Carbon-neutral copper: unlocking metal value through carbon sequestration

该项目旨在探讨在地球科学中产生深远影响的反应诱导孔隙度和溶解-再沉淀耦合反应的概念如何在通过碳封存进行矿石加工的背景下加以利用。该项目的主要成果是产生一种新的工艺，保持矿石中的孔隙度，并结合浸出剂，有效地回收铜金属和捕获铁。该项目将为矿业带来好处，因为它提供了一种替代目前铜矿物加工模式的方法，该模式要求销毁承载经济价值的矿物，从而开发出非常适合澳大利亚日益复杂的矿石开采的可持续采矿技术。

This project aims to explore how the concepts of reaction-induced porosity and coupled dissolution-reprecipitation reactions, which have had a profound impact in geosciences, can be exploited in the context of ore processing through carbon sequestration. The project's main outcomes are to generate a new process that maintains porosity in ore, and a combination of lixiviants, for effective Cu metal recovery and Fe capture. This project will benefit the mineral industry by providing an alternative to the current paradigm in Copper mineral processing that requires the destruction of the mineral hosting economic value, thereby developing sustainable mining technologies well suited for the increasingly complex ores being extracted in Australia.