Process flow of carbon slurry method

The carbon slurry method is a gold mining process that uses activated carbon to adsorb and recover gold from cyanide pulp. The process flow of the carbon slurry method is as follows:

1. Crushing and grinding: The gold ore is first crushed and ground to the appropriate particle size.

2. Leaching: The crushed and ground gold ore is then mixed with a cyanide solution in a leaching tank. The gold dissolves in the cyanide solution and forms a gold-cyanide complex.

3. Adsorption: The gold-cyanide complex is adsorbed onto activated carbon particles in the slurry in a series of tanks called carbon-in-pulp (CIP) or carbon-in-leach (CIL) tanks.

4. Desorption: The gold-loaded activated carbon is then removed from the slurry and washed to remove any remaining cyanide solution. The gold is then desorbed from the activated carbon using a hot caustic/cyanide solution in a process known as elution.

5. Electrowinning: The gold is then recovered from the eluate by electrowinning onto steel wool or other cathode materials.

6. Smelting: The gold obtained by electrowinning is then melted and cast into gold bars or other forms.

The carbon slurry method is a widely used gold mining process due to its high gold recovery rate and low cost. However, it also has some disadvantages, such as the production of large amounts of tailings and the release of cyanide into the environment, which can be harmful to human health and the ecosystem. Therefore, proper safety measures and environmental protection measures must be taken during the process to minimize the negative impact on the environment.