Gold cyanidation
Cianuración del oro
- Date
- 1887 · confidence high
- Place
- Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- John Stewart MacArthur
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
A hydrometallurgical process (the MacArthur-Forrest process) that dissolves gold from low-grade ore using a cyanide solution to form a water-soluble complex, later recovered as metal; it became the dominant method of gold extraction.
What it led to
- profitable exploitation of low-grade gold deposits worldwide
- transformation of industrial gold mining (including the Witwatersrand)
- wide use also in silver extraction after froth flotation
- environmental controversy over large-scale cyanide use in mining