KINETIC CONTROL STUDY OF GOLD LEACHING WITH CYANIDE FROM A FLOTATION CONCENTRATE IN A DRAFT-TUBE REACTOR

Abstract

The knowledge of the kinetic control mechanisms of gold leaching in real process conditions is crucial for the correct process design and plant operation. This research evaluated the kinetic control mechanism on the gold leaching with cyanide in alkaline media from a previously floated ore. Before the leaching, a pre-treatment with sodium hypochlorite was carried out to eliminate remaining reagents from the flotation process. After the pre-treatment several leaching experiments were conducted keeping constant the pH, temperature and aeration rate, meanwhile the agitation velocity and cyanide dosage were varied. The analysis of leaching kinetic profiles indicated that the control of the reaction corresponds to the mass transfer in the ash produced by the reaction with two resistances to the leaching process. Furthermore, the analysis was complemented with scanning electron microscopy and x-ray dispersive energy (SEM-EDX) measurements confirming that the leached ore surface do not contain detectable levels of gold.