Microwave Testing of Bulk Copper-Nickel Concentrates from the Duluth Complex
1999-08
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Microwave Testing of Bulk Copper-Nickel Concentrates from the Duluth Complex
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1999-08
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University of Minnesota Duluth
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Technical Report
Abstract
EM Technologies Inc. (EMR), a subsidiary of EMR Technologies Corporation of
Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, has developed a process to treat sulfide ores using microwave
heating in a controlled atmosphere fluidized bed. The controlled atmosphere is designed to convert
the sulfur in the sulfide minerals to elemental sulfur and thereby, eliminate the production of sulfur
dioxide. In addition, the capital costs are estimated by EMR to be significantly lower than pressure
oxidation.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR), through the Minerals
Coordinating Committee (MCC), sponsored preliminary testing of this process on some bulk
flotation concentrates produced from copper-nickel mineralization from the Babbitt deposit in the
Duluth Complex (Benner et al., 1998). Mr. George Glumac (private consultant who made the
original proposal to MCC) monitored the test work at EMR, the Natural Resources Research
Institute (NRRI) handled project administration, and the Coleraine Minerals Research Laboratory
(CMRL) supplied the sample and critiqued EMR's report. Since the mid-1990s, CMRL has been
evaluating methods of processing the copper-nickel bearing material from the Duluth Complex.
Research to date has shown that flotation can produce a bulk sulfide concentrate containing about
2% of the weight, 90% of the nickel, and 60% of the total nickel. Pressure oxidation leaching of this
bulk concentrate can extract over 99% of both the copper and nickel.
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Funded by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources; Coleraine Minerals Research Laboratory, One Gayley Avenue, Box 188, Coleraine, MN 55722; and Missabe Iron and Steel, 3526 3rd Avenue West, Hibbing, MN 55746.
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Benner, Blair R; Glumac, George. (1999). Microwave Testing of Bulk Copper-Nickel Concentrates from the Duluth Complex. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, .
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