• A gold processing plant operates at 1500 DMTPD

with 2.7 ore sp.g. It uses CIP process in adsorption

of gold. Carbon loading is 2 kg C/ton ore. Gold
assay in carbon is 1500 ppm and 0.5 ppm in solution.
If %solid in adsorption process is 45%, what is the
adsorption recovery?
• Given the Elsner Equation:
4 Au + 8 CN- + O2 + 2H2O = 4AuCN2- + 4OH-
Effective Tank height = 16m ; Tank diameter =15.76m
Sp. g of ore = 2.6 ; % solids = 38% ; ore assay = 1g/t Au

What should be the minimum CN- conc. in the tank for

leaching?
0.162 ppm
• A 50-L of leach solution containing 50 gpL Cu2+ was
subjected to solvent extraction using 50-L organic
solvent for purification. The raffinate contains 0.08
gpL. How many extraction stages were done if the
distribution ratio is equal to 4?

n Wi – initial concentration of metal in aqueous

 
  Wn – concentration of metal retained
1
W n  Wi   Vo – vol of organic phase at each extraction step
  Vo   Va – vol of aqueous phase containing Wi of metal
1  D 
  Va   n – extraction stage
• Given: leaching of 2500 DMTPD of gold ore with a sp. g of 2.75 which
is operating at 40% solids.
Feed Assay = 1.5 g Au/tore
Tails Solution Assay = 0.05 ppm Au
Tails Solid Assay = 0.10 g Au
What is the leaching recovery?
a. 85% b. 86%
c. 87% d. 88%
• In a laboratory cyanide bottle-roll test, the initial charge of
cyanide is 2.27 kgs. of NaCN/tonne of ore. After a 24-hour
leach, a titration of the solution shows a residual free
cyanide (CN-) concentration of 0.0726 kg/tonne of
solution. If the test were run at 40% solids on a weight basis,
the cyanide consumption (kg NaCN/tonne of ore) is
approximately:

a. 1.73 c. 2.16
b. 2.06 d. 2.20
PRECIPITATION
• 1. Calculate the ionic strength of
A. 1M KCl soln
B. 0.5M MgCl2 soln
C. Mixed 0.05M Na2SO4 and 0.020 KCl soln

• A. 1M c = molar conc. of ion

z = charge number of that ion
• B. 0.2M n = number of moles of that ion

• C. 0.17M
• Consider a leaching of CBNC solution containing
iron(III) ions at an activity of 1x10-5 M at 25°C.
Hydroxide ions was added to induce precipitation.
What is the minimum pH for precipitation to occur?
K = 3.8x10-38

pH = 3.2
• What is the pH of solution with
a) [OH-] = 4 x 10-5 M
b) [H+] = 4 x 10-5 M

a) 9.6
b) 4.4
A) For a 250 L solution having a pH of 4, how much
12M HCl must be added to get a pH of 2.5?
For 250 L solution having a pH of 9.6, how much
B) 10M NaOH musts be added to get a pH of 11.5

A = ~0.064L or 64mL
B = ~0.078L or 78 mL
PRECIPITATION
• Two Solutions containing Co+2 only for the first
solution and Co+3 for second solution. Both ions
in 1x10-5 M. Calculate the pH needed to
precipitate both ions as hydroxides. Ks for Co+2 is
1.26x10-15 and Co+3 is 3.16x10-45.If conc. of both
metal ions were increased to 0.01, calculate the
pH needed to precipitate both ions. If the ion
concentrations were 1x10-6, calculate the pH
needed to precipitate Co+2 and Co+3
• A. pH = 9.05 ; pH = 0.83
• B. pH = 7.55 ; pH = -0.17
• C. pH = 9.55 ; pH = 1.17
• Given the reaction H2 = 2H+ + 2e ; 0V
Which of the following is the correct equation using
Nernst Equation @25C to evaluate the relation of
𝑹𝑻
pH, PH2 and EMF. (E = E - ln k). F = 96500 J/v
𝒏𝑭
a. E = -0.0296pH – 0.0591 log PH2
b. E = 0.0296pH – 0.0591 log PH2
c. E.= -0.0591pH – 0.0296 log PH2
d. E.= 0.0591pH – 0.0296 log PH2
• In relation to the previous, consider a solution of
1x10-4 M Nickel Sulfate. Hydrogen gas is injected to
the solution to precipitate Ni. What is the minimum
pH required to precipitate Ni? Consider PH2 = 1 atm.
Ni2+ + 2e = Ni ; = -0.25V

pH = 6.2
Given: Leaching Tank = 12.0m diameter and 13.5m height.
2500 DMTPD with ore sp.g of 2.75 at 40% solids
15% of the tank volume is occupied by air
Initial free cyanide ions concentration in the leaching tank is
only 200 ppm which is a bit low. The metallurgist decided to
increase the free cyanide ions to 500ppm to enhance the
efficiency of the reaction. How much NaCN must be added in
order to get the target concentration of 500 ppm free cyanide? 12
pts for the solution
• a. 314 kg b. 439 kg
• c. 591 kg d. 670 kg