BIOPOLYMER ADDITION TO BOOST RECOVERY AND THROUGHPUT IN GOLD LEACHING

PROCESSES. A CASE STUDY FROM ANTAM PONGKOR, INDONESIA

Helminton Sitanggang, Adam Pratomo, *Rolf Andreas Lauten and Dani Ramdani

A universal challenge for the mineral processing industry is the diminishment of high grade ores.
Instead, low grade ores, sometimes also containing problematic gangue minerals is the reality.
With lower head grades the industry has to put more effort into processing to maintain the
output and achieve suitable recoveries. In an effort to reduce the impact of declining head grade,
a biopolymer was evaluated as an additive in the gold leaching operation at Antam Pongkor in
Indonesia.
The biopolymer acts as a dispersant by reducing the viscosity of the leach slurry and this may be
beneficial for several reasons. First, a lower viscosity may facilitate higher slurry solids content in
the processing plant and an associated increase in plant throughput. Addition of a dispersant can
prevent or reduce the extent of aggregation in the leach slurry, i.e. disperse the particles during
the leach. This may increase the surface area accessible to the lixiviation suite during the leach.
In this work the findings from trials conducted at Antam Pongkor are described where use of a
dispersant from Pionera, L-800, was found to increase the recovery in the leach circuit. In
addition, reduction in viscosity facilitated operation of the leach plants at a higher slurry solids
content, contributing to a higher throughput.
Laboratory testing revealed that biopolymer usage lead to an increased gold recovery without
apparent negative impact on the other parts of the process. Further plant trials revealed both a
recovery increase around 1.3% and higher throughput (9%) in the presence of the biopolymer.
Results from laboratory trials and a plant trial conclude that use of a biopolymer, L-800, enhances
the gold recovery in a cyanidation process. Use of L-800 also allows for higher solids content in
the leach process. Investigation of the kinetics of gold dissolution reveals a higher rate constant
in the presence of L- 800. Analysis of the leach solutions from bottle rolls suggests that presence
of L-800 enhances dissolution of pyrite. Investigation of the cyanide consumption kinetics may
be illuminating and facilitate a better understanding of how gold dissolution in modified in the
presence of biopolymer.
The enhanced gold recovery was attributed to two effects. For the particles with diameter less
than 44 μm, dispersion of slime particles was suggested to be the dominant effect. Dispersion of
slime particles increases the surface area of gold available to the lixiviation suite. Higher gold
recoveries were also found for some larger particles. This increase in gold recovery was attributed
to an enhanced dissolution of pyrite. An enhanced pyrite dissolution rate was verified via higher
concentrations of iron in the leach solution and reduction in the pyrite content of the leach tails.
A mechanism where L-800 either disperses insoluble pyrite oxidation products (sulfides or
hydroxides) or prevents passivation of the pyrite surface by adsorbing onto pyrite itself is
conjectured to explain this finding. Further investigations are required to verify this claim.