Por: Jesús H. Londoña Soria y Máximo Simón Zavala, Compañía Minera Poderosa. 

Abstract

Mineral processing plants are continuously seeking to improve recoveries due to different factors and there are many variables that can be improved. One variable that influences gold recovery is cyanide concentration, which should be analyzed in order to determine the values to work between, this can be determined in the metallurgical laboratory under certain conditions.

Cyanide dosage to be added at certain concentrations can also be determined in a plant by performing a statistical analysis of the results obtained from the extraction, and finding the optimum in a specified range of exploration. 

Later, an analysis of the experimental design can be carried out with plant data to refine the results. The application of this knowledge in our process plant is necessary and fundamental to optimize the dosage of the cyanide reagent and to obtain the best extraction results. 

To achieve this, it is necessary to look at the process as a system that performs a function and to interpret the results in a metallurgical way.