Gold cyanidation, also called the cyanide process, is a hydrometallurgical technique for extracting gold from low-grade ore by converting it into a water-soluble cyanide complex; it is the most commonly used leaching process for gold extraction and is also used in silver extraction following froth flotation. The chemist John Stewart MacArthur developed the process in 1887 with the brothers Robert and William Forrest for the Tennant Company in Glasgow, Scotland, achieving up to 96 percent gold recovery by suspending crushed ore in a cyanide solution.
Facts
SignificanceThe most commonly used leaching process for gold extraction, also widely used in silver extraction. 1 FAQs
How much more gold did the cyanide process recover than the method it replaced?
Recovery rose from 55 per cent to 95 per cent.
John Stewart MacArthur first tested a gold extraction process that used common salt as the extracting agent and showed it was worthless. Within a year he developed his own process with the Forrest brothers, using sodium or potassium cyanide instead. Grace's Guide records that the share of gold recoverable rose from 55 per cent to 95 per cent.
Connections
In Field
Source Gold cyanidation, Wikipedia
Sources
1. Gold cyanidation, Wikipedia
History
In 1887, John Stewart MacArthur, working in collaboration with brothers Robert and William Forrest for the Tennant Company in Glasgow, Scotland,
Lead section, paragraph 1
It is the most commonly used leaching process for gold extraction.
In Field: Metallurgical Engineering, Categories
Metallurgical processes
In Group: Non-Ferrous Extraction and Refining, Introduction
Gold cyanidation (also known as the cyanide process or the MacArthur-Forrest process) is a hydrometallurgical technique for extracting gold from low-grade ore through conversion to a water-soluble coordination complex.
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