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Athens gold mine is a subsidiary of Duration Gold Zimbabwe pvt (Ltd) company. Duration Gold Zimbabwe is primarily in gold mining and processing. The existence of huge gold dump ores at Athens gold mine in Mvuma assaying on average 4.8g/t but with high copper content necessitated the undertaking of this initiative whose thrust is to investigate into the recovery of copper from the gold-copper rich ore. Copper grade of Athens gold mine was found to be 1100g/t after a series of metallurgical test-works performed. Process design proves that approximately 4.5t/dy of copper (11) sulphide can be produced at 75% recovery. The maximum enrichment ratio of the copper recovery process was found to be 1.92. Experimental approach was taken to design a precipitation reactor (CSTR) with a residence time of 0.03 hours and a deep cone thickener to achieve the desired copper recovery. The copper recovery process has a net present value of $US598 293 and total annual copper production of $US3 219 300.The copper concentrate has a selling price of $3.50/kg. The return on investment of the copper recovery project is 271.4%.
About the author
Patrick Chesa,Btech(Hons)in Chem.Eng: Graduated from the Harare Institute of Technology,Zimbabwe. Author of the work: Design of a 40cbm/hr copper recovery plant for a gold mine with Au-Cu refractory ores,a case study of Athens Gold Mine,Zimbabwe.Improved the economics of the Gold mine's Gold processing projects by adoption of SART technology.
