Description
Sodium Cyanide has been used in the extraction of gold from ore for over a century. Today it is still considered the most efficient extraction method â with sodium cyanide used in the leaching process in most gold mining operations.
Sodium Cyanide is an inorganic compound with the formula NaCN. It is a white, water-soluble solid. Cyanide has a high affinity for metals, which leads to the high toxicity of this salt. Cyanide is very reactive, forming simple salts with alkali earth cations and ionic complexes of varying strengths with numerous metal cations; the stability of these salts is dependent on the cation and on pH.
Sodium Cyanide has been used in the extraction of gold from ore for over a century. Today it is still considered the most efficient extraction method â with sodium cyanide used in the leaching process in most gold mining operations.