Fund Your Mine Yourself: The Topic of Choice at the PDAC

"Fund your mine through starting small was the buzz topic at the just ended PDAC".

In a previous article titled ‘Let Your Project Fund Itself – another avenue for the Juniors to consider’, I looked at the possibilities for Juniors to fund their project through the implementation of successive manageable steps. This seems to have struck a chord and indeed stage; fund your mine through starting small was the buzz topic at the just ended PDAC.

What seems to have missed the mark, however, is that this approach is not the exclusive preserve of the Juniors, anyone can play. What is more, private entrants do not have to lock into the growth cycle to make a highly successful project or business – the appropriate scale may be very small, period. Vast numbers of ore resources exist, especially here in central Africa, that are far too small to register on the scale, but which nevertheless contain perfectly viable amounts of gold. In fact, it’s not just restricted to gold, other minerals qualify too, like tantalite and tin for example. These deposits would probably not stand the cost of extensive exploration drilling, but should that be a prerequisite for operation? In most cases there is some pre-history or at least some prospect exploration has been done to establish that some resource is present. In this sector the speculative nature of the game is well understood and catered for; it is not about a massively long project life, but a viable one whilst it lasts. And the very nature of these deposits means that there are plenty more where the last one came from. Yes, it is a speculative play with an establishment risk, but so too is drilling speculative until or unless it intersects something.

The fact of the matter is that a large number of these deposits are being worked in this fashion right now, have been in the past and always will be, so the viability of the model is unquestionable. In Zimbabwe for example more than 400 small mines are operating as I write. We are not talking of artisanal activity here; this is formal mining, albeit on a small scale, like the typical Smallworker operations that dominated the early African mining explosion at the beginning of the last century. Just what proportion of a countries’ total mineral production comes from small scale is probably difficult to quantify, but I am willing to bet that it is far more than has been attributed. In Zimbabwe for example a figure of over 50% is mooted.

We at APT take this Smallworker sector very seriously and each one of our modules is available from 1.5tph through to 250tph as a stand-alone processing entity to fit every scale. The low capital is obviously of importance to this sector, but equally so is the truly comprehensive nature of the plants. Everything is supplied, ready to run, and with a very short lead time. The modular nature also lends a degree of flexibility and comfort in that the operation can be easily translocated or modified to a successive application in a very short time. Never before has it been so easy to get started and whether its process proving, a step along the way to a bigger play, or a serious small operation in its own right, APT plants tick off the processing box. Fund your mine yourself.

-  CEO

Fig 1: A small 12tph hard rock crushing and impact milling plant for the recovery of free gold

From the CEO's Desk: '2014- How will it all pan out?'

This past year saw no major global flare up’s, no dramatic wars, a sort of grey year that provoked no major reactions, and got none. Our industry seems to be in a benign phase too, several major projects are on hold and nobody is rushing to fund the pool of Juniors either, despite some terrific portfolios they hold. The gold price we are told will continue to bounce between $1100 and $1300 an ounce, but we cant put this all down to the gold price, most of the rest of the industry seems afflicted too.

What is it then? Dare I hazard a controversial statement and attribute a good deal of this to the lethargy that seems to pervade our industry from time to time. Indecision breeds indecision, risk becomes taboo, inertia stifles momentum.

Everyone has an opinion, forgive me for having voiced mine, but more importantly, what is to be done about it, who will do it, and how? Ironically we at APT saw a major increase in both the number and value of enquiries throughout the year, with a particularly strong upward swing in the last three months of 2013. This is absolutely against global trend, very welcome for sure, but let’s try to understand why. One very interesting statistic to emerge is that conversion of enquiries to actual sales is by far the highest in the smaller sector, and this is increasing dramatically. This sector is where the risks are higher, the pre-qualification of resource more difficult, but perhaps this is being outweighed by the lower capital required. I have another theory to add – this is where the highest grade, and the highest potential for success exists.

Yes, ‘potential’ is the operative word, but this is where APT comes through with a package to reduce the risks and increase that potential. By keeping entry capital levels low, the risk, or rather the exposure is diminished. In keeping the operating costs way down, the profitability is increased. What is special, if not unique to the APT product range is that we have endeavoured and achieved low capital and operating cost right across the range, including the small entry level where most of the high grade opportunities exist. We believe this is a winning formula that drives our ‘let your project fund itself’ initiative by allowing the project to grow through easily attainable sequential steps, all supplied by APT.

The APT R&D and Design team have been very busy and we will be unveiling a number of new products during 2014 to support your very stout efforts to make this your winning year. It is indeed possible, and you will find us eager and willing to assist.

Our very best wishes to you all.

Sincerely,

Kevin Peacocke

(CEO)

APT's COO Emphasizes The Importance of Sound Ore Testwork in Developing a Good Flowsheet

"The ore dictates the terms, so ore testwork is a must". That’s a popular catchphrase at APT because each and every ore is different and unique. Ores of the same element can be remarkably similar in behaviour, but it is extremely rare for 2 ores to behave exactly the same. Liberation character will be different, requiring marginally different crush or grind sizes for optimal liberation; the nature, size and shape of liberated mineral or metal will be different, requiring different set-up of recovery equipment; and competing species or minerals will vary in their nature and their effect on recovery of the desired mineral/metal.

It is for this reason that we at APT strongly advocate thorough extractive ore testwork before selecting a process or plant module. We would rather not supply a plant than supply a plant that is inappropriate or inadequate, a disappointment and a waste of money. There is no sense in rushing a mine into production with inadequate ore testwork. There is ABSOLUTELY no sense in rushing a mine into production without any testwork at all. Unfortunately some of our customers are so keen to begin production that – against our advice - they order plants without complete or appropriate testwork; in extreme cases without even establishing that the ore carries viable grades. More often than not these rushed plants end up being shut down or drastically modified. More haste, less speed.

Just as a GPS will navigate one to a destination by the most convenient and quick route, so appropriate and correct testwork will guide a mine-owner to the best solution for maximising recovery at minimised cost. APT’s partner company, Peacocke & Simpson, has over 25 years of experience in developing process flowsheets for ores from literally every corner of the world. Like APT, P&S believes in innovation and (wherever possible) eco-friendly processing, in thinking outside the box to provide a solution that best suits the ore, which - as we already know - dictates the terms.

“Like squeezing blood from a stone” is a well known expression that literally means trying the impossible with an un-budging subject. Let’s face it, ore is rock and rock is un-budging, so rather than trying to make rock suit a process, make the process suit the rock. Let APT and P&S test your ore, find out its quirks and qualities, and design your process for optimum return.

- COO

Affordable Mining Exploration: exploration with production, the smart way to initiate a project on all fronts

Affordable mining exploration equipment is available from engineers and suppliers who understand your wants and needs, and know how you can achieve success in mining. APT have launched fast track process plant capability by introducing our Exploration Plant range. This range allows for a departure from the normal project execution timelines in that these plants can be manufactured in eight to fourteen weeks, with a two to four day plant installation in the field. Considering this is exploration with production it is not necessarily an alternative to conventional exploration methods, but rather a fast track alternative to understand the resource parameters in reasonable volume.

It is not just resource exploration that we are talking about, but also metallurgical exploration, mining method exploration, operational idiosyncrasies in a remote location exploration. The more all of these can be progressed in parallel, the faster a project comes to fruition in totality with all the boxes checked and lessons learned cheaply.

All the vital information towards a truly large mine investment, if that is the ultimate objective, can be obtained using an APT Exploration Plant, providing the ability to generate revenue right out of the gate!

• Low energy
• High recovery
• Easy installation
• Fast delivery
• Low cost
• Low opex
• Environmentally friendly

We have other articles on the affordable mining exploration process, such as this one here which caters to junior miners. Feel free to contact us for any further information, we are here to help!

Company Focuses on Expanding PGM Recovery Modules

Magazine Website

Modular mineral processing plant manufacturer Appropriate Process Technologies (APT) CEO Kevin Peacocke says the company has increased its focus on designing and incorporating modular platinum-group metal- (PGM-) specific gravity recovery systems, which can be used to retreat tailing and to process primary ores, and has now included these PGM recovery modules to their range. 

“Our first entry into the platinum industry is the in-house ISO 9001-compliant testwork facility that we are operating. The facility is being used to examine and assess several methods of platinum recovery from tailings for a large Zimbabwe-based client and to investigate the gravity recovery of platinum for a local platinum miner,” says Peacocke.

This PGM recovery project started in May and is in the process development stage; it considers alternative methods of platinum recovery using APT technology and is not compelled to use conventional recovery methods.

“What makes this PGM recovery development and testing process unique is that the ore dictates the process that will eventually be chosen and designed,” says Peacocke.

APT has two products that it uses for the PGM recovery – a Knelson semicontinuous batch concentrator, which targets element metals, such as liberated platinum and other PGMs; and a Knelson continuous variable discharge (CVD) concentrator, which targets free element platinum, sulphides and semi-liberated sulphides.

The batch concentrator operates at an elevated gravitational force, which is between 60 times and 200 times the gravitational force on earth.

It also features a patented fully fluidised cone, which enables recovery from the top to the bottom of the cone, as opposed to only part of the cone surface.

This product derives its name from the capability the product has of taking itself offline and automatically setting the concentrate aside – as a batch – at a specific time. The product comes online again to repeat the process, with a new batch of ore or concentrate.

Meanwhile, the CVD concentrator also works at an elevated gravitational force of between 60 times and 100 times the gravitational force on earth. The product features rings at the top of the cone, with valves at the back of the rings. These valves open periodically, catching the concentrate.

The CVD is unique as the valves have five variable para- meters that can be set, which enables the user to choose the type of concentrate to be yielded.

The benefit of using gravity recovery in both instances is that the concentrate being put into the recovery products can be much more coarse than the 75 microns typically employed in flotation. For example, the concentrate can even be as coarse as 1 mm in size. The gravity processors also consume less than 0.5 kWh for each ton of concentrate being processed and require no chemicals, which ensures that the products are environment friendly.

Peacocke notes that APT’s two PGM gravity-processing products can be installed as an adjunct to existing processes. They can also be used to complement and improve on the sulphide flotation systems already prevalent in the market.

“What we aim to do is to install our gravity-recovery PGM products in phases, initially to complement existing systems, but to get to the point where we may propose the installation of complete gravity- recovery plants,” he notes.

With a presence on four continents and in 20 countries, APT’s long-term goal is to become even more globally represented and, through this representation, serve the high-end and entry levels of the market.

APT aims to offer survival techniques to entry-level miners during tough market conditions, while also providing immediate solutions for high-end miners that they can apply when capital is available and when expansion is possible.

Meanwhile, within the next 12 months, APT will consider expanding its assembly facility, in Kya Sands, Johannesburg, as business continues to grow, which is driven by increasing demand for its products and services in Africa.

Let Your Project Fund Itself - another avenue for the Junior Mining sector to consider

You have a really good mining project, but nobody is interested...

We all know that capital is extremely difficult to raise right now and very few mining projects are being initiated. Sadly this includes some very fine properties that despite their included high grades just don’t seem to be attracting funding. Those projects that are fortunate enough to attract investors frequently need to part with a higher level of equity with the net result that the outcome is likely to be less attractive and less flexible to the owner.

What if these projects could be brought on-line with far more modest funding, and grown internally? Starting small is nothing new, and even if the start capital is low it is no guarantee that the project will succeed, or be worth pursuing for modest returns at this scale. What is different about this latest initiative is that it the project is not intended to remain in the small league, but to grow rapidly through logically planned increments, each of which is funded from the previous stage.

A plant for all scales and feed types

When APT created plants to suit various scale projects the main motivation was to cater to the various market sectors in these size bands from Artisanals to Juniors. Plants were designed and built for feeds of 3, 10, 20 and 80tph, with a 250tph option on the drawing board. Within each of these bands, plants exist for alluvial, hard rock and tailings, and also combinations of these.

Maximum Flexibility

All of the designs are modular so that components can be easily added or subtracted. Maximum flexibility is therefore available so the precise definition of the resource is not that critical from the outset and the plant can be adapted to changing circumstances.

Many process options

The unit processes include scrubbing ore disintegration, crushing, impacting, fine milling, free gold gravity concentration, bulk gravity concentration for sulphides etc, CIP/CIL including elution etc.

So for example, a project starting out scrubbing surface rubbles or oxide zone may then add in a hard rock section to deal with transition ores and ultimately progress to add ball milling and a CIP or CIL circuit.

Staged development

The staged development concept is depicted pictorially below.  Additions are truly modular, requiring a minimum of additional infrastructure and site preparation to implement.

Fig 1: APT Staged Development System

Progressive size Increments

Some of the range of APT’s unit operations are shown below, illustrating the wide spread of throughput available:

Fig 2: APT's RG Scrubber Size Range (L to R: RG30 - 3tph, RG100 - 10tph, RG200 - 20tph, RG800 - 80tph)

Fig 3: APT's Tritank Range (L to R:  TT20 - 20m³, TT80 - 80m³, TT200 - 200m³,  TT800 - 800m³)

The staged development system is available within each of the APT size bands, so, for example, a project wanting to stick to 10tph scale because of mining constraints can nevertheless grow at that scale from alluvial through milling to a full blown CIP addition.

Rapid implementation and rapid returns

APT plants are fully comprehensive of everything necessary to begin production, including spares and tools. The plants are pre-fabricated so that assembly time on site is rapid and trouble free and since generators are included in the package startup is independent of local input.  On site assembly and commissioning can be achieved in as little as four days.

Fig 4: Relative time frame of APT Junior Mining system vs conventional project

Both capital and operating costs of APT modular plants are well below those of large conventional systems, so payback can be achieved in months rather than years.

Fig 5: APT Junior Mining Early Production Plant, Nigeria. On-site installation: 4 days. On time, to spec, in budget.

Growing the project in manageable steps from a small beginning

Both scale and degree of complexity are therefore available in a modular format. A developer or investor wishing to grow their project from a modest beginning may therefore initiate it with a relatively modest capital outlay and then re-invest the returns generated from the project itself to implement either the next degree of complexity (if required) or reach the next size throughput stage. It may therefore be feasible within the time scale of the conventional mine development cycle to have grown the project to full viability through total internal funding.

Conventional exploration may continue to substantiate longer term mine life and reserve delineation, but rather than being a pre-requisite for production, it may indeed be funded from early production. This stage-wise growth and reinvestment,  termed  ‘Saw-Tooth Growth’, is depicted below:

Fig 6: Stag-wise Saw Tooth growth through re-investment in the next module for junior mining developers

Early production confirms the flowsheet

Apart from generating revenue from inception, early production confirms the process and through the ability to add and subtract unit operation modules various flowsheet configurations can be tested and optimised. Expensive downstream plant mistakes can therefore be avoided from the outset, generating confidence in the ore body, the project and the implementing team.

Conclusion

The easiest project to fund is a proven project, and those in the junior mining sector would benefit from taking advantage of this. Early production may well be a means to firming up a project towards that objective, or it may even negate the need for external funding altogether. Junior mining investors would be more willing to put money into that than waiting years for a project that may not get off the ground. Lower the risk, prove the resource, increase the profit.

If you are in junior mining or want to know more about our views on this approach, you are welcome to contact us and we can arrange a meeting and get the discussion going.

New Range of Basic APT RG Alluvial Gold Scrubber Plants Created: Introducing the B Series

APT have found a ready need in the field for basic process plants that offer efficiency coupled with specific emphasis on capital saving. We have, for a long time now, offered our very comprehensive and automated plants to the market place as a standard. On the ground, however, research has shown that, in many instances, start-up programmes are going into their ventures looking for just the frame of what they need to structure their mining endeavours; they are looking for the basic options.

Knowing this, our design team have recently placed emphasis on getting a highly economical B Series range of recovery equipment together, and making this available to the mining fraternity. This B Series range is now available at both 10t/hr and 20t/hr feed rates, and has already been implemented in several mining operations.

This has created a stir, and we have already had feedback from the field with particular interest being generated from miners with start-up projects. The response to their requests is this B Series module; simple and efficient RG Scrubber processing plants for gold recovery in alluvial plays. Our simple solution needs to take into account the problems that arise when working on tough alluvial terrain. Common sense tells us that in these rigorous and rough mining conditions, looking after direct engine drives is far too vulnerable. Because of this, we are now opting for generator or mains power coupled to electric motor drives (simple green start /red stop technology). Taking factors such as these into account, the B Series range contains different offerings that you can choose as the basis for your mining operation, depending on your needs.

RG100B 10t/hr series: 

This series offers a simple manual discharge non-fluidised GoldKacha or fluidised MD12 (manual discharge)

Knelson Concentrator, including trouble-free internal electrics as well as an optional internal water pumping and water pond.

RG200B 20t/hr series:

This series incorporates the MD20 Knelson Concentrator, an internal water pumping and water pond, concentrates carts and straightforward internal electrics.

A standard offering on both B Series plants (RG100 and RG200) incorporates basic electric motor internal drives, with a generator only provided as an optional extra.

The concentrates upgrading is undertaken by employing our GoldKonka Upgrader which employs non-chemical smarts; simple, highly efficient and water based. As has been done with our complete range, this upgrader has been tried and tested and has proven to be extremely economical and effective in recovering even the finest gold particles.

If there is nugget prevalence, the NuggetSnatcha (trap) can be added, as well as the GoldJigga as an optional extra. These recovery modules are also economically sound and environmentally friendly, both of which are in high demand in the mining world today.

In being an optional extra, commissioning is only entertained if APT supplies the generator.

All-in-all, the B Series option provides the fundamental, efficient and robust solution to your alluvial gold mining needs. This option allows for the smarts behind the plants to remain, while releasing capital outlay to the minimum in the first instance. Should the need for an automated plant arise, our standard series RG system will need to be employed. The options are there, you just have to take one.

Lake Victoria Develops Gold Mine: Peacocke & Simpson Testwork Feature | Materials World Magazine

David Kalenuik, CEO of Lake Victoria Gold Mine Company, tells Michael Forrest about the company’s first steps in developing a gold mine in Tanzania. Tanzania might be the third largest gold producer in Africa (after South Africa, Ghana and Mali), but it has not always been that way. Mechanised large-scale gold production did not begin here until the 1990s, following extensive exploration in the country.

Today, the largest producers in Tanzania are AngloGold Ashanti Geita mine followed by Africa Barrick Gold’s Bulyanhulu mine. Together, their combined annual production totals around 750,000 ounces (23.3t). According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), overall gold resources in Tanzania amount to 1,400t.

David Kalenuik, CEO of US-listed Lake Victoria Gold Mine Company (trading symbol LVCA), has been exploring and developing in Tanzania over the past six years and now faces the challenge of finding and developing a mine that will produce a return for investors. The company has a good address in the Archean greenstone belt of the Tanzania craton, which outcrops in the north of the country to form the southern shores of Lake Victoria. ‘The location is right,’ says Kalenuik, whose company has a wide-ranging portfolio of licences over prospective ground, the most advanced properties being in the northeast of the country. These are based on the Kinyambwiga-Murangi-Suguti (the Musoma Bunda project) properties in the South of Mara-Musoma greenstone belt where, in the past, exploration has been limited. The challenge in moving forward, says Kalenuik, is to ensure that the project has the potential to host economic mineralisation, and that each stage of exploration and development leads towards this objective. Early work in the Kinyambwiga area dates back to 1961 when the UK overseas geological survey undertook mapping over the area. During the 1970s, airborne geophysical work outlined the regional geology, which consists of Archean (>2,500 million years) mafic volcanics, sedimentary rocks and banded ironstone formations metamorphosed and intruded by contemporaneous and later granites. These form greenstone belts of the Nyanzian Supergroup, which are estimated to be 5,000m thick and contain the majority of known gold resources.

Structurally, the belts, which are marked by steeply dipping folds with an easterly to north-easterly trend, are cut by southwest trending faults and shear zones of Nyanzian age. Exploration follows a defining programme covering a licence area, which brings focus to the most promising region. This usually follows a mapping and geochemical sampling programme to establish background values as well as any rock and soil anomalies indicating mineralisation. At Musoma Bunda, however, the licence areas are covered with variable depths of Mbuga clay soils – lacustrine sediments related to the ebb and flow of Lake Victoria over geological time that result in clays and other sediments being deposited. Very little outcrop is present in the project area, and can only be found in incised streams or where artisanal mining has exposed bedrock. ‘This has impacted on the exploration over the project area and has required a review of a normally geochemically-led programme,’ says Kalenuik. A solution to the masking overburden has been to use a combination of geophysical techniques. These include ground magnetic, induced polarisation (IP) and Schlumberger vertical electrical profiling (VES) surveys to identify suitable sub-surface structures and, in particular, mineralised shear zones. To the east of the artisanal workings at the Kanunga 1 prospect, investigation of high chargeability/resistivity anomalies via pitting and soil sampling beneath the Mbuga cover returned soil values ranging from 80–1,260ppb, along a north–northeast shear zone for a strike length of some 500m.

Drill holes hit a stone layer between Mbuga clay and underlying granite at the Kanunga prospect. Subsequent trenching to the east of the Kanunga school along a north–northeast shear zone for a strike length of 500m, revealed gold values up to 2.12g/t (ppm). On one north–south drill fence located 1.7km from the Kanunga prospect, eight auger drill holes returned values averaging 77ppb over 40m. They also hit a stone layer at the contact point of the Mbuga and underlying granite, with one hole returning a value of 2.56g/t. A reverse circulation drill programme was undertaken once trenching had been completed across the known area of artisanal workings. Based on 40m spacing, it followed the strike extensions of known quartz mineralisation for 380m. A second reverse circulation drill programme followed the strike extension of the gold-bearing quartz veins for 700m. Overall, some 4,070m of drilling comprising 56 holes to target the quartz veins confirmed the presence of at least four mineralised structures. At Kinyambwiga, this is associated with steeply dipping narrow veins, often traceable over 200m and varying in width from 1–12m. VES profiling has extended the outline of these veins over 700m along the strike under the Mbuga. With a structural trend to the northeast transecting the underlying granitic rocks, these veins can be correlated with significant strikes and dips. Although exploration drilling is at an early stage, late last year a conceptual resource made by independent geological consultants was released. Based on block modeling (6m x 1.5m x 3m blocks) of the drilling and on three of the veins using a cut-off grade of 0.5g/t, the resource was estimated at 578,000t at an average grade of 1.67g/t for 31,000 ounces of gold. As of late last year, the company has spent around US$800,000 in sampling analysis and reverse circulation drilling. But feasibility is not just about defining a mineable resource. Converting these resources to proven reserves entails testing mineralisation to find the optimum method for recovering the valuable contained metal. ‘We have already submitted samples to a certified laboratory in Harare, Zimbabwe, in order to understand how the gold is held and how it could be recovered,’ says Kalenuik. From experience elsewhere in greenstone-hosted gold terranes, the gold is held as free gold, as well as being associated with sulphide minerals as coatings and fine-grained inclusions. The initial sample was crushed to 100% passing 1mm (1,000μ) using an impact crusher, followed by gravity and cyanidation tests. The initial head grade of the material supplied assayed at 7.24g/t.

Artisanal homemade mill designed to grind ore at Kanunga. Using a Knelson centrifugal concentrator on a 20kg sample, the majority of the gold was found to report to the Knelson concentrator tailings, with only 24.2% recovered in the concentrate. Of that, 22.5% was free gold while the remaining 1.6% was associated with heavy minerals. When the grind size was reduced to 80% passing 75 microns, the Knelson concentrator recovered 41% of the test feed, with free gold making up 30.6% and 9.4% associated with heavy minerals. Clearly, other recovery techniques will be required and to this end, the gravity tailings were subjected to cyanide leaching over 24 hours, which resulted in recovery of 84% of the gold (82% over eight hours), with sodium cyanide consumption of 0.84kg/t and lime 1.5kg/t. The combination of gravity and cyanide leaching gave an overall gold recovery of 92.7%. ‘These results support LVMC investment in the Musoma-Bunda project and the Musoma Mara greenstone belt,’ says Kalenuik, although he admits that ‘there is still a long way to go in terms of resource definition, metallurgy and all the other components of a feasibility study, including social and environmental impact. We are working hard to reduce risk for our investors, and we are encouraged by the results from the geochemical and metallurgical reviews.'

We congratulate everyone involved in the Lake Victoria Gold Mine development.

Unearth Your Potential

Mining Decisions Article featuring APT

Download PDF | Magazine Website

Appropriate Process Technologies (APT) is a leading supplier of small-to-medium scale mineral processing plants that help customers mine without large-scale investment. With a growing global agency network, APT’s mineral recovery technology is garnering worldwide attention with numerous installations in Africa, South America and Asia. The company’s vision is to fully maximize its client’s mining operations using novel, cost-effective technologies. Whether you own a junior or mid-tier mine, APT can provide processing solutions that yield substantial initial return on investment.

​Economic and Legislative Relevance

In these capitally-challenged times, it makes sense for junior and mid-tier mining companies to commence production in a modest, easily fund-able way. Even projects with abundant resources and great long-term potential can start production early in the development cycle. Early production not only generates valuable development capital, but demonstrates project viability along the way. More importantly is the consequent commitment shown to investors, host governments and regulatory bodies.

Shortening the Development Cycle

The conventional mining project development cycle is well understood and essential when implementing a large project from greenfields. The cycle is based on substantiating reserves and catering to all life-of-mine scenarios. It must be comprehensive in scope and take into account various ore-types. The APT cycle is far shorter and is mostly aimed at the early stages of mining, when the objective is accelerated production while the rest of the conventional cycle continues in the background.

​Ready-Available Solutions​

APT plants are already engineered and available in various configurations to allow for the treatment of surface rubble and the friable oxide horizon. The plants are supplied as a fully-comprehensive package, including everything necessary to start production. As a result, on-site installation times are extremely short – normally days – with commissioning and training accomplished within the same exercise. With extremely low-energy consumption, APT plants can be powered by generators supplied as part of the package. This makes each plant a self-contained unit, wholly independent of the national grid.

Modular Addition Creates Numerous Plant Configurations

The plants are designed around the RG series of autogenous scrubbers that not only disintegrate clays and saprolites, but break up soft friable rock such as schist. Impact crushing modules can be added to cater to competent hard rocks, which the scrubber rejects. This solution can also be used to move the project into the transition zone. Options are available, from a 10 tph capacity (for initial exploration) to 20 tph, 80 tph and 250 tph.

Highest Quality, Efficiency and Availability

The world-renowned range of FLSmidth Knelson concentrators and other high-quality components are incorporated into APT plants to ensure the highest levels of efficiency and reliability. Projects are often located in difficult terrain where backup facilities and logistical constraints require self-reliance and standalone capabilities. The packages include a fully comprehensive spares and tools inventory. Maintenance requirements are straight forward and neatly detailed in the documentation supplied with each processing solution.

Continuity Through To Full Scale

The company endorses the capability and expertise of FLSmidth to engineer and supply mineral processing plants, even on a large scale. Projects initiated with APT can transition seamlessly through to the subsequent growth phases with FLSmidth, using the APT plant to generate valuable pilot information towards the full-scale objective. The differentiating factor is that the scale of some of APT’s pilot offerings are large enough to give substantial financial returns during the exploration phase. This reduces the financial constraints and investor reliance, which most pilot-level schemes experience when moving from exploration to full-scale production.

Crossing Environmental and Economic Landscapes

APT’s processing plants are environmentally-friendly using only water and electricity to extract minerals by creating artificial gravitational/centrifugal forces (gravity recovery). No mercury or other chemicals are used and high recoveries are possible without them. Some clients have demonstrated, through mineral testing, that gravity recovery holds the largest return on investment of any processing unit operation. Even if only 60% of a resource is gravity recoverable, this fraction may be obtained with only 5–10% of the total project mineral processing investment allocation. This ensures that operations occur within the environmental parameters and demonstrate compliance, while earning substantial returns during the most capital-hungry phase of a mine development cycle.

Mineral Processing Plant & A Seatbelt Are Similar? Here's Why!

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Mineral processing plant solutions and seatbelts appear to be entirely different. In 1950, just under 40 000 people were killed in traffic accidents in a single year. This very high death toll caused an ingenious man – Robert McNamara – to find a solution. He adopted the seat belt, widely used in aeroplane transportation at the time, for the motorcar. This led to an overnight drop in the number of traffic casualties. However, many people would not use the new technology. The resistance to wearing a seat belt was so high that even 15 years later, seat belt users represented a meagre 11% of all drivers. Why was this? Many people thought that wearing a seat belt was a sign that the passenger did not trust the driver’s skills to operate the car. The bottom line is that human behaviour is hard to change. Although the number of people using seat belts has steadily climbed over the years to around 80% today, the positive change took so long to implement that many unnecessary lives were lost. McNamara was a revolutionary, a visionary and more importantly, he appropriated well-known technology to a novel industry. He identified the variable that needed improvement and made it his personal mission to do so.

One of the biggest variables requiring improvement in the modular mineral processing plant engineer and supply and mining industry is time. All of us know that time translates directly into money and hence is of the utmost importance. Some miners seem happy to settle for either age-old, but well understood, techniques which are generally inefficient and/or time wasting from a tonnage throughput point of view. Other miners are happy to spend vast sums of money on more sophisticated machinery that then have manufacturing lead times of up to a year and an installation or commissioning time of around 3 months. APT took a long, hard look at the conventional processes and implemented many improvements and process alterations. This led to attaining mineral processing plant manufacturing and delivery lead times that competitors could only dream of. Most full mineral processing plant solutions (1.5, 3, 6, 20, 80 tonnes per hour) have manufacturing lead times of between 8 and 16 weeks. The installation and commissioning times are blindingly fast as well – in the region of 2 to 7 days. Hence, we have coined the phrase: “From bush to production in days!”

Another area for improvement is the processing of hard rock material. This time the variable which concerns most hard rock miners is that of energy requirements. Ball mills and jaw crushers are widely known to use the most energy in a given mineral processing circuit. Hence, the comminution portion of the process becomes not only a large capital investment, but also a large running cost concern. One of the latest APT developments to address these issues are the new modular processing plants for hard rock crushing & concentration. The ICRD dual impact crusher minerals processing plant are  coupled with either Knelson or GoldKacha concentrators. They are currently offering better recoveries on traditional stamp and ball mill site trials. The impact mechanism splits the rocks, releasing more gold particles for much less input energy. The costs hence also decrease proportionately. This newly developed plant can hence make many old sites economically feasible again.

Washing plants in the form of trommels and sluice-boxes have also been around for a very long time. Although well understood, these modular processing plants usually have an Achilles’ heel when it comes to fine gold. The APT washing plants have become very popular since they are better suited for fine gold recovery and are far more robust. An APT alluvial plant generally comprises an RG scrubber (which is more efficient than a trommel due to its patented design), a Knelson concentrator and the ICRD crushing module, if precious material exists in the oversize. There is currently an RG800 (80tph plant) available in the APT warehouse for rapid deployment (under 6 weeks) and three RG200 plants are being shipped to Central Africa, Southern Africa and Asia imminently.

In conclusion, there will always be the tried and tested “adequate” method of doing anything. Adequate for Robert McNamara was simply not good enough and his distaste of the high traffic death-toll led him to seek out a novel, simple but life-saving solution in the form of the car seat belt. Similarly, we all have witnessed many miners “die” along the way – whether financially or due to tough environmental legislation surrounding dated techniques. APT have hence also sought novel and simple solutions in order to keep the dreams of small and medium scale miners alive. This ultimately empowers all miners with a roadmap to eventually enter the territories of the massive-scale mining conglomerates. Our hope is that it doesn’t take over 50 years for 80% of the industry to join the mineral processing plant revolution. Instead of resisting the change, be a part of it.