Mining Magazine > Panorama > Pascua-Lama opts for Siemens filters

Siemens Water Technologies is providing seven filter presses for Barrick/ Fluor-Techint’s gold and silver recovery project at the Pascua-Lama mine, located on the Chilean/Argentinean border. The J-Press filter presses will be used during the last phase of the Merrill-Crowe process, which is a zinc dust precipitation method used to separate gold and silver from a cyanide solution.

The filter presses will help recover precipitated gold and silver over a six-day filtration cycle. Six of the filter presses will each handle a flow rate of 1,675 m3/h. The seventh, which is much smaller, will be used to filter water from cleaning the filter cloths and floor of the process room.

Located in the foothills of the Andes Mountains, the Pascua-Lama mine is believed to be the world’s first bi-national gold mining project, with 75% of the ore body in Chile and the remaining 25% in Argentina. With an estimated mine life of more than 25 years, Pascua-Lama has proven and probable reserves of 17.8Moz of gold, with 717.6Moz of silver contained within the gold reserves. The mining project is expected to be commissioned in late 2012, with first gold anticipated 2013.