NSERC I2I phase I application - a new process for selective extraction of gold from gold ore: an alternative to the cyanide process applicable to the gold mining industry

我们正在开发从金矿中选择性提取黄金的最佳技术，以完全取代适用于黄金开采行业的氰化工艺。我们的技术的总体优势包括增加了简单性，降低了成本，大大缩短了提取时间（在室温下），同时为现有的氰化工艺提供了一种清洁，安全和环保的替代方案。氰化工艺浸出效率高，工艺技术成熟，是目前从矿石中提取和回收金的主导工艺。该工艺包括将矿石中的金溶解在氰化钠溶液中，随后通过活性炭吸附从溶液中提取所得的氰化金络合物。然后通过进一步添加碱性氰化钠溶液将金络合物从活性炭中除去，然后还原为单质金。大量使用氰化钠仍然极具争议性，并引起了严重的环境问题。已作出研究努力，以寻找其他适当的替代方法。溶剂萃取技术具有工艺简单、生产能力高、萃取动力学快、选择性高、产品纯度高等优点，是克服这些问题的一种很有前途的技术，已广泛应用于湿法冶金过程中各种金属的回收。因此，从氰化物溶液中直接溶剂萃取金的研究受到了广泛的关注。但是，目前还没有一种溶剂萃取系统在金的工业化生产中得到成功的应用。加拿大是世界第七大黄金生产国，每年生产约100吨黄金，但加拿大仍然是世界黄金市场的主要参与者，世界上75%的矿业公司总部设在加拿大。在NSERC I2I项目的资助下，我们将把这项技术转移到加拿大矿业公司手中，获得许可并在世界各地的金矿开采业务中实施。

We are developing the best technology for selective extraction of gold from gold ore to completely replace the cyanidation process applicable to the gold mining industry. Overall advantages of our technology include increased simplicity, lower costs, considerably shorter extraction times (at room temperature) while providing a clean, safe and environmentally friendly alternative to the existing cyanidation process. The cyanidation process is the dominant technique for extraction and recovery of gold from ore due to the high leaching efficiency and mature technology of the operation. The process involves dissolution of gold from ore in a sodium cyanide solution, following which the resulting gold cyanide complex is extracted from the solution by activated carbon adsorption. The gold complex is then removed from the activated carbon by further addition of a basic sodium cyanide solution and then reduced to elemental gold. The use of large amounts of sodium cyanide remains extremely controversial and is of great environmental concern. Research efforts have been made to find other appropriate alternative methods. Solvent extraction techniques, which have been widely used in the recovery of various metals in hydrometallurgical processes, is a promising technique to overcome these problems because it has a number of advantages including simple technology, high production capacity, fast extraction kinetics, high selectivity and high product purity. As a result, studies on the direct solvent extraction of gold from cyanide solution have received considerable attention. However, no solvent extraction system has ever been successfully implemented in the industrialization of gold production. Canada is the seventh largest gold producer in the world producing about 100 tonnes of gold per year, however Canada remains a major player in the world gold market with 75% of the world's mining companies being headquartered in Canada. With funding from the NSERC I2I program, we will move this technology into the hands of Canadian mining companies to be licensed and implemented in gold mining operations around the world.