中国有色金属学报(英文版)
Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China
Vol. 35 No. 9 September 2025 |
(1. School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China;
2. National Engineering Research Center of Low-carbon Nonferrous Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)
Abstract:Based on the properties of antimony (Sb) and arsenic (As), a method was proposed to enhance gold recovery during iron matte smelting. The impact of Sb and As on gold enhancement capture was investigated using an exclusion method. The results demonstrated that both Sb and As significantly improved the gold recovery rate. As the Sb or As content increased, the gold recovery rate increased. The enhancement effect of Sb was better than that of As, and the optimal results were achieved through the synergistic effects of Sb and As. Under optimized conditions, the gold recovery rate reached 97.12%, whereas the gold content in the slag decreased to 1.70 g/t. Sb captured and aggregated free gold as an Au-Sb alloy, whereas As-Fe alloy also captured free gold. The growth of the gold-captured phase size enhanced the settling velocity, thereby promoting gold recovery.
Key words: refractory gold concentrate; Au-Sb alloy; As-Fe alloy; enhancement effect; iron matte; capture gold