Metallurgical Accounting

Metallurgical accounting is an ongoing process that involves sampling, analyzing, and accounting for the metal throughput of your metallurgical circuit. It provides the diagnostic information required for making effective metallurgical decisions. 

As your strategic partner or independent technical consultant, we can help you improve your existing met accounting system, or establish a completely new system based on industry best practices and our extensive practical experience.

Met accounting is an integrated component of most efficient metallurgical plants. It provides valuable information about plant operations, recovery rates, plant mass balance and potential areas of material losses. SGS experts are senior metallurgists with extensive industry experience, who understand the complexities involved and will work with you to provide the procedures and technologies you need to define and track your processing circuit.

SGS ensures that your met accounting program monitors the key performance indicators (KPIs) that are crucial to your operation’s performance. Once your system is properly established and your overall metallurgical balance improved, you can expect many of the following benefits:

• Decrease in mine production variability and untracked commodity losses
• Improved information flow to management
• Better trouble-shooting capabilities for metallurgical process problems or deficiencies
• More accurate determination of process efficiency and recovery rates
• More informed flowsheet design and modification
• Increase in plant efficiency through better diagnostics
• Increased ability to accurately check the Mine Call Factors (MCF) for gold and other commodities, in particular when the amount of commodity anticipated by the mine grade control group differs significantly from that accounted for by the mill

SGS’s met accounting experts start the process with a systematic metallurgical plant audit. It consists of a rigorous examination of all your met accounting systems to ensure all unit operations are effective and appropriate, including:

• Sampling equipment and calibration procedures (automatic and manual)
• Weightometer accuracy and appropriateness
• Mineral analysis processes including High Definition Mineralogy 
• Final reconciling policies and procedures
• Security issues

SGS will ensure that the sampling equipment and analytical procedures in your met accounting system are fit-for-purpose and easy to manage. Advanced mineralogical assessments are also available using our High Definition Mineralogy capabilities. This service provides you with statistically accurate mill mineralogy, alteration, and texture data suited to your specific ore type and process flowsheet.

The end product will be a system that provides all company stakeholders, including management, marketing, and production staff, with accurate data. SGS provides you with an unbiased, third-party perspective of industry best practices as your benchmark of excellence.

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  Metallurgical Accounting

  published 06/25/12

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