Research and Development Centre “Gidrometallutgiya”

Ya. M. Shneerson, General Director, e-mail: ims@gidrometall.ru

L. V. Chugaev, Leading Researcher

M. A. Pleshkov, Leading Researcher

The paper reviews chemical processes and related technological characteristics of the autoclave liberation of carbonaceous gold-bearing feed and highlights a tendency towards the expansion of industrial processing of such materials. It has been shown that the development of this trend requires a detailed study of gold and carbon chemical transformations in the course of autoclave leaching. According to the proposed model, the simultaneous processes of carbonaceous matter oxidation and passivation, interaction of gold precipitated during sulfide decomposition with carbon and products of its oxidation, with their rates changing differently when varying POL parameters, determine the nature of effect of these parameters on gold recovery. The presented considerations are hypothetic and needed to be proved through studying the chemical transformations of gold and carbonaceous matter in the course of pressure oxidizing leaching Cases of successful commercial extraction of gold from refractory raw materials containing carbonaceous matter via POL methods testify the promising perspectives of this trend and necessity of detailed studies of chemical transformations of gold and carbon, a crucial part of the present technology.

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