Institute of Mining, Far East Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Khabarovsk, Russia:

M. A. Gurman, Senior Researcher, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, mgurman@yandex.ru
L. I. Shcherbak, Senior Engineer–Mineralogist

The Khabarovsk Territory is one of the leading producers of precious metals in Russia. The major current problem in the gold mining industry is rebellious ore with finely impregnated gold contained in sulfides (pyrite, arsenopyrite, etc.). Sulfide minerals represent stable compounds and resist direct leaching with selective reagents but possess high natural floatability. Flotation included in processing of rebellious gold ore allows concentrating the most rebellious gold usually unextractable with regular cyanidation. The authors reveal features of flotation of arsenic gold and carbonaceous ore from some deposits in the Khabarovsk Territory. Such ore has complex material constitution, contain free and rebellious gold finely impregnated in sulfi des, as well as sorption-active carbonaceous matter. Conditions and regimes of flotation are developed for the rebellious primary and partly oxidized ore having different mineral compositions and properties. The flotation circuits differ in number of scavenging and recleaning operations, and in treatment methods. The flotation yield in concentrate of arsenic gold makes 12.56–15.92% at the content of Au 20.27–33.23 g/t, As 20.27–14.58 %, S 28.67–32,77 % and Corg 0.4–0.43 %. The proposed method of thermochemical treatment of concentrates (stage-wise oxidation–sulfidation, oxidizing roasting and alkaline leaching) enables removal of 92.1–95.6 % of arsenic in low-toxic sulfide form of As₄S₄ and cyanidation recovery of gold at the level of 84.3–93.5 %. The sequential selective flotation of carbonaceous matter, gold and gold-bearing sulfi des from low-grade gold ore ensures gold recovery of 91.78 % at the yield of 63.32 g/t in concentrates and 0.246 g/t in tailings.

1. Available at: https://mpr.khabTerritory.ru/Deyatelnost/Nedropolzovanie (accessed at: 05.10.2018).
2. Poperechnikova O. Yu., Shumskaya E. N. Intensification of reverse cation flotation of hematite ores owing to optimization of technological procedure and flotator hydrodynamic parameters. Chernye Metally. 2016. No. 10. pp. 61–64.
3. Lodeishchikov V. V. Technology of Gold and Silver Extraction from Rebellious Ore. In two volumes. Irkutsk : Irgiredmet, 1999. 785 p.

4. Glembotsky V. A. Fundamental Physics-and-Chemistry of Flotation. Moscow : Nedra, 1980. 471 p.
5. Abramov A. A. Dressing by Flotation. Moscow : Nedra, 1984. 383 p.
6. Kotlyar Yu. A., Meretukov M. A., Strizhko L. S. Preccious Metal Metallurgy: Textbook. In two books. Moscow : “Ore and Metals” Publishing House, 2005. Book. 1. 432 p.
7. Zakharov B. A., Meretukov M. A. Gold: refractory ores. Moscow : Ore and Metals Publishing House, 2013. 452 p.
8. Meretukov M. A., Sanakulov K. S., Zimin A. V., Arustamyan M. A. Gold: chemistry for metallurgists and dressers. Moscow : Ore and Metals Publishing House, 2014. 412 p.
9. Komogortsev B. V., Varenichev A. A. Technologies and equipment flotation of gold-sulfide ores. Gornyy informatsionno-analiticheskiy byulleten. 2016. No. 10. pp. 222–235.
10. Dunne R., Levier M., Acar S., Kappes R. Keynote Address: Newmont’s contribution to gold technology. World Gold Conference 2009. Johannesburg : The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 2009. pp. 221–230.
11. Soltani F., Darabi H., Badri R., Zamankhan P. Improved recovery of a low-grade refractory gold ore using flotation–preoxidation–cyanidation methods. International Journal of Mining Science and Technology. 2014. Vol. 24, Iss. 4. pp. 537–542.
12. Yang Y., Liu S., Xu B., Li Q., Jiang T., Peng Lv. Extraction of Gold from a Low-Grade Double Refractory Gold Ore Using Flotation-Preoxidation-Leaching Process. Rare Metal Technology : Proceedings of a symposium. Cham : Springer, 2015. pp. 55–62.
13. Lodeishchikov V. V. Carbon in gold-bearing ore and its influence on cyanidation efficiency. Zolotodobycha. 2008. No. 7( 116). pp. 8–12.
14. Amanya F., Ofori-Sarpong G., Anni V., Amankwah R. K. Preg-robbing of Gold by Carbonaceous Materials Encountered in Gold Processing. Ghana Mining Journal. 2017. Vol. 17, No. 2. pp. 50–55.
15. Tabatabaei R. H., Nagaraj D. R., Vianna S. M. S. M., Napier-Munn T. J., Gorain B. The effect of nonsulphide
gangue minerals on the flotation of sulphide minerals from Carlin-type gold ores. Minerals Engineering. 2014. Vol. 60. pp. 26–32.
16. Gurman M. A., Aleksandrova T. N., Shcherbak L. I. Flotation of low-grade gold- and carbon-bearing ore. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2017. No. 2. pp. 70–74. DOI: 10.17580/gzh.2017.02.13
17. Sedel’nikova G. V. International practice of processing of rebellious sulfide gold ore and concentrates. Progressive methods of enrichment and co mplex processing of natural and technogenic mineral raw materials (Plaksin’s Lectures–2014): International Conference Proceedings. Almaty, 2014. pp. 34–38.
18. Van Buuren C. BIOMIN’s novel integrated technologies for optimising refractory gold processing solutions. Gold-Precious Metals Conference : Proceedings of ALTA 2014 Gold-Precious Metals Sessions. Perth, 2014.
19. Zaytsev P. V., Shneerson Y. M., Lapin A. Y., Chugaev L. V., Klementiev M. V. et al. Process Development for Refractory Gold Concentrates Treatment on Pokrovsky POX Hub. Journal of Siberian Federal University. Engineering & Technologies. 2014. Vol. 7, No. 5. pp. 533–543.
20. Samouhos M., Angelopoulos P., Taxiarchou M., Tsakiridis P. Microwave oxidizing roasting of a sulphidic Au rich concentrate. OPMR 2016 – Opportunities in Processing of Metal Resources in South East Europe. Budapest, 2016. pp. 78–87.
21. Rasskazov I. Yu., Gurman M. A., Aleksandrova T. N., Scherbak L. I. Mineralogical-technological peculiarities and prospects of processing of the Uchaminsky deposit resistant gold-arsenical ore (Khabarovsk Region). Russian Journal of Pacific Geology. 2014. Vol. 33, No. 4. pp. 75–82.
22. Gurman M. A., Shcherbak L. I., Rasskazova A. V. Gold and arsenic recovery from calcinates of rebellious pyrite–arsenopyrite concentrates. Journal of Mining Science. 2015. Vol. 51, Iss. 3. pp. 586–590.