Minerals Recovery Methods
Minerals Recovery Methods

Minerals Recovery Methods

There are 5 main mineral recovery methods and we’ll talk about each of them in this article. Including gold leaching.

By the way, this is the webmaster writing. I’m good at web things, while Ian is the expert when it comes to gold recovery. But I just watched the free DVD about the gold wave table so I can tell you a little of what I have learned.

The DVD was made by Mike Glenn of Action Mining Services in the USA. The company makes these remarkable gold recovery devices. More on that later…

Mineral Recovery Methods

1. Leaching. (Gold leaching). This uses chemicals, and more technical know-how is required than you need to use a gold wave table. Chemical leaching is also the most expensive mineral recovery method. Mike’s main focus is on gold recovery but the machines work for pretty much any mineral.

2. Amalgamation. The idea here is that you first amalgamate the gold with mercury and then you separate it. But Mike explained that this is not easy. “Your mercury has to be clean and your gold has to be clean. Then they have to come into contact.” Like #1, this process is also technically intensive then it requires another operation to get the gold out of the mercury. And mercury fumes are poisonous.

3. Flotation is also technically intensive.

gold recovery device 4. As he worked his way down the list, next came mechanical separation which is what the Micron Mill Wave Table does. It’s a wet gravity separator that separates any heavy mineral according to its SG (specific gravity). This gold recovery device doesn’t use chemicals. Just water and the oscillating wave table. It’s quite neat to see it at work on the DVD.

5. Finally sluices, the traditional method of gold recovery, are the easiest. The problem with using a gold sluice is that it misses the fine gold… the microscopic gold. The Wave Table machine is able to recover this micron-fine material.

The DVD presentation showed a bucket of dirt being poured into the system at one end, and out comes a concentrate containing the gold particles.

Give Ian a shout if you’d like a copy of the free DVD.
Recommended reading A-Z

3 models of the Gold Wave Table
Assay equipment
Centrifugal concentrator for minerals recovery
Chemical leaching system
Concentrating tables save money
Efficiently recovering fine gold from rock
FAQ: Fine tuning a wave table
FAQ: Getting samples into Australia
FAQ: More on sample sizes
FAQ: Recovering very fine gold from alluvial mining concentrate
FAQ: Settings for small samples
FAQ: Using the vacuum cleaner
FAQ: Water flow when using the wavetable
FAQ: What do you mean, cons?
Free DVD shows Gold Wave Table
Gravity gold rush
How a magnetic separator works
Improving gold recovery rates
Jaw crushers for minerals recovery
Kalgoorlie demo for Gold Wave Table
Mineral recovery methods
Recovering very fine gold
See the impact hammer mill
Why the Micron Mill wave table is better

About Ian

Ian is the Australian agent for Action Mining, manufacturers of the innovative Micron Mill Wave Table. He also conducts wet gravity recovery tests and related metallurgical lab work such as fine milling of ores and size classification, and supplies new and used mining, mineral processing, construction and laboratory equipment.

Ian is also a JP (Justice of the Peace).

Qualifications:
BE Mining (Hons I),
MAusIMM.

Contacting Ian

If you are interested, Ian would be pleased to hear from you. Write to: actionmining@bigpond.com [more]