Application of geotechnological methods for the processing of secondary gold-bearing mineral resources of the Far Eastern federal district

the problem of a large amount of mining waste is urgent. Tailings from the Ilin mine gold processing plant is a common example. This object is located in the Far Eastern Federal District (FEFD). It is valuable as a gold-bearing secondary mineral raw material and it is a hazard carrier of toxicants. It is necessary to recycle and neutralize these secondary mineral raw materials. It is rational to use geotechnological methods of heap and borehole leaching since low gold content in the tailings of the Ilin gold processing plant. A model experiment was carried out on column leaching in the laboratory setup. The leaching process included three stages: pre-oxidation with electro-photo-activated solutions; diffusion intra-pore leaching; active irrigation and leaching of gold-cyanide complexes on the surface. According to the results of the experiment, the gold recovery was 82% in 20 days, and the highest increase in extraction was observed up to 16 days. The process is characterized by a fast kinetics in comparison with the standard duration of percolation leaching processes, as well as high recovery results. In the gold-cyanide process (GCP), the cyanide anions act to solubilize the gold and silver present in the ore. However, mercury is also solubilized in the process. Geotechnological testing simulating heap leaching processes has demonstrated the efficiency of additional gold recovery and mercury reduction by column leaching.

Sekisov A. G., Rasskazova A. V., Lavrik A. V. Application of geotechnological methods for the processing of secondary gold-bearing mineral  resources  of  the  Far Eastern federal district. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2021;(5—1):55—61. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2021_51_0_55.

Sekisov A. G.¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Prof., Main Researcher;
Rasskazova A. V., Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Senior Researcher, е-mail: annbot87@mail.ru;
Lavrik A. V., Junior Researcher, Graduate Student, е-mail: alexalavrikxx@gmail.com;
¹ Mining Institute, Far-East Branch of RAS, Khabarovsk, Russia.

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