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Benchmarking the hardness of a particular ore deposit can provide valuable intelligence as to whether its comminution properties are typical of other deposits and if not, the extent to which they are likely to depart from the norm.  Such intelligence is vital in the early investigative and developmental stages of a prospective ore deposit as it provides an indication as to whether the likely comminution energy requirement, the cost of which is often a major economic factor, will be more or less the same as that of existing concentrators.  In an existing circuit this benchmarking is also valuable as it helps identify whether its energy costs relative to other operations within its commodity sector are reasonable in relation to its relative hardness, ie are its energy costs high in relation to other concentrators due to its ores relative hardness?  If not then this may indicate a relatively inefficient comminution circuit which has the potential to reduce its energy costs and improve company profitability.

By leveraging our extensive, 35000-strong database, SMC Testing now offers a new and deep insight into ore hardness via focused analysis of global trends and is able to position a specific ore deposit  within its commodity (valuable mineral content) hardness distribution (Figure 1). In some cases further analysis is also possible based on commodity hardness distributions within geographical location (Figure 2).

This world-first insight is based on aggregated highly detailed analysis of over 35000 completed SMC Tests, carried out on ore samples from 80 countries (Table 1), spanning six continents (Figure 3), and covering over 30 different commodities (Table 2 and Figure 4).

The ongoing analysis conducted by SMC Testing shows distinct differences in the hardnesses between some of the major commodities, demonstrated clearly in Figure 1 below. Figure 1 shows the cumulative distribution of the SMC Test® DWi hardness parameter for the entire database compared to one of the commodity sub-sets.

Further evidence indicates that there is also a significant difference between continents in the distributions of the hardnesses of the principal commodities.  Figure 4 shows a good example of this, illustrated by the variation in DWi hardness of a single commodity based on geographic location. The aggregated geographic and commodity compositions of the full SMC Test® database can be seen in Figure 3 and 4.

figure 1 - Cumulative Distributions of the DWi Parameter of a Particular Commodity vs All Commodities Combined

 Figure 1 – Cumulative Distributions of the DWi Parameter of a Particular Commodity vs All Commodities Combined

 figure 2 - Cumulative Distributions of the DWi Parameter of a Particular Commodity vs Continent

Figure 2 – Cumulative Distributions of the DWi Parameter of a Particular Commodity vs Continent

figure 3 - Distribution of SMC Tests by ContinentFigure 3 – Distribution of SMC Tests by Continent

figure 4 – Distribution of SMC Tests by Commodity

Figure 4 – Distribution of SMC Tests by Commodity

These findings reflect the innovative and continually-improving nature of SMC Testing as the world’s leading comminution test provider. We continue to leverage the extensive SMC Test® database to offer our customers unrivalled reporting insight and value.

In a little over 10 years since its introduction to the Minerals Processing world, the SMC Test® has established itself as one of the most popular, versatile and accurate laboratory comminution tests available. Furthermore, the SMC Test® database—the largest of its kind in the world—gives unique and superior testing insight unmatched in other comminution tests available.

Contact us today to start benefitting from SMC Testing’s unique comminution insight.

TABLE 1 – COUNTRIES FROM WHICH SAMPLES HAVE HAD SMC TESTS CARRIED OUT ON THEM

Argentina

Armenia

Australia

Austria

Bolivia

Botswana

Brazil

Burkina Faso

Canada

Central African Republic

Chile

China

Colombia

Congo

Cote d'Ivoire

Democratic Rep. Congo

Ecuador

Egypt

Eritrea

Ethiopia

Fiji

Finland

Ghana

Greece

Greenland

Guatemala

Guinea

Guyana

India

Indonesia

Iran

Ireland

Kazakhstan

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Lesotho

Liberia

Malawi

Mali

Mauritania

Mexico

Mongolia

Morocco

Mozambique

Namibia

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

Pakistan

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russia

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Serbia

Sierra Leone

South Africa

South Korea

Spain

Suriname

Sweden

Tajikistan

Tanzania

Thailand

Turkey

Ukraine

United Kingdom

Uruguay

USA

Uzbekistan

Venezuela

Vietnam

Zambia

Zimbabwe

TABLE 2 – PRIMARY COMMODITY CONTAINED IN ORE SAMPLES WHICH HAVE HAD SMC TESTS CARRIED OUT ON THEM

Basalt

Bauxite

Bentonite

Coal

Cobalt

Copper

Diamond

Fluorspar

Gold

Graphite

Hematite

Iodine

Iron ore pellets

K-Feldspar

Lead

Lithium

Magnetite

Manganese

Molybdenum

Nickel

Niobium

PGM

Phosphate

Polymetallic sulphides

Rare Earths

Silver

Tin

Titanium

Tungsten

Uranium

Vanadium

Zinc

SMC Testing Insight: Ore Deposit Hardness Varies by Commodity and Geographical Location

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