Technical Insights
Why flowsheet decisions made in Month One cost the most in Year Five.
Early flowsheet choices — the wrong grind size, an under-specified thickener, a rougher configuration that traps middlings — compound quietly for the life of the plant.
Technical Insights
What XRF testing actually tells you about your ore.
XRF is fast and cheap — and routinely misinterpreted. A pragmatic primer on what the numbers mean, and when to reach for wet chemistry instead.
Field Notes
Notes from a plant optimisation audit.
A recovery gap that everyone had blamed on the ore turned out to be a reagent dosing schedule that nobody had touched in three years.
Industry Commentary
Modern metallurgical standards for African mining operations.
The gap between how junior operators run plants and what global majors expect is closing — slowly. A view from Harare on where the pressure is coming from.
Field Notes
Sampling a heterogeneous ore body without lying to yourself.
Field sampling protocols that survive contact with a real deposit — and the assumptions that quietly break most testwork programmes.
Technical Insights
Comminution circuits: where the energy actually goes.
A breakdown of specific energy across SAG, ball and regrind stages — and the small operational levers that move the number the most.
