gold processing

Introduction
History
Ores
Mining and concentrating
Extraction and refining
- Amalgamation
- Cyanidation
- Extraction from refractory ores
- Refining
- Refining from scrap
- Assaying
The metal and its alloys
Chemical compounds

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

A worker in safety gear walks beside a conveyor belt carrying ore at the Tanami gold mine in the arid, expansive landscape of the Tanami Desert.

Learn about effects of mercury used in gold mining on drinking water of innocent wildlife in Amazon Basin

Related Questions

How are endogenetic gold deposits processed differently from alluvial deposits?
How are gold and silver recovered from copper-refining slimes?
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Why is lead oxide used in a fire assay for gold?
Why is mercury amalgamation hazardous to workers and the environment?
Why is oxygen added during pressure oxidation of gold sulfide concentrates?
Why is oxygen needed during the cyanidation of gold?

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gold processing

Written by

James Edward Hoffmann

President, Jan H. Reimers and Associates USA Co. (metallurgical consulting engineers), Houston, Texas. Coeditor of the proceedings of The Reinhardt Schumann International Symposium...

James Edward Hoffmann

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Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

gold processing, preparation of the ore for use in various products. For thousands of years the word gold has connoted something of beauty or value. These images are derived from two properties of gold, its colour and its chemical stability. The colour of gold is due to the electronic structure of the gold atom, which absorbs electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths less than 5600 angstroms but reflects wavelengths greater than 5600 angstroms—the wavelength of yellow light....

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