Design of CIL Tanks
CDMS were commissioned by Australian based gold producer Troy Resources Ltd to provide civil, structural, and mechanical engineering design and detailing services for the carbon in leach (CIL) tanks on the Karouni Gold Project in Guyana, South America. The project was undertaken by Troy Resources within very tight budgetary constraints and short timelines, requiring the design and drafting to be done very efficiently, first time around. For further details on services provided on Tanks Thickeners & Clarifiers by CDMS please contact the CDMS team on (+61 8) 9421 9060 or email us at info@cdmsengineering.com.
Project Brief
Outcome
CDMS successfully completed the detail design of the CIL tanks, learning valuable engineering lessons along the way. The project has been both profitable and successful for Troy Resources in a new operating location. In addition, the project has created jobs, delivered royalties and brought new skills into an area where previously there was little current mining activity
Background
The Karouni Gold Project lies approximately 180km south-southwest of Georgetown. The project covers an aggregate area of 113,581 hectares; comprising of small, medium and large scale tenements west of the Essequibo River.
Project Objectives
The detailed design of the new Karouni gold processing plant was primarily carried out by the Midas Engineering Group’s Perth office, with interstate collaboration between several specialist Midas design departments, primarily CDMS & METS.
The new plant was designed as a conventional Carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant with a capacity to process approximately one million tons per annum of gold bearing ore. The plant consists of conventional two-stage crushing with single stage ball milling, gravity and detox circuit. The CDMS design team also made provisions for the future expansion of the plant should Troy require it. The CDMS design made allowances for of all engineering calculations, P&ID’s, conveyors, mechanical layouts, civil, and structural construction drawings, for the complete Karouni Gold plant. This resulted in the infrastructure meeting
compliance to relevant Australian design standards, within short deadlines and strict budgetary constraints.
CDMS engineers added significant value to the design of the Karouni Gold plant in several innovative ways. First they helped the client verify the suitability of plant equipment for processing and extraction of gold from the ore. All mechanical equipment was selected for its durability and performance over the long term.
Where appropriate, quality refurbished second hand equipment was selected, which significantly reduced Troy’s overall capital costs. CDMS designed the Karouni plant layout with provision for a second ball mill and additional leach tanks to cater for increased gold output in the future, should it be required.
Our Approach
Due to very tight budgetary constraints and timelines placed on the project by the end user, CDMS decided to use parametric 3D modeling software to streamline the design, minimising re-work when design changes took place. SolidWorks was used to link 3D models and 2D detail drawings to create shop fabrication drawings for construction.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) stress analysis software was used to check the design of bins, chutes and storage hoppers, and Helix DeltaT6 was used to design the long run conveyors. Regular design development meetings were held between the client (Troy Resources), METS Engineering and CDMS personnel to facilitate a workable and improved plant design.
