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    Extraction of Gold: by Dr. Ahmed Ameed

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    Simba
    The document summarizes the extraction of gold from ore. It describes how gold occurs naturally, often mixed with other metals. The main methods of extracting gold from ore are hard rock mining, placer mining (panning, sluicing), and heap leaching. Heap leaching involves placing crushed ore on impermeable liners and applying a dilute cyanide solution to dissolve the gold. The gold-bearing solution is then separated from the solids and gold is recovered using processes like the Merrill-Crowe method, which uses zinc to precipitate gold from the cyanide solution.

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    Extraction of Gold: by Dr. Ahmed Ameed

    Uploaded by

    Simba
    185 views12 pages
    The document summarizes the extraction of gold from ore. It describes how gold occurs naturally, often mixed with other metals. The main methods of extracting gold from ore are hard rock mining, placer mining (panning, sluicing), and heap leaching. Heap leaching involves placing crushed ore on impermeable liners and applying a dilute cyanide solution to dissolve the gold. The gold-bearing solution is then separated from the solids and gold is recovered using processes like the Merrill-Crowe method, which uses zinc to precipitate gold from the cyanide solution.

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    Extractivemetallurgy6

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    The document summarizes the extraction of gold from ore. It describes how gold occurs naturally, often mixed with other metals. The main methods of extracting gold from ore are hard rock mining, placer mining (panning, sluicing), and heap leaching. Heap leaching involves placing crushed ore on impermeable liners and applying a dilute cyanide solution to dissolve the gold. The gold-bearing solution is then separated from the solids and gold is recovered using processes like the Merrill-Crowe method, which uses zinc to precipitate gold from the cyanide solution.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    185 views12 pages

    Extraction of Gold: by Dr. Ahmed Ameed

    Uploaded by

    Simba
    The document summarizes the extraction of gold from ore. It describes how gold occurs naturally, often mixed with other metals. The main methods of extracting gold from ore are hard rock mining, placer mining (panning, sluicing), and heap leaching. Heap leaching involves placing crushed ore on impermeable liners and applying a dilute cyanide solution to dissolve the gold. The gold-bearing solution is then separated from the solids and gold is recovered using processes like the Merrill-Crowe method, which uses zinc to precipitate gold from the cyanide solution.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 12

    Extraction of Gold

    By Dr. Ahmed Ameed

    1
    Characteristics and uses of gold
     Density : 19.3 g/cm3, Tm:1064 oC
     Shinny: for Jewelry
     Durable: does not tarnish or corrode easily, sometimes
    used in dentistry to make the crowns for teeth.
     Malleable and ductile: can be bent & flattened . For this
    reason it is used to make fine wires and thin, flat sheets
     Good conductor for heat & electricity: used in
    transistors, computer circuits & firefighting cloths.

    2
    Types of ores

     Gold occurs principally as a Native metal,


    usually alloyed with silver (as Electrum), or
    with mercury(as an Amalgam). Native gold can occur
    as sizeable nuggets, flakes, grains or microscopic
    particles embedded in other rocks.
     Ores in which gold occurs in chemical composition
    with other elements are comparatively rare. They
    include calaverite, sylvanite,nagyagite, petzite and kren
    nerite
    3
    Gold extraction
    Gold mining
    • Hard rock mining – used
    to extract gold encased in
    rock. Either open pit
    mining or underground
    mining.

    • Panning )‫ – (الفصل‬sand and gravel


    (‫ )حصى‬containing gold is shaken
    around with water in a pan. Gold
    is much denser than rock, so
    quickly settles to the bottom of
    the pan.
    4
    Gold extraction
    Gold mining
    • Sluicing – water is channelled to
    flow through a sluice-box with
    riffles )‫ (تموجات‬at the bottom which
    create dead-zones in the water
    current which allows gold to drop
    out of suspension.

    • Sluicing and panning results in the direct recovery of


    small gold nuggets )‫(خامات الذهب‬and flakes.

    5
    Gold extraction
    Gold ore processing Gold cyanidation:

    • The most commonly used process for gold extraction.

    • Used to extract gold from low-grade ore.

    • Gold is oxidised to a water-soluble aurocyanide


    metallic complex Au(CN)2.
    • In this dissolution process, the milled ore is agitated
    with dilute alkaline cyanide solution, and air is
    introduced:

    4Au + 8NaCN + O2 + 2H2O  4NaAu(CN)2 + 4NaOH


    6
    Gold extraction
    Gold ore processing Gold cyanidation:

    • At a slurry concentration of around 50% solids, the


    slurry passes through a series of agitated mixing tanks
    with a residence time of 24 hrs.

    • The gold-bearing liquid is then separated from the


    leached solids in thickener tanks or vacuum filters &
    the tailings )‫ (مخلفات المعالجة‬are washed to remove Au
    and CN- prior to disposal.

    7
    Gold extraction
    Gold ore processing Heap Leaching

    • Is an alternative to the agitated leaching process.


    • Drastically reduced gold recovery costs of low grade
    ore.
    • Ore grades as low as 0.3 g per ton can be
    economically processed by heap leaching.

    8
    Gold extraction
    Gold ore processing Heap Leaching

    • Generally requires 60 to 90 days for processing ore


    that could be leached in 24 hrs in a conventional
    agitated leach process.
    • Au recovery is around 70% as compared with 90% in
    an agitated leach plant.
    • BUT, has gained wide favour due to vastly reduced
    processing costs.
    • Frequently, mines will use agitated leaching for high-
    grade ore & heap leaching for low grade ores that
    would otherwise be considered waste rock.
    9
    Gold extraction
    Gold ore processing Gold cyanidation:
    Merrill-Crowe process
    • Traditional method for Au recovery from pregnant
    cyanide solutions.

    • Once dissolution of Au is complete, the remaining rock


    pulp if filtered off through various filters to produce a
    sparkling )‫ (المع‬clear solution.

    • O2 is removed from the clarified solution by passing


    the solution through a vacuum deaeration column.

    10
    Gold extraction
    Gold ore processing Gold cyanidation:
    Merrill-Crowe process
    • Zinc dust is then added to the cyanide solution to
    chemically reduce the gold to the metal.
    2Au(CN)2 + Zn 2Au+ Zn(CN)4
    • The metallic gold is then filtered out & refined.

    Smelting of resultant powder (rich Au) into steel molds


    and the slug is remove from the top furnace.

    Electrolysis is done to get high gold grade 99.999%


    purity.
    11
    Cyanide process of gold production

    12

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