Figure 10 – Increase in froth bed thickness in upgraded cells at Kennecott Copperton. The impact of center launder upgrade to froth bed thickness was also observed at Red Chris mine, where the retrofit enabled enhanced process control and mass pull maintaining (Seaman et al. 2021). Similar effect in increase of froth bed thickness was recognized during the evaluation period in Hudbay Constancia concentrator. Based on the measurements, the froth depth was also increased, which enables more stable froth beds, improved froth mobility, and therefore increased collection of valuable minerals (Corona-Arroyo et al. 2022). 4.5 Potential Decarbonization of the Flotation Circuit Nowadays, reducing carbon footprints and managing energy consumption are becoming increasingly critical. This drive for more sustainable processes also impacts emission reductions in flotation circuits. To support decarbonization in flotation, operational parameters of flotation cells and debottlenecking of flotation circuits can be enhanced with flotation modernizations. Implementation of a center launder retrofit can enhance metallurgical performance by optimizing the froth zone performance and potentially decreasing the energy consumption per ton of processed metals (Bermudez et al. 2023a). Various success stories demonstrate that significant recovery increases in flotation circuits can be achieved with center launder retrofits. These recovery gains allow for the quantification of avoided CO₂ emissions by reducing the energy intensity per processed ton, thereby supporting flotation decarbonization. For example, at Kennecott Copperton, Cu recovery was increased by 0.74%, which was calculated to avoid over 7,000 t CO₂ emissions per year. This reduction potential was calculated based on the throughput of mineral in tons per hour, the head grade of the mineral, recovery increase of copper due to the upgrade, the energy intensity in GJ per ton of produced copper, the uptime in hours, and the emission factor of produced CO₂ emissions in tons per MWh. Consequently, after the center launder upgrade, the same amount of copper could be produced with fewer operating hours, further reducing CO2 emissions (Bermudez et al. 2023b). 4.6 Potential Return on Investment of the Center Launder Retrofit
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