Yield Recovery in mining refers to the actual proportion of the total valuable mineral content present in the ore that is successfully extracted and captured as a saleable product after all stages of mining, comminution, processing, and refining in bauxite, gold, iron ore, and diamond operations. It is expressed as a percentage of the total in-situ or feed content and serves as a fundamental performance metric for both plant efficiency and mine planning accuracy. In gold mining, yield recovery is measured as the percentage of gold in the mill feed that ends up in the doré or concentrate product after all losses through tailings, bleed streams, and process inefficiencies are accounted for. In bauxite operations, yield recovery refers to the proportion of available alumina successfully extracted in the Bayer process relative to total available alumina in the ore. In iron ore, it reflects the percentage of iron units reporting to the final product versus total iron in the plant feed. In diamond operations, yield recovery tracks the number of carats recovered against the total estimated diamond content of the processed ore. Improving yield recovery is a primary objective in all mining operations, directly impacting revenue, resource efficiency, and the sustainability of mining investments over the life of mine.
