Geometallurgy

Mining extraction and processing of mineral resources traditionally takes place within individual disciplines or organisational units that are separated from each other. These units are partly separated from each other by hard physical or virtual interfaces and are typically incentivised by their own performance metrics.

Geometallurgy strives to network the knowledge from the individual disciplines. Ore is no longer evaluated only according to their valuable material content, but much more according to how they behave in the entire refining and treatment processes. SIX-S is characterised by holistic geometallurgical thinking along the entire value chain, from the deposit to the saleable product and offers the expertise and procedures to obtain the necessary data to make informed decisisons.

In existing mining operations, current processes can be assessed and optimised with the focus on increasing productivity and with regard to introducing innovations. A holistic view promotes potentially disruptive innovations that fundamentally influence upstream and downstream processes. Along an ongoing process, appropriate sampling and sensors must be able to provide reliable data on the basis of which relevant information can be generated that enables critical decisions to be made to control the overall process. The area of correct, i.e. representative sampling (either physical and/or sensor sampling) is coming to the fore as a critical success factor.