Agglomeration and leaching of copper tailings in a fixed bed for laboratory scale: effect of the moisture in the agglomeration

Abstract

In this work the effect of moisture on the agglomeration of copper tailing material which could be processed by leaching in heaps in order to recover valuable metals, is evaluated. The efficiency of leaching performed in columns at laboratory scale was quantified as a function of moisture content in prepared agglomerates. Main hydrometallurgical variables, hydrodynamics, and hydrodispersive properties of agglomerates were obtained. Results indicate that samples agglomerated with a moisture close to 10 % exhibited the best copper recovery in the shortest time and presented the highest ore bed hydrodynamic properties for the flux of acid solution. The main conclusion is that moisture content is the key process variable, which shows an important effect on the efficiency of both the agglomeration and the leaching stages. Therefore, a careful control of this variable must be taking into account during the hydrometallurgical processing of copper tailings.