Abstract
The results of studies of gold dissolution using the photoelectroactivation method are presented. The innovative photoelectrochemical pre-treatment of the alkali solution was carried out in an electrolyzer with a UV lamp installed on top. Electrochemical treatment of the alkali solution lasted 1... 2 hours, UV irradiation – 5... 7 minutes, and at the next stage, cyanides were injected. The use of the obtained active solution increased the content of metastable sulfur compounds in the liquid phase of the pulp, including hydrosulfides and rhodanides. The following dependence was re-vealed: the more metastable sulfur compounds, the more colloidal gold is released, which is explained by the ability of these compounds to form complexes with gold. The following dependency was obtained during activation retribution: CAu = 0.0347 CCNS ̅ + 0.5972 , while R² = 0.8631 = 0.9, which corresponds to high accuracy. The obtained dependen-cies indicate the advantage of electrical treatment over the standard scheme of additional recovery using cyanide ions and Ca(OH)2 alkali solution without electrical exposure and ultraviolet irradiation. It is revealed that the level of colloi-dal gold recovery is directly determined by the method of processing.
Keywords:
gold, cyanidation, oxygen, electrochemistry, current, potential, photochemical treatment, redox potential