A joint venture project between Deswik International and their local partners in Zimbabwean ZMI have constructed a pilot site at the ZMI Farvic Gold mine in Southern Matabeleland, Zimbabwe. The pilot plant will be used to bulk test dump material by fine grinding and leaching the dump material from the region with a view to developing a process analysis report and a business case on the applicability of installing a production facility at the dump.

The pilot plant consists of a 24m³ pre-conditioning tank that prepares the dump material prior to milling. The material is then pumped into the Deswik 25 mill where it is milled to the range of product size as determined in the lab test work.

Deswik Mill and PLC

Normally these refractory gold dump deposits are milled to produce a product of between D90 20um to D90 5um. This material is then pumped from the Deswik to an arrangement of six 6m³ CIL tanks. The pilot can produce between six and ten dry tonnes of product per day.

Farvic CIL Tanks

The whole project is closely monitored using the PLC data generated from the mill control mechanism and on-going material testing using the lab assay facilities at the Farvic mine laboratory.

On conclusion of the test a comprehensive report is generated highlighting the mill and plant performance and the gold recoveries usually in excess of 70% recovery. The test information is used to model the performance of a full scale production unit on the dump.