Gold leaching is an important process to extract gold from ore. Conventional alkaline cyanide process and alternative nontoxic lixiviants including thiosulfate, thiourea, thiocyanate, and halogen have been widely investigated. However, density functional theory (DFT) study on the gold complexes Au(CN)₂⁻, Au(S₂O₃)₂³⁻, Au[SC(NH₂)₂]₂⁺, Au(SCN)₂⁻, and AuCl₂⁻ required for discovering and designing new highly efficient and environmentally friendly gold leaching reagents is lacking, which is expected to support constructive information for the discovery and designation of new high-efficiency and environmentally friendly gold leaching reagents. In this study, the structure information, electron-transferring properties, orbital interaction, and chemical bond composition for complexes Au(CN)₂⁻, Au(S₂O₃)₂³⁻, Au[SC(NH₂)₂]₂⁺, Au(SCN)₂⁻, and AuCl₂⁻ depending on charge decomposition analysis (CDA), natural bond orbital (NBO), natural resonance theory (NRT), electron localization function (ELF), and energy decomposition analysis (EDA) were performed based on DFT calculation. The results indicate that there is not only σ-donation from ligand to Au⁺, but also electron backdonation from Au⁺ to ligands, which strengthens the coordinate bond between them. Compared with Cl⁻, ligands CN⁻, S₂O₃²⁻, SC(NH₂)₂, and SCN⁻ have very large covalent contribution to the coordinate bond with Au⁺, which explains the special stability of Au-CN and Au-S bonds. The degree of covalency and bond energy in Au–ligand bonding decreases from Au(CN)₂⁻, Au(S₂O₃)₂³⁻, Au[SC(NH₂)₂]₂⁺, Au(SCN)₂⁻, to AuCl₂⁻, which interprets the stability of the five complexes: Au(CN)₂⁻ > Au(S₂O₃)₂³⁻ > Au[SC(NH₂)₂]₂⁺ > Au(SCN)₂⁻ > AuCl₂⁻.

In this study, an optimized method was presented for the reverse quartz flotation in iron ore purification where sodium oleate (NaOL) was always selected as the collector due to its accessibility and economic benefits. Three alcohol ethoxylates, octylphenol ethoxylate (OP-10), nonylphenol ethoxylate (NP-10) and fatty alcohol ethoxylates (AEO-9) were introduced to improve the collecting performance of NaOL in the reverse flotation of quartz. It turned out that the addition of alcohol ethoxylates was helpful to increase the recovery of quartz in the flotation with the order of OP-10 > NP-10 > AEO-9. To characterize the adsorption of NaOL on activated quartz in different surfactant systems, Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation (QCM-D) were employed. Furthermore, the contact angles of the quartz surface that interacted with different surfactant systems were measured to investigate the synergy effect of NaOL and alcohol ethoxylates on the hydrophobicity of quartz. It turned out that alcohol ethoxylates promoted the adsorption of NaOL on the activated quartz, resulting in an increase in the hydrophobicity of quartz also in the order of OP-10 > NP-10 > AEO-9, which well explained the flotation results. Regular Solution Theory (RST) and the dilution effect based on the surface tension analysis were utilized to elucidate the synergy mechanism between NaOL and the alcohol ethoxylate.

Hydrogen bonds play an important role in the interaction between surfactants. In this study, the effect of three different ethoxylated alcohols (OP-10, NP-10, AEO-9) on the collecting behavior of sodium oleate (NaOL) in the flotation of quartz was investigated. To explore the mechanism, the hydrogen bond between ethoxylated alcohols and NaOL was analyzed using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The results showed that ethoxylated alcohols promoted the collecting performance of NaOL and reduced the dosage of the activator CaO and the collector NaOL in the flotation of quartz. The Zeta potential measurement illustrated that ethoxylated alcohols promoted the adsorption of OL⁻ on the activated quartz surface and the degree of promotion was in the order of OP-10 > NP-10 > AEO-9. The MD simulation results showed that a hydrogen bond presented between ethoxylated alcohols and OL⁻. Due to the hydrogen bond between the ethoxylated alcohols and OL⁻, the attraction force between OL⁻ and the quartz surface increased with the addition of ethoxylated alcohols in the order of OP-10 > NP-10 > AEO-9 based on the MD simulation results. As the result, the addition of ethoxylated alcohols increased the adsorption density of OL⁻ on the activated quartz surface, which explained the promotion of the collecting performance of OL⁻ in the flotation of quartz.

Kaolinite and quartz are the common gangue minerals found in raw coal; however, their effects on stability of coal froths and subsequent settling of coal flotation products have not been investigated. In this study, in the coal froths batch settling tests, the amount of froth floating on top of water was 275, 325, 355, and 405 mL for coal concentrates generated with 0, 20, 40, and 60 wt % kaolin Q38, respectively, while that was almost the same (300-306 mL) for coal froth concentrates generated with 0, 20, 40, and 60 wt % quartz added in flotation, respectively, which turned out that the kaolinite could increase the stability of coal froth, while quartz could not. To investigate the mechanism, oscillatory rheology and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were applied. The results of the oscillatory rheology suggested that the structural strength in coal froth was strengthened with the addition of kaolinite. In addition, images of Plateau borders by SEM illustrated that the addition of kaolinite in flotation increased the size of Plateau borders and generated network structures in the Plateau borders. However, as a comparison, the addition of quartz did not cause an obvious change for the oscillatory rheology and SEM results of coal froth. Based on the results, it can be concluded that network structures were generated in the Plateau border of coal froth with the addition of kaolinite, which increased its structural strength and retarded the drainage in froth. As a result, the stability of the coal froth increased.

To explore green gold leaching reagents, a series of imidazolium cyanate ionic liquids (ILs), 1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium cyanate ([C₂MIM][OCN]), 1-propyl-3-methyl-imidazolium cyanate ([C₃MIM][OCN]) and 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolcyanate ([C₄MIM][OCN]) were synthesized and characterized by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. In this research, the imidazolium cyanates were utilized as a solute, which not only decreased the usage of ILs but also increased their gold dissolution capability. The gold dissolution performances of three imidazolium cyanates were characterized by dynamic leaching test and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results show that the all three imidazolium cyanates had a gold dissolution ability, and the shorter the carbon chain on the imidazole ring in imidazolium cyanate, the faster the gold dissolution rate. The gold dissolution performance of [C₂MIM][OCN] was the best, and the weight loss of gold leaf was 2.9 mg/cm² at 40 °C after 120 h dissolution in [C₂MIM][OCN] mixed with 10 wt. % water. Besides this, the gold dissolution rate increased with the increase in the concentration of imidazolium cyanates as well as the reaction temperature. The gold dissolution performances of imidazolium cyanates in different solvents including water, acetonitrile, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and dimethylformamide (DMF) were also investigated, and the weaker the polarity of the solvent, the more conducive it was to the gold dissolution reaction. The mechanism of gold dissolution by imidazolium cyanates was investigated through NMR spectroscopy and Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (ESI-MS). It was inferred that during the process of gold dissolution, Au was oxidized to Au⁺ and the imidazolium cations were deprotonated to form N-heterocyclic carbenes, which coordinated with gold to form gold complexes and achieve gold dissolution.