Process for the rapid leaching of chalcopyrite in the absence of catalysts
AssigneeMintek
InventorsAnthony Pinches, Peter J. Myburgh, Charmaine van der Merwe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process is provided for the leaching of copper from chalcopyrite using ferric sulfate in which acceptable rates of leaching are achieved by controlling the surface potential of the chalcopyrite to an empirically determined “window” within the broad range of 350 to 450 mV. The most effective process conditions involve the selection of the said surface potential; the leach temperature; the pH of the leach solution; and the fineness of the grind of the chalcopyrite. The invention may be applied to both tank leaching and heap leaching processes.
Claims7
A process for leaching chalcopyrite to extract copper in a leaching reactor with a leach solution including ferric sulphate in the absence of silver as a catalyst to oxidise the sulphide material, comprising maintaining the surface potential of the chalcopyrite within the range of 350-450 mV measured against a standard Calomel reference electrode by controlling the ferric ion to ferrous ion ratio in the leach solution.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.