Southeast Asian Gold Mine Optimizes Mineral Processing Recovery Rate

Client: Mandala Gold (Indonesia)

Challenge: Wet grinding gold-bearing quartz vein ore, the previously used low-chromium balls wore too fast, generating excessive iron fines that contaminated the slurry. This adversely affected the subsequent cyanide leaching process, potentially causing gold recovery loss.

Solution: Adopted our "Austenite+" series semi-steel grinding balls (Material: Cr8%, Medium Alloy). Provided excellent wear resistance and minimal metal contamination while ensuring sufficient impact toughness.

Data & Results:

• Contamination Control: Reduced iron ion content in the slurry by 65%, significantly improving the leaching chemistry.

• Media Life: Extended grinding ball replacement cycles by 40%.

• Overall Benefit: Thanks to more stable slurry chemistry, the plant reported a slight increase in overall gold recovery rate of approximately 0.3-0.5 percentage points, yielding significant annualized economic benefits.