LEACHING OF A ROASTED COPPER SULFIDE ORE

Rosselle Kim P. Castillano, Wilfredo T. Gatdula Jr., Gin Derick L. Magno, Jhunalyn H. Parantar
METE 157N: HYDROMETALLURGY LABORTORY

ABSTRACT
Sulphide ores of copper are insoluble in dilute sulphuric acid leaching solutions, but a very high extraction can be
obtained if the copper ore is in the oxidized condition. The problem is to convert the sulphide into the oxide form.
This can be done by giving the sulphide ore an oxidizing-sulphatizing roast. Copper sulphate is soluble in water,
so acid will be saved in the leaching process if copper sulphate is present. From assays of the pregnant liquor the
percentage extractions of the copper present in the calcine were calculated. The copper present in the roasted
calcines were also determined to examine the efficiency of leaching in extracting the copper.
INTRODUCTION
In the last three decades, the economic conditions
and the increasingly stringent environmental
legislation worldwide have led metallurgical
industry more difficult to develop. In addition,
copper resources become increasingly depleted and
the number of low-grade refractory copper ore
grows day after day. Therefore, more attention must
be paid to develop a low-cost, environment-friendly
and high economic benefits process of recovering
copper from ore. The extraction of copper from ore
has commonly been performed using mainly
pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical and biochemical, and metallurgy equipment always
suffered serious erosion, leading to high production
cost. Biochemical processes are mostly popular in
processing the low-grade tailings or abandoned ore.
While the use of this process is restricted by the strict
growth environment such as temperature, pH,
oxygen concentrate and light condition of
microorganism and the long leaching period.
However, hydrometallurgical process does not have
the problems mentioned before. Therefore,
hydrometallurgical process becomes the most viable
and promising approach to treat copper sulfide ore
in metallurgy fields. In hydrometallurgical process,
the most widely used pretreatment process is
roasting before leaching. There are three common
roasting methods: oxidation roasting, chlorination
roasting and roasting. Oxidation roasting needs high
roasting temperature and copper will suffer a loss by
generating copper ferrite. The exhaust gas (SO2,
Cl2, HCl) from the furnace in chlorination roasting
process is a threat to the environment. In roasting,
copper was mainly formed to soluble sulfate by
water or dilute acid after roasting. Mostly this
method is applied to pretreatment of copper
concentrate with high percentage of sulfur. A sulfate
promoter can change the roasting atmosphere from
oxidation to reduction, with releasing sulfur dioxide,
turning metal oxides and sulfides to soluble metal
sulfate. Pyrite, sulfur, and sulfuric acid are the
sulfate promoters normally used to produce the
reductive atmosphere. Prasad and Pandey studied

the roasting of the mixture of copper-iron sulfides

and copper sulfide formed copper sulfate, whereas
iron sulfide converted mostly to hematite at 500C.
In the present work, a roasting-acid leaching process
that
associated
pyrometallurgical
and
hydrometallurgical methods has been used for the
recovery of copper from a copper sulfide
concentrate. The reactions investigated show an
enhanced recovery of copper from its concentrate
into a leachate which is almost devoid of iron.
Suitable roasting temperatures, roasting time and a
proper amount of addition have been explored in this
study.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The experiment aims to study the various extent of
leaching the roasted copper ore and apply
cementation and titration method in the resulting
pregnant solution.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

In this experiment the application of cementation
method will determine its efficiency in the
extraction of copper.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The materials used were stirring rod, hot plate, 1000
mL beaker, 250 mL beaker, sulfuric acid, filter
paper, filter funnel and aluminum scrap.
The copper sulfide ore was roasted at 900 degrees C
for one hour. The total copper (% CuO and CuSO4)
was determined through the analysis of copper and
sulfur. Sulfur was determined gravimetrically as
barium sulfate and copper was determined
volumetrically by titrating with standardized KCN
solution after iron was removed by precipitation
with NH4OH as iron hydroxide and by filtration.
After the titration of the filtrate, the end point gave a

Leaching of a Roasted Copper Sulfide Ore. Submitted to Engr. Alma Mae Batucan, Instructor. Page 1 of 2

clear solution. A solution consisting of 6 % sulfuric

acid added with roasted calcine and water in a 1000
mL beaker was then prepared for leaching. The
leaching process was done by stirring for one hour
and the resulting solution was filtered. In the
cementation process, the filtered leach solution was
added with aluminum scraps, heated to near boiling
point temperature and was associated with constant
stirring until the solution has cleared. Filtration of
the cement copper was then obtained and aluminum
scraps were collected. After drying, both the cement
copper and aluminum scraps were then weighed.

copper. However, in the titration part, the blue

solution did not give a clear solution at some time
that is why the end point and the %Cu was not
obtained. At table 2 below, the data for the
preparation for leaching is place and titration data is
excluded because of the said outcome.
Table 2. Data for Leaching
%solids
15% solids
Sulfuric Acid
10 ml
Volume of Water
190 ml
Amount of Coal
40.65 g
The leached product using the data above was
filtered. After the ore has been roasted and leached,
the resulting solution was transferred to the beaker,
where cementation was performed. The data is
shown below in table 3.
Table 3. Data for Cementation
Volume of Solution
Amount of Aluminum Strips
Amount of Copper

Before After
25 ml
1.49 g 1.35 g
0.14 g

In accordance with the above data, the copper which

resulted from cementation is very low. And it was
observed that there were white particles and we
speculated that it accumulated because the strips
were not properly washed after the cementation
stage.
Figure 1. Flowsheet

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

We conclude that the roasted ore has certain amount

of copper that can be extracted through leaching and
filtration.

Table 1. Data for the Roasting Stage

Weight of Sample + Crucible
Weight of sample
After Roasting
Weight of sample after roasting

Trial 1
53.25g
30.00g
43.35g
20.10g

Trial 2
53.16g
30.00g
43.23g
20.07g

As shown in the table above, after roasting the

copper sulfide ores, the weight of the ore is notice to
have reduced. The weight reduced because the roast
converted a considerable portion of the copper to the
oxide form and a lesser amount to the form of
sulphate, and all of the iron to ferric oxide if any
existed. Also, the decomposition temperature of
copper sulphate is 650 degrees Centrigrade, so that
theoretically the correct temperature of roasting
should exist in 650. By roasting at 900 degrees
Centrigrade, a maximum amount of copper oxide
and of copper sulphate should be obtained.
After roasting, the ore was leached and some
portions were titrated for the determination of

Hence, during roasting the copper extracted is

mainly affected by temperature and time.
It is recommended that this experiment requires a
skilled person to perform this one, for it is very
crucial and needs a lot of reminders to be considered.
In addition, one must know its use and relevance to
be able to appreciate the experiment and can produce
an accurate results.

REFERENCES
Zhao, Yaming, et.al. Recovery of Copper from Copper Sulfide
Concentrate by Sulfation Roasting. Scientific Research
Publishing Inc. February 2015.
Tumen, F. and Bailey, N.T. (1990) Recovery of Metals from
Copper Smelter Slags by Roasting with Pyrite.
Hydrometallurgy, 25, 317-328.

Leaching of a Roasted Copper Sulfide Ore. Submitted to Engr. Alma Mae Batucan, Instructor. Page 2 of 2

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