Optimization of water management for an alluvial gold mine in Ghana

Alluvial mining is rather small compared to the large-scale open pit and underground mining and thus of low financial capacity. This paper deals with a low cost option to cleanse and re-circulate the water for a skid mounted alluvial gold washplant, operating in Ghana. One of the most important parameters dictating the success of an alluvial mine is the presence of clean water for the washplant throughout the life of the mine. The major (and only) pollution of the used water will be the suspension of fines. These fines do not settle by itself and have to be treated with chemicals to allow the water to be suitable for re-circulation. This option is expensive and thus unwanted A cheaper option is found by the mixing of present terrace gravel with the mined river gravel. Testing, both in practice as in laboratories, has given a comparison between this rather natural flocculent and a chemical flocculent, which proved to be the best alternative for cleaning the tailings water.