Goldcorp's Marlin Mine gold and silver plant being sold by Savona Equipment Ltd.
The gold and silver processing plant at a now-shuttered gold mine in Guatemala is seeking a buyer. The sale of the 6,500 tonnes per day plant at the Marlin Mine, owned by Goldcorp, is being handled by Canadian company Savona Equipment Ltd. Savona is a mining equipment supplier and a global leader in mine asset liquidation.
"It is rare to find a complete plant in such great condition and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to represent the plant," said Jordan Downey, sales manager at Savona Equipment.
The Marlin Mine, Guatemala's first large gold mine, operated for 12 years, between 2005 and 2017. Located in western Guatemala about 300 km from Guatemala City and accessed via paved highway and roadway, the mine produced 274,900 ounces of gold in 2009 and 4.1 million ounces of silver.
Mining was from a combination open pit and underground mine. Ore was processed using a conventional milling circuit, while the recovery circuit utilized a gravity circuit, a Gekko Intensive Leach Reactor, CCD leach system and Merrill Crowe.
Other facilities included a Metso Vertical Plate Filter Plant to allow the dry stacking of tailings and rock storage areas. The Metso dry stack tailings plant was installed in 2013 and operated until 2017.
The plant capacity ranged from 4000 TPD to 7000 TPD with an average throughput of approximately 6000 TPD. Designed for the hydrometallurgical treatment of gold and silver, ore processing takes place in five stages, with each including the necessary equipment for ore processing and gold-silver recovery: size reduction; gravity circuit; leaching in tanks; gold and silver recovery; and tailings treatment.
A professional shut-down and clean-up of the plant was completed in 2017 and the site has been maintained in anticipation of disassembly and removal of the assets upon a sale completion. The majority of the plant components remain in excellent condition and inventory includes many spares for the major components.
These include: A Nordberg C125 jaw crusher package, Hardinge SAG mill, 2 x Fuller Traylor ball mills, Outotec thickeners, lightning mixers, and 8 x Metso VPA 240-54 pressure filters. The gold and silver processing plant comes with a 4 MW Cat generator, batch plant, shotcrete plant, drawings and documentation for plant and equipment, and an extensive inventory of spares.
A complete equipment list can be viewed here.
The plant has not been dismantled to facilitate inspections; however, equipment and professional personnel are available to provide dismantling, loading, and transport services from the site.
The asset package was purchased in 2017 by Continental Drilling SA, which contracted Savona Equipment Ltd. to liquidate the assets including: the ore processing plant, leaching circuits, recovery circuits, and the filter plant for dry stack tailings. A package of underground mining, servicing, and safety equipment is also available on-site.
Expressions of interest, requests for inspection, and purchase offers for the complete plant or components may be submitted to Savona Equipment Ltd.
Savona can provide access to professional engineering services to manage installation, commissioning, and operation of the plant at a new site should a purchaser require those services. The company also supplies various wear parts for select components.