Underestimation of raw material reserves contained in gold mining waste dumps results in tense socio-economic situation in gold mining regions. Efficient management of gold mine waste is only possible with the new and sound technologies of waste preparation and deep conversion with a view to recovering valuable components. Aimed at creation of such technology, the large-scale theoretical and experimental research has been undertaken in order to study the nature and rate of influence exerted by basic process factors on migration and concentration of gold particles in gold mine waste.

The experimental studies allow determining efficient parameters of a technology meant for formation of pay zones in gold mine waste dumps. The technology is applicable to developing gold mine waste early assumed unprofitable.

Under analysis are suffusion properties of alluvial rocks in the waste dumps formed in the course of surface and underwater mining of natural placers. The authors describe calculation process for one of the main characteristics of suffusion ability of alluvial rocks in the placer mining waste dumps—the maximal diameter of a filtration channel in rocks depending on the ratio of combinations of its typical diameters.

The authors develop the methods for concentration and recovery of dispersed ultrafine gold, including nanogold, in the mining wastes at gold placers by using laser action and chemical reagents.