Customised Pilot-Scale Process for Gravity Separation of Placer Gold

As a high-quality gold resource that is relatively easy to develop and offers outstanding economic viability, gravity separation is the most fundamental, environmentally friendly and cost-effective mainstream beneficiation process for placer gold. To continuously validate the ore’s separability and optimise process parameters for on-site production, Xinhai Mining’s Pilot Plant Centre has recently successfully carried out pilot-scale tests on placer gold ore. Relying on a refined shaking table re-concentration process, the centre is conducting in-depth enrichment and purification of the placer gold material, striving to provide precise and reliable process data and technical support to facilitate the implementation of clients’ projects.

This pilot test centres on the shaking table re-concentration process, fully utilising the equipment’s advantages in differentiated separation. The shaking table, with its unique differential motion mechanism combined with a grooved bed surface design, works in conjunction with lateral water flow to achieve precise stratification based on differences in mineral density. This ensures that gold particles are thoroughly separated from gangue minerals and discharged via separate channels, guaranteeing the efficient enrichment of placer gold through physical principles. The entire process requires no chemical additives, making it environmentally friendly and stable in operation.

During the trials, the technical team continuously optimised separation indicators by finely adjusting equipment parameters. By precisely matching key parameters such as bed surface gradient, mechanical stroke and stroke frequency, and rinse water volume, the process specifically captures ultrafine gold particles, effectively addressing industry pain points such as the loss of ultrafine gold and gold leakage from tailings in traditional gravity separation. This significantly improves metal recovery rates and concentrate enrichment ratios, maximising the value of placer gold resources.

It is worth noting that gravity separation trials represent only a fraction of the capabilities of Xinhai’s Pilot Plant Centre. Leveraging a comprehensive testing system, the centre is capable of conducting a full range of individual mineral processing trials, including magnetic separation, flotation, leaching and heavy-medium separation. It can also simulate real-world on-site mining conditions to carry out full-process pilot-scale trials combining multiple processes, catering to the separation requirements of gold deposits of varying types and complexities, as well as those of other mineral resources.

Adhering consistently to the service philosophy of ‘one mine, one strategy; tailored to the specific mine’ is Xinhai Mining’s core technical strength. All pilot-scale tests, process schemes and equipment configurations are rigorously optimised based on the actual properties of the ore, its distribution characteristics and impurity composition. We reject generic templates and avoid the blind replication of processes, striving instead to provide each mine with the most suitable, stable and efficient mineral processing solution, thereby laying a solid technical foundation for the subsequent stable production, compliance with standards, cost reduction, efficiency improvement and long-term operation of the mine.