Method for recovering copper, molybdenum, and precious metals from mineral ores via pressure oxidation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022119913-A1
Application number	US-202117496329-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 7, 2021
Priority date	Oct 16, 2020
Publication date	Apr 21, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method of recovering copper, molybdenum, and a precious metal value from a metal-bearing material, the method comprising bulk flotation of the metal-bearing material to form a flotation product, wherein the metal-bearing material comprises a copper compound, a molybdenum compound, and at least one precious metal value, pressure oxidizing the flotation product to form a pressure oxidized discharge, separating the pressure oxidized discharge to form a separated liquid and separated solid, extracting molybdenum, via a molybdenum solution extraction, from the separated liquid to form a molybdenum-containing stream and a copper-containing stream, extracting copper, via a copper solution extraction, from the copper-containing stream, and extracting the precious metal value, via a cyanide leaching process, from the separated solid.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of recovering copper, molybdenum, and a precious metal value from a metal-bearing material, the method comprising:
bulk flotation of the metal-bearing material to form a flotation product, wherein the metal-bearing material comprises a copper compound, a molybdenum compound, and at least one precious metal value; pressure oxidizing the flotation product to form a pressure oxidized discharge; separating the pressure oxidized discharge to form a separated liquid and separated solid; extracting molybdenum, via a molybdenum solution extraction, from the separated liquid to form a molybdenum-containing stream and a copper-containing stream; extracting copper, via a copper solution extraction, from the copper-containing stream; and extracting the precious metal value, via a cyanide leaching process, from the separated solid.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising conducting an organic washing process on the molybdenum-containing stream and conducting an organic stripping process on the molybdenum-containing stream.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising conducting a crystallization process on the molybdenum containing stream.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein extracting the precious metal value from the separated solid further comprises a hot lime boil.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein extracting copper from the copper-containing stream further comprises electrowinning the copper-containing stream.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising cooling the pressure oxidized discharge via flash letdown process.

7 . A method of recovering copper, molybdenum, and a precious metal value from a metal-bearing material, the method comprising:
bulk flotation of the metal-bearing material to form a flotation product, wherein the metal-bearing material comprises a copper compound, a molybdenum compound, and at least one precious metal value; pressure oxidizing the flotation product to form a pressure oxidized discharge; separating the pressure oxidized discharge to form a separated liquid and separated solid; extracting molybdenum, via a molybdenum solution extraction, from the separated liquid to form a molybdenum-containing stream and a copper-containing stream; extracting copper, via a copper solution extraction, from the copper-containing stream; and extracting the precious metal value, via a thiosulfate leaching process, from the separated solid.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising conducting an organic washing process on the molybdenum-containing stream and conducting an organic stripping process on the molybdenum-containing stream.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising conducting a crystallization process on the molybdenum containing stream.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein extracting the precious metal value from the separated solid further comprises a hot lime boil.

11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein extracting copper from the copper-containing stream further comprises electrowinning the copper-containing stream.

12 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising cooling the pressure oxidized discharge via flash letdown process.

13 . A method of recovering copper, molybdenum, and a precious metal value from a metal-bearing material, the method comprising:
bulk flotation of the metal-bearing material to form a flotation product, wherein the metal-bearing material comprises a copper compound, a molybdenum compound, and at least one precious metal value; pressure oxidizing the flotation product to form a pressure oxidized discharge; hot curing the pressure oxidized discharge to form a product stream; separating the pressure oxidized discharge to form a separated liquid and separated solid; extracting molybdenum, via a molybdenum solution extraction, from the separated liquid to form a molybdenum-containing stream and a copper-containing stream; extracting copper, via a copper solution extraction, from the copper-containing stream; and extracting the precious metal value from the separated solid.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising conducting an organic washing process on the molybdenum-containing stream and conducting an organic stripping process on the molybdenum-containing stream.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising conducting a crystallization process on the molybdenum containing stream.

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein extracting the precious metal value from the separated solid further comprises a cyanide leaching process.

17 . The method of claim 13 , wherein extracting the precious metal value from the separated solid further comprises a thiosulfate leaching process.

18 . The method of claim 13 , wherein extracting the precious metal value from the separated solid further comprises a hot lime boil and a cyanide leaching process.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the lime boil utilizes a temperature of between approximately 0° C. and approximately 180° C. for a duration of between approximately 0 to 6 hours.

20 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the hot curing comprises holding the pressure oxidized discharge at a temperature of between approximately 0 and 180° C. for a duration between approximately 4 to 12 hours.

Assignees

• Freeport Minerals Corp

Inventors

• Green Christine Rae
• Mota Brenda Lizzet
• Gunturi Santosh Srivatsa
• Villalba Jr Manuel G

Classifications

• B03D2203/025

  Precious metal ores · CPC title

• C25C1/20

  of noble metals · CPC title

• Y02P10/20

  Recycling · CPC title

• B03D1/082

  of the froth product, e.g. washing · CPC title

• C22B15/0008

  by wet processes (by flotation B03D) · CPC title