Highlights
Design, supply and installation of new filter plant, which played a crucial role in converting the mine's tailings storage to in-pit filtered tailings, allowing for decoupling production from available storage and enhancing environmental sustainability.
The four CX12-204 ceramic disc vacuum filtration systems effectively handle the concentrator's tailings, optimizing resource recovery.
By decommissioning the existing tailings pond and utilizing water recovered from the filter plant, the company achieves water conservation and operational efficiency improvements.
Challenge
The site required a rapidly deployable solution to ensure that the concentrator would not be impacted by life-of-mine tailings storage.
Solution
We installed four CX12-204 ceramic disc vacuum filtration systems at an underground mining operation in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Upon efficiently dewatering the concentrators polymetallic tailings, the filter cake is discharged through a series of conveyors to dispose of them within an adjacent, exhausted open pit. This strategy was selected to ensure modifications to permits would be minimum and allow for a <12-month implementation schedule from initiation of concept.
Benefit
Prior to entering care-and-maintenance, the asset was able to transition towards filtered tailings and decouple the concentrator output from shrinking tailings storage capacity and unavailability of freshwater resources.