Within the mining industry, water management and conservation has been a hot topic in recent years. From Goldcorp’s H2Zero Initiative to industry infographics about water usage, water management is being talked about not only from an environmental perspective but with the understanding that good water management is a smart business practice overall.

One of the simplest ways to have a positive environmental impact on plant design is to incorporate gravity concentration where possible. Gravity concentration within a crushing circuit recovers coarse gold to reduce the load on downstream recovery circuits that require additional water. Continuous and Ultrafine gravity concentrators are also available that require no additional process water. 

A lab gravity concentration test is key to ensuring that the inclusion of gravity concentration into a plant will be feasible both environmentally and economically. On the laboratory scale, Met-Solve uses several different sets of operating parameters that vary G-forces, concentrator bowl type, and feed rate to evaluate gold and other metal recovery in different conditions. The products of these tests are assayed with the results used to determine the feasible plant levels of metal recovery.

Check out our video below to see a lab gravity concentration test in action. Have more questions? Reach out to one of our metallurgical engineers by contacting us here.