Recovery of copper from deposit of Kola Tembein, Tigray, Ethiopia

Abstract

One of the most significant sources of copper metal is malachite ore. The world's demand for copper is being positively impacted by increased extraction. However, the chemical compositions of copper in the malachite ore, which vary depending on the region, determine how well copper may be extracted. This study evaluated hydrometallurgical processing of copper metal from malachite ore of Kola Tembein, Tigray, Ethiopia. Malachite ore was processed hydrometallurgical with sulfuric acid to leach copper metal, which was then recovered using a cementation process of zinc metal. The samples were examined with XRD, EDXRF, SEM, and AAS. The rock ore sample examined by XRD contained a variety of minerals, including malachite (Cu2CO3(OH)2), quartz (SiO2), Albite Ca-rich (Ca Al2Si2O8), Albite disorder (NaAlSi3O8)m etc. and the morphology of malachite ore was supported by SEM. According to the EDXRF results, the malachite ores were dominated by metal oxides of CuO (58.21), SiO2 (19.21), and Fe2O3 (5.32) by weight%. Similar spectroscopic results were shown for Turkey, China, Chile, and Nigeria malachite. The leaching experiments were optimized by BBD using the RSM to leach malachite at 2.6130 M H2SO4, 133.919 m particle size, 60 0C, and 600 rpm agitation speed, and scored 98.159%. Using the cementation process, red-brown copper metal was obtained, and waste was scored by AAS as having very low concentrations of copper (1.74 mg/L) and high concentrations of zinc ions (68.85 mg/L). Both the leaching and cementation processes are best environmentally and economically, and further purification will be needed to recover zinc from the waste