Galvanic interaction between cobalt(3) oxide and chalcopyrite in the presence of active carbon during leaching

This work deals with the solubilization of cobalt and copper by galvanic interaction chalcopyrite-heterogenite in sulfuric medium with the use of carbon as catalyst of the mechanism. pH(0.5;1.0;1.5 and 2) ,temperature (40;50;60;70 and 80°C), carbon mass(0. 4;1.5;2.6;3.7;and 4.8) and solid percentage(10;20;30;and 40%) were the parameters studied to swallow the influence of these on the copper solubilization of chalcopyrite and cobalt III oxide.X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP) were the methods used for the mineralogical and chemical characterization of the samples, solutions and leaching residues. They revealed a content of 31, 28% copper and 0.59% cobalt respectively for the chalcopyrite and heterogenite samples. A first series of pre-leaching tests of the heterogenite and chalcopyrite were carried out in order to reduce the interference of the different soluble minerals present in the studied samples.