Ghana: Gold Mining Resurgence: Difference between revisions

  ''How artisanal miners extract gold''

  ''In a typical small-scale gold mining operation where hard rock is mined, the ore is excavated manually and size reduction is carried out using a combination of jaw and rocker crushers, hammer, disc and stamp mills. The stamp mills and rockers are manually operated while the others are powered by diesel or electricity. Generally, the milled material is washed in a sluice lined with corduroy, jute material, miner’s moss or astro turf to obstruct the flow of slurry and concentrate gold particles. Alluvial ores do not go through comminution [the reduction of solid materials to smaller sizes] but are scrubbed, screened and concentrated by sluicing. The concentrate in both cases is cleaned in pans and the gold is amalgamated with mercury. The amalgam is then roasted to obtain the gold, which is sold to licensed buyer.'' <ref name="Nyame" />(p.133).