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The Aachen High Shear Reactors-191031-HS-final

The document discusses the implementation of Aachen High Shear Reactor technology at Gümüştaş Mining Company to improve gold and silver recovery from their ore processing. The results indicate an increase in silver recovery by 5-8% and gold recovery by 1-2%, along with a 50% reduction in cyanide consumption. Future plans include adapting the Aachen Assisted Leach concept for further optimization of the leaching process.

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Eric Nera
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51 views20 pages

The Aachen High Shear Reactors-191031-HS-final

The document discusses the implementation of Aachen High Shear Reactor technology at Gümüştaş Mining Company to improve gold and silver recovery from their ore processing. The results indicate an increase in silver recovery by 5-8% and gold recovery by 1-2%, along with a 50% reduction in cyanide consumption. Future plans include adapting the Aachen Assisted Leach concept for further optimization of the leaching process.

Uploaded by

Eric Nera
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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“The AachenTM High Shear Reactors” – Gold and

Silver Recovery Improvement at Processing

MAELGYN MINERAL SERVICES

Erdal Güldoğan Dr.-Ing. Rainer M. Imhof


Technical Coordinator Engineering Director

Selami Badur Heinrich A. Sprenger, Dipl. Ing.


Plant Manager Technical Sales Manager

Erkan Aydoğan B Tech Peter W Lotz


Deputy Plant Manager Gold Process & Environment Manager
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

Gümüştaş Mining Company


• Established in 1980 to operate licensed lead-zinc mine site in Gümüşhane.
• Expansion in 2007 by purchasing Niğde Bolkar Gold and Silver underground
mines
Gümüştaş Bolkar region underground mines have polymetallic deposits, which
mainly contain lead, zinc and copper as well silver and gold. The Tepekoy plant
treats two different ore types:
• Esen ore
• Gümüştaş ore
Both containing Au and Ag minerals.
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

Maelgwyn Mineral Services


• Privately owned company
• Founded in 1998
• Head office in Cardiff, Wales
• Sister company in South Africa
• Agent /Representative offices in Germany/Portugal/Chile and Russia
The company designs, develops and distributes the Aachen High Shear
ReactorTM technology for gold processing along with IMF-pneumatic flotation,
ultra-fine grinding, engineering especially for processing metal ores, industrial
minerals and salt.
Together with Maelgwyn Africa, the company has over 60 Aachens in service.
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

Gümüştaş Mining Company Ore Characterization


Two ore types
From January to July the plant processes Gümüştaş ore type with 4 ppm
Au and 200 ppm Ag oxide ore. Total Sulphur is less than 1%.
During the period July to December the plant processes the ore type
ESEN, containing 5 ppm Au and 300 ppm Ag. Total Sulphur is 3-8%.
This ore contains significant amounts of sulphides (pyrite, galena, sphalerite
etc)
The silver appears as jarosite derivatives.
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

Gümüştaş Mining Company Ore Characterization


Jarosite is a family of iron-hydroxysulphate minerals that commonly occur in acidic, sulfate-rich environments,
and mining and ore processing wastes. End-member jarosite contains potassium and has the chemical formula
KFe₃(SO₄)₂(OH)₆, but extensive element substitution takes place in the crystal structure for potassium, iron, and sulfur.
Other jarosite group minerals include ammoniojarosite, argentojarosite, natrojarosite, and plumbojarosite, in which
ammonium, silver, sodium, and lead, respectively, substitute for potassium.
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver % Metal Recovery Improvement at Processing

Gümüştaş Mining Company Ore Characterization


Environments in which jarosite group minerals commonly form as secondary minerals include the oxidized zones
(gossans) of sulfide ore deposits, areas of acid mine drainage, and acidic soils. In supergene enrichment zones of sulfide-
bearing ore deposits, silver-bearing jarosite deposits can be an economically important mineral source of silver.
The main mineral in Bolkar region is Plumbojarosite Pb0.5Fe33+ 3(SO4)2(OH)6
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

Gümüştaş Mining Company Leaching Process


is a combination of hot and alkaline treatment followed by cyanide leaching
• Feed 16 t/h
• Milling to 80% < 63μm (2 ball mills in series)
• Mill cyclone overflow thickened to 40 – 45 % solids
• Underflow (40 m³/h) of the thickener pumped to the first hot lime tank.
• Cyanide adding into the first tank
• Hot and alkaline treatment in 3 tanks in series (third tank has 80-85°C)
• Third hot lime tank reports to the serial leaching tanks
• 5 CCD tanks (400 m3 size each).
• Total retention time 70-75 h.
• Au + Ag present as cyanide complexes in solution are recovered by Merill Crowe process. The
tailings are treated by Inco cyanide destruction process.
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

Gümüştaş Mining Company Leaching Process + MMS-Aachen-reactor

Basic flowsheet with Aachen Reactor


"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

The objective of the work was to demonstrate

• differences in gold and silver recovery based on AachenTM technology


(in comparison with the current hot lime treatment)
• differences in possible leach kinetics which would reduce the residence time
requirements
• potentials to reduce cyanide consumption
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

What is an Aachen reactor?


"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

Aachen Reactor process applications include:

• Mild pre-oxygenation to reduce cyanide consumption through oxidation of cyanide consuming


species combined with efficient oxygen utilisation

• Aachen assisted leaching (AAL). As a highly efficient mass transfer device and also as a shear
reactor within gold and silver leach circuits to accelerate leach kinetics, reduce cyanide
consumption and reduce surface passivation

• Partial sulphide oxidation (typically up to 60-70%).There the Aachen is a part of the Leachox
process combined with IMF pneumatic floatation and ultra-fine grinding. The gold recovery for
refractory flotation concentrates can be significantly increased through this partial oxidation of the
sulphide matrix

• Within the INCO cyanide destruction process


"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

AachenTM Installation at Gümüştaş Mining Company

The Aachen Reactor installed at Gümüstas Mining Niğde Plant


"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

The Dissolved Oxygen measurement data for Esen Mining in June 2019
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

Au + Ag Recovery 2017-2018-2019 using the mill feed samples and final tail slurry samples assays ratio
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

Au recovery before and after AachenTM Ag recovery before and after AachenTM
Reactor installation Reactor installation
95 95
89.9 90.3 90.2
86.8 87.0 86.8
85 85 81.7 80.1
77.4
75 73.5 72.5
75 70.7

65 65
Gümüştaş Ore Esen Ore Total Gümüştaş Ore Esen Ore Total
Before Aachen Reactor After Aachen Reactor Before Aachen Reactor After Aachen Reactor
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

Results after the installation of Aachen Reactor


• Increasing of Silver recovery for Esen ore approx. 5-8 %.
• Increasing of Gold recovery up to 1-2% for both ore types.
• 50% reduction in cyanide consumption through oxidation of cyanide
consuming species combined with efficient oxygen utilization. The cyanide
usage was close to 9 kg/dmt and decreased to 5 kg/dmt for the Esen Ore.
• Reduction of chemical costs for the cyanide destruction process.
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

The infrastructure for an Aachen Reactor device is

Capex: Opex:
• 15m3 tank, • Oxygen: 9.000kg/month,
• 2 x Weir pumps 6/4 45kW • Power: max 45kW*24h*30days
• pipe connection 32400kWh/month
• Spare parts (if necessary),
• Reactor monthly rental amount.

In total with the MMS Aachen the total opex cost per each dry metric ton
(dmt) of feed is reduced by 10%.
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

Pre-Ox/AAL-Test work on a different ROM sample


Test Series Au in Au NaCN
Residue Recovery Consumption
(g/t) (%) (g/t)

Base Case 0.22 84.5 925

2 Pass* Pre-Ox 0.12 91.6 918

1 Pass Pre-Ox 1 0.10 93.0 800


Pass AAL
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine

The Gümüştaş Mining company´s next


project will be the adaptation of the Aachen
Assisted Leach concept (AAL). This will require
installation of a second reactor at the first or
second leach tank. The decision will be based on
the evolving dissolution profiles.
"The Aachen High Shear Reactors“ Gold and Silver
Recovery Improvement at Gümüștaș Silver Mine
Thank You

Maelgwyn Mineral Services

Erdal Güldoğan Dr.-Ing. Rainer M Imhof


Technical Coordinator Engineering Director

Selami Badur B Tech Peter W Lotz


Gold Process & Environment Manager
Plant Manager

Erkan Aydoğan Heinrich A. Sprenger, Dipl.Ing.


Deputy Plant Manager Technical Sales Manager

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