Copper oxide gold ores

Copper oxide gold ores. Although this ore type is not abundant, they are of significant value because they contain gold. Only a few deposits in Brazil and Australia are known. The copper in these ores is represented by cuprite, native copper, antlerite and tenorite. The gold is associated with cuprite, as an auricupride and several sulphosalts. The major problem associated with treatment of this ore type is the presence of large amounts of clay slimes in the form of iron hydroxide and illite. 

Oxide copper-gold ores are usually accompanied by iron hydroxide slimes and various clay minerals. There are several deposits of this ore type around the world, some of which are located in Australia (Red Dome), Brazil (Igarape Bahia) and the Soviet Union (Kalima). Treatment of these ores is difficult, and even more complicated in the presence of clay minerals. 

Effect of collector PM230 on copper/gold recovery from Igarape Bahia oxide copper/gold ore [8]... 

Bulatovic, S.M., An Investigation of the Recover of Copper and Gold from Igarape Bahia Oxide Copper-Gold Ores, Report of Investigation LR4533, 1997. 

Most operating plants that treat oxide copper and copper-cobalt ores are found in Central Africa and Southern Africa regions. A few operations exist in Chile, Brazil and Peru, where they treat mixed oxide sulphide ores or oxide copper gold ore. 

As a result of increasingly stringent environmental regulations, much attention has been devoted in recent years to the possibility that gold and silver can be leached by ligands other than cyanide. Other considerations, for example the presence of excessive quantities of soluble copper in the ore or the occurrence of gold in refractory (to cyanidation) minerals such as arsenopyrite or stibnite, have also prompted the search for alternatives to cyanide. Of the various possibilities, the one most studied and applied is the use of thiourea in acidic solutions with iron(III) as the oxidant. The principal leaching reaction is... 

Sources of transition metals Copper, silver, gold, platinum, and palladium are the only transition metals that are unreactive enough to be found in nature uncombined with other elements. All other transition metals are found in nature combined with nonmetals in minerals such as oxides and sulfides. Recall that minerals are mixed with other materials in ores. Metallurgy is the branch of applied science that studies and designs methods for extracting metals and their compounds from ores. The methods are divided into those that rely on high temperatures to extract the metal, those that use solutions, and those that rely on electricity. Electricity also is used to purify a metal extracted by high temperatures or solutions. 

A method of smelting pyritic copper, silver, or gold ores by the heat- of oxidation of the pyrites, without the aid of any other fuel was introduced as recently as 1905 in actual practice, however, up to 5 per cent, of carbonaceous fuel is now added. Water-jacketed blast furnaces are used, and air—pre-heated in some cases—is liberally supplied through a large number of tuyeres. 

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