CHARACTERISATION AND DIAGNOSTIC LEACHING OF GOLD-BEARING MINERAL ORE, EAST COAST PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Renny Syazwani Stephen; Wan Nur Syafiqah Anuar; Suhaina Ismail; Nurul Ain Jabit

Renny Syazwani Stephen Strategic Mineral Niche Group, School of Material and Mineral resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang.
Wan Nur Syafiqah Anuar Strategic Mineral Niche Group, School of Material and Mineral resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang.
Suhaina Ismail Strategic Mineral Niche Group, School of Material and Mineral resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang.
Nurul Ain Jabit Strategic Mineral Niche Group, School of Material and Mineral resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang.

Keywords: Gold ore, Diagnostic leaching, gold processing, cyanide leaching, refractory ore

Abstract

This study reports the refractory characteristic of newly found gold ore deposits from the East-Cost of Peninsular Malaysia. The diagnostic leaching was conducted on the concentrated samples to assess the refractoriness of the ore. The bulk, concentrated, and tailing samples were characterised by mineral phase and chemical composition analysis. The surface morphology also was studied using microstructural analysis. As a result, a few significant elements were found in the sample, with the highest is silicon, followed by iron, aluminium, potassium, sulfur and arsenic. For mineral phase analysis, the dominant mineral in the sample is quartz, followed by other gangue minerals such as pyrite, arsenopyrite and magnetite. The direct cyanidation at the first step gives 38% of gold recovery, indicating the gold associated with oxide. In contrast, the second higher of gold recovery was 31.7% after the leaching of sulphide minerals. Hence, most gold is associated with sulphide minerals such as pyrite and arsenopyrite due to significant sulfur content and gold associated with iron. This ore can be classified as a refractory ore from diagnostic leaching that needs a pretreatment process before cyanide leaching for gold extraction.