Heap leaching of the low grade portion of ore at Kervian Gold deposit

   Abstract:
      The Kervian gold deposit is located in west of Iran, Kordestan province, at 46? 6' N, 36? 8' E. Extraction methods such as tank leaching or vat leaching were effective for gold extraction from high grade portion of the ore, but not for low grade ca. 1 ppm bodies. Therefore, column leaching test was performed on samples containing 0.9 ppm gold. Grain size, pH and solution flow rate were kept constant at 10.5, <1 inch and 7.6 lit/hr.m2, respectively. Solutions containing 1000 and 2000 ppm cyanide were used. Results show that the best gold recovery is 61 percent in a 10 days period. This requires 6.4 kg of cyanide and 7.2 kg of lime for processing of about 1 tone of ore. Increasing the time of leaching did not significantly enhance the gold recovery.

   General:
     The Kervian gold deposit is located in west of Iran, Kordestan province, at 46? 6? N, 36? 8? E. Extraction methods such as tank leaching or vat leaching were effective for gold extraction from high grade portion of the ore, but not for low grade ca. 1 ppm bodies. Therefore, column leaching test was performed on samples containing 0.9 ppm gold. Grain size, pH and solution flow rate were kept constant at 10.5,<1 inch and 7.6 lit/hr.m2 , respectively. Solutions containing 1000 and 2000 pmm cyanide were used. Results show that the best gold recovery is 61 percent in a 10 days period. This requires 6.4 kg of cyanide and 7.2 kg of lime for processing of about 1 tone of ore. Increasing the time of leaching did not significantly enhance the gold recovery.