wear and inaccurate calibration of the airflow instrument. Overall, these results indicate that the recovery in the line upgraded with a center launder shows significant improvements in copper recoveries compared to the baseline. The process survey conducted in Bagdad included also the study of copper recovery based on different particle sizes. This particle size analysis revealed that the most substantial recovery increase of copper occurred with coarser particles. Specifically, the cumulative recovery of particles larger than 300 m increased by over 16%. This notable improvement in the recovery of coarser particles is supported by literature, which denotes that a shorter froth transport distance and a smaller froth surface area provide stability and prevent bubble bursting caused by the instability of coarser particles (Vallejos et al. 2022). The differences in recovery based on particle size are illustrated in Fig. 8 (Liu et al. 2022). Figure 8 – Size-by-size Cu recovery to rougher concentrate in Bagdad (Reproduced from Liu et al. 2022). 4.4 Launder Retrofit Effect on Operational Parameters The effect of center launder upgrade on operational parameters, like air flow rate and froth bed thickness was further studied in case studies of Kennecott Copperton, Red Chris concentrator, New Afton, and Hudbay Constancia. In all cases, the improvements gained are readily seen in the form of improved froth mobility and operational flexibility. Based on the examined evaluation period at Kennecott Copperton, the operational air flow rates of the upgraded cells were effectively reduced. Measurements of the airflow rate were taken from three out of seven upgraded TankCells over time, both before and after the launder retrofit. The consistent measurement period proves that the airflow rates were reduced by an average of 26%, 28%, and 24% for the three upgraded cells (Bermudez et al. 2022). These consistent results are illustrated on Fig. 9.
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