Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 541–544

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Minerals Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng

Microwave heating of gold ores for enhanced grindability and cyanide amenability
R.K. Amankwah a, G. Ofori-Sarpong b,⇑
a
Mineral Engineering Department, University of Mines and Technology, P.O. Box 237, Tarkwa, Ghana
b
Energy and Mineral Engineering Department, Penn State University, 216 Hosler Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In leaching processes, the mass transport of lixiviants from the bulk of the solution to the site of the min-
Available online 30 December 2010 eral of interest is usually the slowest step. Diffusion becomes slower when the particles to be leached are
occluded in host minerals. Access to the mineral of interest is enhanced by micro-crack formation within
Keywords: the host minerals as it enhances percolation and migration of lixiviants. Micro-crack formation also aug-
Microwaves ments grinding and allows size reduction and liberation at a lower stress level. In this research, micro-
Grindability wave pretreatment was used to augment the grinding of a free-milling gold ore containing quartz,
Cyanide amenability
silicates and iron oxides. Under microwave irradiation, selective heating of the different mineral compo-
Free-milling gold ore
Selective heating
nents resulted in thermal stress cracking. Microwave processing enhanced the grindability of the ore, and
crushing strength was reduced by 31.2%. The presence of micro-cracks improved leaching rate, and over
95% extraction was achieved within 12 h as against 22 h for the non-microwaved sample. Such a strategy
can be used to maximize recovery and man-hours on processing plants.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Kingman et al., 1999, 2004; Al-Harahsheh and Kingman, 2004;

Most metal dissolution processes are controlled by diffusion of
the reacting species from the bulk of the solution and through the
Nernst boundary layer to the reaction site on the mineral of inter-
est. The rate of mass transport is further reduced when the mineral
of interest is occluded in host minerals which in many cases do act
as additional barriers. To liberate metals and expose them to lixivi-
ant attack, comminution is utilized (Gupta and Mukherjee, 1990).
Comminution technology generally involves the application of
mechanical energy to break down particles and create finer units.
This applied mechanical energy takes advantage of existing flaws
in the material, extending existing cracks and creating new ones
in areas of weakness until the material fails and the particle breaks.
Thus, if more imperfections are created, the material will yield
more readily to applied mechanical stress.
Modification of the mechanical properties of ores may be
achieved by: (1) changing the specific energy during blasting
(Eloranta, 1995), (2) the use of high energy to propagate micro-
crack formation such as the high pressure grinding rolls (Schonert,
1988) and (3) electrical/ultrasonic energy (Parekh et al., 1984;
Walkiewicz et al., 1991). Another technique of high research inter-
est is microwave assisted grinding to improve grindability of ores
and liberation of minerals of interest (Walkiewicz et al., 1991;
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: rkamankwah@umat.edu.gh (R.K. Amankwah), gad164@
psu.edu, goforisarp@gmail.com (G. Ofori-Sarpong).
Amankwah et al., 2005).
Microwave processing has the ability to alter the properties of
the ore to reduce the mechanical strength and improve liberation,
thus reducing the energy required for size reduction (Walkiewicz
et al., 1988, 1991; Tavares and King, 1995). In an investigation by
Kingman et al. (1999), Work Index reduced by up to 90% when
ilmenite ores were subjected to microwave radiation (Kingman
and Rowson, 1998).
Minerals have different microwave absorption characteristics,
and thus selective microwave heating of individual components
in a mixture can be achieved. In some ores, differential heating
of constituent minerals generates thermal stresses, which cause
the ore particles to fracture. Fracturing may occur along grain
boundaries leading to complete or partial physical separation of
the components which in turn improves grindability and mineral
recovery (Walkiewicz et al., 1988, 1991; Tavares and King, 1995;
Gungor and Atalay, 1998; Kingman et al., 1999; Whittles et al.,
2003; Orumwense et al., 2004; Amankwah et al., 2005).
In addition to assisting comminution, microwave energy has a
remarkable ability to increase the rate of chemical reactions.
Microwaves may be applied directly in the course of leaching or
as a pretreatment step prior to leaching. Several researchers have
successfully applied it to mineral leaching and digestion, as well
as organic and inorganic synthesis (Bose et al., 1997; Haque,
1999; Park, 2000). Hwang et al. (2002) reported very fast kinetics
when microwaves were used to assist the leaching of copper min-
erals. Other researchers have utilized microwaves to augment the
leaching of cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc

0892-6875/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2010.12.002
542 R.K. Amankwah, G. Ofori-Sarpong / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 541–544
(Lorentzen and Kingston, 1996), and to assist microbial leaching
(Olubambi, 2009).
In many gold ore processing plants, achieving comminution tar-
gets is a challenge due to changing ore characteristics. As deep pit
mining continues, the Work Index of ores increase and it reaches a
time when the installed energy input becomes lower than that re-
quired for comminution. This situation causes coarser grinding, re-
duced mineral liberation with concomitant reduction in leaching
efficiency. Some of the strategies developed to address the prob-
lems of increasing Work Index include blending ores of different
mechanical strength and boosting specific energy during blasting.
In a previous study by Amankwah et al. (2005), a free-milling
gold ore was subjected to microwave pretreatment leading to
improvements in grindability and gravity gold recovery. This pres-
ent study is thus an extension of that investigation. In this re-
search, free-milling ore from a deep pit, with very high crushing
strength and Work Index was exposed to microwave irradiation.
The microwave heating behaviour of the ore was investigated,
and the effects of this pretreatment on the crushing strength and
the leaching behaviour of the ore were studied.
2. Experimental work
2.1. Materials
The sample used in this study was free-milling gold ore from
the Tarkwaian rock system in Ghana, West Africa. X-ray Diffraction
(XRD) using a Philips X’Pert Pro MPD diffractometer revealed the
major phases to be quartz, aluminosilicates, hematite and magne-
tite. Pure samples of magnetite, hematite, aluminosilicate and sil-
ica which were used as surrogates were obtained from Ward
Minerals. Selected particles of both as-received and microwave
processed samples were coated with carbon to improve the electri-
cal conductivity, and their morphologies were examined using a
JEOL JSM 840 scanning electron microscope (SEM).
2.2. Microwave heating studies
The microwave apparatus utilized in preparing samples for
leaching was a Hinari Model MX702 with operating frequency of
2450 MHz and variable power output of up to 800 W. The samples
were placed in a microwave transparent aluminosilicate crucible
with the following dimensions: 9 cm in height, 5 cm in diameter
and a wall thickness of 2.5 mm. The crucible and its contents were
placed on a microwave transparent alumina platform which acted
as an insulator. The platform was positioned in the center of the
base of the microwave chamber. The microwave heating response
of both the ore and surrogates of the mineral constituents (quartz,
aluminosilicates, hematite and magnetite) were evaluated by mea-
suring the sample temperature after microwaving using a K-type
thermocouple. The particle size of the ore was between 3.4 and
0.25 mm.
2.3. Strength tests
Changes in the strength characteristics of the ore particles were
tested by determining the crushing strength. For these tests, sam-
ples were microwaved to attain sample temperature of 735 °C.
After normalizing to room temperature, the crushing strength of
the as-received and microwaved ore samples was measured using
a Chatillon compression pellet tester. Fifty particles of each sample
were selected at random for the test.
2.4. Size reduction and cyanide leaching
Both microwaved and as-received samples were roll crushed to
all passing 2 mm and 500 g samples, milled in a laboratory size
barrel mill at 60% solid density to 80% passing 75 lm. The product
was cyanide leached by the bottle roll technique in 2.5 L bottles at
pH 10.5% and 40% solid density. Leaching was conducted for 24 h at
500 mg/L cyanide concentration, and solution samples were taken
at predetermined intervals for gold analysis.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Microwave heating response
The microwave heating behaviour of the mineral constituents
in the ore was investigated by testing magnetite, hematite, alumi-
nosilicate and silica samples which served as surrogates. Fig. 1
shows the sample temperature of the various minerals after heat-
ing for 5 min. The magnetite, hematite and aluminosilicate sam-
ples attained temperatures of about 500 °C, 150 °C and 100 °C,
respectively. The silica ended up at a low value of 40 °C. The iron
oxides heated much faster than the silica-rich minerals, and as dis-
cussed by earlier investigators (Ford and Pei, 1967; MacDowell,
1984; Haque, 1999; Amankwah et al., 2005), magnetite is hyperac-
tive; hematite is active, whereas silica is inactive. With these min-
erals in a given rock, the different heating rates under microwave
irradiation are likely to cause thermal stresses and cracking.
3.2. Morphological observations
Fig. 1 shows that the mineral constituents respond to micro-
waves in different ways ranging from hyperactive magnetite to
passive silica. Thus microwave processing is expected to induce
thermal stress fracturing. Optical evidence shown in Figs. 2 and 3
indicates that though no fractures were present in the as-received
material, after microwaving to a temperature of 735 °C, there were
both trans-granular and inter-granular fractures. As shown in
Fig. 3, sections where siliceous and iron-rich minerals occur to-
gether appeared to have gone through a more severe micro-crack
formation. These fractures may be attributed to thermal stresses
generated by differential heating of the different mineral constitu-
ents of the ore. Other investigators have made similar observations
on different types of ores (Orumwense et al., 2004; Amankwah
et al., 2005).
600
450
Temperature, °C
300
150
0
magnetite hematite aluminosilicate silica
Sample Name
Fig. 1. The sample temperature attained by the major mineral constituents of the
ore after heating 10 g samples for 5 min at microwave power of 700 W.
 R.K. Amankwah, G. Ofori-Sarpong / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 541–544 543

a b

Fig. 2. Scanning electron micrograph of the as-received sample (a) and the microwave heated sample showing thermal stress cracking (b).

Silica-rich Iron-rich Areas where severe micro-

minerals minerals crack formation occurred as-received material showed a consistent crushing strength of
above 1470 kN. After microwave processing there were variations
in crushing strength ranging from 550 kN to 1220 kN with an aver-
age of 1010 kN indicating a 31.2% decrease in crushing strength.
The particles that had very low crushing strength may be those
with a mix of iron oxides and siliceous material which developed
multiple micro-fractures.
Despite the reduction in crushing strength following microwave
treatment, work done by Walkiewicz et al. (1988, 1991) shows that
based on the current technology, changes in crushing and grinding
strength of ores cannot pay off the energy expended during micro-
wave processing. However, improved grindability, reduced liner
and grinding media wear, lower circulating load and liberation of
preferred minerals are additional advantages of microwave pre-
500 µm
treatment (Amankwah et al., 2005).
Gold particles

Fig. 3. Optical micrograph of the microwave heated sample showing thermal stress
cracking.
3.3. Strength tests
The crushing strength of the as-received material was com-
pared with samples microwaved to a sample temperature of
735 °C. As illustrated in Fig. 4, of the 50 particles tested, the
3.4. Cyanidation
The as-received and microwaved samples that were milled to
80% passing 75 lm were subjected to cyanide leaching by the bot-
tle roll technique for 24 h at 500 mg/L cyanide concentration, and
the results are presented in Fig. 5. For the microwave processed
sample, about 70% of gold was leached within the initial 4 h
increasing to 92% after 8 h and 97% by the 12th hour. Gold extrac-
tion from the as-received sample, on the other hand, was 42% after

100
1600

80
Crushing strength, kN

1200
Gold extraction, %

60

800

40

400
as-received 20
microwaved microwaved

as-received
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0
Particles tested 0 4 8 12 16 20 24
Time, hr
Fig. 4. A scatter plot showing the crushing strength of 50 microwaved and non-
microwaved particles tested. Fig. 5. Cyanidation graph for as-received and microwaved gold ores.
544 R.K. Amankwah, G. Ofori-Sarpong / Minerals Engineering 24 (2011) 541–544
4 h, 68% at the end of the 8th hour and the total gold extraction
after 24 h was 92%.
The faster leaching rate of the microwave processed ore may be
attributed to the thermal stress cracking due to differential heating
of the individual minerals that make up the ore. Micro-cracking as
observed in Fig. 3 increased the ease of access of leaching reagent
to the mineral of interest and consequently, gold leaching was en-
hanced. In a typical plant situation, the shorter leaching time
would be beneficial as it will increase throughput, and monetary
requirements for a shift of about 10 h could be saved.
4. Conclusions
Microwave pretreatment was used to generate micro-cracks
and reduce the crushing strength of a free-milling gold ore contain-
ing magnetite, hematite silicates and quartz. The responses of
these mineral constituents to microwaves ranged from hyperactive
to passive. Under microwave irradiation, selective heating of the
different mineral components resulted in thermal stresses and
fracturing. Microwave pretreatment reduced the crushing strength
of the ore by 31.2%. The presence of micro-cracks improved leach-
ing rate and over 95% extraction was achieved within 12 h as
against 22 h for the non-microwaved sample. The paper confirms
that microwave heating could be utilized to improve grindability
and enhance leachability, resulting in reduction in leaching time.
The authors thus propose the use of microwave pretreatment as
a strategy to maximize recovery and man-hours on gold processing
plants.
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