Comparative Test on Beneficiation and Metallurgical Processes for the High-oxidation Copper-cobalt Ore in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Objective To efficiently and economically recover copper and cobalt from a high-oxidation copper-cobalt ore in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a beneficiation-metallurgy combined process was investigated based on the process mineralogy of the ore. Method The study aimed to address the issues of high flotation sulfurizing agent consumption and excessive acid consumption in direct leaching. Comparative tests were conducted. Result The comprehensive recovery rates of Cu and Co using the flotation-sulfurization-magnetic separation combined process were 72.93% and 68.79%, respectively. In contrast, the direct leaching of desulfurized tailings achieved Cu and Co recovery rates of 78.95% and 70.18%, respectively. The direct leaching process improved Cu recovery by 6.02 percentage points and Co recovery by 1.40 percentage points compared to the flotation- sulfurization-magnetic separation process. Conclusion Preliminary calculations indicated that the gross profit per ton of the ore for the flotation- sulfurization-magnetic separation process was 29.42 higher than that of the direct leaching process. These findings highlight the importance of selecting an appropriate process flow by considering multiple factors to achieve better economic and environmental benefits for ore development.