Tim Werner Monash University

Transcription

1 Tim Werner Monash University

2 Engineering Mineral resources of indium and long term supply from wastes Tim Werner Environmental Engineering Monash University

3 Outline Critical metals and indium Challenge of quantifying indium resources and what we ve done A peek at resources in wastes Processing efficiencies Slag, Tailings, e-waste 3

4 Annual indium production (t In) Indium: a critical metal Other Countries Korea Republic Japan China France USSR/Russia Belgium Canada

5 We re not quite clear on quantities: Paper/Report Data source quoted Indium resource estimate (t In) United States Geological Survey: Mineral Commodity Summaries Indium (Tolcin 2008) UNEP (2011) Own research. Own research. - Reserves: 11,000 - Reserves Base: 16,000 - Reserves: 310,000 - Reserves Base: 570,000 Mikolajczak and Jackson (2011) Not specified. - 50,000 European Commission (2012) Own research. - 12,400 in global zinc reserves in 2010 Murakami and Ishihara (2013) Schwarz-Schampera and Herzig (2002), Ishihara et al. (2006) and Ishihara et al. (2011) - 65,183 from 27 selected deposits (not a global resource estimate) Schwarz-Schampera (2014) Not specified. - 31,770 in known deposits - 12,500 reserves and 95,000 resources in zinc deposits (total, based on 50 ppm In in deposits) - 6,300 reserves and 30,000 resources in copper deposits (total, based on 10 ppm In) - Total 125,000 resources and 18,800 reserves

6 The challenge: Quantifying what s not reported Mine Name and Location Resources Reserves Total Grade Total In Zn Sn Cu Pb Ag Au Res. Deposit Indium Primary Mt Mt Ore Mt g In t -1 t In % % % % g t -1-1 g t Code Type Mineralogy Commodities Malku Khota, Bolivia C Sed-Pb-Zn jam, owy West Desert, UT, USA C Skarn sph Zn, Cu Zn, Ag, Pb, Cu Mount Pleasant (North Zone), NB, Canada C Gran-rel stn, sph and others Zn, Sn Geyer Southwest, Germany A,C Skarn sph Sn, Zn, Ga Keg (Main Zone), YT, Canada C Sed-Pb-Zn sph, cp Zn, Sn, Ag, Pb, Cu Baal Gammon, QLD, Australia A Skarn sph, cp Sn, Ag, Cu Pingüino, Angentina C Epi sph, cp, stn Ag, Au, Pb Brunswick 12, Bathurst, NB, Canada C VMS sph, cp Sn, Ag, Pb, Cu Zeehan (Slag), TAS, Australia A Slag Slag Zn, Ag Conrad & King Conrad, NSW, Australia A Skarn TOTAL sph, cp, gal, cas, stn Zn, Sn, Ag, Pb, Cu 6

7 The approach: Proxy 1: Geochemical Data Proxy 2: Zinc Ratio Data Apply multiple regression to generate an equation which determines indium grade based on base metal grades. Test how well the equation correlates with geochemical data. Verify the accuracy of the proxy by comparison to reported deposits. Review literature to determine production and orebody relationships between indium and zinc. Disregard the proxy in question. Attempt to repeat with other data sources until suitable proxies are identified. Unquantified Deposits Proxy not statistically justified Quantified Deposits Proxy statistically justified Infer indium grades through the application of the proxy to appropriate deposits of known tonnage. N Resources not estimated. H Code-based grade and tonnage estimated. M Code-based tonnage and non-code grade estimated. L Non-code tonnage and grade estimated. Reported Data

8 Germany Other Japan Canada France Korea Republic Peru, Germany, Russia & Belgium China USA Australia E] Portugal Bolivia E] Japan E] E] E] E] China Canada E] E] E] E] Russia E] DISTRIBUTION OF INDIUM SUPPLY IN 2014 GLOBAL REPORTED PB-ZN INDIUM RESOURCES DEPOSITS >= 60,553 T (ADDITIONAL 55,000 T IN)

9 Annual unit indium production ratio (g In t (base metal)-1) The processing of indium is improving Zn 50 Zn+Cu+Sn+Pb

10 but the processing of indium is still wasteful 1-10 Cu Conc. In Ore Milled (100 units In) Zn Conc. Zn Refinery Pb Conc. Tailings Slag

11 Indium (t) Mine wastes can be plentiful sources of indium 4000 Indium in Broken Hill Tailings: % to Tailings 20% to Tailings 5% to Tailings

12 Case Study: Heath Steele, Canada Indium content (t In) Mine wastes can be plentiful sources of indium Shipped to Lead Conc. Shipped to Copper Conc. 2,000 Zinc Concentrates Sent to Zinc Refinery 1,500 1,000 Deposit Resource Remaining Mineral Resource 500 Tailings Mine Waste Resource 12

13 Indium CNN Report: Over 2.2 Billion smartphones sold in * ~ 5 mg In per smartphone = 11 tonnes Half as much as Zeehan slag dumps in Tasmania! (22 t In) *

14 Thank you! Tim Werner Department of Civil Engineering 14 Alliance Lane, Clayton 3800, VIC, Australia

15