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A capillary electrophoretic protocol for the separation and quantification of the most important species potentially liberated during the cyanidation of gold sulfide-rich ores was accomplished in this study. The separation of 11 ions: S2O3(2-), Cu(CN)3(2-), Fe(CN)6(4-), Fe(CN)6(3-), SCN(-), Au(CN)2(-), Ag(CN)2(-), SO4(2-), OCN(-), SO3(2-), and HS(-) was achieved using an indirect UV detection method. The robustness of the analytical protocol was tested by analyzing ions speciation during the cyanidation of two gold sulfide-rich ores. The 1-h cyanidation of the two ores released up to six complexes into solution: S2O3(2-), Cu(CN)3(2-), SCN(-), Fe(CN)6(4-), OCN(-), and SO4(2-). The mineralogy of the ore was found to influence directly the nature and the amount of the dissolved species. Conserving the cyanidation solution for 72 h after sampling resulted in 96% total sulfur recovery. These results allow us to conclude that the analytical protocol developed in this study can become very useful for the optimization of precious-metals cyanidation plants.

Specimens of the mayfly larva Hexagenia limbata and of the floater mussel Pyganodon grandis were sampled in rivers and lakes contaminated by trace metals in the Abitibi-James Bay region in northwestern Québec. Water samples were collected at each sampling site with in situ diffusion samplers and analyzed for major cations, anions and trace metals (Cd, Cu, Mn, Zn). Surficial sediment samples were also collected at each site and analyzed for Cd, Cu and Zn. In response to Cd contamination at river and lake sites, both sentinel organisms accumulated the metal and synthesized metallothionein (MT), a metal-binding protein synthesized by organisms as a defence mechanism against excess metals in the surrounding media. At the river sites, H. limbata unexpectedly maintained much higher concentrations of MT per unit of accumulated Cd than at the lake sites; this difference between lentic and lotic environments may reflect the response of the species to the more stressful hydrodynamic conditions that prevail in a river. The accumulation of Cd in the mayflies at lake and river sites decreased as a function of the ambient manganese concentration. We hypothesize that dissolved Mn protects against Cd bioaccumulation in H. limbata. The present results support the contention that one cannot extrapolate conclusions drawn from the use of a single sentinel species to a larger set of freshwater invertebrates--both the mayfly and the bivalve are promising biomonitors.