BIOPOLYMER ADDITION TO BOOST RECOVERY AND THROUGHPUT IN GOLD LEACHING

PROCESSES. A CASE STUDY FROM ANTAM PONGKOR, INDONESIA

Helminton Sitanggang, Adam Pratomo, *Rolf Andreas Lauten and Dani Ramdani

A universal challenge for the mineral processing industry is the diminishment of high grade ores.
Instead, low grade ores, sometimes also containing problematic gangue minerals is the reality.
With lower head grades the industry has to put more effort into processing to maintain the
output and achieve suitable recoveries. In an effort to reduce the impact of declining head
grade, a biopolymer was evaluated as an additive in the gold leaching operation at Antam
Pongkor in Indonesia.
The biopolymer acts as a dispersant by reducing the viscosity of the leach slurry and this may be
beneficial for several reasons. First, a lower viscosity may facilitate higher slurry solids content in
the processing plant and an associated increase in plant throughput. Addition of a dispersant
can prevent or reduce the extent of aggregation in the leach slurry, i.e. disperse the particles
during the leach. This may increase the surface area accessible to the lixiviation suite during the
leach. In this work the findings from trials conducted at Antam Pongkor are described where use
of a dispersant from Pionera, L-800, was found to increase the recovery in the leach circuit. In
addition, reduction in viscosity facilitated operation of the leach plants at a higher slurry solids
content, contributing to a higher throughput.
Laboratory testing revealed that biopolymer usage lead to an increased gold recovery without
apparent negative impact on the other parts of the process. Further plant trials revealed both a
recovery increase around 1.3% and higher throughput (9%) in the presence of the biopolymer.
Results from laboratory trials and a plant trial conclude that use of a biopolymer, L-800,
enhances the gold recovery in a cyanidation process. Use of L-800 also allows for higher solids
content in the leach process. Investigation of the kinetics of gold dissolution reveals a higher
rate constant in the presence of L- 800. Analysis of the leach solutions from bottle rolls suggests
that presence of L-800 enhances dissolution of pyrite. Investigation of the cyanide consumption
kinetics may be illuminating and facilitate a better understanding of how gold dissolution in
modified in the presence of biopolymer.
The enhanced gold recovery was attributed to two effects. For the particles with diameter less
than 44 μm, dispersion of slime particles was suggested to be the dominant effect. Dispersion of
slime particles increases the surface area of gold available to the lixiviation suite. Higher gold
recoveries were also found for some larger particles. This increase in gold recovery was
attributed to an enhanced dissolution of pyrite. An enhanced pyrite dissolution rate was verified
via higher concentrations of iron in the leach solution and reduction in the pyrite content of the
leach tails. A mechanism where L-800 either disperses insoluble pyrite oxidation products
(sulfides or hydroxides) or prevents passivation of the pyrite surface by adsorbing onto pyrite
itself is conjectured to explain this finding. Further investigations are required to verify this
claim.