science

International Cyanide Management Code

International Cyanide Management Code is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand International Cyanide Management Code rather than just read about it. In short: The International Cyanide Management Code for the Manufacture, Transport and Use of Cyanide in the Production of Gold, commonly referred to as the Cyanide Code, is a voluntary program designed to assist the global gold and silver mining industries and the producers and transporters of cyanide used in gold and silver mining in improving cyanide management practices and to publicly demonstrate their compliance with th…

Key takeaways

International Cyanide Management Code belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect International Cyanide Management Code to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of International Cyanide Management Code from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The International Cyanide Management Code for the Manufacture, Transport and Use of Cyanide in the Production of Gold, commonly referred to as the Cyanide Code, is a voluntary program designed to assist the global gold and silver mining industries and the producers and transporters of cyanide used in gold and silver mining in improving cyanide management practices and to publicly demonstrate their compliance with the Cyanide Code through an independent and transparent process. The Cyanide Code is intended to reduce the potential exposure of workers and communities to harmful concentrations of cyanide‚ limit releases of cyanide to the environment‚ and enhance response actions in the event of an exposure or release. The Cyanide Code was one of the earliest standards and certification programs developed for the minerals sector. Today, it is among the most established certification programs in the mining industry.

As a result, the Cyanide Code has been used as a model in the development of other standards initiatives, including the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management. The program's audit process and the transparency of audit results set it apart from other voluntary industry programs.

Cyanide in gold mining Cyanide is a general term for a group of chemicals containing carbon and nitrogen. Cyanide compounds include both naturally occurring and human-made chemicals. In nature, cyanide is present naturally in plants including bitter almonds, apples, peaches, apricots, lima beans, barley, sorghum, flaxseed and bamboo shoots. Some scientists suggest that the reason why these plants contain cyanide, which can be toxic, is that evolution has designed them to discourage insects from feasting on them. Although cyanide can be toxic to humans, eating cyanide-containing foods generally is not harmful because cyanide is present in very low amounts, is often contained in seeds which are discarded, or is washed away when the food is prepared. Cyanide can be acutely toxic to humans, other mammals and aquatic species, as it interferes with oxygen utilization. Cyanide does not bioaccumulate, and a non-lethal dose is metabolized in the body. Cyanide is not carcinogenic, teratogenic or mutagenic. Cyanide comes in many forms including hydrogen cyanide (HCN), cyanogen chloride (CNCl), and salts such as sodium cyanide (NaCN) or potassium cyanide (KCN). In manufacturing, cyanide is used to make paper, textiles, and plastics. Cyanide salts are used in metallurgy for electroplating, metal cleaning, and removing gold from its ore. Cyanide gas is used to exterminate pests and vermin in ships and buildings. Cyanide is a basic building block for the chemical industry. About 80% of global cyanide production is used to synthesize a wide range of industrial organic chemicals such as nylon and acrylics. It is estimated that less than 20% of manufactured cyanide is used in mineral processing in the form of sodium cyanide. Sodium cyanide has been used in gold mining since 1887 because it is one of only a few chemical reagents that will dissolve gold in water. This allows the efficient extraction of gold from low grade ore. Commercial gold mining operations use very dilute solutions of sodium cyanide, typically in the range of 0.01% and 0.05% cyanide (100 to 500 parts per million). Cyanide should be strictly controlled on mine sites, and proper management requires that certain precautions be taken to limit worker exposure and to prevent chemical solutions containing cyanide from entering the environment. The most-used process of removing gold from ore is through leaching. In the leaching process, sodium cyanide is dissolved in water where, under mildly oxidizing conditions, it dissolves the gold contained in the crushed gold ore. The resultant gold-bearing solution is called 'pregnant solution.' Either zinc metal or activated carbon is then added to the pregnant solution to recover the gold by removing it from the solution. There are two main leaching methods for gold extraction using cyanide. The first is 'heap' leaching in which the dilute cyanide solution is sprayed on large piles or heaps of coarse gold ore. The solution percolates through the pile dissolving the gold and the pregnant solution is then collected. This method is mainly used for ore with lower concentrations of gold. The other method is 'vat' leaching in which the process is similar but the gold ore is finely ground and leaching takes place in a tank or vat. Vat leaching is used mainly for ores with higher concentrations of gold due to the cost of milling the ore to a very small particle size. Alternative lixiviant (leaching) chemicals to cyanide (for example thiourea, sodium bromide) have been investigated for many years, but they are generally less effective and/or economical than cyanide, and they also present environmental risks that can be greater than cyanide. Because cyanide is toxic if not properly handled, its use is highly regulated in most countries. Despite regulatory and voluntary safeguards, however, some jurisdictions have banned its use in gold mining. These include Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Hungary. Several provinces in Argentina also prohibit the use of cyanide in mining. In the U.S., the state of Montana has taken action to ban cyanide in gold production.

History

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with International Cyanide Management Code

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what International Cyanide Management Code claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to International Cyanide Management Code before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about International Cyanide Management Code ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of International Cyanide Management Code

In research: International Cyanide Management Code appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses International Cyanide Management Code in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: International Cyanide Management Code is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2002 introductions, Cyanides, Environmental standards, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for International Cyanide Management Code outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study International Cyanide Management Code in 20 minutes

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Close the page and write down what International Cyanide Management Code means in your own words.
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Frequently asked questions

What is International Cyanide Management Code in simple terms?

Why does International Cyanide Management Code matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study International Cyanide Management Code?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on International Cyanide Management Code.