The new gold recovery process is based on ammonium cyanide leaching. Gold is extracted four to eight times faster this way.

Scientists of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys have developed a method of extracting gold, which saves 40 percent of the costs for this process. In addition, the new method accelerates the speed of extracting gold from ore four to eight times. This is reported by the press service of the institute.

"The cost price of one ounce of gold obtained with the technology of direct cyanidation from similar ores reaches $ 800, which is economically unprofitable provided that an ounce of gold costs $ 1200 on the exchange. Using the technology developed by scientists of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, the production cost is reduced by 30-40 percent. The new gold extraction process is based on ammonium cyanide leaching, so gold is extracted four to eight times faster”, - the report said.

Developed by Russian scientists jointly with Chinese colleagues, the process of extracting gold from oxidized copper-containing ores reduces the negative impact of copper on the extraction of the target component. Therefore, the consumption of reagents for technological operations on separating metal compounds is reduced compared to the traditional technology of gold extraction, such as direct cyanidation.

Experimental trials of the new technology have been conducted at the gold ore deposit of Taror in Tajikistan. Its upper horizons contain a lot of copper, which they could not get rid of by applying various methods. However, the technology based on ammonia cyanidation has managed to solve this task. In addition, scientists have reduced the number of hours needed to extract gold from the Taror and Bereznyakovskoye (Chelyabinsk Region) gold deposits, from 100-120 to 14-18.

According to scientists of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, the method developed by them can be applied to all ore deposits in Russia. Moreover, with the help of ammonia cyanidation technology it is possible to recover gold from electronic scrap and computer equipment.