CJK Milling Company, LLC has announced the elimination of cyanide in its mill extraction process. “We listened to the concerns of the Leadville community and have found a solution to address them. Extrakt leaching technology is a new, innovative, non-toxic alternative to cyanide leaching,” stated Gary Knippa, Owner of CJK.
CJK Milling’s mine waste remediation plan consists of four basic steps. First, historic mine waste piles are removed from the environment. Second, these materials will be processed at the mill to recover gold and silver. Third, remaining waste materials are stored in an encapsulated, double-lined storage facility. The fourth and final step restores areas where mine waste piles were removed, using native grasses and trees, to return these areas to pre-mining conditions.
“We are excited to have our cyanide-free leach technology selected along with the TNS dewatering technology in a comprehensive system,” stated William R. Florman, CEO of Extrakt. The cyanide-free leach offers operators a robust environmentally sensitive alternative to traditional cyanide.
He adds: “This resilient and sustainable leach coupled with TNS™ solid-liquid separation technology adeptly tackles the intricate metal recovery and dewatering challenges prevalent in mining and metals recovery operations. Unlike conventional approaches, TNS™ boasts robustness and insensitivity to clays, offering a versatile solution applicable to various tailings streams. Its implementation yields a noteworthy increase in high-value minerals throughput, potentially leveraging the existing equipment, with substantial cost savings and a reduced environmental footprint – a significant departure from conventional practices. We look forward to developing the process license and engineering design program for CJK.”
Extrakt Process Solutions, LLC and Bechtel Energy Technologies & Solutions, Inc. (BETS) have formed a strategic global technology alliance, to commercialise Extrakt’s novel, leaching technology and solid-liquid separation technology, known as TNS™. TNS they say addresses the difficult challenges of mine tailings, dewatering, and product recovery in a sustainable, effective manner.
The Leadville Mill will process mine waste at a nominal rate of 400 tons per day. The legacy mine waste will be delivered to the mill via 20 cubic yard covered haul trucks. The material will be fed into a cone crusher and then a ball mill producing a 90 mesh (150 micron) product. This product will be leached using Extrakt’s leaching technology and their TNS™ solid-liquid leaching technology where metals are recovered in solution, resulting in non-hazardous tailings that are virtually stripped of metals. Metals are recovered from the pregnant solution in a small quantity precipitate. Gold and silver are then recovered from the precipitate. The tailings are then filtered and placed in a lined tailings deposit.
