Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 499–504

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Minerals Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng

Fungal pretreatment of sulfides in refractory gold ores

G. Ofori-Sarpong a,⇑, K. Osseo-Asare a,b, M. Tien c
a
Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
b
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
c
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study assessed the capability of the fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, to decompose pyrite, arse-
Available online 9 March 2011 nopyrite and a sulfide-containing flotation concentrate in an effort to develop a microbial process for pre-
treating refractory gold ores. The extent of biotransformation was monitored by analyzing for iron, sulfur
Keywords: and arsenic in incubation solutions, and for sulfide sulfur in the residual solids. The results were then
Phanerochaete chrysosporium expressed as percentages of the initial weights. For arsenopyrite, 1.5 wt.%, 7.2 wt.% and 10.3 wt.% of iron,
Biotransformation arsenic and sulfur respectively were present as soluble constituents in the incubation solution within
Pyrite
21 days of fungal treatment, whereas for pyrite, there was 1.2 wt.% iron and 6.0 wt.% sulfur. For the same
Arsenopyrite
Flotation concentrate, Refractory gold ores
processing period in the case of the flotation concentrate, 1.8 wt.%, 6.1 wt.% and 10.7 wt.% respectively of
iron, arsenic and sulfur remained in solution. Overall, the decomposition of sulfide sulfur in the samples
was 15 wt.%, 35 wt.% and 57 wt.% respectively for pyrite, arsenopyrite and the flotation concentrate.
Changes in sulfide sulfur concentration and the formation of oxide phases during fungal treatment were
confirmed using Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. These results suggest that P. chrysos-
porium is a potential microorganism for oxidative decomposition of metal sulfides associated with refrac-
tory gold ores.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In sulfidic refractory gold ores, tiny gold particles typically
<1 lm (Marsden and House, 2006) may be highly disseminated
and locked up within the grain boundaries or fractures of sulfide
minerals such as pyrite and arsenopyrite. Thus, decomposition of
the sulfides is required to liberate the gold (Baako, 1972; Boyle,
1979; Komnitsas and Pooley, 1989; Benzaazoua et al., 2007). Com-
mercially, roasting, pressure oxidation and bacterial oxidation are
among the processes employed in sulfide oxidation (Arriagada
and Osseo-Asare, 1984; Berezowsky et al., 1988; Hutchins et al.,
1988; Yannopoulos, 1991; Nyavor and Egiebor, 1992; Brierley,
1995; Rawlings et al., 2003).
Biooxidation makes use of iron and sulfur oxidizing bacteria to
catalyze the oxidation of sulfides, liberating gold for subsequent
cyanidation (Lundgren and Silver, 1980; Livesey-Goldblatt et al.,
1983; Brierley, 1997; Hackl, 1997). The bacteria gain energy by oxi-
dizing ferrous iron and elemental sulfur which generates, in situ,
ferric ions and sulfuric acid. Ferric ions and sulfuric acid are
lixiviants responsible for indirect leaching of the sulfides in the
bio-system (Keller and Murr, 1982; Rawlings et al., 1999; Sand
et al., 2001; Rohwerder et al., 2003; Madigan and Martinko,
2006). At the end of biooxidation, gold may be totally liberated
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: goforisarp@gmail.com, gad164@psu.edu (G. Ofori-Sarpong).
or associated with relatively more porous iron oxides and thus
amenable to cyanidation (Marsden and House, 2006). However,
most of the major bacteria meet their carbon requirement by uti-
lizing carbon dioxide. Consequently, in cases where double refrac-
tory gold ores (DRGO) are treated, the biooxidised concentrate
generally contains substantial levels of carbonaceous matter
(CM) that is not degraded (Silver, 1970; Glazer and Nikaido,
1995; Madigan and Martinko, 2006). The CM is therefore routed
into downstream cyanidation circuits where it adsorbs (preg-robs)
dissolved gold (Brierley and Kulpa, 1992, 1993; Amankwah et al.,
2005; Yen et al., 2008).
Current research efforts have focused on two-stage processes to
oxidize sulfides and deactivate CM (Brierley and Kulpa, 1992,
1993; Amankwah et al., 2005; Yen et al., 2008). However, using a
‘‘one-pot’’ process that can simultaneously oxidize sulfides and
deactivate CM will be of immense benefit in the treatment of DRGO
as it will shorten process time, and thus cut down cost.
The fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, secretes the oxidative
enzymes, lignin peroxidase and manganese peroxidase (Glenn
et al., 1983; Tien and Kirk, 1983, 1988), which are capable of
degrading aromatic carbonaceous materials. Ofori-Sarpong et al.
(2010) used this fungus to deactivate anthracite-grade
carbonaceous matter and reduce its gold adsorption ability by
more than 90%. P. chrysosporium also secretes a H2O2-generating
enzyme, glyoxal oxidase (Kersten and Kirk, 1987), and hydrogen
peroxide is known to solubilize pyrite and arsenopyrite as shown

0892-6875/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2011.02.020
500 G. Ofori-Sarpong et al. / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 499–504
in Eqs. (1) and (2) (McKibben and Barnes, 1986; Schreiner et al.,
1988; Antonijevic et al., 1997; Jennings et al., 2000).
2FeS2 þ 15H2 O2 ! 2Fe3þ þ 4SO2 þ
4 þ 2H þ 14H2 O
FeAsS þ 7H2 O2 ! Fe3þ þ AsO3 2 þ
4 þ SO4 þ 2H þ 6H2 O
The iron (III) and sulfuric acid produced by the reactions in Eqs.
(1) and (2) constitute the main reagents created by the chemolith-
otrophic sulfide oxidizing bacteria for the indirect biooxidation of
sulfides (Brierley, 1995; Hackl, 1997; Keller and Murr, 1982; Sand
et al., 2001; Holmes and Bonnefoy, 2006).
This study was therefore aimed at investigating the ability of
the CM-deactivating fungus, P. chrysosporium, to also solubilize/
oxidize sulfides found in refractory gold ores so as to assess the po-
tential of a single-stage process for the pretreatment of double
refractory gold ores.
2. Experimental investigations
2.1. Materials
Fungal spores of P. chrysosporium ME446, were obtained from
the Ming Tien lab of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecu-
lar Biology, Penn State University. Pyrite and arsenopyrite samples
were supplied by VWR and Ward’s Natural Science Establishment
respectively. The sulfide-containing flotation concentrate (FC) al-
ready milled to all passing 75 lm was obtained from the sulfide
treatment plant at Bogoso Mine of Golden Star Prestea–Bogoso Re-
sources, Ghana. The growth media for the fungus, millet and wheat
bran (MWB) were obtained from Nature’s Pantry, State College, PA,
whereas reagent grades succinic acid and sodium hydroxide were
obtained from Alfa Aesar.
2.2. Medium preparation, incubation and harvesting of treated
material
The millet and wheat bran (MWB) medium was prepared by
using 8 g millet and 2 g wheat bran. Double-distilled (dd) H2O used
for the incubation was buffered with succinic acid and the pH ad-
justed to four using sodium hydroxide. The medium, in Erlenmeyer
flasks, was moistened with water and autoclaved at 121 °C for
30 min. On cooling, the medium was inoculated with 1 mL of spore
suspension of P. chrysosporium (made by suspending one vial of
spores in 25 mL of dd H2O). Ten grams each of pyrite and arseno-
pyrite samples was moistened with 5 mL of water and autoclave-
sterilized for 30 min. The samples at 30% solids were incubated
in triplicates at 37 °C, for up to 21 days on a New Brunswick Series
25 Incubator shaker at 150 rpm. Control experiments were also set
up for 14 days under similar conditions. At the end of the incuba-
tion period the samples were washed with water to get rid of the
media and fungal biomass, and then dried at 37 °C for 7 days.
2.3. Determination of dissolved components and sulfide sulfur analysis
of fungal-treated solids
The liquid samples obtained after fungal treatment were tested
for total dissolved arsenic, iron and sulfur using a Perkin–Elmer
Optima 5300 inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spec-
troscopy (ICP-AES). Before determining sulfide sulfur in both the
as-received and processed solids, sulfate sulfur and elemental sul-
fur, if any, had to be removed. For elemental sulfur (S0), samples
were digested in the ratio of 2 g solid sample to 25 mL tetrachloro-
ethylene for 60 min in a boiling water bath, after which the sample
was filtered. The sulfate sulfur portion was removed by contacting
the dried filter cake with 3 M HCl in the ratio of 1 g solid to 50 mL
solution (Ciminelli and Osseo-Asare, 1995; Rait and Aruscavage,
2006). The mixture was heated at 80 °C for 90 min and then fil-
tered. The filter cake was washed with water and dried at 70 °C.
ð1Þ Sulfide sulfur in the filter cake was then determined by the volu-
metric combustion technique using the LECO Sulfur determinater
ð2Þ SC-4444DR.
2.4. Characterization of flotation concentrate
Both X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were used to
evaluate phase changes in the flotation concentrate before and
after treatment with P. chrysosporium. In the case of Raman spec-
troscopy, samples were homogenized and mounted on adhesive
tape attached to a sample holder. Raman spectra were collected
using the Confocal WITec XY Raman spectrometer at 5 min interval
with 1 s integration time. For X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies, the
samples were ground to fine powder in an agate mortar and then
sprinkled on the surface of a quartz zero-background sample
holder. The analysis was carried out using PANalytical X’Pert Pro
powder diffractometer with X’celerator detector. A Ni-filtered
Cu Ka radiation produced at 45 kV and 40 mA was used for the
analysis. The scan was run from 10° to 70° for 2-theta at a scan
speed of 2 deg/min. Data acquisition was done using MDI Jade 9
software.
2.5. Analysis of data
Fungal-dissolution of constituents (FDC) during incubation was
estimated in wt.% as shown in Eq. (3), where V is the volume of
solution used in fungal incubation, C is the concentration of dis-
solved constituent as measured by ICP-AES, Pm is the percentage
of the constituent in the sulfide material and W is the mass of sul-
fide material used. Eq. (4) also depicts the percentage conversion of
sulfide sulfur (CoS) in the residual solids, where SI and SF are the
respective sulfide sulfur contents before and after fungal treat-
ment. All experiments were carried out in triplicate, and the data
reported in the figures are mean values, with the error bars repre-
senting the standard errors of the means.
V ðmLÞ  C ðl g=mLÞ
FDC ðwt:%Þ ¼  100% ð3Þ
Pm ð%Þ  W ðgÞ
ðSI  SFÞ ðgÞ
CoS ðwt:%Þ ¼  100% ð4Þ
SI ðgÞ
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Transformation of pyrite by P. chrysosporium
To establish the direct effect of P. chrysosporium on the biotrans-
formation of sulfides it was necessary to examine the effect of the
growth media, and this was done by running control experiments.
The results obtained for pyrite samples incubated for 2 weeks both
in the absence and presence of P. chrysosporium are illustrated in
Fig. 1. The figure shows that though there was some amount of dis-
solution of pyrite in the absence of fungal biomass, the presence of
the fungus led to 3–6 fold increase in dissolution of iron and sulfur.
The minor solubilization in the control experiment might be due to
natural oxidation of sulfides according to the reaction shown in Eq.
(5).
2FeS2 þ 7O2 þ 2H2 O ! 2Fe2þ þ 4SO2
4 þ 4H
þ
ð5Þ
This is, however, a slow reaction and cannot lead to any appre-
ciable level of dissolution under atmospheric conditions. In a
strong oxidizing environment containing hydrogen peroxide and
 G. Ofori-Sarpong et al. / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 499–504
Fig. 1. 2 week biotransformation of pyrite in the absence and presence of
P. chrysosporium. The experiment was conducted at 37 °C for 14 days at pH 4 and
30% solids.
oxidative enzymes, such as that generated by P. chrysosporium, the
conversion of ferrous to ferric ion as shown in Eq. (6) is possible
(Keller and Murr, 1982; Marsden and House, 2006).
Fe2þ ! Fe3þ þ e ð6Þ
The fungal-dissolution of pyrite as a function of time is depicted
in Fig. 2. After 21 days of fungal treatment there was 1.2 wt.% iron
and 6.0 wt.% sulfur in the incubation solution. It can be seen from
the figure that the rate of dissolution of pyrite is higher at the ini-
tial stages (up to 7 days) but decreases afterwards. In a batch cul-
ture such as the one utilized in this study, microbial growth and
hence activity increases exponentially in the initial stages of
growth, and retardation takes place afterwards due to exhaustion
of growth media and generation of waste products of metabolism
(Shuler and Kargi, 1992). The reduction in microbial activity and
thus availability of oxidants may account for the trend observed.
The pH for optimum operation of P. chrysosporium is 4 (Tien and
Kirk, 1988) and it is at this pH ± 0.3 that the experiment was
carried out. It is known that in oxidizing leaching of pyrite above
pH of 3 there is production of insoluble iron oxides/hydroxides/
Fig. 2. Accumulation of dissolved sulfur and iron during the incubation of pyrite
with P. chrysosporium. The experiment was conducted at 37 °C for up to 21 days at
pH and 30% solids.
501
sulfates such as Fe2O3, FeOOH and FeSO4, which precipitate on
the surfaces of unreacted material. Other components that may
be present in such a system include sulfites, thiosulfates, and ele-
mental sulfur (Osseo-Asare et al., 1984; Ciminelli and Osseo-Asare,
1995; Wei and Osseo-Asare, 1997). Accumulation of elemental sul-
fur and other precipitates in the system has the potential to passiv-
ate the unreacted surfaces, thus obstructing movement of
reactants and products to and from the reaction sites. This will lead
to reduction in the overall rate of reaction (Lindstrom et al., 1992;
Sasaki et al., 1995; Marsden and House, 2006; Mousavi et al.,
2006).
Stoichiometrically, the molar ratio of sulfur to iron in pyrite is
2:1. However, this ratio does not tally with the measurements
made in solution as the ratio is about 5 mol of sulfur to 1 mol of
iron. The deficiency of iron in the solution is likely due to precipi-
tation as presented above. Consequently, the quantity of dissolved
constituents does not reflect fully the overall biotransformation of
sulfide by the fungus. The progressive loss of sulfide sulfur with
time during treatment with the fungus was thus determined with
the help of the LECO combustion technique, and used to estimate
the overall oxidation of pyrite with time as shown in Fig. 3.
Within 21 days of fungal treatment of pyrite, an overall oxida-
tion of 15% was achieved, with about 90% of the conversion occur-
ring within the initial 10 days of treatment. Though the 15% overall
oxidation appears to be very low, it is substantial considering that
it was achieved for pure sulfides. For refractory sulfidic gold con-
centrates with lower sulfide sulfur content, it is possible to realize
higher percentage oxidation.
3.2. Transformation of arsenopyrite by P. chrysosporium
The dissolution of the constituents of arsenopyrite in the ab-
sence and presence of the fungus, P. chrysosporium is presented
in Fig. 4. In the absence of the fungus, dissolution of arsenic, iron
and sulfur was marginal at 0.9 wt.%, 0.16 wt.% and 2.6 wt.% respec-
tively. When the sample was incubated with P. chrysosporium, dis-
solution increased to higher values of 6.3 wt.%, 1.3 wt.% and
9.2 wt.% for arsenic, iron and sulfur respectively. The minor solubi-
lization in the control experiment might be due to natural oxida-
tion of sulfides according to the reaction shown in Eq. (7)
(Marsden and House, 2006).
3
4FeAsS þ 11O2 þ 6H2 O ! 4Fe2þ þ 4SO2 þ
4 þ 12H þ 4AsO3 ð7Þ
Fig. 3. Biotransformation of sulfide sulfur in pyrite as a function of fungal-
treatment time. The experiment was conducted at 37 °C for up to 21 days at pH 4
and 30% solids.
502 G. Ofori-Sarpong et al. / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 499–504
Fig. 4. 2 week biotransformation of arsenopyrite in the absence and presence of
P. chrysosporium. The experiment was conducted at 37 °C for 14 days at pH 4 and
30% solids.
The progressive increments of iron, sulfur and arsenic in incu-
bation solution during the fungal treatment of arsenopyrite over
different incubation periods are presented in Fig. 5. Over a period
of 21 days, the concentrations of iron, sulfur and arsenic in solution
increased consistently ending at 1.5 wt.%, 7.2 wt.% and 10.3 wt.%
respectively. The trends in Fig. 5 indicate that the concentrations
of the constituents in solution are yet to reach their respective pla-
teaus, and the processing time for maximum degradation extends
beyond 21 days. However, with better control of the system, higher
levels of conversion are expected within the given time.
The stoichiometric ratio of iron, arsenic and sulfur in 1 mol of
arsenopyrite is 1:1:1. This ratio changed based on the amount of
these constituents in incubation solution as the ratio in solution
was about 0.14 mol of Fe, 0.7 mol of As and 1 mol of sulfur after
21 days of treatment. This implies a deficiency of 0.86 mol of Fe
and 0.3 mol of As in solution relative to the as-received material,
as a result of precipitation. The precipitation of ferric arsenate at
pH above 2 has been observed by several authors, with concomi-
tant decrease in reaction rate (Escobar et al., 2000; Brierley,
2003; Lindstrom et al., 2003; Marsden and House, 2006). Overall,
the conversion of sulfide sulfur in arsenopyrite as determined by
the LECO combustion technique was 35 wt.%.
Fig. 5. Dissolution of iron, sulfur and arsenic from arsenopyrite as a function of
incubation time. The experiment was conducted at 37 °C for up to 21 days at pH 4
and 30% solids.
Compared to pyrite, a higher overall decomposition was
achieved for arsenopyrite, and this can be attributed to the higher
nobility of pyrite. Microbial attack is naturally initiated from weak-
er zones in a material (Wackett and Ellis, 1999), and hence the
weaker As–S bond is likely to be attacked relatively easier than
the Fe–S bond (Marsden and House, 2006).
3.3. Transformation of flotation (sulfidic gold) concentrates by P.
chrysosporium
Fig. 6 presents the direct dissolution of iron, sulfur and arsenic
from sulfidic gold concentrates by P. chrysosporium after 14 day
contact with MWB medium with and without fungal biomass. As
explained in the case of pyrite and arsenopyrite, the slight dissolu-
tion obtained in the control experiment may be due to natural dis-
solution of sulfides in the presence of water and oxygen, which
may cease in a limited oxidizing environment. However, in the
presence of the fungus and the associated oxidizing environment
generated, about 350–500% increase in dissolution was observed.
Fig. 7 depicts the dissolution of sulfides from FC by P. chrysospo-
rium as a function of incubation time (Eq. (3)). The dissolution of
sulfide begins after the initiation of incubation and rises rapidly
within the first week, beyond which dissolution slows down, end-
ing at 1.5 wt.%, 7.2 wt.% and 10.3 wt.% of dissolved iron, arsenic and
sulfur respectively at the end of 21 days of fungal treatment. The
figure however indicates that a plateau is yet to be achieved, and
this signifies that given more time for incubation, dissolution will
continue.
Fig. 8 presents the transformation of sulfide sulfur (Eq. (4)) in
the residual solid materials after incubation. About 48% of sulfide
sulfur in the flotation concentrate got oxidized within the initial
10 days of processing. Beyond this period, biotransformation
stalled leading to a further 9% oxidation, and bringing the total
conversion in sulfide sulfur to 57% within 21 days.
3.4. Characterization of flotation concentrate
Many metal sulfides show Raman peaks between 300 and
400 cm1 (Ushioda, 1972; Mernagh and Trudu, 1993; Sasaki
et al., 1995), and this was confirmed in the current investigation.
Raman spectroscopy of the as-received and treated flotation
concentrate indicated a reduction in the intensity of sulfide peaks
after fungal-biotransformation as presented in Fig. 9. These
Fig. 6. 2 week biotransformation of flotation concentrate in the absence and
presence of P. chrysosporium. The experiment was conducted at 37 °C for 14 days at
pH 4 and 30% solids.
 G. Ofori-Sarpong et al. / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 499–504
Fig. 7. Dissolution of sulfides in flotation concentrate by P. chrysosporium as a
function of time for 21 days. The experiment was conducted at 37 °C for up to
21 days at pH 4 and 30% solids.
Fig. 8. Biotransformation of sulfide sulfur in the flotation concentrate as a function
of incubation time. The experiment was conducted at 37 °C for up to 21 days at pH 4
and 30% solids.
Fig. 9. Raman spectrogram of as-received and fungal-treated flotation concentrate.
Treatment was conducted for 14 days at 37 °C and pH 4.
503
300
Intensity (counts)
1 – quartz
2 – pyrite
3 – arsenopyrite
200 4 – hematite
5 – ferric arsenate
6 – muscovite
100
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70
2 Theta (deg)
Fig. 10. X-ray diffractogram of as-received and fungal-treated flotation concen-
trate. Treatment was conducted for 14 days at 37 °C and pH 4.
observations authenticate the decrease in sulfide sulfur as deter-
mined by the LECO combustion technique. Further analysis by
XRD shows other products of sulfide sulfur oxidation (Fig. 10).
By comparing the as-received and fungal-treated samples in
Fig. 10, it was observed that the treated material had two new oxy-
gen-containing phases; hematite (a-Fe2O3) and ferric arsenate
(FeAsO4H2O). In similar systems, ferric arsenate has been observed
earlier by researchers such as Escobar et al. (2000), Brierley (2003)
and Lindstrom et al. (2003). It is possible that other oxides were
precipitated but due to lower resolutions, the peaks might have
been masked by the higher intensity peaks. Also, the diffractome-
ter used for the study had a detection limit of 5%, and thus any
phase with less than 5 wt.% composition may not show a peak
on the diffractogram.
The presence of the oxidation products indicates clearly that P.
chrysosporium has the ability to transform sulfides in refractory
gold ores. The trends in the results signify that by ensuring proper
system controls, higher levels of oxidation will be possible. Oxida-
tion of the sulfides will enhance liberation of the encapsulated
gold, making it more amenable to cyanidation. These results com-
pare well with those obtained by Brierley (2003) in the biooxida-
tion of refractory gold ores containing about 2% sulfide sulfur.
The work was conducted at 20–60 °C for 10 days using mesophilic
and moderate-thermophillic bacteria, and hyper-thermophillic ar-
chea, and the author achieved over 50% increase in the subsequent
gold recovery by cyanidation. In a related study, gold recovery in-
creased appreciably following fungal treatment (Ofori-Sarpong,
2010).
4. Conclusions
The fungus, P. chrysosporium, which has proven its ability to
reduce the preg-robbing capacity of anthracite-grade carbona-
ceous matter, was investigated for its ability to also transform
sulfides, in an effort to develop a microbial process for pretreating
double refractory gold ores. The results show that P. chrysosporium
is capable of solubilizing sulfides. For an incubation period of
21 days, sulfide sulfur decreased by 35% in the treated arsenopyrite
sample and 15% in the pyrite sample. These materials had initial
sulfide sulfur content of 19.6% and 52% respectively. For refractory
sulfidic gold concentrate with about 15% initial sulfide sulfur
content, a higher oxidation level of 57% was realized. Raman
spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis showed reduction in
sulfide sulfur concentration and increase in oxide phases resulting
from fungal treatment. The results demonstrate that the fungus,
P. chrysosporium, is a potential microorganism for oxidative
decomposition of metal sulfides associated with refractory gold
504 G. Ofori-Sarpong et al. / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 499–504
ores. With improvement in system controls, higher levels of oxida-
tion are feasible.
Acknowledgment
The authors are grateful to the Schlumberger Faculty for the Fu-
ture, Netherlands, for providing supplementary funding for this
work and to the Golden Star Prestea–Bogoso Resources (GSPBR),
Ghana, for providing the gold concentrates and assisting with char-
acterization of the solid samples. The authors also acknowledge the
assistance offered by Prof. Yaw Yeboah of the Energy and Mineral
Engineering Department, Penn State University, USA, and Prof.
Richard Amankwah of the Mineral Engineering Department, Uni-
versity of Mines and Technology, Ghana. The first author is thank-
ful to the Ghana Education Trust Fund, the University of Mines and
Technology, Ghana, and the PEO International Peace Scholarship,
USA, for financial assistance.
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