The Elements and Equipment in Lixiviation in Heap Leaching

Impermeable platform, with gradient where the mineral is heap leached, it can be made of clay, asphalt, cement or plastic blanket; they are generally of long durability.

What is ideal in using a platform of only one use and lixiviate the heap leaching until the time necessary which justifies its recuperation of values and cost. Afterwards, one proceeds in loading new terraces which are then lixiviated.

Here one does not unload the mineral. As a matter of fact, the area which is used is the same. The environmental contamination does not cause problems, due to the fact that once the operation is finished the cyanide is blocked and it is covered with clays, etc.

• Platic water tubes
• Flux of the solutions: generally, between 6 – 10 lt/hr-m2.
• Force of the cuyanidation: 0.05-0.1%
• pH = 10-10.5
• The pH is regulated with lime.
• The canal of recollection of solutions can be of wood, plastic or cement, etc.
• Reservoirs of storage of the solutions, both rich and the wasted. Can be of wood, holes in the terrain covered with plastic, concrete or iron.
• System of aspersion. Many exist, the most appropriate and efficient-cheap must be used.
• System of precipitation:
• Merril-Crowe;
• Activated Carbon.
• Smelting Ovens
• Refinery:
• Chemical reactive;
• Electrolytic.

Comments
We have been through various provinces of many countries in development where there are a large number of auriferous denouncements with oxidated minerals, where one can apply this method perfectly and thus help to resolve the crisis in which these countries are going through, generating foreign exchange.

For this we must invite the owners of these denouncements so that they can work on them, or on the contrary, for them to modify a mining legislation for them to force in one way or another for such miners to give their denounces in rent, or in some other way, so that they can let work and be able to generate foreign exchange.