Selective Cementation of Gold Using an Iron Oxide and Zero-Valent Aluminum Galvanic System from Gold–Copper Ammoniacal Thiosulfate Solutions

Abstract

Ammonium thiosulfate leaching is a promising alternative to the conventional cyanide method for extracting gold from ores. However, strategies for recovering gold from the leachate are less commercially used due to its low affinity to gold. The present study investigated the recovery of gold from the leachate using iron oxides (hematite, Fe2O3 or magnetite, Fe3O4). Cementation experiments were conducted by mixing 0.15 g of aluminum powder as an electron donor and 0.15 g of an electron mediator (activated carbon, hematite, or magnetite) in 10 mL of ammonium thiosulfate leachate containing 100 mg/L gold ions and 10 mM cupric ions for 24 h at 25 °C. The results of the solution analysis showed that when activated carbon (AC) was used, the gold was recovered together with copper (recoveries were 99.99% for gold and copper). However, selective gold recovery was observed when iron oxides were used, where the gold and copper recoveries were 89.7% and 21% for hematite and 85.9% and 15.4% for magnetite, respectively. An electrochemical experiment was also conducted to determine the galvanic interaction between the electron donor and electron mediator in a conventional electrochemical setup (hematite/magnetite–Al as the working electrode, Pt as the counter electrode, Ag/AgCl as the reference electrode) in a gold–thiosulfate medium. Cyclic voltammetry showed a gold reduction “shoulder-like” peak at −1.0 V using hematite/Al and magnetite/Al electrodes. Chronoamperometry was conducted and operated at a constant voltage (−1.0 V) determined during cyclic voltammetry and further analyzed using SEM-EDX. The results of the SEM-EDX analysis for the cementation products and electrochemical experiments confirmed that the gold was selectively deposited on the iron oxide surface as an electron mediator.