Background
Altus Strategies contacted GSL (GSL) to conduct a program of gold flowsheet development on their greenfield Diba project in Mali, West Africa. The deposit contains both oxide and fresh ore zones, with the fresh ore the larger of the two. The results of the metallurgical testing would be used to update their PEA to help assess the viability of a CIL (Carbon in Leach) plant.
Method
- Heap leach and carbon-in-leach (CIL) amenability testwork
- Gravity testwork
- Flotation testwork on fresh ore only
Results
Leaching
- Oxide ore responded very well to heap leach with recoveries greater than 95%
- Oxide ore performed even better to CIL with recoveries above 98%
- Sulphide ore also responded well to CIL with recoveries greater than 86%
Gravity and Flotation
- Weak gravity response for both oxide and sulphide ores with only 30% of the gold gravity recoverable
- Flotation testwork of the fresh ore delivered c. 66% recovery, but this was only very preliminary testwork and further optimisation could be expected to improve this
Outcome
The gold flowsheet development testing conducted by GSL showed excellent gold recoveries during the cyanidation tests and allowed Altus Strategies to include the sulphide ore type in the PEA. This significantly enhanced the viability of the Diba project.
