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MInInG seRVIces

A lab technician’s

new best pal

ith cash costs creeping up and
Wgrades generally falling across the
industry, Australian gold miners are in-
creasingly focused on getting every drop
of value out of each tonne moved.
While little can be done to combat ris-
ing consumables and labour costs, min-
ers can exert more control over the type
of material heading to the mill and Perth-
based technology company Mineral Pro-
cess Control (MPC) believes it has the
ideal tool to achieve the quality required.
Established in 1995, MPC has built
its reputation on innovation in cyanide
leaching technology, including its Leach-
Well catalysts, assay tabs and bottle-roll
machines. However, increasingly it is its
PAL-1000 system which is taking a grip
in the gold sector. Mineral Process Control’s PAL-1000 cyanide gold assaying process can produce up to 52
The cyanide gold assaying process cyanidation assay samples an hour
combines both pulverising and leach-
ing in a single unit, producing up to 52
samples for cyanidation assay in one cyanide leachable yield quickly and im- have installed seven units because it is
hour, without the requirement for sample portantly, offer a safe way to manually cheap, needs little support and requires
preparation. handle cyanide with as little dust as pos- very little training to operate,” Edwards
MPC business manager Nathan Ed- sible.” said.
wards told Paydirt PAL-1000’s speed Edwards said MPC’s focus on total re- While cost will be an obvious attraction
and reliability had seen it adopted by coverable gold in the process gave min- to miners, MPC clients have all experi-
leading assay labs and gold miners ers far greater insight into exactly how enced unexpected additional benefits.
around the world. orebodies are performing. One client in the Eastern Goldfields
“It has taken a foothold in gold mining “The ability of the system to produce a was able to redraw its mine design fol-
and assaying due to its low cost [both total cyanide recoverable gold assay al- lowing the introduction of a PAL-1000
opex and capex], high rate, assay re- lows our customers to start their process unit.
peatability and simplicity,” Edwards said. control at the mine face,” he said. “The “The installation of a two PAL system
The company has already sold more PAL assay will replicate the total theo- allowed us to reduce our mining fleet re-
than 70 units with major labs Intertek, retical CIP recovery within one hour. No quirements,” the company said. “Turning
ALS, SGS and CRS all taking up ma- other system on the market can achieve around 52 samples in close to an hour
chines as well as gold miners such as this, they produce total gold assays.” – with a detection limit of 0.01 ppm gold –
Newmont Corp and Kinross Gold Inc. As well as the more accurate reporting allowed us to provide high-quality grade
CRS is the largest assay lab provider of total recoverable gold, MPC estimates control assays from our mine site lab
in the Nordic region. Since purchasing its PAL-1000 can be operated at around quickly and accurately. Within six months
first PAL-1000 a decade ago, it has pro- 20% of comparable methods at the mine we were able to reduce their mining fleet
cessed 500,000 samples through three site. due to the decreased time between
machines. “And, with a purchase price of less grade control sampling and results.”
“The PAL-1000 technology is very sim- than $100,000, a grade and process Edwards admitted even MPC was sur-
ple to use, is easy to maintain and pro- control lab can easily be set up on site prised by that outcome but reinforced the
vides low cost and repeatable gold as- for little additional capital,” Edwards said. consistency and reliability of the process.
says,” CRS general manager Ville Anttila The low-cost nature and operational “The end result will mimic exactly what
said. “PAL is effective for free milling, simplicity also mean it is suited to remote the mine is doing,” he said. “If you are
preg robbing and also many sulphide locations. getting low recoveries through PAL-1000
sample types. “It is proving particularly popular in you will be getting them through the mill.”
“Assay tabs provide us with a thorough West Africa and in Suriname where we

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