Sulfide ores leaching

Selective extraction of zinc from chloride solutions is required for recovery from primary sources via new sulfide ore leaching technology (Section 9.17.3.3.2) and from secondary sources... 

HydrometallurgicalProcesses. HydrometaHurgical refining also is used to extract nickel from sulfide ores. Sulfide concentrates can be leached with ammonia (qv) to dissolve the nickel, copper, and cobalt sulfides as amines. The solution is heated to precipitate copper, and the nickel and cobalt solution is oxidized to sulfate and reduced, using hydrogen at a high temperature and pressure to precipitate the nickel and cobalt. The nickel is deposited as a 99 wt % pure powder. 

In metallurgy, hydrogen sulfide is used to precipitate copper sulfide from nickel—copper-containing ore leach solutions in Alberta, Canada, or to precipitate nickel and cobalt sulfides from sulfuric acid leaching oflaterite ores in Moa Bay, Cuba (120) (see Metallurgy, extractive metallurgy). 

In mineral technology, sulfur dioxide and sulfites are used as flotation depressants for sulfide ores. In electrowinning of copper from leach solutions from ores containing iron, sulfur dioxide prereduces ferric to ferrous ions to improve current efficiency and copper cathode quaHty. Sulfur dioxide also initiates precipitation of metallic selenium from selenous acid, a by-product of copper metallurgy (326). 

Direct l eaching of Concentrates. Sherri tt Gordon Mines, Ltd., has adapted the process first used on nickel sulfide ores to zinc sulfide oxidation with air in aqueous slurry under pressure (42,43). The concentrates are leached direcdy with return acid from the cells and the sulfide is converted to free sulfur ... 

Sulfide Ores ores. In the Zairian ores, cobalt sulfide as carroUite is mixed with chalcopyrite and chalcocite [21112-20-9]. For processing, the ore is finely ground and the sulfides are separated by flotation (qv) using frothers. The resulting products are leached with dilute sulfuric acid to give a copper—cobalt concentrate that is then used as a charge in an electrolytic cell to remove the copper. Because the electrolyte becomes enriched with cobalt, solution from the copper circuit is added to maintain a desirable copper concentration level. After several more steps to remove copper, iron, and aluminum, the solution is treated with milk of lime to precipitate the cobalt as the hydroxide. 

Copper ore minerals maybe classified as primary, secondary, oxidized, and native copper. Primaryrninerals were concentrated in ore bodies by hydrothermal processes secondary minerals formed when copper sulfide deposits exposed at the surface were leached by weathering and groundwater, and the copper reprecipitated near the water table (see Metallurgy, extractive). The important copper minerals are Hsted in Table 1. Of the sulfide ores, bornite, chalcopyrite, and tetrahedrite—teimantite are primary minerals and coveUite, chalcocite, and digenite are more commonly secondary minerals. The oxide minerals, such as chrysocoUa, malachite, and azurite, were formed by oxidation of surface sulfides. Native copper is usually found in the oxidized zone. However, the principal native copper deposits in Michigan are considered primary (5). 

The isolation of zinc, over 90% of which is from sulfide ores, depends on conventional physical concentration of the ore by sedimentation or flotation techniques. This is followed by roasting to produce the oxides the SO2 which is generated is used to produce sulfuric acid. The ZnO is then either treated electrolytically or smelted with coke. In the former case the zinc is leached from the crude ZnO with dil H2SO4, at which point cadmium is precipitated by the addition of zinc dust. The ZnS04 solution is then electrolysed and the metal deposited — in a state of 99.95% purity — on to aluminium cathodes. 

Ni is found in many ores in combination with S, As Sb, the chief sources being the minerals chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite and pentlandite. Ni ores are of two types, sulfide and oxide, the former accounting for two-thirds of the world s consumption. Sulfide ores are refined by flotation and roasting to sintered Ni oxide, and either sold as such or reduced to metal, which is cast into anodes and refined electrolytically or by the carbonyl (Mond) process. Oxide ores are treated by hydrometallurgjcal refining, eg, leaching with ammonia. Much secondary Ni is recovered from scrap (Refs 6 7) 1... 

The metallic or semi-metallic character of many common sulfides implies the significance of electrochemical factors in the study of their oxidation, which is relevant to environmental, energy, and metallurgical issues, e.g., in connection with the direct electrochemical conversion of sulfide ores to metals, the pressure leaching of ore materials, or flotation processes. 

Sulfate process streams are commonly used in metal recovery because they are readily derived by leaching with sulfuric acid or by oxidation of sulfidic ores. Metal recovery from such streams rarely involves the formation of metal sulfate complexes because the sulfate ion is a weak ligand for base metal cations and consequently acidic ion exchange extractants are commonly employed (see Section 9.17.5), which generate sulfuric acid which can be returned to the leaching stage,... 

Effective protocols have also been developed for the extraction of nickel and cobalt from chloride and ammoniacal process streams derived from leaching sulfidic ores or mattes.103 175 214 224 270-279 The greater thermodynamic stability of the Co11 chloroanionic complexes such as [CoCl4]2-over analogous Ni11 species has been exploited to effect the separation of nickel and cobalt via an... 

Holtum, D. A. Murray, D. M. Bacterial heap leaching of refractory gold sulfide ores. Miner. Eng. 1994, 7, 619-631. 

CLEAR [Copper Leach Electrolysis And Regeneration] A process for leaching copper from sulfide ores by boiling with aqueous cupric chloride ... 

Comprex A process for treating sulfide ores by high-temperature pressure leaching. 

Cuprex [Copper extraction] A process for extracting copper from sulfide ores, combining chloride leaching, electro-winning, and solvent extraction. Piloted by a consortium consisting of ICI, Nerco Minerals Company, and Tecnicas Reunidas. 

Cymet (1) [Cyprus Metallurgical] A process for extracting copper from sulfide ores. It involves leaching, solvent extraction, and electrowinning. Developed by the Cyprus Metallurgical Processes Corporation, Golden, CO. Superseded by Cymet (2). 

Falconbridge Also called the matte leach process. A process for extracting copper and nickel from matte (a sulfide ore that has been roasted to remove most of the sulfur). Most of the nickel is leached out with hydrochloric acid and recovered as nickel chloride crystals. The leach residue is roasted and leached with sulfuric acid to dissolve the copper. The process has been operated in Canada and Norway since 1970. 

Hybinette A process for extracting nickel from sulfide ores. The nickel ore that occurs in Canada is a mixture of the sulfides of nickel, copper, and iron. Several methods have been used to separate these metals. In the Hybinette process, the ore is first smelted in a blast furnace, yielding a nickel-copper matte (i.e., a mixture of their lower sulfides). This is roasted to remove sulfur and leached with dilute sulfuric acid to remove copper. The resulting crude nickel oxide is used as the anode of an electrochemical cell. The nickel deposits on the cathode, which is contained in a cloth bag. Precious metals collect in the anode slime. The process was invented by N. V Hybinette in 1904 and operated at the Kristiansand refinery, Norway, from 1910. 

Minemet A hydrometallurgical process for extracting metals from sulfide ores by leaching with ferric chloride solution. Developed by Minemet Recherche, France. 

Another Sherritt-Gordon process is for leaching zinc from sulfide ores, again using oxygen under pressure. 

---