Analyzing the applicability of hydrometallurgical techniques to the Voronezh region ores

Abstract

Copper-nickel sulphide ores serve as the main source of nickel, cobalt and platinum group metals in Russia. The conventional metallurgy of proces sing copper-nickel sulphide concentrates involves producing converter matte and its further refining. Ores found in the Voronezh Region are characterized with high concentrations of arsenic and magnesium, which hinders the application of pyrometallurgical techniques. At the same time, there is a trend in today’s science and industry to develop and adopt hydrometallurgical techniques, and this also applies to copper-nickel sulphide ores. Such techniques enable comprehensive utilization of ore and are environmentally friendly, highly efficient and easily automatable. The paper examines a number of well-known hydrometallurgical techniques for processing copper-nickel sulphide concentrates. Some of them have been implemented in industry and some have been studied by several authors on a laboratory or pilot scale. The most advanced techniques were identified for the ore concentrates obtained from the Voronezh Region ores. Studies were conducted in hydrometallurgical processing of copper-nickel ore concentrates of varying composition, including the copper-nickel concentrates obtained from the Voronezh ores. It is shown that these techniques can potentially be applied to copper-nickel concentrates, including those which have high concentrations of impurities, which would not be acceptable for conventional processing technology. Having analyzed the available solutions, as well as the results of the conducted studies, the authors have come to a conclusion that pressure oxidation leaching would offer the most innovative technology to be applied to the Voronezh Region ores.