Retention and elution of precious metals on cyano-modified solid phase microparticle sorbent

We report on a study on the retention and elution of ions of the precious metals Au, Ir, Pd, Pt, Rh and Ru, sometimes in the presence of ions of the nonprecious elements Co, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Te. A commercial cyano-modified microparticle-based solid phase was used as a sorbent and hydrochloric acid in various concentrations for sample solution and elution. Only Au and Pd (in the form of their chloro complexes) were retained, and Au is found to have a much higher affinity for the sorbent compared to Pd. In addition to the affinity of the metal towards the functional groups, the retention behavior of the precious metals seems to be mainly influenced by steric factors of their respective chloro complexes. Elution with 7.5 M HCl does not require the addition of organic eluent as required in other cases. The method can separate Au or both Au and Pd, from hydrochloric acid solutions containing ions of other precious metals or nonprecious elements. The sorbent was applied to recover gold from a mineral digest containing large amounts of metals such as Fe, Pb, Te, Cu, Ni and Zn.