INRTU Patented a Reagent Composition to Increase the Percentage of Gold Recovery

INRTU has patented a reagents composition for gold-bearing sulfide ores flotation enrichment. The set of chemical compounds is designed to increase the percentage of precious metal recovery. The new reagents synthesis and testing is the result of INRTU and A.E. Favorsky Irkutsk Institute of Chemistry SB RAS staff collaboration within the Priority 2023 program.

According to Alexander Burdonov, Head of the INRTU Flotation and Chemistry of Reagents Laboratory, INRTU and A.E. Favorsky Irkutsk Institute receive reagent-collectors for metal ore beneficiation and technogenic raw materials processing. Substances synthesized by A.E. Favorsky Irkutsk Institute are being tested at INRTU. Reagents testing is necessary to determine their ability of being stably fixed on minerals when interacting with other chemical compounds.

"We have synthesized and successfully tested more than 30 reagents. Good results were shown using 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol, N-dodecylhydrazine carbothioamide, used as collectors in flotation of gold-bearing ores. The next stage is to assess the economic feasibility of their mass production and application at enrichment plants.

Now in the flotation laboratory we are conducting technological studies of two new reagents - 2-(2,4-dinitrophenyl) hydrazine-dithiocarbomate sodium and 1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl tritiocarbonate sodium", - said Alexander Burdonov.

Associate Professor Vyacheslav Barakhtenko, 1st year PhD student Tatyana Sakhabutdinova, research associates of A.E. Favorsky Irkutsk Institute Igor Rozentsveig, Ekaterina Verochkina, Nadezhda Vchislo and Victoria Fedoseeva are also involved in the project.

In March, the authors' team received a patent for a flotation composition for gold-bearing ores consisting of 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol (collector), methylisobutylene carbinol (foaming agent) and copper sulfate (activator).

The second option is a collector complex based on potassium butyl xanthogenate. The reagents should be mixed and added in certain quantities - from 10 to 100 grams per ton of ore. The synthesized compounds enhance the effect of already existing chemical compositions.

The results of experiments on the applicability of synthesized compounds are published in the Journal of General Chemistry. As noted in the article, the best enrichment performance is achieved with the combined use of dithiocarbamate and dialkyl dithiophosphate sodium. The collecting capacity of the first compound is the same as that of butyl potassium xanthogenate. However, the consumption of dithiocarbamate is 10 times lower. That is why Irkutsk scientists will continue studying the flotation activity of compounds of this class.