【Mineral Processing Case】Xinhai Mining – Malaysia 700tpd Gold CIL Project

Looking down on the land, there are small islands scattered in the white clouds and an endless ocean. Everything is beautiful as far as the eye can see. Malaysia, besides the mountain, and near the sea, is rich in mineral resources. Surrounded by mountains, a 700tpd gold CIL project in Malaysia, built by Xinhai Mining, is running in an orderly manner.

One. Project Background

When it comes to Malaysia, many people would associate with pristine beaches, exotic islands, pristine rain forests and modern cities. In fact, Malaysia has abundant mineral resources, such as tin, iron, gold, tungsten ore.

However, the production of mineral processing equipment in Malaysia cannot meet the current demand for mineral processing, and Malaysia didn’t have the corresponding mine management, mineral processing technology to achieve the construction of modern plant independently. Depending on its innovative mineral processing mode, famous brand awareness and professional mineral processing technology, Xinhai Mining became the first choice for Malaysian mining development and cooperation.

With the implementation of “One Belt And One Road” initiative, more and more mining people had involved in the construction of the Malaysian mining industry. This 700tpd gold CIL project was an epitome of China-Malaysia mining cooperation.

Two. Project Overview

Ore properties: The metal mineral of this project was mainly pyrite. The non – metallic minerals were quartz, calcite, mica. The raw ore contained 4.70g/t of gold, 4.63g/t of silver, 20.10% of iron and 20.55% of sulfur.

Processing capacity: 700tpd

Xinhai solution: Two stages closed circuit grinding – thickening before leaching – leaching and adsorption – tailings dry stacking

Three. Xinhai Solution

In 2017, Xinhai Mining officially signed 700 tpd gold CIL project contract with the project company. Xinhai Mining provided this gold project with one-stop and customized mineral processing EPC+M+O service, including mineral processing test, mine design, equipment manufacturing and purchasing, packaging, package and shipping, installation and commissioning, worker training, standard reached, mine management and mine operation.

E. Research and Design

1. Mineral processing test

In 2016, the project client commissioned Xinhai mine research institute to carry out mineral processing test after collecting 50kg ore samples on-site.

After the determination of the ore properties, Xinhai mine research institute concluded that the raw ore of this project mainly included natural gold, pyrite, quartz, calcite, mica, etc. The raw ore contained 4.70g/t of gold, 4.63g/t of silver, 20.10% of iron and 20.55% of sulfur. The valuable elements that can be recovered was gold.

After finishing the mineral processing test, Xinhai mine research institute made a preliminary exploration on the mineral processing technology.

Due to the ore properties of this project was simple, it was found when the raw ore was ground (85% -200 mesh), the lime was used as the protective alkali, the sodium cyanide was added to agitation leaching, the gold leaching rate reached 93.40% if the pulp concentration was 40%, the amount of lime was 7kg/t, and the amount of sodium cyanide was 4kg/t within 24 hours of leaching.

After discussion with the client, Xinhai mine research institute decided:

The grinding process adopted two stages closed circuit grinding and classification, the grinding product was screened by the trash screen, the undersize self-flowed to a thickener for thickening, the thickener underflow was sent to the leaching operation through the slurry pump. After the leaching and adsorption, the gold-bearing product was obtained and then sent to the original gold extraction plant. The leaching tailings adopted press filter for dehydration, and the return water was recycled, the dry tailings were conveyed to the tailings pond for storage.

2. Mine design

In order to provide customers with mineral processing solution timely and effectively, Xinhai mine design institute sent several technical experts to the project site for investigating ore resources, surrounding terrain, water, electricity and other conditions, helping client to collect and integrate all kinds of information resources, and providing the professional and comprehensive planning for site selection, design, construction by combining the process that suggested according to the mineral processing test and the selection of mineral processing equipment.

P. Complete equipment manufacturing and procurement

3. Complete equipment manufacturing and procurement

According to the related equipment selection requirements of Malaysia 700tpd gold mineral processing report, Xinhai mechanical design institute customized the complete set of main and auxiliary equipment, and made a series of technical improvements on the basis of the original equipment for ensuring the perfect combination between mineral processing equipment and mineral processing technology. Besides, the whole production process of this project realized the mechanical operation, some key operation or post even realized automatic control, which greatly improved the production rate, reduced the energy consumption and prolonged the stable operation.

Main mineral processing equipment as follows:

4. Packaging and shipping

After the equipment manufacturing and procurement finished, Xinhai Mining delivered all the equipment to the project site safely through its perfect packaging and shipping management system.

● Assigned the experienced packaging and shipping team to be responsible for the packaging and shipping operation of this project;

● According to the equipment size, shape, weight, moisture-proof, hoisting condition, the requirements of handling, disassembling, transshipment and field installation, Xinhai Mining packaging and shipping team adopted computer simulation for classification and package;

● Used multiple forms (such as waterproof winding, stretch film, pallet, wooden case) to avoid the collision, wear, corrosion and other possible damages in the transportation process;

● According to the general layout of the construction site, Xinhai Mining packaging and shipping team determined the packing of each working area, formulated the accurate unloading position, which avoided the inconvenience caused by the second handling and lifting, improved the installation efficiency;

● Used the numbering and manual management system to ensure the complete equipment and reduce the installation difficulty.

C. Commissioning and delivery

5. Commissioning and delivery

Malaysia 700 tpd gold CIL project was a typical cross-cultural cooperation project undertook by Xinhai Mining. In the cooperation process, Xinhai Mining faced many challenges in civil construction and equipment installation, which put forward higher requirements on the project schedule management of mineral processing EPC+M+O service, personnel configuration, technical support, supply, diet, transportation and other aspects.

In the process of installation and commissioning, Xinhai Mining dispatched the experienced installation and commissioning team to the site, which fully participated in and managed the equipment installation and commissioning of the project, then provided the professional maintenance and training services. The whole team completed all the installation and debugging work of the project within one month, and passed the process debugging index in the first time, and the qualified rate of the first acceptance was 100%, which demonstrated the efficiency and professionalism of Xinhai Mining to Malaysian clients.

M+O. Mine management and mine operation

6. Mine management and mine operation

In terms of mine management and operation, Xinhai Mining provided the professional technical guide of civil construction, steel structural construction, tailings treatment and tailings pond engineering design.

In the civil work, Xinhai Mining actively communicated with the contractor due to the differences in the construction period and steel structure quality. After repeated confirmation, the complete construction plan was determined. In view of the problem that the two parties had a different understanding of the drawings, Xinhai Mining technicians patiently answered the questions raised by the other side for many times, and adjusted the drawings according to the site conditions.

In addition, in order to ensure the smooth operation of the mineral processing project and achieve the expected recovery rate as soon as possible, Xinhai Mining paid many return visits to this project, and provided the reliable after-sales technical support, which ensured the standard recovery rate of the mineral processing project, safe product quality and stable operation of mineral processing equipment.

Four. Project Features

1. Customized mineral processing EPC+M+O

This project was the first mineral processing EPC+M+O cooperation project between Xinhai Mining and the project company. The one-stop and customized Xinhai mineral processing EPC+M+O service, namely “design and research- complete equipment manufacturing and procurement-commissioning and delivery – management and operation”, proceeded from the project condition, and helped the client to obtain ideal technical indicators and economic benefits.

2. Combined steel structure production line design

In civil engineering design, Xinhai mine design institute used PDM design management system for the combined steel structure production line design. All kinds of reinforced concrete ore bin, pool, platform, equipment support, hopper and chute were designed in combined steel structure, which realized the flexible assembly of equipment on the scene, reduced the workload of civil engineering and construction time, and saved the infrastructure investment.

3. High quality and high efficiency, exceeded the anticipated targets

Xinhai Mining had officially put the project into production within six months. The initial designed processing capacity was 600tpd, while the actual processing capacity was 700tpd. The expected recovery rate was 93%, but the actual recovery rate was up to 95%.

Five. Project Result

The production of Malaysia 700tpd gold CIL project marked the successful launch of the first All-slime cyanidation plant in Kelantan. Mining Magazine, an internationally renowned Magazine, had reported the project and gave full credit for Xinhai mineral processing EPC+M+O service.

Malaysia 700tpd gold CIL project achieved the standard production within a short period, which not only fully reflected Xinhai’s strong mineral processing strength, professional and customized solution and thoughtful customer service, but also laid a solid foundation for further cooperation between the two sides. After the project successfully put into production, Xinhai Mining signed the mining development strategic partnership agreement with the project company, and served a 700tpd lead and zinc ore project in Malaysia. The two sides jointly led the development of southeast Asia mineral processing industry to a new peak, Utusan Borneo, Sin Chew Daily and other media had carried in-depth reports on this strategic cooperation.

With the “One Belt And One Road” initiative, Xinhai Mining has successfully served a number of countries along the route, whose mineral processing service has spread to more than 90 countries and regions around the world. In the future, Xinhai Mining will continue to promote its own innovative development, improve the mineral processing technology and equipment, deepen its own market internationalization strategy, and effectively provide customers with more perfect and more professional mineral processing EPC+M+O service!