Naslov (eng)

Copper recovery and reduction of environmental loading from mine tailings by high-pressure leaching and SX-EW process

Autor

Godirilwe, Labone L.
Haga, Kazutoshi
Altansukh, Batnasan
Takasaki, Yasushi
Ishiyama, Daizo
Trifunović, Vanja
Avramović, Ljiljana
Jonović, Radojka
Stevanović, Zoran
Shibayama, Atsushi

Opis (eng)

Abstract: The flotation tailings obtained from Bor Copper Mine contain pyrite (FeS2) and chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), these sulfide minerals are known to promote acid mine drainage (AMD) which poses a serious threat to the environment and human health. This study focuses on the treatment of mine tailings to convert the AMD supporting minerals to more stable forms, while simultaneously valorizing the mine tailings. A combination of hydrometallurgical processes of high-pressure oxidative leaching (HPOL), solvent extraction (SX), and electrowinning (EW) were utilized to recover copper from mine tailings which contain about 0.3% Cu content. The HPOL process yielded a high copper leaching rate of 94.4% when water was used as a leaching medium. The copper leaching kinetics were promoted by the generation of sulfuric acid due to pyrite oxidation. It was also confirmed that a low iron concentration (1.4 g/L) and a high copper concentration (44.8 g/L) obtained in the stripped solution resulted in an improved copper electrodeposition current efficiency during copper electrowinning. Moreover, pyrite, which is primarily in the mine tailings, was converted into hematite after HPOL. A stability evaluation of the solid residue confirmed almost no elution of metal ions, confirming the reduced environmental loading of mine tailings through re-processing.

Opis (eng)

Received: 16 July 2021 Accepted: 21 August 2021 Published: 24 August 2021

Jezik

engleski

Datum

2021

Licenca

Ovo delo je licencirano pod uslovima licence
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 - Creative Commons Autorstvo 4.0 International License.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Predmet

Keywords: tailings valorization; high-pressure leaching; copper recovery; acid mine drainage; metal elution

Deo kolekcije (1)

o:179

Institut za rudarstvo i metalurgiju Bor