Following on from the successful 2017 partnership with Curtin University to commercialise the Carbon Scout technology, Gekko is very pleased to announce that AngloGold Ashanti Australia Ltd (AGAA) has signed the contract for a second Carbon Scout unit for its Sunrise Dam site. This follows the successful installation of the initial unit at Sunrise Dam and a unit at the Tropicana gold mine.
Tropicana, located 330 kilometers east-northeast of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, is a joint venture between AGAA (70% and manager) and Independence Group NL (30%).
Designed to assist gold mine operators to optimise process plant efficiency and reduce gold losses to tailings; the new unit will aid carbon management in the second train of the CIL tanks at Sunrise Dam, located 55 km south of Laverton in WA.
Installation of the second Carbon Scout is due to occur in March 2018. Sunrise Dam’s original unit, built during the technology’s alpha development phase, will undergo a program of upgrades bringing it up to the level of the new production unit.
An analysis of site data has indicated that improved carbon management utilising Carbon Scout and the automation of the carbon movement can save a significant quantity of gold that would otherwise be lost to the tailings dam.
The benefit of the Carbon Scout is the provisioning of a single sampling point at ground level, in addition to automated carbon density measurement. Expert interpretation of data will result in real-time circuit optimisation in carbon-in-leach and carbon-in-pulp circuits, reducing soluble gold loses and improving cash flow.
The Carbon Scout can deliver productivity benefits by removing the requirement for manual sampling of the tanks by, enabling plant operators to focus on other critical tasks and reducing the potential OH&S risks associated with manual sampling.
Current testing in the Gekko research and development facility has the Mk4 Carbon Scout running continuously seven days a week at optimal levels, evaluating materials and new components in extremely harsh chemical and abrasive conditions such as the soon-to-be-released pH and dissolved oxygen measurement systems that are to be fully integrated into the Carbon Scout unit.
