Optimization of Sluice Box for Small-Scale Mining Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)*

Abstract

The issue of gold losses to tailings leading to low recovery in the artisanal and small-scale mining industries, which mostly rely on traditional sluicing techniques to concentrate gold particles from gangue minerals, remains critical. This research contributes to improving gold recovery by optimizing the sluice box design to improve its efficiency. Based on the multi-stage sluice box system proposed in prior work done, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations was performed by varying the slope angles of the sluice box to determine the optimal angle that will produce the highest recovery of gold concentrates from the gangue minerals. The results obtained demonstrated that the optimal slope angle of the sluice box that retained most gold particles was 10°. At this slope angle, the gold retention rate, flow velocity, and the number of gold particles trapped on the sluice box were 98.81 %, 0.311 m/s, and 7905 particles, respectively. This study, therefore, provides the foundation for numerical technique (CFD) to be used for analyzing fluid flow on a sluice box to complement experimental and empirical techniques.