Nesch Mintec carries out a wide range of hydrometallurgical test-works to ascertain the extractability of minerals using aqueous solutions. The following services are offered; Bottle roll leach tests, Cyanidation tests (CIL, CIP, CIS and Merrill Crowe processes), Diagnostic leach tests, Vat and heap leach tests and the Pressure leach test.

Nesch Mintec provides diagnostic leach tests such as acid and cyanide leach. With diagnostic leaching, the metallurgist is able to get a much clearer view of which minerals the gold is associated with. Diagnostic leaching can be carried out on fairly representative samples and produces results that are easily interpreted. During the cyanide leach process, a cyanide solution, or lixiviant, is percolated through the ore contained in the vat tanks, columns or heaps. Gold is dissolved by the cyanide and then removed from the vat, heap or columns. Agitation leaching can also be done where the material being dissolved is continuously stirred in a vessel. The gold in solution is then extracted from the pregnant leach solution by adsorption on carbon or resins. This cost-effective, proven method of ore extraction provides maximum recovery for many gold ores, including low grade and some refractory ores.

Nesch Mintec professionals develop your cyanide leach flowsheet at the bench or laboratory scale using cyanide bottle roll tests, column tests and agitation leach tanks to assess leach parameters and optimize the gold recovery. During these tests, aeration, alkalinity, agitation time and grain size are strictly controlled and the resulting data provides an accurate estimate of the gold recovery and rates of lixiviant consumption. Such tests set the parameters for your pilot plant and the final industrial plant.