Abstract:
Seruwila Copper Magnetite deposit remains unextracted,
although proper exploration work have been carried
out. A XRF characterization was conducted in the laboratory
for the systematically collected field ore sample. It was
confirmed that 0.6% Cu and 20-50% Fe are available in the
sample on average. Raw ore samples followed a comminution
process where the particle size was reduced up to 75μm. Sulfuric
acid was used as the leaching medium. Particles below the size
of 75μm gave optimum leaching efficiency. Leaching efficiency
could be improved with increasing temperatures and acid
concentrations. Optimum solid/liquid ratio was determined to
be in the range 20/125 – 20/150 (g/ml) for leaching. Selective
extraction of Cu cations from the leachate solution was
successfully conducted using an Ammonia solution. Formed
complex solution was filtered and treated with concentrated
Sulfuric acid to prepare an electrolyte solution. Elemental
analysis of the deposited layer from electrowinning the above
solution gave 76.62% Cu along with current efficiency of 72%
and power consumption of 1023.5 kWh/t. It was concluded that
this methodology is economically feasible when compared with
electrowinning the leachate directly, which resulted only
62.88% Cu with comparatively lower current efficiency of
50.95% and higher power consumption of 3097 kWh/t.
