• Resources Recycling
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.17-23
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• 1994

The dissolution of gold and silver from concentrate was studied with acidic thiourea solution. The results showed that the gold and silver extraction was severely affected by concentration of thiourea and oxidant, pulp density, etc. Especially, oxidant such as ferric ions enhanced the leching rate of gold and silver. High concentration of ferric ions, however, dissolved the sulfide ore to form electrochemically passive layer on the surface of ore particles, which caused the precious metal not to be leached out from the ore. The use of $SO_2$could not effectively enhance the recovery of precious metal but reduce to some extent the consumption of thiourea. The leaching of gold and silver was achieved with recovery more than 90% and 80%, respectively, under the following conditions; Thiourea conc. :0.4M Oxidant : None $H_2SO_4$ conc. : 0.5M Pulp density : <10% Leaching time :4 Hrs Potential :250mV The Thiourea was consumed about 10% in comparison with its initial concentration.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.9-15
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• 2010

Domestic gold mine tailings, generally, contain a lot of non-metallic silica and clay minerals. These minerals can be separated from the tailings by various physical separation methods and used as raw materials for cements and ceramic products. In these physical separation procedures, metallic complex sulfides, in which Au and metallic constituents such as Pb, As and Fe were concentrated, were obtained as a by-product. These metallic constituents should be removed or separated from the by-product to extract Au efficiently. In this work, removal and separation processes of Pb, As, and Fe from the by-product were investigated. Pb was removed to under 3% by using alkaline oxidative leaching at the leaching condition of $120^{\circ}C$, 2M NaOH, 100psi $Po_2$, 250r.p.m., 4 wt.% solid and 30 min. leaching time. The leached residue was roasted and separated magnetically to obtain a non-magnetic product contained <0.2% As, <3% Fe and high concentrated Au more than 8,000 ppm.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2001

The dissolution behavior of gold and silver from gold-silver alloys in aerated cyanide solutions has been investigated by an electrochemical means as well as a direct measurement of gold and silver ions reported in the bulk solution as a function of time using rotating disc electrodes. The variables studied included oxygen partial pressure, rotating speed of the disc, concentration of cyanide, temperature and composition of the allyos. The dissolution potential and the rate of dissolution were obtained in view of the anodic and cathodic current-potential relationships. The results were discussed in terms of the mixed potential theory. The results showed that the dissolution rate of gold and silver from the alloys was controlled partially by chemical reaction. but largely by transport of either oxygen or cyanide, depending on their relative concentration under the experimental conditions employed in this study.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.47-62
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• 2024

Abu Gurdi area is located in the South-eastern Desert of Egypt which considered as volcanic massive sulfide deposits (VMS). The present work aims at investigating the ore mineralogy of Abu Gurdi region in addition to the effectiveness of the hydrometallurgical route for processing these ores using alkaline leaching for the extraction of Zn, Cu, and Pb in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, has been investigated. The factors affecting the efficiency of the alkaline leaching of the used ore including the reagent composition, reagent concentration, leaching temperature, leaching time, and Solid /Liquid ratio, have been investigated. It was noted that the sulfide mineralization consists mainly of chalcopyrite, sphalerite, pyrite, galena and bornite. Gold is detected as rare, disseminated crystals within the gangue minerals. Under supergene conditions, secondary copper minerals (covellite, malachite, chrysocolla and atacamite) were formed. The maximum dissolution efficiencies of Cu, Zn, and Pb at the optimum leaching conditions i.e., 250 g/L NaCO₃ - NaHCO₃ alkali concentration, for 3 hr., at 250 ℃, and 1/5 Solid/liquid (S/L) ratio, were 99.48 %, 96.70 % and 99.11 %, respectively. An apparent activation energy for Zn, Cu and Pb dissolution were 21.599, 21.779 and 23.761 kJ.mol^-1, respectively, which were between those of a typical diffusion-controlled process and a chemical reaction-controlled process. Hence, the diffusion of the solid product layer contributed more than the chemical reaction to control the rate of the leaching process. High pure Cu(OH)₂, Pb(OH)₂, and ZnCl₂ were obtained from the finally obtained leach liquor at the optimum leaching conditions by precipitation at different pH. Finally, highly pure Au metal was separated from the mineralized massive sulfide via using adsorption method.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.137-147
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• 2018

The aim of this study was to leach penalty elements, such as Bi and As, effectively through microwave leaching of a gold concentrate sample containing penalty elements with nitric acid solution. For this purpose, the time effect of microwave leaching, nitric acid concentration effect, and sample addition effect in a microwave were examined. The experiment, demonstrated that the leaching rate of penalty elements increased as microwave leaching time and nitric acid concentration increased and concentration addition decreased. When a microwave heating experiment was carried out on the concentrate and ore minerals, Bi was removed by as much as 90%, and the phase of arsenopyrite was transformed in the order of arsenopyrite (FeAsS), pyrrhotite (FeS), and hematite ($Fe_2O_3$). When the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was carried out with solid residue, elemental sulfur and anglesite were identified. The intensity of the XRD peaks of elemental sulfur and anglesite increased, and the peaks were sharper when the microwave leaching time was 12 min instead of 1 min, the nitric acid concentration was 4 M in rather than 0.5 M, and the concentration addition was 30 g rather than 5 g. This was probably because more elemental sulfur and anglesite were generated in the leaching solution as the leaching efficiency increased. Bi can be leached as valuable elements in the leaching solution through microwave leaching processes while they are released to the environment through a microwave heating processes.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.29-35
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• 2001

This study was carried out to recover gold, silver and valuable metals from the printed circuit boards (PCBs) of waste computers. PCBs samples were crushed under 1 mm by a shredder and separated into 30% conducting and loft nonconducting materials by an electrostatic separator. The conducting materials contained valuable metals which were then used as feed materials for magnetic separation. 42% of magnetic materials from the conducting materials was removed by magnetic separation as nonvaluable materials and the others, 58% of non magnetic materials, was used as leaching samples containing 0.227 mg/g Au and 0.697 mg/g Ag. Using the materials of leaching from magnetic separation, more than 95% of copper, iron, zinc, nickel and aluminium was dissolved in 2.0M sulfuric acid solution, added with 0.2M hydrogen peroxide at $85^{\circ}C$. Au and Ag were not extracted in this solution. On the other hand, more than 95% of gold and 100% of silver were leached by the selective leaching with a mixed solvent (0.2M($NH_4$)$_2$$S_2$$O_3$,0.02M $CuSO_4$,0.4M $NH_4$OH). Finally, the residues were reacted with a NaCl solution to leach Pb whereas sulfuric acid was used to leach Sn. Recoveries reached 95% and 98% in solution, respectively.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1871-1880
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• 2016

Bio-oxidation is an effective technology for treatment of refractory gold concentrates. However, the unsatisfactory oxidation rate and long residence time, which cause a lower cyanide leaching rate and gold recovery, are key factors that restrict the application of traditional bio-oxidation technology. In this study, the oxidation rate of refractory gold concentrates and the adaption of microorganisms were analyzed to evaluate a newly developed two-step pretreatment process, which includes a high temperature chemical oxidation step and a subsequent bio-oxidation step. The oxidation rate and recovery rate of gold were improved significantly after the two-step process. The results showed that the highest oxidation rate of sulfide sulfur could reach to 99.01 % with an extreme thermophile microbial community when the pulp density was 5%. Accordingly, the recovery rate of gold was elevated to 92.51%. Meanwhile, the results revealed that moderate thermophiles performed better than acidophilic mesophiles and extreme thermophiles, whose oxidation rates declined drastically when the pulp density was increased to 10% and 15%. The oxidation rates of sulfide sulfur with moderate thermophiles were 93.94% and 65.73% when the pulp density was increased to 10% and 15%, respectively. All these results indicated that the two-step pretreatment increased the oxidation rate of refractory gold concentrates and is a potential technology to pretreat the refractory sample. Meanwhile, owing to the sensitivity of the microbial community under different pulp density levels, the optimization of microbial community in bio-oxidation is necessary in industry.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.193-197
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• 2001

This study was carried out to recover gold, silver and other valuable metals from the printed circuit boards (PCB) of waste computers. PCB samples were crushed to under 1mm by a shredder and initially separated into 30% conducting and 70% non-conducting materials by an electrostatic separator. The conducting materials, which contained the valuable metals, were then used as the feed material for magnetic separation where it was found that 42% was magnetic and 58% non- magnetic. The non-magnetic materials contained 0.227mg/g Au and 0.697mg/g Ag. Further leaching of the non-magnetic component using 2.0M sulfuric acid and 0.2M hydrogen peroxide at 85$^{\circ}C$ extracted more than 95% copper, iron, zinc, nickel and aluminium. Au and Ag were not extracted in this solution, however, more than 95% of Au and 100% of Ag were selectively leached with a mixed solvent (0.2M ammonium thiosulfate, 0.02M copper sulfate, 0.4M ammonium hydroxide). Finally, the residues were reacted with a NaCl solution to leach out Pb while sulfuric acid was used to leach out Sn. Recoveries reached 95% and 98% in solution, respectively.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.645-655
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• 2014

In order to obtain pure metallic Te from gold concentrate, roasting treatment, hypochlorite leaching, Fe removal and electrolysis experiments were carried out. The contents of Au, Ag and Te from the concentrate sample and roasted sample were much more soluble in the hypochlorite solution than in aqua regia digestion, whereas the metals Pb, Zn, Fe and Cu were easier to leach with the aqua regia than the hypochlorite. With the addition of NaOH in the hypochlorite leaching solution prior to electrolysis, the Fe removal rate achieved was only 96% in the concentrate sample, while it reached 98% in the roasted sample. The results of electrolysis for 240 min, 98% of the metallic copper was recovered from the concentrate sample, while 99% was obtained from the roasted sample due to the removal of S by roasting. The amount of anode slime was also greater in the electrolytic solution with the roasted sample than with the concentrate sample. The results on the anode slime after the magnetic separation process showed the amount of metallic pure native tellurium recovered was greater in the roasted sample than in the concentrate sample.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.233-244
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• 2015

In order to study the phase transformation of pyrite and to determine the maximum Fe leaching factors, pyrite samples were an electric furnace and microwave oven and then ammonia leaching was carried out. The rim structure of hematite was observed in the sample exposed in an electric furnace, whereas a rim structure consisting of hematite and pyrrhotite were found in the microwave treated sample. Numerous interconnected cracks were only formed in the microwave treated sample due to the arcing effect, and these cracks were not found in the electric furnace treated sample. Under XRD analysis, pyrite and hematite were observed in the electric furnace treated sample, whereas pyrite, hematite and pyrrhotite were found in the microwave treated sample. The results of the pyrite sample leaching experiments showed that the Fe leaching was maximized with the particle size of -325 mesh, sulfuric acid of 2.0 M, ammonium sulfate of 1.0 M, and hydrogen peroxide of 1.0 M. The electric furnace and microwave treated samples were tested under the maximum leaching conditions, the Fe leaching rate was much greater in the microwave treated sample than in the electric furnace treated sample and the maximum Fe leaching time was also faster in the microwave treated sample than in the electric furnace treated sample. Accordingly, it is expected that the microwave heating can enhance (or improve) Fe leaching in industrial minerals as well as pyrite decomposition in gold ores.