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    SandLix™ 15,000 t heap leach prototype: mine planning and recovery notes for engineers

    March 10, 2026|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    SandLix™ 15,000 t heap leach prototype: mine planning and recovery notes for engineers

    First reported on International Mining – News

    30 Second Briefing

    SandLix™, Anglo American’s novel heap leach process for low-grade copper ores, has reached a key milestone with a 15,000 t prototype heap now under operation, scaling up from earlier 100–1,000 t test pads. The technology targets finely ground, sand-sized material rather than conventional crushed rock, using controlled agglomeration and irrigation to improve percolation and copper recovery from ores that are currently marginal or sent to waste. If commercialised, SandLix™ could materially change mine planning by converting large tonnages of sub-economic material into leachable reserves with relatively low additional footprint.

    Technical Brief

    • Process is framed by Anglo American as a response to future copper supply constraints under decarbonisation.

    Our Take

    Within our 1101 Mining stories, copper features heavily in process innovation pieces, and a 15,000 t SandLix™ heap-leach prototype signals that Anglo American is testing technologies at a scale that could realistically be slotted into mid‑tier brownfield copper operations rather than just lab or pilot work.

    Other copper coverage in our database, such as Codelco’s recent MoUs with XCMG and Microsoft, points to majors prioritising productivity and cost control; if SandLix™ can materially improve copper recovery or reagent efficiency at prototype scale, it will directly support those cost‑down, throughput‑up strategies at existing leach operations.

    Because this SandLix™ item is tagged under both Product and Sustainability, it sits alongside a relatively small subset of 2060 tag‑matched pieces where new technology is explicitly framed as reducing environmental impact, suggesting Anglo American is positioning this heap‑leach approach as a permitting and ESG advantage for future copper projects.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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