INVESTIGATING THE SULPHIDATION PROCESS OF COPPER OXIDIZED MINERALS

Abstract

When enriching copper oxidized minerals, the most acceptable type of surface activation is considered to be the process of mechanical activation in combination with added reagents. The enrichment technology for oxidized and mixed copper minerals is based on deep sulphidation of surfaces of oxidized ore minerals with sulphidizers.

Of many sulphidizers, substances that undergo hydrolysis in water and sulphidating the oxidized copper minerals are of interest, which, during mechanical activation in the mill (from the acid to the neutral condition) form stable copper sulphides. As a result, the crystal structure of the ore is distorted. The influence of mechanical energy on the ore in the crystalline network increases the number of defects, which, influencing the process of structural-chemical transformations in the presence of sulphur contribute to sulphidation. This helps to reduce depravity and the internal energy, which, in turn, affects the flotation process.

The grinding process, in which new surfaces of oxidized minerals are formed as a result of removal of the sulphide layer, allows the transition from the internal diffusion mode to the kinetic mode. As a result, the speed of the process and the proportion of sulphated copper increase. Thus, the speed of sulphidation reaction is determined by the speed of the surface formation. The sulphidation process is a typical phase reaction that begins by grinding the particles of minerals. Experiments were carried out on the grinding of the oxidized ores of the Teghut deposit by mechanochemical activation. The experiments were carried out on a ball mill A091-02.

As a result of experiments, elemental sulphur was selected and justified as a sulphidizer, and the reactivity of copper oxide minerals was determined, contributng to the sulphidation of copper oxide minerals at low temperatures: 333...343 K.