Solvent Extraction in Southern Africa

Solvent extraction in southern Africa:
An update of some recent hydrometallurgical developments

Kathryn C. Sole
a,
*
, Angus M. Feather
b
, Peter M. Cole
c
a
Anglo American Research Laboratories, P. O. Box 106, Crown Mines 2025, South Africa
b
Cognis Corporation, P.O. Box 361, Honeydew 2040, South Africa
c
Matomo Projects (Pty) Ltd., P. O. Box 9021, Edenglen 1613, South Africa
Received 17 August 2004; received in revised form 8 November 2004; accepted 19 November 2004
Abstract
Southern Africa was the site of one of the first large solvent-extraction (SX) plants built, following smaller plants in the
North American uranium industry and the Ranchers and Bagdad copper plants in Arizona. The copper Tailings Leach Plant at
Nchanga, Zambia, was commissioned in 1973 with a capacity of 2800 m
3
/h. This was the largest SX plant in the world for more
than a decade and is still operational today. South Africa witnessed the first commercial implementation of SX for the refining
of the platinum-group metals. More recently, southern Africa has seen the implementation of SX for other base metals, precious
metals, and specialty metals. These include the bworld firstsQ of primary production of zinc using SX by Skorpion Zinc in
Namibia, and the large-scale refining of gold by SX at Harmony Gold, South Africa. Several other flowsheets that use SX
technology are currently under commissioning, development, or feasibility study for implementation in this part of the world,
including those for cobalt, nickel, vanadium, tantalum, and niobium.
A review of SX operations in the African subcontinent is presented, with particular attention paid to advances since the turn
of the millennium. Several interesting projects under development are also discussed, along with some innovative concepts in
flowsheet chemistry that should soon reach commercial application.
D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Solvent extraction; Review; South Africa; Botswana; Uganda; Zimbabwe; Zambia; Namibia; Democratic Republic of Congo;
Madagascar; Copper; Nickel; Cobalt; Zinc; Tantalum; Gold; Precious metals; Uranium
1. Introduction
Solvent extraction (SX) has been an integral part
of the hydrometallurgists arsenal in southern Africa
for many decades. In the 1950s, uranium recovery
(as a by-product of gold mining in South Africa) was
the first major commercial application of SX tech-
nology in the hydrometallurgical industry. Following
the commercial and technical success of copper SX
at the smaller Ranchers Bluebird and Bagdad plants
in Arizona during the late 1960s, the construction of
0304-386X/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.hydromet.2004.11.012
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ksole@angloresearch.com (K.C. Sole).
Hydrometallurgy 78 (2005) 5278
www.elsevier.com/locate/hydromet
the Nchanga plant in 1973 in the Zambian Copper
Belt marked the beginning of a new era for large-
scale SX operations. This plant was the worlds
largest SX plant for more than a decade and is still
operational today. More recently, other large copper
SX circuits have come on-line in Zambia, but South
American and Arizona installations have overtaken
Zambia in terms of volumes treated and copper
produced.
The first primary uranium producer in southern
Africa was Ro ssing Uranium, Namibia, which incor-
porates one of the first large-scale SX plants to be
built. Commissioned in 1976, this plant today still
produces some 3200 t/a U
3
O
8
. At the other end of
the scale, the commercial refining of the platinum-
group metals (PGMs) by SX was first implemented at
Rustenburg, South Africa, in the early 1980s. In this
case, the solution volumes and equipment are small,
but the process chemistry are complex and elegant,
and the products extremely valuable.
In more recent years, southern Africa has seen the
implementation of this technology for other base
metals, precious metals, and specialty metals. These
include the bworld firstsQ of primary production of
zinc using SX by Skorpion Zinc in Namibia, and the
large-scale refining of gold by SX at Harmony Gold,
South Africa, using the Minataurk Process. Both of
these processes yield a metal product of purity ex-
ceeding 99.99%a testament to the flexibility and
robustness of modern SX chemistry and engineering
in achieving excellent separations and high-purity
products.
During the last two decades, many diverse hydro-
metallurgical SX installations have been commis-
sioned in southern Africa. Several flowsheets that
use SX processes are currently under commissioning,
recommissioning, development, or feasibility study
for implementation in this part of the world, including
those for cobalt, nickel, vanadium, tantalum, and
niobium.
This review discusses the status of commercial SX
operations in the African subcontinent, with particular
emphasis on some of the more innovative develop-
ments that have taken place in recent years. Several
interesting projects are also presented, along with
some novel concepts in flowsheet chemistry that
should soon reach commercial application. The re-
view has been structured according to commodity:
the metals considered are copper, cobalt, nickel,
zinc, precious metals, uranium, tantalum, and niobi-
um. In cases where a particular operation produces
more than one product via SX (e.g., copper and
cobalt), it is discussed under the category of the
primary product.
2. Copper
2.1. Konkola Copper Mines, Zambia
The Tailings Leach Plant (TLP) at Konkola Copper
Mines Nchanga facility came into production in 1971
to treat both current and stockpiled flotation tailings.
In 1973, an integrated solvent extraction-electrowin-
ning (SX-EW) plant, constructed by Davy Powergas,
was commissioned to replace the copper cementation
process in Kennecott cones. The plant is currently
owned by Zambian Copper Investments Ltd.
The TLP currently produces some 80000 t/a of
copper cathode via the flowsheet shown in Fig. 1.
Flotation tailings are dewatered before being leached
using sulphuric acid and SX raffinate. Liquid/solid
separation is achieved by counter-current decantation
(CCD). Modernisation of this circuit, completed in
December 2003, was expected to increase copper
recovery by 7%.
After clarification in a thickener, the pregnant leach
solution (PLS) is sent to SX. The SX plant comprises
four trains, each with three extraction (3E) and two
strip (2S) stages. All stages have a single mixing
compartment; the extraction mixers have a volume
of 55 m
3
and the strip stage mixers are 82 m
3
. Due
to the age of the plant, the settlers are a little unusual
by modern standards, being of the long, thin type
often seen on uranium SX plants (3612.5 m on
extraction and 2712.5 m on strip). The units are
constructed on concrete pillars approximately 8 m
high.
The combined PLS flowrate is approximately 2800
m
3
/h. Unusually, all extraction stages are run aqueous
continuous, mainly due to restrictions in organic
pumping capacity, no organic recycle facility, and
the presence of some solids in the PLS from the
agitation leach. All trains have a stripped organic
tank rather than the loaded organic tank that is more
common on recently constructed plants.
K.C. Sole et al. / Hydrometallurgy 78 (2005) 5278 53
Treating a PLS containing 3 to 4 g/L Cu, two of the
trains run organic phases containing 11 vol.% LIX
984N (Cognis) in Shellsol 2325 (a partially aromatic
diluent supplied by Shell Chemicals), while the other
two run 12 vol.% Acorga M5774 (Cytec) in the same
diluent. The decision to employ extractants from two
vendors is based on strategic, rather than technical,
considerations.
To ensure the production of a high-quality cathode,
the electrolyte fed to the tankhouse is cleaned of solids
(crud and particulate matter) and entrained organic
phase. A two-stage electrolyte cleaning circuit com-
prises two Cominco flotation columns operating in
either parallel or series, followed by six Natco anthra-
cite filters operating in parallel. The Cominco col-
umns were designed to process 800 m
3
/h of
electrolyte in either a parallel or series arrangement
and to reduce the solids by 25% and entrained organic
phase by 85%, respectively. The final solids and
organic concentrations in the electrolyte are 20 to 50
ppm and 20 to 100 ppm, respectively. The six Natco
anthracite/garnet/sand filters operate in parallel and
process up to 800 m
3
/h of advance electrolyte.
The most significant process issue in the SX plant
is the formation of crud. This is attributed to the lack
of adequate clarifying facilities downstream from the
agitation leach: most large copper SX plants use heap
leaching to solubilise the copper. The suspended
solids concentration in the PLS is typically in the
range of 30 to 50 ppm, compared to b20 ppm in heap
leach operations. Both bottom and interfacial crud are
prevalent in the settlers. The crud is treated in a newly
installed Flottweg tricanter centrifuge. This produces
a relatively dry solids stream as well as clear aqueous
and organic phases. Solids are disposed of and liquids
returned to the SX circuit. Organic losses are pre-
dicted to be significantly lower in the future following
the installation of the centrifuge.
2.2. Bwana Mkubwa Mining, Zambia
The original Bwana Mkubwa copper mine in the
Zambian Copper Belt started operations in the early
1900s. In 1996 it was purchased by First Quantum
Minerals (FQM). A small plant with agitation leach,
followed by SX-EW was constructed and commis-
sioned in 1998. By processing old tailings, this plant
produced approximately 10000 t/a of copper cathode.
In 2000, the rights to mine copper ore at the Lonshi
deposit in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
were secured by FQM. By the end of 2002, the Bwana
Mkubwa plant had been expanded to treat the Lonshi
ore, with the major hydrometallurgical capital expen-
diture being for a second SX train, another EW tank-
house, and a four-stage CCD. Bwana Mkubwa also
has two sulphur-burning acid plants to produce the
Tailings
Dam
Flotation tailings
Feed preparation
Thickening & Filtration
Agitation Leach
Solvent Extraction
Electrowinning Copper cathode
Tailings Raffinate
bleed
Tailings
Dam
Tailings
Dam
Flotation tailings
Feed preparation
Feed preparation
Agitation Leach Agitation Leach
Thickening & Filtration Thickening & Filtration
Solvent Extraction Solvent Extraction
Electrowinning Electrowinning Copper cathode
Tailings Raffinate
bleed
Fig. 1. Simplified flowsheet of the Tailings Leach Plant (TLP) at Konkola Copper Mines, Zambia.
acid required for the operation. Excess acid is sold to
other local mining operations. The plant currently
produces approximately 40000 t/a of copper cathode,
and is currently one of the lowest cost copper produ-
cers (Minesearch, 2004).
The flowsheet is illustrated in Fig. 2. The ore is
milled and dewatered before being leached in a cas-
cade of four reactors using sulphuric acid and raffinate
from the high-grade SX plant. The leach solution is
separated from the residue in a thickener and clarified
in a Bateman pinned-bed clarifier before reporting to
the 2E-1W-1S high-grade SX circuit. All of the stages
have two mixing compartments and modern stainless
steel reverse-flow settlers. As the ore treated at Bwana
Mkubwa has a high copper grade, the high-grade PLS
can contain up to 10 g/L Cu. The organic phase
employed is 25 vol.% LIX 984N in Shellsol 2325.
The leach thickener underflow is washed in five
stages of CCD using raffinate from the low-grade SX
circuit. The washed residue is discarded and the over-
flow from the CCD is clarified in a second Bateman
pinned-bed clarifier before being treated in the low-
grade SX plant. The mixer-settler units in the low-
grade SX plant are the same as the high-grade plant
except that they are constructed of HDPE-lined con-
crete. The plant is operated in conventional series-
parallel mode with a single strip stage. The organic
phase in this circuit is 26 vol.% LIX 984N in Shellsol
2325, designed to handle a typical PLS composition
of 3.4 g/L Cu at pH 1.7.
2.3. Kansanshi, Zambia
The Kansanshi copper deposit, containing both
oxide and sulphide mineralisation, in the north-west
province of Zambia was aquired by FQM in 2001.
The development of the project is a joint venture
between FQM (80%) and the government-owned
Zambian Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM)
(20%). The JV partners are currently constructing a
plant to produce approximately 65000 t/a of copper
cathode by the SX-EW route. The project will also
produce around 25000 oz of gold annually, as well as
a saleable copper sulphide concentrate. The plant is
expected to start producing copper by early 2005.
2.4. Mopani Copper Mines, Zambia
During 2004, Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) will
construct and commission two SX-EW plants, one at
Nkana and the second at Mufulira. The Nkana plant
is a small heap leach-SX-EW circuit. Pockets of
copper oxide ore will be mined and leached on
three permanent onoff pads. Copper will be
extracted from the PLS in a single-train 2E-1S SX
plant. Copper cathode will be produced by EW after
Agitation Leach
Thickener
High grade SX
Electrowinning Copper cathode
Tailings
CCD
Pinned
bed
Clarifier
Pinned
bed
Clarifier
Low grade SX
Ore
U/F
U/F
O/F
O/F
O/F
O/F
U/F
U/F
Raffinate
Raffinate
Raffinate
H
2
SO
4 Agitation Leach Agitation Leach
Thickener
High grade SX High grade SX
Electrowinning Electrowinning Copper cathode
Tailings
CCD CCD
Pinned
bed
Clarifier
Pinned
bed
Clarifier
Pinned
bed
Clarifier
Pinned
bed
Clarifier
Low grade SX Low grade SX
Ore
U/F
U/F
O/F
O/F
O/F
O/F
U/F
U/F
Raffinate
Raffinate
Raffinate
H
2
SO
4
Fig. 2. Simplified flowsheet of the copper circuit at Bwana Mkubwa Mining, Zambia.
stripping in SX. The initial annual production is
estimated at 3000 t/a of copper cathode. The project
is seen as a test of heap leaching of complete Zam-
bian ores in a high rainfall area.
At Mufulira, MCM will recover copper from their
old underground mining operations by an in situ
leaching programme. The leach produces a PLS of
4 g/L copper at pH 2, with recovery by an SX-EW
route. The SX plant (installed by Sinclair Knight
Merz) is designed for conversion from a conventional
2E-1S configuration to a series/parallel configuration,
allowing greater copper throughput, as more old
stopes are brought into the leaching programme. The
first train of the SX plant has been designed to recover
17500 t/a Cu, at a design volume of 14400 m
3
/day.
Planning is already underway for expansion of this
project by construction of further SX trains and more
EW tankhouse capacity. Some of the existing electro-
refining tankhouse capacity is being converted to EW
for this project.
The SX-EW facility will also be used to recover
copper produced by vat leaching of other oxide ores.
This may include ores foreign to Mufulira.
At Mopanis Nkana Cobalt Refinery, zinc removal
from the cobalt solution is effected by pH adjustment
of 80% of the ferric-removal thickener overflow and
zinc SX with di(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid
(D2EHPA) for the remainder of the stream. Since
the pH adjustment step contributes significantly to
the overall cobalt loss (presently 20% of the cobalt
from the tankhouse) and the total lime consumption
(30% of the total operating costs), Mopani wish to
discontinue the practice and instead use SX on the
entire overflow stream to remove zinc. The SX plant
is to be sized to have a feed liquor flowrate of 90 to
120 m
3
/h and will process 150 kg/d zinc.
The recent announcement by MCM of a project
to construct a new smelter and acid plant will ensure
the availability of cheap acid for their leach-SX-EW
projects.
2.5. Zenzele OKiep project, South Africa
A small but novel development is taking place at
OKiep, site of one of the oldest copper mines in
Africa, located near Springbok in the Northern Cape
province of South Africa. The ore body, an oxidised
deposit of copper carbonates and silicates, has been
worked out as far as conventional mining is
concerned. An initiative by Zenzele Technology Dem-
onstration Centre (a non-governmental organisation
which assists artisanal and small-scale mining opera-
tions) will extend the life of mine for about 20 years
and benefit the indigenous population at the same
time.
The hand-picked ore, containing about 5% copper,
is crushed in a jaw crusher and then leached in
sulphuric acid to yield a solution containing about
40 g/L Cu. The leach liquor is refined by means of
SX (3E-1S) with 30 vol.% LIX 984N to separate
copper from iron and other impurities. Using technol-
ogy first demonstrated by Zenzele, the loaded strip
liquor (LSL) then becomes the electrolyte in a special
electrochemical cell designed to electroform a variety
of copper artifacts. These include items such as bowls,
ornaments, plaques, and jewellery, which are sold to
the tourist market and for export. This development
provides a unique combination of first-and third-
world technologies, to the benefit of people of both
worlds.
3. Cobalt
3.1. Kasese Cobalt, Uganda
Kasese Cobalt Company Ltd (KCCL) treats a
cobaltiferous pyrite concentrate stockpiled at the
Kilembe copper mine in Uganda for the recovery of
cobalt, copper, and nickel via a bioleaching route
(Blanchard, 1995; Morin et al., 1996; Fisher and Pav-
lides, 1998). Commissioned in 1999, the plant pro-
cessed approximately 1 Mt/a pyrite until mid-2002,
when production was suspended due to low base metal
prices. The plant was recommissioned in early 2004,
with a production of 1000 t/a cobalt cathode. The
process flowsheet is summarised in Fig. 3.
Following solubilisation of the base metals by
bacterial oxidation, the bulk of the iron is removed
in a two-stage neutralisation circuit. The iron-free
solution is processed through the first SX circuit
where zinc and some manganese are removed using
D2EHPA. After treatment of the raffinate with caustic
soda to remove copper as the hydroxide, the solution
passed to a second SX circuit in which cobalt is
selectively extracted from nickel and magnesium
using CYANEX 272 (di(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl) phos-
phinic acid) (Cytec). This produces an advance elec-
trolyte that reports directly to the cobalt EW circuit to
produce cobalt cathode of N99% purity.
The spent scrub liquor from the cobalt SX circuit
and a bleed from the cobalt EW tankhouse contain
significant quantities of cobalt. This combined stream
is treated for cobalt recovery by precipitation of
Co(OH)
2
using NaOH. The raffinate from the cobalt
SX circuit is treated for the recovery of nickel as
Ni(OH)
2
at pH 6 to 10. Effluents from the zinc SX
and cobalt and nickel precipitation circuits are neu-
tralised with lime and disposed of in a tailings dam.
3.1.1. Zinc SX
The typical feed to the zinc SX circuit comprises
0.012 g/L Zn, 3.5 g/L Co, 0.12 g/L Mn, 0.1 g/L
Cu, 0.2 g/L Ni, and 0.04 g/L Fe (Ellis, 2001; Cole
and Sole, 2003). There are two extraction, one
scrub, and two strip stages. The extractant is 2
vol.% D2EHPA. The extraction is controlled at pH
2.5 to 3.5 by the addition of NaOH, removing zinc to
less than 0. 5 mg/L. The D2EHPA circuit also serves to
control the levels of manganese reporting to the cobalt
circuit. Cobalt losses are minimised by controlling the
scrubbing stage at pH 2.8. The raffinate passes through
a Jameson (flotation) cell and an after-settler to allow
any entrained organic phase to be recovered.
The main problem associated with the D2EHPA
circuit is control of the upstream iron-precipitation
process. The SX operation can handle up to 500
ppm suspended solidssolids present at higher con-
centrations lead to crud formation. Inefficiencies in
the iron-precipitation circuit periodically result in up
Pyrite
grinding
Limestone
grinding
Bioleach and
gravity conc.
Neutralisation
pH 2.8
Iron removal
pH 5
Zinc SX
Cobalt SX
Cobalt EW
Cobalt cathode
conditioning
Cobalt effluent
treatment
Liquid effluent
treatment
Copper hydroxide
precipitation
Nickel hydroxide
precipitation
Limestone
quarry
Pyrite
stockpile
to tailings dam
Ca(OH)
2
Co(OH)
2
for sale
Ni(OH)
2
for sale
Cu(OH)
2
for sale
Cobalt cathode
for sale
Pyrite
grinding
Limestone
grinding
Bioleach and
gravity conc.
Neutralisation
pH 2.8
Iron removal
pH 5
Zinc SX
Cobalt SX
Cobalt EW
Cobalt cathode
conditioning
Cobalt effluent
treatment
Liquid effluent
treatment
Copper hydroxide
precipitation
Nickel hydroxide
precipitation
Limestone
quarry
Pyrite
stockpile
to tailings dam
Ca(OH)
2
Co(OH)
2
for sale
Ni(OH)
2
for sale
Cu(OH)
2
for sale
Cobalt cathode
for sale
Fig. 3. Flowsheet for the recovery of cobalt, copper, and nickel by Kasese Cobalt Co. Ltd.
to 0.3 g/L iron reporting to the zinc SX circuit. As all
iron(III) is co-extracted by D2EHPA, the iron loading
is controlled to 30% to 40% by the addition of sodium
sulphite, which reduces some of the iron to Fe(II)
which is not extracted at operating pH values.
3.1.2. Cobalt SX
The PLS to the cobalt SX circuit has the compo-
sition shown in Table 1 (and a temperature of 40 8C).
A counter-current flow configuration (Fig. 4) is
employed, using conventional mixer-settler units for
contact of the phases. The mixer settlers are Krebs
units, manufactured of glass fibre and are completely
enclosed to limit the evaporation of the organic phase.
The extractant is CYANEX 272, made up to 7 vol.%
concentration in the diluent. A summary of the circuit
configuration and operating conditions is given in
Table 2.
The extraction circuit produces a consistent raffi-
nate concentration of b0.01 g/L Co. There is a con-
siderable concentration of silica in the circuit and it is
necessary to operate the extraction mixers in organic-
continuous mode to minimise crud formation.
The scrub liquor originally comprised 20 to 25 g/L
Co in ~4 g/L H
2
SO
4
, however the scrub circuit has
since been taken off-line. The reason for this is that
the spent scrub liquor was not returned to the extrac-
tion circuit, as is common in many circuit configura-
tions, but serves as a bleed from the EW circuit (Fig.
4). This stream contained a considerable quantity of
cobalt (~30 g/L) along with the co-extracted magne-
sium and manganese. The cobalt was recovered from
the spent scrub liquor by precipitation as cobalt hy-
droxide with NaOH at pH 10. A decision was made to
maximise the cobalt cathode production, albeit at the
expense of purity, and hence the scrub circuit has not
been operating.
The strip liquor (cobalt anolyte) contains typically
47 g/L Co in 5 to 10 g/L H
2
SO
4
at a temperature of
~65 8C. The LSL has a cobalt concentration of 50 g/L.
This is passed through a Jameson cell and after-settler
to recover entrained organic phase. The final high-
acid strip (W1) ensures that trace quantities of iron,
copper, and zinc entering this circuit are not permitted
to build up on the organic phase.
The main problem experienced with this circuit is
excessive losses of extractant to the raffinate at the pH
values used. There is a very low salt content (~15 g/L)
in the raffinate, which exacerbates the problem. Re-
plenishment of CYANEX 272 is estimated at 300 to
1000 L per month or about 1 vol.% of the inventory
per day. To recover entrained organic, the raffinate is
passed through an after-settler and Jameson cell. A
Table 1
Typical composition of feed to Kasese cobalt SX circuit
Element Co Cu Fe Mg Mn Na Ni Zn
(g/L) 3.0 b0.001 b0.001 1.5 0.15 0.5 0.2 b0.005
Co PLS
Spent
electrolyte
Advance
electrolyte
Stripped
organic
Spent scrub
liquor to
Co(OH)
3
circuit
Raffinate
Aqueous
Organic
E1 E2 E3 E4 Sc1 S1 S2 S3 W1
130 g/l
H
2
SO
4
80 g/l NaOH
Co PLS
Spent
electrolyte
Advance
electrolyte
Stripped
organic
Spent scrub
liquor to
Co(OH)
3
circuit
Raffinate
Aqueous
Organic
E1 E2 E3 E4 Sc1 S1 S2 S3 W1
130 g/l
H
2
SO
4
80 g/l NaOH
Fig. 4. Cobalt SX circuit at KCCL.
Table 2
KCCL cobalt SX circuit
Extraction Scrub Strip High-acid
strip
Organic flowrate
(m
3
/h)
20
Aqueous phase PLS Catholyte
diluted 50%
Anolyte 130 g/L
H
2
SO
4
Advance O: A
a
0.66 10 1 135
pH pH 5.45.6 pH 3 1.5 g/L
H
2
SO
4
in S1
a
O: A=organic:aqueous volumetric flowrate ratio.
carbon adsorption column has also been introduced,
which should reduce the total dissolved organic car-
bon content to approximately 0.14 g/L. The carbon
column has an operating life of about 6 months, with
the carbon inventory of 1 tonne. It is proposed to
eliminate the final extraction stage (E4) and use this
for organic recovery, as it is believed that adequate
cobalt recovery can be achieved in three stages of
extraction.
3.2. Chambishi Metals Plc, Zambia
The Chambishi cobalt plant, near Kitwe in Zambia,
was commissioned in 1978 and, as part of the govern-
ments privatisation process, was sold by ZCCM to
Anglovaal Mining in 1998. During 2003, the Kazhak-
Uzbek consortium J&W Holding AG became the new
owners.
Chambishi treats two feed materials: a sulphide
concentrate via a roast-leach process and a cobalt-
rich copper slag via a smelt-pressure oxidation pro-
cess (Munnik et al., 2003). Nominal production fig-
ures are 18000 t/a copper and 7000 t/a cobalt. Copper
is recovered from the leach liquor in sequential EW
and electrostripping circuits that ensure the delivery of
low copper tenor solution to cobalt refining.
The initial flowsheet for the refinery (Aird et al.,
1980; Rao et al., 1993) comprised an extensive series
of precipitation steps employing limestone and quick-
lime slurry to sequentially remove iron, copper, zinc,
and nickel from the cobalt electrolyte. The associated
cobalt losses were high; furthermore, the increasingly
stringent demands on the cobalt cathode purity could
not be met. These problems have been greatly allevi-
ated by the implementation of SX and ion exchange
(IX) steps for the removal of zinc and nickel from the
leach solution (Bailey et al., 2001). Chambishi has
recently explored the use of cobalt SX to improve
overall plant performance and copper SX to deal with
a possible increase in copper throughput (Fig. 5).
3.2.1. Zinc SX
In 1991, SX was incorporated into the refinery
flowsheet to control the zinc concentration by treating
a bleed stream from the iron-precipitation circuit. In
2001, the cobalt refinery was upgraded to accommo-
date the increased throughput from the treatment of
the Nkana slag dumps. This brought with it an in-
crease in zinc concentration. A new zinc SX circuit
(Cole and Sole, 2003) was designed to remove nearly
all the zinc, rendering zinc control by pH manipula-
tion obsolete.
Fl otation
Roast
Leach
Cu EW
Ni IX
Co purification
Co EW
PAL of alloy
Slag reduction
Cu SX
Cu IX
Co SX
Cobalt
cathode
Copper
cathode
Fl otation
Roast
Leach
Cu EW
Ni IX
Co purification
Co EW
PAL of alloy
Slag reduction
Cu SX
Cu IX
Co SX
Cobalt
cathode
Copper
cathode
Fig. 5. Simplifed flowsheet of the current Chambishi circuit (solid lines) and proposed expansions (dotted lines). (Adapted from Munnik
et al., 2003).
The organic phase comprises 2.5 vol.% D2EHPA in
the aliphatic diluent Shellsol K (Shell Chemicals). The
aqueous feed flowrate is 120 m
3
/h and the advance
O: Ais 3: 1. Following extraction in four stages, loaded
zinc and calcium are stripped with 150 g/L H
2
SO
4
in a
single stage. The stripped organic phase is subjected to
a 180 g/L HCl restrip for iron(III) removal.
The circuit is currently run in a double-stage count-
er-current flow configuration, with fresh organic
phase being fed to the fourth and second extraction
stages. Loaded organic phase from the third and first
stages is sent to stripping and thereafter to the HCl
restrip. The reason for this configuration is to mini-
mise the amount of calcium displaced in the earlier
extraction stages by zinc or iron. A further improve-
ment made to counter gypsum precipitation is the use
of a reverse pH profile over the extraction stages.
Dilute caustic solution (3040 g/L) is used to maintain
the extraction pH values at 3.1 to 3.4. Typical zinc
content of the feed solution varies from 50 to 80 mg/
L; the zinc concentration in the raffinate is consistent-
ly lower than 5 mg/L, averaging around 1 mg/L.
3.2.2. Cobalt SX
Under consideration at Chambishi, although in
more longer-term plans, is to convert the cobalt puri-
fication circuit from precipitation technology to SX to
produce a high-purity cobalt electrolyte suitable for
EW. The perceived benefits of implementing this
flowsheet change include reduced operating costs,
improved cobalt recovery, and higher current efficien-
cies. This route will also enable a greater variety of
feedstocks to be treated, with a wider range of impu-
rities, and the high-purity LSL can be used for the
production of alternative value-added cobalt products
(Cowie, 2002).
Some feasibility studies and piloting trials have
been carried out using Ionquest 801 (Rhodia) and
CYANEX 272 (Cytec) for the cobaltnickel separa-
tion. CYANEX 272 has the advantage of having good
selectivity for cobalt over magnesium, calcium, and
nickel, which are the major impurities in the electrolyte
(Table 3). Iron and zinc are present in small quantities
and extract more strongly than cobalt, so these ions
will remain on the loaded organic phase under mild
stripping conditions that allow cobalt to be stripped;
these can then be stripped separately under harsher
stripping conditions (Cowie, 2002; Sole, 2003). This
selective strip enables a pure cobalt electrolyte to be
obtained, contaminated only by copper. The trace
amounts of copper will be removed from the electro-
lyte by IX prior to cobalt EW. The organic phase will
comprise 30 vol.% CYANEX 272, modified by 5
vol.% tri-n-butylphosphate (TBP), in an aliphatic dil-
uent, SSX 210 (Sasol Wax). The extractant is subjected
to saponification prior to extraction to minimise the
necessity for stage-wise pH control. It has been shown
that when more than 50% to 70% of the extractant is
converted to the sodium salt, there is a tendency for
third-phase formation to occur. The use of a phase
modifier can be useful under these circumstances.
Another application of cobalt recovery by SX
using CYANEX 272 is under consideration. Nickel
is currently removed from the cobalt electrolyte by IX
using the Dow M4195 bispicolylamine resin in an
ISEP contactor (Bailey et al., 2001). The cobalt losses
associated with the eluted nickel solution could be
mitigated by inclusion of a small SX scavenger circuit
on this stream.
3.2.3. Copper SX
Since Chambishis current delivery of sulphide
concentrate feed is expected to be discontinued, alter-
native source materials are being sought. Under con-
sideration is a concentrate featuring a relatively high
Cu: Co ratio compared to that currently processed that
will result in a doubling of the copper input to the
plant. Copper removal by electrolysis is uneconomic
under these conditions because of the low current
efficiencies characteristic of the process and the poor
quality copper produced. Capital expenditure for dou-
bling the tankhouse capacity would be exorbitant. SX
technology is being considered for dealing with the
upgraded copper throughput.
The technical feasibility of using copper SX as an
alternative to electrolytic copper removal was inves-
tigated and proved by Chambishi in a continuous
counter-current pilot-scale trial. The economics were
favorable for the installation of this technology based
on 18000 t/a copper. In addition, revenue from copper
Table 3
Expected composition of the feed to the proposed Chambishi cobalt
SX circuit
Element Co Cu Zn Ni Fe Mn Ca Mg
(g/L) 10.2 0.4 0.001 0.05 0.05 0.5 0.4 3.3
sales is significantly increased because SX produces
an advance electrolyte from which LME grade copper
can be electrowon. Two SX operations are necessary
to achieve the desired residual copper concentration
suitable for feeding into the cobalt recovery plant
(b100 mg/L). Studies are presently being undertaken
to install a copper SX circuit to purify the copper
stream, and then to convert the entire tankhouse to
conventional EW. The two PLS streams will contain
approximately 45 and 22 g/L Cu respectively, and
maximum copper recovery is required. For this rea-
son, the new low-viscosity extractants recently avail-
able from Cognis (Sole and Feather, 2003) are under
consideration for this application.
3.3. Knightsbridge Cobalt, South Africa
Several years ago, Knightsbridge Cobalt Corpora-
tion of South Africa began the operation of a refining
plant to produce purified cobalt carbonate. Feed ma-
terial was oxide ore originating in the DRC. After
leaching with sulphuric acid, classical precipitation
methods were used to remove iron and copper. Al-
though a market existed for the resultant carbonate
product, it was known that higher prices could be
realised if impurities such as manganese and magne-
sium were not present. Other undesired impurity ele-
ments such as nickel and zinc would also report to the
product if feed material containing these elements
were treated. When a decision was made to produce
high-grade cobalt oxide the refinery flowsheet needed
to be altered to deal with the array of impurity elements
expected to be present in a varying feedstock. After
extensive piloting, two SX operations were implemen-
ted to overcome these problems (Cole, 2002). The
schematic flowsheet for the improved cobalt refinery
is shown in Fig. 6. Production at the plant was 1 tonne
of cobalt per day. This refinery ceased operation in
2002, but the plant was purchased by Umicore and
relocated to a new site in Krugersdorp, west of Johan-
nesburg, where operations continue today.
3.3.1. Impurity removal SX
Zinc (50 mg/L), manganese (100 mg/L), and calci-
um are removed from the cobalt (5 to 10 g/L) solution,
derived from the leach/precipitation circuit, using 20
Leach H
2
SO
4
CaCO
3
CaCO
3
CaCO
3
NH
4
OH
H
2
SO
4
NH
4
OH
H
2
SO
4
Raw material
Fe waste
Cu product
Solution recycle to leach
CoCO
3
Iron precipitation
Copper precipitation
Impurity removal SX
Cobalt SX
CoCO
3
Precipitation
Leach H
2
SO
4
CaCO
3
CaCO
3
CaCO
3
NH
4
OH
H
2
SO
4
NH
4
OH
H
2
SO
4
Raw material
Fe waste
Cu product
Solution recycle to leach
CoCO
3
Iron precipitation
Copper precipitation
Impurity removal SX
Cobalt SX
CoCO
3
Precipitation
Fig. 6. Schematic flowsheet for the cobalt refinery at Knightsbridge Cobalt.
vol.% D2EHPA in Shellsol K (an aliphatic diluent
supplied by Shell Chemicals) in three extraction stages
operated at an advance O:A of 1 and pH 2.26 to 2.37
(adjusted using 20% ammonium hydroxide solution).
Co-extracted cobalt is recovered using one scrub stage,
and stripping (in one stage) using recycled 6 M HCl
ensured the complete removal of iron.
3.3.2. Cobalt SX
In the cobalt SX plant, the organic phase is 15
vol.% CYANEX 272 in Shellsol K. Cobalt extraction
is achieved in five stages operated at an advance O: A
of 1 and pH 5.0 to 5.3. Scrubbing of co-extracted
magnesium is with 40 g/L cobalt solution in two
stages operated at an O: A of 50. Cobalt stripping is
achieved in two stages using 180 g/L sulphuric acid
and an O: A of 10. A loaded strip liquor pH of 4
ensured that co-extracted zinc and iron did not report
with the cobalt. These metals are stripped in a final
stripping stage operated at pHb1.
To illustrate the degree of upgrading achieved,
assays of feed solution to the combined SX circuits
(mother liquor from the precipitation) and product
solution from the SX processes (LSL from the cobalt
extraction) are shown in Table 4.
3.4. Kolwezi Tailings, Democratic Republic of Congo
Congo Minerals Development developed a flow-
sheet to recover copper and cobalt from the King-
anyambo and Musonoi tailings originating over the
past fifty years from the Kolwezi copper flotation
concentrator in the DRC (Alexander, 2001). Over
100 million tonnes of the material exist, averaging
1.5% Cu and 0.32% Co, primarily as malachite, pseu-
domalachite, and heterogenite. Nine different flow-
sheets were evaluated for the processing of this
material to produce high-purity copper and cobalt
cathode during an extensive 16-month piloting of
this circuit at Anglo American Research Laboratories
(AARL). The optimised flowsheet (Fig. 7) was then
run under integrated steady-state conditions for a
further six weeks to generate design data.
In the selected process, the tailings were leached in
a primary circuit to solubilise copper and cobalt, and
copper recovered by SX/EW. A bleed of this circuit
was treated in a secondary circuit to remove iron and
manganese by precipitation with air/SO
2
, followed by
SX with CYANEX 272 to remove zinc; IX using an
aminophosphonic acid cation exchanger to remove
trace copper and zinc, and finally the cobalt stream
was upgraded by SX with CYANEX 272, enabling
high-purity cobalt cathode to be electrowon.
Interestingly, although D2EHPAwas considered for
the removal of manganese and zinc from the cobalt
bleed stream, the final decision was in favour of air/SO
2
precipitation for manganese removal and CYANEX
272 for zinc removal (Alexander, 2001). Manganese
removal with D2EHPA resulted in unacceptable losses
of cobalt at the pH values required for extraction,
needing enhanced scrubbing requirements. The need
for HCl to remove any co-extracted trace iron(III) and
the production of a dilute waste streamto avoid gypsum
formation also mitigated against SX for this operation.
Zinc SXusing CYANEX 272 would avoid possibilities
of extractant cross-contamination with the cobalt SX
circuit, while enabling high extraction efficiencies and
low cobalt losses to be achieved without the use of a
scrubbing section. A small volume, concentrated zinc
LSL is produced, while the option to recover zinc as a
saleable by-product remains open.
Current owners Adastra have recently secured fi-
nance for an 18-month feasibility study and preferred
contractors have been selected. This project is
expected to produce 40000 t/a copper and 7000 t/a
cobalt during a first phase, with possible expansion to
double this capacity.
3.5. Kakanda Tailings, Democratic Republic of Congo
A similar processing philosophy has been proposed
by International Panorama Resource Corporation to
Table 4
Assays of feed solution to and product solution from the SX steps at Knightsbridge Cobalt (from Cole, 2002)
Co Mn Zn Cu Fe Mg Ca Ni
Feed solution (mg/L)(PLS following iron and copper precipitation) 4800 100 50 b1 b1 2300 600 34
Product solution (mg/L) (LSL from cobalt SX) 80000 60 b1 5 b1 1400 80 b1
recover copper and cobalt from the Kakanda tailings
(Dry et al., 1998). The flowsheet shown in Fig. 8 was
piloted at Mintek during 1998. In a primary circuit,
the tailings are leached to solubilise copper and co-
balt, and copper recovered by SX/EW. A bleed of this
circuit was treated in a secondary circuit to produce
3500 t/a cathode cobalt. In contrast to the Kolwezi
flowsheet, however, iron precipitation was followed
by SX with D2EHPA to remove zinc and manganese.
The cobalt stream was first upgraded by SX with
CYANEX 272, and then trace copper and zinc re-
moved by IX ahead of cobalt EW (Preston et al.,
1999; Feather et al., 2000a). This project is currently
seeking finance to proceed to the next stage.
Tailings material
Primary leach
Secondary leach
Wash
Copper SX2
Iron removal
Zinc SX
CYANEX 272
Copper zinc IX
Purolite S950
Copper SX1
Copper EW
Copper cathode
Residue disposal
to tailings
Fe, Al, Mn
Zn
Cu PLS
H
2
SO
4
L
S
L
S
SO
2
Cobalt SX
CYANEX 272
Cobalt EW
Mg, Ca
Belt filter
Air/SO
2
Cu, Zn
Wash water
Raffinate
Cobalt cathode
Partially loaded organic
Stripped
organic
Tailings material
Primary leach
Secondary leach
Wash
Copper SX2
Iron removal
Zinc SX
CYANEX 272
Copper zinc IX
Purolite S950
Copper SX1
Copper EW
Copper cathode
Residue disposal
to tailings
Fe, Al, Mn
Zn
Cu PLS
H
2
SO
4
L
S
L
S
L
S
SO
2
Cobalt SX
CYANEX 272
Cobalt EW
Mg, Ca
Belt filter
Air/SO
2
Cu, Zn
Wash water
Raffinate
Cobalt cathode
Partially loaded organic
Stripped
organic
Fig. 7. Preferred flowsheet for the Kolwezi Tailings project.
3.6. Etoile, Democratic Republic of Congo
Another copper-cobalt project experiencing a re-
vival of interest is Etoile, located near Ruashi, DRC.
This deposit is now controlled by Metorex. A feasi-
bility study is currently underway to recover a copper/
cobalt oxide concentrate by flotation. The concentrate
would be treated at an existing agitation leach facility
at Chibuluma in Zambia. The process flowsheet is not
yet finalised, but may include recovery of copper and
cobalt by SX-EW processes.
4. Nickel
4.1. Tati Nickel, Botswana
Lionores Tati Nickel operates the Phoenix Nickel
Mine and Tati Nickel Concentrator in Botswana. The
concentrates produced are treated offsite and Tati are
currently evaluating a proposed expansion at the
Phoenix operation, which will include the incorpora-
tion of a hydrometallurgical refinery to produce
17000 t/a nickel metal, 8000 t/a copper metal, 1240
t/a cobalt carbonate, and a PGM concentrate. Initial
piloting was carried out in Australia by Western
Minerals Technology and SGS Lakefield Oretest. A
$10 million demonstration plant at 1/ 170 scale is
currently operating on site in Francistown, Botswana,
treating 200 kg/h of concentrate and producing 100 t/a
Ni and 60 t/a Cu. This plant is expected to run for the
next three years, during which time all technical pro-
blems can be ironed out, long-term impurity and
degradation effects determined, and optimisation of
equipment, reagent selection, and operating condi-
tions undertaken. The plant will also be used for
training of operators for the full-scale plant.
Following Activox leaching of the sulphide flota-
tion concentrate, copper is recovered by SX-EW. A
50% bleed of the copper SX raffinate is treated for
iron removal in two stages using limestone. The first
stage at pH 3.5 provides partial iron removal but
essentially no loss of nickel or cobalt, and the second
stage at pH 4.5 completes the removal of iron but the
precipitate contains significant amounts of cobalt and
nickel that is recycled to the leach. The liquor is then
purified by cobalt SX with CYANEX 272, then nickel
recovery by SX with neodecanoic acid followed by
EW. The cobalt product is initially expected to be
CoCO
3
, with electrowinning of metal as a later option.
4.1.1. Copper SX
The copper circuit currently employs a 2E-1W-2S
configuration. The wash stage is necessary because of
the addition of chlorides to the leach to assist with
achieving copper extractions under the low tempera-
ture, low pressure Activox conditions. Reagents from
both Cytec and Cognis are under evaluation.
4.1.2. Cobalt SX
The composition of the feed to the Tati cobalt SX
circuit is shown in Table 5. This cobalt SX circuit
comprises three extraction, one scrub, and two strip
stages. The organic phase is 5 vol.% CYANEX 272 in
Leach
Copper SX
Copper EW
Manganese SX
Iron removal
Cobalt EW
Copper zinc IX
Cobalt SX
Cobalt cathode Copper cathode Impurities
Residue
LSL (to waste)
Tailings
Leach
Copper SX
Copper EW
Manganese SX
Iron removal
Cobalt EW
Copper zinc IX
Cobalt SX
Cobalt cathode Copper cathode Impurities
Residue
LSL (to waste)
Tailings
Fig. 8. Proposed flowsheet for the recovery of copper and cobalt cathode from Kakanda dump tailings material (from Feather et al., 2000a).
Table 5
Composition of feed to the cobalt SX circuit for the Tati pilot plant
Element Ca Co Cu Mg Ni
(g/L) 0.5 0.2 0.002 0.3 7.1
Shellsol D70 (an aliphatic diluent supplied by Shell
Chemicals). The pH profile is optimised to enable a
cobalt recovery of N98.5% to be achieved, with b3.5
mg/L Co in the raffinate, while facilitating the rejec-
tion of Ni, Ca, and Mg in the extraction circuit.
Scrubbing is carried out with a solution containing
0.9 g/L Co at pH 2.
4.1.3. Nickel SX
The cobalt SX raffinate is passed through an after-
settler followed by a diluent wash and an activated
carbon step to ensure that no CYANEX 272 leaks into
the nickel circuit. The nickel SX circuit comprises
five extraction, two scrub, and two strip stages. A
Versatic 10 (Shell Chemicals) concentration of 20
vol.% in Shellsol D70 is used. The nickel concentra-
tion in the feed liquor averages between 6 and 8 g/L.
The pH profile across the extraction bank is con-
trolled from pH 7.2 in E1 to pH 6.5 in E5. These
higher pH values allow calcium loading to take place
in the last two extraction stages, and then be scrubbed
off in the first three stages. Nickel recoveries of
98.8% are measured, with raffinate concentrations of
b0.01 g/L Ni.
4.2. Nkomati, South Africa
Nkomati, a nickel sulphide complex in Mpuma-
langa, South Africa, is under development by African
Rainbow Minerals. The preferred downstream flow-
sheet (Fig. 9), piloted by Mintek in 2000 (Feather et
al., 2002a), will be similar to that proposed for Tati. A
feasibility study has been completed for 375000 t/m
run-of-mine ore producing 16500 t/a nickel metal,
Ni/Co solution from
Cu SX raffinate bleed
Iron removal
Cobalt SX
Organic
removal
pH adjustment
Nickel SX
Raffinate
NH
4
OH
L
S
Ni, Mg, Ca
scrub
Cobalt strip
25 g/l Co
pH 2.8
CoSO
4
product
solution
Mg, Ca scrub
Nickel strip
NiSO
4
advance
electrolyte
H
2
O
Organic
removal
spent
electrolyte
Organic flow
Aqueous flow
Nickel EW Nickel cathode
Fig. 9. Flowsheet for the recovery of cobalt and nickel in the Nkomati process (from Feather et al., 2002a).
7100 t/a copper metal, and 940 t/a cobalt as carbonate.
The project is expected to go to EPCM phase in the
second quarter of 2005.
4.2.1. Copper SX
The copper is recovered using Acorga M5640 in a
2E-1W-2S copper SX circuit. The PLS is passed
through sand filters prior to SX to remove solids
and minimise crud formation. The raffinate is split
into two streams, with 80% returning to the leach and
the remaining 20% passing through a third copper
extraction stage to further reduce the copper content
of the solution prior to cobalt and nickel recovery.
After-settlers and co-matrix filters ensure maximum
organic recovery and minimal organic loss to the
leach and EW circuits.
4.2.2. Cobalt SX
The composition of the feed to the cobalt SX
circuit is shown in Table 6. The pilot-plant cobalt
circuit included five extraction, three scrub, and
three strip stages. The organic phase comprised 7
vol.% CYANEX 272 in a paraffin diluent. The pH
of the extraction circuit was controlled between 5.5
and 5.65, with the pH raised towards the end of the
extraction circuit to ensure maximum extraction of
cobalt. Because calcium is present at saturation con-
centrations, it was necessary to minimise co-extrac-
tion of calcium, as its loading and subsequently
stripping would lead to gypsum formation. Co-
extracted nickel, calcium, and magnesium were
scrubbed from the loaded organic phase using a por-
tion of the LSL (~25 g/L Co, pH 2.8) with the pH
controlled between 4.6 and 5.1. Cobalt extraction
efficiencies in excess of 99.5% were measured on
the pilot plant, reducing the cobalt concentration in
the nickel liquor from 1.8 to b0.01 g/L. The overall
co-extraction of nickel was minimised to b0.1%, and
the Co: Ni ratio in the LSL upgraded to N1500.
In the full-scale design, Bateman pulsed col-
umns (BPC) are to be used for cobalt extraction,
mixer settlers for scrubbing, and a further BPC for
stripping.
4.2.3. Nickel SX
Nickel was then extracted from the calcium-satu-
rated solution (cobalt SX raffinate) using 30 vol.%
Versatic 10 (Feather et al., 2002a). The optimised
circuit comprised five extraction, three scrub, three
strip stages, and a single reclamation stage for the
recovery of dissolved versatic acid. Co-extraction of
calcium was minimised by tight control of the pH in
the extraction. The optimised profile ranged from pH
6.4 in E1 to pH 6.0 in E5. Co-extracted calcium and
magnesium were scrubbed from the loaded organic
phase using a portion of the nickel LSL diluted to a
nickel concentration of ~3 g/L under conditions of
controlled pH (pH 5.9). Stripping was carried out
using spent nickel electrolyte (60 g/L Ni, 50 g/L
H
2
SO
4
), and nickel recovered using standard divid-
ed-cell EW technology. The nickel SX circuit was
optimised to recover 99% of the nickel, reducing the
PLS concentration from 32 to b0.3 g/L in the raffi-
nate, and producing a LSL suitable for nickel EW.
Overall co-extraction of calcium was limited to ~3%.
In the full-scale design, IX using Purolite S950 is
anticipated for complete recovery of nickel from the
raffinate prior to ammonia recovery using a lime boil.
Two different philosophies to avoiding gypsum
formation were adopted in the Tati and Nkomati
flowsheets. In the former, the solutions were diluted
such that calcium saturation did not occur; in the
latter, calcium was prevented from loading by close
and accurate control of the pH profiles of the extrac-
tion and scrub circuits. There is obviously a penalty in
the capital cost of the Tati option, since the equipment
will need to be much larger to accommodate the
equivalent nickel throughput.
4.3. Anglo Platinum Rustenburg Base Metals Refin-
ery, South Africa
Anglo Platinum is the worlds largest producer
of precious metals. The sulphide ore, from the
Merensky and UG2 reefs in the Rustenburg area
of South Africa, is rich in both PGMs and base
metals. This is smelted to give a PGM-containing
matte. The non-magnetic component of the matte
contains nickel and copper which, together with the
Table 6
Composition of feed to the cobalt SX circuit for the Nkomati pilot
plant
Element Ca Co Cu Mg Mn Ni Zn
(g/L) 0.5 1.9 0.01 3.6 0.3 32.7 0.12
liquor produced in the leaching of the PGM-rich
magnetic component of the matte to dissolve resid-
ual base metals, is the feed material to the Rusten-
burg Base Metals Refinery (RBMR) (Hofirek and
Kerfoot, 1992).
Cobalt has been produced at the refinery using
D2EHPA since 1979 (Clemente et al., 1980). This
was one of the first commercial operations to use
SX for cobalt refining (Ritcey et al., 1975). Although
more selective extractants are now available, the in-
expensive and efficient original process design is still
used. The leach liquor is treated for lead removal
using Ba(OH)
2
before cobalt removal using the
Outokumpu nickelic hydroxide process. The purified
solution advances to nickel EW. Cobalt is recovered
from the precipitate by dissolution of the cobalt cake,
removal of residual iron by precipitation with NaOH,
and copper by sulphide precipitation using BaS. The
cobalt solution, which has now had most base-metal
impurities removed, is purified and concentrated by
SX. The aim is to produce a cobalt sulphate solution
with low impurity content which is suitable for crys-
tallisation of the salt as a saleable CoSO
4
product.
The SX plant comprises 19 mixer settlers, operated
in a counter-current configuration. Each mixer settler
has a mixing compartment with a volume of 0.8 m
3
and a settler of 5 m
3
capacity. There are seven extrac-
tion, six scrubbing, and three stripping stages. The
final two stages are used for the removal of trace
impurities from the stripped organic phase and regen-
eration of the extractant. The first mixer settler is used
as a settler only, and ensures that organic entrainment,
and thereby organic losses, in the aqueous phase are
minimised.
The feed to the SX circuit (1518 g/L Co, 58 g/L
Ni, b1 mg/L Cu and Pb, 5 mg/L Fe, and 50 mg/L
each of Mg, Mn, and Ca) is passed through in-line
filters prior to entering the circuit to ensure a low
value of total dissolved solids, thereby avoiding
crud formation. The organic phase comprises 15
vol.% D2EHPA and 5 vol.% TBP in SSX 210. To
control the pH of extraction more effectively and
minimise dilution of the aqueous phases by the
addition a neutralising solution, D2EHPA is partially
(50% to 70%) converted to the sodium form prior to
entering the extraction circuit, and there is no direct
pH control. Since it is well known that the separa-
tion between cobalt and nickel is enhanced at ele-
vated temperature, extraction is carried out at 40 to
45 8C.
The organic flow rate is kept constant at 150 L/
min, and optimisation of the circuit performance is
achieved by altering the aqueous flow rates. The
extraction O: A typically varies from 2.7 and 7.5,
and the raffinate typically contains b0.5 g/L Co at
pH 5.4. Any magnesium in the feed solution is co-
extracted with the cobalt, and eventually reports to the
cobalt product. Some nickel is co-extracted by
D2EHPA under the pH conditions at which quantita-
tive cobalt extraction occurs. This is scrubbed from
the loaded organic phase using cobalt sulphate solu-
tion (32 to 36 g/L, pH 6.0) and an O: A from 8 to 75,
depending on the extent of co-extracted nickel. The
greater stability of the cobalt complex causes the
nickel to be dsqueezed offT the organic phase as the
loading capacity of the extractant is approached.
Cobalt is removed from the scrubbed organic phase
by stripping at an O: A of 1: 8 to 1: 12 with 10%
H
2
SO
4
, regenerating the extractant to its acidic form.
A portion of the LSL produced is diverted back into
the circuit as the scrub liquor, while the remaining
liquor is passed through carbon columns for organic
removal and then evaporated under vacuum in a
crystalliser to produce CoSO
4
d 7H
2
O crystals. The
stripped organic phase is contacted with 20% H
2
SO
4
at O: A=9 in the final stripping stage to remove the
remaining co-extracted trace amounts of Mg, Mn, Fe,
and Ca. The organic phase is regenerated to the
sodium form by contact with 780 g/L NaOH solution
at an advance phase ratio of ~75.
Cobalt recovery across the SX circuit is better than
98%. Upgrading from a Co: Ni ratio of 2: 1 in the feed
solution to 20000: 1 in the LSL is achieved. Organic
losses in the SX circuit due to solubility of D2EHPA
are very low, typically b0.01 g/L, with an annual
replacement of ~1 m
3
on a total organic inventory
of 64 m
3
.
In 2000, Anglo Platinum announced a major ex-
pansion, aimed at increasing its annual PGM produc-
tion capacity to 3.5 million oz. Associated with this,
the RBMR was to increase its annual nickel produc-
tion from 21000 to 40000 tonnes. In the flowsheet
proposed for this expansion, SX with CYANEX 272
was to be used to replace the nickelic hydroxide
circuit for the bulk removal of cobalt from the nickel
electrolyte. Such a step would see manganese report-
ing to the cobalt circuit, and the cobalt purification
circuit was therefore redesigned to accommodate a
feed containing 80 g/L cobalt with very little nickel
and manganese. Manganese SX followed by cobalt
SX in separate circuits, both using D2EHPA, were
envisaged to ensure continued production of a high-
grade CoSO
4
. Although a 5-week piloting campaign
using Bateman pulsed columns successfully demon-
strated the technical viability of this approach (Nagel
et al., 2002), this project has not progressed further.
4.4. Hartley Platinum, Zimbabwe
The Hartley Platinum Project at Selous, Zim-
babwea joint venture between BHP Company Ltd
and Delta Gold NLbegan operation in 1997 and
ceased operation in 2000 (Holohan and Montgomery,
1997). Platiniferous ore was concentrated and smelted
to produce a matte (42% nickel, 34% copper, 1% iron
and 0.4% cobalt) that was the feed to the Base Metal
Refinery (Fig. 10).
In the Hartley flowsheet, nickel was leached in two
stages of atmospheric and one stage of pressure leach-
ing where the solids and liquids were fed counter-
currently. The three stages ensured that more than
99.5% of the nickel, cobalt, and iron were dissolved
with no dissolution of copper. Iron was removed from
the nickel pressure leach liquor and copper was re-
moved from the nickel sulphate solution that ad-
vanced to nickel EW by cementation onto the
incoming matte in the first leach stage.
Cobalt was removed by SX prior to nickel EW.
This was the ninth commercial-scale plant in the
world to use CYANEX 272 for nickel and cobalt
separation, and the first to use this reagent in a
PGM flowsheet. Since copper, lead, zinc, and iron
are all extracted more strongly than cobalt, the SX
step ensured that these impurity species were reduced
to N1 mg/L in the advancing nickel electrolyte. The
organic phase comprised 3 vol.% CYANEX 272 dis-
solved in Kerosol 200 (Sasol). Cobalt was extracted
(PLS 80 g/L Ni, 500 mg/L Co) in five stages. Nickel
co-extraction was minimised using three scrubbing
stages. Jameson flotation and Spintek carbon filters
were used to reduce organic carry over into the nickel
tankhouse. Cobalt was stripped in three stages using
150 g/L H
2
SO
4
and an impure cobalt carbonate was
precipitated from the strip liquor.
Copper
electrowinning
Nickel
pressure
leach
Atmospheric
copper
removal
Matte
Final leach
concentrate
Nickel
atmospheric
leach
Formic
reducing leach
Copper
pressure
polishing leach
Pressure
iron
removal
Cobalt
SX
Nickel
electrowinning
Selenium /
tellurium
removal
Nickel cathodes
Iron residue
Copper cathodes
Cobalt carbonate
Sulphate
removal
circuit
Sodium sulphate
Sodium carbonate
Nickel carbonate
Solids
Solutions
Copper
electrowinning
Nickel
pressure
leach
Atmospheric
copper
removal
Matte
Final leach
concentrate
Nickel
atmospheric
leach
Formic
reducing leach
Copper
pressure
polishing leach
Pressure
iron
removal
Cobalt
SX
Nickel
electrowinning
Selenium /
tellurium
removal
Nickel cathodes
Iron residue
Copper cathodes
Cobalt carbonate
Sulphate
removal
circuit
Sodium sulphate
Sodium carbonate
Nickel carbonate
Solids
Solutions
Solids
Solutions
Fig. 10. The Hartley Platinum Base Metal Refinery flowsheet.
4.5. Impala Platinum Base Metal Refinery, South
Africa
Impala Platinums base metal refinery in South
Africa presently produces 17000 t/a nickel, 9000 t/a
copper, and 140 t/a cobalt as by-products from a
PGM-containing matte using a process developed by
Sherritt Gordon (Kerfoot and Berezowsky, 1991). The
matte is pressure leached with return copper electro-
lyte to solubilise the nickel, cobalt, and iron. The
leach residue is further leached with sulphuric acid
to produce copper sulphate for copper EW and the
residue is sent for PGM recovery. The nickel solution
is treated with nickel scrap to cement copper and then
iron is precipitated. After conversion to the nickel
ammine using return ammonium sulphate solution
and anhydrous ammonia, most of the nickel is precip-
itated using hydrogen reduction. The remaining cobalt
and nickel are precipitated as a mixed double salt.
This is leached under oxidising conditions in ammo-
nia and, after various steps of purification, cobalt is
precipitated by hydrogen reduction.
A new refinery flowsheet (Fig. 11) was developed
to accommodate a mixed nickel cobalt sulphide con-
centrate that was to be produced from the Philnico
laterite deposit in the Philippines (Sole and Cole,
2001). Metal production was to be substantially in-
creased to 60000 t/a Ni and 4300 t/a Co (Anon.,
2000). Although the Philnico prospect is no longer
an option for Impala, the flowsheet demonstrates an
Sulphide leach
Mn, Fe removal
Zn SX
CYANEX 272
Co SX
CYANEX 272
Solution
adjustment
H
2
reduction H
2
reduction
Solution
purification
Ni metal
briquettes
Co metal
briquettes
N
2
N
2
H
2
H
2
Co powder Ni powder
Ni diammine
Co diammine
Metal strip
Ammonium sulphate
Metal sulphide
strip residue
Mixed Ni Co
sulphide
NH
3
NaHS
NH
3
Purified liquor
from matte leach
H
2
SO
4
NH
3
H
2
SO
4
CoSO
4
Zn product and
residual Fe
O
2
NiSO
4
Cu, Fe removal Cu product
NH
3
SO
2
air
(NH
4
)
2
SO
4 (NH
4
)
2
SO
4
Sulphide leach
Mn, Fe removal
Zn SX
CYANEX 272
Co SX
CYANEX 272
Solution
adjustment
H
2
reduction H
2
reduction
Solution
purification
Ni metal
briquettes
Co metal
briquettes
N
2
N
2
H
2
H
2
Co powder Ni powder
Ni diammine
Co diammine
Metal strip
Ammonium sulphate
Metal sulphide
strip residue
Mixed Ni Co
sulphide
NH
3
NaHS
NH
3
Purified liquor
from matte leach
H
2
SO
4
NH
3
H
2
SO
4
CoSO
4
Zn product and
residual Fe
O
2
NiSO
4
Cu, Fe removal Cu product
NH
3
SO
2
air
(NH
4
)
2
SO
4 (NH
4
)
2
SO
4
Fig. 11. Proposed new flowsheet for the expanded Impala base metal refinery to include mixed sulphide feed. (Courtesy of Impala Platinum.)
(From Sole and Cole, 2001.)
innovative use of SX technology to fit in with the
existing process and may still be considered for other
laterite opportunities.
The proposed SX steps were successfully tested
and proven in pilot-plant trials carried out by Mintek
at the refinery during 2000. The major advantages of
the new process are:
! the overall recovery of cobalt across the refinery
was improved substantially;
! the new circuit was sufficiently flexible to handle
feedstocks containing impurities such as zinc that
cannot currently be treated;
! the new circuit would operate using only minimal-
ly more staff than are currently employed, enabling
expected unit costs to be in the lower quartile for
nickel;
! the current separation of nickel from cobalt using
the Sherritt process requires the difficult control of
the molar ratio of the diammine formation, whereas
the cobalt SX step will give far superior separations
more easily.
4.6. Ambatovy, Madagascar
Another interesting nickel project in this part of the
world is Ambatovy, a saprolytic laterite deposit locat-
ed some 130 km east of Antananarivo. Under joint
development by Phelps Dodge and Dynatec, this re-
source contains 190 Mt grading 1.11% Ni and 0.1%
Co. The project is expected to produce 60000 t/a Ni
and 4000 t/a Co for 20 years, and is predicted to
become one of the lowest cost nickel producers
(Dynatec, 2004a,b). The bankable feasibility study
will be complete in mid-2004 and the project is
currently seeking finance to proceed (Dynatec, 2003).
Continuous piloting has shown that the low-mag-
nesium ore is amenable to pressure acid leaching
with good kinetics and moderate acid consumptions,
giving Co and Ni recoveries exceeding 96%. Good
solidliquid separation was also achievedtypically
a major cost factor in the processing of laterites. The
metallurgy is very similar to that at Moa Bay, Cuba,
and it is understood that the flowsheet will be
similar to that of Murrin Murrin, Australia. SX
using CYANEX 272 will be employed for cobalt
nickel separation.
4.7. Mintek synergistic nickel extractant
Disadvantages of the use of neodecanoic acid as an
extractant for nickel include its poor selectivity over
calcium, the high pH at which nickel extraction
occurs, and the high solubility of the extractant in
the aqueous phase, leading to unacceptable reagent
losses and the need for significant organic-recovery
operations. Laboratory and mini-plant test work at
Mintek have shown that the use of nitrogen-donor
compounds in synergistic combination with Versatic
10 can overcome some of the disadvantages of car-
boxylic acids and improve their selectivity for nickel
(Preston and du Preez, 1994a,b, 2000).
Until recently, the commercial development of
these reagents was hindered by manufacturing issues.
Fig. 12 shows the pH dependence of the extractions of
nickel and calcium by Versatic 10 and by Versatic 10
0
20
40
60
80
100
4 5 6 7 8 9
Equiibrium pH
E
x
t
r
a
c
t
i
o
n

(
%
)
Ni Ni Ca
Ca
Fig. 12. The extraction of nickel and calcium (0.05 M, separately) from 1.00 M NaNO
3
by 0.50 M neodecanoic acid (white symbols) and by its
mixture with 0.50 M neodecanoic acid in combination with the Mintek synergist in xylene (black symbols). (From Du Preez and Preston, 2004.)
in combination with the (proprietary) bMintek
synergistQ. The separation is improved markedly in
the latter case. In addition, nickel extraction can be
carried out at much lower pH, reducing solubility
losses of the extractant and minimising the tendency
to form the hydroxide precipitate.
Extensive continuous piloting of this organic system
on various nickel-containing liquors was undertaken in
2004, with a view to commercial implementation of
this system in the near future.
5. Zinc
5.1. Skorpion Zinc, Namibia
Anglo Americans Skorpion Zinc refinery, located
near Rosh Pinah in southern Namibia, produced its
first metal in May 2003 and is currently ramping up
to full production. Involving a capital investment of
US$ 454 million (Anglo American Corp., 2000), the
process flowsheet includes the first commercial ap-
plication of zinc SX for primary zinc processing, and
represents a radical departure from classical zinc
refineries that rely on roast-leach-electrowin technol-
ogy (Bachmann, 2004). The oxide, silicate, and car-
bonate-based zinc ores which are not amenable to
treatment by conventional processes can be viably
treated in a purely hydrometallurgical processing
route. A key feature is that special high-grade
(SHG) zinc cathode (N99.995% Zn) is produced at
the mine site: this is rarely seen for sulphide ore
processing (Mart n et al., 2002).
A simplified flowsheet of the process is given in
Fig. 13 (Sole, 2001). Following an atmospheric leach
in sulphuric acid, iron, aluminium, and silica are
removed from solution by precipitation. Zinc is then
selectively extracted by SX with D2EHPA, enabling
the electrowinning of SHG zinc. The selection of SX
as the purification step serves several purposes. The
ore is an oxidised silicate containing soluble chloride
and fluoride minerals, with an average grade of
10.6% Zn. The choice of a cation exchanger ensures
rejection of the halides as well as the base metals that
Zinc silicate ore
Comminution
Atmospheric leach
Neutralisation
Thickening
CaCO
3
Zn SX
D2EHPA
Zn EW
SHG Zn cathode
Filtration and
washing
Precipitation of
basic zinc sulphate
Bleed to effluent treatment
Reacidification
H
2
SO
4
CaCO
3
Fe, Al, Si
H
2
SO
4
Residue
H
2
SO
4
(ZnO)
3
ZnSO
4
Secondary filtrate
Primary filtrate
Cementation
of impurities
Zinc dust
O/F
U/F
Zinc silicate ore
Comminution
Atmospheric leach
Neutralisation
Thickening
CaCO
3
Zn SX
D2EHPA
Zn EW
SHG Zn cathode
Filtration and
washing
Precipitation of
basic zinc sulphate
Reacidification
H
2
SO
4
CaCO
3
Fe, Al, Si
H
2
SO
4
Residue
H
2
SO
4
(ZnO)
3
ZnSO
4
Secondary filtrate
Primary filtrate
Cementation
of impurities
Zinc silicate ore
Comminution
Atmospheric leach
Neutralisation
Thickening
CaCO
3
Zn SX
D2EHPA
Zn EW
SHG Zn cathode
Filtration and
washing
Precipitation of
basic zinc sulphate
Reacidification
H
2
SO
4
CaCO
3
Fe, Al, Si
H
2
SO
4
Residue
H
2
SO
4
(ZnO)
3
ZnSO
4
Secondary filtrate
Primary filtrate
Cementation
of impurities
Zinc dust
O/F
U/F
Fig. 13. Simplified process flowsheet for the recovery of zinc at Skorpion Zinc (from Sole, 2001).
are deleterious to zinc EW. SX also successfully
upgrades the zinc from the rather dilute leach liquor
(30 g/L), produced as a consequence of the leach
conditions dictated by the elevated silica content
(~26%) of the ore, to an advance electrolyte contain-
ing 90 g/L Zn that is suitable for EW. Soluble losses
of zinc in the filtration step are minimised by employ-
ing dilute leach liquor, and the problematic formation
of silica gel is avoided. The use of 40 vol.% D2EHPA
in Escaid 100 (a partially aromatic diluent) allows
high zinc transfer in the extraction circuit without
the need for neutralisation. This ensures that the
acid generated by the extraction reaction is available
for leaching on recycle of the raffinate and minimises
co-extraction of calcium.
Tecnicas Reunidas were responsible for the provi-
sion of the zinc SX technology, which is based on the
Modified Zincex Process developed for the treatment
of secondary materials (D az et al., 1994, 1995; Gar-
c a et al., 2000). The plant is the largest yet built for
zinc SX, with an aqueous feed flowrate of 960 m
3
/h and
an annual cathode production of 150000 tonne. The
SX circuit comprises three extraction stages, three
washing stages, two stripping stages, and an organic
regeneration stage (Fig. 14). Zinc transfer of 20 g/L
across the extraction circuit is achieved. The first two
stages of the washing circuit use demineralised water
to remove physically entrained impurity species; di-
luted spent electrolyte is employed as a scrub liquor
in the third wash stage to remove co-extracted impu-
rity species from the loaded organic phase by means
of crowding by zinc and the reversal of equilibrium
by the high-acid strength. Iron build-up on the organ-
ic phase is controlled by treating a bleed stream with
6 M HCl.
A conventional mixer-settler design has been
employed, with settlers of area 2525 m
2
. Entrained
organic phase is removed from the raffinate and ad-
vance electrolyte by a combination of flotation and
carbon adsorption. Because the raffinate is recycled to
the leaching circuit, a bleed for removal of impurities
is required. Base metals such as copper, cobalt, nickel,
Raffinate
PLS
Zn EW
H
2
O
E1 E2 E3 W1 W2 W3 S1 S2 R
Stripped
organic
6 M HCl
Stripped
organic
Aqueous
Organic
> 99.995% Zn
Raffinate
PLS
Zn EW
H
2
O
E1 E2 E3 W1 W2 W3 S1 S2 R
Stripped
organic
6 M HCl
Stripped
organic
Aqueous
Organic
Aqueous
Organic
> 99.995% Zn
Fig. 14. Skorpion Zinc SX circuit configuration (from Cole and Sole, 2002).
Table 7
Specification for special high-grade zinc and advance electrolyte
Element Permitted concentration Element Permitted concentration
Advance electrolyte (mg/L) Zinc cathode (%) Advance electrolyte (mg/L) Zinc cathode (%)
Zn N90000 99.995 Pb 0.0015
Mn 2000 Cu 0.001
Cd b0.05 0.0015 Se b0.1
Co b0.05 Cl b100
Ni b0.05 F b20
Sb b0.02 Sn 0.001
Ge b0.02 Al 0.001
Fe b5.0 0.001
and cadmium that co-precipitate with zinc are removed
from the primary filtrate by cementation with zinc
dust. The halides and magnesium exit in the secondary
filtrate that is treated first for zinc recovery by the
precipitation of basic zinc sulphate ((ZnO)
3
.ZnSO
4
).
This zinc is returned to the main circuit by recycling
the precipitate as a neutralising agent.
The flexibility of the SX operation in handling the
impurities present in the PLS is indicated by Table 7,
which shows the permitted concentrations of various
metals in solution to ensure the production of SHG
zinc (British Standard, 1996).
The feasibility study showed that Skorpion Zinc
will be one of the lowest cost zinc facilities in the
world, with an expected production cost of US$
0.25/lb (Garc a et al., 2000).
6. Precious metals
6.1. Harmony Gold, South Africa
The Minataurk (Mintek Alternative Technology
for Au Refining) Process is a novel route for the
refining of gold that was developed and commercia-
lised by Mintek, South Africa. Gold-bearing materials
are leached in HCl, and then SX is employed for the
purification of the leach liquor. Gold recovery from
solution is via precipitation with SO
2
. Gold of purity
99.99 or 99.999% can be achieved, depending on the
operating conditions. A variety of gold-containing
sources are amenable to treatment in this manner.
The first of these refineries was established at
Harmony Gold Mine in Virginia, South Africa, in
1997, processing gold slimes from the electrowinning
circuit that typically contained ~80% Au and 8% Ag
(Fig. 15) (Feather et al., 1997; Sole et al., 1998). The
circuit was designed to produce 24 t/a high-purity
gold. Following the significant commercial success
of this project, the ease of operation of the process,
and the forgiving nature of the technology, a new
refinery was commissioned in 2001 which currently
produces up to 400 kg/d of gold powder (Feather et
al., 2002b). Some of the performance parameters of
the SX circuit are presented in Table 8, while the
purification capabilities of the SX operation are
shown in Table 9.
The production of this high-purity gold on site at
the mine has enabled a variety of other value-added
products to be manufactured, including ten-tola bars
Scrubbing
(5 stages)
Leach
AgCl/SiO
2
residue 99.99% Ag
Extraction
(3 stages)
Cl
2
Cathode sludge from EW
(50 85 % Au)
Reduction
Silver recovery
and refining
PLS ~ 65 g/l Au
L
S
HCl
Stripping
(4 stages)
Loaded strip liquor
~ 80 g/l Au
99.99% Au
Barren
solution to
CIP circuit
SO
2
Raffinate
Lixiviant
make up
Organic phase
Scrub liquor
Strip liquor
Scrubbing
(5 stages)
Leach
AgCl/SiO
2
residue 99.99% Ag
Extraction
(3 stages)
Cl
2
Cathode sludge from EW
(50 85 % Au)
Reduction
Silver recovery
and refining
PLS ~ 65 g/l Au
L
S
HCl
Stripping
(4 stages)
Loaded strip liquor
~ 80 g/l Au
99.99% Au
Barren
solution to
CIP circuit
SO
2
Raffinate
Lixiviant
make up
Organic phase
Scrub liquor
Strip liquor
Fig. 15. Schematic of the gold refining process at Harmony Gold (adapted from Sole et al., 1998 and Feather et al., 2002b).
(99.9% Au), gold granules, and gold potassium cya-
nide. Harmony has now established its own brand
name, Harmony Pure Gold.
While Harmony still remains the flagship of the
Minataurk process, more recently other refineries
have been established by Agenor in Algeria (25 kg/d
Au) for the processing of dore bullion and by Al
Ghurair, a private gold trading concern in Dubai (100
t/a on a 12-h shift per day), which uses jewellery and
electronic scrap as the feed material (Scott and Match-
ett, 2004).
6.2. Anglo Platinum Precious Metals Refinery, South
Africa
Anglo Platinums Precious Metals Refinery at Rus-
tenburg has been in the forefront of SX developments
for the refining of the PGMs. The technologies
employed today were largely developed by Matthey
Rustenburg Refiners in the UK, and production
started at the Rustenburg site in 1989. Today, this is
the largest PGM refinery in the world, with annual
production of 116000 oz/a Au, 2.3 million oz/a Pt,
and 1.2 million oz/a Pd. Ruthenium, rhodium, iridium,
and osmium are also produced with purities varying
from 99% to 99.99%.
The PGM-bearing concentrates are leached under
aggressive conditions in a chlorine/HCl medium.
Gold is removed first from the chloride leach liquor
by SX using methylisobutylketone (MIBK), an oxy-
gen-donor solvating reagent where selectivity is large-
ly based on the chargesize ratio of the chloroanion.
The liquor is then processed sequentially for the re-
covery of palladium by SX using a b-hydroxyoxime,
platinum by SX using an amine extractant, ruthenium
removal by distillation, iridium SX using a novel
amide extractant, and finally rhodium recovery by
IX. In each case, a pure solution of the respective
metal is obtained, which is then subjected to a reduc-
tion to produce the pure metal powder or sponge. The
final products are obtained by melting to obtain
ingots, granules, or good delivery bars.
While specific details of the SX refining steps
remain closely guarded, several publications in the
open literature give interesting insight to the clever
chemistry and novel ideas that have been employed in
the development of these processes (Cleare et al.,
1979; Charlesworth, 1981; Benner et al., 1991; Mooi-
man, 1993; Al-Bazi and Chow, 1984; Harris, 1993).
7. Uranium
7.1. Rossing Uranium, Namibia
Part of the Rio Tinto Group, Ro ssing is one of the
largest open-cast uranium mines in the world. It is
situated in Namibia, 65 km inland from the coastal
town of Swakopmund in the Namib Desert. Annual
mined tonnage is approximately 21 million tonnes,
with U
3
O
8
production of 3200 t/a and reserves avail-
able for another 16 years (Ro ssing, 2004).
The uranium-bearing ore body is mined by blast-
ing and loading the rock with electric shovels onto
180 tonne haultrucks, whereby it is delivered to the
primary crushers which reduce the rock to an aver-
age size of 16 cm. It is further reduced to sand grain
size in three additional crushing and milling stages.
Uranium is extracted by leaching in sulphuric acid.
Following solidliquid separation by a combination
of rotoscoops and CCD, uranium is recovered from
solution by IX using Duolite A101-DU resin. The
adsorbed uranium is then stripped from the resin
beads with dilute sulphuric acid (SX raffinate) to
Table 8
SX performance in the refining of gold by SX using the Minataurk
process at Harmony Gold Mine (from Feather et al., 2002b)
Parameter Value
Extraction
Extraction efficiency for gold (%) N99
Gold concentration in leach solution (g/L) 65
Organic loading of gold (g/L) 64
Gold concentration in raffinate (g/L) b0.1
Stripping
Strippping efficiency (%) N99.7
Gold concentration in loaded strip liquor (g/L) 82
Au: impurities in loaded strip liquor (%) N99.97
Table 9
Upgrading capababilities of the Minataur process (from Feather et
al., 2002b)
Solution Au Ag Cu Fe Pb Se
Leach liquor (g/L) 65 0.5 8.3 0.2 1.3 0.02
Loaded strip
liquor (g/L)
82 b0.001 b0.001 b0.001 b0.002 0.002
form a more concentrated solution. This is pumped
to an SX plant where it is further concentrated and
the remaining impurities removed. Gaseous ammo-
nia is added to the LSL, resulting in the precipitation
of ammonium diuranate (ADU) or dyellow cakeT.
This is dried and roasted to produce Ro ssings
final product, uranium oxide (U
3
O
8
), in a grey-
black powder form.
IX is carried out in four trains of Porter continuous
ion-exchange contactors, each with six units. PLS
from the CCD circuit and resin are moved counter-
currently on a continuous basis. Resin is transferred
between stages by airlift. Loaded resin is transferred
to one of three elution columns per train, where it is
eluted of uranium in three counter-current stages with
sulphuric acid. Uranium concentration is raised to 3 to
5 g/L in the eluate.
The SX circuit uses glass fibre-reinforced plastic-
lined mixer settlers designed by Davy Powergas in
the mid-1970s. The organic phase is 7 vol.% Ala-
mine 336 and 3 vol.% isodecanol in Shellsol 2325.
The SX plant has two trains of five extraction stages.
The loaded organic from both trains is combined and
scrubbed in two scrub stages. Scrubbed organic is
stripped with ammonium sulphate at pH 4.2 in four
strip stages. The pH in the strip circuit is controlled
by addition of ammonium hydroxide. The LSL con-
tains 1516 g/L uranium. A portion of the stripped
organic phase is regenerated in a single stage using
sodium carbonate.
7.2. Vaal River South Uranium Plant, South Africa
Payable quantities of uranium commonly occur
together with the gold-bearing minerals of the Witwa-
tersrand reef in South Africa. Since the early 1970s
several plants have been built to recover the uranium,
but only one, AngloGold Ashantis Vaal River South
Uranium Plant, remains in operation today.
The Vaal River plant was commissioned in 1979
and currently treats 220000 t/m run-of-mine ore to
produce 74 t/m U
3
O
8
. The ore is first subjected to an
acidic leach to dissolve the uranium before reporting
to the gold recovery plant. This dreverse leachT prac-
tice is said to significantly enhance gold recovery at
the sister gold plant. The uranium in the uranitite
mineral requires oxidation from the tetravalent to the
hexavalent species before solubilisation can occur. In
the sulphuric acid leach oxidation is achieved using
ferric ions produced by oxidation of the ferrous
present in the pulp with manganese dioxide. Urani-
um is upgraded from the leach liquor using IX in
NIMCIX columns and is further purified using SX.
The aqueous feed (28 m
3
/h) to the SX plant contains
3 to 4 g/L U
3
O
8
. The organic phase comprises 5
vol.% alkyl amine and 2 vol.% isodecanol dissolved
in illuminating kerosene. Uranium is extracted in
three stages. The loaded organic phase is first
scrubbed using water in three stages before passing
to a further three stages where ammonium sulphate
solution is used to strip the uranium. Ammonium
hydroxide solution is used to raise the pH in the strip
circuit. The organic phase is then regenerated using
caustic solution in one stage.
8. Tantalum and niobium
8.1. Tantalite Resources, South Africa
An operation at Isithebe on the KwaZulu-Natal
north coast of South Africa is recovering tantalum
and niobium from mineral sands originating in
Mozambique. Plant design capacity is 90 t per
month of ore, grading approximately 30% Ta
2
O
5
.
The process design consists of multiple stages, includ-
ing published technology (Feather et al., 2000b) and
some unique technology developed internally. High
purity Ta
2
O
5
is currently being produced (360 t/a),
with Nb
2
O
5
expected to follow shortly.
The source material is leached in concentrated
hydrofluoric acid to yield a fluoride solution contain-
ing tantalum and niobium. Tantalum is then selectively
extracted from the leach liquor. Co-extracted impuri-
ties are scrubbed from the loaded organic phase, be-
fore tantalum is stripped and precipitated from the
organic phase. Calcined product purity of N99.99%
has been achieved. Selectivity from other impurities
such as Si, Fe, Ti, Mg, and Mn can also be obtained.
9. Conclusions
During the late 1970s, southern Africa saw the
commissioning of many of the early commercial SX
processes, including those for copper, uranium, and
the precious metals. The past decade has again expe-
rienced a burgeoning of SX technology with the
commissioning of the Skorpion Zinc, Harmony
Gold, and Kasese Cobalt operations, as well as circuit
upgrades at various sites. A number of new projects
are at advanced stages, and several new base metal
circuits are expected to come on-line within the next
few years. SX remains an important part of copper
processing in Zambia, while innovative reagent
choices and circuit configurations are emerging for
the processing of nickel, cobalt, and zinc. The pro-
duction of high-purity precious and specialty metals,
such as platinum, palladium, gold, rhodium, iridium,
tantalum, niobium, and vanadium by SX is also
attracting significant interest, but details of some of
these operations remain closely guarded.
The southern African subcontinent has one of the
highest concentrations of mineral wealth anywhere,
and the value-added recovery of a multitude of
industrial minerals and metals is expected to increase
into the future, particularly as a consequence of the
Nepad (New Partnership for African Development)
initiatives and improved political stability in this
region. The choice of SX as a processing option is
likely for many systems which employ aqueous met-
allurgy, rather than pyrometallurgy. An interesting
future for this unit operation in this part of the
world is predicted.
10. Dedication
This paper is dedicated to Prof Michael J. Slater on
the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his editorship
of Hydrometallurgy. His wide-ranging technical ex-
pertise and commitment to excellence in research,
combined with his hard work, meticulous attention
to detail, and unflagging enthusiasm, were largely
responsible for the high calibre submissions and ex-
cellent international reputation which this journal
enjoys today. We are honoured to have worked with
you, Mike, and wish you a long and happy retirement.
Acknowledgements
The cooperation and assistance of past and present
operational staff in providing information for many of
the sites discussed, as well as the permission of the
respective managements to publish the information, is
much appreciated. Thanks are also extended to Doug
Alexander (AARL) for his insightful comments on
this manuscript. This paper has been prepared with
the permission of Anglo American Research Labora-
tories, Cognis Corporation, and Matomo Projects.
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An update of some recent hydrometallurgical developments

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