Zhan-fang Cao

Techniques of copper recovery from Mexican copper oxide ore

Mexican copper ore is a mixed ore containing mainly copper oxide and some copper sulfide that responds well to flotation. The joint techniques of flotation and leaching were studied. The results indicate that an ore containing 19.01% copper could be obtained at a recovery ratio of 35.02% by using sodium sulfide and butyl xanthate flotation. Over 83.33% of the copper oxide can be recovered from the tailings by leaching in suitable conditions, such as 1 h stirring at a temperature around 25 °C with a mixing speed of 500 r/min, an H2SO4 concentration of 1.0 mol/L and a mass ratio of the ore-slurry-liquid to solid (mL/mS) of 3. The overall yield of refined ore after flotation and leaching is over 89.18% of the copper, which is much better than sole flotation or leaching. A copper product containing more than 99.9% copper was obtained by using the process: flotation-agitation leaching-solvent extraction-electro-winning.