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Mineralogical characterization of copper sulfide tailings using automated mineral liberation analysis: A case study of the Chambishi Copper Mine tailings

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Abstract

As ore grades constantly decline, more copper tailings, which still contain a considerable amount of unrecovered copper, are expected to be produced as a byproduct of froth flotation. This research reveals the occurrence mechanism of copper minerals in typical copper sulfide tailings using quantitative mineral liberation analysis (MLA) integrated with scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). A comprehensive mineralogical characterization was carried out, and the results showed that almost all copper minerals were highly disseminated within coarse gangue particles, except for 9.2wt% chalcopyrite that occurred in the 160–180 µm size fraction. The predominant copper-bearing mineral was chalcopyrite, which was closely intergrown with orthoclase and muscovite rather than quartz. The flotation tailings sample still contained 3.28wt% liberated chalcopyrite and 3.13wt% liberated bornite because of their extremely fine granularity. The SEM-EDS analysis further demonstrated that copper minerals mainly occurred as fine dispersed and fully enclosed structures in gangue minerals. The information obtained from this research could offer useful references for recovering residual copper from flotation tailings.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by a grant from Non-ferrous Corporation Africa Mining Public Limited Company and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51804020). We gratefully acknowledge NFC Africa Mining Plc. for sample collection and delivery. We also would like to acknowledge Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences for the MLA measurement.

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  1. School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xiao-liang Zhang, Jue Kou, Chun-bao Sun, Rui-yang Zhang & Shuo-fu Li

  2. Non-ferrous Corporation Africa Mining Public Limited Company, Kitwe, 22592, Zambia

    Min Su

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Zhang, Xl., Kou, J., Sun, Cb. et al. Mineralogical characterization of copper sulfide tailings using automated mineral liberation analysis: A case study of the Chambishi Copper Mine tailings. Int J Miner Metall Mater 28, 944–955 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-020-2093-1

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