Leaching Testwork Services

Leaching is a critical process in hydrometallurgy and Core Resources has capabilities across a number of leaching processes including Albion Process™, Toowong Process™, cyanide, acid and alkaline, pressure and column leaching.

Albion Process™

The Albion Process™ is an atmospheric leach which is owned and patented globally by Glencore Technology. Core Resources partners with Glencore Technology to provide testwork and study management services for Albion Process™ projects. Testwork programs for the Albion Process™ are conducted at Core’s laboratories, under license from Glencore Technology. Core is certified to carry out Phase 1 amenability tests, Phase 2 variability and design tests and pilot-scale tests. Results from Core’s testwork are used by Glencore Technology to provide Capital and Operating costs and Engineering design.

More information on the Albion Process™ can be found in our Technology section.

The Toowong Process™ is a patented hydrometallurgical treatment process designed to selectively remove arsenic, antimony and other penalty elements from base metal and precious metal concentrates. For copper, the process takes an ex-concentrator high arsenic concentrate and selectively removes the arsenic, making a premium clean copper concentrate that is suitable for conventional smelting.  Core can conduct different stages of Toowong Process™ testwork including leach amenability and full circuit characterisation on a bench-scale and pilot-scale.

More information on the Toowong Process™ can be found in our Technology section.

Cyanide leaching forms the backbone of many gold operations and Core has a dedicated section for cyanide leaching. More information on all of Core’s gold testing expertise can be found in our gold section.

Core has the capabilities to conduct the following cyanide leaching testwork:

  • Cyanide leach testing at bench and pilot scale using tank reactors ranging from 2 to 500 L capacity in batch or continuous flow mode
  • Rolling bottle leach tests using 2 or 5 L jars with continuous or intermittent agitation and kinetic sampling
  • Diagnostic leach tests to evaluate gold – mineral associations
  • Amalgamation of gravity concentrates for evaluation of liberated native gold component
  • Full cyanide detox testwork
  • preg-robbing tests
  • Carbon loading kinetics tests
  • Oxygen uptake rate test
  • Gravity Recoverable Gold (GRG) test
  • ILR / Acacia reactor simulation tests

Core has significant experience in testwork relating to pressure oxidation and pressure leaching processes. Test programs carried out to date have included use of pressure autoclaves for pressure oxidation of copper/arsenic leachates and pressure oxidation of copper/gold bearing flotation concentrates.

Equipment available for this kind of testwork includes:

  • 2L and 18L electrically heated pressure autoclave
  • Ti and SS reactor inserts.
  • High pressure reagent injection systems.
  • Sampling system for collecting kinetic samples during testing.
  • Data logging capability
  • Blast room containment.

For pressure oxidation in particular, Core enjoys unrivalled expertise in the area of chemical analyses for sulphur species (elemental sulphur, sulphide and sulphate).

Core has wide experience in heap leach amenability testwork along the lines of ore characterisation, reagent consumption tests, agglomeration screening tests, intermittent agitation rolling bottle leach test and column leach tests. For heap leach projects Core can process the emerging PLS via SX to generate raffinate solution and then leach the ore in a closed-circuit configuration. Column leach equipment available includes various column segments.

Available facilities and equipment include:

  • 150 mm diameter, 1800 mm high leach columns with all necessary facilities
  • 300 mm diameter, 3000 mm high leach columns and feed pumps

View more test work capabilities

Contact us today to help with your metallurgical testing and process engineering needs.