Back to results
US 8,273,237 B2Granted
Method and apparatus for electrowinning copper using an atmospheric leach with ferrous/ferric anode reaction electrowinning
AssigneeFreeport-Mcmoran Corporation
InventorsJohn O. Marsden, James D. Gillaspie, John C. Wilmot
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention relates, generally, to a method and apparatus for recovering metal values from a metal-bearing materials, and more specifically, a process for recovering copper and other metals through leaching, electrowinning using the ferrous/ferric anode reaction, and the synergistic addition of ferrous iron to the leach step.
Claims5
A method of recovering a metal value from an ore, the method comprising:
- providing an ore;
- subjecting said ore to atmospheric leaching to yield a metal bearing slurry comprising said metal value and ferrous iron;
- separating said metal bearing slurry into a metal bearing solution comprising said metal value and a first portion of said ferrous iron and a metal bearing solid comprising a second portion of said ferrous iron;
- recycling at least a portion of said second portion of said ferrous iron to said leaching step;
- extracting said metal value and said ferrous iron from said metal bearing solution to yield a rich electrolyte;
- and
- electrowinning said rich electrolyte by oxidizing said first portion of ferrous iron to ferric iron at an anode of an electrowinning cell and reducing said metal value at a cathode of said electrowinning cell.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.