The consumption of copper worldwide has grown fast since 2000; the mining industry is increasingly faced with the necessity to process low grade ores and waste tailings, from current mining operations. The economic extraction of copper from low-grade ores requires low-cost processing methods such as biohydrometallurgy. This study looks at a general panorama of copper mining in Zambia and discusses biohydrometallurgy as a novel and economically viable process for copper extraction. It also presents future prospects of this technology in Zambia. Since early 1930s, the copper mining industry has been the economic and social pillar of Zambia with about 80% contribution to the total export earnings and about 13% Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Mineralisation in the Zambian Copperbelt is dominantly sulphide, comprising of chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcocite among others with grades of the ore deposits generally in the range of 3 - 4% copper and 0.1 - 0.2% cobalt. Huge low grade copper deposits (~0.67% Cu) which are dominantly sulphides (chalcopyrite) were recently discovered in Lumwana area in the North-western Zambia and are currently being exploited. Reports show that more than one billion tons of ore (c. 2.7% Cu) has so far been mined from the mines on the Copperbelt Province of Zambia and conservative estimates suggest that a further two billion tons await exploitation. This provides considerable opportunities for further exploration and mining in Zambia. However, there is currently no commercial copper processing plants in operation on a large-scale in Zambia via biohydrometallurgical process. In order for Zambian mining industry record considerably higher recoveries at inherently lower capital cost, there is need to focus effort on research in this innovative technology and its application.
| Published in | American Journal of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering (Volume 1, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ajcbe.20170101.13 |
| Page(s) | 17-23 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Biohydrometallurgy, Bioleaching, Copper Mining, Mining in Zambia
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APA Style
Ronald Ngulube. (2016). Application of Biohydrometallurgy to Copper Mining in Zambia: Prospects and Opportunities. American Journal of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, 1(1), 17-23. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajcbe.20170101.13
ACS Style
Ronald Ngulube. Application of Biohydrometallurgy to Copper Mining in Zambia: Prospects and Opportunities. Am. J. Chem. Biochem. Eng. 2016, 1(1), 17-23. doi: 10.11648/j.ajcbe.20170101.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ajcbe.20170101.13,
author = {Ronald Ngulube},
title = {Application of Biohydrometallurgy to Copper Mining in Zambia: Prospects and Opportunities},
journal = {American Journal of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering},
volume = {1},
number = {1},
pages = {17-23},
doi = {10.11648/j.ajcbe.20170101.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajcbe.20170101.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajcbe.20170101.13},
abstract = {The consumption of copper worldwide has grown fast since 2000; the mining industry is increasingly faced with the necessity to process low grade ores and waste tailings, from current mining operations. The economic extraction of copper from low-grade ores requires low-cost processing methods such as biohydrometallurgy. This study looks at a general panorama of copper mining in Zambia and discusses biohydrometallurgy as a novel and economically viable process for copper extraction. It also presents future prospects of this technology in Zambia. Since early 1930s, the copper mining industry has been the economic and social pillar of Zambia with about 80% contribution to the total export earnings and about 13% Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Mineralisation in the Zambian Copperbelt is dominantly sulphide, comprising of chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcocite among others with grades of the ore deposits generally in the range of 3 - 4% copper and 0.1 - 0.2% cobalt. Huge low grade copper deposits (~0.67% Cu) which are dominantly sulphides (chalcopyrite) were recently discovered in Lumwana area in the North-western Zambia and are currently being exploited. Reports show that more than one billion tons of ore (c. 2.7% Cu) has so far been mined from the mines on the Copperbelt Province of Zambia and conservative estimates suggest that a further two billion tons await exploitation. This provides considerable opportunities for further exploration and mining in Zambia. However, there is currently no commercial copper processing plants in operation on a large-scale in Zambia via biohydrometallurgical process. In order for Zambian mining industry record considerably higher recoveries at inherently lower capital cost, there is need to focus effort on research in this innovative technology and its application.},
year = {2016}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Application of Biohydrometallurgy to Copper Mining in Zambia: Prospects and Opportunities AU - Ronald Ngulube Y1 - 2016/09/26 PY - 2016 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajcbe.20170101.13 DO - 10.11648/j.ajcbe.20170101.13 T2 - American Journal of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering JF - American Journal of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering JO - American Journal of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering SP - 17 EP - 23 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2639-9989 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajcbe.20170101.13 AB - The consumption of copper worldwide has grown fast since 2000; the mining industry is increasingly faced with the necessity to process low grade ores and waste tailings, from current mining operations. The economic extraction of copper from low-grade ores requires low-cost processing methods such as biohydrometallurgy. This study looks at a general panorama of copper mining in Zambia and discusses biohydrometallurgy as a novel and economically viable process for copper extraction. It also presents future prospects of this technology in Zambia. Since early 1930s, the copper mining industry has been the economic and social pillar of Zambia with about 80% contribution to the total export earnings and about 13% Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Mineralisation in the Zambian Copperbelt is dominantly sulphide, comprising of chalcopyrite, bornite and chalcocite among others with grades of the ore deposits generally in the range of 3 - 4% copper and 0.1 - 0.2% cobalt. Huge low grade copper deposits (~0.67% Cu) which are dominantly sulphides (chalcopyrite) were recently discovered in Lumwana area in the North-western Zambia and are currently being exploited. Reports show that more than one billion tons of ore (c. 2.7% Cu) has so far been mined from the mines on the Copperbelt Province of Zambia and conservative estimates suggest that a further two billion tons await exploitation. This provides considerable opportunities for further exploration and mining in Zambia. However, there is currently no commercial copper processing plants in operation on a large-scale in Zambia via biohydrometallurgical process. In order for Zambian mining industry record considerably higher recoveries at inherently lower capital cost, there is need to focus effort on research in this innovative technology and its application. VL - 1 IS - 1 ER -
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