A novel technology for separating copper, lead and zinc in flotation concentrate by oxidizing roasting and leaching

Abstract

In this work, oxidizing roasting was combined with leaching to separate copper, lead, and zinc from a concentrate obtained by bulk flotation of a low-grade ore sourced from the Jiama mining area of Tibet. The flotation concentrate contained 7.79% Cu, 22.00% Pb, 4.81% Zn, 8.24% S, and 12.15% CaO; copper sulfide accounted for 76.97% of the copper, lead sulfide for 25.55% of the lead, and zinc sulfide for 67.66% of the zinc. After oxidizing roasting of the flotation concentrate, the S content in the roasting slag decreased to 0.22%, indicating that most sulfide in the concentrate was transformed to oxide, which was beneficial to leaching. The calcine was subjected to sulfuric acid leaching for separation of copper, lead, and zinc; i.e., copper and zinc were leached, and lead was retained in the residue. The optimum parameters of the leaching process were: a leaching temperature of 55 °C; sulfuric acid added at 828 kg/t calcine; a liquid:solid ratio of 3:1; and a leaching time of 1.5 h. Under these conditions, the extents of leaching of copper and zinc were 87.43% and 64.38%, respectively. Copper and zinc in the leaching solution could be further separated by electrowinning. The effects of leaching parameters on the extents of leaching of copper and zinc were further revealed by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy analysis.