Mineralogical study and enhanced gravity separation of gold-bearing mineral, South Eastern Desert, Egypt

El-Hudi gold deposit, located in the South Eastern Desert of Egypt, represent large vein- type gold occurrence. The representative sample revealed the abundance of quartz as main constituent with minor amounts of mineral impurities. Gold was detectable (12 g/t) as determined using atomic absorption. The petrographic study revealed that the gold grains ranged from 10-40 mu m. The grain boundaries of quartz are highly stained with iron minerals as hematite and limonite. Sericite mineral is common in discrete gold-bearing veins. Eroded pyrite was detected with high alteration leaving only cubic-shaped cavities behind. Different techniques for gravity separation were used to separate gold from the quartz mineral. After crushing and grinding of the sample, shaking table was used to upgrade the coarser fractions while Falcon concentrator was employed to upgrade the fine fraction. The best concentrate was obtained through grinding the whole sample to less than 0.2 mm, followed by cleaning steps. The gold content is increased from 12 to 145 g/t with total recovery of 78%.