Acacia Reactor

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LEACHING GRAVITY CONCENTRATES

Using the

ACACIA REACTOR

By

W Lethlean
Chief Metallurgical Engineer
AngloGold Australasia

And

Laurie Smith
Principal
Laurie Smith and Associates

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The ACACIA Reactor

1 INTRODUCTION
When coarse gold is present in an ore, there are advantages in physically
recovering this gold in the grinding section of the ore processing plant. This
reduces the risk of the coarse gold being locked up in the grinding section
equipment, reduces the quantity of activated carbon to be eluted and reduces the
risk of gold passing out of the cyanide leaching circuit only partially dissolved.

The free gold may be recovered by various mechanical means utilising the
significant difference between the specific gravity of the gold and waste minerals.

Frequently, sulphide minerals and ball mill attrition steel in the form of fines and
chips are present in the ground ore and behave in a similar manner to the gold in
the concentrating process. These materials must be removed to produce a
concentrate suitable for direct smelting and several stages of cleaning, sometimes
utilising different physical principles, may be required.

The removal of these materials invariably results in a loss of gold from the final
concentrate. The rejected materials containing significant quantities of gold are
returned to the grinding section, consequently the opportunity for a high and early
recovery has been lost. The quantity of gold returned to the grinding section will
vary according to the number and type of cleaning stages and the physical
characteristics of the materials and the gold but surveys of the gravity
concentration processes suggest that it may be as high as 50%.

To maximise the recovery of gold from the primary gravity concentrate, some
operations batch cyanide leach this concentrate with or without additional
reagents. The method of agitation and solution recovery vary. The most common
method of agitation is by a high-speed propeller mixer and the least expensive but
time-consuming method of solution recovery is by decantation after settling and by
repeated decant washing. The pregnant gold solution is either introduced into the
main ore leaching circuit or the gold is recovered by direct electrowinning.

After commissioning in 1994, Union Reefs Gold Mine (URGM) experienced below
expected recovery of gold from the gravity concentrate generated from the Knelson
Concentrators. It was shown that the recovery into the Knelson Concentrate was
high but that the subsequent mechanical concentrating techniques of tabling and
magnetic separation resulted in significant gold being returned to the grinding
circuit.
2 GRAVITY CONCENTRATION AT UNION REEFS GOLD MINE
Testwork on the Union Reefs Gold Mine (URGM) oxide and primary ore types
indicated that gravity recovery averaging 40% of the gold in the feed was possible.
As a consequence a gravity recovery process was designed into the comminution
circuit whereby 22% of the mill discharge pulp screened at 5 mm in the trommel
screen was distributed between three by 30 inch diameter automatic discharge
Knelson Concentrators. Each Knelson Concentrator was protected by a static 2.0
mm aperture DSM screen. Knelson Concentrator tail was returned to the mill
discharge hopper and concentrate was discharged to a concentrate storage
hopper, located in the gold room, on a six-hourly cycle.

Collected concentrate was upgraded daily using a Gemini table to produce a direct
smelt concentrate and the Gemini table tail returned to the mill discharge hopper.
Processing of the Gemini table concentrate involved calcining at 700
o
C for at least
16 hours to oxidise the fine grinding steel particles as well as the iron, lead and
arsenic sulphide contaminates prior to smelting and pouring into bullion bars.

URGM Gravity Concentration Flowsheet

Following commissioning, a number of issues were identified that led to
investigating alternative methods for processing the Knelson Concentrator gravity
concentrate. The issue drivers were:

Improve metallurgical accounting to enable a daily instead of a weekly head
grade to be calculated.
Reduce the free gold, estimated at 10%, returned to the grinding section with
the Gemini table tail.
Improve health conditions within the Gold Room by not producing arsenic, lead
and sulphur oxides during the calcine stage.
Improve gold room security by removing the high grade concentrate handling
activities from the Gold Room staff duties.
Eliminate the environmental issue associated with disposing of arsenic oxide
precipitate collected in the Gold Room dust collector bag house.

A review of the alternative process methods to that installed at URGM concluded
that a chemical dissolution process was preferred to alternative physical upgrade
processes.

Acacia Resources decided to pursue the low energy concept of dissolution utilising
a fluid bed. The main unknown was the ability to dissolve a minus 2mm gold
particle within the target 24 hour cycle period.

Mill No 1 Discharge Hopper

Mill No 2 Discharge Hopper

2 @ Knelson Concentrators

2 @ Knelson Concentrators
Concentrator Hopper
Gemini Table
Calcine Oven
Smelt
3 PILOT SCALE ACACIA REACTOR TESTS
During 1996, URGM developed and pilot-scale tested a batch fluidised bed
leaching procedure utilising a strong caustic cyanide solution assisted by the
commercially available oxidant, LeachWell KC, as a gold dissolution accelerator to
maximise the recovery of gold from gravity-won concentrate without further
physical concentrating operations.

The results of three pilot scale tests, simulating the fluidised bed dissolution
process and the proposed reagent scheme, produced the following results:

Conditions Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3
Dissolution Reagents
Sodium hydroxide gram 175 263 175
Sodium cyanide gram 1750 2625 1750
LeachWell KC gram 525 788 525
Concentrate
Weight Kg 35 35 31
Head grade g/t 13,600 10,400 6,100
Residue grade g/t 812 66 177
Leach time Hrs 24 24 24

The dissolution curve for trial three shows a very rapid dissolution rate over the first
hour where approximately 70% of the gold is dissolved. The 97% dissolution
achieved, as shown in the rate curve below, provided sufficient encouragement to
proceed with the concept to develop a commercially sized plant.

ACACIA Reactor - Laboratory Test Trial 3
4 TRANSPORTABLE ACACIA REACTOR PLANT
4.1 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
In April 1998, AngloGold Australiasia commenced the design of a transportable
demonstration plant to batch-treat 1.0 m
3
/day of gravity-won concentrate using the
fluidised bed technique developed at URGM.

The design of the transportable treatment plant was to incorporate the following:

The concentrate was to be treated in batches with the leach cycle
completed within 24 hours and the electrowinning cycle completed within
the following 24 hours.

The plant was to be self contained and fully transportable to allow for easy
transportation for trials at all Acacia Resources Limited operations.

The operation of the plant was not to interfere with normal Gold Room
activities.

All gold recovered from the gravity concentrate was to be returned as
plated cathode to the Gold Room and all residue products returned to the
grinding section.

The transportable plant was to be secure and include measures to ensure
full accountability.

The equipment should be able to be re-utilised in future permanent
installations.
4.2 PROCESS DESCRIPTION
The process is based on a number of batch operations as follows.

1. Transfer of concentrate from the day storage hopper.
2. Stratification of the concentrate charge to assist even solution flow.
3. Prewashing of the concentrate to remove fines.
4. Mixing of leaching reagents.
5. Leaching.
6. Recovery of the pregnant solution and washing of the residue.
7. Discharging of the leach residue.
8. Electrowinning of the gold from the pregnant solution.
9. Disposal of electrowinning tail.
Transfer of Concentrate from the Gold Room
Knelson Concentrator gravity concentrate generated over the 24 hour period is
held in a storage vessel in the Gold Room for subsequent transfer to the ACACIA
Reactor on day shift.
Stratification of the Concentrate
The success of fluidised bed leaching is dependent upon segregating the
concentrate into layers of particles with equal minimum fluidisation velocities such
that channelling of solution will not occur. This is achieved by flowing a limited
volume of water through the distributor at a rate considerably higher than the
fluidising flow rate. The flow is terminated before the Reaction Vessel is full to
avoid the carry-over of concentrate particles in the overflow. The concentrate is
allowed to settle and the supernatant water decanted
Desliming of the Concentrate
To ensure that the leach overflow solution does not carry suspended solids that
will interfere with the subsequent electrowinning of the gold and that water and
subsequently pregnant solution can be recovered by drainage through the settled
solids, the concentrate solids are fluidised for about 30 minutes. Reaction vessel
overflow solution containing fine solids estimated at minus 30 microns is discharge
back to the grinding section
Mixing of Leach Solution Reagents
The leach solution is made up in the Reaction Vessel Feed Tank which is fitted
with a side-mounted mixer. Potable water (3.2 m
3
) is added to the tank and
NaOH, NaCN and LeachWell GC are added as solids in that order and mixed.
Leaching of the Concentrate
The leach solution is pumped from the Reaction Vessel Feed Tank via the
distributor through the Reaction Vessel at a rate sufficient only to fluidise the
concentrate. This ensures that no fine solids are carried over in the pregnant
overflow.

The leach solution is circulated through the Reaction Vessel for about 16 hours.
Recovery of Pregnant Solution and Washing of the Residue
At termination of leaching, the Reaction Vessel overflow is sampled for assay, the
flow is stopped and drainage of the solution through the distributor to the Reaction
Vessel Feed Tank is commenced. After about 15 minutes, when the solids in the
Reaction Vessel have settled, pregnant solution is also taken off to the Reaction
Vessel Feed Tank via the decant. This reduces the pregnant solution recovery
time.

The wash water is applied as a spray to the surface of the residue solids. The
minimum quantity of wash applied is approximately equal to the voids in the
residue which are about 0.5 m
3
.
Discharging of the Leach Residue
The leached residue is fluidised and then discharged to the grinding section.

The very coarse grinding ball chips fail to fluidise and are retained on the distributor
screen. The grinding ball chip is physically removed from the Reaction Vessel.
Electrowinning
The pregnant solution and recovered wash solution in the Reaction Vessel Feed
Tank are mixed and pumped to the Electrowinning Cell Feed Tank where it is
sampled and the volume of the solution is measured.

The solution in the Electrowinning Cell Feed Tank is pumped to the EW Cell at
controlled flow rate. Solution is circulated on the cell for a specific period of time
determined by the cell tail assay.
Disposal of Electrowinning Tail
The EW Tail is transferred in total to the CIL circuit.
4.3 FLOWSHEET
The flowsheet developed for the process is shown below

5 ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION
The design concept for the transportable ACACIA Reactor was based on using
modules which were sized to be easily transported to the various AngloGold
Australasia sites as normal in gauge loads which allowed for day and night travel
and eliminated the need for an escort vehicle.

The plant was based on three major items of equipment - namely, the Lower
Module the Upper Module and the Raw Water Tank.

Plug in electrical connections were used to join all electrical circuits between the
Lower and Upper Modules. This approach eliminated the need for an electrician
on site to perform any equipment wiring other than termination of the incoming
supply cable to the MCC.

Similarly, all necessary piping was pre-run on the modules with flanged connection
between the Lower and Upper Modules. This approach eliminated the need for on-
site piping work with the only field connection necessary being the incoming and
outgoing product lines.

The Lower Module was fitted with four levelling jacks which eliminated the need for
precise and level concrete foundations.

The unit was facility-assembled and wet-commissioned in the workshop. This
approach ensured all the pumps were wired correctly and all the process lines
were checked for leaks and correct destination.

Construction commenced in October 1998. The plant was delivered to the URGM
site on 10 January 1999 for commissioning and a full month plant trial during
February 1999.
6 OPERATING AT URGM
6.1 COMMISSIONING PERIOD
The ACACIA Reactor was located on the south side of the grinding section
adjacent to the No. 2 Ball Mill.

Commissioning of the ACACIA Reactor was conducted using 0.94 m
3
of Gemini
Table Tailing since this did not interfere with normal URGM production. Leaching
of this material proceeded as expected producing a 1.7 g/t residue but an
unexpected issue arose with the electrowinning process being retarded.

The initial leach solution (3.2m
3
) contained 90 kg NaCN, 9 kg NaOH and 27 kg
LeachWell GC based on recommendation by the LeachWell GC supplier. On the
assumption that the LeachWell GC reagent was retarding the electrowinning, the
reagent combination was altered mainly decreasing the amount of Leachwell GC
used. The combination that was settled on that enabled complete dissolution of
gold and subsequent recovery in the electrowinning cycle within the 16 hour time
period for each operation, was 45 kg NaCN, 9 kg NaOH and 3 kg Leachwell
equivalent to 1.25% NaCN, 0.25% NaOH and 0.08% LeachWell GC.

Trial Treatment Period Results
From 28 January to 1 March (33 days), all Knelson Concentrate available at the
Gold Room was treated in the ACACIA Reactor. The production data are
summarised below:

Units
Production days 33
Concentrate treated m
3
11.1
Residue contents Kg Au 1.417
Calculated Head Kg Au 70.473
Au g/t 3528
Leach Extraction Au % 98.0

Safety
Throughout the operation of the ACACIA Reactor, pH of solutions and HCN
levels in air in the Upper Module were monitored. Readings taken immediately
above the solution tanks, the Reaction Vessel and the EW Cell never exceeded
2ppm HCN.

Dissolution of Gold
The gold recovered into concentrate varies daily. During the 33 day trial the range
of the daily gravity concentrate gold content was from 3.2 kg to 10.7 kg per batch.
There were no difficulties in operating the ACACIA Reactor with this wide variation
in feed gold content.

Typical dissolution curve, as per the graph below, shows rapid initial dissolution
with plus 99% dissolution achieved with in the 16 hour time frame. Solution value
between 1000 ppm to 2600 ppm were generated in the 3.2 m
3
dissolution solution.

Metallurgical Accounting
A thorough sampling programme was carried out during the month long production
trial to provide data to assess operating parameters and enable calculation of a
detailed metallurgical account.

Operating Costs
Because of the manual operation of the Portable ACACIA Reactor treatment plant,
the labour requirement was about the same as for operating the Gemini Table in
the Gold Room

The sodium cyanide and caustic soda cost have been calculated from the actual
usage for the 33 days of concentrate production and for a projected addition of 3 kg
of LeachWell GC per batch. No credit has been allowed for the benefit of reagents
provided when the EW Tail is transferred to the CIL circuit.

Electric power consumed has been based on the actual hours of operation of the
individual units and an assumed power draw by each unit. The unit cost for power
has been allowed at $0.10/kWh.

Actual Reagents Power Total
$ per batch of concentrate 219 26 245
$ per day 80 13 93
$ per Oz 1.31 0.21 1.52

45kg NaCN, 9kg NaOH and 3kg LeachWell .
Knelson Concentrator calculated head = 2422 Au g/t.
Residue assay = 1.64 Au g/t
ACACIA Reactor - Leach at URGM

6.2 OPERATING PERIOD

The results for the trial month were so encouraging that URGM retained the
transportable ACACIA Reactor unit on site as a production unit treating all of their
Knelson Concentrator concentrate until October 1999. During this period URGM
designed, built and installed an ACACIA Reactor within the gold room replacing the
Gemini table and associated activities.

A summary of the gold recover distribution for the URGM operation is shown in
Table A. There has been a plus 20% increase in gold recovered by gravity circuit
since the installation of the ACACIA Reactor.

Table A. URGM Gold Distribution
Month Gravity Recovery CIL Recovery
kg % kg %

I
st
Half 95 210.99 16.20 1058.03 81.23
2
nd
Half 95 291.92 20.05 1121.61 77.02
I
st
Half 96 352.02 24.46 1017.54 70.70
2
nd
Half 96 347.83 25.41 951.82 69.54
I
st
Half 97 272.91 25.47 738.41 68.92
2
nd
Half 97 224.39 14.29 1248.09 79.51
I
st
Half 98 350.85 18.73 1395.90 74.51
2
nd
Half 98 195.97 11.78 1346.53 80.97
ACACIA Reactor commenced
I
st
Half 99 444.84 24.41 1240.70 68.07
2
nd
Half 99 667.51 29.18 1453.01 63.52

The major impact within the gold room has been the eliminated the health issues
due to arsenic oxide fumes generated when treating Gemini table concentrate and
improvement security with respect to manually handling of high grade gold
concentrates.

Other improvement has been a stabilising of the CIL recovered gold, reducing the
overload situation developed in the CIL/Elution circuit due to the increasing tonnage
throughput.
7 ACACIA REACTOR AT SDGM
The transportable ACACIA Reactor was transferred to Sunrise Dam Gold Mine and
commenced operation during November 1999.

The main reason for trialing the ACACIA Reactor concept at SDGM was to prove
the unit could dissolve, not only the increased quantity of gravity recoverable gold
but also the coarser gold that occurred at SDGM.

The increased quantity of gold proved to be not an issue for the ACACIA Reactor
as on one occasion during the trial period dissolving 38 kg of gold from a batch of
gravity concentrate. The unit proved to be extremely versatile, handling individual
batches containing recoverable gold between 12.5 kg to 38.4 kg of gold.

The very coarse gold flakes typically the size of an Australian 10 cent coin were
not dissolved during the allocated 16 hours dissolution cycle. As these gold
particles were the exception rather than the norm, no changes were made to the
leach conditions because all leached residue was returned to the grinding section
where any coarse gold will be returned to the ACACIA Reactor for a second and
third chance for dissolution.
7.1 COMMISSIONING PERIOD
From 15
th
November, 1999 to 1st January (48 days), all Knelson Concentrate
available at the Gold Room was treated in the ACACIA Reactor. The production
data are summarised below:

Units
Production days 48
Concentrate treated m
3
20.4
Estimate Dt 44.9
Residue contents kg Au 60.4
Calculated Head kg Au 579.6
Au g/t 12908
Leach Extraction Au % 89.6
7.2 OPERATING PERIOD
At the time of writing this paper the ACACIA Reactor had only been in action for 4
months and the trends indicate improved gravity recovery, but the variations in ore
types processed during this time and throughout the mine life makes it difficult to
state categorically the Acacia reactor has increased gravity recovery. The gold
distribution is shown in Table B below.

Table B. SDGM Gold Distribution
Year Gravity Recovery CIL Recovery
Kg % kg %

2
nd
Half 97 1617.26 47.8 1648.66 48.7
I
st
Half 98 1434.86 44.5 1653.51 51.3
2
nd
Half 98 1280.20 43.6 1512.62 51.5
I
st
Half 99 1100.87 46.9 1097.22 46.7
2
nd
Half 99 1712.21 47.2 1587.15 43.7
ACACIA Reactor commenced
3 months 915.69 48.4 739.65 39.1

8 COMMERCIAL
A patent covering the process has been granted. ConSep have been granted a
licence to sell the ACACIA Reactor by AngloGold Australasia.

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