NEWS

Gekko is pleased to announce a second InLine Leach Reactor (ILR) for the Sanbrado Mine. This mine is based in Burkino Faso and owned and operated by West African...

Gekko’s InLine Leach Reactor (ILR) has long been the world’s leading intensive cyanidation unit. With over 115 installations world-wide, the ILR is beginning to be a standard inclusion in cyanidation circuits.

Gekko Systems launched the InLine Leach Reactor (ILR) in 1997 as the world’s first commercial intensive leach production unit. Originally designed to treat high volumes of concentrate from the IPJ as a continuous unit, the ILR was converted to batch operation and found wide-spread application treating batch centrifugal concentrates in gold mines around the world. The batch ILR is particularly suited for high-grade low tonnage (less than 20 tonnes per batch), whilst its counterpart, the continuous ILR, is suited to treat higher-volume and lower-grade concentrates (from half a tonne an hour upwards).

A large proportion of the world’s silver is produced as silver flotation concentrate and is sold to smelters for treatment. This incurs costs in smelter charges, transport and often extra taxes. The ILR has the ability to add value by treating silver flotation concentrates to recover silver metal on site. The intensive leaching conditions of high NaCN in solution and high dissolved oxygen levels overcome the issue with silver’s slow dissolution rate in traditional CIL-CIP circuits and the scrubbing action of the rolling drum reduces the formation and impact of insoluble silver sulphide minerals on the surface of the silver.

Our South American team is proud to confirm the sale of Gekko’s 100th InLine Leach Reactor (ILR) unit. The recent sale marks not only an impressive milestone for intensive cyanidation but also the first sale for Gekko into Brazil. Mineracao Caraiba’s Nova Xavantina project took delivery of the unit in October 2011, having been pre-commissioned at Gekko’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility earlier that month.