The depletion of mining resources forces the mining industry to process more heterogeneous and complex orebodies. The inherent heterogeneity of these orebodies and their relation to processing recoveries have received considerable interest in recent years. The properties of ores, such as mineral composition and association, are known to affect flotation performance. Even ores with similar compositions can vary significantly regarding their texture, where the same minerals can occur in different forms. Therefore, very careful geometallurgical planning is needed to overcome the recovery losses. Glencore’s Mount Isa Copper Operation has reported historical difficulties decreasing the copper losses associated with natural floatable pyrites. Understanding the rock properties of naturally floatable pyrites and how they relate to chalcopyrite losses is crucial for concentrator operations. The Mount Isa geometallurgy team is looking for proxies for predicting copper losses and natural floatable pyrites to improve mine planning. This paper presents an approach for predicting the collector-less flotation of pyrite, as well as chalcopyrite losses from rock properties. The statistical analysis between the rock quality and ore type gives an indication of the chalcopyrite losses and natural floatable pyrites, which has potential use in geometallurgy plans.

In this study, solvent extraction is applied for extracting nickel from sulfate solutions containing iron and cobalt ions. This process can also be applied for the cleaning of waste solutions and for increasing solution concentrations after the leaching of low-grade nickel ores. Di-2-Ethylhexyl phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) was used as an extractant for this purpose. Effects of pH, aqueous/organic (A/O) phase ratio, iron, and cobalt ion contents of the solution on nickel extraction efficiency were investigated. The McCabe-Thiele diagrams for extraction and stripping steps were developed to determine the number of stages required. A total of two stages were required for 96.3% of Ni extraction and a total of two stages to strip nickel with 98% efficiency.

The induced polarisation (IP) technique is a geophysical method used to measure chargeability and resistivity, providing crucial insights into subsurface geological structures. Traditionally, IP measurements have been instrumental in exploring disseminated sulphide deposits, leveraging the strong polarisation response of metallic particles. It provides valuable insights about rock mineralisation, matrix composition, and formation polarizability by analysing electrical parameters. However, their potential to predict metallurgical performance remains largely unexplored. This study evaluates whether IP parameters—chargeability and resistivity—can serve as geometallurgical indicators for copper sulphide ores. The evaluation integrates IP measurements with mineralogical and flotation data. Artificial pyrite–sand mixtures and five real ore samples from Mount Isa were analysed using the sample core IP tester and mineral liberation analysis, followed by collectorless flotation tests. Statistical analysis demonstrated a strong correlation between resistivity and chalcopyrite recovery (R² = 0.90, p = 0.99), as well as a moderate correlation between chargeability and chalcopyrite selectivity (R² = 0.72, p = 0.93). These findings demonstrate that IP captures key textural and electrochemical features governing flotation behaviour, including pyrite abundance, mineral liberation, and galvanic interactions. The results highlight IP as a promising rapid-assessment tool for identifying ore variability and forecasting flotation response, with potential integration into geometallurgical models and mine-to-mill optimisation. Further validation across broader ore domains is recommended to refine the predictive capability of IP-based indicators.