Gold Recovery Rate Stabilisation
Gold room process controls increase recovery rates
- 3 minutes read
Our client is an ASX-listed gold miner headquartered in Perth with mining operations in West Africa. The client’s primary mining operation in Ghana was struggling with gold losses through the mine-to-mill process, whereby the grade control parameters were not being achieved at the final ‘gold in circuit’ reconciliation.
The loss of recovered ounces significantly impacted the company’s commercial performance, negatively impacting board confidence, market sentiment, and the ability to deliver a growth strategy involving the development of further new assets that were dependent on meeting commercial objectives.
2,000
$2.7M
The approach
ORBIZ reviewed the management system and all related processes in the gold room to identify opportunities to improve and stabilise gold recovery rates.
The process observation activity identified significant spillage of both calcined and uncalcined concentrate at all stages of the gold room process (from electrowinning cells to pour).
Concentrate spillages were cleaned down at the end of each pour and collected in a sump. As the sump cleaning activity was difficult and hazardous, it was typically carried out every 4-6 weeks.
The solutions
The sump cleaning process was analysed, and various improvements were introduced to eliminate the safety hazards, increase efficiency, and meet all security requirements.
With the addition of a submersible pump and a wet vacuum, the process was stabilised and made more accessible and safer for the local team to complete. This enabled the implementation of a weekly gold room reconciliation cycle. This new cycle ensured all concentrate was consolidated before the weekly smelt so the result could be included in that pour.
The new weekly gold room reconciliation process was standardised to enable it to be completed safely and efficiently on a repeatable basis. This new process now provides consistent grade control in the mine-to-mill process, which has increased board and shareholder confidence through more consistent and stronger commercial outcomes.
The next phase of the activity would focus on minimising spillages through the process to reduce the time required to complete the cleanup.
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