Pressure Leaching of Chalcopyrite Concentrate: Iron Removal from Leaching Residues
Autoclave oxidative leaching is one of the most promising hydrometallurgical approaches for copper suplhide materials processing. In previous studies [2–4], the possibility of an efficient autoclave treatment of chalcopyrite concentrate was confirmed. The concentrate has the following chemical composition, %: 21.5 Cu, 0.1 Zn, 26.5 S, 24.5 Fe, 0.05 Pb, 0.04 Ni, 16.2 SiO2 [1]. At high temperature conditions (190–200 °C; 4–6 bar) in sulfuric-acid media during 100–120 min about 98% Cu was extracted. A leaching residue after POX (POX-cake) contained the following compounds, %: 55 Fe2O3, 40 SiO2, 4 MeS2/MeS. Current paper presents the results on purification of POX-cakes from iron by autoclave treatment. Futher ways for by-products (SiO2-cake and FeSO4-solution) processing are sugested.