Bioleaching of low-grade copper sulfide ores by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

The grown conditions of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans were investigated,and then experiments were conducted to research the bioleaching behaviors of crude ore of copper sulfide and hand-picked concentrates of chalcopyrite by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans.The experimental results show that the bacteria grow best when the temperature is(30±1) °C and the pH value is 2.0.The bacteria concentration is 2.24×107 mL-1 in this condition.It is found that the copper extraction yield is affected by the inoculum size and the pulp density and the extraction yield increases as the inoculum size grows.The bioleaching rates reach their highest point in sulfide copper and chalcopyrite with a pulp density of 5% and 10%,respectively.Column flotation experiments of low-grade copper sulfide ores show that the bioleaching recovery reaches nearly 45% after 75 days.

Bioleaching of low-grade copper sulfide ore by extremely thermoacidophilic consortia at 70℃in column reactors

The effects of introducing M.sedula derivatives having different Cu^2+-resistance on bioleaching capacity of a defined consortium(consisting of A.brierleyi DSM1651 and M.hakonensis HO1-1)were studied in column reactors at 70℃.Introducing M.sedula copA mutant,a copper sensitive derivative,only had negligible effects on bioleaching.While introducing M.sedula ARS50-2,a Cu^2+resistant strain,substantially consolidated bioleaching process,with 27.77%more copper recovered after 58 d of bioleaching.Addition of M.sedula ARS50-2 likely enhanced the sulfur oxidation capacity of consortium after the 24th day under the Cu^2+stress.The majority of extreme thermoacidophiles were attached on minerals surface as indicated by quantitative PCR(qPCR)data.Successions of microbial community of extremely thermoacidophilic consortia that attached on surface of minerals were different from those in leachate.M.hakonensis HO1-1 was the dominant species attached on minerals surface in each column reactor throughout bioleaching process.The sessile M.sedula ARS50-2 remained as a major species till the 34th day.A.brierleyi DSM1651 was the most abundant planktonic species in leachate of each column reactor.These results highlight that higher Cu^2+-resistance is a beneficial trait for extreme thermoacidophiles to process copper minerals.

Acid equilibrium during bioleaching of alkaline low-grade sulfide copper ore

This article reports the study on acid equilibrium during bioleaching of alkaline low-grade copper sulfide ore. Adding auxiliary agents 1# （sulfur） and 2# （pyrite） makes bacterial leaching of copper and acid production carried out simultaneously because the auxiliary agents can be oxidized by bacteria and the oxidation products involve acid. The acid required for dissolving alkaline gangue during bacterial leaching is produced, and acid equilibrium is reached during the ore bio-leaching. The recovery of copper reaches more than 95%.

Co-extraction of valuable metals and kinetics analysis in chlorination process of low-grade nickel-copper sulfide ore

To efficiently co-extract Ni and Cu from low-grade nickel-copper sulfide ore,chlorination roasting with NH;Cl followed by a water leaching process was investigated.The results show that 98.4%Ni and 98.5%Cu can be synchronously extracted when the ore particle size is 75-80μm,the roasting time is 2 h,the mass ratio of NH;Cl to ore is 1.6:1 and the roasting temperature is 550°C.The evolution behavior of various minerals was elucidated using X-ray diffraction(XRD)coupled with scanning electron microscopy(SEM).The kinetics of the chlorination process based on the differential thermal and thermogravimetric analysis(DTA-TG)data was analyzed by Kissinger method and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa(FWO)method.The chlorination process of low-grade nickel-copper sulfide ore mainly contains two stages:the decomposition of NH;Cl and the chlorination of ore.The maximum apparent activation energies(Ea)at two stages are determined to be 114.8 and 144.6 kJ/mol,respectively.The condensed product of exhaust gas is determined to be ammonium chloride,which can be recycled as the reactant again,making the process economic and clean.

Leaching kinetics of low-grade copper ore containing calcium-magnesium carbonate in ammonia-ammonium sulfate solution with persulfate

The leaching kinetics of copper from low-grade copper ore was investigated in ammonia-ammonium sulfate solution with sodium persulfate. The effect parameters of stirring speed, temperature, particle size, concentrations of ammonia, ammonium sulfate and sodium persulfate were determined. The results show that the leaching rate is nearly independent of agitation above 300 r/min and increases with the increase of temperature, concentrations of ammonia, ammonium sulfate and sodium persulfate. The EDS analysis and phase quantitative analysis of the residues indicate that bornite can be dissolved by persulfate oxidization. The leaching kinetics with activation energy of 22.91 kJ/mol was analyzed by using a new shrinking core model （SCM） in which both the interfacial transfer and diffusion across the product layer affect the leaching rate. A semi-empirical rate equation was obtained to describe the leaching process and the empirical reaction orders with respect to the concentrations of ammonia, ammonium sulfate and sodium persulfate are 0.5, 1.2 and 0.5, respectively.

Recovery of Zn, Pb, Fe and Si from a low-grade mining ore by sulfidation roasting-beneficiation-leaching processes

To recover Zn, Pb, Fe and Si from a low-grade mining ore in the Lanping basin, Yunnan Province, China, a novel technology using the roasting with pyrite and carbon followed by beneficiation and hydrochloric acid leaching was proposed. Firstly, several factors such as pyrite dosage, roasting temperature, carbon powder dosage, holding time and particle size affecting on the flotation performance of Zn(Pb) and magnetic separation performance of Fe were simultaneously examined and the optimum process parameters were determined. A flotation concentrate, containing 17.46% Zn and 3.93% Pb, was obtained, and the Zn and Pb recoveries were 86.04% and 69.08%, respectively. The obtained flotation tailing was concentrated by a low-intensity magnetic separator. The grade of iron increased from 5.45% to 43.45% and the recovery of iron reached 64.87%. Hydrochloric acid leaching was then carried out for the magnetic separation tailing and a raw quartz concentrate containing 81.05% SiO2 was obtained. To further interpret the sulfidation mechanism of smithsonite, surface morphology and component of the sample before and after reactions were characterized by XRD and EPMA-EDS. The aim was to achieve the comprehensive utilization of the low-grade mining ore.

Leaching kinetics of low-grade copper ore with high-alkality gangues in ammonia-ammonium sulphate solution

The leaching kinetics of low-grade copper ore with high-alkality gangues was studied in ammonia-ammonium sulphate solution.The main parameters,such as ammonia and ammonium sulphate concentrations,particle size,solid-to-liquid ratio and reaction temperature,were chosen in the experiments.The results show that the increase of temperature,concentrations of ammonia and ammonium sulphate is propitious to the leaching rate of copper ore.The leaching rate increases with the decrease of particle size and solid-to-liquid ratio.The leaching rate is controlled by the diffusion through the ash layer and the activation energy is determined to be 25.54 kJ/mol.A semi-empirical equation was proposed to describe the leaching kinetics.

STUDY ON GREY FORECASTING MODEL OF COPPER EXTRACTION RATE WITH BIOLEACHING OF PRIMARY SULFIDE ORE

A model GM （grey model） （1,1） for forecasting the rate of copper extraction during the bioleaching of primary sulphide ore was established on the basis of the mathematical theory and the modeling process of grey system theory. It was used for forecasting the rate of copper extraction from the primary sulfide ore during a laboratory microbial column leaching experiment. The precision of the forecasted results were examined and modified via ＂posterior variance examination＂. The results show that the forecasted values coincide with the experimental values. GM （1,1） model has high forecast accuracy; and it is suitable for simulation control and prediction analysis of the original data series of the processes that have grey characteristics, such as mining, metallurgical and mineral processing, etc. The leaching rate of such copper sulphide ore is low. The grey forecasting result indicates that the rate of copper extraction is approximately 20% even after leaching for six months.

Enhanced copper recovery from low grade copper sulfide ores through bioleaching using residues produced by fermentation of agricultural wastes

Effects of residues produced by agricultural wastes fermentation(AWF)on low grade copper sulfide ores bioleaching,copper recovery,and microbial community were investigated.The results indicated that adding appropriate bulk of AWF made contributions to low grade copper sulfide ores bioleaching,which may be mainly realized through reducing the passivation layer formed by Fe3+hydrolysis.Improved copper recovery(78.35%)and bacteria concentration(9.56×10^(7)cells·mL^(−1))were yielded in the presence of 5 g·L^(−1)AWF.The result of 16S rDNA analysis demonstrated that microbial community was differentiated by adding AWF.Bacteria proportion,such as Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans,Moraxella osloensis,and Lactobacillus acetotolerans changed distinctly.Great difference between samples was showed according to beta diversity index,and the maximum value reached 0.375.Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans accounted for the highest proportion throughout the bioleaching process,and that of sample in the presence of 5 g·L^(−) AWF reached 28.63%.The results should show reference to application of agricultural wastes and low grade copper sulfide ores.

The Mechanism of Structural Control of Ore Formation and Geochemical Characteristics in the Massive Sulfide Deposits of the Wushan Copper Ore Field,Jiangxi

The ore-controlling mechanism of the bedding fault system in the massive sulfide deposits of the Wushancopper orefield may be generalized as the control of ore deposition by optimum surface in an ore-formingstructural trap. The mechanism has three major features: (1) timing of mineralization; (2) positioning of hostformation; and (3) dependence of ore-controlling structure on properties of rocks. The 'optimum surface' is adivisional structural plane which marks obvious difference in physical, chemical and mechanical properties andis favorable for mineralization. It is also a unity of structures. lithofacies and orebodies. The structural and geochemical characteristics of the ore deposits indicate the migration trend of the ma-jor characteristic clements in the ore-controlling fault belt: elements with a small radius (Si, Fe, Mg and Al)moved towards and concentrated at the center of the belt while large-radius ones (Ca, K and Na) were remotefrom the center.

Well-controlled column bioleaching of a low-grade copper ore by a novel equipment

For the low-grade copper sulfide ores with 0.99% of copper, of which 41.5% was primary copper sulfide, and 54.5% was secondary copper sulfide, well-controlled column bioleaching on a novel equipment was carried out to investigate the optimal conditions of pre-leaching, particle sizes of ores, temperature, spray intensity and strain consortium. Results show that copper extraction of 91.11% can be obtained after 90 d with the optimal p H value of pre-leaching of 0.8; the p H values of pre-leaching significantly affect the final copper extractions. Copper extractions of 93.11%, 91.04% and 80.45% can be obtained for the bioleaching of ores with particles size of 5-8 mm, 5-15 mm and 5-20 mm, respectively. Copper extractions are 83.77% and 91.02% for bioleaching under the conditions of room temperature and 35 oC. Copper extractions are 77.25%, 85.45% and 91.12% for the bioleaching when flow rate of spray was 5 L/（h·m2）, 10 L/（h·m2） and 15 L/（h·m2）, respectively. Additionally, the strain consortium C3 is the best among the four strain consortia in bioleaching. By considering the energy consumption, the optimal conditions of bioleaching in this work are determined as p H of pre-leaching of 0.8, particles size of 5-15 mm, temperature of 35 ℃, spray intensity of 15 L/（h·m2）, and strain consortium C3.

Mechanochemical sulfidization of a mixed oxide-sulphide copper ore by co-grinding with sulfur and its effect on the flotation efficiency

Mechanochemical sulfidization of a mixed sulfide/oxide copper ore by co-grinding with sulfur and additives including Mg(NO3)2 and Fe(NO3)3 salts and iron,aluminum and magnesium powders was investigated for the first time.Also,the influence of sulfidization during the wet-milling process was examined on the separation efficiency and recovery of copper in detail.The results demonstrated that co-grinding with sulfur solely had the best flotation performance at the value of 0.5 wt.%and it was attributed to the possible existence of S\\O bonding on copper oxides surfaces.In addition,adding magnesium nitrate salt,magnesium powder,iron nitrate salt and aluminum powder as additive associated with 0.5 wt%sulfur into ball milling caused the flotation improvement at the amounts of 0.2 wt%,0.2 wt%,0.5 wt%and 0.5 wt%,respectively.Also,the effect of grinding time and sulfidization pH with 0.5 wt%sulfur solely was determined and pH s of 7.5 to 8.5 gave the best results.The highest recovery(75.76%)and separation efficiency(63.44%)were achieved at pH of 7.5 and 8.5,respectively.

Bio-leaching of low-grade large porphyry chalcopyrite-containing ore

In order to economically recover the copper from the low grade copper ores, a bioleaching solvent extraction electrowinning plant with a design capacity of 2 000 t cathode copper per year in Dexing Copper Mine was operated in September, 1997. The results during the 10 month period of the industrial copper dump leaching have been obtained and the approaches have been carried out to enhance the copper dissolution from the waste rocks. The overall operation flowsheet is depicted. The problems confronted in the process and possible way for improving are discussed.

Effects of forced aeration on community dynamics of free and attached bacteria in copper sulphide ore bioleaching

Bacterial community dynamics and copper leaching with applied forced aeration were investigated during low-grade copper sulphide bioleaching to obtain better bioleaching efficiency.Results illustrated that appropriate aeration improved bacterial concentrations and leaching efficiencies.The highest bacterial concentration and Cu^(2+)concentration after 14-d leaching were 7.61×10^(7) cells·mL^(−1) and 704.9 mg·L^(−1),respectively,at aeration duration of 4 h·d^(−1).The attached bacteria played a significant role during bioleaching from 1 to 7 d.However,free bacteria dominated the bioleaching processes from 8 to 14 d.This phenomenon was mainly caused by the formation of passivation layer through Fe3+hydrolysis along with bioleaching,which inhibited the contact between the attached bacteria and ore.Meanwhile,16S rDNA analysis verified the effect of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans on the bioleaching process.The results demonstrate the importance of free and attached bacteria in bioleaching.

Effect of Desliming on Flotation Response of Kansanshi Mixed Copper Ore

The Kansanshi mixed copper sulfide-oxide ore contains significant proportions of fine material manifesting in a variety of processing challenges. This paper presents the work which was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of desliming in improving the flotation response of the ore. Two modes of desliming were investigated, namely;sieving and elutriation after which the deslimed material was subjected to Kansanshi standard laboratory flotation conditions. The minimum copper feed grade for the mixed copper ore was 0.5% Total Copper (TCu). The outcome of this work has shown that desliming improves the flotation response of the Kansanshi mixed copper ore. At a rougher copper concentrate grade of 8%, copper metal recoveries obtained with desliming were in excess of 70% compared to 58% achieved with baseline tests without desliming. It was further observed that desliming resulted in improved flotation rates for the sulfide minerals. For a flotation time of 3 minutes, recoveries of 69% and 74% were obtained with elutriation and sieving respectively compared to 58% recovery for baseline tests. From the same results it was also evident that, of the two modes of desliming investigated, sieving yielded better performance than elutriation.

Depressing behaviors and mechanism of disodium bis(carboxymethyl) trithiocarbonate on separation of chalcopyrite and molybdenite

This work focuses on the organic depressant,disodium bis(carboxymethyl)trithiocarbonate(DBT),as a selectivedepressant in copper?molybdenum sulfide flotation separation.Micro-flotation,Zeta potential,FTIR and XPS measurements werecarried out to investigate the selective depression mechanism of DBT on chalcopyrite.Zeta potential and FTIR measurementsrevealed that DBT had higher affinity for chalcopyrite than molybdenite and the XPS results of chalcopyrite before and aftertreatment with DBT further proved that DBT adsorbed on chalcopyrite surface.The investigation indicates that the mechanism ofDBT adsorbing on chalcopyrite is mainly physical adsorption.Locked circuit experiments were carried out and the results showedthat DBT could be considered as a cleaner option in commercial Cu?Mo flotation separation circuits.