The adsorption of cyanide-containing species on gold electrodeposits from alkaline solutions of potassium cyanide was studied by the radioactive labelling (C-14) method. In the potential E region in which gold does not dissolve or the dissolution rate is comparatively low (approximately up to -0.2 V(SHE)), the adsorption Gamma shows little variation with the nature of the supporting electrolyte (0.1 M KOH, 0.1 M K3PO4 and 0.1 M K2HPO4) and the concentration of KOH (from 0.001 to 0.1 M). In this potential region the plots of Gamma vs. logarithm of cyanide concentration are essentially linear and significant hysteresis is observed on the positive and negative going Gamma vs. E plot. A peak of the surface concentration of the cyanide-containing species is observed on the positive going branch of the Gamma vs. E plot in the potential region where the formation of Au(III) compounds takes place. In the original Kazarinov electrode lowering method, the background radiation was reduced to about 95% of the original signal.