A Review of the Cyanidation Treatment of Copper-Gold Ores and Concentrates

Globally, copper, silver, and gold orebody grades have been dropping, and the mineralogy surrounding them has become more diversified and complex. The cyanidation process for gold production has remained dominant for over 130 years because of its selectivity and feasibility in the mining industry. For this reason, the industry has been adjusting its methods for the extraction of gold, by utilizing more efficient processes and technologies. Often, gold may be found in conjunction with copper and silver in ores and concentrates. Hence, the application of cyanide to these types of ores can present some difficulty, as the diversity of minerals found within these ores can cause the application of cyanidation to become more complicated. This paper outlines the practices, processes, and reagents proposed for the effective treatment of these ores. The primary purpose of this review paper is to present the hydrometallurgical processes that currently exist in the mining industry for the treatment of silver, copper, and gold ores, as well as concentrate treatments. In addition, this paper aims to present the most important challenges that the industry currently faces, so that future processes that are both more efficient and feasible may be established.

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Exploitation of Bacterial Activities in Mineral Industry and Environmental Preservation: An Overview

Journal of Mining ◽

10.1155/2013/507168 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2013 ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ahmed A. S. Seifelnassr ◽

Abdel-Zaher M. Abouzeid

Keyword(s):

Biological Activities ◽

Mining Industry ◽

Environmental Preservation ◽

Gold Ores ◽

Nickel Cobalt ◽

Sulfur Oxidizing ◽

Minerals Processing ◽

Identification And Characterization ◽

Made In

Since the identification and characterization of iron and sulfur oxidizing bacteria in the 1940s, a rapid progress is being made in minerals engineering based on biological activities. Microorganisms can play a beneficial role in all facets of minerals processing, from mining to waste disposal and management. Some of the applications, such as biologically assisted leaching of copper sulfide ores, uranium ores, and biooxidation of refractory sulfide gold ores, are now established on the scale of commercial processes. A variety of other bioleaching opportunities exist for nickel, cobalt, cadmium, and zinc sulfide leaching. Recently, other uses of microorganisms are potentially possible. These include the bioleaching of nonsulfide ores, bioflotation, and bioflocculation of minerals, and bioremediation of toxic chemicals discharged from mineral engineering operations. These activities acquire considerable opportunities for further research and development in these areas. This paper is an attempt to provide a critical summary on the most important efforts in the area of bacterial activities in the mineral and mining industry.

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Electromigration in thin silver, copper, gold, indium, tin, lead and magnesium films

Microelectronics Reliability ◽

10.1016/0026-2714(72)90384-8 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 412

Keyword(s):

Silver Copper ◽

Copper Gold

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Electromigration in thin silver, copper, gold, indium, tin, lead and magnesium films

Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids ◽

10.1016/s0022-3697(72)80101-x ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

pp. 845-852 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

H.M. Breitling ◽

R.E. Hummel

Keyword(s):

Silver Copper ◽

Copper Gold

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Determination of Abrasiveness in Copper-Gold Sulfide Ores: A Contribution to the Geometallurgical Model of the Sossego Deposit

Minerals ◽

10.3390/min11121427 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 1427

Author(s):

Petterson de Azevedo Barbosa ◽

Maurício Guimarães Bergerman ◽

Elisabeth da Fonseca ◽

Rogerio Kwitko-Ribeiro

Keyword(s):

Mining Industry ◽

Shear Zones ◽

Sampling Protocol ◽

Rock Drill ◽

Copper Gold ◽

Laboratoire Central ◽

Iocg Deposit ◽

Granite Rocks ◽

Gold Sulfide

The geological context of this study is established in the iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposit of Sossego (Canaã dos Carajás, Brazil), where hydrothermal alterations in shear zones concentrated the metals of interest and added new characteristics to the metavolcanic-sedimentary and granite rocks. The mineral transformation of rocks by hypersaline fluids enriched in metals and silica also modifies some metallurgical properties, such as abrasiveness. Special bench tests on rock drill cores are used in mapping the abrasiveness of rocks, with the Bond abrasion test being more commonly used in the mining industry, but it has a restrictive sampling protocol and mass requirement for geometallurgical studies. As a counterpoint, the test of the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées/Central Laboratory of Bridges and Roads (LCPC) requires a smaller amount of fine material and a finer granulometric range. The study on the use of LCPC was implemented in 40 samples, using Bond Ai as a reference. The results showed a strong correlation between both methodologies (R2 = 95%), validating the use of LCPC to quantify abrasiveness in the Sossego mine. It was also possible to classify the most abrasive lithologies.

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Russian Gold Mining Output in 1901-1917: A Source Studies Aspect

Herald of an Archivist ◽

10.28995/2073-0101-2018-3-679-691 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 679-691

Author(s):

Pavel S. Grebenyuk ◽

Keyword(s):

Gold Mining ◽

Mining Industry ◽

The State ◽

Pure Gold ◽

State Institute ◽

Gold Production ◽

Archival Documents ◽

Source Studies ◽

The Russian Empire ◽

Gold Industry

This paper explores the problem of gold mining output in the Russian empire in 1901-1917 drawing on published and archival data. The aim of the study is to clarify indicators of gold mining production, since in the leading studies the data vary due to the peculiarities of metal accounting. It draws on published materials and archival documents of the State Institute for Design of Enterprises of Gold and Platinum Industry of the Glavzoloto of the People's Commissariat of Nonferrous Metallurgy (Giprozoloto), prepared in 1944 as a ‘Collection of Materials on the Gold Industry: 1493 - 1943’ and stored in the State Archive of the Magadan Region. Materials of the Giprozoloto Institute contain calculations of gold production in Russia and the USSR from 1745 to 1943, as well as technical and economic information on national gold mining industry in the early 20th century. The analysis shows that gold mining indices in scientific literature and sources are given according to data from gold log-books or gold-smelting laboratories. Gold log-books did not reflect the volume of actual mining, they only showed the gold registered in mines; moreover, some gold was withheld, and then came in to laboratories for alloy. Accounting for metal in the gold-smelting laboratories showed higher and more accurate production figures, since it included artisanal mining gold. However, as the source study demonstrates, figures of gold production in 1901-1917 according to the Giprozoloto Institute (805.4 tons) and according to L.B. Kafengauz (814.6 tons) based on data of gold-smelting laboratories and incorporated volumes of uncleaned bullion gold entered in there. The results of the study change the views on the volume of gold mining in Russia in this period that prevail in the historiography. It should be noted, that according to calculations, confirmed indicators of industrial production of chemically pure gold in Russia in 1901-1917 amounted to 682.5 tons. Final figures of gold industry of the period in amount of chemically pure gold obtained in gold-smelting laboratories corresponded to indices of value of gold production used in the analysis industry dynamics, and is considered correct, when compared with the USSR gold-mining indices.

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A new kind of invisible gold in pyrite hosted in deformation-related dislocations

Geology ◽

10.1130/g49028.1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Denis Fougerouse ◽

Steven M. Reddy ◽

Mark Aylmore ◽

Lin Yang ◽

Paul Guagliardo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Metallic Nanoparticles ◽

Gold Alloy ◽

Significant Proportion ◽

Gold Production ◽

Gold Ores ◽

Invisible Gold ◽

Pair Model ◽

Geochemical Analyses ◽

Element Enrichment ◽

Trace Element Enrichment

Mining of “invisible gold” associated with sulfides in gold ores represents a significant proportion of gold production worldwide. Gold hosted in sulfide minerals has been proposed to be structurally bound in the crystal lattice as a sulfide-gold alloy and/or to occur as discrete metallic nanoparticles. Using a combination of microstructural quantification and nanoscale geochemical analyses on a pyrite crystal from an orogenic gold deposit, we show that dislocations hosted in a deformation low-angle boundary can be enriched in Ni, Cu, As, Pb, Sb, Bi, and Au. The cumulative trace-element enrichment in the dislocations is 3.2 at% higher compared to the bulk crystal. We propose that trace elements were segregated during the migration of the dislocation following the dislocation-impurity pair model. The gold hosted in nanoscale dislocations represents a new style of invisible gold.

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Flotation behaviour of gold during processing of porphyry copper-gold ores and refractory gold-bearing sulphides

Minerals Engineering ◽

10.1016/s0892-6875(97)00072-1 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 895-908 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

S.M. Bulatovic

Keyword(s):

Porphyry Copper ◽

Gold Ores ◽

Refractory Gold ◽

Copper Gold ◽

Gold Bearing

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Labour in the Colonial Mining Industry of Honduras

The Americas A Quarterly Review of Latin American History ◽

10.1017/s0003161500049440 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 185-203

Author(s):

Linda Newson

Keyword(s):

Indian Population ◽

Significant Proportion ◽

Mining Industry ◽

Local Economy ◽

Colonial Period ◽

Spanish America ◽

Gold Production ◽

Dominant Type ◽

Competing Demands ◽

Silver Mining

Gold and silver production in Honduras probably never exceeded 5% of that produced in Spanish America at any one time during the colonial period, but it was of considerable importance to the local economy and employed a significant proportion of the total workforce. In Spanish America as a whole the types of labour that were employed in mining were extremely varied. During the early Conquest period Indian slaves were used to pan gold in the Antilles, and later Mexican silver mining relied on the employment of free labour supplemented by that of Indian and Negro slaves. In Colombia the repartimiento provided Indians for mining up to 1729, by which time the Indian population and gold production had declined, but in Peru the mita continued to supply labour for the mines until its abolition in 1812, although by that time the mines had become heavily dependent on free labour. The dominant type of labour employed in mining in any one area at any one time appears to have been strongly influenced by the availability of Indian labour, which was largely determined by the size of the Indian population and the number of competing demands for labour, and by the profitability of mining, which determined the ability of miners to overcome shortages of labour. These influences were very apparent in the mining industry in Honduras, where during the colonial period many different types of labour were employed: Indian slaves, Indians working in the service of encomenderos, Negro slaves, Spanish immigrant workers, Indians working under the repartimiento and free labourers.

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