Electrokinetic leaching

Abstract

A method of treating a solid material containing a substance of economic importance so as to recover or extract the substance from the material involving the following: forming a conducting mixture of the solid with a liquid so that at least some of the substance of economic importance is dissolved in the liquid, applying an electrical potential difference between at least two electrodes in contact with the mixture at spaced apart locations so as to impart opposite charges to the respective electrodes thereby attracting the liquid containing the dissolved substance to one of the electrodes, removing the liquid from an area surrounding or from a vicinity of the one electrode, and treating the liquid containing the substance of economic importance so as to recover or extract the substance. The liquid used is at least partially conducting. The present method is particularly useful for extracting or recovering gold from gold-containing or gold bearing ores.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.