Taconite Concentrator Modeling the Next Phase

Abstract

The Concentrator Modeling Center, within the University of Minnesota Duluth, Natural Resources Research Institute's Coleraine Minerals Research Laboratory (CMRL) was established in 1998. Following an evaluation of current capabilities and limitations, the Center set its short-term objective as gaining the capability of carrying out reliable taconite plant simulations by using conventional modeling and simulation techniques. The long-term target was to achieve liberation-based simulations of taconite plants. The short-term objectives were achievable by improving the existing capabilities, whereas the long-term objective required development of an integrated size reduction/liberation model and its incorporation into the software, Usim Pac, used by the Center as a base. It was anticipated that completion and validation of such a model would take several years.