Gold Ore Mining Methods and Examples

Gold is not only a special currency for investment and reserve but also an important industrial raw material required by various industries such as jewelry, electronics, and aerospace. With the rapid development of industry and finance, gold production has received close attention and achieved rapid growth.

Gold is not only a special currency for investment and reserve but also an important industrial raw material required by various 

industries such as jewelry, electronics, and aerospace. With the rapid development of industry and finance, gold production has 

received close attention and achieved rapid growth.

As the grade of raw ore decreases, the requirements for the technical level of gold ore dressing are increasingly high. In recent 

years, new processes, technologies, and equipments have been continuously developed and put into gold ore mining production, 

improving both the mining processes and production indicators of gold mines.

We have long been committed to the R&D and innovation of gold ore dressing processes, technologies, and equipments, with 

rich experience in industrial projects, enabling us to provide you with reliable equipments and technical services. Then let’s learn 

about several common gold ore mining processes.

I. Gravity Separation for Gold

Due to gold’s high specific gravity, gravity separation is the most commonly used method for gold recovery. It is also often used 

in combination with other mining methods to process various types of gold ores. Placer gold is basically processed using gravity separation.

In gravity separation plants, common gravity separation equipments mainly includes shaking tables, jig machines, and spiral chutes.

1) Shaking Table：The 6S shaking table can be used for different operations such as roughing, cleaning, and separating.

2) Sawtooth Wave Jig Mahcine: With its large processing capacity, wide separation particle size range, and simple operation and maintenance, 

it is widely used in the separation of various metal minerals such as gold, iron, titanium, tungsten, and manganese.

II. Cyanide Leaching for Gold

Cyanide leaching is one of the main methods for gold recovery. It has the advantages of high recovery rate, strong adaptability to ores, and on-site gold production, thus being widely applied. Cyanide leaching for gold can be divided into two types: tank leaching (agitated leaching) and heap leaching (percolation leaching).

1) Tank Leaching

Agitated leaching involves thickening and dewatering the slurry after grinding and classification to a suitable concentration, then adding a cyanide solution, followed by stirring and aeration for leaching.

2) Heap Leaching

Low-grade gold-bearing ores are stacked on an impermeable mat. A low-concentration alkaline cyanide solution is sprayed over the ore heap to dissolve the gold. The gold-containing solution percolates out of the heap and is then processed to recover gold using methods such as activated carbon adsorption or zinc powder cementation precipitation.

Heap leaching is divided into two forms: spray leaching and drip leaching. In spray leaching, sprinklers usually spray the 

solution delivered by the pipeline system into the air through nozzles, creating a rain-like effect that falls on the surface 

of the ore heap. 

The drip leaching system at the customer’s heap leaching site, similar to drip irrigation in plant watering, involves close-range, 

small-area infiltration.

III. Flotation Separation

The flotation method is widely used to process various lode gold ores. It is particularly effective in processing sulfide gold-bearing ores with high floatability.

Flotation can maximally enrich gold into sulfide mineral concentrates, facilitating the early discarding of tailings and reducing dressing costs. In addition, flotation is often used to process polymetallic ores, enabling efficient and comprehensive utilization of mineral resources.