CONCLUSIONS
New technology is not easily accepted by the mining industry for the valid reason that the high capital investment normally required for a gold project imposes a significant financial risk.
The ReCYN Process is in the category of new technology as it has a limited commercial track record. Six years of successful continuous operation at a mine in Indonesia it is not sufficient to be considered a proven technology. A second ReCYN operation was commissioned last year, and a third large scale plant is currently under construction (6).
These applications were accepted mainly by providing attractive economic detox solutions, and where the production risk is limited in a Brownfield's operation.
It is now realised there are wider benefits to the technology with the latest extension to the specific task of solving the cyanide soluble copper dilemma.
The concept that mining companies can look at an ore body with a simplified view, that is not blurred by the cyanide soluble copper problem may help bypass some of the usual conservative views associated with new technology and allow for its early adoption.
It is still necessary to measure CNsolCu in the ore body for plant design purposes, but it is no longer a significant determinant in the valuation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to acknowledge the consultants and mining companies referenced in the Paper for permission to use their information. The views of the author do not necessarily represent those of the referenced Companies.
REFERENCES
1. Whittle G, Pan J, Whittle Consulting, ReCYN™ Case Study – Martabe Operations, Application of ENTERPRISE OPTIMISATION considering Green Gold Technologies Pte Ltd.’s ReCYN™ process Revision v1.1, 1st June 2018. 2. Xianwen Dai a.*. Andrew Simons a.b. Paul Breuer a , A review of copper cyanide recovery technologies for the cyanidation of copper containing gold ores. Alta 2011 Gold Conference. 3. José R. Parga1, Jesús L. Valenzuela2, Héctor Moreno3, Jaime E. Pérez1 Copper and Cyanide Recovery in Cyanidation Effluents, Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science, 2011, 1, 191-197
4. Brown C A, The Red Dome Experience. Proceedings of the Oretest Colloquium ’99, Scarborough, WA, 10 th November 1999.
5. Paterson M R, The ReCYN Process – Changing the negative perception of Cyanide.ALTA 2017
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