Endomines Oy has implemented the Sofi Alchemist Recovery as a Service solution developed by Sofi Filtration at the Pampalo gold mine in Ilomantsi, Finland.

Following a successful pilot conducted last year, the solution has now been deployed in full-scale production. The solution is expected to improve gold recovery efficiency and reduce the loss of valuable metals in the process.

The aim of the solution is to enhance the mine’s profitability by recovering ultra-fine gold particles from side streams in the mill’s water circulation. This also prevents even the smallest gold particles from escaping with process water. At the same time, the technology purifies process water for reuse.

Ilkka Räty, Chief Operations Officer at Endomines, says: “The collaboration provides us with valuable new data to support the development of our processes. We are particularly excited about its potential to improve recovery rates and deliver tangible business benefits.”

During the pilot phase, a recovery rate of up to 99% was achieved for fine concentrate from process filtrate. This created a strong foundation for scaling the solution to industrial use. A key prerequisite for implementation was the seamless integration of the technology into the Pampalo mill without disrupting production.

The solution is also based on a new business model, Recovery as a Service, in which Sofi Filtration owns and operates the system at the mine.

“This marks the beginning of a new chapter in mineral processing, and we are very pleased to be doing this together with Endomines, a Finnish mining company,” Riina Salmimies, CEO of Sofi Filtration.

Endomines launched its regenerative mining model, AliveMine concept earlier this spring, aiming at regenerative mining by combining environmentally responsible operations, data-driven decision making and close interaction with surrounding communities.

Testing and implementing new innovations and technologies is a key principle of the AliveMine concept. Sofi Alchemist is one example of development initiatives through which these principles are put into practice. Solutions like this enable, among other things, the testing of new real-time measurement and analysis methods. This increases understanding of process quality and variability and provides valuable data for continuous process development.