A New Hydrometallurgical Technology For Processing Copper Concentrates

The most widespread methods for producing metallic copper are smelting of copper sulphide concentrates (which generates various types of polluting substances) and the hydrometallurgical route which consists of leaching in sulphate and chloride media (usually employing high temperature, high-pressure and special equipments). This paper presents a process, called VEPE, which consists of oxidizing copper sulphide concentrates in weak alkaline media (Na2C03 orland NaOH solutions), under low pressure and with air sparging. The oxidized concentrate contains less than 0.4% S. Copper is recovered from the oxidized concentrate by the standard leaching-solvent extraction-electrowinning route, with a total efficiency of 98% extraction. The proposed technology could represent a good opportunity to recover copper from sulphide concentrates in a clean, simple and profitable way.