NNİĞDE TEPEKÖY GOLD-SILVER ENRICHMENT PLANT

Oxidized ore produced in Bolkar 1 and 2 underground mines is transported by road to the Tepeköy ore enrichment plant 40 kilometers away. The facility, built over a 526,000-sqm area, produces silver and gold dore from ore processed through tank leaching.

Construction of the facility started after EIA approval in July 2011, and the plant commenced production in the first quarter of 2012. With an annual or processing capacity of 130,000 tonnes, the facility processes 17 tonnes of run-of-mine per hour with an average head grade of 8.5 gr/tonnes of Au and 220 gr/tonnes of Ag. The facility features 10 units making up the full range of production, from crushing-screening, grinding-sizing, hot lime, leaching, solid-liquid separation, solution preparation, detox, smelting, ADT and chemical reagent feeding.

In addition to a chemical analysis laboratory, Tepeköy Enrichment Plant also has a technological testing laboratory that conducts R&D to obtain maximum value from run-of-mine ore to be processed. This laboratory analyzes precious metals such as gold and silver, base metals like lead, zinc, copper and iron, as well as the chemicals used in the facility and the dores.

The facility also features a 3-MW gas-fired cogeneration plant providing it with electricity and heat energy. The system has the capacity to generate 1,242 kW of thermal and 1,286 kW of electrical energy.

All operations of the facility are subject to the provisions of the “Regulation on Preventing and Reducing the Effects of Major Industrial Accidents”. The disclosures mandated in article 7 of the Regulation are made via the BEKRA, the Integrated Environmental Information System of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change. An Internal Emergency Action Plan has also been prepared and uploaded to the BEKRA system. Categorized as a “High-Level” business, the company has prepared a “Safety Report” as necessitated by article 11 of the Regulation. Click here to view the information document prepared in accordance with article 16 of the Regulation.