Author(s)

Refilwe Sandra Magwaneng¹, Altansukh Batnasan¹, Kazutoshi Haga², Atsushi Shibayama¹

¹Graduate School of International Resource Sciences, Akita University, Akita, Japan.
²Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Akita University, Akita, Japan.

The present study focused on the re-processing of copper and nickel from mine tailings. In this work, recovery of copper and nickel from mine tailing by combined process of flotation and high pressure oxidative leaching were considered. In the first stage, effects of flotation parameters including collector type, collector dosage, and pH and pulp density were examined. The results showed that over 80% copper recovery was achieved under the optimized flotation conditions while nickel recovery was lower than 30% due to its co-ex-istence with gangue minerals of pyrrhotite, pyrite and other clay minerals. In the second stage, key parameters, particularly concentration of sulfuric acid, temperature, pressure and leaching time were investigated to test the leaching efficiency of copper and nickel from the flotation concentrate with high pressure oxidative leaching (HPOL). A comparison was made between the leaching efficiencies of copper and nickel from flotation concentrates and mine tailing.

Mine Tailing, Flotation, High Pressure Leaching, Copper, Nickel

Magwaneng, R. , Batnasan, A. , Haga, K. and Shibayama, A. (2017) Development of a Combined Flotation and High Pressure Leaching Process for Copper and Nickel Recovery from Mine Tailing. Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering, 5, 118-131. doi: 10.4236/jmmce.2017.53010.