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A cyanide leaching process developed a t Michigan and pillar mine produces 18,000 tons of ore per day,
Technological University was tested in a 12 to 24 which i s treated in a flotation plant. The concentrate
tpd pilot plant. Flowsheet layout a n d equipment a r e i s smelted in a reverberatory furnace, the matte i s
described. Cyclic operation of leaching, copper pre- blown in converters to blister copper, and the blister
cipitation by acidification, a n d regeneration of the copper is further refined to a uniformly high-quality
cyanide leaching solution a r e discussed. Copper ex- Lake copper, which i s 100% conductive and has a
traction and reagent consumption were a s predicted silver content of 25 to 40 oz per ton.
by laboratory tests, and the process was proven to be The run of the mine ore averages 22.5 lbs of copper
technically feasible. per ton with the ore mineral occurring in the form of
chalcocite. The nature of the mineralization is such
PRECIPITATION -
3caff + 2 C u ( C ~ ? +l S = +
121
3H ,SO4- 3CaS04
REGENERATION -
H' + CN- ( i n solution) -HCN ( g a s i n N2)
C31
2HCN + CaO -Ca (cN?, + H ,0.
Flowsheet and Equipment: A schematic diagram of
the pilot plant flowsheet is shown in F i g . 1.
T h e leaching tank consisted of a closed cylindrical
v e s s e l 8 ft in diam and 1 0 ft high, with a filter 6 in.
above t h e conical bottom, and a g l a s s covered view-
ing port near the top of t h e tank. A diagram of t h e Fig. I - Flowsheet o f Cyanide P r o c e s s .
SAND DISTRIWTOR
SAND FLUWING RI
FILTER BOT
ti-1 -
CYANIDE L E A C H I N G TANK
SAND
p&M
F:lAcc::
VENT
TAILS
TO SCRUBBER
W D F ~ V W l f f iCOCKS
-CONDUCTIVITY RCORDEll
-EFFLUENT SOLUTION
CCFLUENT W Y P
F i g . 2 - Diagram o f L e a c h i n g T a n k .
Fig. 3 - Conductivity Curve for T e s t No. 50.
NaHCO, + C u 2 S + 6HCN.
I U s e of t h i s process t o recover copper from flotation
i
T h i s proved s u c c e s s f u l chemically, but the crystal-
tailings depends upon t h e following conditions which
prevail a t White P i n e :
line CaCO, fouled the equipment a n d p i p e l i n e s t o 1) T h e tailing to b e leached p o s s e s s e s little value,
s o far a s conventional beneficiation processes a r e
such a n extent that continuous operation became
concerned, for other than road material.
impossible.
a) Recovery by flotation t o produce smelter feed
T o regenerate calcium cyanide solution, the a c i d
appears to b e a t i t s economic limit.
filtrate w a s run through the stripping and absorption
towers previously described. Regenerated leach solu- b) T h e amount of acid-soluble material and lack of
pyrite in t h e flotation tailings makes conventional
tion could b e concentrated to a s high a s 4 5 g NaCN
acid-ferric s u l f a t e or bacterial leaching unattractive.
eq/L. T h i s i s a significant s t e p in t h e process in
c) Ammonia leaching of cuprous sulfide is ineffec-
that i t makes i t possible t o eliminate either dilution
tive compared with extraction by cyanide.
water or wash water from the system, and t h e proper
balance of solution volumes and concentrations c a n
2) Preparation of feed for leaching is inexpensive.
a ) No grinding of larger s i z e s i s required to make
thus be maintained. When t h e HCN i n t h e a c i d filtrate
copper available for leaching in a limited time.
was sufficiently high, t h e filtrate w a s realkalized
b) Removal of fines t o obtain necessary flow
with lime and returned directly t o t h e leach solution
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of t h e leach bed is e a s i l y
storage tank along with t h e 'Recycle' solution. By
accomplished.
running a l l three s t a g e s of leaching, precipitation,
3) Copper is rapidly soluble and contaminants
and regeneration simultaneously, the process was
are not.
continuous.
4) Washing is rapid and thorough.
All equipment and storage tanks of t h e plant were
Reagent c o s t s per l b of copper a r e well-defined.
vented t o a central scrubbing system t o avoid con-
Operating labor c o s t s in a well-instrumented plant
tamination of the air by cyanide vapor. AS a further
should compare with t h o s e in a conventional plant.
precaution, a i r in t h e plant w a s analyzed continu-
Maintenance c o s t s should not b e e x c e s s i v e . Capital
ously a t 1 2 different points by an automatic HCN
c o s t s per ton of material treated will be high. A
analyzer connected t o a warning alarm.
7000-tpd cyanide plant may c o s t $1300 to $1400 per
OPERATING RESULTS, REAGENT ton compared t o $600 t o $1000 per ton for a flotation
CONSUMPTION, AND COSTS plant of the s a m e capacity.
Economic a n a l y s i s indicates that an otherwise
T h e overall copper recovery in pilot plant t e s t s w a s v a l u e l e s s feed material containing a s little a s 7 l b s
91.65%, while cyanide l o s s e s averaged 0.362 Ibs of copper per ton i s potentially profitable when
(NaCN eq) per lb of copper recovered. T h e cyanide treated i n a 7000-tpd plant.
l o s s e s were distributed a s follows: leaching 29.1%,
precipitation and filtering 27.276, and stripping and
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
regeneration 43.7%.
During the first s t a g e s of t e s t i n g i t w a s found that T h e authors wish t o acknowledge the contributions
l o s s e s due to formation of cyanide, thiocyanate and of co-workers W. A. Hockings, Research Engineer,
ferrocyanide were not s e r i o u s ; consequently, they Institute of Mineral Research, Michigan Technological
were not determined routinely. However, they a r e in- University and Dr. H. M. Gaudin, Richard's Professor
cluded in the above total cyanide l o s s a s they were of Metallurgy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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