Abstract
The Gold mining generates large volumes of tailings, with consequent disposal and
environmental problems. Iron tends to react with sulphur to form pyrite and pyrrhotite which
then react with rain water forming acid rain. The study focuses on the removal of iron (Fe) from
Gold Mine tailings; Fe was leached using citric acid as a leaching reagent. Three parameters
which have an effect on the removal of Fe from the gold mine tailings, namely; temperature (25 ºC
and 50 ºC), reagent concentration (0.25 M, 0.5 M, 0.75 M and 1 M) and solid loading ratio (20 %, 30
% and 40 %) were investigated. It was found that the recovery of Fe from gold mine tailings
increased with increasing temperature and reagent concentration, but decreased with increasing
solid loading ratio. The optimum conditions for the recovery of Fe from gold mine tailings was
found to be at a temperature of 50 ºC, reagent concentration of 1 M and solid loading of 20 %.
Three linear kinetic models were investigated and Prout- Tompkins kinetic model was the best fit
yielding linear graphs with the highest R2 values.