A gold-bearing pyrrhotite ore in Shandong contains 1.60 g Au/t and 1.86% sulfur, belonging to gold-bearing pyrite. The research results of ore properties show that in some part of the ore gold is trapped in pyrrhotitein as the carrier with a mineral content of 0.96%, a gold grade of 8.25 g/t, and a gold distribution rate of 5.25%. The production process still has room for improvement in the recovery of gold minerals with pyrrhotite as the carrier. Thereforefore, a comparative test of recovering gold in pyrrhotite from raw ore and tailings was carried out. The results show that magnetic separation is not suitable for raw ore while gravity separation is not suitable for the recovery of gold-loaded pyrrhotite in tailings. However, for gold-bearing pyrrhotite, effective enrichment can be realized by using the magnetic separation process. Based on the results, the full-size magnetic separation process was selected and tested, producing a gold-bearing pyrrhotite with a gold grade of 1.52 g/t and a sulfur grade of 2.87%. The recovery rates of gold and sulfur were 52.09% and 62.93% from the tailings, respectively, and were 12.27% and 18.56% from the raw ore, suggesting the full-size magnetic separation is an effective process for comprehensive utilization of gold minerals with pyrrhotite as carrier. |