Performance of a new centrifuge (Falcon) in concentrating a gold ore from texada island, B.C., Canada

Abstract

The gravity treatment of fine minerals has experienced a promising advance with the introduction of centrifugal concentrators in the market, particularly to recover fine gold, as is the case of, for example, the very well known Knelson concentrator. The new Falcon centrifuge works without counter flow water, does not have internal ribs to trap the gold particles and rotates at very high speed, so as to exert on a particle a centrifugal force 300 times the force of gravity. This paper describes the mineralogical study of the gold ore used in the pilot plant tests and the evaluation of two models of Falcon concentrator.