Method of Processing a Pyrite-Containing Slurry
AssigneeRio Tinto Technological Resources Inc.
InventorsAdam James Burley, Javiera del Pilar Alcayaga Zuñiga, Yure Anton Mladinic Muñoz
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Abstract
A method of processing a pyrite-containing slurry including removing pyrite from the pyrite-containing slurry and forming (i) an inert stream and (ii) a pyrite-containing material. Using the pyrite-containing material in a downstream leach step in which pyrite in the pyrite-containing material generates acid and heat that facilitates leaching a metal, such as copper or nickel or zinc or cobalt, from a metal-containing material.
Claims19
A method of removing copper from a low-grade copper-containing material having copper sulfide minerals comprising
- (a) obtaining a pyrite-containing slurry from a tailings dam or directly from a tailings stream of an ore processing plant;
- (b) removing pyrite from the pyrite-containing slurry by floating pyrite-containing particles and forming
- (i) an inert stream and
- (ii) a pyrite-containing material including pyrite-containing particles;
- (c) mixing a low-grade copper-containing material having copper sulfide minerals with the pyrite-containing material and forming agglomerates, and
- (d) leaching copper from the copper-containing material in the agglomerates from step (c) with a leach liquor and microbes,
- wherein the pyrite in the pyrite-containing material generates acid and heat that facilitates leaching copper from the copper-containing material, and wherein the microbes oxidize ferrous iron to ferric iron.
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A method of removing copper from a low-grade copper-containing material having copper sulfide minerals comprising:
- (a) obtaining a pyrite-containing slurry from a tailings dam or directly from a tailings stream of an ore processing plant;
- (b) removing pyrite from the pyrite-containing slurry by floating pyrite-containing particles and forming (i) an inert stream and (ii) a pyrite-containing material that includes pyrite-containing particles, including selecting operating conditions so that pyrite particles have a required particle size distribution for leaching step (d);
- (c) mixing a low-grade copper-containing material having copper sulfide minerals with the pyrite-containing material and forming agglomerates, and
- (d) leaching copper from the copper-containing material in the agglomerates from step (c) with a leach liquor and microbes,
- wherein the pyrite in the pyrite-containing material generates acid and heat that facilitates leaching copper from the copper-containing material, and
- wherein the microbes oxidize ferrous iron to ferric iron.
A method of removing copper from a low-grade copper-containing material having copper sulfide minerals comprising:
- (a) obtaining a pyrite-containing slurry from a tailings dam or directly from a tailings stream of an ore processing plant;
- (b) removing pyrite from the pyrite-containing slurry by the steps of separating larger particles from the remaining pyrite-containing slurry, reducing the size of the larger particles in a size reduction circuit and returning the reduced-sized particles to the size separation step, and floating pyrite-containing particles in the remaining slurry and forming (i) an inert stream and (ii) a pyrite-containing material, including selecting operating conditions so that pyrite particles have a required particle size distribution for leaching step (d);
- (c) mixing a low-grade copper-containing material having copper sulfide minerals and the pyrite-containing material and forming agglomerates, and
- (d) leaching copper from the copper-containing material in the agglomerates from step (c) with a leach liquor and microbes,
- wherein the pyrite in the pyrite-containing material generates acid and heat that facilitates leaching copper from the copper-containing material, and
- wherein the microbes oxidize ferrous iron to ferric iron.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.