Pilot plant circuit used for process test work

Where to start, by question

Most enquiries arrive as one of six questions. This page routes each one to the page that actually answers it, and says what you will need to have ready before the answer is any use.

Six questions, and where each one is answered

We don't publish articles on a schedule, and a page of placeholders helps nobody. What follows is the routing we'd give you on a call.

1. Is my ore going to behave?

Nothing downstream is decidable until this one is settled. Grade alone won't tell you; how the value mineral occurs will. Start at test work and research. Have ready: a representative sample, the element and phase analysis if it exists, and an honest statement of how the sample was taken. A composite from a single trench answers a different question than a spread across the orebody.

2. Which flowsheet applies to my mineral?

Go to the ore-type solutions and read the one that matches. Each sets out the route, where it fails, and the equipment the route implies. Read the route as a starting hypothesis — the test result is what confirms or kills it.

3. What should the contract cover?

This is where projects are won or lost, and it's a commercial question more than a technical one. EPC turnkey puts design, supply and construction under one signature. Contract mining and operation keeps us on site afterwards. Buying equipment alone is a legitimate option too — see equipment manufacturing. The boundary you choose decides which risks stay with you.

4. How long will it take, and what drives that?

Schedule is set by the long-lead items and by how much of the work can be moved off site. Modular plants shift assembly into a shop, which matters most where site access, labour or weather is the constraint. Ask about it early — it changes the construction scope, not just the delivery date.

5. Has this been done before, and by whom?

The project record lists what we've delivered by region and scope. Figures there are the ones reported in our own project brochures — read them as scope evidence, not as a forecast for your orebody.

6. Can you actually build it where my project is?

Two separate things get conflated here: engineering capability and statutory permission. Capability is on technical strength. Certifications and construction credentials are on qualifications — and note that the Chinese construction and design credentials listed there are Chinese credentials. They say what we're licensed to do in China. They don't grant statutory design or construction approval in your jurisdiction, and any proposal that implies otherwise is worth questioning.

What to send before the first call

The gap between a useful reply and a brochure is usually four or five facts.

  • The mineral and how it occurs. Element and phase analysis if you have it. If you don't, say so — that's the first thing test work resolves.
  • Target throughput. A number, even a rough one. Circuit sizing and equipment selection both hang off it.
  • Where the project stands. Exploration, scoping, feasibility, permitted, or already built and underperforming. These lead to completely different conversations.
  • Site constraints. Power, water, altitude, climate, road access, distance to port. These change the flowsheet, not just the logistics.
  • The scope you're considering. Equipment only, design only, full EPC, or EPC plus operation.

Short and specific beats long and vague. Send it to the project team and you'll get a scoped reply rather than a catalogue.

Send us the ore, the tonnage target and the site conditions. We reply with a scoped proposal.

Every Xinhai proposal starts from test work, not from a catalogue. Tell us where the project stands and our engineers will come back with the delivery model, the scope split and the next step.

Request a project proposal

Technical articles

Longer write-ups on the questions that come up most often.