Recovery of gold from refractory gold ores: Effect of pyrite on the stability of the thiourea leaching system

The extraction of gold from refractory gold ores(RGOs)without side reactions is an extremely promising endeavor.However,most RGOs contain large amounts of sulfide,such as pyrite.Thus,investigation of the influence of sulfide on the gold leaching process is important to maximize the utilization of RGOs.In this work,the effects of pyrite on the stability of the thiourea system were systematically investigated under different conditions.Results showed that the decomposition rate of thiourea was accelerated sharply in the presence of pyrite.The effect of pyrite on gold recovery in thiourea leaching systems was then confirmed via a series of experiments.The decomposition efficiency of thiourea decreased by 40%and the recovery efficiency of gold increased by 56%after the removal of sulfide by roasting.Under optimal conditions,the efficiency of the gold recovery system increased to 83.69%and only 57.92%of thiourea decomposition was observed.The high consumption of thiourea by the leaching system may be attributed to not only adsorption by mineral particles but also catalytic decomposition by some impurities in the ores,such as pyrite and soluble ferric oxide.

Research on Technology of Pressure Pretreatment with Oxygen for Refractory Gold Ores

An combined technology of pressure pretreatment with oxygen on refractory gold ores is pointed out and discussed on this paper, according to the experiments included the test in 1 kg grade batch pressure pretreatment with oxygen of the concentrate from the refractory gold ores of Dongbeizhai in Sichuan province, which is called the most refractory gold ores in China. It is shown that gold recovery reach 91.73% in the combined process which is described as follows: The flotation of the sulphide gold ores is under controlled conditions, producing the concentrate for pressure pretreatment with oxygen in acidic medium and the middling for the pressure pretreatment with oxygen in alkaline medium. The thickening and washing process substitute the pressure filtration process of the pulp after pressure pretreatment. The thick slimes of the two kinds of pressure pretreatment were mixed and then enter the CIL process for simplifying the flowsheet. The possible superabundance of acid of pressure pretreatment with oxygen in acidic medium was neutralized by the tailings of flotation and the cost of neutralization will be lower. The combined technology of pressure pretreatment with oxygen has the same advantages as the normal technology of pressure pretreatment and both is helpful for environment protection.

An Application of Microwave Pre-oxidation in Improving Gold Recovery of a Refractory Gold Ore

Microwave radiation was employed as a pretreating technology to oxidise a refractory gold ore. Heating characteristics showed that, in an identical microwave field, the bulk temperature of the sample increased with microwave power, microwave radiation time and particle size. The rate of sulphur removal increased with microwave radiation time. Particle size also had a significant effect on the oxidation rate. Pyrite and marcasite could be oxidised into Fe 2O 3 with a high porous structure. When microwave radiation was carried out in a rotary bed, the oxidation was more uniformly developed, in comparison with in a fixed bed. Gold extraction by cyanidation could be remarkably improved after the ore was subjected to microwave radiation. The results showed that gold recovery could be improved from 37% to 69%～ 81.2 %.