This patent forms part of MetaLeach’s family of core AmmLeach technologies and has a standard term of twenty years from the effective date of 29 August 2011 along with a 111 day patent term adjustment.
Description
The patent describes a method for leaching copper and molybdenum from a material, selected from a group consisting of one or more of an ore, residue, or concentrate containing such, in which more than 1 % w/w of the total molybdenum is present as a sulphide and in which more than 1% w/w of the total copper is present as an oxide, the method comprising the steps of: Exposing the ore, residue and/or concentrate to an aqueous solution of chlorine (l)-based oxidizing species of a pH of at least 3.0; oxidizing the molybdenum by the chlorine-based oxidising species thereby providing a treated material and a reduced aqueous solution of chlorine-based oxidizing species; leaching the treated ore, residue and/or concentrate by exposing the treated ore, residue and/or concentrate to an aqueous ammoniacal ammonium carbonate solution to form a pregnant leach solution containing both copper and molybdenum; and passing the pregnant leach solution containing both copper and molybdenum to a means for metal recovery.
