Modeling of diamond liberation and damage for Debswana kimberlitic ores

Diamond liberation and mitigation of damage are extremely important aspects of diamond processing. Unfortunately very low concentrations of diamonds in kimberlite ores make it virtually impossible to study these sub processes experimentally. In this paper, DEM simulations are shown to provide a convenient method for predicting these rare events in different parts of a processing plant. This paper presents a DEM modeling methodology for the processing of multi-phase (kimberlite and diamond) particles. Examples of equipment predictions and their validations are given.