Hydrometallurgy 2003 – Fifth International Conference in Honor of Professor Ian Ritchie –

Volume 2: Electrometallurgy and Environmental Hydrometallurgy

Edited by C.A. Young, A.M. Alfantazi, C.G. Anderson, D.B. Dreisinger, B. Harris and A. James
TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society), 2003

DIRECT ELECTROWINNING OF SILVER FROM DILUTE LEACH

LIQUORS
Sunil Jayasekera1 Ag/EW

1
SGS Lakefield Oretest Pty Ltd;
431, Victoria Road, Malaga, WA 6090, Australia

Abstract

This paper describes the results of a study carried out to examine the feasibility of electrolytic
recovery of silver from cyanide leach liquor generated from a Western Australian silver mine
tailings using a novel high mass transfer electrowinning cell. The proposed circuit involves
heap leaching and electrowinning in a closed loop. The filter-press-like closed electrode
arrangement of the cell allowed much improved mass transfer of metal ions to the cathode
surface, making direct electrowinning of metals from dilute solutions feasible.

The tests were conducted both in the laboratory and at large scale using a prototype with
~1.0 m2 cathode area. The results showed that the recovery of silver from as low as 250 mg L-1
tenor was feasible.

The silver deposit produced with the prototype cell was non-adherent and powdery and could
be readily removed from the closed cell. A system was developed so that silver powder was
discharged continuously during the run.

Introduction

Recently a Western Australian silver mine evaluated a number of modification options to its
plant operation in order to increase the production. The existing operation only consisted of
crushing, milling and gravity separation followed by smelting to recover silver. The tailings
were stored to process at a later date. The recovery of silver by electrowinning or cementation
from a cyanide solution that could be generated by heap leaching of tailings were the options
considered in this feasibility study.

Electrowinning of gold together with silver from cyanide leach liquors had been practiced at the
turn of the century before it was replaced by the Merrill-Crowe process [1], which involves
cementation of gold with zinc. Vertical planar cathodes employed in the Siemens-Halske
electrolytic process [2] were extremely inefficient for recovering precious metals from dilute
leach liquors [3]. The advent of the carbon-in-pulp (CIP) process however, rekindled the
interest in electrowinning because electrolytes could be produced with much higher silver and
gold concentrations [4]. Electrowinning circuits are now an integral part of the CIP process.

Heap leaching with cyanide solutions is a low cost alternative for certain gold and silver ores
[5]. The current industrial practice for recovering metals from such pregnant solutions involves
the adsorption on to activated carbon, subsequent stripping followed by electrowinning [6].
Several authors have proposed the direct recovery of gold from such liquors by electrowinning

1355
using packed-bed cathodes [7-9]. Fluidised-bed electrowinning has also been suggested as an
alternative to the packed-bed cathode [10-12].

Electrowinning cell performance is often measured in terms of single-pass extraction efficiency,

which is the fraction of metal removed in one pass of the electrolyte through the cell. Because
the electrolyte has a finite residence time in the cell for a given flow rate, a higher pass
efficiency can only be achieved by increasing the rate of deposition, often referred to as the
space-time yield, which describes an important relationship of the investment cost for a
particular cell design [13].

For a diffusion controlled reaction,

ρ= κAC (1)

where ρ is the space-time yield (g m-3 S-1), κ the mass-transfer coefficient (m S-1), A the
specific cathode surface area (m-1) and C the concentration of reducible species (g m-3). This
relationship can be considered as a key for the design of cells suitable for electrowinning metals
from dilute solutions. As is clear from equation (1), higher space-time yields can only be
achieved by increasing the specific cathode surface area and mass transfer coefficient.

During the past two decades, a wide variety of cell types have been investigated in meeting the
above objectives for the electrolytic recovery of dilute solutions containing silver and other
metals [14-21]. Increasing the available cathode surface area is achieved by the use of three-
dimensional cathodes known as packed-bed electrodes, which are made out of conducting
material such as steel wool and fibrous carbon-graphite woven into fabrics. In other cell types,
the emphasis has been to improve the mass transfer of electro-active species. This has been
achieved by mechanical agitation, pumping the electrolyte at high rates, turbulence created by
inert particles or gas injection and rotating cathodes. Also developed in an attempt to increase
both the surface area of the cathode and the mass transfer coefficients were the fluidised-bed
reactors. The enhancement of mass transfer to the cathodes at acceptable pumping costs
remains the major objective of these novel designs.

In the present study, a novel electrolytic cell developed at Lakefield Oretest and registered as
Jetcell® was used to recover silver from pregnant leach liquors. This cell, which falls into the
category of a parallel plate flow reactor, is in modular form where vertical electrodes separated
by a PVC spacer were arranged like a filter press. A unique internal shape of the spacer, which
also houses a system of electrolyte entry ports, significantly enhanced the mass transfer and
facilitated uniform solution flow on to the cathode surface.

Experimental

Leaching

A composite sample was prepared from fifteen tailings samples through blending and rotary
split. A base line agitated vat leach was performed to determine the maximum recovery of
silver. The test, done at 40% solids (w/w) with enhanced dissolved oxygen and maintaining
NaCN at 0.10% (w/v) and pH 10.5, lasted four days.

A heap leach was simulated using a column 2 m high and 200 mm in diameter. The sample was
agglomerated using cement as a binder and mixed with dry lime before charging in to the
column to give a height of 1.7 m. The pregnant solution was returned to the top of the column

1356
at a flow rate of 8 L h-1 m-2 via an in-line carbon adsorption column. The solution exiting the
carbon column was monitored for pH, NaCN and metal content. The leach lasted for sixty days.

Because of the large volume of pregnant leach liquor required for conducting electrowinning
tests using the prototype cell, another solution was prepared by leaching a gravity concentrate.
It was then diluted appropriately to obtain various liquor compositions.

Electrowinning

Three sizes of electrowinning cells of Jetcell® configuration were employed giving effective
cathode surface areas of 0.029, 0.201 and 0.876 m2, respectively. All anodes and cathodes were
made out of 316 stainless steel. The separators, made of PVC, provided a 15 mm gap between
each pair of anode and cathode. The bench scale tests were conducted using cells having two
anodes and a cathode exposing both sides to the electrolyte. In medium and prototype cells,
three cathodes and four anodes were used.

The packed bed electrowinning cell was a PVC tank with one mild steel wool cathode and two
316 stainless steel wire mesh anodes. The cathodes were prepared by wrapping steel wool
around stainless steel mesh cut to 125 X 120 mm size, which acted as the current carrier. The
cathode was then sandwiched between two PVC distribution plates in which 10 mm diameter
holes were cut. The boxed cathode was sized to fit flush with the sides and bottom of the cell so
that solution by - passing was minimised. The cathode to anode distance was 30 mm.

The electrowinning tests were conducted in batch mode where the electrolyte was placed in a
reservoir and circulated continuously through the cell by a magnetic pump. The typical
reservoir volumes in bench, laboratory and pilot scale tests were 5, 50 and 400 L, respectively.
The periodic samples removed from the reservoir for analysis were accounted for in final mass
balance, current efficiency (CE) and energy consumption (EC) calculations.

All electrowinning tests were conducted at ambient temperature that varied between 24 – 28 ○C.

Analysis

Solution metal analysis was carried out either by flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS)
or inductively coupled plasma (ICP) mass spectroscopy. The electrowon silver powder was
analysed by an external laboratory.

Free cyanide was determined by ion selective electrode (ISE) measurements on solutions
diluted to remove matrix, pH and Eh effects. The total cyanide speciation was calculated and
accounted by the method described elsewhere [22].

Results and discussion

Leaching and electrowinning feed

The results of the agitated vat leach test is summarised in Figure 1. The extraction of silver
reached 91% in 96 hours and appeared to have leveled. The resulting solution contained 800 mg
L-1 silver. The consumption of NaCN was 2.8 kg t-1 and the addition of lime reached 0.5 kg t-1.
This solution was diluted 3 fold to obtain the feed for some preliminary electrowinning tests. A
typical assay is given in Table I.

1357
 Table I. Typical composition of the dilute electrowinning feed (mg L-1).
Ag Hg Cu Zn Ni Fe
260 0.355 29 6 24 <0.1

100

Silver extraction / % 80

60

40

20

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Time / h

Figure 1: Rate of extraction of silver from tailings composite.

The pregnant liquor prepared by leaching a gravity concentrate is given in Table II. As can be
seen it contained an increased amount of base metals. In the typical heap leach liquor the
concentration of these impurities would be relatively low.

Table II. Typical composition of the concentrated electrowinning feed (mg L-1).
Ag Hg Cu Zn Ni Pb Fe
2000 2.4 48.0 22.7 20.1 72.2 69.4

100 2500
Column leach
-1
EW feed grade / mg L

80 extraction 2000
Silver extraction / %

Projected heap
60 1500
leach grade

40 1000

20 500

0 0
0 10 20 30 40
Time / weeks

Figure 2: Rate of dissolution of silver in column leach and projected silver grade
for electrowinning during heap leach.

1358
The silver dissolution profile obtained from the column leach is shown in Figure 2. After 60
days of leaching, a silver extraction over 90% was achieved. This could be increased to about
95% by extending the duration of the leach. Using this data, silver concentration in the
electrowinning feed in the entire heap leach duration was calculated. The projected curve is also
included in Figure 2.

It appears that silver concentration in the electrowinning feed can be varied up to 2 g L–1 and
therefore a wide range of electrowinning tests were conducted to examine the performance of
the Jetcell® with varying silver grade.

Electrowinning

The major cathodic reactions occur during silver and gold electrowinning from cyanide leach
liquors are given in Table III together with their standard reduction potentials, E○, quoted
against the standard hydrogen electrode (SHE). Also included are the equilibrium reduction
potentials, Eeq, (determined at pH 11), for oxygen and water reduction reactions which compete
for the cathodic current.

According to the Nernst equation, decreasing metal concentration or increasing free cyanide
concentration shifts the equilibrium potential further to the cathodic direction making the
deposition thermodynamically more difficult. Thermodynamically, the most favourable
cathodic reaction listed below is the reduction of oxygen. This consumes a significant amount
of current, which in the case of gold electrowinning, estimated to be over 50% [6]. It can also
be seen that mercury and lead if present will co-deposit with silver or gold. Copper if present in
appreciable quantities may also deposit but could be controlled by adjusting the free cyanide
levels. Nickel, zinc and iron should not interfere but the equilibrium potentials depend on the
solution composition and temperature.

Table III: Standard reduction potentials for the reduction of various metal
cyanide species. [23]
○
Cathodic reaction E / V (SHE)
- -
Ag(CN)2 + e → Ag + 2CN -0.41
2- -
Hg(CN)4 + 2e → Hg + 4CN -0.30
2- -
Pb(CN)4 + 2e → Pb + 4CN -0.43
- -
Au(CN)2 + e → Au + 2CN -0.49
2- -
Cu(CN)3 + e → Cu + 3CN -1.09
2- -
Ni(CN)4 + 2e → Ni + 4CN -1.12
2- -
Zn(CN)4 + 2e → Zn + 4CN -1.34
4- -
Fe(CN)6 + 2e → Fe + 6CN -1.52
-
O2 + 2H2O + 4e → 4OH (*Eeq at pH 11.0) +0.52*
-
2H2O + 2e → H2 + 2OH (*Eeq at pH 11.0) -0.65*

The predominant anodic reaction in alkaline solutions is the production of oxygen (2) but
oxidation of cyanide may also take place according to:
-
4OH → O2 + 2H2O + 4e (2)
- - -
2OH + CN → CNO + H2O + 2e (3)

1359
Initially, a series of electrowinning tests was conducted to compare the performance of the
Jetcell® with a packed-bed cell type used in CIP operations. The feed solution contained
260 mg L-1 silver, 500 mg L-1 free cyanide and 2.0 gL-1 total cyanide at pH 11.

For the packed-bed cell, the re-circulation electrolyte flow rate was 120 L h-1. The mass of steel
wool exposed per unit flow velocity of the electrolyte was 9.64 X 10-7 m S-1 g-1, which is
similar to the values practiced in the gold industry. The applied current was 1.6 A and the initial
cell voltage was 4.8 V gradually dropping to 4.5 V.

The Jetcell® with two anodes and one cathode with a surface area of 0.029 m2 was used in this
series of tests. The linear flow velocity of the re-circulation electrolyte was 2.89 X 10-3 m s-1.
The applied current was 1.0 A and the average cell voltage was 3.0 V. The results obtained are
summarised in Figure 3.

100
Silver recovery / %

80

60
Packed-bed
40 Jetcell
20
0
0 50 100 150 200
Time / min
Figure 3: Recovery of silver with time using Jetcell® and packed-bed cell.

Figure 3 shows that the Jetcell® recovered over 95% of the silver within two hours. At the same
period, the packed-bed cell recovered about 88% silver. The current efficiency of the Jetcell®
was about 60% compared to about 18% for the packed-bed cell. The power consumptions were
1.3 and 7.0 kWh kg-1 for the Jetcell® and the packed-bed cell, respectively.

Further tests were conducted as a function of feed silver concentration. The results summarised
in Figure 4 shows the contrast in performance by the two cells. The current efficiency and the
energy consumption determined from these tests showed that the deterioration of values as the
feed silver concentration was decreased, were much worse for the packed-bed cell.

Additional electrowinning tests showed that the performance for both cells could be improved
by increasing the electrolyte pH. Others have observed a similar effect in gold electrowinning
[8].

Having established that better current and energy efficiencies could be obtained with the
Jetcell® over the packed-bed cell for this application, the next series of tests were conducted to
examine the performance of the Jetcell® as a function of current density at various initial silver
concentrations. The medium size cell was employed for these tests at a linear flow velocity of
4.14 X 10-4 m S-1. It should be noted that, the electrolyte re-circulation flow rate in this series of
tests was an order of magnitude slower. The results obtained are presented in Figure 5.

1360
 120 60

-1
Energy consumption / kWh kg
100 50

Current efficiency / %
80 40
packed bed EC
Jetcell EC
60 packed bed CE 30
Jetcell CE
40 20

20 10

0 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
-1
Silver concentration / mg L
Figure 4: Comparison of current efficiency (CE) and the energy consumption (EC) for
Jetcell® and packed-bed cell as a function of feed grade. Jetcell® flow velocity: 2.89 X
10-3 m s-1; current density: 34.7 A m-2. Packed-bed: 1.6 A, 120 L h-1.

As expected, the current efficiencies decrease at lower silver concentrations, irrespective of

applied current density. The effect however, is much greater at higher current densities. This is
caused by increased hydrogen evolution at the cathode. Because the rate of silver deposition
from dilute liquors is controlled by mass transfer, at a given agitation condition, the rate of
electrodeposition is unaffected by an increase in cathodic potential set at higher applied current.
Water reduction however, is not limited by mass transport; hence going to a more cathodic
potential results in increased hydrogen evolution, consuming a considerable amount of the
applied current. These effects reflect in the energy consumption as illustrated in Figure 5.
However, at higher silver concentrations (above ~1 g L-1), current efficiency appears to be
approaching a plateau indicating that diffusion is no longer controlling the rate of the
deposition. Kammel and Lieber [24] who witnessed a similar effect attributed this behaviour to
a chemically controlled rate-determining step involving the discharge of silver cyanide
complexes.

The above effect was further examined in the next set of experiments, where the re-circulating
electrolyte flow velocity was varied at a fixed current density of 100 A m-2. Two feed solutions
with 1000 and 250 mg L-1 silver were used. The flow velocity was varied between 1.38 X 10-4
to 13.8 X 10-4 m S-1. As shown in Figure 6, the variations in cell voltage and current efficiency
were plotted as a function of electrolyte flow velocity. The results show that with dilute silver
feed, current efficiency increases almost linearly with the solution flow velocity as expected for
a diffusion-controlled reaction. The highest current efficiency obtained was 76% at a flow
velocity of 13.8 X 10-4 m S-1.

With the feed silver concentration at 1.0 g L-1, an increase in current efficiency can be observed
with increasing flow velocity, up to about 5 X 10 –4 m S-1. Above this value, increasing the
solution flow rate has negligible effect on current efficiency. This is further evidence for the
previous observation that the rate of silver deposition is unaffected by the enhanced mass

1361
transfer, in concentrated solutions. The maximum current efficiency obtained at 100 A m-2 was
88%.
20 100

-1
Energy consumption / kWh kg
16 80

Current efficiency / %
12 60

8 40

4 20

0 0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
-1
Silver concentration / mg L
200 A/m2 EC 100 A/m2 EC 50 A/m2 EC
200 A/m2 CE 100 A/m2 CE 50 A/m2 CE
Figure 5: Variation of current efficiency (CE) and the energy consumption (EC)
for Jetcell® as a function of initial silver concentration and applied current
density. solution flow velocity: 4.14 X 10-4 m S-1.

The variations in current efficiency reflect in cell voltages. With increased agitation, the
internal resistance of the electrolyte (ohmic drop) as well as concentration overpotentials of
both cathodes and anodes decreased resulting in about a 0.5 V drop for dilute solution.

100
4.8
Current efficiency / %

80
Cell Voltage / V

4.4
60

4.0
40
CV (0.25 g/L)
3.6 CV (1.0 g/L)
20
CE (0.25 g/L)
CE (1.0 g/L)
3.2 0
0 5 10 15
4 -1
Electrolyte flow velocity X 10 / m S
Figure 6: Variation of cell voltage (CV) and current efficiency (CE) for Jetcell®
as a function of electrolyte flow velocity. (i) 250 (ii) 1000 mg L-1 Ag. total
cathode surface area 0.201 m2, current density 100 A m-2.
1362
The predictions from Figure 6 were tested at pilot scale using about 400 L of liquor. These tests
were conducted using the larger prototype Jetcell®, equipped with three cathodes and four
anodes with a total effective cathode area of 0.877 m2. Two feed solutions containing 2000 and
250 mg L-1 silver, respectively, were used. The results are summarised in Figure 7.

100 2000

-1
80 1600

Free & total CN / mg L

Silver recovery / %

60 1200

40 Ag (Conc.) 800
Ag (Dil.)
20 Free CN 400
Total CN
0 0
0 50 100 150 200
Time / min
Figure 7: Recovery of silver using the pilot scale Jetcell®. total cathode surface area
0.877 m2. (i) Ag (conc.):2.0 g L-1, current density 100 A m-2, solution flow 3.17 X 10-4
m S-1; (ii) Ag (Dil.):230 mg L-1, current density 51.3 A m-2, solution flow 4.75 X 10-4 m
S-1. free and total CN assays are from (i).

With 2 g L-1 silver solution over 92% silver recovery was achieved in 2.5 hours at an overall
current efficiency of 86%. The average cell voltage was 2.6 V and the overall energy
consumption was 1.0 kWh kg-1. The results obtained were better than the values predicted in
Figure 5 (from data using 0.201 m2 cell). It was observed that the performance of the Jetcell®,
particularly with respect to solution flow characteristics, improved with larger frames.

The deposit obtained was powdery and non-adherent. The solid was discharged continuously
through a 3-inch cyclone with 18 mm vortex and 7 mm spigot. Only about 10% of the total
deposit remained loosely on three cathodes, and was collected at the termination of the test.

Also depicted in Figure 7 are free and total cyanide assays followed through the course of the
above test. As expected, free cyanide concentration increased with the depletion of silver but
the total cyanide remained more or less constant indicating that the oxidation of cyanide to
cyanate at the anode according to reaction (3) was negligible. This is advantageous as the
barren solution can be readily re-cycled back to the heap leach.

The results from the test conducted with 230 mg L-1 silver solution are also included in Figure
7. Over 83% of the silver was recovered in 2.5 hours. The current efficiency was 54% with an
average cell voltage of 4.5 V. The energy consumption was 2.1 kWh kg-1. The results are very
much similar to the values predicted with the smaller cell and illustrated in Figure 5. As with
the concentrated solution, silver was produced in powder form and discharged continuously.

The concentration of impurities were also assayed as a function of time during the course of the
test and plotted in Figure 8 against the solution silver concentration.
1363
 80 3.0
70

-1
Metal concentration / mg L

-1
Hg concentration / mg L
2.5
60
2.0
50
40 1.5
30
1.0
20
0.5
10
0 0.0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Silver concentration / mg L-1

Pb Cu Zn Ni Fe Hg

Figure 8: Solution concentration of impurities as a function of silver

concentration during electrowinning with Jetcell®. total cathode surface area
0.877 m2. (i) Ag (conc.):2.0 g L-1, current density 100 A m-2.

As predicted from thermodynamics, it can be seen that lead and mercury co-deposit with silver,
while there is no appreciable change in concentration of copper, zinc, nickel and iron over the
course of the run.

As indicated earlier, this solution contained increased amount of lead, which is not expected to
present in the pregnant heap leach liquor. The presence of mercury in the leach liquor however,
is possible. The removal of mercury from heap leach liquors of gold and silver was studied
recently by Matlock et. al. [25] using a di-potassium salt of 1;3-benzenediamidoethanethiol
(BDET2). The ligand has proven to be highly effective by selectively reducing mercury levels
from average initial concentrations of 34.5 mg L-1 to 8 µg L-1 within 15 minutes. Lizama et. al.
[26] studied the separation of silver from mercury in nitrate medium. In the present study, some
preliminary testwork was conducted to examine the possibility of using sodium hydrogen
sulphide (NaHS) as the precipitant. Addition of NaHS:Hg ten times the stoichiometric
requirement, reduced mercury from 8.5 mg L-1 to 0.023 mg L-1. Silver concentration only
dropped from 1.0 to 0.955 mg L-1. Further work need to be conducted in this area.

From the data generated at pilot scale using various solution compositions, it appears that this
cell is flexible and can be adapted to treat the heap leach liquors at various grades without much
difficulty. The curve in Figure 9 shows the rate of silver deposition as a function of silver grade.
This data were applied to calculate the size of cells required for a target production rate.
Because of the plate and frame arrangement, the units are very compact and allow flexibility
and savings in capital expenditure. For example, with 1 g L-1 feed grade, a unit with dimensions
of 0.4 X 0.4 X 0.7 m is capable of producing nearly 2 million ounces of silver per year.

1364
 0.40

-2
Rate of deposition / kg h m
-1
0.30

0.20

0.10

0.00
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
-1
Initial silver concentration / mg L

Figure 9: Rate of silver deposition using Jetcell® as a function of initial silver

concentration in the feed.

As a part of the project feasibility a cost analysis was undertaken to compare the zinc
cementation with electrowinning using the Jetcell®. The are costs summarised in Table V and
clearly favours the electrowinning route.

Table V. Comparison of costs between zinc cementation and electrowinning using the
Jetcell for the recovery of silver.

Production target: 14 million oz. Ag/year. minimum grade:97% Ag.

US cents/oz. of Ag
Zn Cementation Electrowinning
Capital 34.5 11
Labour 6.5 2.7
Services (power, air, analytical) 1.4 0.7
Consumables (Zn, Pb(NO3)2, filter aid, 34.1 0.3
acid, fluxes, LPG, furnace items)
Maintenance 0.9 0.3
Operating cost (Total) 42.9 4.0
TOTAL 77.4 15

Apart from obvious savings in labour and consumables costs, the clear advantage of the Jetcell
over cementation is its simplicity. Zinc cementation is a chemical process, which needs to be
carefully monitored to maintain the product quality. The electrowinning cell developed for this
application is robust and can be fully automated with minimum supervision.

The packed-bed type cells, which are used successfully in the gold industry, also operates in a
batch mode and requires periodic shutdown for manual removal and replacement of steel wool.
The loaded steel wool must be subjected to further processing to obtain the product. A reactor
which discharges silver powder with high purity continuously, which only needs to be de-
watered before shipping, offers clear economic benefits.

Conclusions

An electrowinning cell, which possesses efficient mass transfer characteristics was developed
and trailed successfully for an industrial application. The parallel plate and frame flow reactor
1365
registered as Jetcell, retains enhanced mass transfer even at lower flow velocities through a
unique electrolyte distribution system housed in the frame. It is ideally suited to recover metal
values from dilute liquors. If required, diaphragms could be fitted readily to separate anolyte
from the catholyte.

The feasibility conducted to examine heap leaching of a silver tailings dump followed by
electrolytic recovery of silver, proved to be cost effective. The leaching achieves over 95%
recovery with pregnant leach liquor predicted to contain between 250- 2000 mg L-1 silver. The
pregnant liquor could then be fed directly into Jetcell. High purity silver powder was
discharged continuously through a cyclone and on to a thickener.

The silver powder >98% purity was obtained. The major contaminants were lead and mercury.
If present in higher quantities, in the pregnant liquor, these two elements would be co-
deposited, making the silver deposit less pure.

Free cyanide concentration increased during the course of electrowinning, with the total
cyanide remained more or less constant indicating that the barren solution can be readily re-
cycled back to the heap. This flowsheet was much simpler than the zinc cementation route, and
offered significant cost savings in both capital and operating costs.

Acknowledgements

This paper is published by permission of SGS Lakefield Oretest Pty Ltd. The author is grateful
to Dr Ian Corrans for the design of Jetcell® apparatus. Thanks are also due to J MacIntyre &
Associates for cost analysis and Rob Burger for column leach work.

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1366
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