Leaching kinetics of low-grade copper ore with high-alkality gangues in ammonia-ammonium sulphate solution

The leaching kinetics of low-grade copper ore with high-alkality gangues was studied in ammonia-ammonium sulphate solution. The main parameters, such as ammonia and ammonium sulphate concentrations, particle size, solid-to-liquid ratio and reaction temperature, were chosen in the experiments. The results show that the increase of temperature, concentrations of ammonia and ammonium sulphate is propitious to the leaching rate of copper ore. The leaching rate increases with the decrease of particle size and solid-to-liquid ratio. The leaching rate is controlled by the diffusion through the ash layer and the activation energy is determined to be 25.54 kJ/mol. A semi-empirical equation was proposed to describe the leaching kinetics.