The method may comprise receiving historical data (e.g., mineralogy data, irrigation data, raffinate data, heat data, lift height data, geographic data on ore placement and/or blower data); training a predictive model using the historical data to create a trained predictive model; adding future assumption data to the trained predictive model; running the forecast engine for a plurality of parameters to obtain forecast data for a mining production target; comparing the forecast data for the mining production target to the actual data for the mining production target; determining deviations between the forecast data and the actual data, based on the comparing; and changing each of the plurality of parameters from the forecast data to the actual data to determine a contribution to the deviations for each of the plurality of parameters.

Provided is a method of recovering gold, and optionally silver, from gold-bearing, and optionally silver-bearing, double refractory raw material, comprising the steps of (a) leaching the gold-bearing, and optionally silver-bearing, double refractory raw material in a chloride containing leaching solution to dissolve gold and to obtain a leach solution comprising gold, and optionally silver, in solution, whereby the redox of leaching solution in the chloride leaching step is above 550 mV vs. Ag/AgCl; and simultaneously contacting the leach solution comprising gold, and optionally silver, in solution with a re-sorptive material to obtain a gold-containing, and optionally silver-containing, re-sorptive material; and (b) recovering gold and optionally silver from the gold-containing, and optionally silver-containing, re-sorptive material.

Provided is a method of recovering gold, and optionally silver, from gold-bearing, and optionally silver-bearing, double refractory raw material, comprising the steps of (a) leaching the gold-bearing, and optionally silver-bearing, double refractory raw material in a chloride containing leaching solution to dissolve gold and to obtain a leach solution comprising gold, and optionally silver, in solution, whereby the redox of leaching solution in the chloride leaching step is above 550 mV vs. Ag/AgCl; and simultaneously contacting the leach solution comprising gold, and optionally silver, in solution with a re-sorptive material to obtain a gold-containing, and optionally silver-containing, re-sorptive material; and (b) recovering gold and optionally silver from the gold-containing, and optionally silver-containing, re-sorptive material.

The invention relates to a material and its method for rapidly eluting ammonium ions and soluble metal cations in an ionic rare earth ore leaching site, which comprises the following steps: 1) Ferrous sulfate is dissolved in water as an eluant; 2) Take the soil sample from the closed leaching site of ionic rare earth ore to make an eluting column, use the above-mentioned eluent to elute, more than 95% water-soluble and exchangeable ammonium ions in the soil sample are eluted, while more than 90% of the residual rare earths in the soil sample are exchanged into the eluent, which can quickly achieve the purpose of eluting ammonium ions in the leaching site and recovering the residual rare earths, and is beneficial to the soil remediation for the leaching site.

The invention relates to a material and its method for rapidly eluting ammonium ions and soluble metal cations in an ionic rare earth ore leaching site, which comprises the following steps: 1) Ferrous sulfate is dissolved in water as an eluant; 2) Take the soil sample from the closed leaching site of ionic rare earth ore to make an eluting column, use the above-mentioned eluent to elute, more than 95% water-soluble and exchangeable ammonium ions in the soil sample are eluted, while more than 90% of the residual rare earths in the soil sample are exchanged into the eluent, which can quickly achieve the purpose of eluting ammonium ions in the leaching site and recovering the residual rare earths, and is beneficial to the soil remediation for the leaching site.

Processes for extracting lithium from a clay mineral and compositions thereof are described. The extraction process includes providing a clay mineral comprising lithium, mixing a cation source with the clay mineral, performing a high-energy mill of the clay mineral, and performing a liquid leach to obtain a lithium rich leach solution.

A method for the precipitation of rare earth sulphate, the method including subjecting a crude rare earth sulphate solution to precipitation in the presence of a water soluble, volatile, organic compound to produce a rare earth sulphate precipitate and an acidic supernatant. The organic compound is preferably selected from the group consisting of methanol, ethanol, iso-propanol, tert-butanol, acetone or mixtures thereof, and is preferably methanol. Preferably, the organic compound is used in the precipitation at a weight ratio of between 0.25:1 to 1.5:1, and preferably 0.5:to 1.25:1, with the crude sulphate solution.

A process for obtaining vanadium component in the form of vanadium oxide from gasifier slag is disclosed. The process comprises pulverizing the slag to obtain pulverized slag, which is blended with water and an alkali salt to obtain a slurry. The slurry is dried and then roasted in the presence of air to obtain a roasted slag. The roasted slag is leached to obtain a first filtrate comprising the vanadium component. The first filtrate is reacted with a magnesium salt to remove a silica component in the form of a precipitate. The silica free second filtrate is reacted with an ammonium salt to obtain ammonium metavanadate, which is further calcined to obtain the significant amount of vanadium pentoxide (V.sub.2O.sub.5).

A process for obtaining vanadium component in the form of vanadium oxide from gasifier slag is disclosed. The process comprises pulverizing the slag to obtain pulverized slag, which is blended with water and an alkali salt to obtain a slurry. The slurry is dried and then roasted in the presence of air to obtain a roasted slag. The roasted slag is leached to obtain a first filtrate comprising the vanadium component. The first filtrate is reacted with a magnesium salt to remove a silica component in the form of a precipitate. The silica free second filtrate is reacted with an ammonium salt to obtain ammonium metavanadate, which is further calcined to obtain the significant amount of vanadium pentoxide (V.sub.2O.sub.5).

Process for gold and/or platinum group metals heap leaching comprising irrigating a heap (1) with an irrigation solution (9, 10, 11 & 12) containing sodium cyanide for leaching gold and/or platinum group metals from said gold and/or platinum group metals containing ore where a lime reagent addition (B) by feeding a fine particle lime suspension containing lime particles in an aqueous phase is done in the irrigation solution.