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Measurement of weak and dissociable (WAD) cyanide with a modified potentiometric titration

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Abstract

The silver nitrate titration method is a rapid and acceptably accurate means of analyzing for cyanide in leach solutions that contain primarily free cyanide. However, in leach solutions containing elevated levels of copper, the titrimetric method overestimates the concentration of free cyanide and underestimates the concentration of weak and dissociable (WAD) cyanide. The authors have developed a modified potentiometric (MP) titration method for determining WAD cyanide that overcomes issues associated with high copper levels in solution. The new MP-WAD method involves addition of a chemical ligand to the sample prior to silver nitrate titration to release cyanide bound to copper. Once released from copper, cyanide in solution is no longer affected by the presence of copper, and titration results are quantitative rather than empirical. In multiple laboratory trials with synthetic solutions and complex actual leach solutions, analytical results obtained with the new MP-WAD method were found to be within about ±5% of analyses obtained with the USEPA OIA-1677 WAD cyanide analytical method.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Elbow Creek Engineering, Billings, MT, USA

    M. Botz

  2. Newmont Mining Corporation, Denver, CO, USA

    E. Milosavljevic

  3. Kinross Gold Corporation, Toronto, ON, Canada

    I. Ward

Authors
  1. M. Botz
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  2. E. Milosavljevic
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  3. I. Ward
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Additional information

Paper number MMP-12-075.

Discussion of this peer-reviewed and approved paper is invited and must be submitted to SME Publications Dept. prior to May 31, 2014.

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Botz, M., Milosavljevic, E. & Ward, I. Measurement of weak and dissociable (WAD) cyanide with a modified potentiometric titration. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 30, 197–204 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03402462

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03402462

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