Pilot testing a novel galvanically-assisted atmospheric leaching process for copper concentrates

UBC开发了一种令人兴奋的新技术，用于从原生铜精矿中浸出铜，称为“Galvanox”。Galvanox是一种在铁/硫酸亚铁介质中从黄铜矿（CuFeS2）精矿中进行电辅助大气浸出铜的工艺，与现有工艺相比，它具有几个潜在的优势。在对纯矿物样品进行了成功的初步研究之后，申请了I2I第一期拨款，对来自加拿大和其他地方矿场的铜精矿样品进行进一步的关键研究和测试。随着第一阶段项目的成功，确定了一个营销合作伙伴（贝特曼工程公司），贝特曼和UBC于2006年10月签署了独家营销协议。我们现在准备在中试工厂规模（每天几公斤铜）上对来自加拿大和其他地方的一个或多个精矿样品进行连续模式下的Galvanox浸出技术测试。这一阶段的成功可以直接导致全面的可行性研究，进而在加拿大和其他地方的矿山建立全面的铜浸出厂（每年30万吨铜）。此外，还提出了一系列其他研究和测试计划，以确保该技术的广泛成功，包括：额外的批量测试，以检查各种因素对浸出性能的影响；铁氧水解试验及铁沉淀表征探讨直接电积铜的可行性在其他铜和贱金属硫化物矿物上测试该工艺；从Galvanox浸出渣中回收钼精矿和金建立了细磨黄铁矿存在下黄铜矿浸出和亚铁氧化动力学预测模型。

An exciting new technology for leaching copper from primary copper concentrates called "Galvanox" has been developed at UBC. Galvanox is the galvanically-assisted atmospheric leaching of copper from chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) concentrates in a ferric/ferrous sulfate medium, which offers several potential advantages over existing processes.Following successful preliminary research conducted on pure mineral samples, an I2I Phase I grant was applied for to conduct further critical research and testing on copper concentrate samples from mine sites in Canada and elsewhere. Following the success of the Phase I program, a marketing partner (Bateman Engineering) was identified, and an exclusive marketing agreement between Bateman and UBC was signed in October 2006.We are now ready to test the Galvanox leaching technology in continuous mode at the pilot plant scale (several kg Cu per day) on one or more concentrate samples from Canada and elsewhere. Success with this phase could lead directly to full feasibility studies, and, in turn, to full-scale (>30,000 tonnes Cu per year) copper leaching plants at mines in Canada and elsewhere.In addition, a host of other research and testing programs are proposed to ensure broad success for the technology, including: additional batch testing to examine the effects of various factors on leach performance; testing of iron oxyhydrolysis and characterization of the resulting ferric precipitates; examining the feasibility of direct copper electrowinning; testing the process on additional copper and base metal sulfide minerals; recovery of molybdenum concentrates and gold from Galvanox leach residues; and development of predictive models of the kinetics of chalcopyrite leaching and ferrous oxidation in the presence of finely ground pyrite.