Teghout Nitrogen vs.

Inert gas Tradeoff Study

Introduction The purpose of this high level trade-off study is to make an evaluation between the use of covered inert gas cells and open tank cells with nitrogen addition in the Teghout Moly circuit . The trade off study will focus on the comparison of economics, operability and metallurgical performance, and safety issue. Economics Comparison With aspect of capital cost, for moly flotation using nitrogen, the additional cost is the nitrogen plant. However the inert gas option has gas scrubber for NaSH, additional cost for piping/support for the pressure equalizer. The covered flotation cells from inert gas option is also more expensive than open tank cell from nitrogen option. With aspect of operational cost, nitrogen has operational cost from nitrogen plant, while with inert gas option the flotation cell power consumption will be higher, the NaSH consumption is also reported lower compared with inert gas option. Additional operation cost from inert gas includes the caustic used for NaSH scrubber. Table below summarized the capital and operational cost of each option.
Nitrogen Inert gas 430,000 480,150 582,000 200,000 100,000 910,150 882,000

Nitrogen plan Flotation cells NaSH gas scrubber Pressure equalizer ect Total CAPEX

Nitrogen Nitrogen plant operational cost NaSH cost Flotation cell power cost Caustic in gas scrubber Total OPEX 71,487 498,480 88,232 658,198

Inert gas

598,176 110,290 2183 710,649

From economic comparison, the capital cost of two options are quite close, the operational cost of nitrogen option is marginally lower than the inert gas option. based on 25 years of project

life, the nitrogen option is marginally favorable than the inert gas option. Followed graph show the CAPEX and OPEX comparison of these two options.

Economic Comparison between Nitrogen and Inert gas option

1,000,000 900,000 800,000 700,000 600,000 US$ 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000 0 Nitrogen option Inert gas option CAPEX OPEX/year

Operability and Metallurgical Performance Theoretically covered cell should have similar metallurgical performance with nitrogen supplied flotation cell, except with a little higher NaSH consumption. However covered cell is less convenient to operate perate and observe by operators in field, , this may potentially compromise the overall flotation performance. The maintenance of covered cell is also more difficult than the open tank cells.

Safety Issue For covered cell with inert gas option, there will be considerable amount of H2S accumulated inside the cell which can be potential safety risk, especially wh when en the PH level in the circuit is not properly maintained. A fatal accident was reported in one of copper moly plant in South America, one operator died from H2S exposure during the maintenance of covered inert gas cell in the moly circuit.

For open tank cell with nitrogen option, it is unlikely to accumulate very high concentration of H2S, and sufficient ventilation insides the building, H2S monitoring and alarm system will be enough to control the safety issue. Conclusion From the economic point of view, nitrogen option and inert gas option have quite similar OPEX and CAPEX, due to the difference between NaSH savings and flotation cell power consumption, the economic marginally favors nitrogen option. From the plant operability and safety aspect, open tank cell with nitrogen addition is more preferred option, especially for any green field operation where labor resource is not very experienced.

Appendix A: Cost Estimate

Estimate of Nitrogen Plant Robinson Copper moly plant treat 120 mtph of bulk concentrate, the nitrogen plant built in 2005 costs approximately 726, 000 US$. The designed feed rate for Teghout project is roughly 25 mtph (18.7 mtph nominal rate for 12 million tons case during phase 2). Considering scale up factor with power index of 0.6 and assumed 5% annual inflation, the nitrogen plant for Teghout at this time may is estimated around 430,000 US$.

Operational Cost of Nitrogen Plant The operational cost of nitrogen plant is estimated as below; Maintenance: 3% of total nitrogen capital cost, around 12,900 US$/year. Power cost: mainly from one 150 HP compressor, annual power consumption is 53,587 US$/year based on 0.07 US$/kwhr.
maintenance, US$/yr consumerable, US$/yr power, US$/yr Total 12,900 5000 53,587 71,487

When nitrogen option is chosen, the cell can be open tank cell with forced air, which is typically cheaper than covered cell, the estimated capital cost reduction is estimated 70,000 US$ lower with open tank cell with nitrogen option. Inert gas option also requires gas scrubber, additional piping and support, and caustic used for the gas scrubber, this corresponds to 302,000 US$.

Appendix B: Comparison of NaSH Consumption

Nitrogen plant can supply gas with maximum 1% oxygen, while the inert gas typically contains 5-10% oxygen. The pressure equalizer incorporated in the covered flotation cell with inert gas option will draw fresh air into the flotation cell when the pressure inside flotation cell is less than atmospheric pressure. These two factors cause nitrogen option consumes less NaSH than inert gas option. For inert gas flotation cell, it is reported the NaSH consumption typically reduce 30% to 50%; while for the nitrogen supplied flotation, the NaSH consumption is reported 50% to 70% reduction. Additional bench scale test conducted by FLSmidth for La Caridad indicated Nitrogen option save 7% to 13% more NaSH than inert gas option. It is conservative to assume nitrogen option can save at least 10% more NaSH than inert gas option in commercial scale. Current Teghout moly testworks indicated NaSH consumption is about 3.5 kg/mt of bulk concentrate, if we assume 4.0 kg/mt of NaSH consumption in commercial scale, based on current price of NaSH around 15,000 $ per short ton of 46% NaSH solution, the annual cost from NaSH for the inert gas is 598,176 US$, and the nitrogen option will cost 498,480 US$ for NaSH.

Appendix C: Flotation Cell and Associated Cost

Flotation Cell Capital Cost Based on covered inert gas flotation cells, we quoted 375,100 GBP, which roughly corresponds to 582,000 US$. Typically the open tank cell is 25% less expensive than covered cell, and for open tank cell, the blower typically is about 5-10% of the flotation cell itself. Based on this number, the open tank cells with blower is estimated roughly 480,150 US$.

Energy Cost from Flotation Cells The Wemco mechanism typically consumes more power than open tank cell, roughly 20% to 30% more. The total motor power rating of the Wemco flotation cell for Teghout is 230 kw, based on 85% load factor and 92% plant availability, the annual power consumption from the moly flotation cells is estimated 1,575,574 kwhr per year. Assuming 0.07 US$/kwhr electricity cost, the energy cost from the moly flotation cell with inert gas option is about 110,290 US$/year. Assuming the open tank cells with blower from nitrogen option consume 20% less power than covered inert gas cell, the power cost for open tank cells with blower is estimated at 88,232 US$/year.

Appendix D: Additional Miscellaneous Cost

For covered flotation cells with inert gas option, a pressure equalizer will be required to balance the pressure inside the flotation cell, in addition a gas scrubber will be required to treat the H2S gas coming out from the flotation cells. Caustic is also required in the gas Scrubber to treat the H2S gas coming out of flotation cells. Gas Scrubber for H2S Typical gas scrubber to treat the H2S coming out from moly flotation circuit is estimated around 200,000 US$.

Pressure Equalizer The pressure equalizer consists all the piping and support for system, the installed cost for this additional portion is estimated around 100,000 US$.

Caustic It is estimated every metric ton of moly circuit feed will consume 0.056 Kg of NaOH solution. Based on the price of 260 US$/mt of caustic solution, the annual caustic cost is about 2,183 US$.