Characterization of Goldstrike ore carbonaceous material

Minerals & Metallurgical Processing - Tập 16 - Trang 37-43 - 1999
J. F. Stenebråten1, W. P. Johnson1, D. R. Brosnahan2
1Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
2Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc., Elko, USA

Tóm tắt

Carbonaceous materials (CM) from ores of varying preg-robbing activity from Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc. (BGMI), Nevada, were characterized in terms of their functional group contents, hydrocarbon contents, elemental compositions and humic acid contents. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analyses did not show the presence of hydrocarbons orcarboxylic, phenolic or suljhydrol functionalities. The FT-IR bands present included C=C stretching in aromatic rings and C-O-C stretching, indicating the presence of oxygen as ether linkages or thiocarbonyl functionality in the carbon matrix. Calculated atomic oxygen to carbon (O/C) ratios did not reveal a trend between the maturity of the CM and the preg-robbing behavior, possibly due to the low resolution inherent in electron microprobe analyses. However, the atomic O/C ratios agree with other chemical analyses, indicating that the organic carbon is very mature, similar to or higher than anthracite grade coal. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance analyses corroborated the relatively featureless character of the carbon, indicating that the carbon structure is virtually completely aromatic (graphitic).

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