Abstract
The dissolution of mercury during the gold cyanidation process is the cause of many environmental, health and processing problems. The removal of mercury-cyanide complexes from synthetic solutions and process water were investigated using sodium and potassium dimethyl dithiocarbamates and sodium sulfide as precipitating reagents. The results have shown that efficient mercury removal can be achieved by the formation of stable mercury compounds with the addition of potassium dimethyl dithiocarbamate. The mercury dimethyl dithiocarbamate precipitates are stable under plant operating conditions, and they do not have any deleterious effect on gold adsorption by activated carbon. Furthermore, it is possible to stabilize mercury in the heap during cyanidation by adding dimethyl dithiocarbomate.
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Misra, M., Lorengo, J., Nanor, J.B. et al. Removal of mercury cyanide species from solutions using dimethyl dithiocarbamates. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 15, 60–64 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03403160
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03403160