Investigations for the low gold recovery at Mpanda Mineral Field in Western Tanzania Online publication date: Thu, 14-Mar-2024
by Jeremiah Mosingo; Alphonce Wikedzi
International Journal of Mining and Mineral Engineering (IJMME), Vol. 14, No. 4, 2023
Abstract: This study investigated the main causes of low gold recovery obtained at the Mpanda Mineral Field (MMF) and recommended a potential treatment process. The ore samples were characterized to establish chemical, mineralogy, and total organic carbon (TOC) information. It was found that the main causes of low gold recovery are the presence of copper minerals (covellite, cuprite, and chalcocite), metallic copper (>0.5% Cu), and carbonaceous materials indicated by the TOC contents (>2.5%). The chemical analysis showed that the investigated ores contained greater than 2.9 ppm gold. Box-Behnken experimental design was adopted to investigate the effects of the experimental factors on gold recovery. The maximum gold recovery of 89.4% was achieved using the following parameter levels: 0.50 M Na2S2O3, 0.94 M NH3, and 0.06 M CuSO4. Generally, the problem faced at MMF is caused by the reactive copper minerals and carbonaceous materials. Thiosulphate leaching is recommended to be the treatment process.
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