Gold ore is a precious and scarce resource, but it is used very frequently in the industrial field. Gold ore has to go through two processes of separation and smelting to complete the extraction of gold. In nature, the existence of gold ore is mostly accompanied by other minerals. In the process of gold ore sorting and refining, it is necessary to extract other associated minerals. According to the different properties of the associated minerals, different extraction processes are used, including single flotation method, amalgamation-flotation method, gravity separation method and carbon in pulp method.
Single flotation method is an effective gold extraction process to sort coarse and medium-grained ores. The gold ore is ground to a certain particle size by crushing and grinding equipment, and then sent to the flotation machine for further separation. During the flotation process, sodium carbonate is added as a regulator, and xanthate and black medicine are used as collectors. Finally, the difference in mineral surface hydrophobicity is used to achieve the separation of useful minerals and gangue minerals.
For associated pyrite and other sulfide ores, mercury should be added to the slurry during the gold extraction process. Usually the method of adding mercury to the mill is called amalgamation, and gold is effectively extracted by the method of amalgamation while grinding.
The method of gravity separation is the process of separating and extracting gold through the difference in specific gravity between gold ore and other minerals. In the process of gold extraction, the greater the difference in specific gravity between gold ore and other ores, the easier the gold selection process will be. When gravity separation is used, gold is usually extracted using screens, jigs and shaking tables.
After the gold ore is crushed to a certain extent, the method of cyanidation leaching is used. To be specific, the leaching rate of gold is increased by using activated carbon as an adsorbent during leaching, and finally the gold is separated from the gold-loaded carbon by a high temperature method.
After the gold concentrate is obtained through the above gold extraction process, smelting and electrolysis will be used further to finally get the pure gold.
