Kinetics of simultaneous recovering of Au and Ag from CTs by chloridizing volatilization methods

Cyanide Tailings (CTs) are known as hazardous resources that accumulate hundreds of millions of tons, threatening the ecological environment. This work proposes an eco-friendly and efficient way to recover gold and silver from CTs. The effects of calcium chloride dosage, silicon dioxide dosage, pellet moisture content, roasting temperature, and roasting time on Au and Ag chloridizing volatilization were studied. The kinetics of simultaneously recovering of gold and silver from cyanide Tailings by chlorination roasting was investigated. It was determined that the chloridizing volatilization rates increased with increasing calcium chloride dosage, temperature and decreasing silicon dioxide dosage, pellet moisture content. The chloridizing volatilization kinetics followed a shrinking core model, with inter-diffusion through gangue layer as the rate determining step. This finding is in accordance with the apparent activation energy (Ea) of 24.01 kJ•mol-1 (Au) and 24.62 kJ•mol-1 (Ag). The orders of reaction with respect to moisture content, temperature, calcium chloride dosage and silicon dioxide dosage were also achieved. The rate of reaction based on diffusion-controlled process can be expressed by semi-empirical equations. The control steps of the gold and silver recovery process were investigated by the kinetic study, which provided theoretical guidance for the optimization of the method.