Analyzing the Economic Significance of Implementing a Hydrometallurgical Method of Copper Extraction in Zimbabwe.

Mangura Mine in Zimbabwe has been operating under a traditional copper mining method for the past few decades. This mining method is referred to as the pyrometallurgical process. The process involves copper ore extraction, crushing, milling, floatation, concentrating and smelting. With the low copper grades reported at the mine, this multi-stage process is not highly effective to extract this metal. The energy, labor and other expenses incurred in pollution control, have been high. The mine is downsizing every year and it is expected to close in the foreseeable time horizon, even though they still have copper reserves at their property. This project was aimed at providing an effective approach to the future of extracting low grade copper through using a hydrometallurgical extraction process. The hydrometallurgical method is a multi-stage process involving the leaching of copper ore, solvent extraction and electrowinning. The economic viability of implementing a hydrometallurgical process for extracting copper was evaluated. The paper demonstrated the feasibility of the hydrometallurgical process in extracting low grade copper at the mine. A detailed extraction process was developed with the goal of recovering 2.9 million metric tons of copper per year with 99.9 wt.% minimum purity. The return on investment was estimated to be more than 200%. All the findings indicated that implementing a hydrometallurgical process should be the future of Mhangura Mine.