Gold recovery from alkaline cyanide solution by electroelution of anionic polymeric resin

摘要

This work presents experimental results for the recovery of gold present in alkaline cyanide solutions, through the electroelution technique of anionic polymeric resins. This technique is based on the removal of metallic ions adsorbed to the resin, due to the effect caused by the potential difference applied to the cathode and anode set of an electrolytic cell. In this cell, the electrolyte is composed by an aqueous solution with appropriate chemical characteristics, and an anionic polymeric resin bed. IRA 402 from Rohm & Hasa Brasil Ltd, loaded with gold from synthetic alkaline gold cyanide solution, which concentration was 1.0 g/L. The variables considered to the most important for the technique performance evaluation were: electroelution time, cathode current density, distance between cathode and anode and the electrolyte chemical composition. Statistical methods were used to establish the optimum conditions for satisfactory electrodeposited gold recovery levels by the electroelution technique.