Feasibility of Recovering Valuable and Toxic Metals from Copper Slag Using Iron-Containing Additives

Metals, vol. 13, pp. 1467

Abstract

One of the greatest environmental challenges in metal extraction is the generation of a large amount of slag. Most of these slags contain insufficient amounts of valuable metals for economical revalorization, but these concentrations may be harmful for the environment. At present, more than 80% of the global copper products are obtained by the smelting process, where the major by-products are various slags containing a broad range of almost all known elements. In this study, valuable and potentially harmful elements were recovered from mining waste using gravity separation and gravity settling. The settling process was enhanced by injecting coke, ferrocarbon, ferrosilicon, and ferrosulfide. In total, 35 elements were detected in the samples using electron probe microanalysis. After the treatment, 89.4% of the valuable, toxic, and trace elements gathered in the newly formed matte after maintaining the copper slag for four hours at 1300 °C and adding ferrosilicon. The metallic constituents of slags could be an important source of raw materials and they could be considered an environmentally beneficial source of copper and other materials. Suggested practices can prevent harmful elements from entering the environment, generate value from the gathered metals, and make the remaining slag suitable for construction or mine backfill materials. The present article also assesses the challenges in slag processing by the pyrometallurgical route and provides a roadmap for further investigations and large-scale studies.

Authors 4

1. Aleksandar M. Mitrašinović corresponding

   University of Toronto · Institute of Technical Sciences of SASA

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Technical Sciences of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

   The Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3E4, Canada

2. Yang Yuankun

   Mining and Metallurgy Institute Bor

   Affiliation as printed

   Serbia Zijin Mining D.O.O., Brestovac, 19210 Bor, Serbia

   Serbia Zijin Mining D.O.O., Bor, 19210 Brestovac, Serbia

3. Srećko R. Stopić Aachen IME Process Metallurgy and Metal Recycling

   RWTH Aachen University · Mining and Metallurgy Institute Bor

   Affiliation as printed

   IME Process Metallurgy and Metal Recycling, RWTH Aachen University, 52072 Aachen, Germany

   Serbia Zijin Mining D.O.O., Brestovac, 19210 Bor, Serbia

   Serbia Zijin Mining D.O.O., Bor, 19210 Brestovac, Serbia

4. Milinko Radosavljević
   Affiliation as printed

   Mining Institute Belgrade, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia