Extractive Metallurgy
Lab Manager-Dr. Ibrahim (Abe) Gundiler
The metallurgy laboratory provides bench scale and pilot-plant scale ore-testing capabilities to aid the minerals industry of the state. This facility has been particularly instrumental in initial evaluation of small prospects and new discoveries, as well as in conducting preliminary test work for process modifications in operating mills. Fire assaying is one of the most frequently requested services provided by this laboratory. Several hundred assays are run every year for small miners and prospectors. Service work includes mineral beneficiation tests using flotation, leaching, and magnetic, electrostatic, and gravity concentration methods. Provisions for standard bottle-roll and column-leach tests, autoclaves for pressure-oxidation, and a counter-current mixer-settler unit for solvent-extraction tests are also available. With the exception of a few commercial laboratories, NMBGMR is perhaps the only organization in the country that provides these services to the public.
The metallurgy laboratory also provides training for mining and metallurgy students and is available to other faculty and staff at New Mexico Tech for minerals-related research. Current research projects include: remediation studies on abandoned mill tailings; separation of precious metals, copper, aluminum, and plastics from electronic scrap for recycling; alternative reagents to cyanide leaching; and pressure oxidation in processing refractory gold and silver ores.
New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources
New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology
801 Leroy Place
Socorro, NM 87801-4796
information: (575) 835-5420
fax: (575) 835-6333
http://geoinfo.nmt.edu
The New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources is a research and service division of:
