Gold mining company UGC, Chelyabinsk, Russia:

K. I. Strukov, President
S. N. Plotnikov, Chief Dresser, e-mail: s.plotnikov@ugold.ru
L. A. Zyryanova, Deputy Head of Assay Laboratory

JSC “Irgiredmet”, Irkutsk, Russia:
Yu. L. Nikolaev, Senior Researcher of the Laboratory of Metallurgy

The Novotroitsk gold deposit ores, located in the South Urals, are relatively low in gold and silver and, at the same time, are characterized by increased technological refractory. The technological and economic feasibility of their processing is determined by the effectiveness of flotation dressing, during which the bulk of the refractory gold is extracted into the flotation concentrate. Only such a product of dressing is subject to efficient and cost-effective processing using minerals disclosure methods followed by cyanidation, allowing to achieve the required recovery of valuable components. The required extraction of gold from such ores and their concentrates can not be achieved without the complete minerals disclosure of the sulphide matrix and elimination of the natural sorption activity of these materials. As is known, such technologies as bacterial oxidation effectively oxidize sulphides (mainly arsenic pyrite) but not only unblock the sorption-active carbonaceous matter, but also activate it to a certain extent. For industrial realization of oxidizing roasting, input control of mineral materials for two elements — arsenic and sulfur — is highly desirable. Such control can be carried out easily and expressly using an X-ray spectral analyzer and allows you to pre-set the firing conditions and the total duration of the process for the specific content of the sulfides to be oxidized, i. e. to conduct the process in a mode close to the optimum. Proceeding from the peculiarities of the material composition of the Novotroitsk deposit, the optimal mode of thermochemical oxidation of the flotation concentrate determine a three-stage firing, in which sequential dearsenation, desulfurization and decarbonization are carried out to the fullest extent. In connection with the growth of the refractory goldbearing raw material in the composition of the raw material base of the gold mining company UGC, the application of this approach to its processing is becoming increasingly important and is the key to the growth of gold production at all operating enterprises, increasing the extraction of precious metals and, in general, the quality of underground development. At the same time, special attention is paid to the creation of environmentally balanced technologies that provide an acceptable level of environmental impact, including the living conditions of people in mining regions.

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