CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Academic Year 2020 – 2021

CHE 320: SEPARATION PROCESSES II

(SOLID-LIQUID EXTRACTION – LEACHING)

SHOROYE MODESOLA ESTHER

18CF023998

GOLD CYANIDATION
6th June, 2021

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ABSTRACT
This paper extensively explains the cyanidation leaching process of gold. The
main purpose of using sodium or potassium cyanide leaching solution to leach
gold is to convert the gold to a water soluble coordination complex. It is very
important that heap leaching drums are used as a pre treatment step to
agglomerate the crushed ore that may contain significant amount of ore fines
of large sizes and clay materials that may have developed during crushing so
that there will be smooth and rapid flow of cyanide leaching solution through
the heaps. Heap leaching is very dependent on particle size and shape; heap
leaching drums ensure uniformity. This paper ventures to provide a compact
overview on the cyanidation heap leaching process of gold using heap
leaching drums.

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LIST OF CONTENTS PAGE NUMBER

ABSTRACT___________________________________________________

1.NOMENCLATURE ____________________________________________

2. INTRODUCTION _____________________________________________
2.1 LEACHING OVERIEW________________________________________

3.LEACHING PROCESS_________________________________________

4. PROCESS CONDITIONS______________________________________

5. EXTRACTOR________________________________________________
5.1 HEAP LEACHING DRUM______________________________________
5.2 HOW DO HEAP LEACHING DRUMS WORK?_____________________
5.3 WHY USE HEAP LEACHING DRUMS IN GOLD CYANIDATION?______

6. REFERENCES_______________________________________________

7. GLOSSARY__________________________________________________

1. NOMENCLATURE

Au - symbol for Aurum which is known as gold.

NaCN- sodium cyanide

O2- oxygen

H2O- water

Na[Au(CN)2]-Sodium dicyanoaurate

NaOH- Sodium hydroxide

m - meter

(aq)- aqueous

(s)- solid

(l)- liquid

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2.INTRODUCTION

2.1 LEACHING OVERVIEW

Leaching is commonly defined as the process by which a solute is removed

from a solid by a solvent. That is, the soluble part of the solid is removed by a
solvent. The choice of solvent is can affect the rate at which the solid is being
leached; usually, a solid with low viscosity and one which is selectively
dissolvable in the solid is used.
In the metallurgy industry, leaching is widely used in the extraction of certain
metals from their ores. These metals must be leached with chemicals
because the effect of leaching converts the metals to soluble salts which then
makes for easy access to the metals when they are washed and processed.

3. LEACHING PROCESS

Gold is an inorganic sold. Gold cyanidation is the most common leaching step
involved in the extraction of gold from its ore. Cyanidation is actually the only
choice for gold recovery from low grade ores and finely dispersed ores in both
technological and economical processes. Gold ore is leaching using sodium
or potassium leaching solution to make the gold soluble. Heap leaching is
adopted in this process because it is large-scale production of gold and heap
leaching is the most suitable for large-scale processes. Heap leaching is the
most suitable because it produces the desired concentrates at a lower cost
compared to other unsteady state leaching operations. Gold cyadination is an
unsteady state leaching operation because with time, the properties of the
crushed gold ore is changing.
Gold cyanidation is done in four major steps:
a. Step (a) involves crushing or grinding of the ore; most of the time, the ores
are not always completely crushed, they always either contain clay particles
and ore fines and if left like this, the sodium or potassium cyanide solution
would not have free flow through the heaps of the crushed gold ore further
leading to low production of gold. 
b. Step (b) involves the use of a heap leaching drum to agglomerate the
crushed ore to ensure uniformity in size by removal of all forms of clay
particles or irregular ore fines. While agglomeration is going on, the sodium or
potassium cyanide leaching solution is applied earlyto the crushed ore. This is
to allow for the leaching solution to begin leaching the gold ore to offer further
efficiency through a more uniform or homogeneous mix of ore fines and
leaching solution. 
c. Step (c) involves the curing of the agglomerated ore in the heap for about
forty-eight hours. In the open, the cyanide solution is sprayed over very huge
heaps of crushed ore that are spread on top giant collection pads. The heap is
then leached in about (how long the the heap of crushed ore is leached for

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depends on the amount of crushed gold ore in use), allowing the solution to
drain to the bottom of the heap. The pad then collects the metal impregnated
solution. The chemical reaction for the dissolution of gold to a water
coordination soluble complex is known as the “Elsner Equation", it is given as:
4 Au(s) + 8 NaCN(aq) + O2(g) + 2H2O(l)→ 4 Na[Au(CN)2](aq) + 4NaOH(aq)
In this redox process, oxygen removes, via a two-step reaction, one electron
from each gold atom to form the complex Au(CN)−2 ion.
d. Step (d) comes in after the leaching process. Activated carbon is used to
recover gold from the cyanide solution; this is called the Carbon in Pulp
method. Other ways in which gold can be recovered from the cyanide solution
are Electrowinning and the Merrill- Crowe process. The carbon in pulp method
is the cheapest and simplest method, therefore, making it the most used. In
this method, the sodium/potassium cyanide is treated with activated carbon
causing the gold to detach from the sodium/potassium cyanide.
This process can take days.

4. PROCESS CONDITIONS

It is very important that oxygen gas is present at the solid liquid interface
because if oxygen is deficient the leaching rate would be slowed down.
Slaked lime must also be added to the extracting solution to ensure that the
pH is maintained at a basic level around 10.5.

5. EXTRACTOR

5.1 HEAP LEACHING DRUM

 A heap leaching drum or an agglomeration drum is equipment that is used as

a pre-treatment step in the heap leaching of gold using sodium or potassium
cyanide leaching solution. It is usually 1 - 4.6m in diameter.

5.2 HOW DO HEAP LEACHING DRUMS WORK?

 In the case of gold cyanidation, heap leaching drums work by tumbling the
crushed gold ore in a rotating drum through its interior to achieve the fine and
uniform gold ores. The drum is sized and designed in such a way that
retention time that is essential for the agglomerate to be formed to th desired
size is held The tumbling action is very helpful in rounding the agglomerates
and creating a uniform/homogeneous mixture. The heap leaching drum must
be used with a binding agent like Portland II cement or lime. This would
ensure that the agglomerates do not break up as the leaching solution
percolates through the heap.

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5.3 WHY USE HEAP LEACHING DRUMS IN GOLD CYANIDATION?

Heap leaching drums are used because these ores must be properly
agglomerated; that is completely free from clay or ore fines. This would allow
for easy, smooth, and rapid flow of the cyanide solution through the heaps. If
the heap leaching process is not preceded by the agglomeration step,
production or output would be very low. In that case, the company is looking
at major losses. The Heap leaching drum is also used because it helps to
improve heap permeability and metal recovery. 

Not knowing the dangers of using cyanide can lead to death. It is important to
know that cyanide is a very toxic compound and it affects the ecological
environment. Knowing the dangers of cyanide before adopting the gold
cyanidation process for gold extraction is very important.

Figure 1 : A typical gold cyadination process using a heap leaching drum.

Figure 2: Heap leaching drum equipment diagram

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6.REFERENCES

LEACHING OVERVIEW
A. metallurgy - Leaching | Britannica
B. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heap_leaching
GOLD CYANIDATION STEPS
A. Cyanide Process - Gold Cyanidation Process | Gold Leaching or Macarthur-
forest Process (byjus.com)
B. Summary of Gold Extraction Process (cnlitereagent.com)
C. Gold cyanidation - Wikipedia
D. Agglomeration-Heap Leaching Operations in the Precious Metals Industry
By G. E. McClelland, D. L. Pool. and J. A. Eisele
E. Carbon in pulp - Wikipedia
F. Gold Cyanidation: Process & Environmental Impacts | Study.com
G. Cyanide Use in Gold Mining - Earthworks
PROCESS CONDITIONS AND DANGERS OF CYANIDE
A. Optimizing and evaluating the operational factors affecting the cyanide
learning circuit of the Aghdareh gold processing plant using a CCD model by
Asghar Azizi and Reza Ghaedrahmati
B. Why Oxygen is Important in Cyanidation (911metallurgist.com)
C. Cyanide Use in Gold Mining - Earthworks
EXTRACTOR
A. Heap Leaching Equipment (feeco.com)
B. Agglomeration technique improves heap leaching process | Processing
Magazine
C. Agglomeration Drums in the Heap Leaching Process (feeco.com)
D. Agglomeration Drums (feeco.com)

E. Figure 1: Agglomeration Drums in the Heap Leaching Process

(feeco.com)

F. Figure 2: Drum agglomeration equipment. Reproduced from

Chamberlin (1986). | Download Scientific Diagram (researchgate.net)

7.GLOSSARY

1. Agglomeration: a mass collection of things into a group or collection

2. Cyanide: a very deadly and fast acting chemical that exist in more than one
form

3. pH: a logarithmic scale that is used to measure the acidity or alkalinity of a

solution.

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4. Aqueous: a solution that has its solvent to be water