| US 7,572,317 B2 | ||
| Thiosulfate generation in situ in precious metal recovery | ||
| Yeonuk Choi, Oakville (Canada); Peter Kondos, Toronto (Canada); Mark Graham Aylmore, British Columbia (Canada); Jacques McMullen, Oakville (Canada); and Gus Van Weert, Caledon East (Canada) | ||
| Assigned to Barrick Gold Corporation, Toronto (Canada) | ||
| Filed on Nov. 10, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/558,639. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/735494, filed on Nov. 10, 2005. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0137437 A1, Jun. 21, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. C22B 3/04 (2006.01); C22B 3/24 (2006.01); C22B 3/46 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 75—744 [75/734; 75/736] | 40 Claims |
| 1. A process for recovering precious metal from a sulfidic precious metal-bearing material comprising the steps of:
forming an aqueous sulfidic precious metal-bearing slurry comprising the sulfidic precious metal-bearing material;
subjecting the sulfidic precious metal-bearing slurry to partial oxidation by pressure oxidation to produce an oxidized precious
metal-bearing slurry containing elemental sulfur to form a pressure oxidation discharge oxidized precious metal-bearing slurry;
neutralizing the pressure oxidation discharge oxidized precious metal-bearing slurry containing elemental sulfur;
forming thiosulfate compounds in situ in the pressure oxidation discharge oxidized precious metal-bearing slurry by reacting
the elemental sulfur from the partial oxidation with a reactant which reacts with elemental sulfur to form thiosulfate compounds
to yield a pressure oxidation discharge oxidized precious metal-bearing slurry containing a thiosulfate-based lixiviant;
leaching precious metal from the pressure oxidation discharge oxidized precious metal-bearing slurry with the thiosulfate
generated in situ with said pressure oxidation discharge oxidized precious metal-bearing slurry to produce a leached slurry
comprising a solid residue and precious metal-bearing leachate; and
recovering precious metal from the precious metal-bearing leachate.
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