Anticipating the new paradigm: Fundamental and applied studies on the catalytic heap leaching of low-grade primary copper sulfides

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Over the last six years, the University of British Columbia and Jetti Resources have developed a catalytic heap bioleaching technology for the recovery of copper from low-grade primary copper sulfide ores. The technology involves using miniscule quantities of organic additives with thiocarbonyl functional groups to depassivate and accelerate the rate of copper recovery from chalcopyrite, the most abundant and important copper ore mineral. This is currently the only viable technology for treating these low-grade ores economically. The technology has been demonstrated commercially, and has been called the most important innovation in copper extraction technology in the last 40 years.This catalytic technology could prove to be the "holy grail" sought for decades by the copper mining industry for the extraction of copper from low-grade primary sulfide resources. As such, it could constitute the new paradigm for the entire copper industry.Recently, several additives have been discovered which could increase the rate of copper recovery by a factor of three or more over the basic UBC-Jetti technology. In this project, we propose to make a systematic study of the efficacy of these additives on the performance of the UBC-Jetti technology. Also, we propose to extend our highly cited work on chalcopyrite electrochemistry to study the underlying mechanisms of the catalysts and various additives on copper leaching from chalcopyrite. Finally, we propose to conduct a careful study of leaching kinetics in the presence of various catalysts and additives, and to incorporate the results into a comprehensive mathematical model of the heap bioleaching process, HeapSim2D, which has been developed by the applicant.