S.

Mena

B. Oliver

THE CATALYTIC EFFECT OF LEAD NITRATE AND BISMUTH (III) SALT IN GOLD CYANIDATION

INTRODUCTION

Current gold extraction techniques (Hylander et al., 2006): - panning - amalgamation - sluicing - cyanidation

FACTORS TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION

Efficiency

Cost

Environmental Impact

CYANIDATION

Cyanidation is an industry standard with 18% of world cyanide production used in gold extraction

Elsner equation: 4Au + 8NaCN + O2 + 2H2O 4Na[Au(CN)2] + 4NaOH

CYANIDATION ON SULFIDE MATERIALS

Sulfide ions adsorb to the gold surface due to their surface activity They react rapidly with cyanide to form thiocyanate and other aqueous sulfur species Consumes the cyanide in the process

CYANIDATION ON SULFIDE MATERIALS

Problem: - instead of cyanide complexing with the gold to form aurocyanate, it is being consumed by sulfide ions and forming unwanted elemental sulfur

+ +

= =

CATALYSTS
Catalysts are employed to speed up the kinetics of the Elsner reaction Lead (II) nitrate is a commonly used catalyst in gold cyanidation

+ + +

= =

PROBLEM WITH LEAD (II) NITRATE

Lead sulfides in the tailings accumulate in mine waste dams and may leak into nearby water systems upon dam failure May lead to possible bioaccumulation

ALTERNATIVES TO LEAD (II) NITRATE

Mercury (I) Thallium (I) Bismuth (III)

METHODOLOGY
Standard bottle roll testing 2 set-ups: - Transition ore leaching - Ideal leaching

TRANSITION ORE LEACHING

Predetermined recipe of ore and reagents were measured and prepared Ingredients -Masbate Gold Project sulfide ore (-140 mesh) -Distilled water -Lime (-100 mesh) for pH control -20% NaCN -Catalyst (Pb(NO3)2 and BiCl3) -Activated carbon for gold adsorption

SLURRY CHARACTERISTICS
43% solids 350 ppm NaCN pH 11 All based on parameters currently being employed at the Phil. Gold Processing and Refining Corp. in Masbate

CATALYSTS

Two sets of runs were performed for both the Pb(NO3)2 and BiCl3, each having 4 levels of concentration: - 50 g/ton - 100 g/ton - 150 g/ton - 200 g/ton

TRANSITION ORE LEACHING

A run is composed of: - 5 bottles (contents of w/c will each be harvested after 3, 6, 18, 21, and 24 hours) - uniform catalyst and catalyst concentration

IDEAL SET-UP
Designed around the assertion that the catalytic effects of Pb(NO3)2 and BiCl3 should be tested on sulfide-rich material and gold-only material to check performance in these theoretically pure conditions Will be able to give a clearer understanding of the reaction kinetics/mechanism

IDEAL SET-UP:
Pre-leaching: catalyst was allowed to react with the ore/gold standard for an hour before cyanidation took place Solid and liquid components were separated in one batch after 3 hours, and another after 6 hours Catalyst concentration: 100 g/ton

ANALYSIS

Transition ore: -solid component: fire assay -liquid component: titration & AAS Au standard: -solid component: AAS -liquid component: titration & AAS Pyrite ore: -solid component: XRF -liquid component: titration & AAS

ANALYSIS
Fire assay = Au concentration for solid ore cake Titration with AgNO3 = amount of remaining free cyanide XRF = Fe, S, Cu concentration AAS = Au concentration