Recovery of nickel and copper from sulphide concentrates by bioleaching
AssigneeBilliton Intellectual Property, B.V.
InventorsDavid William Dew, Deborah Maxine Miller
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Abstract
A process for recovering nickel and copper from a concentrate which includes the steps of subjecting the concentrate to a treatment phase to produce a first leach solution which contains predominantly copper and a second leach solution which contains predominantly nickel, subjecting the first leach solution to a process for copper recovery which includes a solvent extraction step to produce a raffinate which is high in sulphuric acid, recycling at least a portion of the raffinate to the aforementioned treatment phase and subjecting the second leach solution to a process for nickel.
Claims7
A process for recovering nickel and copper from a concentrate which includes the steps of:
- (a) biologically leaching at a temperature of from 40° C. to 55° C. predominantly nickel from the concentrate into solution;
- (b) recovering nickel from said solution produced in step (a) by solvent extraction;
- (c) biologically leaching at a temperature in excess of 65° C. predominantly copper, in the form of a chalcopyrite, from said concentrate into solution;
- and
- (d) recovering copper and a raffinate, which contains sulfuric acid, from said solution produced in step (c) by solvent extraction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.