Grant: Idea to Innovation

An exciting new technology for leaching copper from primary copper concentrates called "Galvanox" has been developed at UBC. Galvanox is the galvanically-assisted atmospheric leaching of copper from chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) concentrates in a ferric/ferrous sulfate medium, which offers several potential advantages over existing processes. Following successful preliminary research conducted on pure mineral samples, an I2I Phase I grant was applied for to conduct further critical research and testing on copper concentrate samples from mine sites in Canada and elsewhere. Following the success of the Phase I program, a marketing partner (Bateman Engineering) was identified, and an exclusive marketing agreement between Bateman and UBC was signed in October 2006. We are now ready to test the Galvanox leaching technology in continuous mode at the pilot plant scale (several kg Cu per day) on one or more concentrate samples from Canada and elsewhere. Success with this phase could lead directly to full feasibility studies, and, in turn, to full-scale (>30,000 tonnes Cu per year) copper leaching plants at mines in Canada and elsewhere. In addition, a host of other research and testing programs are proposed to ensure broad success for the technology, including: additional batch testing to examine the effects of various factors on leach performance; testing of iron oxyhydrolysis and characterization of the resulting ferric precipitates; examining the feasibility of direct copper electrowinning; testing the process on additional copper and base metal sulfide minerals; recovery of molybdenum concentrates and gold from Galvanox leach residues; and development of predictive models of the kinetics of chalcopyrite leaching and ferrous oxidation in the presence of finely ground pyrite.