Evaluation of a diagnostic leaching technique for gold in native gold and gold plus/minus silver tellurides

A detailed investigation of the stability in cyanide solutions of native gold and goldplus/minussilver tellurides in a flotation concentrate from the Golden Mile, Kalgoorlie, has been undertaken to assess whether leaching under different conditions can be used to quantify the distribution of Au betw...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Minerals engineering 2001-01, Vol.14 (1), p.1-12
Main Authors: Henley, K. J.,-, Clarke, N C, Sauter, P
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A detailed investigation of the stability in cyanide solutions of native gold and goldplus/minussilver tellurides in a flotation concentrate from the Golden Mile, Kalgoorlie, has been undertaken to assess whether leaching under different conditions can be used to quantify the distribution of Au between native gold and goldplus/minussilver tellurides, as suggested by, for example, Chryssoulis and Cabri (1990). The leaching was carried out on +20 mu m native gold and goldplus/minussilver tellurides separted from ma high-grade floation concentrate and then diluted with barren quartz. The material leached assayed 270 ppm Au and 118 ppm Te. About 77% of the Au was present as native gold (largely liberated) and approx23% was in goldplus/minussilver tellurides (predominantly calvaerite with trace petzite and Au-bearing hessite, also largely liberated. The grain size of the Au-bearing minerals was mainly in the range 20-100 mu m.
ISSN:0892-6875