| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2024 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Rare Metal Extraction & Processing
|
| Presentation Title |
Manipulating Iron Precipitation and Gold Deportment during Pressure Oxidation |
| Author(s) |
James Vaughan, Peter Legge, James Gudgeon, Hong (Marco) Peng |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
James Vaughan |
| Abstract Scope |
Around 2/3 of gold reserves are finely disseminated and hosted in sulfide minerals in the form of so called “refractory gold”. Pressure Oxidation (POX) is the most utilized method for chemically liberating gold from sulfides. While POX technology is considered mature, a complete understanding the phase transformations and gold deportment has yet to be described. In this work, by manipulating leaching conditions, we report on batch pressure oxidation experiments where jarosite-only and hematite-only residues are obtained. The pressure oxidation reaction kinetics are monitored in-situ, via oxidation-reduction potential and pH measurements and interpreted with respect to recently calibrated equilibrium chemical thermodynamic data for the Fe(II)-Fe(III)-SO4-H2O system. Using a combination of assays, x-ray diffraction and high-resolution SEM-EDS spectroscopy of feed and residue samples, insight into the chemical reactions taking place and gold redistribution is obtained. This research approach will help in establishing new ways to improve process operations with existing process infrastructure. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Hydrometallurgy, Extraction and Processing, |