The Rewards of Patience, Scheffel 2006
The Rewards of Patience, Scheffel 2006
The Rewards of Patience, Scheffel 2006
Preprint 06-014
THE REWARDS OF PATIENCE
R. E. Scheffel, Consulting Met. Eng., Castle Rock, CO
porosity. It is not known how well this air was distributed and the author
has no knowledge of any studies in this regard at this site or any other.
ABSTRACT
Most supergene copper heap leach operations today employ
forced-aeration, irrespective of ore grade. Unfortunately, there is little
published quantification of its benefit. There is a natural desire to
strive for the ideal chemical kinetics. The reality, however, is that
physical mechanisms control the commercial extraction rate. This
paper presents the performance of a number of operations, their
operating conditions and physical ore characteristics, which contribute
to non-ideal solution distribution and variable extraction rate.
Regardless whether one uses forced-aeration, commercial experience
to date suggests it is prudent to design for longer leach cycle times to
ensure the production target is met.
INTRODUCTION
A large number of copper supergene, heap leach, SX/EW
operations were developed during the 1990s. Most of the larger ones
were in Chile and Peru, while others were developed in Australia,
Southeast Asia and North America. The leaching of chalcocite prior to
this time was primarily in run-of-mine (ROM) dumps or heaps such as
1
the Inspiration ferric-cure leaching near Miami, AZ and Phelps
Dodges Morenci, AZ ROM leaching. Ranchers Exploration and
Development Corporation operated a mixed oxide-chalcocite in-place
2
leach at the Old Reliable mine near Mammoth, AZ from 1972 to 1981.
+2
+ CuS
(1)
+2
+S
(2)
+2
+ O2 + 2H Fe + H2O
bacteria
+
+3
(3)
100
(4)
90
80
Fe
+2
+ 2 H + 2 SO
-2
4
70
% CuR Recovery
FeS2 + 3 O2 + H2O
bacteria
(5)
60
Area of Economic
Extraction
50
40
30
and
20
FeS2 + 14 Fe
+ 8 H2O
bacteria
+3
Area of Initial
Commercial Design
10
0
0
30
60
90
120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 390 420 450 480 510
Days
+2
15 Fe
+ 16 H + 2 SO
-2
4
(6)
600
550
R2 = 0.9543
500
R2 = 0.7795
450
400
350
300
250
200
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
GT (%CuR)
8,9
The primary reagent from reactions (1) and (2) is ferric ion.
Without acid in the solution, however, there will be no oxidation of
ferrous iron, even if O2 occurs in excess. Modeling work of Cathles
11
and Schlitt at Kennecott Copper suggests that oxygen will be present
at all times in dumps due to natural barometric pressure changes and
ventilation, provided there is sufficient gaseous porosity. The question
is simply one of the necessary supply relative to all the competing
requirements.
12
The GCC case (7) presented here is for an ore grade of 1.7
% CuR, which is more comparable to the high end of the
next closest commercial operation -- not the >3 % CuT first
leached when forced-aeration was initially tested and
subsequently installed.
Also, note the very high copper and lower acid concentration
and the range of the total iron and ferric in the GCC case,
as they are considerably higher than the other cases, while
the leach cycle time is no different.
The GCC raffinate contained 250 g/L TDS with over 150 g/L
-2
SO4 , which is nearly double most of the other cases, except
one. Interestingly, the high aeration rate does not appear to
improve the extraction rate over two other cases of similar
chalcocite content. Could it be, however, the high aeration
rate simply contributes to a high level of impurities due to
excessive bacterial activity, or is the gangue just that
reactive?
Table 2 lists the operating conditions for each case. Some of the
key operating variables are:
1.5
% CuR
90
% CuR Recovery
80
70
60
Cu2S Dissolution
50
Rate
40
30
20
10
Case #
1
2
4
6
0.83
0.80
0.76
0.77
0.5
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
0
0
30
60
90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 390 420 450 480 510
60
70
Days
Shift A
Shift B
80
90
100
Absolute Delta
Days
2.1
% CuT, % CuR
1.9
1.7
1.5
1.3
1.1
0.9
0.7
0.5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
%CuT
80
%CuR
100
90
80
% Passing
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
Days
% -12.5 mm
% -100 M
% -400 M
14
7.0
% H2O
6.0
5.0
4.0
30
3.0
% Passing
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Days
20
%H2O
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Days
Shift A
Shift B
Absolute Delta
100
90
80
% CuR Recovery
70
2.1
% CuT
1.9
60
50
40
30
1.7
20
1.5
10
1.3
0
0
1.1
30
60
90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 390 420 450 480 510
Days
0.9
0.7
0.5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Days
+1/2"
-100M
% CuR Recovery
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
60
90
120
150
180
210
Days
Air
30
60
90
120
150
180
210
Days
No Air
Air
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
% CuR Recovery
30
No Air
% CuR Recovery
% CuR Recovery
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
30
60
90
120
150
180
210
Days
No Air
Air
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
30
60
90
120
150
180
210
Days
No Air
Air
120
% CuR Recovery
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
30
60
90
120
150
180
210
Days
No Air
Air
90
80
% CuR Recovery
60
50
#2b
30
#2c
#5
20
2a
5
0.90
0.92
10
30
60
90
120
150
180
210
240
270
300
330
360
Days
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
SUMMARY
330
300
270
240
210
180
150
120
90
60
30
% CuR Recovery
#2a
40
Days
No Air
Air
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
9.
8.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
The one common feature of all the commercial operations,
however, is that all can achieve 80 % to 90 % recovery of the acid and
ferric soluble mineral content. This level of extraction is achieved by
reaching a proper compromise on crush size and ample leach time.
Time rewards the patient.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author has had the great pleasure to work with some of the
industrys finest geologists, mining engineers and metallurgists over
the last fourteen years in the pursuit of improving heap leach
performance. The numbers are just too great to list here and some
would surely be missed. My appreciation for your efforts is exceeded
only by my respect for your technical expertise and your humanity.
A special thank you goes to Mark R. Welch (a huge proponent of
forced-aeration from his GCC experience) and Amado Guzman for
assisting in the editing of this paper.
REFERENCES
1.
2.
% CuT
0.70
0.98
1.08
1.15
1.45
1.51
2.18
% ASCu
ORE PROPERTIES
% CuR(Seq)
ASCu+CNSCu
0.60
Breccia/Granodiorite
0.80
Andesite, Rhyolite
1.00
Andesite, Porphyry
1.13
Andesite
1.35
Andesite
1.33
Qtz Monz,Breccia, Fld. P.
1.66
Qtz-sericite,Volcan. M.S.
0.06
0.20
0.51
0.40
0.23
0.18
0.54
Alteration
Mineralization
mod. to high
lightly altered
mod. to high
little to very high
lightly altered
mod. to high
mod. to high
% CuT = copper total; %ASCu = acid soluble copper (5%H2SO4 20C); %CNSCu = cyanide soluble copper (10% NaCN 20 to 45C)
Cc = chalcocite; Cv = covellite; Cry = chrysocolla; Dgn = digenite; Mal = malachite; Az =azurite
mj = major; mn = minor
Aggl.
Depth
m
rotary
rotary
p80
mm
7.5
19
-100 M
Irrig Rate
2
L/(hm )
10-13
9 then
rest/rinse
7-12
6-8
Drip/
Thermo-
Woblr
Dripper
film
no
Aeration
3
m /hm
0.15
PLS
o
Leach
Design
21 - 22
Wobbler
no
0.08
15 - 24
Multiple-Lift stacking,
single lift w/0.5mm liner,
two-stage
yes
0.2
18 - 25
On/Off "Dyanamic"
w/Two-stage Leach
belt
9-10
11
8 reduced to
10-15+
4
Dripper
rotary
10-20
6-4
Dripper
yes
0.2
22 - 24
On/Off "Dyanamic"
w/Two-stage Leach
rotary
3.8-4
15
<10
Wobbler/
Dripper
no
none
15 - 24
Single-Lift w/Rest/Rinse
Leach
rotary
12
12-18
Variable 12
to 9 to 3
Dripper
yes
0.15
14 - 23
On/Off "Dyanamic"
w/Two-stage Leach
18 - 22
Multiple-Lift stacking,
single lift w/residue
liner,two-stage,
backward leach
rotary
16
Property
10
Cu+2
Variable 13
reduced to 4 Dripper
no
1.5 - 2.0
g/L
g/L
0.3
0.3 - 1
0.3 - 0.9
7-6
0.6 - 1.5
10 - 8
5
6
7
0.2-0.3
1.8 - 1.5
0.5 -10
7-8
4 - 9 (7.3)
4 - 10
0.5-1.2
1.5 - 4 (2.9)
2 - 13
Eh
mV(H2)
g/L
g/L
7-8
5-6
2.5 - 3
~650
5-6
1.5 - 7
1.3 - 6
700-750
1.7
0.8
660
3-4
2-3
700
0.2 - 0.7
0.5 - 2.4(1.1)
1-9
680-740
660
550-680