Metallurgical Amenability Testing of Bir-Tawilah Gold Deposit in Central Arabian Gold Region, Saudi Arabia
Dr. Gamal Saad Abelhaffez
Citation : Dr. Gamal Saad Abelhaffez, Metallurgical Amenability Testing of Bir-Tawilah Gold Deposit in Central Arabian Gold Region, Saudi Arabia International Journal of Mining Science 2016, 2(2) : 1-7
This paper evaluates the amenability of free milling gold for one of the proposed Saudi Arabia gold deposits. The metallurgical treatments include the gravity recoverable gold (GRG) followed by intensive cyanidation. Composites of high grade ore (>1g/t) have been used as a feed for the cyanide leaching tests. Benchmark of GRG amenability tests followed by Falcon centrifuge gravity separation have been carried out on different feed samples to produce different gold concentrates and tails. The concentrates and tails from different GRG stages were leached using high cyanide concentrations (up to 20 g/L). The results show that 50.7 % of gold contained in high-grade ore deposit is amenable for gravity recovery. The results also prove the amenability of Bir-Tawellah for gravity separation with high gold recovery exceeding 85%. The cyanidation leaching of different concentrates showed that gold recovery >96% can be achieved indicated a free milling prospective of the Bir-Taweelah deposit. The present study shows that the deposit of Bir-Tawellah is ranked as free milling with no gold Telluride present. The gravity recovery of gold using Falcon concentrate ore shows high gold recovery (up to 70%) and the gold recovery depends on the sample size fractions.