Abstract
Al Amar gold ore is rich in sulfides of base metals and is commercially applied for the production of copper concentrate via floatation and gold bullion by cyanidation of tailing. The current process flowsheet suffers from low gold recovery (∼60%) and loss of metals in the hazardous stockpiled residue. This work addresses these drawbacks by a newly experimental redesign of the process circuit. The innovative flowsheet comprises a sequence of operations, including acid leaching of the roasted ore, gold recovery from the leach residue, and preparation of a valuable zinc-copper-lead ferrite from the filtrate by coprecipitation followed by heat treatment. The ore is roasted at 650 °C and then leached in 20% HCl, where most of Zn, Cu, Pb, and Fe contents are dissolved, while pristine gold remains in the residue. Most of the gold (∼93%) can be recovered by cyanidation of the acid leach residue. Stoichiometric ratios of dissolved Zn, Cu, Pb, and Fe in the acid leach solution can be kept at 0.6:0.3:0.1:2.0, respectively, only by adding a small amount of ferric chloride. These metals are coprecipitated at varying pH values from 8 to 10, and the produced powders are annealed at temperatures from 600 to 1100 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) charts reveal sharp peaks of the targeted Zn0.6Cu0.3Pb0.1Fe2O4 phase at 600 °C, while a highly crystalline single phase is obtained at 1100 °C, independently of precipitation pH. The crystalline size of the produced powders increases with annealing temperatures (from 18-27 nm at 600 °C to 85-105 nm at 1100 °C). The finest size is found at pH 12. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigation shows uniform cubic microstructures of samples annealed at 1100 °C. The produced ferrite powders exhibit soft magnetic characteristics. Saturation magnetization, M s, substantially increases with pH. Coercivity, H c, increases with increasing annealing temperatures, from 600 to 800 °C, and decreases above 800 °C. Preliminary cost-benefit analysis revealed that the profit margin of the proposed process flowsheet is promising. The wastewater is almost free of heavy metals. Our advances in high gold recovery and preparation of valuable magnetic nanocrystalline ferrite provide exciting opportunities to enhance and maximize Al Amar ore production for practical applications.