Global gold mine supply summary

Appendix
Minerals & Ores
Gold mainly occurs in native or metallic form or as a compound within a mineral. Native gold (Au) is associated with
disseminated quartz grains, often with pyrite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, galena or stibnite, and can also occur in alluvial (e.g.
ore from Witwatersrand) and sedimentary deposits. Sylvanite (AuAg)Te 2, Calaverite AuTe2 and other metallic forms of gold
occur as tellurides (e.g. ore from Kalgoorlie, Western Australia).

Large scale gold mining is usually by open pit or underground mining methods. Ore is then processed by one of three
processes: Conventional cyanide leaching, heap leaching, or is refractory, and requires the breakdown of sulphide minerals or
removal of carbonaceous material before processing to recover gold. Most primary gold mines then produce gold doré on-site,
which is then sent to a refinery. At co/by-product mines, the product is usually a gold bearing base metal concentrate which is
further processed at a smelter where gold is recovered.

Ore can be defined as the aggregation of minerals of economic value, in adequate quantity and concentration for profitable
extraction. Ore often occurs as a combination of minerals and gangue (waste rock) and may contain more than one mineral
(complex ore). In oxidised ores, minerals may occur as oxides, sulphates, silicates or carbonates. Sulphide ores are comprised
of sulphide minerals.

Cut-off Grade can be defined as the minimum metal content required for deposits to be classified as ore (i.e. for profitable
extraction). Often expressed in grams / tonne (g/t) or ounces / short ton (oz/st) for gold, the minimum grade required for
profitable extraction varies between metals. Gold can be extracted from ores containing as little as 0.05g/t Au, although at such
low concentrations gold is not the principal metal being recovered.

For an overview of the mining costs and treatment costs associated with difference ore types in our coverage see the 'costs'
section of this supply summary report.

Mining Methods
Mining is the extraction of minerals from ore deposits and is carried out by two principal methods, open pit or underground
mining. Other mining methods such as placer mining (usually by dredging), in-situ solution mining and sea bed mining are not
covered in this report.

Open pit mining

Open pit mines benefit from high productivity, simpler management structures, lower unit operating costs, better working
conditions and safety. Initial capital is also lower and the time taken to develop a mine is shorter. A disadvantage is the
environmental footprint, which has prompted some mining projects with similar economics to choose underground mining
methods, particularly if the mine is in an environmentally sensitive area.

Open pit mining can be classified into three main types: conical, strip and terrace mining. Only conical mining is applicable to the
gold industry.

Conical mining is used where the orebody is inclined and irregular. The inclined orebody is mined in a series of benches, with
overburden mined and dumped away from the open pit with the conical open pit getting a wider diameter as mining extends to
depth.

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Schematic Conical Open Pit definitions

The mining cycle in open pits can be characterised by:

• Drilling – close drill spacing, with the length of the drill hole marginally deeper than the bench height (sub drill).

• Blasting – generally using a bulk emulsion explosive.

• Loading – loaders are generally matched to the size of haulage trucks used in the operation and can be of three main types,
electric Shovels (60-135t), hydraulic shovels (75-90t buckets) and wheel loaders (15-30t).

• Haulage – large diesel or diesel-electric trucks haul broken waste rock to the dumps, and take ore to the coarse ore stockpile,
or in-pit crusher for conveying to the mill.

The drilling pattern may change depending on whether ore or waste is being mined, with a closer drill spacing in ore to improve
fragmentation and reduce crushing costs. The mining fleet is also often different in ore and waste, with smaller equipment
selectively mining ore zones.

Economies of scale are achieved by using a large capacity fleet. By way of example, over the 1980s until the early years of this
century, the typical payload size of the haulage trucks grew from 100t to over 360t. This was achieved by a combination of
improved engine efficiencies and the adoption of light bodies.

Of course, larger trucks also need larger loaders and there are now fleets of electric shovels, which can fill the largest trucks in
less than three loads (e.g. the largest Bucyrus shovel has a capacity of 135t). It is very important to match the sizes of
equipment to keep the waiting time down and productivities high.

Stripping Ratio

The stripping ratio is the ratio of units of waste to units of ore mined; quoted as e.g. 3:1 or just 3. It is usually stated in terms of
tonnages, but can be defined as units of volume e.g. bank cubic metres. The difference between the two can be very large if the
ore mined has a significantly higher density than the waste rock.

Waste stripping can be handled in different ways in the accounts. Open pit miners typically expense the costs associated with
waste stripping to the life-of-mine average and capitalise any waste stripping costs in excess of this level. Large waste strips
(often called “pushbacks”) are also capitalised as they represent a significant expansion of the open pit.

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Underground Mining
Underground gold mines have higher average head grades compared to open pit mines (average 3.8g/t underground vs. 0.9g/t
for surface operations).

Source: Atlas Corpo

Mine Access
Access to the mine for labour, materials and ore (and/or waste) hoisting can be via:

Adit, Drift – horizontal drives tunnelled into the side of a hill to access the ore. Conveyor, truck or train haulage.

• Spiral Decline or Ramp – from surface or the base of an abandoned open pit, these inclined tunnels allow access to deeper
orebodies. The tunnels are usually inclined between 1:7 and 1:10 with 15m radius curves, with material moved by conveyor
or truck haulage.

• Shaft – used in deeper orebodies. If the orebody depth is beyond the capacity of a single lift hoist, then an internal shaft or
ramp may be used. Hoists may be friction (Koepe), single or double drum. Often there are several shafts sunk to an
orebody, not just for access, but also for ventilation and the delivery of services (water, backfill, power, compressed air etc).
Shafts can be square, rectangular or circular. Circular shafts are preferred from a rock mechanics point of view and square
or rectangular shafts for the purpose of hoisting. Shafts are normally offset from the orebody to avoid sterilising ore as a pillar
is required to provide rock stability. In the case of flat lying, bed-like orebodies e.g. gold mines on the Witwatersrand in South
Africa, this may not be possible and a shaft pillar must be left. This sterilised ore may only become available to mine at the
end of the mine life.

The actual choice between ramp, decline and shaft is a capital and operating cost trade off once practical constraints have been
taken into account.

The total capital cost for developing and equipping a shaft or a ramp haulage system may be similar although the construction
time for shafts may be longer than for a ramp. The cost of operating a shaft for hoisting can be 35% lower than for ramp haulage
but shafts are inflexible and less efficient for handling labour and materials. In Australia, it is considered that optimum economics
can be obtained using ramp and truck haulage down to 700-1000m below surface and shaft haulage below this depth.

Surface ramps and declines are now being installed at some older mines primarily for two reasons: to give increased operating
flexibility (La Ronde) when the shaft is not available for hoisting and to overcome shaft-hoisting bottlenecks (as deepening a
shaft or raising shaft capacity is extremely capital intensive and halts production). Shaft access only also limits the size of the
underground fleet, as all equipment has to be dismantled and lowered down the shaft. Decline access also allows larger trucks
to be used to haul ore to surface and for major maintenance procedures to be carried out in specialised workshops at surface, at
a lower cost than constructing underground workshops.

Mining Cycle
The mining cycle comprises primary development (excavation of main haulages, ore passes and access drifts with the cost of
these generally capitalized), secondary development (cross cuts, top and bottom cuts, slot raises with the costs of these often
expensed to the profit and loss account, if their useful life is less than a full accounting period) and the installation of services for
ground support, ventilation, water, power, compressed air and backfill supply.

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The Mining Cycle

Source: Atlas Corpo

Ore is blasted by drilling holes in the rock, which are then loaded with is explosive. Drilling equipment ranges from: handheld
jackleg drills, jumbo drills (single or multi-boom) and longhole drills, top hammer (TH) or down-the-hole (DTH). Drilling is carried
out in a specific pattern to create a free face to allow for expansion of the blasted rock and to achieve the desired degree of
fragmentation for subsequent ease of ore handling. Drilled holes are loaded with explosives for blasting. In general, the holes
are charged with either high-velocity (gelignite) or low-velocity (ANFO, ANFEX) explosives with either electric or non-electric
detonation.

Load Haul Dump (LHDs or scoop trams) rubber-tyred vehicles are most commonly used for mucking. Many LHDs now have the
ability to be driven remotely (where the driver can see the vehicle) or tele-remotely (where the driver uses a series of cameras
mounted on the LHD). Safety issues drove the development of remote mucking but there may also be cost benefits by reducing
the amount of ventilation and scaling otherwise needed to make the working area safe for human access. Remotely driven
LHDs allow the full extraction of ore from a stope.

Ore is transferred to either:

• An orepass – a raise (small vertical internal shaft) that transfers ore or waste by gravity to a lower level and onto the shaft.

• A truck (usually up to 50t).

• An underground rail system.

• A conveyor belt (after underground crushing).

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Ore can be hoisted from the mine via a shaft in skips, by truck or conveyor up a decline, or by truck, train or conveyor via an
adit.

Classification of Underground Mining Methods

Underground mining methods can be grouped as:

• Naturally self-supporting

• Requiring substantial artificial support

• Caving where the failure of the back (roof or top side) is required

Or more commonly as:

• Selective mining such as room and pillar, cut and fill

• Bulk mining such as longhole open stoping, caving

It is quite common to have more than one mining method used at the same mine, especially for the laterally extensive deposits
where there is some variation in ore geometry.

Stoping

Stoping is the most common method used in underground mining. This method involves the excavation of ore, leaving behind
an open space known as a stope. As mining progresses the stope is often backfilled with either cemented tailings or waste rock.
There are many variations to this method and the most common ones are long hole, sub level, cut and fill and shrinkage
stoping.

Dilution in an open stope can either be planned or unplanned (external).

Stopes may be aligned along the strike of the orebody (longitudinal) and separated by horizontal (crown) pillars and vertical (rib)
pillars. In wider orebodies, stopes may be aligned across the orebody (transverse) with alternating primary and secondary
stopes.

Primary stopes are mined first and then filled with competent backfill (cemented tailings or aggregate for instance), followed by
mining of the secondary stopes, which are often either left open or filled with unconsolidated waste fill. Stopes are designed as
large as possible to obtain the highest economies of scale and maximise mining recovery. However, stope size is subject to the
orebody extent, the mechanical properties of the host and orebody rock and the interval over which longhole drilling can be
done accurately without excessive deviation.

Fill is used to maximise the recovery of ore (mining recovery) from the deposit. It can be of several types: waste rock, sand or
de-slimed mill tailings. These are generally mixed with cement in various proportions to create fills of varying strengths, but
around 6-8% cement in tailings is typical where good support is required.

Longhole Open Stoping

Examples of gold mines using this method include Tasmania (Beaconsfield) in Australia and Dayingezhuang, Hatu, Hengbang
and Jinchuang all in China. A typical layout is below.

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Longhole Open Stoping and Sub-level Open Stoping

Source: Atlas Copco

VCR is used when the ore and host rock have similar competencies. It works best if the ore has geological and not grade
boundaries and is of a relatively constant thickness. Originally developed by INCO (now part of Vale) for use in its Canadian
mines, this method is used at the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea.

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Cut and Fill Stoping

Cut-and-fill mining is used in steeply dipping orebodies with poor to moderate ground stability and is suitable for irregular
orebodies and scattered ore zones. It provides a good degree of mining selectivity and high ore recovery, but is a relatively high
cost mining technique.

Ore is excavated in horizontal slices working upwards from the bottom of the ore block (overhand cut-and-fill). Ore is drilled,
blasted and mucked, with the stope then filled with backfill, which is generally unconsolidated. The fill supports the hanging wall
and footwall and acts as a working platform for excavating the next slice. A typical layout of a cut-and-fill stope is shown below.

A variation, underhand cut-and-fill where the ore is worked in a downward direction is used when the ore is not competent
enough to provide a safe working roof. After drilling, blasting and mucking, the empty stope is filled with consolidated backfill.
This has to be of high strength (and is therefore expensive) as it provides the roof for the next stope, which is excavated
beneath it.

Examples of mines using this method include, Henty and Kambalda-St Ives(Australia), Porcupine and Seabee in Canada and
San Dimas in Mexico.

Cut-and-Fill

Source: Atlas Copco

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Shrinkage Stoping

Ore is mined in horizontal slices starting from the bottom of the stope and working upwards. When ore is blasted it swells in
volume (50-70%) due to the creation of voids in the broken rock mass. Mucking removes part of this ore, but enough ore is left
in the stope to provide hanging wall support and to serve as the working platform for the next lift. Shrinkage stoping is used in
thinner orebodies requiring a selective mining method. It is labour intensive, as mobile equipment cannot operate on the rough
broken ore and as a result has a relatively high unit operating costs.

Shrinkage Stoping

Source: Atlas Copco

Shrinkage stoping is used at Bell Creek (Canada), Ocampo (Mexico) and Kubaka in the Russian Federation among others.

Room and Pillar

The room and pillar method is suitable for flat-lying orebodies of 3-6m thickness in competent rock. The ore is extracted in
horizontal slices with ore pillars left to maintain the integrity of the roof (hanging wall or back). Artificial ground support such as
rock bolts, cable bolts, mesh and shotcrete may be used to support the roof or maintain the integrity of the pillars and stop them
spalling.

The overall extraction of the in-situ ore may be no more than 75% (this is allowed for in the calculation of mineable ore reserves)
but can rise to 90% or even 100% if it is practical and economic to remove the pillars at a later stage.

Room and pillar mining is a highly productive method as nearly all the development is in ore, so there is little expense incurred
in mining and handling waste rock.

If the orebody is thick enough and the rock is competent, then the ore can be taken in two lifts working down as shown in the
next figure.

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Shrinkage Room-and-Pillar Mining (Thick and competent orebody)

Source: Atlas Copco

However, if the rock is not competent enough and fill is required then the second lift is taken from the roof after the mined out
area is backfilled with waste. As most of the mining is carried out in ore, in some cases, there may not be enough development
waste for the backfill, which might have to be mined separately.

Contour room-and-pillar is best suited to gently sloping orebodies, providing the dip of the orebody is not too extreme (less than
30 degrees). The method involves the following the orebody along strike rather than up dip and involves mining some waste
from the footwall. In general it is not a particularly common method.

Examples of gold mines which use the room and pillar method include, Buckhorn (Crown Jewel) USA, Lawlers and Norseman
(both in Australia) and Segovia in Colombia.

Longwall Mining (South Africa)

This method is generally confined to South African operations and should not be confused with Longwall mining as used in
many coal mines.

Longwall mining is used to mine shallow-dipping, narrow reefs which tend to be very deep (at up to 3.9km below surface in
South Africa). Due to the high depth and narrowness of the orebody, a selective mining method is required to minimise ore
transport to surface and mechanisation using mobile equipment is usually not feasible due to the access height required.
Longwall mining is also sometimes used as the final stage in mining room and pillar mines as a form of retreat mining.

Ore is mined along a significant continuous length of the orebody (forming a long active wall of mining). Ore is drilled and
blasted using manually operated jack-leg drills, with blasted ore removed to ore passes either manually or by scrapers. Scrapers

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drag buckets attached to a cable along the stope face and scrape the blasted ore to waiting trams or to trams via an ore pass
and then to an underground crusher for hoisting to surface. Timber packing is used to support the back whilst mining
progresses, although the extreme depth of these mines results in the gradual closure of the stopes over time.

The process used is very labour intensive and productivity is generally low. Deep Longwall gold mines have historically held a
poor safety record relative to other mine types due to the extreme depth and risk of rockbursts.

Block Caving

This is a bulk mining method applicable to low-grade, massive orebodies with large horizontal and vertical dimensions and rock
mass characteristics that allow the break-up of the ore naturally.

Block Caving

Development of lateral ore drifts, finger raises, conical draw points and the undercut take place in competent waste rock. Fan
blast holes are drilled in rings and blasted on the retreat, undercutting the ore and allowing gravity combined with internal rock
stress to fracture and break the rock mass and so inducing caving. Fragmented ore is drawn off via the finger raises in a regular
sequence so as to maintain a cave front that maximises ore recovery and to control the advance of the abutment pressure.

Examples of mines which utilise block caving are Bingham Canyon, PT Freeport Indonesia and Northparkes all of which are
co/by-product gold producers.

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Sub Level Caving

Sub-level caving also requires that the rock mass overlying the ore body will fracture and collapse under controlled conditions.
This method is carried out in steeply dipping orebodies, which are thick and laterally continuous, and where the ore body is
competent but the hanging wall is incompetent. Parallel sublevel drives are developed at intervals through the orebody and
upholes are drilled in a fan pattern. Blasting on each sublevel starts at the hanging wall and retreats to the footwall. As blasting
is not to a void but against the already-broken ore it is called ‘choke’ blasting. If blasting and ore mucking is carefully controlled
then dilution is kept to between 15 – 40%, as waste rock should come down on top of the ore. Ore is mucked from the
sublevels to the ore pass system using LHDs. An example of a mine using this method is the Mnogovershinnoe operation in
Russia.

Sub-Level Caving

Source: Atlas Copco

Mineral Processing
Gold is extracted from run-of-mine ore by comminution (liberation of ore from the gangue through crushing and grinding) and
concentration (separation of minerals and tailings) through a combination of physical and chemical processing techniques. The
methods used depend on the particle size of the gold and whether it is free-gold or locked in the matrix of another mineral.

The most common process route includes crushing, grinding, leaching (vat or agitation) followed by precipitation and adsorption
(CIP or CIL), the product of which is smelted to doré at the mine site. Gravity concentration is also used if possible after
crushing and grinding to recover free gold.

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Refractory ores are more difficult to process and are often concentrated by flotation and the concentrate is then oxidised before
then undergoing leaching.

Comminution (crushing and grinding)

ROM ore usually has to be broken down to a pre-determined particle size so as to achieve the most cost effective liberation
(either as free gold, or breaking up particles to allow access for the cyanide solution to dissolve the gold). This is usually carried
out through crushing (in up to 3 stages) then grinding with any free gold recovered at the earliest opportunity by gravity
concentration. Many modern circuits have removed the latter part of the crushing circuit and replaced it with a SAG mill (Semi
Autogenous Grinding), which is explained in more detail below.

The main crusher types are jaw, gyratory, cone, hammer crushers, or in some places high-pressure grind rolls. These take the
ore, in stages (primary, secondary crushing etc.) from ROM ore with a size range of roughly 250mm – 1500mm to a crushed ore
with a size between 5-20mm. Vibrating screens assist the removal of undersize material and help increase the throughput of
the crusher.

The next stage, grinding, is undertaken in rotating tumbling mills consisting of a horizontal cylindrical shell, lined with renewable
liners where the ore, media, together with water, are rotated. The rotation causes interaction between the material as ore (and
media) is lifted up the mill sides until it falls back under the influence of gravity. The impact creates the necessary compression,
breaking up the ore. Water is a necessary component of this process, which removes the heat created by the breakdown of the
minerals and reducing the energy required, but increasing the wear on the steel media and causing corrosion.

There are several types of grinding mill:

• Autogenous Grinding (AG) – the ore is the grinding media and comminution is achieved by the interaction of the ore only.

• Semi-Autogenous Grinding (SAG) – ore and steel balls act as media.

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• Rod Mills – Uses carbon steel rods as media. Used to crush material between 50mm – 300µm and produce material with a
relatively narrow size range. Used as a preparation prior to gravity or magnetic separation and often provides material to ball
mills.

• Ball Mills – Uses steel balls as media. The steel balls have a higher surface area than rods and so can provide a finer grind
(to >10µm). They have a lower aspect ratio than SAG mills, which require the additional gravity effects to enable coarser
grinding.

Gravity Concentration
Where gold occurs as coarse free particles, the ore is then processed in a gravity concentrator after grinding, usually on a
shaking table e.g. a James table. As gold has a higher density than gangue it is concentrated at the bottom of the table.

Nearly 50% of primary mines use a form of gravity concentration to recover coarse free gold, but it is not usually the principal
method. It is used to recover free gold to reduce residence time and reagent consumption if the ore is then leached.

Amalgamation/Retorting
In some cases once the ore has undergone communition it is then passed over a surface of liquified mercury to form an
amalgam which is then subjected to retorting (a fire-refining processes) for the recovery of a precious metal dore. This method
only accounts for a small percentage of large scale commercial gold production and is mainly used by artisanal miners. When
used by artisanal miners, serious environmental pollution can be caused by the release of mercury.

Leaching Process
Almost 75% of primary gold mines use a leaching process to recover gold. The main types of leaching are agitated or vat
leaching which are carried out in a mill or dump or heap leaching. They operate on the same principle.

The Elsener Reaction

4Au + 8NaCN + 2H2O + O2 --> 4NaAu (CN )2 + 4NaOH

Gold + Sodium cyanide + Water + Oxygen --> Sodium Aurocyanide + Sodium Hydroxide

Vat and Agitated Leaching

Following grinding, ore is mixed with cyanide and quick lime (to control pH at 10-11 and prevent cyanide decomposition and
formation of highly toxic hydrogen cyanide). The resultant slurry containing around 50% solids is then passed through a series
of mixing tanks (which may be agitated by the use of a stirrer or aeration). Cyanide concentration is typically 0.02%-0.05%
NaCN. Residence time required in the tanks or vats is dependent on the gold particle size, as finer gold will dissolve quicker
than coarse gold. Residence times for slurry are typically around 24 hours, ranging from around 15 to 40 hours. Gold recovery
from the ore typically ranges from 85-95%.

The gold bearing fluid is then separated from the leached solids in thickener tanks or vacuum filters, and the tailings are washed
to remove gold and cyanide prior to being pumped to a tailings pond. The separation and washing takes place in a series of
units by counter current decantation (CCD). Gold is then recovered from the pregnant solution (see next section on Extraction
Process) and the solution is recycled for reuse in leaching and grinding.

Heap Leaching
Heap leaching involves placing crushed or run of mine ore in a pile built upon an impervious liner. Cyanide solution is
distributed across the top of the pile and the solution percolates down through the pile and leaches out the gold. The gold laden

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pregnant solution drains out from the bottom of the pile and is collected for gold recovery by either carbon adsorption or zinc
precipitation. On completion of the leach cycle the barren solution is then recycled to the pile and fresh ore is placed on the
pad.

Heap leaching is typically 60 to 90 days and is ideally suited for processing low grade ore that would not be economic to
process through a mill. Gold recovery is typically 60-80% as compared with 85-95% in an agitated leach plant.

Heap Leaching Circuit

Source: www.goldandsilvermetallurgy.com

Flotation
Prior to the leaching process, a significant proportion of primary gold mines have to treat ore by flotation methods. All co/by-
product mines use a flotation process of some sort.

Froth flotation is used to separate sulphide minerals and gangue and this method is based on the difference in surface
properties of particles of different minerals. The chemistry of the ground ore particles is modified by the addition of chemical
reagents to make them either hydrophilic or hydrophobic; i.e. to suppress their attachment to the air bubbles or promote it. Ore
particles are mixed with water to create a pulp (slurry). After treatment using suitable reagents (collectors), selected particles
become hydrophobic and attach themselves to air bubbles. A stabilised froth layer comprising the air bubbles floats above the
cell and flows over the top, carrying the desired minerals (direct flotation).

If the object is to float the mineral of interest then it is called direct flotation, whereas if the gangue is floated and the valuable
mineral remains behind in the slurry it is called reverse flotation.

Typically, grade and recovery targets cannot be met in a single flotation stage. Therefore flotation is carried out in several
stages linked together to form circuits. A typical arrangement for a mine recovering a single concentrate is shown below. Each
stage usually has several “banks” of cells, as there is a limit to individual cell size, which varies between metals.

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A Simple One-Concentrate Flotation Circuit

The rougher circuit is the first stage and designed to maximise recovery rather than concentrate grade. The pulp usually has a
relatively long retention time in the cell to obtain the best recovery possible, usually of the order of 15-20 minutes. The
concentrate from the rougher passes to the cleaner circuit to improve the concentrate grade. The tailings pass to the scavenger
circuit to increase recovery of the valuable minerals in middling particles before being lost to the tailings pond via a thickener.

The cleaner circuit improves the concentrate grade by rejecting gangue (misplaced particles) and the lower-grade middlings.
Final concentrate is produced at this stage and passes to a thickener and filtration circuit to remove the majority of the water.
Concentrates usually have between 7 and 10% free moisture, which is retained to prevent dusting and also to improve material
handling.

Cleaners and scavengers may be reground in a ball mill before being put back into the flotation circuit. The regrinding allows
the further comminution of the middlings to liberate the valuable minerals and allow their recovery into a concentrate with an
acceptable grade.

A relatively recent development in flotation is called Flash Flotation. This is used to recover valuable minerals from a cyclone
underflow in a closed milling circuit and was developed to reduce the mineral loss caused by overgrinding minerals with a high
specific gravity e.g. native gold in a copper – gold ore. These circuits are often combined with a cleaner cell to produce a final
concentrate. The loss of potentially valuable precious metals is an important consideration in circuit design. Precious metals
under a certain level in a concentrate may not be paid.

In primary gold mines the product from the flotation process is then treated via agitation leaching as described above. For co/by-
product mines the product is usually a gold bearing concentrate which is then sent to smelters for further treatment.

Refractory Ore
These ore types do not allow the recovery of gold by standard gravity concentration or direct cyanide leaching. Gold particles
are locked up within the crystalline structure of sulphide materials such as pyrite and arsenopyrite, containing other “deleterious”
materials such as pyrrohotite, tellurides, antimony, and arsenic. These ores have to treated first (Pre-treatment) before
undergoing conventional processing methods. The most common pre-treatment methods are:

• Bio-oxidation removes sulphur using sulphur consuming bacteria in a water solution.

• Pressure oxidation (Autoclave) uses oxygen and heat, under pressure in a liquid medium to effect oxidation of sulphur in a
controlled chemical reaction. High pressure autoclaves are used as reactors for alkaline or acidic conditions, depending upon
the specific process.

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• Roasting: Roasting uses heat and air to oxidise sulphur from dry ore. Roasting was the standard method for pre-treatment of
refractory ores but emitted huge quantities of SO2. Modern roasting plants use gas scrubbing systems to produce sulphuric
acid as a by-product.

• Chemical oxidation using nitric acid at ambient pressure and temperature has also been used on a limited basis.

Once the ore has been treated then it can be treated in a conventional way via agitated heap leaching. Examples of mines
which contain refractory ore are Pueblo Viejo, Gold Strike and Obuasi in Ghana.

Extraction Process
The end product of the leaching process is a gold laden solution from which gold has to be recovered by adsorption and
precipitation.

Carbon Adsorption
Carbon adsorption is where gold-bearing cyanide is adsorbed onto activated carbon is. Gold precipitation is controlled through
three main methods: It is not uncommon for mines to use one or two methods.

Carbon in Pulp (CIP): Ore leaching and adsorption in separate sets of tanks containing activated carbon particles. This method
involves higher capital costs for higher recoveries of non-carbonaceous ore. This method is the dominant one used in South
African gold mines e.g. Harmony, Mponeng and Taung South. Other operations which use this method are Sunrise Dam,
Granny Smith and Seabee.

Carbon In Leach (CIL): Ore leaching and adsorption using the same tanks. Requires greater agitation for adsorption of
carbonaceous ore. Although lower capital costs are incurred compared to CIP, lower recoveries are achieved. CIL is used by
over 50% of primary gold mines and key examples include Kalgoorlie Superpit, Sukari and Kumtor.

Carbon in Column (CIC): This used predominantly for progressive heap leached ore. Prime examples include Bulgah, Round
Mountain and Mesquite.

Sodium auric cyanide (pregnant solution) from the leach pad is passed through tanks for adsorption of gold onto activated
carbon particles. Gold is then eluted (stripped) from the loaded carbon using a cyanide and caustic soda solution. This method
incurs lower operating costs for processing lower grade ore.

NaAu(CN)2 --> Na† + Au(CN)-2

Stripped carbon particles are then passed through electro-winning tanks where gold is plated onto a cathode through the
application of electricity (electron e).

Au (CN)-2 + e <--> Au + 2CN-

Merrill-Crowe Process
This is a separation technique for removing gold from a cyanide solution, commonly used to recover gold from ore with high
silver content. The solution is separated from the ore by methods such as filtration and counter current decantation (CCD) and is
then clarified in special filters, usually coated with clay to produce a clarified solution. Oxygen is then removed by passing
through a vacuum deaeration column. Zinc dust is then added to the clarified, deaerated solution which precipitates the gold
because zinc has a higher affinity for the cyanide ion than gold. Gold along with silver is then precipitated with zinc (Zn) dust
according to the reaction.

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Global gold mine supply summary

Zn + 2NaAu(CN)2 --> 2Au + Na2Zn(CN)4

Zinc + Sodium Aurocyanide --> Gold + Sodium Zinc Cyanide

Examples where this is used include Bell Creek Mine, Pinos Altos and Yanacocha.

Doré
For primary gold mines the slurry (concentrate) from the processing methods highlighted above is dried and refined to produce a
doré bar which is then sent to refineries for further treatment to recover refined gold (99.99%).

The final product for co/by-product mines is a concentrate which is sent to custom smelters for the initial recovery of
accompanying base metals usually copper, lead or zinc.

Page 17 of 18
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