Sand and gravel plants as potential sources of gold production in the European Union

Abstract

Since 2002, the gold market has undergone a series of convulsions, related to geopolitics and to the demands of the growing economies of China and India, which have triggered price rises. In the current situation where the price of gold is at a 20 year high and in an attempt to meet this foreseeable demand for gold, the prospect of recovering gold and heavy minerals of economic interest from sand and gravel normally used for aggregates is assessed. To date, these minerals, with rare exceptions, have been ‘lost’ in the manufacture of concrete for public works and construction. The authors propose a methodology for the recovery of these minerals in the most cost effective way possible. A case history based on a currently operating sand and gravel plant, located in northeast Spain, which uses gravimetric methods to recover these minerals, is presented.