TY - JOUR
T1 - Sustainable gold extraction from ore and electronic waste
AU - Mann, Maximilian
AU - Nicholls, Thomas P.
AU - Patel, Harshal D.
AU - Lisboa, Lynn S.
AU - Pople, Jasmine M.M.
AU - Pham, Le Nhan
AU - Worthington, Max J. H.
AU - Smith, Matthew R.
AU - Yin, Yanting
AU - Andersson, Gunther G.
AU - Gibson, Christopher T.
AU - Esdaile, Louisa J.
AU - Lenehan, Claire E.
AU - Coote, Michelle L.
AU - Jia, Zhongfan
AU - Chalker, Justin M.
PY - 2025/8
Y1 - 2025/8
N2 - Gold plays an essential role in the global economy and has wide applications in various industrial technologies. Currently, the gold supply relies heavily on mining processes that employ toxic substances such as cyanide salts and mercury metal, leading to substantial environmental pollution. Gold extraction approaches that do not rely on cyanide and mercury are needed to improve the overall sustainability of gold production. Here we develop an approach for gold leaching and recovery from ore and electronic waste. This approach first uses trichloroisocyanuric acid, activated by a halide catalyst, to oxidatively dissolve gold metal from ore and electronic waste, and then applies a polysulfide polymer sorbent to selectively bind gold from the leachate. The gold can be recovered in high purity by pyrolysing or depolymerizing the sorbent. The efficacy of this approach in gold extraction was validated using ore, electronic waste and other gold-containing waste. Overall, this work provides a viable approach to achieve greener gold production from both primary and secondary resources, improving the sustainability of the gold supply.
AB - Gold plays an essential role in the global economy and has wide applications in various industrial technologies. Currently, the gold supply relies heavily on mining processes that employ toxic substances such as cyanide salts and mercury metal, leading to substantial environmental pollution. Gold extraction approaches that do not rely on cyanide and mercury are needed to improve the overall sustainability of gold production. Here we develop an approach for gold leaching and recovery from ore and electronic waste. This approach first uses trichloroisocyanuric acid, activated by a halide catalyst, to oxidatively dissolve gold metal from ore and electronic waste, and then applies a polysulfide polymer sorbent to selectively bind gold from the leachate. The gold can be recovered in high purity by pyrolysing or depolymerizing the sorbent. The efficacy of this approach in gold extraction was validated using ore, electronic waste and other gold-containing waste. Overall, this work provides a viable approach to achieve greener gold production from both primary and secondary resources, improving the sustainability of the gold supply.
KW - Green chemistry
KW - Polymer chemistry
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105009055390&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DE150101863
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP200100090
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP210100025
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP230100587
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/LP200301660
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/LP200301661
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/FT220100054
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DE250100525
U2 - 10.1038/s41893-025-01586-w
DO - 10.1038/s41893-025-01586-w
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105009055390
SN - 2398-9629
VL - 8
SP - 947
EP - 956
JO - Nature Sustainability
JF - Nature Sustainability
IS - 8
ER -
