A ROADMAP TO A SUSTAINABLE PROCESS INTEGRATION *P.O. Madrid1 1JKTech Pty Ltd, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, (*Presenting author: p.madrid@jktech.com.au) ABSTRACT Mine-to-Mill optimization has become a widely adopted approach to process integration in the mining and minerals processing industry since its early development at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) in the 1990s. The original philosophy focused on blast fragmentation as the primary lever for process integration, debottlenecking semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mills, and creating room for concentrator throughput increases. Over time, the philosophy has evolved to include a broader range of integration levers to suit the needs and realities of any mine site, because not all comminution circuits are constrained by the SAG mill; hence, not all sites will benefit from more aggressive blasting. In parallel, geometallurgy has attracted growing interest from the mining industry over the past three decades as an integrated discipline that links geological variability to metallurgical performance. Its objective is to quantify how ore properties influence processing behavior and product outcomes, thereby supporting more informed mine planning, plant optimisation, and value-chain integration. The common foundation between Mine-to-Mill and geometallurgy lies on a robust ore characterisation methodology capable of generating reproduceable results and effectively capturing ore competency variability across the deposit. When these characterisation results correlate with blast fragmentation and SAG mill throughput, they provide a quantitative link between geological variability and processing performance. This paper explores how these two evolving approaches – Mine-to-Mill and geometallurgy – can be integrated, proposing a roadmap towards a more comprehensive and sustainable process integration framework. Results and learnings from real-world applications are presented and discussed. The paper also seeks to clarify key fundamentals and terminology in practical terms that can be readily understood across disciplines. Unifying technical language and conceptual understanding across disciplines in the value chain is itself a critical dimension of effective process integration. KEYWORDS Ore characterisation, geometallurgy, Mine-to-Mill, process integration.
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