The project’s Ball Mill and Carbon-in-Leach (CIL) recovery system is designed to process residual sands obtained from vat leaching operations and customer milling activities conducted by artisanal miners. These materials are often acquired at no cost or through minimal acquisition fees, creating a highly cost-effective feedstock source for advanced gold recovery.

In addition, many milling centers and small-scale processing operations have accumulated large volumes of vat leached sands over several years without the capacity or infrastructure required for further recovery processing. Through strategic partnerships and supply agreements, the project aims to secure access to these stockpiled materials for additional treatment using Ball Mill and CIL technology, enabling the recovery of remaining gold values while transforming previously overlooked tailings into profitable mineral resources.

Gravity + CIP Gold Recovery Plant
Project Location
Silobela, Damdridge Area, Zimbabwe
Project Type
Gold tailings / dump retreatment using gravity concentration + cyanide CIP processing
Gravity recovery equipment typically used:
• Knelson Concentrator
• Falcon Concentrator
CIP adsorption process based on the gold dissolution chemistry of Gold cyanidation.
1. Project Overview
This project aims to process historical gold dump material that still contains recoverable gold.
Key idea:
Older miners often recovered only 30–60% of gold, leaving significant value in dumps.
Modern gravity + cyanide plants can recover 80–90%.
2. Plant Capacity
Proposed processing capacity:
200 tons per day
Operating days:
26 days per month
Monthly throughput:
5,200 tons
Annual throughput:

62,400 tons

Construct a centralized 200 tons-per-day gold recovery plant focused on processing accumulated tailings, vat leached sands, and low-grade ore material sourced from artisanal mining operations and partner milling centers.

Advantages Of The 200 TPD Gravity + Carbon-in-Pulp Plant
1. Loader / Dump Sand Feed
Use
The loader feeds dump material into the plant.

Advantages
• Continuous feeding of material
• Easy control of plant throughput
• Handles large volumes of dump sands
Typical machine used:
• Front-end loader (3–5 ton bucket)
2. Washing Trommel
Use
The Trommel Screen washes the dump sand and separates large rocks before processing.
Material flow:
Dump sand
↓
Washing + scrubbing
↓
Remove rocks
↓
Fine slurry to plant
Advantages
• Removes clay and sticky material
• Prevents blockages in the plant
• Improves gold recovery by freeing gold particles
3. Vibrating Screen
Use
The Vibrating Screen controls the particle size entering the mill.
Example cut size:
• 10–12 mm
Advantages
• Prevents large rocks entering the mill
• Controls plant feed rate
• Reduces wear on the mill

• Stabilizes processing

4. Ball Mill

Use

The Ball Mill grinds the sand so that gold trapped in quartz is liberated. Process:

Steel balls rotate

↓

Ore crushed and ground

↓

Gold released

Advantages 

• Liberates gold locked in quartz
• Produces fine slurry for recovery
• Essential for cyanide leaching

5. Hydrocyclone

Use

The Hydrocyclone controls the grinding size. Operation:

Fine slurry → next stage

Coarse particles → back to ball mill

Advantages

• Prevents over-grinding
• Improves milling efficiency
• Reduces power consumption
• Ensures proper particle size for gold recovery

6. Centrifugal Concentrator

Examples include:

• Knelson
• Falcon

Use

Recovers coarse free gold using gravity. How it works:

High centrifugal force

↓

Heavy gold particles trapped

↓

Light sand washed away

Advantages

• Recovers gold before chemical processing
• No chemicals required
• High recovery for coarse gold
• Reduces load on CIP plant Typical recovery:

30–60% of total gold

Shaking Table

Use

The Shaking Table upgrades the gravity concentrate. Process:

Gold concentrate separated

↓

Final gravity gold product

Advantages

• Produces high-grade gold concentrate
• Simple and cheap operation
• Very good for fine free gold

8. CIP Leach Tanks

The heart of the **Carbon-in-Pulp system.

Use

Dissolves gold using cyanide and absorbs it onto carbon. Process:

Gold dissolves in cyanide

↓

Activated carbon absorbs gold

Advantages

• High recovery (80–95%)
• Works well for fine gold
• Continuous operation
• Proven technology in gold mining

9. Elution System

Common processes:

• Zadra Process
• AARL Process

Use

Removes gold from activated carbon. Process:

Hot chemical solution

↓

Gold stripped from carbon

↓

Gold-rich solution

Advantages

• Recovers gold from carbon
• Carbon can be reused
• Efficient gold extraction

10. Electrowinning

Use 

Gold is plated onto metal cathodes from solution. Process:

Electric current

↓

Gold sticks to cathode plates

Advantages

• Produces high-purity gold sludge
• Very efficient recovery
• Low operating cost

11. Gold Room / Smelting Furnace

Use 

Gold sludge is melted into bars. Typical output:

• Dore gold bars

Advantages 

• Final gold product
• Easy to transport and sell
• High value

12. Tailings Storage

Use

Stores processed waste material after gold recovery.

Advantages

• Safe disposal of waste
• Prevents environmental contamination
• Allows future reprocessing if needed Why This Whole System Works Well Combining gravity + CIP is powerful because:

Total recovery:

90–96% gold recovery