AMF Booysens

SGS Advanced Mineralogy Facility in Booysens, Johannesburg, South Africa

For over fifty years, SGS Minerals Services has been providing High Definition Mineralogy support to hundreds of extractive metallurgy projects. With an extensive array of state-of-the-art equipment, our professional mineralogists provide quantitative assessments of mineral deportment and liberation to help maximize grade and recovery or increase operational efficiency.

The SGS Booysens Advanced Mineralogy Facility (AMF) is part of the global SGS Advanced Mineralogy Network. This network is dedicated to providing automated process mineralogy services to the exploration and mining community. Our Booysens facility, opened in 2006, was developed to serve Southern Africa and Africa and to offer SGS’s expertise in the field of High Definition Mineralogy.

Run by mineralogists and technicians with years of characterization experience, data produced by SGS’s Advanced Mineralogy Network is monitored by a comprehensive quality control program. Through our technicians in the Booysens AMF, and those at Advanced Mineralogy Facilities in Canada, Chile, and Australia, we support your exploration and mining efforts as a strategic partner and an independent advisor. We act as your expert technical resource to facilitate the success of your mineral program.

Expertise

The Booysens AMF provides a consultative service in the fields of:

• Ore Characterization
• Exploration Petrology and Geochemistry
• Petrographic and Ore Microscope Descriptions
• Paragenesis, Ore Associations, Alteration & Modeling
• Deportment Studies (Au, PGE, base metals, U, etc.)
• Quantitative Mineralogy and Liberation Analysis
• Process Mineralogy (predictive metallurgy, trouble shooting, process control, plant optimization, etc.)
• Geometallurgical Mapping and Ore Variability studies
• Environmental Mineralogy
• Forensic Mineralogy
• Sample Preparation and Custom Lapidary Services
• Diamond exploration (including microdiamond analysis)

Our team boasts over 70 years of applied and process mineralogical experience in the evaluation of ore samples and metallurgical products from a wide variety of commodities, specifically:

• Gold
• PGMs
• Uranium
• Base Metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, Co)
• Heavy Mineral Sands (Ti, Zr, REE)
• Diamonds
• Tin, Tungsten, Tantalum
• Iron Ore, Manganese and Chrome
• Industrial Minerals
• Refractories, Slags and Smelter Products

SGS’s expertise includes access to a spectrum of experienced mineralogists, chemists and process engineers supported by an array of analytical disciplines. All of these resources can be tapped into depending upon the complexity of the test program undertaken. The facility is able to draw on the in-house services of a well equipped metallurgical test work facility as well as an accredited, comprehensive geochemical laboratory.

Mineralogical data produced at the SGS Booysens AMF has been utilized in exploration, deposit evaluation and development, feasibility studies, piloting and plant auditing, geometallurgical mapping, environmental monitoring and remediation for companies around the world.

EXPLOMIN™

Developed by SGS, EXPLOMIN™ is a trademarked suite of packages which provide rapid, automated mineralogy for exploration and early project development purposes. EXPLOMIN™ is your link between mineralogy, domain definition, metallurgy and geometallurgy. The value of EXPLOMIN™ lies in its ability to acquire and process vast amounts of extremely detailed mineralogy, texture and alteration data efficiently and economically.

Process Mineralogy

SGS is capable of providing a detailed mineralogical and analytical characterization of a vide variety of mineral and process samples. In its approach, SGS utilizes a combination of modern analytical techniques and results of chemical assays to eliminate any ambiguity, which may arise if only one of the techniques is used.

It is known that the best and most useful results in sample characterization can be achieved only when the analyst has a deep understanding of the origin and nature of the sample, and of the underlying metallurgical/mineral processing problem. Using SGS’s in-house analytical services will provide this valuable combination.

Gold Services

SGS’s Booysens AMF is highly experienced in conducting detailed gold deportment studies.  The facility is able to quantify the gold speciation, particle size, liberation characteristics, and mineral association within ores and plant products from various gold deposit types. The data is acquired using techniques such as QEMSCAN®, image analysis, gravity separation and diagnostic leach tests to determine and generate a gold balance. This quantifies free milling and refractory gold contents for:

• Conceptual scoping studies
• Fowsheet development
• Pre-feasibility testing and piloting
• Process audits
• Process troubleshooting

Quantitative Evaluation of Materials by SCANning Electron Microscopy (QEMSCAN®)

QEMSCAN® is one of the most powerful process mineralogical tools currently employed in the minerals industry. Its value in providing geologists, metallurgists and miners with quantitative mineralogical data is unprecedented. Mineralogists are able to predict and postulate metallurgical performance and recommend cost effective process strategies.  Major mining companies use data generated by QEMSCAN® to make strategic decisions at the acquisition, exploration, feasibility and operational stages. Its flexible technology has been successfully employed for diverse commodities such as precious and base metals, uranium, mineral sands and industrial minerals.

The QEMSCAN®’s strengths lie in the ability to provide:

• Quantitative bulk modal analysis
• Bulk mineralogical and textural maps
• Particle maps
• Particle size, shape and characterisation
• Proportion of mineral species present  
• Locked / liberation analysis and textural association (e.g. between ore and gangue)
• Trace mineral search and characterization capabilities

Electron Microprobe

This capability is outsourced locally to one of several reputable institutions.

Image Analysis

SGS Advanced Mineralogy Network image analysis system utilizes Image Analysis software and petrographic and binocular microscopes.  Image analysis provides particle size, shape, texture, and locked and liberated characteristics on unconsolidated material, polished mounts and drill core.  Image analysis has very broad applications in gold, base metal and industrial minerals exploration and development projects.

X-Ray Diffraction Analysis

XRD is typically used to determine bulk mineral assemblages in ores and metallurgical products. Modern high-speed detectors allow rapid data collection on large numbers of samples and whole pattern cluster analysis is used to differentiate sample populations. Furthermore, XRD can be used to:

• Identify and quantify crystalline phases by Rietveld Refinement
• Determine clay and phyllosilicate mineral assemblages
• Identify carbonate species
• Identify fibrous mineral species
• Quantify respirable quartz on air filters
• Establish the ratio of monoclinic to hexagonal pyrrhotite.

Optical Microscopy

Optical microscopy forms the basis for most mineralogical projects.  SGS Minerals Services has a wide variety of research-quality reflected and transmitted light petrographic microscopes (Zeiss, Olympus and Nikon) including units with electronic cameras for image grabbing.

Mineral Separation

Physical separations are performed by wet and dry screening, tabling, magnetic, electromagnetic and heavy media separation in support of programs involving:

• Diamond exploration
• Heavy mineral sands
• Porphyry Cu-Au studies
• Base metals (Ni, Cu) studies
• Hard rock and alluvial Au projects
• Industrial minerals
• Precious metals (Au, PGE)  

Sample Preparation

Petrographic and mineralogical analytical techniques need a well equipped laboratory where experienced technical staff produces thin and polished thin sections, polished sections, grain mounts and polished rock and drill core faces from a variety of solid and powdered materials including water sensitive samples such as kimberlite. SGS Booysens facility is experienced in providing these services.