International Journal of Mineral Processing 95 (2010) 6877

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International Journal of Mineral Processing

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / i j m i n p r o

Cyanidation of gold ores containing copper, silver, lead, arsenic and antimony
P. Karimi a,, H. Abdollahi a, A. Amini b, M. Noaparast a, S.Z. Shafaei a, F. Habashi c
a
School of Mining Engineering, University of Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
b
Geological Survey and Exploration of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iran
c
Laval University, Quebec City, Canada G1V 0A6

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Cyanidation tests on two ore samples from two different gold deposits are reported. The rst sample
Received 11 December 2009 contained 10.5 ppm gold with high arsenic and antimony. The second sample had a low gold content
Received in revised form 27 February 2010 (2.5 ppm) but a high silver content (160 ppm). The rst series of test work focused on the determination of
Accepted 13 March 2010
conditions for extracting gold from the samples ground to 75 m. The optimum parameters were
Available online 20 March 2010
4000 mg/L for cyanide concentration, pH = 11.1 and 24-h cyanidation time for the rst sample; and
Keywords:
2500 mg/L, pH = 10.5 and 24 h for the second sample. Silver and gold recoveries were 94.91% and 28.2%
Gold ores respectively for the rst sample and 92.5% and 93.5% for the second sample.
Cyanidation In the second series of test work, H2O2 (0.015 M), air (0.15 L/min) and a mixture of H2O2 and air were used
Reaction kinetics as oxidizing agents to improve the gold extraction kinetics of the rst sample. It was found that gold leaching
Pretreatment recovery followed rst order kinetics and that the injection of air had the maximum benecial effect on the
leaching kinetics. In the third series of test work, acid pretreatment (HNO3 and HCl) and roasting (600
1000 C) from 0.5 to 2 h were carried out before cyanidation. Acid pretreatment reduced cyanide
consumption by 340 and 210 mg/L respectively and the corresponding gold recoveries increased to
98.87% and 95.11%. Cyanidation results on roasted samples showed that cyanide consumption was
drastically reduced by 1150 mg/L and gold recovery increased by 5.2%. Furthermore, arsenic, antimony,
cadmium and mercury contents were considerably reduced in the roasted sample (2 h at 1000 C).
2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction reactions and the preferential formation of Au (CN)

2 on the surface
instead of AuSx (Senanayake, 2008).
1.1. General
R1 M2S + 4CN 2M(CN)2 +S
2

Early studies on the dissolution of gold in cyanide solution in the R2 M2S + 4CN + H2O 2M(CN)
2 + OH + HS

presence of sulde minerals have shown that heavy metal compo-

nents, such as Cu, Fe and Zn, signicantly increase the consumption of
both cyanide and oxygen (Habashi, 1967; Dai and Jeffrey, 2006). In
addition, the sulde component has been shown to have a strong
impact on the gold leaching kinetics (Fink and Putnam, 1950; Hedley
and Tabachnick, 1968; Dai and Jeffrey, 2006). The leaching behavior of
gold in the presence of sulde minerals depended strongly on both
the solubility of the suldes and the oxygen concentration in the
solution (Dai and Jeffrey, 2006). Based on the experiments observa-
tion, it is postulated that sulde ions (formed by the decomposition of
sulde minerals) show detrimental effect on the cyanidation kinetics
of gold and silver. However, the detrimental effect of dissolved sulde
on gold cyanidation according to reactions R1 and R2 which
diminishes at higher cyanide concentrations, and favor the reverse
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +98 21 64592257.
E-mail address: pouya.karimi62@gmail.com (P. Karimi).
The presence of galena, as well as both sulde and added lead(II),
also improved the rate of gold dissolution. The dissolution rate was
found to be affected by ions such as lead(II), sulde, and iron(III)
released by the sulde mineral. The signicant decrease in the rate of
electrochemical and chemical dissolution of gold caused by chalco-
pyrite, pyrite, and pyrrhotite has been related to the various lms
formed on the gold surface as well as the galvanic interaction
(Lorenzen and van Deventer, 1992; Aghamirian and Yen, 2005; Dai
and Jeffrey, 2006; Senanayake, 2008). The dissolution of suldes
results in high cyanide consumption with the formation of cyano
complexes (e.g., of the ions Fe+ 2, Zn+ 2, Cu+ 2, Ni+ 2, Mn+ 2) and SCN.
When sulde minerals are present in gold ores, gold dissolution can
be affected in various ways. In one hypothesis (Weichselbaum et al.,
1989; Kondos et al., 1995), soluble sulde (S2 or HS) generated
from mineral dissolution reacts with gold and forms a passive lm,
which decreases the rate and extent of leaching. In another theory
(Lorenzen and van Deventer, 1992; Kondos et al., 1995), a dynamic
coupling of reduction forms at the sulde mineral surface which

0301-7516/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.minpro.2010.03.002
 P. Karimi et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 95 (2010) 6877 69

results in oxidation on the gold grains (Kondos et al., 1995). In the effect by presence of preg-robber, it considerably diminishes in
leaching of gold using cyanide, copper presents difculties due to the solutions of high concentration of cyanide (Tan et al., 2005). In such
lack of selectivity of cyanide for gold over copper (Rees and van refractory gold ores, gold particles may sometimes be occluded or
Deventer, 1999). Cyanide also forms complexes with a number of included in the sulde minerals and pretreatment is necessary to
metal irons: Fe(CN)4 2
6 , Ni(CN)4 , Zn(CN)4
2
and Ag(CN) 2 which decompose the mineral structure to liberate gold for subsequent
decrease the free cyanide concentration in slurry and retard gold recovery. These ores are usually pretreated by some oxidizing process
leaching(Rees and van Deventer, 1999). after which gold and silver can be recovered by standard cyanidation
The refractoriness of gold ores can result primarily from the process. The main available oxidizing processes for refractory gold
inherent mineralogical features with particular reference to the mode ores are roasting (LaBrooy et al., 1994; Angelidis and Kydros, 1995;
of presence and association of gold, and to the presence of Qingcui et al., 2009), biological oxidation (Lawrence and Bruynesteyn,
carbonaceous matter (Rubisov et al., 1996; Celep et al., 2009). A 1983; Deng and Liao, 2002) and pressure oxidation (Mason, 1990;
suitable pretreatment process is often required to overcome the Murthy et al., 1992; Qingcui et al., 2009). It has also been
refractoriness and render the gold accessible to the lixiviant action of demonstrated that the addition of other oxidizing reagents increases
cyanide and oxygen (Ubaldini et al., 1994; Celep et al., 2009). the kinetics of gold dissolution (Stoychevski and Williams, 1993;
Roasting, pressure oxidation, biooxidation, ultrane grinding and Deschenes and Prud home, 1997).
modied cyanidation are the pretreatment methods currently In this study, main cyanidation parameters for two different gold
practiced for refractory gold ores and concentrates (Sinadinovic et samples (grade and mineralogy) were compared. The studied samples
al., 1999; Iglesias and Carranza, 1994; Celep et al., 2009). Roasting, a were from two different gold deposits in Iran. The rst sample (high
simple stage process using a uidized bed roaster at around 650 C, is gold grade) was taken from Hirad gold deposit, situated in Southern
one of the most common methods for the treatment of gold-bearing Khorasan province, and the second one (low gold grade) was
pyrite/arsenopyrite and pyrrhotite concentrates to produce porous provided from Latala gold deposit, located in Kerman province
calcine with the increased amenability to cyanidation (Roshan, 1990; (Karimpour, 2006). After optimization of parameters, and due to the
Dunn and Chamberlain, 1997; Celep et al., 2009). Diagnostic leaching presence of arsenic, antimony, carbonaceous matters and clay
has been also proved to be very useful as an analytical tool for minerals, pretreatment processes such as acidic leaching and roasting
establishing the distribution of gold within different mineral phases of for the rst sample were investigated. Due to the complexity of
an ore (Celep et al., 2009). It was reported that pre-leaching mineralogy of rst sample, gold dissolution kinetic studies were also
successfully overcame the effect of pyrite and pyrrhotite on cyanide evaluated by using different oxidizing reagents which was not applied
consumption and the gold leaching kinetics, but it had no benecial for the second one.
effect when chalcopyrite was present (Dai and Jeffrey, 2006).
2. Ore preparation and characterization study
1.2. Factors affecting gold leaching
2.1. Sample preparation
Cyanidation has been used for over 100 years to extract precious
metals from sulde ores. Despite this fact, the reactions involved are Two representative samples were supplied by using a systematic
not fully understood. The chemical reactions that take place during sampling procedure and about 400 kg from each sample were used for
the cyanidation of concentrate for ores can be very complex (Luna and experiments. After four crushing stages (two jaw crushers, cone
Lapidus, 2000). Since a large proportion of gold ores contain sulde crusher and roll crusher), primary sample size reached to 2830 m.
minerals, the effects of these minerals on gold dissolution in cyanide In the next step, 2 kg samples were prepared by rifing and cone and
solution have interested many researchers. quartering method.
The initial rate of gold dissolution is largely controlled by the
factors such as cyanide and oxygen concentrations, pH, solidliquid 2.2. XRD, XRF and chemical analysis
interface, Eh of the slurry, alkalies, particle size and temperature. The
presence of other catalytic ions in solution and salinity of water also For ore characterization, optical mineralogy, using the prepared
affect the rate of leaching (Habashi, 1970; Nicol et al., 1987; Ellis and polished and thin sections, X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies were
Senanayake, 2004). From the electrochemical studies, the rate of gold
leaching in air-saturated solutions increases with increasing concen-
Table 1
tration of cyanide but becomes independent of cyanide concentration Mineralogical compositions of two gold samples.
when it exceeds 0.075% KCN. Clearly the high concentrations of
oxygen and cyanide improve initial gold leaching kinetics but high Gold ore Mineral Common mineral formula Composition
type name percentage
cyanide concentrations also increase cyanide consumption (Ellis and
Senanayake, 2004). The use of oxygen or an oxidizing reagent is Sample 1 Quartz SiO2 61.6
Illite (K,H3O)(Al,Mg,Fe)2(Si,Al)4O10[(OH)2, 11.1
essential for the dissolution of gold under normal conditions. Such
(H2O)]
oxidizing reagents as sodium peroxide, potassium permanganate, Gypsum CaSO4.2H2O 9.5
bromine, and chlorine have been used with more or less success; but Hematite Fe2O3 5.2
they are not used now, due to their cost and complications involved in Arsenopyrite FeAsS 3.6
their handling (Yannopoulos, 1991; Guzman et al., 1999; Marsden and Feldspar KAlSi3O8 3
Calcite CaCO3 3
Lain House, 2006). Generally, gold ores can be classied as free Galena PbS 1
milling and refractory depending on their response to cyanide Sphalerite ZnS 0.6
leaching (Brooy et al., 1994; Celep et al., 2009). While high gold Chalcopyrite CuFeS2 0.5
recoveries (N90%) from free milling ores can be readily achieved, Pyrite FeS2 0.2
Malachite Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 0.2
refractory gold ores are often characterized by the low gold
Azurite Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 0.2
extractions (5080%) within a conventional cyanide leaching process Celestite SrSO4 0.2
(Rubisov et al., 1996; Adams, 2005; Celep et al., 2009). The presence of Sample2 Quartz SiO2 73
preg-robber components such as carbonaceous matter, sulde Goethite FeO(OH) 21.6
minerals and aluminosilicate have more inuence in decreasing of Calcite CaCO3 2.7
Feldspar KAlSi3O8 2.4
gold and silver dissolution rate and recovery. In despite of negative
70 P. Karimi et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 95 (2010) 6877

Table 2 2.3. Microscopic mineralogy

Qualitative analysis by XRF method.

Components First Second Components First Second Mineralogical studies were carried out by optical microscope in
(wt.%) sample sample (wt.%) sample sample order to determine gold liberation size and evaluation of various
SiO2 59.05 68.91 MgO 0.73 0.36 mineral interlocking in different size fractions including + 2000,
Al2O3 17.20 8.34 TiO2 0.47 0.25 2000 + 840, 840 + 590, 590 + 297, 297 + 149, 149 + 74,
Fe2O3 5.47 14.06 MnO 0.12 0.56 74 + 62, 62 + 53 and 53 m by using polished and thin sections
P2O5 0.10 0.10 ZnO 0.43 b 0.05
in which their results are previously presented in Table 1.
CaO 4.12 0.44 PbO 0.9 b 0.05
SO3 0.60 0.86 Na2O b0.1
K2O 3.91 1.90 L.O.I 6.76 4.20
2.3.1. High grade gold ore (sample1)
The major minerals were quartz, clay minerals, gypsum, hematite,
arsenopyrite, feldspar and calcite whereas the minor ones were
galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, malachite, azurite and celes-
Table 3
Elemental analysis of the primary ores samples by ICP-OES technique. tite. The relationships between gold and sulde minerals e.g. pyrite,
sphalerite and galena are shown in Fig. 1.
Elements (g/t) First sample Second sample
For further identication of rst sample characterization, scanning
Au 10.5 2.5 electron microscope (SEM) method was used and its results are
Ag 2.1 160 presented as particles photos and its component histogram in Fig. 2
As 16676.5 543.3
Pb 9000 14
series.
Zn 4000 53 As it can be seen in Fig. 2(A) and (C), components such as Pb, Zn, As
Cu 3000 56 and Fe were detected as major parts of particles in the rst sample.
Titanium and manganese are also found in the rst sample which is
given in Fig. 2(B) and (E) respectively. Aluminosilicate minerals such
as illite and also feldspar and calcite can be distinguished in Fig. 2(D),
performed to dene the main and the trace minerals and their
due to the presence of the high amounts of Si, O, Al, Na, Ca and K
interlocking, as well. The results of the XRD analysis and optical
elements in this particle. In Fig. 2(F) and (G), antimony is identied as
mineralogy of the primary two gold samples are presented in Table 1.
a major part of the particle and Sr element in the particle of Fig. 2(H).
The major phases of minerals were quartz, clay minerals (illite),
By comparison of mineralogical data for both samples, it can be
gypsum, hematite, arsenopyrite, feldspar and calcite for the rst
resulted that the ore characteristics of the rst sample are more
sample and quartz, goethite, calcite and feldspar for the second one.
sophisticated than the other one and high amount of sulde minerals
Microscopic analysis conrmed the existence of the phases detected
causes more cyanide consumption. In some cases, porous particles are
by XRD method. In addition, arsenopyrite was reported in the optical
observed in the sample which is shown in Fig. 2(F) and (G). Also all
mineralogy studies for the rst sample which due to low amount of
the qualitative data of the SEM analysis are presented in Table 4.
arsenopyrite, was not detected in XRD analysis.
After separation by heavy liquid, heavy minerals were analyzed by
The samples were analyzed qualitatively by using X-ray uores-
optical microscope and as it can be seen in Fig. 3 which liberated gold
cence (XRF) technique in which its result is presented in Table 2.
particle as nugget and associated gold with sulde minerals were
Due to the presence of feldspar and clay minerals in rst sample,
consequently distinguished. Also the presence of other heavy
the amount of K2O and Al2O3 was twice as much compared to the
minerals such as galena and celestite were proved by this method.
second one. Also CaO content in the rst sample was ten times higher
According to the mineralogical studies, it can be concluded that some
than the second one that could cause some difculties in cyanidation
parts of gold is disseminated in sulde minerals such as arsenopyrite,
process. The iron oxide amount was 5.47% and 14.06% respectively.
galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, etc.
The analysis of gold, silver, arsenic, lead, zinc and copper were
carried out by using atomic adsorption, inductivity coupled plasma
and optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) techniques in which 2.3.2. Low grade gold ore (sample2)
results are given in Table 3. The second sample is categorized as oxide gold ore, because the
It is seen that in the rst sample, gold and arsenic content are main part of its pyrite minerals was changed to iron oxide and
much higher than the second one (by 4 and 32 times respectively), hydroxide such as goethite and lepidocrosite which are presented in
whereas the second sample contains silver much higher than the rst Fig. 4. According to thin and polished sections studies, the main
one (80 times). gangue mineral was SiO2 which was in three different forms namely

Fig. 1. Interlocking of gold and sulde minerals.

 P. Karimi et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 95 (2010) 6877 71

Fig. 2. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) to characterize the rst sample.

crystalline, microcrystalline and cryptocrystalline. Fig. 4 also shows
that gold grains are free and interlocked with quartz matrix.
In addition, the presence of a high amount of silver in free and
sulde forms and also the low content of other sulde minerals such
as base metal suldes is a remarkable point of these studies.
3. Material and methods
In order to prepare and grind samples for cyanidation process, a
Denver ball mill was used. The cyanidation experiments were carried
out in a 5-l plastic container equipped with the Ika mechanical mixer
(Ika-RW20, Germany) with a manual controller unit and stainless
steel impeller with a 9.85 cm diameter. A 20-l lter press and vacuum
lter were applied for pulp ltration. Also for determination of free
cyanide in solution, titration was employed with standard silver
nitrate (0.01 M) and potassium iodide (10%) as indicator.
To control pH, a pH meter (744 Metrohm) was utilized and
hydrated lime and hydrochloric acid (5%) were used to set the pulp
pH. In cyanidation, sodium cyanide was the lixiviant with injected air
to pulp by sparger and hydrogen peroxide as oxidizing reagents.
72 P. Karimi et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 95 (2010) 6877
Table 4
The qualitative data of the SEM.
Figure Qualitative data
A Ca, K, Mg, Fe, As, Pb, S, Au, Si, Zn
B Au, Si, Al, As, Ti, Fe, Mg, Ca, K
C Au, Sr, Si, Fe, Al, S, As, Ca, K
D Fe, Si, Al, Na, Au, K, Ca
E Mn, Fe, Si, Ca, K, Al, Au
F Ca, Sb, Fe, Si, As, Na
G Fe, Si, Sb, Ca, Na, Al, As
H Sr, Si, Fe, Ca, Al, As, K, Sb
Solution and solids were analyzed by atomic adsorptions, inductivity
coupled plasma and optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES).
4. Apparatus and experimental procedures
Cyanidation experiments were conducted to determine the most
suitable conditions for two samples of different origins. These
parameters included grinding time, sodium cyanide concentration,
pH and leaching time.
In order to increase the process recovery and reduce cyanide
consumption, diagnostic leaching techniques as pretreatment pro-
cedure, which included acidic leaching by hydrochloric, nitric
acid and roasting, were implemented to eliminate the detrimental
elements such as arsenic, antimony and carbonaceous matter for the
rst sample (Ubaldini et al., 1994; Sinadinovic et al., 1999; Celep et al.,
Fig. 3. (A) Liberated gold nugget, (B) unliberated gold associated with sulde minerals.
Fig. 4. A: The ne gold grain associated with quartz about 12 m, B: replace most of pyrite minerals by goethite and lepidocrosite.
2009). The primary pretreatment was performed on the 1 kg of rst
sample by using HCl in 4 h and at pH of 2.5, with 25% as solid percent.
The second pretreatment was carried out by 200 ml of HNO3 (30%)
with the same condition as to the rst test. In order to decrease of
detrimental effect of sulde and metal ions, roasting test in various
temperatures and times were studied. Samples with 5 gr weight were
analyzed for arsenic, antimony, cadmium, bismuth and mercury after
roasting (each test were duplicated).
5. Results
5.1. Effect of grinding time
The effect of different grinding times, to reach the sought particle
size, 75 m were studied. The results obtained from these grinding times
versus gold recoveries and passing percent are presented in Figs. 5 and 6.
In these experiments, other parameters were kept constant at
4000 mg/L of cyanide concentration for the rst sample, and 2500 mg/L
for the second one, whereas pH and leaching time for both samples were
identical at 10.5 and 24 h. Figs. 5 and 6 show that the most suitable
grinding times for two samples were found as 35 and 55 min
respectively in which 91.8% and 86.24% gold recoveries were achieved.
5.2. Cyanide concentration
Different cyanidation tests with various cyanide concentrations
were performed, to determine the best cyanide concentration. It is
 P. Karimi et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 95 (2010) 6877
Fig. 5. The gold recovery and passing percent versus grinding times for sample 1
(pH: 10.5, cyanide concentration: 4000 mg/L, cyanidation time: 24 h).
noteworthy that within these tests the other parameters were
constant at 35 and 55 min for grinding time, pH = 10.5 and 24 h for
leaching time.
According to the obtained results that are demonstrated in Fig. 7,
by increasing cyanide concentration from 4000 to 8000 mg/L in rst
sample and 2500 to 6500 mg/L for second one, the quantity of free
cyanide in pulp was increased and recovery continued its upward
trend, whereas recovery values were reached from 92.45% to 96.82%
and 88.31% to 89.92% respectively. Regarding the standard free
Fig. 6. The gold recovery and passing percent versus grinding times for sample 2
(pH: 10.5, cyanide concentration: 2000 mg/L, cyanidation time: 24 h).
Fig. 7. The results of cyanide concentration for two gold samples (grinding time: 35 and
55 min for the rst and second samples, pH: 10.5, cyanidation time: 24 h).
73
Fig. 8. The trend of recovery versus pH for two samples (grinding time: 35 and 55 min
for the rst and second samples, cyanide concentration: 4000, 2000 mg/L for the rst
and second samples, cyanidation time: 24 h).
cyanide in pulp (500 to 1000 mg/L) and acceptable recoveries (higher
than 88%), 4000 and 2500 mg/L for cyanide concentrations were
selected as best values for the two samples.
5.3. pH
Cyanidation tests were conducted at different incremental pHs
from 9.5 to 12 (with approximately 0.5 interval step). Fig. 8 presents
the results of these experiments, in which the highest recoveries were
94.91% in pH 11.1 and 92.5% in pH 10.5, for the two samples
respectively. The leaching time was 24 h.
5.4. Leaching time
To nd out the best cyanidation time, a 48 h test was conducted for
each sample. Samples (10 mL) from the clear solution obtained after
vacuum ltration were used for free cyanide determination and a
30 mL sample was provided to analyze gold content.
The results are presented in Fig. 9. It is seen that the trend of gold
dissolution was almost identical for two samples, and there was a
signicant inclined rate in rst 10 h whereas maximum recovery
reached 92% and 90% respectively.
5.5. Kinetics of gold dissolution (sample 1)
Various types of oxidizing reagent such as air, hydrogen peroxide
and a combination of air and H2O2 were utilized to increase the gold
dissolution rate for the rst sample (Yannopoulos, 1991; Guzman
Fig. 9. The gold recovery versus cyanidation times for two samples (grinding time: 35
and 55 min for the rst and second samples, cyanide concentration: 4000, 2000 mg/L
for the rst and second samples, pH: 11.1 and 10.5 for the rst and second samples).
74 P. Karimi et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 95 (2010) 6877

Fig. 10. Gold recovery versus different leaching times without oxidizing reagent,
k = 1.06, (grinding time: 35 min, cyanide concentration: 4000 mg/L, pH: 11.1). Fig. 13. Gold recovery versus different leaching time by air, k = 1.75, (grinding time:
35 min, cyanide concentration: 4000 mg/L, pH: 11.1).

condition for cyanidation process. Cyanidation test was performed

on the roasted sample in this condition and obtained results
presented a considerable decrease of cyanide consumption by
1150 mg/L and increasing recovery by 5.2% (Roshan, 1990; Dunn
and Chamberlain, 1997; Celep et al., 2009).
It can be concluded that by increasing of roasting temperature and
time, the amount of arsenic, bismuth and mercury decreased, but this
trend for antimony and cadmium has a little difference which may be
relevant to the boiling point of these elements in which their trends
are illustrated in Figs. 1418.

Fig. 11. Gold recovery versus different leaching time by H2O2, k = 1.35, (grinding time:
35 min, cyanide concentration: 4000 mg/L, pH: 11.1).

et al., 1999; Marsden and Lain House, 2006). The results are shown in
Figs. 1013.
For each experiment, two curves are presented, the rst one is
related to actual data which are obtained from experiments, and the
second curve is the modeled one, using rst order equation as
y = ymax(1 exp(kx)) which was generated by solver function in
Excel, based on the least square criteria.

5.6. Pre-treatment experiments (of sample 1)

According to the results, roasting in 1000 C at 2 h had adequate Fig. 14. The content of arsenic after roasting in various temperatures and times (initial
effects on omitting of followed elements and warrants a good value: 16,650 ppm).

Fig. 12. Gold recovery versus different leaching time by H2O2 + air, k = 1.65, (grinding Fig. 15. The content of antimony after roasting in various temperatures and times
time: 35 min, cyanide concentration: 4000 mg/L, pH: 11.1). (initial value: 2214 ppm).
 P. Karimi et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 95 (2010) 6877 75

Fig. 16. The content of cadmium after roasting in various temperatures and times
(initial value: 1.8 ppm).
Fig. 17. The content of bismuth after roasting in various temperatures and times (initial
value: 1.1 ppm).
Fig. 18. The content of mercury after roasting in various temperatures and times (initial
value: 1 ppm).
in 50 min for the rst sample. This phenomenon was due to the fact
that more liberated minerals in higher grinding times were achieved
and also gold grains surface was more covered by carbonaceous
matter, calcite, and clay minerals (illite).
Increase of cyanide concentration in leaching pulp caused high
cyanide consumption due to the presence of cyanicides and did not
improve gold recovery. With increasing pH, the value of free cyanide
was denitely increased, whereas the concentration of free cyanide
was increased from 120 to 240 mg/L at pH = 9.5 and reached to 2250
and 1750 mg/L at pH = 12 for the rst and second samples
respectively. Therefore, the optimum recovery was in the pH of 10.5
and 11 for both samples so that it decreased outside of this range. This
could be attributed to the formation of other complexes at low pH
which caused the gold recovery to be decreased. In addition, at pH
higher than 11, the majority of components were not able to make
stable complexes with cyanide. Hence, the free cyanide intensively
increased which is followed by a recovery decrease. Also at high pH of
solution, the suspended particles were deposited immediately,
because of the forming of Ca(OH)2 and Mg(OH)2 complexes, as the
occulants matters. Furthermore, gold passivation at higher pH has
been reported and a dramatic decrease of gold extraction in sample 2
at higher pH may be related to this.
For leaching time, the curve slope in Fig. 9, which shows the
recovery rate, was high at the rst 8 h and gradually decreased until
24 h (changes was up to 2%). For instance, gold recoveries were
achieved 92% for the rst 10 h for the rst sample and 89.4% for the
rst 8 h using second sample. Meanwhile the recoveries nally
reached to 96.56% and 93.5% after 48 h respectively. Gold dissolution
rate followed by 1st order kinetics presented as y = ymax(1 exp
(kx)), in which k (rate constant) values were obtained at 1.06 and
1.16 min 1 for the rst and second samples. The results of which are
shown in Table 5.
The introduction of air during leaching was more effective in
kinetics rate increase (1.75 min 1), whereas using mixture of air and
H2O2 yielded similar results (1.65 min 1). In addition, the gold
recoveries reached 99.03, 98.07 and 97.56% for the 48 h respectively
which showed the high effect of air as an oxidizing reagent. Despite
the difference in rate, the nal recovery value by using H2O2 as an
oxidizer was higher than other reagents.
By using of HCl and HNO3 as acidic pretreatments, gold recoveries
reached to 95.11% and 98.87% respectively and 97.05% by roasting of
sample in 1000 C in 2 h. In addition, cyanide consumption decreased
by 340, 210 and 1150 mg/L for acidic pretreatment and roasting. The
amount of arsenic, antimony, cadmium, bismuth and mercury
elements decreased considerably as 88, 34, 22, 75 and 82% on the
roasted sample (1000 C in 2 h). The results of gold recovery and
cyanide consumption versus variation of time and temperature of
roasting process are presented in Table 6.

7. Summary and conclusions

6. Discussion In this study, two different types of gold samples were investigated
in various cyanidation experiments. The rst sample was a high grade
By increasing of grinding time, cyanide consumption increased for ore and its gold and arsenic grades were 10.5 and 16676.5 g/t
both sample whereas 2910 mg/L in 20 min was changed to 3680 mg/L respectively and the second sample was a low grade ore with 2.5 g/t of

Table 5
Rate constant (k) of different oxidizing reagents for the rst sample.

Oxidant Rate constant Rate constant Cyanide concentration Cyanide consumption Gold recovery
(min 1) (min 1) (mg/L) (mg/L) (%)

Without oxidizer 1.06 10.5 4000 3875 96.56

H2O2 1.35 10.5 4000 3540 99.03
H2O2 + air 1.65 10.5 4000 3510 98.07
Air 1.75 10.5 4000 3650 97.56
76 P. Karimi et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 95 (2010) 6877

Table 6 cyanidation condition, using hydrogen peroxide, air and mixture of

Au recovery versus roasting temperature and time. H2O2 and air, were 1.06, 1.35, 1.75 and 1.65 min 1 respectively.
Condition Gold recovery Cyanide consumption

Time (h) Temperature (C)

(%) (mg/L) Acknowledgments

0.5 600 94.95 2950

700 95.01 2860
The authors would like to thank the Director of Mineral Processing
800 95.13 2740 Division in the Geological Survey of Iran for the support of this project;
900 95.74 2550 and Abedian and Movaghar Consultant, who helped in the collection
1000 96.07 2405 of the samples and Beshkani for editing of the paper.
1 600 95.41 2685
700 95.97 2480
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