Polyvinyl alcohol agglomeration agents for mineral bearings ores
AssigneeBetz Laboratories, Inc.
InventorsDavid M. Polizzotti, Donald C. Roe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An agglomerating agent for use in the heap leaching of mineral bearing ores is disclosed. The agglomerating agent is a polyvinyl alcohol of moderate to high molecular weight which is partially or fully hydrolyzed. The polyvinyl alcohol agglomerating agent can be used alone or in combination with cement or lime in acidic or alkaline heap leaching operations.
Claims7
In a process for percolation leaching of minerals from a mineral bearing ore wherein the ore is first agglomerated with an agglomerating agent, formed into a heap and then leached by percolating a leaching solution through the heap which extracts the minerals from the agglomerated ore for subsequent recovery, the improvement in which said agglomerating agent comprises an about 90 to 99+% hydrolyzed nonionic polyvinyl alcohol having a molecular weight of from about 50,000 to about 150,000.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.