Modular plants are fully fabricated and wet-tested off-site, then shipped in containers and reassembled on the mine site in weeks. Site-built plants are constructed on-site from individual components and equipment over many months. Modular favors speed, remote sites, and shorter mine lives; site-built favors high capacity, brownfield expansion, and project-specific layouts.
Modular Plant Advantages
Fast deployment — typical site setup time of 4–8 weeks from container delivery to gold production. Wet-tested in the factory before shipping — operators witness factory acceptance, catching design and fabrication issues before site mobilization. Repeatable build — KCA fabricates Model 20, 30, 50, 150 ADR plants and modular Merrill-Crowe systems as standardized products with brochured specifications.
Modular Plant Limitations
Capacity ceiling — modular plants typically max out at 150 m³/h carbon adsorption or 120 m³/h Merrill-Crowe. Less customizable — the standard layout is what you get. Container-based footprint may be less optimal than a custom site layout would be.
Site-Built Plant Advantages
Unlimited capacity — site-built Merrill-Crowe at 4,772 m³/h (Hycroft) and site-built ADR at 3,200 m³/h (Ivrindi) — far beyond any modular ceiling. Project-specific layout, integration with existing infrastructure, and flexibility to use locally-fabricated steel and concrete.
Site-Built Plant Limitations
Longer construction (12–24+ months from groundbreaking to commissioning). More on-site labor management. More risk during commissioning because the integrated plant isn't wet-tested before assembly.
KCA's Hybrid Capability
KCA delivers both. Most of our recent EPCMs are site-built (Camino Rojo, La India, Ivrindi). Our 74 modular plants delivered worldwide cover the smaller end of the market and remote-site applications. The choice is made early in the feasibility study based on capacity, location, mine life, and CapEx tradeoffs.
Have a project that involves Modular vs Site-Built?
KCA’s engineering bench and Reno metallurgical laboratory have done this before. Let’s talk about your project.
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