The harmless treatment process of cyanide-containing gold tailings were used as the subject of study.The Life Cycle Assessment （LCA） method was applied to construct evaluation models for two options to quantitatively assess the environmental load and resource consumption of tailings press washing，filter residue treatment and filtrate treatment.The results show that：（1） The tailings toxicity level in Option 2 is 98.5% lower than that in Option 1，but does not achieve a lower overall environmental impact；（2） The main environmental issue in Option 1 is freshwater ecotoxicity，while the environmental impacts in Option 2 are，in descending order，resource depletion，freshwater ecotoxicity and human toxicity；（3） The Thiocyanide reduction with Fenton and dry stacking of tailings in Option 1 are the main links that affect the overall environment with the dry stacking of tailings contributing over 50% to human non-carcinogenic toxicity and freshwater ecotoxicity，and the cyanide removal with Fenton from tailings in Option 2 is the most central issue in all 14 environmental impact indicators.The large number of chemicals used in both options is a major element of the environmental impact while electrical energy shows low environmental impact.The transfer of environmental impacts from Option 1 to Option 2 occurs in terms of form，volume and linkage.In terms of overall environmental impact，the treatment of tailings can move towards pharmaceutical reduction and the use of clean，environmentally friendly substances.

http://www.goldsci.ac.cn/article/2023/1005-2518/1005-2518-2023-31-5-845.shtml