Combined technology for gold desorption and ionite regeneration in the conical device

Abstract

The principal technological scheme of desorption of gold and concomitant metal-impurities from the AM-2B resin phase used for the sorption processing of gold-bearing ores is considered. The proposed combined scheme, involving the use of two traditional, independent from each other methods (thiocyanate and acid-thiourea) for eluting gold, includes desorption of metal impurities from the resin with alkaline solutions of sodium thiocyanate, and gold with sulfuric acid solutions of thiourea. To shorten the duration of the process research of proposed technology was carried out the in a conical apparatus. The results of study of the elution of gold and impurity metals from anionite saturated with the following components, mg/g: Au – 2.6; Cu – 3.5; Zn – 1.3; Ni – 2.9; Co – 3.3, are given. It is shown that the main amount of impurity metals is desorbed from the resin upon its thiocyanate treatment, while the transition of gold into the eluate is negligible. The composition of the eluate in the thiocyanate treatment of saturated resin is, mg/l: Au – 1.7; Cu – 156.0; Zn – 53.0; Ni – 89.0; Co – 102.0. The subsequent treatment of the resin with sulfuric acid solutions of thiourea allows the conversion of 89.32 % of gold from the ion exchanger into the eluate. The resulting eluates containing ~113.0 mg/l gold and a small amount of impurities are target solutions for obtaining a valuable metal. The ion exchanger was regenerated by washing with water and treating with an alkaline solution of sodium to convert it to OH form, since gold sorption is carried out from alkaline cyanide solutions of heap leaching. Residual contents of components in the resin after regeneration were, mg/g: Au – 0.24; Cu – 0.23; Zn – 0.15; Ni – 0.07; Co – 1.29, which allows the successful use of the regenerated resin in the next stage of sorption.