Development of BIONORD® technology on Olimpiada deposit refractory arsenic-gold ores treatment in conditions of Extreme North

Abstract

The first industrial plant for refractory gold-containing ores oxidation using chemolithoautotrophic microbial association was launched in Russia at Olimpiada mining processing complex in 2001. The plant was designed to process 3 million tons of primary sulphide ore from “Vostochnyi” pit, Olimpiada deposit. In 2007 BIO-2 shop was launched. It was designed to process 5 mln tons of primary sulphide ore. Total capacity of two BIO shops was 8 mln tons per year. On the basis of industrial operation and analysis of the work of the BIO-1 and BIO-2 shops, a more advanced concept of the BIO-3 shop was developed. The concept was based on automation of the biooxidation process with the output of controlling and managing process parameters on computer monitors in the control room. This allowed personnel to keep the main process parameters within the specified limits, and enabled them to conduct the process in a stable high-performance manner. Equipment of BIO-1 and BIO-2 shops with automation systems allowed to increase throughput of all flotation concentrate treatment shops from 870 t/d to 1200–1300 t/d. Due to this reason in 2017 it was produced more than 30 tons of gold. At present Polyus Krasnoyarsk, JSC, is owner of patented refractory gold-containing sulphide ores concentrate bacterial treatment technology and patented microbial association, which perform this process, and the technology itself is protected by trademark “BIONORD”.