Abstract
A cylindrical electrowinning cell employing a three-dimensional steel wool cathode has been used to investigate the effect of free cyanide concentration, pH, solution conductivity and base metal impurities on the electrowinning of gold from alkaline cyanide leach liquors containing up to 5 mg/l gold. The recovery of gold in a given time decreased: (a) as the pH decreased below 13, (b) if more than 10 mg/l of Fe, Cu, Zn or Hg were present in solution, (c) as the free NaCN concentration was increased, (d) with decreasing conductivity of the solution. High gold recoveries can be obtained with relatively low electrical energy consumption; greater than 96% recovery in one hour from 5 mg/l gold solutions with an electrical energy consumption of 112 kWh/kg at a current efficiency of 0.33% is possible. Experimentally derived graphs of solution concentration versus time of electrolysis were analysed by means of a simple reactor model and approximate mass transfer coefficients were calculated. These were compared with coefficients calculated from data on the performance of Mintek cells in South African gold recovery operations. The application of these data to the prediction of required electrode area and hence cost for a commercial dilute electrowinning installation is discussed.
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