Continuous vat leaching

Gold/silver
leaching
THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY

BY

INNOVAT Limited
760 Brant Street, Suite 405c
Burlington, Ontario
Canada L7R 4B8
Phone: 905-333-7133

Email dan.mackie@danmackie.com
Website www.innovat.ca

Gold/Silver 1/8
 LEACHING OF PRECIOUS METALS ORES

OVERVIEW

CONTINUOUS VAT LEACHING

The use of continuous vat leaching is a preferred method of leaching gold and silver ores
over both agitated tank leaching and heap leaching for both economic and environmental
reasons. An exception is when high economical recoveries can be earned in run-of-mine
heap leaching. This is a rare situation, and the environmental risks involved can be
serious.

Heap leaching occupies huge land areas that must be reasonably flat. In dry climates
there are high evaporation losses. In cold climates the heaps must be protected against
freezing. In high rainfall areas the heaps must be covered. Following leaching, the heaps
must be rinsed and detoxified, a lengthy process of doubtful long-term effectiveness.

The following photograph shows a small heap leach operation. Some are many times
larger, occupying literally hectares of land.

Gold/Silver 2/8
 A Small Heap Leach Operation

Agitated tank leaching, using carbon-in-leach, carbon-in-pulp, or Merrill-Crowe

methods is commonly employed for higher grade ores. Merrill-Crowe is the preferred
flow sheet for high silver/gold ratios with CIL/CIP normally used for gold ores. Each of
these methods normally employs tailings ponds. Detoxification of slurries discharged to
tailings ponds is only done in some regions of the world.

During the past thirty years, there has been an average of one major tailings dam failure
each year, with about one third of them involving cyanide. This has translated into
extreme environmental pressure being put on the industry by the public and by the press,
which makes financing of gold mines difficult. Cyanide destruction prior to tailings
disposal has become mandatory in many parts of the world, while in other areas, the use
of cyanide has been banned altogether.

INNOVAT technology discharges dewatered tailings that have been fully detoxified,
using the INCO SO2/Air method, all as an integral part of the system.

Gold/Silver 3/8
 From Grinding
Plant
T hickener

Leach Tanks

Carbon
Colum ns

Carbon-in-
Pulp Tanks

Safety
Screen
Return
Solution

T ailings Pond

Figure 1
TRADITIONAL GOLD LEACH PLANT

There is a growing trend towards dewatering tailings and stacking them in the
environment. This is an expensive proposition with conventional flow sheets, because it
requires the use of thickeners and filters. The INNOVAT system has dewatering as an
integral part of its discharge.

Vat leaching has been around since Roman times, but had become viable in 1896, when
cyanide leaching began in earnest with the Merrill-Crowe Process. In an article in the
Engineering and Mining Journal in December 1999, Lou Cope described the first vat
leaching at Homestake in 1901, which later improved the process in 1906 by adding a
desliming circuit. Traditional vat leaching is a batch process, however, with materials
handling being of high cost. Some vat leaching continues to this day, especially in the
copper industry, where such plants as Mantos Blancos in Chile continue to operate. The
method used is the same as was first introduced in 1927 on nitrates, with ore loaded into
the vats for batch leaching, then discharged by gantry-mounted clamshells. It is a
leach/drain/wash/drain cycle that conceivably could be used with a detoxification cycle in
gold leaching and would allow for stackable tailings. The operating costs in most cases,
however, would be prohibitive.

Gold/Silver 4/8
 Traditional Vat Leaching of Copper
Mantos Blancos, Chile, 1995

Paste
To Gravity

Thickener
Plant

Carbon
M ake-up
Colum ns
W ater Na 2 S 2 O 5
Cu 2 SO 4

Air NaOCl

Head
Tank

To Tailings
From
Disposal
Gravity
Plant CaO

NaCN

Leach Section W ash Detox

Section Section

Circulating Pum ps
NaOH

Carbon Induction Detox.

Holding
Electrowinning Furnace Pum ps
Stripping Tank
Cell
Colum ns
REV. DESCRIPT IO N DATE BY

INNOVAT Limited
Carbon O akville, Canada

Reactivation Gioas Project

To Continuous Vat Leaching Flow Sheet
Carbon EcoVat ® SIZE FSCM NO DW G NO REV

Figure 2 A
Colum ns
INNOVAT Limited SCALE SHEET 1 OF 1

Figure 2
Continuous Vat Leaching Flow Sheet with Carbon Columns

Gold/Silver 5/8
Continuous Vat Leaching, introduced by INNOVAT in 1991, dramatically reduces
materials handling costs. Ore simply is introduced into the feed end of the vat, is
transported through the vat by intermittent fluidization, and is discharged as a stackable
product.

Referring to Figure 2, which is a typical flow sheet using carbon columns for gold
extraction, three distinct sections can be seen: leaching, washing, and detoxification, all
operating as a continuous process in a single vat. Ore is intermittently fluidized by high
energy up bursts of solution that provide intimate mixing and the fluidity to transport the
ore through the vat. The ore behaves like quicksand and flows to level the bed as ore is
put in and taken out.

Ore in the vat is naturally classified and washed of slimes, which are collected separately
in a paste thickener. Coarser ore left in the vat travels through in a near sanded out
condition so that when it is lifted out and decanted by the discharge mechanism it is well
drained to paste consistency. Other discharge methods patented by INNOVAT can filter
the discharge for drier disposal.

Ground ore tailings discharged from the vats are typically below 20% water by weight for
normally grind sizes (200 mesh) with slimes discharged separately at 50% water by
weight or less. The advantage of this scenario is flexibility in final disposal, particularly
if pozzolanic mixes are planned.

Paste
To Gravity

Thickener
Plant

Barren
Solution M ake-up
Tank W ater Na 2 S 2 O 5
Cu 2 SO 4

Air NaOCl
Leaf Clarifier

Head
Tank

To Tailings
From
Disposal
Gravity
Plant CaO

NaCN

Vacuum
Pum p

Zn
Leach Section W ash Detox
Section Section

Recirculating
Pum ps
Plate and Fram e
Filters
Induction Detox.
Furnace Pum ps
Crowe Tower
REV. DESCRIPT ION DATE BY

INNOVAT Limited
Oakville, Canada

1000 tpd Leaching Plant Flow Diagram

W ith Merrille-Crowe
EcoVat ® SIZE FSCM NO DW G NO REV

INNOVAT Limited SCALE SHEET 1 OF 1

Figure 3
Typical Continuous Vat Leach with Merrill-Crowe

Gold/Silver 6/8
 Economics of Continuous Vat Leaching™

Comparison with Flotation and Agitated Tank Leaching

A recent capital cost estimate prepared for Greater Lenora Resources on their 4000 t/d
Goldfields project, compared the two cases. The original flow sheet had been conceived
as a gravity/flotation plant at an estimated cost of $30 million. Following laboratory work
on leaching and based on autogenous crushing to a P80 of 10-mesh, the resulting
comparison was made.

Item Agitated Leaching Continuous Vat

Case US $ Leaching Case US $
Crushing Plant 5,000,000 5,000,000
Gravity Plant 1,200,000 1,200,000
Leach Plant 4,070,000 3,000,000
Carbon Strip Plant 3,546,000 3,546,000
Detoxification Plant 762,000 Included
Electrical and Controls 400,000 400,000
Tailings Disposal 2,780,000 200,000
Subtotal 17,758,000 13,346,000
Contingency 15% 2,664,000 2,002,000
EPCM 15% 2,664,000 2,002,000
Contractor Indirects 900,000 703,000
Total Capital Cost 23,986,000 18,053,000

A great deal of the capital savings is in the detoxification plant and tailings disposal.

A significant advantage in operating cost savings, in the range of $0.35 to $0.60 per ton,
can be realized by using vat leaching. Power savings, ranging from $0.15 to $0.30 per
ton, depending on power rates, result from the use of hydraulic fluidization versus the
powerful agitators required in conventional leaching plants, most of which power is
consumed simply to keep the agitated tanks from sanding out. The coarser the grind, the
more dramatic this becomes. Savings in disposal transportation can also be earned by
using the mine trucks to back-haul the detoxified waste to the dump. One has to realize
that the same trucks that deliver the ore to the crushing plant can take the ore to the
dump; the trucks never need run empty.

Comparison with Heap Leaching

It is not just the environmental needs that will drive the use of Continuous Vat Leaching,
but the improved profitability. As shown in the following table, where a 2 gpt gold ore is
processed at a rate of 1.65 million tons per year (5000 t/d), where heap leaching at a
crush size of –3/8” is compared with vat leaching at –1/4”, the economic benefits are
significant. This data, based on an existing heap leach, assumes a heap leach cycle of 60
days versus a vat leach cycle of 36 hours. Ore is treated in two vats.

Gold/Silver 7/8
 Item Heap Continuous Benefits Comment
Leach Vat Leach
Recovery 70% 90% +20% Continuous Vat Leaching
has better process control.
Capital $7,300,000 $6,600,000 -$700,000 No agglomeration system,
Cost no ponds.
Operating +$2.38/ton +$0.60/ton -$1.78/ton Minimum materials
Cost handling, labor and water
Differential losses
Inventory $1,800,000 $45,000 -$1,755,000 Work in Process inventory:
Cost Heap Leach requires
300,000 tons of ore;
continuous vat leaching
requires 7,500 tons of ore.

What is seldom considered in heap leaching are the tons of ore and tons of solution in
inventory, a value estimated at over $1.7 million in the previous example. The important
issue is the cash flow implications for the business. In addition, there is more cash flow
at risk; ore sits there until it has been leached and recovered from solution, losing
potential value for the metal as the market rises and falls during recovery. Some heap
leaches take up to 350 days for full recovery, examples being Greenstone’s Minas Santa
Rosa and Viceroy’s Brewery Creek. Consider the cost of money for the time invested;
consider the business cash flow.

Summary of Continuous Vat Leaching™ Benefits

You win hands down with better economics and other benefits, which include but are not
limited to:

• Up to 6 mm as well as ground ores (typically P80 75 microns) can be handled

• Can be applied to economically benefit existing heap leach operations
• No tailings ponds; tailings completely detoxified to international standards
• Minimum water losses through evaporation as compared with heaps and tailings
ponds.
• Operation year round in freezing conditions
• Smaller footprint than heap leaching and agitated tank leaching
• Ideal for underground operations

Go Modern

Go INNOVAT!!!

Gold/Silver 8/8