The extraction of Au(III) from 1.0 mol dm(-3) HCl solutions with the extractant tri-n-dodecylammonium chloride (TLAHCl) impregnated in a polymeric resin XAD-2 has been studied. The results of gold extraction showed that AuCl(3)TLAHCl and AuCl3(TLAHCl)(2) were the extracted species in the resin. There was no loss of extraction resin capacity when thiourea solutions were used as stripping agent. It was also found that the system TLAHCl/XAD-2 can be used to extract selectively gold from solutions containing zinc and copper.