New insights into the extraction of invisible gold in a low-grade high-sulfur Carlin-type gold concentrate by bio-pretreatment

Xiao-bin Qiu; Jian-kang Wen; Song-tao Huang; Hong-ying Yang; Mei-lin Liu; Biao Wu

doi:10.1007/s12613-017-1501-7

Volume 24 Issue 10

Oct. 2017

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Article Navigation > International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials > 2017 > 24(10): 1104-1111

Xiao-bin Qiu, Jian-kang Wen, Song-tao Huang, Hong-ying Yang, Mei-lin Liu, and Biao Wu, New insights into the extraction of invisible gold in a low-grade high-sulfur Carlin-type gold concentrate by bio-pretreatment, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 24(2017), No. 10, pp. 1104-1111. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-017-1501-7

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Xiao-bin Qiu, Jian-kang Wen, Song-tao Huang, Hong-ying Yang, Mei-lin Liu, and Biao Wu, New insights into the extraction of invisible gold in a low-grade high-sulfur Carlin-type gold concentrate by bio-pretreatment, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 24(2017), No. 10, pp. 1104-1111. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-017-1501-7

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Research Article

New insights into the extraction of invisible gold in a low-grade high-sulfur Carlin-type gold concentrate by bio-pretreatment

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Corresponding author:
Jian-kang Wen E-mail: kang3412@126.com
Received: 16 December 2016; Revised: 20 April 2017; Accepted: 3 May 2017

Abstract

Abstract

To extract gold from a low-grade (13.43 g/t) and high-sulfur (39.94wt% sulfide sulfur) Carlin-type gold concentrate from the Nibao deposit, Guizhou, a bio-pretreatment followed by carbon-in-pulp (CIP) cyanide leaching process was used. Various methods were used to detect the low-grade gold in the concentrate; however, only time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) was successful. With bio-pretreatment, the gold recovery rate increased by approximately 70.16% compared with that obtained by direct cyanide leaching of the concentrate. Various attempts were made to increase the final gold recovery rate. However, approximately 20wt% of the gold was non-extractable. To determine the nature of this non-extractable gold, mineralogy liberation analysis (MLA), formation of secondary product during the bio-pretreatment, and the preg-robbing capacity of the carbonaceous matter in the ore were investigated. The results indicated that at least four factors affected the gold recovery rate:gold occurrence, tight junctions of gold-bearing pyrite with gangue minerals, jarosite coating of the ore, and the carbonaceous matter content.
- gold ore;
- invisible gold;
- bio-pretreatment;
- mineralogy liberation analysis;
- secondary product;
- carbonaceous matter

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References

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