The Lihir deposit in Papua New
Guinea (PNG) contains an estimated
mineable reserve of 454t (14.6M oz) of
gold in refractory sulphide ore. The
Lihir Joint Venture has submitted a
proposal to the PNG Government to
develop an open pit mine and to install
a process plant and associated
infrastructure facilities on Lihir
Island. The proposed process plant will
employ whole-ore pressure oxidation
technology, has a design capacity of
2.825Mt/a of ore containing 7.20
sulphide sulphur, and is expected to
average 19.3t/a (620,000 oz/a) in gold
production during its first 12 years of
operation.
An extensive program of process
development testwork and feasibility
engineering was completed to establish
the process plant design for the Lihir
Project. Summary results of this test-
work as well as key design criteria,
the process flowsheet, and major
equipment selected for the commercial
plant are presented and discussed.