Processing, smelting and refining gold | World Gold Council
More gold is recovered by cyanidation than by any other process. In cyanidation, metallic gold is oxidised and dissolved in an alkaline cyanide solution. When gold dissolution is complete, the goldbearing solution is separated from the solids. With ores of higher gold content (greater than 20 grams of gold per tonne of ore), cyanidation is accomplished by vat leaching, which involves holding a slurry of ore and