SME Annual Meeting

Feb. 23-25, Denver, Colorado

Preprint 04-73
LEACHING KINETICS AND MECHANISMS OF SURFACE REACTIONS DURING
CYANIDATION OF GOLD IN THE PRESENCE OF PYRITE OR STIBNITE

H. Guo
G. Deschênes
A. Pratt
M. Fulton
R. Lastra
Natural Resources Canada
Ottawa, ON, Canada

ABSTRACT a positive effect on gold leaching kinetics in presence pyrrhotite, pyrite,

sphalerite and chalcopyrite, and a negative effect in presence of chalcoc-
This paper quantifies the detrimental effects of pyrite and stibnite on ite, stibnite and galena. Hedley and Tabachnick (1958) reported that lead
gold leaching kinetics. Means to reduce the effect of these minerals by nitrate counteracted the effect of stibnite.
addition of lead nitrate and oxygen are presented. A significant retarding
effect was observed when the pyrite concentration was 20%. A pretreat- Previous work to isolate and quantify pyrite’s detrimental effect
ment with lead nitrate reduced the extent of gold surface coating by Ag, on gold leaching was inconclusive (Deschênes, et al., 2002). Yen and
Fe and S. Stibnite, at a concentration as low as 20 ppm, significantly Aghamirian (1998) found that pyrite had slightly positive effect on gold
affected the gold leaching kinetics through forming a passivating film leaching kinetics at a low concentration (2 g/L pyrite) and had negative
of Sb(V) oxide possibly Sb2O5. The most practical way to alleviate the effect at high concentrations (>4 g/L). In this investigation, additional
effect of stibnite is to leach the materials at a moderate pH with addition efforts were invested to quantify the detrimental effects of pyrite and
of lead nitrate. A low temperature reduced the efficiency of lead nitrate to stibnite on gold leaching kinetics. Also, ways to combat these effects
counteract the effect of stibnite. The increase of dissolved oxygen is not were studied.
favourable to alleviate the coating of stibnite on gold.
EXPERIMENTAL
INTRODUCTION
Materials
Pyrite (FeS2) is one of the most common sulfide minerals associated
Pure gold powder (3-8 microns, 99.95% Au) was added to pure
with gold ores. Its presence interferes with gold leaching and makes the
quartz at a concentration of 25 ppm to produce a synthetic gold ore. The
cyanidation process more difficult to optimize. Only limited information is
quartz had a grind of 90% -75 µm. The pyrite was a KCGM (Kalgoorlie
available regarding the effect of pyrite on gold leaching (Deschênes et al.,
Consolidated Gold Mines) sulphide flotation concentrate and the stibnite
2002, Liu and Yen, 1995, Hedley and Tabachnick, 1958). Stibnite (Sb2S3)
mineral sample was from David Shannon Minerals. The chemical analy-
is an antimony sulfide which is the most readily hydrolysed sulfide mineral
sis results of the pyrite and stibnite bearing samples are shown in Table
and has significant negative effect on gold leaching even at a very low
1. The grind of pyrite was 80% -20µm, and the grind of stibnite was 90%
concentration (Hollow, et al., 2003a, Liu and Yen, 1995).
-75 μm.
Lead nitrate has proved to be effective in enhancing gold leaching
The mineralogical analysis of the samples shows that the pyrite
kinetics, gold overall extraction and reducing cyanide consumption.
sample contained 59.7% pyrite, 38.25% silica, 0.3% chalcopyrite, 0.13%
Many cyanidation plants add lead nitrate to improve leaching efficiency
arsenopyrite, trace amounts of tetrahedrite and tennantite. The stibnite
and reduce costs. For example, the overall gold extraction was increased
sample contained 95% stibnite and minor amounts of pyrite, chalcopyrite
from 89.2 to 91.9% at New Britannia Mine after lead nitrate addition in
and ankerite.
combination with other improvements in the metallurgical control. The
mine has seen a 21% reduction in cyanide consumption and has stopped
The quartz was ground in a ceramic ball mill under nitrogen to 90%
the operation of the cyanide destruction plant since a lower NaCN con-
- 75 µm, and 25 ppm pure gold was added to the quartz and the mixture
centration could be used after adding lead nitrate in the leaching process.
was tumbled in a twin shell dry blender for 24 hours. The mixture was
The overall production cost per tonne of ore has been reduced by 27%
then divided into 200 g lots using a rotary separator. The sulfide mineral
at $3 per tonne (Healey and Deschênes, 2000). The importance of dis-
was added to the slurry immediately before each test. Pure gold coupons
solved oxygen on the leaching efficiency of gold has been recognized as
(99.99%) were used in the XPS investigation of reaction products on gold
early as 1936 (Beyers 1936), and many cyanidation plants started adding
surface. The gold coupons were boiled in concentrated HNO3 solution for
oxygen in leaching in the 1990s. Liu and Yen (1995) concluded that the
10 minutes before each experiment to remove adventitious contaminants.
effect of sulfide minerals on gold and silver dissolution strongly depended
The lime, sodium cyanide, lead nitrate and high purity oxygen gas were
on the mineral type and oxygen levels in the solution. They also observed
all certified reagent grade chemicals. Deionized water was used in all
a dark-brown passivating film on the gold surface in the presence of
the tests.
stibnite. Yen and Aghamirian (1998) found that oxygen enrichment had

1 Copyright © 2004 by SME

 SME Annual Meeting
Feb. 23-25, Denver, Colorado

Table 1 – Chemical analysis of pyrite and stibnite

Results (%)
Elements Ag As Fe Ca S Ca Si Al Ni Mg Pb Te Zn Sb
Pyrite 1.86x10 -3
0.12 30.5 0.15 27.5 1.81 0.78 2.55 0.037 0.81 0.007 0.11 0.018 0.006
Stibnite 1.0x10-3 0.13 0.77 0.018 27.64 1.40 0.22 0.54 0.004 0.4 0.017 0.004 0.003 56.67

Equipment and Experimental Procedures

The leaching reactor for kinetic study was a jacketed cell made of
glass, with a capacity of 0.5 L. The experimental approach is described
in a previous publication (Deschênes et al., 2002)

For collecting pyrite samples for XPS examinations, a portion of the

pyrite in the filter cake was panned out, put into a small glass vial and
frozen immediately. It was difficult to pan out any stibnite from the filter
cake since the stibnite concentrations used were very low. The stibnite
samples for XPS examinations were obtained through conditioning of the
samples in cyanide solution without quartz. To obtain gold coupons for
XPS examinations, pure quartz and the designated sulfide were pulped
and the gold coupon was suspended in the pulp. At the end of the test,
the gold coupon was taken out from the pulp, rinsed with deionized water
to remove slimes on the gold surface and frozen immediately in liquid
nitrogen.

The XPS spectra were obtained using 400-W achromatic Al K as X-

ray source for sulfides, 250-W Monochromatic Al K for the gold coupons Figure 1. Effect of pyrite concentration on gold leaching. pH: 11.5;
conditioned with pyrite and 400-W Mg achromatic for the coupons condi- DO: 8; 500 ppm NaCN; 21 °C; 4 hours
tioned with stibnite. The change for the X-ray sources for the gold coupon
tests was to avoid peak overlaps of some elements. For detailed XPS
procedures refer to a previous publication by Deschênes et al., (2002).

RESULTS

Effect of Pyrite
The effect of pyrite concentration in the synthetic gold ore on gold
leaching kinetics is shown in Figure 1. The NaCN consumption data of the
tests were also illustrated.

Pyrite did not have a significant effect on gold leaching kinetics at a

concentration lower than 10%. The gold extraction was reduced to 80%
for a concentration of 20% pyrite. The cyanide consumption was 0.05 kg/t
to 0.28 kg/t with respectively 0 and 10% pyrite. The cyanide consumption
was 0.50 kg/t at 20% pyrite

The effect of lead nitrate addition is shown in Figure 2. The lead

nitrate was added at the beginning of the 2 hour pre-treatment.

A 100 g/t lead nitrate dramatically increased the gold leaching

Figure 2. Effect of lead nitrate on gold leaching. Pretreatment: pH:
kinetics and overcame the negative effect of pyrite. For the synthetic ore
11.5; DO: 8; 2 hours. Cyanidation: pH: 11.5; DO: 8; 500 ppm NaCN;
with 10% pyrite, 97.5% of the gold was extracted in one-half hour with
21°C; 4 hours
100 g/t lead nitrate whereas only 17.4% of gold was extracted without
lead nitrate; 100% of the gold was extracted in 2 hours with the addition
The surface analysis results, using XPS, indicated that lead precipi-
of 100 g/t lead nitrate in contrast to 48.8% without lead nitrate when the
tated at the surface of pyrite. The concentration of lead increased from
ore contained 20% pyrite. No significant effect was observed on cyanide
0.2% to 0.6%. Lead nitrate addition also reduced the amount of some
consumption with addition of lead nitrate.
impurities formed at the surface of gold.

2 Copyright © 2004 by SME

 SME Annual Meeting
Feb. 23-25, Denver, Colorado

The concentration of S, Ag and Fe on the gold coupon surface

was significantly reduced by a pretreatment with 100 g/t lead nitrate
(Figure 3). This is one of the reasons for the enhancement of gold leach-
ing kinetics. It has been proven that sulfide and oxide coatings form on
gold surfaces, especially on gold surfaces containing silver (Feather and
Koen, 1973). Control of the accumulation of Ag on the gold surface will
reduce the possibility of such coatings forming on the gold surface since
Ag is a common element associated with gold ores. A small amount
of lead was detected on the gold surface with or without lead nitrate
pretreatment. The lead could come from pyrite in the absence of lead
nitrate addition.

Figure 4. Effect of stibnite concentration on gold leaching. pH:

11.5, 8 ppm DO, 250 ppm NaCN, 4 hours, 21°C

Figure 3. XPS analysis of a gold surface conditioned in slurry

containing 4% pyrite.

The accumulation of Ag on the gold surface could be explained by

precipitation from the leaching solution. The silver could also accumulate
on the gold surface because of its slower dissolution.

Effect of Stibnite
Effect of stibnite concentration: In order to choose a suitable NaCN
concentration for the kinetic study, three NaCN concentrations were
tested on the synthetic ore in the absence of stibnite. The results indicate
that gold extraction over 4 hours was only 60% with a cyanide concen-
tration of 150 ppm, and increased to 90% and 99%, respectively when
Figure 5. Effect of dissolved oxygen. pH: 11.5, 250 ppm NaCN, 4
NaCN concentrations of 250 ppm and 500 ppm were used. A NaCN con-
hours, 21°C, 0.05% stibnite
centration of 250 ppm was used for the following leaching kinetic tests.
Five stibnite concentrations were tested and the results are illustrated in
Lower leaching rates were obtained with 3 and 16 ppm DO as
Figure 4.
compared with the leaching rate of 8 ppm DO. The gold extraction over
4 hours decreased from 22% to 11-12%. An optimum DO level exists
Stibnite showed a very strong retarding effect on gold leaching
between 3 and 16 ppm for the synthetic ore. An optimum DO level should
kinetics at a concentration as low as 0.002% (20 ppm). The gold ex-
also exist for natural ores containing antimony and would vary with the
traction over 4 hours was only 38% with 0.002% stibnite compared to
nature of the ore. A low dissolved oxygen level reduced the gold dis-
90% without stibnite. Gold extraction was reduced to 22% at a stibnite
solution. A high level of dissolved oxygen intensified the dissolution of
concentration of 0.05%.
antimony that contaminated the gold surface. Yen and Ahhamirian (1998)
also observed that increasing DO from 8 ppm to 32 ppm and 60 ppm
Effect of O2 concentration: The effect of dissolved oxygen (DO) was
reduced the gold leaching rate.
tested at a stibnite concentration of 0.05%. The DO levels investigated
were 3, 8 and 16 ppm. The results are shown in Figure 5.

3 Copyright © 2004 by SME

 SME Annual Meeting
Feb. 23-25, Denver, Colorado

Effect of pH: Three levels of pH were tested at a stibnite concentra- Effect of pre-treatment at various pH: The effect of pre-treatment at
tion of 0.05%. The gold extraction over 4 hours was increased from 22% pH 11.5 was tested with and without lead nitrate. A 4 hour pretreatment
to 74% and 93% when the pH was reduced from 11.5 to 10.2 and 9.8. The with 250 g/t lead nitrate increased the gold extraction by 70% in the first
effect is due to the fact that stibnite dissolves slowly in a cyanide solution hour and by 5.1% (from 94% to 99%) in 4 hours as compared with the
at low pH. results of straight cyanidation with 250 g/t lead nitrate addition at the
beginning.
Effect of Pb(NO3) 2 concentration: The effect of lead nitrate con-
centration was tested at pH 11.5 with 0.05% stibnite. Results show that The effect of pretreatment at pH 9.8 and 10.5 without lead nitrate at
100 g/t of Pb(NO3) 2 could partly alleviate the negative effect of stibnite low pH did not have any positive effect on the gold leaching kinetics in the
and the gold extraction over 4 hours was increased from 28% (without presence of 0.05% stibnite.
lead nitrate) to 57% (Figure 6). However, the gold extraction with 100
g/t lead nitrate was still much lower than the 89% extraction obtained in Effect of Pb(NO3) 2 at low temperature (10°C): The addition of 100 g/t
the baseline test (Figure 4). The addition of 250 g/t Pb(NO3) 2 completely lead nitrate had no positive effect on the gold leaching kinetics at 0.05%
eliminated the negative effect of stibnite and the gold extraction was stibnite. The test was repeated and another lead nitrate level of 500 g/t
increased to 94% over 4 hours, which was 5% higher than baseline test was tested. The results are shown in Figure 7.
extraction. The addition of 500 g/t Pb(NO3) 2 further increased the gold
extraction over 4 hours to 98%.

Effect of Pb(NO3) 2 addition at different pH: The effect of lead nitrate

on gold leaching kinetics at pH 11.5, 10.2 and 9.8 at a level of 100 g/t can
be seen in Figure 6.

A combination of low pH and lead nitrate addition was the most ef-
fective way to enhance gold leaching kinetics in the presence of stibnite.
Addition of 100 g/t lead nitrate at pH 10.2 and 9.8 increased the gold
extraction over 4 hour to 99.6%. It is also clear that adding lead nitrate at
pH 10.2 and 9.8 dramatically increased the gold extraction to 94.1% and
96.1% with addition of 100 g/t lead nitrate.

Figure 7. Effect of low temperature on the efficiency of lead nitrate,

pH: 11.5, 250 ppm NaCN, 4 hours, 10°C, 0.05% stibnite.

The results indicate that the addition of lead nitrate at 10°C did not
show any remarkable effect on gold leaching kinetics. Addition of 500
g/t lead nitrate only increased the gold extraction over 4 hours by 3.9%
from 14% to 18%. It is clear from comparison of the results in Figure 7,
with the results obtained at 21°C, that the efficiency of lead nitrate addi-
tion on enhancing gold leaching kinetics was significantly depressed by
reducing the temperature from 21°C to 10°C. The gold extraction over 4
hours increased by 70.4% from 27.6% to 98.0% with addition of 500 g/t
lead nitrate at 21°C. More work is required to understand the effect of
Figure 6. Effect of lead nitrate on gold leaching at different pH. DO, temperature on lead nitrate.
8 ppm, 250 ppm NaCN, 4 hours, 21°C, 0.05% stibnite.
Mechanism of Pb(NO3) 2: It was observed that Pb(NO3) 2 as well as
Effect of AgNO3 addition: The effect of AgNO3 was tested at pH 11.5 AgNO3 precipitated Sb species (SbO2- and SbO3 -) out of the leach solu-
under a stibnite concentration of 0.05%. The results indicate that the ad- tion. A brown color gradually appeared in the leach cell when lead nitrate
dition of AgNO3 could also alleviate the negative effect of stibnite. Gold was added to the slurry containing stibnite (Figure 8). A darker color was
extraction increased from 29% without AgNO3 to 60% with the addition of observed with a higher concentration of lead nitrate or higher pH. No
250 g/t AgNO3. It is believed that increasing the AgNO3 addition amount color was observed if only quartz and stibnite or quartz and lead nitrate
could further improve the gold extraction. This test was conducted for were present in the slurry.
theoretical purposes to support the hypothesis that precipitation of Sb
species out of the leaching solution actually contributed to the improve-
ment of the gold leaching kinetics.

4 Copyright © 2004 by SME

 SME Annual Meeting
Feb. 23-25, Denver, Colorado

A precipitate was also formed as well with AgNO3 addition. The

precipitate was a compound of Sb-Ag-S-O as verified by EDS.

XPS surface analysis of gold coupon: In order to investigate the

effect of stibnite on a gold surface during the leaching process, gold
coupons were conditioned under different cyanidation conditions and
then examined by XPS. The results are summarized in the remainder
of this section. In order to obtain a reliable elemental composition at the
gold coupon surface, overlapped peaks, for example Sb 3d5/2 and O 1s,
were not used in the calculation. Peaks Sb 3d3/2 and O KLL were used
instead.

At pH 11.5 in cyanide solution without lead nitrate, a large amount of

Sb (15%) was detected on the gold coupon surface. The gold atomic per-
centage detected at the gold coupon surface by XPS, which was a good
indicator of the accessibility of the gold surface to the leaching solution,
was dramatically reduced from 36% to 0.9% when the stibnite concentra-
Figure 8. Precipitation of Sb species by Pb2+ during leaching. tion was increased from 0.00% to 0.05% in the synthetic ore. There was
Cyanidation: pH: 11.5, 8 ppm DO, 250 ppm NaCN, 4 hours, 25°C, very little sulfur detected on the gold coupon surface in the tests, which
0.05% stibnite indicates that it was the Sb species that played the critical role in covering
the gold surface and retarding gold leaching. The amount of oxygen on
The cell on the left contained the slurry with stibnite and lead nitrate the surfaces of the coupons increases with the amount of Sb.
(0.05% stibnite 250 g/t Pb(NO3) 2; the cell on the right contained the same
leaching slurry without lead nitrate. The photograph was taken after 1 Figure 10 indicates that lead nitrate reduced the amount of Sb on the
hour of leaching. gold surface from 15% to 8% and increased the gold atomic percentage
detected at the gold coupon from 0.9% to 25% In terms of preventing
To determine that lead nitrate precipitated Sb species out of the Sb deposition, low pH (10.2) worked the best. The amount of Sb was re-
leaching solution, stibnite was added to a cyanide solution at pH 11.5. duced from 15% to 0.8% and the gold atomic percentage was increased
The slurry was then agitated for 8 hours. Pb(NO3) 2 was added to the from 0.9% to 38%. Approximately 4.2% of sulfur was detected on the
filtrate. The dark brown precipitate formed was filtered out, dried under gold surface conditioned under pH 10.2 and very little (≤ 0.3%) sulfur was
N2 and examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive analysis detected on the surface of the two coupons conditioned at pH 11.5, which
(EDS) and X-ray photoelectron analysis (XPS). XRD failed to identify the further confirmed that sulfur did not play an important role in contaminat-
precipitate due to the amorphous nature of the precipitate. The EDS of ing the gold surface; 0.3% of Pb was detected on the gold coupon surface
the precipitate are shown in Figure 9. treated with 500 g/t lead nitrate.

The results of EDS and XPS indicate that the precipitate is likely
an Sb-Pb-S-O compound. The main S peak in Figure 9 was masked by
the huge Pb peak between 2 keV and 4 keV. The presence of S in the
precipitate was detected by XPS. The chemical analysis of the precipitate
indicate that it contains 66.1% Pb, 5.7% S, 14.1% Sb and 14.1% O. The
compound has an approximate formula: Pb3.2S1.8Sb1.2O8.9.

Figure 10. Surface analysis results of gold coupons after

conditioning at various pH and addition of Pb(NO3 ) 2

Figure 9. Energy dispersive spectrum of the precipitate

produced by adding Pb(NO3 ) 2 to the filtrate

5 Copyright © 2004 by SME

 SME Annual Meeting
Feb. 23-25, Denver, Colorado

The XPS peaks for Sb and Au for the gold coupon surfaces obtained
in tests 2, 3 and 4 are shown in Figures 11 and 12, respectively.

Figure 13. Surface analysis results of gold coupons after

conditioning at various DO levels

Figure 11. XPS spectra of Sb 3d peaks for the gold coupon surface
Figure 14 illustrates the comparison of the Au 4f peaks of the XPS
spectra obtained at different DO levels.
Figure 13 shows that the Sb concentration on the gold coupon
The Au 4f spectrum further confirms the trend of Au atom percent-
surface did not change much (increased from 14% to 15% and 17% when
age detectable on the coupon surface as shown in Figure 13.
the dissolved oxygen in the leaching slurry was increased from 3 ppm to 8
and 16 ppm). The O concentration on the coupon surface also increased
from 30% to 33% and 38%. Very little sulfur (≤ 0.05%) was detected on
the surface of the three coupons.

Figure 14. XPS Au 4f peaks of gold surface after conditioning at

various DO levels
Figure 12. XPS spectra of Au 4f peaks for the gold
coupon surface

6 Copyright © 2004 by SME

 SME Annual Meeting
Feb. 23-25, Denver, Colorado

DISCUSSION detected in the passivation film indicating that it was not a thioantimonite
film as suggested by Hedley and Tabachnick (1968). The Sb atoms
The results of this study should be considered as a guide to under- on the gold surface had an Sb 3d5/2 binding energy of 350.6 eV, which
standing the mechanisms and reaction products involved in the retarding indicated that Sb was in the form of Sb5+, possibly Sb2O5. The stibnite in
effect of pyrite and stibnite on gold leaching. The leaching conditions do the slurry was subjected to the following reactions:
not necessarily apply directly to leaching of gold ores, which normally
require a much longer contact time. Sb2S3 + 8OH - = 2SbO2- + 3S° + 4H2O + 6e - (1)

A high concentration of pyrite has to be present in the slurry to S° + 6OH - = SO32- + 3H2O + 4e - (2)
observe a detrimental effect on the gold leaching rate. It is assumed the
reaction products of pyrite, such as Fe(OH) 3 form a passivation film on 2SbO2- + 2OH - = Sb2O5 + H2O + 4e - (3)
the gold slowing down the dissolution rate. The addition of lead nitrate
totally eliminated the impact of pyrite on the gold leaching rate. Since it is the Sb species which played a key role in passivating the
gold surface, other antimony minerals such as stibiconite (Sb3O6 (OH)),
Stibnite has a very strong retarding effect on gold leaching, and antimony oxide (Sb2O3) could also have a retarding effect on gold cya-
oxygen enrichment made the situation worse. The improvement of the nidation through the following reaction (stibnite being easily oxidized to
gold dissolution by lead nitrate was previously demonstrated by Hedley Sb3O6 (OH) and Sb2O3).
and Tabachnick. The addition of lead nitrate reduced the formation of a
precipitate, identified as Sb2O5 at the surface of gold. Sb3O6 (OH) + 3OH - = 2SbO3 - + SbO2- + 2H2O (4)

The XPS of the gold surface conditioned in a slurry containing stib- Sb2O3 + 2OH - = 2SbO - + H2O (5)
nite showed Sb oxide species but not sulfur species. This surface layer
retarded the gold leaching rate. The SbO2- ion could be oxidized to Sb2O5 at the gold surface accord-
ing to equation (3).
Although lowering pH was very effective in preventing the contami-
nation of gold surface by Sb species, the gold leaching kinetics indicated CONCLUSIONS
that a pH of 10.2 and the addition of lead nitrate were the most effective
leaching conditions to counteract the effect of stibnite. Using a low pH • A significant retarding effect on the gold leaching rate was
also increases cyanide consumption and requires special measures to observed only with a pyrite concentration of 20%.
deal with the high HCN concentration. • Ag, Fe and S formed a passivation film at the surface of gold and
reduced the leaching rate. Pb2+ reduced the passivating effect of
Since the gold coupon surface was heavily covered by the Sb these impurities and enhanced the gold leaching rate.
compound (Sb2O5) when conditioned in a slurry containing stibnite, only
• Stibnite showed a very strong retarding effect on gold leaching
a small amount of lead (0.3%) was detected on the gold surface after
kinetics at a very low concentration, i.e., 0.002% (20 ppm).
treatment with lead nitrate. The kinetic tests indicated the catalytic effect
of lead nitrate was still functioning as long as the gold surface was acces- • The passivation film was likely an antimony oxide - Sb2O5 Sulphur
sible to the leaching solution. was not a significant contributor in the composition of the pas-
sivation coating in the presence of Sb.
The addition of lead nitrate to the blended gold ore from Fort Knox • Means to alleviate passivation of gold by antimony are the addi-
Mine demonstrated an improvement of gold extraction in spite of the fact tion of Pb(NO3) 2 and/or lowering the pH.
that leaching occurred at low temperature (10°C) (Hollow, et al., 2003b). • A high DO level did not show any positive effect on gold leaching
It is known that stibnite is the major interference in gold leaching for Fort kinetics in the presence of Sb.
Knox Mine. Lead nitrate proved to have a positive effect because a reten-
tion time of 20 hours is used at Fort Knox Mine while only 4 hours was
used in this study. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The leaching kinetic indicated that the negative effect of stibnite on The authors wish to thank Fort Knox Mine and Goldcorp Red Lake
the gold leaching rate was far more severe than that of pyrite. The brown- Mine for sponsoring this study. Thanks are also given to Jean Cloutier for
ish passivation film was visible to the naked eye. No sulfur species were the fire assays and other analyses, John Graham and Regina Karwowska
for the other analyses.

7 Copyright © 2004 by SME

 SME Annual Meeting
Feb. 23-25, Denver, Colorado

REFERENCES Hedley, N. and Tabachnick, H., 1958, Chemistry of cyanidation,

Mineral Dressing Notes, No. 23, American Cyanamid Company.
Beyers, E., 1936, Some of the factors which influence the rates of
dissolution of gold and silver in cyanide solution, J. Chem. Met. Soc., S. Hollow, J., Deschênes, G., Guo, H., Fulton, M. and Hill, E., 2003a,
Afr., Vol. 37, pp. 37. Optimizing Cyanidation Parameters for Processing of Blended Fort Knox
and True North Ores at The Fort Knox Mine, Hydrometallurgy 2003,
Deschênes, G., Pratt, A., Riveros, P. and Fulton, M., 2002, Reaction Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium Honoring Professor Ian
of gold and sulfide minerals in cyanide media, Minerals & Metallurgical M. Ritchie, Vol. 1, pp. 21-34.
Processing, Vol. 19, No. 4, 1. pp. 169 – 177.
Hollow, J. T., Lin. H. K. and Walsh, D. E., 2003b, The effect of
Feather, C. E. and Koen, G. M., 1973, The significant of the mineral- Pb(NO3) 2 addition on the processing of blended Fort Knox and True
ogy and surface characteristics of gold grains in the recovering process, North Ores at the Fort Knox Mine, 2003 SME Annual Meeting; Preprint
Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Vol. 73, 03-013.
pp. 223-234.
Liu. G. Q. and Yen W. T., 1995, Effects of sulfide minerals and
Healey, S., Deschênes G., Jean, P. and Fulton, M., Latest improve- dissolved oxygen on the gold and silver dissolution in cyanide solution,
ment to the leaching circuit at New Britannia Mine, Proceedings of the Minerals Engineering, Vol. 8, pp. 111-123.
Randol Gold and Silver Forum 2000, pp. 301-307.
Yen, W. T. and Aghamirian, M. M., 1998, Effect of sulfide miner-
Hedley, N. and Tabachnick, H., 1968, Chemistry of cyanidation, als and dissolved ions on gold dissolution rate in oxygenated cyanide
Mineral Dressing Notes, No. 17, American Cyanamid Company. solution, Proceedings of the international symposium on gold recovery
(edited by Laplante, A.), pp. 79-86.

8 Copyright © 2004 by SME