The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 11, 1999
Filed:
Jul. 14, 1997
Nathaniel Arbiter, Vail, AZ (US);
COPROCO Development Corporation, Denver, CO (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a process that employs both non-selective flotation and oxidative leaching of the resulting concentrates to recover an increased amount of copper from porphyry copper ores. The non-selective flotation step uses collectors and conditions, such as pH, that are conducive to the strong flotation of sulfide minerals generally. In the oxidative leach, the copper sulfide minerals in the concentrate fraction are oxidized to copper compounds, which are soluble in the leach solution. The oxidative leach includes the use of ammonia and sulfite under agitation leaching conditions to convert the copper sulfide minerals into ammonia soluble forms.