Salvaging the values from the rejects of a by-product recovery plant

Two samples of table tailings (-147 pm and -74 pm in size) from refrac¬tory linings of the precious metal recovery (PMR) plant of Indian Copper Complex (ICC), Ghatshila were received to study the possbility to re¬cover residual values of precious metals from them. Analyses, as reported by ICC, were 0.021% Au and 0.39% Ag for the -147 pm sample and 0.023% Au and 0.47%Ag for the -74 pm sample. Multi-Gravity Separator (MGS) studies, with varying design and operating variables, showed three fold upgradation - assay of Au improved from 0.023% to 0.076% and assay of Ag improved from 0.47% to 1.53%. The -74 pm sample yielded better results with MGS than the -147 pm sample.