AN ENGINEERING COST STUDY: CIS VS RIS WITH AURIX 100

摘要

The objective of this paper is to present preliminary capital and operating cost estimates (+-25 percent) comparing conventional carbon-in-solution (CIS) with resin-in-solution (RIS) using AuRIX 100 for the recovery of gold and silver from typical heap leach solutions. Preliminary testwork was carried out with AuRIX 100 using real and synthetic leach solutions to determine the technical viability of the resin for gold/silver recovery and to provide process design parameters for the preliminary RIS circuit. The scope of the resin testwork was sufficient to support the level of accuracy applied in the capital and operating cost estimates. No parallel testwork was carried out with activated carbon. Industry standard design data and operating data from existing CIS operations were used as a basis for the comparison. Both the capital and operating cost comparisons indicate a substantial savings for a RIS circuit using AuRIX 100 (approx 14 to 18 percent in terms of capital and 25 to 35 percent in terms of operating costs) over a conventional CIS circuit depending upon solution flows and grade.