• Case Study
Cyanco Savings in Action:

Improved Detox System for African Gold Mine

Property
Open pit gold mine with heap leach pads and mill processing. Milling capacity of 8,000 TPD.
Customer Need

During the engineering stage of a mill expansion, Cyanco conducted Phase 1 Analysis and Phase 2 Circuit Design Study to resolve an SO2 detox issue:

  • The SO2 for detoxification would have to be obtained from costly metabisulfite as transporting liquid SO2 was not feasible.
Results

The Phase 1 Detoxification study showed that the CombinOx® cyanide detoxification process was suitable for the mine’s leached tails. Cyanco’s Applied Team implemented a solution that:

  • Reduced the amount of metabisulfite needed.
  • Lowered CapEx and OpEx costs than SO2/Air process (via metabisulfite).
  • More effective reduced the CNWAD
  • Saved $900,000 in CapEx and resulted in approximately a 20% reduction in annual reagent costs.
Operational Savings

  • 8K TPD
    Ore Processed

  • CombinOx Unit
    installed in detox circuit

  • 20%
    reduction in OpEx

  • $900,000
    savings in CapEx costs

    • An open pit African gold mine with heap leach pads and mill processing capacity of 8,000 TPD, approached Cyanco during the engineering stage of a mill expansion. At the outset, SO2 for detoxification would have to be obtained from costly metabisulfite as transporting liquid SO2 was not feasible. Cyanco conducted the Phase 1 Test Work and Phase 2 Circuit Design Study.

    The Phase 1 Detoxification study showed that the CombinOx® cyanide detoxification process was suitable for the leached tails. The installation of the CombinOx Unit in the cyanide detox circuit would reduce the amount of metabisulfite needed and prove more effective at reducing the CNWAD levels.

    With 35 years of experience in cyanide detoxification, Cyanco has developed a wealth of experience with many processes including SO2/Air and peroxygen treatment systems such as hydrogen peroxide and Caro’s acid.  The CombinOx series of processes using a combination of SO2 and peroxygen technologies that often provides significant OPEX and CAPEX savings over other processes.  As part of its Phase 1 Detoxification Study, Cyanco conducts comparative treatment tests using multiple processes.

    Cyanco designs detoxification processes and circuits specifically for each application to meet customers’ specific needs every day.