Heap Leaching In Latin America; Challenges Faced By Projects

摘要

Due in part to the pressure to develop more ore reserves, mines have been pushed to more remote and difficult locations. Sites are becoming more challenging, technology increasingly demanding. This article explores some of the challenges faced by Latin American projects, where ore reserves are plentiful but terrain and climate complex. Valley leach pads: Breit-enbach & Smith (2012) identified 26 VLPs in Latin America; 90% of those built in the last decade were in Latin America. VLPs, especially those with internal solution impoundments, present special design & operational considerations ranging from steep slope & challenging site grading to extreme ore depths (exceeding 160m) & complex leach kinetics. The popularity of this technology stems in part from the mining boom, but it's also a result of successes at projects like the Pierina gold mine in Peru. Flat pads now routinely incorporate steeper & variable slopes, terrain-contour grading, innovative overliner systems & other advancements pioneered on VLPs, pushing among other things the importance of heap stability (Lupo, 2008).