RESEARCH ON THE SULFIDATION PROCESS OF TEGHUT MINE OXIDIZED COPPER ORE BY MECHANOCHEMICAL ACTIVATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53297/18293395-2026.1-9Keywords:
copper, oxidized ore, sulfidizer, mineral, grinding, mechanochemical activation, sulfiding, sulfide pellicle, enrichment, flotation, concentrate.Abstract
Complex processing of copper raw materials is one of the important directions of industrial development of Republic of Armenia. It will allow to use raw materials more efficiently, to maintain environmental standards, to improve production processes and to obtain a product that meets international standards. However, a significant part of copper ores in Armenia contains mixed and oxidized minerals, which are not enriched. Consequently, a significant part of the mines` mineral resources is not used due to the fact that they are not subject to enrichment and go to waste tailings.
The work develops a modern technology for sulfidation and concentrate production by mechanical-chemical and metallothermal activation during the crushing the Teghut mine oxidized copper ores, which makes it possible to process not only oxidized copper ores, ensuring 82% of copper recovery rate, but also 400 million tons of tailings with an average copper content of approximately 0,12%, that is accumulated in the RA waste storage facilities, solving in this way some issues of environmen protection.
A technology for the sulfidation of oxidized copper ores – azurite (Cu3(OH)2[CO3]2), malachite (Cu(OH)2[CO3], cuprite (Cu2O), and tenorite (CuO) - with silicon sulfide (SiS2), sodium thiocomplex (Na2[SiS3]) and sulfur (S) in ball mills and the production of copper concentrate from them has also been developed. As a result of comprehensive research, it was revealed that the mechanochemical decomposition of the material is unique in its nature and differs from thermal and other types of decomposition. The processes that are considered promising, that is aimed at converting the oxide form of copper into easily floatable sulphides, are characterized. It has been shown that it is possible to simplify the technological conditions of the sulfidation process by combining the sulfidation and grinding processes, as well as to reduce the economic costs of implementing the sulfidation process.
