Albion Process™ has real-world success in delivering consistently high recoveries – up to 97% in refractory gold and over 99% in chalcopyrite copper concentrates.

It has much lower capital cost than traditional leaching plants like pressure oxidation (POx) plants and because it operates at atmospheric pressure, it completely avoids the myriad of risks of POx plants.

It’s also dramatically less expensive to operate, with a recent study suggesting a third lower in ongoing opex costs.
Albion Process™ tolerates a more variable feed and lower grade to work where others fail.  It can therefore make some projects feasible and profitable where alternative technologies simply cannot.

It’s also incredibly fast to install and commission and very easy to operate.

Albion Process™ is a combination of ultrafine grinding and oxidative leaching at atmospheric pressure. The feed to the Albion Process™ are base or precious metal concentrates. The sulphides in the feed are oxidised and valuable metals liberated, with the economic metals recovered by conventional downstream processing.

It was developed in 1994 by Glencore and is patented worldwide. 

The Albion Process™ plants around the world are treating a range of materials including a zinc sulphide concentrate, refractory gold/silver concentrates and chalcopyrite copper concentrates.