Acid leaching refers to a mineral leaching process in which an aqueous solution of inorganic acid is used as a leaching agent. It is one of the most commonly used leaching methods in chemical beneficiation. Sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, sulfurous acid, pyrosulfuric acid, hydrofluoric acid, aqua regia, etc. are all commonly used leaching agents.
Acid leaching is commonly performed by agitating an ore-leach mixture for 4 to as long as 48 hours at ambient temperature. Except in special circumstances, sulfuric acid is the leachant used; it is supplied in amounts sufficient to obtain a final leach liquor at about pH 1.5.
The main methods of processing copper oxide ore are: Flotation and Leaching.
For copper oxide ore with large mud content and easy to mud, the traditional sulfidation flotation recovery rate is low, and it is difficult to solve the problem of mud interference; the stirred leaching method has the advantages of short leaching cycle and high copper leaching rate, but there are production costs. Defects such as high and difficult solid-liquid separation; conventional heap leaching methods have disadvantages such as poor permeability, low leaching rate and long overflow period. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new copper extraction process for copper oxide ore, maximize the extraction of metallic copper from copper oxide ore with large mud content and easy to mud, and to expand the scope of available copper resources.
1) The copper oxide ore is screened after two-stage crushing, the material on the screen is sent to the storage yard for conventional acid heap leaching, and the material under the screen enters the thickener;
2) The underflow of the thickener enters the granulator after adding binder for slurry mixing and granulation with acid resistant gravel carrier to obtain mineral particles with a layer of copper oxide covered on the surface and suitable for heap leaching operation;
3) Mineral particles are transported to the storage yard by conveyor for heap building and acid leaching;
4) In the leaching process, the changes of acid concentration and copper concentration of leaching solution are monitored in real time, and the acidity and spraying intensity of spraying solution are adjusted in time according to the monitoring data;
5) The copper rich leaching solution after repeated cyclic spraying in the storage yard obtains cathode copper products through the extraction stripping electrowinning process, and the raffinate is returned to the heap leaching process after the degreasing or impurity removal process.
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