Adhesive Technology Used for Gold Recovery from Placer Deposits

This paper presents an analysis of the results of the gold enrichment process from a gravel deposit using a technological installation equipped with a separator with an adhesive coating. In the separation process, natural waxy substances (patented by Andrzej Ciechulski—Golden Dust) were used as an adhesive coating. Practically, the SFE (Surface Free Energy) of the adhesive substances is the basis of an environmentally accepted enrichment process. Apart from gold, some critical raw materials (CRM) can also be processed from a gravel-type deposit located in the alluvial deposits of the recent rivers and old glacial valleys, which are usually lost in traditional processing of enrichment and purification of gravel and sand. In this work, a new technological installation is presented, equipped with a separator with an adhesive coating. The gold recovery results for the installation industrial operation test were discussed, during which approximately 17 Mg of raw material was processed, recovering over 3.999 g of fine-grained gold. Recovery based on quantitative bulk chemical analysis was calculated close to 90%–95%. The technology can achieve potential for separation of other valuable metals; however, only gold was verified during the tests. The described method is directed at gravel and gold companies dealing with fine, less than 1 mm gold grains, which usually go into clayey waste.