Construction continues as equipment arrives at Altiplano’s El Peñón

Just weeks after receiving approvals for iron recovery and dry stack technology additions at its El Peñón processing facility near La Serena, Chile, Altiplano Metals has received the plant’s magnetic separator and dewatering equipment.

The Canadian-based miner said late last week that civil works at the facility, which supports the Farellon iron-oxide-copper-gold mine, have started as four concrete platforms are required to support the construction and integrate the equipment into the final processing circuit.

The magnetic separation process will use the magnetic properties of the magnetite mineralization found within the material mined at Farellon, and magnetic iron will be recovered by processing the tailings generated from the Cu flotation through a series of three magnetized drums. The iron concentrate collected from the drums will be again processed using a disc filter to remove water. 

The process will produce a concentrate expected at >61% Fe with a moisture content of less than 15%, Altiplano said. The full magnetic separation and dewatering process is expected to recover 82% of the water, which can be reused in the milling and flotation process.

Final tailings will be stored in dry stockpiles for removal.

“The arrival of this important equipment highlights APN’s commitment to integrate our production activities with our processing operations while focusing on environmentally friendly methods to leverage our bottom line,” CEO Alastair McIntyre said.

Altiplano’s growing gold, silver and copper portfolio includes an operating copper-gold-iron mine, development near term producing gold-copper projects and exploration land packages with district-scale potential. 

Source: Altiplano Metals

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