Developments of Processing Technologies for Refractory Gold Ores

"Due to the gradual exhaustion of easily extractive gold ores, it is vital to make efficient use of refractory gold ores which hold 30% gold storage of the world. However, the disadvantage of current processing technologies for refractory gold ores consists of severe pollution, low gold extraction ratio, high investment, etc, thus great research interests were attracted during recent years. This article provides an overview of the distribution and categories of the refractory gold ores in the world. The state of art in processing refractory gold ores by pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy and biometallurgy techniques and their industrial applications are highlighted. Potential environmental conservative techniques for efficient gold extraction are also reviewed.IntroductionResources of Refractory Gold OresAs easily extractive gold ores are going to be exhausted with the large scale mining nowadays, refractory gold ores are becoming more and more important. Gold in the refractory gold ore cannot be fully extracted using conventional method (cyanidation) even with fine grinding. The amount of gold in the refractory gold ores is about 1500~2000t in China, which occupies 30~40% of the total gold storage [1]. Therefore, it is vital to make efficient use of refractory gold ores."