Press Release of July 14, 2023
Improvement of mineral processing
Helmholtz Association recognizes HZDR-scientist with Doctoral Award
Dr. Lucas Pereira
Source: HZDR/Detlev Müller
The energy transition, more and more high-tech products, but also supply bottlenecks are putting domestic mining back into the focus of raw material extraction. But, most of the easily exploitable high-grade deposits have already been depleted. For the future, the mining sector will have to efficiently produce metals and minerals from low-grade orebodies with complex mineralogical and microstructural properties. To estimate the resources and reserves contained in a deposit, and to evaluate the potential recovery, modelling tools that are reliable and robust are necessary. Dr. Lucas Pereira from the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) belonging to the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, developed modelling techniques of recovery processes, more specifically mineral separation processes, suited to complex ores. The Helmholtz Association recognizes his thesis with the Doctoral Award in the energy research field for its creative excellence.
Current mineral separation modelling methods do not fully incorporate the available information on ore complexity. But it is well known that the mineralogical and microstructural properties of individual particles control their process behavior. Moreover, many of the methods used in industrial plant design and process modelling are based on the chemical composition of the samples, which is only a proxy for the mineralogical composition of the ores. “A modelling method for mineral separation processes suited to complex ores should be particle-based, taking into consideration all quantifiable particle properties, and capable of estimating uncertainties. My novel particle-based separation modelling method fulfills these requirements,” says Pereira.
“The core of the method consists of a regularized logistic regression. The required particle data are collected with scanning electron microscopy-based automated mineralogy systems. Ultimately, the method can quantify the recovery probability of individual particles, with minimal human input, considering the joint influence of particle shape, size, and modal and surface compositions, for any separation process,” explains the Brazilian researcher its methodology. Prof. Jens Gutzmer, director of the HIF adds “The approach taken by Dr. Pereira holds huge potential for the improvement of minerals processing. I am rather certain that mineral processing plant design will, in future, be largely based on this – or at least on similar approaches that combine quantitative particle characterization with machine learning.”
At the HIF, Pereira is leading the interdisciplinary Particle Fate Modelling research group. He and his team continuously work to expand its understanding and tools for minerals processing with special focus on material complexity. “Our current projects include particle-based comminution prediction, researching the influence of particle shapes on the flotation process and the optimization of flotation circuits based on single particles characteristics,” Pereira explains his further research.
About Lucas Pereira
Metals and minerals are indispensable for a new energy system. To build and sustain this system, complex metal deposits must be mined with maximum efficiency and minimum environmental impact. Lucas Pereira of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) did his doctoral research on particle-based separation models and applied machine learning to improve the understanding and prediction of mineral processing. Helmholtz President Otmar D. Wiestler (right) presented the award in Berlin.
Source: David Marschalsky
Lucas Pereira was born in Franca, Brazil. He received his bachelor's degree in geological engineering from the Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (Brazil). During this time he first came to Germany for an internship at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg. Afterwards, he studied within the Erasmus+ programme EMerald, with stays in Belgium, France, Sweden and Germany, and received a master's degree in georesources engineering. He completed his doctoral studies at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg on particle-based separation models – machine learning applied to the understanding and prediction of mineral processing – under the supervision of Prof. Jens Gutzmer, Dr. Max Frenzel and Dr. Raimon Tolosana-Delgado. Recently, he became the head of the geometallurgy and particle-based modelling group at the Processing Department of the HIF.
About the Helmholtz Doctoral Award
Every year, the Helmholtz Association awards prizes for the best and most original doctoral theses in their six research fields: Energy, Earth and Environment, Health, Information, Space and Transport, Aeronautics, and Matter. The award winners receive a one-time prize of 5,000 euros. In addition, stays abroad are supported with a travel and material cost allowance of 2,000 euros per month. This sum is granted for a period of up to six months.
Further Information:
Dr. Lucas Pereira | Department of Processing
Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 4477 | Email: l.pereira@hzdr.de
Press Contact:
Anne-Kristin Jentzsch | Press Officer
Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology at HZDR
Phone: +49 351 260 4429 | Email: a.jentzsch@hzdr.de
