The leaching of silver from a mechanochemically pretreated silver-bearing complex sulphide concentrate of Peruvian origin (Casapalca) has been studied. The results with as-received concentrate have shown very low extraction of silver (up to 5.7%) in all cases of leaching. The mechanochemical pretreatment has caused 85% amorphization of tetrahedrite as silver-bearing mineral and an increase in the specific surface area of the concentrate from 0.3 m(2) g(-1) to a maximum value of 15.7 m(2) g(-1). This fact manifested itself in the subsequent process of silver extraction. By application of thiosulphate and thiourea leaching 99% recovery of Ag was reached already after 3-5 min of leaching. (C) 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers.
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