A method for simultaneous gold recovery and antimony utilization in antimony-bearing gold mines

Abstract

This invention relates to a method for simultaneous gold recovery and value-added utilization of antimony in antimony-bearing gold ore, belonging to the field of non-ferrous metallurgical technology. The invention involves adding antimony-bearing gold ore to an alkaline solution for alkaline leaching to obtain an alkaline leaching solution and gold-bearing antimony-degraded ore; recovering gold from the gold-bearing antimony-degraded ore; electrowinning the alkaline leaching solution to obtain gold-bearing electrowinning antimony and gold-bearing anode slime; recovering gold from the gold-bearing anode slime; placing a solid sulfur source in the low-temperature heating zone of a dual-temperature zone furnace reactor, and placing the gold-bearing electrowinning antimony in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone of the dual-temperature zone furnace reactor, using inert gas for gas washing to remove impurities, and then heating to the temperature of the low-temperature heating zone (200–400°C) and the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone (500–800°C), the solid sulfur source in the low-temperature heating zone releases gaseous sulfur which reacts with the gold-bearing electrowinning antimony in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone to generate gaseous antimony sulfide and gold-bearing residue, the gaseous antimony sulfide condenses, and the gold-bearing residue is used to recover gold. This invention achieves value-added utilization of metallic antimony and efficient recovery of precious metal gold.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a method for simultaneously recovering gold and increasing the value of antimony in antimony-containing gold mines, belonging to the field of metallurgical engineering technology. Background Technology

[0002] Traditional roasting processes for antimony-bearing gold ores result in most of the arsenic and antimony entering the flue gas, making separation difficult. Common arsenic removal methods include precipitation, membrane treatment, adsorption, biodegradation, ion exchange, extraction, and electrocoagulation. However, these methods often require further treatment of the arsenic-removed solution, making the processes complex and environmentally harmful. Traditional vacuum distillation volatilization processes leave impurities such as iron, copper, silver, and most lead and sulfur enriched in the residue, resulting in unsatisfactory impurity removal. Traditional antimony-bearing gold ore processing involves leaching to obtain antimony-free ore, which is then sent for gold extraction. However, a small amount of gold remains in the leachate, and the antimony contained in the ore, after being processed to obtain electrowinning antimony, is generally sold directly, significantly reducing the value of both antimony and gold.

[0003] Currently, blast furnace volatilization smelting is commonly used to recover gold-bearing antimony sulfide ores containing more than 30% antimony. While this method is based on the good gold-capturing ability of antimony, during the blast furnace volatilization smelting process, most of the antimony volatilizes as antimony oxide powder, while a small amount is produced as antimony matte or crude antimony, resulting in low antimony utilization value. However, low-grade gold-bearing antimony sulfide ores containing less than 20% antimony are not suitable for blast furnace volatilization smelting, mainly due to high costs, high energy consumption, and low antimony-gold recovery rates. Simultaneously, when smelting gold from antimony-bearing gold ores, the low antimony content prevents large-scale pyrometallurgical processing, resulting in low product value. Furthermore, electrowinning antimony obtained from leaching electrowinning contains gold, and traditional volatilization processes cannot effectively separate gold and antimony. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This invention addresses the problems of gold recovery and antimony upscale utilization in antimony-bearing gold ores in existing technologies by providing a method for simultaneous gold recovery and upscale antimony utilization in antimony-bearing gold ores. Utilizing the significant difference in saturated vapor pressure between antimony sulfide and gold, and the high volatility of antimony sulfide, electrowinning antimony is subjected to sulfidation treatment to obtain high-purity antimony sulfide with upscale vapor phase, and gold is enriched into the residue. No impurity removal treatment is required, effectively solving the problems of high impurity content and low gold recovery rate in electrowinning antimony.

[0005] This invention utilizes the significant difference in saturated vapor pressure between antimony, antimony sulfide, and gold, and the easy volatility of antimony sulfide. By employing a sulfidation-volatilization process, electrowinning antimony is directly sulfidated to generate antimony sulfide, thereby converting metallic antimony into antimony sulfide and enriching gold. This achieves the value-added utilization of metallic antimony in electrowinning antimony and the efficient recovery of precious metal gold.

[0006] A method for simultaneously recovering gold and utilizing antimony in antimony-bearing gold mines includes the following steps:

[0007] (1) Add antimony-containing gold ore to an alkaline solution for alkaline leaching to obtain alkaline leaching solution and gold-containing antimony-removed ore; recover gold from the gold-containing antimony-removed ore;

[0008] (2) The alkaline leaching solution is electrowinning to obtain gold-containing electrowinning antimony and gold-containing anode mud; gold is recovered from the gold-containing anode mud;

[0009] (3) The solid sulfur source is placed in the low-temperature heating zone of the dual-temperature zone furnace reactor, and the gold-containing electrowinning antimony is placed in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone of the dual-temperature zone furnace reactor. Inert gas is used for gas washing to remove impurity gas. Then, the temperature of the low-temperature heating zone is heated to 200-400℃ and the temperature of the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone is heated to 500-800℃. The solid sulfur source in the low-temperature heating zone releases gaseous sulfur, which reacts with the gold-containing electrowinning antimony in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone to generate gaseous antimony sulfide and gold-containing residue. The gaseous antimony sulfide is condensed, and gold is recovered from the gold-containing residue.

[0010] The alkaline solution in step (1) contains 20-120 g / L sodium hydroxide and 20-120 g / L sodium sulfide, and the alkaline leaching time is 0.1-6 h.

[0011] The cathode current density during electrodeposition in step (2) is 150–200 A / m. 2 ;

[0012] The sulfur source in step (3) includes, but is not limited to, sublimated sulfur, chalcopyrite, chalcocite, bornite, pyrite, molybdenite, sphalerite, and argentite.

[0013] The condensation temperature is 20–250°C;

[0014] The antimony-bearing gold ore contains 1.00–10.00 wt% antimony, 0.10–80.00 g / t gold, 1.00–10.00 wt% arsenic, and 1.00–30.00 wt% sulfur.

[0015] The pressure during the reaction in step (3) is 5 to 80,000 Pa.

[0016] The beneficial effects of this invention are:

[0017] (1) The present invention utilizes the large difference in saturated vapor pressure between antimony sulfide and gold and the easy volatilization of antimony sulfide to perform sulfidation treatment on the electro-constituted antimony to obtain high-purity antimony sulfide with high vapor value and enrich gold into the residue through the leaching-electrodeionization-sulfidation volatilization process.

[0018] (2) This invention achieves arsenic-antimony separation by leaching arsenic into the antimony ore, without the need for arsenic removal. High-purity antimony sulfide is obtained directly from electrowinning antimony through sulfidation volatilization, thus solving the problem of high impurity content in electrowinning antimony.

[0019] (3) This invention obtains antimony sulfide by volatilization of antimony. Antimony sulfide has a lower melting point than antimony and is more volatile than metallic antimony. It has a lower volatilization temperature and consumes less energy. The reaction is carried out under vacuum and oxygen-free conditions, which effectively reduces energy consumption and improves reaction efficiency and product quality.

[0020] (4) This invention enriches gold in gold-bearing antimony-free ore through alkaline leaching, enriches gold in alkaline leaching solution in anode mud through electrowinning, and enriches gold in electrowinning antimony in volatile residues through the difference between sulfide electrowinning antimony and saturated vapor pressure, thereby greatly improving the gold recovery rate. Attached Figure Description

[0021] Figure 1 The process flow diagram of this invention. Detailed Implementation

[0022] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to the content described.

[0023] Example 1: A method for simultaneous gold recovery and antimony utilization in antimony-bearing gold mines (see...) Figure 1 The specific steps are as follows:

[0024] (1) At room temperature, 500g of antimony-containing gold ore was added to an alkaline solution for alkaline leaching for 2h to obtain sodium thiostite alkaline leaching solution and gold-containing antimony-free ore; gold was recovered from the gold-containing antimony-free ore; the alkaline solution contained an aqueous solution of 20g / L sodium hydroxide and 20g / L sodium sulfide; the antimony-containing gold ore contained 68.1g / t gold, 4.84wt% antimony, 4.91wt% arsenic and 27wt% sulfur;

[0025] (2) The sodium thiostite alkaline leaching solution is electrowinning, and metallic antimony is deposited at the cathode to obtain gold-containing electrowinning antimony and gold-containing anode mud; gold is recovered from the gold-containing anode mud; wherein the current density of the electrowinning cathode is 150 A / m 2 ;

[0026] (3) The sulfur source (elemental sulfur) is placed in the low-temperature heating zone of the dual-temperature zone furnace reactor, and the gold-containing electrowinning antimony is placed in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone of the dual-temperature zone furnace reactor. The gas is washed with inert gas (argon) to remove impurity gas. Then, the temperature of the low-temperature heating zone is 200℃ and the temperature of the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone is 500℃. The solid sulfur source (elemental sulfur) in the low-temperature heating zone releases gaseous sulfur, which reacts with the gold-containing electrowinning antimony in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone to generate gaseous antimony sulfide and gold-containing residue. The gaseous antimony sulfide is condensed at a temperature of 20℃ to obtain high-purity antimony sulfide, and gold is recovered from the gold-containing residue.

[0027] The main components of the raw materials in this embodiment, including antimony gold ore, electrowinning antimony, volatiles from conventional heating method (crude antimony), and antimony sulfide, are shown in Table 1.

[0028] Table 1

[0029] Au(g / t) Sb wt% As wt% S wt% Antimony-bearing gold deposits 68.1 4.84 4.91 27 Electrodeposited antimony 9.2 95.2 0.07 2.19 Conventional volatile products (crude antimony) 0.58 97.3 0.06 1.08 Volatile products of sulfidation (antimony sulfide) 0.00006 72.03 0.03 26.89

[0030] As shown in Table 1, the gold content in antimony sulfide is only 0.00006 g / t, and the arsenic content is only 0.03 wt%; moreover, the mass ratio of the prepared antimony sulfide is consistent with the theoretical value.

[0031] Example 2: A method for simultaneous gold recovery and antimony utilization in antimony-bearing gold mines (see...) Figure 1 The specific steps are as follows:

[0032] (1) At room temperature, 500g of antimony-containing gold ore was added to an alkaline solution for alkaline leaching for 2h to obtain sodium thiostite alkaline leaching solution and gold-containing antimony-free ore; gold was recovered from the gold-containing antimony-free ore; the alkaline solution contained an aqueous solution of 60g / L sodium hydroxide and 60g / L sodium sulfide; the antimony-containing gold ore contained 68.1g / t gold, 4.84wt% antimony, 4.91wt% arsenic and 27wt% sulfur;

[0033] (2) The sodium thiostite alkaline leaching solution is electrowinning, and metallic antimony is deposited at the cathode to obtain gold-containing electrowinning antimony and gold-containing anode mud; gold is recovered from the gold-containing anode mud; wherein the current density of the electrowinning cathode is 175 A / m 2 ;

[0034] (3) The sulfur source (elemental sulfur) is placed in the low-temperature heating zone of the dual-temperature zone furnace reactor, and the gold-containing electrowinning antimony is placed in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone of the dual-temperature zone furnace reactor. The gas is washed with inert gas (helium) to remove impurity gas. Then, the temperature of the low-temperature heating zone is heated to 300°C and the temperature of the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone is heated to 650°C. The solid sulfur source (elemental sulfur) in the low-temperature heating zone releases gaseous sulfur, which reacts with the gold-containing electrowinning antimony in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone to generate gaseous antimony sulfide and gold-containing residue. The gaseous antimony sulfide is condensed at 150°C to obtain high-purity antimony sulfide, and gold is recovered from the gold-containing residue.

[0035] The main components of the raw materials in this embodiment, including antimony gold ore, electrowinning antimony, volatiles from conventional heating method (crude antimony), and antimony sulfide, are shown in Table 2.

[0036] Table 2

[0037] Gold (g / t) Antimony wt% As wt% S wt% Antimony-bearing gold deposits 68.1 4.84 4.91 27 Electrodeposited antimony 11.3 96.2 0.06 1.98 Conventional volatile products (crude antimony) 0.79 97.9 0.05 0.87 Volatile products of sulfidation (antimony sulfide) 0.00002 71.88 0.03 27.16

[0038] As shown in Table 2, the gold content in antimony sulfide is only 0.00002 g / t, and the arsenic content is only 0.03 wt%; and the mass ratio of the prepared antimony sulfide is consistent with the theoretical value.

[0039] Example 3: A method for simultaneous gold recovery and antimony utilization in antimony-bearing gold mines (see...) Figure 1 The specific steps are as follows:

[0040] (1) At room temperature, 500g of antimony-containing gold ore was added to an alkaline solution for alkaline leaching for 2h to obtain sodium thiostite alkaline leaching solution and gold-containing antimony-free ore; gold was recovered from the gold-containing antimony-free ore; the alkaline solution contained an aqueous solution of 120g / L sodium hydroxide and 120g / L sodium sulfide; the antimony-containing gold ore contained 68.1g / t gold, 4.84wt% antimony, 4.91wt% arsenic and 27wt% sulfur;

[0041] (2) The sodium thiostite alkaline leaching solution is electrowinning, and metallic antimony is deposited at the cathode to obtain gold-containing electrowinning antimony and gold-containing anode mud; gold is recovered from the gold-containing anode mud; wherein the current density of the electrowinning cathode is 200 A / m 2 ;

[0042] (3) The sulfur source (elemental sulfur) is placed in the low-temperature heating zone of the dual-temperature zone furnace reactor, and the gold-containing electrowinning antimony is placed in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone of the dual-temperature zone furnace reactor. Inert gas (helium) is used for gas washing to remove impurity gases. Then, the temperature of the low-temperature heating zone is heated to 400°C and the temperature of the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone is heated to 800°C. The solid sulfur source (elemental sulfur) in the low-temperature heating zone releases gaseous sulfur, which reacts with the gold-containing electrowinning antimony in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone to generate gaseous antimony sulfide and gold-containing residue. The gaseous antimony sulfide is condensed at 250°C to obtain high-purity antimony sulfide, and gold is recovered from the gold-containing residue.

[0043] The main components of the raw materials in this embodiment, including antimony gold ore, electrowinning antimony, volatiles from conventional heating method (crude antimony), and antimony sulfide, are shown in Table 3.

[0044] Table 3

[0045] Gold (g / t) Antimony wt% As wt% S wt% Antimony-bearing gold deposits 68.1 4.84 4.91 27 Electrodeposited antimony 13.5 96.5 0.06 1.79 Conventional volatile products (crude antimony) 0.82 98.4 0.05 0.79 Volatile products of sulfidation (antimony sulfide) 0.00005 71.86 0.03 27.66

[0046] As shown in Table 3, the gold content in antimony sulfide is only 0.00005 g / t, and the arsenic content is only 0.03 wt%; and the mass ratio of the prepared antimony sulfide is consistent with the theoretical value.

[0047] Example 4: A method for simultaneous gold recovery and antimony utilization in antimony-bearing gold mines (see...) Figure 1 The specific steps are as follows:

[0048] (1) At room temperature, 500g of antimony-containing gold ore was added to an alkaline solution for alkaline leaching for 2h to obtain sodium thiostite alkaline leaching solution and gold-containing antimony-free ore; gold was recovered from the gold-containing antimony-free ore; the alkaline solution contained an aqueous solution of 120g / L sodium hydroxide and 120g / L sodium sulfide; the antimony-containing gold ore contained 68.1g / t gold, 4.84wt% antimony, 4.91wt% arsenic and 27wt% sulfur;

[0049] (2) The sodium thiostite alkaline leaching solution is electrowinning, and metallic antimony is deposited at the cathode to obtain gold-containing electrowinning antimony and gold-containing anode mud; gold is recovered from the gold-containing anode mud; wherein the current density of the electrowinning cathode is 200 A / m2 ;

[0050] (3) The sulfur source (pyrite) is placed in the low-temperature heating zone of the dual-temperature zone furnace reactor, and the gold-containing electrowinning antimony is placed in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone of the dual-temperature zone furnace reactor. Inert gas (helium) is used for gas washing to remove impurity gases. Then, the temperature of the low-temperature heating zone is heated to 400°C and the temperature of the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone is heated to 800°C. The solid sulfur source (elemental sulfur) in the low-temperature heating zone releases gaseous sulfur, which reacts with the gold-containing electrowinning antimony in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone to generate gaseous antimony sulfide and gold-containing residue. The gaseous antimony sulfide is condensed at 250°C to obtain high-purity antimony sulfide, and gold is recovered from the gold-containing residue.

[0051] The main components of the raw materials in this embodiment, including antimony gold ore, electrowinning antimony, volatiles from conventional heating method (crude antimony), and antimony sulfide, are shown in Table 4.

[0052] Table 4

[0053] Gold (g / t) Antimony wt% As wt% S wt% Antimony-bearing gold deposits 68.1 4.84 4.91 27 Electrodeposited antimony 13.5 96.5 0.06 1.79 Conventional volatile products (crude antimony) 0.82 98.4 0.05 0.79 Volatile products of sulfidation (antimony sulfide) 0.00005 71.47 0.03 27.22

[0054] As shown in Table 4, the gold content in antimony sulfide is only 0.00005 g / t, and the arsenic content is only 0.03 wt%; and the mass ratio of the prepared antimony sulfide is consistent with the theoretical value.

[0055] The specific embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Within the scope of knowledge possessed by those skilled in the art, various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for simultaneously recovering gold and utilizing antimony in antimony-bearing gold mines, characterized in that, The specific steps are as follows: (1) Add antimony-containing gold ore to an alkaline solution for alkaline leaching to obtain alkaline leaching solution and gold-containing antimony-removed ore; recover gold from the gold-containing antimony-removed ore; (2) The alkaline leaching solution is electrowinning to obtain gold-containing electrowinning antimony and gold-containing anode mud; gold is recovered from the gold-containing anode mud; (3) The solid sulfur source is placed in the low-temperature heating zone of the dual-temperature zone furnace reactor, and the gold-containing electrowinning antimony is placed in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone of the dual-temperature zone furnace reactor. Inert gas is used for gas washing to remove impurity gas. Then, the temperature of the low-temperature heating zone is heated to 200-400℃ and the temperature of the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone is heated to 500-800℃. The solid sulfur source in the low-temperature heating zone releases gaseous sulfur, which reacts with the gold-containing electrowinning antimony in the high-temperature sulfidation reaction zone to generate gaseous antimony sulfide and gold-containing residue. The gaseous antimony sulfide is condensed, and gold is recovered from the gold-containing residue. Step (3) The sulfur source includes, but is not limited to, sublimated sulfur, chalcopyrite, chalcocite, bornite, pyrite, molybdenite, sphalerite, and argentite.

2. The method for simultaneous gold recovery and antimony utilization in antimony-bearing gold mines according to claim 1, characterized in that: Step (1) The alkaline solution contains 20-120 g / L sodium hydroxide and 20-120 g / L sodium sulfide, and the alkaline leaching time is 0.1-6 h.

3. The method for simultaneous gold recovery and antimony utilization in antimony-bearing gold mines according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step (2), the cathode current density during electrodeposition is 150–200 A / m. 2 .

4. The method for simultaneous gold recovery and antimony utilization in antimony-bearing gold mines according to claim 1, characterized in that: The condensation temperature is 20–250℃.

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