Technology of Detoxification of Spent Gold Ore Heaps by Natural Degradation
In recent years,heap leaching of gold is becoming wide spread due to low capital and operational costs that allows economically feasible processing of low-grade and cut-off grade ores.Currently,over 30 heap leach projects are operated in Russia.Some of the deposits treated by heap leach methods are almost depleted.Therefore,they will soon require spent heaps detoxification and reclamation.Traditionally,spent heaps are detoxified by chemical treatment.This process is characterized by relatively high kinetics and requires expensive reagents and additional equipment.The main disadvantage of this process is secondary contamination of the solutions by products of detoxification reactions and impurities contained in reagents.If there is enough time,spent heaps can be detoxified by natural degradation.The advantages of the proposed method are low operational costs due to use of existing heap leaching facilities and eliminating the need for chemicals for spent heaps detoxification.Residual concentrations of cyanides and thyocyanates in liquid phase (wet ore) of spent gold ore heaps after detoxification were 0.2～0.3 mg/L.Heavy metals were almost completely removed.The method was successfully used for detoxification of spent heaps at two gold mines.
Heap leaching Cyanides Spent heaps Detoxification
S.V.Petrov V.F.Petrov
Irkutsk Research Institute of Precious and Rare Metals and Diamonds IRGIREDMET JSC,Irkutsk,Russia
国际会议
XXIV International Mineral Processing Congress(第24届国际矿物加工大会)
北京
英文
3630-3633
2008-09-24（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）