Outotec Finland recently completed the acquisition of the BIOX~R, ASTER~(TM) and HiTeCC technologies, thereby gaining three important processes in the treatment of refractory gold concentrates. Outotec is committed to the continued development of these technologies and the scope of the solutions offered to clients.In this paper we will give a summary of the BIOX~R, ASTER~(TM) and HiTeCC plants currently in operation. We will also review some recent developments in the application of these processes on commercial scale.The BIOX~R plant at the Runruno Gold and Molybdenum project in the Philippines will be the first application of the Generation III BIOX~R design principles, although the plant will already incorporate some of the advances developed under the Generation IV BIOX~R design. Construction on the plant, which also includes an ASTER~(TM) plant, commenced in 2013. The inoculum build-up started in 2015 with both BIOX~R and ASTER~(TM) bacterial cultures successfully reactivated on-site. The results from the inoculum build-up process and progress with the commissioning of the plant will be discussed in the paper. The bio-oxidation reactor train creates the core of the BIOX~R process performance and feasibility. Considering these reactors as simple tanks with agitation and dividing engineering and delivery of these large reactors to multiple suppliers may not provide the most feasible and functional overall solution. Outotec's approach to fulfil the hydrometallurgical application specific reactor requirements is to supply the reactor train as a complete, highly predefined, but still tailor-made functional OKTOP~R Reactor Plant unit that is integrated with the process design and automation.
展开▼
