Minerals Engineering 94 (2016) 38–40

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Minerals Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng

Short communication

Exploiting the malleability of gold for placer concentrate extraction

and recovery
Gavin Clarkson a, Randy Clarkson b, Michael Hitch c,⇑
a
Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia, 517-6350 Stores Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
b
New Era Engineering, Whitehorse, YT Y1A 5T8, Canada
c
Australian Centre for Sustainable Mining Practices, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A novel, chemical-free method for extracting gold from gravity middlings is described. This method
Received 22 October 2015 exploits the differences in relative malleability, rather than density, of gold and waste products by sub-
Revised 27 April 2016 mitting concentrates to grinding in a rod mill. The grind products are separated through a sieve, where
Accepted 30 April 2016
flattened gold particles are captured on the oversize while brittle waste reports to the fines. This paper
Available online 14 May 2016
presents the results of a field tour of this method throughout the Yukon placer gold fields, where gold
was extracted from difficult to process stockpiled middlings. Recoveries were often well over 90%, with
Keywords:
nearly pure raw gold effectively separated after only minutes of grinding in a batch mill. Gold remaining
Placer gold
Gravity processing
in the fine and evenly classified loss material is now more amenable to gravity processing than similarly
Gold malleability sized unground concentrate. Further lab testing indicated that gold recoveries were most sensitive to the
Placer concentration mill charge amount and total grind time. While these results are based on placer properties, the method
has potential in any mill involving a gravity recovery circuit.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction (Noaparast and Laplante, 2004). The relative resistance to grinding

The Yukon placer gold fields produce approximately 60,000
crude oz annually using nothing more than gravity concentration
(Van Loon and Bond, 2014). For low grade alluvial deposits, gravity
concentration is ‘‘virtually the only method effective at producing
the concentration ratios required” (Mitchell et al., 1997, p. 9).
Furthermore, improvements to the common sluice have resulted
in recoveries well above 90%, making more reagent-based extrac-
tion unnecessary. However, subsequent gravity-based upgrading
results in high grade middlings rich in high density gangue miner-
als. The difference in relative density between the gold and waste
is reduced, and the heavy interlocking waste grains hinder further
upgrading. Operators are hesitant to introduce chemical reagents
due to a strict permitting regime, and so the high grade middlings
are stockpiled with little processing priority. Some of this stock-
piled is over 108,000 g/t gold, representing significant lost value.
Density is not the only unique property of gold. The malleability
of gold results in a resistance to being reduced in grinding environ-
ments, up to 20 times slower than gangue (Banisi et al., 1991,
p. 78). Gold requires more grinding than conventional ores, and
grains can be flattened and cold welded into coarser size classes
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mhitch@mining.ubc.ca (M. Hitch).
between gold and waste particles may be used for extraction.
This paper describes a novel method to process these gravity
middlings without requiring the introduction of any reagents or
further permitting to placer operators. It exploits the malleability,
rather than density, of gold particles for extraction using a rod mill.
The brittle high density waste minerals are effectively reduced,
while ductile gold particles resist breakage and are flattened. The
grind products are then sieved. Flattened gold particles are
captured in the oversize portion of the screen while pulverised
waste fines are separated out. Use of a rod mill was justified based
on previous research, indicating gold particles subjected to grind-
ing in a ball mill were effectively flattened (Ofori-Sarpong and
Amankwah, 2011), while rod mills preferentially grind larger
waste particles over fine gold particles (Wills and Napier-Munn,
2006). This method, while currently used at a relatively small scale
by independent operators, has broad potential in the gravity
circuits for larger hard rock mills.
2. Methodology
Individual samples from 7 placer operators were tested in a
20  30 cm laboratory rod mill, with approximately 1:1 water to
solid ratio by volume. Mill charges were sorted to 2.3 mm/
+297 lm. Grind products were sorted on a 297 lm sieve. Grinding

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2016.04.017
0892-6875/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 G. Clarkson et al. / Minerals Engineering 94 (2016) 38–40 39

was stopped once the material on the 297 lm sieve was approxi-
mately 90% gold, considered a successful test.
Recoveries were determined by measuring the gold content of
the 297 lm grind products, considered overground gold parti-
cles. This was performed on-site using mercury amalgamation of
the fines, proven by duplicate fire assays. When recoveries were
low, fines were occasionally subjected to 1–2 min of further grind-
ing and sorted over a 210 lm screen, separating finer gold parti-
cles. The middling concentrates at each property varied in
composition, but were invariably dominated (>70%) by a single
high density waste mineral.
After field testing, recovery sensitivities were performed in lab
tests using identical split samples from a single property dominant
in cassiterite. The sample concentrate was well sorted medium
sand at 2.3 mm/+0.3 mm, consisting of >90% cassiterite (Fig. 1).
These lab tests explored the trends when adjusting charge amount
and grind time, as these were estimated to be the most crucial
recovery components during field testing.
3. Results and discussion
The results of the field tests are displayed in Table 1. Excepting
one test, final recoveries were well over 80% and often over 90%,
proving the resistance of gold to reduction during grinding. Note
that from material being stockpiled with little processing priority,
a single 6 min grind test extracted over 111 g of raw gold at >90%
purity, ready for smelting and sale. This material is approximately
108,000 g/t. The concentrate listed was not able to be sufficiently
upgraded with further tabling attempts before grinding. Grinding
and sieving was the only technique that allowed the extraction
of nearly pure raw gold without the introduction of any chemical
reagents.
Test SgMg/HeF2 was the only field test with poor recoveries of
only 38%. This test also had the largest mill charge and longest
grind time. This implied that gold preservation for sieve capture
was most sensitive to charge load and grind time, a fact that was
explored during subsequent correlation lab testing.
Field concentrates tested in Table 1 were collected from differ-
ent properties with various compositions, preventing accurate cor-
relation between samples. To investigate the recovery sensitivities
of this method, lab testing was performed with repeated tests of a
single blended cassiterite-dominant concentrate evenly salted
with gold particles. These tests indicated that recoveries were most
influenced by charge load and the resulting longer grind times. The
relationship between recovery, charge amount, and grind time are
illustrated in Fig. 2. There is a similar downward trend in recover-
ies with increasing mill charge and grind times, linked due to the
positive linear relationship between grind time and mill charge.
As indicated during field tests, the recoveries are most sensitive
to the mill charge, and there is greater advantage in multiple small
grinds rather than fewer large grinds.
Of interest is the appropriate sizing of the 297 lm recovery
screen. The screen size must be finer than the majority of the gold
particles in the concentrate to maximize recovery. The gold con-
tent of the 297 lm unground fines were determined at each
property. The majority of gold (>70–80%) was recovered with the
297 lm screen with few exceptions. Furthermore, any fine gold
which passed through the collection sieve was now more amen-
able to gravity upgrading, such as tabling, when compared to the
unground portions in the same 297 lm size range. Even at prop-
erties with a large proportion of fine gold, the grinding technique
managed to quickly extract the coarse gold particles and allow
upgrading of the ground fines.
At its current incarnation as a batch method, grinding for the
purpose of separating gold particles is appropriate for high value
gravity concentrates containing gold particles >100 lm. Limited
experiments indicated that the preservation of gold particles in
grinding environments can scale down further, with 297 fines
subjected to grinding and gold particles extracted on a 74 lm
screen, though further tests are needed to explore this aspect.
The vast majority of gold in the Yukon placer fields is coarse, mak-

Particle Size Distribution of Cassiterite Concentrate

100%

80%
% Finer by Weight

60%

40%

20%

0%
0.001 0.010 0.100 1.000 10.000 100.000
Grain Diameter (mm)

Fig. 1. Particle size distribution of cassiterite concentrate used in correlation testing.

Table 1
On-site results of field tests. +210 lm gold recovered after 297 lm fines were reground for 1–2 min. N/A is listed where recoveries on the 297 lm screen were considered
sufficient.

Test name Mill charge Grind time Main waste Recovery Recovery Overall Au Overall Au
(kg) (min) mineral (+297 lm) (%) (+210 lm) recovery (%) recovery (g)
Galena F1 1.04 6 Galena 99 N/A 99 111.27
Cassiter F1 1.13 7 Cassiterite 60 29% 90 4.37
Cassiter F3 0.58 7 Cassiterite 86 8% 94 9.81
Garnet F3 0.44 5 Garnet 98 N/A 98 78.95
HBWC F1 0.74 6 Lead 83 N/A 83 92.14
HMg/He F1 1.19 9 Hematite 88 N/A 88 40.28
SGMg/HeF2 1.37 12 Hematite 38 N/A 38 15.84
40 G. Clarkson et al. / Minerals Engineering 94 (2016) 38–40

Charge Load vs Recovery response of grind fines to gravity-based methods like tabling when
100% compared to unground fines. There is significant value in stock-
95% piled placer middlings in the Yukon, with some as high as
% Recovery

90% 108,000 g/t gold at mines that have been saving this portion of
85% their concentrates for decades. This value can now be extracted
80% through an efficient automated method that does not require the
75% introduction of harsh chemical reagents.
70% Correlation lab testing indicated that recovery was the most
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 sensitive to the charge load and total grind time in the mill. Greater
Mill Charge (kg/L) charges required longer grind times, exposing contained gold par-
ticles to longer periods of abrasion and possible reduction. Careful
Grind Time vs Recovery analysis of each differing concentrate type should be performed
100%
95%
before considering the ideal mill charge amount, as results
between differing compositions will likely vary.
% Recovery

90%
85%
Although this research was applied to the independent placer
80%
miner, any mill including a gravity circuit could benefit from
75%
applying this method. Centrifugal concentrates are upgraded by
70%
table, which are plagued by the same losses of gold to middlings.
0 5 10 15 20 Applying a batch mill in gold rooms would make recirculating
Grind Time gravity middlings unnecessary. Further research potential is
exploring the application to fine gold <100 lm, and the develop-
Fig. 2. (Above) Charge load (kg of feed/L mill capacity) vs recovery of gold. (Below) ment of a continuous throughput concentrate comminution and
Total grind time vs recovery of gold. Colors indicate matching recovery tests. (For
classification circuit for the reagent free extraction of gold
interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred
to the web version of this article.) particles.

ing the pursuit of such fine fractions unnecessary. For lode gold
mines however, the possibility is worth investigating further.
4. Conclusions
The introduction of grinding concentrates for the extraction of
malleable gold particles from gravity middlings has significant
benefits. During tests, the batch rod mill reduced the brittle waste
portion of the middlings while preserving >90% of the contained
gold particles for screen collection, with few exceptions. Raw gold
captured on the screen was nearly pure, with <10% waste, ready for
immediate sale or smelting. Further benefits include the increased
References
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