ASM Artisanal Small-Scale Mining Comes of age - new technology for Mining Family Units

"Fifteen million artisanal and small scale (ASM) gold miners exist in the world today with a further 100 million people who are dependent on ASM". Small-scale miners extract between 10-15% of the global gold supply chain, yet they make up over 90% of the labour force in gold mining worldwide.

For endless ages this sector has struggled as they have not had the ready finance to the necessary and sufficient artisanal mining equipment systems to reach viability. Even where some level of production has been achieved, it is often at the expense of efficiency and the environment.

Turning this sector into a well oiled mechanism that produces gold efficiently and cleanly is indeed possible.

The key is in providing the artisanals with an efficient, fully comprehensive package that is ready to begin producing right out of the box. Repayment of the investment, and continued viability can then progress smoothly with the necessary input from the artisanals being what they are good at; finding the feed and providing their good work. Note the reference to a system. The end product must be elemental gold which can then be sold and hitherto mercury has been used to produce this from the primary gravity concentrates. If mercury is to be avoided, then an alternative system must be offered to replace it. APT have developed and manufactured such a system, which comprises of the robust and simple GoldKacha concentrator allied to an efficient upgrader called a GoldKonka and finally a small smelting furnace. No mercury is necessary at all.

One hardworking, responsible Mining Family Unit (MFU) using the APT GoldKacha system and working a 1g/tonne gold yield resource can recover 20 grams per day, or up to 500 grams per month.

From humid Central American forests to hard baked North African desert plains and steaming Asian jungles there is a cry of triumph in the air.. Viva GoldKacha ! The all new Mk4 GoldKacha is making a stir in entry level mining circles worldwide and there has been great praise of using this plant to advance artisanal mining equipment. The newly streamlined and ergonomic mineral recovery system is easy to operate and highly efficient on recovery of elluvial and alluvial gold. No special skills are necessary. Family Mining Units are already pooling resources to buy GoldKacha systems. With the gold price set to firm in the near future, ASM sector miners are seeing an opportunity to cash in and make a good deal more than they have done in the past. The GoldKacha will process between one and three tonnes an hour without the use of mercury and is profitable at as less than 1g/t Au.

Age old rudimentary devices such as sluices and had panning dishes are not cutting the cake, they are simply too inefficient and are nearly always combined with the use of mercury. Thinking ASM sector MFU miners have now got the answer but not the tools. APT has managed to reduce the price of the GoldKacha significantly so sponsoring ASM family units is entirely feasible, and artisanal mining equipment has gone ahead full force. APT are inviting trade and NGO organisation enquiries. We have tailored special pricing for volume purchase and are implementing supply kit packages to make distribution and availability even easier.

Magazine Website

Artisanal Small-scale Mining comes of age: New Technology for Mining Family Units

"Fifteen million artisanal mining and small scale (ASM) gold miners exist in the world today with a further 100 million people who are dependent on ASM". Small-scale miners extract between 10-15% of the global gold supply chain, yet they make up over 90% of the labour force in gold mining worldwide.

For endless ages this sector has struggled as they have not had the ready finance to the necessary and sufficient systems to reach viability. Even where some level of production has been achieved, it is often at the expense of efficiency and the environment.

Turning this sector into a well oiled mechanism that produces gold efficiently and cleanly is indeed possible.

The key is in providing the artisanal mining sector with an efficient, fully comprehensive package that is ready to begin producing right out of the box. Repayment of the investment, and continued viability can then progress smoothly with the necessary input from the artisanals being what they are good at; finding the feed and providing their good work. Note the reference to a system. The end product must be elemental gold which can then be sold and hitherto mercury has been used to produce this from the primary gravity concentrates. If mercury is to be avoided, then an alternative system must be offered to replace it. APT have developed and manufactured such a system, which comprises of the robust and simple GoldKacha concentrator allied to an efficient upgrader called a GoldKonka and finally a small smelting furnace. No mercury is necessary at all.

One hardworking, responsible Mining Family Unit (MFU) using the APT GoldKacha system and working a 1g/tonne gold yield resource can recover 20 grams per day, or up to 500 grams per month.

From humid Central American forests to hard baked North African desert plains and steaming Asian jungles there is a cry of triumph in the air.. Viva GoldKacha ! The all new Mk4 GoldKacha is making a stir in entry level mining circles worldwide. The newly streamlined and ergonomic mineral recovery system is easy to operate and highly efficient on recovery of elluvial and alluvial gold. No special skills are necessary. Family Mining Units are already pooling resources to buy GoldKacha systems. With the gold price set to firm in the near future, artisanal mining and small scale sector miners are seeing an opportunity to cash in and make a good deal more than they have done in the past. The GoldKacha will process between one and three tonnes an hour without the use of mercury and is profitable at as less than 1g/t Au.

Age old rudimentary devices such as sluices and had panning dishes are not cutting the cake, they are simply too inefficient and are nearly always combined with the use of mercury. Thinking ASM sector MFU miners have now got the answer but not the tools. APT has managed to reduce the price of the GoldKacha significantly so sponsoring ASM family units is entirely feasible. APT are inviting trade and NGO organisation enquiries, they have tailored special pricing for volume purchase and are implementing supply kit packages to make distribution and availability even easier.

APT Introduces the RG30-T

A mobile minerals recovery and exploration system has been launched by APT, with the aim of taking small and medium scale exploration and production to a new level. The RG30-T Production Kit allows optimal mobility by means of a complete mining kit mounted on a rugged trailer, so this is a full mobile minerals recovery plant. The concept behind the mobile solution was driven by the need for reducing the risk and costs involved in the exploration process, while enabling greater production and therefore optimum profit to be made. Furthermore, it enables the operator to anticipate future stumbling blocks in the mining process ahead of feeding to the main plant, by providing the ability to process large bulk samples through to small concentrates.

The mobile minerals recovery Exploration and Production Kit combines the RG30 and GoldKacha Mark 4, with GoldKonka upgrader and GoldJigga Field Jig and ancillary equipment, into a robust configuration which fits onto a neatly designed trailer, allowing you to move from resource to resource. The RG30-T is a fully functioning system and does not require interface with other machinery.

The process begins at the RG30 scrubber, and the leading features are outlined here. Firstly, the GoldKacha takes larger mass pull to concentrate than competing equipment, therefore a very high primary recovery is achieved. The RG30 also has a deep belly drum together with an integral high efficiency trommel screen, allowing for both clay disintegration and the improvement of gold liberation from host material. The feed from the RG30 scrubber is then passed to the GoldKacha Concentrator via gravity, eliminating the need for additional pumps. Thereafter, the concentrates are fed manually into the GoldKonka Up-Grader which treats the concentrate to smeltable grade. The GoldKonka allows for the finest gold particles to be recovered, eliminating the need for mercury. For larger gold nuggets, the GoldJigga Field Jig is used to enable easy hand-pick recovery of the nuggets. The whole system has a 3tph feed rate.

The set-up and put-away time of this module is minimal and takes less than 15 minutes. All access flooring and components fold away neatly and this module comes pre-wired and complete with the necessary water transfer pump and all integrated piping.

APT RG30-T: simply efficient.

This plant is part of our GroundBreaker range and is therefore available for purchase through our online store. If you would like testimonials, please see this plant in our products section here on our website. If you would like more information, please contact us with your query. We look forward to hearing from you and wish you success in your mining venture!

From the Perspective of an APT Agent: APT As A Business Proposition For My Clients

"Appropriate Process Technologies (APT) provides us with the tools, equipment and manpower to complete the puzzle and sell mining equipment worldwide". GCA is aimed at providing all-inclusive solutions to our clients, whether it’s a large scale operation that needs a piece of equipment or a small scale start up that needs a complete processing plant. Our services begin with testwork and run all the way up to process design, equipment specification and selection as well as plant commissioning and training. Appropriate Process Technologies (APT) provides us with the tools, equipment and manpower to complete the puzzle. When GCA presents APT solutions to clients, we aren’t presenting a process plant alone but an investment.

APT provides us with the physical building blocks in project development such the complete modular mineral processing plants enabling us to sell mining equipment that includes the whole story. Included in our collaboration, APT looks at project development from a financial standpoint. Each project is backed by financial modelling from APT to establish key financial indicators of the project such as return on investment, payback periods, etc. The GCA-APT collaboration has shown great success in small scale mineral recovery throughout Africa.

Our standpoint around APT plants is that they are an investment and not just a means to an end. Many projects spend exorbitant amounts on research, exploration and deposit analysis. We believe that redirecting only a portion of those funds to an APT plant from the onset would enable our clients to start recovering gold from day one while gathering mineral information about the deposit. This enables clients to start earning money from inception of the project whilst achieving an efficient pay back. Generating the much needed cash to fund the further development of the project.

A business grows as it becomes more successful, we regard APT plants in the same manner. APT plants are made up of many building blocks with the FLSmidth Knelson Concentrator at the heart of the process. The adaptability of APT plants allows you to add on extra process components as the wealth of your project grows. APT has off the shelf designs in ranges of affordability, size and deposit composition i.e. hard rock, alluvial etc. Building block like components include hard rock modules, concentrators, scrubbers, modular cyanidation system (CIP/CIL Tritank), shaking tables (Gemini Table) and complete modular gold rooms. Once a deposit has been exhausted the APT plants can be easily moved to another resource location and can be used interchangeably for a large range of heavy minerals i.e. gold, silver, platinum, copper and so on.

- Martin Meyer

Gravity Concentrators Africa

If you are looking to sell mining equipment in your location and make a profit through simply having connections, APT have distributor opportunities available. Please contact us and we can give you all the details. We look forward to hearing from you!

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.