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Carbon Adsorption In Recovery Of GoldFrom Cyanide Leach Solutions
It has been known that gold in a cyanide leach solution would adsorb to activated carbon for over 70 years,and many papers have been written on the subject. Carbon, as a media of recovery for gold from leachsolutions, did not gain wide acceptance in the gold industry until the 1970's, with the explosion of heapleaching of vast quantities of low grade gold ores, and subsequent production of many gallons of pregnantleach solution. It is now the most common method used for the recovery of gold from a cyanide leachsolution.Two primary methods, Carbon In Pulp (CIP) and Carbon Columns probably comprise the most widelyutilized techniques for extracting gold, now days. In CIP, the carbon is mixed with the cyanide leachsolution, and agitated in the leach tanks, and agitated with the ore while the gold is being dissolved. Thisassures a rapid interface between the carbon and the gold loaded cyanide solution. Granular, hard carbon isused, in the size range of 10-16 mesh. The carbon is then removed by screening, across a carbon screen,allowing the liquid and finely ground ore (-100 mesh) to pass through easily, and retaining the carbon on thescreen. The carbon is then generally subjected to a heated solution (200 deg to 250 deg F) of (1%) sodiumhydroxide and (0.1%) cyanide and the gold is re-dissolved and removed from the carbon surface. At this point, the NaOH/CN solution is sent to electrowinning cells, where the gold is plated onto stainless steelcathodes. The gold is removed from the cathodes by either using a high pressure water spray, sometimesshaking the cathode, and in some cases, the stainless steel cathode is placed into a melting furnace andheated to 2,000 degrees F, to melt the gold from the cathode. The stainless steel cathode, of course, does notmelt at this temperature, but such temperatures reduce the life of the cathodes, and most will wash the gold"sponge" from the cathodes. The fine, powdered gold is then melted and poured into dore bars.The carbon in pulp method is only used where tank leaching is utilized for the recovery of gold from theores and this is not the case in most large gold mines today, since heap leaching is the lowest cost method for recovering gold from ores containing from a few grams to 5 or 6 grams per ton. If the ore is a high grade, itmay be feasible to tank leach it. By high grade, it would probably be in the range of ¼ ounce per ton (Au)range or greater. The cost of leaching by tank is considerably greater than leaching in a heap. This is due tothe requirement to crush the ore to -100 mesh (at least), and to provide mechanical equipment to store andagitate the ore for extended periods of time (4-6 hours). Occasionally, carbon columns will be used with tank leaching operations, also, especially if the mine has a dual leach system, heap leach of low grade and tank leach of high grade.Carbon columns consist of large columns (5 to 8 ft diameter) and 15 to 20 feet in height, charged withactivated carbon. The minimum load of carbon rule of thumb is one pound of activated carbon per 0.1 ounceof gold present in the solution. Usually, it is several pounds per 1/10 ounce, though, as the cost of carbon isrelatively insignificant compared to timely recovery of gold.The pregnant cyanide solution flows through the carbon columns, which are generally situated in stepfashion, so that the overflow from the highest column will gravity flow to the next column, alleviating therequirement for pumping. The gold adsorbs onto the surface of the carbon. The loaded carbon is periodicallyremoved from the columns, and sent to the stripping circuit. The carbon is then generally subjected to aheated solution (200 deg to 250 deg F) of (1%) sodium hydroxide and (0.1%) cyanide and the gold is re-dissolved and removed from the carbon surface. At this point, the NaOH/CN solution is sent toelectrowinning cells, where the gold is plated onto stainless steel cathodes. The gold is removed from thecathodes by either using a high pressure water spray, sometimes shaking the cathode, and in some cases, thestainless steel cathode is placed into a melting furnace and heated to 2,000 degrees F, to melt the gold fromthe cathode. The stainless steel cathode, of course, does not melt at this temperature, but such temperaturesreduce the life of the cathodes, and most will wash the gold "sponge" from the cathodes. The fine, powderedgold is then melted and poured into dore bars.Any silver present in the ore, will also be leached in the cyanide solution, and will be present in the dore bar,
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