Reaction chemistry of gold leaching in thiourea solution for a Turkish gold ore

This study was carried out on a finely disseminated gold-bearing ore from Kaymaz, Turkey. The main objective was to determine the mechanism of reaction between thiourea and Fe3+ in the thiourea leaching of gold. Thiourea consumption levels were also examined during the leaching operations for different leaching parameters, i.e., molar ratio of ferric sulfate/thiourea, pH, and temperature. The leaching using the thiourea process was compared with cyanidation. In optimum leach conditions, 85.8% gold extraction was obtained with feed of −53 μm particle size in 6 h.