A Review on Alternative Gold Recovery Re-agents to Cyanide

Abstract

The importance of gold recovery from low grade ores and flotation tailings is continuously increasing due to raising gold demand and thereby high gold prices. However, due to raising social awareness of the ecological impacts of cyanidic gold extraction and environ-mental specifications, the development and the implementation of alternative hydrometallurgical extraction processes have been a focus for many research institutions in last decades. Present work gives a comparison between compatible extraction reagents, with focus on less harmful processes. The target of this review is to point out the best cyanide-free processes of following methods and reagents: Bioleaching, Chlorination, Aqua Regia, Bromine, Thiocyanate, Thiosulfate and Thiourea leaching. For this propose, the gold leaching reagents are described and discussed in terms of their environmental and economical points of view. As result of this comparison, thiourea stands out as the most promising alternative gold leaching reagent to cyanide.