The Carbon Scout at the Newmont Merian Mine in Suriname has highlighted the value of automated sample measurements. By utilizing the Carbon Scout, significant insights have been gained about the carbon concentration in CIL Tank 3 and Tank 4 of the circuit, as demonstrated in the figure below.
During a period where no carbon concentration measurements were manually collected, Tank 3 experienced a drop in carbon concentration while Tank 4’s carbon concentration increased over the day. This was shown by the Carbon Scout’s automatic measurements. However, upon resumption of manual and Carbon Scout measurements, a more stable and controlled carbon concentration was observed.
While the event was mainly due to an out of service carbon transfer pump, the ability to detect this in real time is a great advantage providing the operators and control room personnel real time feedback of carbon concentration measurements, and therefore tank-by-tank carbon inventories. Failure to detect such events could result in significant excursion on solution losses.
Automation using real-time carbon concentration data from the Carbon Scout and Gekko’s process automation system has been shown to deliver targeted carbon level performance in the CIL/CIP circuit.
Contact our team today to find out how the Carbon Scout can add value to your CIL/CIP circuit.
