HEAP RECLAIM

A wide variety of heap configurations have been explored for heap leaching conventional acid soluble copper, the most common being a permanent multi-lift design and the single-lift “on-off” configuration. Either option is suitable for the GEOLEACH ™ process but “on-off” pads have gained in popularity due to their higher degree of flexibility and lower land usage.

Any method can be employed for reclaiming the heap with the most popular being shovel and truck and bucket-wheel systems. Bucket-wheels tend to be very capital intensive and only justifiable for very large operations. However, they do have a significantly lower operating cost per tonne than shovel and truck systems.