Investigation of Glycine Leaching for Gold Extraction from Witwatersrand Gold Mine Tailings with Permanganate Pre-treatment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/Abstract
The Southern African region contains abundant gold tailing heaps which are an environmental concern due to dust pollution and chemical contamination of near-by water bodies .Nevertheless these gold tailing heaps contain gold with the potential to be extracted for financial gain. In this study the feasibility of extraction of gold from the Witwatersrand gold tailing using glycine was investigated using a two-level full factorial design. Effects of variables such as glycine concentration at levels of 0.5-1.5 M with a solid-liquid ratio of 50-200 g/L were investigated. Although the solid-liquid ratio used in this study was below the industrial norm, it provides a starting point for investigating the applicability of this technology. In order to enhance the gold extraction potassium permanganate pretreatment and copper ion addition were also adopted. The results revealed that 91.4 % gold extraction was achieved after 24 hour pre-treatment of the tailings using 2 g/L permanganate followed by subsequent leaching using 1.5 M glycine at pH 12, with 50 g/L solid-liquid ratio, and 2 g/L copper ions. Statistically, the solid liquid ratio and potassium permanganate pre-treatment of the tailings were found to be significant on a 95 % confidence interval. Whilst interactions of copper ions and glycine concentration were significant factors. The work demonstrates that potassium permanganate pre-treatment prior to glycine leaching of low-grade secondary gold resources such as tailings can be beneficial. Furthermore, the methodology developed in this work provides an opportunity for further investigation into the recovery of gold hosted in complex mineralogical matrices.
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Copyright (c) 2024 Anthony Tapfuma, Margerth Tadie, Guven Akdogan
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