A Laboratory Study of Removing Arsenic from a Synthetic Copper Concentrate

Abstract

Arsenic is the 20th most abundant element in the earth's crust at a level of about 2 ppm. It is a constituent of over 300 minerals and is commonly found in non-ferrous ores such as copper, lead, zinc, gold and uranium. Efficient separation of arsenic minerals from other sulphide minerals is of great importance for the metallurgical performance of flotation processes. This work was undertaken to study the separation of enargite, an arsenic-bearing mineral from chalcopyrite in copper concentrates. To achieve this aim the possible depression of enargite using some sulphide depressants was studied.