Comparative Leaching Tests of Gold from Unroasted and Roasted Pyrite Using Microwave Radiation

Abstract

Recently, the application of microwaves as a source of energy to the extractive industry has received particular attention from a large number of researchers. During the mid-1960s to 1988 most researches focused on the behavior of microwave radiant materials. These research activities continue to be important as long as the fundamental data on microwave interaction with materials is important for the successful application of technologies. This article presents the comparative cyanide tests of unprocessed and non-fired pyrite as well as the technical indicators obtained in these tests. After performing comparative cyanidation tests on unroasted and roasted pyrites at 400 and 700oC it was found that there was no significant reduction in lime and cyanide consumption for roasted pyrite at 400oC but for the roasted pyrite at 700oC the consumption of lime is reduced from 110 kg�t-1to 10 kg�t-1, cyanide is reduced from 2.8 kg�t-1 to 1.76 kg�t-1, and yields of leaching increase from 50 % for unroasted pyrite at 81 % for roasted pyrite.