Ferrous Promoted Chalcopyrite Leaching- Ferric formation and its effects on the leaching -

抄録

This paper shows that ferrous ions are more useful for leaching chalcopyrite than oxidant ferric ions in sulfuric acid solutions in air at ambient temperatures. Leaching experiments and dissolved oxygen consumption measurements were carried out with a very pure chalcopyrite and 0.001 ∼ 1 mol dm-3 sulfuric acid containing 0 ∼ 0.1 mol dm-3 ferrous or ferric ions at 303 K. Chalcopyrite oxidation with dissolved oxygen was promoted by ferrous ions and was suppressed by ferric ions. As a result, the amount of extracted copper was higher with ferrous ions than with ferric ions in air. During the ferrous promoted chalcopyrite leaching, extracted copper ions catalyzed oxidation of ferrous ions to ferric ions which suppressed copper extraction. This result indicates that higher leaching rates can be achieved by reducing the ferric ions formed during the leaching.