Fundamental investigations of SART for cyanide and copper recovery
CIM Journal, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2013
A. Simons
Parker CRC for Integrated Hydrometallurgy Solutions,
CSIRO Minerals Down Under National Research Flagship, Waterford, Australia; W.A. School of Mines,
Curtin University, Bentley, Australia
P. Breuer
Parker CRC for Integrated Hydrometallurgy Solutions,
CSIRO Minerals Down Under National Research Flagship, Waterford, Australia
The SART (sulphidization, acidification, recycle, and thickening) process is an effective way to separate copper and cyanide in the waste stream of gold processing plants using cyanidation. Factorial experimentation has been conducted to create models of copper recovery, cyanide recovery, acid addition, and oxidation/reduction potential during SART. Economic analysis of the resultant models showed that SART is best operated with a sulphide-to-copper molar ratio of approximately 0.56, pH of 4, and a minimized cyanide-to-copper molar ratio. The experiments also showed that residence time can have drastic impacts on SART performance.
