PAPER N°4, HydroCopper 2007
WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE COPPER RECOVERY
PROCESS WHEN A NEW GENERATION OF COPPER ORE GET INTO MINNING
PROGRAMS?Sergio Rivera, Ademir Ramirez, Julio Rosales, Arturo Gutierrez, Nicolás Monsalve and Katherine Saldías
Process Department, SKM-MinMetal, Chile
Summary
The current high price of cooper opens the door to several mining projects kept until now under extremely special precautions.
Nowadays those resources in-situ become base reserves which can be economically demonstrated.
The question is what kind of collateral effect can be expected when the so named reserves will be fed to the processes
Copper Process
Mineral able to acidlixiviation inside a porphyry
Oxide Copper ore
A normal concentration of a lixiviation loop
Getting into an anormal situation. The Limit Case
Black Coppers
Akthtensita
Ramsdellita
Hausmannita
Manganita
Braunita
Tenorita
Melaconita (es lo mismo que Tenorita)Paramelaconica(es otro arreglo espacial de la tenorita)
Copper Wad
Neotocita
Apoyo, Crisocola (normal)
Limonitas con Cobre
Delafosita
New mineral (without blackCoppers content)
Salty cake from 25 over saturated raffinate solution
Limita Case, concentration of a lixiviation loop
Ch.
Mine
LINEA OXIDOS : Chancado
Geological Parameters :
- Litology
- Alteration
- Humity
Effect :
- Process Capacity
Relevant: Variable
- Crushing Capacity
LINEA OXIDOS : Aglomeración y curadoGeological Parameters :
- CuT- CuS/CuT
- Analytical consume
- in situ humity
- Clays
- mineralogy
- Litology, alteration and structure
Effect :
- Channels formation
+ Recovery of fines
+ mechanical resistence of glommers
+ Size distribution
- Copper recovery
- Consume of H+
Relevant variable:
- Humity
- Distribution size
- Particle shape factor
- Porosity
- Acid dosification
- Aglommeration time, rotation velocity, scope angle
- Rest time
Aglommeration
LINEA OXIDOS : Lixiviación en Pilas
Effect :
- Cu of PLS
- Process Sustentability
- Consume of H+
- Impurity Concentration in PLS
Relevant variable
- Recovery
- Cu Concentration in PLS
- Impurity Concentration in PLS
- Consume of acid
HeapLeaching
Geological Parameters :
- CuT- CuS/CuT
- Analytical consume
- in situ humity
- Clays
- mineralogy
- Litology, alteration and structure
LINEA OXIDOS : Extracción por Solvente
Geological Parameters :
- Mineralogy of ganga
Effect :
- Electrolyte purity
- Efficiency control
- Residence time
Relevant Variable
- Microscopic material (Coloidal)
- Impurity Concentration
- Viscosity
Solvent Extraction
SX
LINEA OXIDOS : Electrowinning
Geological Parameters :
- Ganga´s Mineralogy
Effect :
- Cathods of high quality
- Energy Consume
Relevant variable
- Amount of impurity: Ar, Fe, Co, Mn, Cl
- Cu Concentration
Electrowinning
EW
RAFFINATE
Al2(SO4)3·18H2O
MgSO4·7H2O
FeSO4·7H2O
PROCESS PurifiedRaffinate *
Is this technically possible?
Natural Evaporation, is not a chance
How the future look like
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