Clays in the mineral resources value chain: A literature survey

The Challenge

Clays have a widespread and significant economic impact on the processing of minerals.

They are increasingly identified as a significant problem in mining, extraction and value adding processes for a wide range of commodity raw materials.

Understanding clay behaviour and minimising its ‘value destroying’ impact along the value chain could reduce costs and improve operational efficiency across the mining sector.

Key Findings

This comprehensive literature review synthesised the current state of knowledge regarding clay properties and behaviour and provided a new perspective on how to assess and best deal with clay material in a mining context.

In particular, the review identified that siloing of expertise in relation to individual elements of the mineral processing workflow such as pumping, flotation and leaching has limited the overall development of successful clay handling procedures in the industry as a whole.

Benefits to WA

Understanding and better managing the clay content in mined ore could reduce processing and handling costs in mining and mineral processing, reduce the environmental impact of mining, and improve overall efficiency of production in the mining sector.

Keywords: clay, water, ore, minerals