The course will be held between the 11th and 15th of December at the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology in Freiberg (Sachsen), with lectures, exercises and discussions. 

Geometallurgy is an interdisciplinary research field at the intersection of mineralogy, geology, engineering, and mathematics, which is concerned with the planning, monitoring, and optimisation of mineral resource extraction and beneficiation. Its basis is a detailed quantitative understanding of primary resource characteristics such as mineralogical composition and texture, the spatial distribution and variability of these characteristics within ore deposits, and how these interact with mining and beneficiation processes. This requires accurate analytical data for resource characterisation, as well as a detailed understanding of ore body geology, mining and processing technologies, economics, and the often-complex interactions between them.

This course will introduce the field, covering the following topics:

• Geometallurgy in a nutshell: broad overview, primary vs secondary ore properties, types of geometallurgical models (space, time, process, decision), non-linear transformations, additivity, grade-tonnage curves
• Analytical tools for process mineralogy: automated mineralogy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence, electron microprobe
• Ore body modelling: multivariate geostatistics, block models
• Mine planning: concepts, tenets of algorithms
• Comminution and concentration: processes, mechanisms, machinery, classical and data-driven models
• Impact assessment and optimisation: economics, environment
• Decision making: strategy vs tactics, adaptive processing, effects of uncertainty

Requirements: The course is designed for Master students / PhD students / Postdocs with existing knowledge on ore geology and mineralogy and/or mineral processing and/or mining engineering. Some programming experience in R is beneficial.  An introduction to R will, however, be provided at the start of the course to allow participants to follow / complete the practical exercises.

Speakers: Raimon Tolosana-Delgado (HDZR), Julian Ortiz (Queen’s University), Max Frenzel (HZDR)

The programme is available online here. This is preliminary. An updated version will be posted once all details have been confirmed.

Costs: The course fee will be:

• Students and PhD students: €175 (DMG members) /  €200 (non-members)
• Other participants: €275 (DMG members) / €300 (non-members)

This fee includes lunch every day, coffee and cake during the coffee breaks, as well as a dinner function on Monday the 11^th.

Registration:Online registration is available. This will close on the 7^th of November 2023. The number of participants is limited to at most 30.

Course venue: Helmholtz-Institut Freiberg, Chemnitzer Str. 40, 09599 Freiberg

Accommodation: We ask participants to book their own rooms. A list with hotel suggestions can be found on the course website here.

Course website: https://www.hzdr.de/db/Cms?pOid=70322

Link for online registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc1iSJLYUOX7Q-kYttWrI0BjA3SuAY5KkkanUgZhI7Oa67cMw/viewform