Viscosity Reduction of Gold Carbon in Pulp (CIP) Slurry

Borregaard performed a viscosity study to optimise throughput at a gold CIP plant.

Laboratory testing was conducted using the slurry supplied by the customer with and without the addition of Pionera L-625.

The slurry, adjusted with lime to pH 10.5, was prepared to generate samples of 32%, 34.5%, 35.8% and 37.7% solids which were used for the rheology testing. Prior to viscosity measurements, varying doses of Pionera L- 625 were added to the slurry samples and mixed for 2 minutes at 500 rpm with a mechanical mixer.

Evaluation of 32% Slurry Solids Viscosity Reduction: 

The target line of 32% in the graph below represents the slurry’s viscosity under current operating conditions. When Pionera L-625 (see table) was added to the 32% slurry, the viscosity was reduced.

Viscosity and % decrease related to L-625 dosage at slurry solids

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Key takeaways:

• The study showed adding 400 gpt to the 34.5% solids gold ore slurry gave similar viscosity values to the 32% solids slurry in the plant. An increase in solids of 2.5% equals a throughput improvement of 8%. A rough calculation shows a bottom-line benefit of ca 11 Mill USD per year.

Viscosity measurements of gold CIP ore slurry at different solids and biopolymer dosages.

Estimate of additional gold production and its value