Mejora de la recuperación de oro en relaves sulfurados refractarios mediante preoxidación con ozono y cianuración

Magdonio Gelacio  Pisco Rabanal; Vidal Sixto Aramburú Rojas; Luis Miguel Soto Juscamayta

doi:10.70577/asce.v5i2.765

Authors

Magdonio Gelacio Pisco Rabanal Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0582-2013
Vidal Sixto Aramburú Rojas Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5818-8569
Luis Miguel Soto Juscamayta Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7861-8296

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70577/asce.v5i2.765

Keywords:

refractory gold, mine tailings, ozone oxidation, cyanidation, sulfide flotation, hydrometallurgy.

Abstract

The recovery of gold from refractory sulfide tailings is one of the main challenges in the metallurgical processing of gold-bearing ores, as gold is often encapsulated in sulfide minerals such as pyrite and arsenopyrite, which limits the efficiency of conventional cyanide leaching processes. The objective is to evaluate improvements in gold recovery through the application of a combined metallurgical scheme that integrates flotation of gold-bearing sulfides, pre-oxidation with ozone, and cyanide leaching. The methodology is a factorial experimental design, using as the sample tailings from the processing of gold-bearing sulfide minerals in the Quebrada Honda area, located in Peri in the district of Caraz, Ancash region. For the study, mineralogical characterization techniques were applied using optical microscopy, flotation tests to concentrate the gold-bearing sulfide minerals, ozone oxidation tests, and cyanide leaching tests, supplemented by statistical analysis of the results using ANOVA. The results showed that the flotation process achieved recoveries of 92.60% for Au and 78.70% for Ag, yielding a concentrate with a grade of approximately 21.08 g Au/t, while ozone pretreatment accounted for 94.71% of the ozone flux within the experimental model. Cyanidation tests on the oxidized concentrate achieved maximum recoveries of 56.25% Au and 35.42% Ag after 48 hours of leaching. In conclusion, the combination of flotation, pre-oxidation with ozone, and cyanidation is an effective metallurgical alternative for improving gold recovery from refractory sulfide tailings, representing a feasible strategy for the reuse of mining tailings containing valuable metals.

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