CARLIN GOLD MINING COMPANY

CARLIN, NEVADA

The C a r l i n gold.deposit i s located in n o r t h e a s t e r n Nevada about

thirty-five m i l e s by road f r o m the town of Elko. Following the staking
of s i x s q u a r e m i l e s 'of ground, a drilling p r o g r a m outlined a fine o r e
body mineable by open pitting. The resulting mine turned out to be the
l a r g e s t open-pit gold operation i n the world, until the Rosario Pueblo
Viejo operation was s t a r t e d in 1975. Because of the high profitability
f o r e c a s t a t the then $35 gold price, construction of a 2000 stpd mill
w a s commenced on a c r a s h p r o g r a m and was completed f o r Newmont
Mining Corporation by Bechtel Corporation in ten months. Production
was s t a r t e d i n e a r l y 1965.
T h e gold mineralization occurs in marine-type sediments, chiefly s i l t stones and limey shales, and the o r e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s make f o r a
difficult materials-handling problem. A t 5% to 670 m o i s t u r e the o r e i s
dusty during crushing, but even a light r a i n or snowfall virtually t u r n s
the m a t e r i a l into a s l u r r y . Crushing this sticky o r e below 314 in.
(19 m m ) i n the d r y season and 1 in. (25.4 m ) during the winter i s
e x t r e m e l y difficult and leads to problems with conveyors, chutes, and
fine o r e storage.
The initial flowsheet for C a r l i n ' s crushing plant used a 5 f t by 22 ft
(1.52 .rnby 6. 7 m ) vibrating feeder -grizzly under the 60 -ton dump
pocket f o r feeding the 42 in. by 48 in. (1067 m m by 1220 m m ) single
toggle jaw c r u s h e r and a 5* ft (1.52 m ) standard cone c r u s h e r in
closed c i r c u i t with a 6 ft by 12 f t (1.83 m by 3.66 m ) vibrating double deck s c r e e n . Because continual packing of fines i n the vibrating feeder
pan would c a u s e frequent plant shut -downs to remove the fines with
jack h a m m e r s , the'decision was made to replace t h e vibrating unit with
an apron f e e d e r and stationary grizzly ahead of the jaw c r u s h e r . A
dribble belt was a l s o installed under the apron feeder. This installation h a s g r e a t l y improved the feeding of the pit r u n o r e to the .primary
jaw c r u s h e r .
Mining a t C a r l i n i s done by a 5 yd shovel and 7Q and 10 yd front-end
l o a d e r s , and o r e t r a n s p o r t i s by s e v e r a l s i z e s of t r u c k s f r o m 30 to 75
tons capacity. These pit haulage t r u c k s dump onto stockpiles adjacent
t o the p r i m a r y c r u s h e r . Ore i s then fed to the dump hopper by frontend l o a d e r s only when the crushing plant i s operating. This e x t r a
handling procedure i s n e c e s s a r y because plant delays caused by
problems with wet o r e in the secondary c r u s h e r resulted in the ore
setting up o r packing i n the dump pocket. Solidified m a t e r i a l in the
dump pocket would in turn delay t r u c k haulage. The substitution of an

apron f e e d e r f o r the vibrating -feeder and the use of rubber-covered

s c r e e n s have contributed greatly t o overcoming wet o r e problems.
,In addition, .blending d i f f e r e n t types of o r e s fed t o the plant h a s aided
crushing.
A control r o o m i s located above the dump pocket where the operator

can c l e a r l y observe and control the front-end l o a d e r feeding rate,

apron f e e d e r , jaw c r u s h e r , t h r e e conveyors, s c r e e n , and secondary
cone c r u s h e r . Because of the sticky nature of the C a r l i n o r e s , crushing
and s c r e e n i n g a r e important and problem procedures. Through good
visual observation and with a l l equipment controls a t hand i n the control
room, one operator handles a l l p r i m a r y and secondary crushing plant
functions. Solid-state instrumentation i s used f o r a l l m e a s u r e m e n t s
and control functions brought to the control room panels. The control
room i s heated by a unit separated f r o m the crushing plant building and
i s cooled with an Alpine evaporator-cooler mounted on the roof.
T h e peculiar n a t u r e of the wet, sticky Carlin o r e which i s s i m i l a r t o
l a t e r i t e -type m a t e r i a l r a i s e s the question of using secondary reduction
crushing with the auxiliary conveyors, s c r e e n s , chutes, e t c . , following
p r i m a r y crushing. With eleven years of experience in the m a t e r i a l s handling problems of Carlin o r e s coupled with operating information
on s i m i l a r m a t e r i a l s , the authors believe a m o r e suitable flowsheet
would encompass semi-autogenous grinding. This flowsheet would
eliminate crushing a f t e r the p r i m a r y jaw, with the attendant conveyors,
s c r e e n , chutes, and m o r e particularly the fine o r e bins with t h e i r
f e e d e r s and conveyors and finally the conventional grinding m i l l s . In
place of a l l t h i s equipment would be the apron f e e d e r , stationary
grizzly, jaw c r u s h e r , and a conveyor which would d i r e c t l y feed a s e m i autogenous mill. The ground product a t about 48 m e s h could be s t o r e d
i n the l a r g e - d i a m e t e r holding tanks equipped with rakes and circulating
pumps which a r e successfully used f o r this purpose in the cement
industry. The s l u r r y would be withdrawn a t a m e a s u r e d flow r a t e f o r
p r o c e s s i n g o r final grinding i f n e c e s s a r y . In this type of flowsheet
f o r wet, sticky o r e s which present problems in a jaw c r u s h e r , a
Wobbler f e e d e r between the apron feeder and the c r u s h e r t o r e m o v e
the fines h a s proved a t t i m e s to be a good choice.
R o s a r i o Resources did install s e m i -autogenous grinding a t t h e i r
8000 stpd gold and s i l v e r plant, Pueblo Viejo, in the Dominican
Republic. P i t - r u n o r e i s dumped over a grizzly with 16 in. (406 mrn)
s q u a r e openings into a 750-ton bin f r o m which it i s withdrawn by two
54 in. by 34 ft (1.37 m'.by 10.36 m ) apron f e e d e r s and t r a n s p o r t e d
d i r e c t l y t o the two 18 f t d i a m e t e r (5. 5 m) by 6 f t long (1.825 m )

Cascade m i l l s by parallel 48 in; (1.2 m ) wide belts. Because the ore

body contains m o r e l e n s e s and m a s s e s of quartz than expected, a jaw
c r u s h e r i s to be installed ahead of the semi-autogenous units. The
pit-run o r e a t 8% m o i s t u r e could not be crushed i n a n o r m a l crushing
c i r c u i t t o ball m i l l s i z e feed; hence, crushing-grinding by s e m i autogenous methods was adopted. A jaw c r u s h e r should solve the
problem of oversize, h a r d boulders.

CARLIN GOLD MINING COMPANY

Carlin, Nevada

Concentrator capacity

H y d r o t h e r m a l gold', s i l t s t o n e s , and
l i m e y s h a l e s : 143 # / c u ft in pla e
(2891 k g / m )
2,50U stpd

Shovel and l o a d e r s i z e

5 yd, and 7 $ a n d 10 yd

Truck sizes

30, 35, 50, 65, and 75 s t

Primary crusher

42" x 48" P i o n e e r
s i n g l e toggle jaw

O r e type

Connected and c o n s u m e d h o r s e p o w e r

..

( 3 . 8 , 5.7,

(1. 07 m

and 7 . 6 rn31

1. 22 m )

200 and 165

Capacity of d u m p pocket

60 s t

Method of b r e a k i n g o r removing o v e r s i z e

Secondary blasting

Open s i d e s e t t i n g (product s i z e )

4 in. (102 mm)

Crusher feeder

Apron f e e d e r , 54" s 20' 4 314"

(1. 37 m x 6. 22 m )

Ope rating d a t a :
Shifts o p e r a t e d p e r week

14

Effective operating h o u r s

6 p e r shift

Nominal capacity

200 s t / h o u r

Maximum capacity

300 s t / h o u r

Effective availability

95

Backing f o r l i n e r s

not applicable

J a w and c h e e k plate life

1 y e a r each

97%

Liner materials

L i n e r plate 400

Capacity of o v e r h e a d c r a n e

15 tons

O r e bins a f t e r c r u s h i n g plant

T h r e e a t 1800 tons e a c h ( a f t e r s e c o n d a r y
crusher)
Not available ,

D i r e c t operating c o s t p e r ton

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CARLIN GOLD MININGCO.
CARLIN, NEVADA

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NEWMONT M I N I N G CORP.
CARLIN GOU) M I N I N G CO.
CARLIN, NEVADA

C O N VE70Q-