Cyanidation is the most widely used technique for gold extraction worldwide. However, its efficiency in gold extraction has decreased due to gold association with base metals such as copper. Copper is known to form different complexes with cyanide depending on the pulp pH. These Cu-CN complexes deplete the pulp of free cyanide, thereby decreasing gold leaching. The study examined the application of diethylenetriamine (DETA) in cyanidation to minimise copper ions effect on gold cyanidation. Leaching tests performed in the presence of copper ions reduced gold recovery from 93% to 15% at a copper sulphate concentration of 1% and increased cyanide consumption by 10%. The introduction of DETA (between 0.2% and 1%) however restored gold recovery back to normal as the baseline without copper ions and also enabled gold extraction at a reduced cyanide strength. Based on the study, DETA could be used during gold–copper cyanide leaching to minimise the copper ion effect and enhance gold extraction.
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