Abstract
The metals and industrial minerals contained in the tailings of mining and quarrying activities, can degrade natural environments as well as human health. The objective of this experimental work is the application of innovative and sustainable technologies for the treatment and exploitation of mining tailings from Romania. Within this approach, the recovery of high grade raw materials to be placed on the market is achieved and reduction of these wastes volume are achieved. The current study is focused on hydrometallurgical process for the recovery of gold. The innovative treatment chosen is the thiosulphate process that, compared with the conventional cyanide, has several advantages (e.g., it is more ecologically friendly and is not toxic to humans). The conventional cyanidation process shows operating limits in the case of auriferous refractory minerals, such as Romanian wastes, the object of the study. An important characteristic of thiosulphate leaching process it has the best selectivity towards gold; it does not attack the majority of the gangue mineral constituents. Gold extraction of 75% was obtained under ambient conditions of temperature. Moreover, the overall process achieved about 65–67% Au recovery, this being in line with the conventional cyanidation process. As these results are obtained by application of the thiosulfate process on a low gold content ore, they may be considered encouraging. The optimization of process parameters and operating conditions, should permit the best results in terms of process yields to be achieved.
Highlights
Several studies have shown that mining activities can significantly damage, pollute and alter the environment as well as human health [1,2,3,4]
The preliminary study of the parameters and operating conditions for the various stages of the thiosulphate process shows, for the sample composed of mining wastes from Brad Ribita and Brad
The experimental results obtained indicate good gold dissolution kinetics in the aqueous ammoniacal solution of thiosulphate, which can be used without special precautions and restrictions
Summary
Several studies have shown that mining activities can significantly damage, pollute and alter the environment (e.g., soil, sediments, water and air quality) as well as human health [1,2,3,4]. Mining involves the creation of surface features that are unstable, prone to landslides and collapses, but, especially, expose the environment to exogenous vast areas of mineralized rocks and byproducts of mineral treatment. These outcomes produce significant changes in the chemical environment [5,6]. The large volumes of wastes produced by mining occupy huge areas; these accumulations can substantially change the original landscape. The application of a proper treatment ensures environmental sustainability and minimize
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