Method for ammoniacal leaching
AssigneeMetaleach Limited
InventorsNicholas J. Welham, Garry M. Johnston, Matthew L. Sutcliffe
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Abstract
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a method for leaching one or more target metals from an ore, the method comprising the method steps of: curing the ore to be leached through the application of an aqueous solution of a curing agent, producing a cured ore; leaching the cured ore at atmospheric pressure through the application of an ammonium carbonate solution containing free ammonia, producing a pregnant leach solution; and passing the pregnant leach solution to a means for metals recovery.
Claims15
A method for leaching one or more target metals from an ore, the method comprising:
- curing the ore to be leached through the application of an aqueous solution of a curing agent at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature to produce a cured ore;
- leaching the cured ore at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature through an application of an ammonium carbonate solution containing free ammonia to produce a pregnant leach solution;
- and
- passing the pregnant leach solution to a metals recovery operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.