Comminution Economic Evaluation Tool (CEET)

SGS is an industry leader in producing geometallurgically enabled models. Our Comminution Economic Evaluation Tool (CEET®) is an internet-based software tool that enables accurate design and forecasting of plant throughput, operating costs and grind quality. Capital investment and production planning decisions can thus be based on well-defined representative data sets that are rooted in the resource block model.

CEET links a grinding circuit design model with the mine resource block model to:

• Ensure throughput tonnage targets can be consistently achieved
• Determine the best circuit design for the orebody and mine plan
• Improve revenue-stream predictions for both budgeting and metal sales
• Optimize the mine plan for throughput and grind quality
• Minimize capital investment & operating costs for desired production rates
• Trade off capital investment with variance in throughput
• Quantify uncertainty arising from throughput predictions

At the feasibility stage CEET directly inputs measured and calculated ore grindability parameters into the block model. This enables us to virtually mine your entire deposit. Throughput, grade and recovery data is recorded for any defined flowsheet on a block-by-block basis. This allows SGS to create a geostatistically sound mill design that optimizes equipment selection and also provides an accurate prediction of power consumption over the life-of-mine.

SGS’s philosophy is that the most important parameters affecting both the semiautogenous and autogenous grinding mill’s throughput and product size are:

• Ore hardness and feed distribution
• Feed size relative to ore hardness

It is primarily variability in grindability that determines the month-by-month throughput and subsequent operating costs. SGS has developed CEET to model this. It is a technology that combines existing methods in geostatistics, mine planning and mineral processing to create accurate and conclusive models of the orebody. The fundamental philosophy behind CEET is that an orebody, specifically the ore hardness, cannot be adequately modeled with only a few samples.

Use of CEET requires three primary components:

1. Test-work to derive detailed grindability knowledge of the orebody. Testing consists of:
2. SAG Power Index (SPITM) testing to determine the SAG energy relationship
3. Bond Work Index testing to derive the Ball Mill energy relationship
4. Development of process models for both the SAG and ball mill circuits. The models are tuned via plant sampling and/or the SGS Benchmark Database
5. Application of the grindability distribution and tuned process models across the mine resource model using CEET

SGS uses CEET to accurately predict your throughput and grind quality. Partner with us to identify the circuit design that optimizes your long-term economic benefits. Reduce your technical risk by modeling the various options before building.