Activated carbon is used in the gold recovery process to adsorb gold from a solution. It is used to adsorb dissolved gold from gold leaching liquids, to isolated almost pure gold from other dissolved metals. Activated carbon is commonly used to recover gold from cyanide solutions. The process is known as carbon-in-pulp (CIP). The first step is to mix the cyanide solution containing the gold with activated carbon particles. The gold adheres to the activated carbon, which is then removed from the solution. The loaded activated carbon is then separated from the solution and treated with a hot caustic solution. The gold is then recovered from the solution by electrolysis, smelting, or chemical precipitation