Better Temperature Control at Newmont Roasters Increased Gold Recovery

René R. Fernández
Process Assistant Superintendent

Newmont Mining Corporation – Nevada, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT

Newmont Mining Corporation has been processing refractory gold ore by roasting
since January 1995. The ore is refractory due to the association of the gold with
iron sulfides, namely pyrite and marcasite, and the presence of carbonaceous
components and is oxidized in an oxygen-enriched gaseous atmosphere. The
structural characteristics of the calcine have a strong influence on the eventual
recovery of gold by cyanidation. These characteristics are strongly dependent
upon the roasting conditions, mainly the roasting temperature.

Originally, the sulfides and carbonaceous matter were oxidized at a temperature

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that typically ranged between 535 and 560 C. Controlling the roasting
temperature within the lower and narrower range of 510 to 515 oC produced a
calcine with a larger surface area (e.g. higher porosity), which resulted in a gold
recovery increase of 3.3 percent in 2001 equivalent to 5.1 million dollars of
additional gross revenue.

The new strategies of operating at temperatures never tested before are

discussed. It constituted a great challenge to the control room operators for the
lower operating temperature falls much closer to the ignition temperature of the
sulfide ore and smaller and more frequent adjustments in operating parameters
were needed to improve and maintain high gold recoveries.
Based on the encouraging results that were achieved in 2001, a decision was
made to install a “smart” process control system for the roaster temperature control
is performed by manual inputs from the control room operators. The development
and implementation of the automatic control system to reduce or eliminate the
temperature variability between the different control room operators commenced
during the second quarter of 2002. Further increase in gold recovery is anticipated
when the new “smart system” is fully operational.

INTRODUCTION

The Refractory Ore Treatment Plant (ROTP) at Newmont Mining in Nevada, U.S.A.
processes gold ores that are refractory due to the association of the gold with iron
sulfides and the presence of carbonaceous matter. Based on pilot plant studies,
the plant was designed for a roasting temperature of 550 oC. Therefore, during the
first few years of operation the temperature in the roasters was typically maintained
around that level.

The unit operations of the ROTP have been described previously. 1 It comprises of
primary and secondary crushing, dry grinding, ore pre-heating, circulating fluid bed
roasting, heat recovery, gas cleaning, sulfuric acid production, and conventional
carbon-in-leach cyanidation of the calcine product. By far, the roasting operation is
the most critical for it directly affects the gold recovery. There are two identical
roasting trains, each one with a process capacity of 165 to 180 tonnes per hour
(t/h).

Roasting of sulfide gold ores requires careful control to generate a calcine that
yields maximum gold recovery. In general, the oxidative roasting of pyrite is a
complicated process and the structural properties of the calcine are likely to be

2
dependant on the changes associated with the intermediate products. The
oxidation mechanism involves several steps.2 Oxygen is adsorbed onto the
surface of the sulfide particle where it captures electrons from a sulfide ion on a
nearby site thereby becoming incorporated into the lattice of the mineral. The
sulfur further reacts with another oxygen molecule adsorbed beside it forming a
sulfur dioxide molecule that desorbs and diffuses away, leaving a vacant sulfide ion
site on the mineral surface. Another sulfur ion diffuses from the interior to occupy
the site and continues the reaction. As the loosely bound sulfur diffuses, the
pyrrhotite produced further oxidizes to magnetite and hematite while oxygen
replaces the sulfur in the calcine structure.3

The physical characteristics of the oxidized product are very important, and the
thermodynamics of the roasting operation must be carefully controlled to produce a
calcine of high porosity. The rate of oxidation of pyrite is proportional to the partial
pressure of oxygen at the surface of the reacting particle and increases rapidly with
increasing reaction temperature.

OLD OPERATING PRACTICE

The operating temperature of both roasters was typically maintained between 535
and 560 oC, with excursions as high as 575 oC. Oxygen concentration in the
oxidizing gas ranges from 30 to 40 percent by volume. The lower oxygen levels
are necessary during periods of high tonnage throughput due to limited oxygen
production capacity. In terms of operating temperature, the system is very flexible
and most of the times can be operated at a wide range.

Besides the heat of reaction from oxidation of the pyrite and organic carbon in the
ore, additional heat to the roasters can be added by three natural gas burners that
preheat the roaster feed, the roaster fluidizing gas, and the oxygen, respectively,

3
and by direct injection of liquid sulfur into the roaster. The sulfur feeding system
was interlocked with the roaster mid-bed temperatures, which were always lower
than the temperature in the upper part of the roaster.

Operating the roasters at elevated temperatures over a wide range was the
common practice, which was easy to maintain due to the availability of the external
heat sources previously mentioned. It must also be mentioned that those
operating temperatures were much higher than the pyrite ignition temperature,
which gave the control room operators sufficient time to increase or decrease the
external heat input when sudden changes in the feed composition occurred (e.g.
sulfide sulfur and/or organic carbon). Otherwise, the mid-bed temperatures
interlock shut the feed to the roaster, resulting in high production losses. This
practice also reduced the stress level among the control room operators for
variable changes were needed less frequently. Consequently, the roasters were
operated at elevated temperatures with the subsequent lower gold recoveries.

Historical production and recovery data since startup in 1995 is presented in Table
I. The high gold recovery during the first year of operation was attributed to the fact
that the roaster feed contained partially oxidized material with high cyanide soluble
gold.

Throughput Production Percent

Year T Ounces Recovery
1995 1,437,735 368,490 91.03
1996 2,364,346 527,037 86.08
1997 2,330,396 682,838 87.33
1998 2,324,572 471,221 89.54
1999 2,819,396 640,715 89.43
2000 2,673,086 694,395 87.75
2001 2,774,202 585,449 89.51
2002* 1,543,422 311,772 90.98
* January through July.

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Due to the wide range of operating temperatures, which resulted in significant
fluctuations in gold recovery, a sampling campaign was conducted in the roasting
circuit during May and June of 2000 in an attempt to establish a relationship
between roasting temperatures and gold recovery. All samples were collected
randomly and steady roasting conditions prevailed during sampling. Roaster
temperatures were in the range of 505 to 555 oC, oxygen concentration in the
roaster off-gas between 31 and 37 percent, and retention times between 15 and 30
minutes.

The roasting temperature for each calcine sample was controlled within a range of
about 5 oC. The gold grade of the roaster product ranged from 6.8 to 11.3 g/t. The
data collected from bottle roll cyanidation tests (carbon-in-leach) indicated a clear
trend of higher gold extraction at the lower roaster temperatures (Figure 1)
independently of the roasting retention time and the oxygen concentration in the
roaster off-gas.

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 Figure 1
Au Extraction Vs Roaster Temperature: May - June, 2000
94
2
R = 0.44
92
Gold Extraction, %

90

88

86

84
500 510 520 530 540 550 560
Roasting Temperature, C

A second sampling campaign was conducted in November 2000 using the same
protocol as in May/June with similar results (Figure 2). Gold head grade ranged
from 12.3 to 21.5 g/t.

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 Figure 2
Au Extraction Vs Roaster Temperature - November 2000
92

91
2
R = 0.59
90
Gold Extraction, %

89

88

87

86

85
515 525 535 545 555
Roasting Temperature, C

Meanwhile, the roaster temperatures were systematically recorded on a 12-hour

shift basis since October 2000. The mean daily temperature for the period of
October 2000 through February 2001 ranged from 513 to 547 oC with an average
of 527 oC. However, the 12-hour shift average temperature ranged from 500 to
585 oC. The gold grade of the roaster feed during the aforementioned period
ranged from 4.3 to 17.4 g/t. The gold recovery ranged between 71.7 and 93.5
percent with a weighted average of 86.78 percent. The data is illustrated in Figure
3.

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 Figure 3
Au Recovery Vs Roaster Temperature - Oct 00 / Feb 01
95
2
R = 0.40
90
Gold Recovery, %

85

80

75

70
510 520 530 540 550
Roasting Temperature, C

GOLD RECOVERY AND SURFACE AREA

In general, when sulfide minerals are oxidized in an oxygen-containing gaseous

atmosphere, individual particles lose internal volume and become porous, thus
allowing the leaching solutions access to the gold in the subsequent recovery
stages. Consequently, as the transformation of pyrite to hematite involves a
significant decrease in molar volume, the formation of a porous product should be
expected from the oxidation process.

Leaching of calcine from pilot plant studies during the development of Newmont
patented roasting technology6 indicated a higher gold extraction as the specific
surface area increased, a result that was achieved as the temperature was
reduced (Table II).

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 Table II. Surface Area and Gold Extraction from Pilot Plant Samples
Ore Gold Roasting Specific Gold
Deposit Grade Temperature Surface Area Extraction
g/t C m2/ g %
GQ* 4.42 625 4.73 69
525 6.18 93
Post 5.73 625 2.92 82
525 3.93 87
* GQ: Gold Quarry Deposit

On the basis of the data presented in Figures 1 through 3, it may be possible that
the detrimental effect of the higher roasting temperatures on gold recovery is
related to the formation of a “less porous” product, which may be associated with
the degree and rate of crystallization of hematite, as was observed by Arriagada et
al.4 in the roasting of pure pyrite samples. A strong correlation was also found by
Arriagada et al.5 in the roasting behavior of pyrite and arsenopyrite between
increasing roasting temperature and a decrease in gold extraction, an effect that
was partially attributed to the loss of surface area of the calcines.

Actual plant data demonstrate that the specific surface area (e.g. porosity) of the
oxidation products in the roasting of ores containing iron sulfides (namely pyrite
and/or marcasite) is strongly dependent on the roasting temperature. Calcine
samples from both roasting trains as well as 24-hour metallurgical samples were
selected between November 2000 and March 2001 and submitted to a commercial
laboratory for surface area measurement. Results indicated a marked increase of
the surface area as the roasting temperature is reduced (Figure 4). The calcine
with the largest surface area was produced at temperatures lower than 520 oC.

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 Figure 4
Surface Area Vs Roaster Temperature
4.5

4.0
R2 = 0.73
3.5
Surface Area, m2/g

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0
510 515 520 525 530 535 540 545 550
Roasting Temperature, C

As found from the previous sampling campaigns in the roasting circuit, the highest
gold recovery was achieved from the calcines produced at the lower temperatures
as depicted in Figure 5.

Consequently, the gold recovery from the refractory gold ores that are being
processed at Newmont roasters is directly related to the specific surface area of
the oxidation products (Figure 6), which is, in turn, related to the roasting
temperature.

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 Figure 5
Gold Recovery Vs Roaster Temperature
94
2
R = 0.78

92
Gold Recovery, %

90

88

86

84
510 520 530 540 550
Roasting Temperature, C

Figure 6
Gold Recovery Vs Specific Surface Area
94
2
R = 0.65

92
Gold Recovery, %

90

88

86

84
1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
Specific Surface Area, m2/g

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 NEW OPERATING PRACTICE

In order to operate the roasters at lower temperatures, the mid bed temperature
interlock with the roaster feed was reduced. After a period of five months, the
control room operators realized that smaller and more frequent changes were
necessary to maintain the temperature at or near the desired levels to achieve
maximum gold recovery. However, very often there was the need to manually stop
the feed when sudden changes in ore composition occurred. As time passed, they
had to re-educate themselves in terms of variable changes and response time to
achieve what they expected to happen inside the roasters. Results are
summarized in Figure 7 where the gold recovery is plotted against the roaster
temperature between October 2000 when systematic monitoring was started and
July 2002.

Figure 7
Gold Recovery Vs. Roaster Temperature - Oct 00 / Jul 02
535 93

530 92

525 91
Roaster Temperature, C

Gold Recovery, %
520 90

515 89

510 88

505 87

500 86

495 85
Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec Feb Apr Jun
Temperature Recovery

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By being more vigilant and diligent in controlling the roaster temperatures at lower
levels (e.g. around 515 oC), gold recovery was increased from 86.66 percent
(January and February of 2000) to 89.96 percent (March through December). This
additional 3.30 percent recovery represented 18,625 ounces, which was equivalent
to additional gross revenue of 5.10 million dollars. Gold recovery further improved
to 90.98 percent during the first seven months of 2002.

AUTOMATIC CONTROL SYSTEM

As stated before, the original design called for a roasting temperature in the range
of 525 to 575 oC, or an average of 550 oC. Therefore, since the start-up of the
roasting plant in December 1994, the normal operating temperature was typically
higher than 540 oC. Since the ignition temperature for pyrite oxidation falls far
below that value, the control room operators can control the roasting temperature
within a relatively narrow range when operating at such high levels. The tendency
was always to operate at higher temperatures, which greatly reduced the stress
level associated with the roaster control.

Furthermore, control of the roaster temperatures is performed by manual inputs

from the control room operators, which includes, but is not limited to, the three
main natural gas burners: pre-heater, oxygen, and fluidizing gas. The changes
required in those three burners to maintain the temperature at a certain level
depend on different conditions but will mainly be dictated by the experience and
“gut feeling” of the control room operator. Therefore, under the same conditions
and for the same targets, each operator makes different inputs. As a result, the
roasting temperatures are never consistent and fluctuate due to human input.

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Figure 8 depicts the monthly roaster temperature for each of the four operating
crews in the roasting plant.

Figure 8
Roaster Temperature - Oct 00 through Jul 02
540

535

530
Roaster Temperature, C

525

520

515

510

505

500
Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul
Blue Green Orange Red

Despite the fact that the current shift temperatures are lower than the average at
the beginning of year 2000, each crew still shows a high variability (e.g. high
standard deviation). If we assume that the current roasting temperature of 510 to
515 oC is the optimum range, we must also assume that when the temperature
rises to 530 or 540 oC the calcine produced yields high tail solids (e.g. low gold
recovery). On the other hand, when the temperature goes lower than 500 oC (e.g.
485 or 490 oC) we may assume that “unroasted” or partially roasted ore might get
to the gold leaching circuit. The latter is difficult to prove because the roasters are
never in steady state when the temperatures are that low. As a matter of fact, the
roasters are almost impossible to control at those low temperatures.

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Despite the various tools available to the control room operators to control the
roasting temperature, a larger variability was observed at the lower temperatures
as compared to previous years when the operating temperatures were much
higher. Very often the temperature in the roasters increases to undesirable levels
thus negatively affecting gold recovery. This happens because the system requires
small, more frequent, and consistent changes.

Even thou the two roasting trains are identical, there is always a significant
temperature difference between the North Roaster and the South Roaster as well
as a marked difference between control room operators. Besides, the temperature
during a 12-hour shift very often spreads between 490 and 550 oC independently of
the crew.

In January 2002, funding was requested for the installation of a “smart” process
control system (AutoPilotTM) to improve the roaster control, to reduce the variability
of the roasting temperature within and between the different crews, and further
increase gold recovery. The project was approved and development and
installation commenced during the second quarter of 2002 with a kickoff meeting
with process control, operations, and supervisory staff to review the operating,
control, and economic objectives of the roasters along with issues related to user
interface, hardware, instrumentation, schedule, and logistics.

CONCLUSIONS

The fact that the different refractory gold ores that have been processed at
Newmont roasting plant in Nevada demanded lower roasting temperatures for
maximum gold recoveries constituted a great challenge for the control room

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operators. It was a challenge not only because the kinetics of the roasting
reactions is much slower at lower temperatures, but also because those
temperatures fall much closer to the pyrite ignition temperature.

Gross revenue was increased by 5.10 million dollars during the last 10 months of
2001 by maintaining a closer control of the roaster temperatures at significantly
lower levels than the design of 550 oC. Plant data demonstrated that the specific
surface area of the calcine product from the oxidizing roasting of refractory gold
ores containing pyrite and/or marcasite is strongly dependent upon the roasting
temperature. Results indicated a marked increase of the surface area as the
roasting temperature is reduced. The calcine with the largest surface area was
produced at temperatures around 515 oC, which also corresponded to the highest
gold recovery. Consistent high gold recovery is achieved when the roaster
temperature is maintained at or near that level.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author wants to acknowledge with sincere gratitude the management of

Newmont Mining Corporation for granting permission to make this information
available to others in the gold mining industry in hope that it will help those with
similar process facilities to improve the gold recovery and increase their
profitability.

REFERENCES

1. Fernández, R. R., 1996, Refractory Ore Treatment Plant at Newmont Gold

Company, Second International Gold symposium, Lima, Peru, pp. 227-234.

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2. Gossman, G. I., 1987, The Extractive Metallurgy of Gold in South Africa, vol. 1,
G. G. Stanley, ed., SAIMM, Johannesburg, South Africa, pp. 346-347.
3. Swash, M. and Ellis, P., 1986, GOLD 100, Proc. Of the International
Conference on Gold, Extractive Metallurgy of Gold, vol. 2, C. E. Fivas and R. P.
King, eds., SAIMM, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1986, p. 235.

4. Arriagada, F. J. and Osseo-Asare, K, 1982, Roasting of Refractory Auriferous

Concentrates, Process Mineralogy II: Applications in Metallurgy, Ceramics, and
Geology, Hagni, R. D., ed., TMS, Warrendale, PA, pp. 173-186.

5. Arriagada, F. J. and Osseo-Asare, K, 1984, Gold Extraction from Refractory

Ores: Roasting Behavior of Pyrite and Arsenopyrite, Precious Metals: Mining,
Extraction, and Processing, Kudryk, V., Corrigan, D. A., and Liang, W. W., eds.,
TMS, Warrendale, PA, pp. 367-385.

6. Fernandez, R., 1991, Refractory Ore Process Development, Planning Note 9-

12, Newmont Metallurgical Services, Salt Lake City, Utah.

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