Per: LETICIA MARIA DE MELO SILVA CHELONI (UFOP UNIV FED. DE OURO PRETO -), michael leonardo marques rodrigues (universidade federal de ouro preto), versiane albis leão (universidade federal de ouro preto)
Abstract:
Chalcopyrite concentrates are mainly treated by pyrometallurgical routes, in view of the refractoriness of the mineral in ferric sulphate solution - more widely applied industrially. Pretreatment steps, such as sulfurization, have been proposed with the objective of increasing copper extraction in the leaching step. This approach is particularly suitable for chalcopyrite concentrates with high levels of deleterious elements for pyrometallurgical operations, such as fluorine and arsenic. In the present work, reactions were investigated among chalcopyrite concentrates and elemental sulfur, with emphasis on temperature, reaction time and proportion of chalcopyrite and elemental sulfur as parameters that influence the conversion of chalcopyrite into leachable phases. In addition, values of copper extractions obtained by the different transformed sulphides were approached and compared with extractions from chalcopyrite.