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Gravity concentration of gold in Nambija - Ecuador: The importance of process analysis for recovery success

Abstract:

Gold has been recovered from the Nambija mining zone by gravity concentration since the discovery of the deposit in 1982. However, important amounts of the precious metal are lost in the tailings from the artisanal gravity concentration process that is being used to recover the gold. For these reasons, a particle size distribution of the gold of the discharge material from the mills that is fed to the gravity concentration devices was conducted. Results showed that the gold particle size is fine, and explains why gold cannot be recovered efficiently by these artisanal gravity concentration devices. A new gold recovery process is being proposed for the mining zone, which includes froth flotation of the tailings after gravity concentration.