A method is disclosed for processing agold-bearing refractory sulfide ore (102) by main-taining the ore in a substantially oxygen free en-vironment, preferably beginning with comminu-tion (104) of the ore and ending after a desiredfinal concentrate, enriched in sulfide minerals, isobtained by flotation (112). In one embodiment,nitrogen gas (110) is used to prevent contact be-tween the ore and air during comminution of theore (108) and during flotation operations (114).This invention recognizes that gold in refractorysulfide ores primarily occurs in refractory aurifer-ous sulfides, which arc typically the most difficultsulfide species in the ores to float. By reducing theexposure of those refractory auriferous sulfides tooxygen gas during flotation, flotation recovery isenhanced in the form of a flotation concentrate(116). A flotation tail (118) is also obtained fromthe process.
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