Metso Outotec says it is introducing the next generation of its agitated OKTOP® CIL Reactor for gold cyanide leaching and recovery. The Planet Positive reactor is suitable for carbon-in-leach (CIL) and carbon-in-pulp (CIP) process applications and with minimised activated carbon fines related gold losses and energy consumption.
The company says it represents the most sustainable cyanide leaching technology on the market. Compared to industry benchmarks, gold losses caused by activated carbon breakage and electric energy consumption can be reduced by up to 50% with the OKTOP® CIL Reactor.
“CIL reactor offerings have typically been split scope deliveries from several suppliers. We can now offer a comprehensive solution optimised for gold cyanide leaching and recovery in the form of a highly productised reactor design based on our extensive expertise of over one thousand delivered reactors, novel innovations, and state-of-the-art digital features,” says Jan Van Niekerk, Director for Gold Processing Solutions at Metso Outotec.
The new reactor design features several unique technologies to optimize gold leaching results and energy efficiency. The patented OKTOP® FlowBottom technology reduces agitation intensity, bringing several benefits such as homogeneous suspension of solids with reduced mixing power and decreased carbon attrition and related gold losses.
The OKTOP® CIL Reactor comes with advanced process control based on intelligent measurements:
- OKTOP® SandSenseTM has been specifically designed to control and optimise agitator rotation speed to reduce wear, improve energy consumption, and detect upstream problems.
- The CarbonSenseTM in-situ measurement system helps minimise gold solution losses. Combined with the CIL optimizer, it automatically monitors and controls carbon concentration and cyanide dosing using continuous data measurement.
In addition to core proprietary CIL reactor offerings, Metso Outotec’s extensive ore to gold doré portfolio covers the overall cyanide leaching plant solution including process island core engineering package and, for example, carbon transfer pumps, elution and gold room offerings and digital features for process control and optimisation. Metso Outotec introduced its first OKTOP® Reactors in 2006. Since then, it has sold over 1,000 units.