TECHNICAL

PAPERS

Application of the Shrinking Core Model

for Copper Oxide Leaching

J. L. Shafer, M. L. White, and C. L. Caenepeel

Introduction
Often an in situ leach is the only practical economic method
for copper recovery from small low grade oxide deposits. The
decision to develop a copper property by an in situ blast and
leach is strongly dependent on ore grade, tonnage, hydrology,
and the copper extraction and acid consumption rates. The
inherent leachability of the ore will in part determine the
desired amount of fracturing of the ore deposit by the blast in
order to obtain a copper extraction rate that is economical.
For the last several years Occidental Research Corp. (ORC),
has undertaken a modest effort to address the question of how to
best identify and determine the information necessary to predict
and control the operation of an in situ leach for the economic
recovery of copper.

Modelling of the Leaching Process

During the past 10 years the activity in the mathematical
modelling of the leaching of copper sulfides in copper dumps
and heaps has increased dramatically. The modelling of copper
oxide leaching has not received as much attention. The acid
leaching of non-sulfide copper minerals while chemically less
complex, compared to sulfides, does generate a vertical acid

MINING ENGINEERS

concentration gradient in the ore heap being leached due to the

acid-base nature of the reaction. This is generally not observed
in sulfide deposits that are biologically active, due to the buffering action of opposing reactions involving the generation of
sulfuric acid from sulfide minerals and acid consuming host
rock. Thus, the objective of ORC 's copper oxide modelling efforts is to determine the leaching parameters which will account
for this vertical acid concentration gradient. Knowledge of this
gradient will result in the correct choice of the feed acid concentration to the top of the ore dump or heap, such that the effluent will have the desired pH.
J. L. Shafer, Member SME-AIME, is Staff Engineer for Minerals
Technology Div., Exxon Research and Engineering Co. in
Florham Park, New Jersey. He was formerly associated with
Occidental Research Corp. Martha L. Whlte was affiliated with
Occidental Research Corp. in La Verne, Calif. Chrlstopher L.
Caenepeel is with the California State Polytechnic Univ. in
Pomona, Calif. SME preprint 778402, SME Fall Meeting and
Exhibit, St. Louis, Mo., October 1977. Manuscript Oct. 10, 1977.
Discussion of this paper must be submitted, in duplicate, prior
to April 30, 1979. In accordance with the Postal Service
Regulations, this material has been assessed a page charge
and is considered advertisement for postal purposes.

This page of SME-AIME Transactions follows page 70. The intervening

non-Transactions pages appeared in MINING ENGINEERING.

MINING ENGINEERING

165

One of the first analytical leaching models was developed by

Taylor and whe1an.l Although these authors could predict
future recovery from a coarse particle leach knowing past
recovery, their model could not be used in scale up work.
~ a m s developed
2
a diffusion rate controlling model which unfortunately uses an extremely difficult to measure size
distribution parameter.
Some of the most noteworthy efforts to predict the behavior of
a heap or in situ leach have been made by WadsworthS and
Roman, et al.4 In both of these studies both small and large
column leach tests have been used to isolate important design
parameters.

In this latter equation the surface reaction and pore diffusion

resistances are defined by equation (6) and 7).

Once the effective surface reaction rate constant and effective

pore diffusion coefficient have been evaluated equations (6) and
(7) may be used to determine if the leaching rate is limited by
surface reaction or pore diffusion rates or if it is a combined
kinetic process.

Reaction Zone Model

In 1972 wadsworth3 ~ublisheda reaction zone model that
correlated well with primary copper sulfide leaching data.526
Later Pohlman and 0lson7 successfully applied this same model
in a kinetic study of the acid leaching of chrysocolla. Models
similar to the reaction zone model have previously been
proposed for high temperature gas solid reactions by ~ a l e n s i 8
and ~ o s s . 9
The reaction zone model essentially involves steady state diffusion of the reactants through the previously reacted portion of
the ore fragment and a subsequent first order surface reaction at
the reactive particle site. The model is based on the assumptions
that the rock is isotropic and that reactants and products of the
leaching process are transported in the solution-filled channels
within the individual ore fragments. The effective area of
mineral particles within the moving reaction zone is essentially
constant and independent of the mineral particle size
distribution. Finally, circulation of the leach solution around
the individual ore particles is sufficient so that bulk solution
transport is not rate controlling.
The differential and integrated (assuming constant lixiviant
concentration) forms of th;reaction zone kodel for a multiparticle sized ore are summarized in equations (1) and (2).

-] i =
do
=ti

1 1-',J,)2/3
l/3

Fa
erGJ:j
1 Glc )

1-2/3c1i-(1-cJi,2/3

1'

- [:-(1-.:J1)'/31
dlK;

111
113,
11-1: - a )
11

%
G;K?
J

( 2i

Zoe
0s

(3)

I=
Or0

'

4'

The effective pore diffusion coefficient De is a function of the

coefficient of diffusion, a sphericity factor and a factor which
accounts for both particle porosity and the tortuosity of the diffusion path. In a similar manner the effective surface reaction
rate constant, p, is dependent upon the actual surface reaction
rate constant, the reaction zone thickness, and the average
radius and density of the ore particle consituent being leached.
It should be pointed out that one may use equation (1)
coupled with experimental data to judge the relative importance of the surface reaction and pore diffusion rates. This can be
accomplished by rewriting equation (1) in a form that parallels
the universal rate law, i.e.,
daji
C~
=d t
RSR+ RPD

166

FEBRUARY 1979

--

Driving Force
Resistance

Roman, et a1,4 have developed an unreacted shrinking core

diffusion model which is essentially a simplification of the reaction zone model. In essence these authors assume that the surface reaction rate constant, p, for some leaching processes is very
large and thus the surface reaction resistance in equation (5)
and (6) is near zero. Therefore, for these processes the leaching
rate is pore diffusion rate controlled. The differential and integrated forms (assuming constant lixiviant concentration) of
the shrinking core model are outlined in equations (8) and (9),
respectively.
d

"1

(51

i3ne!,cH(
=
1-c,,)1/3
FrcGjr12 [ 1 - ( l - ~ ~ ~ ) ~ / ~ ~

2/3a?i

( I -a1i)2/3

= 2 ~ D eC ~ t i

18)

19)

+- c ~' 2i r , ~

Application of Mathematical Models

As is indicated by equation (2) and (9), the reaction zone and
the shrinking core models may be easily used to predict the
leaching history of a monosized leach with constant lixiviant
concentration provided the key rate constants (De and /I) are
known. Use of the models for a multiple particle sized leach
requires that the models be applied to each particle size ri and
then the extent of reaction (ati)at any time tifor all the p&ticle
sizes may be easily computed from equation (10).

The constants P' and y are measures of the relative importof the rate of surface reaction and the rate of diffusion of the
reactants and products within the individual ore particles.
These two constants are specificallydefined in equations (3) and
(4).
6' =

Shrinking Core Model

st,

=El", a j i
I

IiO)

The utilization of these same models for a column leach of

Ore
yet
because the
lixiviant solution reacts with the individual ore particles and
becomes depleted in reagent as it flows downward through the
ore. To account for this effect the following equation may be
used to determine axial variation of the acid in the column.

In essence it is assumed that the change in lixiviant concentration is directly proportional to the change in copper concentration in the same lixiviant solution. Unfortunately the proportionality factor aa, which is called the acid consumption number, is not constant. It tends to vary with the effective particle
size, the lixiviant concentration, the gangue constituents in the
host rock and the extent of reaction.
At this time it must be emphasized that although all of the
necessary equations for proper modelling of a copper oxide
leach have been identified, their application is not necessarily
straight forward because the resultant differential equations
must be solved numerically. However, ~ o m a n 4has developed a
numerical analysis technique which overcomes most of the ap-

SOCIETY O F

parent difficulties. The proposed numerical analysis

methodology involves treating column leaches as a series of
finite differential volumes. Vertical variation within the column
in size distribution, ore grade, concentration, etc., are therefore
reflected in the characteristics assigned to each differential
volume. Finally the differential volumes are placed on top of
one another in order to simulate the leaching history of the entire column.
Because this proposed numerical solution technique is
designed to take into account the vertical acid concentration
gradient, that portion of ORC ' s modelling efforts which
verified the ability of the proposed paradigms to "model" and
"predict" leaching behavior is reported here. A clear distinction
is being made between the usage of the words "model" and
"predict. " It is quite possible to have a mathematical expression
which will "model" or correlate well with a set of leaching
data-but not necessarily be able to "predict" the leaching
behavior of the same ore under a different set of experimental
conditions. This latter property will be the true test of the
validity of a proposed paradigm.

Experimental Procedure and Method of Data Analysis

Ore Preparation-Although our preliminary test work was with
monosized material in small diameter columns, it was felt that
in general "leachability tests" would be best performed on
muiti-particle size ore. It was rationalized that ;his would be
more representative of the particle size distribution, mineralogy
and physical characteristics that exist in a typical in situ leach.
The rest of this paper describes the column leaching studies
which were performed on a particular 2273 kg (5000 Ib) sample
of minus 20.3 cm (8 in.) rock from a low grade copper oxide
deposit. An 1818 kg (4000 lb) sample of this ore was crushed to -7.6 cm (-3 in.) and 454 kg (1000 lb) were crushed to -5.1 cm (-2
in.) with 95% -3.8 cm (-1.5 in.). Both of these samples were
distributed into thirty one 208 L (55 gal) barrels with the aid of
a rotating chute. Approximately 25% of the two samples was
then separated out for screen and copper
analysis. T h e
remaining ore was saved for column leach studies. Sampling
statistics would indicate that to achieve a trulv re~resentative
sample of -7.6 cm (-3. in.) rock a minimum sample size of 13.618.2 tons (15.0-20.0 st) would be required. Thus one can only
expect to obtain an approximate head copper assay and screen
analysis.
After screen analysis on the "representative sample" - every
screen size was staged crushed to -0.63 cm (-y4 in.). At this point
a sample was split out and set aside to back generate a composite
sample of the original -7.6 cm (-3 in.) or -5.1 cm (-2 in.) ore. This
was similarly repeated on -100 mesh pulverized material from
each sample. These two composited samples were then used for
beaker leach test to determine initial acid consumption and the
relative importance of the surface reaction rate constant.
Chemical analysis of the ore indicated 0.45% total copper,
0.39% acid soluble copper and 0.45% hot acidified ferric
sulfate soluble copper. Thus the bulk of the copper is nonsulfide and the sulfide which is present is not chalcopyrite. The
copper minerals which have been identified are brochantite
CuS04.3Cu(OH)2. The actual acid consumption by the beaker
leach tests was approximately 4-5 g of acid/g copper at 60% extraction.
2

Beaker Leach Tests-A stirred vat acid leach on monosized ore

was performed with the pH being maintained constant. The
resulting leaching response was used to judge the relative importance of the surface reaction and pore diffusion resistances as
previously defined in equations (6) and (7). The results of this
analysis indicate that for effective particle sizes in excess of 0.02
cm the pore diffusion resistance is dominant (82%) after the

MINING ENGINEERS

10% of the leaching reaction. Since the pore diffusion resistance

becomes more dominant with increasing particle size and since
the particle sizes selected for the remaining tests were clearly in
excess of 0.02 cm the remainder of the model verification study
has been restricted to the shrinking core model.
Small Column Leach Tests-Two acid trickle leach tests were
performed in cylindrical PVC columns 1.8 m (6 ft) by 0.15 m (6
in.). Each column was loaded with approximately 45 kg (100 lb)
of -5.1 cm (-2 in.) ore. Both columns were leached with an
aqueous sulfuric acid solution with a concentration of 15 g/L.
To study shrinking core model over a range of conditions, the
acid solution flow rate to one of the two column leach tests was
established at the high flow rate (designated HFR) of 1.8
~/rnin/mZ(0.044 gal/min/ft2). The flow rate to the second
column was set at a lower flow rate (designated LFR) of 0.22
~/rnin/rnZ(0.0054 gal/min/ft2) which is more typical for a
commercial scale in situ leach. Because of this difference in
lixiviant feed rate the effluent acid concentration histories from
the two columns were drastically different. The HFR leach test
had a nearly constant effluent acid strength of 14 g / L
throughout the period of the leach while the LFR leach had for
the period of the leach a uniformly increasing effluent acid
strength (7 g/L after 5 days, 11 g/L after 10 days and 12 g/L after 15 days).
The physical properties of the ore, the variation of the acid
consumption number a n d the measured time variation of the
extent of reaction were used with the shrinking core model to
isolate the key rate constant. The effective diffusion coefficient
"Den(6 X 10-8 cm2/sec for LFR test and 8 X 10-8 cm2/sec for
HFR test) was obtained by selecting the calculated curve which
gave the best visual fit to the HFR and LFR experimental data
(Fig. 1). Since the shrinking core model does not have a functional dependency between lixiviant concentration and effective diffusion coefficient, the two computed effective diffusion
coefficients should be relatively close. The reported deviation in
the two values of De was thought to be due to observed differences between the "representative sample" particle size
distribution which was initially used and that which was obtained from the post mortem ore analysis (Table 1). The LFR
test data was subsequently rerun with the particle size
distribution obtained from the post mortem ore analysis. It was
found that the effective diffusion coefficient for the LFR test
run increased to 7 X 10-8cm2/sec.
At this time it must be noted that throughout this study the
percent copper recovered has been based on total copper and
not on the basis of oxide copper. The justification for this, as indicated in Table 1 is that the amount of sulfide copper (total
copper-oxide copper) decreases to nearly the same extent as the

91

&
&
-,'

CALCULATED DATA

W FLOW RATE

%MAN'S 'Omm. ~ r ~ o ~ ~ c m ~ / ~

r
K
A

HlOH FLOW RATE

,A

1I5

20
I

25
1

TIME [DAYS)

Fig. 1 -Copper recovery on small column leach test.

MINING ENGINEERING

167

Table 1-Screen and Copper Analyses on Ore in 15 cm (6 in.)

Diameter Column

SCREEN

ASSAY (Y. Cul

ASSAY

1% Cut

Fig. 3-Free acid, pH, So2-2 profile for feed acids for threecolumn leach.

total of oxide copper. This same post mortem copper analysis of

the leached ore gives further support to the shrinking core
model in that the larger particles do not leach nearly as well as
the smaller ones.
Large Column Leach Test-As a true test of the validity of the
shrinking core model used in this study the modelling parameters
derived from the previously described small column leach tests
were used to predict the behavior of a three large column (connected in a series) leach test. The large columns were 2.43 m (8
ft( by 0.38 m (15 in.) and each was filled with 359 kg (792 Ib) of
-7.6 cm (-3 in.) ore for a total of 1078 kg (2376 Ib). The flow
schematic in Fig. 2 indicates the leaching operation with the
three columns connected in series. As opposed to the earlier
leach tests the effluent stream from the third column was
decopperized by cementation on scrap iron and subsequently
reacidified for recycle back to the feed acid tank. The use of an
aeration tank following the cementation column was an attempt
to air oxidize the ferrous iron in solution to ferric and ferric
hydroxide. This step would subsequently control iron build-up
in the acid solution and provide the ferric ions essential to the
leaching of the copper sulfides. As was not totally unexpected
the aeration was nearly ineffective since only approximately 6%
of the total iron was precipitated.
T h e feed acid r a t e averaged 0.23 ~ / m i n / m 2(0.0057
gal/min/ft2, about the same as the previously described LFR
test) and the feed acid concentration was varied to hopefully
achieve a constant effluent pH of about 2. The modelling results
from the small column leach tests were used to predict this
variable feed acid concentration.
The key characteristics of the feed sulfuric acid solution are
presented in Fig. 3. The seemingly irrational behavior of the

COLUMN 2

sulfate concentration and p H which both differ drastically from

the clearly defined stepwise behavior of the free acid concentration is attributable to periodic fresh water additions to the
feed acid tank. This was necessitated because of spills,
evaporation, and solution removal for analytical samples. As
would be expected the pH profile follows the sulfate profile even
though the free acid strength may be the same due to the buffering effect of the sulfate and bisulfate ions. The final total iron
(ferric and ferrous) concentration at the end of the leach was
about 11 g/L. The concentration of the ferric in the influent for
most of the leach was about 1 g/L.
Figures 4, 5 and 6 summarize the data obtained from the
three column leach during the 63 days of leaching. Figure 4
'describes the acid concentration history for both the influent
and effluent streams for each column. The effluent free acid
concentration history, apart from reflecting the changes in feed
acid concentration, also reflects fluctuations in feed acid flow
rates, analytical errors, and equipment malfunction. Despite
the scatter in the data the general trend of increasing effluent
acid concentration for a fixed feed acid is apparent. The objective was generally to feed as strong a concentration of acid as
possible so that the effluent stream exiting the ore heap had the
desired pH.
Figure 5 is a plot of the net copper effluent (copper outcopper in) for each column separately. There are several interesting observations to be made from this figure. First, columns
two a n d three initially remove copper from solution;
therefore, the net copper concentration is negative. This obser-

COLUYU 3

F E E D SOLUTION
COLUMN I
COLUMN 2
COLUMN 3

5 - S b M P L I N G POINT

0
0

16

24

32

40

48

56

64

72

_I
80

T I M E (DAYS)

Fig. 2-Multi-column

168

FEBRUARY 1979

leaching system

Fig. 4-Acid profile vs. time three column leach.

SOCIETY O F

COLUMN
48

COLUMN 2

W
0

COLUMN3

- - - TOP COLUMN
-. - MIDOLE COLUMN
BOTTOM COLUMN

16

24

32
TlME

Fig. 6-Percent

I
10

20

30

40

50

I
60

70

TlME IDAYS)

Fig. 5-Effluent

coppervs. time three column leach.

vation is consistent with the data in Fig. 4 which indicates that

during this same time period there was little if any free acid in
the effluent stream of these two columns. Thus for a brief initial
time period copper is dissolved and then reprecipitated. Second,
the maximum net concentration of copper obtained
decreases as one follows the flow of solution from the first to the
last column. This is obviously caused by the decreasing acid
concentration seen by each column. Lastly, it must be noted
that all three columns appear to have approximately the same
rate of copper extraction after about the eighth day of leaching.
This can be explained by the rather fortuitous counterbalancing
of opposing effects. The amount of copper left to be extracted
increases from column one to three, a factor favoring an increase in copper extraction; however, this effect is opposed by
the decreasing acid concentration from column one to three.
The temporal variation of the percent copper extracted from
each of the three columns separately is plotted in Fig. 6. It
should be noted that 47% of the total copper was extracted in
63 days from the three columns collectively.
After acid leaching for 63 days the ore was removed from
each column and then screened and each size fraction was
prepared for copper analysis. Table 2 summarizes the screen
and copper analysis before and after leaching. The post mortem
analysis does indicate a small amount of acid decrepitation of
the rock. On the basis of a material balance using the copper
remaining in the leached ore and the copper as dissolved in the
solution the head assay should have been 0.50% instead of the
0.45% value which was calculated on the basis of chemical
analysis of a "representative" sample. To correct for this error
the average head assay of the copper leached was taken as
0.50%. This was accomplished by multiplying the copper assay
of each screen fraction by .50/.45 or 1.11. This appeared to be
somewhat less arbitrary than setting the copper assay for all
screen fraction equal to 0.50%.

Predictions
Aside from possible mitigating circumstances, an inability to
predict the leaching behavior of 1078 kg (2376 lb) of -7.6 cm(-3

MINING ENGINEERS

48

40

56

64

(DAYS)

copper recovered vs. time three column leach.

in.) copper oxide ore in the three 2.43 X 0.38 m (8 ft X 15 in.)

column leach from the leach tests on 45 kg (100 lb) of -5.1 cm (column leach from the leach tests on 45 kg (100 lb) of -5.1 cm
(-2 in.) in a 1.82 X 0.15 m (6 ft X 6 in.) column ought to infer an
;ests,which by their very nature cannot be nearly as well controlled. The converse is not necessarily true.
The experiment and the predicted leaching curves for the extraction of copper from the three column leach are presented in
Fig. 7. The input to Roman's model was the "De" value (8.0 X
10-8 cmZ/sec) determined from the HFR leach since its particle
size distribution was less subject to question. At the end of the 63
days of leaching 47% of the copper had actually been extracted
and the shrinking core model predicted 43% (a relative error of
only 8.5%). An attempt was made to model the three column
leach with the shrinking core model. The effective diffusion
coefficient De for the three column leach was found to be 10 X
10-8 cm2/sec. This compares rather favorably with the value of
8 X 10-8cmz/sec obtained for the HFR leach.
The relative closeness of the value of Roman's "De" as
determined for the HFR leach test, 8 X 10-8 cm2/sec and the
value of 10 X 10-8cmz/sec obtained for the three column leach
indicates that the experimental differences, as summarized in
Table 3, had either minimal effects or cancelled each other.
The discrepancy between the two diffusion coefficients may be
attributed to the fact that Roman's effective diffusion coefficient contains a tortuosity factor and a geometry factor (a
measure of departures from sphericity) which wouldn't
necessarily be the same for the -7.6 cm (-3 in.) and -5.1 cm (-2
in.) rock. Another major difference between the two leach tests
was the recycle of effluent in the three column leach whereas in
the HFR leach there was no recycle or sulfate build-up. As has
already been illustrated in Fig. 3 recycling causes the sulfate
concentration to more than double. This factor causes the pH to
increase for a fixed free acid concentration. Also it is standard

Table 2-Screen and Copper Analyses on Three-Column Leach

-

SCREEN
SIZE

SCREEN ANALYSES IWT ?.I

lHIT,AL

COLUMN
I

COLUMN

--

COPPER ANALYSES I % TOTAL Cul

COLUMN
3

l ~ l ~ l A L COLUMN
I

76mn5.km

18.8

16 5

19.1

19.2

5.0an~2.k

60.7

61.0

59.8

61.5

2kmn19sm

5 7

4.7

4.0

3.9

1.9cm11.2cm

6.0

6.0

6.2

6.2

12crn10Sm

5.2

7.2

6.6

6.8

.42

-0.6sm

3.6

4.8

4.3

2.4

5 0

TOTAL

1000

1000

100.0

100.0

45

COLUMN

COLUMN
3

MINING ENGINEERING

169

Table 5-The Effect of Parameter Variation ( + 10%)

on Copper Recovery

PARAMETER
AVE. RADIUS
GRADE OF ORE

% CHANGE I N
COPPER RECOVERY
4.7

% SATURATION
% VOIDS

a,
CH
Ccu
De

-4.0

S.G. OF ORE
ACID CONSUMPTION

Nomenclature

-4.0

2
rj
ti
wj
at;

0.0

aji

+ 1.3

8'
0
y
o

ACID CONCENTRAT lON

FLOW RATE

+ 4.0

Acid consumption number

Concentration of Lixiviant (moles/cc)
Concentration of Copper in Lixiviant Solution
(moles/cc)
Effective diffusion coefficient (cmZ/sec)
Grade of ore of particle size rj
Molecular wt of ore constituent being leached
(g/moles)
Radius of particle (cm)
Time (sec)
Wt function of particles of size rj
Predicted total fraction of ore extracted from range
of particle sizes at time ti
Predicted fraction of ore constituent leached with
particle size r. at time ti
Constant dedned in equation (3) - cm
Effective surface reaction rate constant - cm/sec
Constant defined in equation (4) - cm5/mole-sec
Molar acid consumption - moles of acid/moles of
copper
Bulk density of ore g/cc

+ 4.0
References

copper extraction was 4 and 8 g of sulfuric acid/g of copper,

respectively. The acid consumption for the HFR and LFR
column leach test at 47% extraction was 5.6 and 5.2, respectively. The three column leach test had an acid consumption of
4.8. The acid consumption increases as the copper extracted increases and thus cannot be taken as constant. These observations clearly indicate that leach tests need to be designed
which, apart from determining a value for the effective diffusion coefficient, will also determine how the acid consumption
varies throughout the period of the leach.

Conclusions
The shrinking core diffusion model which does take into account the vertical acid concentration gradient, is able to
"model" the leaching data from three different leach tests. The
ability of the model to "predict" the leaching behavior for a
relatively large scale column leach test on coarse ore has been
verified. However, it must be pointed out that in addition to the
chemical leaching kinetics, copper recovery depends to a large
extent on the "effective in-place" particle size distribution
created by the blast, the permeability, and uniformity thereof,
in the blast-fractured zone, and the ability to maintain solution
flow with a minimum amount of channeling.
Typically the percent voids in an actual in situ leach will be
only a third of what is obtained in a column leach test. Because
of this there is considerable particle to particle contact and individual particles will be blinded by each other. As blinding increases, the particles will behave like larger particles with a coarser apparent size distribution. lo This phenomenon has been observed in recent studies published by D'Andrea, et al.11 In this
investigation it was demonstrated that the authors' full scale in
situ operation leached drastically slower than their model
prediction. In fact the observed leaching rate was less than the
model would have predicted based on the average particle size
prior to rubblization. Thus it may be assumed that the shrinking
core kinetic model will most likely predict an upper limit for the
extraction rate in a field test.

MINING ENGINEERS

l ~ a ~ l oJ.r ,and Whelan, P. T . , "The Leaching of Cuprous

Pyrites and the Precipitation of Copper at Rio Tinto, Spain,"
Institution of Mining and Metallurgy Bulletin, No. 457, Nov.
1942, pp. 1-36.
Z ~ a r r i sJ.
, A,, "Development of a Theoretical Approach to the
Heap Leaching of Copper Sulfide Ores, " Australian Institute of
Mining and Metallurgy Proceedings, No. 250, 1969, pp. 91-92.
S ~ a d s w o r t h M.
, E., "Rate Processes in Hydrometallurgy, "
Second Tutorial Symposium on Extractive Metallurgy, University of Utah, 1972.
4 ~ o m a nR.
, J., Benner, B. R., and Becker, G. W., "Diffusion
Model for Heap Leaching and It's Application to Scale-up,"
Trans., AIME, Vol. 256, 1974, pp. 247-252.
S ~ a d s e n B.
, W., Wadsworth, M. E., and Grover, R. D., "Application of Mixed Kinetic Model to the Leaching of Low Grade
Copper Sulfide Ore, " Trans. AIME, Vol. 258, 1975, pp. 69-74.
G ~ ~ l a F.
n , F., McKinney, W.A., and Pernichele, A.D.,
Solution Mining Symposium, Society of Mining Engineers and
the Metallurgical Society of AIME, Dallas, February 25-27,
1974. Braun, R. L., Lewis, A. F., and Wadsworth, M. E., "In
Place Leaching of Primary Sulfide Ores: Laboratory Leaching
Data and Kinetic Model, " pp. 295-323.
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