there are many ways to skin a cat.... the heap leaching of complex sulphide ores has been advancing on many fronts for a considerable period of time....
For the gold sector, results of this test work indicate that pyrite can be readily leached mechano-chemically at more moderate temperatures and pressures than those used in existing refractory ore treatment options.
im-mining.com
Getting more out of copper, zinc and gold resources
Posted by John on 29th October 2018
In an effort to improve leach kinetics and recoveries of primary copper concentrates, minerals process solutions provider FLSmidth developed the Rapid Oxidative Leach (ROL) process – capable of attaining over 97% copper dissolution in less than six hours under atmospheric conditions. This technology has been reported extensively in the pages of International Mining magazine, including in the soon-to-be-published November heap leaching, ISR and SX feature.
This advance is particularly significant as the life cycle of many copper orebodies sees the mineralogy transitioning from oxides to secondary and primary sulphides, which have decreasing ore grades and are more difficult to process. These operations need cost efficient leach processes to maintain their copper production, and also to take advantage of newly discovered orebodies, especially those containing arsenic-rich minerals like enargite.
In the FLSmidth ROL process, a simple way has been found to leach copper sulphide concentrates, with chalcopyrite as the predominant copper-bearing mineral, at 85 to 95°C and under atmospheric pressure. At a pilot plant facility at FLSmidth’s technology centre in Salt Lake City, USA, over 250 batch leach tests have been completed in 10 and 100 litre reactors, using copper concentrates from over thirty different sources. |
