Vertex had planned to use the existing gravity processing plant next to the Reward mine portal, however, reliability issues forced it to look at a custom-built machine.
The 16 tonne per hour Gekko gold gravity processing plant offered benefits to the existing gravity plant and its use changes the metrics of the existing flowsheet.
That sent Vertex back to the drawing board to factor the Gekko plant into the January 2024 Reward pre-feasibility study.
Flowsheet changes include:
- Three stage crushing instead of two stages;
- Slightly lower nominal throughput rate;
- Smaller but multiple gold centrifuges;
- Smaller regrind mill (ML1500 instead of ML3000);
- Raw water and installed power demands reduced;
- Lowered capital and operational expenditure requirements; and
- Reduced build time.
The Gekko plant only needs two operators, which keeps operating costs down.
The plant is also fully monitored for density, mass flow and sampling, with monitoring done remotely.
Construction is also fast-tracked by up to five months with the Gekko.
The Australian-made Gekko plant is modular, scaleable and easy to modify.
Vertex plans to process existing stockpiles at Reward to make quick cash while it develops the underground operation there.
