Sulfuric acid leaching of Igarapé Bahia gold-copper ore for copper extraction — An ore pretreatment for gold recovery by cyanidation

The high copper grade in the Igarape Bahia (Brazil) gold-copper ore restricts the direct application of the classical cyanidation process. Copper oxide and sulfide minerals react with cyanides in solution, causing high leach-reagent consumption, raising processing costs and decreasing gold recovery. According to studies, a feasible solution would be to pretreat the ore to remove copper minerals prior to cyanidation.