MINERÍA la mejor puerta de acceso al sector minero MINERÍA / SEPTIEMBRE 2024 / EDICIÓN 564 45 Abstract Among the multiple technologies that exist today to remove cyanide and heavy metals from mining-metallurgical effluents, there is the so-called natural degradation that many mining companies that have the necessary space to contain high volumes of water can take advantage of and, although it always seems to be an ideal treatment in some cases or situations, it may not be so convenient. When cyanide and heavy metals are present, several stable complexes are formed that can be removed with conventional oxidative methods and advanced oxidation, but others such as iron complexes resist such oxidative attack prevailing and preventing the removal of cyanide especially when the purpose is to use the treated water for irrigation or, discharge to water bodies of ecological protection i.e., categories 3 and 4 respectively, according to DS 004-2017-MINAM. In these effluents, the treatment seeks to precipitate the iron complexes by adding salts that allow such removal. This paper aims to study the chemical behavior of water from tailings of polymetallic ores loaded with cyanides and heavy metals, among others, in order to demonstrate that there is an interesting natural degradation over time, which in general improves the cost-effectiveness of the treatment. The study also shows that the degradation of cyanide generates ammonia and, together with this, complexes formed by heavy metals and organometallic compounds, which has repercussions on the reduction of the kinetics of chemical removal of cyanide by oxidation, making the process more expensive due to the use of more reagents and/or a tertiary treatment such as reverse osmosis, so an alternative treatment for effluents with these conditions has also been evaluated. The Research and Development of Chemical and Metallurgical Processes at Tecsup - Lima, allied with the company Stockholm Mining, has tested different effluents from copper and polymetallic metallurgy in terms of their cyanide strength over time, as well as the concentration of heavy metals to then make balances of pollutants that allow us to see the variations of the main parameters over time and adjust the proposed treatment on that basis. La presente investigación lo que busca es estudiar el comportamiento químico del agua proveniente del relave de minerales polimetálicos cargados de cianuros y metales pesados, entre otros, para así demostrar que sí existe una interesante degradación natural en el tiempo, lo cual en general beneficia a la economía del tratamiento. El estudio también nos hace ver que la degradación del cianuro genera amoniaco y junto con este, complejos formados de metales pesados, así como organometálicos, lo que repercute en la disminución de la cinética de remoción química de cianuro por oxidación, obligando a encarecer el proceso por el uso de más reactivos y/o un tratamiento terciario como ósmosis inversa, por eso se ha evaluado también una alternativa de tratamiento para efluentes con estas condiciones. El área de Investigación y Desarrollo de Procesos Químicos y Metalúrgicos de Tecsup – Lima, y la empresa Stockholm Mining hemos realizado pruebas a diferentes efluentes provenientes de la
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