E d i t o r i n c h i e f ZHURINOV MuratZhurinovich, doctor of chemistry, professor, academician of NAS RK, president of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, general director of JSC "Institute of fuel, catalysis and electrochemistry named after D.V. Sokolsky» (Almaty, Kazakhstan) H = 4 E d i t o r i a l b o a r d: ABSAMETOV Malis Kudysovich, (deputy editor-in-chief), doctor of geological and mineralogical sciences, professor, academician of NAS RK, director of the Akhmedsafin Institute of hydrogeology and hydrophysics (Almaty, Kazakhstan) H = 2 ZHOLTAEV Geroy Zholtaevich, (deputy editor-in-chief), doctor of geological and mineralogical sciences, professor, director of the institute of geological sciences named after K.I. Satpayev (Almaty, Kazakhstan) Н=2 SNOW Daniel, Ph.D, associate professor, director of the labotatory of water sciences, Nebraska University (Nebraska, USA) H = 32 Zeltman Reymar, Ph.D, head of research department in petrology and mineral deposits in the Earth sciences section of the museum of natural history (London, England) H = 37 PANFILOV Mikhail Borisovich, doctor of technical sciences, professor at the Nancy University (Nancy, France) Н=15 SHEN Ping, Ph.D, deputy director of the Committee for Mining geology of the China geological Society, Fellow of the American association of economic geologists (Beijing, China) H = 25 FISCHER Axel, Ph.D, associate professor, Dresden University of technology (Dresden, Germany) H = 6 KONTOROVICH Aleksey Emilievich, doctor of geological and mineralogical sciences, professor, academician of RAS, Trofimuk Institute of petroleum geology and geophysics SB RAS (Novosibirsk, Russia) H = 19 ABSADYKOV Bakhyt Narikbaevich, doctor of technical sciences, professor, corresponding member of NAS RK, Bekturov Institute of chemical sciences (Almaty, Kazakhstan) H = 5 AGABEKOV Vladimir Enokovich, doctor of chemistry, academician of NAS of Belarus, honorary director of the Institute of chemistry of new materials (Minsk, Belarus) H = 13 KATALIN Stephan, Ph.D, associate professor, Technical university (Dresden, Berlin) H = 20 SEITMURATOVA Eleonora Yusupovna, doctor of geological and mineralogical sciences, professor, corresponding member of NAS RK, head of the laboratory of the Institute of geological sciences named after K.I. Satpayev (Almaty, Kazakhstan) Н=11 SAGINTAYEV Zhanay, Ph.D, associate professor, Nazarbayev University (Nursultan, Kazakhstan) H = 11 FRATTINI Paolo, Ph.D, associate professor, university of Milano-Bicocca (Milan, Italy) H = 28 News of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Series of geology and technology sciences.

The growth in consumption and cost of precious metals is forcing gold mining companies to expand their raw material base and study and develop processes aimed at increasing the recovery of gold from ores and concentrates. The reserves of rich, easily-enriched gold-bearing mineral raw materials are practically exhausted. To maintain the volumes of extraction of precious metal, the domestic gold-extracting industry constantly involves new gold deposits in processing, resumes operation of previously abandoned and “mothballed” quarries and landfills, mines and mines, processes man-made dumps of many mining and processing plants containing a certain amount of metals (in as associated components or not completely extracted during primary processing).

The aim of the research is the selection and justification of the combined gravity method of enrichment of refractory gold-bearing raw materials and the hydro and pyrometallurgical method of processing enrichment products based on the study of the technological properties of the feedstock and enrichment products in the mineral and raw materials complex of the deposit located on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan. There is a tendency to increase the imbalance between mining and also the increase in off-balance reserves of gold-bearing ores, which ultimately poses a serious problem for the development of the country’s economy. Research on the development of technology for the extraction of gold from refractory ores has been performed on three samples of the Vasilkovsky stockwork deposit. The ores are persistent in the presence of arsenic (arsenopyrite) and finely divided gold, a significant part of which is in the form associated with both sulfides (mainly arsenopyrite) and rockforming minerals.

Ores of the Vasilkovsky deposit include arsenopyrite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, marcasite, gold, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, faded ore (tennantite)S, bismuthine, native bismuth, lellingite, molybdenite, cubanite, bornite, antimonite, relict minerals, magnetite, apatite and apatite chromite, sericite, chlorite, potassium feldspar, tourmaline), quartz, carbonates (siderite, ankerite, calcite), fluorite, barite. Arsenopyrite is the main ore mineral. It contains the bulk of gold, as well as impurities - copper, cobalt, nickel, bismuth, zirconium, titanium, lead, zinc, antimony, silver, molybdenum. Bismuth and its minerals are widespread, they are constantly associated with arsenopyrite, forming intergrowths with native gold, less often with chalcopyrite and faded ore. Native gold is distributed very unevenly, forms the finest precipitates ranging in size from tenths of a micron to 0.063 mm, grows together with quartz, arsenopyrite, pyrite and bismuth minerals. Rich ores were formed by combining bismuthcontaining associations with arsenopyrite. The role of gold in arsenopyrite increases with depth. Ores are of the gold-quartz-sulfide type. Quartz in ore up to 90 %, sulfides from 3 to 5 %. The content of harmful impurities (arsenic) reaches 2 % or more. Ores are refractory, require special technology for the beneficiation and extraction of gold.

Gold in nature is most often found in the form of native metal, intermetallic compounds and minerals containing gold, silver, copper, iron, mercury, bismuth, platinum, palladium, iridium, rhodium, and minerals-gold gellurides. In addition, gold is found in the form of compounds with organic acids. Native gold is never chemically pure and contains up to 50% impurities. The presence of impurities in gold dramatically affects its quality and properties. For example, arsenic, lead, platinum, cadmium, bismuth, tellurium give gold brittleness, which leads to overgrinding and sludging of gold in the processes of ore preparation. In addition, native gold grains can be coated with films ("shirts") of iron oxides and rock minerals, which significantly complicates the extraction of gold during amalgamation and cyanidation. Native gold has a high density-from 15.5 to 19.7 t/m 3. Gold minerals also have high density. Depending on the size, native gold is classified into coarse (more than 2 mm), fine (0.05-2 mm), pulverized (5-50 microns) and finely divided (less than 5 microns). The behavior of native gold grains and gold-bearing minerals in the enrichment processes depends on their composition and dissemination [1]. Gold closely associated with sulphides is well extracted using processes designed to extract sulphides (flotation, depositing, concentration on tables, etc.). Isolation of gold from sulfide products is usually carried out after the destruction of the sulfides themselves by calcination or biochemical method [1]. Schemes and processing regimes of ores substantially depend on the mineral composition of ores, their degradability, the presence or absence of impurities that complicate the extraction of gold, and also on the particle size of gold. These and some other properties of ores are mainly determined by their origin, according to which gold ore deposits are divided into two main groups-primary and placer. About 75% of gold is mined from primary deposits, and 25% from alluvial deposits. [1]