Pia Lois Morales

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Assistant Professor at University of Chile

This study is a step forward in the understanding of the differences in breakage properties of rocks, related to their geology. The Short Impact Load Cell (SILC) measures the effective energy used by the rock in the moment of breakage and provides an estimation of its elastic parameters. Most of the current tests for characterizing rock breakage do...

In developing a geometallurgical characterisation for comminution, the geological information, usually captured from drill core with a resolution of down to micrometre scale, is compared with the results of comminution tests. These tests require several kilograms of material and are empirical tests that do not focus on understanding the effect of o...

Advances in ore characterisation methods, such as automated mineralogy and core scanning technology, as well as in the breakage characterisation field, suggest that the relationship between the ore characteristics and its comminution behaviour can be thought of differently. This study focuses on developing a relationship that allows the transformat...

The application of Machine Learning in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy has important benefits in terms of increasing the predictability and controllability of the processes, optimizing their performance, and improving maintenance. However, this application has significant implementation challenges. This paper analyzes these challenges...

Currently, particle characterization is performed using techniques that extract information in two dimensions, such as automated SEM. However, this approach has limitations, as the resulting estimates are often inaccurate and tend to generate overestimates in key parameters, such as liberation. This phenomenon, known as stereological bias, represen...

Physical characteristics of rock particles (strength or mass specific fracture energy (Ecs)) or even comminution parameters such as (Axb) are highly controlled by rock microstructure. However, using characterization data to assess the com-minution is still challenging. This work uses automated SEM-EDS data, an extensive database of physical propert...

Fracture propagation in complex ore particles is still a largely unexplored subject. Understanding the link between particle properties and the breakage nature is critical for enabling selective breakage, a key development for enhancing the efficiency of raw material beneficiation plants. This study introduces a novel methodology to quantify the th...

The influence of grinding conditions on pulp chemistry has been mainly studied from the grinding media's point of view, but the effect of mineralogy has not been discussed in detail. In this work, the pulp chemistry (Eh, pH, dissolved oxygen) produced from rich Fe-oxides rocks was monitored in real-time using a Magotteaux Mill® with two sets of gri...

The variability of characteristics on ore deposits such as porphyries copper has increasingly affected the plant performance and the mine production. The current state of the art emphasizes the direct relationship between microtextural characteristics and breakage-related parameters for rock minerals. Despite numerous studies, there is still a lack...

The rock mass behavior can be studied using the complete stress–strain curve obtained from laboratory tests. To capture the complete curve and prevent violent failure, a stiff servo-assisted testing machine is required. Mainly due to the challenges in performing these tests and the fact that rock mass behavior is typically studied prior to failure,...

Comminution is one of the most important stages of the mining industry because the particle size distribution of the incoming and outgoing mineral particles has a central role in the efficiency of the mining-metallurgical process and is considered a key performance indicator of the plant. The characterization of the ore for this process usually req...

Comminution consumes the most energy in processing plants, reducing the size of rock particles to separate the ore minerals from gangue. Liberating minerals is crucial for efficient flotation recovery, making mineral liberation optimization vital. Various fracture models, both random and non-random, have been developed to predict liberation. Howeve...

La industria minera es un sector crítico en la economía global, que desempeña un papel esencial en la extracción y procesamiento de minerales y recursos naturales fundamentales para diversas industrias. Sin embargo, históricamente, la representación de mujeres en la industria minera y, más específicamente, en la carrera de Ingeniería Civil de Minas...

Froth flotation is a widely used method for the concentration of sulfide minerals. The structure of the superficial froth is an indicator of the performance of froth flotation alongside with the operational conditions in which this process is carried out. The aim of this study is to explore how the different operational conditions that can be manag...

The characterisation technologies have advanced rapidly in the last decade. From a qualitative observation of minerals with optical microscopy, more quantitative techniques have emerged. Examples are the SEM-based technologies that focus on mineralogical identification at the microscale and the X-ray microtomography systems that allow identifying r...

Comminution is an important stage in mineral processing as it liberates valuable from non-valuable minerals. Geometallurgy applied to comminution seeks to identify relationships between the geological characteristics and the comminution response as measured in standard tests (e.g. Bond work index) to develop predictive geometallurgical models. Howe...

Single-particle breakage characteristics are critical to understand the energy-size relationship of breakage events recorded as particle size distributions. The primary breakage properties derived from fracture mechanics (e.g., tensile strength and elastic moduli) control the initiation and propagation of fractures in rocks under stress. These resp...

Presentation in Ore Geology Conference https://vimeo.com/584117359

The primary breakage properties of rocks such a strength (σ) and elastic moduli (i.e. Young's modulus (E) and Poisson's ratio (ѵ)) are not usually characterised at comminution scale. Traditional comminution tests such as the Bond Work Index grinding test and the Drop Weight Test are used for describing the breakage behaviour of different ores. Neve...

Watch here: https://vimeo.com/492769314

Geometallurgy aims to select the best operating strategies that maximize the revenue through the identification of the rock properties that affect processing performance. In comminution, process optimization translates into higher throughput and lower energy consumption in the circuit. Traditional geometallurgical approaches for characterizing ores...

This edited book (in Spanish) analyzes the use of Big Data in the Mining Industry. It identifies current and future challenges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jCdqiVbBsM

Current tests for characterising rock breakage in comminution do not allow decoupling of rock breakage properties from the machine environment. Furthermore, it is difficult to predict the comminution behaviour of different ores or how they might behave in another breakage device. Consequently, this decoupling process is essential for comminution mo...

X-ray tomography analysis of ore samples gives geometallurgists the opportunity to observe and quantify the mineralogy and texture of the rock in three dimensions. The systems generate images which are useful in qualitative assessments of texture, for example visualising vein structures, but it is the ability to extract quantitative data from X-ray...

Summary. The relationship of geological properties of rocks such as mineralogical composition, mineral association, border complexity, porosity and grain size of rocks with the initiation and propagation of fractures has been previously described in the literature. Most of the existing approaches have qualitatively, or semi-quantitatively related m...

predicted. Features such as rock texture, mineralogy or border complexity between minerals control how the rock behaves from the processing plant through to the final products, including tailings disposal (Evans, Wightman, Manlapig, & Coulter, 2011; Parbhakar-Fox, Lottermoser, & Bradshaw, 2013; Yildirim, Bradshaw, Powell, Evans, & Clark, 2014) and...