Leaching of atacamite (Cu2(OH)3Cl) using dilute sulphuric acid

The oxidised zone at the Mount Gunson, South Australia, copper mine contains copper in the form of atacamite. Copper at the Mount Gunson mine is currently being recovered by both heap and inplace leaching followed by cementation onto scrap iron. It was the purpose of this study to investigate the suitability of the ore to agitation leach processing. Agitation leaching was conducted at pH 2, and the results were subjected to kinetic analyses.