mobile processing plant to reinvigorate small capital gold ...community attitudes and buy-in 7 ....
TRANSCRIPT
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Mobile processing plant to reinvigorate small capital gold mining Paul Breuer | Gold Processing Team Leader MetFest 2017
MINERAL RESOURCES
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Outline
1. CSIRO overview
2. Thiosulfate as an alternative to cyanide
3. Mobile low capex gold processing demonstration project
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Who we are Darwin
Alice Springs
Geraldton 2 sites
Atherton
Townsville 2 sites
Rockhampton
Toowoomba
Gatton
Myall Vale
Narrabri
Mopra
Parkes
Griffith
Belmont
Geelong
Hobart Sandy Bay
Wodonga
Newcastle
Armidale 2 sites
Perth 3 sites
Adelaide 3 sites Sydney 5 sites
Canberra 7 sites
Murchison
Cairns
Irymple
Melbourne 5 sites
Werribee 2 sites
Brisbane 6 sites
Bribie Island
People ~5000
Sites 55
Business Units 9
Budget $1B+
We develop ~750 postgraduate research students with our university partners
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CSIRO: Australia’s innovation catalyst
5000+ staff across
54 sites
2800+ industry
partners totaling
$220M+ per year
Top 1% of global
research institutions in
14 of 22 research fields
130 active licences
Australia’s largest patent
holder (1862 patents)
Working with
1200+ SMEs every year
64% of our people
hold uni degrees.
2000+ hold PhDs
500+ hold Masters
Inventors of wifi
and soft contact lenses (and so much more)
159 Aussie companies started from CSIRO technology
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World-class facilities and connections
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Mineral Resources
CSIRO’s R&D in the minerals domain:
Budget ~$70m pa (~$30m pa external sources)
Involves about 250 scientists and engineers
12 sites located in 5 states;
Collaboration with >50 universities and other institutions, nationally and internationally;
Engagement with >300 companies across the value chain; and
Based on a technology vision for where the sector is going.
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Mineral Resources - Our purpose…
Growing Australia's Resource base How do we find it ? How do we process it ?
Improving productivity Improve unit operations (brownfield) Design of new process options
Driving environmental performance Low energy processing Reduce C footprint in metal production AMD, tailings & rehabilitation
Resources supporting society Community attitudes and buy-in
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Cyanidation Cyanide speciation analysis and management
Complex ores – characterisation and leaching
Carbon management
Cyanide destruction evaluations (Caro’s acid, Inco & H2O2)
Cyanide recovery & recycle (SART and IX resin/carbon based processes)
Trace element deportment (eg. mercury)
Thiosulfate based process development Alternative to cyanide
New market opportunities
Gold Processing Technologies
Micro CT scan of gold loaded activated carbon particle
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Thiosulfate processes for gold recovery
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Many different thiosulfate based systems
Often classified by oxidant: Copper-ammonia
Oxygen (+ copper)
Other metal complexes
– Metals such as copper, iron and nickel
– Ligands such as organic amines, oxalate
Catalysts/additives Thallium and lead
Thiourea
sulfite
Thiosulfate based leach systems
Thiosulfate consumption typically
proportional to gold leach rate
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Barrick Goldstrike Calcium thiosulfate + copper
Process development and on-site demonstration
Commercial implementation in 2014
Gravity concentrates Copper-ammonia system able to achieve
acceptable leach rates
Developed to the pilot plant stage
In-situ (the future) Laboratory column evaluations conducted for specific deposits / companies
Field trials under consideration
Application developments
Barrick Gold’s thiosulfate demonstration plant at the Goldstrike
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Combined process benefits High and predictable overall gold recovery
Gold recovery risk lower – robust leach process captures gold not recovered by gravity
Gravity recovery doesn’t have to chase the fine gold – optimise for recovery of the coarse gold
Additional gold recovery (small gold miners)
Thiosulfate Leach (CSIRO system)
Gravity recovery
Ore Gravity
tail Leach
tail
30-60% Au recovery Additional 30-60% Au recovery
<20% Au 40-70% Au
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Sample Description Size
(µm)
Head
grade
(g t-1)
NaCN leach
recovery
CSIRO product
leach recovery
Thiosulfate
consumption
(kg t-1)
A Low sulfide ore P90 - 74 0.9 90% @ 24 hrs 90% @ 24 hrs 2.2
B Carbonaceous ore; gold
partially encapsulated
P80 - 75 1.9 51% @ 24 hrs 70% @ 24 hrs 1.6
C Aged sulfide ore gravity
tails
< 2000 1.2 73% @ 24 hrs 67% @ 24 hrs 1.1
D Oxide ore < 10000 1.4 59% @ 24 hrs 56% @ 2 days 1.5
E Oxide ore gravity tails < 1000 2.1 80% (intensive
cyanidation with
LeachWell)
76% @ 7 days < 0.2
F Oxide ore; potential ISR
candidate
< 4000 ~5 38% @ 24 hrs;
81% @ 7 days
79% @ 2 days 1.3
Performance of CSIRO product (thiosulfate system)
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Batch leaching of gold RDE
Tetrathionate added to mimic ore leaching
Cyclic testing
Resin columns cycled after every 2 batch leaches
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Gold breakthrough Required resin columns to be cycled faster
Cyclic testing Recycled leach solution
0
1
2
3
4
5
0 1 2 3 4 5
Au
co
nce
ntr
atio
n /
pp
m
Resin column No.
Cycle 5
Cycle 7
Cycle 9
Cycle 11
Cycle 13
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Resin elution Sharp gold elution profile
> 99% Au recovery
Tetrathionate converted to trithionate
Cyclic testing
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Sample Au Thiosulfate
(mM)
Trithionate
(mM)
Tetrathionate Pentathionate
(mM) (g t-1) Efficiency
(%)
(mM)
Preg. resin 3186 99.81
62 142 229 111
Barren resin 6 2 101 0 0
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Proof at scale a process can economically recover gold Leaching and gold recovery R&D conducted but limited process development
Reagents require recovery and recycle due to the concentrations used
– More complex / undeveloped circuits
Risks with scaling laboratory / pilot plant data
Process is practical and robust Low impact (economic and physical), including operability of the process and resources
Able to cope with typical ore variability
Applicable to a range of ores
Hurdles in adoption of new lixiviants for gold recovery
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Research facility in the field End user / operator involvement to ensure the technology is practical and robust
Pilot / demonstration information attained in conjunction with development at scale
Process development Vat leach with cyclone to remove fines
Tank leach with thickener / filter as parallel circuit to treat fines
Nano-filtration to aid reagent recovery and minimise water use – Evaporation will be adopted initially to maintain the water balance
Plug and play modules allowing testing and development of alternative flowsheets
Addressing the challenges
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Mobile low capex gold processing demonstration at Menzies
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Menzies stamp battery site Existing mill and gravity plant operating at
200 t/d
Existing infrastructure
Central location at Menzies
Site leased from the Perth Mint
No hurdles with approvals
Nu-Fortune Gold Shared vision and Entrepreneurs
Experience in mineral processing
Key Project Collaborator – Nu-Fortune Gold
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Process Thiosulfate system developed with high reagent stability and moderate gold leach rate
Low capex vat leach application
100 t/d demonstration plant
– Construction underway and commissioning to commence soon
– Operational January 2018 (seeking process technicians/metallurgists)
– Multiple ore feeds, including gravity tails and battery sands
Evaluation of ores to be demonstrated Cyclic column leach testing and resin adsorption
Benchmarking data for comparison with plant performance
Demonstration Plant
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Initial facility set-up
Key aspect is recovery and
recycle of reagents from the leach tail
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Ore
Oversize
(+10 mm)
Water
Gravity concentrate
Oversize
Leach Feed (+0.8 mm)
Wet Tailings Disposal
BLS
PLS
Evaporation
Gravity tails
Vat Leach
Leach Solution Processing Plant
Cyclone
Water
Tank/Dam
SAG
MillScreen
Exis
ting
pla
nt
Screen
Fines DamNew
pla
nt
Rinse Water
Dam
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Improved facility set-up
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Ore
Oversize
(+10 mm)
Water
Gravity concentrate
Oversize
Leach Feed (+0.8 mm)
Dry Tailings
PLS
Evaporation
BLS
Gravity tails
Vat LeachDewatering
screen
Leach Solution Processing Plant
Cyclone
Water
Tank/Dam
SAG
MillScreen
Exis
ting
pla
nt
Screen
Fines DamNew
pla
nt
Rinse Water
Dam
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Leach Solution Processing Plant
Filtered Gravity tails Leach tails
Loaded Barren
IX Resin IX Resin
Vat Leach Process
PLS Tank
or DamBLS Tank
or Dam
CSIRO
Product Water
Filter
Smelt
ReagentsReagents
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Lixiviant recovery/recycle Optimisation of tails washing
Process modelling to optimise washing to minimise gold and lixiviant losses within constraint of maintaining the water balance
Monitor build-up of any potential deleterious species in the leach solution with recycle/reuse and impact on gold recovery
Gold recovery rate Lixiviant concentration (impacts also lixiviant recovery/recycle)
Vat leach solution circulation rate
R&D activities
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Research facility that allows in the field Development of alternative lixiviant systems – Various thiosulfate based
– Glycine
– Iodine/Iodide
Testing and development of – Process flowsheets for a greater range of ores
– Unit operations
Application to – Tank leaching to treat fines
– Vat, heap, dump, in-place and in-situ leaching
– Combinations
Bigger Vision
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Enabling / improving uptake of new technologies
Mets sector able to test/develop innovations to improve productivity
Researchers able to test/develop alternative lixiviants and process flowsheets
Gold miners able to test and evaluate processes to treat their ore
Bigger Vision
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Questions?
Paul Breuer
Gold Processing Team Leader
t +61 8 9334 8074 e [email protected]
MINERAL RESOURCES