Liquid Treatment Systems · Engineered by SorbiTech

CIP CIL Gold Carbon Plant

Name: CIP CIL Gold Carbon Plant
Brand: SorbiTech

Carbon in pulp (CIP) and carbon in leach (CIL) gold recovery plant using high activity coconut shell granular activated carbon to recover gold cyanide from leach slurry.

Capacity / Flow 10–200 t/h ore throughput

Design Standards Site specific · NICC / cyanide management code

Inlet Conditions Leached slurry, 1–10 ppm gold

Outlet Specification Loaded carbon 6–12 g Au/kg · barren slurry < 0.05 ppm gold

Operating Pressure (bar) Atmospheric

Quick Answer

A CIP CIL Gold Carbon Plant recovers dissolved gold cyanide complex from leach slurry by adsorption on high activity coconut shell granular activated carbon. The loaded carbon is stripped in a hot caustic cyanide elution to recover the gold for electrowinning. Standard ore throughput 10 to 200 tonnes per hour.

Adsorption of Dissolved Gold Cyanide on Coconut GAC

The SorbiTech CIP CIL Gold Carbon Plant recovers dissolved gold from cyanide leach slurry by adsorption on high activity coconut shell granular activated carbon. In the carbon in pulp (CIP) configuration the leached slurry passes through a train of carbon adsorption tanks downstream of the leach tanks; in the carbon in leach (CIL) configuration the carbon is added directly to the leach tanks. Both routes load the dissolved gold cyanide complex onto the carbon at typical loadings of 6 to 12 g gold per kg of loaded carbon.

Coconut Shell Activated Carbon Specification

The coconut shell origin is the deciding feature: coconut shell carbon has the highest hardness (above 98 percent on the standard ball pan abrasion test), the tightest micropore structure, and the highest gold cyanide adsorption capacity of any commercial activated carbon precursor. SorbiTech supplies the SorbiTech coconut GAC at 6 by 12 or 8 by 16 mesh, with iodine number above 1050 mg/g and gold loading capacity verified per lot.

Scope of Supply

The complete plant includes:

Carbon adsorption tanks (typically 5 to 8 tanks in series)
Inter tank carbon transfer systems (airlift or pumped)
Loaded carbon screen and acid wash circuit
Elution column (Anglo American or Zadra type)
Electrowinning cells and steel wool cathodes
Carbon reactivation kiln (rotary or multiple hearth)
Cyanide management and detoxification per Cyanide Code

Sector and Geography

Gold mining operations across South Africa, West Africa, Indonesia, South America, and Canada. The SorbiTech logistics team handles remote site delivery of the SorbiTech coconut GAC with chain of custody documentation, and the partner reactivation programme returns spent carbon to 90 to 95 percent of virgin activity. Sector coverage is mining and metallurgy.

Delivery

Delivered turnkey by SorbiTech for green field gold plants, or as a process module integration into an existing concentrator under SorbiTech scope. SorbiTech maintains the coconut GAC supply contract and the reactivation programme across the operator mine life.