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US 4,734,171 AGranted
Electrolytic process for the simultaneous deposition of gold and replenishment of elemental iodine
AssigneeIn-Situ, Inc.
InventorJack W. Murphy
Life of this patent
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AssigneeIn-Situ, Inc.
InventorJack W. Murphy
Estimating the term…
An improved process for recovering gold from gold-containing materials by iodide/iodine leaching is provided wherein the pregnant lixiviant containing solubilized gold and iodine is treated in an electrolytic cell to reduce gold in solution to elemental gold for recovery and reduce iodine to iodide at the cathode, so as to prevent iodine from interfering with subsequent gold recovery processes, and at the same time reoxidize iodide present at the anode to elemental iodine to regenerate the leach solution to the desired iodide:iodine weight ratio, e.g. about 2:1 to about 10:1. Gold is precipitated in the cathode compartment, and if desired, the cathode effluent may be treated for further removal of traces of gold before being passed to the anode compartment. A method for preventing iron contamination of the cathode is also provided comprising buffering the lixiviant solution to a pH of about 5.
A process for the recovery of gold from a gold-containing material comprising:
In a process for the recovery of gold from gold-containing materials comprising dissolving said gold in an iodide/iodine lixiviant and recovering gold from said lixiviant, the improvement comprising preventing iodine in the pregnant gold-containing lixiviant from interfering with gold recovery therefrom by simultaneously reducing substantially all the iodine present in the gold-containing lixiviant and reducing and precipitating gold therefrom at the cathode of an electrolysis cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.