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Leaching of Gold with Copper–Tartrate–Thiosulfate Solutions

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Abstract

As the most promising alternative reagent to cyanide, thiosulfate has received renewed interest. However, the traditional copper–ammonia–thiosulfate system may face critical challenges in terms of process sustainability because ammonia is toxic and unstable. The use of tartrate as an alternative reagent to ammonia offers a green and eco-friendly choice for gold extraction. In this work, the effect of temperature, pH, copper, tartrate, and thiosulfate concentrations on the leaching kinetics of pure gold disc was examined. The results show that thiosulfate is the only effective complexing agent with aurous ions, while tartrate works as a copper ligand. The process of gold dissolution in copper–tartrate–thiosulfate solutions can be divided into two stages under the experimental conditions. Both stages are controlled by chemical reactions. The reaction orders of gold dissolution with respect to copper, tartrate, and thiosulfate concentrations were 0.523, − 0.572, 0.659 and 0.218, − 0.942, 1.072 in the first and second stages, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities of China (No. N182502044).

Funding

Project (N182502044) supported by Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Ecological Metallurgy of Multimetallic Ores (Ministry of Education), Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China

    Junnan Chen & Feng Xie

  2. Key Laboratory for Recycling of Nonferrous Metal Resources, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China

    Junnan Chen & Feng Xie

  3. School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China

    Junnan Chen, Feng Xie, Wei Wang & Yan Fu

  4. Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Chemistry, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou, 341000, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Jian Wang

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  1. Junnan Chen
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  2. Feng Xie
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  3. Wei Wang
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  4. Yan Fu
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Correspondence to Feng Xie.

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Chen, J., Xie, F., Wang, W. et al. Leaching of Gold with Copper–Tartrate–Thiosulfate Solutions. Trans Indian Inst Met 76, 3403–3410 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12666-023-03002-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12666-023-03002-3

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