Comparison of Vat and Heap Leaching Behavior in Laboratory Evaluations of Gold Silver Ores

Heap and vat leaching are related methods of extracting gold and silver values from ores at relatively low capital and operating costs. This study aims to evaluate the differences in recovery rates and chemical consumption between these two leaching techniques using five different ores through laboratory tests. The methodology involves performing continuous-drained drip heap leach tests and initially flooded vat leach tests on the ores, applying alkaline cyanide solutions and collecting effluent for analysis. The results indicate that while there are no significant differences in overall gold and silver recovery between heap and vat leaching, the heap leach tests demonstrated faster recovery rates for four of the five ores tested. Additionally, chemical consumptions in vat tests were found to be generally higher than in heap tests. These findings suggest that heap leaching may be more efficient for specific ores, although further larger scale testing is warranted to confirm these results for vat leaching as well.