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a
Golder Associates Peru S.A., Peru
Gold Fields Ltd., 24 St. Andrews Road, Parktown, 2193, Johannesburg, South Africa
Abstract
The Tamboraque Plant is located in the mining district of Viso-Aruri, approximately 90 km east of Lima, Peru, at an altitude of
3000 m above sea level. In 1980 the previous owners of the mine and processing plant, Minera Lizandro Proao S.A. (MLPSA),
initiated an investigation into the available technologies for the recovery of refractory gold from old tailings.
The Coricancha mine is a polymetallic ore deposit and lead and zinc concentrates can be produced by flotation. The zinc
flotation tailings can be treated further by differential flotation to produce an arsenopyrite concentrate containing the bulk of the
gold. The TAMBORAQUE project involved the expansion of the ore treatment capacity of the plant from 200 to 600 ton/day.
The expansion also involved the installation of a separate flotation section for the zinc tailings and a BIOX and CIL plant for the
treatment of the arsenopyrite concentrate. The first phase of the project involved the installation of a flotation and BIOX plant for
the treatment of an existing zinc flotation tailings dump accumulated over the years. The second phase involved the expansion of
the capacity of the existing plant to treat fresh ore from the mine.
Initial batch tests indicated that the arsenopyrite concentrate could be treated successfully using biooxidation. A 50 kg/day
biooxidation pilot plant was commissioned in Lima, using a native bacterial culture isolated from acid mine drainage from the
Coricancha mine. MLPSA operated the pilot plant successfully for 20 months. At this stage MLPSA contacted Gencor (now Gold
Fields Limited) for assistance in the optimization of the process. The continuous testwork indicated that 90% gold recovery can be
achieved after only 80% sulfide oxidation.
A licence agreement was concluded between MLPSA and Gencor in 1995 for the use of the BIOX technology at the
Tamboraque plant. As part of the agreement, Gencor carried out the process design of the biooxidation plant.
Continuous plant operation commenced at the end of August 1998 after successful commissioning of the plant. The feed rate
through the plant was, however, below the design due to concentrate shortages. The plant reached the design capacity during 2002,
achieving 85% gold recovery on a bulk pyrite and arsenopyrite concentrate produced from fresh ore from the mine. The mining and
metallurgical activities were, however, shut down in October 2002 due to financial and mining related problems.
2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: marthaly@rocketmail.com,
mly@golder.com.pe (M.E.L. Arrascue), janv@goldfields.co.za
(J. van Niekerk).
1
Wiese Sudameris Leasing until 2003.
0304-386X/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.hydromet.2006.03.050
91
1.2. History
Mining activities in the Viso Aruri district started
in the middle IX century, initially developing the
zones rich in silver. The tenacity and impulse of Don
Lizandro Proao resulted in the startup of the Tamboraque smelter in 1906. Operation of the smelter
Crushing
Ore Mine
Milling
Lead Concentrate
Lead Flotation
TAILINGS DAM
Zinc Concentrate
Zinc Flotation
Pyrite concentrate
Pyrite Flotation
Arsenopyrite Flotation
BIOX Process
overflow
Neutralisation
Neutralisation Residue
underflow
Cianuracion
(CIL)
Cyanide Destruction
Caros Acid
Cyanidation tailings
92
1.21.8
2 ppm minimum
20% by mass
45 days
4045 C
70.1 kPa
20 C
16 C
60 ton/day
95%
30.0%
26.0%
35.3%
56.5%
20%
5 days
3
3
40 C
30%
15,400 N m3/h
13,000 kW
3
8.2
9.0 m2/ton/h
6
1h
93
94
thickeners. High rate thickeners, with a cationic flocculant, were selected for this application. The washed
biooxidation product solids were pumped to the Carbonin-Leach (CIL) section for gold recovery using cyanide.
The acidic overflow liquor from the first thickener
was pumped to the neutralization section. The neutralization section consisted of six agitated and aerated
stainless steel reactors. Air was injected into all the
reactors to maintain oxidative conditions in the reactors.
A two-stage neutralization process was used. In the first
stage (tank 2) the pH of the slurry was increased to 5 by
the addition of limestone. The pH was then further
increased to 7 by the addition of lime in the last three
tanks. The neutralized effluent was combined with the
flotation tailings and pumped to the tailings treatment
section for disposal in the tailings dam [6,7].
5. First industrial operation period: 19982000
Commissioning of the industrial BIOX plant
commenced with the inoculation of the first primary
reactor using 10 m3 of active bacterial slurry from the
inoculum build-up phase. Semi-continuous feeding of
the reactor commenced once the bacteria in the reactor
was active. The overflow from the reactor was used to
fill the remaining two primary reactors. Continuous
feeding commenced once all the primary reactors were
active and the overflow from the primary reactors were
used to fill the secondary reactors. Acid mine drainage
(mine water) was used at all times as dilution water. The
plant did not reach the design capacity during the first
phase of operation due to concentrate shortages.
5.1. Phase 1: treatment of tailings dams 1 and 2
material
The inoculation and filling of the BIOX reactors
took considerably longer than initially scheduled. The
delays in the program were mainly caused by prolonged
power interruptions experienced during the commissioning period (up to 70 h/month) causing interruptions
in the air supply to the reactors. Concentrate shortages,
caused by difficulties experienced in the repulping of the
tailings material, also caused delays. The treatment of
the tailings dams were finally abandoned due to the
inability of maintaining a constant supply of ore and all
focus was shifted to phase 2 of the project.
5.2. Phase 2: treatment of ore from the Coricancha mine
Phase 1 was initially scheduled to last for 2 years, but
due to problems experienced during commissioning of
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