Cyanide Consumption and Management in a Leaching Circuit at an Australian Gold mine.
- Improved leach performance
- Reduction in cyanide consumption
- Reduction in cyanide reporting to the tailings stream
The collaborative effort between the Molycop (formerly Process IQ) team and an Australian Gold Mine resulted in the cyanide concentration being controlled near to the setpoint, despite changing operating conditions. This resulted in a significant reduction in the cyanide consumption (estimated to be approximately 4.5%*).
Additional benefits included improving safety in the leach circuit, improved leach performance and therefore a reduced the risk of soluble gold losses. Stabilising the cyanide concentration upfront in the leach circuit also helped to lower the cyanide concentration reporting to the tailings stream, which was an important requirement for the plant.
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* The 4.5% saving was for this specific aspect of the project, and not the general improvement in control which could yield significant savings of 5-20%, depending on the existing plant performance.
