How to Efficiently Recover Gold Tailings?

By combining gravity separation equipment such as jig machines, centrifugal concentrators, pulsating sluices, shaking tables, and blanket machines, fine-grained gold in tailings can be efficiently and environmentally extracted. This not only reduces the environmental risks associated with tailings storage but also brings considerable economic benefits. Below is a brief introduction to commonly used gravity separation equipment for gold tailings.

1. Jig Machine

The jig machine is an efficient gravity separation device for gold tailings, utilizing pulsating water flow to achieve mineral stratification and separation. Its working principle involves vertical alternating water flow that causes mineral particles to stratify by density, with high-density gold particles settling to the bottom and lighter minerals being carried away by the water flow. The jig machine offers high processing capacity and is suitable for recovering coarse-grained tailings. Its stroke, frequency, and water flow can be adjusted to meet the separation needs of different ores.

2. Centrifugal Concentrator

The centrifugal concentrator efficiently recovers fine gold particles from gold tailings. It uses centrifugal force generated by high-speed rotation to enhance the separation process, making it particularly suitable for recovering fine-grained gold. Its enrichment ratio can exceed 1,000 times, effectively capturing fine gold that traditional equipment struggles to recover. It is often used in combination with jig machines or sluices to improve overall recovery rates.

3. Vibrating Sluice Box

The Vibrating Sluice Box is an ideal tool for scavenging gold from tailings. It combines the advantages of fixed sluices and jig machines, using vibration to keep the ore sand in a suspended state, thereby increasing the probability of gold deposition. The Vibrating Sluice Box can recover both granular and flaky gold, as well as fine gold particles below 0.02 mm, making it an excellent choice for gold tailings scavenging.

4. Shaking Table

As a high-precision gravity separation device, the shaking table uses asymmetric reciprocating motion and thin-layer water flow to achieve precise mineral separation. With high separation accuracy, it is often used in the concentration stage of gold tailings to obtain high-grade concentrates.

5. Blanket Machine

The blanket machine serves as a supplementary method for fine gold recovery. It is a simple and practical gravity separation device that uses the fibrous structure of the blanket to capture fine gold particles. As the slurry flows through the blanket, gold particles are trapped due to their higher density, while lighter minerals are carried away by the water flow. The blanket machine is simple in structure, low in cost, and suitable for small-scale or low-grade gold tailings recovery. It is often used in combination with other equipment.

In practical gold tailings recovery processes, a combination of the above gravity separation equipment is typically employed. Depending on factors such as ore particle size, gold content, and processing scale, the equipment configuration can be flexibly adjusted to achieve efficient recovery of tailings resources.