Abstract
This article presents the behavior of black copper minerals in reducing acid leaching using FeSO4 as reducing agent. The original sample, which was a blend of green and black copper minerals, was treated first by an oxidizing acid leach using O3 to dissolve the soluble phase (green copper oxides). The residue (mainly black copper) was evaluated by agitated leaching under three different solution potentials, with respect to the standard hydrogen electrode (SHE) (450, 500, and 600 mV (SHE)) at 25 °C. The original sample and the leach residue were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The O3 leach residue was 1.43% copper, with 50% of the insoluble phase associated with copper pitch, copper limonites, and unreacted chrysocolla. The results of leaching using FeSO4 demonstrate that it is possible to obtain 90% copper extraction using a solution with a potential of 450 mV, while leaching at 600 mV resulted in 65% copper extraction. Acid consumption was 40 kg/t in the test at 450 mV, followed by 30 kg/t in the 500 mV test, and finally 25 kg/t in the 600 mV test, showing that reactivity decreases with increased solution potential. The results show that retreatment of a leaching residue is possible, considering the presence of copper pitch, copper limonites, and chrysocolla as the main copper contributing minerals. Modeling of copper extraction with nonlinear regression is proposed. The retreatment of residues resulting from conventional acid leaching can be an alternative to make use of the treatment capacity of hydrometallurgical plants.
Highlights
Chile produced 5.83 million metric tons of copper in 2018, making it the leading copper supplier in the world [1]
The results of leaching using FeSO4 demonstrate that it is possible to obtain 90% copper extraction using a solution with a potential of 450 mV, while leaching at 600 mV resulted in 65% copper extraction
The results show that retreatment of a leaching residue is possible, considering the presence of copper pitch, copper limonites, and chrysocolla as the main copper contributing minerals
Summary
Chile produced 5.83 million metric tons of copper in 2018, making it the leading copper supplier in the world [1]. There are numerous challenges to copper production in Chile owing to the location of the deposits and their natural conditions—among them, energy costs, environmental impacts, and water shortages [2,3,4]. According to [1], one of the challenges is decreasing copper production by oxide mineral leaching, resulting in unused installed capacity, which is expected to reach. There is a great opportunity to give continuity to hydrometallurgical facilities through new processes, especially for the treatment of low-grade copper sulfides [5] or non-soluble oxides like black copper ores [6]. Exotic deposits can be found in northern Chile near copper porphyry systems from the Paleogene period, such as Metals 2020, 10, 1012; doi:10.3390/met10081012 www.mdpi.com/journal/metals
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