Technical Bulletin: Laboratory Testing of Aurix®100 For Gold Ris

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TECHNICAL BULLETIN
LABORATORY TESTING OF AuRIX®100 FOR GOLD RIS
In carrying out Resin-in- Solution (RIS) testwork on Cognis AuRIX®100 resin it is important
that standard methods of testing and reporting are employed. In this way the test program will
gather data in a form which can be used by engineering companies to carry out feasibility studies
on a RIS project.
The first step in evaluating the potential use of AuRIX 100 for a gold RIS application is to carry
out a series of laboratory tests.
The main tests are:
Bottle Roll or Stirred Tank Extraction Isotherm Tests
These provide information on the loading onto AuRIX 100 of gold (and other metals of interest)
which will take place in any RIS plant. They indicate the level of gold transfer in gm/ liter or
gm/dry kg of resin, which may be achievable in a plant. If the extraction of the cyanide
complexes of other metals is monitored in the test, the results will also indicate the degree to
which these metals (e.g. Ag) will be co-extracted and the degree to which other metals such as
Cu, Ni, Hg, Zn and SCN- will compete with gold extraction and reduce the gold loading on the
resin.
The results are usually presented in table form and graphed as a Freundlich Isotherm
Parallel tests using activated carbon may also be carried out.
Stirred Tank Extraction Kinetics Tests
These use a single concentration of AuRIX100 and generate kinetic data over a period of up to
24 hours. They are usually interpreted in terms of the Nicol- Fleming rate equation.
Unless there is a high concentration of competing anionic species in the leach solution, AuRIX
100 will usually show markedly superior extraction kinetics to activated carbon and this will
mean that the size and capital cost of an RIS plant may be significantly lower than of a CIS plant.
Parallel tests using activated carbon should be run to provide comparison data.
Continuous Resin- in- Solution Testwork
If the preliminary data from the batch extraction tests looks promising, then a small-scale
continuous pilot plant test should be run. The test will employ 4-5 columns in series. The
columns will be moved forward in a carousel mode. This test can take several days and, even at
the low leach solution flow rates employed, requires a reasonable supply of leach solution.
Cognis Corporation l 2430 North Huachuca Drive l Tucson, Arizona USA 85745-1273
Telephone: (520) 622-8891 l FAX: (520) 624-0912 l Web site: www.cognis-us.com
Information provided in this technical literature is believed to be accurate. However, Cognis assumes no liability and makes no warranty or
representation that the information is correct or complete. Final determination of suitability of any material and issues of patent infringement are the
sole responsibility of the user who alone knows the conditions of intended use.
AuRIX® is a registered trademark of Cognis Group Page 1
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TECHNICAL BULLETIN
Typically about 50 liters of leach solution will be used per day and the test may take about 7
days to complete
Resin Breakthrough Testwork
At the end of the continuous testing, the leach solution flow is maintained for a significant time,
usually about 48 hours without moving the columns in carousel mode. The solution exiting each
column is periodically sampled, assayed and signs of breakthrough in terms of the exiting gold
tenor are monitored.
Resin Elution Testwork
The resin from the lead columns (the loaded resin columns) from the continuous resin – in -
solution testwork is combined and used for elution test work. No electrowinning is carried out in
this test work.
Measurement of Resin Weight.
It is important that all gold extraction testwork be carried out on wet drained resin.
Under no circumstances should the resin be dried prior to testwork. Drying the resin will change
the resin structure and the dried resin will not perform in the same way that the wet (as supplied)
resin does. There are two ways of measuring the weight of dry resin for testwork.
1. Take a sample of wet resin and weigh it. Dry the sample for 12 hours at 80 o C in a weighing
bottle or some container with a loose fit and weigh the dried resin to obtain a constant which
can be used to calculate the dry weight of resin from a wet weight. The main resin sample
must be stored in a sealed container to prevent changes in moisture content during the
testwork.
2. Use a volumetric measurement. Using a 5-ml graduate place the resin in the graduate and
repeatedly tap the graduate on as bench to settle the resin. 2.8 ml of resin has a weight of 1
gm.
Note Although the resin is used as a wet resin all analytical data such as gold loading is
reported as mg of gold per dry kilogram of resin.
While the resin should not be dried before a test the resin recovered, at the end of the test may be
collected, dried and weighed to give an accurate value of the weight of dry resin used in the test.
(Dried resin beads tend to develop a static charge, which makes them difficult to handle. Due to
the static charge, great care must be taken in order to get an accurate weight on dried resin.) This
permits calculation of such parameters as gold loading in mg/ kg of dry resin
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Preparation of a Preconditioned or Pseudo Eluted Resin.
In an operating plant, the eluted resin entering the extraction contactors will have a finite gold
loading on it. This will be the gold left on the resin after elution.
Typically it will be about 300 mg/kg. If significant Cu, Ni, Zn is present in the cyanide leach
solution then some of these metals will also be on the eluted resin.
In order to precondition the resin it should be treated as follows:
Rinse with 10 bed volumes of 0.5 molar caustic soda followed by rinsing with 3-5 bed volumes
of water to remove residual strong caustic solution. This will remove any acid remaining from
the manufacturing process and convert the resin to the free base form
Contact the resin for 24 hours with 15 mg/l gold cyanide solution containing 100 ppm free
cyanide at a 10:1 mass ratio (solution/wet resin) in order to load the resin to 300 mg/dry kilo. At
the end of the contact time analyze the solution for gold and calculate the resin loading of gold in
mg/kg.
In addition analyze a sample of resin for gold and other metals as required
Analysis of Resin
This requires destruction of the resin bead by furnacing, digestion of the charred resin in aqua
regia and AA or ICP analysis of the resulting solution.
Weigh 0.5 gms of dry resin into a crucible which has a layer of gold free silica flour on the
bottom
In a furnace with an open door (slightly open) ramp up the temperature by 50o C per hour to 700
o
C and maintain at 700o C for two hours. Note that the ramp up may be faster provided the beads
do not explode. The furnace should be operated in a hood or in a well-ventilated area due to the
formation of styrene vapors that can be quite irritating.
Cool, digest in aqua regia and analyze with AA or ICP. Alternatively extract the gold with
DIBK-Aliquat ®336 prior to direct AA of the organic
Free Cyanide Concentration in the Test Solutions .
If the free cyanide concentration in the leach solutions used for testwork is very low then over
time it may fall below the level required to keep the metal cyanides in solution. It is preferable to
have a minimum of 100-ppm free cyanide in the leach solution. If the pH of the test solution is
low however this may not be possible as much of the cyanide will be present as dissolved HCN.
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TECHNICAL BULLETIN
This dissolved HCN will however provide a reserve of cyanide that will keep the metals in
solution.
The Test procedures will now be discussed in more detail.
Bottle Roll or Stirred Tank Extraction Isotherm Tests.
A bottle roll is preferable, as it will prevent evaporation of the solutions.

However a baffled vertically agitated tank may be used.
The ratio of resin weight /solution weight used for each contact will vary with the gold tenor of
the leach solution. The following are typical resin concentrations for a 0.5 and a 2.0-mg/litre gold
leach solution
2.0 mg/liter Gold Solution 8.0 mg/liter Gold Solution

Solution vol, 1000 ml Solution volume, 200 ml
Resin Wt. Resin conc.-gpl Resin Wt. Resin conc.-gpl
gms dry resin gms dry resin
0.015 0.02 0.015 0.08
0.030 0.03 0.030 0.15
0.06 0.06 0.06 0.30
0.12 0.12 0.12 0.60
0.24 0.24 0.24 1.2
Analyze the leach solution for the metals of interest
At the end of 48 hours contact time analyze the solution in equilibrium with the resin
Measure the dry weight of resin recovered from each contact
Calculate the resin loading in mg/kg of dry resin for each test
Plot the data with resin loading in mg Au/kg of dry resin as the vertical axis and equilibrium
solution analysis in mg Au/liter as the horizontal axis.
To evaluate the Freundlich Isotherm replot the data using a Log –Log plot.
Ye = A Cen
Ye = equilibrium gold loading (mg/kg)

Ce = equilibrium solution analysis (mg/l)
A = equilibrium gold loading when Ce = 1 mg/l
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n = slope of line
If assays for other metals have been completed, a selectivity curve for gold over a metal such as
copper can be plotted. Plot Au conc. on resin (mg/kg) on the horizontal axis and Cu conc. on
resin (mg/kg) on the vertical axis.
Stirred Tank Extraction Kinetics Test
To evaluate extraction kinetics we are interested in the extraction rate at low gold loading on the
resin. Typically one looks at gold loadings over the range 500-3000 mg/kg of dry resin.
The volume of solution used should be at least one liter and preferably 2-5 liters. This means that
the solution volume will not be disturbed by the volumes withdrawn for analysis (about 40 ml
per sample) at various time intervals. It also means that the resin weight used will be reasonably
large.
For a 2.0 mg/l Au leach solution a resin concentration of 0.24 gm/l should be used.
For an 8.0 mg/l Au leach solution a resin concentration of 1.0 gm/l should be used.
Place the resin in a stirred tank with sufficient agitation to keep the beads of resin fully dispersed
throughout the solution
The stirred tank should be sampled at 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 8.0 and 12.0 hours.
The 40-ml sample should be filtered, any resin beads should be returned to the tank.
Analyze the filtered sample for gold.
The gold concentration on the resin (mg/kg dry resin) should be calculated for each time period.
Weigh the dry resin recovered at the end of the test
Plot the gold conc. on the resin (mg/kg dry resin) on the vertical axis and time in hours on the
horizontal axis
Nicol Fleming Equation
[Au]r = k [Au] s tn
[Au]r = Au conc. on resin mg/l

[Au]s = Au conc. in solution mg/l
t = Elapsed time
k = Fleming rate constant ( 1/t)
N = equilibrium loading factor
Plot Ln[Au]r on the vertical axis and Ln t on the horizontal axis.

The slope is n
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At t=1.0 Ln t =0 and
Ln[Au] r = Ln [Au]s + Ln k
Note that [Au] s is the average solution concentration over the time period t
For AuRIX typical values of n and k are 0.3 to 0.5 and 300 to 500 respectively.
For activated carbon values of k= 260 and n= 0.52 are typical
Continuous Resin- in- Solution Testwork
This involves passing leach solution through four columns in series for several days. The
solution analyses exiting each column are analyzed at regular time intervals for Au and any other
metals of interest.
At the end of each day the lead column is removed and a new column containing eluted resin is
placed in the tail position. The resin in the lead column is sampled for analysis and the remainder
stored for elution testwork.
Tail Column Leach Solution
Loaded
Column
Barren Lead Column
Eluted column advanced to tail column Loaded column taken off line for
All other columns advanced to right elution and analysis
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Typical Test Parameters
Leach solution flow 60 BV/hr downflow

Carousel Cycle time Advance columns once every 24
Hours
Total days of testing 5 –7
Sampling frequency Take column exit solution samples
for each column every two hours
for the last 12 hours of each cycle
Notes:
It is useful to preload the columns for 48 hours by passing leach solution through them without
sampling or advancing the columns.
For a 5-day run prepare 9 columns loaded with resin. Four will be in the extraction train and five
will be eluted resin columns available to replace the tail column every 24 hours.
Sample the resin from each lead column as it is removed from the carousel and analyze for gold
and any other relevant metals. Retain the remainder of the lead column resin and composite the
lead column resin for elution testing.
Suitable column dimensions and flows for a lab circuit are as follows:
Column ID 25 mm
Column height 200 mm
Material Clear Acrylic
Sample point Spigot valve in base
Screens Placed at top and bottom of column
Leach solution flow 30 ml/ min
Resin mass 10 gms dry resin
Resin Vol. (wet) 30 mls
The data should be reported as follows.
For each day plot the cycle time in hours (0-24) on the horizontal axis
For each column plot the [Au] in the exit solution from each column on the vertical axis. There
will be one graph line for each column. There will be points for 12,14,16,18,20,22 and 24 hours.
Also the 12,16, 20 and 24-hour exit analyses should be plotted with the [Au] on the vertical axis
and the column number on the horizontal axis.
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TECHNICAL BULLETIN
Breakthrough Tests
At the end of the continuous test continue to pass leach solution through the columns for a
further two days without advancing the columns.
Sample the column exit solutions at 12, 16, 20 and 24 hours for each day. Plot exit solution
versus time and observe any obvious break through. (No obvious breakthrough may be observed
in some instances.)
Elution Tests
Take the resin from the loaded columns in the continuous RIS test and make a composite sample.
Take a sample of this composite for Au analysis.
Split resin sample into three.
Load three glass columns (use the same diameter columns as in extraction testing but use glass
because of the 60o C temperature in elution) with resin. Weigh the resin in each column
Make up a batch of barren eluate (60 liters will be sufficient for three columns each containing
30 ml of resin)
The Barren eluate contains
20 g/l Sodium Hydroxide
40 g/l Sodium Benzoate
400 mg/liter Sodium Cyanide
1 mg/l Gold
Preheat to 60o C and maintain at this temperature during the test
Pump the eluate to each of the columns using upflow.

The flow rate to the first column should be 5 BV/hr, to the second 10 BV/hr and to the third 20
BV/hr. Sample the eluate exiting each column at 0.5, 1,2,4,6,8,12 and 24 hours.
Collect and measure the total volume of eluate for each column. Weigh and analyze the eluted
resin from each column for gold.
For each test plot eluate [Au] in mg/l on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis.
Estimate the average eluate [Au] for each sampling period e.g. 0-5 hour, 0.5- 1.0 hour and using
this value, the eluate flow rate and the loaded resin analysis calculate the [Au] on the resin for
each sampling time. Plot this against time.

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The main tests are:

Bottle Roll or Stirred Tank Extraction Isotherm Tests

Parallel tests using activated carbon may also be carried out.

Stirred Tank Extraction Kinetics Tests

Continuous Resin- in- Solution Testwork

Resin Breakthrough Testwork

Resin Elution Testwork

Measurement of Resin Weight.

In order to precondition the resin it should be treated as follows:

Free Cyanide Concentration in the Test Solutions .

The Test procedures will now be discussed in more detail.

Bottle Roll or Stirred Tank Extraction Isotherm Tests.

A bottle roll is preferable, as it will prevent evaporation of the solutions.

2.0 mg/liter Gold Solution 8.0 mg/liter Gold Solution

Analyze the leach solution for the metals of interest

Ye = equilibrium gold loading (mg/kg)

Stirred Tank Extraction Kinetics Test

Nicol Fleming Equation

[Au]r = Au conc. on resin mg/l

Plot Ln[Au]r on the vertical axis and Ln t on the horizontal axis.

For activated carbon values of k= 260 and n= 0.52 are typical

Continuous Resin- in- Solution Testwork

Tail Column Leach Solution

Barren Lead Column

Leach solution flow 60 BV/hr downflow

The data should be reported as follows.

Pump the eluate to each of the columns using upflow.

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