The salt itself is often not isolated, but solutions of the dicyanoaurate ion ([Au(CN)2]−) are generated on a large scale in the extraction of gold from its ores.

The reaction for the dissolution of gold, the "Elsner Equation", is: In this process, oxygen is the oxidant.

In fact, sodium cyanide, not the potassium salt, is more widely used in commercial processes.

The potassium ion can be replaced with quaternary ammonium cations as in tetrabutylammonium dicyanoaurate.

[7] The ingestion of gram quantities of potassium dicyanoaurate can lead to death due to gold that inhibits enzyme rhodanese, which the body uses to detoxify cyanide.