Synergistic extraction of gold from the refractory gold ore via ultrasound and chlorination-oxidation

A synergistic extraction method for gold from the refractory gold ores via ultrasound and chlorination-oxidation was developed. The effects of solid-liquid ratio, extraction time, ultrasound power, NaClO concentration and NaOH concentration on the extraction rate of gold from the refractory gold ore were investigated. The optimum conditions were as follows: NaClO concentration of 1.5 mol/L, NaOH concentration of 1.5 mol/L, solid-liquid ratio of 5, ultrasound power of 200 W and ultrasound time of 2 h. Under the optimal conditions, 68.55% of gold was extracted. However, only 45.8% of gold was extracted after 6 h without the ultrasound-assisted extraction. XRD and SEM were used to analyze the influence of ultrasound on the mineral properties and strengthening mechanism. The results showed that the interface layer was peeled, new surface was exposed, reaction resistance was reduced, the liquid-solid reaction was promoted and reaction speed was greatly improved under ultrasound. According to the results of range and variance analysis, the optimum leaching experiment with orthogonal design was almost identical with the optimum experiment of single factor. Among them, the ultrasound power was the most significant factors affecting leaching rate of gold. Compared with other extraction method, the synergistic extraction process decomposed completely sulfide and improved significantly the extraction rate of gold.