Mineral QT’s in place leaching,

standard sector

At El Teniente mine there are abandoned productive sectors containing Hugo Letelier, Patricio Giménez,
Carola González, Luis Zenteno and
mineral resources categorized as broken ore, which could not be extracted
Carlos Castillo. El Teniente Division,
by conventional processes profitably. This paper presents a test in Quebrada Codelco, Chile

Teniente mine, Standard Sector xc 31 in which an ‘in place leaching’ was held
to remove the oxidized copper from the broken ore. Studies realized during
2010 show us that this sector possesses hydric resources and presents good
geomechanical stability. The characterization indicates a copper grade of
1.3%, with 33% oxides. These parameters establish that this mineral is ideal
for the industrial proof. This process conducts a 70 meter drill core through
solid. This drill core is coated with a 84 mm hdpe pipe having 4 holes at the
top for watering the mineral, with a vertical pump 6 L/s of water acidified with
H2SO4 at 8 g/L is injected with a static mixer connected to the pipe. This solution
exits through the top of the drill core, leaching the oxides present in the broken
mineral, once drained the pls is collected through pipes and sent to the SX.
The results shown in this test indicate that the 98% of the pls is captured
and in a 6 month period over 50% of the oxides present in the mineral irrigated
were recovered, reaching a leaching rate of 2.2 m3/ton.

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INTRODUCTION
Since the beginning of its underground operation in 1906, El Teniente deposit has stored a mineral
resource known as broken ore in its crater. It is not feasible, neither technically nor economically, to
mine such resources, nor is it to obtain any benefit from it by using any of the existing conventional
mining methods.
In the last few years El Teniente Division has been trying to develop a number of initiatives and
projects on “Technology Innovation and Development”, to achieve a greater impact on the
feasibility, sustainability and competitiveness of the mining business. This is the background of a
research effort and a series of tests to validate a technology to conduct in-place leaching of this
broken ore.
This test will take place in a sector named Mina Quebrada Teniente inside El Teniente underground
mine which ceased its operations in the last decade, using one of the crosscuts in order to assess the
following parameters: Solution injection method, establishing ore extraction from the broken ore in
the crater, water balance determination, establishing seasonal effects on the operation of solutions
injection and on the hydraulic balance in the area due to natural runoff.

EXPERIMENTS

Characterization of broken material

The test was conducted in crosscut Nr. 31 of Quebrada Teniente sector. Table 1 shows mineralogy
of such crosscut. This characterization shows that the copper grade is 1.3%, with 33% of oxides.

Table 1 Mineralogical makeup of core drilling in crosscut 31

Mineral % Weight
Total Cu 1.3
Chalcosine 33.1
Coveline 5.5
Bornite 0.4
Chalcopyrite 32.2
Tennantite 0.9
Oxides 33.0

Leaching solution injection system

A 70-meter long core drilling is conducted in the Production Level; through which a leaching
solution is injected with a concentration of 8 g/L of H2SO4, as shown in Figure 1.
The acidified solution flows through the top of the core drilling, thereby leaching the oxides present
in the broken ore, subsequent to drainage the PLS is collected through pipes and sent to the SX
plant.

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 Broken Material

PLS PLS
XC 31 Production
Level

PLS
XC 31 Ventilation
Sub-level

Sand filter Injection Pump

inyección 5 m3 5 m3

Sulfuric Acid
Storage Tanks Tanks

Figure 1 Injection System and Solution Collection System

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This broken ore was leached with an acidified solution of 8 g/L of H2SO4 for 6 months, with the
objective of assessing the solution injection method, water balance, irrigation surface and copper to
be extracted from the core drilling.
Figure 2 shows the time percentage in which PLS was observed through the drainage zones during
core drilling. The average impregnation surface was 415 m2 according to this figure, with some
zones in which the surface are reached more than 500 m2, which were observed after shutting down
and re-starting the injection pump.

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 1-25%

25-50%

50-75%

75-100%

Figure 2 Percentage of time in which PLS is observed through drainage zones in the core drilling

Figure 3 shows solution balance, during the March-June period a recovery of 98% of solution was
obtained, the subsequent outflow is greater than the supply, which could be due to water
infiltration coming from winter rainfall.

12

10
flowrate, l/s

0
mar abr may jun jul ago sep
Caudal de salida Caudal de entrada

Figure 3 Incoming and outgoing flowrates

Figure 4 shows the copper concentration variation during drilling period. At the beginning there
were high copper concentrations, with a diminishing trend in time, reaching concentrations of 0.3-
0.4 g/L in the last months of operation.

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 4
3,5
Cu concentration, g/L

3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
mar abr may jun jul ago sep

Figure 4 Cu concentration in the PLS

Figure 5 shows the kinetic curve, reaching 2.2 m3/ton during a 6 month operation period.

60
50
Recovery ,%

40
30
20
10
0
,000 ,500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500
3
Leaching ratio (m /ton)

Fino Soluble Fino total

Figure 5 kinetic curve for recovery

During a 6-month period soluble copper recovery reached 54%, accounting for 80 ton of fine
copper, with an injection rate of 5,8 L/s, and an irrigation rate of 49 L/h/m2.

CONCLUSIONS
From an operating perspective this is a very straightforward process. Moreover, it affords the
possibility of removing broken material from its current location in the mine.

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Up to 98% of the injected solution could be captured during a period with no evidence of seasonal
effects. A kinetic curve was build indicating a recovery in excess of 50% of the oxides present in the
irrigated volume, during a 6 month period, injecting a solution of 6 L/s with an acidity of 8 g/L.
When working in a sector with a high percentage of secondary sulphides (33%), there are
significant possibilities for this process if in-place Bioleaching is tested. The same existing facilities
can be used for this purpose.

LITERATURE
Dr. María Cristina Ruiz (2007), Hidrometalurgia, Universidad de Concepción, pp 5-7

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