Abstract
Carbonaceous matter (CM) is one of the main reasons for the decrease of gold recovery in refractory gold ores. Bio-pretreatment of carbonaceous gold ores makes the reduction the preg-robbing of gold, and has attracted significant attention recently due to its economic feasibility and environmental friendliness. In this study, the graphite was used as surrogate material to investigate the effect of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (A. ferrooxidans) and Leptospirillum ferrooxidans (L. ferrooxidans) on the gold adsorption by graphite in thiourea system. The results showed that graphite had a significant inhibitory effect on the growth of A. ferrooxidans and L. ferrooxidans. After bio-oxidation, the lamellar structure of graphite surface was blurred, and there was the formation of jarosite. In addition, some oxygen-containing groups such as O–H, SO and Fe–O appeared on the surface, but the CC bond cleaved. The adsorption capacity of graphite to gold decreased from 35.8% to 16.6% (A. ferrooxidans) and 18.4% (L. ferrooxidans) respectively. It can be concluded that the bio-oxidation by A. ferrooxidans and L. ferrooxidans can passivate and erode graphite, and contribute to decrease preg-robbing of gold from thiourea leaching solution.
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