Copper Mineral Leaching Mathematical Models—A Review

Reuse and Mechanochemical Processing of Ore Dressing Tailings Used for Extracting Pb and Zn

The increasing accumulation of rock waste obtained due to ore processing and its environmental impacts, such as acid mine drainage and elevated concentrations of heavy metals in soils, necessitates the transformation of mining technologies based on the concept of circular waste management. The research is aimed at improving the parameters of the mechanical activation effect produced on technogenic georesources, as well as at expanding the application scope of disintegrators in the field of using the partial backfill of the mined-out space when developing stratified deposits. In this regard, the research purpose was to substantiate the parameters of extracting metals from enrichment tailings using their mechanochemical activation to ensure cyclic waste management. The research involved the application of three-dimensional interpolation methods used for processing the data and the graphical representation. As a result, the following was found to be characteristic of the waste of the Sadonsky mine management. The degree of extracting zinc from pre-activated tailings increases logarithmically when the H2SO4 concentration and the NaCl proportion decrease 3.5 times. The degree of extracting lead from the activated tailings increases according to the Fourier law when decreasing the NaCl mass concentration, and an optimal range of the H2SO4 (0.38-0.51%) proportion decreases six times. One of the key results of the research is the justification of expanding the scope of applying disintegrators in the case of a directed activation influence exerted on the components of the stowing strips. The obtained results expand the understanding of the mechanism of the influence of the mechanochemical activation of dry tailings on the reactivity unevenness when extracting several metals from them.

Tailings Utilization and Zinc Extraction Based on Mechanochemical Activation

The significant containment of the global mining industry is caused by the problem of the transition to sustainable metal extraction and the integrated use of technogenic raw materials from the tailings of ore processing. The modeling of metal leaching processes using mechanical activation of polymetallic raw material components is particularly important in expanding the application of mining tailings as inert fillers of filling mixtures. This study is aimed at detecting the rotor speed factor on the chemical and mechanochemical effect of zinc yield growth from polymetallic tailings of the mining industry. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to improve the modeling of metal leaching processes using mechanical activation by improving the compositions of the filling mixtures. The methodology of the work included several comprehensive studies: the mechanical activation of tailings during zinc leaching from pulp in the DESI-11 disintegrator; the activation of enrichment tailings and the formation of a filling mass with different parameters of the component composition; the curing of cubic samples and their testing on the IP-1250 press. The Vi Improved text editor was used to prepare the algorithms for deterministic methods of three-dimensional interpolation in the Python language. The experimental results were graphically displayed using Gnuplot. The study of the agitation leaching of the waste obtained from the Sadonskiy mining district results in the fact that the NaCl mass concentration decreased from 13 to 1% and the H₂SO₄ concentration stabilization within 0.5 to 0.6% led to a 3-time increase in the zinc yield from the pulp, according to the polynomial law (from 28 to 91%). The obtained results expand the idea of the mechanism of the strength gain by the filling mass under mechanical activation on the components of the filling mixture, as well as changes in the efficiency of zinc leaching at different ratios of two types of lixiviants (sulphuric acid and sodium chloride) in the leaching solution.