Process for the dissolution of copper metal

A continuous process for producing a copper-containing aqueous solution product, said process comprising:

• providing to a continuous reactor in the form of a tower substantially packed with copper mass;
• providing an aqueous leach liquor comprising water, a first concentration of dissolved copper, monoethanolamine, and (HMEA)2CO3, wherein said (HMEA)2CO3 is produced by contacting aqueous monoethanolamine with carbon dioxide, and wherein the temperature of the aqueous leach liquor is maintained at a temperature between 25° C. and 100° C.;
• providing to the continuous reactor air, oxygen, or mixture thereof, and
• contacting the leach liquor with the air, oxygen, or mixture thereof and with the copper mass, thereby causing dissolution of a portion of the copper mass and forming the copper-containing aqueous solution product comprising a second concentration of dissolved copper, wherein the second concentration is higher than the first concentration and is between 100 and 130 grams of dissolved copper per liter, and wherein the copper dissolution rate is between about 3.65 and about 9.27 grams of copper mass dissolved per liter of aqueous leach liquor per hour.

A process for producing a copper-containing aqueous solution product, said process comprising:

• providing to a reactor an initial aqueous leach liquor comprising water, monoethanolamine, and (HMEA)2CO3, wherein said (HMEA)2CO3 is produced by partially carbonating aqueous monoethanolamine;
• providing to the reactor a copper mass, wherein the weight of the copper mass provided to the batch reactor is between 2/3 and 1 grams per ml of aqueous leach liquor provided to the reactor;
• providing to the reactor air, oxygen, or mixture thereof and
• contacting the leach liquor with the air, oxygen, or mixture thereof and with the copper mass, thereby causing dissolution of a portion of the copper mass and forming the copper-containing aqueous solution product, wherein the temperature of the leach liquor is maintained at a temperature between 40° C. and 80° C., wherein the amount of dissolved copper in the copper-containing aqueous solution product is between 100 grains per liter and 130 grams per liter in 12 hours or less.

A process for producing a copper-containing aqueous solution product, said process comprising:

• providing to a reactor an initial aqueous leach liquor comprising water, monoethanolamine, and (HMEA)2CO3, wherein said (HMEA)2CO3 is produced by partially carbonating aqueous monoethanolamine;
• providing to the reactor a copper mass, wherein the copper mass is a three dimensional open network that is immersed in the leach liquor and is permeable to the leach liquor, and wherein the amount of copper mass is such that the height of the copper mass is substantially the same as the height of the top surface of the aqueous leach liquor;
• providing to the batch reactor air, oxygen, or mixture thereof and
• contacting the leach liquor with the air, oxygen, or mixture thereof and with the copper mass, thereby causing dissolution of a portion of the copper mass and forming the copper-containing aqueous solution product, wherein the temperature of the leach liquor is maintained at a temperature between 40° C. and 80° C., wherein the average dissolution rate of copper is at least 17 grams per hour per liter of aqueous leach liquor.