We use a variety of machinery combinations to liberate the gold and concentrate it for recovery. The all-inclusive Turn-Key Ore Processor will take a loader-bucket of ore and produce concentrated gold and sulfides with no hands-on activity by the operator. For a less costly production system, using hand-fed machinery, we offer a jaw crusher, hammer mill, and shaker table each one a stand-alone component. Or for smaller-scale sampling with industrial-grade equipment, our low-cost combination of a hammer mill with an attached sluice gives the owner the ability to test many thousands of pounds of material to get a representative bulk sampling of ore values.
The jaw crusher has been a staple of the hardrock mining industry since its invention. It is used as a primary crusher for all types of ores. The jaw typically takes the larger run of mine product and produces a sized discharge for feed to a secondary crusher such as a cone crusher, ball mill, or hammer mill. We have sold our jaw crushers to many different industries over the years, but the hard rock mining industry is still the #1 purchaser of our jaw crushers.
The hammer mill or ball mill takes the <3/4″ discharge from the jaw crusher and pulverizes it to liberate the values in the ore (usually gold), and one of them is a component of our Turn-Key Ore Processor. The size of the powder from a hammer mill is controlled by the size of the openings in the screen, and the discharge is processed on the shaker table. The hammer mill will produce discharge in the 20-30 mesh size. If additional size reduction is needed, a ball mill is a conventional choice instead of the hammer mill. Take a look at the procedure to determine the liberation size for a specific ore type.
If the shaker table tailings are too coarse, they can be classified with a spiral classifier, and the over-sized discharge returned to the ball mill for additional grinding. When concentrating gold ore, our shaker table will get a high percentage of the free gold >325 mesh, even down to less than 400 mesh, equaling or out-performing any table on the market. The shaker table is a component of our Turn-Key Ore Processor and it makes quite clean cuts of <16 mesh slurry between the free gold, sulfides, and tailings. The operator can sell the free gold and send the sulfides to the refiner if they contain additional values.
The spiral classifier separates the shaker table tailings into fine and coarse fractions. The coarse material is directed back to the grinding circuit to liberate more value, and the fine material is directed to the waste settling pond.
The spiral classifier is also useful as a simple dewatering device when water is in short supply. When the water level in the classifier pool is high, only the very finest of material is discharged from the tank, and the maximum amount of material is augered up the incline, draining the water as it climbs to the upper discharge point.
The MBMMLLC Turn-Key Ore Processor is made up of several modules and provides the operator with a reasonably priced, automated system to recover values with little operator involvement. The ore is loaded at the front end with a bucket and the gold and values-bearing sulfides are recovered off the shaker table. These are offered in 1, 2, and 4-5 ton/hr models.
