Altiplano Metals Inc. (TSXV: APN) is making strong progress with the construction phase at the El Peñón processing facility to support the Farellon Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold (Cu-Au) mine located near La Serena, Chile.
The company’s application to incorporate an iron separator (designed to recover high value iron oxide) and a high efficiency water recovery circuit (designed to produce dry tailings), has been approved by the Chilean mining authority.
Addition of this equipment into the processing circuit provides the opportunity to capture high value iron which can be sold to generate a secondary income and, with the removal of the iron, reduce the overall tailings output by 50%.
The dewatering stack will generate a dry tailings product that can be moved and stored in an environmentally efficient manner which replaces the need for a conventional tailings dam system. In addition, the de-watering stack circuit will reduce the overall freshwater consumption needed at the plant by approximately 75%.
CEO Alastair McIntyre said the equipment has been newly manufactured and will be delivered from storage in Chile to the site next week. Civil work such as pad levelling, electrical, and plumbing is underway in preparation to install the equipment.
“We are pleased to receive this important approval as the next step in completing our processing facility. With our processing design, APN will be one of the first companies in the Chilean small mining sector to implement an industry-leading environmental process focussed on water conservation and waste reduction,” Mr McIntyre said.
“Water is an important resource in Chile and our process is designed to preserve this precious resource. I believe our best practice approach to sustainable mining and environmentally friendly processing will minimise our footprint and establish APN as a leader in the Chilean small mining sector.”
Plant Description
The APN processing facility will employ modern high efficiency flotation circuits that focus on the recovery of copper and gold while also utilising a magnetic separation system for the recovery of magnetite and other iron minerals.
The circuit will use a filter press system for copper concentrate and tails and a disc filter for the iron concentrate. All systems are designed to focus on water conservation and reducing total tails output. The combined process is designed to reduce the total material reporting to tailings by up to 50%, compared to the standard practice of copper processing plants treating iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) deposits.
Water will be recovered and recycled thus ensuring water is reused efficiently, with an expected reduction in freshwater consumption by approximately 75% over conventional systems. Typically, standard plant configurations for small mining are limited to recovery by flotation without efficient water recovery systems. In addition, moisture content in the tailings will be reduced to approximately 10% to 15% through the filter press system and placed in a dry stack tailings facility.
This additional process will significantly reduce water loss to evaporation compared to conventional tailings dam. The processing facility completion date is scheduled for Q1 2022.
In addition to the conservation of water, magnetic separation can recover up to half of the plant feed as a saleable iron concentrate. A total of 1,850 tonnes of iron oxide is expected to be recovered per month and can represent a significant portion of revenue combined with the sale of the copper-gold concentrate.
The circuit takes advantage of magnetic properties of the iron mineralisation in the mill feed and does not require additional grinding or dewatering as the feed to magnetic separators is tailings or rejects of the flotation circuit. This process greatly reduces the quantity of tailings that needs disposal in a tailings storage facility while maximising the recovery of all minerals in mill feed, thus reducing the overall environmental footprint of the mining process.
For further information please visit: https://www.metalsgroup.com/
