AMMONIA LEACH PROCESS FOR THE TREATMENT OF COPPER REFINERY ANODE SLIMES CONTAINING HIGH LEAD AND LOW NICKEL

The development of a novel process for the treatment of copper refinery anode slimes is described. Raw anode slimes usually contain high levels of copper, selenium, silver and various amounts of other impurities such as arsenic, lead, nickel, antimony, bismuth, gold, platinum group metals and gangue materials. The proposed process is based on the ammoniacal leaching of raw copper refinery anode slimes whereby copper and selenium are extracted selectively under mild conditions and with short retention times. This treatment allows the separation and recovery of all the valuable anode slimes components in high grade fractions. The process is demonstrated for industrial anode slimes with high lead contents although the technique is equally applicable to other feeds.