Chalcopyrite is the most abundant copper ore mined in Chile. Hydrometallurgical plants are currently changing to concentration by flotation-matte smelting deposits when oxide minerals run out and chalcopyrite appears in deposits. The change from hydrometallurgical processing to flotation is mainly dependent on whether comminution costs can be absorbed given the copper grade. It is important to develop alternative technologies to work profitably with low-grade copper sulphide ores. One alternative that has been recently studied is the pretreatment of low copper grade sulphide minerals, especially chalcopyrite, to improve leaching efficiency. The curing time, as pretreatment, improves dissolution kinetics and shortens leaching time. This study used a pure sample of chalcopyrite mineral with 28.5% copper. Chalcanthite (copper sulphate) represented 9% of total copper in the sample. The effect of curing time as a function of copper extraction prior to leaching was evaluated using different concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl), potassium nitrate (KNO₃) and sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄). A 23% copper dissolution was obtained prior to leaching using 25 kg/t NaCl, 15 kg/t H₂SO₄ and 15 days of curing time. The ANOVA analysis reported that curing time was the most important variable (56.4 and 54.7% of contribution) in tests with NaCl and KNO₃. According to the results, KNO₃ does not have a significant effect on copper extraction prior to leaching.

黄铜矿是智利开采最丰富的铜矿。目前，湿法冶金厂正在通过浮选哑光熔炼矿床改变浓度，当氧化物矿物耗尽并且黄铜矿出现在矿床中时。从湿法冶金工艺到浮选工艺的变化主要取决于在给定铜品位的情况下是否可以吸收粉碎成本。开发替代技术以与低品位硫化铜矿合作有利可图。最近研究的一种替代方法是预处理低铜级硫化物，特别是黄铜矿，以提高浸出效率。作为预处理的固化时间可改善溶解动力学并缩短浸出时间。这项研究使用了纯铜矿，铜含量为28.5％。黄铜矿（硫酸铜）占样品中总铜的9％。使用不同浓度的氯化钠（NaCl），硝酸钾（KNO）评估了浸出前固化时间与铜萃取的关系₃）和硫酸（H ₂ SO ₄）。在使用25 kg / t NaCl，15 kg / t H ₂ SO ₄和15天固化时间进行浸出之前，铜的溶解度为23％。ANOVA分析报告说，在使用NaCl和KNO _3的测试中，固化时间是最重要的变量（贡献的56.4和54.7％）。根据结果​​，KNO ₃对浸出前的铜提取没有显着影响。