Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
University of British Columbia
$83,800.00
A fundamental study on the separation and fixation of impurities from hydrometallurgical processes
FY 2010-11
Summary
With the increasing demand for copper and gold metals in the world market, the availability of high grade concentrates continues to decline. New technologies are required to treat low grade ores or concentrates which frequently contain various impurities. Hydrometallurgical methods present viable processing alternatives especially when the ores/concentrates contain appreciable amounts of toxic impurities such as arsenic and mercury. The dissolution of enargite in the alkaline sulphide system and the stabilization and fixation of mercury with thiosulfate and thioselenate are proposed in this research project. The objective of the project is to seek effective methods to recover the valuable metals from enargite oes/concentrates produced in copper mines and viable technologies to stabilise the mercury generated in gold mining operations. Since the alkaline sulphide environment studied is corrosive to materials of construction, corrosion experiments aimed at providing materials selection guidelines are also proposed.
Program
Collaborative Research and Development Grants
Recipient
Location
British Columbia, Canada
Recipient Type
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
As published
Application id
401581-2010
Name nom
Asselin, Edouard
Department département
Materials Engineering
Organization id
2
Institution établissement
University of British Columbia
Province en
British Columbia
Province fr
Colombie-Britannique
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2010
Competition year année de concours
2010
Award amount
83800
Program id
CRDPJ
Program name en
Collaborative Research and Development Grants
Program name fr
Subventions de recherche et développement coopérative
Group en
Research partnerships programs
Group fr
Programmes de partenariat
Committee code
96
Committee name en
RPP Internal Decision Cttee
Committee name fr
Cté de décision interne - PPR
Area of application code
202
Area of application group en
Natural resources (economic aspects)
Area of application group fr
Ressources naturelles (aspects économiques)
Area of application en
Mineral resources ( prospecting, exploration, mining, extraction, processing)
Area of application fr
Ressources minérales (prospection, exploration, mines, extraction et préparation)
Research subject code
2003
Research subject group en
Materials science and technology
Research subject group fr
Science et technologie des matériaux
Research subject en
Metallurgy
Research subject fr
Métallurgie
Partie
1
Nb partie
2
Application title
A fundamental study on the separation and fixation of impurities from hydrometallurgical processes
Keyword
NSERC
Application summary
With the increasing demand for copper and gold metals in the world market, the availability of high grade concentrates continues to decline. New technologies are required to treat low grade ores or concentrates which frequently contain various impurities. Hydrometallurgical methods present viable processing alternatives especially when the ores/concentrates contain appreciable amounts of toxic impurities such as arsenic and mercury. The dissolution of enargite in the alkaline sulphide system and the stabilization and fixation of mercury with thiosulfate and thioselenate are proposed in this research project. The objective of the project is to seek effective methods to recover the valuable metals from enargite oes/concentrates produced in copper mines and viable technologies to stabilise the mercury generated in gold mining operations. Since the alkaline sulphide environment studied is corrosive to materials of construction, corrosion experiments aimed at providing materials selection guidelines are also proposed.
