AU2006201600B2 - Method for the Processing of Copper Minerals - Google Patents

Description

P/00/01 1 28/5/91 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 ORIGINAL COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: Western Minerals Technology Pty Ltd Actual Inventors Gary Donald JOHNSON Natalia STRELTSOVA Address for service is: WRAY & ASSOCIATES Level 4, The Quadrant 1 William Street Perth, WA 6000 Attorney code: WR Invention Title: "Method For The Processing of Copper Minerals Details of Associated Application No: 2003204224 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 1 -2 METHOD FOR THE PROCESSING OF COPPER MINERALS Field of the invention This invention relates to a method for the processing of copper minerals. In particular, the invention relates to a method for the activation of copper minerals 5 prior to the processing of those minerals by methods of, oxidative hydrometallurgy. It is to- be understood that where the term 'copper minerals' is used throughout this specification, the term is to include within its scope copper minerals per se, such as chalcopyrite,,. and also intermediate copper-bearing products, such as 10 mattes and concentrates, derived from ores containing copper minerals. Other typical copper minerals such as chalcocite and bornite, or any other like copper mineral species may also be subjected to the method of this invention, and thus may also fall within the scope of the term 'copper minerals'. Background of the Invention 15 Known processing methods of oxidative hydrometallurgy are commonly used in many different applications. These applications generally require oxidation conditions of high temperatre and pressure, and require substantial supplies of oxygen. For example, base metals such as copper, nickel and zinc can be recovered by hydrometallurgical processes which usually embody, pretreatment, 20 oxidative leaching, solid/liquid separation, solution purification, metal precipitation or solvent extraction and electrowinning. According to conventional technology, oxidative processes usually require severe physico-chemical conditions in order to achieve acceptable rates of oxidation and/or final recoveries of metal. Under these severe physico-chemical 25 conditions, which often mean temperatures in excess of 2000C and total pressures in excess of 2000 kPa, the chemical reactions which occur use large -3 quantities of oxygen, both on stoichiometric considerations and in practice where amounts in excess of stoichiometric requirements are often used. The typical oxidative hydrometallurgical processing methods referred to above generally have oxidation reactions that are carried out in multicompartment 5 autoclaves fitted with agitators. In order to withstand the generally highly aggressive conditions of the reactions, the autoclaves are very costly to install and maintain. These vessels must be capable of withstanding high pressure, and linings of heat and acid resistant bricks often need to be used. The agitators are generally made of titanium metal or other, more costly alloys, and 10 the pressure relief systems utilised are also costly and require high maintenance. These high costs, together with the sophistication of the technology (skilled operators are generally required), detract from the wider acceptance of high pressure/high temperature oxidation, particularly for use in remote areas or by small to medium size operators. 15 United States patent 5,232,491 (assigned to Dominion Mining Limited) describes a rnethod of activating a mineral species in order to alleviate the difficulties and expenses referred to above with the traditional processing methods of oxidative hydrometallurgy, and in particular with the oxidative leaching of a mineral species. In the method of US 5,232,491 the mineral species is activated by fine 20 or ultra fine milling prior to processing by methods of oxidative hydrometallurgy. The milled mineral species may be subjected to oxidative leaching under relatively mild conditions of pressure and temperature due to the milling producing minerals which are activated, and which thus react far more readily with oxidants such as oxygen. Furthermore, the oxidative leaching is able to be 25 conducted under conditions using less oxidant than that required for complete sulphur oxidation to sulphate. While the method as described in US 5,232,491 is applicable to any mineral species, such as sulphide minerals, arsenide minerals, telluride minerals, or mixed minerals of sulphides, arsenides or tellurides, the method is particularly 30 useful for the activation and subsequent leaching of sulphide minerals.

-4 However, copper sulphide minerals, and in particular chalcopyrite, have been difficult to treat by oxidative hydrometallurgy in sulphate systems. Indeed, even the method described by US 5,232,491 has had limited success when applied to copper sulphide concentrates containing chalcopyrite. 5 In this respect, when practising the method of US 5,232,491 on chalcopyrite it has been found that the dissolution of the chalcopyrite is often incomplete. Although the precise reason for this has not been determined with certainty, it is believed that very fine coatings build up on the surface of the chalcopyrite (during leaching), thus preventing the relevant reactions going to completion. 10 This results in long reaction times and usually low recoveries. Thus, processing options for the treatment of chalcopyrite-containing concentrates have remained somewhat limited. Such options include the normal pyrometallurgical option, namely smelting, followed by a hydrometallurgical refining process, or alternatively the solely hydrometallurgical route which 15 requires leaching with a highly concentrated chloride-based aqueous media. This latter type of system has not proven to be economically successful due to problems with the materials of construction (caused by the highly corrosive aqueous media), and their inability to recover a commercial product which does not require further refining prior to its final downstream processing. 20 Indeed, such chloride-based leaches rely on high concentrations of chloride ions, usually greater than 1 M (or 35 g/L), and more typically 5 to 10 M (or 175 to 350 g/L). The copper dissolved in such chloride-based leaches is therefore present as the chloride. US patent 4,971,662 is an example of a combined conventional grind and 25 chloride-baised leach system where chloride ion concentration is less than 75 g/L, and conditions are maintained so as to extract cupric copper in a dominantly chloride environment which can then be transferred to a sulphate solution using conventional solvent extraction techniques.

-5 Object of the Invention It is an aim of the present invention to avoid or partly alleviate the difficulties referred to above in relation to the traditional processing methods of copper minerals, and in particular copper sulphide minerals such as chalcopyrite. 5 Summary of the Invention The present invention provides a method of processing a copper mineral, the method comprising milling the copper mineral to P80 of between 2 and 20 micron to to produce an activated copper mineral, and subsequently subjecting the activated copper mineral to an oxidative hydrometallurgical leach in a sulphate system for a time of less than about 75 minutes, in the presence of chloride ions in an amount of 2 to 10 g/L, although more usually in the range of 3 to 5 g/L. L5 To prevent the passivation of the surface of the copper mineral in the essentially aqueous sulphate media used (and thus avoid the envisaged coating problems referred to above, particularly in relation to chalcopyrite), the small amount of chloride ion is added described above. The levels used are such that the system remains essentially a sulphate system, and the chloride ion is preferably provided by 20 the addition of sodium chloride or hydrochloric acid, or another suitable chloride source, during the subsequent oxidative hydrometallurgical treatment. In comparison to the known chloride-based leaches referred to above which rely on high concentrations of chloride ions, usually greater than 1 M (or 35 g/L), and more 25 typically 5 to 10 M (or 175 to 350 g/L), where the copper is therefore present as the chloride, in the present invention the copper is dissolved essentially as sulphate, with the chloride ions acting as a form of catalyst to the dissolution reaction.

Description of the Invention The activation of the copper mineral is preferably performed by fine or ultra fine milling according to the method described in US 5,232,491. The milling is preferably carried out in a vertical stirred mill consisting of a tank filled with small 5 grinding media, usually steel balls of 4 to 6 mm in diameter or the like, and agitated by means of a vertical shaft fitted with horizontal arms. The copper mineral is milled by the shearing action produced by ball-to-ball contact to produce an activated copper mineral. In the present invention, this activation was measured by the response of the 10 activated copper mineral to a subsequent oxidative hydrometallurgical treatment, such as an oxidative leach. The level of activation was found to be satisfactory when ground to a P80 of less than about 20 microns. However, size reduction to a P80 of between about 2 and 10 microns is desired, although a P80 of between about 4 and 10 microns is more highly preferred. 15 In relation to the- degree of the size reduction, there has been research conducted in relation to the ultra fine milling of some copper minerals to sizes as small as 0.1 to 1.0 microns: However, such research encountered severe practical difficulties in achieving such a reduction in size and in controlling the sizes in the required manner, those difficulties causing the research to be 20 commercially and economically unattractive. Indeed, at such small sizes the particles became extremely viscous, introducing handling difficulties, and requiring modification of the surface characteristics of the ground mineral to improve the handling properties thereof. For instance, this required the use of sodium hydroxide to remove the viscosity problem. 25 The present invention seeks to avoid those difficulties by constraining the grind size within upper and lower limits, and, by the use of the small amounts of chloride ions mentioned earlier, the size reduction may be conducted within more practical levels than those very fine and commercially impractical and uneconomic levels referred to above.

-7 Vertical stirred mills have been found to be satisfactory to provide the preferred degree of fineness in the activated copper mineral, and to satisfy the energy and grinding media consumption requirements. However, the activation of the copper mineral has been found to be satisfactory when ground by other means 5 such as a ball mill. In this respect, although the reason for the activation of the copper mineral is not yet fully understood, it is believed that it is a result of a number of factors, such as an increase in the surface area, a reduction in linear dimensions, the straining of crystal lattices, the exposure of regions of high activity in the lattice, and possibly the enhancement of the so-called 'galvanic 10 effects'. Preferably, the oxidative hydrometallurgical treatment which follows the activation of the copper mineral is an oxidative leach conducted in an aqueous slurry with oxygen as the oxidant. Further, the oxidative leach is preferably conducted at relatively mild temperature and pressure with low levels of oxidant. 15 Preferred operating conditions have been found to be around 60 to 1000C with oxygen pressures of around 900 to 1000 kPa and with oxygen as oxidant. The reactor used is commonly referred to as an autoclave and generally is equipped with a stirring mechanism which keeps the fine slurry in suspension and disperses the oxygen gas within the slurry. These preferred operating conditions 20 allow for the use of a relatively low cost reactor which can be made of polypropylene or other suitable engineering plastics. The mild operating conditions avoid the need for the use of titanium reactors or other expensive systems. In a further preferred form of the invention, the pH should be maintained at pH 25 less than about 2.5 to prevent the precipitation of copper. This may be achieved by the addition of an acid such as sulphuric acid, which may be added as fresh sulphuric acid or as recycled sulphuric acid generated in downstream processing stages. The sulphuric acid may be added either during or before the oxidative leach (or indeed before the milling of the copper mineral), although in a batch 30 operation it would be preferred to add it prior to the milling, rather than during the oxidative leach. Further still, the solids concentration is preferably diluted to around 10% to keep copper recoveries high. A residence time of less than about 45 minutes is preferred as this results in high levels of copper dissolution and in the presence of elemental sulphur in the 5 residue. The amount of oxygen used is therefore less than that required for complete oxidation of sulphide sulphur to sulphate. With longer residence times, continued oxidation of the elemental sulphur occurs with no notable improvement in copper dissolution. It is well known that copper minerals, and in particular chalcopyrite, are 10 extremely difficult to treat by hydrometallurgical processes in aqueous sulphate systems, and in the present invention it is clear that, in the absence of chloride ions, the dissolution of chalcopyrite is often not complete. However, the presence of the chloride ion, regardless of the actual mechanism that it utilises to do so, removes that problem. Thus, the present invention describes how 15 copper may be obtained from a copper mineral, in particular a copper sulphide mineral such as chalcopyrite, with good recoveries and under mild conditions. Importantly, the solution produced by the preferred oxidative leaching process of the invention, being essentially sulphate in nature after separation from the solid residue, is suitable for subsequent treatment by well established methods of 20 solvent extraction and electrowinning to produce high value copper metal products. Commercially available downstream processing methods can thus be used to recover the copper as a premium quality product, which is an advantage of the method of the present invention over various of the earlier methods referred to above. 25 Before turning to the detailed description of the invention, it will be understood that many of the operating conditions and ranges specified above are somewhat ore specific. Thus, it should be appreciated that slight variations from those conditions and ranges, as a result of differring ore types, are still envisaged to be within the scope o.f the present invention.

-9 Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention will now be described in relation to the following Examples. However, it will be appreciated that the generality of the invention as described above is not to be limited by the following description. 5 Example 1 A copper concentrate (24.6% Cu and 32% S) produced by flotation from Queensland copper ore was subjected to fine grinding to a P80 size of 6.5 micron by grinding in a vertical stirred mill. After milling, acid was added to the slurry along with a small amount of sodium chloride, and the mixture was diluted 10 with water. The slurry was then placed in an autoclave, the temperature of which was maintained at 100'C. Oxygen at 1000 kPa was introduced into the autoclave and the reactions were allowed to proceed for 75 minutes. In each of the three examples here described, the residence time is given as 75 15 minutes. However, it should be appreciated that samples were taken at each of 45 and 50 minutes, and those samples revealed that the copper recovery at those times was essentially the same as the recovery at 75 minutes. concentrate 200g 20 NaCI 12g

H

2

SO

4 .120g

H

2 0 2000g After oxidation, a copper solution of 20 g/L copper had been generated with an overall copper recovery of 98%. The 12 g of NaCI here represents about 6 g/L 25 of NaCl, and thus about 4 g/L of chloride ions. Example 2 A copper concentrate (27.8% Cu and 34% S and 2.2% Pb) was subjected to the method as per Example 1: 30 -10 concentrate 190g NaCl 12g

H

2

SO

4 120g

H

2 0 2000g 5 After activation of the concentrate by grinding to a P80 size of 4.7 micron, the above mixture was processed at 1 00C for 75 minutes with an oxygen pressure of 1000 kPa, giving rise to a copper solution of 21.8 g/L at an overall copper recovery of 96%. Example 3 10 A copper concentrate, predominantly chalcopyrite (36.7% Cu and 35% S) was subjected to the method as per Example 1: concentrate 250g NaCl log 15 H 2 SO4. 10g

H

2 0 1800g After activation of the concentrate by grinding to a.P80 size of 5.0 micron, the above mixture was processed at 1000C for 75 minutes with an oxygen pressure of 1000 kPa, giving rise to a copper solution of 31.5 g/L at an overall copper 20 recovery of 95%. Finally, it will be appreciated that there may be other variations and modifications to the methods described above that also fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. A method of processing a copper mineral, the method comprising milling the copper mineral to P80 of between 2 and 20 micron to produce an activated copper mineral, and subsequently subjecting the activated copper mineral to an oxidative hydrometallurgical leach in a sulphate system for a time of less than about 75 minutes, in the presence of chloride ions in an amount of from 2 to 10 g/L.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the chloride ions are presented in an amount of from 3 to 5 g/L.

3. A method according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the copper mineral is a copper sulphide mineral.

4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the copper mineral is chalcopyrite.

5. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the copper mineral is milled to P80 of between 2 and 10 micron.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the copper mineral is milled to P80 of between 4 and 10 micron.

7. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the oxidative hydrometallurgical treatment is an oxidative leach conducted in aqueous slurry with oxygen as the oxidant.

8. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the chloride ions are provided in the form of sodium chloride of hydrochloric acid added during the oxidative hydrometallurgical treatment.

9. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the oxidative hydrometallurgical treatment is an oxidative leach conducted with a residence 12 time such that the amount of oxidant used is less than that required for complete oxidation of sulphide sulphur to sulphate.

10. A method according to clam 1 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of the Examples.