| Summary: | This project consisted of a literature and a laboratory study to investigate
the applicability of an electrochemical model, to the leaching
kinetics of gold ore. The procedure was to get an approximate
measurement of the gold surface potential and then, to use only this
potential and an area term in a two parameter rate expression. The
potential measurements in a pulp, with a gold and gold-silver electrode,
were attempted but, the electrodes became passive. The results
showed that the rate controlling mechanism was a combination of the
rate of both oxygen and cyanide diffusion and it was concluded that
the applicability of an electrochemical model to the leaching kinetics
of gold ore, could not be ruled out. It was found that the leaching
kinetics could be modelled very accurately by using the solution
redox potential, however, no theoretical basis could be found to
explain this observation.
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