Abstract
Sulfide flotation concentrate of gold‐quartz ores was cyanated at the Berikul gold extraction plant in the Kemerovo district, southwestern Siberia. Tailing cakes were stored as a 3- to 6-m-high dump at the territory of the plant, along the Mokryi Berikul River. About 70 thousand tonnes of ore were accumulated in 1942‐ 1972. This type of ore preservation (above the ground water level) causes the intense oxidation of the residual sulfides, because atmospheric precipitates percolating through the rock are partially retained in the pore space, which is filled with air and solutions (pore waters) rich in oxidation products. However, the oxygen content sharply decreases downward owing to its consumption by oxidizing sulfides. This can be exemplified by reactions with pyrite and arsenopytite, the major sulfides of the Berikul cakes (1, 2). The oxidizing role of trivalent iron is typically constrained in these objects because of retardation of reaction (3) in highly acidic solutions. This explains the predominant development of sulfates of bi- rather than trivalent iron.
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