SIL (silicification) 9 11 6 26 collected samples as well as rougher flotation test works.
ARG1 3 14 6 23 Mineralogical studies included QEMSCAN analysis (using
ARG3 11 6 5 22 a Quanta 650F QEMSCAN) to obtain modal mineralogy for
all minerals as well as grain size, associations and liberation
K 4 0 11 15
of chalcopyrite and pyrite. A detailed semi-quantitative
ARG2 2 1 5 8 X-ray diffraction (XRD) study has been completed on all
SSH (supergene) 4 0 0 4 samples with the aim of distinguishing between the different
clay minerals present at Cerro Corona. For gold mineralogy,
Total 33 32 33 98
a preconcentration using heavy liquid separation (using
DDH diamond drill hole. sodium polytungstate at a specific gravity of 3.0) has been
conducted on a selected number of samples (80) to increase
the chance of analysing a higher number of gold grains.
These were subsequently analysed using a Quanta 650F
QEMSCAN in order to have similar information as for the
other minerals as described above. A total of 666 gold grains
were analysed.
Laboratory rougher flotation test work has been conducted
on all samples, using standard conditions used at the mine
site laboratory for comparison purposes.

RESULTS AnD InTERPRETATIOn

The quantitative mineralogical study on the 98 samples
identified the presence of two types of pyrite. These
include a common pyrite and an amorphous-type pyrite.
These are generally accompanied by marcasite (Figure 4).

FIG 2 Spatial distribution of the samples collected for the mineralogical

study. The colours correspond to the type of alteration and the symbol to the
type of sample (square: pit wall samples; flat disk: DDH samples; string: polygon FIG 3 Copper and gold head grades by alteration type from the
samples). Current pit (dark grey) and final pit (light grey) are also shown. collected samples in a logarithmic scale. For abbreviations see Table 1.

the third ausimm international geometallurgy ConFerenCe / perth, wa, 1516 june 2016 223
R BAUMGARTnER, P GOMEZ AnD G ESCOBAR

The amorphous-type pyrite appears to be the results of
a recrystallisation of previous pyrite and chalcopyrite.
Microprobe analysis on this type of pyrite has shown that
it can contain up to 1.7 wt per cent copper. This type of
pyrite is called amorphous because it not identified by the
XRD analysis but as an amorphous material, due to its poor
crystallisation.
The distribution of amorphous pyrite in the different
alterations is shown in Figure 5. The silicification and ARG1
FIG 4 Occurrence of two types of pyrite, generally accompanied by
marcasite. Note the porous texture of the amorphous-type pyrite.
alterations contain the highest quantity of amorphous pyrite
while the potassic alteration contains less. Pyrite occurs in
lower quantities than amorphous pyrite.
Modal mineralogy
The overall modal mineralogy has been obtained and
classified by alteration type, which is shown in Figure 6.
Alteration ARG2, contain a higher content of carbonates and
chlorite (as clinochlore), indicating that this alteration has
overprinted part of the propylitic alteration. This is also shown
by its occurrence in the distal portions of the deposit. The
silicified portion of the deposit, consisting of quartz-veining
stockwork and classified as SIL, contains the highest quartz
contents. It is also the alteration with the highest contents of Fe
oxides and hydroxide in the form of magnetite and hematite.
As expected, it can be seen that secondary copper minerals
such as covellite and chalcocite (shown under the name other
Cu sulfides in Figure 6) are the most abundant in the SSH type
of alteration. The pyrite content varies from one alteration to
another and is the most abundant in SIL and ARG1.

FIG 5 Box plot of the quantity of pyrite and amorphous pyrite by alteration type.

FIG 6 Average modal mineralogy for each type of alteration. Minerals from the legend occur from left to right in the bar chart.

224 the third ausimm international geometallurgy ConFerenCe / perth, wa, 1516 june 2016
 COMPREHEnSIVE MInERALOGICAL CHARACTERISATIOn AT THE CERRO COROnA CU-AU PORPHyRy MInE
Clay mineralogy
Clay mineralogy was determined by quantitative XRD
in all samples. In some of them, it was possible to
distinguish between intercalated montmorillonite-illite and
montmorillonite. If it was not possible, they were grouped
together and reported as such. The following clays have been
determined:
kaolinite
montmorillonite 1 corresponds to an interstratified
montmorillonite-illite clay (expansive)
montmorillonite 2 corresponds to the mineral phase
montmorillonite
montmorillonite 12 includes both montmorillonite 1
and 2
illite (reported as muscovite).
Figure 7 shows the abundance of the different clay minerals
by alteration type. The argillic type alteration (ARG1, ARG2
and ARG3) contain more clays than the other alterations. The
ARG1 alteration contains the highest amount of illite of all
alteration types (18.4 per cent on average).
Since XRD analysis can become expensive for a large
number of samples, not all samples from drill hole campaigns
or exploitation polygons can be analysed. However, a
quantitative estimation of clays is possible using short wave
infra-red (SWIR) through a Terraspec instrument and
corresponding software. The SWIR spectra was measured
on coarse reject samples from each drill hole sample, as well
as larger samples such as polygon samples. With the XRD
and SWIR information, it is possible to build a quantitative
calibration model that is used to quantify clays. This provides
a quantitative clay data to be used for the interpretation
of metallurgical recovery results. The resolution of this
quantification is by no means similar to XRD but provides
information on an acceptable resolution for prediction
purposes, such as recovery.
Microtextures
Information on the texture can be obtained with the
QEMSCAN through the particle analysis. This permits to
have a visual control on the microtextures of unliberated
chalcopyrite grains. Table 3 shows examples of various
textures at Cerro Corona that can impact processing based on
the work of Amstutz (1961). This information can be used to
predict the behaviour of the different particles depending on
FIG 7 Clay mineralogy according to alteration type. Minerals from the legend occur from left to right in the bar chart.
the third ausimm international geometallurgy ConFerenCe / perth, wa, 1516 june 2016
the type of intergrowth in a flotation circuit. It is clear that
an extensive database of the dominant type of texture in each
alteration is necessary in order to make prediction. Currently,
the textures shown in Table 3 have been identified and the
future work will provide additional data within the different
types of alteration and spatially.
The simple intergrowth type with rectilinear or slightly
curved boundaries (Type 1a, Table 3), the vein-like type
(type 3a, Table 3), and rimmed textures belonging to
type 2a (Table 3) are microtextures in which chalcopyrite
could be partially or totally liberated with a finer milling
and therefore, increase the copper extraction. In the
microtexture 1b (Table 3), the chalcopyrite will remain
locked and will be probably lost in the tails. Therefore,
with a simple texture analysis, it is possible to predict the
behaviour of chalcopyrite in the flotation circuit but it also
permits to identify the causes of copper losses in the tails.
As mentioned above, in some cases, finer milling would
increase liberation and reduce the losses of copper in the
tails. In other cases, a solution may be more challenging.
The silicification and potassic alterations appear to contain
more simple intergrowths of type 1a and 3a while argillic
alterations (ARG1ARG3) contain higher proportions of
types 1b and 2a intergrowths.
Grain size of chalcopyrite and gold
The grain size of chalcopyrite and gold has been measured
in each sample and in selected samples, respectively.
Chalcopyrite is the main copper carrier and native gold is
the main gold carrier.
Chalcopyrite
The grain size of chalcopyrite has been measured in the
98 samples and the results are shown in Figure 8 as average
grain size by alteration type. It can be seen that the average
P80 of chalcopyrite is the highest in ARG2 and K alteration
(82 m) and the lowest in ARG1 (65 m). This information
needs to be coupled with the liberation and association
information since it is the latter that will provide information
on the theoretical extraction.
Gold
The size of the gold grains has been measured in 80 samples.
Figure 9 reports the distribution of the gold grain size by
alteration type. The ARG1 alteration contains the smallest
225
R Baumgartner, P Gomez and G Escobar

TABLE 3
Examples of different textures at Cerro Corona that may impact the process (modified from Amstutz, 1961). Colours: orange = chalcopyrite;
green = amorphous pyrite; yellow = pyrite; pink = quartz. Images from QEMSCAN particle analysis or backscattered electron.

Type Typical microtextures Description Examples at Cerro Corona Occurrence and

extraction solutions
1a Simple intergrowth simple or Abundant
lockingtype Finer milling.
Rectilinear or slightly curved
boundaries
Most common type

1b Mottles, spotty or amoeba-type Abundant

locking or intergrowth No direct solution, will float if
Simple common pattern chalcopyrite is associated with
pyrite. If associated with gangue,
it may likely be depressed.

2a Coated, mantled, enveloped, Scarce

corona-, rim-, ring-, shell- or Finer milling
atoll-like

3a Vein-like, stringer-like type Scarce

Common examples Finer mill size to increase liberation.

gold grains (5m) while the ARG2 alteration shows the
highest average gold grain size (18 m).
It is clear that there are different mineralogical factors that
will influence the copper and gold recovery by flotation, but
there are also operational factors.
Liberation and associations
The liberation and association information is key for prediction
or interpretation of copper and gold recoveries. In fact, it
provides information on the occurrence of the mineral of
interest. If it is measured on a material that will enter the plant,
it can provide predictive information. When it is measured on
tails, it can inform on the losses of the valuable mineral (due
to the material or to operational factors). At Cerro Corona,
it has been used to predict the theoretical behaviour of
chalcopyrite using theoretical grade-recovery curves deduced
from the mineralogical data and subsequently compared to
laboratory flotation results. The liberation of chalcopyrite on
average and by alteration type is shown in Figure 10 while
its associations are shown in Figure 11. It can be noted that
most of the chalcopyrite has ternary/complex association, ie
more than two or more minerals associated to chalcopyrite.
In this case, the minerals associated to chalcopyrite are pyrite,
amorphous pyrite, quartz, muscovite (as illite), K-feldspar
and/or minor magnetite/hematite and goethite. Most of the
binary associations consist mainly of chalcopyrite and quartz,
amorphous pyrite, pyrite or muscovite (probably illite) to a
lesser extent.
Theoretical grade-recovery curves have been obtained for
each sample and can be compared with the rougher flotation
tests conducted in the laboratory for the corresponding
samples. One example is given here for the theoretical
recovery-grade curves for ARG3 samples. Recoveries
obtained from rougher flotation are highlighted for two
selected samples in Figure 12. The copper recovery of
84 per cent corresponds to a curve that is flatter than the
curves with higher recoveries (eg 93 per cent copper
recovery). This is due to the fact that the liberation and grade
size influenced the performance of the recovery. Figure 13
shows that the sample returning lower copper recovery
contains smaller liberated chalcopyrite grains and scarce
liberated binary particles (Figure 13a) than in the sample
returning a higher copper recovery (Figure 13b). The latter
shows larger chalcopyrite liberated grains as well as a larger
amount of liberated binary particles with larger grain sizes
than the other sample (Figure 13b). Therefore, grain size,
liberation and association permit to predict the copper
recovery using theoretical grade-recovery curves.
The liberation and association of native gold has also been
determined in order to determine gold losses in the obtained

226 the third ausimm international geometallurgy CONFERENCE / perth, wa, 1516 june 2016
 Comprehensive Mineralogical Characterisation at the Cerro Corona Cu-Au Porphyry Mine

FIG 8 Box plot showing the average P80 for chalcopyrite grains by alteration type.

FIG 9 Box plot showing the average P80 for gold grains by alteration type. The numbers in each box correspond to the number of
analysed samples. The number of gold grains analysed by alteration type was: ARG1: 75, ARG2: 44, ARG3: 171, K: 146, SIL: 202 and SSH: 28.

FIG 10 Liberation grade of chalcopyrite by alteration type. For reference, < = 100 per cent indicates that
91 to 100 per cent of the surface of the chalcopyrite is liberated. Liberation classes occur from left to right in the bar chart.

the third ausimm international geometallurgy CONFERENCE / perth, wa, 1516 june 2016 227
R Baumgartner, P Gomez and G Escobar

FIG 11 Associations of chalcopyrite classified as free chalcopyrite, binary and ternary/complex associations. The latter is in general
a combination of pyrite, amorphous pyrite, quartz, muscovite (as illite), K-feldspar and/or minor magnetite/hematite and goethite.

FIG 12 Theoretical grade-recovery curves calculated from mineralogy results for the ARG3 alteration (150 m). The two coloured curves (red
84percent; orange 93 per cent) were also obtained from mineralogy but the laboratory flotation results are shown in the text box for comparison.

gold recoveries. Samples with low gold recoveries contain
in general gold locked in pyrite or quartz. Gold locked in
amorphous pyrite and pyrite (Figure 14) is in general lost in
the cleaner circuit and to a lesser extent in the rougher circuit
while gold locked in quartz is lost in the rougher flotation.
Gold locked in chalcopyrite will report to the final concentrate.
In Figure 14a, the gold is mainly locked in chalcopyrite and as
expected, the gold rougher flotation recovery for this sample
returns 95.2 per cent while Figure 14b, the gold rougher
recovery for this sample is 89.9 per cent because pyrite has
been depressed already in the rougher stage (total gold grains
analysed: 15).
Relations of recovery and mineralogy
As shown above, the recovery is closely related to the
mineralogy of the valuable elements as well as the gangue
minerals. In a plant, operational factors have to be taken into
account. However, information on the mineralogy permits to
predict the theoretical recovery and plan in accordance to the
obtained results. The comparison of the flotation data with
the mineralogical data is best done with plant data since it is
the real recovery obtained from a material. In fact, laboratory
flotation results, although they are standardised, contain still
variability that can be attributed to the flotation personnel
when not automatised.

228 the third ausimm international geometallurgy CONFERENCE / perth, wa, 1516 june 2016
 Comprehensive Mineralogical Characterisation at the Cerro Corona Cu-Au Porphyry Mine

A B

FIG 13 Particle maps for chalcopyrite grains. (A) Particle map for the lower copper recovery sample (P9), showing smaller grain sizes
and scarce binary liberated particles. (B) Particle map for the higher copper recovery sample (GDF192/64-70) showing a larger size of
the liberated chalcopyrite grains as well as more liberated binary particles than in (A). For colour legend, see Figure 14.

A B

FIG 14 Particles with gold encapsulated (blue and black circles). (A) Gold encapsulated in mainly chalcopyrite and to a
lesser extent in amorphous pyrite and pyrite. (B) Gold encapsulated in amorphous pyrite and pyrite. Colour legend: orange
= chalcopyrite, yellow = pyrite, green = amorphous pyrite, pink = quartz, light orange = K-feldspar.

A plant example for gold recovery illustrates the occurrence
of gold discussed above. During a day of operation, argillic
alteration material (ARG1 and ARG3) was processed. The
gold recovery in the rougher flotation circuit was 70percent,
but this recovery decreases drastically in the cleaner circuit
to a gold recovery of 51 per cent. The head grade of the
material processed was 0.51percent copper and 0.72g/t
gold. Looking in details at the occurrence of gold, the
mineralogical results show that most of the observed gold
is fine grained and locked in amorphous pyrite, pyrite and
to a lesser extent chalcopyrite (Figure 15). This can justify
the losses of gold in the cleaner tails. It is not discarded that
losses due to operational factors occurred.
The others losses that might have been overlooked are the
eventual gold grains locked in quartz. However, most of
those would have been lost in the rougher flotation circuit.
Some fine-grained free gold might have also been lost in the
rougher flotation if the size was not large enough to be able
to float.

FIG 15 Mineral particles with encapsulated gold (black circles). Total gold grains: 15. For colour legend, see Figure 14.

the third ausimm international geometallurgy CONFERENCE / perth, wa, 1516 june 2016 229
R Baumgartner, P Gomez and G Escobar
CONCLUSIONS
The mineralogical information obtained for this study
provides useful and applicable information for the ore
characterisation but also recovery predictions, within errors.
Since the extraction process treats a combination of minerals,
it is important to have the information of the valuable mineral
(in this case chalcopyrite and gold) as well as the gangue
minerals. These minerals can be associated to the valuable
mineral and impact indirectly the recovery or can be present
in the rock (such as clays) and have a direct impact on the
extraction process by operational problems such as flotation
problems and/or milling concerns. If all major alterations are
characterised mineralogically and spatial location is taken into
account, it provides a powerful tool for extraction predictions
and flexibility in the mine planning and processing. Of
course, this implies a large amount of work and related costs
but it can provide an insight at each alteration type and their
performance in the processing plant. This might conduct to
a different scheme of treatment for each type of alteration,
which has been previously treated the same way.
The study also permitted to characterise in detail the
different argillic alterations (ARG1ARG3) and show that
their distinction is important. This had a direct impact in the
blending strategy at the mine.
This is a first step in the geometallurgical ore characterisation
program at Cerro Corona. The second step is to obtain
mineralogical information from daily plant products to be
able to monitor the evolution of the performance of the plant
by identifying if the copper (and gold) losses are due to the
nature of the material or due to operational factors.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Gold Fields La Cima SA is acknowledged for permission
to publish this paper and being supportive. The entire
230 the third ausimm international geometallurgy CONFERENCE / perth, wa, 1516 june 2016
geometallurgy team at Cerro Corona is thanked, including Flor
Nuez, Anthony Julian, Valentin Yapo and Julio Castro. The
geology team is thanked for helping in the sample selection.
Mahdi Ghobadi is also thanked for extensive discussions and
findings during sample analysis.
REFERENCES
Amstutz, G C, 1961. Microscopy applied to mineral dressing,
Quarterly of the Colorado School of Mines, 56:445-481.
Brissette, M and Roman, E, 2012. Concentrate grade and regrind size
improvements on the east pit hypogene ore at Kemess Mine, in
Proceedings 44th Annual Meeting of Canadian Mineral Processors
(eds: E Legault-Seguin and J Zinck), pp2738 (Canadian Mineral
Processors: Ottawa).
Gold Fields Ltd, 2015. Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve
supplement to the integrated annual report 2015, 146p. Available
from: <http://www.goldfields.com>.
Lamberg, P, 2011. Particles the bridge between geology and
metallurgy, in Proceedings Conference on Minerals Engineering
(ed:J Atalo), pp116 (Lule Takniska Universitet).
Olson Hoal, K, 2013. The importance of mineralogical input
into geometallurgy programs, in Proceedings The Second
AusIMM International Geometallurgy Conference (ed: S Dominy),
pp1725 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy:
Melbourne).
Rocha, M, Ulloa, C and Diaz, M, 2012. Geometallurgical modelling
in the Los Bronces Mine, in Proceedings International Seminar
on Geometallurgy 2012 (eds: C Barahona, R Kuyvenhoven and
KPinto), p34 (Gecamin: Santiago de Chile).
Williams, S, 2013. A historical perspective of the application and
success of geometallurgical methodologies, in Proceedings
The Second AusIMM International Geometallurgy Conference
(ed:SDominy), pp3747 (The Australasian Institute of Mining
and Metallurgy: Melbourne).