Name :Musengeyi willard

Student id : N01522674t

Supervisor : Dr Eng. D Zimwara

Project title : design of an automated cyanide dosage control system

in
gold producing plants to reduce operational costs and
protect the environment
 PROBLEM STATEMENT

On most gold producing plants locally the cyanide concentration and addition is controlled
manually by an operator who performs a two-hourly titration on a filtrate from the pulp and
adjusts the cyanide feed manually. This has resulted in :

 cyanide levels which are above the set benchmark being disposed into the environment
this has resulted in death of wildlife and breaching of world wide cyanide management code

increase in overall costs of production through cyanide detoxification processes and

overconsumption of raw cyanide

Pollution of the natural environment and water bodies

 BACKGROUND
On 19 December 2016 a story was reported in Bulawayo 24 news where three farmers in Kadoma

have lost 12 herd of cattle in a suspected cyanide poison scenario the deaths occurred near Eiffel gold

mine
PROBLEM STATEMENT
 JUSTIFICATION
Implementation of an automated cyanide dosage control system would
result in :

Adherence to the world wide cyanide management code

Costs of cyanide destruction methods are eliminated
Improved workers safety and health
Protection of wildlife and the environment
Reduced overall cyanide consumption
Reduction of operational costs
Improved gold recovery
 AIM

Design of an automated cyanide dosage and control system to

reduce operational costs and protecting the environment
 OBJECTIVES
design a closed loop control system that determine cyanide
concentration through amperometry with a quick and dynamic response.

Sizing and selection of cost effective components to design the control

system
 optimization of the gold recovery process

Determine cost and the payback period of the control system

SCOPE
 LITERATURE REVIEW
• ‘International Cyanide Management Code for the Manufacture, Transport
and Use of Cyanide in the Production of Gold’ (Cyanide Code) was
developed. It was designed to improve the management of cyanide at
gold mines in order to enhance the protection of human health and to
reduce the potential for environmental impacts.
• The Code specifies the following WAD cyanide concentration limits:
• 5 0 ppm WAD cyanide in a tailings storage facility (TSF).
• 0.5 ppm WAD cyanide for effluents.
 METHODOLOGY
Collection of primary data
• Questionnaire
• Qfd
• The Pahl and Beitz model of design will be used on the project
Collection of secondary data
 internet, books and journals
 PROBLEM DECOMPOSITION
The second step in problem clarification, uses black-box modelling to further analyse the
problem as shown in figure 3 below. From the black box model the input into the system starts
by timer signal actuation whereby a signal is generated to initiate the sampling process which is
done on interval basis
PROBLEM DECOMPOSITION
 MEASUREMENT SENSOR

potentiometric sensor
amperometric sensor
 
reproducibility

quick and dynamic response

low maintanance

lower cost

reliability

accuracy

reagents consumption

interference with other ions

 cost

Rank
complexity
energy utilisation
low maintanance

weight

control valve
3

variable speed drive (vsd)

CONTROLLER

pulse width
1

modulation(pwm)
 FINAL CONTROL ELEMENT

variable speed drive (vsd)

modulation(pwm)
control valve

pulse width
weight
low maintanance

cost

energy utilisation

complexity

Rank 2 3 1
 PROCESS

DC motor

AC motor
Weight
cost

starting torque

Rank 1 2
 Solar power supply

Cyanide pump
solenoid valve

Filter
Cyclone

1
0
CIL tanks

9IC
2
Cynoprobe ARDUINO

8
3

7
4

6
5
Tailings Dam
Tailings pump
THE END

THANK YOU