Leaching of Chalcopyrite with Sodium Hypochlorite

A laboratory study was conducted on the leaching of chalcopyrite with NaOCl (sodium hypochlorite). Experiments were carried out in the following two stages: (1) Chalcopyrite was converted to CuO (cupric oxide) with a sodium hypochlorite solution, and (2) cupric oxide was dissolved to cupric ions with 1 normal sulfuric acid at room temperature. In the first-stage leaching, the initial pH varied from 12.5 to 13.7, the temperature from 35 °C to 75 °C, the sodium hypochlorite concentration from 0.2 to 0.85 molar, and the chalcopyrite dosage from 1 to 10 g/500 ml. The leaching conversion showed a maximum (68.3 pct) around a pH of 13.2 at 0.5 molar OCl^– (hypochlorite) concentration and at 65 °C in 1 hour. The reagent consumption ratio—defined as the number of moles of hypochlorite consumed to leach 1 mole of chalcopyrite—was much higher than its stoichiometric ratio of 8.5. It reached 57.6 when the solid dosage was 1 g/500 ml and decreased to 12.9 when the solid dosage was increased to 10 g/500 ml. The leaching rate of chalcopyrite in the first stage was controlled by a chemical reaction with the activation energy of 50.2 kJ/mol (12.0 kcal/mol). A leaching scheme was identified in which 98 pct of the chalcopyrite was leached by adding hypochlorite stock solution stepwise in less than 3 hours.