Barrick Gold: Design of the Leach Circuit Senior Capstone Project: Spring 2016

University of Nevada, Reno

BARRICK GOLD: DESIGN OF THE LEACH CIRCUIT SENIOR CAPSTONE PROJECT: SPRING 2016

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and the Honors Program (Andrew Sorenson only).

Alexander Allen Atto-Atiemo, Winnie Akinyi, Jack Anderson, Jason Chun, Dan Eassa, Catherine Eby, Jason Grieser, Akbar Saba, Andrew Sorenson, Samuel Straka, and Andrew Walker

Dr. Alan Fuchs, Thesis Mentor

May 2016

UNIVERSITY THE HONORS PROGRAM OF NEVADA, RENO

We recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by

Andrew Hiroshi Sorenson

entitled

BARRICK GOLD: DESIGN OF THE LEACH CIRCUIT Senior Capstone Project: Spring 2016

be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING; BACHELOR OF SCIENCE

______

Dr. Alan Fuchs, Chemical and Materials Engineering; Faculty Mentor

______

Tamara Valentine, Ph. D., Director, Honors Program i

Abstract

Gold is an element known since antiquity. It has been used as a stable currency and is still used as an investment material today. Gold, like many resources, it is a finite supply, and the modern mining industry needs to find ways to effectively extract gold from the ground. The project focuses on the leaching of gold, the process which chemically extracts the element from processed ore (after the refractory processes). In this paper, the team will explore the various steps of chemically extracting gold, from mineralogy to refractory processes (as well as alternate processes) to leaching and finally recovery.

Table of Contents

Abstract ...... i List of Equations ...... iii List of Figures ...... iii List of Tables ...... iv Introduction ...... 1 Preliminary Research ...... 2 Mineralogy...... 2 Research on Refractory Processes ...... 5 Detailed Roaster Operation ...... 5 Detailed Autoclave Operation ...... 8 Chemical oxidation ...... 11 Feasible Techniques ...... 11 Fenton’s Reagent...... 11 Persulfate ...... 12 Ultrafine Grinding (UFG) ...... 12 Non-feasible techniques ...... 17 Catalytic Cracking ...... 17 Ozone ...... 18 Resin Based Extraction...... 21 Design ...... 25 Neutralization tank ...... 25 Experiments ...... 29 UFG ...... 29 Autoclave ...... 33 Budget ...... 33 Environmental Considerations ...... 34 Conclusions ...... 35 iii

Bibliography ...... 36 Appendix A: GAP Industries (Original Honors Thesis, Andrew Sorenson only) .... 38

List of Equations Equation 1: Acidic Reaction for pyrite feed ore. This is the most likely reaction to occur within the modeling parameters we selected (Adams, 2005)...... 10 Equation 2: Common alkaline reaction for pyrite feed ore. This is again the most likely reaction to occur within the modeling parameters we selected (Adams, 2005)...... 10 Equation 3: Basic reaction involving hydrocarbons and catalytic cracking...... 17 Equation 4: Reaction for gold leaching...... 21

List of Figures Figure 1: PFD of a Barrick Roaster...... 7 Figure 2: PFD of the base case. This contains the roaster units...... 7 Figure 3: Basic layout of an autoclave...... 9 Figure 4: pH profile of a Fenton’s Reagent reaction showing the decrease in pH as the reaction progresses (USP Technologies, 2016) ...... 12 Figure 5: Estimated gold recoveries as a function of grind size for two types of ore. Carlin ore (Barrick ore) corresponds to KCGM ore...... 13 Figure 6: Shows how a complex compound is broken down into smaller molecules...... 18 Figure 7: Recovery based on cyanidation time (Nava-Alonso, 2007) ...... 20 Figure 8: Gold and silver recoveries when sample was submitted to standard cyanidation, oxygen addition, and ozone addition. (Nava-Alonso, 2007) ...... 20 Figure 9: Properties of AG 1 Resin (Bio Rad, n.d.) ...... 22 Figure 10: Purolite A500 Properties (Purolite, n.d.) ...... 23 Figure 11: Properties of DOWEX MSA (DOW, n.d.) ...... 24 Figure 12: initial Block Flow Diagram ...... 25 Figure 13: Calculations done on unit operation to determine size of vessels...... 27 Figure 14: More complex process flow diagram to better visualize the system...... 28 iv

Figure 15: The tabletop grinding mill at Kappes. The copper coil is a cooling loop, as the grinding process produces a lot of heat...... 30 Figure 16: Dried ZrO2 beads used as grinding medium. The hardness of ZrO2 makes it a good material to use...... 30 Figure 17: Suction flasks and Büchner funnels. These are used to get solids from heterogeneous mixtures quickly...... 31 Figure 18: Distribution of particle sizes for the 2.5-hour grind. The Coulter Counter is not sensitive enough to count particles below 1.2 microns...... 32 Figure 19: Distribution of particle sizes for the 30-minute grind. The Coulter Counter is not sensitive enough to count particles below 2.5 microns. This threshold is dependent on the size of aperture used...... 32 Figure 20: The Parr reactor that was to be used as an autoclave...... 33

List of Tables Table 1: Analysis of how much additional revenue can be achieved with UFG...... 14 Table 2: Cost analysis of adding a UFG process...... 15 Table 3: Profit estimation for UFG...... 16 Table 4: Cost of equipment using cap cost...... 29 Table 5: Utility costs determined by cap cost...... 29 Table 6: Summary of expenses for this project...... 33

Introduction

This thesis will go over the currently implemented gold mining mechanisms at Barrick

Goldstrike, which is located a few miles north of Carlin, NV. Going off of what was learned during this, the team was tasked to find alternatives or improvements to Barrick’s mining process to help improve gold recovery. These included research into the roasters, autoclaves, and leaching systems. Newly researched refractory techniques were proposed and scrutinized. Most did not meet the requirements for implementation, either due to impracticality or cost. A couple processes did meet the requirements for implementation, such as ultrafine grinding, the use of Fenton’s reagent, and persulfate leaching. The team planning to conduct experiment to validate our theories, however due to faulty equipment and lack of time were not able to conduct most of these experiments. The team did manage to acquire the help of Kappes, Cassidy and Associates for the ultrafine grinding experiments, and would like to thank them for use of their labs and equipment. The content below shows what the team has achieved during the semester. 2

Preliminary Research

MINERALOGY When designing or considering process changes for metal recovery operations it is important to take note of what types of feed ore are present. This was one of the first evaluative steps taken to ensure that a more holistic knowledge of the process was obtained for this project.

The Goldstrike mine has feeds from three different ore deposits. One open pit mine, and two underground mines (Wikipedia Contributors, 2016) (Tsia, 2008). Each of the sources has slightly different mineralogy, requiring a flexible approach in the processing of the feed stock. Gold commonly found within mining is usually alloyed or bonded to another metal element, this commonly being silver, though mercury is also common (Wikipedia

Contributors, 2016) (Klein, 2008). It is also possible for the gold to be found as very small particles embed within the other ores present; regardless of how the old is presented, the feedstock must be processed to acquire the gold (Wikipedia Contributors,

2016) (Sulfides, Selenides, and Tellurides, Rebellious and Refractory Fold Ores, 22). For the project the primary the feed stocks can be broken into two types; single refractory ores or sulfide ores, and double refractory ores or carbonaceous ores. It is highly encouraged to process all of the precious metal ores, and recovery as many of the metals as possible, as this will clearly increase the economic viability of the process. 3

The single refractory ores, which are sulfide ores primarily are commonly handled by an autoclave circuit. This is due to the ease at which the autoclave can process the sulfide ore bodies. Generally speaking the term sulfide ore simply is a term used to lump a great many specific mineral compounds together by virtue that there is a sulfur anion attached to the compound. Some common high value sulfide ores are, Chalcopyrite (CuFeS2),

Stibnite (Sb2S3), Pyrite (FeS2), Arsenopyrite (FeAsS), and Sphalerite (ZnS) (Klein,

2008). These sulfide ores are processed to oxidize the sulfur, which will release any gold particulate into solution. The other metal by-products, commonly iron and arsenic compounds are then either dropped out of the process as solids or as gasses. It is important to note that the specific refractory process is scaled and selected to produce the correct workable minerals for the recovery steps.

In contrast the double refractory ores contain large amounts of carbon. This carbon must be dealt with in addition to the sulfide compounds. Similar to the sulfide ores, the gold is commonly locked away within the carbon and sulfur mineral. The issue with the carbon containing minerals is that they do not react similarly to the sulfide ores. This raises the issue of needing two different targeted reactions or techniques. The addition of the organic carbon can lead to process issues within the recovery steps, as such it is required to know how much carbon is being fed into the process. As such the treatment of this ore type has two distinct goals; first is to react the ore in such a manner as to free the gold from the sulfide compounds, and second is to react all of the carbon containing material to eliminate the carbon and free any remaining gold.

For the sake of simplifying the project and narrowing the immense scope of the project, it was determined that a very simplified mineral feed be considered for our models and experiments.

A basis was provided of 600 tons per hour of feed ore, with a range of .06 oz. to .2 oz. of gold per ton of feed ore with an average of 0.13 oz. per ton. The gold was assumed to be distributed within sulfide ore complexes entirely encapsulated. This assumption allowed for the easiest and most accurate modeling. Rather than calculating based upon a range an average gold concentration was calculated and taken to be the gold concentration, which was .31oz of gold per ton of feed ore. Next the ore feed had to be simplified. Based upon literature review and need to simplify the project and problem statement, the composition of the feed ore was assumed to be 5% organic carbon (carbonaceous), 10% Chalcopyrite,

42.5% Pyrite, and 42.5% Aresnopyrite (Wikipedia Contributors, 2016). These concentrations were chosen because of their representative nature, and the ease of calculations with them.

Due to the nature of both the sulfide ore and the organic carbon, pre-recovery processing must be done to the ore to ensure proper metal recovery. As such there are common process techniques used.

The first and most well-known technique is roasting. In this technique both the carbon and sulfide ore is reacted with oxygen commonly found within the air. The reaction is done a high temperature, and is basically burning the ore feed. This frees the gold trapped within the ore, and liberates the sulfur and carbon as gas by-products.

The second is relatively new, but is still widely used, pressure oxidation. This technique reacts the ores with oxygen at a lower temperature than that of roasting, but also it reacts the ore as an aqueous solution. This gives rise to two possible modes of operation, an acidic mode and an alkaline mode.

Finally there is new work and study being applied to finer milling techniques that would mechanically separate the gold from the bulk of the ore feed. This process would in theory allow the gold to be recovered without the need of an addition refractory process.

The goal would be to decrease the total particle size of the feed stock to that of the gold ore particle size. This would allow for direct access to the gold, and for standard recovery techniques to be applied.

Research on Refractory Processes

DETAILED ROASTER OPERATION

In order to conduct a detailed economic analysis of the base case for the Barrick project

(the case using the roaster and thiosulfate), a deeper understanding of how the roaster works is needed. This understanding was achieved through reading Andrew Cole’s article on Barrick’s roasters in the book Mineral Processing Plant Design, Practice, and Control

Proceedings by Mular et.al. In this article, detailed descriptions are given of the roasters operation and structure.

There are two roasters at Barrick Goldstrike. 12,000 short tons per day of pre-ground ore are divided equally into two streams, each leading to a roaster. Each roaster has a two-

6 stage design, each containing a fluidized bed reactor with the ore particles as the bed material. The roasters are heated by the heat of the oxidizing reactions, with coal as a backup fuel if the ore does not contain enough heat in the first stage. Diesel oil is used as a backup fuel for the second stage. If the reaction is too hot, cold water is sprayed to cool the reaction. The temperature range for the first stage is 524°C-593°C and 524°C-621°C for the second stage. Fresh ground ore is fed from the top of the roaster and distributed via fluidized bed feeder. The semi-processed ore continuously discharged through the inter-stage windbox into the second stage at the bottom of the roaster where oxidation is completed. This system contains cyclones that act as separators of ores of different densities and function as internal recycling. Figure 1 shows a schematic of one of the roaster units. Figure 2 shows the overall process.

Figure 1: PFD of a Barrick Roaster.

Figure 2: PFD of the base case. This contains the roaster units.

The roasters are located after the grinding mills. Note that this PFD only shows one roaster when there are in fact two. (Mular, 2002)

The roasters are fed with a single stream of 99.5% pure oxygen gas at low pressure. This oxygen provides the oxidative atmosphere needed to oxidize the sulfate and organic carbon compounds present in the ore. Usually 99% of the sulfide compounds and around

88.5% of the carbon compounds are oxidized after processing in the roasters.

Waste gasses are processed using a gas quenching system and dust scrubber on each roaster. This system rids waste gasses of solid particulates, mercury, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and NOx. Processed ore is transferred to a quench tank which is then transferred to the recovery process.

DETAILED AUTOCLAVE OPERATION The autoclave process is determined to be the center point of our alternative cases. This means that compared to the roaster refractory process the autoclave will be used to treat the feed ore. As compared to the roaster, the autoclave or pressure oxidation technique occurs at lower temperatures, but much higher pressures. Ideally the feed ore will be oxidized using pure oxygen feed in at a high temperature and pressure. Figure 3 show the basic schematic of an autoclave.

Figure 3: Basic layout of an autoclave. The general processing of sulfide ores can occur via two reaction types, acidic or alkaline. Within an acidic mode of operation the sulfur is converted to sulfuric acid, thus lowering the pH drastically. When the autoclave is operating in an alkaline mode the sulfur is converted to form any different sulfide forms, and sulfate complexes. Equation 1 shows the common reactions of sulfide ore in an acidic system, while Equation 2 shows an example of how an alkaline system can be applied.

Equation 1: Acidic Reaction for pyrite feed ore. This is the most likely reaction to occur within the modeling parameters we selected (Adams, 2005).

Equation 2: Common alkaline reaction for pyrite feed ore. This is again the most likely reaction to occur within the modeling parameters we selected (Adams, 2005).

Whether or not the autoclave is operating within alkaline mode or acidic mode, the need for high temperature and pressure is required. As a rule of thumb, operational temperatures required for the reactions show in figures 1 and 2 to occur is, above 175°C

(Jeffrey, 2003) (Anderson & Twidwell, 2008) (Adams, 2005). The pressure required to achieve these reactions is less stringent but large literature searches show that the pressures used range from 2,000 to 3,000kPa; with the Goldstrike facility normally operating at 2,890kPa (Adams, 2005).

Because of the high pressure required to operate these processes, both temperature and pressure need to be maintained and an energy balance around the equipment is vital for the economic operation of these processes. This is done by injecting steam into the pressure vessel in addition to the pure oxygen feed. This steam feed is partially fresh, and partially a recycled feed that is captured through the use of splash and flash vessels, that serve as the compressive/heating and decompression/cooling units around the autoclave.

As a result of the need for agitation within the autoclave, the need for energy

11 conservation, high pressure operation, and a highly active environment; the materials these units are made of are quite diverse and costly.

Alkaline autoclaves are cheaper to run, primarily because the environment is much less active.

Chemical oxidation

Conditions in the autoclave do not allow for the destruction of organic compounds that are found in double refractory ore. Research was done in oxidation chemistry to remove these organic compounds. Some of the chemical oxidants with the highest electrochemical potential are, Fenton’s reagent, activated persulfate and ozone.

FEASIBLE TECHNIQUES

Fenton’s Reagent

Fenton’s reagent uses Iron to catalyze the production of OH radicals (USP Technologies,

2016). This process has been shown to degrade AO7 Aso dye. Due to non-selectivity of the OH radicals this process can be applied to other organic pollutants (Özcan A, 2009).

The process is most effective at lower pH values (Katsoyiannis IA, 2008). The pH of the reaction will decrease as the reaction progresses. This can be seen in Error! Reference source not found. below.

Figure 4: pH profile of a Fenton’s Reagent reaction showing the decrease in pH as the reaction progresses (USP Technologies, 2016) Persulfate

Activated persulfate is formed when persulfate anions dissociate under heat, and high pH conditions, and the presence of Peroxide facilitates the production sulfate radicals

Persulfate addition has been shown to remove chlorinated organic solvents from water with a solid to water ration of 1:1 (Huling SG, 2011).

Ultrafine Grinding (UFG) UFG was one method considered to increase the gold recovery. Using UFG reduces the

P80 particle size from 74 microns to some lesser diameter. The justification for this hypothesis is that a study done by Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) found that a decrease in the ore particle size increases the gold recovery as seen in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Estimated gold recoveries as a function of grind size for two types of ore. Carlin ore (Barrick ore) corresponds to KCGM ore. In single refractory ore, the gold is entrapped in a matrix of sulfides. KCGM used UFG in order to crack the sulfide matrix and release the gold so that it could be leached downstream through cyanidation. Barrick’s Goldstrike does not release the gold from the sulfide matrix through UFG, but rather chemical oxidation in the autoclave. It is important to note that the gold ore at Goldstrike is double refractory, so the sulfides are not the major issue as nearly all (>97%) can be oxidized in the autoclave.

The hypothesis is that the organic carbon is having some influence on the gold recovery by preg-robbing the gold ore from the thiosulfate-gold complexes formed in the leaching process. By removing or inactivating the organic carbon the gold recovery should increase. Organic carbons are known to preg-rob in traditional cyanide carbon in leach

14 systems, however their effect on Barrick’s new thiosulfate resin in leach system is relatively unknown. Studies done on Carlin type ore have shown that the major preg- robbing carbons are elemental carbon which are solids in the ore. If these are major contributors to preg-robbing then UFG should be able to increase gold recovery, however if the problem is in the form of other carbons such as humic acids, these will require a different form of treatment, such as chemical oxidation. The proposed method is to use

Barrick’s autoclave system which is already in place with the addition of UFG vertical stirred mill equipment in order to reduce the particle size. By reducing the particle size of the ore, we hypothesized that the organic carbon will be oxidized quicker and to a further extent when the ore is processed in the autoclave.

Using Figure 5 to assume a gold recovery at a given particle size, we began our economic analysis. The three P80 particle sizes that we wanted to compare in our economic analysis were 10, 40, and 74 microns. It is known that the gold concentration in the ore is .06-.2 oz. per ton. Using Figure 5 along with the gold concentration, the team found the following potential increase in revenue by UFG, as seen in Table 1.

Table 1: Analysis of how much additional revenue can be achieved with UFG.

Additional Revenue from UFG per year

Grind [gold]=.06opt [gold]=.2opt Size

40 $ 17,597,088.00 $ 58,656,960.00 micron

10 $ 42,233,011.20 $ 140,776,704.00 micron

Our cost analysis can be seen in Table 2.

Table 2: Cost analysis of adding a UFG process.

Cost of adding UFG mill

one time capital cost $ 32,000,000.00 expense

maintenance yearly expense $ 3,200,000.00

energy yearly expense $ 22,362,835.00

personnel yearly expense $ 12,383,136.00

one time installation $ 3,200,000.00 expense

depreciation yearly expense $ 1,280,000.00

The following assumptions were made in order to come up with these expenses: 40 machines are used, each with a capacity of 15 tons of ore per hour, the maintenance costs

10% of the capital cost per year, the energy cost is the value given on the vendor’s website, 38 personnel are required each with an average pay of $40 per hour, the installation costs 10% of the capital cost, and the equipment depreciates equally each year over the assumed lifetime of 25 years.

Table 3 shows the profit from implementing UFG into Barrick’s process.

Table 3: Profit estimation for UFG.

Profit from UFG Implementation

Grind

Size 0.06opt 0.2opt

(micron)

10 $ 1,599,040.20 $ 100,142,733.00

40 $ -23,036,883.00 $ 18,022,989.00

Economic analysis shows that UFG should be further investigated. Grinding to a size of

40 microns has some risk of losing money if the gold concentration is less than .139 oz. per ton.

As seen in Table 2, the energy consumption of the UFG mill is the major cost associated with this form of processing. The energy input required increases exponentially as particle size decreases. Because of this, the basic economic analysis provided is not valid.

Further investigation of the energy input requirements to obtain certain ore particle sizes needs to be conducted. This is crucial to validate UFG for implementation because of the potential difference in cost across different particle sizes.

NON-FEASIBLE TECHNIQUES

Catalytic Cracking

In this process a large hydrocarbon molecules is broken into smaller and more useful components. This process utilizes high pressure and temperatures without a catalyst, or lower temperatures and pressures in the presence of a catalyst. These fractions are obtained from distillation process as liquids but may also be revalorized. The smaller carbons produced are usually easier to handle and can be used in other process.

An example of this is:

Equation 3: Basic reaction involving hydrocarbons and catalytic cracking.

퐶15퐻32 → 2퐶2퐻4 + 퐶3퐻6 + 퐶8퐻18

On a visual scale,

Figure 6: Shows how a complex compound is broken down into smaller molecules. It is easier evaporate the smaller number of carbons by using the high heat to evaporate as at this point these are gases and they will be readily evaporated.

Temperatures can be reduced and the pressures also reduced in which case a catalyst will be utilized. A common catalyst used is a zeolite catalyst. This acts as an ion exchange medium where the resin determines the exchange medium.

However, the catalytic cracking will not work on ores because it works best for liquids such as petroleum. In doing this it form complex compounds with metal impurities available in the ore. Henceforth, this makes it rather difficult to separate the gold complexes that will form.

Ozone Ozone in aqueous solutions will produce OH radicals. The ozone itself will oxidize aromatics and organic sulfurs (Park M, 2015), using pretreatment of ore for gold extraction and increasing yield. There are two methods to go about the oxidation using ozone pretreatment: a direct method and an indirect method. In the direct method, one can decrease extraction time, but not extraction yield. For the indirect method, one can

19 increase extraction yield in certain ore samples. This is used when cyanidation and fine grinding is not enough to increase the gold yield (refractory ore) so the pretreatment is required. The case study of Nava Alonso’s “Pretreatment with ozone for gold and silver recovery from refractory ores” was examined. The main idea behind it is that ozone is used to pretreat pyritic matrix dissolved to increase gold recovery in case study.

As mentioned earlier, the direct method is used to decrease extraction time and leaves the yield unchanged. This implemented by bubbling O3 through the ore slurry while it is in a vessel. The indirect method increases yield with certain sample ores. This is implemented by washing ore with ozone-saturated water in a reactor that is agitated. It is important to note that the slurry is mixed first in a reactor and the ozone-saturated water is mixed.

The use of ozone as complimentary oxidation process could also reduce the time spent in a typical leach system, as well as increase the overall gold recovery (Nava-Alonso, 2007).

This can be seen in Figures 7 and 8 below.

Figure 7: Recovery based on cyanidation time (Nava-Alonso, 2007)

Figure 8: Gold and silver recoveries when sample was submitted to standard cyanidation, oxygen addition, and ozone addition. (Nava-Alonso, 2007)

Resin Based Extraction

When examining the leach circuit, it was determined that the resin used is a key part to the overall design. The resin type, size, density, kinetics and interactions are all key factors in deciding what resin is best in this system. To start this process we had to learn the basics about ion exchange resins. There are anion exchange resins and cation exchange resins. Anion exchange resins bond with negatively charged ions or complexes and cations bond with positively charged complexes. The reaction that happens in the leach circuit between the thiosulfate and the gold was determined. The gold dissolves into solution and it bonds with the thiosulfate to form a complex. This gold thiosulfate complex has a negative charge. The equation for this reaction can be seen below.

Equation 4: Reaction for gold leaching. 2− 3− − 4퐴푢 + 8푆2푂3 + 푂2 + 2퐻2푂 ↔ 4[퐴푢(푆2푂3)2] + 4푂퐻

- 3- Au(S2O3) or Au(S2O3)2 are formed by this reaction and they are negatively charged.

This means that an anion exchange resin is necessary. Next we had to determine if the system was going to be basic or acidic. It was known that Barrick currently runs their

RIL at a pH around 8.5. The team assumed this was optimal and chose to look into resins that work in a basic environment. This assumption could be changed to use different resins that are optimized at different pH levels but for simplicity we are trying to match

Barrick.

There are many companies that make ion exchange resins such as Purolite,

BioRad, Dow and many more. From previous years of the Barrick capstone project there was leftover resin in storage. This resin was assumed to be what is currently used at

Goldstrike. This assumption turned out to be false, but in the end did not affect the research and choice of other possible resins. Many of these companies have basic details of their resins on the websites. Most possible resins are labeled with their uses and what they are best at. The resins that were examined were always labeled as gold selective resins and for use in RIL circuits. The properties of the resin we assumed Barrick was using can be seen in Figure 9.

Figure 9: Properties of AG 1 Resin (Bio Rad, n.d.) From this table the team determined that the resin should have the chloride form and we also determined the type of functional group that is needed. From additional research it was determined that a resin must have very specific functional groups. These functional groups are what make the resin selective for specific ions such as gold or copper. The functional groups that are selective for gold are quaternary ammonium and tertiary amines. All alternative resins that are examined for use must have these functional groups or else the gold will not bond with it.

The most promising resin that was identified was Purolite A500. A table of resin properties provided by the manufacturer can be seen in Figure 10.Error! Reference source not found.

Figure 10: Purolite A500 Properties (Purolite, n.d.) This resin was identified as a good candidate for several reasons. First, it has the correct application of gold mining and able to be used in a RIP circuit. It has the correct functional group to be gold selective and it has the correct particle size needed for the current grinding size. Additional resins were researched and similar steps were followed to make sure it would be compatible in our leach tank design. The properties of another promising resin can be seen in Figure 11.

Figure 11: Properties of DOWEX MSA (DOW, n.d.) All of these resins were found to theoretically work in our proposed leach circuit.

They meet all the required criteria and have the correct properties. Additionally, during our final presentation we were made aware that Goldstrike doesn’t actually use BioRad

AG1 but instead uses Purolite A500. This was not a huge problem since the two resins were similar and the Purolite had been identified as the best possible alternative resin.

Once these resins were identified, it was planned to purchase a small amount of each and put them through several tests to determine certain parameters for our leach tank design.

It was planned to do size tests to determine solution parameters. Activity tests to determine kinetics of adsorption on the resins. Attrition tests to make sure the resin could withstand pumping and time in slurry. Bottle roll tests would also determine ideal

25 solution concentrations and kinetics of the experiment. From these tests we hoped to determine real leaching parameters and design a very accurate system and model this system with a large amount of accuracy. Due to many unforeseen circumstances the team was not able to develop this project that far but in the future we are sure more work can be done complete the problem statement as Barrick wanted.

Design

NEUTRALIZATION TANK

The Design of the neutralization tank was done to exemplify the process of designing a unit operation. First a simple block flow diagram is drawn. This can be seen in Figure 12 below.

Figure 12: initial Block Flow Diagram Then a series of calculations are done based on a set of assumptions. These assumptions were:

 The reactor will function as an ideal CSTR

 Because the pKa of calcium hydroxide is high (11.47) it will be assumed that this

constituent will be completely ionized into the hydroxide ion

 It will also be assumed that the reaction between any acidic compounds and the

hydroxide will occur almost instantaneously

o A planned detention time of 2 hours will be imposed on the system.

 It is also assumed that the ore slurry has no buffer capacity

 The volume of the system will be increased by a factory of 1.5 above what is

calculated to ensure no overflow and allow for process upsets

The calculations done were in MathCad prime. The full set of calculations is shown in

Figure 13 below. Whenever possible heuristics were applied to the design (Turton

Richard).

Figure 13: Calculations done on unit operation to determine size of vessels. Then a more complex drawing is done to create a more realistic version of the operation under consideration.

Figure 14: More complex process flow diagram to better visualize the system. Finally, an economic analysis of the design is performed. For this example, the excel program cap cost was used. Table 4 below shows the bare module cost of the unit operation including the drivers for the CSTR impellers, the storage tank and the reactor vessels. The ratio of the length to height was determined based on heuristics (Turton

Richard). Table 5 below shows the annual utility cost.

Table 4: Cost of equipment using cap cost.

Table 5: Utility costs determined by cap cost.

Experiments

UFG Due to limited time and circumstances, the team was not able to conduct the experiments as intended. However, limited experiments were conducted on ultrafine grinding (UFG).

These were done in the labs of Kappes, Cassidy and Associates. The advantages of UFG are detailed in previous section of this report.

The goal of these experiments was to find the optimal time to grind Barrick ore samples to around 45 microns. The apparatus used to perform the grinds consisted of a tabletop grinding mill which uses zirconium oxide beads 0.85-1.18mm in diameter.

Figure 15: The tabletop grinding mill at Kappes. The copper coil is a cooling loop, as the grinding process produces a lot of heat.

Figure 16: Dried ZrO2 beads used as grinding medium. The hardness of ZrO2 makes it a good material to use.

First attempts to grind the Barrick ore samples involved grinding it for a duration of 2.5 hours. After the grind was complete, the solids needed to be filtered using suction flasks and Büchner funnels with filter papers.

Figure 17: Suction flasks and Büchner funnels. These are used to get solids from heterogeneous mixtures quickly. The 2.5-hour grind turned out to be too long. The particle size was too small to allow the filter paper to accumulate solid. In order to determine particle size, a device called a

Coulter Counter was used. The Coulter Counter works by pumping a heterogeneous mixture through a tube with an aperture. An electrode resides inside the tube, while the other electrode is outside the tube. As particles go through the aperture, it interrupts the current going through the aperture. The amount of current disrupted is directly proportional to the size of the particle. The Coulter Counter counts the number of particles within a specific size range, called a bin. This results in a normal distribution of particle sizes.

Acid Preclave 2.5 Hour Grind Particle Size Dist. 6000

5000

4000

3000

Counts 2000

1000

0 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Particle Size (micron)

Figure 18: Distribution of particle sizes for the 2.5-hour grind. The Coulter Counter is not sensitive enough to count particles below 1.2 microns.

Acid Preclave Run #3 Size Distribution 350

300

250

200

150 Counts

100

0 2 7 12 17 Partcle Size (micron)

Figure 19: Distribution of particle sizes for the 30-minute grind. The Coulter Counter is not sensitive enough to count particles below 2.5 microns. This threshold is dependent on the size of aperture used. After attempting the 2.5-hour grind, it was decided to try a 30-minute grind. This yielded better results as we were able to filter out the solids using the Büchner funnels. If the

33 team had more time, leaching of the ground ore samples would have been conducted, then compare how much was leached with pre-ground ore samples.

AUTOCLAVE The team planned to use a Parr reactor to conduct autoclave experiments, but ran out of time. Future classes will be able to utilize the Parr reactor for their experiments.

Figure 20: The Parr reactor that was to be used as an autoclave.

Budget

Table 6: Summary of expenses for this project.

Product Price Retailer Cumulative Total Connector, 316 stainless steel, $23.21 Grainger $23.21 compxM, 3/8" Tee, 3/8", Threaded, $26.35 Grainger $49.56 316 Stainless steel

Street Elbow, Carbon Steel, 3/8", $ 53.54 Grainger $103.10 MNPT Stainless Steel ball $125.76 Grainger $228.86 Valve, FNPT, 3/8" Safety Relief valve, $287.03 Grainger $515.89 1/2x3/4", 100 psi Thermocouple probe, type J, 24", $115.44 Grainger $631.33 stainless steel, 19 AWG

$667.01 Calcium Thiosulfate $35.68 Fisher Scientific

$732.41 Plastic bottles $65.40 Sigma Aldrich

Total Spent $732.41

While this project received donations from the university in the form of a Parr reactor and a bottle roller, and received additional assistance from Kappes, the project still needed to purchase a few items. The majority of these items were valves and fittings for the Parr reactor, purchased through WW Grainger Inc. It was also necessary to purchase items for the leach circuit experiments, such as a bottle of calcium thiosulfate from Fisher

Scientific and plastic bottles to perform the leach circuit experiments in from Sigma

Aldrich.

Environmental Considerations

According to the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory Nevada ranks 4th highest among all US states and territories on releases per square mile. In year 2014 over 31 million pounds of

35 chemicals covered by the Toxic Release inventory were disposed of or released by the

Barrick Goldstrike mine (EPA, 2014)

According to the EPA the toxic releases inventory catalogues all the toxic chemicals that are encountered at the site. This includes the minerals that are removed from the ground during the mining process. One of the major contaminants of concern is arsenic. This particular element is relatively common in the earth's crust.

Conclusions Ultrafine grinding has shown the most promise as an improvement to gold recovery due to its practically and cost. According to the experiment conducted at Kappes, Barrick’s ores turned out to be very soft ores. Grind times were unexpectedly fast, yielding sizes of

P80 1.7 microns for the 2.5-hour grind and P80 4 microns for the 30-minute grind. If the team had more time, further experiments would have been conducted to see if gold recovery differed at different size grinding, pre or post refractory processing. Future groups will be able to utilize the equipment gathered during this project and continue work in the foreseeable future.

Bibliography

Adams, M. D. (2005). Advances in Gold Ore Processing. Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands.

Anderson, M. I., & Twidwell, L. G. (2008). The Alkaline Sulfide Hydrometallurgical Separation, Recovery and Fixation of Tin, Arsenic, Antimony, Mercury and Gold. The Southern Africal Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 121-132.

Bio Rad. (n.d.). Analytical Grade Anion Exchange Resin. Retrieved from http://www.biorad.com/en-us/product/analytical-grade-anion-exchange-resin

DOW. (n.d.). DOWEX™ MARATHON™ MSA. Retrieved from http://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedLiteratureDOWCOM/dh_08de/0901b80380 8de5d9.pdf?filepath=liquidseps/pdfs/noreg/177-01787.pdf&fromPage=GetDoc

EPA. (2014, July 16). TRI Faclility Report: Barrick Goldstrike mines inc. Retrieved from Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program: https://www3.epa.gov/enviro/facts/tri/ef- facilities/#/Facility/89803BRRCK27MIL/BARRICK%20GOLDSTRIKE%20MI NES%20INC

Huling SG, K. S. (2011). Persulfate oxidation of MTBE- and chloroform-spent granular activated carbon. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 1484-1490.

Jeffrey, M. a. (2003). A Fundamental Study of the Alkaline Sulfide Leaching of Gold. The European Journal of Mineral Processing and Environmental Protection, 336- 343.

Katsoyiannis IA, R. T. ( 2008). pH dependence of Fenton reagent generation and As(III) oxidation and removal by corrosion of zero valent iron in aerated water. Environmental science & technology, 7424-7430.

Klein, C. D. (2008). The 23rd Edition of the Manual of Mineral Science: (after James D. Dana). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Mular, H. B. (2002). Mineral Processing Plant Design, Practice and Control Proceedings. Littleton, CO: Society for Mining.

Nava-Alonso, F. E.-R.-S.-G. (2007). Pretreatment with ozone for gold and silver recovery from refractory ores. Ozone: Science & Engineering, 101-105.

Özcan A, O. N. (2009). Removal of Acid Orange 7 from water by electrochemically generated Fenton's reagent. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 1213-1220.

Park M, A. T. (2015). Modeling approaches to predict removal of trace organic compounds by ozone oxidation in potable reuse applications. Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol.

Purolite. (n.d.). Purolite A500/2788. Retrieved from http://www.purolite.com/RelId/619309/isvars/default/strong_base_anion_macrop orous.htm

Sulfides, Selenides, and Tellurides, Rebellious and Refractory Fold Ores. (22, December 2015). Retrieved from Sulfides, Selenides, and Tellurides, Rebellious and Refractory Fold Ores.

Tsia, P. (2008, September). Goldstrike Mine - Nevada's Giant Golden Goose. Retrieved from MINING.com: http://www.infomine.com/library/publications/docs/Mining.com/Sep2008i.pdf

Turton Richard, B. R. (n.d.). Analysis, Sythesis and Design of Chemical Processes 4th edtion. Prentice Hall.

USP Technologies. (2016). Fentons Reagent General Chemistry Using H2O2. Retrieved from Fentons Reagent and Hydrogen Peroxide: http://www.h2o2.com/industrial/fentons-reagent.aspx?pid=143

Wikipedia Contributors. (2016, March 13). Gold Extraction. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_extraction

Wikipedia Contributors. (2016, April 29). Goldstrike Mine. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldstrike_mine

Appendix A: GAP Industries (Original Honors Thesis, Andrew Sorenson only)

Gap Industries

Nevada Governor’s Cup

Business Plan

Team Members: Ian Stewart | Chemical Engineering, Spring 2016

Ben Wallace | Chemical Engineering, Spring 2016

Anthony Ramirez | Chemical Engineering, Spring 2016

Anita Albanese | Chemical Engineering, Spring 2016

Andrew Sorensen | Chemical Engineering, Spring 2016

Academic Mentors: Professor Alan Fuchs

Date of Submission: 3/10/2016

Executive Summary

Graphene Applications and Production (G.A.P.) Industries produces the new super material graphene for a variety of consumer applications. The use of our graphene in technologies such as electronics, filtration, and even body armor results in superior reliability, efficiency, and sustainability of targeted products. Our major objective is to become a leading producer of graphene for real world applications by implementing innovative ideas and creating superior products.

Graphene is currently being considered as a candidate to replace silicon as the leading material for semiconductor technologies. Graphene applications can extend far beyond things like kevlar and ultra-strong gas cylinders, from bioengineering to optics, photovoltaics, and energy storage. Finding a way to manufacture graphene at reduced cost could potentially change the world.

As of February 2016, there appears to be no company that is mass producing graphene, at least to the scales needed to use in practical applications that require large amounts. If successfully funded, GAP Industries would have a huge advantage in the market being the only mass supplier of graphene. Since we would be only producing bulk material, the potential customers would be very diverse. We could easily sell graphene and its derivatives to research labs, the semiconductor industry, cable manufacturers, clothing manufacturers, the list goes on.

The company aims to follow an open floor organizational structure, keeping things fairly intertwined within the first five years. Further expansion beyond that point will be met accordingly, but as it stands, each of the five founders of GAP Industries will lead an important division within the company.

GAP industries follows a business to business operating strategy, meaning we sell our products to other businesses who then use it in their own specific application. The foundation of our success is the successful sales of a selected product from our targeted company. Product testing is a major component to success in the market. Reno is a great place for cheap material resources for ample product testing before the consumer product makes it to the market.

As a large scale venture, GAP Industries is subject to a great many risks that will pursue the company throughout its tenure. That being said, there have been two critical risks identified that need to be dealt with in the early stages of the business if is to be a successful organization of graphene production, research loops and scaling up too quickly.

GAP Industries will need an initial investment of 500,000 dollars. The investment will be used to buy all the resources needed to make the graphene. In the second year, the company will establish itself as a major producer of graphene. In year three, GAP

Industries will become the major producer of graphene in the United States. Year four will see GAP Industries establishing itself as a power player in the energy industry, with year five seeing the company go public.

GAP Industries values being the first company to provide high quality graphene on a large scale. This will allow the company to bring a competitive edge to customers utilizing graphene for the future of the world.

Company Overview

GAP Industries is based out of Reno, Nevada, a city close to Silicon Valley and sources of rich metallurgical resources useful for technological integration and cheap material for testing conditions. The company is still in the startup phase, generating quality ideas for production and finding loyal customers. Since the initial foundation in 2015, our mission has been to bridge the gap between the practical applications and affordable production of graphene.

Products and Services

Graphene is an allotrope of the element carbon. It is essentially a monoatomic sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern. Its structure allows it to be rolled into tubes called carbon nanotubes (or CNT’s). The physical and chemical properties of graphene and CNT’s is phenomenal. They are 207 times stronger than steel per weight. In technical terms, steel has a tensile strength of 4150 steel is about 750 MPa, while graphene has a tensile strength of about 130,000 MPa. Numerous applications can be thought of when using graphene and its derivatives. A mere few sheets of graphene can be used to create ballistic armor with unparalleled performance compared to today’s traditional

Kevlar soft armors or plated ceramic armors. Combined with resin sealants, graphene can be used to create super strong gas cylinders that are ultra-light. With CNT’s, ultra-high strength cables can be created with enough strength to allow elevators to space possible.

Figure 1. The molecular structure of graphene leads to incomparable strength.

Since it is possible to vary the diameter of the tubes, CNT’s can be used to create membrane separation units with desired parameters easily. CNT’s have many desirable electrical properties. Since is it a tube, electrons can flow inside the CNT in only one

44 direction and with no possibility of leakage (which is a problem in today’s semiconductor industry). Graphene is currently being considered as a candidate to replace silicon as the leading material for semiconductor technologies. Graphene applications can extend far beyond these mentioned, from bioengineering to optics, photovoltaics, and energy storage.

Finding a way to manufacture graphene at reduced cost could potentially change the world.

Market Analysis and Advantage

As of February 2016, there appears to be no company that is mass producing graphene, at least to the scales needed to use in practical applications that require large amounts. If successfully funded, GAP Industries would have a huge advantage in the market being the only mass supplier of graphene. Since we would be only producing bulk material, the potential customers would be very diverse. We could easily sell graphene and its derivatives to research labs, the semiconductor industry, car manufacturers, armorers, the military, cable manufacturers, clothing manufacturers, the list goes on.

The current price of graphene makes it one of the most expensive materials in the world (depending on its quality). Current estimates on the price of graphene are about

$1000 per gram. Finding a way to mass produce graphene would greatly reduce this price and put us at a significant advantage. Plus, the proposed methods below suggest that any material containing carbon atoms can be used as a starting material. Methane is used below, but graphite may work as well. Given that the cost of graphite is about $2 per kilogram, makes mass producing graphene a viable option (though the capital cost would be high).

Due to recent discoveries in the potential mass production of graphene it is hoped that we could easily implement said discoveries to produce graphene. Traditionally, graphene has been produced using a method called chemical vapor deposition (CVD). This involves heating a copper chamber filled with methane (CH4) to 1000 degrees Celsius.

Methane molecules are stripped of their hydrogen atoms and the remaining carbon atoms are allowed to arrange themselves onto the copper substrate. This process is time consuming, very expensive, and does not produce very high quality graphene. Researchers at MIT and Caltech have found ways to reduce the temperature, time, and double the quality of the graphene produced. At Caltech, Boyd et. al. utilized a copper substrate that has been treated with a nitrogen compound, effectively smoothing out the surface and creating a more effective catalytic surface. This allows the temperature down to about 420 degrees Celsius while doubling the quality of graphene and only taking about five minutes

(compared to nine hours). MIT researchers have come up with a continuous CVD method that uses ribbons of copper as the substrate. By potentially combining both Boyd’s and

MIT’s methods, we could mass produce graphene.

Management Team

46 department, with expansion, each chief will lead a small innovative team to tackle the problem presented, as seen in Table 1.

Table 1. The five branches of GAP Industries, and their respective chiefs.

Chief Executive Chief Chief Chief Chief Operations Engineering Financials Logistics

Ian Stewart Ben Wallace Andrew Sorenson Anthony Ramirez Anita Albanese

The executive The operations The engineering The financials The logistics branch branch of the branch of the branch of the branch of the of the organization organization will organization will organization will organization will be will be the jack of decide on the run the production develop and refine in charge of all trades of GAP organization’s goals of the graphene on the graphene securing future Industries, filling in and future the day to day basis. production process. partners and where necessary. ambitions. This will This will likely be This will be the research grants. This This will be a small be a small team. the largest team one largest team in the will be a small team of innovative the company ramps beginning of the interconnected team experts who up full scale company, and will that will pursue the immerse themselves operations. be downsized profitability of GAP in challenges. accordingly due to Industries growth.

Operating Strategies

47 makes it to the market.

Qualified electrical, materials science, mechanical, and chemical engineering personnel will be required to successfully research and develop specific products for customers. Once a product is tested, these engineers will primarily focus on scaling up for profitable production. The production process will be controlled by operators and managed through proper administration. Administrative personnel in operations, finance, and production will provide leadership for the different sectors of the production facility.

One of the company business objectives crucial to revenue generation is to create an industry wide reputation as experts in the field of graphene production and applications. Our image in the business world is dependent on active marketing, i.e. presenting products at conventions, giving talks about the many benefits of incorporating graphene based components into consumer products, writing new articles from various points of view within the graphene industry, and expanding our professional network as much as possible. A reputable company with a team of experts shown to deliver quality work has a higher chance of getting business than a competing company with no reputation in the same industry.

Because of its material properties, graphene leads our company towards businesses focused around electronics, production, defense, and recreation. The majority of products we work with are already developed and marketed. We work to identify deficiencies in these existing products and troubleshoot how our product, graphene, can enhance their reliability and performance. Our goal is to be a leader in improvement and innovation of consumer products for future markets.

Critical

Risks

Risk #1 - Research Loops

GAP Industries runs the very real risk of being stuck perpetually in a constant loop of research, looking for ways to improve the process of production, rather than scaling up and pursuing opportunities. If the process never comes to fruition in a profitable manner, this will result in not only money, but time wasted.

To solve this, a top notch research team will be necessary to constantly stay up to date in the field. It will also need a Board of Advisors directing the company to proceed towards scale up once a certain level of efficiency in graphene production has been achieved.

Risk #2 - Scaling Up Too Quickly

As the forerunner in a field soon to explode, GAP Industries would feel unnecessary pressure to scale up operations quickly to meet the growing demand for graphene, once the

49 process proves successful. In a field that is constantly advancing, this could quickly lead to the creation of facilities which will be outdated in not only years, but months.

GAP Industries aims to solve this problem by partnering slowly and deliberately with its customers. Rather than sell to the highest bidder and begin a rat race with itself, the company plans to develop long lasting relations that will result in mutual relationships in the years to come.

Cash Flow, Income, and Balance

Year One

GAP Industries will need an initial investment of 500,000 dollars. The investment will be used to buy all the resources we need to make the graphene. The items we need are listed in Appendix B. A substantial amount of the investment will be used to buy the chemical vapor deposition machines. These machine will be used to make graphene, which will be sold to the target audience. This audience is different photovoltaic companies to produce superconductors, filtrations companies, and the military. The first year will be in the negative as the majority of the money will be used on capital cost. GAP industries will also use the funds to travel to further competitions to compete in different business planning contests. Another cost that must be accounted for is the cost of assistants and the engineers. This is a must, because it will help the company in many different aspects. The engineers are needed to maintain and run the equipment; they are also needed in the

50 research and development aspect of the company. The first year of the corporation will be a rough one but it does show promise. The cash flow is seen in Appendix B. Even though it seems like there was a loss this year, it takes some time for GAP Industries to produce a profit. In the second year of the company’s existence innovations will be introduced, opening the door to expand the company’s market.

Year Two

GAP Industries had a rough first year, but in the second year the company will establish itself as a major producer of graphene on the west coast. This will be accomplished by introducing different ways to produce graphene. In the first year the corporation established itself as a producer of graphene for different uses. In the second year the company’s research and development branch will be further expanded to innovate the production of graphene and the application of graphene. The company will focus and expand the military aspect. GAP Industries will start producing and selling different products which incorporate graphene. The cash flow statement will be similar to that seen in Appendix B. The biggest difference is that more money will go into buying supplies to produce more graphene and into developing graphene for different usages. There will be substantial profit this year.

Year Three

GAP Industries is the major producer of graphene in the United States. In this year, the company will become even larger. This will be done by following a similar formula that was taken in year two. The biggest difference is that GAP Industries will be expanding on the energy side of graphene while still maintaining a huge presence in the military

51 sector. Energy will be a focal point because of the huge strides the United States is making in renewable energy. The company will be competing in different Green Energy competitions to get funding for the research and development branch of the company. The cash flow statement for this year will start to show the hard work that the team has put in.

There will be an increase in revenue coming in, which will allow for the purchase of new equipment and the expansion of people working at GAP Industries. GAP Industries will also begin to be profitable.

Year Four

In this year the company will go off and be the most profitable it has been. Gap industries has already established itselves as a power player in the energy industry. Gap industries will be a multimillion dollar company by this time. We will expand and compete in the national level. In Graphite appliances are lucrative. The prices will be lowered to allow for people to afford items.

Year Five

This will be the year we go public. The reason for this is because it allows for the company to expand. This is extremely important. Companies peak around year 5 if innovation and improvement were to continue this need to happen.

Award Funding

The prize for the Sontag Competition is $50,000. This money will be used for travel. To reach our initial investment, GAP Industries needs to enter other competitions.

There will also be applications done for grants. NV Energy has a grant for renewable energy research which happens to be one of the long term goals of the company. Money left over will be used to buy and obtain the material needed to get the company up and running. A fair amount of this money will be used to rent out a facility to began the company operations.

Offerings

Proposal to Investors

GAP Industries is selling initial investment stocks at 10% of what we expect the company to be worth at the end of five years. For example, if an investor invests $200,000 for start-up costs, the investor should expect at total worth of stock at $2,000,000 after the fifth year. We expect to begin turning a profit at 30 months.

Conception to Full Operation

Building a strong team of top chemical engineers, chemists, and material science engineers is the first priority in creating the backbone of GAP Industries. Once the team has been established, producing a viable process for the large scale production of graphene is required before identifying and meeting with potential investors. During this time, the

53 marketing of the company would be in fully swing to begin identifying and targeting our potential clients. By the sixth month of GAP Industries, meeting with potential clients to determine their specific needs of graphene would take place to establish clientele.

Adjustments can be made to the scale up process based on the specifications desired by the clients. By the twelfth month, large scale production would begin. Adjustments would be made as necessary to improve the process. By the fourteenth month GAP Industries would like to begin distribution of graphene to clients, and begin making a profit by the thirtieth month.

Figure 2. Above is a rough estimate on the milestones by month pushed for by GAP Industries.

Business Canvas Model

Appendix A: References

(1) http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomkonrad/2013/09/24/investors-see-great-potential- in-graphene/ (2) http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=25744.php (3) http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a14651/this-scientist-invented-a- simply-way-to-mass-produce-graphene/ (4) http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/206573-mit-researchers-pioneer-technique- for-mass-producing-graphene (5) http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/cvd-vacuum-coating-machine-China- factory_60013159405.html?spm=a2700.7724857.29.244.7efnxT (6) http://www.graphenea.com/collections/graphene-products (7) http://www.metalprices.com/p/CopperFreeChart?weight=KG&size=M&theme=1 01 (8) http://www.cvdequipment.com/company/investor-relations/stock-information/

Appendix B : Twelve Month Cash Flow