Cam & Motor Mine P.O Box 57 Kadoma: Compiled by Renaissance Musakanya and Tinashe Pukane

CAM & MOTOR MINE
P.O BOX 57
KADOMA
Report on Carbon concentration determination and its balancing in CIL

circuit.
Compiled by;
Renaissance Musakanya and Tinashe Pukane
Submitted to:
Mr. E. Mapanzure (Plant Manager)
Introduction
Gold recovery at Cam and Motor mine is achieved through Carbon in Leach. The process starts with the
dissolution of gold into solution then adsorption by carbon. CIL is preferred over CIP since gold in
solution is adsorbed as soon as it is leached. Thereby, enough carbon must be available in the circuit to
maximize adsorption. Activated carbon is used as the adsorbent. The grain size of the activated carbon is
1.2 × 2.4 mm. Activated carbon is an organic material which has a highly developed internal pore
structure which results in a large specific surface area. It has a similar structure to that of graphite though
it is less well-ordered. The most important properties of activated carbon for use in gold extraction are
high adsorptive capacity, high adsorption rate, mechanical strength and wear resistance. The amount of
carbon in each tank is estimated by Carbon Profiling.
Carbon Profiling
Tanks 2-7 have a target carbon concentration of ≤15g/l which is roughly greater than 3 tonnes in each
tank. This is the capacity of the stripping cell. The downstream tanks 8-10 have a target concentration of
at least 18g/l. This is because the gold concentration will be low and the main purpose is to prevent gold
loss to the slimes dam. The upstream tanks should be balanced first while ensuring the high
concentrations of the downstream tanks are maintained.
Determination of Carbon concentration
At Cam and Motor mine, carbon profiling is done after every 3hrs so as to balance the concentrations
across the circuit. It is determined using the following steps;
• First dip four points of the tank using a 2ltr sample cup
-it is done four times so as to increase sample size and to homogenise thus making a true
represantative
• Collect the sampled carbon in pulp into a sieve and clean the carbon so as to remove other
materials eg wood, which affects the volume of the carbon
• Transfer the carbon into a 2ltr measuring cylinder and determine the volume.
• Devide the obtained volume by 16 so as to convert the concentration to g/l
Why we devide by 16?
Since we sampled with a 2ltr container four times, results to a total of 8ltr. Therefore to determine the
concentration in terms of grams per litre we then divide by the specific gravity of carbon which is 0.5
resulting to 16.
To get total carbon in the tank in terms of tons we then multiply by volume of tank which is 384m 3.
After estimating the carbon quantity in the tanks through profiling, we will then be able to balance the
concentrations across the circuits movements.
Carbon Movement
Carbon is added to the last tank and periodically moves counter current to the pulp. It is moved to an
upstream tank by air lifters.
Air lifters comprise of 6 inch steel pipes with T bends which are connecting tanks in numerical ascending
order for example tank 10 will pass to tank 9 then 9 will pass to 8 until tank 2 is reached which will
transport to the elution section. Air lifters use compressed air. Compressed air is introduced at the lower
end of the pipe. The density of the slurry surrounding the pipe therefore becomes much higher than that of
the slurry located inside the pipe, due to the presence of air bubbles. The latter therefore rises and flows
inside the pipe, leading to a continuous movement of the charge through the pipe therefore moving the
slurry carrying the carbon from one tank to the preceding tank.
The slurry is then free to return to move to the downstream tank through the inter-stage screens and the
discharge launders while the carbon is trapped by the inter-stage screen. The inter-stage screens have an
aperture size of 0.6mm which is slightly smaller than the activated carbon but large enough to allow free
flow of the slurry between the stages. Carbon is retained in each adsorption tank due to the fact that it is
much larger than the ore particles. The carbon should remain in each tank for a minimum of 6 hours for
sufficient loading.
The carbon should be moved in sequence until it reaches tank 2 from where it is transported to the elution
section in inclined 6inch diameter PVC pipes. The airlifter in tank 2 passes carbon on to a vibrating
inclined washing screen. The pulp will pass through the screen aperture back into the tank and the carbon
will remain on the screen and move via a chute into the PVC pipes. Spray bars fitted to the screen wash
residual slurry from the carbon. The carbon is transported by the force of gravity since the tanks are at a
higher level than the carbon receiving vessel at the elution section using flowing water as the transport
medium.
The gold containing carbon is treated by a stripping step to desorb the metals which are further recovered
in electro-winning process. The eluted carbon is regenerated with acid or by heat in the kiln to remove the
contaminants. After that it is re-circulated into the CIL circuit.
Conclusion
Higher carbon concentrations lead to low loadings which are undesirable to strip. Low carbon
concentrations make it difficult to balance upstream tanks. CIL tends to require high volumes of carbon of
up to 80g/l in the circuit. This results in carbon being worn out by abrasion, hence an optimum amount
must be maintained.
References

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CAM & MOTOR MINE

Report on Carbon concentration determination and its balancing in CIL

Renaissance Musakanya and Tinashe Pukane

Mr. E. Mapanzure (Plant Manager)

Determination of Carbon concentration

Why we devide by 16?

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