“Memory loss” during mineral processing: Application to base metals traceability

“Memory loss” calculations are applied to the Neves Corvo plant. Throughout the process, the parameter of memory loss increases respectively from 0 to 195.06 for Cu; 0 to 46.15 for Zn and 0 to 0.43 for Fe. The “global memory loss”, namely as the “experimental memory loss”. For the Neves Corvo plant at the moment of the study this “experimental memory loss” was 14,146 min for Cu, 3408 min for Zn and 36 min for Fe. The results show that “memory loss” is greater for Cu than for Zn, thus emphasizing the importance of secondary elements for traceability purposes.