Abstract
Multivariate models are a useful tool when studying the effects of independent variables on one or more dependent variables, since this approach allows modeling of the dynamics of complex systems based on simple analytical models with considerable certainty. Due to the decrease in the copper oxide mineral grades, leaching of copper sulfide minerals (secondary sulfides) has positioned itself as a benchmark of operation for the Chilean mining industry. The present work proposes the study of the effects of sulfuric acid, chloride concentration and time on the extraction of copper from sulfuric minerals (chalcocite), considering an experimental design, the surface optimization methodology and the adjustment of a quadratic model. The experimental data were adjusted by multiple regression analysis and were statistically analyzed. A model was developed to represent the copper extraction from the Cu2S mineral as a function of the statistically significant variables (chloride concentration and time) that contribute to explain the variation of the response variable under the set of parameters sampled.
Highlights
Chile is the main copper exporter in the world [1,2,3] and it is the country with the largest copper reserves [4]
Under normal pressure and temperature conditions, chloride concentration and time have a synergistic effect on the extraction of copper from chalcocite, while the sulfuric acid concentration has little influence on the extraction percentage
The highest extraction yields were obtained at higher chloride concentrations and at the last sampling time tested (9 h)
Summary
Chile is the main copper exporter in the world [1,2,3] and it is the country with the largest copper reserves [4]. There is a clear need in the country to generate new initiatives and/or technologies to stop the recession in the growth of this industry in last years. Among the main factors that affect the level of the country's mining are a decrease in mineral grades in the deposits [5,6], increase in treatment costs for new minerals to be processed (secondary and primary sulfides) and aging of mineral deposits [7,8,9,10]. Exploitation of mining worksites in Chile was carried out mainly by the hydrometallurgical route for the treatment of oxidized copper minerals. In large copper mining, oxidized minerals are increasingly becoming scarce, where it is projected that they will decrease from approximately 30 % today to 12 % in 2027 [11]
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