COM2017 | THE CONFERENCE OF METALLURGISTS hosting World Gold & Nickel Cobalt Proceedings ISBN: 978-1-926872-36-0

LEACHING ALTERNATIVES TO RECOVER GOLD AND SILVER FROM TELLURIDES

*F. Nava-Alonso, A. A. González-Ibarra, E. Pérez-García, E. N. Castillo-Ventureño,

A. Uribe-Salas, and J. C. Fuentes-Aceituno
(*Corresponding author: fabiola.nava@cinvestav.edu.mx)

CINVESTAV Saltillo
Av. Industria Metalúrgica 1062, Parque Industrial Saltillo-Ramos Arizpe
Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila. Mexico, 25900

ABSTRACT

Precious metals cannot easily be recovered from tellurides by the standard cyanidation process.
This work assesses the cyanidation of synthetic samples of precious metals tellurides and explores some
alternatives for the leaching of these species (i.e. cyanidation in presence of lead nitrate and thiosulfate
leaching). For this purpose, three chemical systems were studied: (1) cyanidation of silver telluride and the
effect of lead (II) nitrate addition, (2) cyanidation at high alkalinity and high cyanide concentration of a
gold-gold telluride sample containing tellurium and tellurium dioxide, and (3) thiosulfate leaching of silver
telluride employing cupric sulfate as oxidant and EDTA as complexing agent for copper. Results showed
that standard cyanidation dissolves 10.5% of silver from silver telluride in six hours, while with the
addition of 100 mg/L lead increased the silver dissolution up to 100% in the same time. The standard
cyanidation of the gold-gold telluride sample dissolves only metallic gold in six hours, while when cyanide
concentration and pH were increased, gold and gold telluride were simultaneously dissolved. Finally,
thiosulfate leaching dissolves 43.1% of silver from silver telluride in six hours.

KEYWORDS

Cyanidation, Gold telluride, Silver telluride, Lead nitrate cyanidation, Thiosulfate leaching

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COM2017 | THE CONFERENCE OF METALLURGISTS hosting World Gold & Nickel Cobalt Proceedings ISBN: 978-1-926872-36-0

INTRODUCTION

Precious metals tellurides are classified as refractory ores due to the difficulties associated with
processing them by the standard cyanidation method. The increasing presence of gold/silver tellurides in
some deposits around the world, specifically in Sonora, Mexico, requires new approaches to the
cyanidation process, or the development of new leaching techniques. Treatments have been proposed for
the recovery of gold and silver from their tellurides, including roasting, preoxidation, cyanidation with lead
nitrate, and the use of leaching agents other than cyanide (Zhang, et al., 2010; Ellis and Deschenes, 2016).
This work presents preliminary results of three options to recover precious metals from pure tellurides: the
cyanidation of gold telluride at high cyanide concentration and high alkalinity, the addition of lead nitrate
to the standard cyanidation process, and the use of sodium thiosulfate as leaching reagent.

EXPERIMENTAL

Materials

Crystalline silver telluride (Ag2Te) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich, and gold telluride fine
powder (AuTe2) was purchased from Surpure Chemetals. This gold telluride was analyzed by X-Ray
diffraction and EDS punctual chemical analysis (Phillips X’Pert) and was found to be impure, containing a
mixture of gold, gold telluride, tellurium dioxide and pure tellurium. Total gold and tellurium were
solubilized by acid digestion while metallic gold was dissolved with a weak cyanide solution (0.1% CN- at
pH 9.5), thus the difference corresponds to the gold present in the gold telluride. After analysis by atomic
absorption spectrometry (Thermo Scientific ICE 3000), the amounts in % weight were found to be: gold
(27.13%), gold telluride (41.52%), tellurium dioxide (31.1%) and tellurium (0.24%). The samples were
ground to obtain the narrow size fraction +38/-45 µm.

Experimental and Analytical methods

All the leaching tests were carried out in a 100 mL water-jacketed batch reactor magnetically
stirred at approximately 350 rpm. The reactor was equipped with a pH electrode (Cole-Parmer) and a
temperature probe. Reagent grade chemicals (sodium hydroxide, sodium cyanide, lead (II) nitrate, copper
(II) sulfate, ammonium hydroxide) and deionised water were used. Samples of the slurry (0.65 mL) were
taken at predetermined times with the aid of a syringe filter. The amount of solids taken with the samples
was negligible, and the volume diminution due to the samples withdrawn was taken into account to
calculate the total extraction. Gold and silver were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometry (Varian,
SpectrAA-220FS, detection limit for gold and silver, 0.05 mg/L).

The work is presented in three sections: (1) cyanidation at high alkalinity and high cyanide
concentration of gold-gold telluride containing tellurium and tellurium dioxide, (2) cyanidation of silver
telluride and the effect of lead (II) nitrate addition, and (3) thiosulfate leaching of silver telluride
employing cupric sulfate as oxidant and EDTA as complexing agent for copper. Future work will include
the evaluation of all the leaching systems with gold and silver telluride, and the effect of different copper
complexing agents for the thiosulfate leaching system.

Cyanidation at high alkalinity and high cyanide concentration of gold-gold telluride containing tellurium
and tellurium dioxide

For the sample containing gold, gold telluride, tellurium and tellurium dioxide, 0.069 g were
placed into the reactor with 80 mL of the leaching solution. Two conditions were evaluated; 1 g/L NaCN at
pH 9.5 adjusted with NaOH, and 20 g/L NaCN at pH 12.5. As the solid content was very low, no extra
cyanide nor NaOH were added during the tests to maintain the pH and cyanide concentration. Samples
were taken at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 h for gold analysis by atomic absorption

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COM2017 | THE CONFERENCE OF METALLURGISTS hosting World Gold & Nickel Cobalt Proceedings ISBN: 978-1-926872-36-0

Cyanidation of silver telluride and the effect of lead(II) nitrate addition

To evaluate the effect of lead nitrate on the cyanidation of pure silver telluride, 0.047 g of silver
telluride were placed into the reactor with 80 mL of deionised water, the pH was adjusted to 10.9 by
adding NaOH and the free cyanide concentration was set a 2.35 g/L NaCN.

Thiosulfate leaching of silver telluride employing copper sulfate as oxidant and EDTA as complexing
agent

To study the silver leaching from silver telluride (Ag2Te, Aldrich, 99.99%) by thiosulfate, a
solution was prepared with 0.2 M sodium thiosulfate, 0.05 M cupric sulfate (oxidizing agent) and 0.025 M
EDTA (complexing agent) for the copper. The pH was adjusted to 10.2 with NH 4OH. The tests were
performed with 0.0477 g silver telluride in 80 mL of the thiosulfate solution, and the results obtained were
compared with the leaching of metallic silver (Aldrich, 99.99%) with the same thiosulfate solution.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Cyanidation at High Alkalinity and High Cyanide Concentration

The results of gold leaching from the sample containing gold + gold telluride (AuTe2) at two
different cyanidation conditions are presented in Figure 1. Gold extraction was calculated with the
dissolved gold and the gold contained in the solid, considering the total gold contained in the sample
(metallic gold plus gold telluride). The standard cyanidation test (1 g/L NaCN and pH = 9.5 adjusted with
NaOH) dissolved only around 60% of the gold, presumably the metallic gold. If the cyanidation conditions
are changed to 20 g/L NaCN and pH 12.5, all of the gold can be dissolved in two hours. The additional
gold leached likely corresponds to the gold telluride (around 40% of the gold present in the test). It is
therefore possible, for the synthetic samples used in this work, to dissolve gold telluride if the cyanide
concentration and the pH are increased to 20 g/L NaCN and 12.5, respectively.

100

80
Au extraction (%)

60

40
Standard cyanidation

20
High pH high CN cyanidation

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Time (h)

Figure 1. Gold recovery from a mixture of gold, gold telluride, tellurium and tellurium dioxide for two
cyanidation conditions: standard cyanidation (1g/L NaCN and pH = 9.5) and high cyanide concentration
high pH (20 g/L NaCN and pH = 12.5)

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COM2017 | THE CONFERENCE OF METALLURGISTS hosting World Gold & Nickel Cobalt Proceedings ISBN: 978-1-926872-36-0

Cyanidation with Lead Nitrate

The effect of lead nitrate on the silver leaching from silver telluride by cyanidation was studied by
using synthetic silver telluride samples, and the results obtained are shown in Figure 2. The cyanidation
conditions tested were 2.35 g/L NaCN and pH = 10.9 adjusted with NaOH. Silver extraction was
calculated with the dissolved silver and the silver contained in the initial solid. The figure shows that only
10% of the silver can be dissolved by standard cyanidation, confirming the refractory nature of the silver
telluride sample. When lead nitrate is added to this cyanidation process, the silver extraction increases
sharply and almost 100% of the silver can be dissolved in 6 h by the addition of 50, 100 or 150 mg/L of
lead nitrate. Figure 3 presents the leaching of silver from silver telluride with and without lead, compared
with the silver leaching from metallic silver. Upon the addition of lead, silver recovery from telluride is
higher than that of the metallic silver, which is not refractory to cyanidation.

100

90

80

70
Ag extraction (%)

60

50
150 mg/L
40 100 mg/L
30 50 mg/L

20 0 mg/L

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Time (h)

Figure 2. Silver leaching from pure silver telluride at different lead (II) nitrate additions. Cyanidation
conditions: 2.35 g/L NaCN and pH = 10.9 adjusted with NaOH

100

90

80

70
Ag extraction (%)

60

50

40
Ag2Te - 100 mg/L Pb
30 Ag

20 Ag 2Te

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Time (h)

Figure 3. Comparison between cyanidation of metallic silver and silver telluride. In the case of the
telluride, the effect of 100 mg/L lead addition is also shown. Cyanide concentration 2.35 g/L and pH = 10.9
adjusted with NaOH

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COM2017 | THE CONFERENCE OF METALLURGISTS hosting World Gold & Nickel Cobalt Proceedings ISBN: 978-1-926872-36-0

Thiosulfate Leaching

The silver leaching from silver telluride was evaluated with the system S2O32+-Cu2+-EDTA-
NH4OH. Figure 4 presents the results of the silver leaching from silver telluride, compared with the
leaching of metallic silver. As shown in this figure, this leaching system allows the extraction of 90% of
the metallic silver, but only 45% of the silver in silver telluride. This 45% is higher than the 10% obtained
by standard cyanidation; the process could be optimized by exploring other complexing agents for copper
and other alkalinizing agents for pH control.

100

80
Metallic silver
Ag extraction (%)

60
Silver telluride

40

20

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Time (h)

Figure 4. Silver leaching from metallic silver and silver telluride by the thiosulfate system (0.2 M sodium
thiosulfate, 0.05 M cupric sulfate, 0.025 M EDTA and pH adjusted to 10.2 by NH 4OH)

CONCLUSIONS

Three options for the leaching of precious metals from synthetic tellurides were explored:
 If cyanide leaching is performed at high cyanide concentration (20 g/L NaCN) and high pH (12.5,
adjusted with NaOH), gold present as gold telluride can be leached in 2 h.
 The addition of 50 mg/L of lead nitrate to a cyanide leach of silver telluride (2.35 g/L NaCN and
pH 10.9 adjusted with NaOH) allows the dissolution of 100% of the silver telluride in 6 h.
 The thiosulfate leach system (0.2 M sodium thiosulfate, 0.05 M cupric sulfate, 0.025 EDTA and
pH adjusted to 10.2 with NH4OH), dissolves 45% of the silver from silver telluride in 6 h.
Optimization of the system can be approached by changing the complexing agent for copper
(EDTA).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank CONACYT Mexico for the financial support received through the scholarship
granted to A. A. González-Ibarra and E. Pérez-García, and through the research project CB2015/257115.

Published by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum | www.metsoc.org

 COM2017 | THE CONFERENCE OF METALLURGISTS hosting World Gold & Nickel Cobalt Proceedings ISBN: 978-1-926872-36-0

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