Placer Dome, Inc.

Placer Dome Technical Services Limited

Barrick Gold Corporation

James A King

Jinxing Ji

Christopher Andrew Fleming

Cesare Giosue Ferron

The present invention is directed to a multi-compartment autoclave using inter-compartment dividers having one or more underflow openings for passing a feed stream between compartments.

Autoclave with underflow dividers

The present invention is directed to a precious metal recovery process in which basic ferric sulphates and/or jarosites are controlled by a number of mechanisms, including control of the oxidation reaction conditions in the first autoclave compartment, hot curing of the autoclave discharge slurry, and/or contacting of the autoclave feed slurry with the hot cured discharge liquid.

Reduction of lime consumption when treating refractory gold ores or concentrates

Reduction of lime consumption when treating refractor gold ores or concentrates

The process of the present invention recovers platinum group metal(s), such as platinum and palladium, from PGM-containing materials containing base metals, such as copper and nickel. The process controls sulfur levels by using solvent extractionto remove acid in the nickel recovery circuit. The acid productcan then be neutralized and/or recycled as desired.

Process for recovering platinum group metals from material containing base metals

The autoclave of the present invention includes an impeller having a conduit to recirculate or introduce a molecular oxygen-containing gas into the slurry. The outlets for the gas can be located in the blades of the impeller for thorough dispersion of the gas bubbles in the slurry. A sparge tube for introducing an additional molecular oxygen-containing gas into the slurry can be used in conjunction with the impeller to provide a high molecular oxygen transfer rate to the slurry.

Autoclave using agitator and sparge tube to provide high oxygen transfer rate to metal-containing solutions

The process of the present invention recovers precious metals from refractory carbonaceous precious metal ores by floating a portion of the ground ore, blending the concentrate with an unfloated portion of the ore, autogenously autoclaving the blended material, cooling the oxidized slurry by dilution, leaching the oxidized slurry after dilution in the presence of a thiosulfate lixiviant, and recovering the precious metal by suitable techniques.

Method for recovering gold from refractory carbonaceous ores

The process of the present invention &ldquo;jump starts&rdquo; heap biooxidation of sulfides by incorporating a previously biooxidized material into the heap. The process can be used to recover precious and/or base metals from sulfidic ores and concentrate.

Method for initiating heap bioleaching of sulfidic ores

A method is disclosed for recovering a metal from a metal containing material by autoclaving with an autoclave which includes an agitator that includes a first inlet for a recycled oxygen-containing gas, a second inlet for a fresh oxygen-containing gas, an impeller having a plurality of outlets to recirculate or introduce the oxygen-containing gases into the slurry and a set of mixing blades located below the outlets to radially disperse gas bubbles substantially uniformly throughout the slurry. The outlets for the gas can be located in an intermediate set of blades for thorough dispersion of the gas bubbles in the slurry.

Autoclave having an agitator with an aerating impeller for high oxygen transfer rate to metal-containing slurries and method of use

The present invention is directed to a process for recovering copper from a copper-containing material by pressure oxidation followed by solvent extraction and electrowinning. The copper-containing solution formed by pressure oxidation is diluted before solvent extraction and the raffinate solution from solvent extraction is neutralized to reduce the acid levels in the raffinate solution.

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Vancouver, Canada

James A King