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Gold/Mining/Energy : International Precious Metals (IPMCF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: go4it who wrote (32443)	5/27/1998 1:36:00 PM
From: Tim Hall	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 35569

Charles, I doubt this is a reference to desert dirts. They are talking about sulfides. Once sulfide material is weathered loose from its host rock and washed into a placer or alluvial deposit, the sulfide oxidizes to an oxide. This is why you will rarely find pyrite in a stream deposit. It has already been oxidized to black sand, (magnetite, hematite, etc.) If the gold values are in sulfide metal ores of copper, lead, zinc, etc. then they can be recovered through smelting and refining. However since no one smelts iron pyrite to recover the iron, they don't recover the gold. If the pyrite contains enough gold to make it economical, some companies will roast or cook the ore which ozidizes it and makes it possible to recover with typical cyanide leach. Certain micro-organisms are capable of eating sulphur. This research has been going on for over 25 years. The theory is to have the bugs remove the sulfur so that the gold is easier to recover. Gold isn't the only application. They could be used for high-sulfur coal, copper ores, etc. Tim Hall