Abstract:
A laterite-type oxidized gold ore in Western Yunnan Province is associated with valuable metals such as Ag and Fe, in which the Au, Ag, TFe and mFe contents are 1.72 g/t, 17.50 g/t, 28.19% and 11.52%, respectively. The ore is an epigenetic ore body formed by weathering denudation and transport deposition of the primary ore. Within this ore body, the rock mass has undergone kaolinization, resulting in ore that is primarily composed of sand powder and honeycomb-like structures. Systematic experimental studies are conducted for this ore, including ore properties, fine-grained leaching of the raw ore, washing classification of the raw ore, as well as fine-grained magnetic separation and tailings discarding. Additionally, a detailed analysis is carried out to evaluate the impact of each process parameter on the technical indices. The results show that the gold mine has a high content of clay minerals and fine-grained particles, with −0.038 mm fraction weighting 42.89%. The grade is mainly composed of micro-fine natural gold. Silver is mainly composed of silver wrapped in minerals, silver in magnetic iron minerals and silver in weakly magnetic iron minerals. The iron minerals are mainly magnetite and (hematite) limonite, and the two main iron minerals are closely related to the occurrence of gold and silver. It belongs to a low-grade complex and refractory polymetallic gold ore. By adopting a process flow consisting of “raw ore washing and classification-mud-sand separation, and preconcentration tailings discarding in the mud separation system”, it obtains a coarse sand concentrate with yield of 57.25%, Au grade of 2.798 g/t, Ag grade of 20.19 g/t, and Fe grade of 39.26%. Additionally, a mixed roughing concentrate of fine-grained is produced with yield of 22.35%, Au grade of 0.329 g/t, Ag grade of 14.38 g/t, and Fe grade of 16.19%. Finally, tailings of fine-grained are generated with yield of 20.40%, Au grade of 0.219 g/t, Ag grade of 13.37 g/t, and Fe grade of 10.27%. Notably, the loss rates of Au, Ag, and Fe in the tailings are 2.59%, 7.44%, and 15.59%, respectively. These experimental results provide valuable technical guidance and reference for the subsequent production of this resource and the exploitation of similar ore deposits.