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Application of HPGR and X-Ray CT to investigate the potential of Witwatersrand gold ore for heap leaching : a process mineralogy approach

Includes bibliographical references.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nwaila, Glen
Other Authors: Becker, Megan
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Chemical Engineering 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author Nwaila, Glen
author2 Becker, Megan
author_browse Becker, Megan
Nwaila, Glen
author_facet Becker, Megan
Nwaila, Glen
author_sort Nwaila, Glen
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8701
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:52:18.053Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Department of Chemical Engineering
publisherStr Department of Chemical Engineering
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8701 Application of HPGR and X-Ray CT to investigate the potential of Witwatersrand gold ore for heap leaching : a process mineralogy approach Nwaila, Glen Becker, Megan Petersen, Jochen Includes bibliographical references. Auriferous conglomerates of the Archaean Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa host one of the largest known gold resources and rate as the world’s most outstanding example of a fossil megaplacer deposit. For the past 40 years, Witwatersrand gold production in South Africa has been progressively declining due to problems related to high energy costs, decreasing grade, accessibility to greater depths, health and safety issues, labour union unrest and economic uncertainties: thus the overall viability of current gold production is questionable. Ultimately, the future of Witwatersrand gold mining relies on devising smarter strategies across the entire industry, but in particular critical areas such as comminution and extraction. With the continuous increase in mining depth, dominance of low-grade gold ores and strict safety regulations, metallurgical processing options have become limited. Heap leaching is a well-established technology which continues to grow in use and provides several benefits to solve some of these problems. High pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) is another technology with significant potential, especially for its application in coarse particle heap leaching due to its ability to induce micro-cracks as well as its high grinding efficiency and low energy requirements. This study explores the use of these two technologies in a process mineralogical framework using novel 3D X-ray computed tomography mineralogical analysis in order to assess a potential of the Witwatersrand gold ore for heap leaching. 2014-10-21T13:46:44Z 2014-10-21T13:46:44Z 2014 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8701 eng application/pdf Department of Chemical Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Nwaila, Glen
Application of HPGR and X-Ray CT to investigate the potential of Witwatersrand gold ore for heap leaching : a process mineralogy approach
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Application of HPGR and X-Ray CT to investigate the potential of Witwatersrand gold ore for heap leaching : a process mineralogy approach
title_full Application of HPGR and X-Ray CT to investigate the potential of Witwatersrand gold ore for heap leaching : a process mineralogy approach
title_fullStr Application of HPGR and X-Ray CT to investigate the potential of Witwatersrand gold ore for heap leaching : a process mineralogy approach
title_full_unstemmed Application of HPGR and X-Ray CT to investigate the potential of Witwatersrand gold ore for heap leaching : a process mineralogy approach
title_short Application of HPGR and X-Ray CT to investigate the potential of Witwatersrand gold ore for heap leaching : a process mineralogy approach
title_sort application of hpgr and x ray ct to investigate the potential of witwatersrand gold ore for heap leaching a process mineralogy approach
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8701
work_keys_str_mv AT nwailaglen applicationofhpgrandxraycttoinvestigatethepotentialofwitwatersrandgoldoreforheapleachingaprocessmineralogyapproach