Greater yields from the same amount of material and a cleaner mining alternative are just a few of the possibilities for Guyanese gold miners. These claims were made during a demonstration facilitated by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and they surrounded a piece of equipment called the Knelson Concentrator.The concentrator is designed to make the extraction of gold far more efficient than the sluicing/gravity methods currently employed. Miners usually create a ‘slurry’ by mixing the excavated soil and water.The Knelson Concentrator in actionWater is then passed over the mixture and the lighter particles are carried away by the current leaving behind the heavier particles, including the gold. The remaining materials are then panned to separate out the gold from the black sand and other heavy particles.The only drawback is that very small particles of gold and gold dust as well as mercury are usually lost in the process since they are not captured in the riffles that line the bottom of the sluice boxes.Knelson Concentrators offer a solution for this dilemma. Instead of using the force of gravity to separate out the particles the concentrator uses centrifugal force to do so. The centrifuges at the centre of these machines subject the material to a force 60 times that of gravity through a specially crafted cone.The end result is that a large percentage of the finer gold particulates collect inside the cone – particulates that fall below the usual 3mm threshold and that would have been lost via traditional methods of processing.The first sample that went through the laboratory model of the extractor came from the tailings of a mining site. Tailings are the leftover materials after a batch has been thoroughly processed to remove “all the gold”.Karen Livan, Manager of the Environmental Division of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, noted that aside from demonstrating higher levels of recovery and a cleaner recovery at that, the effort was also in keeping with the GGMC work programme for 2011.The thrust of the work programme she explained was the introduction of cleaner initiatives across the industry as adherence to the Low Carbon Development Strategy assumes importance in the sector.She promised that it would be the first of many such initiatives by the GGMC to connect miners with the technology and products that will meet those ends and still be affordable by industry standards in what are difficult economic times for everyone.Kevin Peacocke,Authentic NFL Jerseys Wholesale, Managing Director of Appropriate Process Technologies,Wholesale NFL Jerseys China, the company that is bringing the Knelson brand to Guyana through its local agents Crown Mining, conducted the demonstration. He was assisted by Claudia Lopez,Wholesale Jerseys China, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.Peacocke said that they have travelled to the interior and conducted trials at Omai, Mahdia and in the NorthWest District.He noted that they were initially met with skepticism but after the demonstrations miners were very receptive. Peacocke also spoke about the unit’s ability to act as a Mercury Recovery Unit.The use of Mercury in gold mining has been an integral part of the industry for many years and over time the toxic element has seeped into the soil at many locations mined for gold. The Knelson Concentrators also allow for the separation of mercury-gold amalgams (which can later be separated by a process called burning) as well as liquid mercury.Therefore,Cheap NFL Jerseys, they are in essence an integral part of the cleaning up or reclamation process for mined lands,Cheap Jerseys Wholesale, especially when they are used on the discarded tailings of many of these locations. The fact that the separation process is mechanical also means that it will not in its own turn leave behind any harmful residual material.Peacocke also posited from his foray into the hinterland that the optimal size of field unit for many dredges would be one that can process on the average 20 tons an hour of material.Managing Director of Crown Mining Supplies,Cheap NFL Jerseys, Mahendra Persaud, stated that such a unit would probably cost a miner in the area of US$100,000 however with the increased recovery rate a sizeable dredging operation would actually be able to recoup the amount in six months to a year.
