Production practice of optimized beneficiation and smelting process for a copper-bearing gold ore in Colombia

A gold mine in Colombia is mainly composed of gold ores with high copper content. After technical transformation, the recovery rate of gold is low, the consumption of sodium cyanide is high, and the copper ions in the system are continuously accumulated, resulting in abnormal production of the processing system. Through relevant experimental research and production practice, the yield of copper concentrate is adjusted from 0.25% to 0.75%, the recovery of gold and copper in copper flotation is increased from 20% and 34% to 35% and 52% respectively, and the total recovery of gold is increased from 87% to 89%. The leaching time is reduced from 85.48 h to 56.61 h, the concentration of sodium cyanide is reduced from 1 000 mg/L to 600 mg/L, the consumption of sodium cyanide is reduced from 7.49 kg/t to 3.60 kg/t, and the copper leaching rate is decreased from 27.18% to 20.09%. According to the experimental study on cyanide breaking and copper removal with hydrogen peroxide solution, sodium metabisulfite and hydrogen peroxide solution are used together in the production, and then the treatment is carried out under the condition of high alkali. The copper ion content of cyanide breaking and ore discharging is reduced from 330.47 mg/L to 24.55 mg/L, and the copper ion content of the system is greatly reduced. The production practice results show that for a certain copper-bearing gold ore in Colombia, better production results can be achieved by improving the copper flotation recovery, optimizing the leaching conditions to reduce the consumption of sodium cyanide, using hydrogen peroxide solution to break the cyanide, and removing copper with high alkali, which has guiding significance for the same type of copper-bearing gold ore mineral and metallurgical processes optimization and production practice.