Two-Stage SART Process: A Feasible Alternative for Gold Cyanidation Plants with High Zinc and Copper Contents

Estay, Humberto; Gim-Krumm, Minghai; Quilaqueo, Michelle

doi:10.3390/min8090392

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The whole process has been called SART (Sulfidization, Acidification, Recycling, and Thickening). The SART process has also been proposed to recover zinc from cyanide solutions [65] and for treating cyanide PLS from gold-copper tailings [66].…”

Section: Leachates Solutions From Ores and Tailingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metal Sulfide Precipitation: Recent Breakthroughs and Future Outlooks

2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The interest in metal sulfide precipitation has recently increased given its capacity to efficiently recover several metals and metalloids from different aqueous sources, including wastewaters and hydrometallurgical solutions. This article reviews recent studies about metal sulfide precipitation, considering that the most relevant review article on the topic was published in 2010. Thus, our review emphasizes and focuses on the overall process and its main unit operations. This study follows the flow diagram definition, discussing the recent progress in the application of this process on different aqueous matrices to recover/remove diverse metals/metalloids from them, in addition to kinetic reaction and reactor types, different sulfide sources, precipitate behavior, improvements in solid–liquid separation, and future perspectives. The features included in this review are: operational conditions in terms of pH and Eh to perform a selective recovery of different metals contained in an aqueous source, the aggregation/colloidal behavior of precipitates, new materials for controlling sulfide release, and novel solid–liquid separation processes based on membrane filtration. It is therefore relevant that the direct production of nanoparticles (Nps) from this method could potentially become a future research approach with important implications on unit operations, which could possibly expand to several applications.

show abstract

Section: Leachates Solutions From Ores and Tailingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metal Sulfide Precipitation: Recent Breakthroughs and Future Outlooks

2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In gold plants with MC process, the zinc concentration increases progressively because the unique zinc output of the system is the leaching tailings, promoting a build-up of zinc in the cyanidation plant and the rise of cyanide concentration in solutions and leaching tailings. In this regard, there are studies proposing the use of the SART (Sulfidization, Acidification, Recycling and Thickening) process to recover zinc and cyanide, as an opportunity to produce a saleable by-product and to reduce cyanide consumption, respectively [2][3][4][5]. The SART process uses the metal sulfide precipitation method [6,7] in cyanide solution to remove copper (then recovery as a by-product) and regenerate free cyanide.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Membrane Process Coupled with Metal Sulfide Precipitation to Recover Zinc and Cyanide

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In gold cyanidation plants, which include a zinc cementation process, there is a progressive increase in zinc content in the solution and a higher cyanide concentration in leaching tailings. Consequently, there are opportunities to: (i) recover zinc and cyanide from these solutions, (ii) generate a saleable ZnS by-product, and (iii) reduce cyanide consumption and cyanide concentration in leaching tailings. Previous studies have proposed the use of the SART (Sulfidization, Acidification, Recycling, and Thickening) process for this purpose; however, this process has disadvantages that must be addressed. This study presents the results of the experimental assessment of an alternative process, the SuCy process, which uses an integrated membrane process. The SuCy process is composed of a metal sulfide precipitation coupled with a membrane filtration stage, a membrane contactor step to recover and concentrate cyanide, and a final neutralization and ultrafiltration stage. The flux obtained for zinc sulfide separation was around 0.01 L/m2s, with cyanide recovery of 95% at 60 min, whereas flux for ultrafiltration was 0.22 L/m2s. A comparison with an experimental study of the SART process at laboratory scale showed that the SuCy process could obtain a higher zinc recovery and can reduce the solid–liquid separation equipment by around five times. Therefore, the SuCy process could be a promising alternative for zinc and cyanide recovery in gold cyanidation.

show abstract

“…However, those commercial processes are sensitive to copper concentrations in the range 150–1500 mg/L. Copper in the PLS is unfavorable to gold recovery by reducing gold extraction in the carbon adsorption stage, increasing the elution cycle, or increasing the zinc powder in the Merril–Crowe process, thus producing a doré metal with the highest contaminant. − …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrocoagulation Process for Recovery of Precious Metals from Cyanide Leachates Using a Low Voltage

Soto-Uribe,

Valenzuela-Garcia,

Salazar-Campoy

et al. 2023

ACS Eng. Au

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The cyanidation of gold ores with copper content is frequent in gold mines. Copper affects the performance and profits of mineral processing. The current technology for gold recovery from cyanide solutions usually involves the adsorption of the goldcyanide complex ion on activated carbon; however, the copper affects this process. The process of electrocoagulation (EC) is a promising technique for gold and silver recovery with copper, where all of the metals can be recovered. This work used the electrocoagulation process (EC) to evaluate the metal recovery from a pregnant leach solution (PLS), where EC is a promising technique. This study aimed to determine the optimal parameter to recover the gold and silver and to see the effect of copper concentration in the PLS obtained by simultaneous pressure leaching/oxidation of a gold-bearing pyritic concentrate. EC tests were run to recover gold and silver over copper from PLS using aluminum electrodes and variables like distances between electrodes, pH, potential applied, and feeding flow for continuous EC. The chemical assay of cyanide leachates shows a concentration of 7.15 mg/L of gold, 305 mg/L of silver, and 351.5 mg/L of copper with 1810 mg/L of free cyanide. The results showed that the EC process recovered 99% of gold and copper and 92% of silver at a pH of 11, 8 mm of dE, and a potential applied 3 V in 10 min. However, under this condition in continuous EC with a flow rate of 40 mL/min, the recovery is 66.3% of gold, 85.8% of silver, and 45.3% of copper; compared with the batch process, the gold and silver decrease.

show abstract

Two-Stage SART Process: A Feasible Alternative for Gold Cyanidation Plants with High Zinc and Copper Contents

Cited by 8 publications

References 10 publications

Metal Sulfide Precipitation: Recent Breakthroughs and Future Outlooks

Metal Sulfide Precipitation: Recent Breakthroughs and Future Outlooks

Integrated Membrane Process Coupled with Metal Sulfide Precipitation to Recover Zinc and Cyanide

Electrocoagulation Process for Recovery of Precious Metals from Cyanide Leachates Using a Low Voltage

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About