tailings filtration

YEAR: 2009

COUNTRY: MEXICO

N° and MACHINERY MODEL EMPLOYED: 3 GHT 2000.P13 MEM Diemme^® Filtration

The customer, a silver Mine in Mexico, had just started up a new 3500 t/d cyanidation plant to increase its silver bar production to 115 t/y.

The problems relevant to the adoption of this solution were:

• Filtering the tailings coming from silver production, succeeding in recovering the highest quantity of water to use back in the process
• The recovery of cyanides (one of the main costs of the Merrill Crowe process);

• Environmental impact reduction, eliminating the tailing ponds.

Bilfinger Water Technologies exceeded the standard set by its competitors, and met all the customer’s needs, supplying a sludge dewatering plant comprising 3 filter presses Diemme^® Filtration, model GHT 2000, able to dewater up to 4000 t/d of dry solids.

The residual cake moisture obtained is less than  20% and the sludge dewatering plant is able to recover and return up to 84% of water.

Previously, in 2008, the same mine bought 4 filter presses, model AUTOMAT 1500, from Bilfinger Water Technologies, employed in the Merril Crowe process.