Abstract
How do you fit a processing plant underground with minimal change to mine infrastructure and yet maintain economic recovery, operability and maintainability? By combining fine crushing, continuous-gravity recovery and flotation. A modular, transportable processing plant has been designed that is capable of being installed in underground drives/drifts or on the surface. The Python processing plants have been designed to treat 20 or 50 tons per hour of ore to a particle size of approximately 500 μm and recover gold and sulfides into the concentrate. The plant is only three meters wide (including bolt-on platforms) and can be installed on a 1:50 slope, making for very simple installation. Test work carried out by Gekko Systems Pty. Ltd. has indicated that up to 50% of ores tested to date would achieve gold recovery rates of over 90% using this method. The projected benefits of this strategy are numerous and include low overall capital and operating cost, significantly less power consumption compared with traditional milling circuits and low environmental footprint.
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References
Dominy, S., C., Hughes, T. R., Grigg, N. J., Gray, A. H., and Cormack, G., 2009, “Development of underground gravity gold processing plants,” paper presented to Physical Separation 2009, Falmouth, UK.
Gekko Systems Pty Ltd, 2007, “Mineral Processing Apparatus,” Australian Provisional Patent Application 2007905245.
Gray, S., and Hughes, T., 2007, “A focus on gravity and flotation concentration and intensive leaching rewrites conventional milling circuit design and improves environmental and cost outcomes,” paper presented to World Gold Conference 2007, Cairns, 22–24 October 2007.
Gray, S., and Hughes, T., 2008, “Improvements in the InLine Pressure Jig expands its applications and ease of use for gold, silver, sulphide and diamond recovery,” paper presented at Metallurgical Plant Design and Operating Strategies 2008, Perth.
Hughes, T.R., and Cormack, G. 2008, “Potential benefits of underground processing for the gold sector–conceptual process design and cost benefits,” paper presented at First International Future Mining Conference, Sydney, 19–21 November 2008.
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Paper number MMP-09-046.
Discussion of this peer-reviewed and approved paper is invited and must be submitted to the SME Publications Dept. prior to November 30, 2010.
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Hughes, T.R., Gray, A.H. The modular Python processing plant — designed for underground preconcentration. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 27, 89–96 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03402384
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03402384