Hydrometallurgy, 1 (1976) 277--290

Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam -- Printed in The Netherlands

THE DISSOLUTION OF GOLD IN ACIDIC SOLUTIONS OF THIOUREA

T. GROENEWALD

Chamber of Mines of South Africa, P.O. Box 809, Johannesburg (South Africa)
(Received July 1st, 1975)

ABSTRACT
Groenewald, T., 1976. The dissolution of gold in acidic solutions of thiourea. Hydrometallurgy, 1: 277--290.
In order to evaluate the potential of acidic thiourea as a reagent for leaching gold, a
study was made of the dissolution of gold in acidic solutions of thiourea containing various
oxidants. Experiments were conducted on rotating disks of pure gold and on ground gold
ores. The chemical oxidants used included iron(III), hydrogen peroxide, oxygen and
formamidine disulphide; the latter reagent was formed in situ by the action of both
hydrogen peroxide and dissolved oxygen on thiourea. Gold was observed to dissolve in
these solutions at rates which approached the limiting diffusion controlled rate. Iron(III)
as the oxidant caused the most rapid initial rate of dissolution of gold, but this rate soon
decreased because of the reaction between iron(III) and thiourea; this resulted in the consumption of an excessive a m o u n t of thiourea which made the use of iron(III) as the oxidant unattractive in any ore leaching system based upon the use of thiourea as leaching
agent.
The results observed in the rotating disk study were applied to the leaching of crushed
ores. A large proportion of the oxidant necessary for the extraction of the gold was derived from the ore itself; the remainder of the oxidant required could be supplied as hydrogen peroxide during preparation of the leach liquor, and by agitation of the slurry by a
flow of air. When solutions containing 1.2 M thiourea were used it was possible to extract
the gold from an ore within one hour; under these conditions the consumption of thiourea
was about 1.4 kg thiourea per ton of ore treated. This figure could be reduced to 0.4 kg
thiourea/ton if 0.1 M thiourea was used; complete extraction of the gold then occurred
within eight hours.
Gold can be leached at a much greater rate by acidic solutions of thiourea than is possible by conventional cyanidation techniques. However on economic grounds the latter
technique must be preferred unless a really rapid rate of dissolution of gold is required.

INTRODUCTION
The dissolution of gold from crushed ore samples may be achieved by a
number of techniques. The cyanidation process has found most favour in
i n d u s t r i a l p r a c t i c e o v e r t h e l a s t e i g h t y y e a r s i n v i e w o f its r e l a t i v e e c o n o m y
a n d t e c h n o l o g i c a l s i m p l i c i t y . T h e m a i n d i s a d v a n t a g e o f t h i s p r o c e s s is t h e
low rate of dissolution of the gold; theoretical considerations indicate that
this disadvantage cannot be overcome without a considerable increase in the
c o n s u m p t i o n of reagents a n d o p e r a t i n g costs.

278
Sulphur-containing ligands have recently received increased attention, and
the use of thiourea has been considered for a variety of possible applications
in the hydrometallurgy of gold. In the solvent extraction of the gold(I)
cyanide ion, stripping of the gold into an aqueous phase by means of acidic
solutions of thiourea has been shown to be feasible by Chernyak et al. (1967),
Plaksin et al. (1961), and by Groenewald (1974). The dissolution of gold (and
silver) in acidic solutions of thiourea was initially reported by Plaksin and
Kozhukhova (1941) and has since been the subject of further investigations
by Plaksin and Kozhukhova (1960), Lodeishchikov et al. (1968), Tataru
(1968), Songina et al. (1971), and Ospanov et al. (1971). The practical feasibility of the process was demonstrated by dissolving gold from a crushed ore
(Lodeishchikov et al., 1968), but it was concluded that the process would be
uneconomic in comparison with the cyanidation process, except in specialised
applications involving refractory ores.
The reaction describing the dissolution of gold in acidic solutions of
thiourea was given by Kazakov et al. (1964) as
Au + 2CS(NH2)2 ~ Au(CS(NH2)2); + eThe reduction potential for this reaction is E = 0.352 V on a fresh gold surface, but on a passivated surface this increased to E = 0.41 V (Groenewald,
1975).
Oxidative dissolution of the gold in acidic thiourea requires the aid of
oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide (Plaksin and Kozhukhova, 1960; Tataru,
1968; Songina et al., 1971; Ospanov et al., 1971) sodium peroxide (Plaksin
and Kozhukhova, 1960) or iron(III) (Plaksin and Kozhukhova, 1960; Lodeishchikov et al., 1968; Tataru, 1968), the latter being reported to be the most
effective. The rate of dissolution in sulphate (Plaksin and Kozhukhova, 1960;
Lodeishchikov et al., 1968) m e d i u m was found to be greater than in nitrate
(Plaksin and Kozhukhova, 1960) or chloride (Plaksin and Kozhukhova, 1960;
Tataru, 1968; Songina et al., 1971; Ospanov et al., 1971) solutions. The composition of the leach liquor selected (Lodeishchikov et al., 1968) for use on
an ore was 0.04 M thiourea, 0.05 M sulphuric acid and 0.0075 M iron(III). It
has been observed that at ambient temperatures, gold was extracted from a
typical quartz ore within about eight hours, with between 4 to 10 kg of
thiourea being consumed per ton of ore leached. Copper, arsenic, antimony,
lead and other elements did not hinder the dissolution of gold by this technique as severely as t h e y do in the cyanidation process.
According to Gupta (1963) thiourea itself may be oxidised in successive
stages to form a n u m b e r of products, the first of which is formamidine
disulphide, which is formed with relative ease in acidic solutions by the action
of oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide (Preisler and Berger, 1947) at r o o m
temperature:
2CS(NH2): ~ [(NH:)2C--S--S--C(NH2)2] 2 + 2eThis reaction is followed by slower reactions by which products are formed

279
in which sulphur has a higher oxidation state, for example, sulphur or even
sulphate ions.
The reactions b e t w e e n iron(III) and thiourea deserve more detailed attention. In weak aqueous solutions the complex [Fe(III)SO4(CS(NH2)2)]
(stability constant: log ~m = 6.64 + 0.63) was identified in a mixed sulphate-thiourea medium b y Maslowska (1969). In more concentrated solutions the
redox reaction becomes more pronounced, and it was reported b y Maslowska
(1969) that the pale yellowish tint of the solutions with concentrations of
iron(III) higher than aboUt 0.4 M iron(III) changed to a light green colour
within a few days, and that fine elemental sulphur was precipitated; on completion of the process (2 to 3 weeks), the complex [Fe(II)(CS(NH2)2)2]SO4
was identified in a sulphate medium. This slow rate of reaction is consistent
with the formation of very stable metal--ligand coordination bonds between
iron(III) and thiourea (Maslowska, 1969), and with the small difference between the redox potentials of the iron(III)/iron(II) couple (E = 0.771 V
(Latimer, 1959)) and of the formamidine disulphide/thiourea couple (E =
0.420 V (Preisler and Berger, 1947)).
The r e d u c t i o n of gold(III) to gold(I) b y thiourea in acidic solution is quantitative (Pashchenko et al., 1965; Ovsepyan et al., 1966), the gold in these
solutions therefore exists as the Au(CS(NH2)2)~ ion.
Since it was noticed that the previous investigators were apparently
unaware of some of these facets of the chemistry of gold and thiourea, a
study has been made of the oxidative dissolution of gold in thiourea under
controlled conditions. It was h o p e d that the quantities of reagents consumed
in a thiourea leach liquor could be reduced to acceptable levels, and that the
development of a process for the rapid dissolution of gold would follow.
EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
Studies on a rotating gold disk

A rotating gold (99.985% pure) disk, 1.0 cm in diameter was manufactured

from a gold rod m o u n t e d closely along the axis of a bell-shaped Teflon holder
which could be rotated at fixed speeds of up to 1500 r.p.m. The gold disk was
immersed in 100 ml of test solution, and the rate of dissolution of the gold
measured b y determination of the a m o u n t of gold dissolved in the leach
liquor. All solutions were flushed b y means of a stream of purified nitrogen,
b u t because of the chemical instability of thiourea and of its reaction products
in the presence of oxidants, these experiments had to be performed as soon as
possible after preparation of these solutions; this "deaerating" stage was
limited to the relatively short time of 0.5 hours. The experiments were usually
performed at 25C, and solutions were prepared using reagent grade chemicals
dissolved in d o u b l y distilled water.

280
Studies on crushed ore samples

Laboratory-scale experiments were c o n d u c t e d on typical South African

gold-bearing ores.
Head samples of the ores were used " u n t r e a t e d " as obtained from the reduction works on the mine, or as "acid-washed" samples, b y subjecting the
ground ore to a preliminary treatment with a solution of 0.15 M sulphuric
acid; this step was r e c o m m e n d e d b y Lodeishchikov et al. (1968) as a means
for decreasing the consumption of thiourea during the subsequent dissolution
of the gold. This procedure also simulates the prior dissolution of uranium,
which is carried o u t on some Witwatersrand ores.
Leaching tests were performed at r o o m temperature (about 23C) in a
2-1itre vessel, the slurry (2:1 ratio of liquid to solid) being agitated by a
stream of 5 l/rain of air (aerated slurry) or nitrogen (deaerated slurry); the
experiments in which nitrogen was used to agitate the slurry were c o n d u c t e d
to examine the effect that oxygen in the air may have had upon the rate of
dissolution of gold.
Most experiments were performed on a sample of ground ore containing
a b o u t 15 g A u / t o n ore b u t because of the small scale of the laboratory experiments, it was n o t always certain that the samples used were representative of
the ore b o d y as a whole. The particle size of this sample was 65% of < 7 5 pm,
which is slightly coarser than is usual on the mine (80% of <75/~m). Extractions of ~<97% gold are normally found in practice, b u t because of the coarser
nature of this sample, lower extraction efficiencies were expected. For comparative purposes, t w o different specimens of gold ore were also used. A loss
of a b o u t 3% solids b y weight of the ores occurred during the leach.
The rate of dissolution of gold in acidic thiourea solutions was compared
with that obtained using the conventional cyanidation process.
Analytical details

The concentration of gold in solution was determined b y solvent extraction

and atomic absorption spectrometry (Groenewald and Jones, 1971), the pH
b y means of a glass electrode, and the concentrations of iron(III) and iron(II)
were determined b y the o-phenanthroline m e t h o d in acetate media (Faber et
al., 1955). The concentration of thiourea was obtained b y titration with
mercuric nitrate, using diphenylcarbazide as indicator (Yatsimirskii and
Astasheva, 1956). All solution potentials (Ept) are quoted with reference to
the saturated calomel electrode (SCE) which is more convenient to use in
hydrometallurgical applications than is the scale based upon the normal
hydrogen electrode (NHE).
The concentration of formamidine disulphide (RSSR) could be estimated
b y measurement of the solution potential (Ept vs. SCE) using the appropriate
form of the Nernst equation
[RSSR]
log

Ept + 0.240 -- 0.420

=

[thiourea] ~

0.03

281

RESULTS

Studies on a rotating gold disk

Iron(III) in sulphate or chloride media
The rate of dissolution of gold in the presence of 0.001 M and 0.01 M
iron(III) made up to 0.1 M sulphuric acid and 0.1 M thiourea is shown in
Figure 1, A freshly-prepared solution was more effective than a solution
which had been aged for 2.5 hours, the decrease in activity of the leach
liquor being more pronounced in the case of the more concentrated iron(III)
solutions; this is in accord with the various homogeneous reactions between
thiourea and iron(III) which were outlined by Gupta (1963).
i

freshly preparedsolution
----- agedfor ZShours
b e t a /

"o

/~O0~IM iron11111 ~.......... JI)

10

20

30
Time

40
(rain)

50

60

Fig. 1. Dissolution of gold in 0.1 M sulphurie acid and 0.1 M thiourea at 25C using iron(III)
as oxidant; gold disk rotated at 1500 r.p.m.

The effect of the ratio of the concentrations of thiourea to iron(III) upon

the rate of dissolution of gold was determined at various speeds of rotation
(co) of the gold disk. These experiments were performed in 0.01 and 0.05 M
sulphuric acid, and 0.1 M hydrochloric acid. When [thiourea]/[iron(III)] ~< 1.0,
stirring had no effect upon the rate of dissolution of gold, but when this ratio
was 10 the rate of dissolution of the gold was approximately proportional to
col~, the rate of the reaction thus being controlled largely by the rate of diffusion of oxidant to the gold.
Hydrogen peroxide or formamidine disulphide
The solutions used were prepared by the addition of hydrogen peroxide to
acidic solutions containing an excess of thiourea to allow for the conversion

282

in situ to formamidine disulphide; this conversion was found to be rapid, and

a platinum electrode dipped into the solution rapidly attained the theoretically
calculated potential value which did not change significantly during the dissolution experiments. Identical results were obtained by the more laborious
technique described by Preisler and Berger (1947) by preparing the chloride
salt of formamidine disulphide and adding this to the acidic solution of
thiourea. Attempts to generate the formamidine disulphide anodically at an
overvoltage of 0.05 V on a platinum electrode were abandoned because of the
rapid formation of colloidal sulphur in the anode compartment of the divided
electrochemical cell.
The rate of dissolution of gold was greater in a freshly-prepared solution
than in an aged solution, and the rate of dissolution into a given solution
decreased with time; the rate of deterioration could be decreased by cooling
the solution during storage (Figure 2).
The change in the rate of dissolution of gold in 0.1 M sulphuric acid and
0.1 M thiourea as the concentration of formamidine disulphide (added as the
equivalent amount of hydrogen peroxide) was increased from 0.001 to 0.01
M is shown in Figure 3, and the effect of increasing the concentration of
thiourea from 0.01 to 0.1 M in 0.1 M sulphuric acid and 0.1 M formamidine
disulphide is shown in Figure 4; the rates of dissolution were taken as the
average rate over the first 0.5 hours.
The rate of dissolution of gold in a solution containing 0.1 M sulphuric
acid, 0.1 M thiourea and 0.01 M formamidine disulphide increased with temperature. The Arrhenius relationship over the temperature range 3 to 35C

3.5

T 30
tn

o 2.5

/7

_.> 1.5
.~_
"~
o
0

1.0

0.5

,'o 2'o ~o
Time

(rain }

~'o ~o

~o

o.

Fig. 2. D i s s o l u t i o n o f gold in 0.1 M s u l p h u r i c acid a n d 0.1 M t h i o u r e a at 25C using

f o r r n a m i d i n e d i s u l p h i d e as o x i d a n t ; gold disk r o t a t e d a t 1 5 0 0 r . p . m .

283

5,O

5.0

i4.0

-o I /''0
oo,

3.0

2:0

in

3.0

ul

'E
u

)
15 1.0

,'0

EForrnomidine disutphideTxI03 M

EThiourea~ x 10 2 h,,1

Fig. 3. Effect of formamidine disulphide concentration upon the dissolution of gold in 0.1
M sulphuric acid and 0.1 M thiourea at 25C; gold disk rotated at 93.75 r.p.m.
Fig. 4. Effect of thiourea concentration upon the dissolution of a gold disk in 0.1 M sulphuric acid and 0.1 M formamidine disuluhide at 25C; gold disk rotated at 93.75 r.p.m.

gave a value for the apparent activation energy of Ea = 6.7 kcal/mole (Figure
5); rapid decomposition of the reagents with the formation of colloidal sulphur occurred when the temperature was increased to 45C and over. In the
same solution at 25C, the rate of dissolution of gold increased with the rate
of rotation of the disk, a slightly curved plot being obtained for the rate of
gold dissolution versus co (Figure 6).

8.0

~12

8.4

~e

-o

~ 6
8.8
o

jo

~ID 2

T 9.2
1 / T x 103 ,----.,-

Iw ( r o d s sec_l)] i/2

Fig. 5. Effect of temperature upon the rate of dissolution of gold in 0.1 M sulphuric acid,
0.1 M thiourea and 0.01 M formamidine disulphide; the gold disk was rotated at 93.75 r.p.m.
Fig. 6. Effect of stirring upon the rate of dissolution of gold in 0.1 M sulphuric acid, 0.1 M
thiourea and 0.01 M formamidine disulphide at 25C.

284

Gaseous or dissolved oxygen

When a stream of pure oxygen was passed through a solution containing
0.05 M sulphuric acid and 0.1 M thiourea for three hours, the potential of
the solution (Ept) increased from a value of 0.14 V to a b o u t 0.18 V, which
indicated a 15% conversion of the thiourea to formamidine disulphide. Gold
could be dissolved in the resulting solution at a rate equivalent to that observed when hydrogen peroxide was used as oxidant.
Dissolution o f gold from ground ore samples
Both untreated and acid-washed samples of crushed ore were leached with
0.05 M sulphuric acid and 0.1 M thiourea, and with 0.05 M sulphuric acid,
0.12 M thiourea and 0.01 M hydrogen peroxide, extra thiourea being added
to compensate for the oxidation of thiourea to formamidine disulphide; the
slurry was agitated b y means of a flow of either nitrogen or air. The results
are shown in Figure 7. It was f o u n d that the concentration of thiourea in the
leach liquors did n o t change within the limits of experimental error during
these experiments.
The liquors used to leach untreated samples of ore contained more impuritie
in the form of soluble iron than was the case with acid-washed ore; the gold in
the untreated sample appeared to dissolve at a lower rate than it did from the
acid-washed ore. Within the first few minutes o f the ground ores being brought
into contact with the liquor, some iron(III) could be detected in the liquor.
(i) " U n t r e a t e d "

ore

(ii) " A c i d - w a s h e d "

i

}'2

- / ~21

Air
~

~ ~

'~':11,

ore
i

Air

0.17

Air

> 0.15
E' (11~
LU

- ~

N2 -

60C

= ~0C
o

T i m e (hi

Time

(h)

Fig. 7. D i s s o l u t i o n o f g o l d o r e u s i n g 0 . 0 5 M s u l p h u r i c a c i d a n d 0.1 M t h i o u r e a ( . . . .
) or
0 . 0 5 M sulphuric acid, 0 . 1 2 M t h i o u r e a a n d 0.01 M h y d r o g e n p e r o x i d e (
). T h e s l u r r i e s
w e r e agitated using a f l o w o f air o r o f nitrogen.

285
In aerated slurries trace quantities of iron(III) were found throughout the
leaching period, but all iron(III) was converted rapidly to iron(II) under
deaerated conditions.
Acid-washed ore samples were leached with solutions made up to 0.01 M,
0.03 M and 0.1 M thiourea in 0.05 M sulphuric acid; the rate and extent of
leaching increased with increasing concentration of thiourea. The extent of
gold extraction in 6 hours amounted to 20, 50 and 90% respectively, when
the slurries were agitated by a stream of air, while slightly lower values were
obtained under deaerated conditions.
When the concentrations of the reagents were increased to 1.0 M sulphuric
acid, 1.2 M thiourea, and 0.1 M hydrogen peroxide, very large rates of dissolution of gold were obtained. The results are shown in Figure 8; acid-washed
,

t~

75

o=

so
-o

uJ 25

'2'o

'3~

Time {

' ~o ' ~o

m i n ) ~

Fig. 8. Dissolution of gold ore using 1.0 M sulphuric acid, 1.2 M thiourea and 0.1 M
h y d r o g e n peroxide. Single leach for 1 h: o; successive leaches for 0.5 h with the same
liquor: (i) , (ii) A, (iii) m, (iv) e. The slurry was agitated b y a flow of air.

samples were used, and the slurries agitated by a flow of air. After one hour
98.5% of the gold had dissolved. Very little change was noted in the pH and
the solution potential (Ept ~ 0.13 V) during the leach; contamination of the
solution amounted to about 4 g/1 of iron. One quantity of leach liquor was
used to leach successively four separate samples of crushed ore; each treatment lasted for 0.5 hours, and the next treatment was started as soon as the
liquor was filtered from the slurry of the previous experiment. The results
are shown as shaded points in Figure 8. The extent of extraction averaged
96%, and while the rate of extraction of the gold may have decreased with

286

15

~
Time (h)

Fig. 9. Comparison between acidic thiourea and alkaline cyanide for the dissolution of
gold in three different ore bodies using 0.05 M sulphuric acid, 0.12 M thiourea and 0.01 M
hydrogen peroxide (
) or 0.025% potassium cyanide, 0.025% calcium oxide and
0.004 g/l lead nitrate (. . . . ). The slurries were agitated by a flow of air.

each successive treatment, this could n o t be established within the limits of

experimental error. Again the pH and solution potential were virtually constant throughout this experiment, while the concentration of iron(II) increased to a b o u t 12 g/l, at which level it remained constant.
The rate of dissolution of gold from three different ore samples by means
of a solution containing 0.05 M sulphuric acid, 0.12 M thiourea and 0.01 M
hydrogen peroxide was found to be greater, and appeared to produce lower
residue values than was possible b y means of the conventional cyanide process (0.025% potassium cyanide, 0.025% calcium oxide and 0.004 g/1 lead
nitrate). The results are shown in Figure 9.
DISCUSSION
Studies on a rotating gold disk

This investigation s h o w e d that there is no maximum in the curve of rate of

gold dissolution with increase in the a m o u n t of hydrogen peroxide (Figure 3).
In the w o r k of Plaksin and Kozhukhova (1960) the decrease in the rate of
dissolution of gold at higher concentrations of hydrogen peroxide evidently
arose because the near-stoicheiometric oxidation of thiourea had left insufficient thiourea in the solution to complex the gold.

287
Rate control of the dissolution of gold in acidic solutions of thiourea and
formamidine disulphide cannot be ascribed solely to transport processes; this
is shown according to Riddiford (1966) by the curved plot of rate versus w
(Figure 6); the diffusion controlled rate at 1500 r.p.m, should be about twice
as high as that actually measured in practice. This is confirmed by the value
of the activation energy (Ea) (Figure 5), which is slightly larger than would be
expected for a purely diffusion-controUed process (Riddiford, 1952). A
patchy dark grey discolouration of the surface of the gold disk after immersion in these solutions indicated that the presence of a gold sulphide on the
surface of the gold could have been the cause of the slight passivation of the
gold surface in these solutions.
Since thiourea is oxidised readily to formamidine disulphide by hydrogen
peroxide and dissolved oxygen, and since gold dissolved at the same rate into
solutions of thiourea containing these oxidants, it appears as if formamidine
disulphide is the species which functions as oxidant. An exception to this is
iron(III), which in reacting with thiourea, forms an iron(III) thiourea complex
as intermediate which is able to promote the dissolution of gold in thiourea
at a greater rate than is possible with formamidine disulphide; the life of this
intermediate is, however, too short to have industrial application for the dissolution of gold.
Studies on a ground gold ore

All samples of ore used released oxidant into the leach solution in quantities sufficient to dissolve about two thirds of the gold in the ore. If a specimen
of the leached ore sample was filtered under nitrogen, and leached once again
with acidic thiourea under deaerated conditions, virtually no additional gold
was dissolved during the second leach. The remaining amount of formamidine
disulphide required to dissolve the rest of the gold could be generated during
the preparation of the leach liquor by adding hydrogen peroxide, or by passing
gaseous oxygen into the leach liquor at any stage. While the latter technique is
more time-consuming, it has the advantage of oxidising the thiourea without
causing the rapid degradation which ensued when other oxidants such as
hydrogen peroxide and sodium hypochlorite were added to a liquor already
contaminated by iron(II); the latter oxidant immediately oxidised iron(II) to
iron(III), which reacted with the thiourea, causing increased reagent consumption.
During these experiments involving crushed ore samples it was difficult to
estimate the amount of thiourea consumed, because the analytical results for
the determination of the thiourea content of the leach liquors appeared to
be affected somewhat by the presence of dissolved iron. However, by taking
only the results at near-constant levels of iron contamination, it was estimated
that when the leach liquor contained about 0.1 M thiourea, about 0.4 kg of
thiourea was consumed per ton of ore treated; the amount increased to about
1.4 kg of thiourea when the liquor contained 1.0 M thiourea. Much of the

288

decomposition of the thiourea occurred during the preparation of the leach

liquor; the formation of colloidal sulphur was particularly noticeable in the
concentrated solutions of thiourea. The consumption of sulphuric acid was
estimated at a b o u t 0.5 kg of sulphuric acid per t o n of acid-washed ore. The
figures for the consumption of thiourea q u o t e d above compare very favourably
with the results obtained b y Lodeishchikov et al. (1968), w h o reported that
5 kg of thiourea was consumed per t o n of ore leached when iron(III) was
used as oxidant in an acidic solution containing only 0.04 M thiourea.
The value of the solution potential (Ept) can be regarded as a valuable guide
to the efficiency of the dissolution of gold in acidic solutions o f thiourea.
Thus it was found that a solution containing 0.1 M thiourea dissolved gold
rapidly when Ept > 0.16 V, which corresponded to a concentration of formamidine disulphide of a b o u t 0.005 M.
The m a x i m u m rate of dissolution of gold from an ore by means of an
alkaline cyanide solution has been estimated b y Kameda (1949) to be a b o u t
2.54 10 -9 M cm -2 sec -1, which agrees well with the theoretical maximum
rate of 2.16 X 10 -9 M cm -2 sec-' determined b y Lebedev and Kakovskii
(1966) b y means of a rotating gold disk. Under comparable hydrodynamic
conditions a spherical particle of gold of 75 p m diameter in a ground ore
would dissolve completely in a b o u t 40 hours (Kameda, 1949); the time taken
b y the largest gold particle in an ore to dissolve is assumed to be the total
time required to extract the gold from that ore.
In an acidic solution containing 0.1 M thiourea and 0.01 M formamidine
disulphide, the maximum rate of dissolution of gold was a b o u t I 10 -s M
cm -2 sec-'. Assuming the same rate to apply to the dissolution of gold in a
slurry, a particle of gold 75 ~m in diameter would dissolve in a b o u t 8 hours,
and in only one hour if the concentrations of reagents are increased ten-fold.
This agrees with the results shown in Figure 8, where more than 98% of the
gold in the ground ore samples was extracted within one hour.
CONCLUSIONS
The use of acidic solutions of thiourea can be r e c o m m e n d e d only for the
extraction of gold from ore when an extremely high rate of extraction is required; at least 96% of the gold can be extracted within 0.5 hours. The consumption of reagents, however, renders the technique uneconomical when
compared with the conventional cyanidation techniques.
Acidic solutions of thiourea could however well prove to be a non-toxic
and non-corrosive alternative to the cyanide, aqua regia or hydrogenbromide/
bromine treatments currently used in the wet chemical extraction o f gold in
the analytical determination of gold in gold bearing materials, or for the
chemical etching o f gold and gold alloys.

289

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Grateful acknowledgement is due to A. Niinlist and R.W. Quail for the

design and construction of the equipment used in this investigation, and to
Miss L.M.D. Jones and Mrs. H.S. Stenton who were responsible for the experimentation. The permission granted by the Chamber of Mines of South Africa
to publish this paper is also acknowledged.

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