Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate thiourea leaching of gold present in the uranium tailings. Sulfuric acid treatment for raw material is important in order to dissolve uranium as well as to remove easily leachable metals. The acidic thiourea solution was proposed as a non-toxic possible alternative process route to cyanide in gold dissolution. The acidic system of thiourea-sodium sulfite was studied in the gold dissolution process. The presence of sodium sulfite can significantly reduce thiourea decomposition, accelerate the gold dissolution process, decrease the leaching time, and decrease the activation energy of gold dissolution. The activation energy for gold dissolution was evaluated. The activation energy solution with sodium sulfite is 7.62 kJ mol−1 which is much lower than 9.32 kJ mol−1 in the absence of sodium sulfite. Low activation energy confirms the surface reaction dissolution mechanism. This method demonstrates the possibility of extracting gold directly from low-grade ores without any physical or chemical pre-concentration method with a more environmentally friendly process.
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