Deselenization and detellurization of precious-metal ore concentrates by swelling oxidizing roasting and successive alkaline leaching

Abstract

A new technique of swelling oxidizing roasting and alkaline leaching was proposed for deselenization and detellurization of precious-metal ore concentrates. Alkali-metal and alkaline-earth-metal chlorides and carbonates were preliminarily selected as swelling agents. The roasting removal rate and alkaline leaching rate of selenium and tellurium were investigated, and NaCl was selected as an appropriate swelling agent. Furthermore, the effects of various factors on the selenium gasification rate and leaching rate of selenium and tellurium were investigated. The results show that the selenium gasification rate reaches 88.41% after swelling oxidizing roasting for 2 h at 510°C using an NaCl dosage coefficient of 100 and a sulfuric acid dosage coefficient of 1.3; the amorphous elemental tellurium is completely transformed into TiO2. The roasted product is subjected to alkaline leaching using a 100 g/L NaOH solution, which results in a selenium leaching rate of 10.51%, a total selenium removal rate of 98.92%, and a tellurium leaching rate of 97.64%. In the alkaline leaching residue, the contents of selenium, tellurium, gold, platinum, and palladium are 0.7825%, 5.492%, 8.333%, 0.2587%, and 1.113%, respectively; the precious metals are enriched approximately sixfold.