ISSN 1062-7391, Journal of Mining Science, 2017, Vol. 53, No. 4, pp. 756-761. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2017.

Original Russian Text © V.S. Alekseev, T.S. Banshchikova, 2017, published in Fiziko-Tekhnicheskie Problemy Razrabotki Poleznykh Iskopaemykh, 2017, No. 4,
pp. 159 – 164.

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DRESSING
Rebellious Gold Extraction from Gravity Concentrates
and Placer Tailings by Chemical Reagents
V. S. Alekseev* and T. S. Banshchikova
Institute of Mining, Far East Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences,
ul. Turgeneva 51, Khabarovsk, 680000 Russia
*e-mail: adm@igd.khv.ru
Received January 30, 2017

Abstract—When gold occurs in mining waste for a long time, it becomes coated with dense films of
hydroxide of iron, manganese, copper and silver sulfides, hydromica powder and clayey particles, which
greatly complicate concentration of such gold by gravity. An efficient method to remove such coatings from
gold is treatment of waste using chemical reagents based on halogen-containing compounds. The article
presents experimental results on extraction of fine gold from tailings of sluice boxes and dredging classifiers
using such chemical reagents.
Keywords: Mining waste, secondary treatment, rebellious gold, gold concentration, hydrophilic property of
gold, chemical reagent, amalgamation.
DOI: 10.1134/S1062739117042741

Processing of gold-bearing sands and mineral materials of antropogenic origin is developed

considering the processing properties of gold and accompanying minerals stocked in waste dumps for
a long time. Knowledge of processing characteristics of gold is of specific value for retreatment of
technogenic mineral resources: fine sand and sludge wastes, hydroelevator wastes, gravity tailings of
pan concentrator. Noble metal particles acquire peculiar “processing” outlook related to alteration in
grain surface, grinding and reduction in hydraulic size under hydrodynamic, physicochemical and
cryogenic processes.
Economic expediency to process technogenic mineral resources depends on gold content in the
materials proposed for retreatment. As a rule, they are richer in gold as compared to gold content in
placers under current development. In the early XX-th century pebble-sand waste dumps and rich
boundary placers with metal content up to 3–5 g/m3 were efficiently returned to development in the
Amur Krai. The exploration of antropogenic mineral resources implies the implementation of advanced
approaches considering specific features of material composition, high-tech machinery and last-
generation processing techniques [1].
When processing waste sands at hydroelevation machines and dredges, the loss of 0.25 mm metal
fraction amounts to 60–70%, and gold particles of less than 0.1 mm in size are really completely
washed off to tailings. Water flow entrains so-called “rebellious” gold consisting of medium-size gold
particles of a high flattening factor and deformed surface. This statement is justified by the fact that a
grade of ore-preparation wastes amounts to tens or even hundreds grams of metal per 1 ton [2, 3].
At Institute of Mining, Far-East Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (IM EFB RAS), a number
of processes is developed to recover residual gold from tailings of conventional gold-bearing sand
processing. The innovative processes are based on the application of a halogen-bearing agent,
enhancing hydrophilic properties of gold; a natural sorbent capable to recover finely dispersed
particles (70 µm and finer); anionic-type surfactants helpful to lower influence of water tension and to

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 REBELLIOUS GOLD EXTRACTION FROM GRAVITY CONCENTRATES AND PLACER TAILINGS 757

concentrate gold particles with a high flattening factor, latticed, dendritic individual particles which
mass is lower as compared to that of cloddy grains [4–6]. Such gold property as plasticity is used in
the isometrization process developed in view to higher recoverability of the above described gold
particles. In a rotor disintegrator a vermicular gold particle acquires an isometric shape under
numerous multidirectional impacts. Processing isometric gold-bearing sands increases recovery of the
metal into the concentrate from 60 to 85% [7].
In long-term gold-bearing waste storage the gold particle surface is covered with dense films of
iron, manganese hydroxides, copper sulfides, silver, sericite powder, hydromica, argillous particles.
Moreover, the gold particle surface carries technological traces: lubrication oils, mercury amalgam
spots, earlier used to develop gold placers, attrition and stuffing of flattered gold particles with other
minerals in grinding.
There are few processes to beneficiate wastes in view to recover “rebellious” gold by applying
gravity treatment techniques. In the known process an ore is hold in 30–50%-alkali (KOH + NaOH)
solution and potassium carbonate at temperature 50–100ºС for 24 hours with subsequent water
washing. The high-temperature ore treatment is considered as an imperfection of the process [8].
The hot alkali preparation is also practiced for gold ore processing. The pulp dilution is gained by
adding the pressurized hot reagent or a mineralized salt solutions of 1230–1240 kg/m3 in density with
the follow-on treatment at a gravity separator. The drawback of the process is technological
complexity, that is treatment with a hot pressurized solution, or mineralized salt solutions of a preset
density with the purpose to dilute the pulp [9].
Efficient process to remove mineral films, powders and coverings from gold particle surface is
treatment of tailings with solutions based on halogen-bearing mixture. Water as a rule wets surface of
substances which atoms are specified with ion or covalent (heteropolar) bond. If metals do not have
ions they do not react with water. However, gold is known capable to form compounds with halogens
[10–13]. This property can be useful for partial gold dissolution and moreover, for modification of
hydrophobicity by building a layer of adsorbed molecules on surface of gold particles, thus, adjusting
their wetting conditions.
The proposed chemical reagents are a mixture of alcoholic iodine solution and aqueous potassium
iodide at ratio L : S = 1 : 2 and medium рН 7–9. Interaction of free gold with active iodine ions on
surface of gold particles leads to electrochemical generation of the double electric layer between
iodine-bearing solution and gold particles and simultaneously between regent ions and water ions.
Chemosorption on surface of gold particles gives a temporary rise of [AuI4]–, a strong ion-bond
compound allowing a higher hydrophobicity degree:
H2O + Au + KI + I2 → K[AuI4] + AuI +H2O,
Au0 + H2O + I– → [AuI2] → [AuI4]–.
Professionals in mineral crystallography examined the virgin gold surface by atomic force
microscopy (AFM) and established that gold has a typical cluster structure at nanolevel. Clusters are
represented by different-level spherical and ellipsoidal species. Cluster sizes are within 50–152 nm.
Difference in cluster sizes relates to presence of electric charges on their surface. When accumulating
on convex surface, the electrons generate the negative charge which hinter formation of a double
electric layer around a gold particle; this being a reason of nonwettability of gold [7, 14].
The similar studies were undertaken at IM EFB RAS. The scanned images of surface of platelike
gold originated from Far-East placers were interpreted at NT-MDT microscope and NOVa software.
The researchers identified surface relief, cluster structure, and average roughness of the total scanned
surface of gold specimens. Cluster size ranged within 10–400 nm [15].

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758 ALEKSEEV, BANSHCHIKOVA

Table 1. Recovery of fine gold from wastes by reagent technology

No reagent treatment, mg With reagent treatment, mg

Recovery
Tailings, origin;
Size fraction, mm Size fraction, mm increment,
specimen mass Total Total %
–0.5 + 0.25 –0.25 + 0.1 –0.1 –0.5 + 0.25 –0.25 + 0.1 –0.1
Schlich,
Solovievsky Mine; 235.0 59.5 13.5 308.0 270.0 134.5 31.5 436.0 41.6
2 batches by 5 kg

Secondary tailings,
Solovievsky Mine; 9.0 6.0 n/a 15.0 21.0 15.0 1.5 37.5 150.0
2 batches by 3 kg

Schlich tailings ,
Nagima section; 45.0 27.5 n/a 72.5 95.0 40.0 5.0 140.0 93.1
2 batches by 5 kg

Intermediate tailings,
Agda river, Sofiisky Mine; 13.0 16.0 0.5 29.5 14.0 29.0 1.3 44.3 50.2
2 batches by 3 kg

Sulfide concentrate of schlich

tailings, Okhotsky placer 25.0 20.0 5.0 50.0 55.0 52.5 12.5 120.0 140.0
miners team; 2 batches by 1 kg

Intermediate tailings,
Gaifon river, Pribrezhny placer
2.8 0.4 0.1 3.3 6.0 1.6 0.4 8.0 242.4
miners team;
2 batches by 11.5 kg

The process for treatment of gold-bearing tailings with halogen-generous mixture runs as follows: a
mineralized mass is placed into a mixer for preparation of the pulp at ratio S : L = 1 : 0.25; sodium
bicarbonate is introduced to adjust рН = 7–9; the pulp is treated with iodine-bearing solution at rate
24–50 g/t in solid for 30 min. The resultant product is fed to a gravity separator to yield a
concentrate.
Positive is the selectivity of its effect on free gold with removal films and different coverings from
gold surface. Thereto, the chemical reaction simultaneously forms a layer of active ions [AuI4]–
providing hydrophilic properties to gold particles and their maximum concentration as a result.
The new process was tested on current schlich tailings, OAO Solovievsky Gold Mine. Later the
process was implemented to recover rebellious gold in recleaning of other placer tailings of the Amur
Region origin. The increase in gold recovery with the use of the reagent is recorded for all five test
objects in three size fractions with the highest positive effect for –0.1 mm fraction (Table 1).
At Solovievsky Gold Mine the study process was tested on magnetic and nonmagnetic tailings
produced in processing of dredge concentrates supplied from open mines Jalinda, Urkima, Jaktulak
and the placer in Nagima river. The tailing specimens were divided into two equal in mass portions
at Johnson’s divider. The first portion not treated and the second portion treated with the halogen-
bearing reagent were processed at gravity separator CBK-200 under the standard procedure. The
best gold recovery increment was gained with the use of the reagent for nonmagnetic fractions. In
average the maximum increment amounted to 312.5%, while it was 91.3% for magnetic fractions
(Table 2).

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 REBELLIOUS GOLD EXTRACTION FROM GRAVITY CONCENTRATES AND PLACER TAILINGS 759

Table 2. Pilot-industrial reagent tests on tailings of dredge concentrate recleaning, Solovievsky Gold Mine Co.
No reagent treatment With reagent treatment Gold
Dredge Gold mass in Gold mass in mass
no. Sample Average Sample Average increment
CBK concentrate, 3 CBK 3
volume, l content, g/m volume, l content, g/m %
mg concentrate, mg
Nonmagnetic fraction
110 13 19.2 1.5 13 225.7 17.4 1075.5
110 15 61.4 4.1 15 409.4 27.3 566.8
110 22 280.1 12.7 22 459.7 20.9 64.1
110 35 385.8 11.0 35 2580 73.7 568.7
111 20 1.34 0.07 20 5.13 0.25 282.8
207 23 81.5 3.5 23 371.1 16.1 355.3
207 28 1930 68.9 28 2444.8 87.3 26.7
223 9.5 724.9 76.3 9.5 1382.5 145.5 90.7
229 15 1499.0 99.9 15 2000 133.3 33.4
229 19 274.6 14.4 19 1330.0 70.0 384.3
229 25 237.4 9.5 25 1143.4 45.7 381.6
230 20 374.5 18.7 20 544.7 27.2 45.4
231 9 6.4 1.4 9 18.4 2.0 187.5
Magnetic fraction
110 8 1580 197.5 8 2678 334.7 69.5
111 6 90.6 15.1 6 109.2 18.2 20.5
223 8 3120 390 8 8041 1005.1 157.7
229 30 15.0 0.5 30 42.2 1.4 181.3
230 18 507.8 28.2 18 646.3 35.9 27.3

The concurrent tests were conducted on estimation of the chemical reagent efficiency to recover
gravity gold from sluice concentrates. The sluice concentrates were magnetic sandstone containing
minerals of more than 3.0–3.5 g/cm3 in density: magnetite, hematite, manganese, ilmenite, sphene,
rutile, scheelite, rarer hubnerite, zircon, tantalum-niobates, cinnabarite, cassiterite. The rate of iodine-
bearing additions depends on density of a mineralized blend and can be increased 2–3-fold as
compared to an addition rate to treat tailings. It is established that the reagent interacts with some
minerals, for example, with scheelite and forms a yellow patina of tungstic acid on grain surface.
Concentrates of dredges and other devices used to contain gold densely covered with iron and
manganese oxides with technical oil films, etc. This factor complicates the formation of active ion
AuI4]– layer on surface of gold particles and implies the introduction of additional doses of halogen-
bearing mixtures. The principal techniques to process gold-bearing concentrates at gold mines are
gravity separation with recleaning of concentrated schlichs by the procedures approved by
Gostekhnadzor. One of them is amalgamation of schlich at small gold placers.
In the last century gold from sluice concentrates of hydroelevators and dredges was widely
recovered through amalgamation after their pretreatment with chemical solutions. Nowadays when
mercury application is restricted, there are no publications on new research works on amalgamation.
Amalgamation allowed within certain limits is known as the best collector of different-size gold.
The drawback of this process is pumicing of mercury surface, viz., formation of different films of
oxides, finely ground mineral particles, oils, typical of sluice concentrates. Pumicing hampers the
complete gold amalgamation and necessitates introduction of additional amalgamation stages.

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760 ALEKSEEV, BANSHCHIKOVA

Complex solution of alkali (NaOH), aluminium oxide, and lead acetate is used to pretreat
concentrates before amalgamation. The application of multicomponent expensive mixture of lead salt
and large amount of alkali is unacceptable for commercial schlich processing because of
environmental protection standards [16].
There are techniques to reclean gold-containing concentrates including pulp preparation with
blending of a mineralized mass with water, treatment with potassium hypermanganate and potassium
bichromate, and follow-on amalgamation. However the said reagents are not efficient to remove
dense coverings, oily films, etc. from gold surface (except iron oxides). Under such conditions the
interaction of gold with mercury results in partial contamination (pumicing) of mercury and poor-
quality gold amalgam [17].
The researchers working for IM FEB RAS propose a flowsheet including treatment with a
halogen-bearing mixture to foster mercury activity, formation of good floccules and to lower gold loss
in amalgamation tailings. First the concentrates are processed with the reagent for 40 min, then
mercury is introduced at rates threefold times less than a standard. Amalgamation lasts for 1 h, the
concentrated product is fed to tabling. The resultant schlich contains pure spheres of gold amalgam
and does not require additional amalgamation.
The new-proposed process was tested on schlich of an Amur gold-miners team. The beneficial
effect is cleaning of gold particle surface with the reagent and the maximum entrapment of gold
particles into amalgam floccules. Gold yield is by 20–70% higher as compared to the conventional
recleaning and amounts to 50% (data of 6 tests). The halogen-bearing solution eliminates mercury
pumicing, Gold amalgam floccules are of pure silver color, mercury consumption rate and
amalgamation time are reduced with less entrapment of impurities into amalgam spheres [5].

CONCLUSIONS
The research work on modification of the chemical reagent treatment of tailings and concentrates of
gold-bearing sands allowed a more complete recovery of –1.0 mm gold fraction by applying the
ecofriendly technology. It is demonstrated high efficiency of gold recovery from gravity separation
tailings containing fine and very fine gold particles. The processing of mineral wastes should be based
on the knowledge of variability of processing properties of gold and other minerals conditioned by the
primary processing, long-term storage in waste dumps under hydrodynamic, physicochemical and
cryogenic effects.

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