The gold contained in an ore is usually in low concentrations (parts

per million) compared to the bulk of the other minerals called the
gangue minerals (in percentage concentrations). Gold also usually
occurs in an ore in different forms. In other words in the same ore a
portion of the gold could occur as native gold (Au) and second portion
of the same sample could be present as electrum gold (Au2Ag).
Lixiviacin de diagnstico
El oro contenido en un mineral est generalmente en bajas concentraciones
(partes por milln, ppm) en comparacin con la mayor parte de los otros
minerales llamados minerales de ganga (en concentraciones porcentuales).
El oro tambin por lo general ocurre en un mineral en diferentes formas. En
otras palabras, en el mismo mineral una parte de oro podra ocurrir como
oro nativo (Au) y una segunda porcin de la misma muestra podra estar
presente como oro electrum (Au2Ag).
The concept of diagnostic leaching is very simple, in that the least stable
mineral present in the chemical composition of the sample is eliminated first
in aqueous medium using a selective oxidative leach, after which
cyanidation is used to extract the gold liberated by the destruction of this
mineral. The gold extracted can be measured in solution to give an accurate
record of the amount of gold associated with that mineral. The process is
sequential thus the residue from this first stage can be subjected to a more
oxidative acid leach and the process repeated. At the end of this diagnostic
leach, an almost complete record of the mineral association of gold in the
sample can be done. This information can be used to support the design
metallurgical flow sheets, solve problems occurring at an existing plant
and/or evaluate the effect of various reagents on the performance of an
existing plant.
MINTEK (2015) sostiene que el concepto de lixiviacin de diagnstico es
muy simple, porque el mineral menos estable presente en la composicin
qumica de la muestra se elimina primero en un medio acuoso usando una
lixiviacin oxidativa selectiva, despus de lo cual la cianuracin se utiliza
para extraer el oro liberado por la destruccin de este mineral. El oro
extrado puede ser analizado en la solucin para tener un registro preciso de
la cantidad de oro asociado con ese mineral. El proceso es secuencial por lo
tanto el residuo de esta primera etapa puede ser sometido a una lixiviacin
ms cido oxidativo y el proceso se repite. Al final de esta lixiviacin de
diagnstico, se puede hacer un registro casi completo de la asociacin
mineral de oro en la muestra. Esta informacin puede ser utilizada para
apoyar las hojas de flujo de diseo metalrgicos, resolver los problemas que
se producen en una planta existente y / o evaluar el efecto de diversos
reactivos sobre el rendimiento de una planta existente.

The experimental design methodology, widely used to estimate main effects and
interaction effects, is also the 2 n factorial design, where each variable (Xi; i = 1n) is
investigated at two levels minimum [40,41]. In a factorial design, all levels of each
independent variable are combined with all levels of the other independent
variables to produce all possible conditions. When the factor number (n) increases,

the number of runs for a design complete replicate also increases rapidly. The first
order model can be used to perform the process modeling, defined by the following
equation:

La metodologa de diseo experimental, ampliamente utilizado para estimar

los efectos principales y efectos de interaccin, es tambin el diseo
factorial 2n, donde cada variable (Xi; i = 1-n) se investiga en dos niveles
mnimo (Montgomery, 1976; Sayen, 2001). En un diseo factorial, todos los
niveles de cada variable independiente se combinan con todos los niveles
de las otras variables independientes para producir todas las condiciones
posibles. Cuando el valor del factor (n) aumenta, el nmero de corridas para
un diseo completo replicado tambin aumenta rpidamente. El modelo de
primer orden se puede utilizar para realizar el modelado de procesos, que se
define por la siguiente ecuacin:

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