Recovery of Cu and Zn from complex sulphide ore

Abstract

Complex Sulphide Ores are often found to be a close mutual association with each other and with the nonmetallic gangue. The beneficiation experiments showed that it would be very difficult to recover Cu and Zn from the lean complex Sulphide ores using traditional ore beneficiation methods. In the present work, leaching of complex sulfide ores in sulfuric acid was investigated by the Electro hydrometallurgy process. The lab-scale experiments were conducted to investigate the influences of pulp-density, electrolyte concentration, particle size, current density and time on recovery of Cu and Zn. The leach liquor obtained after electrolysis was subjected to Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy analysis for the recovery of minerals.