The Mercury-free Mineral Processing Equipment “Gold Kacha” have been effective and efficient in promoting responsible mining – President Nana Akuffo-Addo
The President of Ghana, H.E. Nana Akuffo Addo in the delivery of the State of the Nation Address yesterday 8th March 2023, at the Parliament house has lauded the efficiency and effectiveness of Commodity Monitor Limited’s mercury-free mineral processing equipment “Gold Kacha” in promoting responsible mining. The mineral processing plants which are designed to assist artisanal and small-scale miners seek to achieve three basic goals: high tonnes per hour processing, no mercury use and high gold recovery.
In his speech, the President touted the government’s determination and commitment to promote responsible small-scale mining through the Community Mining Schemes and the relentless fight against the ‘galamsey’ (illegal mining) menace in the country: “we continue the fight against galamsey with the support of the security agencies, in the short-term. However, we are determined to promote responsible small-scale mining through Community Mining Schemes. So far, 16 of these schemes have been commissioned, with three more to be commissioned by the end of this year. All these schemes are supported with Gold Kachas, pieces of equipment designed to help small scale miners to extract gold from the ore without the use of mercury.…”
On June 6 2022, the President commissioned 100 mercury-free mineral processing machines procured from Commodity Monitor Limited to be supplied to small scale miners to promote responsible mining, stop mercury use, ensure higher gold recovery and aid in the fight against illegal mining. The machines are being distributed to small-scale mining operators as part of the government’s efforts in ensuring responsible mining and environmental stewardship as well as the quest to achieve the Minamata Convention on the use of mercury in mining.
Several reports and studies have shown the negative effects of mercury on the health of people living in mining communities. It has been reported that in the past decades, out-patient cases of kidney related diseases have quadrupled with most of the patients coming from mining communities due to mercury and other chemical poisoning. The Paediatric Society of Ghana has recently lamented the increasing rate of child mortality, child deformities and cognitive defects in several mining communities due to mercury poisoning.
Commodity Monitor Limited has introduced this mercury-free mineral processing technology to enable the mining sector minimize negative environmental impact while boosting operations. Currently, the machines are operating in all the mining regions in the country.
The plants are manufactured to specifically remediate mercury contaminated areas, usually recovering significant quantities of gold in the process. The plants crush using the Jaw Crusher. It then mills using impact crusher and then concentrates the ore using the GoldKacha. The concentrates are further passed through the concentrate upgrader known as the GoldKonka which is simple to use and able to recover the finest gold particles. The GoldKonka comes with 3 consecutive sluice trays with a re-circulative water pump system. Heavy gold-bearing particles are caught on the surface of each tray which are then washed off with water into wash basins. The gold particles can therefore be smelted using the smelter furnace part of the mercury-free processing technology.
The traditional method of gold processing allows miners to recover just about 35% of their gold. This new mercury-free technology recovers more than 90% gravity-recoverable gold.
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