Investigation of Copper Recovery from a New Copper Deposit (Nussir) in Northern Norway

Figures & data

Table 1. Quantitative analysis of the ore sample using: ICP-OES, XRF, LECO Furnace S and XRD analysis.

	N-NE	N-OW		N-NE	N-OW		N-NE	N-OW	Cp	Cc	Bn
Element	Wt. %		Element	g/t		Minerals	Wt.%
Al	4.9	5.2	Be	0.6	1	Chalcopyrite	0.02	3.5	92	3.2	2.1
Ca	11	9.1	Co	16	33	Chalcocite	2.1	0.01	1.02	93.2	2.9
Fe	1.8	1.6	Cr	62	54	Bornite	8.5	9.2	0.61	1.2	90.9
K	2.1	2.4	Sr	150	105	Calcite	40.5	9.0	1.78	1.9	3.1
Mg	1.2	5.1	V	53	43	Dolomite	12.3	20.9	2.10	0.2	0.1
Mn	0.27	0.32	Y	13	18.9	Quartz	12.3	29.8	0.8	0.08	-
Na	1.1	0.72	Zn	<40	47	Microline	-	5.8	-	-	-
P	0.04	0.04	Mo	<10	23	Muscovite	5.1	4.1	-	-	-
Ti	0.21	0.18	Ag	<30	<30	Albite	17.6	15.1	-	-	-
Ba	0.14	0.06	Sb	<10	<10
			Se	<30	<30
S	5.42	4.16	Sn	<20	<20
Cu	6.87	7.07	Li	<20	<20
			As	<30	<30
			Cd	<2	<2
			Bi	<20	<20
			U	<20	<20
			Au	<10	<10

Cp-chalcopyrite, Cc-chalcocite,Bn-bornite

Table 2. Bulk mineralogy of N-NE and N-OW samples obtained by Mineralogic AM.

Mineral	Formulae	N-OW (S1*)	N-OW (S2*)	N-OW (S3*)	N-OW (S4*)	N-NE (S1*)	N-NE (S2*)	N-NE (S3*)	N-NE (S4*)
Bornite	Cu5FeS4	7.0	10.4	9.5	9	7.8	10.2	7.5	8.2
Chalcocite	Cu2S	0.03	0.22	0.06	1.2	3.2	2.3	2.4	2.2
Chalcopyrite	CuFeS2	2.9	4.8	7.3	7	x	x	x	0.001
Albite	NaAlSi3O8	11.3	12.5	11.3	12	18.5	15.1	19.9	21
Biotite	K(Mg,Fe)2-3Al1-2Si2-3O10(OH,F)2	12.5	12.2	10.1	9.9	23.4	13.7	27.9	23
Dolomite	CaMg(CO3)2	3.0	7.3	6.8	6	23.4	44.7	14.1	18
Calcite	CaCO3	34.8	29.6	29.6	29.1	0.06	0.06	0.07	0.01
Microcline	KAlSi3O8	3.7	2.7	3.4	3.0	1.5	1.1	1.6	1.2
Muscovite	KAl2(AlSi3O10)(F,OH)2	4.03	3.03	4.04	4.1	4.02	4.01	4.03	3.1
Quartz	SiO2	19.1	15.2	16.0	18.4	15.0	6.3	18.2	23
Orthoclase	KAlSi₃O₈	0.4	0.4	0.45		0.09	0.06	0.06
Apatite	Ca5(PO4)3(OH,F,Cl)	0.11	0.11	0.14		0.16	0.07	0.23
Pyrite	FeS2	0.01	0.01	x		x	x	0.0
Rutile	TiO2	0.01	0.03	0.01		x	x	x
Chlorite	ClO2^−	0.84	0.89	0.72		1.7	1.7	2.3
Titanite	CaTiSiO₅	0.07	0.09	0.07		0.28	0.20	0.33
Sphalerite	ZnS	x	x	x		x	0.0013	x

*S1:-250 + 150 µm, S2:-150 + 105µm, S3:-105 + 38 µm, S4:-75 µm

Table 3. Modal analysis of cumulative flotation product stream (with respect to Figure 3(a)).

Time (min)	Liberated	Middlings	Locked
3.5	91.4	7	1.2
4	89	7	3.5
4.5	85	11.1	3.7
6	81.2	13.2	4.8
8	73	20.5	6.2
10	70	20.5	8.9

Table 4. Grade and recovery results with respect to varying pH.

Samples Conc/Tail	pH	Flotation time(min)	Copper^+ grade(%)	Copper recovery
Conc_1(a)	4	1.5	23	72.3
Conc_2(b)		2.5	0.1	1.45
Tail			0.6	25.8
Head Bal.			2.6	73.8
Total Mass Bal.				99.6
Conc_1(a)	6	1.5	44	89.4
Conc_2(b)		2.5	0.1	1.5
Tail			0.2	9.0
Head Bal.			5.6	90.9
Total Mass Bal.				99.9
Conc_1(a)	8	1.5	44.9	91.8
Conc_2(b)		2.5	0.14	1.1
Tail			0.16	6.7
Head Bal.			9.43	92.9
Total Mass Bal.				99.1
Conc_1(a)	10	1.5	46.4	86.2
Conc_2(b)		2.5	0.68	5.5
Tail			0.09	3.9
Head Bal.			9.5	91.7
Total Mass Bal.				99.6
Conc_1(a)	13	1.5	41.5	82.4
Conc_2(b)		2.5	0.13	1.21
Tail			0.45	16.3
Head Bal.			7.41	83.6
Total Mass Bal.				99.97

(a) Collector concentration 5 × 10⁻⁵ M and (b) collector concentration 1 × 10⁻⁵ M; frother(MIBC) concentration – 8 gton⁻¹ in both the stages

(+ Product, * Feed)

Figure 1. (a) Percentage of Liberated, middling and locked sulfides minerals in N-NE and N-OW samples. (b) Modal analysis of flotation product stream.

Figure 2. Flotation recovery and grade with respect to d₈₀ of N-OW and N-NE.

Figure 3. (a) Cumulative recovery and grade of copper, gold and silver (size S3) as a function of flotation time. (b) Cumulative recovery and grade of copper of two size fractions S3 and S4.

Table 5. Grade and recovery results with respect to varying collector concentration.

Samples Conc/Tail	Collector concentration	Flotation time (min)	Copper grade^+ (%)	Copper recovery^+
Conc_1	1 × 10^−5 M	1.8	21.6	68
Conc_2	-	2.2	0.21	2.4
Tail			0.71	29.1
Head balance			4.63	70.4
Total				99.5
Conc_1	6 × 10^−5 M	1.5	44.9	91.8
Conc_2	-	2.5	0.14	1.1
Tail			0.16	6.7
Head balance			9.43	92.9
Total				99.6
Conc_1	2 × 10^−5 M	1.5	32.6	68.1
Conc_2	4 × 10^−5 M	2.5	4.8	24.3
Tail			0.14	6.7
Head balance			12.92	92.4
Total				99.1
Conc_1	4 × 10^−5 M	1.5	36.8	78.5
Conc_2	2 × 10^−5 M	2.5	3.1	12.8
Tail			0.2	8.45
Head balance			14.6	91.2
Total				99.8
Conc_1	1 × 10^−4 M	1.5	39.1	92.3
Conc_2	-	2.5	0.07	0.48
Tail			0.19	7.13
Head Balance			10.0	92.7
Total				99.8

Frother (MIBC) concentration – 8 gton⁻¹ in both the stages

(+ Product, * Feed)

Table 6. Modal analysis of cumulative flotation product stream (with respect to Table 6.).

SIBX concentration	Liberated	Middlings	Locked
1 × 10^−5 M	87	7.4	4.6
6 × 10^−5 M	89	7	3.6
2 × 10^−5 M 4 × 10^−5 M	79	5.1	14.7
4 × 10^−5 M 2 × 10^−5 M	89.2	6.8	3.8
1 × 10^−4 M	86	7.5	5.8

Figure 4. Zeta potential of copper minerals and gangue minerals in aqueous solution.

Figure 5. Zeta potentials of minerals as a function of pH at collector concentration 6 × 10⁻⁵ M.

Figure 6. Hallimond flotation recovery as a function of pH at collector concentration 6 × 10⁻⁵ M.