Strategies for efficient start-up of continuous biooxidation process for refractory gold ores

Strategies for efficient start-up of a continuous process for biooxidation of refractory gold ore and concentrate obtained from Hutti, Gold Mines Limited (HGML), India are discussed in this work. The biooxidation of the concentrate at high pulp density (10%) with wild strain of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans isolated from HGML mines is characterized by significant lag phase (20 days) and incomplete oxidation (35%) even after prolonged operation (60 days). Two strategies, biooxidation with concentrate adapted cells and a step leaching strategy, in which the pulp density is progressively increased from 2% to 10% were considered and the latter resulted in efficient biooxidation of concentrate. Conversion of such a process from batch to continuous operation is shown to result in complete biooxidation of the concentrate and gold extraction efficiency in excess of 90%. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Metallurgical Study of Gold Ores

Gold is widely distributed in the earth's crust in small quantities. Gold is found in nature in two forms; the element itself and the compound gold telluride. In all cases, silver in some proportion is an alloying constituent.

The Inhibitory Effects of Carbonaceous Materials on the Cyaniding of Gold Ores.

Carbon and carbonaceous material have been known to have a deleterious effect upon the cyanidation of gold and silver ores since the very beginning of the process. Organic matter is a common source of impu­rities in cyanide solution, its reducing effect being notorious.

Gold Ores Related to Shear Zones, West Santa Comba Fervenza Area (Galicia, NW Spain): A Mineralogical Study

Recent research has discovered high-grade Au ores in NNE-SSW trending shear zones in metamorphic proterozoic and palaeozoic terranes, some 40 km NW of Santiago de Compostela (NW Spain). The orebodies are bound to late-stage Hercynian structures, mainly due to brittle deformation, which are superimposed on earlier ductile shear zones, cutting through various catazonal lithologies, including ortho- and paragneisses, amphibolites, eclogites, and granites. Ore mineralogy, alteration, and ore textures define a frame whose main features are common to all prospects in the area. Main minerals are arsenopyrite and pyrite - accompanied by quartz, adularia, sericite, + (tourmaline, chlorite, carbonates, graphite), as main gangue minerals - with subordinate amounts of boulangerite, bismuthinite, kobellite, jamesonite, chalcopyrite, marcasite, galena, sphalerite, rutile, titanite, scheelite, beryl, fluorite, and minor native gold, electrum, native bismuth, fahlore, pyrrhotite, mackinawite, etc., defining a meso-catathermal paragenesis. Detailed microscopic study allows the author to propose a general descriptive scheme of textural classification for this type of ore. Most of the ores fill open spaces or veins, seal cracks or cement breccias; disseminated ores with replacement features related to alteration (mainly silicification, sericitization, and adularization) are also observed. Intensive and repeated cataclasis is a common feature of many ores, suggesting successive events of brittle deformation, hydrothermal flow, and ore precipitation. Gold may be transported and accumulated in any of these events, but tends to be concentrated in later ones. The origin of the gold ores is explained in terms of hydrotherreal discharge, associated with mainly brittle deformation and possibly related to granitic magmas, in the global tectonic frame of crustal evolution of West Galicia. The mineralogical and textural study suggests some criteria which will be of practical value for exploration and for ore processing. Ore grades can be improved by flotation of arsenopyrite. Non-conventional methods, such as pressure or bacterial leaching, may subsequently obtain a residue enriched in gold.

Notes on the treatment of gold ores.

Mode of access: Internet.

Alternatives to cyanide in the gold mining industry: what prospects for the future

This paper reviews a series of alternative lixiviant systems for the recovery of gold from ores and concentrates. For over 100 years, cyanide has been the leach reagent of choice in gold mining because of its high gold recoveries, robustness and relatively low costs. The environmental damages resulting from its mismanagement, however, have initiated widespread research aimed at identifying and developing less toxic leaching agents. The most widely-researched alternative lixiviants for gold ores are examined in this paper, but it is evident that none has yet made any significant inroad into the dominant position of cyanide as the reagent of choice at the vast majority of gold mines worldwide. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The Effect of Temperature on the Rate of Dissolution of Gold in Cyanide Solutions which have a Constant Oxygen Content.

Since the development of cyanidation into a highly efficient process for treating gold ores, many papers have been written on its various aspects. Although, there has been much work done on it, the chemistry of the reaction is not yet completely understood.

The prevention of cobalticyanide poisoning of ion exchange resins used on South African gold ore residue leach liquors /

"Date Declassified: September 23, 1955."

Distribution of gold and other metals in silicified rocks of the Goldfield Mining District, Nevada /

Mode of access: Internet.

胶东蓬家夼式金矿床矿床成因模型与找矿模型研究

The dynamic environments of mineralization in Mesozoic Jiaodong gold mine concentrated area can be devided into two types, compressive environment which related to intracontinental collision and extensional environment which related to intracontinental volcanic rift. The altered rock type (Jiaojia type) and quartz vein type (Linglong type) which related to the former one, were discovered for several years, and became the main types of gold deposits in recent years. A new type gold deposit, syn-detachment altered tectonic breccia type gold deposit, such as Pengjiakuang gold deposit and Songjiagou gold deposit has been discovered on the northeastern margin of Jiaolai Basin. In this paper, the new type of gold deposit has been studied in detail. The study area is located at the northeastern boundaries of Jiaolai Basin, and between the Taocun-Jimo Fault and Wji-Haiyang Fault, in the eastern part of the Jiaodong Block. Pengjiakuang gold deposit and Songjiagou gold deposit occur in a arc-shape detachment fault zone between conglomerate of Lower Cretaceous Laiyang Formation and metamorphic complex of Lower Proterozoic Jingshan Group. Regional geological studies show that Kunyuanshan and Queshan granite intrusions and Qingshanian volcanism were formed in different period of lithospheric thinning of East China in Mesozoic. Granite intrusions were formed in compressive environment, while Qingshanian volcanism were formed in extensional environment. They are all related to the detachment of Sulu Orogenic Belt and the sinistral motion of Tanlu Fault. The Pengjiakuang detachment systems which were formed in the the sinistral motion of Tanlu Fault are the important ore-controlling and ore-containing structure. The Pengjiakuang type gold deposit, controlled by detachment structure, was formed before Yanshanian volcanic period concerning with mixture of meteoric water and magmatic water found in fluid inclusions of gold ores. The minerogenetic epoch has been proposed in 90～120Ma. the host rocks have been extensively subjected to pyritization, silicification, sericitization and carbonatization. Individual ore-body has maximum length of 800m, oblique extension of 500～700m and gold grade of 1～43 * 10~(-6). Native gold is disseminated in silicified, phyllic or carbonatized tectonic breccia. Sulfur, carbon and lead isotope studies on gold ores and wall rocks show that the sulfur come from the metamorphic complex of Lower Proterozoic Jingshan Group, carbon comes from the marble in Jingshan Group, while a part of lead comes from the mantle. The mineralizing fluid is rich in Na~+ and Cl~-, but relatively impoverished in K~+ and F~-. According to the date from hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions (δ~(18)OH_2O = 0.59%～4.03%, δDH_2O = -89.5%～97.9%), the conclusion can be reached that the mineralizing fluid of Pengjiakuang gold deposit was a kind of mixed hydrothermal solution which was mainly composed of meteoric water and magmatic water. A genetical model has been formulated. Some apparent anomaly features which show low in the central part and high in the both sides corresponding to the gold-bearing structure, were sum up after analying a vast amount of date by prospecting the orebodies using gamma-ray spectrometer, electrogeochemical parameter technique, controlled source audio magnetic telluric (CSAMT) and shallow surface thermometry in Pengjiakuang gold deposit. The location forecasting problem of buried orebodies has been solved according to these features, and the successful rate is very high in well-drilling. The structural geological-geophysical-geochemical prospecting model has been formulated on the base of the study of geological, geophysical and geochemical characteristics of Pengjiakuang type gold deposit, and the optimum combinational process of geophysical and geochemical prospecting techniques has been summed up. A comparative study shows that the Pengjiakuang type gold deposit, the syn-detachment altered tectonic breccia type gold deposit, is different from Jiaojia type gold deposits and Linglong type gold deposits, in Jiaodong Block. In general, if formed under an extensional tectonic condition and located at detachment fault zone along the margin of Mesozoic Jiaolai basin, and the gold mineralization has also close genetic relationship with alkaline magamtism. Being a new type of gold deposit in Jiaodong gold mine concentrated area, it could be potential to explore in the same regions which processed the same ore-forming geological conditions and mineralization informations.

Modelo estrutural do maciço rochoso do Depósito de Cobre e Ouro da Mina da Chapada, Alto Horizonte, GO

The Cu-Au mine of Chapada is located in the municipality of Alto Horizonte, in the northwestern portion of Goiás state and is inserted in the geological context of the Brasilia Belt, specifically the Mara Rosa Magmatic Arc, which hosts important deposits of Au and Cu-Au. The rocks found in the study area belong mainly to the Volcano-Sedimentary Sequence of Mara Rosa and are composed of basic to acidic metavolcanic rocks, psammiticpellitic metasedimentary rocks, chemical rocks and also hydrothermal products. Late intrusions occur and are represented by pegmatitic dikes and tonalitic bodies. The ore deposit of the Chapada mine is formed predominantly by the chalcopyrite-pyritemagnetite association, where pyrite is the most abundant mineral. Through the structural mapping of the mining fronts, it was able to recognize three deformational phases (Dn, Dn +1, Dn +2). During the Dn phase, isoclinal recumbent folds were formed, in association with amphibolites facies metamorphism. Later, in phase Dn +1, there was formation of drag folds and intrafolial folds in association with retrograde metamorphism in the greenschist facies. The deformational phase Dn +2, in its turn, was responsible for late symmetrical folding of the foliation, with NS and EW axes, resulting in an interference pattern of the dome-and-basin type

Étude des gìtes auriferes de la Guinée française, 1905-1906.

Signed M. Villaume.

Notices générales sur les gisements aurifères de la Guyane et sur le droit exclusif d'exploitation accordé par le gouvernement de Venezuela.

Mode of access: Internet.