1-2 TON/HR FINE GOLD CONCENTRATOR

HOW THIS FINE GOLD RECOVERY EQUIPMENT WORKS

iCON uses enhanced gravity to capture fine heavy minerals including Gold, Silver and Platinum.

iCON uses a centrifugal field of up to 150 Gs to concentrate fine heavy minerals that are not recoverable by common artisanal and small scale mining methods.

Upon entering the spinning bowl, the feed begins to spin. As it climbs the bowl the material is stratified/classified by weight. The heavy particles are trapped in within the fluidized riffles. The bowl is periodically rinsed producing a rich concentrate.

Cycle Time: iCON concentrators require only 1 to 1.5 minutes to rinse the rich concentrate from the bowl. Simply pause the feed, slow the bowl to minimum RPM and gently rinse the riffles with the rinse wand. Then resume full rpm and continue feeding the slurry. A typical process may involve feeding for 1 hour then rinsing for 1.5 minutes: repeating.

All iCON products include a Variable Frequency Drive. This allows the user to specify the RPM of the motors. The VFD is an inverter which conditions the power allowing for smooth and predictable operation due to unstable electricity in your mining region or erratic generator output. The VFD is also a Soft Start which minimizes the in-rush current and allows the motors to start with minimum load on your generator.

Hard Rock (Chemical Free)

• Initial processing of hard rock ores.
• Re-processing/scavenging of hard rock tails.
• Concentration of ores for regional processing.

Alluvial and Dredging

• Primary process when you know your gold is too fine for a sluice.
• Daily upgrading of sluice concentrates.
• Reprocessing of old concentrates

Upgrading Concentrates

• Classifying and upgrading sluice concentrates
• Upgrading concentrates for regional processing

Prospecting, Drilling, Sampling

• Analysis of samples in the field.
• iCON is mobile and easily cleaned from sample to sample without fear of contamination.
• Confidence in the full size distribution of your gold.

Tailings Remediation

• The most cost effective means of Mercury Remediation
• Recovers 97% of Mercury from old tailing in a single pass

GRAVITY CONCENTRATOR INSTALLATION & OPERATION

In order to install your iCON you will have to consider the following: suitable footing, electrical supply, clean/pressurized water supply, feed method, tails removal method, concentration collection. You will also need to consider the height of the concentrator relative to the slurry input and tails output.

Clean Water Connection

The user will have to supply clean pressurized water to the concentrator. Connect your clean pressurized water supply to the hose barb on the plumbing manifold on the concentrator.

It is important to use the same size hose as the barb to supply this process water. A smaller hose, long hose or hose with bends/restriction will restrict the water flow and limit the pressure to the concentrator.

The process water should be fed from a dedicated supply line and pump. Connection to a manifold where other people may be using this same supply may cause wild fluctuation in the pressure and lead to unpredictable gold recovery.

The water does not have to be perfectly clean. Murky water is acceptable. The water should be clean enough to pass a 50 mesh screen.

When the supply pump is located near the concentrator, a ¾ HP centrifugal pump is generally sufficient. If the pump has to lift the water vertically or over a long distance the pump capacity may reach 2 HP or more.

One will have to consult the pump’s curves to know if it will be sufficient for long runs or high lifts. Domestic/City water is typically not sufficient due to long supply runs and small diameter pipes. Garden hoses will always be problematic due to their long length and tendency to kink/bend.

Connect the black and white wires of from the VFD to the hot and neutral on your generator. Connect the green wire to ground.

The 1.5” NPT connector and hose on the i150 concentrator can easily pass the full capacity of slurry by gravity. Common feed arrangements include:

• Mounting a funnel on the concentrator and feeding buckets by hand into the funnel
• Mounting a hopper directly to the input and feeding the hopper both sand and water
• Using the iPump connected by 1.5” hose directly to the concentrator

Each Day

1. Check the filter to make to make sure it is not blocked
2. Visually inspect inside the bowl to ensure water is spraying from each hole

Starting Procedure

1. Set the small process water valve to low pressure (usually 3 to 4PSI)
2. Open the Large process water valve to desired pressure (usually 5 to 15 PSI)
3. Spin the motor to desired frequency (usually 50Hz)
4. Begin to feed the slurry to the concentrator

Rinsing Procedure (typically requires 1.0 minutes)

1. Stop the feed
2. Close the Large process water valve, but leave the small valve in position to maintain continuous minimal water flow.
3. Stop the motor or spin as slow as possible (usually 2 Hz)
4. Open the rinse valve as the rpm is decreasing

Resume Operation

1. Close the rinse valve
2. Set the large process water valve to desired operational pressure
3. Resume operational RPM
4. Resume feeding slurry

iCON i 150 Gravity Concentrator Specifications

The i-CON is the newest addition line of world class enhanced gravity concentrators for the recovery of precious metals and heavy minerals.The i-CON is personal, small scale mining equipment which provides artisanal, small scale and recreational miners state of the art technology in centrifugal concentration.

Although produced for small scale mining, the i-CON is backed by 20 years of experience producing enhanced gravity concentrators for the world’s largest industrial mines. It is a fully functional primary concentrator that has been designed to be a compact, easy to use, fully portable mineral processing solution. It is designed to be very reliable and contains only one moving part.

The design challenge given to the i-CON project team has been to bring the best existing technology to its most simple, accessible form in order to aid two intersecting worldwide movements:

1. empowering and elevating the economic position of the over 20 million disadvantaged small scale miners around the globe
2. decreasing the common use of mercury, cyanide and other toxic chemicals in this large, less regulated segment of the global mining industry

The i-CON will allow small scale and artisanal miners to recover dramatically finer particles of gold and related minerals than is possible with any other small scale or traditional mining system. In many mining areas the fine particles are the most common; however, these are often unintentionally discarded due to inappropriate concentration practices and are never recovered.

The i-CON, with its variable speed 150 G force concentration system, will allow the capture of these valuable fine particles. It will not only increase the value of every kilogram of material mined by recovering precious metal that was previously discarded due to inefficient concentration practices, but it will also greatly reduce (and hopefully eliminate) the dependency of these miners on mercury and other harmful, toxic chemicals.

We try to eliminate the current hand to mouth reality of the majority of those in this global mining segment who are responsible for an estimated 30% of world gold production.

Through the involvement and cooperation of leading international aid and development organizations, the i-CON Project has the capability of being the center of large, cooperative, community improvement projects.

The i-CON has the potential to make a significant difference to the lives of people engaged in small scale and artisanal mining around the world by not only increasing income, but also by reducing the use of toxic chemicals at the same time.

Features that make the i-CON ideal for small scale applications include:

• Low machine weight, ~115 kg
• Ease of Installation
• Only one moving part
• Use of wear components readily available in developing areas such as automobiles tires.
• Low acquisition and operating costs
• A proven, robust and simple mechanical/ electrical platform.

BATCH PROCESS / CYCLE TIME

The iCON “i” series of concentrators use a batch process. Your cycle time will depend on the grade and weight of your feed. A heavy or rich feed will need a shorter cycle time. The iCON “i” series concentrators can be cleaned out in 1 minute.

Hard Rock operations may have 100 grams of gold per ton of feed. This is very rich. In this case it is common to run for only 20 minutes between rinse cycles.

Alluvial operations with heavy black sand may run 20 minute cycles. Without black sand an alluvial cycle time may be up to 2 hours.

When upgrading concentrates you will be processing rich and heavy material. In this case the cycle time may also be only 10 minutes. Here you may be feeding at ½ ton per hour to the smaller i150.

Every feed is different. The proper cycle time for you will be determined by analyzing/planning the free gold in your tails and adjusting your process to fit your ore.

CAPACITY

The throughput of the i150 centrifugal concentrator is nominally 2 tons per hour. If you have large material in your feed, if you have a heavy feed or if you are using iCON to ‘upgrade’ a concentrate the throughput will be reduced. All ores and all processes are different. Each user must assess their situation as with any mineral recovery process.

The number 1 application for iCON i150 worldwide is Hard Rock. The 2TPH capacity and the ability to recover fine, flat milled gold are ideal for iCON. The major mines of the world use gravity concentration in their grinding circuits. The concentrators can recover over 90% of the overall production of major/professional mines.

A typical Hard Rock application would involve a crusher and ball mill. The material would be size classified using a cyclone in closed-circuit or simply a screen in semi-closed circuit milling. After the mill the material will pass through the concentrator. The major mines have a ‘recyclic load.’ Their processes are designed for the feed to pass through a concentrator multiple times before passing to the tails.

A Hard Rock operator may choose to run 1.5 tons per hour of a high grade ore. He may choose to rinse the bowl every 20 minutes. Here, he would have run 500 kg in 20 minutes and collected 1 kg of concentrate. That is a concentration ratio of 500 to 1.

The concentrate will still need to be upgraded or cleaned to have a sellable product. Some miners around the world are choosing to collect the concentrates from multiple mine sites and clean the cons at a regional secure facility. This is known as ‘pre-concentration’.

When scavenging old tails the operator must understand that there is a reason the first miner missed this gold. It may be that it was poorly milled and needs to be re-milled to liberate more gold. In order to recover what another team missed the operator must pay attention to the details and be prepared to adjust their process as required. To understand your ore and how much gold you can expect to recover, IGR recommends testing your samples at lab.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM ICON

It is common for internet advertisements to show a process where a small amount of gravel goes in and a large quantity of bright shiny gold comes out. Experienced miners know this is not the case. 

This photo shows what your concentrate may look like.A sluice box is a gravity concentrator. Let’s say you put 1000kg of feed over your sluice. At the end of the day, you may have 50kg of ‘concentrate.’

This concentrate is not bright and shiny, in fact, it looks just like the feed material. This material has to be post processed to further ‘clean your cons’ and give you a sellable product. Although a sluice can give you a very high concentration ratio, it is not effective for recovering fine gold. In the case of sluice operations, miners are choosing iCON to reprocess old tails and recover the values left behind by sluice operations.

When using an ‘enhanced centrifugal concentrator,’ you may put up to 1000 kg into the process and get 1kg out. This will be a ‘concentrate.’ It will look just like the feed material. Some people choose to sell this concentrate while others choose to continue refining it to shiny, clean, high grade gold.

It will not be pure gold and will require post processing.

The larger material passed over the iCON Screen and was caught in the nugget trap.

The finer gold was recovered in the concentrator. It is the same material from above.

UPGRADING SLUICE CONCENTRATES

Any placer miner or dredger understands the vast amount of concentrate you will accumulate. They also understand the incredible amount of work required to clean the cons. Considering that a concentrate is already ‘heavy,’ an i150 operator may run 1 tph through a concentrator. He may choose to rinse the bowl every 6 minutes which means after each 100 kg of feed. Here the i150 will produce 1 kg of cons from 100 kg of feed.

Placer miners also understand the need to classify their concentrate. Let’s say a placer miner is processing ½ inch material. He will have this coarse material and the finest sands in his sluice concentrate. The first step here is to classify or separate this concentrate into at least 2 sizes of material. The iCON IGR 100 Plant will handle this process for you. The screen will separate you material into 2mm+ and 2mm- sizes. (+/- 10 mesh) The fine material will be pumped to the concentrator and the coarse material will go to the nugget trap.

To give complete confidence all clean-up process should be ran 2 or 3 times.

Whether using a table or concentrator, the miner must pan the tails to determine when his is satisfied with the process.

You may choose to wash your sluice directly into an iCON Slurry Pump. The pump could then move the material to your screen to greatly reduce the daily labor involved in cleaning your sluice, lifting, storing and transporting the material.

PROSPECTING / DRILLING / BULK SAMPLING

The small physical dimensions of the i150 and IGR 100 Plant make them mobile. The internal structures make them easy to clean from batch to batch or sample to sample. The i150 capacity makes it ideal for processing samples from individual drill holes. Overall the i150 is ideal for processing any volume from individual drill holes up to bulk sampling at 2 tons per hour.

The iCON IGR 1000 Plant can process up to 10 tons per hour. It is skid mounted for mobility. For larger volume bulk sampling the IGR 1000 Plant may be right for you. This pilot plant will give you confidence in the various values across your deposit and in the process of using a grizzly, scrubber, screen and concentrater.

METHODS TO CLEAN YOUR CONCENTRATES

The gravimetric concentrator provides a concentrate which requires final cleaning or upgrading. Common methods include:

Table

Tables and bowls have been proven to be very effective for final cleaning. They use no chemicals are safe for the environment and your family. They are fun and provide immediate gratification – after each cleanup you will see high grade gold.

The Blue Bowl is available from Pioneer Mining in California. It is slow but produces a very clean final product. Its capacity is acceptable for the i150.

At the capacity of the i350, tables are the most common means of upgrading the concentrate to a sellable yellow product. The most common brand in the world is Holman-Wilfley.

Regional Processing

Regional processing is becoming more common around the world. Miners are using iCON at their site and transporting a small volume of concentrate to regional processing plants. This is becoming the method of choice where hard rock miners have learned the value of their tails and are using the iCON to pre-concentrate their product.

Cyanide Leaching

This is the recommended method of the Global Mercury Program. Without pre-concentration the volume of material to treat and the amount of chemicals are tremendous. Concentration allows the operator to treat a reasonable amount of material either on site or at regional facilities serving many mines.

Mercury Amalgamation

This is not recommended due to the environmental impacts and the effectiveness of bowls and/or tables. When practising ‘whole ore amalgamation’ a miner will place mercury directly into the ball mill or sluice. In this case 100% of the ore is exposed to mercury. When a concentrator is used the amount of ore can be reduced dramatically to a small amount of concentrate 1 ton (1000 kg) of ore could be reduced to 1 kg of concentrate. If the miner chooses to amalgamate the concentrate only a fraction of the mercury would be used and only a small percentage of the ore would be exposed to Hg.

i150 has a Invertek VFD which is a single phase drive with 200-240/1/50-60Hz Single phase input and 230/3/60Hz 3 phase output. The motor is a 3 phase motor 208-230/3/60Hz which has to wire to the output of the VFD.

The yellow cable which is pre-wired is from VFD to motor. Therefore, the user only needs to wire single phase from supply to VFD.