National University of Science and Technology MISiS (Russia):

Krylova L. N., Ph. D. in Engineering Sciences, Leading Researcher, krulov@yandex.ru

Moshchanetskiy P. V., Postgraduate, Leading Engineer, pahar-tuk@mail.ru

Shirinya N. V., Student, shirinya@bk.ru

A rebellious sulfide copper-zinc middling, containing 1.5 % copper, 14.7 % zinc and 37.2 % iron, obtained in flotation of pyritic ore, typical for the Urals deposits, was subjected to a study by means of leaching in sulfuric acid solution with application of environmentally-friendly oxidizers — iron ions (III) and hydrogen peroxide — by the method of acute experiments and in a vibratory agitator. Relationships regarding metals recovery into solution and solid phase yield with respect to sulfuric acid concentration, zinc and iron (II) and (III) ions concentration, addition of hydrogen peroxide, slurry density, duration of leaching were established. It is shown that decrease of zinc concentration in leaching solution to less than 5 g/l and preliminary ultrasonic treatment of middling slurry result in increase of zinc recovery into solution by 3–4 %. As a result of the studies, the copper-zinc middling leaching regimes and parameters were developed: temperature — 65–70 °С, slurry density S : L = 1 : 10 – 1 : 4, duration — 10–13 hr with application of sulfuric acid solution with 10–12 g/l concentration in presence of iron ions (III) with concentration over 5–10 g/l and their regeneration by means of hydrogen peroxide addition. With middling leaching into solution, 91–98 % of zinc is recovered, and so is 16–45 % of copper, with solid phase yield being up to 29–32 %, with that, zinc mass fraction in leaching cake is decreased to 1–2 %, copper mass fraction is increased to 1.9–2.6 % — copper is concentrated in leaching cake by ~1.3–2.3 times. Chalcopyrite, liberated from aggregates with other minerals, may be recovered into a commercial product from leaching cake in copper flotation cycle, zinc sulfate solution with zinc concentration up to 32 g/l, obtained in leaching, may be used as a flotation reagent.

The studies were performed with the aid of the Institute of the Comprehensive Exploitation of Mineral Resources of the Russian Academy of Sciences Grant (Project No. 14-37-00050).

1. Emelyanenko E. A. Monitoring of subsystems of Urals type copper-pyrite deposits processing. Usloviya ustoychivogo funktsionirovaniya mineralno-syryevogo kompleksa Rossii (Terms of Russian mineral resources complex stable functioning). Moscow, Gornaya kniga, 2014, Iss. 2, pp. 111–132.
2. Boduen A. Ya., Ivanov B. S., Perfilyeva M. A. Autoclave chemical processing of low grade sulphide copper concentrates. Tsvetnyye metally — 2011. Sbornik dokladov Mezhdunarodnogo kongressa (Non-ferrous Metals — 2011. Proceedings of International congress). Krasnoyarsk, 2011, pp. 338–341.
3. Chanturiya V. A., Vaisberg L. A., Kozlov A. P. Promising trends in investigations aimed at all-round utilization of mineral raw materials. Obogashchenie Rud = Mineral Processing, 2014, No. 2, pp. 3–9.
4. Voronin D. Yu. Issledovaniye i razraboka tekhnologii bakterialnogo vyshchelachivaniya medno-tsinkovykh promproduktov pri obogashchenii upornykh sulfidnykh rud. Avtoreferat dissertatsii … kandidata tekhnicheskikh nauk (Research and development of technology of copper-zinc intermediate products bacterial leaching at refractory sulfide ores processing. Author’s abstract of Ph. D. dissertation). Мoscow, 2000, 26 pp.
5. Krylova L. N., Vigandt K. A., Sarukhanova L. E., Adamov E. V., Zheng Zhi Hong. Advantages and disadvantages of application of technologies of biooxidation of sulphide concentrates. Tsvetnye Metally = Non-ferrous Metals, 2013, No. 11, pp. 29–34.
6. Pat. 3959436 USA. Watts J. C. Process for leaching sulfide minerals. Publ. 25.05.1976.
7. Adebayo A. O., Ipinmoroti K. O., Ajayi O. O. Leaching of sphalerite with hydrogen peroxide and nitric acid solutions. J. Miner. Mater. Charact. Eng., 2006, No. 5, pp. 167–177.
8. Nooshabadi А. J., Rao K. H. Formation of hydrogen peroxide by sulphide minerals. Hydrometallurgy, 2014, No. 141, pp. 82–88.
9. Koleini S. M. J., Aghazadeh V., Sandström A. Acidic sulphate leaching of chalcopyrite concentrates in presence of pyrite. J. Miner. Eng., 2011, No. 24, p. 381.
10. Arsentyev V. A., Vaisberg L. A., Ustinov I. D. Trends in development of low-water-consumption technologies and machines for finely ground mineral materials processing. Obogashchenie Rud = Mineral Processing, 2014, No. 5, pp. 3–9.
11. Filippova N. A., Shkrobot E. P., Vasilyeva T. N. Analiz rud tsvetnykh metallov i produktov ikh pererabotki (Analysis of nonferrous ores and products). Moscow, Metallurgiya, 1980, 224 pp.
12. Akselrud G. A., Molchanov A. D. Rastvoreniye tverdykh veshchestv (Solids dissolution). Moscow, Khimiya, 1977, 262 pp.