The surface area results of the commercially available activated coconut shells are listed in Table 2. These results indicate that the activated coconut shells had the largest micropore area, the largest total internal surface area and the largest total pore volume of the activated carbons tested in this study. The commercially available activated coconut carbons are predominantly activated using steam, which may be responsible for the greater micro-porosity. These results have clearly demonstrated that steam activated coconut carbons have a high adsorption capacity, and hence are extensively used by the Au industry. The presence of a large micropore area and a low meso-pore area indicates that the burn off of volatile components for these activated carbons is between 50% and 75% (Table 2). The significant difference in surface area between the two types of activated carbons presented in Table 2 could be due to several factors employed by the commercial manufacturers of activated coconut shells. These factors include activation temperature, thermal treatment time, gaseous atmosphere (steam and/or CO2) used for activation and the pre-treatment of the carbonised coconut shells with dehydrating agents before activation (Section 2.1).