Hence, it is important that all mining and metallurgical personnel be aware of the potential of this unit process and for the extractive metallurgist in particular, it is important that he understand the mechanisms and practicalities by which he can evaluate the benefits of solvent extraction and thereby design and optimise a total metal recovery process. These impure solutions emanate from in-situ leaching, dump leaching, heap leaching, vat leaching and agitation leaching or from mine waters and bleed streams: equally though they could be generated by direct leaching or roast-leaching of concentrates, so that solvent extraction and electrowinning can be applied to the treatment of most copper-bearing materials if desired. It has been explained in an earlier talk that solvent extraction in the copper industry is used to convert impure, and frequently very dilute copper solutions into very pure and concentrated solutions from which pure copper can be extracted by a variety of means, usually electrochemical.
Typical SX Circuit Profile Using Acorga Reagent.Solvent Extraction Data Needed for Flowsheet.
Solvent Extraction Plants: Thiele Diagram & Theoretical Design Aspects