Comparative experiments on the activation cyanide and chloride re-leaching of gold from the secondary mineral material of heaps of Aprelkovo mine

¹ Mining Institute FEB RAS, 51 Turgenev st., Khabarovsk, 680000, Russia
² Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

^* Main author: kirilchukm@mail.ru

Abstract

This article presents the results of comparative experiments on the activation chloride and activation carbonate-cyanide leaching of gold from the secondary mineral material of heaps of Aprelkovo mine. A cyanide scheme with a gradual increase in the cyanide concentration in the pregnant solution was adopted as a control scheme for percolation leaching. To establish the maximum recovery of gold and associated components, preliminary experiments with agitational cyanide leaching were carried out. In the course of the experimental work, some of the problems of gold recovery according to the classical cyanide scheme applicable to this deposit were identified and, thanks to the use of activated solutions, were solved. The reasons for the insufficiently high recovery are clogging and limited access of the complexing agent to encapsulated and chemically bound gold inclusions due to their high dispersion in the crystal lattices of concentrating minerals and the presence in the ore of minerals that tend to absorb water with a pronounced hydration effect.