Hydrometallurgy 133 (2013) 111117

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Hydrometallurgy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/hydromet

Production of copper cathode from oxidized copper ores by acidic leaching and
two-step precipitation followed by electrowinning
Hossein Kamran Haghighi b,, Davood Moradkhani a, Behzad Sedaghat c,
Majid Rajaie Najafabadi b, Ali Behnamfard b
a
Faculty of Engineering, Zanjan University, Zanjan, Iran
b
Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
c
Research and Engineering Company for Non-ferrous Metals (RECO), P.O. Box 45195-1445, Zanjan, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A step by step hydrometallurgical process for the production of copper cathode was developed after a
Received 31 March 2012 two-step precipitation from leaching solution of copper oxidized ore, followed by copper concentrate
Received in revised form 17 December 2012 leaching and electrowinning. The copper oxidized ore was primarily comminuted to a size below 100 ,
Accepted 18 December 2012
followed by acidic leaching at 25 C for 40 min in H2SO4 solution, in which recovery of copper and iron
Available online 23 December 2012
were 95.95% and 12.63%, respectively. To remove iron impurity, at the rst step of precipitation, NaOH was
Keywords:
added to increase pH from about 1.5 to the optimum pH of 3.8 at 60 C for 60 min; thus iron precipitation
Acidic leaching with recovery of over 80% was achieved. Copper precipitate as concentrate was obtained in the same method
Sodium hydroxide from iron-removed solution. The optimum condition of copper precipitation was found to be pH of 5.5, 25 C
Precipitation and 45 min with 98.69% recovery. One of the advantages of this process was production of Na2SO4 with 99.1%
Copper cathode purity after vaporization of the remaining solution from two-step precipitation. The obtained copper concentrate
Electrowinning was leached at approximately the same condition of the rst leaching step, and then the provided pregnant
solution proceeded to an electrowinning cell with lead alloy anode contained antimony and steel sheet cathode
under the following condition: temperature of 50 C, reaction voltage of 2 V and current density of 300 Am2.
Finally, a scale-up experiment was carried out and the copper cathode with 99.99% purity produced.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction of copper concentrate obtained after leaching of copper oxidized ore,

The copper commonly produced from sulde and oxide copper
ores is extracted through pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical
processes, respectively. In processing of oxide ores, the rst step is
to leach ore by using a leaching agent commonly sulfuric acid. Several
studies have investigated the leaching of copper oxide ores with differ-
ent types of acids (Habbache et al., 2009; Moradkhani et al., 2011). In
such processes, the major problem is the presence of iron in ore,
which comes to leach solution associated with copper ions. In order to
remove iron from leach solutions, several methods were applied
(Gudeczauskas and Natalie, 1985; Ismael and Carvalho, 2003; Nurmi
et al., 2010; Principe and Demopoulos, 2004; Wang et al., 2011). With
respect to the type of acid used in the leaching step, the pregnant solu-
tion proceeds to one of the following processes such as cementation, ion
exchange-electrowinning and or solvent extraction-electrowinning cir-
cuits (Bartos, 2002; Harris et al., 2007; Stefanowicz et al., 1997).
In this study, we developed a new systematic hydrometallurgical
process for the production of copper cathode from leaching solution
Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 9127431734.
E-mail address: h.kamran.h@aut.ac.ir (H. Kamran Haghighi).
two-step precipitation and copper concentrate leaching, followed by
electrowinning step. The remarkable feature of this process is the
production of some co-products such as Na2SO4. In this research, the
optimum condition of iron and copper precipitation from the leach
solution and electrodeposition of copper from the copper concentrate
leach solution were investigated. Finally, scale-up of the process was
conducted to reach the developed owsheet.
2. Experimental methods
2.1. Materials and reagents
The investigation was carried out on a lean oxidized copper sam-
ple from Chodarchai Mine in Zanjan, Iran. The feed of leaching
obtained from mine ores was crushed and ground to a particle size
below 100. The feed was not exposed to any process. The composi-
tion of the oxide ore is presented in Table 1. The results of X-ray dif-
fraction (XRD) analysis revealed that quartz is major phase and
malachite is minor phase. The results also indicated calcite, muscovite
and illite are present as trace phases. H2SO4 and NaOH were provided
by Merck Company.

0304-386X/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hydromet.2012.12.004
112 H. Kamran Haghighi et al. / Hydrometallurgy 133 (2013) 111117

Table 1
Chemical composition of copper oxide ore in the experiments.

Element Cu Fe Zn Pb Ni Cd Mn Co As Mg Ca S Al

wt (%) 3.01 2.73 0.21 0.20 0.01 0.00 0.08 0.03 0.01 0.13 0.58 0.31 3.5

2.2. Leaching experiments
In this research the copper oxide and copper concentrate obtained
from copper precipitation step were leached. The leaching experi-
ments were carried out in a ask with mechanical stirrer under the
following condition: H2SO4, 2 molar; leaching time, 40 min; at the
room temperature. The L:S ratio (v/w) for the leaching of copper
oxide and copper concentrate was conducted at 3.8:1 and 5:1, respec-
tively. The concentration of copper was calculated with respect to
correction of volume (Choo et al., 2006).
2.3. Iron and copper precipitation experiments
A series of experiments designed by Response Surface Methodology
(RSM) was carried out to nd the optimized time, pH and temperature
for the iron precipitation. Initially, 150 mL of the leach solution was
mixed and heated at different temperatures for various times and
simultaneously adjusted to a certain pH value using NaOH. At the end
of the experiments, the pulp was ltered, and the ltrates and the pre-
cipitates were separately analyzed for iron and copper.
After nding the optimized condition for the iron precipitation, a
series of experiments was run to nd the effect of time, pH and tem-
perature on the copper precipitation with NaOH. For this purpose,
after precipitation of iron at the optimized condition, 150 mL of the
iron-removed solution was used to investigate the effect of the
aforementioned parameters.
2.4. Electrowinning experiment
The copper solution achieved from the leaching of copper concen-
trate was used in electrowinnging experiments. The leach solution
with respect to the presence of returned spent in scale-up system was
diluted. Therefore, we employed an electrolyte containing Cu
54.13 g/L, Fe 1.1 g/L without other elements. A lead alloy anode
containing antimony and one stainless steel cathode in a reactor
containing 500 mL of the copper solution created the electrowinning
system. The areas of cathodes and anodes were 70 cm 2.
The electrolyte was slightly agitated with a magnetic stirrer (heater
stirrer model Yellow line, MST basic C). To supply current, a digital
laboratory DC power supply (MEGATEK, model MP-3005D) was
used. During electrolysis, the potential was adjusted by varying the
current manually. Finally, solid depositions on the cathodes were
Table 2
Concentration of elements in the leaching solution and the leaching rates.
Components Concentration (mg/L)
stripped, washed with demineralized H2O, dried in the air, weighted
and analyzed. All electrowinning experiments were conducted at the
temperature of 4060 C, reaction voltage of 2 V and current density
of 200 Am 2.
2.5. Chemical analysis
The concentrations of iron and copper in the solutions were ana-
lyzed by Perkin-Elmer AA300 model atomic absorption spectrophotom-
eter. The cathode, precipitates and chemical composition of the copper
oxide ore were analyzed by XRF. Leaching toxicity extraction test of the
leaching residue was performed in accordance with Solid Waste Extrac-
tion Procedure for Leaching Toxicity Horizontal Vibration Method
(China GB5086.2-1997 and US EPA Method 1311 TCLP test).
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Leaching
The primary leaching test results are shown in Table 2. The leaching
rate of copper and iron are 95.95% and 12.63%, respectively. At this con-
dition, copper and iron concentrations are 7.6 g/L and 1 g/L, respectively.
The extractions of the other elements Pb, Cd, Ni, Mn, As, Ba, Ca, Mg, Al, Co,
Ce and Cl are all less than 15 mg/L and for Zn is 166.91 mg/L. The effect of
operational parameters on the leaching has been investigated by
Moradkhani et al. (2011) and the results were published elsewhere.
The further leaching was carried out on the copper concentrate
obtained from copper precipitation step. At this stage, the leaching
rate of copper was 99%. The concentrations of copper and iron in
the leaching solution were 97.45 g/L and 1.98 g/L, respectively. This
solution is ready to be sent to the electrowinning cell. The impurities
of the electrolyte entered to the electrowinning cell are illustrated in
Table 3. As seen in this table, the impurities of the electrolyte are
lower compared to the copper electrowinning limitations.
3.2. Iron Precipitations
The effect of pH, temperature and reaction time on the iron precipi-
tation recovery (RFe) was studied. The optimum condition of parame-
ters and their interactions were investigated by RSM. The effect of pH
and temperature on iron precipitation recovery can be seen in Fig. 1a.
As seen in the gure, the recovery of iron precipitation increases with
increasing pH and no considerable change is observed by raising the
temperature. Moreover, Fig. 1b shows that the effect of pH on RFe is
Leaching (%)

Cu 7.600 (g/L) 95.947

Fe 1.000 (g/L) 12.625 Table 3
Pb 10.150 0.128 Composition of the electrolyte entered to EW cell.
Zn 166.910 2.107
Ref. Electrowinning Leaching test Elements
Cd 0.960 0.012
limitations (mg/L) (mg/L)
Ni 1.410 0.018
Mn 0.090 0.001 Habashi (1997) 96180 Cu
As 3.000 0.038 2000 1940 Fe
Ba 0.300 0.004 430 92 Zn
Ca 0.490 0.006 16000 2.10 Ni
Mg 0.000 0.000 340 0.02 Sb
Al 9.160 0.116 3580 1.20 As
Co 0.500 0.006 1 0.20 Sn
Ce 0.290 0.004 Davenport et al. (2000) 100 0.86 Bi
Cl 1.740 0.022 2050 1.12 Cl
 H. Kamran Haghighi et al. / Hydrometallurgy 133 (2013) 111117 113

Fig. 1. (a) Effect of pH (A) and temperature, C; (B) on iron precipitation recovery (RFe); (b) Effect of pH (A) and time, min (C) on iron precipitation recovery (RFe); i.e. Figures are
obtained from RSM, Design Expert 7 software.

similar to Fig. 1a; furthermore, with prolonging time the recovery of the Therefore:
iron precipitation does not change considerably.
A 60 min reaction time, 60 C temperature and pH of 3.80 3 3:8  103S
OH 4
obtained by RSM were used in the subsequent experiments as the 1  105
optimum condition. At this condition, the precipitation recovery of
Where Ks is solubility product and species is relative activity of spe-
iron is 82%. Obviously, over 80% of iron in the leaching solution
cies. Eqs. (2) to (4) indicate that pH 3.2 or pOH 10.8 is the starting point
can be precipitated while the pH value rises to 3.8 by sodium
of precipitation (Jackson, 1986). Therefore, when the pH rises to 3.2, fer-
hydroxide.
ric hydroxides start to precipitate. It should be noticed that the afore-
Control of potential and pH is the most applied method of removing
mentioned pH value varies with iron ions activity and temperature.
impurities (Jackson, 1986). In precipitation processes, the critical factor
The precipitation diagrams for metal hydroxides indicate the aforemen-
is to control pH, which should be increased from low pH values by
tioned thermodynamic data for any given activity. In addition, at the
alkaline solution. Precipitation of iron from a leach solution by NaOH oc-
iron precipitation pH, the precipitation of copper ions in the form of hy-
curs according to Eq. (1).
droxide occurs but due to low pH, its amount is negligible.
3 Fig. 2 illustrates the Fe-Cu-S-H2O system at 60 C. Around the op-
Fe 3NaOH 3Na FeOH3 1
timum pH of the iron precipitation (i.e., 3.8), Fe(OH)3 is dominant
species and precipitates in the form of Fe(OH)3. The type of iron pre-
At 25BC
3 38
Ks Fe3  OH 3:8  10 2 cipitates is important with respect to the environmental protection
considerations. At this state according to the results, over 80% of
5
If Fe3 1  10 M 3 iron in the leaching solution precipitated.

Eh (Volts)
2.0

1.5
Cu(+2a) Cu-Fe
Fe(OH)3
1.0 Fe2(SO4)3
Cu

0.5 Cu-Fe
Fe
Fe

0.0 Fe CuSO4 SO4 (-2a)

Fe(+2a) Fe
Fe H2O limits
Fe Cu
-0.5 Cu-Fe Fe

Fe(OH2)
-1.0
Cu-Fe S(-2a)
-1.5
Fe2(SO4)3
Cu(+a)
-2.0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
pH

Fig. 2. Eh-pH diagrams of the system CuFeSH2O. 60 C, 1 bar, {Fe} = 0.02 M, {Cu} = 0.1 M, {S} = 1 M (HSC 5.1).
114 H. Kamran Haghighi et al. / Hydrometallurgy 133 (2013) 111117

3.3. Copper Precipitation

The copper precipitation experiments to achieve the optimum re-

sults were classically carried out under the following conditions: pH
values of 5 to 7.5; temperatures of 25 to 80 C for 5 to 60 min. At
the end of the experiments, according to the results, the optimum
condition of copper precipitation was found to be pH of 5.5, temper-
ature of 25 C for 45 min with recovery of 98.69%.
The copper can be precipitated from the iron-removed solution
using sodium hydroxide when the pH increases to approximately
5.5. As seen in Fig. 3, recovery of copper precipitate after the pH of
5 starts to rise up to the pH of 5.5 and subsequently descends to
the lower recoveries. In this gure, the maximum recovery of copper
Fig. 4. Effect of the temperature on the copper precipitation (pH 5.5; time 45 min).
precipitation is 98.69%. For copper ions, the calculations are done
similar to Eqs. (1) to (4). According to these equations, the precipitation According to Eq. (6), when sodium hydroxide was added, around the
of copper hydroxide is approximately started at pH 5. Moreover, the pH of 4 in which optimum condition achieved, y groups of OH- in
precipitation diagrams for metal hydroxides justify that the precipita- NaOH were directly situated by Fe3+ to form m groups of Fe(OH)3,
tion of copper hydroxide is approximately commenced at the pH 5. It which has less solubility compared to other complexes in the solution.
is noteworthy in these diagrams, at the higher pH values, the amount The resistance time to form iron precipitation is 60 min, in which over
of precipitation increases with respect to the lower values of solubility. 80 percent of iron is removed as solid phase. The following reaction is
The effect of temperature on the copper precipitation is shown in proposed.
Fig. 4. As seen in the gure, the maximum copper precipitation is
achieved at 25 C when the other factors are at their optimum condition. xFe2 SO4 3 aq yNaOHaqmFeOH3 s nNa2 SO4 aq 6
The maximum recovery of copper precipitation at this temperature is
In addition, according to Eq. (7), when adding NaOH proceeds, at
98.69%. This gure further illustrates that the high temperatures have in-
around pH of 5.5, k groups of OH - in NaOH were directly situated by
verse effect on the copper precipitation due to the following discussion.
Cu 2+ to form p groups of Cu(OH)2, which has less solubility com-
Eq. (5) presents the reaction of copper precipitation:
pared to other species in the solution. The following reaction is
CuSO4 2NaOHCuOH2 Na2 SO4 5 suggested.

In Eq. (5), H of the reaction at 40 C is 50.550 (HSC 5.1), which
means the reaction is exothermic, thus with increasing temperature,
copper precipitation percentage falls down. The reaction time has
also an effect on the copper precipitation and grade (i.e., copper con-
centration in precipitate); yet in longer periods, it has no effect on the
copper precipitation (Fig. 5). The rates of copper precipitation and
grade respectively increase smoothly and intensively while the reac-
tion time prolonged; however in longer periods, their rates are xed.
According to this gure, the best condition is reaction time of 45 min
with copper precipitate grade of 49.2% and copper precipitation of
98.69%.
3.4. Mechanism of Precipitation
According to the aforementioned discussions, chemical reaction
taking place in the precipitation processes are proposed. The domi-
nant forms of iron and copper in the liquor solution are CuSO4 and
Fe2(SO4)3. It is noteworthy that the other forms of species are also
present in the solution; however, the major reactions at the afore-
mentioned pH values are accomplished by CuSO4 and Fe2(SO4)3.
hCuSO4 aq kNaOHaqpCuOH2 s bNa2 SO4 aq 7
As shown in Eqs. (6) and (7), after each precipitations, the amount
of Na2(SO4) majorly remained in the solution with the lowest impu-
rities. This species can be considered as a co-product. Therefore, to at-
tain this goal, vaporization of the solution at 90 C was carried out. At
this state, the purity of Na2(SO4) is 99.1% that meets the industrial
standard.
3.5. Electrowinning
The effective experimental parameters such as temperature, reac-
tion voltage and current density in the electrowinning cell as the nal
step were investigated. The electrowinning experiments were carried
out at temperature of 50 C, reaction voltage of 2 V and current den-
sity of 300 Am 2 with the lead alloy anode contained antimony and
the steel sheet cathode as previously mentioned by Alfantazi and
Valic (2003). Under this condition, a copper cathode with 99.99% pu-
rity was obtained. Other components of the copper cathode have
been illustrated in Table 4, which shows that the quality of cathode
is acceptable.

Fig. 3. Effect of the pH on the copper precipitation (temperature 25 C; time 45 min). Fig. 5. Effect of time on the copper precipitation and grade (temperature 25 C; pH 5.5).
 H. Kamran Haghighi et al. / Hydrometallurgy 133 (2013) 111117 115

Table 4 extracting the desirable metal from it (Havlk, 2008). On the other
Analytical composition of copper cathode. hand, the presence of H + ions in the solution produces an additional
Ba As Mn Ni Cd Pb Zn Fe Cu Elements cathodic reaction:
0.01 0.3 0.001 0.7 0.1 1.2 0.9 3.1 99.99 Copper cathode (Present/

ppm) 2H 2e H2 E0 0V 9

If the anode does not dissolve, the electrons for precipitating of
copper must be achieved from an anodic reaction. They may be
substituted by ionization of water as Eq. (8):
H2 2H 1=2 O2 2e E0 1:23V
Moreover, the release of oxygen is the result of this reaction.
Bonding between H + and SO42 anions is the cause of diffusion
through the electrolyte towards the anode and they regenerate the
acid called recycled acid for use in leaching or liquid extraction after
Production of Eq. (9) releases gaseous hydrogen on the cathode.
Since the reaction of hydrogen release acts against precipitation of the
metal considering the available electrons, the amount of precipitated
metal by the transfer of the given amount of electrical energy decreases
with increasing the amount of released hydrogen. To precipitate copper
8 electrolytically, in the copper half-cell, the standard electrode potential
must be more positive for the release of hydrogen and at this condition,
copper precipitates preferentially from CuSO4 solution (Havlk, 2008).
To reduce the resistance of the electrolyte, it was heated to 50 C. The
current density of the tests was practically in the range 100500
Am 2. The anodes usually from lead alloys contain antimony and

Copper oxidized ore

Crushing and grinding

Water
Sulfuric acid

Acidic leaching for 60 min at 25oC

S
Leaching residue L

Washing
Iron precipitation by increasing pH with
NaOH
Land fill

S
Iron filter cake L

Bleed stream
Copper precipitation by increasing pH with
NaOH

Sodium sulfate as a co-product Evaporation L S

Copper concentrate

Leaching by sulfuric acid

Returned spent (containing 40 g/l Cu)

S L
Dissolved copper concentrate with approximate
grade of 3%

Copper electrowinning

Copper cathode (99.99%)

Fig. 6. Schematic owsheet for the preparation of Cu concentrates from oxidized copper ores by acidic leaching, two-step precipitation and production of copper cathode with
99.99% purity.
116 H. Kamran Haghighi et al. / Hydrometallurgy 133 (2013) 111117

Table 5
Scale-up experiment.

Materials
Primary leaching
Iron precipitation
Copper precipitation
Leaching on concentrate
Copper electrowinning
Composition of copper oxidized ore (%) Cu 3.01, Fe 2.73, Zn 0.21, Pb 0.20, Ni 0.01, Cd 0.00 Mn 0.08 Co 0.03,
As 0.01, Mg 0.13, Ca 0.58, S 0.31 Al 3.5.
Mass of material for scaling-up 3000 g of ores, 11.4 L water, H2SO4 6 molar.
Leaching condition 25 C, 60 min, pH of 1.
Volume of leaching solution 9.9 L
Concentration of elements in the leaching solution Cu 7.49 g/L, Fe 1.03 g/L, Zn 17 mg/L and other elements with the
concentrate less than 15 mg/L
Copper leaching 94.56
rate (%)
Iron leaching rate (%) 13
condition pH of 3.80, 60 C, 60 min
Volume of the lter after precipitation 10.3
Mass of the iron lter cake 417
Recovery of the iron precipitation 80%
Copper loss percent 7%
condition pH of 5.5, 25 C, 45 min
Volume of the lter after precipitation 9.5
Grade of copper concentrate (%) 49.2
Grade of iron in copper concentrate (%) 1%
concentrate of Na2SO4 as a co-product 99%
Mass of the copper lter cake 160
Recovery of the copper precipitation 98.5%
Copper loss percent (return to primary leach) 1.5%
Mass of material for scaling-up 2000 gram of concentrate with grade of 49.2%, 10 L water,
Leaching condition H2SO4 6 molar.
Volume of leaching solution 25 C, 60 min, pH of 1
Concentration of elements in the leaching solution 0.8 L
Cu 96.63 g/L, Fe 1.94 g/L without other elements
Copper leaching 98.2
rate (%)
Copper loss percent 0%
Electrowinning condition temperature of 50 C, reaction voltage of
2 V and current density of 200 Am2
Volume of electrolyte 2L
Electrodes anode of lead alloy contained antimony and steel sheet cathode
Concentration of elements in the cell electrolyte Cu 56.18 g/L, Fe 1.94 g/L
Copper cathode grade 99.99%

thin sheets of precipitated copper form the cathode sheets. In addi-
tion, to precipitate copper electrolytically, using steel sheets coated
with copper is common (Havlk, 2008). In this study, the aforemen-
tioned anode and cathode was used to electrowin.
3.6. Flowsheet for the production of copper cathode from copper oxidized
ore with co-product of Na2SO4
The integrated systematic process based on the aforementioned
results is presented in Fig. 6. The ore should be comminuted to smaller
than 100 before leaching. Mixing is necessary to speed up the leaching
process. After 45 min of leaching, the solidliquid separation operation
is required. At this condition, the leach solution is at the pH of 1, pursued
by adding sodium hydroxide to precipitate iron in the leach solution. To
remove iron precipitates, separation between solid and liquid should be
performed. The precipitation of copper hydroxide can be carried out
from the iron-removed solution similar to the iron precipitation. After
the solidliquid separation, the copper hydroxide concentrate can be
obtained. Moreover, to precipitate Na2SO4, the ltrated solution should
be vaporized at 90 C. The purity of Na2SO4 is 99%, which meets the in-
dustrial standards.
The obtained copper concentrate with less iron impurity is ready
to proceed to the next step for leaching, followed by electrowinning
step. After ltering of the leaching solution, the obtained solution
goes to the electrowinning cell. A part of dissolved concentrates
remained on lters containing approximately 3% copper which
was returned to the primary leaching step. In the electrowinning
cell, two streams are entered to the cell. One stream is the leaching
solution and another is the returned spent solution containing
96.64 g/L and 40 g/L copper, respectively. The bleed stream is ap-
proximately 510% of electrowinning outlet ow, which returns to
the primary leaching step. Volume of the pregnant solution from
the copper concentrate leaching and the returned spent solution
are 0.8 and 2 L, respectively, which will result in an electrolyte
with the composition of Cu, 56.18 g/L and Fe, 1.94 g/L. At the end,
the copper cathode with 99.99% purity was obtained. With respect
to the loss of copper in each step, the total recovery of copper pro-
duction process was equaled to 87.14%, which meets the economical
standard.
3.7. Scale-up experiments
To scale-up the process, 3000 g of lean oxidized ore from
Chodarchai mine in the Province of Zanjan, Iran was used. Process
properties, leaching, precipitation and electrowinning efciencies
were obtained, as illustrated in Table 5. It illustrates that the leaching
rate of copper can reach 94.56%. After two-step precipitation, 80% of
iron is removed and around 98.5% of copper can be extracted from
the ore as the concentrate. Since the composition of the leaching so-
lution, which mostly contains Cu, Cr, Bi, Ba, Cd, Ni, Hg, As, Pb and
Zn, is lower than the environmental limits, it is safe for the environ-
ment. In addition, the composition of the iron precipitate was envi-
ronmentally safe in the iron precipitation step.
The primary leaching residue was washed with 6 molar H2SO4 solu-
tion and water. The results obtained by the toxicity characteristic
leaching procedure (TCLP) in Table 6 revealed that the obtained compo-
sition are lower than hazardous limits of the Maximum Concentration
of Contaminants for Toxicity Characteristic (United States Environmen-
tal Protection Agency and China GB/5085.3-2007). In addition, XRD
analyses indicate that the main phase composition of the primary
leaching residue is SiO2 and minor phases are orthoclase, kaolinite
 H. Kamran Haghighi et al. / Hydrometallurgy 133 (2013) 111117 117

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dards. The copper and iron-removed solution contained Na2SO4 as a
zinc sulphatesulphuric acid solutions using the organophosphorus extractants,
co-product. Leaching of the copper concentrate provided the electrolyte OPAP and D2EHPA: part I: extraction. Hydrometallurgy 74 (12), 93102.
solution for electrowinning. In the electrowinning cell and at the opti- Stefanowicz, T., Osiska, M., Napieralska-Zagozda, S., 1997. Copper recovery by the ce-
mentation method. Hydrometallurgy 47 (1), 6990.
mum condition, the copper cathode with 99.99% purity was obtained.
Wang, K., Li, J., McDonald, R.G., Browner, R.E., 2011. The effect of iron precipitation upon
Finally, a fully systematic hydrometallurgical process for the production nickel losses from synthetic atmospheric nickel laterite leach solutions: statistical
of copper cathodes from the electrolyte solution was developed. analysis and modelling. Hydrometallurgy 109 (12), 140152.