What is the difference in mineral processing between Oxidized Copper ore and Sulfide Copper ore?

Based on the oxidation extent of Copper ore, those with an oxidation rate higher than 30% are classified as Oxidized Copper ore, those with an oxidation rate lower than 10% are classified as Sulfide Copper ore, and those with an oxidation rate between 10% and 30% are called mixed Copper ore.

In other words, according to the high or low oxidation rate, it can be divided into:

Copper Oxide ore: oxidation rate>30%;

Copper Sulfide ore: oxidation rate<10%;

Mixed Copper ore: oxidation rate of 10-30%.

Copper Oxide ore

The most common Copper Oxide minerals are?Malachite and Chalcopyrite, followed by Siliceous Malachite and Chalcopyrite, sometimes also encountering Copper Sulfates and other soluble salts.

1. Malachite? CuCO3·Cu(OH)2

The main mineral is Malachite, with relatively low content of other minerals. It is an easily selected ore and can be treated by Sulfide flotation method. After pre sulfurization, flotation of Sulfide ores can be carried out using collectors such as Xanthate; Without pre sulfurization, Xanthate?with no less than 5-6 Carbons can also be used for flotation at high dosage.

Malachite can also be captured by fatty acids (such as oleic acid, palmitic acid, etc.) and their soaps. However, when using such collectors, the carbonate gangue in the ore (such as Calcite, Dolomite, etc.) has similar floatability to Copper minerals, resulting in poor selectivity in the flotation process. So, this type of collector is only suitable for flotation of Oxidized Copper ore containing silicate gangue.

Malachite can also be floated using long-chain primary Amines, which require activation with Sodium Sulfide.

2. Azurite ?2CuCO3·Cu(OH)2

The flotation conditions are basically the same as those of Malachite. The only difference is that when using fatty acids and their soaps for flotation, it has better floatability than Malachite, while when using Sulfide flotation, it requires a longer interaction time with the reagent.

3. Chrysocolla CuSiO3·2H2O

The mineral is mainly Malachite, and the gangue is a silicate with poor floatability. It is a difficult to select ore and can be processed by chemical beneficiation. The main reason is that they are colloidal minerals with unstable composition and occurrence, and their surfaces have strong hydrophilicity. The adsorbent film of the collector can only form in the pores of the mineral surface, and the adhesion is extremely weak. Its flotation behavior is also significantly affected by pH value, and it is difficult to control pH value so strictly in industrial production.

4. Brochantite CuSO4·3Cu(OH)2

The ore is mainly composed of Copper Alum minerals, which have moderate selectivity and can be directly recovered by flotation or chemical beneficiation methods. If the gangue is a Carbonate mineral, the combined method can be used for treatment. This is a mineral that is slightly soluble in water and difficult to float, usually lost in tailings.

5. Gallbladder Alum CuSO4·5H2O

This mineral belongs to soluble minerals and is easily soluble in the slurry during flotation. Due to the dissolution of this type of mineral, the concentration of Copper ions in the slurry increases, and it also destroys the selectivity of the flotation process, increasing the consumption of reagents.

Copper Sulfide ore

Copper Sulfide ore is an unoxidized (with a low oxidation rate) Copper ore containing a high proportion of Sulfides. It is gray black or dark Copper red in color, crystallized in a face centered cubic crystal system, with high hardness and density. Copper Sulfide ores mainly include Chalcopyrite, Bornite, and Chalcopyrite. In addition, Chalcopyrite, Chalcopyrite, Chalcopyrite, and Chalcopyrite are also Sulfide Copper ore varieties used for refining Copper.

The difference?between Copper Sulfide and Copper Oxide ore?in beneficiation process

There are significant differences between Sulfide Copper ore and Oxide Copper ore in the beneficiation process, mainly reflected in ore composition, beneficiation technology, and other aspects.

Ore Composition and Beneficiation Process

Copper Sulfide ore: mainly including Chalcopyrite, Chalcopyrite, Bornite, etc., with complex composition, usually containing multiple Metallic minerals. The embedded particle size of Copper Sulfide ore is uneven, mainly consisting of medium and fine particles, with a complex mineral structure and poor monomer dissociation degree. Therefore, when processing Sulfide Copper ore, finer grinding fineness is required, and flotation method is usually used, sometimes combined with mixed flotation method, preferential flotation method, or flotation heavy combined beneficiation method.

Copper Oxide ore: mainly including Chalcopyrite, Chalcopyrite, Malachite, etc., with relatively simple composition. The commonly used mineral processing methods include flotation and chemical leaching, such as acid leaching and ammonia leaching technologies, which are relatively mature. However, further optimization is still needed when dealing with difficult mineral processing of fine particles.

Specific Application Scenarios and Advantages and Disadvantages

Copper Sulfide ore:

Sorting of Copper Sulfide ore: Different processes are adopted according to the properties of the ore:

(1) To process Copper ores with extremely fine Copper mineral embedment, stage grinding, stage flotation, multi-stage grinding, and centralized flotation processes are selected.

(2) To process high Sulfur Copper Zinc ore, a two-stage grinding and equal flotation process is used to select Copper Zinc mixed concentrate. The tailings are subjected to Copper flotation to obtain Zinc Sulfur mixed concentrate, which is then separated separately to obtain Copper concentrate, Zinc concentrate, and Sulfur concentrate;

(3) To process Copper ores with a high content of?Pyrite, a grinding and Copper Sulfur mixed flotation process is adopted. The mixed coarse concentrate is then ground for Copper and Sulfur separation;

(4) To process Copper ore containing low-grade Molybdenum, a one-stage grinding and mixed flotation process is generally used to select Copper Molybdenum mixed concentrate, which is then ground and separated into Copper and Molybdenum;

(5) To process ores with high levels of mineral mud and significant differences in sediment floatability, a sediment separation process is adopted.

Copper Oxide ore:?

Suitable for using flotation wet smelting or flotation chemical leaching combined processes.