Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Process mineralogy of gold: Gold from telluride-bearing ores

  • Research Summary
  • Gold Process Mineralogy II
  • Published:
JOM Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Petrographic and microanalytical studies of gold in gold-silver telluride deposits show that it occurs as “visible gold” extracted by cyanidation, and as visible gold and “invisible gold” that are unamenable to cyanidation. Two gold-bearing tellurides, calaverite and buckhornite, are considerably less amenable to cyanidation in comparison to Au-Ag tellurides. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy and recent developments in dynamic analysis of proton-induced x-ray emission demonstrate that Au occurs as nanoparticles and is structurally bound in As-, Ag-, and Te-rich pyrite and that an antithetic relationship can also exist between Au and As in pyrite.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. H. Kucha and I.R. Plimer, “Au-Silicates from Mesothermal Gold Deposits,” Mineral Deposits at the Beginning of the 21st Century, ed. A. Piestrzyski (Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets and Zeitlinger Publishers, 2001), pp. 775–778.

    Google Scholar 

  2. D.C. Harris, “The Mineralogy of Gold and Its Relevance to Gold Recoveries,” Mineralium Deposita, 25 (1990), pp. S3-S7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. K.J. Henley, “The Metallurgical Aspects of Gold Ore Mineralogy, or ‘What Every Exploration Geologist Should Know about Gold Ore Treatment’,” Bicentennial Gold 88 Conference, Melbourne, Geological Society of Australia Abstracts 22 (1988), pp. 533–535.

    Google Scholar 

  4. K.J. Henley, N.C. Clarke, and P. Sauter, “Evaluation of a Diagnostic Leaching Technique for Gold in Native Gold and Gold ± Silver Tellurides,” Minerals Engineering, 14 (2001), pp. 1–12.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. J. Marsden and I. House, The Chemistry of Gold Extraction (New York: Ellis Horwood, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  6. P.G. Spry and S.E. Thieben, “The Distribution and Recovery of Gold in the Golden Sunlight Gold-Silver Telluride Deposit, Montana, U.S.A.,” Mineralogical Magazine, 64 (2000), pp. 31–42.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. N. Patnaik and R.B. Rao, “Microwave Energy in Mineral Processing,” Institution of Engineers (India) Journal, 84 (2004), pp. 56–61.

    Google Scholar 

  8. D.W. Pals, P.G. Spry, and S. Chryssoulis, “Invisible Gold and Tellurium in Arsenic-Rich Pyrite from the Emperor Gold Deposit, Fiji: Implications for Gold Distribution and Deposition,” Economic Geology, 98 (2003), pp. 479–493.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. D.N. Jamieson and C.G. Ryan, “Microprobe Channeling Analysis of Pyrite Crystals,” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 77 (1993), pp. 415–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. J.M. Shackleton, P.G. Spry, and R. Bateman, “Telluride Mineralogy of the Golden Mile Deposit, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia,” Canadian Mineralogist, 41 (2003), pp. 1503–1524.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. D. Kingston, S. Chryssoulis, and D. Venter, Free Calaverite in the Pyrite Concentrate, Unpublished AMTEL Report 98/26 to Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines, Inc. (1998).

  12. D.W. Pals and P.G. Spry, “Telluride Mineralogy of the Low-Sulfidation Epithermal Emperor Gold Deposit, Vatukoula, Fiji,” Mineralogy and Petrology, 79 (2003), pp. 285–307.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. C.G. Ryan, “Developments in Dynamic Analysis for Quantitative PIXE True Elemental Imaging,” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 181 (2001), pp. 170–179.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. M. Reich et al., “Solubility Limit of Gold in Arsenian Pyrite from Carlin-Type and Epithermal Deposits: EMPA, SIMS, HRTEM and Quantum-Mechanical Constraints,” Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 35–6 (2003).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Iowa State University, USA

    Paul G. Spry (professor of geology)

  2. the Advanced Mineral Technology Laboratory, University of Western Ontario Research Park, Ontario, Canada

    Stephen Chryssoulis (director)

  3. Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation Exploration and Mining, Melbourne, Australia

    Christopher G. Ryan (research scientist)

Authors
  1. Paul G. Spry
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stephen Chryssoulis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Christopher G. Ryan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

For more information, contact P.G. Spry, Iowa State University, Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, Ames, Iowa 50011-3212; (515) 294-9637; fax (515) 294-6049; e-mail pgspry@iastate.edu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Spry, P.G., Chryssoulis, S. & Ryan, C.G. Process mineralogy of gold: Gold from telluride-bearing ores. JOM 56, 60–62 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-004-0185-4

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-004-0185-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation