Practically

Leaching

G Smith 2012
Introduction
It had been suggested to me a few times over the years that I should write a paper on the
subject of dump and heap leaching from an operators view. I had to think why and how I would
go about it. I had many reasons come to mind but in the end I thought I would really just like to
share the knowledge that I have been fortunate to acquire from many years of working with
different leach pads in diverse conditions. To tell people that dump and heap leaching really
doesnt have to be over thought or complicated. In saying that there are many people in the
mining industry who havent operated a heap leach who think its just a matter of throwing a
few pipes down and starting some pumps. The difference between good heap leach operations
will always be seen in the results and recovery. Theres nowhere to hide and no one else to
blame when recovery isnt what it is meant to be. Those of us that have really worked with leach
pads will know its not quite as simple. I want to tell people thinking about, or currently
operating a heap leach, you dont have to limit yourself in following whats been done in the
past. Although many projects have been successful enough using the same technique and
materials for decades now I have found in my time as a heap leach operator that you have to
have an open mind when it comes to all aspects of your leach pad. Be willing to try new
materials, more modern and durable. To challenge yourself to find a better more efficient
method of heap leach operation. Not to except what you are told but to seek continuous
improvement. I havent written this to disrespect heap leaching people or methods of past, but
to let you know that along with the teams I have worked with we have successfully challenged
those guidelines. I believe a heap leach becomes a living breathing thing that changes at various
times, seasons and in different conditions and climates. No two leach pads are ever the same so
what works well in some conditions may not work as well or at all in others. I also wanted to
encourage people and to assure you, that if done correctly, you can heap leach in any
conditions, any environment, at any given time, season or place. Of course you will have issues,
problems and bad days, but I hope my experiences may help to limit the issues and problems
you will face.

Just to give you a brief rundown on my own leach pad experience. I am not a metallurgist but a
practical person who has exclusively worked on leach pads as an operator through design
construction and management. To date of writing this paper I have operated, commissioned,
designed or managed 5 different leach pads in 4 countries on 3 continents over a period of 13
years. Four of the leach pads were the first of this process in those particular countries. Ive
worked in cyclonic, high rainfall, hot arid and hellishly cold climates using all materials known to
the heap leach community. Ive worked with people of many cultures, languages and religious
backgrounds in both gold and copper dump and heap leach operations.

This paper covers all the aspects of dump and heap leaching from design to operation. I have
read many papers in the past about heap leaching and in most cases even with my experience; I
sometimes dont have a clue what they are talking about. Over loaded with graphs and numbers
it is very difficult for those with little or no leaching experience to understand. Even if you dont
understand the concept or have little knowledge of heap leaching, I will try to write so its easy
to follow. This is not a technical paper as I am a practical person.

This paper is written in a practical sense, as thats what I believe has been the key to the success
I have been involved in. Working to the conditions and when needed, thinking outside the
square. It is written in sequence from design to the operation, giving you a practical insight into
the problems you may come across and ideas through my experiences on how to cope with the
issues that arise. Looking at all of the conditions and environments I have experienced to better
your understanding of the similarities but more importantly the differences. Im not going to tell
you what materials to use or sizing etc. You will find what best suits your conditions. But I will
however share with you whats worked best for me in different environments. I will offer you
some suggestions and even a few recommendations, what you take from this if anything is
entirely up to you.
Designing Leach Pads
The design of a leach pad will always vary because simply all sites are different in terms of
landscape, environment and conditions. In a perfect leach pad world you would have a nice flat
open area in a place where it doesnt rain, have unlimited amounts of clean fresh water with no
towns or villages close to the site. But you may also have to build in a valley or land that
slopes/falls away from your proposed plant site with a surrounding village that relies on the
local river for life in general. Or you may be in a place where you have very limited water supply
that you have to pump from the sea miles from your plant site .Whatever scenario you may face
you can limit your problems by good, practical well thought out leach pad design. Keep in mind
a lot of the consultancies who design leach pads dont always have people with direct heap
leach experience or knowledge. Depending on who you contract to do your work you should
include some of your own process and mining staff when making first plans for your leach pads.
Even if you have staff with limited or no leach pad experience they should have a fair
understanding of process and operations and a good understanding of local conditions. You will
find in almost all cases, the people who design these leach pads have in most cases never
managed a leach pad operation. With no disrespect to the designers who are very capable
people in their field, they dont always understand that what might look good on paper doesnt
mean its going to work. I would advise you to make sure you get your designer to the leach pad
site before any drawings are done to look over the landscape with your company
representatives. The reason I say this is that there may be natural areas where rain water or
melted snow may run every year or season. Between the two partys observations, you can
come up with the most practical and user friendly design. Have a look at things like wind
direction and seasonal changes as this can help you decide which end or pad you will construct,
stack and irrigate first. I will suggest to anybody doing leach pads particularly in foreign
countries to consult local people and get their views and value their knowledge about local
conditions. Your leach pad should be designed to create the least amount of cut and fill for your
mining department or contractor. The main reasons most people choose to do a leach pad is
because it is lower cost than other processes, or the ore available is leach material at best, or
small to mid-level companies trying to establish themselves in a foreign country. Whatever your
situation may be, you will want to keep the costs down by moving the least amount of dirt in a
cost effective practical way.

Your mining department should have many years of experience so trust them with suggestions
regarding the design of the leach pad. They know how to move dirt quickly and cost effectively.
For under plastic pad base design, most designers would recommend that you need a
compacted clay or gypsum base. A solid compacted base is required, but you should not
commit to a base constructed from certain material until you know the material is available in
the local area. Remember you are going to lay plastic on top of it, so to ensure it remains
waterproof, you want a solid base which doesnt have any sharp material that can pierce the
plastic liner. I have had to, in one case due to circumstances; drive an excavator across the leach
pads on top of the plastic. I can tell you that if driven straight forward and back it will not break
the plastic. To demonstrate this; lay down a piece of plastic about 5-10 meters long. Lay it on
well compacted ground and put gravel road base type material on top of it. Then drive a D-10
dozer up and down .Then remove the gravel and you will find that there is little to no damage or
cuts in the plastic. There will be some denting but this demonstrates that the plastic is stronger
than you think. I would suggest that the design should specify that a solid compacted base will
be installed below the protective plastic liner but the material of construction should not be
specified, apart from being locally available. The people designing the pad should know whether
or not they have the required material available locally before they start but this is not always
the case. The important thing is to specify the construction of a properly designed pad from
locally available materials.

Construction of Perimeter and inter cell bunds.

From experience, I have learnt over the years that with any leach pad Im involved in, to build
the perimeter bunds above ground level, at least 1-1.5 meters high around the sides and the
front, including the drainage corridor to the ponds. The reason I insist on this is to allow for
major rain events and better protection against pad slumping and/or major washouts. The
design also helps keep out unwanted animals as they cant get up the slippery plastic walls. Its
just a whole lot safer and gives you peace of mind knowing you have that extra capacity in an
unexpected event. I have worked on a leach pad where the outer bunds were at ground level
and although it makes access easy for operators and machinery it can cause you a whole lot of
grief. Having high bunds also discourages unauthorized people from entering the area. Most
heap leach operations are required to be fenced but the high bunds will give that extra security.
It may cost you more in time and money with construction but believe me it will keep the
environment people happy and make life a whole lot easier in the long run. The inter cell bunds
are the bunds that separate the cells from each other. The heights of these bunds will vary
depending on what sort of drainage system is being used .If its a pipe system ,the bunds will
only need to be higher than the biggest pipe size which should be the main collection pipe that
runs the length of the cell up against the bund. If gravel or similar type material is being used,
the standard depth will be around 600mm.Thats how much drainage or protection layer is
required on top of the plastic. Therefore the inter cell bunds only need to be 600mm high. The
width can be as required, it can be as wide as you like but really doesnt need too much. These
bunds are designed to separate solutions irrigated from each pad. If the bunds do not keep the
solutions from different cells it will not affect overall recovery but make metallurgical
accounting and reconciliation more difficult. This can usually be controlled by the placement of
the irrigation lines. Another thing Ive learnt with the inter cell bunds is, that they dont have to
run the whole length of the pads. If your cells fall or slope correctly, the solution cant go to
another pad, it has to move forward. Depending on how big the pads are, it is possible to leave
out the last quarter of bunding. Now this is an area you can recoup the extra money you may
have spent on building the higher outer bund walls. To finish on this subject I would like to
emphasize what Ive said about the outer or perimeter bund walls. You only have one shot at
this before you start irrigation, it is very difficult to fix whilst operating and you dont want to
have to stop. Dont think about the first lift when constructing these bunds. Think about the 3rd
or 4th or however many you are doing. Make them big, make them safe, and this will give you
confidence going forward in case of unexpected weather events. The drainage corridors to the
ponds just need to follow in line with the outer bunds. If you have the real estate, make them
wide. Even if you dont have high bund walls at least make them wide enough to give yourself
room in case of unexpected events.
Plastic

Get the professionals to lay your plastic. I cant emphasize this enough. I have been involved
with both sides of the argument in regards to this but not only is it a hell of a lot of work, more
importantly there are so many little tricks and ins and outs to laying plastic. Just small things like
laying the fold with the flow of your solution and not wielding horizontally in your ponds.
Wielding around drainage pipes that run through bund walls really has to be done properly. You
dont want leaks in these places as you will have to stop irrigation and wait until it stops flowing,
dry it out and repair. This could take weeks depending on the amount or residential solutions in
your cell. You can get some professionals in to show your operators how to weld. No issues with
that at all, but use this training for fix up and repair work around the leach pads and plant. These
people who lay plastic know when and how to lay the plastic. Plastic reacts differently with the
weather conditions so has to be anchored or laid at different times of the day or seasons even.
When you get the professionals to lay the plastic you will get the QAQC warranty that you wont
have if youre doing the laying yourself. Sometimes you may be told you need to use the non-
slip plastic because there may be fears of pad slumping especially in high rainfall areas. I would
have loved to use this stuff under every leach pad I have done but the simple fact is it is very
expensive. If youve got the money than fine, but the normal plastic is fine as long as your
stacking start plan is good. A lot of people like to put the non slip plastic around the edges and
on the bunds where your operators may be required to work. Thats fine but to me you dont
want any animal to breach your bunds. The standard plastic is very slippery and animals cant
climb it which is a good thing when dealing with the environment and community relations
departments. You can however put the non-slip plastic in a pathway type setup for your
operators to move around safely if needed. I have in most places Ive worked got the guys to use
rope ladders and small bridge setups to move around safely. I wont say too much more about
plastic laying except get the pros to do it. Remember, in almost every case you only have to lay
it once. When you have millions of tons of ore on top of your plastic you dont want to have to
take it off.
Solution Drainage System
Piping or gravel type material are the easiest and probably the best ways to do a drainage
system. When using a piping system Ive found the best way is to have a main pipe that runs the
length of your cell up against your inter cell bund walls with smaller drain coil pipes running
across the width of your cell feeding your main line. Many companies use the corrugated plastic
pipes which are pre slotted or with holes for their main collection pipe. In most cases and
especially in dry climates this will do the job, but if your leach pad is in a high rainfall area I have
found that it is better to use solid poly pipe instead. For people working leach pads with a lot of
fines in the ore, solid poly pipe is a much better option. Ive found thats theres really no need
running your drain coil across the whole width of your cell. The slope/fall of your pad will assist
your solution running from the sloping side and back of the cell so I usually only run them out to
3/4 of the width. You can space your drain coil where ever you like but Ive found that spacing
them 5 meters apart for the first quarter or front of a cell and 10 meter spacings through the
second and third quarters with 20 meters spacings for the last quarter works pretty well in all
conditions. Allow the slope of the cell to assist where ever you can. The solution from the back
half of your cells cannot go anywhere but forward if you have your cell slope/fall correct. Once
again if you have the money you can have equal spacings right through your cells but you can
save money by reducing your drain coil. There are other ways of laying your drainage pipe out.
Some people like to set it up in a V type configuration but thats more suitable for those leaching
in valley conditions. You can configure it however it suits your layout really as long as you have
your pad slope/fall the correct way and moving solution to the right places. Using gravel only as
your drainage system works well in most cases and of course its going to cut cost without
drainage pipe. The only problem with this is you really need to be sure youre going to get your
solutions back in good time. I mean even with piping you use gravel type material to cover it
anyway .The gravel acts as the perfect filter and gives you a nice clean pregnant solution but
once again in high rainfall areas overtime it can be clogged with fines turned to mud. Now if this
happens at the front of your cell it can create big problems as the solution can backup therefore
is forced through the ore at the foot of your pads causing a failure in pad stability. Highly
unlikely, but it is possible. I would suggest to those of you setting up a new leach pad to use
both piping and gravel until you get a bit of history from your pads. You can use other material
in place of gravel but you just have to be sure it will release your solutions in good time. You
want to produce your product as fast as you can. Some materials I have been involved with held
the solution for far too long and you do have to try to meet production targets. People
operating leach pads in high rainfall areas may have to put a drainage piping system between
each lift but for those of you in the dry conditions, like plastic laying, you will do this one time so
make sure you get it right as once the ore is on top it and your drainage isnt working it can be a
nightmare. I have experienced such a nightmare and it was costly and very time consuming.
Solution drainage corridor

When constructing your drainage corridors you should try to get your slope/ fall to your ponds
as close to design as you can. You might say it should only be perfect all the time but for those
of you working in foreign countries will know you dont always have the resources or more often
than not the skilled operators to perform the task. If possible make them wide enough to run
your compactor down the length of your corridor so you get a smooth surface for your plastic to
sit on. I would also suggest your outer corridor bund be above ground level.1-1.5 meters high to
keep out all rodents and rubbish and to deter unauthorized people. They should link up with
your outer or perimeter pad bunds but this is not always the case when designed. Getting back
to plastic laying you should also ensure that the plastic wielded seams are running with your
solution flow direction. For obvious reasons, if you have large volumes running on your plastic
and the wielded seams arent running with the solution flow, you will in time get leakage. For
those of you especially in high rainfall areas, or snow and ice you will get large volumes at
certain times of year so regardless of your type of drainage system you will have liquid running
on your plastic. There are 3 standard ways to get your solutions from the pads to the ponds.

A straight piping system that runs from the leach pad cells to the pregnant and intermediate
ponds.

Pipes running to and from solution collection boxes to the ponds.

Or solution running directly on the plastic of the solution corridors to the ponds.
The pipe only system works well on any leach pads but usually its just one pipe so there will not
be any solution segregation coming from individual cells. You can use a 2 pipe systems and have
valves but if youre going to do that you may as well have collection boxes. You can get your
operators to move the pipe between ponds when needed but its not ideal from a safety
perspective.

The collection box system is probably the best option as it allows segregation of solutions from
different parts of cells to the pregnant and intermediated ponds. Its a 2 pipe system normally,
but can be done with one. Its also a good way for your operators to take manual flow
measurements and solution samples. If you are really on a limited budget you can run solutions
in the plastic corridor down to the ponds. I have done this before and I really dont recommend
you do this.

If youre plastic wielding is not of a high quality then you will have solution passing through the
welds eventually. Its also not great in terms of evaporation, but its just not a good option all
round if you can avoid it. The biggest problem I have faced over the years is not having the fall
or slope of the drainage corridors correct because of design faults or poor construction.
Resulting in solution not so much backing up, but sitting or pooling. Not good for production and
time consuming to correct
Ponds
I have seen so many different pond designs, sizes, configurations and locations. The only issues
Ive had in the past are that more often than not, they just arent big enough. The amount of
times Ive heard, they are designed for a one in a hundred year event. For you guys operating in
high rainfall areas, its still not big enough. It usually comes down to cost and sometimes difficult
conditions in which to construct. This is the one thing that you really need in your favor in times
of major unexpected events. A standard pond configuration usually consists of barren,
intermediate, pregnant and storm water or event pond. The barren and intermediate are
predominantly bigger than the pregnant pond. For people unfamiliar with this process these are
the ponds that send the solution to the leach pads whereas the pregnant pond receives the
returning solutions to process in the plant. The storm water or event ponds are for big rains or
overflows. These ponds are usually lined with geo fabric and then a double layer of plastic. I
would also advise you to have the base of your ponds slope/fall to one corner. Preferably it
should slope/fall to the corner where you have best access. The reason I mention this is you may
have to pump it out for different reasons and its much easier if its running to the one corner
naturally. Going back to plastic laying and I say it again, (get the pros to do it) you dont want
them leaking. You should have a leak detection system under your ponds but not all do. If you
have the resources to make your ponds bigger then do it. You may never have an incident but
for those of you operating in high rainfall conditions its a must. The only other issues Ive faced
with ponds are that most designs have the wall slopes/fall to steep. If you have a reasonable
slope/fall you can drive machinery down during construction and compact them properly. Many
ponds I have seen arent compacted correctly especially the slopes because they are too steep
to get machines on them. If you arent able to construct accessible ponds, at least try to have
one of your sides with such a slope or fall that your operators or maintenance people can still
access it. There are times requiring people to get down in these ponds but if you make them too
steep it becomes a much bigger time consuming task.
Agglomeration

For those of you, who dont know what an agglomerator is, or what it does, a brief explanation.
An agglomerator can best be described as a big cylindrical mixer into which the crushed ore is
fed and then mixed with other ingredients to assist the agglomeration process. In gold
treatment for example, the main ingredients would be ore, cyanide, lime, water, caustic soda
and in most cases cement. Agglomerators are usually around 10 meters long with a
circumference of around 2-4 meters. They have the task of mixing all these ingredients together
to form balls of dirt known as agglomerates. They are then moved away to be stacked on the
leach pad through a series of conveyors and finally a radial stacker. I have come across a few
issues with making good agglomerates but in the end all those issues seem to have related to
the moisture content. You will have your parameters as per usual, but when I talk issues with
moisture, it was because my focus early on was the moisture content coming out of the
agglomerator. By the time they had got to the heap they had broken down. I thought maybe I
didnt have the ore, lime, and cement ratio correct. Of course I was sticking to the perimeters
set down for me from the design of that particular leach pad. But it just wasnt working in that
particular environment. It was quite simple in the end really. I changed my focus and
concentrated on getting the correct moisture coming off the radial stacker and not the
agglomerator. This meant I had to add a lot more water. The agglomerate came out of the
agglomerator like a ball of mud, but by the time it had gone through the conveyors and dropped
from the stacker, it had the look of strong, well-formed agglomerate that could handle those
particular conditions. Cement is the only other ingredient that has given me trouble but it was
always more a case of not having enough on hand . For people operating in foreign countries
especially, you will understand, you dont always get what you need when you need it.

In my experience, the longer you leave your agglomerates to cure, the better the leaching. Once
again if you have the time and system in place you can operate this way. But for most leach pad
operations its just not possible given your setup and production requirements. For those heap
leach pads operating in high rain fall areas or with wet seasons in particular, I can tell you from
my own experience, its better to protect your agglomerates through the wet season and start
irrigation when the rain subsides. It doesnt matter how good your agglomerates are, heavy rain
will destroy your top half meter and anything else exposed to the elements.

You still have to produce I know ,but I would suggest you pick a date, set yourself up so you have
a reasonable area to irrigate, older material preferably, but everything else and especially the
freshly stacked ore you can cover with cheap plastic. You can protect your agglomerates from
the impact of the rain also benefiting from a longer cure time. Letting nature take its course with
older areas not under irrigation you could possibly get a good flush of previously missed
solutions. I have done this and its only a suggestion. Something that can be done, not ideal but
better than breaking down new agglomerates and washing fines through your heap. Dont get
me wrong, you will have a drop off in production numbers over the wet season but the
alternatives can be, broken down agglomerates, big volumes of diluted solutions, possibility of
clogging as fines are washed through your heaps, all resulting in loss of recovery. Not to mention
that you may not have the facilities, structure or ponds to cope with an onslaught of seasonal
rains. Once again, you have to weigh up whats best for you and your leach pad.
Stacking

The stacking of ore, whether it is radial or just dump stacking from trucks, is a key component of
the leaching process. The difference between good and bad stacking will have a big influence on
production and recovery. There is a lot of planning and forward thinking required when stacking
out the pads. When you have a radial stacker then thats what you need to do. You might be
thinking, well what else can you do? But I have seen people stacking front to back with a stacker
defeating the whole purpose of the machine. Radial stacking allows your agglomerates to be
stacked in uniform giving the solution the optimum chance to move through the agglomerates
evenly, giving you more chance of consistent production and recovery. Believe me; the better
the stacking the easier it is for leach pad operators to lay their irrigation system. Having worked
as heap leach operator myself, the job was so much easier and less physically taxing on the body
when the stacker operator knew what they were doing. Poor stacking made it difficult welding,
connecting and aligning irrigation pipe work and fittings. Some of these stackers are very heavy
and it doesnt take much to get them bogged in a wet climate. You really have to have a clear
plan when maneuvering your stacker and conveyers between cells. In high rainfall operations,
planning is vital to avoid getting your stacker bogged. I have seen an 8metre stack come back on
a stacker like quick sand; it can take a fair amount of time and heavy machinery in wet
conditions to recover your stacker if bogged. Reducing stack heights and moving to higher or
more compact ground is a couple of options during wet seasons. Identifying potential areas of
risk and preparation during the dry will save you a lot of work. For those operations valley
stacking on the first lift, you will face a bit of a dilemma. If your design is to stack at 8 meter lifts
and you stack the sides at 8 meters will end up having to stack the middle a lot higher to have it
level. It doesnt have to be valley stacking operation after the first lift. You can stack the center
at 8 meters and level out to the sides from there. The sacrifice means youre not going to get the
designed amount of ore on your first lift. But it will make your stacking life a whole lot easier
thereafter. Dump leach stacking is so much easier as you can use heavy machinery to construct
a flat even work surface. But for heap leaching you want as little compaction as possible when
stacking your leach pad, so the better the stacking, and the less chance of compaction and
having to use any heavy machinery to recover it. You could have a nice flat surface or be valley
stacking, trying to move a 50tonne stacker through rain and mud .Once again, you will need to
adapt and decide the best way to operate your stacker in the environment and conditions you
are operating in. I could say more, but stacking to me is really more show than tell.

Irrigation

Dripper tubes
I have used dripper tubes on 3 different leach pads from gold to copper occasionally adding the
emitters. I do like using drippers as they are the safe option. Your blow outs are minor and the
damage or wash outs are small. In my early days of leaching I was only too happy to use this
system but as my experience grew I realized that using drippers are time consuming and labor
intensive for a similar result when using wobblers or sprinklers. It has many good points and I
would still use them today if the conditions warranted. The thing with drippers is you have
solution coming from very small holes. When you add emitters the solution is coming from up to
8 smaller holes. Scale, salt builds up daily tending to block the holes. Emitters are not
recommended as they do not justify the work required for a small increase in performance. You
really need to have a dedicated leach pad crew to make sure every line and every dripper is
cleaned and working properly every day. That is a hell of a lot of dedication needed and you
guys working in foreign countries will find this difficult. Having been an operator myself I know
that you just cant keep this up all the time. Some people like to bury their drippers. Even in hot
climates they do it. Thats the way they have done it for a long time and it works for them. Its all
about evaporation for them in regards to hot dry areas but I have never done that and never
will. I would rather sacrifice water to evaporation than bury drippers in hot climates. I will
always prefer coverage and control over lower evaporation and no control in regards to burying
drippers. I mean its hard enough to keep them clean and working on top of the ground let alone
burying them. You might say, and one person has said to me that its better than your drippers
freezing up in cold climate operations. If they block up when they are buried you dont know.
You maybe leaching only two thirds of your cell and you wouldnt know. You can rely on
pressure gages but that still doesnt mean you are distributing solution evenly, as you cant see
your drippers. When they freeze on top of ground then you can do something about it. With
radial stacking you can create your own little valleys in which to lay your drippers. Because they
run in an arc like configuration and with the lay of the agglomerates they are somewhat
naturally protected. Of course Im not saying they still wont freeze in very cold climates but
what I am saying is you can try something. Think outside the heap leach square. I know of 2
leach pads operating consistently in very cold harsh climates .It can be done. Anything can be
done. I read a paper on heap leaching from the 80s that quoted (The challenge for the future
will be to remember and apply the experiences of the past.)Well yes and know I say, Yes the
basics of leaching will always be the same but 30 years has past and we should be moving
forward respecting the past but not living in it. Im not saying people are using only methods of
the past as the materials and mechanical systems have developed. But if you told me the
location of a leach pad and the companys origins I could tell more often than not what irrigation
system they are using. Especially the people using a dripper tube system.
Wobblers
Wobblers are an acceptable alternative and I have used them a couple of times. Wobblers
usually have to be connected to a riser. They are a foot or two off the ground which means you
need support stakes to keep them upright and straight. They more often than not have to be
connected to a hose of some sort and then to your inner ring or main solution trunk line. This
just creates more opportunity for blockage which means more cleaning. And then theres the
evaporation factor with being off the ground. I wont go into much more about wobblers but to
sum them up, theyre ok. Not great, but do the job. If thats what youve got to work with, then
your operators will have to put in a bigger effort, you can still produce good results but theres
an easier way to do it.

Sprinklers

Sprinklers are definitely my irrigation equipment of choice .I didnt come across them until my
third leach pad and struggled at first to control them. But in time with the correct flow rates and
pressure created by pipe reductions you will find a way to best control them without damaging
the agglomerates or causing ponding and pooling. I like them because they have a better throw
and cover a wider area. If you can set them up very close to the ground you can limit your
evaporation and cover every inch of your cell. The advantage of sprinklers is that because they
cover a bigger area you need a lot less equipment as they can be spaced up to 6 meters apart.
They are much easier to clean than drippers or wobblers. With fewer lines its also a lot less time
consuming for operators when moving from cell to cell. Yes the evaporation rate is higher but
you have to weigh up your production vs. your water loss. If you have the water then I cant
really see the problem. I have battled people over this issue many times and eventually they can
see that if you are meeting your required production targets and you have the water to do it
then the gains outweigh the loss substantially. Even if you dont have the water availability that
you would like, you still have to push the boundaries as hard as you can. After all, your job is to
make as much product as quickly and safely as you can.

Flow rates
I will start off by saying that every leach pad in which I have operated has had the same
irrigation flow rate parameters of 10 liters per square meter per hour. Its has always seemed
odd to me that this number hardly ever differs in designs. My guess is that this has been the way
for many years of column testing and design and is a standard guideline. On every leach pad I
have operated the conditions and environment has been different. The ore has more often than
not been different. My question is how can the perimeters be the same when the conditions are
different? Why and how do we have the same standard design parameters in totally different
environments? I have urged plant metallurgists that I have worked with to do column testing
outside in the environment and conditions that are going to be operated in. You cannot tell me
that a leach pad reacts the same way all year round, season to season or even night and day for
that matter. It simply doesnt and I know this to be fact. This is what I mean when I say
challenging the boundaries of heap leaching of the past. Im not sure why they werent keen but
I think they may have been uneasy if the results didnt match the design either way. I can
honestly tell you that out of the 6 leach pads I have operated; only one has produced its
optimum at 10l per m2 per hour. I have irrigated from as low as 6 to as high as 15l per m2 per
hour. Working to conditions, thinking outside the square and finding out what flow rate is best
suited for your conditions, and gives you the best results. Thats what its all about. You have to
experiment and try different flow ranges. See how your leach pad reacts to change. Dont just
settle for what you are told because most column testing is done in the lab in perfect controlled
conditions. You dont work in perfect controlled conditions. If youre irrigating at 10l per m2 per
hour and you have ponding or pooling on your pads, you obviously have a problem. Now most
people will assume the stacking or agglomeration is the cause and it can be a factor, but more
often than not Ive found the problem to be my irrigation rate. These days I disregard the design
parameters to a certain degree and start slow and low so I have the control. You can see whats
happening in a short period of time and make adjustments to suit. If you start off at the high end
of the design rate, this can result in fines being washed down resulting in poor recovery. The
only way out in some cases is to re rip your cell or turn the ore over with an excavator. I have
had to do this in the past and not only is it time consuming but it can cause huge production loss
inflate operating costs. All I can say to you is, keep an open mind to this and dont be afraid to
change and experiment. You have to control your leach pads. Dont let your leach pads control
you.
Rest /Rinsing cycle

Resting or rinsing of a cell or pad basically means turning the irrigation off for a period of time
and letting it drain and dry before re irrigating again.

I have done this a few times and in most cases I can tell you, its pretty much a waste of time.
Now some of you heap leach people who may read this will disagree with me and may have
produced some good results yourselves. When I say its a waste of time I mean, if you have a
cutoff grade and you reached it the first time then why bother going back. If its the last lift of
your pads then ok, as you have nothing to lose. But in most cases you dont have enough water
or the system in place or the time to operate over your maximum irrigation design area. You
also need to be irrigating new areas to keep up production targets. For those who have seasonal
rains or a wet season, let nature do the work for you. If you dont have a drainage system in
between each lift then you will get some back when you irrigate your next lift. Now there are
some big leach pad operations around the world that do have the capacity to perform the rest
rinse cycle properly .They have multiple irrigation pumps, pipelines and storage facilities to
accommodate. Most middle to low tier operations just dont have the capacity to perform the
rest rise cycle correctly. In summarizing the rest rise/ cycle, it can be done and you can get
additional recovery out of your pads, but only if you have the capacity and time to do it, for
those who dont, let nature do the work for you. You have to work out whether time vs. results
is profitable.
Solutions
Like the rest /rinse cycle, if you have the time, facilities and capacity, an intermediate solution
pond can be included in the installation. Every leach pad I have worked has been the same story.
You may have one cell/pad thats giving you lets say a return solution grade of 1.5. Another may
be giving you a return of 0.5. Now in a perfect world you will send your 0.5 to the intermediate
pond and send it back to the heaps. Middle to low tier operations just dont have that luxury, I
wouldnt advise you to try this if you dont have the volume to perform both at the same time. If
you dont have a consistent or continuous water supply more often than not, you will end up
with an empty barren pond. If youre splitting your pad solutions and sending intermediate one
way you wont have the required pregnant volume going to your plant and less volume
returning to your barren ponds. If you have a plentiful supply of makeup water then it should be
possible. If you average out those two solution grades it totals a grade of 1.Now if you have a
high volume of 1g solution grade then its like the rest rinsing cycle, you have to weigh up the
time vs. the result.

Talking about this with consultants or metallurgists with little practical experience really does
annoy me. I have had people in the past who havent worked or managed leach pads before tell
me, you need to split the solutions between the pregnant and intermediate ponds. Then when
the volume drops off in the plant they wonder why. Yes the grade is higher, but as Ive said,
after time you will lose the operating level of your pregnant and barren ponds .If you lose your
barren pond operation level it can take weeks to rebalance your circuit. Depending on your
cutoff grade, its better to send both to the pregnant pond and have a high volume at the
average.

Heap leaching is no different to other processes; you should be aiming for a steady state of
operation. To a heap leach operator, that should mean whatever the volume you are pumping
to the heaps, you are getting back in pregnant solution. Whatever volume you are sending to
the plant, you are getting back to the barren pond. Its a continuous cycle which should be
balanced. If you have all this correct then your ponds should be close to the same level all the
time. This is how I work. If I see that I have my ponds at pretty much the same level all the time,
then I know Ive got my circuit at a steady state of operation. Once youve achieved this then
you know youre production will be consistent.

Once again, it can be done, and is done, but only by the people in operations that have the
facilities and capacity to do it. Its not rocket science but everybody thinks they have to do it
because thats how heap leaching is done. You have to operate within your means and work to
the conditions that are suitable for production long term.
Evaporation
This is a very contentious subject that people seem to really get hung up on. I personally think a
lot of metallurgists put too much emphasis on evaporation and put people in two minds with
regards to heap leaching. I personally dont give much thought to the high evaporation theory.
You are there to make a product and you need to do it as best you can. Ive worked in a place
where I have been told the evaporation rate was up to 60%. If it really was that high, you would
think it was a waste of time even starting up. As it turned out, using sprinklers, we produced
good results and evaporation wasnt an issue.

Like Ive mentioned previously, you have to weigh up the evaporation loss against the
production recovery and water availability. Im of the opinion that if the solution or water is
moving constantly which it should be; the evaporation rate is much lower than when stagnant.
Im sure someone could come up with numbers to prove evaporation rates are an issue but
what Im saying is, do you want to operate a heap leach or not?. Its never going to be a perfect
heap leach world. You can do all sorts of things like bury pipes and dripper tubes, cover ponds
etc. You have to find what best suits your leach pads and your environment. In similar
circumstances I refer to the column testing and the fact its done in a controlled environment. I
think they come up with these numbers from the hottest part of the year and that becomes the
standard perimeters. I have experienced work in some of the hottest climates on earth. I can tell
you, its not hot all the time, heap leaches operate 24/7 and the evaporation rate isnt the same
day and night. What I have done in very hot places at the hottest time of the year is reduce my
flow rates or stop irrigating during the hot hours and return to normal operation in the evening
and night. It worked very well and although youre not in full operation its better than nothing.
Working to your conditions and environment, thinking outside the square and doing something
to make it work. The other thing that really gets me is, youre not going to evaporate your
product. Youre only evaporating water. Once you have saturated your pads you are only using
water for topping up your barren pond. You should be irrigating all the time so it shouldnt be
stagnant. In summarizing my personal view on evaporation I will say this, yes it does happen, of
course it does its natural. But its not nearly as bad as its made out to be and it shouldnt stop
you from operating a heap leach continuously and consistently.
Environment
Before I started in the heap leach/mining game I really had little knowledge or understanding of
the environment or issues related to nature and its surroundings. Today I have the utmost
respect for the dangers and the stigma that can be, and is associated with the heap leaching
process. Its totally understandable; I mean you are digging in most cases, millions of tons of ore
out of the ground and stacking it on top of a plastic covered area of earth. Then you are
irrigating this ore over the mine life with thousands of cubic meters of potentially dangerous to
lethal chemicals. I wont deny it, it is fact, every leach pad I have worked, animals have died.
Dogs,cats,kangaroos,snakes,cows,buffalos,camels,rats and a hell of a lot of birds. If you think
youre not going to kill anything then Im sorry, youre in for a rude awakening. The highest
impact is on the bird life. You can cover your ponds, you can put bird scarers and scarecrows in
place, I have even employed people just to scare birds away. The simple facts are you cant keep
them away from your pads all the time. You would think they would be discouraged by the
smell, but theyre not. They still drink the solution. It doesnt matter what irrigation system
youre using, you will have fatalities. Sounds pretty grim, but there are measures you can put in
place to minimize the impact and loss. I go back to design, constructing your perimeter or outer
pad bunds above ground level, at least 1-1.5 meters high so animals cant walk up the slippery
plastic. Containment of solutions within piping, from the leach pads to the ponds and plant
limiting access to animals and wildlife. Covering your solution ponds with netting, balls or discs
to scare or prevent birds from landing. Get professionals in to lay your plastic so as to limit
damage or leakage into the environment. Design your ponds to cope with unusual or record
weather events. Train your operators to understand the importance of protecting their
environment. If you put all these measures in place, you will go a long way towards reducing the
impact on your surrounding environment, birds and wildlife. It not easy, and for those working
in under developed countries especially, it takes time and repetitive encouragement for people
to recognize, understand and comply.
Climates
Hot dry

I have experienced these conditions on a couple of occasions and I can say its probably the
easiest of climates to perform a leach pad operation. The weather is always good which allows
construction and everyday operating to be carried out routinely. Planning for operation is much
easier in predictably hot dry arid climates. There can be issues if you dont have a consistent
water supply and of course the evaporation rates will be higher. Extreme heat does have an
effect on the operators performance so the more physical work should be carried out in the
mornings or late afternoons. As mentioned earlier its not extremely hot all day so you can
reduce or stop your irrigation during the hottest part of the day. You will lose in terms of
irrigation time but it will balance itself out with the reduction of evaporation. You may choose to
bury your irrigation system if your water supply isnt sufficient but Im not a great supporter of
this method.

High rainfall

High rainfall conditions are by far the most difficult of conditions in which to perform a heap
leach operation. I have worked on a heap leach pad in an area that averaged 2-3metres of rain
over a period of 3-4 months a year. I can tell you that this is where I learnt most of what I know
about heap leaching today. This is where you will learn how to adapt and improvise and think
outside the square. You will be challenged on so many levels and your knowledge and skills will
be tested far more than in any other conditions. It was one of my earlier leach pads and looking
back there were many aspects due to inexperience in design, construction and set up. The lack
of knowledge of environment and conditions that contributed to the difficulties we faced? It just
wasnt designed, constructed or set up to suit that environment. The amount of times over the
years Ive heard the words (the ponds are designed for a one in a hundred year rain event). The
ponds were too small and the outer leach pad bunds were at ground level. The drainage
collection system was too small and the material used for the sub base just wasnt suitable for
the high rainfall leaching. Your agglomerates can be broken down by heavy rain, fines washed
through your heaps and you will have very high volumes of diluted solutions. But they will not
even register as issues if you dont have a good design and setup. If your design and setup is not
suitable for the conditions you will be spending a lot of time just trying to survive. Just trying to
avoid environmental disasters can be a daily event. Preventing incidents that can cause closure
of your mine may be your only focus. Forget about trying to make gold if you havent got things
under control. That will be the least of your worries. It may sound dramatic but believe me it can
and does happen. But I can be avoided, it can be kept to a minimum if you have a suitable
design, good setup and you operate to the conditions. Youre not going to make the same
production numbers you would during the dry, but you can still operate during heavy rains
without environmental incidents.
Cold

Cold climate heap leaching also has its difficulties but not nearly as bad as in high rain fall areas.
The biggest problem you face in a cold climate is getting your solutions through your leach pads
during winter when permafrost sets in. Most cold climate operations require insulated pipe
work and solutions will need to be heated. In extreme cases the top 3 meters of your stack can
be affected by permafrost. Most cold weather leach pads operations bury their dripper tubes
and basically hope for the best. Its the easy option as far as Im concerned and you know my
view on burying anything. Consider this, something outside the square. At the time of writing
this paper I havent actually attempted this. I havent heard of anyone having tried this before
but in theory I really cant see why it wouldnt be effective. What Im proposing is to leach with
dripper tubes vertically through your heap. Ive only considered this for heap leaching when
using a radial stacker. It requires a lot of work but youre only doing this for coldest months of
the year. I know I have said that Im not a supporter of burying dripper tubes but I would make
an exception if only to confirm my theory. You can run your drippers down the face of the stack
whilst its being stacked. 1 metre apart across the face and maybe at 3-5 stacked metres.You
have to block the bottom of the dripper tubes but there are fittings that will do this. There is a
lot of heat generated inside a heap leach stack and in warmer months the temperature of
solutions coming from leach pads can get as high as 60-70 degrees. My thinking is that by
leaching from the bottom to the top the heat generated at the bottom will work its way up and
out of the drippers. If you have an 8 metre stack for example and the solution isnt able to work
through the top 2-3 metres you are still going to leach your bottom 5 metres.You can come back
during warmer months and leach the top 2-3.The more I have thought about this the more Im
convinced that this method will improve production in cold climate leaching. It is yet to be
proven of course but its worth some thought.
Heap leach /Dump leach
Whats the difference between and heap and dump leach?

Dump leach

1. The ore comes straight out of the pit.

2. Can range from big boulders to fine dust.

3. Predominantly uncrushed.

4. No agglomeration.

5. Dump stacked.

6. Heavy equipment used to level and rip surface.

7. Usually high volumes of low to marginal ore grades.

8. Often used as secondary process income for operations with high volumes of marginal
material. Particularly CIL plants

9. Maximum recovery around 65-70%.

Heap leach

1. Crushed to a preferred size.

2. Sometimes Agglomerated

3. Conveyed to leach pads.

4. Normally radial stacked.

5. The highest available ore grades.

6. Normally single process operation.

7. Maximum recovery as high as 90-95%.

Conclusion
This is by no means the gospel of heap leaching. It is however what I know, what I have
experienced. A lot of people tell me heap leaching is easy, its not that easy. Not if you want a
successful leach pad operation. Planning, hard work and thinking outside the square is what
youll need to achieve good results and recovery. You wont achieve this sitting in the office; you
need to be out there doing whats required to make it happen. Not everything Ive said will
apply to you simply because of the different environments and conditions we work in. It really
comes down to how you adapt to your conditions and operate within your means. There should
be no reason why you cant have a successful operation producing the required targets in all
environments and conditions .Yes the basics are the same and you will have your perimeters
and guidelines to follow but these are usually laid down as a standard that isnt necessarily tailor
made for the operating conditions. How you adapt and adjust will determine your success.