Electrochemical Study of Gold Cementation onto Copper

in Thiosulfate Solution

Jaeheon Lee and J. Brent Hiskey

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

100
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona 85721 0
30 ppm
60 ppm
90 ppm
Introduction -100
The hydrometallurgical recovery of gold from thiosulfate
solution by cementation onto copper has been previously

mV (vs. SHE)
-200

investigated (1, 2). There are a number of complexities

associated with this system. To begin with, cementation -300

is performed in complex salt solutions and the

-400
complexing ligand is intrinsically unstable. The deposited
layers have also been found to be a Au-Cu alloy instead
-500
of pure gold (2). To more fully understand the process, a
detailed electrochemical investigation was carried out -600
using a rotating disc electrode and an electrochemical 1E-8 1E-7 1E-6 1E-5 1E-4 1E-3 0.01
2
quartz crystal nanobalance (EQCN). log i(A/cm )

Experimental
Polarization studies were carried out on pure copper and Figure 1 Evans’ diagram for the Au(S2O3)23-/Cu
pure gold disk electrodes. Sodium thiosulfate was used as cementation system as a function of initial gold
a source of thiosulfate at a standard concentration of 0.25 concentration.
M and pH adjusted to 9.5 with the addition of NaOH.
Initial gold concentration was varied between 10 - 100
ppm and dissolved copper changed from 0 to 30 ppm.
Results were obtained with a PARC 273 potentiostat and
an Elchema EQCN 700 system.

Results and Discussion -310

10 ppm
Polarization curves for copper oxidation and Au(S2O3)23- 20 ppm
50 ppm
reduction were superimposed to generate Evans’ diagram -320 100 ppm
under selected conditions. The Evans’ diagram shown in
Figure 1 was constructed for different initial gold -330
Ecorr(mV vs. SHE)

concentrations. The steady state mixed potential values

differ by only 9 mV as the gold concentration increases
from 30 to 90 ppm, whereas, the current density increased -340

noticeably with increasing concentration. Similar

behavior was observed with increasing disk rotation speed -350

and thiosulfate concentration. These results suggest that

gold cementation onto copper in thiosulfate solution is -360
controlled by mass transfer.
-1000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000

Mixed potential was measured as a function of time under Time (s)

various experimental conditions. Variation of mixed

potential with time for copper immersed in different Figure 2 Variation of mixed potential as a function
concentrations of Au(S2O3)23- is depicted in Figure 2. of time for the Au(S2O3)23-/Cu cementation system as
Clearly, passivation of the electrode is shown to be a function of initial gold concentration
sensitive to gold concentration. Dissolved oxygen was
shown to have a pronounced effect on the mixed potential
behavior.

Voltammetry was used in conjunction with an

electrochemical quartz crystal nanobalance to further
investigate the reduction of Au(S2O3)23- under typical
cementation conditions.

References
1. E. Guerra, and D. Dreisinger, Hydrometallurgy, 51 (2),
(1999) 155-172.

2. J. Lee, and J. B. Hiskey, Hydrometallurgy, (2003) in

press.