a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 11 November 2013
Received in revised form 15 February 2014
Accepted 17 April 2014
Available online 22 August 2014
Keywords:
Silver
Waste tailings
Cyanidation
Leaching
a b s t r a c t
The leaching kinetics in cyanide media of the silver contained in the Dos Carlos waste tailings at the City
of Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo State, Mexico were carried out. The used material contained the following
chemical composition: 56 10-6 of Ag, 0.6 106 of Au and 70.43% (by weight) of SiO2; 7.032% (by
weight) of Al2O3; 2.69% (by weight) of Fe; 0.46% (by weight) of Mn; 3.98% (by weight) of K2O; 3.34%
(by weight) of CaO; 2.50% (by weight) of Na2O; 0.04% (by weight) of Zn; 0.026% (by weight) of Pb. The
mineralogical phases present were the following: Silica, albite, argentite, berlinite, orthoclase, potassium
jarosite, and natrojarosite. In the leaching kinetics in cyanide media, and under the studied conditions,
the effect of the CN concentration on the reaction rate has no effect on the whole process of alkaline
cyanidation, of which the reaction order is n 0. Temperature has an effect on the cyanidation rate of
the reaction, with an activation energy of 47.9 KJ/mol. At the same time, when the particle size decreases
there is an increase in the reaction rate, which is inversely proportional to the particle diameter; when
increasing the NaOH concentration there is an increase in the reaction rate Kexp, with a reaction order
(n) of 0.215 under the studied ranges.
2014 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of China University of Mining & Technology.
1. Introduction
In the State of Hidalgo, the processing of ores containing silver
and gold has included technologies ranging from the patio process
(grinding-amalgamation) and the Pachuca tanks, to the circuits
with current technologies like grinding, otation and cyanidation.
All of these have generated a considerable volume of waste tailings
of 112 million tons that take up 2000 hectares, resulting in four
deposits of this material, which is very important in the State of
Hidalgo for its Ag and Au contents of 30 106130 106 Ag
and 0.3 1061.0 106 Au [15]. This is due to the metal mining activity that has been carried out in the region for more than
454 years [4]. The oldest wastes are evidently found in the
deposits bottom, and are the ones that present higher Ag and Au
contents. Because of the ton, the metallic laws and these metals
prices on the market, especially silver, these deposits are very
attractive from an economic point of view. Among the problems
found with these tailings, we can cite the existence of pyritic and
quartziferous ores, where the gold and silver values are encapsulated in the quartz particles, of which the predominant size in
Corresponding author. Tel.: +52 017717172000.
E-mail address: herjuan@uaeh.edu.mx (J. Hernandez).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmst.2014.07.003
2095-2686/ 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of China University of Mining & Technology.
690
J. Hernandez et al. / International Journal of Mining Science and Technology 24 (2014) 689694
Table 1
Waste piles chemical analysis by XRF.
Element
Element
SiO2
TiO2
Al2O3
Fe2O3
MnO
MgO
CaO
Na2O
70.43
0.53
7.32
2.80
0.73
0.54
0.69
0.08
P2O5
K2O
SO3
ZnO
PbO
Ag
Au
0.120
0.080
0.940
0.045
0.031
55
0.58
SiO2
Intensity (a.u.)
3000
2500
1600
SiO2
900
O
400
100
SiO2
O SiO2
J OJ
B
B A
J
A
O J
20
40
60
80
2 ()
100
120
140
(a) X-ray diffractogram of the tailings, of which the main mineral species are quartz (SiO2), orthoclase (O), albite (A), berlinite (B) and
jarosite (J)
Intensity (a.u.)
100
64
36
16
4
0
20
40
60
80
100
2 ()
(b) Diffractogram showing the presence of sodium jarosite (NaFe3(SO4)2(OH)6)
Intensity (a.u.)
100
64
36
16
4
0
20
40
Content (g/ton)
60
80
100
2 ()
(c) Diffractogram showing the presence of potassium jarosite KFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 in the tailings
Fig. 1. Presence of quartz, argentite, albite, berlinite, orthoclase, potassium jarosite and natrojarosite.
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J. Hernandez et al. / International Journal of Mining Science and Technology 24 (2014) 689694
Si
50
40
Counts
Al
Fe
30
S K
20
10 O
Ca
Mg
Fe
Ag
Mn
Fe
MEB-EDS
(%, by
weight) Element
Ca
10.58
Fe
19.81
Mn
0.46
Cu
9.28
Zn
16.92
Ag
11.11
Pb
5.30
Element
C
O
Mg
Al
Si
S
K
Zn
Cu
Pb
(%, by
weight)
0.46
0.99
21.99
2.92
2.13
0.00559
4.45
Pb
10
Energy (keV)
15
Table 2
Average chemical composition of the Dos Carlos waste tailings.
Element
Weight percent
(%, by weight)
Used
technique
Element
Weight percent
(%, by weight)
Used
technique
Element
Weight percent
(%, by weight)
Used
technique
Te
Cr
Cu
Bi
Ni
Mn
Fe
Sn
Hg
Cd
Se
0.0051
0.0370
0.0110
0.0002
0.0050
0.0460
2.6900
0.0002
0.0003
0.0170
0.0065
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
SiO2
CaO
K2O
Na2O
Al2O3
TiO2
P2 O5
Mg
Ba
Sc
Co
70.0400
0.2000
2.2800
0.2000
7.0320
0.2780
0.1100
0.0050
0.3300
0.0004
0.0080
ICP
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
Zn
Pb
As
Sr
Be
W
Sb
Hg
Ag
Au
S
0.0400
0.0260
0.0430
0.4632
0.0001
0.0053
0.0007
0.0003
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
ICP
ICP
ICP
1.0
X (Ag)
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
5 10 20 30 60 100 160
Time (min)
weight was 40 g/L; NaOH between 5 102 and 1.1 103 mol/
dm3; solution volume 500 mL, stirring rate 750 r/min; particle size
between 180 and 38 lm. The progress of solubilized Ag at different
reaction times ranging from 0 to 240 min was analyzed by Atomic
Absorption Spectroscopy with a Perkin Elmer 2380 Spectrometer.
3. Results and discussion
Table 1 shows the results obtained by X-ray Fluorescence. From
Table 1, we can notice the predominant elements and species, such
as silica, alumina, hematite, and potassium oxide, as well as the
11.4500
Content
(g/ton)
56.0000
0.60000
Table 3
Experimental conditions, CN effect.
[NaCN]
(mol/dm3)
[NaOH]
(mol/dm3)
Temperature
(K)
Stirring rate
(r/min)
Leaching time
(min)
Solution
volume (mL)
Mineral weight
(g/L)
Particle size
5 102
3.06 102
2.04 102
5.01 102
1 102
298
750
300
500
40
8 min grinding
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J. Hernandez et al. / International Journal of Mining Science and Technology 24 (2014) 689694
1.2
1.2
510 -2 mol/dm 3 NaCN
3.0610 -6 mol/dm 3 NaCN
2.0410 -2 mol/dm 3 NaCN
5.110 -3 mol/dm 3 NaCN
1.0
0.8
0.6
X (Ag)
X (Ag)
0.8
1.0
0.4
0.6
288
298
303
308
313
318
323
328
333
K
K
K
K
K
K
K
K
K
0.4
0.2
0.2
0
0
50
100
Time (min)
150
200
log K exp
-2.0
-2.5
-2.0
-1.5
-1.0
-5.0
-5.2
-5.4
-5.6
-5.8
-6.0
-6.2
-6.4
-6.6
-6.8
-7.0
3.0
3.1
3.4
3.5
3.6
2
Ag2 S ! 2Ag S
Ag2 S 4CN !
3.3
Sodium Jarosite
2AgCN2
3.2
metallic silver, silver sulde, argentian potassium and sodium jarosite respectively.
In the case of metallic silver [9]
250
1/T10 -3 (k -1)
log [ NaCN ]
200
100
150
Time (min)
-3.0
-2.5
50
2
The sulphide ion oxidizes to free sulphur, thus the silver sulphide
completely dissolves [11,12].
Potassium Jarosite
2SO2
4 aq
Kaq Slow
Table 4
Operating conditions for the temperature effect measurement.
Temperature (K)
288
298
303
308
313
318
323
328
333
[NaCN]
(mol/dm3)
[NaOH]
(mol/dm3)
Stirring rate
(r/min)
Leaching time
(min)
Mineral weight
(g/L)
Particle
size
Solution volume
(mL)
2.4 102
1 102
750
240
40
8 min grinding
500
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J. Hernandez et al. / International Journal of Mining Science and Technology 24 (2014) 689694
Table 5
Operating conditions for the particle size effect measurement.
180
150
105
75
53
38
1.2
[NaCN]
(mol/dm3)
[NaOH]
(mol/dm3)
Stirring rate
(r/min)
Mineral weight
(g/L)
Leaching time
(min)
Solution volume
(mL)
298
2.4 102
1 102
750
40
240
500
Malla
Malla
Malla
Malla
Malla
Malla
1.0
0.8
X (Ag)
Temperature (K)
0.6
1.2
80
100
140
200
270
400
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.4
0.2
0.2
0
0
50
100
Time (min)
150
200
50
100
Time (min)
150
200
0.007
0.006
K exp (min -1)
510 -2 [ NaOH ]
310 -2
110 -2
3.310 -3
1.110 -3
1.0
X (Ag)
Particle size lm
(8 min grinding)
0.005
0.004
0.003
0.002
0.001
0
1/do (m)
Fig. 9. Dependence of Kexp in function of the particle size.
Table 6
Experimental conditions (pH effect).
[NaOH]
(mol/dm3)
5 102
3 102
1 102
3.3 102
1.1 102
Particle size
Temperature
(K)
[NaCN]
(mol/dm3)
Stirring rate
(r/min)
Leaching time
(min)
Mineral weight
(g/L)
Solution volume
(mL)
8 mi grinding
298
2.4 102
750
240
40
500
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J. Hernandez et al. / International Journal of Mining Science and Technology 24 (2014) 689694
-1.0
log K exp
-1.5
-2.0
Acknowledgments
-2.5
-3.0
-4
-3
-2
-1
log [OH -]
Fig. 11. Dependence of the Kexp in function of the [OH] (Reaction order n = 0.215).