Abstract
A low-temperature-chlorination selective oxidation followed by aqueous chloride leaching and SX-EW for producing electrolytic copper, elemental sulfur and ferric oxide was investigated for hydrometallurgical processing of a chalcopyrite concentrate. In this article, the selective oxidation phase of the process is described. The selective oxidation requires a temperature well above the CuCl-FeCl3 eutectic points. The test procedure was developed with a batch reactor and then tested with a continuous reactor. The process was initiated by adding small amounts of chlorinated samples to a fluidizing bed of dead-roasted sulfide concentrate micropellets. The selectively oxidized samples thus prepared were shown to fully dissolve copper, while virtually all the iron remained undissolved.
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formerly with the Central Research Institute, Mitsubishi Materials Corp., Omiya, Japan
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Tamagawa, T., Fu, N.X., Kobayashi, M. et al. Extraction of copper from chalcopyrite concentrates without sulfuric acid generation via chlorination. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 17, 264–268 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03403244
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03403244