Abstract
A large amount of severely weathered copper oxide ore is on the surface of Zambian copperbelt, in which the main cupriferous mineral is biotite. To treat this kind of copper oxide ore, thermal treatment and acid leaching is commonly utilized by many local plants, but the copper leaching efficiency is not high, resulting in the loss of copper resource. To solve the problem, enhanced acid leaching by organic intercalation was proposed and studied. The effects of sulfuric acid concentration, temperature, intercalant type and dosage on copper extraction were investigated systematically. The highest Cu extraction rate of 90.5% could be achieved by using CTAB at a dosage of 1.5 × 10−4 mol/L, which increased nearly twenty one percentage points comparing to leaching test without organic intercalant. Leaching tests of weathered copper oxide ore also proved that CTAB was in favor of improving copper recovery. XRD analysis of leaching residue suggested that intercalation with CTAB contributed to the expansion of cupriferous biotite in leaching process, which was in favor of lixiviant entering the interlayer of biotite particles, hence copper leaching efficiency was improved. This method is effective and promising to recover copper as much as possible from this kind of copper oxide ore, and also provides a good reference to recycling valuable metals from phyllosilicate minerals.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
