Spectraflow Analytics Receives Second Order for an Airslide Analyzer for Gold Roaster Optimization from Barrick Gold Corporation, Usa
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
SPECTRAFLOW ANALYTICS RECEIVES SECOND ORDER FOR AN AIRSLIDE ANALYZER FOR GOLD ROASTER OPTIMIZATION FROM BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION, USA Barrick Gold Corporation ordered a SpectraFlow Airslide Analyzer for their Goldstrike Mine in Nevada, USA to optimize their second roaster facility. This is the second order after the successful first installation at the same mine at the first roaster last year. About Barrick Gold Corporation: Barrick Gold Corporation is the largest gold mining company in the world, with its headquarters in Toronto, Canada. The company has mining operations in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Zambia. More than 75% of Barrick’s gold production comes from the Americas region. In 2016, it produced 5.52 million ounces of gold at all-in sustaining costs of EUR 640/ounce and 188’240 tons of copper at all- in sustaining costs of EUR 3.5/kilo. As of 31.12.2016, the company had 85.9 million ounces of proven and probable gold reserves. Barrick Gold Corporation evolved from a privately held North American oil and gas company, Barrick Resources. After suffering financial losses in oil and gas, founder Peter Munk decided to refocus the company on gold. He saw an opportunity to create a gold company based in North America, at a time when Apartheid-era sanctions prevented North American investors from owning shares in South African gold companies, who dominated the industry at that time. Barrick Resources Corporation became a publicly traded company on 02.05.1983, listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company’s first acquisition was the Renabie mine, near Wawa, Canada. In 1984, Barrick acquired Camflo Mining, which had operations in the province of Quebec in Canada and in the USA (Nevada). The company continued to grow with the acquiring of the Mercur mine in Mercur, Utah in June 1985 followed by the Goldstrike mine in Nevada in 1986. Goldstrike mine is located on the Carlin Trend. The first SpectraFlow Analyzer will be installed in the Goldstrike mine. Reflecting its identity as a North American producer, distinct from its South African competitors, the company’s name was changed to American Barrick Resources in 1986. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in February 1987. Its name was later changed to Barrick Gold Corporation in 1995. American Barrick became the third-largest gold mining company in the world when it acquired Lac Minerals in 1994, which owned mining properties in North and South America. Two years later, in 1996, Arequipa Resources, owner of properties including the Pierina mine in Peru, accepted a takeover offer from the renamed Barrick Gold Corporation. A third acquisition followed in early 1999, when Barrick Gold acquired Sutton Resources Ltd., assuming ownership of properties in Tanzania. In 2001, Barrick acquired Homestake Mining Company for EUR 1.85 billion in stock, then one of the oldest mining companies in the United States. The purchase made Barrick the second- largest gold producer in the world. On 31.10.2005, Barrick launched an unsolicited takeover bid valued at EUR 7.35 billion for rival Canadian gold miner Placer Dome. Placer Dome initially recommended shareholders reject the offer. In December, Placer Dome’s board of directors accepted an increased offer from Barrick worth EUR 8.3 billion. The transaction closed in early 2006, making Barrick the world’s largest gold producer. Barrick launched what was then the largest stock offering in Canadian history in 2009, when it launched a EUR 2.4 billion equity offering, which was increased the following day to EUR 2.8 billion in response to market demand. Proceeds from the offering were used to eliminate the company’s gold hedges, which locked in the sale price of future production, rather than selling it at market prices. In February 2010, Barrick Gold announced plans to create a separate company to hold its assets in Tanzania, called African Barrick Gold. Barrick Gold would retain majority ownership in the new company, after its listing on the London Stock Exchange. African Barrick Gold was listed on the London Stock Exchange in mid-March 2010, with an IPO valuation at EUR 2.85 billion. The shares offered on the LSE raised just more than EUR 565 million. In June the company was admitted to the FTSE 100 Index. In April 2011, Barrick beat a takeover offer for Equinox Minerals by China Minmetals. Operations of Barrick Gold Corp.: Argentina: Veladero mine (In April 2017 Barrick announced it had sold a 50% interest in the Veladero mine to Shandong Gold for EUR 770 million) Australia: Super Pit gold mine (50% ownership) Canada: Hemlo gold mine Chile: Pascua Lama, Zaldivar copper mine (50% ownership), In April 2017 Barrick announced it had formed a partnership with Shandong Gold to explore joint-development of the Pascua-Lama deposit. Dominican Republic: Pueblo Viejo mine (60% ownership) Papua New Guinea: Porgera Gold Mine (95% ownership) Peru: Lagunas Norte mine, Pierina gold mine Saudi Arabia: Jabal Sayid (development) Tanzania: Tanzania's largest gold mining company, Acacia Mining Plc, formerly African Barrick Gold plc, is owned by Barrick, and operates three mines in Tanzania: Buzwagi Gold Mine, Bulyanhulu Gold Mine, North Mara Gold Mine United States: Cortez Gold Mine, Golden Sunlight mine, Goldstrike mine (1st & 2nd SpectraFlow installation), Donlin Gold Project (50% ownership), Turquoise Ridge gold mine (75% ownership) Zambia: Lumwana mine SpectraFlow Installation in the Gold production: General: Gold roasting is a process, applicable to refractory ores and concentrates that contain sulfide sulfur, organic carbon, and potentially arsenic. Removal of these compounds is necessary to achieve high gold recovery (>90%) during cyanide leaching. The temperature during the roasting process is sustained by the introduction of oxygen and the heat value of the ore, so the carbon and sulfur content. To keep the process in the roaster stable, these concentrations need to be known. SpectraFlow can directly analyze and distinguish between CO3 and TCM as well as between S2- and S(total). Inorganic components like arsenic can be analyzed as well. The expected analytical error is in a range of +/- 2.5% (relative). Constituents measured by SpectraFlow are: As2O3, CO3, S2-, TCM, Au Possible locations to install the SpectraFlow Analyzer are to stack the raw material piles (not in the graphic below), after the recirculating mill to optimize the control of carbon and sulphur, as well as before the roaster to control the additive addition (SpectraFlow installation at Goldstrike mine) SpectraFlow Analytics Ltd. Switzerland are the experts in providing online analysis for the cement and minerals industry without any radioactive sources nor neutron generators. The NIR technology used for the SpectraFlow Analyzers is not requiring any permits or licenses and there are no restrictions in buying, importing or maintaining the analyzers. This results in very low operating costs and high availability of the analyzers combined with highly accurate measurement results. .