Gold Extraction (CIL/CIP/Elution) – Xinhai Mineral Processing EPC

Gold CIP Plant (120 TPD, High Recovery)

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 16:57:53 +0000

A compact 120 TPD gold CIP line

For small and mid-scale gold projects, a packaged CIP plant is often the fastest route from ore to dor. Xinhai’s 120 tpd configuration brings together grinding, cyanide leaching, carbon-in-pulp adsorption and the gold room into one engineered line, pre-balanced so the leach time, carbon inventory and tank sizing all match a 120-ton-per-day feed. The same design scales from roughly 50 up to 500 tpd, so a project can start modest and expand without re-engineering the whole flowsheet.

How the CIP circuit recovers gold

Crushed ore is ground to a liberation size, commonly 70 to 80 percent passing 75 microns, and conditioned to a controlled pulp density. The pulp leaches in a train of double-impeller agitation tanks, then flows through separate carbon adsorption tanks where activated carbon captures the dissolved gold counter-current to the slurry, with inter-stage screens holding the carbon back as pulp advances. Loaded carbon goes to elution and electrowinning, and stripped carbon is regenerated in a kiln and recycled back to adsorption.

Why CIP for this scale

Suits free-milling, low-clay ores with fast leach kinetics and low preg-robbing tendency.
Separating leaching from adsorption keeps carbon management simple and inter-stage screens cleaner.
For slow-leaching or carbonaceous ores, a CIL variant may recover more; we test and advise.

On suitable ore, this line typically returns 90 to 96 percent gold recovery. Reagent dosing, aeration and carbon movement are tuned during commissioning to hold recovery while keeping cyanide and energy cost per ounce in check, and operators are trained to read those levers during ramp-up. A defined spares list and wear schedule keep the small plant running with minimal downtime, which matters most where a remote site cannot wait on parts.

Turnkey, and ready to scale

Because it ships as one EPC scope, the 120 tpd plant arrives mass-balanced and water-balanced rather than assembled from mismatched parts, and a single party stays accountable for the agreed grade and recovery. Under our EPC+M+O model we handle ore testing, flowsheet design, in-house manufacturing, on-site installation and operator training, then stay through ramp-up. Compare it with the full-scale CIP gold plant, read our small-scale gold plant guide, or contact us for a quote.

Gold Elution & Electrowinning System (Desorption)

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 16:57:54 +0000

The gold room workhorse: elution and electrowinning

In any carbon-based gold plant, the elution and electrowinning system is where dissolved gold finally leaves the carbon and becomes a product. After activated carbon adsorbs gold in the CIP or CIL circuit, this system desorbs that gold back into solution and plates it out, then returns the stripped carbon for regeneration and reuse. It is the smallest part of the plant by tonnage but the part that produces the revenue, so reliability here matters disproportionately.

How desorption and electrowinning work

Loaded carbon is transferred into a pressure elution column and treated with a hot caustic-cyanide solution, typically at 130 to 150 degrees Celsius under pressure, which reverses adsorption and concentrates the gold into a small volume of pregnant eluate. That eluate is circulated through electrowinning cells where a rectifier drives the gold onto steel-wool cathodes. The cathode sludge is then dried and smelted into dor bar, and the stripped carbon is reactivated and recycled.

Pressure desorption versus atmospheric

High-temperature pressure desorption is faster, strips carbon more completely in a single shorter cycle, and is the standard for medium and large plants.
Atmospheric (Zadra) elution is simpler and cheaper to build but slower, so it is often chosen for smaller operations.

A complete Xinhai system integrates the elution column, the heating and heat-recovery loop, electrowinning cells, the rectifier, eluate pumps and the carbon regeneration kiln. Sizing follows your daily loaded-carbon tonnage, which in turn comes from head grade and adsorption-circuit design, so we work the numbers back from your gold output. Efficient heat recovery and a tight strip cycle keep reagent and energy cost per ounce down, and a complete strip protects downstream recovery by keeping residual gold on the carbon low.

Engineered to match your circuit

This system has to balance with the adsorption tanks ahead of it and the carbon regeneration behind it, so we size it as part of the whole gold room rather than in isolation. Under our EPC+M+O model, Xinhai supplies it standalone or as part of a turnkey plant, with installation and operator training. See related gold extraction equipment or read how to cut reagent and energy cost in cyanidation. Contact us with your carbon throughput for sizing.

Gold Leaching Agitation Tank (Double Impeller)

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 16:57:54 +0000

The tank where gold actually dissolves

Cyanide leaching only works if every gold particle stays in contact with oxygenated cyanide solution for long enough. The leaching agitation tank is the vessel that makes that happen, holding the pulp at controlled density and keeping solids suspended so the leach reaction runs to completion. A train of these tanks gives the residence time, typically 24 to 48 hours total, that gold cyanidation needs, split across stages so the pulp advances steadily without short-circuiting.

Why a double-impeller design

Xinhai’s tanks use a dual-impeller shaft: the lower impeller lifts and suspends settled solids while the upper impeller disperses injected air, raising dissolved oxygen across the whole tank. The result is uniform pulp density top to bottom and the consistent aeration that fast leach kinetics depend on. Compared with single-impeller designs, this cuts dead zones and short-circuiting, so gold dissolution is more complete at the same retention time. It also lowers the power needed to keep a given solids loading in suspension.

Where it sits in the flowsheet

Downstream of grinding and thickening, where pulp is conditioned to the right density before leaching.
Configured as a leach train ahead of adsorption in a CIP plant, or as combined leach-and-adsorb tanks in a CIL circuit.
Followed by elution and electrowinning to recover gold from loaded carbon.

Tanks are offered from a few cubic meters up to several hundred, with the number and size set by your throughput and required leach time. Wear-resistant linings, replaceable impeller blades and a defined spares list keep maintenance predictable. Sound aeration control also helps trim cyanide consumption, which is one of the largest operating costs in a leach plant, so the agitation design directly affects cost per ounce as well as recovery.

Sized as part of the circuit

The right tank count and volume fall out of the leach kinetics for your specific ore, so we size them from testwork rather than rules of thumb. Xinhai supplies tanks individually or as a complete leach train under our EPC+M+O model. Browse related gold extraction equipment or learn to cut reagent cost in cyanidation. Contact us with your tonnage and leach time for sizing.