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Gold heap leaching process is an economical and efficient method of gold extraction. It dissolves gold from the ore by stacking the ore on a special mat, spraying the ore with a chemical solution (leaching agent), and then collecting the gold-containing solution for subsequent gold recovery. The following is a detailed process of gold heap leaching process:
Ore preparation is the first step in the heap leaching process, including ore crushing and grading. The purpose of this step is to ensure that the particle size of the ore is suitable for heap leaching. It is usually necessary to crush the ore to a certain size to increase the surface area of the ore, thereby increasing the gold leaching rate.
The stockyard is the place where heap leaching is carried out, and it needs to be carried out on an impermeable mat. The construction of the stockyard includes waterproofing of the bottom and the setting of a drainage system to ensure the effective collection and recycling of the leachate.
The prepared ore is stacked on the stockyard to form an ore pile. This step needs to consider the particle size distribution, pile height and pile shape of the ore to ensure that the leachate can evenly penetrate the ore pile.
According to the properties of the gold ore, a suitable leaching agent is prepared, usually sodium cyanide solution. The preparation of the leaching agent needs to consider factors such as concentration and pH value to ensure effective dissolution of gold.
The spraying system is to spray the prepared leaching agent evenly onto the ore pile so that the leaching agent and the ore are fully in contact. The design of the spraying system needs to consider the spraying intensity, spraying uniformity and spraying cycle.
The leachate is collected from the bottom of the ore pile and contains dissolved gold. The collection system usually includes a collection ditch, pump and pipeline to transport the leachate to the next processing stage.
Gold is usually recovered from the leachate by activated carbon adsorption, ion exchange or solvent extraction. These methods can effectively extract gold from solution and then deposit the gold as metal through the electrowinning (SX-EW) process.
After heap leaching, the remaining tailings need to be properly handled. Tailings treatment methods include solidification, stabilization and backfilling to reduce environmental impact
During the entire heap leaching process, environmental monitoring is required, including water, soil and air quality testing to ensure that heap leaching activities do not cause pollution to the surrounding environment.
Gold heap leaching process is a flexible and cost-effective gold extraction method suitable for many types of gold ores. With the advancement of technology, heap leaching process has shown great potential in improving gold recovery and reducing environmental impact.
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