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Soda Ash Leaching of Cantung Mine Tailings for Tungsten Recovery and Desulfurization

Tailings and Mine Waste Conference (2023 : Vancouver, B.C.); University of British Columbia. Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering

The leaching of the Cantung mine (scheelite) tailings in soda ash (sodium carbonate) solutions was investigated at low temperatures (25 – 75 °C) for its potential use as a tailings reprocessing option targeting tungsten recovery and desulfurization. Two tailings samples were used: one of higher tungsten content and smaller particle size (0.387%WO₃; P₈₀ of 118 µm) and the other of lower tungsten content and larger particle size (0.275% WO₃; P₈₀ of 228 µm). The retention time for the leaching tests conducted at 25 and 50 °C was for 45 days and those at 75 °C was for 20 days. The tungsten recovery rate (X) was reported as the fraction of tungsten extracted from the tailings while the desulfurization rate (Y) was the fraction of total sulfur removed. At 25 and 50 °C, X values were consistently higher for the leach tests conducted with the sample of higher tungsten content and smaller particle size (X = 0.52 vs. 0.27 at 25 °C and 0.73 vs. 0.51 at 50 °C). At 75 °C, X values were found to be over 0.95 (> 95% tungsten recovery) regardless of which tailings sample was used in the leach tests. The desulfurization rates, Y, increased with increasing agitation speed: Y values increased from around 0.45 to over 0.90 (90% sulfur removal) when the agitation speed increased from 100 to 600 rpm at 50 °C. The concentration of sodium carbonate solutions in the range of 1.0 and 2.5 M had limited effects on both the tungsten recovery and desulfurization rates.

Text

2023-12-08

Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/86791

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/