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Title of Invention
"A PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF ZINC AND COPPER"
A process for the extraction of copper from I a sulphide copper ore or concentrate comprises subjecting the ore or concentrate to pressure oxidation in the presence of oxygen and an acidic chloride solution to obtain a resulting pressure oxidation filtrate and ani ^insoluble basic copper sulphate salt. The pressure j oxidation is conducted in the presence of a source of bisulphate or sulphate ions, such as sulphuric acid. The amount of the sulphate source added contains at least the stoichiometric amount of sulphate ions | required to produce the basic copper sulphate salt less the amount of sulphate generated in situ in the pressure oxidation. In a particular embodiment, the pressure oxidation is carried out at a predetermined i H*/Cu ratio so that the pressure oxidation filtrate contains a major portion of the copper in the ore or concentrate and the basic copper salt contains a minor portion of the copper in the concentrate. The invention further provides for the selection of the H+/Cu ratio according to the grade of the ore or concentrate, the value of the ratio being selected with increasing magnitude compared with decreasing grade oE the ore or concentrate. In a further embodiment, the basic copper salt is dissolved in a subsequent atmospheric leaching stage. A concentrate copper solution, which is suitable for electrowinning, is obtained by means of solvent extraction. The process also provides for the extraction of zinc and nickel from the ore.
'FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a hydrometallurgical
\ treatment of copper sulphide ores or concentrates in the
presence of chloride ions. It also relates to the
treatment of mixed ore containing zinc or nickel ini
!addition to copper.
i BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1 Hydrometallurgical treatment of copper sulphide i ores, such as chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) , is problematical ! because the severe conditions required in a pressure
oxidation step for the effective leaching of copper from
these ores results in oxidation of the sulphide in the
ore to sulphate, resulting in the generation of large
amounts of acid which requires expensive neutralization.
Attempts have been made to render the sulphide concentrate leachable under relatively milder conditions under which the sulphide would only be oxidized to
elemental sulphur and not all the way through to sulphate. These attempts include the pretreatment of the concentrate prior to the pressure oxidation step to render the sulphide concentrate more readily leachable, and the leaching of the concentrate in the presence of chloride ions, such as described in U.S. Patent
4,039,406. In this process, the copper values in the
concentrate are transformed into a solid basic copper sulphate from which the copper values must then be subsequently recovered, as described In U.S. Patent x4,338,168. In the process described in patent 4,039,406 t C a significant amount (20-30%) of sulphide in the ore or concentrate is still oxidized to sulphate, resulting in
greater oxygen demand during the pressure leach and the
generation of sulphuric acid. This is particularly unfavourable for low grade concentrates, where the S/Cu ratio is high.
The present invention provides a process for the hydrometallurgical extraction of copper in which the oxidation of sulphide in the ore or concentrate to sulphate is reduced and which process is capable of treating both high grade and low grade copper ores or •concentrates.
According to the invention, there is provided a process for the extraction of copper from a sulphide copper ore or concentrate, comprising the steps of subjecting the ore or concentrate to pressure oxidation in the presence of oxygen and an acidic chloride solution to obtain a resulting pressure oxidation filtrate and an insoluble basic copper sulphate salt, characterized in that the pressure oxidation is conducted in the presence of a source of bisulphate or sulphate ions which is selected from the group consisting of sulphuric acid and a metal sulphate which hydrolyzes in the acidic solution and wherein the amount of the source of bisulphate or sulphate ions which is added contains at least the stoichiometric amount of sulphate or bisulphate ions required to produce the basic copper sulphate salt less the amount of sulphate generated in situ in the pressure oxidation.
According to one particular embodiment of the invention, the process further comprises the steps of recycling the pressure oxidation filtrate to the pressure oxidation step; leaching the basic copper sulphate salt produced by the pressure oxidation in a second leaching
with an acidic sulphate solution to dissolve the basic copper salt to produce a leach liquor containing copper sulphate in solution and a resulting solid residue; separating the leach liquor from the solid residue; subjecting the leach liquor to a solvent extraction process to produce copper concentrate solution and a raffinate; and recycling the raffinate to the second leaching step. In this embodiment, the pressure oxidation may be carried out at a temperature of from .about 115°C to about 175°C. The pressure oxidation may further be carried out under an oxygen partial pressure of from about 50 psig (345 kPa) to about 250 psig (1725 kPa) .
The pressure oxidation is preferably carried out at a predetermined molar ratio of H*/Cu, where H* represents the hydrogen ions in the acidic chloride solution and Cu represents the copper in the ore or concentrate, so that the copper concentration in the resulting pressure oxidation filtrate from the pressure oxidation is substantially equal to the copper concentration in the pressure oxidation filtrate which is recycled to the pressure oxidation step.
The chloride concentration in the pressure oxidation filtrate, which is recycled to the pressure oxidation step, is preferably maintained in the range of from about 8 g/L to about 20 g/L, preferably about 11 g/L to about 14 g/L, and more preferably at about 12 g/L.
Reference is made to the use of chloride in the specification. However, it will be appreciated that the chloride could be substituted with bromide, if desired.
The second leaching is preferably effected at a pH in the range of from about 1.3 to about 2.2. It has been
found that this maximizes the solution of copper and minimizes the solution of iron. More preferably, the second leaching is effected in a pH range of from about 1.6 to about 1.9.
The second leaching may be carried out at a temperature of from about 20°C to about 70°C, preferably, from about 35°C to about 45°C.
For the second leaching, residence times of under one hour, such as 15 to 20 minutes/ have been found to be adequate.
The raffinate may be split into a first portion comprising about two-thirds of the raffinate and a second portion comprising about one-third of the raffinate and the first portion may be recycled to the second leaching and the second portion may be subjected to a secondary solvent extraction to produce a secondary lixiviant and a secondary raffinate. The secondary lixiviant may be used as extractant in the solvent extraction of the leach liquor.
In another embodiment of the invention, the . pressure oxidation is carried out at a predetermined molar ratio of H*/Cu, where H* represents the hydrogen ions in the acidic chloride solution and Cu represents the copper in the ore or concentrate, so that the pressure oxidation filtrate contains a first portion of the copper in the ore or concentrate and the basic copper salt contains a second portion of the copper in the ore or concentrate and further comprising the steps of separating the pressure oxidation filtrate and the basic copper salt; leaching the basic copper salt in a second leaching step with an acidic sulphate solution to dissolve the copper salt to produce a second copper
solution and a solid residue; and subjecting the pressure oxidation filtrate and the second copper solution to solvent extraction to produce concentrated copper solution for electrowinning of copper therefrom.
The process may further comprise the steps of subjecting the second copper solution and the pressure oxidation filtrate to zinc solvent extraction, prior to the solvent extraction of copper, with an organic zinc extractant to produce respective first and second zinc-loaded extractants and respective first and second zinc extraction raffinates; subjecting the first zinc extraction raffinate to solvent extraction with an organic copper extractant to produce a first copper-loaded extractant and a first copper extraction raffinate; subjecting the second zinc extraction
: raffinate to solvent extraction with the first copper-loaded extractant to form a second copper-loaded extractant and a second copper extraction raffinate; and stripping the zinc from the first and second zinc -loaded extractants to produce concentrated zinc solution for electrowinning.
The second zinc-loaded extractant may contain a
i minor loading of copper in addition to the zinc and theprocess may further comprise the step of treating the second zinc-loaded extractant with an aqueous zinc sulphate solution in a counter current fashion to replace the minor loading of copper in the extractant with zinc for producing a substantially uncontaminated zinc solution for electrowinning, said treatment occurring in a plurality of successive stages.
The pressure oxidation filtrate may be subjected to zinc solvent extraction with the first zinc-loaded extractant to produce the second zinc-loaded extractant,
and further comprising the steps of stripping the zinc from the second zinc-loaded extractant to produce a stripped zinc extractant; and recycling the stripped zinc extractant to effect the zinc solvent extraction of the second copper solution.
The process may further comprise the steps of subjecting the first and second raffinates from the copper solvent extraction to nickel solvent extraction ,with an organic nickel extractant to produce respective first and second nickel-loaded extractants and respective first and second nickel extraction raffinates; and stripping nickel from the first and second nickel-loaded extractants to produce concentrated nickel solution for electrowinning.
Further according to the invention, there is provided a process for the extraction of copper from a sulphide copper ore or concentrate, comprising the steps of leaching the ore or concentrate in a first leaching step with an acidic chloride solution to produce a first copper solution and an insoluble basic copper salt; separating the first copper solution and the basic copper salt; leaching the basic copper salt in a second leaching step with an acidic sulphate solution to dissolve the copper salt to produce a second copper solution and a solid residue; and subjecting the first and second copper solutions to solvent extraction with an organic extractant to produce concentrated copper solution for electrowinning of copper therefrom.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the predetermined H*/Cu ratio is selected according to the grade of the ore or concentrate, the value of the ratio being selected with increasing magnitude compared with decreasing grade of the ore or concentrate.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, there is provided a process for the extraction of copper wherein the source of bisulphate or sulphate ions comprises a sulphuric acid solution or a copper sulphate solution which is added from an external source.
The invention also extends to copper, zinc and nickel whenever produced by the process according to the invention.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description of preferred embodiments of the invention below.
Accordingly, there is provided a process for the preparation of zinc and copper from a sulphide copper-zinc or concentrate, comprising the steps of:
a) subjecting the said ore or concentrate to pressure oxidation in the presence of oxygen and an acidic chloride solution of the kind such as herein described to result in a pressure oxidation filtrate and an insoluble basic copper sulphate salt, wherein the said step of pressure oxidation is conducted in the' presence of a source of bisulphate or sulphate ions, selected from the group consisting of sulphuric acid and a metal sulphate which hydrolyzes in the said acidic solution and wherein the amount of the source of bisulphate or sulphate ions which is added contains at least the stoichiometric amount of sulphate or bisulphate ions required to produce the basic copper sulphate salt less the amount of sulphate generated in-situ in the pressure oxidation;
the said step of pressure oxidation is carried out in a manner to produce the pressure oxidation filtrate containing a first portion of the copper in the said ore or concentrate and the basic copper salt containing a second portion of the copper in the said ore or concentrate;
b) separating the said pressure oxidation filtrate and the said basic copper salt;
c) leaching the said basic copper salt in a further leaching step with an acidic
sulphate solution to dissolve the said copper salt to produce a second copper
solution and a solid residue;
d) subjecting the second copper solution and the pressure oxidation filtrate to
zinc solvent extraction with an organic zinc extractant to produce respective
first and second zinc-loaded extractants and respective first and second zinc
extraction raffinates;
e) subjecting the first zinc extraction raffinate to solvent extraction with an
organic copper extractant to produce a first copper-loaded extractant and a first
copper extraction raffinate;
f) subjecting the second zinc extraction raffinate to solvent extraction with the
first copper-loaded extractant to form a second copper-loaded extractant and a
second copper extraction raffinate;
g) stripping the zinc from the first and second zinc-loaded extractants to
produce a concentrated zinc solution which is subjected to electrowinning to
produce zinc; and
h) subjecting the second copper-loaded extractant to the step of sovent' extraction to produce the concentrated copper solution which is subjected to electrowinning to produce copper,
wherein the said pressure oxidation, leaching and electrowinning steps are carried out in the manner such as herein described.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE.DRAWINGS
____ .
Figure 1 is a flow diagram of a hydrometallurgical copper extraction process according to one embodiment of the invention, which is suitable for the treatment of high grade copper ores or concentrates.
Figure 2 is a flow diagram of a hydrometallurgical copper extraction process according to another embodiment of the invention, which is suitable for the treatment of medium and lower grade copper ores or concentrates.
Figure 3 is a flow diagram of a hydrometallurgical copper extraction process according to a further embodiment of the invention, which provides for the extraction of zinc in addition to copper.
Figure 4 is a flow diagram of a hydrometallurgical copper extraction process according to another embodiment of the invention, which provides for the extraction of nickel in addition to copper.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The process according to the invention is flexible enough to treat a range of copper concentrates in which the grade of copper varies from low, i,e. about 15% copper or less, to high grade, i.e. about 35% copper or more.
Broadly, the process comprises a pressure
oxidation stage, an atmospheric leach stage, one or more solvent extraction stages and an electrowinning stage. Different grades of concentrate require different treatment in the pressure oxidation stage, requiring different modes of operation. These modes of operation are termed Mode A and Mode B, respectively. In Mode A, which is effective when high grade copper ores are leached, copper is not leached in the pressure oxidation stage. In Mode B, which is effective when medium and low grade copper ores are leached, copper is leached in the pressure oxidation stage.
Each of the two modes of operation will now be described in turn.
Process Mode A
Figure 1 is a flow diagram of Mode A. The process comprises a pressure oxidation stage 12 in a pressure oxidation vessel or autoclave, an atmospheric leach stage 14, primary and secondary solvent extractant stages 16 and 18, respectively, and an electrowinning stage 20.
In the pressure oxidation stage 12, all copper minerals are converted to basic copper sulphate, CuSO4. 2Cu (OH) 2. The treatment is carried out with oxygen in the presence of an acidic chloride solution. Oxygen,
as well as HCl and H2SO4 are introduced into the autoclave for this purpose. The temperature in the autoclave is about 130 - 150°C and the pressure about 100 - 200 psig (1380 kPa). This is total pressure comprising oxygen pressure plus steam pressure. The retention time is about 0.5-2.5 hours and the process is normally carried out in a continuous fashion in the autoclave. However, the process can also be carried out in a batch-wise fashion, if desired.
The solids content in the autoclave is maintained at about 12-25%, i.e. 150-300 g/L solids as determined by the heat balance and viscosity limitations.
The slurry produced in the autoclave is discharged through a series of one or more flash tanks 22 to reduce the pressure to atmospheric pressure and the temperature to 90-100°C. The liquid part of the slurry is referred to as the product solution from the pressure oxidation stage 12 and is indicated by reference numeral 21.
The slurry from the flash tank(s) 22 is filtered, as shown at 24, and the resultant filter cake is washed thoroughly to remove entrained liquor as much as possible.
The pressure oxidation filtrate from the
filtration 24 is recycled to the pressure oxidation stage 12 but there is a small bleed of about 5%, as shown at 26. This bleed 26 is determined by the concentration of the soluble metals in the ore or concentrate which may dissolve during the pressure oxidation stage 12. The bleed 26 is treated at 28 with lime to remove metals such as zinc and magnesium as solid residues, which are present in the copper concentrate, and to counteract buildup of these metals in the pressure oxidation
circuit. The pressure oxidation circuit is the circuit from the pressure oxidation stage 12 to the flash tank(s) 22 to the filtration 24 to the bleed 26 and back to the pressure oxidation stage 12. It is indicated by reference numeral 23.
The bleed 26 is subject to a solvent extraction, as shown at 27, prior to the bleed treatment 28. The solvent extraction 27 is carried out by means of a •suitable organic extractant to remove copper from the bleed 26. This solvent extraction is associated with the solvent extraction stages 16 and 18 and will be referred to again when the latter two solvent extraction stages are described.
Prior to the pressure oxidation stage 12, the copper concentrate is first subjected tc a regrind, as shown at 30, to reduce the particle size to about 97% minus 325 mesh, which corresponds to P80 (80% passing) 15 micron. The regrind 30 is carried out in solution recycled from the bleed treatment 28. Thus, the slurry from the bleed treatment 28 is subjected to a liquid/solid separation, as shown at 32, and the solution is recycled to the regrind 30 and the zinc/magnesium bleed residue is discarded, as shown at 17 .
The solution which is recycled to the regrind 30 is an alkaline chloride liquor at about pH 10. Use of this liquor minimizes water input into the pressure oxidation circuit 23 which is important in maintaining heat balance and in preserving the chloride solution in the pressure oxidation circuit 23 as much as possible.
As stated above, copper is not leached in the pressure oxidation stage 12 but is converted to an Insoluble basic copper salt. The feed solution to the
pr&ssuxe oxidation stage 12, which is the leach liquor being recycled from the filtration 24 is indicated by reference numeral 25. Although there is copper present in the feed solution 25, there is no additional copper leached, i.e. the process is operated so that the copper concentration in the feed solution 25 to the pressure oxidation stage 12 is equal to the copper concentration in the product solution 21 from the pressure oxidation stage 12. This is indicated as: A [Cu2*] = 0.
The feed solution 25 to the pressure oxidation stage 12 contains about 15 g/L Cu and 12 g/L Cl, together with about 30-55 g/L sulphuric acid. The acid is added in the form of make up H2S04 (usually 93%) . The product solution 21 from the pressure oxidation stage 12 also contains about 15 g/L Cu and 11-12 g/L Cl but is at about pH 3. There is substantially no acid left in the product solution 21 as it is all consumed in the pressure oxidation stage 12 to form the basic copper salt.
As referred to above, the liquid feed 25 to the pressure oxidation stage 12 is made up partly of recycled filtrate to which H2S04 is added. The immediate effect of adding the acid to the filtrate is to increase the acidity of the filtrate which is fed to the autoclave for the pressure leaching stage 12, but the most important effect, surprisingly, has been found to be that the addition of the acid, or more specifically the sulphate ions, actually suppresses the oxidation of sulphur emanating from the concentrate in pressure oxidation stage 12.
Typically the oxidation of sulphur that is experienced if no acid is added is about 25-30% of the feed sulphur in the concentrate, as is the case with the process described in U.S. Patent 4,039,406. However, if
acid is added, it has been found that the sulphur oxidation to sulphate is reduced to about 5-10%. This improvement has substantial beneficial effects on the hydrometallurgical extraction process. The oxidation of sulphur to sulphate creates additional costs in several ways, such as additional oxygen required for the reaction, additional reagent required to neutralize the acid so formed by the oxidation and provision must be made for heat removal due to the oxidation of sulphur to 'sulphate which is very exothermic. This actually limits the throughput of the autoclave in which the pressure leaching stage 12 takes place.
The chemistry of the reaction in the pressure oxidation stage 12 is believed to be altered by the addition of the aqid as follows:
In both reactions, the copper is precipitated in the form of a basic copper salt, which has been found to comprise mostly basic copper sulphate.
In the first reaction it appears that the sulphate of the basic copper sulphate is supplied by oxidation of the feed sulphur in the concentrate, whereas in the second reaction it appears to be supplied by the sulphate ions in the acid which is added to the autoclave, thus
obviating the need for the oxidation of sulphur to sulphate. Thus, in the second reaction, there is a nett consumption of sulphate ions to form the basic copper salt. The amount of sulphuric acid needed to suppress sulphur oxidation has been found experimentally to be about 25 to 75 grams per litre, depending on the type of concentrate and the percentage solids in the concentrate.
In actual test work, there is more sulphur -oxidation than is predicted by either reaction. The first reaction predicts one sixth or 16.7% of the sulphur to be oxidized, whereas experimentally about 25%-30% is found. With acid addition, experiments indicate that about 2-16% sulphur is oxidized to sulphate, rather than the zero oxidation that would be predicted if the second reaction as written was the only reaction taking place. Therefore, these reaction equations do not reflect exactly what is happening in the pressure leaching stage 12 but are only an approximation.
Chloride is conserved as much as possible in the pressure oxidation circuit 23 but typically about 3-10% chloride is lost per pass into the solid product at the filtration 24. Thus, the chloride must be made up by the addition of HC1 or another source of chloride to provide 12 g/L chloride in the feed solution 25. The chloride losses are minimized by thorough washing of the solids from the pressure oxidation stage 12 on the filter 24. The amount of wash water is constrained by the requirement to maintain a water balance in the pressure oxidation circuit 23 . The only water loss from the circuit 23 is in the steam 29 from the flashing step 22 and in the filter cake after the filtration 24. Hence, the need to use the recycled solution from the bleed treatment 28 to slurry up the concentrate in the grinding
step 30, and thus minimize fresh water input from the concentrate to the pressure oxidation step 12.
It has been found to be advantageous to maintain at least 15 g/L Cu in the product solution 21 from the pressure oxidation stage 12 so as to counteract chloride loss in the form of solid basic copper chloride, CuCl2 . 3Cu (OH) 2, which can occur if insufficient copper is present in solution to allow basic copper sulphate to •f. orm:
4CuCl2 + 6H2O -» CuCl2.3Cu(OH)2 + 6HC1 (3)
This reaction can be counteracted by the addition of sufficient acid into the autoclave during the pressure oxidation stage 12 to maintain at least enough copper in solution to satisfy the stoichiometric requirements for Cl as CuCl2 . For 12 g/L Cl in solution, the stoichiometric amount of Cu is:
Thus, 15 g/L Cu is a safe minimum to prevent a significant chloride loss in the form of the basic copper salt.
On the other hand, the copper concentration in the product solution 21 from the pressure oxidation stage 12 should be kept as low as possible to counteract the formation of CuS by the reaction of elemental sulphur with aqueous copper sulphate. This reaction can occur during the pressure oxidation stage 12 or in the slurry after discharge from the autoclave but before the filtration step 24:
3CuS04(aq) + 4S° + 4H2O -> 3CuS(s) + 4H2SO4 (4)
This reaction is particularly undesirable because CuS is insoluble in the dilute acid conditions of the atmospheric leaching stage 14. Thus, the copper is not recovered and this results in the loss of copper to the final residue.
To counteract the formation of CuS it is necessary 'to keep the copper concentration in the product solution 21 as low as possible, i.e. below 30 g/L for some concentrates. The tendency to CuS formation is apparently related to the type of concentrate being treated, with the medium to high grade concentrates being more susceptible to CuS formation. Thus, although a high copper concentration in the product solution 21 does not present a problem with the low grade concentrates, it cannot be tolerated with the higher grade concentrates.
As is known to date, high grade concentrates, i.e. above 35% copper, are best treated to produce as low a copper concentration in the product solution 21 as possible, i.e. below 25 g/L Cu.
Given the need to maintain at least 15 g/L Cu in solution in the pressure oxidation circuit 23, there is an optimum range of copper concentration of from 15 to 25 g/L Cu for high grade concentrates. With medium grade concentrates, the upper limit can be stretched considerably and for low grade ore, the copper concentration does not play a significant role.
The copper concentration in the pressure oxidation filtrate 29 can be controlled simply by adding the required amount of acid into the feed solution 25 to the ipressure oxidation stage 12. More acid results in a
higher copper concentration due to the dissolution of the basic copper sulphate:
CuS04.2Cu(OH)2(s) + 2H2SO The addition of about 1 g/L acid results in an increase in copper concentration of about 1 g/L. The actual concentration of acid required is determined empirically by comparing the assays of feed solution 25 The percentage by weight of solids in the feed of copper concentrate slurry to the pressure oxidation stage 12 can be varied at will. The weight of concentrate solid fed to the pressure oxidation stage 12 is determined by the amount of copper to be recovered. The weight of the solution is determined mainly by the heat balance in the pressure oxidation stage 12.
The desired operating temperature in the pressure oxidation stage 12 is about 150 °C and the heat must be supplied largely by the heat of reaction of the sulphide minerals with the high pressure oxygen in the autoclave. For high grade concentrates, such as will be treated by the Process Mode A currently being described, this means a relatively low S/Cu ratio and thus a smaller heat production per tonne of copper treated in the autoclave. Much of the heat evolved is due to oxidation, not of copper, but of the other two main elements in the concentrate, iron and sulphur. If the grade of the concentrate is high, then the ratio of S/Cu and Fe/Cu is low, hence a lower heat production.
To reach operating temperature from a starting temperature of say 50 to 80 °C, which is typical for the pressure oxidation filtrate 29 which is recycled after the filtration 24, it is necessary to control the amount of water that must be heated, since this is the main heat sink in the pressure oxidation stage 12. It is impractical to cool or heat the slurry inside the autoclave by indirect means/ such as by means of heating or cooling coils, because of rapid scale formation on all -surfaces, particularly heat exchangers, leading to very poor heat transfer characteristics. Direct heating or cooling by injection of steam or water is also impractical due to water balance considerations. Therefore, it is required that the heat balance be maintained by balancing heat production from reaction heat with the heat capacity of the feed materials, i.e. the feed solution 25 being recycled and the concentrate slurry. The main variable that can be controlled here-is the volume of the feed solution 25. This is one of the distinguishing features between Modes A and B. In Process Mode B, still to be described, the heat evolution is much greater, expressed as heat per tonne of copper product. Therefore, it is possible to use more solution volume in the feed 25 to the pressure oxidation stage 12.
Once the solution volume is fixed, the acidity of the solution can be determined, since the total mass of acid is determined by the need to maintain A [Cu2*] = 0. Typically, for a high grade concentrate, about 35-55 g/L 'acid will be required.
It has been found to be beneficial to add small concentrations of certain surfactants which change the physical and chemical characteristics of liquid elemental sulphur (S°) in the autoclave during the pressure oxidation stage 12. Surfactants such as lignin
sulphonate and quebracho added to the pressure oxidation feed solution 25 in small amounts, i.e. 0.1 to 3 g/L can reduce the viscosity of the liquid sulphur and also change the chemistry in the autoclave.
Additions of surfactants can reduce sulphur oxidation in ways that are not well understood, but are beneficial to the process. It is believed that this is due to lower viscosity, resulting in lowered tendency for liquid sulphur and solids to be held up within the autoclave, thus reducing the retention time for these materials, and hence the reduced tendency for sulphur oxidation to occur.
Also it has been found that more complete reaction of the copper minerals takes place if surfactants are added, apparently because of lower viscosity sulphur, which does not "wet" unreacted sulphide minerals, and thus allows the desired reaction to proceed to completion.
Reaction (5) describes how adding sulphuric acid to the pressure oxidation feed 25 will control the copper concentration in the pressure oxidation filtrate 29. The overall reaction for the pressure oxidation with sulphuric acid addition for a chalcopyrite ore is given by reaction (2) above.
A similar reaction can be written using CuSO4 as the source of sulphide ions instead of H2SO4:
3CuFeS2 + 15/4O2 + 3H2O + 3/2CuSO4 -* 3/2CuSO4. 2Cu (OH) 2 +
3/2Fe203 + 6S° (6)
It is noteworthy that there are 3/2 moles of sulphate required as copper sulphate in reaction (6)
compared to one mole of sulphuric acid in reaction (2). Therefore, if CuSO4 is to be used as the source of sulphate ions instead of sulphuric acid, it is necessary to use 1.5 times as many moles of CuSO4. To take this into account, the inventor has developed the concept of Excess Sulphate Equivalent, which allows the calculation of how much acid to add to the pressure oxidation feed solution 25 in order to achieve a target copper concentration and still take into account reaction (6) .
By taking reaction (6) into account, it is possible to calculate "a priori" the amount of acid required for constant copper concentration in the pressure oxidation filtrate 29. The concept of Excess Sulphate Equivalent is helpful:
Excess Sulphate Equivalent is equal to the sulphate available in the pressure oxidation feed solution 25 for formation of basic copper sulphate during the pressure oxidation stage 12. The sulphate available is that which is in excess of a defined Base Level of CuSO4 and CuCl2.
Base Level of CuSO4 and CuCl2 is sufficient to support chloride in solution at 12 g/L in the form of CuCl2 and, in addition, about 4.3 g/L Cu as CuSO4. The concentration of CuCl2 corresponding to 12 g/L chloride in solution is 134.5/71*12 =22.7 g/1 CuCl2, which contains 10.7 g/L Cu in solution. The additional 4.3 g/L copper therefore means a total of 15 g/L copper combined as CuCl2 and CuSO4 in the Base Level.
Sulphate available is then the total sulphate as CuSO4 less the Base Level. For instance, if the total copper concentration is 28 g/L in the pressure oxidation filtrate 29, then the sulphate available is 28 - 15 = 13
g/L Cu * 98/63.5 = 20 g/L H2SO4 as available sulphate, from CuSO4.
Excess Sulphate Equivalent (ESE) is then calculated from the available sulphate from CuSO4 by dividing by 1.5:
ESE = (Available Sulphate as CuSO4) /I.5
Thus, in the example of 28 g/L total copper concentration or 20 g/L available sulphate from CuSO4, there is 20/1.5 =13.3 g/L ESE from CuSO4.
Finally, if the target free acid equivalent is, say, 52 g/L H2S04 in the pressure oxidation feed solution 25, then the amount of acid required is 52 less the ESE (13.3 g/L) or 38.7 g/L H2SO4. This is the amount that must be added to the feed solution 25 to the pressure oxidation stage 12 to produce a constant copper concentration in the pressure oxidation filtrate 29, i.e. ithe Base Level of 15 g/L Cu.
Other reactions can be written using Fe2(SO4)3 and ZnSO4 as the source of sulphate ions instead of H2SO4. In the case of ZnSO4, the zinc is assumed to hydrolyze to basic zinc sulphate, ZnSO4. 3Zn (OH) 2/ which is a basic salt of Zn analogous to basic copper sulphate. These reactions are given below as reactions (7) and (8) .
3CuFeS2 + 15/4O-, + 2H2O + i/3Fe2(SO4)3 -> CuSO4.2Cu (OH) 2 +
ll/6Fe203 + 6S° (7)
3CuFeS2 + 15/4O2 + 13/3H2O + 4/3ZnSO4 ->
CuS04.2Cu(OH) 2 + 6S° + Fe2O3 + 1/3 (ZnSO4. 3Zn (OH) 2. 4H2O> (8)
The solids from the pressure oxidation stage 12 after the filtration 24, are treated in the atmospheric leaching stage 14 at about pH 1.5 to pH 2.0 using raffinate from the primary leaching stage 16, which is acidic, to dissolve the basic copper sulphate. The leaching 14 takes place at a temperature of about 40°C for a retention time of about 15-60 minutes. The percentage solids is typically about 5-15% or about 50-170 g/L, although it is possible to operate the process outside this range.
During the atmospheric leaching stage 14, the basic copper salts dissolve almost completely with very little of the iron present in the concentrate going into solution.
Typically, the leach liquor 33 produced after the liquid/solid separation 34 contains about 10-20 grams per litre copper, depending on the percentage solids feed to the leach 14, with 0.1 - 1.0 g/L iron and about 0.1 - 1.0 g/L chloride. Much of this iron and chloride are derived from the feed raffinate 37 rather than the solids from pressure oxidation, i.e. they are recycled. Typically about 0.1 - 0.2 g/L iron and chloride dissolve per pass.
The copper extraction has been found to be about 95-98% based on the original feed to the pressure leaching stage 12. Iron extraction to solution has been found to be less than about 1%.
The slurry 31 from the atmospheric leaching stage 14 is difficult if not impossible to filter, but settles well. In view of the need to wash the leach solids very thoroughly, the slurry 31 is therefore pumped to a counter current decantation (CCD) wash circuit, symbolically indicated as a solid/liquid separation 34 in
Figure 1. In the CCD circuit 34, the solids are fed through a series of thickeners with wash water added in the opposite direction. By this method, the solids are washed and entrained solution removed. About 3 to 5 thickeners (not shown) are required with a wash ratio (water to solids) of about 5 to 7 to reduce entrained liquor down to less than 100 ppm Cu in the final residue.
The thickener underflow from the last thickener is •the final residue stream 35 at about 50% solids. This can be treated for the recovery of precious metals, such as gold and silver, or sent to tailings. Precious metals may be recovered by known methods, such as cyanidation. The main constituents of the stream 35 are hematite and elemental sulphur, which may be recovered by flotation if market conditions warrant.
The thickener overflow from the first thickener is the product solution 33 which is fed to the primary solvent extraction stage 16, as shown. This solution contains about 12 g/L Cu, 1 g/L Cl and 0.5 g/L Fe.
Th.e optimum copper concentration is determined by the ability of the solvent extraction stage 16 to extract the maximum copper from the solution 33. Since a fraction of about one-third of the raffinate from the solvent extraction stage 16 is eventually neutralized, it is important to minimize the copper content of this raffinate.
Solvent extraction performs best on dilute copper solutions due to the fact that a concentrated copper solution results in a higher acid concentration in the raffinate which tends to lower extraction efficiency. More concentrated solutions are, however, cheaper to treat from a capital cost point of view, since the volume
is less. Above a certain point, though, the increased concentration does not reduce the size of the solvent extraction unit, since (i) there is a maximum organic loading and (ii) aqueous volume is generally kept equal to organic volume for mixing purposes by means of aqueous recycle. Therefore, the total volume of organic extractant and aqueous solution is only determined by the volume of organic extractant. The maximum organic loading and hence volume of organic is determined by the -concentration and characteristics of the particular organic solvent selected. For the typical solvent, e.g. LIX™ reagent from Henkel Corporation, the maximum loading per pass at 40% volume concentration in diluent is about 12 g/L Cu. Therefore, the product solution 33 also should contain about 12 g/L Cu.
The copper is extracted from the product solution 33 from the CCD thickener overflow in two stages of extraction in the primary solvent extraction stage 16 to produce a raffinate 37 with about 20 g/L free acid and about 0.3 to 1 g/L Cu. Most of this raffinate 37 is '.recycled to the atmospheric leaching stage 14 but about 25 to 30% is surplus to the acid requirements of the atmospheric leaching stage 14 and must be neutralized. This surplus 121 is split off as shown at 36 and neutralized.
The neutralization is effected in two stages to maximize copper recovery and to prevent possible environmental problems with the neutralization residue due to copper content, i.e. the unrecovered copper from the raffinate 37 will precipitate upon neutralization and can then re-dissolve later, in a tailing pond, for example.
The first stage neutralization takes place at pH 2 to pH 3, as shown at 38, using limerock, which is very economical as a reagent, compared with lime. The neutralization product is filtered at 40 and the resultant solids are washed with water from the external source 45. The solids, which are mainly gypsum and iron hydroxides, are discarded, as shown at 41.
The filtrate 39 is sent to the secondary solvent extraction stage 18 for the recovery of residual copper values. The secondary solvent extraction 18 benefits from the primary neutralization 38 and results in a very low copper concentration in the secondary raffinate 43, typically from about 0.03 to 0.06 g/L Cu.
As indicated by the broken lines in Figure 1, the secondary solvent extraction stage 18 uses the same organic extractant as the primary solvent extraction circuit 16. This is also tied in with the solvent extraction 27 of the pressure oxidation filtrate bleed 26. The organic extractant which is washed at 42 with wash water 122 from an external source 45, and stripped at 44 is recycled to the secondary solvent extraction stage 18 and then passes to the primary extraction stage 16. The stripped organic 125 is split to pass a portion thereof to the solvent extraction 27. The raffinate from the solvent extraction 27 is added to the loaded organic 123 from the solvent extraction 16 prior to the wash 42. The wash water 47 from the wash 42 is passed to the pressure oxidation filter 24, to serve as a feed wash water onto the filter 24. The resultant wash filtrate is added to the pressure oxidation filtrate 29, thus recovering the copper and chloride content from the solvent extraction wash water (47) .
The raffinate 43 from the secondary solvent extraction stage 18 is neutralized again in a secondary neutralization stage 46, this time at pH 10 and filtered at 48 to remove all dissolved heavy metals, producing a solution 51 which is used as wash water in the CCD circuit 34 for washing the final leach residue 35. The solid residue from the filtration 48 is discarded, as shown at 53.
Stripping of the loaded and washed organic at 44 is effected by means of spent acid or electrolyte 55 from the electrowinning stage 20 to obtain a pure copper sulphate solution or pregnant electrolyte 57 which is then passed to the electrowinning stage 20 for electrowinning in the usual way.
It can be seen that all solution streams in the process are thus recycled and there are no solution effluents from the process. Only solid residues are discarded from the process.
Process Mode B
Figure 2 is a flow diagram of Mode B. The same reference numerals are used to indicate stages or steps in the process which correspond with those in the previous embodiment of Figure 1. For example, the pressure oxidation stage is again indicated by 12, the atmospheric leach stage by 14, the electrowinning stage by 20, the flash tank(s) by 22, the pressure oxidation filtration by 24, the bleed treatment of the pressure oxidation filtrate 29 by reference numeral 28, the grinding stage by reference numeral 30 and the CCD wash circuit by reference numeral 34.
In this mode of the process, the pressure
oxidation 12 is carried out both to oxidize and to leach into solution most of the copper contained in the feed concentrate. Typically about 85-90% of the copper is leached into the solution, with only about 10-15% being left in the residue as the basic copper sulphate.
The conditions of the pressure oxidation stage 12 in the autoclave are similar to those in Process Mode A . ^except that the percentage solids is lower, i.e. 150-225 g/L.
In this mode of the process, A [Cu2*] is typically 30 to 40 g/L Cu, i.e. the copper concentration is greater in the product solution 21 from the pressure oxidation stage 12. The feed solution 25 to the pressure oxidation
stage 12 typically contains 10-15 g/L Cu and 12 g/L Cl, together with about 20 to 3 0 g/L sulphuric acid.
In this mode, no sulphuric acid is added to the pressure oxidation stage 12 from an external source, as is the case with the Figure 1 embodiment. In this mode, the acid is obtained from recycle in the process, i.e. by the recycle of the pressure oxidation filtrate 29. The product solution 21 from the pressure oxidation stage 12 contains about 40 to 50 g/L Cu and 11 to 12 g/L Cl at about pH 2 to 2.5.
The copper leached into the product lig_uor 21 from pressure oxidation stage 12 must be controlled so as to obtain the desired distribution of copper between liquor (85 to 90%) and residue (10 to 15%) . This distribution results in a small but important amount of basic copper sulphate solids in the leach residue. The pH is a convenient indicator of the presence of basic copper sulphate, since it is a buffering agent. With strong
copper sulphate concentration in solution, a pH range of 2 to 2.5 indicates basic copper sulphate. Below pH 2 almost all the basic copper sulphate will be dissolved, whereas above pH 2.5, too much basic copper sulphate is formed and insufficient copper is likely to be found in the solution 21.
The primary method of control is the amount of acid in the feed liquor 25 to the pressure oxidation -stage 12. The acid level in turn is controlled by the degree of neutralization of the raffinate from solvent extraction of the pressure oxidation filtrate 29 raffinate described below. Usually, about 25 to 50% of the acid must be neutralized, depending on the amount of acid that is required.
The acid generated during the pressure oxidation stage 12 varies from one concentrate to another and according to conditions employed. If the concentrate produces a large amount of acid during the pressure oxidation stage 12, then the feed solution 25 will need less acid to achieve the desired result. The minimum copper (from concentrate feed) that should go to liquor 21 is about 10%. Below 10%, the pH drops sufficiently low so that iron concentrations in the pressure oxidation filtrate 29 increase rapidly. Normally, iron is about 10 to 50 ppm, but if pH is below 2 and basic copper sulphate in residue disappears, then iron can increase to above 1 g/L fairly quickly. This is undesirable because there are several impurity elements such as As and Sb which are only removed from solution simultaneously with iron hydrolysis. Therefore, absence of iron in solution is a good guarantee of low impurity content in the pressure oxidation filtrate 29. Iron is also an impurity itself that must be avoided in the electrowinning circuit 20 as far as possible.
There is another factor, however, which places a maximum on Cu in solution. It has been found surprisingly that certain concentrates actually leach more completely if the copper concentration is lower. This is believed to be due to either formation of secondary CuS, as described above, or to some other phenomenon related to poor oxidation characteristics of the primary mineral, chalcopyrite, in high copper concentration solutions. It is found that elemental -sulphur, produced during the reaction in the pressure oxidation stage 12, can coat or actually encapsulate unreacted chalcopyrite particles and hinder the access of reagents. This results in poor copper recovery. The phenomenon is apparently accentuated by high Cu levels in solution. It can be overcome or mitigated by the use of surfactants, as described above. The problem is more severe with some concentrates, particularly high grade, than others. Therefore, for these concentrates it is desirable to limit the copper concentration in the pressure oxidation filtrate (i.e. greater than about 95%) over all. To do this, it is necessary to have a substantial proportion of the copper as basic copper sulphate, i.e. in solid residue from the pressure oxidation stage 12 rather than the pressure oxidation filtrate. Typically, 20-40% of copper may report to solids, if necessary, to keep the copper concentration low enough to obtain high copper recovery.
Higher grade concentrates exhibit the problem of low copper recovery with high copper in solution. Therefore, an increasing proportion of copper must report to solids as the grade increases. Tests with three different concentrates illustrate this relationship:
The H*/Cu molar ratio refers to H* in the feed acid and Cu in the feed concentrate. The H+ in the feed acid is taken to be all the protons available on complete dissociation of the acid even if under existing conditions the acid is not completely dissociated. The H* shown in the table is optimum level found by experiment to give the best results.
For concentrate #1, which was a high grade concentrate, the process chosen is Mode A, where all of the copper reports to the leach liquor and A [Cu2*] = 0. The HVCu ratio is that found which was necessary by experimentation to give the desired result of A [Cu2*] = 0.
For concentrate #2, a medium grade concentrate, Mode B was chosen, but with a substantial amount of the copper reporting to the solid basic copper sulphate. This was achieved by keeping the H*/Cu ratio low enough so that not all of the copper dissolved into the liquor.
For'concentrate #3, a low grade concentrate, Mode B was also chosen but in this case, the minimum amount of copper reported to the residue, by adjusting the H+/Cu ratio high enough.
The residue from the pressure oxidation stage 12 is leached 14 with raffinate 37 returning from the solvent extraction 16 which is dilute acid, at 3-10 g/L H2SO4. Since most of the copper from the pressure oxidation stage 12 reports to the pressure oxidation filtrate 29 and only a small fraction of the pressure oxidation residue, the resultant leach liquor 31 from the atmospheric leach 14 is quite dilute in copper. In turn, this produces a dilute raffinate 37 from the solvent 'extraction 16, Typically, the atmospheric leach liquor 31 is 3-7 g/L Cu and 0.2 to 0.5 g/L Fe.
The slurry resulting from the atmospheric leaching stage 14 is difficult to filter, as was the case with Mode A. Good liquid/solid separation and washing, however, can be achieved as before using a series of thickeners in a CCD arrangement 34. Wash water 51 is provided by raffinate from the solvent extraction 16, which is neutralized, as indicated at 46. This is similar as in Mode A. The only major difference is the lower tenor of the solution 33 and the reduced volume.
The solution 33 produced by the atmospheric leaching stage 14 is subjected to the solvent extraction 16. The copper containing solution 29 from the pressure oxidation stage 12, is subject to a solvent extraction stage 50. There are, therefore, two solvent extraction operations, i.e. 16 and 50, treating two different streams of liquor 33 and 29, respectively. It is a feature of the process according to the invention that the organic extractant used for effecting the solvent extraction operations is common to both solvent extractions 16 and 50.
As shown in Figure 2, the stripped organic 125 coming from the common stripping operation 44 is first
introduced into the solvent extraction circuit 16, which has the weakest copper concentration in the aqueous feed stream 33 and therefore needs the organic extractant to be as low as possible in loading to be effective.
The loaded organic 126 from solvent extraction 16 is then sent to the solvent extraction 50 where it contacts the higher copper concentration liquor 29, It is not necessary for the solvent extraction 50 to achieve -a high extraction ratio because the raffinate 63 from this extraction is recycled to the pressure oxidation stage 12, as shown. On the other hand, the raffinate 37 from the solvent extraction 16 is only partly recycled and part is neutralized 46 to remove excess acid from the circuit. Therefore, it is more important to achieve high copper recovery from the solvent extraction 16.
The raffinate 37 from the solvent extraction 16 is split at 36 as in Mode A, with about one-third 121 to the neutralization 46 and two-thirds 120 recycled to the atmospheric leach stage 14. An important difference from Mode A is that the raffinate 37 from solvent extraction 16 is sufficiently low in copper, i.e. below 100 ppm, so that it is not necessary to have a secondary solvent extraction stage before neutralization 46, as was the case in Mode A. This is due to the lower copper concentration and solution volume, allowing the solvent extraction 16 to be more efficient.
The loaded organic 65 produced by the two solvent extraction operations 16, 50 in series, is washed in two stages in counter current fashion with dilute acidic aqueous solution 122, as shown at 42. This is primarily to remove entrained aqueous solution from the loaded organic 65 and in particular to reduce the chloride content before the organic goes to stripping at 44. The
amount of wash water required is about 1-3% of the organic volume. The resultant wash liquor 47 produced is recycled to the pressure oxidation stage 12.
The washed organic 69 is stripped at 44 with spent electrolyte 55 from the electrowinning stage 20 to provide a pure copper solution or pregnant electrolyte 57 for electrowinning in the usual way.
The raffinate 63 is split at 70 in two portions 72, 74 as determined by the required molar ratio of H*/Cu. The portion 72 is recycled to the pressure oxidation stage 12. The portion 74 is neutralized at pH 2 with limerock at 76 and filtered 78. The solid residue is washed and discarded, as shown at 80. The filtrate 82 is recycled with the portion 72 to form the feed solution 25 to the pressure oxidation stage 12.
A novel feature of the process, therefore, is the use of a common organic to extract copper from two separate aqueous feed liquors. This provides considerable economies in lower capital and operating costs in the solvent extraction circuits. Also, it allows for the use of copious amounts of water in the atmospheric leaching CCD circuit, so that good washing can be achieved on the final residue and yet still recover copper from such a dilute liquor.
It has been found that the degree of sulphur oxidation that occurs in the pressure oxidation stage 12 is highly dependent on the type of concentrate, such as grade and mineralogy of the concentrate being treated, as well as the conditions of the pressure oxidation stage 12. Certain concentrates exhibit considerably higher sulphur oxidation, i.e. oxidation of the sulphur in the concentrate to sulphate, and the effect is particularly
marked with the low grade concentrates with less than about 28% Cu by weight. The inventor has found that the significance of this variation is not so much the copper grade itself but the copper/sulphur ratio in the concentrate. The main impurity elements in a copper concentrate are iron and sulphur due to the fact that copper ores are generally composed of chalcopyrite together with other minerals, particularly pyrite FeS2 or pyrrholite FeS.
Process Mode B deals with the problem of excess sulphur oxidation in the pressure oxidation stage 12 when lower grade concentrates are used by deliberately dissolving 90% of the copper and minimizing the formation of basic copper sulphate. The reaction for chalcopyrite is :
The filtrate 29 from the pressure oxidation stage 12 thus contains high levels of copper sulphate and copper chloride and this is treated in the solvent extraction stage 50 to produce a pure copper sulphate solution which goes to the electrowinning stage 20.
With reference to Figure 3, a hydro-metallurgical process for extraction of zinc in addition to copper is shown. The same reference numerals are used to indicate stages or steps in the process which correspond with those in the previous embodiments.
The concentrate is re-ground 30 as in the case of the previous embodiments.
The pressure oxidation of a mixed zinc-copper concentrate is carried out in similar fashion as for the concentrate containing only copper as in Figure 2.
Zinc oxidizes as readily or more readily than copper does and is more likely to report to the leach liquor 29 as opposed to the pressure oxidation residue. This is because zinc hydrolyzes less readily as basic zinc sulphate than copper does, i.e. at higher pH.
Recovery of copper or zinc is not hampered by high solution tenors apparently as was found for high grade copper concentrations. Therefore, it is possible to have most of the copper and zinc report to the pressure oxidation filtrate 29, i.e. as in Process Mode B. Sulphur oxidation is low, so that the amount of acid generated within the pressure oxidation stage 12 is low. Hence, to obtain a high H+/Cu ratio, it is necessary to recycle virtually all of the acid from the solvent extraction stage 12 with minimal neutralization. The feed acid may be as high as 75 g/L H2SO4 with about 10 g/L Cu, 5 g/L Zn and 12 g/L Cl.
The pressure oxidation filtrate 29 will contain both zinc and copper in substantial concentrations dependent on the feed concentrate composition. For a concentrate with 20% Cu and 5% Zn, the pressure oxidation filtrate 29 may contain about 50 g/L Cu, 15 g/L Zn and 12 g/L Cl.
The pressure oxidation residue is leached 14 in the same way using raffinate 37 from the solvent extraction 16 as shown, producing a mixed Cu-Zn solution for feed to the solvent extraction circuits. Zinc is extracted first and then copper.
There are two aqueous streams to be treated by solvent extraction as in Process Mode B for copper concentrates. The pressure oxidation filtrate 29 contains high tenors of Cu and Zn, whereas the atmospheric leach solution 33 is weak in both elements.
The novel arrangement outlined for the solvent extraction circuit as for the embodiments described above, is continued for the zinc solvent extraction, that 'is, the weak liquor is contacted first with organic extractant followed by the strong aqueous liquor. In this case, there are two circuits, one for zinc and one for copper.
It is possible to extract copper first followed by zinc, depending on the choice of organic extractant and its relative affinity for the two elements. The applicant has found that satisfactory results can be obtained by using DEHPA (diethyl-hexyl phosphoric acid) as the first extractant, which is selective towards zinc over copper. Therefore, two DEHPA extractions 100 and 102 are done, the first extraction 100 is on the weak liquor 33 and the second extraction 102 is on the stronger liquor 29 from the pressure oxidation stage 12, to recover zinc and leave the bulk of the copper in solution.
The zinc extraction by DEHPA is hampered by poor extraction characteristics in the presence of high acid concentrations. In practice, this means that the extraction effectively stops at about pH 1.4 or about 7-10 g/L H2SO4 . To deal with this problem, an interstage neutralization 104 at pH 2 is included for the zinc solvent extraction. Thus, the zinc solvent extraction occurs in two stages, i.e. the stage 102 and a second stage 103 with the neutralization 104 in between. Each
stage 102, 103 will extract only 5-7 g/L zinc before being stopped by the resultant acid concentration in the raffinate. By using interstage neutralization 104, the total zinc extraction can be increased to 10 g/L Zn or more. The raffinate 97 from the first extaction stage 102 is neutralized to about pH 2 to 2.5 at 104 with inexpensive limerock (CaCO3) to produce gypsum solids which are filtered off at 98 and discarded. The filtrate 99 is then fed to the second solvent extraction stage -103. The feed to the second stage is typically 10 g/L Zn and 50 g/L Cu at a pH of 2 to 2.5. After extraction, the second raffinate 124 is typically 5 g/L Zn, 50 g/L Cu and 8 g/L acid.
For the solvent extraction circuit 16, zinc concentrations are low enough so that this does not present a problem.
The optimum zinc content of the pressure oxidation filtrate 29 is determined largely by the ability of the zinc solvent extraction circuit to extract the zinc. Due to the fact that zinc is extracted cjuite weakly by the available extractants (e.g. DEHPA), there is a maximum of about 5-7 g/L Zn that can be extracted before the reaction stops due to acid buildup in the raffinate. Further extraction requires neutralization of the acid. With interstage neutralization it is possible to extract much higher levels of Zn, however, the interstage neutralization removes sulphate from the circuit which must be replaced either by sulphur oxidation or adding fresh acid to the pressure oxidation circuit 23 .
One inter-neutralization stage is likely to be compatible with sulphate balance, therefore it is preferable to keep the A [Zn2'] , which is the zinc concentration in the pressure.oxidation filtrate 29 minus
the zinc concentration in the recycled raffinate 72, to about 10 g/L. Thus, if the feed acid to pressure oxidation recycled as raffinate 72 from solvent extraction contains 5 g/L Zn, then the product filtrate 29 from pressure oxidation should contain about 15 g/L Zn. This restriction on A[Zn] distinguishes the process for Zn compared to Cu. The greater extraction ability of Cu solvent extraction means that good extraction of Cu can be achieved with much higher acid levels, up to 75 'g/L H2SO4 in raffinate compared to only about 7 - 10 g/L for Zn. Hence Cu can be extracted from 50 g/L Cu feed streams.
After extraction, the loaded organic 106 from the Zn (DEHPA) circuit contains some Cu, as a result of imperfect selectivity of the DEHPA extractant towards Zn, and simple entrainment of the strong Cu liquor. Typically the Zn/Cu ratio in the loaded organic 106 from Zn solvent extraction is about 150 to 300:1. If not removed, all of the Cu will be stripped along with the Zn during solvent stripping 114, and thus will be stripped into the Zn pregnant electrolyte 120 which is fed to Zn electrowinning 118. Zn electrowinning requires a very pure pregnant electrolyte if it is to produce satisfactory (pure) Zn cathode at reasonable current efficiency. The Zn/Cu ratio must be about 100,000:1 in pregnant electrolyte. Therefore it is essential to remove almost all of the Cu either from the loaded organic 106 or later from the pregnant electrolyte before electrowinning. It is much easier to purify the loaded organic 106.
To remove this copper, several washing or treatment stages 106, e.g. 3 to 10, typically 5, are needed. Washing is done with dilute acidified zinc sulphate aqueous solution. The wash stages are arranged
in sries, i.e. the treated organic exiting from the first wash stage enters the second wash stage and so through all the other stages until the organic exits the last stage. Some zinc is washed out with the copper, therefore, it is necessary to minimize the amount of wash water added and make use of several \yash stages arranged in counter current fashion instead.
The resultant wash liquor 110 produced is recycled
recovery of copper
to the atmospheric leach circuit for and zinc values.
After washing, the organic stream 112 from the
DEHPA extraction is ready for stripping 114 with spent electrolyte 116 from a zinc electrowi'nning circuit 118. This produces a pregnant electrolyte 120 for electrowinning zinc at high current efficiency.
After the stripping 114 the extraction solvent is further stripped 131 for removal or ijron prior to recyling of the extractant to the solvent extraction 100.
The stripping 131 is effected with HC'l makeup solution 133 which is introduced into the pressure oxidation stage.
The raffinates 122, 124 from tihe zinc extractions
with DEHPA are each extracted with a
in solvent
extractant, such as LIX™, 50, respectively.
selective copper extractions 16 and
The design of these two circuits 16, 50 is similar
the solvent extraction 16 and then in extraction 50. The loaded organic is stripped as before as shown at 42 andthe solvent then washed and 44, respectively.
Neutralization requirements in the solvent
extraction 50 circuit are found to be low because of the prior neutralization in the zinc circuit.
The raffinates from the LIX™ extractions are recycled as before back to the pressure oxidation stage 12 and the atmospheric leach stage 14, respectively.
With reference to Figure 4, a hydrometallurgical -extraction process for recovery of nickel in addition to copper is shown.
The same reference numerals are used to indicate stages or steps in the process which correspond with those in the previous embodiments.
For nickel-copper concentrates, the process is very similar as for zinc, except that the available solvent extraction agents are all less selective toward nickel than copper. Therefore, the nickel solvent extraction circuits 130, 132 both are positioned after the respective copper solvent extraction circuits, 16, 50, respectively.
The loaded nickel extractant 135 from the solvent extraction 132 is subject to a wash 137 and then stripped 139 before being recycled to the solvent extraction 130. The stripping 139 is effected with spent electrolyte from the nickel electrowinning 140.
In addition, nickel extraction is sufficiently weak that in situ neutralization with ammonia, for example, is required, as indicated at 134 and 136, respectively. The ammonia must be recovered from the respective raffinates by a lime boil process 138, for example, and recycled.
The process according to the invention will now be further illustrated by way of Examples. Examples 1 to 7 illustrate the pressure oxidation stage 12 of the process. Examples 8 and 9 illustrate the operation of the atmospheric leach stage 14. Examples 10 and 11 illustrate the solvent extraction stages of the process.
Example 1 (Test #258)
A copper concentrate from the Highland Valley Copper Mine in British Columbia was subjected to pressure oxidation and atmospheric leaching under the following
(Table Removed)In the present examples, all values of A [Cu2*] were back-calculated to constant volume for feed solution and pressure oxidation filtrate. Acid was added to the 'atmospheric leach solution as required to produce a final pH as indicated. The percentage copper distribution shown in Table 1 refers to pressure oxidation.
It can be seen that the pressure oxidation filtrate contained almost no additional copper beyond that in the feed solution. All the copper from the feed concentrate was present in the basic copper salt. Only 9.1% sulphur oxidation occurred and the overall copper recovery after atmospheric leaching was 97.3%. Sulphur oxidation was calculated by sulphate balance method.
Examples 2 and 3 (Test #263 and #265)
Two further tests were conducted under the same conditions as Example 1 above, except that the acid in ;he pressure oxidation feed solution was zero in Example I and 35 g/L in Example 3. The results of Examples 1 to 3 are compared in Table 2. The tests of Examples 1 to 3 were carried out in a batch-wise fashion in the autoclave.
(Table Removed)
It can be seen that the acidity of the pressure oxidation feed affects the sulphur oxidation. By increasing the acidity of the pressure oxidation feed from 0 to 35 g/L, the sulphur oxidation decreased from 14% to 8%. The acidity of the pressure oxidation feed also influences the change in copper concentration between the feed and the filtrate. Approximately 25 g/L acid is required to maintain an equilibrium copper tenor across the pressure oxidation. If the concentration of acid in the feed is above 25 g/L, there is a build-up of copper in the filtrate.
Using the same concentrate as in the previous examples, a pressure oxidation test was conducted on a continuous basis in the autoclave instead of batchwise, under the following conditions:
A sample of the pressure oxidation product slurry was filtered and the filter cake was then batch leached under atmospheric leach conditions to determine Con the overall copper recovery.
The results are given in Table 3 .
It can be seen that the copper from concentrate was largely present as the basic copper salt; only about 1% being present in the filtrate. The value of A [Cu2*] was small and the overall copper extraction was 97.3%, after atmospheric leach. Sulphur oxidation was calculated at 6.6% based on sulphate balance between feed and product streams, illustrating how sulphur oxidation is minimized by xise of high sulphate in feed solution.
Another test similar to Example 4 was conducted, again on a continuous basis in the autoclave. This time the feed solution contained higher copper and less acid:
This example illustrates how the acid concentration in the feed solution can be reduced by adding copper into the feed solution, as well, i.e. 33.6 g/L H2SO4 as opposed to 53.7 g/L in the previous Example. Again the sulphur oxidation is very low because of high sulphate in the feed solutions.
The following tests were done on low grade concentrate, using Process Mode B to illustrate this embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment it is
desired to leach the major portion of copper in concentrate into solution.
A test was conducted on a batch-wise basis under the following conditions:
In this case the major portion of the copper is in the filtrate. Sulphur oxidation was 13.5% and 95.0%. Cu extraction was obtained. An amount of 79% of copper
reported to the filtrate due to the high H*/Cu ratio.
(Test #88)
A further test was conducted on the same low grade ^concentrate oa a continuous basis in the autoclave under the following conditions:
The results are given in Table 6.
Again the major proportion of copper reported to the pressure oxidation filtrate due to high JT/Cu ratio.
Examples 8 and 9
These Examples illustrate the operation of the atmospheric leach and counter current washing in
continuous fashion for Mode A and Mode B. The operating conditions for both Examples are as follows:
Example 8 illustrates the Mode A (Figure 1) embodiment of the process where the copper is substantially completely contained in the pressure oxidation filter cake and Example 9 illustrates the Mode B (Figure 2) embodiment where only a minor portion of the copper is contained in the filter cake. The results are given in Tables 7 and 8, respectively. In Example 8 the overall Cu extraction was 97.5% and in Example 9, 94.6%.
Examples 10 and 11
These examples illustrate the solvent extraction stages of the process. In Example 10, the process is according to the Figure 1 embodiment and in Example 11 it is according to the Figure 2 embodiment. In both instances, the operating parameters are as follows:
The results are given in Tables 9 and 10. The reference numerals indentifying the different streams are shown in Figures 1 and 2, respectively.
(Table Removed)In Example 11 about two-thirds of the stripped extractant 125 bypassed the solvent extraction 16 and was fed directly to the first stage of the solvent extraction 50, which has two stages. Only one-third of the stripped extractant 125 was fed to the solvent extraction 16, producing a primary loaded extractant which was introduced into the second stage of the solvent extraction 50 to join the streams from the solvent extractions 16 and 50 into the combined loaded extractant 65.
While only preferred embodiments of the invention have been described herein in detail, the invention is not limited thereby and modifications can be made within the scope of the attached claims.
WE CLAIM:
1. 'A process for the preparation of zinc and copper from a sulphide copper-zinc or concentrate, comprising the steps of:
a) subjecting the said ore or concentrate to pressure oxidation in the presence of oxygen and an acidic chloride solution of the kind such as herein described to result in a pressure oxidation filtrate and an insoluble basic copper sulphate salt, wherein the said step of pressure oxidation is conducted in the presence of a source of bisulphate or sulphate ions, selected from the group consisting of sulphuric acid and a metal sulphate which hydrolyzes in the said acidic solution and wherein the amount of the source of bisulphate or sulphate ions which is added contains at least the stoichiometric amount of sulphate or bisulphate ions required to produce the basic copper sulphate salt less the amount of sulphate generated in-situ in the pressure oxidation;
b) separating the said pressure oxidation filtrate and the said basic
copper salt;
c) leaching the said basic copper salt in a further leaching step with
an acidic sulphate solution to dissolve the said copper salt to produce
a second copper solution and a solid residue;
d) subjecting the second copper solution and the pressure oxidation
filtrate to zinc solvent extraction with an organic zinc extractant to
produce respective first and second zinc-loaded extractants and
respective first and second zinc extraction raffinates;
e) subjecting the first zinc extraction raffinate to solvent extraction
with an organic copper extractant to produce a first copper-loaded
extractant and a first copper extraction raffinate;
f) subjecting the second zinc extraction raffinate to solvent extraction
with the first copper-loaded extractant to form a second copper-
loaded extractant and a second copper extraction raffinate;
g) stripping the zinc from the first and second zinc-loaded extractants
to produce a concentrated zinc solution which is subjected to
electrowinning to produce zinc; and
h) subjecting the second copper-loaded extractant to the step of sovent extraction to produce the concentrated copper solution which is subjected to electrowinning to produce copper,
2. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein, prior to subjecting the second zinc extraction raffinate to solvent extraction, the second zinc extraction raffinate is subjected to one or more stages of neutralization to form a respective neutralized solution and a respective gypsum residue;
separating the respective neutralized solution from the respective gypsum residue after each stage to obtain a final neutralized solution;
subjecting the final neutralized solution to a further zinc solvent extraction to form a resultant zinc raffinate; and
subjecting the resultant zinc raffinate to the solvent extraction with the first copper-loaded extractant.
3. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pressure oxidation
filtrate is subjected to the zinc solvent extraction with the first zinc-
loaded extractant to produce the second zinc-loaded extractant, and
further comprising the steps of:
stripping the zinc from the second zinc-loaded extractant to produce a stripped zinc extractant; and
recycling the stripped zinc extractant to effect the zinc solvent extraction of the second copper solution.
4. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second zinc-t
loaded extractant also contains a minor loading of copper in addition,
to the zinc and further comprising the step of treating the second
zinc-loaded extractant with an aqueous zinc sulphate solution in a
counter current fashion to replace the minor loading of copper in the
extractant with zinc for producing a substantially uncontaminated
zinc solution for electrowinning, said treatment occurring in a
plurality of successive stages.
5. A process for the preparation of zinc and copper from a
sulphide copper ore or concentrate substantially as herein described
and illustrated with reference to accompanying examples and
drawings.
1214-del-2002-abstract.pdf
1214-del-2002-claims.pdf
1214-del-2002-correspondence-others.pdf
1214-del-2002-correspondence-po.pdf
1214-del-2002-description (complete).pdf
1214-del-2002-drawings.pdf
1214-del-2002-form-1.pdf
1214-del-2002-form-13.pdf
1214-del-2002-gpa.pdf
1214-del-2002-petition-137.pdf
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Indian Patent Application Number
1214/DEL/2002
PG Journal Number
Date of Filing
Name of Patentee
COMINCO ENGINEERING SERVICES LTD.
100-1200 WEST 73rd AVENUE, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA V6P 6G5.
Inventors:
Inventor's Name
Inventor's Address
1 DAVID LLEWELLYN JONES 1028-51A STREET,DELTA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA V4M 2X8.
PCT International Classification Number
PCT International Application Number
PCT International Filing date
PCT Conventions:
PCT Application Number
Date of Convention
Priority Country
1 NA
© All Indian Patents, 2013-2021.
Patent data available in the public domain from Indian Patents Office, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotions, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.


After seven months of preparation, LIBALEL, a web documentary project dedicated to the young Lebanese art scene, is landing in Beirut! We would like to take this opportunity to show you what has already been achieved and what's left to do.
These first seven months of work involved an important work of exploring the art scene in Lebanon. To question the content of contemporary art practices in Lebanon, we met cultural actors, scientists and artists and shared information with them. This research has allowed us to refine our approach, to have a better conception of the writing of the web documentary and to clarify the issues at stake.
From this, we created and enriched the blog devoted to the project, where you saw our first interviews with artists, shared our reading, followed our research and browse according to our findings.
It has also been a phase of looking for partners, who are essential to the development of the project. LIBALEL is now supported in Lebanon by the French Cultural Centre and the Institute for Scenic and Audio-Visual Studies in Beirut and in France by the General Council of Val de Marne, the City of Paris and the Office Tourism of Lebanon in France.
This is a new stage!
From July 20 to August 23 2011, we will be in Lebanon, mainly in Beirut but in other places for our first period of shooting. An important and exciting program of meetings is ahead of us. Therefore, we will continue our exploration alternatively.
The portraits will be an invitation to reflect on how these young artists give life to singular artistic experimentation spaces, notably through the collection of personal stories and through critical questioning. We will question their ways of capturing a tense reality and reworking it through imagination and representation.
LIBALEL has been conceived as a collaborative and participatory space and is based on volunteering and aims to bring together various skills to enrich the project. There are a thousand ways to help: participating in the blog content, helping with the production and the post-production of the web documentary and translating. Feel free to contact us to talk it over!
We would like to thank those who follow us, help us and guide us. A special thanks to our English translator Darren Marcus and our Arabic translator Thalia Rahme who have been of tremendous help and have contributed to making the blog trilingual.
This is not the last stage!
A second period of shooting is planned for next December and January. Then we will focus on the post-production work. For the rest, LIBALEL is always looking for partners to finance post-production, to provide technical equipment and to the broadcast and promote the web documentary.


The New York State Psychiatric Institute has a wide range of outstanding educational programs, providing clinical and research training for medical students, residents, fellows, and post-graduate trainees. Research training is available in basic science, clinical and other disciplines. Outstanding training programs for psychology, nursing, social work and other disciplines are also provided.


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Adolescent Depression Awareness Program (ADAP)
mADAP
2018 Mood Research and Education Symposium
Psychiatry and Arts Series
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences > Specialty Areas > Mood Disorders Center > Research
Bioinformoodics
Our team of computational scientists has been busy at work developing a number of bioinformatics and analytic resources and tools for studying the genetic causes of mood disorders and responses to their treatment. This site provides links to the various resources and tools.
Database Servers
Metamoodics
Metamoodics is a bioinformatics resource that synthesizes the findings from on-going genetic studies of mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder, and displays the findings in their genomic context. It includes data from genetic association, expression and linkage studies, and will soon include new data from sequencing and methylation studies. Results of meta or mega- analyses of published studies are provided. The goal of Metamoodics is to create a central resource which investigators can explore to find out what we currently know about the genetic contribution to depression and bipolar disorder and to use this information to develop or evaluate hypotheses that advance our understanding of this contribution.
Click here to access Metamoodics
SynaptomeDB
SynaptomeDB is an integrated database to retrieve, compile, and annotate genes comprising the synaptome. These genes encode components of the synapse, including neurotransmitters and their receptors, adhesion/cytoskeletal proteins, scaffold proteins, transporters and others. SynaptomeDB systematically queries existing bioinformatics resources and compiles available genomic and proteomic information about these gene products. Genes operating in the synapse are potentially important to psychiatric disorders; this resources provides a comprehensive catalogue of what genes these are and what they do.
Click here to access SynaptomeDB
The Bipolar Disorder Phenome Database
Johns Hopkins and NIMH researchers have jointly created this database, which posts the clinical phenotypes of over 5,000 people recruited for bipolar disorder genetics studies. The Bipolar Disorder Phenome database is meant to complement the large bodies of genetic data that are being generated through the Human Genome Project, The International HapMap Consortium, the Genetic Analysis Information Network, and similar efforts. The goal is to accelerate discovery of genes that contribute to this common and often disabling disease, by promoting the genetic analysis of clinical subtypes. Researchers can now explore connections between clinical variables and genetics with adequate numbers of subjects to detect even moderate genetic effects.
Click here to access The Bipolar Disorder Phenome Database
Chromosome 8 SNP Data
Research at Johns Hopkins University and University of Michigan collaborated to genotype 1,461 SNPs on chromosome 8q24 in 3,512 individuals, of whom 1,954 were affected with bipolar disorder. These individuals came from 737 families that consisted of 1,142 nuclear families and broke down into 1,840 parent affected offspring triads (573 with zero genotyped parents, 641 with one genotyped parent, and 626 with two genotyped parents) and 333 discordant sib-pairs. The individuals were ascertained and assessed through the Mood Disorders Research Program at Johns Hopkins University and as part of the National Institute of Mental Health Genetics Initiative on Bipolar Disorder. Chromosome 8q24 is one of the most promising regions of linkage in bipolar disorder, and this data was generated to fine map the region and search for associations. The genotype and phenotype data have been fully vetted and are made available to qualified investigators in order to stimulate research in this promising locus and to facilitate the development of statistical methods for analyzing this type of family data.
SVAw
SVAw (or Surrogate Variable Analysis web application) is a web application dedicated to solving the problem of heterogeneity in gene expression data caused by measured and unmeasured factors such as environmental, demographic, genetic and technical factors. It provides a user-friendly and semi-automated web-based platform for carrying out surrogate variable analysis of gene expression data using the algorithm developed by Leek JT and Storey JD (PMID: 204228335).
QuickSNP
QuickSNP was developed to help researchers select SNPs for association studies in a cost-effective and efficient manner. It allows for gene-centric SNP selection from a chromosomal region in an automated fashion, automated selection of coding non-synonymous SNPs, and SNP filtering based on inter-SNP distance. It also provides information on availability of genotyping assays for SNPs, and availability of SNPs on whole genome chips, and it produces user-friendly summary tables and results as well as a link to a UCSC Genome Browser track, illustrating the position of the selected tagSNPs in relation to genes and other genomic features.
Analytic Tools
Whole Exome Sequencing Pipeline
We have developed a pipeline consisting of a series of programming scripts for managing and analyzing data from whole exome sequencing studies. The semi-automated pipeline builds on several open-source technologies and uses standard file formats and multiple quality controls checks to generate variant calls from input fastq files. Variant calls are annotated and then prepared for downstream analyses.
Click here to access the whole exome sequencing pipeline
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Referees are part of youth soccer – an important part. Understanding their role will help both players and parents deal with them successfully. Here are some easy steps to understanding the role our Referees have in making our Association successful.
Step One: Understand the Referees' function.
A soccer game is controlled by one Referee (on the field) and two Referee's assistants, who work along the sidelines.
Step Two: See them as allies.
By definition, a Referee's No. 1 task is to ensure the safety and protection of players. The Referee's second task is to uphold fairness.
Step Three: Teach your child the role of the Referee.
This may entail learning the rules of the game.
Step Four: Show respect to all officials.
This goes for players, coaches and spectators.
Step Five: Refrain from negative comments and pressure.
Negative treatment of Referees yields the same undesirable results as similar treatment of youth players.
Step Six: Direct any comments (including praise) or complaints first to your coach, then, in writing, to your soccer league.
Wait until after the game to direct any comments to the Referee.
Comments in the heat of battle are not productive. It is against regulations to walk onto the field at any point in the game to speak to officials.
Say thank you! It is rare that a Referee hears a kind word. Praise those if you feel they have done a good job.
Know what to praise. An especially good Referee uses opportunities to educate players, behaves in a calm manner, and uses humor to defuse tense situations.
Consider taking a Referee's course. Adults, and children as young as 12, can take this course. It gives them an understanding and empathy for the job, as well as a better understanding of the game.
Receive schedule changes, registration reminders, weather alerts and other Fort Dodge Soccer Association activities by signing up for our email notification alert system.
Please note: If you are listed as the guardian of a current player, then you will start receiving emails automatically. If you are not receiving emails, please notify us, so we can verify your email address.
Spring 2019 registration is now open until March 8, 2019. Register Now!
FDSA recreational soccer is for children of all skill levels beginning at age 4 (Pre-K) and continuing through middle school age.
Field Day (Day where we paint lines, hang nets, and clean up grounds is Saturday, March 23rd from 8am till finished. Please come out and help us prepare the fields! Weather make up days are March 30 and April 6.
Click here on »Contact Us for a complete listing of Soccer Association Members that can assist you.
Copyright © 2014 Fort Dodge Soccer Association.


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The Decemberists Announce A New Album — And Share The Synth-Driven 'Severed' : All Songs Considered I'll Be Your Girl, out March 16, promises to take the band in a new, aggressive, synth-friendly direction, courtesy of new producer John Congleton.
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January 17, 20182:19 PM ET
The Decemberists' new album, I'll Be Your Girl, comes out March 16. Holly Andres/ hide caption
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The Decemberists' new album, I'll Be Your Girl, comes out March 16.
When The Decemberists release I'll Be Your Girl on March 16, it'll be the band's eighth album — part of a 17-year career that's taken listeners through everything from wry folk to ambitious rock opera. If I'll Be Your Girl's first single is any indication, Colin Meloy and his band have used their new record as an opportunity to try new things and hit a few reset buttons along the way.
"Severed" is marked immediately by an ominous synth line, which sets the tone for a seething song that meets somewhere between electro-pop and stirring, churning rock. To make I'll Be Your Girl, The Decemberists turned to producer John Congleton, whose style invites experimentation and a busy sonic palette, and that creative ambition shines through in "Severed."
As Meloy unleashes a string of threats and foreboding boasts — "I alone am the answer / I alone will make wrongs right" — "Severed" seems to operate within a world of tyranny and existential dread. Whether the rest of I'll Be Your Girl follows its lead remains to be seen as more songs roll out in the coming months.
I'll Be Your Girl comes out March 16 via Capitol.


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'RoboCop' Comic Con Panel Shows Us Some Of The Changes In The Reboot
Posted July 26th, 2013 by Stuart Conover
It's been 11 years but on February 7th, 2014, we will finally be seeing 'RoboCop' return to the big screen! While that statement alone would be exciting news, we're going to be experiencing a reboot and not a continuation of the original story. How is one to feel about that? Personally I am full of mixed emotions and last week's Comic-Con panel hasn't changed that. A lot of the information that we've been teased with sounds fantastic, while a lot of it has me worried that much of the heart and soul of what made Murphy into RoboCop won't be there.
We had a lot of information come out of this panel, from how he becomes RoboCop to costume changes and more! As with nearly any Comic-Con panel we do have to warn you – ahead there be spoilers! Without further ado let's dig in!
For starters we know that the film is already going to be PG-13. I'm not sure if this is the cause of many of the changes (most likely) or not, but I'm going to blame the studio's insistence on a non-R rating for some of these. First up being that Murphy doesn't die.
That's right. Alex Murphy. RoboCop. Doesn't die in the film. He isn't brought back to life as a corporate warrior with a conscious because he never dies in the movie. So what happens exactly? Instead of being executed by Clarence Boddicker and his gang members in an absolutely heartless scene (that alone would have made this movie an R if included), he is the victim of a car bomb. That's right, there's no feeling bad for the brutality he suffers and dies from – a car bomb explodes outside of his house. This bomb doesn't kill him but leaves him paralyzed from the neck down. So instead of a reanimated corpse-like zombie Robocop, we instead have someone who is paralyzed and given a means to go on.
Being alive the entire time removes the inner struggle Murphy felt in the movie about free will and what he should have. While I'm sure remnants of that thought process will still creep up, I have a feeling it won't be as poetic as it was in the original film when he finally takes matters into his own hands.
That's RoboCop the man. How about RoboCop the machine parts? Well, we've all known for quite some time that there was a new suit. However, it looks like we're going to see a nod to the original suit in the film as well. Both in plan form and possibly, just possibly, some on screen time. It is the suit that I think will be the focus of the idea of controlling his free will as I'm sure there will be an auto pilot or remote control that will cause his body to betray him at some point in the movie.
Past the suit and into other technology, we are going to be seeing the ED series of automated police force back in action. How far thinking was the original film? We've got Drones being used by the military these days and the original RoboCop shot back in 1987 was already past that point and prepping to use them as their police force. People, they predicted this 26 YEARS AGO. Go go science fiction!
You can watch the panel below courtesy of Geek Tyrant:
RoboCop will be released on February 7th, 2014. It is directed by José Padilha ('Elite Squad') and will star: Joel Kinnaman ("The Killing') playing Robocop, Gary Oldman (''The Dark Knight' trilogy), Samuel L. Jackson ('The Avengers'), Michael Keaton (the other Batman), Abbie Cornish ('Sucker Punch'), Aimee Garcia ('Dexter'), Michael Kenneth Williams ('The Wire') and Jackie Earle Haley('Watchmen').
Stuart Conover
Stuart Conover is a father, husband, blogger, published author, geek, entrepreneur, editor of Horror Tree, horror fanatic, science fiction junkie, lives in a world of comics, and a casual gamer (all of this when his wife lets him of course.) He fell in love with science fiction and horror at the same time while watching the movie Alien at probably far too young of an age while still being extremely impressionable and has been happily obsessed with both since! Around the same time, he had also developed an unhealthy addiction to comic books that continues to this day!Want to talk about anything geeky? Reach out on Twitter - @StuartConover
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'Aquaman' Director James Wan Reportedly Signs On To Produce 'Mortal Kombat'
'Doctor Strange' Being Built As "Hub" Of Marvel's Phase Three
Diamond Select Toys Zach Oat Discusses New Minimates, Marvel Select, And More!


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Cantor, Boehner Singing Same Tune Now
By John Stanton and Jessica Brady
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on Monday brushed aside questions about his relationship with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), telling reporters that there is no daylight between them in the debt limit negotiations.
"The Speaker and I are on the same page. We don't believe we should be raising taxes," the Virginia Republican said during his weekly meeting with reporters.
Cantor, who quit talks with Vice President Joseph Biden last month, has found himself back in the spotlight on the debt talks after Boehner on Saturday abruptly rejected a "grand bargain" with President Barack Obama.
That dynamic had, in turn, refueled speculation that neither leader wanted to be seen as owning a deal to increase the debt limit and that both Cantor and Boehner were actively working to put the blame on each other.
Cantor, however, repeatedly rejected that idea. "We are in the same place" on the issue, Cantor said, arguing that Boehner's decision to reject the bargain was an effort to "address the big issues facing the country" without raising taxes.
On the question of the debt limit talks, Cantor again rejected the idea of increased revenue in the bill, arguing that "our Members did not come here to raise taxes" and complained that it is Obama who has sought to unfairly force Republicans to break that pledge. "We're not asking the president to violate his promises to the people of this country, and we wish he wouldn't ask us to violate ours," Cantor said.
Boehner insisted that while he and the president have a good personal relationship, they have very real differences on policy in trying to cut a deficit reduction deal.
"Clearly there's no personality difference between the president and I; we get along fine," the Ohio Republican said just before leaving for another bicameral meeting at the White House.
Boehner said he and Obama are still at opposite ends on taxes and entitlements. Boehner reiterated, "There was never any agreement to allow tax rates to go up in any discussion I've had with the White House," and he said Obama and Congressional Democrats must make more concessions on cutting entitlements.
"I understand that this is going to take sacrifice and this is going to take political capital on both sides, and I'm certainly willing to take my fair share of it," Boehner said, echoing the sentiment that Obama expressed during his own press conference earlier in the day. "But if we're going to take political capital, then let's step up and do the right thing for the country."


Nancy Everett is the new Head of BlackRock Fiduciary Management Solutions, a newly created position.
Everett will lead the growth and development of BlackRock's U.S. Fiduciary Management Solutions (FMS) business, which provides investment management, advisory solutions and outsourcing to large institutional clients, including U.S. pension plans, endowments and foundations. Fiduciary outsourcing mandates, in which a client retains BlackRock to assume responsibility for some or all of its assets, are managed by FMS within BlackRock's Multi-Asset Client Solutions (BMACS) group.
As of September 30, 2010, BMACS managed $90 billion in assets including $28 billion in fiduciary assignments globally.
Most recently, Everett served as Chief Executive Officer at Promark Global Advisors (formerly General Motors Asset Management), directing investment personnel and business strategy for the firm, which managed approximately $140 billion of client assets (see "GM Pension Plan Exec Steps Down"). She was responsible for the management of GM's defined benefit and defined contribution plans.
Prior to joining Promark Global Advisors in 2005, Everett spent 26 years with the Virginia Retirement System where she held various positions in the investment department prior to being named Chief Investment Officer of the defined benefit plan.
Everett is a member of the Investment Committee for Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business Foundation, the Board of Directors for the Pacific Pension Institute, and the Expert Advisory Council for the World Bank Treasury Asset Management and Advisory, in Washington, D.C. She is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University.


Woods are quiet and comforting, they make you find your inner peace and strenghts. When I was little, I used to hike with my family every weekend. Although it is hard to find time once you grow up, the time spent in the forest, followed by healthy lunch at a mountain home, is something you cherish, especially during a tough week with filled business schedule.
Šume su tihe i smiruju, pomažu naći unutarnji mir i snagu. Kad sam bila djevojčica, planinarila sam s obitelji barem jednom tjedno. Iako je teško pronaći vremena kad odrastete, vrijeme provedeno u šetnji šumom i zdrav ručak u planinarskom domu nešto su najdragocjenije što vam pomaže prebroditi težak radni tjedan.
I wore Stradivarius push-up jeans and Varsity jacket (last season), Nike Dunk High, Louis Vuitton Pochette Gange and Ray Ban Original Wayfarer sunglasses.