Chemical Processing of Ore Minerals

Prof.Dr. Ahmed A.S. Seifelnassr

Professor of Mineral Processing
Dept. of Mining Engineering
Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Engineering
Suez University
Suez, Egypt
E-mail:[email protected]
 Chemical Processing of Ore Minerals
• Code:ME 465B
• Fourth Year Mining Engineering
• Contents:Introduction. Mineral decomposition chemistry. Leaching
technology: Feed preparation, Leaching techniques: In-situ; heap; vat
(percolation) column, agitation and pressure leaching. Leaching systems:
Chemical and biological. Solid-liquid separation, purification and/or
concentration or of pregnant liquor: ion exchange; solvent extraction; and
activated carbon adsorption. Recovery of metallic values from leach
liquor: evaporation; distillation; precipitation; cementation; electrolysis;
etc.
• Instructor: Prof.Dr. Ahmed A.S. Seifelnassr
• Marks: 40 class-work + 60 final Exam.
Chemical Processing of ore Minerals Third Year Mining
Total Grade Mark (100 marks)
Assessment of year work (40 marks)
Final Exam (60 marks)

• Attendance 10 marks
• Reports and Assignments 15 marls
• Midterm Exam 15 marks
 Literatures
1. Habashi, F. ”A Textbook of Hydrometallurgy”, Metallurgie Extractive,
Quebec,1993
2. Norman L. Weiss, “SME Mineral Processing Handbook“, Volume II,
SME, 1985
3. Unit Processes in Extractive Metallurgy: Hydrometallurgy, A Modular
Tutorial Course of Montana College of Mineral Science and
Technology
4. Biswas, A.K. And Davenport, W.G., “Extractive Metallurgy of Copper”,
Pergamon, Oxford, fourth edition, 2002
6. Unit Processes in Extractive Metallurgy: Electrometallurgy, A modular
tutorial course of Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology
7. Yannopoulus, J.C,”The Extractive Metallurgy of Gold”, Von Nostrand
Reinhold, New York, 1991
 1-Introduction
Metals are extracted from their ore via three different routes namely,
pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy and electrometallurgy.
1- Pyrometallurgy (Thermal treatment), deals with the methods of extraction
of metals from their ores and their refining and is based on physical and
chemical changes occurring at high temperatures.

2- Hydro metallurgy or chemical processing (use of aqueous chemistry). It

involved the use of aqueous chemistry for recovery of metal from ore.
3- Electrometallurgy (use of electrodes).It is a process that produce a metal by
electrolysis of an aqueous solution or a fused salt. In electrowinning current is
passed from anode through a liquid leach solution of metal and the metal is
extracted as it deposited in an electroplating process onto the cathode. In
electrowinning the anode is an insoluble conductor while in electrorefining it
is impure metal itself.
1
• Chemical processing (hydrometallurgy) is the process of
extraction of metals from their ores. It involves the use of aqueous
chemistry to recover metals from ores, concentrates, and recycled or
residual materials.
• Hydrometallurgy have an increasingly important role in the extraction
of precious metals from sulphide minerals.
• It is unique in that it is applied to low-grade ores that cannot be
profitably beneficiated.
• Hydrometallurgical processes include "the main process” which
generally applies to the selective dissolution of metal compounds and
minerals from ore mixtures; thus, the leaching of the desired elements
is done selectively to separate them from the bulk of unwanted
material which is left as an insoluble residue.
• In most cases the ore being leached is one that for some reason
does not respond easily to metal extraction by pyrometallurgical
treatment, or it may be that the leaching process is the simplest
one to use, or that the ore grade is too low to justify more than this
slower but less expensive hydrometallurgical treatment.
Stages of Hydrometallurgy
1-Feed Preparation
2-Leaching, which is the Selective dissolution of the metal values
from an ore or mineral concentrate.
3- Solid-liquid separation, immediately after leaching.
4- Solution purification and concentration, which include ion
exchange, solvent extraction and charcoal adsorption.
5- Recovery from solutions, which include precipitation,
electrolysis and crystallization.
Typical Hydrometallurgical Processing steps
 The advantages
• 1- Metals may be obtained directly in a pure form from the leach solution, e.g. by
precipitation with hydrogen under pressure, cementation or electrolysis.
• 2- Hydrometallurgy is presently employed for selective separation in battery
recycling, which results in salt extraction.
3- High-purity metals may be recovered from impure leach solutions, if processes
involving amalgam metallurgy are applied.
• 4- The siliceous gangue in the ore is unaffected by most leaching agents; whereas
in pyrometallurgical smelting processes, This gangue must be slagged.
• 5- Corrosion problems are relatively mild in leaching as compared with the
The protective layers inside furnaces wear out over time.
deterioration of refractory linings in furnaces, and the necessity for periodic shut
down and replacement.
• 6- Most hydrometallurgical (leaching processes) are carried out at room
temperature, and therefore there is no consumption of large amounts of fuel as in
pyrometallurgy.
• 7- Handling of leaching products is much cheaper and easier than handling molten
mattes, slags, and metals.
• 8- Leaching process is especially suitable for the treatment of low-grade ores.
• 9- Leaching plants usually do not pollute the environment as do smelters. This
factor is playing an important role at present due the strict anti-air-pollution.
• Some disadvantages (difficulties) however, may be forced when treating an
ore by leaching methods.
• Thus, difficulties may arise in separating the insoluble gangue from the leach
solution.
• Also, very small amounts of impurities in the leach solution may badly affect the
electro deposition of a metal.
• Further, leaching processes are relatively slow, since they are carried out usually
at room temperature.
Purposes of hydrometallurgy:
• Recovery of salts – directly from their deposits. examples: common salt, sodium
carbonate, potash, borax, etc.
• Production of pure solutions - high purity metals can then be produced by
electrolysis, examples: zinc, cadmium, nickel, copper, gold, and silver.
• Production of pure compounds - can be subsequently used for producing the pure
metals by other methods. examples: aluminum, magnesium, uranium, and
beryllium
• Chemical beneficiation - undesirable components of the raw material are leached
away and the remaining solids are the valuable product that has to be processed
further. Examples: desulfurization of coal
• Direct production of pure metals - suitable for the market after a subsequent
minor treatment. Examples: precipitation of cobalt, nickel, and copper from
solution by hydrogen under pressure
• Advantages of hydrometallurgy over pyrometallurgy
• Low-temperature processing, low handling cost of leaching products, and
the ability to treat low-grade ores in hydrometallurgy make leaching superior
to high-temperature smelting.
• Sulphides are burned off in traditional pyrometallurgical smelting, releasing
SO2 gas into the atmosphere.
• In comparison to pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy releases only a fraction of
the gases into the atmosphere.
• Hydrometallurgy is more environmentally friendly than pyrometallurgy.
• Hydrometallurgy is suitable for lean and complicated ores.
• With the steady depletion of rich ore resources, traditional pyrometallurgical
processes for metal extraction are becoming increasingly challenging in
many instances.
• A hydrometallurgical process can begin on a modest scale and scale
increase as needed.
• Because of the need for process economy, pyrometallurgical processes must
typically be planned as large-scale operations.