The earth is a huge treasure house, with countless treasures waiting for us to discover and use. Gold ore is a shining pearl among these treasures. However, extracting gold from rock minerals is not easy. It requires a series of complex and delicate processes.
In the traditional gold extraction process, we first have to locate the location of rock gold (vein gold) ore resources through geological exploration. Gold ore is usually located underground and requires large excavators to mine. Gold also has a unique role in the field of science and technology. It is used as a conductive material in the electronics industry and as a protective coating in the aerospace field, showing its indispensable position. However, to realize its economic and practical value, extracting gold minerals from rocks is an important technology in the mining industry. The gold extraction process includes crushing & grinding, gravity separation, flotation, cyanidation, etc. The specific method used depends on the type of ore and the state of occurrence of gold.
Process for Extract Gold Ore Form Rock Minerals
Extract Gold Ore From Rock Mineral- crushing & grinding stage
1. Crushing stage:
The mined ore is usually large and needs to be broken into smaller particles by a crusher. Primary crushing usually uses equipment such as jaw crushers and gyratory crushers to crush the rock gold ore to coarser particle size; cone crushers, impact crushers, etc., are used for further fine crushing.
2. Grinding and classification:
It is mainly used to grind the crushed ore further to a particle size suitable for subsequent mineral processing. The grinding process is usually carried out using equipment such as ball mills, rod mills, wet mills, spiral classifiers, etc. Classification aims to separate the fine particles that have been ground from the coarse particles that have not been ground, ensuring that the grinding product reaches the required particle size distribution.
Extract Gold Ore From Rock Mineral- beneficiation stage:
Choose a suitable mineral processing method based on the characteristics of the ore. Common mineral processing methods include:
Gravity separation: This process utilizes the density difference of gold ore to sort gold ore through gravity concentration equipment such as shaking tables, spiral chutes, centrifugal concentrators, and jig separators. Its advantages are low cost, simple operation, and low environmental impact. However, it also has certain limitations, such as a low recovery rate of fine-grained gold. Therefore, in actual production, the gravity separation process widely used in extract gold ore from rock minerals, often combined with other extract methods (such as cyanidation, flotation, etc.) to achieve better extraction effects.
Magnetic separation: Magnetic separation is usually used to extract magnetic minerals from rocks minerals, rather than directly for extracting gold ores, and is an auxiliary step in the process. In some gold-containing ores, gold may coexist with magnetic minerals (such as magnetite). Magnetic separators can be used to pre-separate these magnetic minerals to prepare for the subsequent extraction process. It is suitable for processing gold ores with high iron content, and magnetic separators separate iron ore and gold ore.
Flotation: Flotation process is very effective for processing fine-grained gold ores, especially those coexisting with sulfides. The gold ore is floated by a flotation agent and separated. It is suitable for beneficiating gold ores containing copper and lead.
Cyanide process (CIP, CIL): Applicable to treating difficult-to-treat ores. Gold is dissolved by adding cyanide solution and then extracted by activated carbon adsorption and other methods.
- Cyanide leaching(CIP): After the ore is crushed, cyanide solution is added, and the gold is dissolved into gold cyanide under air or oxygen. This is the most common method for rock gold ore extraction.
- Carbon-based leaching (CIL) is similar to cyanide leaching, but activated carbon is used to absorb the dissolved gold. The gold is then desorbed and recovered from the activated carbon by various methods.
- Heap leaching: The crushed ore is piled on the ground lined with plastic film, and then sprayed with cyanide solution. The gold is dissolved and recovered.
- Cyanide is widely used because of its high efficiency and wide adaptability, but it is also subject to strict environmental protection restrictions because of the use of cyanide.
Smelting: After beneficiation, the gold ore is further processed, and pure gold is extracted by smelting. Smelting methods include pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. Pyrometallurgy is usually carried out at high temperatures to separate metals by smelting; hydrometallurgy uses chemical methods to dissolve gold in a solution and then extract it through electrolysis and other methods.
Each method has its applicable conditions, advantages and limitations. Therefore, in actual production, the most suitable gold extraction process will be selected according to the ore type, gold occurrence state, environmental requirements and economic benefits. It mainly includes crushing and grinding, gravity separation, flotation, magnetic separation, CIP and CIL, etc. How to extract gold from rock minerals with the highest efficiency? JXSC supports customized ore extraction processes and equipment. Contact us for machine prices and more details!