A GOLD-STANDARD PERFORMANCE

A NEW SANDVIK CRUSHING AND SCREENING PLANT AT GOLD FIELDS’ AGNEW GOLD MINE IN WA IS DELIVERING GREATER EFFICIENCY, THROUGHPUT AND OPERATIONAL SAFETY

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Gold Fields Limited is one of the world’s largest gold mining companies with nine operating mines, located in Australia, South Africa, Ghana, Peru and Chile. The Agnew gold mine is one of four Australian gold mines operated by Gold Fields. The site is situated approximately 375km north of Kalgoorlie and has a long history of gold production dating back to the late 1970s.

The mine is best known for its underground operations, primarily targeting the Agnew and Lawler gold deposits. Ore is extracted using a combination of underground and surface mining and is then processed on-site.

Around 2018, with the mine expanding into a third underground source, there was a need to increase plant throughput. The 21-year-old tertiary crushing circuit, which was suffering from poor reliability, was unable to meet the demand.

Gold Fields metallurgy manager Reg Radford is the company’s technical expert in the field of processing metallurgy. He works with process managers across all Gold Fields sites in Australia to assist in optimising operations.

Radford could see that the crushing and screening circuit was not in keeping with the company’s broader standards.

“It was working to its limits, and if you compared it to other Gold Fields sites, it was not to the standard that would be accepted elsewhere,” he said. “It didn’t meet our criterion for a well-organised, safe, professional gold processing operation.

“The equipment was old, and there was little or no spare parts availability. From a metallurgical perspective, it was being pushed to its limits to deliver the tonnage required. At best it was giving us an 8–10mm output, which was putting pressure on the downstream grinding circuit.”