Processingalternativesfor gold ore This tutorial describes the various process options for treating a new ore body.

The metallurgist selecting a process for gold extraction will have to consider both, the type of ore in which it occurs and the local environment. Gold ores fall into three categories: 1. Free millingores: Most South African ores come into this category. Treatment is relatively simple and consists of size reduction by crushing and/or milling followed by cyanidation with gold recovery from solution by means of activated carbon or filtration and zinc precipitaton in older plants or where there is high silver. Complexores: These contain deleterious components, such as copper, reactive sulphides or carbonaceous material which interfere with cyanidation. Refractoryores: These, often associated with arsenic or antimony, require an extra processing step to unlock the gold, before cyanidation, to give an acceptable recovery. Barberton ores provide a local example. Free millingores In the treatment of free milling ores, run-of-mine (ROM) is ground to approximately 80% passing 75 microns in size either by crushing and milling, or by milling alone, in fully autogenous or semiautogenous mills (SAG) where steel balls are added to assist the milling. The milled product passes directly or, is de-watered in thickeners to a slurry of about 50% solids and is pumped to a CIP (carbon-inpulp) or CIL (carbon-in-leach) circuit consisting of a sequence of agitated tanks in which cyanide solution dissolves the gold. In the CIP process carbon is added, after dissolution is essentially complete; in CIL the carbon is added up-front so that removal of gold takes place by adsorption onto carbon as soon as the gold dissolves. Each plant will optimise the addition point of carbon to suit local conditions. Gold dissolution is an oxidising reaction, requiring the addition of oxygen, either as compressed air, pure oxygen or hydrogen peroxide based on cost versus recovery considerations. Overall gold recoveries with free milling ores range from 90%-98%. Gravity separation may or may not be included in the mill circuit. The technique of using the high density of gold as a recovery method goes back thousands of years. The legend of Jason's fleece alludes to the use of sheepskins immersed in streams to recover alluvial gold. Modern plants employ equipment which use centrifugal force to augment gravity. Gravity separation has several recognised benefits. It:

2. 3.

1.

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recovers gold early in the process, a significant financial consideration reduces gold lock-up in the milling circuit recovers gold particles with inert coatings of iron oxides etc, which do not respond to cyanidation removes large gold particles which may not dissolve completely in the cyanidation time available

The process has two major disadvantages:

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the circuit becomes more complex as the concentrate has to be treated downstream to remove heavy minerals, steel, copper wire etc before smelting security becomes more complicated as handling of high grade concentrates carries a heightened security risk

An alternative to gravity is flotation, especially where gold is associated with pyrite. A flotation circuit may remove the bulk of the gold in about 10% by mass. This concentrate can then be given intensive treatment.

Exceptional cases of free milling ores which do not require milling are (a) alluvial or placer deposits where the gold is already liberated and which are treated directly by gravity separation and (b) ROM leaching operations where the ore has enough permeability to allow cyanide to contact gold without any crushing or milling. Recovery is usually low. The lowest cost treatment method is heap leaching where the crushed ore is deposited on impermeable pads and sprayed with cyanide solution. The pregnant run-off solution is treated in activated carbon columns. This process applies mainly to relatively low-grade deposits since initial capital outlay is low.

2.

Complexores Complex ores cause problems in three ways: excessive cyanide consumption; high oxygen consumption; and loss of recovery due to preg-robbing constituents in the ore. 2.1 Excessive cyanide consumption Certain copper minerals react preferentially with cyanide and form a wide range of cyanide complexes. As a result cyanide consumption is high and various options for the treatment of copper containing gold ores are available, or have been proposed. These include:

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Flotation of a gold-copper concentrate for smelting. Here copper grade requirements for smelting may lead to reduced gold recovery so the float tail has to be treated further. Ion exchange resins or ion flotation to remove copper cyanide complexes or for selective gold recovery. Ammonia-cyanide in ores with low copper values to give selective gold recovery with little copper leaching; gold recovery is low. Electrolytic pre-leach to remove copper minerals prior to cyanidation.

2.2 Oxygen consuming complex ores Reactive sulphides, especially pyrrhotite, react with oxygen in solution. This problem can be handled in three ways:

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Removing the pyrrhotite by flotation where the pyrrhotite does not contain significant gold. Oxidising the sulphides by pre-oxidation. This involves aeration in alkaline solution, often with the addition of lead nitrate until the oxygen demand of the pulp is reduced to acceptable levels. Conventional cyanide leaching then resumes. Adding extra oxygen as air, oxygen gas or hydrogen peroxide.

2.3 Preg-Robbing Preg-robbing refers to the removal of gold from pregnant solutions by certain ore constituents, clays, sulphides or carbonaceous materials ( the main culprits). In milder cases, diesel or kerosine can be added to the leach to deactivate the carbonaceous matter, but this has to be done with caution otherwise the CIP process may be adversely affected. In America flash chlorination has been used for deactivation on Carlin ores. With clays, preg-robbing can be counteracted by the use of CIL where the kinetics of adsorption favour activated carbon. In the case of sulphides pre-oxidation or increased cyanide levels are usually effective.

3.

Refractorygold ores

In refractory ores gold occurs in four ways. It can be:

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physically locked in sulphides, silicates etc chemically locked or alloyed as in electrum contained in a sulphide lattice as in arsenopyrite passivated through the formation of an inert surface layer

Physical, chemical, thermal, biological or pressure pre-treatment techniques are available for treating such ores: 3.1 Physical Physical pre-treatment comprises ultra-fine grinding, down to 20 microns or less, carried out in vibratory, jet or stirred mills. The expensive, energy intensive nature of this process limits its application to highgrade concentrates rather than to the entire ore. 3.2 Chemical Wet oxidation processes (in use or potentially applicable) to oxidise sulphides include:

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The Nitrox/Redox process using nitric acid which is regenerated and recycled. The HMC process which also uses nitric acid in a pipe reactor and claims to give recoveries over 90%. Electrochemical processing which takes advantage of the electrical conductivity of metal sulphides to induce oxidation of sulphur and arsenic. The Activox process comprising ultrafine milling to five microns followed by leaching at 100C under 900kPa

3.3 Thermal Thermal techniques use roasting or pyrolysis. The traditional method is roasting but, for environmental reasons, this is now being superseded in many cases by biological leaching. With arsenical concentrates sulphur and arsenic are removed by controlled oxidation in a stationary or circulating fluid bed reactor. Arsenic, in the form of trioxide, is removed from the ensuing gas stream by condensation and sulphur dioxide is either discharged to atmosphere or converted to sulphuric acid. The resulting calcine, consisting of porous haematite, is milled and leached in cyanide. The process requires careful control and disposal of arsenic trioxide may be a problem. Pyrolysis refers to the removal of sulphur and arsenic as a gas in a non-oxidising atmosphere thereby liberating gold. It has not been used on a practical scale. 3.4 Biological Bacterial pre-oxidation forms the basis of a number of established processes for whole ores or for flotation concentrates containing sulphides and arsenic. Suitable bacteria are used to oxidise sulphides to sulphuric acid at atmospheric pressure in agitated tanks. Temperature has to be carefully controlled for survival of the bacteria. The advantages of this system are low capital cost; no atmospheric pollution and a stable ferric-arsenate residue, meeting modern environmental requirements. A further advantage is that the process may neutralise the effect of preg-robbing ore constituents. On the other hand, the process does not recover gold from 'solid solution' in sulphides; reaction rates are slow; and corrosion is a problem due to the low pH. 3.5 Pressure oxidation Pressure oxidation can be conducted under acid or alkaline conditions. While pressure oxidation is well established it is a high technology, high capital cost route best suited to cases that require complete sulphide destruction.

Acid pressure oxidation operates at temperatures around 200 C in autoclaves under pressures of 1100 to 3000 kPa and oxygen partial pressures of 350 to 700 kPa. Autogenous operation is possible if the sulphur content of the feed is greater than 3%. Below this, sulphuric acid has to be added. Corrosion problems are severe but reaction time is low (one to three hours). The leached product is neutralised and treated by conventional cyanidation methods. Alkaline pressure oxidation may be used for high carbonate, low sulphur ores and operates at 220 C with a partial oxygen pressure of 140 to 180 kPa. The acid formed in the reaction is neutralised by the carbonate in the ore. Capital cost of the plant is less than for acid pressure oxidation as corrosion conditions are less severe. However, gold recovery is lower.

Golddissolution By far the most common process at present involves cyanide dissolution followed by adsorption onto activated carbon. As an alternative to carbon, synthetic resins have been investigated, resulting in the RIP (resin-in-pulp) process. While widely used in the former USSR resins have thus far not been accepted elsewhere, except in isolated cases, largely due to the cost of resin production. Other modifications to the conventional cyanidation process are the replacement of cyanide, for environmental reasons, by other lixiviants for gold, including Ammoniacal Thiosulphate, Ammonia, Thiourea and Halides, particularly chlorine. All of these have advantages in particular instances but are not widely practiced at present. Resum: Bruce Ebell has extensive experience. His expertise is based on substantial hands-on mining experience, culminating as the Group Consulting Metallurgist for DRD Ltd, but he has also spent a number of years in project management conducting studies, audits and designs for a large project engineering company. At DRA he holds the post of Process Consultant responsible for all gold related work. For further information contact: Bruce Ebell Tel: 27 11 202-8696/8600 Fax: 27 11 202- 8903 E-mail:brucee@drasa.co.za