Found this:
http://www.denvermineral.com/basicp~1.html
The final paragraph talks about the problems with CIL, one of which is a
greater in-process tie up of gold. That would appear to be the problem
for axm.
I'll be very surprised if it is not fixable
It might slow down production rate until it is fixed. Gold won't be
lost, it just takes longer to come through. Hopefully, it can be fixed
reasonably cheaply and quickly as we need faster throughput to reach
that 100k level which is where cash costs are low enough to make good money.
3. Carbon-In-Leach (CIL): The carbon-in-leach process integrates
leaching and carbon-in-pulp into a single unit process operation. Leach
tanks are fitted with carbon retention screens and the CIP tanks are
eliminated. Carbon is added in leach so that the gold is adsorbed onto
carbon almost as soon as it is dissolved by the cyanide solution. The
CIL process is frequently used when native carbon is present in the gold
ore. This native carbon will adsorb the leached gold and prevent its
recovery. This phenomenon is referred to commonly as "preg-robbing". The
carbon added in CIL is more active than native carbon, so the gold will
be preferentially adsorbed by carbon that can be recovered for
stripping. The CIL process will frequently be used in small cyanide
mills to reduce the complexity and cost of the circuit.
There are several disadvantages to CIL compared with CIP. Carbon loading
will be 20 to 30% less than with CIP, which means more carbon has to be
stripped. (This disadvantage may be overcome by a hybrid circuit,
incorporating a cross between CIL and CIP.) The CIL process requires a
larger carbon inventory in the circuit, which results in a larger
in-process tie up of gold. The larger carbon inventory can also result
in higher carbon (and gold) losses through carbon attrition.
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