Atmospheric stirred tank leaching of chalcopyrite concentrate in ferric sulfate media catalysed by iodine with air/oxygen injection

Leaching of primary copper sulfide (chalcopyrite) using ferric as the oxidant at ambient temperature and pressure exhibits slow kinetics and poor leaching efficiency. In collaboration with LeadFX, this project aims at developing an atmospheric tank leaching process for copper extraction from chalcopyrite concentrate with iodine as the catalyst. The temperature used will be higher than a typical heap leach process. Air/oxygen will be injected to the reactor to maintain the solution potential through continuously oxidizing ferrous to ferric. The anticipated outcome will advance understanding of the fundamental processes that control the performance of chalcopyrite leaching catalysed by iodine in a tank reactor leaching environment, which will assist LeadFX to scale up the process to industrial scal

Faculty Supervisor:

Wenying Liu;David Dreisinger

Student:

Muhammad Reza Kurniawan

Partner:

LeadFX

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

University:

University of British Columbia

Program: