International Journal of Mineral Processing 169 (2017) 35–46

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International Journal of Mineral Processing

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijminpro

A comparative study of gold refractoriness by the application of

QEMSCAN and diagnostic leach process
Amir Mohammad Nazari a, Ahmad Ghahreman a,⁎, Stacy Bell b
a
Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining, Queen's University, 25 Union Street, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada
b
Kingston Process Metallurgy, 759 Progress Avenue, Kingston, Ontario K7M 6N6, Canada

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

Article history: Quantitative evaluation of minerals by scanning electron microscopy (QEMSCAN) and diagnostic leaching (DL)
Received 13 October 2016 are the two main methods to evaluate the gold refractoriness nature. Limited availability of QEMSCAN or its
Received in revised form 28 September 2017 cost sometimes can be the drive to use DL method, or vice versa.
Accepted 12 October 2017
We present the results of a comparative study that investigates and compares the origin of the refractoriness of
Available online 14 October 2017
two different gold samples with QEMSCAN and DL. As a baseline, the gold recovery values of samples 1 and 2 via
Keywords:
the standard cyanidation process over a leaching period of 24 h were 74% and 54%, respectively. Based on the DL
Refractory gold tests, the refractoriness of samples 1 and 2 was mostly related to the fine dissemination and association of the
Cyanidation electrum (Au-Ag alloy) and gold telluride with the sulfide minerals, particularly pyrite. The QEMSCAN analysis
Diagnostic leaching provided more details about the gold deportment in the two samples. The QEMSCAN results showed that the
QEMSCAN gold in the two samples was mostly present as electrum and gold-telluride. In sample 1, about 89% of the gold
Roasting occurred in the form of electrum with a 63% Au and 36% Ag composition. The main gold form in sample 2 was
Atmospheric oxidation gold-telluride (81%). Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) results demonstrated that the gold telluride
phase was in the form of calaverite (AuTe2) in both samples. The QEMSCAN results suggested that 77% of gold
in sample 1 and 88% of gold in sample 2 were liberated or locked in the sulfide minerals, and the balance was
the solid solution gold. Based on the QEMSCAN study, the total liberated gold and the gold locked in the sulfide
minerals are expected to be amenable to cyanide leaching after a complete sulfide oxidation process, i.e. pretreat-
ment. DL tests, however, suggested that 91% of the gold in sample 1 and 87% of the gold in sample 2 were leach-
able after the oxidation of sulfides in the two samples.
Lastly, the two samples were pretreated by (1) roasting, and (2) atmospheric oxidation to oxidize sulfide min-
erals and render the samples more amenable to cyanide leaching. The gold recoveries of the roasting calcines
by cyanidation were 93% and 76% for samples 1 and 2, respectively. The cyanidation of the atmospheric oxidation
residues provided a greater gold recovery for both sample 1 (96%) and sample 2 (85%). Gold recovery for sample
1 was underestimated by QEMSCAN, however the gold recovery values were estimated well by DL.
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Gold cyanidation is a leading industrial gold leaching method due to
its relatively low cost and high selectivity for gold and silver over other
metals (Marsden and House, 2009). One of the major challenges associ-
ated with gold extraction is the refractory and complex nature of the
gold ores, due to a significant decrease in the availability of free milling
ores. The ore is termed refractory if the gold recovery is less than 80%
through cyanidation (Marsden and House, 2009; Zhou et al., 2004).
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: amir.nazari0828@gmail.com (A.M. Nazari), ahmad.g@queensu.ca
(A. Ghahreman).
Generally, the refractoriness of gold ores could result from the following
(Janse van Rensburg and Bazhko, 2015; Marsden and House, 2009):
(i) Physical encapsulation: gold is surrounded by reactive gangue
minerals and frequently sulfides, which is not liberated even
after fine grinding.
(ii) Chemical interference: gold occurs with the minerals that con-
sume high dosages of oxygen, cyanide and lime, for example,
pyrrhotite, marcasite, enargite and arsenopyrite.
(iii) Preg-robbing: gold occurs with organic carbon and carbonaceous
matter, which adsorb the leached gold during the cyanidation
process.
(iv) Leach kinetics: gold is associated with the minerals leading to a
very slow gold leaching kinetics, for example maldonite.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.minpro.2017.10.007
0301-7516/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
36 A.M. Nazari et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 169 (2017) 35–46
To successfully process the refractory gold ores, an oxidative pre-
treatment process often is required to oxidize the refractory minerals,
thus rendering the gold amenable to cyanide leaching. A comprehensive
mineralogical characterization of the different mineral phases in the
gold ore and gold department is often required prior to the selection
of an economically viable and efficient pre-oxidation process for the re-
fractory gold ores (Lorenzen and Van Deventer, 1993). Partial oxidation,
also known as preaeration, is carried out to oxidize and/or passivate cy-
anide consuming minerals such as pyrrhotite leading to a lower con-
sumption of oxygen and cyanide (Jara and Bustos, 1992). However, a
virtually complete oxidation is frequently conducted via roasting, pres-
sure oxidation (POX) or bio-oxidation for the sulfides such as pyrite and
arsenopyrite (Iglesias and Carranza, 1994).
Anglo American Research Laboratories were the first to propose the
diagnostic leaching (DL) process in 1980 (Lorenzen, 1995). DL is an an-
alytical method in gold metallurgy to assess the refractoriness of a gold
ore and the gold deportment. The free gold, gold-bearing minerals, and
encapsulated gold in different minerals, such as pyrite, are liberated
using a series of sequential leaching steps as shown in Table 1. The DL
process initially attacks the least stable mineral to liberate gold, and fur-
ther proceeds to dissolve the more stable minerals (Henley et al., 2001;
Lorenzen and Van Deventer, 1993). In addition, the gold recovery after
each stage of DL could be verified by the findings obtained from micro-
scopic technique. Nevertheless, the invisible gold which is in the form of
colloid or solid solution, is not detected by means of microscopic
methods (Goodall et al., 2005; Kojonen and Johanson, 1999). Solid solu-
tion gold is defined as the gold which is atomically dispersed in the crys-
tal structure of sulfide minerals such as pyrite and arsenopyrite (Goodall
et al., 2005). The colloidal gold refers to a discrete submicron gold inclu-
sions in sulfide minerals, which is invisible by optical and or conven-
tional scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (Adams, 2016). Hence, DL
is a useful method and complementary to the microscopic techniques
to determine the occurrence and distribution of gold in different ores.
DL was performed by Teague et al. (1998) to investigate the gold disper-
sion in host phases of different flotation concentrates. They reported
that gold was mainly encapsulated by pyrrhotite and pyrite (Teague
et al., 1998). Celep et al. (2009) used DL coupled with the mineralogical
studies to examine the refractoriness of gold/silver-bearing Akoluk ore
(Celep et al., 2009). Saba et al. (2011) conducted DL for a gold/silver
bearing sulfide ore. They reported that the highest gold recovery was
attained through the ferric chloride treatment stage in DL, as most of
the gold minerals were locked in tetrahedrite (Saba et al., 2011). Celep
and Serbest (2015) suggested a new DL process where an alkaline treat-
ment step (potassium hydroxide treatment) is implemented before the
acid treatment stages in order to characterize the refractory nature of an
iron oxy/hydroxide ore containing gold/silver.
Table 1
Selective pretreatment leach stages and the minerals attacked (Lorenzen, 1995)
(Reproduced with Permission).
Reagent Minerals are likely to be destroyed
NaCN washes Precipitated gold
NaCN Free gold
Na2CO3 Gypsum and arsenate
HCl Calcite, dolomite, galena, pyrrhotite, goethite, calcium
carbonate
HCl/SnCl2 Hematite, calcine and ferrite
H2SO4 Cu-Zn sulfides, labile pyrite, uraninite, sphalerite
FeCl3 Sphalerite, galena, labile sulfides, tetrahedrite, sulfide
concentrates
HNO3 Pyrite, marcasite and arsenopyrite
Oxalic acid Oxide coating silicate
washes
HF Silicate
Acetonitrile Gold adsorbed on organic carbon, Kerogen, coal
elution
Quantitative evaluation of minerals by scanning electron microscopy
(QEMSCAN) is an alternative or sometimes a complementary technique
to investigate the gold deportment in gold ores, and understand the
sources of gold refractoriness (Chryssoulis and McMullen, 2005). Limit-
ed availability of QEMSCAN or its cost sometimes can be the drive to use
DL method, or vice versa.
This study aims to investigate the refractory characterization of two
gold-containing samples using QEMSCAN and DL. The findings obtained
from the DL tests were compared to those of the mineralogical results
obtained from the QEMSCAN study. In addition, the two samples were
pretreated by roasting process and atmospheric pre-oxidation process
followed by conventional cyanidation to further analyze the reliability
of the refractoriness analysis by QEMSCAN and DL.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
10 kg of pyrite ore (sample 1) and a pyrite concentrate (sample
2) from two unknown mines were used in this study. Sample 1, contain-
ing coarse particles, was crushed and ground to reduce the particle size,
80% passing 80 μm, using a laboratory rod mill while sample 2 was re-
ceived as a finer material at 80% passing 40 μm. Both samples were
then riffled to obtain smaller representative sub-samples. Chemical
analysis of samples 1 and 2 are given in Table 2. All of the sulfur in the
two samples was present as sulfides.
Hydrochloric acid (36%, VWR, Canada), sulfuric acid (98%,
Anachemia, Canada), nitric acid (67%, Anachemia, Canada), hydrofluoric
acid (70%, Anachemia, Canada) and iron chloride (III) (Sigma-Aldrich,
Canada) were used to carry out the DL. Sodium cyanide was supplied
from Anachemia (Canada). All solutions were made using reverse os-
mosis purified water (pH of 5.5 at 25 °C). The solution pH in cyanidation
tests was adjusted using 100 g/L of lime slurry (Fisher Scientific,
Canada). 0.01 M silver nitrate (Acros Organics, Canada) was utilized to
measure the concentration of free cyanide present in the solution at var-
ious time intervals. Sodium hydroxide (Fisher Scientific, Canada) was
used to prepare the sodium cyanide wash solution.
2.2. Experimental set-up
2.2.1. Cyanide bottle roll test
First cyanidation test was conducted to determine the amount of
gold leached into the cyanide solution and also the refractory nature
of the two test samples. It is worth mentioning that all cyanidation pro-
cedures for samples 1 and 2 were similar, unless otherwise stated. 400 g
of sample was mixed in 500 g of water using a Cole Parmer lab stirrer at
a speed of 600 rpm while lime slurry was added to adjust the solution
pH at 11.5. It is noted that water was added to below the desired
amount (800 g) to ensure that the lime addition would not lower the
pulp density (33%). The natural pH of samples 1 and 2 after the water
addition was 7.2 and 4.5, respectively. Once the solution pH was stabi-
lized at 11.5, then the slurry was transferred to a 4 L Nalgene roll bottle
with a narrow mouth. Thereafter, the required amount of water was
added to the slurry to achieve 800 g of water. Sodium cyanide was
added to the slurry and the bottle was placed on a bottle roller at a ro-
tation speed of 50 rpm for 24 h. Table 3 illustrates the experimental con-
ditions for the gold cyanidation tests in which the concentration of free
cyanide was retained above 0.5 g/L. 10 mL samples were used to
Table 2
Chemical assays of samples 1 and 2.
Sample Au Ag As Ca Cd Cu Fe Hg K Li Na
ppm ppm ppm % ppm ppm % ppm % ppm %
1 11.8 13.7 497 0.85 5.6 107 3.44 1 2.17 37 0.04
2 1.8 3.3 294 0.39 0.6 853 20.1 1 2.50 9 0.92
 A.M. Nazari et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 169 (2017) 35–46
Table 3
Experimental parameters for cyanide leaching tests.
Parameters Amount
Weight of sample (g) 400
Particle size distribution (P80) Sample 1: 80 μm
Sample 2: 40 μm
L:S weight ratio 2:1
Pulp density % 33%
pH (lime) 11.5
Weight of NaCN added to the solution (g) 10 kg/t of sample
Leaching time (h) 24
Temperature (°C) 20 ± 3
measure the concentration of the free cyanide and gold. The samples
were centrifuged (Clinical 200, VWR) (10 min, 5000 rpm) and filtered
(Filter Paper No. 43, Fisher Scientific, Canada) to remove the insoluble
particles from the solution. After 24 h, the slurry was pressure filtered
using a filter paper No. 50 (Fisher Scientific, Canada) at a pressure of
10 psi. The filter cake was then mixed with cyanide wash solution in
the bottle for 2 h to dissolve any gold precipitates on the surface of
the residues at a S:L weight ratio of 1:2 where the concentration of cy-
anide and sodium hydroxide were 0.01 g/L and 0.1 g/L, respectively.
The slurry was pressure filtered and then washed two times with
500 mL of water to eliminate the remaining cyanide on the residue. Fi-
nally, the washed filter cake was dried at 45 °C for 24 h in an oven. The
dried filter cake was then lightly milled with a rolling pin and homoge-
nized. Triplicate fire assay samples were prepared using a micro riffler.
The cyanidation tests were carried out at Kingston Process Metallurgy
Inc. and in the Mining Department at Queen's University.
2.2.2. DL process
The acidic treatment tests were conducted in a 2 L glass reactor
surrounded by a heating mantle to adjust the temperature at a
predetermined value. The reactor possessed four necks. An overhead
mechanical stirrer running at 600 rpm was placed in the central neck.
One of the side necks was equipped with a reflux condenser preventing
excessive evaporation of the solution at high temperature. The third
neck was fitted with a thermocouple, which was used to determine
the solution temperature. The dried sample, obtained from the previous
cyanidation test, was charged into the acid solution through the last
neck, once the solution reached a desired temperature given in
Table 4. After the treatment, the slurry was vacuum filtered using a filter
paper No. 50. Thereafter, the filtered solids were washed two times with
500 mL of water to remove the residual acid solution. The filter cake was
then dried at 45 °C for 24 h. Sample preparation steps for the next
cyanidation test were similar to those described in Section 2.2.1. The
DL tests were carried out at Kingston Process Metallurgy Inc. and par-
tially at in the Mining Department at Queen's University.
2.2.3. Atmospheric oxidation process
This process is a combination of two steps: (i) fine grinding, followed
by an (ii) oxidative dissolution of pyrite and other sulfides at the
Table 4
Experimental conditions of DL tests (Celep et al., 2009).
Stage # Treatment stage Reagent
1 Cyanide leaching NaCN
2 Acid leaching (1) HCl
Cyanide leaching NaCN
3 Acid leaching (2) H2SO4
Cyanide leaching NaCN
4 Acid leaching (3) FeCl3 + HCl
Cyanide leaching NaCN
5 Acid leaching (4) HNO3
Cyanide leaching NaCN
6 Acid leaching (5) HF
Cyanide leaching NaCN
37
atmospheric pressure. The samples were finely ground using Isa Mill
M-V (Netzsch, Gemany) where 80% of particles had a smaller diameter
than 13 μm and 17 μm in samples 1 and 2, respectively. The atmospheric
oxidation process was conducted at 90 °C in a 2 L glass reactor which
was equipped with an overhead stirrer operating at 800 rpm for 48 h.
An automated control system was employed in order to control the so-
lution pH at 5–5.5 using lime slurry. Oxygen gas was bubbled at 1 L/min
through the solution using a stainless steel sparger. The S:L ratio was set
at 1:3. Filtration and sample preparation steps after the test were the
same as those stated in Section 2.2.1.
2.2.4. Roasting process
Samples 1 and 2 were roasted using a rotary kiln where the temper-
ature ranged from 570 to 610 °C. As shown in Fig. 1, different composi-
tions of oxygen-containing gases, based on the sulfur dioxide gas
readings from the discharge gas of the kiln, were used to ensure that
the roasting process was performed at a slow rate. A greater amount
of oxygen (260 L) was injected through the roaster for sample 2 com-
pared to that of sample 1 (30L) due to the presence of a higher sulfide
concentration in sample 2. Both the atmospheric oxidation and roasting
experiments were carried out at Kingston Process Metallurgy Inc.
2.3. Chemical and mineralogical analysis
The neutral, oxidizing and reducing properties of samples 1 and 2
were quantified prior to fire assay analysis. Neutral ore/concentrate
such as siliceous, oxide and carbonate ores exhibits no reducing or oxi-
dizing power. The term “reducing power” of the ore/concentrate is re-
ferred to the amount of lead which 1 g of the ore/concentrate would
generate once fused with a predetermined amount of litharge
(Eq. (1)). In other words, reducing ore/concentrate such as sulfides
and carbonaceous matter decomposes litharge to form the metallic
lead. Table 5 illustrates the recipe used to measure reducing power of
the samples.
Weight of lead button
Reducing power ¼ ð1Þ
Weight of ore=concentrate
Two preliminary fusions were performed using two crucibles at
1050 °C for 1 h. Thereafter, the fused samples were poured into an
iron mold. The slag was removed from the lead button. Reducing pow-
ers of samples 1 and 2 are illustrated in Table 6. The reducing power of
sample 2 is much higher than that of sample 1, due to the presence of a
higher amount of sulfides in sample 2.
Flux components and a silver inquart were added to the sample in a
fireclay crucible. The sample was fused at 1050 °C for 1 h. Afterwards,
the fused sample was poured into the mold and allowed to cool down.
After cleaning the slag, the lead button was hammered to form a cube.
The cube was placed in a cupel which was preheated at 910 °C. After
the gold and silver bead solidified, it was placed in a 10 mL volumetric
flask. In order to hamper the gold loss, the bead was initially digested
with 1 mL nitric acid to dissolve silver in the solution. 3 mL hydrochloric
Leach parameter Concentration
pH:11.5, T: 20 °C, 24 h kg/t
L:S = 2:1, T: 60 °C, 8 h 12% (V/V)
pH:11.5, T: 20 °C, 24 h 10 kg/t
L:S = 2:1, T: 80 °C, 5 h 48% (V/V)
pH:11.5, T: 20 °C, 24 h 10 kg/t
L:S = 2:1, T: 95 °C, 8 h 100 g/L + 2 mol/L
pH:11.5, T: 20 °C, 24 h 10 kg/t
L:S = 2:1, T: 60 °C, 6 h 33% (V/V)
pH:11.5, T: 20 °C, 24 h 10 kg/t
L:S = 2:1, 6 h 20% (V/V)
pH:11.5, T: 20 °C, 24 h 10 kg/t
38 A.M. Nazari et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 169 (2017) 35–46
Fig. 1. Concentration of SO2 gas in the off-gas and roasting temperature for A) sample 1 and B) sample 2 at various time intervals.
acid was then added to the solution to dissolve gold. However, silver
formed a silver chloride precipitates. The acid digestion was implement-
ed at 95 °C using a water bath. The gold concentration was measured
after filtration of the silver chloride precipitates.
The sulfur content of the solid samples was quantified by using Eltra
CS 2000 carbon and sulfur analyzer (Romquest Technologies Corp.,
U.S.A.).
Inductively couple plasma spectroscopy (ICP-OES) (Optima 2100
DV, Perkin Elmer, Canada) was employed to determine the concentra-
tion of the gold leached in the cyanide solutions and the gold in the
aqua regia digestion solutions. The percentage of gold recovery into
the cyanide solutions was calculated using Eq. (2):
C i −C f
R% ¼  100
C0
where, R% is the gold recovery percentage, C0 is the initial gold grade in
sample 1 (11.8 g/t) and sample 2 (1.8 g/t). Ci and Cf are the concentra-
tion of gold (g/t) in the sample before and after each stage of DL,
respectively.
QEMSCAN analysis was carried out in order to determine the miner-
al abundance, and investigate the association of microscopic gold min-
erals in the two samples. QEMSCAN is an automated system
comprised of a scanning electron microscope (FEI Quanta 650F SEM)
with three energy dispersive X-ray spectrometers and iMeasure 5.3
software for data collection and image processing. The analysis was car-
ried out at Expert Process Solutions (XPS), Falconbridge, ON, Canada.
The SEM was equipped with a field emission gun (FEG) electron source
with the accelerating voltage and beam current were set at 25 kV and
10 nA, respectively. QEMSCAN measurements were carried out with
both the particle mineral analysis (PMA) and trace mineral search
(TMS) modes with a pixel size of 2 μm and 0.5 μm, respectively. The
PMA measurements provided a bulk mineral assessment and modal
mineralogy. The TMS located the sparse electrum and gold telluride par-
ticles through searching for mineral grains with a higher back-scattered
electron (BSE) intensities. Grain size and associated minerals along with
BSE images were analyzed for all discrete gold grains identified in the
samples. Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) was employed to quan-
tify the compositions of the various sulfides and the gold minerals using
a Cameca SX-100 with the accelerating voltage of 20 KeV and 20 nA
beam current. The instrument produced higher beam currents and in-
creased beam stability coupled with higher resolution wavelength dis-
persive spectrometry (WDS). Resulting detailed compositional data
Table 5
Amount of charge used to determine reducing power of the samples.
Sample PbO Na2CO3 Na2B4O7
3g 46 g 10 g 1g
were input back into the software where it is combined with the miner-
al modal abundances in order to refine the gold deportment calcula-
tions. Detection limits for gold and base metals on the microprobe
were 0.3 g/L and 0.2 g/L, respectively.
Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-
ICP-MS), an in-situ micro-sampling technique which is capable of
performing highly sensitive element and isotopic analysis achieving de-
tections limits at the ppb level, was used in this study. This technique
can be used to measure the ultra-low concentrations of precious metals
and other trace-elements in solid solution in the minerals. LA-ICP-MS
ablates and vaporizes materials using a laser beam with a diameter
ranging from 4 to 400 μm. The vaporized material is then passed
through the mass spectrometer detector for both elemental and isotopic
analysis. The volume of material ablated depends on the size of the laser
ð2Þ
beam and measurement time per spot analysis. A typical spot analysis
produces a depth profile in counts per second (CPS). The time resolved
spectra (TRS) can be visually inspected to confirm the presence of an el-
ement in solid solution versus micro-inclusions.
In this study, LA-ICP-MS analysis was carried out using a Thermo X
Series II ICP-MS quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with a
Resonetics Resolution M-50 ArF excimer laser system (193 nm). The
concentrations of Au in pyrite were determined by LA-ICP-MS for the
two samples. The measurements were made using either a stationary
laser beam or line scans that transected the surface of the pyrite grains.
A fluence of 4 J/cm2 was used for both types of analyses. Stationary mea-
surements were performed with a repetition rate of 6 Hz and a laser di-
ameter spot size of 36 μm. A repetition rate of 8 Hz and a laser diameter
spot size of 14 μm was used for the line scans. Approximately 30 s of
background gas was collected before and after each run. Data processing
was carried out using Iolite v3. Concentration calibrations were per-
formed with two standard reference materials: Po725 (fused pyrrho-
tite) and NIST610 (silicate glass). Tantalum was monitored due to a
mass overlap of TaO and Au. Additional elements such as Bi, Te, Ag, Sb
and Se were monitored to identify the potential Au bearing micro-
inclusions.
Gravity upgrading was carried out on sample 2 using a superpanner
table to increase the recovery of gold minerals. The gravity products in-
cluded concentrate, middlings, and tails. Each superpanner product was
spin-riffled into equal aliquots. Polished sections were prepared from
multiple aliquots of each product for QEMSCAN analysis. Additional
polished sections were analyzed for the superpanner tails in order to in-
crease the counting statistics of the lower grade material. The
Table 6
Reducing power of samples 1 and 2.
Sample Reducing power
SiO2
1 0.5
3g 2 3.85
 A.M. Nazari et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 169 (2017) 35–46 39

Table 8
Pyrite association and liberation in samples 1 and 2.

Sample 1 (wt%) Sample 1 (wt%)

Liberated pyrite 63.55 84.42

Copper sulfides 0.00 0.11
Other sulfides 0.01 0.03
Non-sulfide gangue 36.21 14.57
Complex phase 0.23 0.86

composed of pyrite, quartz and orthoclase. The mineralogical analysis

Fig. 2. XRD pattern of (A) sample 1 (B) sample 2.
representative sub-samples of samples 1 and 2 were mounted into an
epoxy resin. The samples were then polished using a combination of
grit paper (220–1200 grit) and polishing disks. Care was taken not to
over-polish the sections. A layer of carbon was coated on the polished
sections prior to QEMSCAN analysis.
Mineral identification of samples 1 and 2 was conducted using
Philips X'pert Pro multipurpose X-ray diffraction (XRD) with Co-Kα
(1.789 Å) radiation. A scanning rate of 0.02°/s was used to collect the
XRD pattern of the samples in the 2θ angle ranging from 4° to 120°. It
is worth mentioning that the detection limit of XRD was 2%.
Samples 1 and 2 were mounted and then polished for observation
with a 500× objective lens. The photomicrographs of samples 1 and 2
before and after roasting process were taken using an optical micro-
scope (Leica DM750P, Germany).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Mineralogical characteristics by QEMSCAN
The mineralogical study of samples 1 and 2 was carried out prior to
DL. XRD analysis (Fig. 2) illustrates that both samples were mainly
by QEMSCAN (Table 7) affirms the findings obtained from the XRD.
Table 7 shows that 5.1% and 41.5% pyrite was the dominant sulfide min-
eral present in samples 1 and 2, respectively. Trace amounts of chalco-
pyrite, galena and sphalerite were detected in the samples. Similar
types of gangue minerals were determined in both samples, although
they were distinguishable in the light of concentration. It was also evi-
dent that quartz and orthoclase were the major gangue phases. The
sample 1 possessed a higher content of muscovite (14.4%) compared
to that of sample 2 (1.2%).
As depicted in Table 8, 63.5% and 84.4% of pyrite are liberated in sam-
ples 1 and 2, respectively. The majority of non-liberated pyrite is associ-
ated with quartz and orthoclase in both samples. A complex phase is
referred to a state where the pyrite or gold is associated with more
than one type of minerals, and a non-sulfide gangue mineral is referred
to a mineral such as quartz and orthoclase, which contains no sulfur in
its structure.
Electrum (Au-Ag alloy) and gold telluride were the major gold min-
erals in samples 1 and 2. Fig. 3 presents the relative distribution of the
electrum and gold telluride detected in the two samples; in sample 1,
gold occurred mainly as electrum (98%). However, gold telluride was
a predominant gold mineral in sample 2 (94%). The results obtained
from EPMA illustrated that the electrum consisted of nearly 63% Au
and 36% Ag in sample 1. The chemical analysis of both gold telluride
and electrum in sample 2 could not be conducted using EPMA because
of their extremely fine grain sizes. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy
(EDS) results demonstrated that the gold telluride was in the form of
calaverite (AuTe2) in both samples. The distribution of electrum and
gold telluride are summarized in Fig. 4 and Table 9 for samples 1 and
2. Fig. 4 describes the relationship between mass and number of grains
as a function of grain size in both samples. As illustrated in Fig. 4A, most
electrum grains occurred as inclusions with a diameter less than 10 μm
in sample 1. However, the presence of some electrum particles with a
size up to 30 μm led to skew the mass distribution to a greater value
than the average grain diameter (15 μm). The electrum and gold tellu-
ride minerals in sample 2 exhibited a finer grain size ranging from 5
to 15 μm compared to those detected in sample 1 (Fig. 4C and D).

Table 7
Mineralogical analysis of samples 1 and 2 obtained from QEMSCAN.

Mineral Sample 1 (wt%) Sample 2 (wt%)

Cu sulfide 0.04 0.19

Sphalerite 0.29 0.12
Sulfide/Silicate texture, or sulfate 0.86 5.02
Pyrite 5.14 41.51
Galena 0.19 0.03
Chlorite 0.14 0.73
Kaolinite 0.30 0.02
Quartz 49.96 14.71
Muscovite 14.45 1.25
Orthoclase 24.03 33.30
Other silicates 0.01 0.17
Ilmenite and iron oxide 0.06 0.69
Carbonate/oxides 4.24 1.29
Barite 0.02 0.59
Other 0.29 0.41
Fig. 3. Distribution and abundance of electrum and gold telluride in samples 1 and 2.
40 A.M. Nazari et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 169 (2017) 35–46

Fig. 4. Mass and frequency distribution of A) electrum and B) gold telluride in sample 1 and C) electrum and D) gold telluride in sample 2.

The liberation percentages of the electrum and gold telluride are
shown in Fig. 5A and B; 38.5% of the electrum in sample 1 is liberated,
which can be readily leached by cyanide solution. Whereas, 37.5% of
the gold telluride is liberated in sample 2. The remaining portions of
the electrum and gold telluride in both samples are disseminated
through the non-sulfide gangue minerals, pyrite and complex phases
(Table 10). The results (Fig. 5A and B) obtained from the image process-
ing were in accordance with the SEM images. Fig. 6 presents the dissem-
ination and association of electrum and gold telluride in sample 1.
Fig. 6B and E illustrate that the electrum is associated with pyrite and
quartz, respectively. However, Fig. 6D, F and G demonstrate that the
Table 9
Summary of electrum and gold telluride distribution determined by QEMSCAN in samples
1 and 2.
electrum and gold telluride occur with a complex phase containing py-
rite and quartz. Furthermore, it is evident in Fig. 6A and C that the cop-
per sulfide mineral such as chalcopyrite plays a significant role in the
gold blockage. The SEM images of dissemination and association of elec-
trum and gold telluride in sample 2 are presented in Fig. 7. In Fig. 7A and
C the association of electrum and gold telluride is attributed to the py-
rite in sample 2. Likewise, the electrum and gold telluride are encapsu-
lated by pyrite-quartz and pyrite-sphalerite as the complex phases
(Fig. 7B and D).
The QEMSCAN analysis of the two samples showed that overall 77%
(9.10 g/t) gold in sample 1 and 88% (1.58 g/t) gold in sample 2 can be
recoverable by cyanidation, given that the samples are pre-oxidized to
oxidize sulfide minerals.
3.2. LA-ICP-MS results

Number of grains The LA-ICP-MS analysis (Table 11) illustrated that the average gold
concentrations in pyrite for samples 1 and 2 were 20.62 and
Sample 1 Sample 2
0.62 ppm, respectively. Sample 1 contained several grains with a signif-
Electrum 58 3 icantly higher gold grades in solid solution compared to those of sample
Gold telluride 7 25
2. TRS indicated the presence of Au and Au-Ag inclusions in some pyrite

Fig. 5. Association and liberation of (A) electrum and (B) gold-telluride in samples 1 and 2.
 A.M. Nazari et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 169 (2017) 35–46 41

Table 10 3.3. DL process

Electrum and gold telloride liberation and association in samples 1 and 2.

Gold minerals Phases Sample 1 (wt%) Sample 2 (wt%) The DL is a method wherein the consecutive acid treatments follow-
Electrum Liberated 38.50 0.00
ed by the conventional cyanidation are implemented in order to deter-
Pyrite 0.86 20.19 mine the capability of minerals for gold dissolution. As illustrated in
Non-sulfide gangue 23.38 16.15 Table 1, each acid treatment accounts for the decomposition of certain
Complex phases 37.26 63.66 phases present in the test sample. To develop a baseline for the gold re-
Gold telluride Liberated 0.00 37.54
covery values from the two samples, the samples were leached in cya-
Pyrite 0.95 38.23
Non-sulfide gangue 3.77 11.26 nide solution for 24 h. The cyanidation tests were conducted at 20 °C.
Complex phases 95.28 12.97 pH was controlled at 11.5 by lime addition, and the free cyanide concen-
tration was maintained at or slightly above 0.5 g/L. The gold recovery
values at 24 h with the conventional bottle role cyanidation test were
74% (8.74 g/t) and 54% (0.97 g/t) for sample 1 and sample 2, respectively
(Table 13). This shows that the remaining fractions of the gold in the
grains for both samples. Zoning of gold was also observed in TRS of sam- two samples are refractory in character. Mineralogical data
ple 1 and sample 2. Fig. 8 presents the TRS for two different pyrite grains (Section 3.1.) demonstrated that the refractoriness behaviour of the
demonstrating Au zoning and occurrence of Au-Ag micro-inclusions. samples is attributed to both association and dispersion of the gold
The results of the gold deportment calculations for samples 1 and 2 with sulfide minerals, quartz and complex phases.
are provided in Table 12. The fraction of gold present in solid solution The residues from the conventional cyanidation tests were used to
was determined by multiplying the concentration of gold in pyrite by carry out the DL tests. As illustrated in Fig. 9, no obvious effect was ob-
the amount of pyrite present in each sample. The portion of the gold served on the gold recovery of samples 1 and 2 through the hydrochlo-
deported to both electrum and gold telluride is quantified by ric acid treatment. This step was mainly carried out to eliminate galena
subtracting the total gold in solid solution from the gold chemical and calcium carbonate (Eq. (3)) (Celep et al., 2009).
assay data. As shown in Tables 12, 9.0% of gold in sample 1 and 14.4%
of gold in sample 2 are carried in pyrite. Only a small fraction of the CaCO3ðsÞ þ 2HClðaqÞ →CaCl2ðaqÞ þ CO2ðgÞ þ H2 OðlÞ ð3Þ
gold is present as solid solution in pyrite. Although the average concen-
tration of gold in solid solution is much lower in sample 2 (0.62 ppm) In the third step, the samples were treated in sulfuric acid solution.
than that in sample 1 (20.62 ppm), the total amount of Au carried in py- In spite of no gold recovery for sample 1, 8% (0.14 g/t) gold dissolution
rite is comparable in both samples (9.0% in sample 1 and 14.4% in sam- was achieved by sulfuric acid treatment for sample 2. This is assigned
ple 2). This is due to the higher content of pyrite in sample 2. to the decomposition of the copper sulfide minerals which were

(A) (B) (C)

Electrum Pyrite Electrum

Pyrite

Chalcopyrite Electrum
Chalcopyrite

Orthoclase

(D) (E) (F)

Quartz Quartz
Electrum Quartz
Electrum Pyrite
Apatite
Pyrite

Pyrite Electrum
Electrum

Quartz (G)
Pyrite

Gold Telluride

Electrum

Fig. 6. Dissemination and association of gold in sample 1: (A) electrum with chalcopyrite in the orthoclase matrix; (B) electrum within the pyrite; (C) electrum with chalcopyrite in the
pyrite matrix; (D) electrum with quartz in the pyrite matrix; (E) electrum within the quartz; (F) electrum with pyrite and (G) gold telluride and electrum with pyrite in the quartz matrix.
42 A.M. Nazari et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 169 (2017) 35–46

(A) (B) (C)

Pyrite
Electrum Pyrite

Pyrite

Electrum Quartz
Gold Telluride

(D)
Gold Telluride
Pyrite

Sphalerite

Fig. 7. Dissemination and association of gold in sample 2: (A) electrum within the pyrite; (B) electrum with pyrite in the quartz matrix; (C) gold telluride in the pyrite matrix; (D) gold
telluride with sphalerite in the pyrite matrix.

the electrum and gold telluride was associated with pyrite.

Table 11
Summary of LA-ICP-MS analysis for samples 1 and 2. 2FeS2ðsÞ þ 10HNO3ðaqÞ →2Fe3þ ðaqÞ þ 2Hþ ðaqÞ þ 4SO4 2− ðaqÞ þ 10NOðgÞ
Sample 1 Sample 2 þ 4H2 OðlÞ ð5Þ
Average detection limit (ppm) 0.07 0.10
Average gold concentration in solid solution (ppm) 20.62 0.62 The remaining proportion of gold, which was associated with the sil-
Number of analysis 45 43 icates, was liberated using hydrofluoric acid treatment (Eq. (6)) and a
complete gold extraction was reached.

dissolved as shown in Eq. (4) (Celep et al., 2009). SiO2ðsÞ þ 6HFðaqÞ →H2 SiF6ðaqÞ þ 2H2 OðlÞ ð6Þ

MSðsÞ þ H2 SO4ðaqÞ →MSO4ðaqÞ
þ H2 SðgÞ ðM : zinc; copper; lead and etc:Þ
The fourth step of DL process is treatment under oxidative condition,
FeCl3 + HCl, to oxidize less reactive sulfide minerals. Through step four,
9% (1.06 g/t) and 7% (0.13 g/t) gold were recovered from samples 1 and
2, respectively (Table 13). Nitric acid treatment stage (step
5) disintegrated pyrite as shown in Eq. (5) leading to increase the cumu-
lative gold recovery of samples 1 and 2 to 91% (10.74 g/t) and 87%
(1.56 g/t), respectively. This stage illustrated an appreciable effect on
the gold recovery for sample 2 (18%, 0.32 g/t), where a high fraction of
Overall, the DL process suggested that 74% (8.74 g/t) and 54%
ð4Þ (0.97 g/t) gold recovery is feasible for samples 1 and 2, respectively,
without any pre-treatment. With the addition of a typical pre-
treatment process to oxidize sulfides and liberate the locked gold parti-
cles, one would be able to recover 91% (10.74 g/t) and 87% (1.56 g/t) of
the overall gold for samples 1 and 2, respectively. It is worth mentioning
that QEMSCAN had predicted gold recoveries of 77% (9.10 g/t) and 88%
(1.58 g/t) from samples 1 and 2, respectively, given that the samples are
pre-treated for sulfide oxidation. Although the QEMSCAN and DL tech-
niques have both provided similar results for sample 2, the gold refrac-
toriness characterization of sample 1 appears to be largely dependent
on the technique used for its refractoriness characterization.

Fig. 8. Time resolved spectra from LA-ICP-MS analysis showing (A) Au zoning in sample 1 and (B) Au-Ag micro-inclusions in sample 2.
 A.M. Nazari et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 169 (2017) 35–46 43

Table 12
Gold deportment in samples 1 and 2.

Au deported to Gold grade (g/t) Gold grade (wt%)

Sample 1 Sample 2 Sample 1 Sample 2

Pyrite 1.06 0.26 9.00 14.40

Electrum 10.53 0.09 89.30 5.00
Gold telluride 0.21 1.45 1.70 80.60
Total 11.80 1.80 100.00 100.00

Table 13
Gold recovery for samples 1 and 2 at different stages of the DL.

Sample 1 Sample 2

Treatment stage Recovery (g/t) Recovery (%) Recovery (g/t) Recovery (%)
1 8.74 74 0.97 54
2 0 0 0 0
3 0 0 0.14 8
4 1.06 9 0.13 7
5 0.94 8 0.32 18
6 1.06 9 0.24 13

3.4. Oxidative pretreatment methods

The data attained from the mineralogical analysis (Section 3.1) illus-
trated that the gold in sample 1 has mainly deported to electrum and in
sample 2 has deported to gold telluride. The electrum and gold telluride
present in samples 1 and 2 were mainly encapsulated/associated with
the sulfide minerals, particularly pyrite. This was also largely validated
through DL study (Section 3.3), as the disintegration of sulfide minerals,
which was accomplished using sulfuric acid, iron chloride and hydro-
chloric acid and nitric acid, led to an extra 17% (2.00 g/t) and 33%
(0.59 g/t) gold recoveries for samples 1 and 2, respectively.
The two techniques applied to analyze the refractoriness of the sam-
ples of the present study have shown similar results for sample 2. The
DL and QEMSCAN studies of sample 2 predicted that an oxidative pre-
treatment followed by a conventional gold cyanidation can recover
87% (1.56 g/t) and 88% (1.58 g/t) gold, respectively. However, the gold
refractoriness characterization of sample 1 appears to be largely depen-
dent on the technique applied for its study. The QEMSCAN analysis sug-
gested that 77% (9.10 g/t) of the gold in sample 1 is liberated or locked in
sulfide structure, whereas the DL study showed that 91% (10.74 g/t) of
the gold can be recovered if the sample was pretreated with an oxidiz-
ing process before the gold cyanidation.
In this section of the study, atmospheric oxidation and roasting pro-
cesses, as the two pretreatment methods, were employed in order to
oxidize the sulfide minerals enclosing gold and subsequently increase
the gold recovery to the cyanide solution. It is expected that the two
processes oxidize the sulfides in both samples. The gold cyanidation re-
covery values of the discharge materials of the two pretreatment pro-
cesses were compared to those of the QEMSCAN and DL studies.
Fig. 10. XRD pattern of leach residues of (A) sample 1 (B) sample 2.
Table 14
Sulfur content of samples 1 and 2 before and after roasting process.
Sample Sulfide content (wt%) Oxidation extent (%)
Before roasting After roasting
Sample 1 3.2 0.6 81.3
Sample 2 22.6 1.3 94.2
The sulfide minerals of the two samples were oxidized under atmo-
spheric conditions in a solution with pH 5–5.5. To improve the sulfide
oxidation kinetics, the samples were finely ground to P80 ranges of 13
μm (sample 1) and 17 μm (sample 2). The atmospheric oxidation tests
were conducted at 90 °C for 48 h. The fine particle size of the oxidative
pretreatment feed materials not only hampers the passivation of the
sulfide minerals, but also increases the interfacial surface area between
minerals and solution (Voigt et al., 2015). This significantly improves
the oxidation kinetics of the sulfide minerals. At a lower solution pH sul-
fides mostly oxidize to elemental sulfur; however, at a pH level closer to
neutral pH, sulfides fully oxidizes to sulfate (Voigt et al., 2015). As
depicted in Fig. 10A and B, the pyrite in samples 1 and 2 was mostly ox-
idized and converted to porous magnetite and hematite microstruc-
tures, respectively. The overall reactions occurred in the process for
samples 1 and 2 are shown in Eqs. (7) to (8). The discharges from the

Fig. 9. Gold recovery of (A) sample 1 (B) sample 2 at different stages of the DL.
44 A.M. Nazari et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 169 (2017) 35–46
Fig. 11. XRD pattern of the roasting calcines of (A) sample 1 (B) sample 2.
oxidation reactors were then filtered and the solids were used in the
cyanidation tests, where 96% (11.32 g/t) and 85% (1.53 g/t) gold recov-
ery were obtained for the pretreatment residues of samples 1 and 2, re-
spectively. This indicates that the oxidation of sulfide minerals has
liberated the gold from the sulfide structures. The remaining fraction
of the undissolved gold is attributed to the encapsulation of the elec-
trum and gold telluride by silicates which are in agreement with the re-
sults acquired from DL (stage 6).
2FeS2ðsÞ þ 15=2O2ðaqÞ þ 4H2 OðlÞ þ 4CaðOHÞ2 →Fe2 O3ðsÞ þ 4CaSO4
 2H2 OðsÞ
3FeS2ðsÞ þ 11O2ðaqÞ þ 6H2 OðlÞ þ 6CaðOHÞ2 →Fe3 O4ðsÞ þ 6CaSO4
 2H2 OðsÞ
(A)
Pyrite
(D)
Hematite
Hematite
Fig. 12. Optical microscopy images of sample 1 before roasting (A, B and C) and after roasting (D, E and F).
Sulfide minerals were also oxidized through a roasting process, as a
second pretreatment method. Table 14 illustrated that the majority of
sulfur was eliminated in the form of sulfur dioxide from both samples.
Through the roasting tests, 81.3% and 94.2% of the sulfides in samples
1 and 2 were oxidized, respectively. No sulfur-bearing minerals were
detected in the XRD pattern of samples 1 and 2 calcines, shown in
Fig. 11A and B, despite the fact that the sulfide oxidation reactions
were not carried out to completion in the roasting tests. This is likely
due to the detection limit (2%) of XRD employed in this study. Oxidative
thermal decomposition of pyrite generated iron oxide microstructure
(Fe2O3) which was affirmed through XRD results. The overall roasting
reaction can be presented as Eq. (9) (McMullen and Thomas, 2002).
4FeS2ðsÞ þ 11O2ðgÞ →2Fe2 O3ðsÞ þ 8SO2ðgÞ ð9Þ
As illustrated in Fig. 12, roasting led to a phase transformation from a
very dense pyrite to a highly porous hematite microstructure dispersed
homogenously through the structure. The calcine of sample 2 exhibited
a higher porosity which was homogenously distributed throughout the
sample (Fig. 13). The cyanide gold recovery from the calcines of samples
1 and 2 was 93% (10.97 g/t) and 76% (1.36 g/t), respectively.
3.5. Unifying discussion
As stated in the introduction part, in the absence of microscopic
techniques, the DL process could be a promising method to explore
the roots of the refractoriness of a gold ore (Zhou and Fleming, 2007).
In order to evaluate the functionality of DL for samples 1 and 2, the cu-
mulative gold recovery at the fifth stage of the DL study, i.e. nitric acid
treatment, is compared to the data attained from the QEMSCAN and
the two pretreatment methods (Table 15). It is worth noting that the cu-
mulative portion of gold at the nitric acid treatment stage refers to a
fraction of gold which is liberated and associated with the pyrite and
complex phases, excluding non-sulfide gangue minerals such as sili-
cates and quartz.
Table 15 illustrates a good correlation between the cumulative gold
recovery of sample 1, i.e. DL process, and the gold dissolution acquired
from the atmospheric oxidation and roasting processes. However, the
potential gold recovery predicted by QEMSCAN is underestimated by
14% (1.66 g/t). This discrepancy could be due to the presence of invisible
ð7Þ gold in sample 1, which is not detected by QEMSCAN (Goodall et al.,
2005; Kojonen and Johanson, 1999).
Despite a low gold grade in sample 2 (only 1.80 g/t), the gold recov-
ð8Þ eries by the DL test, QEMSCAN and atmospheric oxidation process are
(B) (C)
Pyrite
Pyrite
(E) (F)
Hematite
 A.M. Nazari et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 169 (2017) 35–46
(A)
Pyrite
Pyrite
(D)
Hematite
Fig. 13. Optical microscopy images of sample 2 before roasting (A, B and C), and after roasting (D, E, F).
approximately identical. However, gold recovery via roasting was
underestimated by nearly 11% (0.20 g/t). It should be noted that the
roasting process is expected to oxidize sulfides and maybe carbonates
and carbonaceous materials only, while the DL process applies several
different oxidative lixiviates and decomposes more different types of
minerals. Thus, one would expect better gold recovery after DL process,
than that after roasting. Additionally, sample 2 has more gold as Au-
telluride than in sample 1, and Au-tellurides are known to leach slowly
in cyanide solutions. This also might explain the lower gold recovery
from sample 2. Also it is worth mentioning that even though the
roasting of sample 2 had oxidized 94.2% of sulfide (Table 14), the re-
maining sulfide in sample 2 was nearly 1.3%, which is still a high sulfide
concentration. This might be another reason to explain the underesti-
mation of gold recovery by roasting of a high sulfide material (e.g. sam-
ple 2 of this study). In this study however, it was affirmed that each
stage of the DL would quantitatively provide the useful information
about the occurrence and distribution of gold in a high sulfide sample
(i.e. sample 2).
4. Conclusions
The refractoriness of two gold samples, sample 1 with 3.2% sulfide
and sample 2 with 22.6% sulfide, was studied by QEMSCAN and DL
tests. QEMSCAN revealed that both samples possessed a high concen-
tration of pyrite, quartz, orthoclase and muscovite which were in com-
pliance with the data obtained from XRD. It was also illustrated that the
gold was mainly in the form of electrum and gold telluride in samples 1
and 2, respectively. From QEMSCAN it was estimated that 38.5% (sam-
ple 1) and 37.5% (sample 2) of the gold were liberated. The data obtain-
ed from both SEM images and image processing showed that the
remaining fraction of gold in both samples were associated with non-
sulfide gangue minerals, pyrite and complex minerals. The LA-ICP-MS
Table 15
Comparison between the gold refractoriness values obtained from the DL process (up to
the nitric acid treatment stage), QEMSCAN, and gold recoveries obtained via the atmo-
spheric oxidation and roasting pre-treatent processes.
Technique Sample 1 Sample 2
g/t % g/t
DL 10.76 91 1.56
QEMSCAN analysis 9.1 77 1.58
Atmospheric oxidation + cyanidation 11.32 96 1.53
Roasting + cyanidation 10.97 93 1.36
45
(B) (C)
Pyrite
(E) (F)
Hematite
Hematite
analysis illustrated that 9.0% of gold in sample 1 and 14.4% of gold in
sample 2 were carried in solid solution in pyrite.
Conventional gold cyanidation on samples 1 and 2 resulted in 74%
and 54% gold recovery. A complete gold recovery was achieved only
after the HF treatment stage of DL process. Atmospheric oxidation and
roasting processes, as oxidative pretreatment methods, were carried
out on both samples in order to decompose the sulfide minerals. This
led to a significant improvement in the gold recovery, owning to the
better availability of the gold in the two samples to the cyanide solution,
which was initially locked by sulfides. Atmospheric oxidation process
possessed a greater gold recovery for sample 1 (96%) and sample 2
(85%) compared to that of roasting.
It was concluded that the DL is an effective tool to characterize the
sources of the gold extraction refractoriness for low and high sulfide
minerals. The cumulative gold recovery attained from the nitric acid
treatment (DL) of sample 2 was close to those obtained from
QEMSCAN and the atmospheric oxidation process. However, in the
case of sample 1 (low sulfide and high gold grade), QEMSCAN
underestimated the gold recovery which might be related to the pres-
ence of the invisible colloidal and chemically bound gold in the samples.
In addition, gold recovery obtained via the roasting of sample 2 was ap-
proximately 11% underestimated than those attained from the DL,
QEMSCAN and atmospheric oxidation process.
Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge the financial support of Ontario Centers of
Excellence (OCE), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Coun-
cil of Canada (NSERC) through an OCE-VIP II grant (#21755) and finan-
cial support of XPS Consulting & Testwork Services.
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