Study on the Gold Recovery Potential from Tailings at Ta Phoi Copper Processing Plant – Lao Cai

Abstract

The beneficiation technology employed at the copper ore processing plant of Ta Phoi Copper Joint Stock Company is both selective flotation and bulk flotation technologies that yield relatively good technical indicators. During the process, Au also recovers in the copper concentrate with a grade content of 5 g/t at a recovery 60%. The gold remaining is in the tailings with a content of approximately 0.1 – 0.3 g/t. Currently, there have been no studies in Vietnam specifically targeting the recovery of Au from tailings. The beneficiation process at Ta Phoi Copper Processing Plant has also not focused on the recovery of this valuable component. This paper presents several research findings on the potential recovery of gold from the tailings of the Ta Phoi Copper Processing Plant. While the Knelson concentrator indicated the ineffective recovery of Au, the concentrate product after upgrading by shaking table and flotation has the Au grade content of 3.37 g/t at a recovery 30% and 1.56 g/t at a recovery of 33%, respectively. Preliminary research opens up prospects for recovering valuable, rare metals from tailings of mineral processing plants, contributing to conserving natural resources and energy, reducing environmental degradation, lowering treatment costs, minimizing the discharge of solid waste into the environment, ensuring the safety of the tailings pond, and supplying mineral raw materials for downstream processing industries.