7. Gold mineralogy and refractory minerals

Due to its low reactivity or absence (high ionization potential and redox standard potential...), gold is found in nature in a small number of minerals (table 9 ). Only metallic gold and its silver alloy, electrum, are soluble in dilute cyanide solutions. Gold tellurides, antimonide and gold bismuthide are insoluble or only very slightly soluble.

In many gold ores, it has been noted that, unlike native gold ores, there are ores that are refractory to cyanidation, other than the telluride ores already mentioned.

This led us to establish a link between the cyanide solution and the mineralogical...