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MINERA TRES VALLES’S METALLURGICAL TEAM EXHIBITS CHLORIDE LEACHING PROJECT
IN COPPERCLOR SEMINAR

 

The Third Technical Seminar on the Use of Seawater and Chlorinated Solutions in Copper Metallurgy was organized by Árbol Minero, a company dedicated to providing specific training programs in mining, and it was sponsored by Federico Santa María Technical University.


The third edition of CopperClor was held on Thursday, April 5th at the Radisson Hotel in the city of Santiago. By bringing together exhibitors from different areas of mining production, a space for analysis was created in order to discuss the technical and economic implications of the use of seawater and chloride solutions in copper metallurgy.


Isabel Espinosa, General Manager at Árbol Minero, emphasized that “the central focus of this third seminar was to bring together specialists on the topic of using seawater and chloride solutions in the copper industry. As organizers, we are very pleased with the grand participation of various mining companies, such as Minera Tres Valles, BHP, Codelco, and more. Our goal is to continue growing these networks in order to form an atmosphere of camaraderie, and above all, to exhibit the latest technologies in the field.”


The sodium chloride leaching project carried out by the Minera Tres Valles research and development team, which is formed by both the areas of metallurgy and the processing plant, took part in this thematic exhibition of the third CopperClor Seminar. The presentation highlighted the significance of adding sodium chloride in the agglomeration stage as it brings forth beneficial consequences for the process, such as the improvement of total copper recovery, a 40% decrease in acid consumption, and lastly, the reduction in leaching time from 300 to 120 days on average.


For Eduardo Hasan, Superintendent of Metallurgy at Minera Tres Valles and representative of its salt leaching project at this seminar, this was “a very satisfactory experience, since we achieved the objective of making the leaching process in chloride medium known, which is an innovation for the industry. As one of the assistants said, these instances are very important since a lot of research is done, but companies do not generally share their experiences.”


It should be noted that the entire research and development team of Minera Tres Valles was present, which consists of Eduardo Hasan, Superintendent of Metallurgy, Ricardo Vergara, Plant Superintendent, Víctor Valdivia, Project Manager, and Felipe Guerrero, Junior Metallurgist.