Kelsey Centrifugal Jig – Gold
The potential benefits of gravity pre-concentration have long been recognised within the gold industry and
more recently, have experienced increased interest due to growing environmental concerns and energy
costs.
Traditional gravity equipment has included conventional jigs and spirals. However, in most cases the
separation efficiency of this equipment decreases when the particle size is <100 µm and high grade targets
are to be maintained.
The Kelsey Centrifugal Jig (KCJ) has been shown to be highly effective in the recovery of fine minerals. With
the introduction of the high-capacity Model J1800 KCJ unit, the application of gravity separation to fine gold
applications has become even more attractive.
The natural occurrence of gold can be broadly categorised as:
Alluvial – Soil, sand, gravel or similar detrital material deposited by water
Free milling – Gold ores yielded by gravity and/or cyanidation
Refractory – Gold ores that do not yield their gold content when treated by standard gravity or
cyanidation techniques
Some of the potential benefits of using the KCJ within the gold industry include:
Recovery of free gold particles down to 5 µm
Recovery of gold-bearing sulphide minerals down to 10 µm
Upgrade ratios as high as 100:1 in a single processing stage
Continuous operation at relatively high tonnage per unit
No middling stream; concentrate and tailings only
Completely enclosed operation for good security
Environmentally friendly operation; no chemical additions
Examples of KCJ performance on some typical applications within the gold industry, include:
Improving alluvial gold recovery
Retreatment of CIL/CIP plant tailings
Gold & sulphide preconcentration prior to leaching
Gold & sulphide recovery from primary grinding circuits
Retreatment of Au/Cu flotation cleaner scavenger tailings
Recovery of fine refractory gold from table tailings
Improving Alluvial Gold Recovery
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In regions that are environmentally sensitive, the use of chemicals such as cyanide may be prohibited. In
such situations, the Kelsey Jig can be used to produce a bulk concentrate representing <10% of the total
feed weight, whilst containing a majority of the gold.
The bulk concentrate can then be transported to a more convenient location for gold extraction. Alluvial
operators also now have the opportunity to improve the recovery of the entire process by simply installing a
Kelsey Centrifugal Jig plant to treat their tailings streams.
Recovery of Alluvial Gold from Gravel
The table below shows results obtained by the KCJ when processing a gravel sample to recover fine alluvial
gold. The sample was screened at ~570 µm before processing in the KCJ.
Mass Au Grade Feed Au Au Recovery
Distribution Distribution To KCJ Conc
(%) (g/t) (%) (%)
Feed
+250 µm 39.6 1.22 23.6 99.2
+125 µm 17.3 5.58 47.0 99.3
+75 µm 4.6 10.41 23.4 99.4
+45 µm 2.7 2.88 3.8 90.2
-45 µm 35.8 0.12 2.2 85
TOTAL 100 2.05 100
KCJ Concentrate 2.1 91.8 95.3
KCJ Tail 97.9 0.1 4.7
Recovery of Flaky Alluvial Gold
A series of Kelsey Jig tests were conducted on samples from a number of areas within the Alaskan Gulf.
The gold in the samples was described as fine, smooth, clean, flat flakes, <500 µm in diameter and <20 µm
in thickness. The Kelsey Jig test results are tabulated below. The concentrates produced were typically
sized with a P50 of 100 µm.
Sample Feed Grade Conc. Grade Tailing Grade KCJ Recovery
g/t Au g/t Au g/t Au %
A 1.04 37.2 0.07 93.4
B 0.68 11.7 0.07 90.2
C 4.00 61.6 0.08 98.6
D 0.08 2.09 0.01 88.0
E 0.38 12.6 0.01 97.4
F 0.54 84.4 0.01 95.5
CIP/CIL Tailings Retreatment
The use of gravity equipment to pre-concentrate free (or gravity recoverable gold) in the primary milling stage
of gold circuits is now common practise. However, it is often difficult to define the real economic benefits of
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installing such equipment into an existing plant due to an inability to quantify any increase in recovery
compared with the conventional approach of "crush it, grind it, and leach it."
When considering the installation of equipment to process final plant tailings the economics are more
straightforward.
The challenge in the treatment of final plant tailings is to recover the remaining gold, which is usually very
fine and difficult to recover by conventional gravity techniques. The Kelsey Jig, with an ability to recover fine
minerals can meet this challenge.
Treatment of final tailings streams is generally aimed at maximum gold and sulphide recovery, with minimum
mass yield. The concentrate can then be processed further to recover the gold by intensive cyanidation,
regrind and flotation.
Case Study
The performance of a Kelsey Jig treating CIP/CIL tailings with P80 ~120 micron and a grade of ~0.75 g/t Au
and ~1% S is illustrated below.
100 20
95 18
90 16
(g/t Au & %S)
Recovery (%)
85 14
80 12
Grade
75 10
70 8
65 6
60 4
55 2
50 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
Mass Yield to Concentrate (%)
Au Rec. S Rec. Au Grade S Grade
100
95.7 94.6 96.9
90.4
85.3
80 69.8
Recovery (%)
60 55.3
48.7
Au
37.7
40 S
15.5
20
0
-300+75 -75+53 -53+38 -38+20 -20
Particle Size (m icron)
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Gold and Sulphide Preconcentration Prior to Leaching
The Kelsey Jig has been applied to the pre-concentration of gold and sulphides prior to leaching. The
objective is to produce a low mass, high recovery, high grade sulphide concentrate, which could undergo
intensive cyanidation (possibly following fine grinding), with the tailings passing to the conventional leach
train.
Some of the potential advantages of treating leach feed material in this way include:
Au & S are generally well liberated in the leach feed stream
Leach feed tonnage is lower than upstream mill discharge tonnages
Production of a high-grade, finely disseminated concentrate with favourable leaching kinetics
Improved overall gold extraction from leaching compared to conventional leach only
Reduction of the mass to be fed to the conventional leach train
Reduction of overall plant cyanide consumption
Possible elimination of high cost, high intensity oxygen addition (often required to maintain acceptable
leach rates)
The potential to reduce cyanide consumption may be a key factor in environmentally sensitive areas.
An example of results obtained with the Kelsey Jig in such a duty is illustrated below.
Case Study
Typical results obtained from the Kelsey Jig processing of a leach feed stream to pre-concentrate the Au and
S minerals are tabulated below:
Feed KCJ KCJ
Concentrate Tailings
Mass (%) 100 11 89
Grade
Au (g/t) 4.0 14 1.2
S (%) 1.3 4.0 0.8
Recovery
Au (%) 100 76 24
S (%) 100 50 50
Gold and Sulphide Recovery from the Primary Grinding Circuit
The Kelsey Jig is capable of preconcentrating gold and sulphide minerals from primary grinding circuit
streams. Generally, these streams require screening to a top size of 500 micron before processing in the
Kelsey Jig.
The Kelsey Jig has been successfully applied to the treatment of a Regrind Cyclone Underflow stream, with
the aim of recovering slow-leaching sulphide minerals from the recirculating load prior to being ground fine
enough to pass to the leach circuit.
The concentrate produced can undergo intensive cyanidation, whilst the Kelsey Jig tailings are returned to
the grinding circuit.
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With sufficient liberation, it is also feasible to produce separate arsenopyrite (specific gravity ~6) and pyrite
(sg ~5) concentrates, using magnetite (sg ~5) and garnet (sg ~4) ragging, respectively.
Typical results achieved are outlined below:
Case Study
Typical results obtained from the Kelsey Jig processing of a Primary Cyclone Underflow stream to pre-
concentrate the Au & S minerals are as follows:
Feed KCJ KCJ
Concentrate Tailings
Mass (%) 100 30 70
Grade
Au (g/t) 113 353 6
S (%) 10 30 1
Recovery
Au (%) 100 92 8
S (%) 100 96 4
Gold / Copper Flotation Cleaner Scavenger Tailings Retreatment
The Kelsey Jig has been tested successfully on the treatment of various streams from gold / copper flotation
circuits. As with CIL/CIP tailings retreatment, the economics are most straightforward when considering
recovery from a final plant tailings stream.
Excellent results have been achieved with the processing of a flotation cleaner scavenger tailings stream as
outlined below.
Case Study
Typical results obtained from the Kelsey Jig processing of a gold/copper flotation cleaner scavenger tailings
stream to recover gold are as follows:
Feed KCJ KCJ
Concentrate Tailings
Mass (%) 100 4.5-6 94-95.5
Grade
Au (g/t) 6-8 50-150 1.7-2.7
Cu (%) 1-1.3 2-4 0.9-1.2
Recovery
Au (%) 100 55-77 23-45
Cu (%) 100 12-14 86-88
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Recovery of Fine Refractory Gold from Table Tailings
Due to the complex nature of refractory ores, various unconventional techniques must be employed to
extract the gold. Gravity recovery can play a key role in these circuits and the Kelsey Jig is ideally suited to
the recovery of fine refractory gold.
In the example illustrated below, the gold is contained predominantly within pyrite and arsenopyrite in a
carbonaceous shale host rock. The Kelsey Jig has been used to improve overall plant gold recovery by
scavenging fine sulphide particles from table circuit tails.
The Kelsey Jig concentrate is then passed to a pressure oxidation circuit, while the Kelsey Jig tailings are
reground and returned to the head of the circuit.
The Kelsey Jig concentrate sizing, below, illustrates the concentration of gold in the lower size fractions.
Case Study
Typical results from the Kelsey Jig treatment of Table Tailings to recover fine refractory gold:
Au%
Product Wt% Au g/t S%
Distribution
Concentrate 21.5 67.6 13.2 70.9
Tailings 78.5 7.6 1.9 29.1
Feed (table tails) 100 20.5 4.2 100.0
Au%
Fraction Wt% Au g/t
Distribution
+212 0.2 23.3 0.1
+75 2.2 4.09 0.4
+38 56.2 51.70 42.8
-38 41.4 91.9 56.7
Feed Calc 100.0 67.8 100.0
Assay 67.2
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