Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Use of Ammonia Salts in Selective Copper Extraction from Tailings

  • Published:
Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Tailings (flotation waste) that is formed during copper production may be considered in the class of valuable wastes due to the amount of copper it contains. Owing to the decreasing grade values in copper ores, utilization of wastes such as tailings that carry certain amounts of copper as secondary sources has become a necessity in both the economic and environmental sense. This study investigated the usage conditions of five different ammonia salts as leaching reactants for the purpose of selective extraction of copper from tailings. For this purpose, the effects of parameters such as leaching temperature and leaching time were examined at different concentrations of ammonium hydroxide, ammonium carbonate, ammonium nitrate, ammonium chloride, and ammonium persulfate. The copper extraction efficiency in the case of using the aforementioned salts by themselves were listed as (NH4)2CO3 (73%) > (NH4)2S2O8 (69%) > NH4OH (64%) > NH4Cl (42%) > NH4NO3 (40%). The highest copper extraction efficiency was obtained in the leaching process that was conducted with the solutions obtained by mixing ammonia salts in the best conditions. Accordingly, as a result of 6 h of leaching at 30 °C in the presence of 22.5% NH4OH and 100 g/L (NH4)2S2O8, 91.47% of the copper was transferred into the solution, while iron was not transferred. The obtained results showed that copper could be selectively recovered from tailings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Tulgar HE (1987) Metallurgy of non-ferrous metals (in Turkish language), part I, 2nd edn, İTÜ library, 842, p: 26–141. İstanbul, Turkey

  2. Turan MD, Sarı ZA, Miller JD (2017) Leaching of blended copper slag in microwave oven. Trans Non-Ferrous Met Soc China 27:1404–1410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Carranza F, Romero R, Mazuelos A, Iglesias N, Forcat O (2009) Biorecovery of copper from converter slags: Slags characterization and exploratory ferric leaching tests. Hydrometallurgy 97:39–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Herreros O, Quiroz R, Manzano E, Bou C, Vinals J (1998) Copper extraction from reverberatory and flash furnace slag by chlorine leaching. Hydrometallurgy 49:87–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Padilla AG, Cisternas AL, Cueto YJ (2008) On the optimization of heap leaching. Miner Eng 21(9):673–678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Xie Y, Xu Y, Yan L, Yang R (2005) Recovery of nickel copper and cobalt from low-grade Ni-Cu sulfuride tailings. Hydrometallurgy 80:54–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Ramakokovhu MM, Kasaini H, Mbaya RKK (2012) Leaching characteristics of upgraded copper flotation tailings. Int Sch Sci Res & Innov 6(8):853–857

    Google Scholar 

  8. Bingöl D, Canbazoğlu M, Aydoğan S (2005) Dissolution kinetics of malachite in ammonia/ammonium carbonate leaching. Hydrometallurgy 76:55–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Feng D, Van Deventer JSJ (2002) Leaching behaviour of sulphides in ammoniacal thiosulphate systems. Hydrometallurgy 63:189–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Thompson G, Senanayake G (2018) Effect of iron(II) and manganese(II) on oxidation and co-precipitation of cobalt(II) in ammonia/ammonium carbonate solutions during aeration – an update and insight to cobalt losses in the Caron process for laterite ores. Hydrometallurgy 181:53–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Asselin E (2008) Thermochemical aspects of the Fe, Ni & Co-NH3-H2O systems relevant to the caron process. Hydrometallurgy- 6th international symposium. SME, Littleton, pp 522–531

  12. Lotens JP, Wesker E (1987) The behaviour of Sulphur in the oxidative leaching of sulphidic minerals. Hydrometall 18:39–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Turan MD (2014) Direct selective leaching of chalcopyrite concentrate. Can Metall Q 53(4):444–449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Turan MD, Kalender L (2014) An alternative approach for the metal production from copper slag. Curr Phys Chem 4:313–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Fırat University, 23279, Elazığ, Turkey

    M. Deniz Turan & Hasan Nizamoğlu

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Fırat University, 23279, Elazığ, Turkey

    Ramazan Orhan

  3. Department of Mining Engineering, İnönü University, 44280, Malatya, Turkey

    Mücevher Turan

Authors
  1. M. Deniz Turan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ramazan Orhan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mücevher Turan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hasan Nizamoğlu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Deniz Turan.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Turan, M.D., Orhan, R., Turan, M. et al. Use of Ammonia Salts in Selective Copper Extraction from Tailings. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 37, 1349–1356 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-020-00241-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-020-00241-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation