Phytoextraction of Hg and Au from gold

cyanidation tailings: a case study at an ASGM

location of West Lombok
Eko Handayanto, Nurul Muddarisna, Budi Prasetya, Baiq Dewi Krisnayanti
IRC-MEDMIND (brawijaya univ-mataram univ-massey univ-chinese acad sci)

International Seminar on Land Reclamation Technology for Sustainable Land

Use
Jambi University ,November 6-7, 2014
Introduction
 There are about 900 small-scale mining sites
throughout Indonesia, mostly ASGM (artisanal and
small-scale gold mining). One is located at Sekotong
District of West Lombok
 A two-stage process of Hg amalgamation followed by
cyanidation is used to recover gold from ore.
 The amalgamation and cyanidation tailings are
commonly discharged directly into adjacent agricultural
lands  substantially reduced crop growth and
production.
 containing Hg (1.628-3.002 ppm), Au (1,2 -6,28 ppm) and other
toxic heavy metals
Gold recovery
process of
ASGM
 Hg and Au concentration (mg/kg)
Mean ± SD Max Min
Primary ore n = 9 N = 8
Au 88.6 ± 241 731 0.32
Hg 1736 ± 2666 8364 112
Amalgamation tailings n = 25 N = 14
Au 6.89 ± 5.09 20.6 1.68
Hg 3002 ± 1964 7874 741
Cyanide tailings n = 63 N = 4
Au 1.20 ± 1.04 6.58 0.41
Hg 1628 ± 1127 6615 103

n describes the number of samples analyzed, N describes the number of

locations from where these samples were collected
Chemical characteristics of the cyanidation tailings

texture sandy clay loam Exch. Ca 1.99 cmol / kg,

pH 7.7 Exch. Mg 0.84 cmol / kg,
organic-C 1.19% Base saturation 31%
total N 0.001% Cu 792 mg /kg
available P 2.89 mg /kg Pb 530 mg/kg
Total S 1.27 mg /kg Fe 3,810 mg /kg
CEC 11.57 cmol/kg Mn 4,840 mg /kg
Exch. K 0.001 cmol / kg, Zn 3,760 mg /kg
Exch. Na 0.64 cmol / kg
Phytoextraction: a remediation technology
plays a double role, i.e. phytoremediation and
phytomining.

The benefit of phytoremediation: absorption of Hg

by accumulator plants

The benefit of phytomining: Au uptake by plants;

the content of Au in plants can be harvested and
processed into gold bio-ore
Problems
Selection of metal accumulators plants (local
species)
Selection of chelating agents
Solubility of Hg in the soil is very low; Hg is retained by
the soil solids through absorption in sulphide, clay
particles and organic matter
Au is a metal-chelating agent complex  low solubility
in the soil solution
Objectives
to evaluate the potential of Lindernia crustacea (L.) F.,
Paspalum conjugatum L., and Cyperus kyllingia Endl.,
for phytoextraction of Hg and Au form gold cyanidation
tailings (based on previous studies).
to evaluate the use of ammonium thiosulfate
((NH4)2S2O3) and sodium cyanide (NaCN) as chelating
agents to improve bioavailability of Hg and Au to plant
uptake
Materials and Methods
 A pot experiment in the agricultural field contaminated
by gold cyanidation tailings at Sekotong District of West
Lombok Regency.
 L. crustacea, P. conjugatum, and C. kyllingia were
grown for 9 weeks; at 8 weeks after planting, 2g/kg
[(NH4)2S2O3] or 1g/kg NaCN, each in 150 mL solution,
was added to the plants
9 treatments (3 plants with NH4)2S2O3 ; 3 plants with NaCN;
and 3 plants without chelating agents)
Hg concentration was measured by Cold Vapour Atomic
Absorption Spectrometer F732-S; Au concentration was
measured by Graphite Furnace Atomic Adsorption
Spectroscopy (Perkin Elmer A Analyst 600).
 Results
Plant biomass
 Application of (NH4)2S2O3 or
NaCN increased dry weight
of the plant shoots. At
harvest (9 weeks), the
highest shoot dry weight
was found in P. Conjugatum
 Only application of
(NH4)2S2O3 that significantly
increased shoot dry weight
 Shoot dry weight of NaCN
was not significantly
different with control
Hg accumulation Results
 Application of (NH4)2S2O3 or
NaCN increased Hg
concentration in the shoots by
75% and 45% .The highest Hg
concentration (22.69 mg/kg)
was in P. conjugatum shoot
with application of (NH4)2S2O3
 The value exceeded the
threshold value of Hg
concentration of 10 mg/kg of
total dry weight (Pedron et al.,
2011).
 Application of NaCN did not
significantly increased Hg
concentration in plants.
Au accumulation
 Application of (NH4)2S2O3 or
Results
NaCN increased the Au
concentration in the shoot by
106% and 30%.
 The highest concentration of
Au (601.9 µg/kg) was in the P.
conjugatum shoot with
application of (NH4)2S2O3 ; the
lowest (58.9 µg/kg) was in the
L. crustacea shoot with no
chelating agents.
 Compared with other studies
studies, the Au accumulation
was relatively small and less
than 1 mg/kg.
 related to the low biomass, (*) under normal conditions (no chelating agents
added) plants can only uptake 0,001 ppm Au
especially for L. crustacea
Conclusion
 Application of ammonium thiosulfate or sodium
cyanide increased accumulation of Hg and Au by
Paspalum conjugatum, Lindernia crustacea and
Cyperus kyllingia grown on gold cyanidation tailings of
ASGM area in West Lombok .
 Ammonium thiosulfate was better than sodium
cyanide for enhancing Hg and Au accumulation in
plants.
On going experiments (field)
 Use of wild cassava & wild tobacco (West Java & Lombok)
 Fertilify improvement of planting media (to get high plant
biomass)
 Optimalization of types and rates of chelating agents (shoud
be cheap and and readily available)
 Bio-ore smelter development (Puslit Tekmira)
 Sensivity studies of selected plants to other metals
 Effects of other metals on Au uptake by plants
Thank You
Acknowledgements
Brawijaya University, Mataram University, and Ministry of Energy & Mineral
Resources, for financial supports

E.Handayanto - Google Scholar Citations

http://scholar.google.co.id/citations?user=u-WNMdcAAA
AJ&hl=en
Why was ammonium thiosulfate better than
sodium cyanide?
 Ammonium thiosulfat
 a “lixiviant” (liquid medium used in hydrometallurgy to extract metal
from ores or mineral)
 suitable for extracting gold from media having pH 5-9
 result in more Au complex formation than cyanide.
 Au is not only form stabile complex with thiosulfate, but it also forms
complex with ammonia: Au + 8S2O32- + O2 + 2H2O  4Au(S2O3)23- +
4OH- and Au(S203)23- + 2NH3  Au(NH3)2+ + 2S2O32-.
 Sodium cyanide
 suitable for media having pH > 10.
 cyanide ions form strong complex with Au ion, i.e. [Au(CN)2-], through
reaction: 2Au + 4CN- + O2 + H2O  2Au(CN)2- + H2O2 + 2OH-. Thus,
every mole of solublized Au needs 1 mole of cyanide, and 2 moles of
solubilised Au need 1 mole of oxygen.