Characteristics of Gold Minerals in Gold Concentrate with a High Copper Content and Effective Gold Recovery via Flotation and Ammonia Pretreatment–Cyanidation Leaching
The characteristics of ultrafine gold minerals in gold concentrate with a high copper content produced by a large gold mining company in Shandong Province were determined via chemical composition analysis, phase analysis, and mineral liberation analysis. The results showed that the concentrate conta...
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| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Minerals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/13/8/1088 |
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| author | Yuebing Liu Shuming Wen |
| author_facet | Yuebing Liu Shuming Wen |
| author_sort | Yuebing Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The characteristics of ultrafine gold minerals in gold concentrate with a high copper content produced by a large gold mining company in Shandong Province were determined via chemical composition analysis, phase analysis, and mineral liberation analysis. The results showed that the concentrate contained 48.13 g/t gold, which was mainly in the form of native gold and electrum. Regarding the gold mineral particles, 57.65% were completely liberated and 35.75% were associated with chalcopyrite and pyrite. The remainder mainly comprised wrapped intergrowths. The cumulative distributions of native gold and electrum fractions with diameters of less than 75 µm were 82.55% and 90.15%, respectively. Enhanced Cu–S bulk flotation, and then, Cu–S separation from the raw material were proposed to effectively enrich the gold minerals and decrease the treatment throughput during the leaching operation. The optimized conditions yielded a concentrate with a high copper content (3.89% Cu and 545.62 g/t Au contents, and 83.15% Cu and 77.54% Au recoveries) and a concentrate with a high sulfur content (0.059% Cu and 15.03 g/t Au contents, and 83.15% Cu and 21.28% Au recoveries). The capacity of the subsequent leaching process was reduced by 25%. Ammonia pretreatment was introduced to decrease the adverse effect of copper on cyanidation leaching for the copper concentrate. Under the optimized leaching conditions, gold dissolution reached 99.76%, which was approximately 4% higher than that obtained via direct leaching. The NaCN consumption decreased over 10 kg/t. These results could serve as a valuable reference for the economic and green utilization of gold resources from concentrate with a high copper content. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:42:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-558da924df36449fa67031a628394484 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-163X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:42:35Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
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| record_format | Article |
| series | Minerals |
| spelling | doaj.art-558da924df36449fa67031a6283944842023-11-19T02:21:37ZengMDPI AGMinerals2075-163X2023-08-01138108810.3390/min13081088Characteristics of Gold Minerals in Gold Concentrate with a High Copper Content and Effective Gold Recovery via Flotation and Ammonia Pretreatment–Cyanidation LeachingYuebing Liu0Shuming Wen1State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Faculty of Land Resource Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Faculty of Land Resource Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, ChinaThe characteristics of ultrafine gold minerals in gold concentrate with a high copper content produced by a large gold mining company in Shandong Province were determined via chemical composition analysis, phase analysis, and mineral liberation analysis. The results showed that the concentrate contained 48.13 g/t gold, which was mainly in the form of native gold and electrum. Regarding the gold mineral particles, 57.65% were completely liberated and 35.75% were associated with chalcopyrite and pyrite. The remainder mainly comprised wrapped intergrowths. The cumulative distributions of native gold and electrum fractions with diameters of less than 75 µm were 82.55% and 90.15%, respectively. Enhanced Cu–S bulk flotation, and then, Cu–S separation from the raw material were proposed to effectively enrich the gold minerals and decrease the treatment throughput during the leaching operation. The optimized conditions yielded a concentrate with a high copper content (3.89% Cu and 545.62 g/t Au contents, and 83.15% Cu and 77.54% Au recoveries) and a concentrate with a high sulfur content (0.059% Cu and 15.03 g/t Au contents, and 83.15% Cu and 21.28% Au recoveries). The capacity of the subsequent leaching process was reduced by 25%. Ammonia pretreatment was introduced to decrease the adverse effect of copper on cyanidation leaching for the copper concentrate. Under the optimized leaching conditions, gold dissolution reached 99.76%, which was approximately 4% higher than that obtained via direct leaching. The NaCN consumption decreased over 10 kg/t. These results could serve as a valuable reference for the economic and green utilization of gold resources from concentrate with a high copper content.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/13/8/1088gold concentrate with high copper contentenhancing floatation separationammonia pretreatmentcyanidation leaching |
| spellingShingle | Yuebing Liu Shuming Wen Characteristics of Gold Minerals in Gold Concentrate with a High Copper Content and Effective Gold Recovery via Flotation and Ammonia Pretreatment–Cyanidation Leaching Minerals gold concentrate with high copper content enhancing floatation separation ammonia pretreatment cyanidation leaching |
| title | Characteristics of Gold Minerals in Gold Concentrate with a High Copper Content and Effective Gold Recovery via Flotation and Ammonia Pretreatment–Cyanidation Leaching |
| title_full | Characteristics of Gold Minerals in Gold Concentrate with a High Copper Content and Effective Gold Recovery via Flotation and Ammonia Pretreatment–Cyanidation Leaching |
| title_fullStr | Characteristics of Gold Minerals in Gold Concentrate with a High Copper Content and Effective Gold Recovery via Flotation and Ammonia Pretreatment–Cyanidation Leaching |
| title_full_unstemmed | Characteristics of Gold Minerals in Gold Concentrate with a High Copper Content and Effective Gold Recovery via Flotation and Ammonia Pretreatment–Cyanidation Leaching |
| title_short | Characteristics of Gold Minerals in Gold Concentrate with a High Copper Content and Effective Gold Recovery via Flotation and Ammonia Pretreatment–Cyanidation Leaching |
| title_sort | characteristics of gold minerals in gold concentrate with a high copper content and effective gold recovery via flotation and ammonia pretreatment cyanidation leaching |
| topic | gold concentrate with high copper content enhancing floatation separation ammonia pretreatment cyanidation leaching |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/13/8/1088 |
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