Recovery of copper from metal oxide(s) - by leaching with ammonium carbonate solution, then hardening and/or solvent-extracting

摘要

Process for recovery of copper from metal oxides comprises leaching with a solution of ammonium carbonate to form copper-ammonia complexes, and separating the metal from the obtained leaching solution by hardening (with iron or zinc) or extracting with solvents (with acid-type extraction agents and/or compounds which form chelates) or by a combination of both methods. The leaching solution is regenerated by neutralising the acid produced in the copper extraction with the ammonia liberated in the metal separation process.