The ore is comminuted using grinding machinery. Depending on the ore, it is sometimes further concentrated by froth flotation or by centrifugal (gravity) concentration. Water is added to produce a slurry or pulp. The basic ore slurry can be combined with a solution of sodium cyanide or potassium cyanide; many operations use calcium cyanide, which is more cost effective.
To prevent the creation of toxic hydrogen cyanide during processing, slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) or soda (sodium hydroxide) is added to the extracting solution to ensure that the acidity during cyanidation is maintained over pH 10.5 - strongly basic.
Lead nitrate can improve gold leaching speed and quantity recovered, particularly in processing partially oxidized ores.