Kingsgate to sell gold ‘sludge’ from shuttered Chatree mine

By The Nation

 

 

Australian gold miner Kingsgate Consolidated has claimed a small victory in its ongoing feud with the Thai government after being granted permission to sell the gold and silver “sludge” at its shuttered Chatree mine in Phichit.

 

 

Kingsgate subsidiary Akara Resources ran the mine until December 2016, when it was shut down by order of PM Prayut Chan-o-cha on grounds it was leaking toxins. The company disputed those claims and is seeking Bt30 billion compensation from the Thai government. Chatree was the largest gold mine in the country.

 

Kingsgate said on September 10 it had received permission from Thai authorities to sell gold and silver sludge from its Chatree processing plant worth Bt320 million. The sludge is being shipped to a Thai refinery for processing.

 

Said a Kingsgate press release: “Whilst this move is long overdue, Kingsgate sees it as a small but positive step, and seemingly as an act of good faith, indicating a new willingness by the Thai government to pursue a negotiated settlement between the two parties, a process [Kingsgate] has advocated for some considerable time.”

 

Both parties in the dispute are currently awaiting a ruling from an independent arbitration tribunal.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30394386

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-09-12

 

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don't they use CYANIDE to extract the gold easier

 

never mind it poison everything for decades

 

Gold cyanidation (also known as the cyanide process or the MacArthur-Forrest process) is a hydrometallurgical technique for extracting gold from low-grade ore by converting the gold to a water-soluble coordination complex. It is the most commonly used leaching process for gold extraction.

9 minutes ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

don't they use CYANIDE to extract the gold easier

 

never mind it poison everything for decades

 

Gold cyanidation (also known as the cyanide process or the MacArthur-Forrest process) is a hydrometallurgical technique for extracting gold from low-grade ore by converting the gold to a water-soluble coordination complex. It is the most commonly used leaching process for gold extraction.

So you don't use or have anything gold related.

There is a detox management system for such reagents.

The government must be missing the royalties.

1 hour ago, farmerjo said:

So you don't use or have anything gold related.

There is a detox management system for such reagents.

The government must be missing the royalties.

Correct, there is commonly a detox step before the cyanide bearing slurry is pumped to the tailings dam. Things can go awry though if processes and SOP's aren't followed. There are independent professional companies that can or could audit this operation to see whether there were potential breaches. Kingsgate was a signatory of the Cyanide Code (ICMC), hence the Engineering and site protocols (which are audited) had to be in place and I doubt there would have been a deliberate breach. A bigger challenge would have been dust and management of site runoff into surrounding waterways, which creates a different sort of environmental issue if not managed well. 

As I understand it, the "independent arbitration tribunal" consists of 3 people. One each is chosen by the respective two countries Thailand and Australia, the third chosen by unanimous consent of the other two people. Their majority decision is binding; an appeal can be made but only back to the tribunal. 

16 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The sludge is being shipped to a Thai refinery for processing.

Do we trust this refinery? They can't be all that experienced since for five years no Kingsgate gold to refine and very little other gold mining in Thailand.