Design of copper waste ore heap leaching field The design of facilities for the whole process of copper extraction by copper leaching or low-grade copper ore. It is part of the design of the copper smelter. The main contents of the design are: design scale and product, process selection and main technical and economic indicators. The heap leaching method includes the steps of heaping, leaching, and recovering copper from the leaching solution. In 1968, the Bluebird mine of RancllersMin-ingcompany first used heap leaching-extraction and electrowinning copper extraction technology. By the 1980s, there were more than 80 similar heap leaching fields in the world. The production of electrolytic copper is about 300,000 tons. As early as in the Northern Song Dynasty, China had the biochemical effect of bacteria, so that the copper sulfide in the ore was leached into the solution, and the copper-smelting copper field was extracted from it. At that time, it was called “biliary copper immersionâ€. In 1986, an expansion test of 1000t waste ore heap leaching and extraction of electrowinning copper was completed in Dexing Copper Mine, Jiangxi Province. The scale of the design and the size of the product heap leaching field are mainly determined according to the grade, nature, resource storage and investment benefit of the ore. The recovered product has: Replacement with iron scrap recovered from the leachate sponge copper (60% copper to 85%) and taken recovered solvent extraction electrowinning electrolytic copper (copper 99.9%) two. The process selection is determined according to the ore grade, phase composition, reserves, construction scale, terrain and meteorological conditions of the plant. The main processes include heap recovery, leaching, and liquid recovery from copper and leachate. (1) Mining piles. The location of the yard is selected geographically, usually close to the mining site, and the leachate is collected using the natural slopes of the ridges and valleys, or it can be placed on specially constructed impervious surfaces. The size and shape of the heap should be designed according to the terrain of the site. The height is usually 10~30m. After several years of use, the pile can be increased, and the height can be increased by 15~30m each time. The ore is not graded according to particle size, and the bottom of the heap is generally made up of large ore. The main contents of the mine design include the preparation of surface repairing plans, the drawing of mine plans, and the calculation of the volume, surface area and ore volume of the ore. (2) Leaching and cloth liquid. The heap leaching is mainly acid leaching. Generally, the copper oxide ore is leached by a sulfuric acid solution, and the copper sulphate or mixed mineral is leached by the iron sulphate solution. The latter uses the action of bacteria to iron and sulphur in the copper sulfide ore. Relief angle 37 Figure 1 The profile of several typical waste rock piles is converted into iron sulfate, so it is also called "bacterial leaching". There are three kinds of ore heap liquids: spraying, irrigation and vertical pipe method. The spraying method is to lay a pipeline and a nozzle spraying solution on the heap. This method is uniform, but the evaporation loss is large, and the loss in the arid area is 60%. The irrigation method is to introduce a solution by opening a channel or building a weir on the heap. In the vertical pipe method, the leachate flows into the inside of the heap through a porous plastic pipe inserted into the heap. The amount of liquid is related to the permeability of the heap, and the permeability of the heap is 0.12m. /(m.•d) (more than 30 years of mud-bearing heap) to 0.98m. /(m.•d) (unconsolidated ore). The amount of cloth liquid is designed according to 8~12L/(m·•h). Generally, the leachate is controlled to contain 1 to 2 g/I of copper. . (3) Copper is recovered from the leachate. A method of iron filing and solvent extraction is usually used. After the 1970s, the latter has gradually replaced the iron filings because of the reduced cost of extractants. The iron filings design requires a minimum of iron consumption to maximize copper recovery. The advantages are simple process and equipment, and commonly used gravity tanks and tapered displacement tanks. The principle process is shown in Figure 2. Fig. 2 Principle of waste rock heap leaching and iron replacement The solvent extraction-electrowinning method should use an extractant with strong selectivity to copper. Commonly used are China's N510 and its improved products, the US Lix series and the Acorpy5000 series. The design includes determining the basic conditions for solvent extraction, selecting an electrowinning device and workshop configuration. The principle process is shown in Figure 3. Low-grade copper sulfide or mixed mineFig. 3 heap leaching-extraction-electro-accumulation principle flow chart The main technical and economic indicators include waste ore heap leaching and leachate extraction copper. Development trend With the decline of copper resource quality, the development of copper extraction technology by heap leaching has become an important way to expand copper resources. Solvent extraction technology is moving toward high efficiency, large scale and automation. Changxing Mingwang Rubber & Plastic Technologies Co.,Ltd. , https://www.cxmingwang.com