Grant: Engage Grants Program
Memorial University of Newfoundland
$25,000.00
Biosorption of gold from gold-cyanide leach solution
EF 2013-14
Résumé
Gold is one of the most expensive precious metals, and is widely used for both jewelry and components in avariety of well known advanced materials. A Canadian gold mining company named Anaconda Mining Inc.owns 100% of the Pine Cove mine located on the Baie Verte Peninsula, in north central Newfoundland thatproduces gold from gold-pyrite concentrate by cyanide leaching followed by drum filtration and aMerrill-Crowe system as opposed to a carbon-in-pulp (CIP) process. The company is now contemplating goingwith CIP that uses activated carbon for gold adsorption. However, activated carbon is very expensive and is notselective to gold as they co-adsorb other metals. Moreover, stripping of gold from activated carbon is verydifficult as physical adsorption takes place where gold is trapped inside the micro-pore of carbon particles thatpreg-rob gold resulting low gold recovery. An alternative to the use of activated carbon could involve the useof cost effective bio-adsorbents for the recovery of gold from aqueous solutions. In the proposed project, ahydrometallurgical process will be developed for Anaconda to recover pure gold from gold-cyanide pregnantleach solution (PLS) using cheap but very efficient bio-adsorbents prepared from biomass wastes derived fromforest and marine resources such as, wood/sawdust and shells of Crustaceans.The woody biomass contains cellulose and the shells of Crustaceans such as crabs, lobsters, shrimps, prawns,etc. contain a basic polysaccharide called chitosan. Both cellulose and chitosan have strong affinity to gold.Effective use of such biomass wastes as valuable bio-adsorbents will not only reduce the volume of wastesbeing generated every day, but will also have a high end value to the gold mining industry as this cheapbio-adsorbent will have superior performance over the traditionally used activated carbon. The proposedefficient, cost-effective, and green technology will make the gold recovery process more attractive to the goldmining industries. Both Anaconda and waste management companies will benefit from this research.
Programme
Engage Grants Program
Bénéficiaire
Emplacement
Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Type de bénéficiaire
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
Tel que publié
Application id
462095-2013
Name nom
Alam, Shafiq
Department département
Engineering and Applied Science, Faculty of
Organization id
89
Institution établissement
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Province en
Newfoundland and Labrador
Province fr
Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2013
Competition year année de concours
2013
Award amount
25000
Program id
EGP
Program name en
Engage Grants Program
Program name fr
Programme de subventions d'engagement partenariat
Group en
Research partnerships programs
Group fr
Programmes de partenariat
Committee code
1551
Committee name en
Atlantic Internal Decision Committee
Committee name fr
Comité de décision interne pour l'Atlantique
Area of application code
202
Area of application group en
Natural resources (economic aspects)
Area of application group fr
Ressources naturelles (aspects économiques)
Area of application en
Mineral resources ( prospecting, exploration, mining, extraction, processing)
Area of application fr
Ressources minérales (prospection, exploration, mines, extraction et préparation)
Research subject code
2003
Research subject group en
Materials science and technology
Research subject group fr
Science et technologie des matériaux
Research subject en
Metallurgy
Research subject fr
Métallurgie
Partie
1
Nb partie
1
Application title
Biosorption of gold from gold-cyanide leach solution
Keyword
NSERC
Application summary
Gold is one of the most expensive precious metals, and is widely used for both jewelry and components in avariety of well known advanced materials. A Canadian gold mining company named Anaconda Mining Inc.owns 100% of the Pine Cove mine located on the Baie Verte Peninsula, in north central Newfoundland thatproduces gold from gold-pyrite concentrate by cyanide leaching followed by drum filtration and aMerrill-Crowe system as opposed to a carbon-in-pulp (CIP) process. The company is now contemplating goingwith CIP that uses activated carbon for gold adsorption. However, activated carbon is very expensive and is notselective to gold as they co-adsorb other metals. Moreover, stripping of gold from activated carbon is verydifficult as physical adsorption takes place where gold is trapped inside the micro-pore of carbon particles thatpreg-rob gold resulting low gold recovery. An alternative to the use of activated carbon could involve the useof cost effective bio-adsorbents for the recovery of gold from aqueous solutions. In the proposed project, ahydrometallurgical process will be developed for Anaconda to recover pure gold from gold-cyanide pregnantleach solution (PLS) using cheap but very efficient bio-adsorbents prepared from biomass wastes derived fromforest and marine resources such as, wood/sawdust and shells of Crustaceans.The woody biomass contains cellulose and the shells of Crustaceans such as crabs, lobsters, shrimps, prawns,etc. contain a basic polysaccharide called chitosan. Both cellulose and chitosan have strong affinity to gold.Effective use of such biomass wastes as valuable bio-adsorbents will not only reduce the volume of wastesbeing generated every day, but will also have a high end value to the gold mining industry as this cheapbio-adsorbent will have superior performance over the traditionally used activated carbon. The proposedefficient, cost-effective, and green technology will make the gold recovery process more attractive to the goldmining industries. Both Anaconda and waste management companies will benefit from this research.
