This update covers twelve new mineral processing circuits from NI 43-101 technical reports filed between October 16 and November 6, plus some jobs from around the world. Highlights include the Copper World definitive feasibility study, the Luanga PGM concentrator and its dedicated smelter, and an inside look at Hudbay’s two Snow Lake mills. Enjoy and please feel free to reach out at [email protected] if you have any suggestions for improvement.
Twelve New Mineral Processing Circuits
Copper World Project — United States
Hudbay’s definitive feasibility study for its 70%-owned Arizona project starts at 60,000 st/d with a 40 x 28 ft SAG mill and one ball mill grinding to a 150 µm P80. Jameson Cells handle the flotation, with an IsaMill regrinding rougher concentrate to 32 µm. An expansion to 90,000 st/d from Year 5, at pre-feasibility level, adds pebble crushing, a second ball mill and dry stacking for part of the tailings.
Read the Copper World circuit profile
Luanga Project — Brazil
Bravo Mining’s PFS pairs a 10 Mtpa concentrator with its own smelter about 500 km away in Barcarena. HPGR, an 18 MW ball mill and vertical stirred milling reach 26–30 µm ahead of Jameson Cell flotation, with design recoveries of 80% for 3E PGMs and 70.6% for nickel. Concentrate would be roasted at 1,000 °C, smelted in a 20 MW DC arc furnace, converted and atomized into an alloy powder.
Read the Luanga circuit profile
Lalor and Snow Lake Operations — Canada
Hudbay’s Manitoba complex sends all ore through one external crushing plant, then splits it between two mills. The 3,800 t/d Stall Mill makes copper and zinc concentrates by sequential flotation, while the 2,350 t/d New Britannia Mill combines flotation with cyanide leaching and carbon adsorption to recover 90–91% of the gold. A SART plant at New Britannia is scheduled for commissioning in the first quarter of 2027.
Read the Snow Lake circuit profile
La Negra Mine — Mexico
Silverco Mining’s PEA uses 2,500 t/d as the processing basis for a long-established 3,000 t/d concentrator in Querétaro, with three-stage crushing and two parallel ball mill lines grinding to a 150 µm P80. Sequential flotation makes lead-silver, copper-silver and zinc concentrates, and life-of-mine silver recovery averages 83.6%. A tailings filtration system has been procured for on-site dry stacking.
Read the La Negra circuit profile
Bralorne Gold Project — Canada
Talisker Resources’ PEA for its British Columbia project splits mined material between a modified XRT sorting facility, taking up to 1,700 mtpd, and a new crushing circuit. Both feed a 2.2 MW ball mill grinding to a 100 µm P80. Gravity recovery with intensive cyanidation and a six-tank, 48-hour CIL circuit gave about 92% overall gold recovery in testwork, and tailings are filtered for dry stacking.
Read the Bralorne circuit profile
Cadillac Project — Canada
Cartier Resources’ PEA for this Abitibi gold project plans 3,000 t/d, rising to 4,300 t/d in Phase 2, through SAG and ball milling to a 50 µm P80, gravity recovery, pre-aeration and six CIL tanks. In testwork at the finest grind, pre-aeration with lead nitrate cut average cyanide consumption from 0.92 kg/t to between 0.19 and 0.32 kg/t. Design gold recovery is about 95%.
Read the Cadillac circuit profile
Boumadine Polymetallic Project — Morocco
Aya Gold & Silver’s planned 2.92 Mtpa plant uses 6.1 MW SAG and ball mills to reach a 58 µm P80. Sequential flotation, with stirred-mill regrinds to 15–16 µm, makes lead and zinc concentrates at testwork recoveries of 82.0% and 74.7%. A third stage floats a pyrite concentrate that captures 71.4% of the gold and 41.4% of the silver. Raw water comes from city sewage treatment effluent.
Read the Boumadine circuit profile
Iberian Belt West Project — Spain
Emerita Resources’ 1.2 Mtpa plant would blend three orebodies, with La Romanera supplying about 85% of the tonnage. SAG, ball and tower milling feed sequential copper, lead, zinc and pyrite flotation, with regrinds down to 10–15 µm on the base metal circuits. Pyrite concentrate is by far the largest product at a design 782,720 tpa, and tailings are filtered for paste backfill and dry stacking.
Read the Iberian Belt West circuit profile
PC Silver Mine — Canada
Honey Badger Silver’s PEA for this Northwest Territories mine reuses equipment installed at the site in 1981 and 1982 and sets throughput at 2,400 t/d. A new dense media plant rejects 36.5% of feed mass in testwork, with 95.6–97.5% of the silver, lead, zinc and copper reporting to the sink. A second ball mill, sequential lead and zinc flotation and a new paste plant for underground backfill complete the flowsheet.
Read the PC Silver circuit profile
Franklin Project — United States
Standard Lithium’s PEA for Smackover brine in East Texas targets 70,000 tpa of lithium carbonate over 20 years at 89.25% lithium recovery. Fixed-bed direct lithium extraction uses clean water as the eluant, followed by reverse osmosis, softening, ion exchange and evaporation. Two-stage carbonation with an intermediate bicarbonate step makes battery-quality carbonate, and bromine recovery is included as a secondary opportunity.
Read the Franklin circuit profile
Penco Module — Chile
Aclara Resources’ PEA treats Biobío ionic clay with a low-pH solution in washing drums, then recovers the rare earths through filter presses, impurity precipitation with ammonia and precipitation with ammonium bicarbonate. Output averages about 777 t/y of REO in a carbonate product. Water treatment recycles about 97% of fresh water and 99% of ammonium sulphate. Mean total recovery is 17.7%, from 0.5% for cerium to 59.6% for yttrium.
Read the Penco circuit profile
Calcatreu Project — Argentina
Patagonia Gold’s PEA for its Rio Negro gold-silver project crushes 2,500 t/d in three stages to minus 6.3 mm and stacks it on a 25 ha, five-cell pad for a 60-day drip leach at 400 ppm NaCN. Six carbon-in-column units recover the metals from pregnant solution, followed by acid washing, elution at 120 °C, electrowinning and smelting to doré.
Read the Calcatreu circuit profile
Since the last edition, the library has also gained 134 circuit profiles from earlier technical reports.
Explore the full global circuit library
Recent Mineral Processing Jobs
Senior Metallurgist
Agnico Eagle Mines Limited · Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Canada
View the role
Senior Mineral Processing Engineer
XPS (Glencore) · Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
View the role
Engineer-in-Training, Metallurgy
Gibraltar Mine (Trekor Metals) · McLeese Lake, BC, Canada
View the role
Mill Operator 2 — Paste Plant Operator
Eldorado Gold Saskatchewan · McIlvenna Bay, Saskatchewan, Canada
View the role
Mineral Processing Leader
BBA · Salt Lake City, UT, United States
View the role
Mill Operator Trainee
Climax Molybdenum (Freeport-McMoRan) · near Leadville, CO, United States
View the role
Ingeniero de Procesos Metalúrgicos — Planta San José
Pucobre · Tierra Amarilla, Atacama, Chile
View the role
Operador de Planta II
Volcan Compañía Minera · San Cristóbal–Carahuacra, Junín, Peru
View the role