Congratulations to Tasiast on the recent installation of a second crusher to increase capacity at the Carbon-In-Leach (CIL) plant. The project, which took place over a three-month period, consisted of installing a secondary crusher, a 60’ conveyor, a feed-transfer station and an electrical switchroom.
The team had to work quickly and in challenging conditions in order to keep the existing crusher fully operational while the new circuit was in construction. The team was efficient in the installation and only required a 13-day shutdown while the commissioning and changeover to the secondary crusher took place. Installation was conducted over 42,000 construction man hours with zero reported incidents.
The improvements result in many benefits. The crushing circuit is expected to increase capacity to 9,000 tonnes per day (t/d) from a previous 5,000 t/d. As well, the stability of the tertiary circuit was increased and the feed into the ball mills has 10% more fines, with a decrease in size to 11.6mm from a previous 13.1mm.
“The Tasiast team is very excited to have the construction and implementation of our second crusher completed. It is another step towards our goal of processing 12,000 t/d when we reach full commercial production in Phase One of our expansion.,” said Wayne Gaiter, Process Manager, Tasiast.
Approximately one month since the installation, the secondary crusher has been a success, easily meeting its target of 9,000 t/d.
Members of the Processing Department in front of the conveyors at Tasiast
Some of the processing department team members
