Figure 41 – Comminution Circuit Performance Trial 1 vs. Trial 2 Following the two plant trials, recommendations for immediate action to promote higher mill fillings while processing the softest materials, included: opening the primary crusher closed side setting (CSS) and turning off pebble crushers, which will also lead to operational and maintenance savings. In the mid-to-long term, once the improved ore blending and differential basting practices are implemented through effective ore characterisation, and the SAG mill operates with improved mill fillings—consistently above 25% for a healthy fines generation—, the following benefits are expected: increased SAG mill power utilizations, finer grind size, and increased SAG mill availability due to a longer mill liner life. More accurate hardness-information enables sites to implement more effective ore blending and differential blasting practices, producing a more homogeneous feed to the comminution circuit and significantly improving stability in throughput, final grind size, and flotation recovery. This hardness-based approach can be extended to include other ore attributes—such as geology, multi-element geochemical assays, mineralogy, penalty elements, and flotation response—to define ore domains across the deposit. By designing tailored processing strategies for each ore domain, sites can leverage the process integration across the mine value chain while reducing operational risk. This comprehensive approach is the foundation of geometallurgy. 2. INTEGRATING MINE-TO-MILL AND GEOMETALLURGY Geometallurgy encompasses a broad discipline that includes both tactical (diagnostic) and strategic (predictive) components. Strategic geometallurgy focuses on long-term, life-of-mine planning and resource modelling, integrating geological, mineralogical, and metallurgical information to forecast processing performance and support investment decisions. Tactical geometallurgy, by contrast, addresses short- to Trial 1 vs Trial 2
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