WP2: Mineral processing
Objective
Work carried out within several projects on primary raw materials have shown that good understanding of the mineralogy (e.g. phases, occurrence, grain size, liberation, association) of the ore is required to design or operate a beneficiation process for optimum efficiency. Knowledge of the mineralogy of gold in the feed, concentrates and tailings of the process enables the development of mineral processing unit operations combination to concentrate selectively different types of gold bearing minerals. Furthermore, the mineralogical properties of a gold ore are probably the most important information to select the beneficiation methods and thus also indicate the potential environmental impacts of the process. Thus research within WP2 on mineral processing will focus on the mineralogical and chemical characterization of gold ores, gold concentrates, leaching residues and tailings on selected sites in Finland, Portugal and Romania.
Approach
The mineralogical characterization consist the study of feed sample, concentrates and tailings as well as old waste dumps. Process chemistry research within WP2 focuses on identifying and monitoring the physicochemical interaction in beneficiation processes for developing environmental friendly, efficient and selective process methods to new gold ore types and selected gold containing waste materials. In addition, the effect of different process chemicals to water treatment and recycling will be evaluated. Some of alternative reagents in relation to cyanides will be tested during the research. In order to recover in an eco-efficient manner the gold contained in the solutions resulting from leaching tests, the research examines direct magneto-electrowinning techniques for different conditions to determine parameters that could be translated to further prototype developments.
- Mineralogical and chemical characterization
- Development of mineral processing to concentrate selectively different gold bearing minerals
- Development of cost effective recovery of gold from selected waste materials
- Investigation of alternatives to cyanide leaching
- Investigation of energy efficient magneto-electrowinning techniques
Expected Results
Data obtained from such studies is used to obtain valuable information about the type of occurrences of gold and their relationship with the other identified mineral of the mineral assemblages. The research within WP2 on Mineral processing results in more eco-efficient and selective recovery of gold with decreased environmental impacts. Mining companies can use the developed processes in mineral processing and technology companies in technology commercialization.
