Investigation of Leaching Kinetics of Copper from Malachite Ore in Ammonium Nitrate Solutions

The production of metallic copper from low-grade copper ores is generally carried out by hydrometallurgical methods. Leaching is the first prerequisite of any hydrometallurgical process. Solutions containing ammonia may allow for selective leaching of the copper from the ore. In this study, the leaching kinetics of malachite, which is an oxidized copper ore, in ammonium nitrate solutions was examined. The effects of some experimental parameters on the leaching process were investigated, and a kinetic model to represent the effects of these parameters on the leaching rate was developed. It was determined that the leaching rate increased with increasing solution concentration, temperature, and agitation speed, as well as decreasing particle size. It was found that the leaching reaction followed the mixed kinetic controlled model, which includes two different leaching processes including the surface chemical reaction (303 K to 323 K [30 °C to 50 °C]) and diffusion through a porous product layer (323 K to 343 K [50 °C to 70 °C]). The activation energies of these sequential steps were determined to be 95.10 and 29.50 kJ/mol, respectively.