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Conflict of Interest: In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Publication history: Received January 27, 2009
Accepted April 29, 2009

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Recovery of copper values from bio-heap leaching of low grade Malanjkhand chalcopyrite ore

Lala Behari Sukla^† Kailash Chandra Nathsarma Joystna Rani Mahanta Sradhanjali Singh Snehasis Behera Karanam Srinivas Rao Tondepu Subbaiah Barada Kanta Mishra

Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (CSIR), Formerly Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar-751 013, Orissa, India

Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, November 2009, 26(6), 1668-1674(7), 10.1007/s11814-009-0271-y

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Abstract

M/S Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL), India generates large amounts of lean sulfide ores of copper. The current production of lean copper ores in India is 0.55 million tons with ~0.3% average copper content. Heap-bioleaching of the lean copper ores in 15 and 30 ton scales was undertaken at IMMT, Bhubaneswar. The leaching study showed 0.09% dissolution of copper from the ore body per day. The leach liquor was processed through solvent extraction and_x000D_ electrowinning. Extraction of copper from the actual leach liquor was carried out with 1.5% LIX 622N in kerosene with zero co-extraction of iron. The copper-free raffinate was fed back to the leaching unit. Stripping of copper from the loaded organic was carried out with 180 kg/m3 H2SO4. The copper pregnant electrolyte was passed through a carbon column to make it free from entrained organic and was fed to the electrowinning unit. The increase in current efficiency was due to the increase in the concentration of electrolyte. The energy consumption was 1.7 kWh/kg at a flow rate of 4.5 L/h. Smooth and bright sheets of copper of 99.99% purity were obtained.

Keywords

Lean Copper Ore Bio-heap Leaching Solvent Extraction and Electrowinning

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