Polymetal installs autoclave at POX-2
The autoclave, said to be the largest in the gold industry, travelled 25 000 km over 55 days to site.
The autoclave was shipped from the port of De Kastri to the city of Amursk on a river barge.
Russian gold miner Polymetal has reached a “crucial” project milestone with the installation of the autoclave vessel at the POX-2 construction site, keeping the project on track for completion in three years’ time.
The 1 100 t autoclave – said to be the largest in the gold industry – has travelled 25 000 km from Antwerp, in Belgium, to Amursk, in Russia.
“We accomplished it [the installation] on time despite the Covid-related restrictions and complex logistics. It marks our consistent progress towards startup in the third quarter of 2023,” commented Polymetal CEO Vitaly Nesis.
The autoclave, which is 50 m in length and 6 m in diameter, departed from the Port of Antwerp in late May, and sailed to the Russian port of De Kastri in the Tatar Straights. There it was reloaded to a river barge and shipped to the city of Amursk. It was transported to the POX-2 construction site by a multi-axle trailer truck.
The total cost of the equipment and logistics came to $27-million, Polymetal reported.
The autoclave was assembled by Coek Engineering.
The gold miner explained that the vessel was made of steel and has a titanium lining. It would operate at the temperature of up to 240 °С and pressure of 45 bar, which was the most effective regime for treating double-refractory concentrates.
Double-refractory concentrates contain micron gold particles encapsulated in sulphides (pyrites and arsenic pyrites) together with high concentrations of organic carbon.
POX-2’s design throughput capacity is 250 000 t/y to 300 000 t/y of concentrate, depending on the levels of sulphur content. The maximum sulphide sulphur processing capacity is 48 000 t/y.
POX-2 will complement the 200 000 t/y of concentrate and 30 000 t/y of sulphur capacity of the existing Amursk POX facility.
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