GOLD 27/3/07 10:45 am Page 3
GOLD EXTRACTION
Bigger and better
A trend across the disciplines, from mining to processing, is the increased size of equipment
that is raising productivities and efficiencies. John Chadwick also looks at innovative products,
environmental initiatives and reducing energy consumption in gold processing.
D
r Richard Roberts, Manager: Control,
Instrumentation and Electronics for
Anglo Technical Division, writing in
Anglo American’s Optima, last year noted 300
m3 flotation cells. “One large unit typically
costs less than two smaller ones of equivalent
capacity, with concomitant savings in floor
space, construction costs, piping, cabling and
instrumentation, although the cost of down-
time, whether owing to a breakdown or routine
maintenance, is more severe and investment in
specialized tools and equipment may offset
some of the initial capital savings.”
Similarly, he notes the large grinding mills
being installed today, which “have outgrown
the power transmission capability of
conventional motors and gearboxes and,
instead, are fitted with gearless drives,
the motor windings being wrapped
directly around the mill shell.”
Grinding is an essential early stage
in gold processing and is very
energy intensive, perhaps accounting
for as much as 30% of a
mine’s total electricity use.
He explains that AngloGold
Ashanti, Anglo Base Metals
and Anglo Platinum have all
invested in ‘expert’ computer
control systems to optimize the
operation of all large mills. The aim
is to maximize throughput at any
given moment by changing
parameters such as mill speed,
ore-feed rate and dilution water
flow. “These systems can increase
production by as much as 5% over
the efforts of the best human
operators, as well as stabilizing
operations despite constantly-
changing ore-feed properties.
“Online analytical instruments
can provide valuable insights into the
operation of many processes at any
given moment, supplementing
more accurate information that
is only received from the assay
laboratory at a later time. Anglo
Platinum has installed a number of
50 International Mining APRIL 2007
‘robolabs’ at its concentrators and smelters – in dielectric properties of minerals to cause them to
conjunction with improved chemical-assay tech- fracture along grain boundaries. Its potential has
niques, these robotic laboratories provide rapid been understood for more than 20 years, but
feedback to plant operators so that the dosage has not been considered commercially viable
of reagents and other important parameters until now because of the amount of energy
can be adjusted to maintain the optimum eco- required, he explains. However, the research
nomic recovery conditions for the material team working on AMIRA project P879A are
being treated at any given moment." now confident that the pulsed microwave tech-
Better comminution will benefit all areas of nology they are developing will overcome this.
mineral processing – not least the gold sector. They believe that within a few years it will be
Richard Beck of AMIRA believes "microwave economically more efficient than conventional
technology offers the biggest advance in the comminution for many ores.
comminution of rock for mineral extraction “We are actively building up a database of
since human labour gave way to the machine.” ore types that are responsive to this approach
This technology exploits the differing thermal and we now know that a lot of economically
significant types can benefit from it,” Beck
says. He is the AMIRA Research Director
co-ordinating the project. Key research
institutions are the
Universities of Stellenbosch
and Nottingham and e2v
technologies, a British-
based firm developing
microwave generation and
deployment equipment.
Industry sponsors are
Anglo American, BHP
Billiton, Outokumpu
and Rio Tinto.
Fragmentation by
electrodynamic high
voltage (HV) pulsed
power is another
innovation with much
potential. For the first
time, Swiss-based
selFrag is making the
process globally
commercially available.
The selFrag process
opens up new
possibilities for
analyzing mineral
The Dorr-Oliver samples in scientific
flotation cell. and materials testing
applications. The
systems can selectively
fragment raw materials to
liberate mineral inclusions or to
Document1 4/7/07 12:49 pm Page 1

Let us unlock your gold resources

and add the lustre
F rom ore to bullion and fine gold, Bateman Engineering tackles any gold-
processing assignment – from preliminary test work and studies to bankable
documents, raising project funding and complete turnkey projects, covering
all the processes needed for the effective recovery of gold.
■ Ore handling and preparation
■ Feed preparation – crushing, rod and ball milling,
autogenous and semi-autogenous milling
■ Leaching – heap and agitated vessel
■ Pre-concentration – flotation, dense-media separation,
gravity concentration, photo- and radiometric sorting
■ Refractory gold-ore treatment – roasting, bacterial and
pressure oxidation
A low CAPEX plant. ■ Carbon processes – carbon-in-leach, carbon-in-pulp and
carbon-in-solution
■ Leach-liquor recovery – counter-current decantation
and filtering
■ Gold recovery from solution – electrowinning and
zinc precipitation
■ Gold-bullion refining – electrorefining, acid digestion,
calcining, smelting and slag treatment
■ Cyanide recovery and destruction
■ Materials-handling systems – conventional, overland and
JPC (pipe) conveyors, feeders and backfill production systems
A gold-process plant at a heap leach operation.
■ Dust and air-pollution control systems – a comprehensive
range including bag filters, scrubbers and cartridge filters.

F lexible contract structuring accommodates projects large

and small, for example reimbursable, EPCM, lump-sum,
fixed fee or joint ventures.

W e are minerals-processing and materials-handling

engineers and project managers, with in-house
technology and the design capability to handle the largest
turnkey projects. The Bateman Engineering Group’s track
record numbers over 1,000 successful projects in more than
50 countries since 1980. This includes over 60 gold-process
plants and major modifications to existing plants worldwide.
Ball mills at a gold-process plant.

Bateman Engineering N.V.

Rivierstaete Building, Amsteldijk 166 1079 LH Amsterdam, Netherlands
Offices in Africa, the Americas, Australasia and Eurasia

For your gold-processing requirements call us at:

Tel: +27-11-899-9111
Email: gold@BatemanEngineering.com
Web: www.BatemanEngineering.com

– process plants that work

A backfill plant on a gold mine.
GOLD 27/3/07 10:46 am Page 4
GOLD EXTRACTION
increase the quality and quantity of products
(high-purity quartz, diamonds, platinum, etc.).
selFrag consumes extremely little energy in
spite of the very high voltages used. With
pulsed technology, the energy is actually emitted
in brief, abrupt pulses lasting less than one
thousandth of a second.
Its key benefits include:
◆ Predominant fracturing along grain interfaces
◆ Very clean surfaces of liberated minerals
◆ Minimal damage to liberated target specimens
and high yield of available target specimens
◆ Preservation of natural particle size distribution
◆ Narrow range of particle size distribution and
choice of mean value
◆ Single step processing - from rock to micro-grain
◆ Higher speed and quality of downstream
analytical process steps.
Flotation today is one of the industry’s
‘conventional’ process techniques – but the
machines are getting larger. Outokumpu
Technology will deliver three of the world's
largest flotation cells, TankCell®-300, to Oceana
Gold's Macraes operation in New Zealand. This,
with an active capacity of over 300m3, is the
largest mechanical flotation cell in the world
and the Macraes delivery will be the first such
installation.
Macraes is New Zealand's largest producer of
gold, with the
annual capacity
to process 6 Mt.
A single train
52 International Mining APRIL 2007
configuration of 1/1/1 TankCell-300s, combined
with two existing TankCell-150s, will replace
the plant's original three trains of column
flotation, representing a significant reduction
not only in footprint, but also in operating
costs, such as maintenance and spare parts.
The larger TankCell design also offers optimized
froth stability for low-grade ores, as well as
ongoing savings from lower air and power
consumption. The Macraes TankCell-300 units
will also feature Outokumpu Technology’s latest
field-proven and patented FloatForceTM mixing
technologies.
Engineers from Dorr-Oliver Eimco note the
metallurgical performance of a flotation circuit
is influenced by a number of interacting internal
and external processes. Processes independent
of the flotation circuit include the operational
philosophy at the mine site; variability in the
orebody’s physical and metallurgical characteristics;
operation of the grinding circuit; and down-
stream processing steps. In addition, chemical
and physical interactions of the reagents and
conditioning steps can affect performance.
These interactions can be either external or
internal to the flotation circuit.
The liberation characteristics of the valuable
minerals can affect recovery in gold flotation
circuits. In addition to the presence of free
gold, losses can be associated to fine grained,
P80< 45 microns, sulphides. Conversely,
coarse particle losses can occur with
particles greater than 90 microns. There
are also instances
where mineral oxidation occurs, depressing the
floatability of the valuable mineral.
The design characteristics of flotation
machines can be used to address the
challenges presented in gold flotation. In
general, fine particle flotation is enhanced with
forced air machines. An industrial standard of
this type of design is the Dorr-Oliver flotation
cell. Coarse particle flotation is increased when
bubble-particle collision occurs near the surface
of the flotation cell. This reduces the travel
distance of the bubble-particle matrix and
decreases the probability of detachment. The
Wemco® flotation cell’s elevated rotor design is
ideal for coarse particle recovery
Some gold concentrators have elected to
install both types of cells in a single row. This
mixed row concept takes advantage of the
hydrodynamic differences between the Dorr-
Oliver and Wemco flotation cells. Both fine and
coarse particle recovery can then be optimized
in a single flotation row. An additional advantage
of the mixed row concept is that the Dorr-
Oliver and Wemco flotation machines are
designed with interchangeable mechanisms.
This allows the operator the flexibility to modify
the row’s configuration to optimize the
metallurgical performance.
At the 1997 SME conference in Denver
Colorado, Gary Simmons reported that
increased gold recovery could be achieved by
minimizing the oxidation of auriferous pyrite by
flotation in an inert atmosphere. In this work
nitrogen was used as the flotation gas. The self
induced characteristics of the Wemco flotation
cell lend it to this application. A cover is used
to contain the nitrogen and allow its recircula-
tion from the cell’s
freeboard to the
air inlet.
Outokumpu Technology TankCell-300s
SPX APR 07 copy 4/7/07 12:51 pm Page 1
GOLD 27/3/07 10:49 am Page 5

GOLD EXTRACTION

In terms of developing new processes, one technology converts copper cyanide complexes BioteQ will build, own and operate the
of the more active companies today is to copper sulphide which is then recovered as an treatment plant in return for metals recovered
Vancouver-based BioteQ Environmental incremental revenue source. The agreement and fees charged for cyanide regeneration.
Technologies, which continues to develop more provides for a commercial structure whereby Columbia’s Lluvia de Oro property in northern
and different applications for its sulphide Mexico was previously operated as a gold heap
technologies. Its latest is a definitive agreement The elevated rotor design of the Wemco flotation cell leach. The existing infrastructure consists of a
for the construction and operation of a copper is ideal for coarse particle recovery. heap leach pad, which currently contains
recovery and water treatment plant with unleached gold from previous operations, a
Columbia Metals. The new plant will well developed gold resource, a complete
be constructed at Columbia’s Lluvia solution refining plant and ancillary storage
de Oro gold property in ponds, power, maintenance facilities,
the State of Sonora, warehousing, and offices at the
Mexico, near the site. The gold deposit contains
previously announced, cyanide-soluble copper minerals,
and very similar, La which consume cyanide during
Jojoba project. Lluvia de the gold extraction process that
Oro’s water treatment can build up in the metallurgical
technology is a new process solutions and can hinder
application of BioteQ’s maximum gold extraction. BioteQ’s
sulphide technologies sulphide technology can be used
where BioteQ will for cyanide regeneration for
provide a plant to recovery of free cyanide and
Columbia for the copper-complexed cyanide from
regeneration of free the barren solution, following gold
and copper-com- recovery from solution.
plexed cyanide from Regeneration of the cyanide also
barren solutions, allows the recovery of copper as
which can then be a sulphide product that can be
recycled for gold shipped to a refinery for final pro-
extraction. In cessing to copper products.
addition, the Laboratory testing on bulk

h4HE)N,INE,EACH2EACTOR
ISWORKINGVERYWELLAND
OPERATINGBEYONDINITIAL
EXPECTATIONS!LSOTHE
SUPPORTWEHAVECURRENTLY
RECEIVEDISSECONDTONONE
ANDISAVERYIMPORTANT
ASPECTTOUSv
*ARED/RYNIK
%NGINEER
-ILL#OMMISSIONINGFOR
4ECK#OMINCOS0OGO-INE

hFROMCHALLENGECOMESINNOVATIONv
54 International Mining APRIL 2007
GOLD 28/3/07 11:33 am Page 6

04/07

samples and drill core samples is in progress. Results
to date indicate that some 45% of the copper
in the gold ore is cyanide soluble which will
produce between 230 and 460 t/y of copper in
the barren solution. Copper recovery from the barren
solution is expected to be >99% in the BioteQ
process. In addition, cyanide is regenerated at a
rate of about 320 to 640 t/y of NaCN equivalent.
It is expected that gold processing by
Columbia will begin at Lluvia de Oro by mid-
2007 and it is anticipated that the BioteQ plant
will be operational by the end of 2007. In addition,
development work by Columbia and BioteQ on
La Jojoba project, which is located about 4 km
from Lluvia de Oro, is continuing and it is likely
that the processing plant located at Lluvia de
Oro can service both properties for copper
recovery and cyanide regeneration.
Many plants in the world use this technology
and we believe that we have made the right
choice to cooperate with Outokumpu
Technology,” says Lv Gaoping, General Director
of Tongling Precious Metals Plant.
“This will be the second Kaldo installation
and largest of its kind in China. About 70% of
the world's copper anode slime is being treated
and refined with our technology,” explains
Björn Ludvigsson, Vice President of Outokumpu
Technology.
Gravity grows
The Pogo mine in Alaska, USA is one of the
newest large gold mines with an ore that
contains a significant percentage of gravity
Manufactured for Nicholson Construction a Soletanche Bachy Company
recoverable gold. Water conservation and other
environmental constraints dictated a flowsheet
design that employed a significant gravity
circuit to minimize overall cyanide consumption.
The flowsheet relies heavily on the internal
recirculation of process water with an overall
design recycle rate of 92%. There is also a
distinct separation within the process of both
cyanide and non cyanide contact water to
ensure minimal cyanide consumption.
Pogo uses conventional grinding, aggressive
gravity concentration, intensive leaching of gravity
concentrates, sulphide flotation with ultrafine
re-grinding of the flotation concentrates and
leach/CIP recovery of gold from the reground
concentrate. The gravity circuit is designed to

BioteQ says this new technology is an important

development for future gold mining operations.
The technology is an improvement on the SART
process developed by SGS Lakefield Research and
Teck, and is used by permission on a license-
free basis. Many of the known large gold
deposits in the world are complexed with copper,
and some occur as copper-gold porphyry deposits.
The new technology offers a cost effective
BETTER DRILLING BY DESIGN
route to recover the gold using a conventional QXW series 810 and 1210
cyanide system and at the same time recover
cyanide-soluble copper that ordinarily would
pose a technical, environmental and economic
impediment to the development of some of
these large copper-gold systems.
The capital cost of the BioteQ plant is
expected to be $4.55 million. Capital recovery
is expected to be less than three years. The
operating cost of the BioteQ plant is estimated
to be $1.3 million/y.
Also associated with copper, Outokumpu
Technology will deliver Kaldo precious metals
technology to one of Tongling Nonferrous Metals’
copper smelters in Tongling City, Anhui Province,
China. Tongling is one of China’s biggest copper
producers. A precious metals plant producing
doré metal in connection with copper smelters
is normally an investment of €10-15 million.
According to the technology transfer contract, Proven Productivity, Accuracy and Quality Control
Outokumpu Technology’s scope covers engi-
neering and proprietary equipment for the new
in Ground Engineering Applications.
precious metals plant. The raw material is a by- The QXW is a self-contained percussion drilling system utilizing Wassara™ water powered DTH drill tool technology.
product from copper electrolysis (copper anode Designed for high performance and reliability in Geotechnical and Grout Curtain applications, the QXW is the
slime containing gold, silver and selenium). The most productive drilling system available, producing extremely accurate holes while maintaining ground integrity.
plant will have an annual capacity of 4,000 t of • Semi automated pipe handling for operator • High-pressure onboard water pump with
anode slime and it is scheduled to be in opera- efficiency and safety displacements from 151 to 453 Liters/Min
• 137 meters of onboard drill rod for superior @ pressures from 135 BAR to 210 Bar
tion by the end of 2008. drilling productivity • Large cab for complete drilling control
“The Kaldo technology for treatment and • Tier III compliant up to 350 Hp @ 1900 rpm
refining of copper anode slimes is one of the • Drilling system can be converted to DTH high
pressure air drilling
best precious metals processes. High efficiency,
• Drilling data acquisition and diagnostic package www.cubex.net
low consumption of utilities and environmental
friendliness are its most welcome advantages. 1218 Redonda Street Box 13, Group 524, RR 5 Winnipeg, MB Canada R2C 2Z2 Phone 204 694-5505

APRIL 2007 International Mining 55

GOLD 28/3/07 11:33 am Page 7

GOLD EXTRACTION

Pogo's gravity circuit is designed to recover up to

60% of the gold with the entire ball mill recirculating
load passing through the primary gravity Knelson
concentrators (one shown here). The circuit also
features the first North American installation of the
Gekko In-Line Leach Reactor (ILR), which intensively
leaches theprimary gravity concentrates.

recover up to 60% of the gold with the entire

ball mill recirculating load passing through the
primary gravity concentrators supplied by
Knelson Concentrator. The circuit also features
the first North American installation of the
Gekko In-Line Leach Reactor (ILR), which
intensively leaches the primary gravity
concentrates.
To maximize recovery of fine, free gold, the
entire ball mill circulating load is screened at
1 mm and then the screen undersize is fed
through two 1,220 centrifugal Knelson
concentrators operating in parallel. Primary
gravity concentrate is fed to the intensive
cyanidation circuit with the leach solutions typical leach residence times of 14 hours. independent decks, three horsepowers and one
reporting directly to EW for final gold recovery. Primary gravity concentrate can either be driving mechanism.
Primary gravity tailings are returned to the tabled or leached directly in an intensive Even older than the Deister tables, it was
grinding circuit via the cyclone feed pumpbox cyanidation unit. The tabling circuit was A.R. Wilfley, who, in 1896, invented the first
while the intensive leach residues are reground installed because a portion of Pogo’s gold ever shaking table. In the early 1960s, Wilfley
and pumped into the flotation concentrate occurs as maldonite, an insoluble gold/bismuth acquired manufacturing rights to the well
leach circuit. Primary gravity gold concentrates alloy. The original concept was to table the respected Holman table. Today, Holman-Wilfley
are intensively leached on a batch basis with primary gravity concentrate and then leach the says it “can provide the widest and most
table tailing stream in suitable table for any application.” For example,
the ILR to maximize Holman 8000 units provide a mechanical
overall gold recovery concept – unequalled in the concentrating
in the circuit. Initial table market (according to the company), and
Clayton Equipment Ltd attempts at tabling the unit is well recognized for its high separation
Maximum Uptime primary gravity performance with a range of minerals including
Minimum Maintenance concentrates were gold.”
unsuccessful and the
circuit was re-configured Refractory recovery
World Leading Locomotives to direct primary gravity Maelgwyn Mineral Services (MMS) says refractory
& Haulage Solutions concentrate to the ILR gold ores are generally defined as those ores
for Mining, Tunnelling & for leaching. that do not give economical recoveries in
Surface Transport Concentrating conventional cyanide circuits where the ore has
With 73 years of experience and tables are seeing a been ground to around 53 to 75 microns. The
ISO 9001:2000 approval, renaissance due to gold is normally present in refractory gold
Clayton Equipment can satisfy any increased interest in sulphide ores containing mainly pyrite,
haulage requirement at lowest cost gravity circuits. With arsenopyrite or pyrrhotite and occurs in both
of ownership. over 100 years in the the chemically bonded state and as micro or
•¥Battery, Trolley, Diesel & business, Deister nano-size grains of metallic gold.
Flameproof Battery Locomotives Concentrator claims to MMS notes roasting, pressure oxidation and
•¥Rolling Stock be “the proven bacterial oxidation processes all aim to destroy
leader.” It also claims the sulphide matrix. The liberated gold is then
•¥Transfer Cars
“98% concentrating easily dissolved in cyanide and recovered by
•¥Refurbishments and conversions efficiency.” There are conventional methods such as CIL or CIP. All
•¥Custom Builds nine models in its these processes can achieve very high gold
•¥Training family of concentrating recoveries, possibly greater than 95%.
Please contact us for more information: tables. Deister’s original However, MMS also notes that these processes,
Clayton Equipment Ltd
ceiling-suspended “whilst resulting in high gold recoveries, do
Telephone
Telephone: +44
+44 (0) 1283 812382
870 112 Fax +44 (0)
9191 Fax: (0) 870
1283112
814772
9192
e-mail info@claytonequipment.co.uk
triple-deck table have issues. Roasting, is an environmentally
web site www.claytonequipment.co.uk features three unfriendly process. Pressure oxidation requires a

56 International Mining APRIL 2007

GOLD 27/3/07 11:00 am Page 8

04/07

fairly high degree of operator skill and control, and the bacteria used in
bacterial leaching, in tanks or on a heap, are susceptible to changes in
environmental conditions and require careful control. However the
biggest issue is that all these processes have, in various degrees, high
apital and operating costs.”
Leachox™ is a low cost refractory gold process developed by MMS. It is
a process that, while not claiming to achieve the high recoveries obtained
by roasting, pressure oxidation or bacterial leaching, can achieve gold
recoveries in the high 80%s that are significantly high enough with low
capital and operating cost to make treatment of lower grade deposits
justifiable and economic.
The Leachox process involves recovery of the sulphides containing gold
to a high grade, low mass concentrate using G-cell centrifugal pneumatic
flotation followed by ultrafine grinding and oxidative treatment using
Aachen reactors and MMS leach reactors.
The use of ultra fine grinding of a gold concentrate is not a new devel-
opment. In fact the fundamentals – the finer you grind, the more you lib-
erate, the more valuable metal you recover has been the basis of mineral
processing since time immemorial. However it is well known that ultra
fine grinding in a tumbling mill is highly inefficient and incurs considerable
power costs that make the process nearly always uneconomic. The develop-
ment of grinding mills specifically for ultra fine grinding over the past ten
years has now made the liberation of fine particles far more efficient.
These mills such as the Isamill and the Stirred Mill Detritor (SMD Mill) have
their origins in equipment developed for the industrial minerals and
chemical industries but have been adapted for the generally higher
throughputs and more abrasive conditions found in mineral processing
applications. So now grinding to below 20 microns for liberation is not
seen as prohibitive.
Grinding refractory gold ores to below 20 microns and finer, whilst lib-
erating more gold, also liberates many other mineral species which effect
the oxidative and cyanide downstream process. This can dramatically
increase the reagent consumptions for the leach process and consequent-
ly the costs. The Leachox process, using Aachen Reactors and MMS leach
columns has been found to negate to a high extent this effect. Laboratory
and pilot plant test comparisons of Leachox against open tank oxidative leach
and cyanide leach after ultra fine grinding for a number of concentrates
resulted in similar gold recoveries but the Leachox process resulted in a
considerable reduction in cyanide, oxygen and lime consumptions. In
some cases an order of magnitude reduction. In one pilot plant study
Leachox on a gold sulphide concentrate achieved 90.1% gold recovery.
However it reduced cyanide consumption from 10 kg/t to 0.8 kg/t with oxy-
gen and lime consumptions being reduced by a similar magnitude when com-
pared with a similar ultra fine ground non-Leachox test.
The first Leachox process plant was supplied under a licence arrange-
ment to the Agnes plant in South Africa owned by African Pioneer
Mining. Agnes mine had previously been unsuccessful in using a bio-heap
process to treat refractory gold ore. Reasons for the low recoveries
obtained from the bio-process were given as poor adhesion of the con-
centrate to the substrate in the coating system, the concentrate having
high levels of carbonate and problems related to the permeability of the
heap due to the sub-tropical nature of the site i.e. heavy summer rain
washing concentrate off the substrate and channels forming in the heap.
The mine was put on care and maintenance in early 2006. Leachox was
brought in to treat the high grade tailings resulting from the heap for
approximately a one year period. The tailings generally ranged in grade
from 20-25 g/t Au, but often material over 35 g/t Au has been treated.
Leachox achieved recoveries higher than 85% on this material with cyanide,
oxygen and lime consumptions of around 4 kg/t, 10 kg/t and 10 kg/t
respectively. Direct cyanide leach on the tailings (i.e. without Leachox) only

APRIL 2007 International Mining 57

GOLD 27/3/07 11:00 am Page 9
GOLD EXTRACTION
gave recoveries in the range 15 – 20%.
Future MMS Leachox plants will not use
leach and adsorption tank farms. The use of
MMS leach reactors reduces leach time to a
matter of hours. The fact that the material is
extremely fine, -20 microns, -10 microns or
even -5 microns, means that the gold can be
recovered by adsorption on specialized resins in
resin columns without the need for a solid-
liquid separation step. Combining gold sulphide
concentrate production using G-Cell centrifugal
flotation, ultra-fine grinding, Aachen Reactors,
MMS leach columns and Resin Columns means
a dramatically reduced plant footprint compared
with other refractory gold processes.
The GEOCOAT® technologies, owned by
GeoBiotics, offers a unique approach to the
application of bacterial processing for treating
refractory gold concentrates and ores. GEOCOAT
combines the low capital and operating costs
of heap leaching with the high recoveries
obtained in agitated tank reactors.
GBS Gold has signed a license agreement
with GeoBiotics and intends to build a GEOCOAT
plant at its Union Reefs operation in the Northern
Territory of Australia to treat refractory ore from
its Maud Creek mine. The plant is scheduled to
58 International Mining APRIL 2007
Pogo gravity flowsheet
be operational in 2008 (see IM Project News,
March 18). GeoBiotics is working with numerous
other mining companies which are evaluating
GEOCOAT for refractory projects around the
world.
The process uses iron and sulphur oxidizing
micro-organisms to facilitate the oxidation and
leaching of sulphide minerals in an engineered
heap environment. These include the mesophiles
(moderate temperature) bacteria Thiobacillus
ferrooxidans, Thiobacillus thiooxidans, and
Leptospirillum ferrooxidans, and thermophilic
(high temperature) microorganisms such as the
Archaea Sulfolobus and Acidianus.
After concentration by conventional processes,
typically flotation or gravity concentration, the
sulphide minerals are coated onto a support
rock which may be barren (waste) rock or a
low-grade sulphide or oxidematerial. The support
is closely sized, typically -15 + 5 mm, and the
concentrate forms a coating less than 1 mm
thick on the surfaces. The mass ratio of
concentrate to carrier rock is typically in the
range of 1:5to 1:10. The coating is applied by
contacting the thickened concentrate slurry
with the support rock as it discharges from the
stacking conveyor onto the heap. This results in
the formation of a thin, relatively uniform coat-
ing on the support rock surface. The adherent
coating is not washed out of the heap by solution
application or even during heavy rain.
The relatively uniform size of the support
rock particles results in large interstitial spaces
within the heap, offering very low resistance to
air and solution flows. Low pressure fans supply
air through a system of perforated pipes placed
under the heap. The air flow rate is adjusted to
remove heat to control the temperature within
the heap tothe optimum range for bacterial
activity. The air also provides the oxygen necessary
for the oxidation reactions.
Geobiotics reports that the large interstitial
spaces, combined with the thin concentrate
layer, create ideal conditions for bio-oxidation.
The sulphide mineral grains and the attached
bacteria are constantly exposed to the downward
flowing solution, and the countercurrent flow
of air. This results in the efficient transfer of
oxygen and rapid oxidation rates. Typically,
oxidation is complete within 45 to 120
days,whereas in a whole-ore heap, times of
several hundred days do not necessarily result
Document1 5/7/07 2:34 pm Page 1

¥BY$ORR /LIVER%IMCO

#IBA 3PECIALTY #HEMICALS HAS DEVELOPED NOVEL THICKENER AND TAILINGS

MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGIES DESIGNED TO GIVE YOU OPERATIONAL ECO
NOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS 4HE #IBAš 2(%/-!84- $2 ADVANCED
RANGE OF THICKENER FLOCCULANTS PRODUCE HIGHER UNDERFLOW DENSITIES WITHOUT IN
CREASINGYIELDSTRESS4HE#IBAš2(%/-!84-%4$TECHNOLOGYOFFERSANEFFECTIVE
CO DISPOSALPROCESSTHATGENERATESSTABLEFASTER DRYINGTAILINGSWITHRAPIDRELEASE
OFCLEANLIQUORSTREAMS

7EIMPROVEPROCESSEFFICIENCIES
!LLOWINGYOUTOEXTRACTSCARCERESOURCESMOREECONOMICALLY

&ORMOREINFORMATIONVISIT
WWWCIBASCCOMOREMAIL
EXTRACTIVES CIBASCCOM

6ALUEBEYONDCHEMISTRY
GOLD 27/3/07 11:01 am Page 10
GOLD EXTRACTION
in complete oxidation, even when the ore has been
agglomerated. The larger void spaces and rigid
support provided by the sized support rock particles
in the GEOCOAT heap prevent the compaction
typical of whole-ore heaps and ensure uniform
distribution of air and solution to all parts of the
heap.
A potentially attractive option is to coat the
sulphide concentrate onto a low-grade sulphide
material which would otherwise have to be stock-
piled or dumped as waste. The bacterial action in
the concentrate coating is also effective in oxidizing
the sulphide minerals in the support rock, making
additional metal values available for recovery. This
may allow sub-cutoff grade material to be brought
into the economic reserve. Another alternative is to
use a screened and sized portion of the ore as
support medium. The rest of the ore is
ground and floated, producing the
concentrate which is coated onto the
support rock fraction for bio-oxidation.
After bio-oxidation, the heap is
reclaimed and the concentrate is separated
from the support rock by wet screening. The washed support rock is recy-
cled for recoating with fresh concentrate.
The process is also applicable to the treatment of concentrates containing
both gold and copper. The heap is bioleached to produce a solution from
which copper is recovered by SX/EW. The residual, leached material is
unloaded from the pad and screened to remove the oxidized
concentrate containing the gold values. Gold is recovered from the
oxidized concentrate by cyanidation in agitated tanks.
60 International Mining APRIL 2007
A great advantage of the Leachox process (shown here schematically)
is to dramatically accelerate the leach kinetics, reducing the leach
time to a few hours from 24 hours for open tank leaching.
Geobiotics summarizes the benefits of
GEOCOAT as:
■ Significantly lower capital and operating costs
■ Rapid project implementation
■ Tolerance to changes in feed composition
■ Applicability to both low and high grade ores
■ Simplicity of plant and equipment
■ Safety
■ Flexibility and expandability
■ Tested on 100+ concentrates
■ Tested at scale and commercialized
Energy saving
Energy saving was one of the key themes
of this year’s SME Annual
Convention in Denver, Colorado,
February 25-28 (www.smenet.org).
Rajamani et al reported on Energy Savings in the Cortez
Gold Mines SAG Milling Operation after Redesigning
Shell and Pulp Lifters. This work was done by the
University of Utah, Outokumpu Technology and Cortez Gold Mines. From
September 2003 the team observed and collected data on the shell lifter
wear pattern, and slurry handling capacity of the SAG mill. A series of
SAG mill crash-stop tests were carried out in 2004. As a result of this
study, in September 2004 the shell lifters were replaced with a newer
design. In the ensuing months Cortez Operations realized a net reduction
in energy consumption of 12% in SAG milling.
The McIvor-Finch Functional Performance Based Grinding Circuit
Modeling System was presented by R. McIvor, Metcom Consulting, and
J. Finch, McGill University. It records the development of a new grinding
circuit steady state modelling system. It is based on “functional perform-
ance of ball milling”, which has been used to improve the performance of
numerous circuits. It does so based on the particle size chosen to
distinguish between coarse and fine (product size) material. By applying it
to all the material size classes, a simple, reliable ball mill model was
created. Combined with cyclone recoveries, the complete, detailed circuit
performance is exactly mathematically reproduced by the program. It is
then used with separate process equipment application methods to
systematically engineer improvements to circuit performance.
Copper-ammonium thiosulphate
UC Resources recently commissioned its plant at La Yesca project situated
at La Yesca, Nayarit, Mexico. It is processing tailings material from the
nearby tailings dump and started in January at an initial processing rate of
50 t/d, increasing production to the plant design capacity of 200 t/d over the
course of the next two to three months.
UC Resources (www.ucresources.net) reports that earlier metallurgical
pilot plant testing of the copper-ammonium thiosulphate gold and silver
process conducted in Zacatecas, Mexico resulted in recovery rates that
were better than 80% and in some cases closer to 85% for both gold
and silver contained in the tailings that are now being processed at La
Yesca. The company estimates that the actual precious metal recovery rates
at La Yesca currently are about 70% for both gold and silver (precipitate
samples are analyzed at an independent facility for corroboration of the
results conducted at the company's on-site laboratory). These recovery
GOLD 27/3/07 11:01 am Page 11

04/07

rates are in line with what the company expected

for the initial start-up, and management is con-
fident that it will attain its target of greater
than 80% recovery rates as the processing
plant and its’ operators get more accustomed
to the feed.
Richard Hamelin, President of UC Resources:
“The technology used at this facility, although
highly effective and more efficient than traditional
extraction technologies, is still relatively new;
therefore, there will be a learning curve that we
will need to deal with. We are confident in our
abilities of bringing this facility to its optimum
performance capability.”
According to the patent for the process, gold C
can be recovered from difficult-to-treat ores,
especially those containing manganese and/or
copper, by lixiviating the ores using copper-
ammonium thiosulphate in which the pH of the
A B
lixiviating solution is maintained at a minimum
level of 9.5 in order to inhibit the action of
metallic iron and its ferric salts that are present
in the solution and which decomposes the
double salt of copper-ammonium thiosulphate.
Copper cement is used in a subsequent
precipitation process to expose a large amount
of area on which the gold and silver can
precipitate without also causing precipitation of
copper from lixiviant solutions.

Ceramic aftermath
What could become a dramatic tailings solution
was seen at the recent PDAC meeting in
Toronto. Golden Bear Ceramics is currently a
subsidiary of Emgold Mining, which is focused
on the re-development of the former Idaho-
Maryland gold mine located in Grass Valley,
California, where Emgold has an Inferred
resource of more than 1 Moz. California is one
of the most difficult places in the world to per-
mit a mine and what makes Emgold/Golden
Bear so interesting is the plan for two plants at
Idaho-Maryland. One will be a gold plant and
next door will be a ceramics plant that will
consume all the mine waste rock and tailings.
Golden Bear uses the Ceramext™ technology
to make floor, wall tiles and roof tiles. It has
made significant advances in the technology in
the past year, dramatically improving the quality
and marketability of its products as well as
building a successfully operating continuous
pilot scale plant. High quality polished floor tiles
have been made for a showcase installation in
Auburn, California as well as for display to
potential distributors. The tiles were made with
waste from a large aggregate producer in
California. In addition Golden Bear has successfully
produced tiles from other waste materials
including fly ash, volcanic tuff, mine tailings
and a wide range of other industrial wastes.
Doré
These different materials have also been blended
to create different colours and textures.
Emgold Mining is currently pursuing a corporate
restructuring that would result in the effective
separation of the Golden Bear ceramics business
from the gold exploration and development
business of Emgold. As an independent company,
Golden Bear would then undertake to secure
the additional financing required to further
develop and complete the commercialization of
the Ceramext technology. This would include
the continued operation of the existing pilot
plant and further product development and
R&D work.
Golden Bear Ceramics has an exclusive
worldwide license agreement with Ceramext to
develop and use the process to convert mine
tailings and other waste materials into high
quality ceramics. The process is a patented,
energy efficient technology capable of converting
a wide variety of raw materials, including mine
tailings and fly ash into high-strength, low-
porosity, industrial ceramics such as floor and
roof tiles, brick, construction materials and
other industrial and commercial products.
Doré Doré
Geobiotics Geocoat for processing
refractory ores.
A Sulphide ore support – grinding
of bio-oxidized ore and concentrate.
B + C Sulphide ore support, heap leaching
of bio-oxidized support, CIL
cyanidation of bio-oxidized
concentrate.
C Barren support, CIL cyanidation of
bio-oxidized concentrate.
Ceramext has a patent on the equipment and
other patents pending on the process, which uses a
vacuum hot extrusion of waste materials to
produce high quality industrial ceramics. Specifically,
Ceramext has tested tailings from the Idaho-
Maryland mine and has successfully produced
very high quality ceramic blanks suitable for
forming into a wide variety of ceramic products
using standard finishing technology. IM
References
Konigsmann E, Abols J, Pyecha J and Boudreau T, The
In-line Leach Reactor Installation at Teck- Pogo Inc.
Pogo Mine, Austmine 2007.

APRIL 2007 International Mining 61