TY - JOUR

T1 - Gold recovery from synthetic mine tailings leachate using chelating ion exchange resins with thiosulfate-thiourea lixiviant

AU - Shields, Victoria

AU - Robshaw, Thomas

AU - Amphlett, James

AU - Hides, Alan

AU - Bruce, Richard

AU - Cordiner, Joan

AU - Ogden, Mark

PY - 2023/11/1

Y1 - 2023/11/1

N2 - Recovery of gold from mining tailings is important economically and environmentally in the mining industry. With a limited amount of mineable gold remaining, the process of recovering gold from mine tailings needs development. This paper will specifically investigate the recovery of gold using ion-exchange resins in a thiosulfate-thiourea lixiviant solution. A range of resins of different functionalities: Purolite® A200 (Type II quaternary ammonium), Lewatit® MonoPlus TP 214 and Puromet® MTS9140 (thiourea), Dowex™ M-4195 (bis-picolylamine) and Lewatit® VPOC 1026 (di(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate- D2EHPA) were assessed for their gold uptake capabilities via dynamic column experiments. A mixed-metal solution was used to accurately simulate the spent lixiviant from thiosulfate/thiourea leaching of mine tailings. All resins showed selectivity towards gold over the numerous other metals in solution, which was believed to be due to the stability of aqueous gold thiourea complexes. Puromet® MTS9140 had the highest gold capacity, with a calculated uptake capacity of 41.6 mg/L. Modified-Dose Response (MDR), Bohart-Adams and Yoon-Nelson models were used to describe the data; the MDR model being the most successful.

AB - Recovery of gold from mining tailings is important economically and environmentally in the mining industry. With a limited amount of mineable gold remaining, the process of recovering gold from mine tailings needs development. This paper will specifically investigate the recovery of gold using ion-exchange resins in a thiosulfate-thiourea lixiviant solution. A range of resins of different functionalities: Purolite® A200 (Type II quaternary ammonium), Lewatit® MonoPlus TP 214 and Puromet® MTS9140 (thiourea), Dowex™ M-4195 (bis-picolylamine) and Lewatit® VPOC 1026 (di(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate- D2EHPA) were assessed for their gold uptake capabilities via dynamic column experiments. A mixed-metal solution was used to accurately simulate the spent lixiviant from thiosulfate/thiourea leaching of mine tailings. All resins showed selectivity towards gold over the numerous other metals in solution, which was believed to be due to the stability of aqueous gold thiourea complexes. Puromet® MTS9140 had the highest gold capacity, with a calculated uptake capacity of 41.6 mg/L. Modified-Dose Response (MDR), Bohart-Adams and Yoon-Nelson models were used to describe the data; the MDR model being the most successful.

KW - Precious metals

KW - Surface assets

KW - Resource recovery

KW - Mine tailings

KW - Ion exchange

U2 - 10.1016/j.rcradv.2023.200182

DO - 10.1016/j.rcradv.2023.200182

M3 - Article

SP - 200182

JO - Resources, Conservation & Recycling Advances

JF - Resources, Conservation & Recycling Advances

SN - 2667-3789

ER -