LEACH DIFFUSION ANALYSIS

Typically, VAT leach testing is employed earlier in the design phase of a new or upcoming ore body in order to optimize a crush size and NPV for a heap leach. Gold/silver recovery and leach kinetics are projected by alteration type to determine an optimal crush size balanced by operating expenditures and anticipated mine plan. An example of the fraction extraction curves used to develop gold/silver recovery parameters is shown below. Once developed, the recovery parameters are an integral part of a dynamic GoldSim model used project the recovery of gold/silver through time at various sizes, leach cycles, stacking conditions to provide an optimized operating scenario.