Minerals Engineering 70 (2015) 36–42

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Minerals Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng

The leaching and adsorption of gold using low concentration amino

acids and hydrogen peroxide: Effect of catalytic ions, sulphide
minerals and amino acid type
J.J. Eksteen ⇑, E.A. Oraby
Department of Mining Engineering and Metallurgical Engineering, Western Australian School of Mines, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The leaching of gold using alkaline amino acids–hydrogen peroxide solutions at low concentrations has
Received 8 May 2014 been studied. The application of alkaline amino acid–hydrogen peroxide system may offer an alternative
Accepted 29 August 2014 and environmentally benign process for gold leaching, particularly in the context of leaching low grade gold
Available online 26 September 2014
ores in an in-situ or in heap leach processes. In the presence of an oxidant or oxidants, it was found that
amino acids can dissolve gold at alkaline condition at low and moderate temperature. Heating the leach
Keywords: solution between 40 and 60 °C was found to enhance the gold dissolution significantly in alkaline amino
Gold
acid–peroxide solutions. It was also found that gold dissolution increases by increasing amino acid concen-
Glycine
Heap
tration, peroxide and pH. Amino acids acts synergistically to dissolve gold. Although glycine showed the
In situ highest gold dissolution as a single amino acid compared to histidine and alanine, histidine was found to
Leaching enhance gold dissolution when used in equimolar amounts with glycine. The presence of Cu2+ ion enhances
gold dissolution in the glycine–peroxide solutions. The process will propose an environmentally benign
process for gold treatment in order to replace the use of cyanide in heap or in-situ leaching. In the presence
of pyrite, the amount of gold leached was lower due to the peroxide consumption in sulphide oxidation.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction system the operating pH must be controlled, which increases the

The current alternative lixiviants to cyanide pose many chal-
lenges. Despite copper ammoniacal-sodium thiosulphate being
the main contender by different studies (Sparrow and Woodcock,
1995; Aylmore, 2001, 2005; Jeffrey, 2001; Breuer, 2002; Fleming
et al., 2003; Chandra and Jeffrey, 2004; Oraby, 2010; Oraby et al.,
2010), it is expensive, it has a complex leaching chemistry leading
to the formation of polysulphide intermediates, it is very pH sensi-
tive (labile) and it is applicable to a limited number of gold ores. It
cannot economically be produced at site, it requires complex
downstream separation and it is not biodegradable. Despite these
challenges, thiosulfate has been applied in pilot plant since the
1980s, and has been used in heap leaching processes by Newmont
Gold (Wan et al., 1994). Industrially, Barrick Gold has implemented
a calcium thiosulphate retrofit at their Nevada operations (Choi,
2013). A development of in situ gold leaching using ferric EDTA
and ferric oxalate complexes in thiosulfate solutions has been
studies by Heath et al. (2008). However, in thiosulfate-iron (III)
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 (0)8 9266 4419; fax: +61 (0)8 9266 1597.
E-mail address: jacques.eksteen@curtin.edu.au (J.J. Eksteen).
complexity of the application of this system in heap or in situ
leaching. In addition, it was found that in the presence of thiourea
the gold oxidation rate increases (Chandra and Jeffrey, 2004). How-
ever, thiourea has been identified as a potential carcinogen and its
use has been met with scepticism.
In the main thiosulfate–copper–ammonia system, the presence
of ammonia can cause environmental safety concerns of the sur-
rounding environment by the evaporation of ammonia (Aylmore,
2005; Aylmore and Muir, 2001). Ammonia poses environmental
and toxic problems both as a gas in air and as a soluble solution.
The threshold limiting value (TLV) for ammonia gas, in air, is
14 mg/m3 (Gos and Rubo, 2000), which is a very similar to that
of HCN (15 mg/m3). In additions, the US National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommend an airborne
exposure limit of 25 ppm (18 mg/m3) averaged over a 10-h work-
shift with a limit of 35 ppm (27 mg/m3) not to be exceeded during
any 15 min work period (NIOSH, 2000).
The application in situ leaching (ISL), or heap leaching, or vat
leaching, of complex and low-grade ores has a significant potential
because it eliminates the need for hauling/hoisting large amounts
of ore from underground and open pit operations (for ISL) or it
can eliminate extremely energy inefficient grinding (by rather

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2014.08.020
0892-6875/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 J.J. Eksteen, E.A. Oraby / Minerals Engineering 70 (2015) 36–42
heap or vat leaching). ISL has been used in the production of ura-
nium since the mid 1970s (Mudd, 2001).
The aim of this research is to evaluate an environmentally
friendlier hydrometallurgical process to leach gold directly from
different (primary and secondary) sources. The aim of this work
was to investigate a potential alternative process that would not
require significantly different process conditions to conventional
cyanidation processes, and that would allow the gold–lixiviant
complex to be stable and adsorption in a carbon-in-pulp or car-
bon-in-column circuit. Of the reagents proposed, only glycine is
not in use by the gold industry, whereas the alkali used and the
hydrogen peroxide used in the process are currently in use, either
in leaching, or in cyanide destruction (Lee et al., 1989; Lorosch,
1990; Lorosch and Kappes, 1991; Guzman et al., 1999).
Glycine is an amino acid with a carboxylic group and an amine
group. It is used as a levelling agent in acidic copper plating baths.
Glycine has several advantages over cyanide and its alternatives
such as thiosulfate, thiocyanate, thiourea, halides: it is an environ-
mentally benign reagent, produced in large industrial quantities,
and it is significantly cheaper than many alternative lixiviants
and the solutions are stable over a wide pH–Eh range. Due to its
complexing action, glycine can also enhance the solubility of
copper ions in aqueous solutions (Aksu and Doyle, 2001, 2002).
Gold solubility in different amino acids solutions has been stud-
ied by Zhang et al. (1996) and Brown and Smith (1982). Recently,
Feng and Van Deventer (2011) have also found that gold extraction
in thiosulfate solutions was largely improved by the addition of
amino acids (L-valine, glycine, DL-a-alanine and L-histidine).
From that point, the application of solution containing glycine
and peroxides on gold dissolution may achieve a promising gold
dissolution rate. The authors, in another paper, (Oraby and
Eksteen, 2014) have reviewed the mechanism of gold leaching in
glycine–peroxide solutions.
In general, the stoichiometry of gold dissolution in alkaline
glycine solutions is described in Eq. (1):
4Au þ 8NH2 CH2 COOH þ 4NaOH þ O2
! 4Na½AuðNH2 CH2 COOÞ2  þ 6H2 O
The presence of soluble oxidants, other than oxygen, in gold
leaching using glycine is expected to enhance the gold dissolution,
as their concentrations are not limited by the air/oxygen solubility,
neither do they lead to significant amino acid oxidation. Table 1
summarises the advantages of the glycine–peroxide process to
leach and recover gold. Table 1 summarises the advantages of
glycine–peroxide system for gold leaching.
While Oraby and Eksteen (2014) have shown that the reaction
rates are a 1/20th to 1/30th of the leach rate of cyanide under sim-
ilar pH and Eh conditions, the lixiviant system has particular value
in environmentally open, long leach time systems as implemented
in ISL and heap leaches (or even vat leach modes). In these leach
modes, mass transport through the particles become the rate lim-
iting factor. The heating requirement (to 60 °C) for these modes
can easily be provided using solar ponds or solar water heating
in pipes, particularly in areas with much sunshine. Eksteen et al.
(2014) have demonstrated that solar heating of heap leaches to
heat recirculated barren solutions to moderately elevated temper-
atures (to below 60 °C) can be achieved quite easily in subtropical
regions. The thermal inventory of heaps or underground deposits
(in the case of ISL) provides adequate buffer between day and night
time temperature variations.
While Oraby and Eksteen (2014) discussed some aspects of gold
leaching with glycine peroxide systems, the focus of that research
was to provide a review and to evaluate the potential of glycine at
higher concentrations (0.3–1.0 M Glycine solutions), as well as to
evaluate the role of silver and silver-gold alloys. In the paper by
37
Oraby and Eksteen (2014), the authors have showed that the gold
and silver glycinate complexes could be successfully loaded onto
activated carbon from solutions of the high concentration gly-
cine–peroxide leach system. This paper will evaluate amino acid–
peroxide systems for amino acids in lower concentrations (as
would be considered for heap and in-situ leaches) and the temper-
ature effects at these concentrations. In addition, it will evaluate
the effect of oxidant concentration, the effect of catalytic ions,
the role of amino acid type and synergism in amino acid mixtures,
the role of pyrite gangue and finally, the adsorption onto carbon
from low concentration pregnant leach solutions. While the stated
amino acid concentrations may still be higher than the correspond-
ing cyanide concentrations used in gold leaching, the amino acids
(in particular glycine) have stabilities that would allow recycling
and reuse in the circuit, whereas cyanide tend to be lost as hydro-
cyanic acid, thiocyanate, cyanate, ferricyanide and a range of Weak
Acid Dissociable Cyanides, limiting reuse potential.
2. Experimental
2.1. Leaching
All experiments were carried out using solutions prepared from
either analytical grade or synthesized reagents and Millipore
water. Unless specified, all experiments were conducted using
magnetic stirrers and Teflon coated magnetic stirrer bars. Unless
specified otherwise, 400 mL of 0.1 M glycine and 1% peroxide solu-
tion was heated in a beaker to different temperatures and stirred at
300 rpm. Gold foils (20 cm2) used in all the experiments were
made from 99.99% pure gold. Prior each experiment, the surface
of the each sheet was polished with Struers waterproof silicon car-
bide paper (FEPA P#2400). Finally the gold sheet was washed with
distilled water and allowed to dry.
2.2. Adsorption
For testing the carbon activity to adsorb gold–glycine complex,
ð1Þ unless specified, 1.5 g/L of fresh carbon (2.36 + 2.00 mm) was
added into the pregnant solutions after leaching. The adsorption
experiments have been conducted at room temperature and with
a roller rotation speed of 150 rpm. In order to evaluate the gold
adsorption on carbon, sub-samples were taken at different time
intervals and then diluted with aqueous sodium cyanide before
being analysed using ICP–OES.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Effect of temperature
Leaching reaction of gold with glycine–peroxide solution has
been shown that it is a chemically controlled reaction (Oraby and
Eksteen, 2014) for high concentrations (e.g. tank leach conditions).
In this paper, at 0.1 M glycine concentration, the effect of temper-
ature has been studied at 23, 30, 40, 60 and 75 °C. Fig. 1 shows the
effect of temperature on the kinetics of gold leaching with dilute
glycine solutions. Clearly, it can be seen that gold dissolution
increases dramatically as the temperature increases. However at
high temperature (75 °C) it was found that the initial gold dissolu-
tion is faster but the gold leach rate decreases rapidly.
Gold leaching is a chemically controlled process in which tem-
perature mostly affects the reaction rate. The most interesting
results shown in Fig. 1 that after 264 h of leaching at room temper-
ature, gold dissolution rate increased dramatically once the tem-
perature has been raised to 60 °C.
Fig. 2 illustrates the gold dissolution rates over leaching time at
different temperatures. It can be seen that at elevated temperature,
38 J.J. Eksteen, E.A. Oraby / Minerals Engineering 70 (2015) 36–42

Table 1
Benefits of using alkaline glycine–peroxide system for gold dissolution.

Non-toxic Potential for recovery and reuse Operated under dilute and concentrated modes
Environmentally benign Can be enzymatically/biologically destroyed Thermally stable and non-volatile
High affinity for gold, silver and copper Reagent cost Application to open system leaching modes
Simple chemistry On-site producible (if economically Materials of construction
competitive)
Selective over non-sulphide gangue Transportability and logistics, trade Recoverable using conventional carbon adsorption
minerals restrictions technology
Widely applicable Stability over wide acid-base and redox range Useable in developing countries and artisanal miners

gold leach rate initially increases then starts to decrease by

extended the leaching time. As a comparison of gold leach rate
from the glycine–peroxide system and a selected gold leach system
in absence of cyanide and ammonia, it was found that the average
rate of gold dissolution after six days of leaching at 75 °C was
39  103 lmol/m2 s, which is about 20 times higher than the gold
leach rate of 2  103 lmol/m2 s from ferric-thiosulfate system in
the absence of thiourea (Heath et al., 2008).

3.2. Effect of glycine concentration

The kinetic of gold dissolutions in solutions containing different

glycine concentrations and 1% hydrogen peroxide at pH 11 and
temperature of 60 °C was studied and the results are plotted in
Fig. 3. It can be seen from the results shown in Fig. 3 that gold dis-
solution rate and total dissolved increase by increasing the glycine
concentration. It can be seen that gold can be dissolved in glycine
concentration at very low reagent concentration down to 25 milli
Molar (mM) glycine.
3.3. Effect of peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide slowly decomposes to release oxygen
according to Eq. (2):
2H2 O2 ! 2H2 O þ O2
The rate decomposition of H2O2 is dependent on the tempera-
ture, concentration of the peroxide, pH and as well as the presence
of impurities and stabilizers (Dougherty and Anslyn, 2006). Hydro-
gen peroxide can oxidise glycine, but only in the presence of pro-
longed exposure to UV light (Berger et al., 1999).
The solution’s pH and Eh over time has been monitored using
90-FLMV metre. Fig. 4 shows the Eh profiles of the glycine–hydro-
gen peroxide solutions over time at different hydrogen peroxide
concentrations. It is clearly to see from the results shown in
Fig. 5 that the hydrogen peroxide is essential for the gold dissolu-
tion and that the gold dissolution rate is very sensitive to the
hydrogen peroxide concentration.
Fig. 2. Effect of temperature on gold dissolution rate over leaching time: 0.1 M
glycine, 1% H2O2, initial pH 11.5, at different temperatures.
3.4. Effect of pH
Sodium hydroxide has been used to adjust the pH of leaching
solutions. According to Suess et al. (1997), peroxide is activated
with alkali and at higher pH; the equilibrium of Eq. (3) is pushed
to the right direction.
H2 O2 þ OH $ H2 O þ HOO ð3Þ
At higher pH, the decomposition of peroxide increases to gener-
ð2Þ
ate hydroxide ions and oxygen as shown in Eq. (4).
HOO þ H2 O2 ! H2 O þ OH þ O2 ð4Þ
Increasing the leaching solution pH and temperature can pro-
duce hydroxide radicals from peroxide according to Eq. (5).
H2 O2 ! 2 OH ð5Þ
The produced hydroxide radicals can accelerate the gold disso-
lution as it was reported by Nowicka et al. (2010) that OH radicals
in Fenton’s reagent quickly dissolve gold from a mechanically pol-
ished gold surface.
The effect of adding hydroxide ions and hence the pH of solu-
tions on the gold dissolution, is shown in Fig. 6. It was found that

Fig. 1. Effect of temperature on gold dissolution: 0.1 M glycine, 1% H2O2, initial pH Fig. 3. Effect of glycine concentration on gold dissolution: Glycine, 1% H2O2, pH 11,
11.5, at different temperatures. 60 °C.
 J.J. Eksteen, E.A. Oraby / Minerals Engineering 70 (2015) 36–42 39

Table 2
Required NaOH to achieve the targeted pH of the glycine based
leach solution.

Leaching pH Required NaOH (mM)

6.10 0
10.10 47.5
11.50 125.0
12.00 175.0
12.80 293.0

Fig. 4. Effect of hydrogen peroxide concentration on the measured Eh of the leach

solution: 0.1 M glycine, different percentages of H2O2, pH 11.5, 60 °C.

Fig. 7. Effect of Cu2+ ions on gold dissolution: 0.1 M glycine, 0.1% H2O2, pH 11, at
30 °C.

Fig. 5. Effect of hydrogen peroxide concentration on gold dissolution: 0.1 M

glycine, different percentages of H2O2, pH 11.5, 60 °C.

Fig. 8. Effect of Cu2+ ions on gold dissolution: 0.1 M glycine, 0.3% H2O2, 4 mM Cu2+,
pH 11.9 and 30 °C.

indicating the need to maintain a constant peroxide level in a

continuous process.

3.5. Effect of Cu2+

Fig. 6. Effect of leaching solution pH on gold dissolution: 0.1 M glycine, 1% H2O2,
pH, at 60 °C.
gold dissolution in glycine–peroxide solutions is very sensitive to
the leaching pH and hydroxide ions. Gold dissolution increases sig-
nificantly by increasing the leaching pH to higher alkalinity.
Gold leaching rate at pH higher than 11 in solutions containing
0.1 M glycine and 1% peroxide at leaching temperature of 60 °C is
preferable in the glycine–peroxide system. Table 2 shows the
required amounts of caustic in mM to reach the targeted pH. The
cost of maintaining a high pH with NaOH (rather than Ca(OH)2)
may be excessive when one considers caustic requirements for
pH >11, but will dependent on the gangue mineralogy of the ore.
From the results shown in Fig. 6, it can be seen that adding
additional peroxide into the system enhances gold dissolution,
In gold leaching using thiosulfate, it is well known that Cu2+ is
used as the main oxidant. In addition to being the oxidant in
thiosulfate system, copper also catalyses the gold oxidation half
reaction (Breuer and Jeffrey, 2002). In this work, it was found that
adding Cu2+ to glycine–peroxide system enhances gold dissolution.
Fig. 7 shows how the presence of Cu2+ ions significantly accelerates
gold dissolution in the glycine–peroxide system, a factor of signif-
icance for copper–gold ores.
Another additional test has been conducted to study the effect
of Cu2+ ions on gold dissolution glycine–peroxide system by
increasing leaching pH to 11.9 and peroxide concentration to
0.3%. The amounts of dissolved gold from this system against
leaching time are shown in Fig. 8. A comparison between the
results of Fig. 7 in the presence of Cu2+ and Fig. 8 can lead to
increasing pH and peroxide enhances gold dissolution. In an earlier
40 J.J. Eksteen, E.A. Oraby / Minerals Engineering 70 (2015) 36–42

Table 3
Adsorption of gold on activated carbon from pregnant solution in the presence of Cu2+.

Time (min) Time (h) [Au] (mg/L) D [Au]s D [Au]c [Au]c/[Au]s Log t [Au]c/[Au]s
0 0 12.51 0.000 0 0
30 0.5 6.382 6.128 2359 370 0.301 2.568
90 1.5 2.583 9.927 3822 1480 0.176 3.170
180 3 1.056 11.454 4410 4176 0.477 3.621
240 4 0.743 11.767 4530 6097 0.602 3.785

Fig. 9. Plot of Log (D [Au]c/[Au]s) against Log t for pregnant solution after leaching
(loading time 4 h, carbon 2.5 g/L). Fig. 11. Effect of amino acids mix on gold dissolution: 0.1 M amino acid, 1% H2O2,
pH 11, at 60 °C.

onto the activated carbon in a rate similar or even higher than

gold–cyanide complex. The calculated carbon activity constant
was 918 and the gold loading was 4.6 kg Au/ton of carbon. From
the data shown in Table 2 and Fig. 9, it can be concluded the pres-
ence of Cu2+ has not a detrimental effects of gold loading on acti-
vated carbon.

3.6. Effect of amino acid type and synergistic interactions

Glycine, histidine and alanine amino acids have been used to

Fig. 10. Effect of amino acids type on gold dissolution: 0.05 M amino acid, 1% H2O2,
pH 11, at 60 °C.
paper, the authors (Oraby and Eksteen, 2014) have proved that
gold–glycine complex was successfully loaded on to activated car-
bon from solutions of glycine–peroxide only. In this section, the
gold–glycine solution in the presence of Cu2+ ions has been loaded
on the activated carbon.
3.5.1. Au-glycinate adsorption in the presence of Cu2+
The kinetics of gold adsorption onto activated carbon in the
presence of Cu2+ ions has been evaluated by the determination of
the carbon activity constant using Eq. (6):
logðD½Au or Agc Þ
¼ n log t þ log k ð6Þ
½Au or Ags
D[Au or Ag]c = change in Au or Ag on carbon from t = 0 to t = t
hours; D[Au or Ag]s = Au or Ag in solution at t = t hours; n = an
experimentally derived constant for the slope of the above equa-
tion; and k = an empirical rate constant at t = 1 h.
The adsorbed gold on carbon and the amounts of metals in solu-
tions have been calculated and presented in Table 3.
Fig. 9 also shows the plot of Log (D [Au]c/[Au]s) against (Log t)
for the data shown in Table 2. The adsorption experiment proved
that the gold–glycine complex in the presence of Cu2+ is adsorbed
test the effect of amino acid type on gold dissolutions. The exper-
iments have been conducted at 0.05 M of amino acids at pH 11 and
60 °C temperature. Fig. 10 shows the gold dissolution in different
amino acid systems. It can be seen that the initial gold dissolution
in histidine solution is faster than glycine and alanine solutions;
however, by extending the leaching, it was found glycine dissolves
gold faster and to a greater extent than histidine and alanine.
To evaluate the effect of amino acid mixtures, a mixture of
0.05 M Glycine and 0.05 M histidine, 1% H2O2, at pH 11.5 and
60 °C. Fig. 11 shows the effects of using a combination of glycine–
histidine solutions and glycine only on gold dissolution. It is clear
that using a mix of glycine and histidine dissolves gold higher than
using glycine only. The mechanism of this phenomenon is not clear.
3.6.1. The adsorption of gold–amino acid complexes onto activated
carbon
The kinetics of gold adsorption onto activated carbon from gly-
cine–histidine solutions has been evaluated by the determination
of the carbon activity constant using Eq. (6). The adsorbed gold
on carbon and the amounts of metals in solutions have been calcu-
lated and presented in Table 4.
Fig. 12 also shows the plot of Log (D [Au]c/[Au]s) against (Log t)
for the data shown in Table 3. The adsorption experiment shows
that gold from solution containing glycine–histidine is adsorbed
onto the activated carbon. The calculated carbon activity constant
was 188 and the gold loading was 5.5 kg Au/ton of carbon. From
the data shown in Table 3 and Fig. 12, it can be noticed that gold
can be loaded onto carbon from solutions containing a mix of gly-
cine–histidine solution.
 J.J. Eksteen, E.A. Oraby / Minerals Engineering 70 (2015) 36–42 41

Table 4
Adsorption of gold on activated carbon from glycine–histidine solutions.

Time (min) Time (hr) [Au] (mg/L) D [Au]s D [Au]c [Au]c/[Au]s Log t [Au]c/[Au]s
0 0 24.084 0.000 0 0
30 0.5 19.143 4.941 2471 129 0.301 2.111
80 1.33 16.656 7.428 3714 223 0.124 2.348
150 2.5 15.03 9.054 4527 301 0.398 2.479
270 4.5 13.173 10.911 5456 414 0.653 2.617
1380 23 8.340 15.744 7872 944 1.362 2.975

timeframes suitable for in-situ or heap and vat leaching. Leaching

experiments showed that the gold leach rate increases by increas-
ing the glycine concentration. Low glycine concentration
(25–100 mM) can be effectively used to leach gold. It has also been
shown that the leaching solution is very sensitive to the leaching
temperature and the reaction is a chemically controlled. Adding
Cu2+ to glycine–peroxide system enhances gold dissolution. It
was also found that glycine dissolves gold faster and to a greater
extent than histidine and alanine. Gold dissolution in the presence
of pyrite is lower than the measure in the absence of pyrite. The
decrease in gold dissolution may be referred to the consumption
of peroxide to oxidise pyrite.

Fig. 12. Plot of Log (D [Au]c/[Au]s) against Log t for pregnant solution after leaching Acknowledgements
(loading time 23 h, carbon 1.55 g/L).

The financial support by Curtin University and the AMIRA

P420E program (sponsored by Anglogold Ashanti, Australian Gold
Reagents, Barrick Gold, Gekko Systems, Harmony Gold, Kemix,
Magotteaux, Newcrest Mining, Newmont, Orica, Randgold
Resources, St Barbara, Tenova-Bateman) is greatly appreciated.

References

Fig. 13. Effect of pyrite on gold dissolution from glycine–peroxide solutions: 0.1 M
amino acid, 1% H2O2, pH 11, at 60 °C.
3.7. Effect of pyrite
Gold ore body may contain different gangue minerals of differ-
ent reactivity; one of the commonest reactive minerals associated
with gold is pyrite. To study the effect of pyrite, different of
amounts of pyrite minerals were added to the leach solution prior
to gold sheet addition. Fig. 13 shows the effect of pyrite on gold
dissolution in solutions containing pyrite (FeS2). It is clear that gold
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(Chirita, 2004).
FeS2 þ 15=2H2 O2 ! Fe3þ þ 2SO2 þ
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