A study was carried out to determine the influence of the temperature and the reaction involved on the leaching of coppermatte. Copper (Cu) bearing matte from Impala Refinery (Pty) Ltd was used in the investigation. The experiments were conducted in a leaching cell submerged in a water bath, with ammonia concentrations (leaching solution) of 3.0M, temperature of 50°C, 60°C and 70°C, pH of 11 and for a time period of 130 minutes. Leaching tests indicated that Cu recovery increased in the temperature range 50°C - 60°C, however at a temperature of 70°C Cu recovery decreases because of cementation process as nickel displace copper. The shrinking core model was used to determine if the leaching process was diffusion controlled, or chemical controlled, or even mixed controlled. It was found that the leaching process could not be determined using the shrinking core model due to the cementation process of Cu. It was concluded that an increase in temperature results in an increase in the Cu recovery however the temperature should not be too high as cementation process increase with increasing temperature

Belaid, Mohamed

Muzenda, Edison

Ntuli, Freeman

Ramatsa, I.M.

Tshwabi, P.M.

English

Abstract: Please refer to full text for abstrac

Muzenda, E.

Ntuli, F.

Belaid, M.

Tshwabi, P.M

Name not available

  
 
Abstract—A study was carried out to determine the influence of 
the temperature and the reaction involved on the leaching of copper-
matte. Copper (Cu) bearing matte from Impala Refinery (Pty) Ltd 
was used in the investigation. The experiments were conducted in a 
leaching cell submerged in a water bath, with ammonia 
concentrations (leaching solution) of 3.0M, temperature of 50˚C, 
60˚C and 70˚C, pH of 11 and for a time period of 130 minutes. 
Leaching tests indicated that Cu recovery increased in the 
temperature range 50˚C - 60˚C, however at a temperature of 70˚C Cu 
recovery decreases because of cementation process as nickel displace 
copper. The shrinking core model was used to determine if the 
leaching process was diffusion controlled, or chemical controlled, or 
even mixed controlled. It was found that the leaching process could 
not be determined using the shrinking core model due to the 
cementation process of Cu. It was concluded that an increase in 
temperature results in an increase in the Cu recovery however the 
temperature should not be too high as cementation process increase 
with increasing temperature. 
 
Keywords—Cementation, diffusion controlled, Leaching, matte, 
recovery. 
I. INTRODUCTION 
HE extraction of copper metals from matte (mixture of 
metal sulphides and precious metals) has been a critical 
process in the refining of precious metals. Matte is produced 
from the smelting of sulphide ores to separate the valuable 
metals from the gangue (waste material). Base (copper) metals 
are normally recovered from the precious metals by leaching 
leaving behind a solid residue rich in precious metals and 
producing a base metal rich liquor.  
Leaching is the extraction of a soluble constituent from a 
solid by means of a solvent [1]. Generally the leaching 
process can be considered by the change of phase of solute as 
it dissolves in the solvent, diffusion of the solute through the 
solvent in the pores of the solute to the outside of the particles 
and the transfer of the solute from the solution in contact with 
the particles to the main bulk of the solution. An active 
chemical solution known as a lixiviant or leaching solution is 
brought into contact with the ore (or concentrate). The transfer 
of a metal from ore to lixiviant constitutes a transfer from a 
solid to a liquid phase. Because the dissolution is selective, 
most of the unwanted components in the ore are unaffected by 
the leaching process and remain in the solid state. 
Consequently, the metal is separated from them when the 
solids are separated from the solution after the leach process 
has been completed. The solution that is produced is termed a 
pregnant solution or leach liquor. The solid product is termed 
the residue or tailings. 
II.  LEACHING AGENT 
Ammonia as an effective leaching agent has been widely 
used in a number of Hydrometallurgical processes. The main 
advantage is that the basic leach solution alleviates corrosion 
problems encountered in the acid systems. Ammonia is also 
advantageous in that ammonia and ammonium ion constitute a 
pH buffer solution. However, it has the disadvantage of 
operating at relatively high temperature and pressure. 
Extraction of copper using ammonia solutions proceeds in 
an analogous way as that of using acid solutions. However, it 
is necessary to consider metal complexing by ammonia 
molecules: 
++ =+ 24332 )(4 NHMNHM                                         (1) 
Hence, the extraction can be described as: 
wowoww OHNHMROHHRHNHM 422
2
43 42220)( +=+++ −+
                                                                                             (2) 
It is possible to extract out the copper metal almost completely 
at a single extraction stage when using an appropriate 
concentration of ammonia. A combination of ammonia and 
ammonium salt is known to be a powerful lixiviant used in 
hydrometallurgical processes [2]. Fig. 1 shows the X – ray 
diffraction pattern for matte before and after leaching at 
different times.  
 
 
Fig. 1 X-ray diffraction pattern for matte, (a) before leaching, (b and 
c) after leaching at different times 
 
Test work has been performed using atmospheric leaching 
by comparing the leaching efficiency of dilute sulphuric acid-
oxygen system and ferrous solution-oxygen system as 
leaching agents (Makhubela, 2008). Leaching with acidified 
ferrous solution resulted in higher Cu recovery of 60% as 
An Investigation into the Effect of Temperature 
on the Leaching of Copper-Matte  
E. Muzenda, IM Ramatsa, F. Ntuli, M. Belaid, and PM Tshwabi 
T 
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 52 2011
992
  
compared to dilute sulphuric acid 40%. However, more 
information is required in terms of understanding the 
mechanisms and kinetics of the process before a full-scale 
operation is designed. 
III. MATERIALS AND METHODS 
A. Material 
The material used in this investigation was Cu matte from 
Impala Refinery. The chemical composition of the matte is 
shown in Table I and Fig. 2 below. The principal phases 
present in the matte were heazlewoodite (Ni3S2), chalcocite 
(Cu2S), djurleite (Cu1.9S) and nickel alloy. The leaching 
solution used was ammonium solution. 
 
 
 
Fig. 2 SEM showing matte particles and major phases present 
 
The as-received matte was wet and dried in an oven. The 
matte was screened to obtain the desired particle size 
distribution of -75μm. The temperatures investigated were 
50˚C, 60˚C and 70˚C.  
 
TABLE I 
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE MATTE 
Element / Chemical Matte (wt %)  
Al2O3 0.65 
Co 0.29 
Cu 23 
Ni 37 
Pd 0.15 
Pt 0.2 
S 10 
Fe2O3 1.1 
 
B. Experimental Procedure and Equipment 
The leaching tests were performed in a 3-litre stainless steel 
vessel provided with baffles, a cover, a thermometer, a pH 
electrode and fitted with a variable speed overhead stirrer. The 
stirrer had a blade type impeller and the rate of stirring was set 
by a tachometer. The set-up was then placed in a water bath 
with temperature control. Effect of temperature on the 
leaching of copper matte was investigated. Temperature 
values ranged between 50–70°C and the stirring speed was set 
to 106 rpm, while the particle size fractions was -75μm.  
The typical experimental procedure was as follows: 3M of 
ammonia solution was added to the leaching vessel and heated 
to the desired temperature. Then 66.69g of the matte was 
added and the stirrer was set to the required speed. At 
predetermined time intervals, pH of the reaction mixture was 
monitored and samples taken using a pipette and immediately 
filtered. At the end of each experiment, the pulp was filtered. 
C. Analysis of Samples 
The samples were analysed at the University of 
Johannesburg: metallurgy and chemistry laboratories. The 
solution samples were analyzed for Ni and Cu using 
inductively coupled plasma (ICP) and Atomic absorption 
spectroscopy (AAS).  
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
The effect of temperature on the leaching behaviour of 
copper matte was investigated by varying it from 50˚C to 
70˚C while keeping the other variables constant and also to 
determine what kind of reaction involved.  
The results obtained indicated that increasing the 
temperature from 50˚C to 60˚C increased both the rate and 
degree of copper recovery (Fig. 2) but however after 30min 
copper recovery drops and starts to increase after 45min and 
decrease again after 95min, this is caused by cementation 
process as nickel displaces copper. At temperature of 70˚C 
copper recovery decreases and this decrease is caused by the 
fact that at high temperatures ammonia starts to evaporate into 
the air. Fig. 4 shows the cumulative recovery of copper at 
different temperature and that as temperature increases 
recovery also increases but at temperature of 70˚C, the 
opposite of what is expected from the literature happens. 
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 15 30 45 60 95 130
C
u 
R
ec
ov
er
y,
 %
Time, min
50˚C 60˚C 70˚C
 
Fig. 3 Copper recoveries as a function of leaching time at different 
temperatures 
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0 15 30 45 60 95 130
C
u 
C
um
ul
at
iv
e 
R
ec
ov
er
y,
 %
Time, min
50˚C 60˚C 70˚C
 
Fig. 4 Copper cumulative recoveries as a function of leaching time at 
different temperatures 
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 52 2011
993
  
Fig. 5 shows that increasing the temperature from 50˚C to 
60˚C increased both the rate and degree of nickel recovery 
even though at time interval of 15min the rate of nickel 
recovered at 50˚C was higher than that at 60˚C. A temperature 
range of 60˚C to 70˚C also showed an increase in the rate of 
nickel recovery in agreement with literature. The nickel 
recovery at 70˚C started to decrease after 45min compared to 
that at 60˚C that decreased after 60min. This is because 
ammonia evaporates to the atmosphere at high temperatures. 
After 60min time interval all the recoveries at all three 
different temperatures decreased and this is because most of 
the nickel has been recovered 
Fig. 6 indicated the cementation process that took place at 
optimum temperature of recovery for copper.  The recovery of 
both copper and nickel increased with time up to 30 minutes. 
After 30min copper recovery started to decrease while nickel 
recovery continued to increase, that was due to cementation 
process as nickel displaced copper. Copper recovery started to 
increase after 45minutes. After 60min both metals recoveries 
decreased as they have been extracted from the matte. 
 
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Ni
 Re
co
ve
ry
, %
Time, min
50˚C 60˚C 70˚C  
Fig. 5 Nickel recoveries as a function of leaching time at different 
temperatures 
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 50 100
M
et
al
 R
ec
ov
er
y,
 %
Time, min
Cu 60˚C Ni 60˚C  
Fig. 6 Comparison of metal recoveries between Copper and Nickel at 
60 ˚C 
 
The dissolution kinetics of the metal was characterized with 
the shrinking core model using copper dissolution kinetics 
data obtained from the experiments conducted. The equation 
describing reaction controlled by diffusion [1-3(1-X)2/3+2(1-
X)] through surface layer (Fig. 7a) only gave the best fit for 
50˚C and not at 60˚C and 70˚C. Equation describing reaction 
controlled by a surface chemical reaction [1-(1-X)1/3] (Fig. 7b) 
only gave the best fit at 50˚C and not for 60˚C and 70˚C. 
Equation describing reaction controlled by a mixed controlled 
process [1-3(1-X)2/3+2(1-X) + a[1-(1-X)1/3] (Fig. 7c) only 
gave the best fit at 50˚C and 60˚C and not for 70˚C. 
0
0.005
0.01
0.015
0.02
0.025
0 50 100
1-
3(
1-
X)
^2
/3
 +
 2
(1
-X
)
Time, min
50˚C 60˚C 70˚C
 
Fig. 7a Plot of 1-3(1-X)2/3 + 2(1-X) vs time for the leaching of copper 
at different temperatures for the diffusion controlled reaction 
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07
0.08
0.09
0.1
0 50 100
1-
(1
-X
)^
1/
3
Time, min
50˚C 60˚C 70˚C
 
Fig. 7b Plot of 1-(1-X)1/3 vs time for the leaching of copper at 
different temperature for the chemically controlled reaction 
0
50
100
150
200
0 20 40 60 80 100 120[1
‐3
(1
‐X
)^
2
/3
 +
 a
[1
‐(
1
‐X
)^
1
/3
]
Time, min
50˚C 60˚C 70˚C
 
Fig. 7c Plot for 1-3(1-X)2/3 + 2(1-X) + a[ 1- (1-X)1/3] vs time for the 
leaching of copper at different temperature for the mixed controlled 
reaction 
V. CONCLUSION 
• The results showed copper recovery increased from the 
temperature range of 50˚C to 60˚C, and beyond 60˚C 
recoveries decreased.  
• The optimum temperature is 60˚C as there   was a 
higher recovery of copper leached and a faster rate of 
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 52 2011
994
  
leaching obtained as compared to the temperatures of 
50˚C and 70˚C.  
• None of the three models fits the obtained data at all 
temperatures. 
• The deviation might be caused by the cementation 
process as the nickel displaces copper.  
• The shrinking core model is not a suitable model when 
using copper dissolution data obtained from the 
experiment as copper undergoes cementation process. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
The authors are indebted to the Department of Chemical 
Engineering of the University of Johannesburg for financial 
support.  
 
REFERENCES   
[1] F. Habashi, Textbook of Hydrometallurgy, 2nd ed., Lavel University, 
Quebec City, Canada,  p. 65-195, 1979. 
[2] K. H. Park, D. Mohapatra, B. R. Reddy and C. W. Nam,  “A study on the 
oxidative ammonial/ammonium sulphate leaching of a complex (Cu-Ni-
Co-Fe) matte,” Hydrometallurgy, vol. 86, pp.164-171, 2007 
[3] R. M. Lamya, “A fundamental evaluation of the atmospheric pre-
leaching section of the nickel-copper matte treatment process,” 
Extractive Metallurgical Engineering, PhD Dissertation, University of 
Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2007. 
[4] J. Szymanowski, Hydroxyoximes and copper hydrometallurgy, CRC 
Press, Inc., 1993. 
[5] L. C. Woollacott and R. H. Eric, “Minerals and Metals Extraction : An 
Overview,”  The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 
Johannesburg, 1994. 
[6] N. Demirkiran, A. Ekmekyapar, A. KunKul, and A. Baysar,  “A kinetic  
study of copper cementation with zinc in aqueous solutions,”  
Hydrometallurgy, 82, pp. 80-85, 2007. 
[7] J. W. Arrowsmith, Advances in extractive Metallurgy:  The institution of 
mining and metallurgy, 1968. 
[8] O. Levenspiel, Chemical reaction engineering, 2nd ed., John Wiley and 
Sons, 1972, pp. 360-368. 
[9] L. Lorenzon and  J. S. J. van Deventer, “The interrelation between 
mineral liberation and leaching behavior,”  International Journal of 
Mineral Processing,  vol. 41, no. 1 – 2, pp. 1-15, 1994. 
[10] K. L. Rees, and J. S. J. van Deventer, “The effect of ore type on leaching 
and adsorption dynamics at Telfer gold mine,” Minerals Engineering, 
vol. 14, no. 8, pp. 887-900, 2001. 
[11] P. Harriot, W. L. McCabe and J. C. Smith, Unit Operations of Chemical 
Engineering, 5th ed., McGraw-Hill Book Company, St. Louis, MO, 
1993, pp. 739-772. 
[12] W. Stange, R. P. King and L. Woollacott, “Towards more effective 
simulation of CIP and CIL processes, 2. A population - balanced - based 
simulation approach,”  J. S. Afr. Min. Metall., vol. 90, no. 11, pp. 307 – 
314, 1990.  
[13] F. A. Forward and A. Peters, Leaching. SME Mineral Processing 
Handbook, New York, vol. 2, 1985, pp. 12-13. 
[14] D. M. Muir, A. J. Parker and D. E. Giles, Cuprous hydrometallurgy (V). 
Leaching of copper-lead matte with copper (II) sulphate in aqueous 
acetonitrile. Proc. Aust. Inst. Min. Metall., vol. 272, pp. 5-12, 1972.  
[15] J. F. Richardson , J. H. Harker  and J. R. Backhurst, 2002. Chemical 
Engineering: Particle Technology and Separation Processes. 5thedition. 
London: Butterworth-Heineman 
[16] D. Feng and J. S. J. Van Deventer, “Leaching behavior of sulphides in 
ammonical thiosulphate systems,” Hydrometallurgy, vol. 63, no. 2. pp. 
189-200, 2002.  
[17] M. Lwambiyi, K. Maweja, K. Kongolo, N. M. Lwambiyi and M. 
Diyambi, Hydrometallurgy, vol. 98, issues 1-2, pp. 177-180, 2009. 
[18] T. Havlik and R. Kammel, “Leaching of chalcopyrite with acidified 
ferric chloride and carbon tetrachloride addition,” Minerals Engineering, 
vol. 8, issue 10, pp. 1125-1134, 1995. 
 
 
  
 
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 52 2011
995


An investigation into the effect of temperature on the leaching of copper-matte

University of Johannesburg Institutional Repository

   Abstract—A study was carried out to determine the influence of the temperature and the reaction involved on the leaching of copper-matte. Copper (Cu) bearing matte from Impala Refinery (Pty) Ltd was used in the investigation. The experiments were conducted in a leaching cell submerged in a water bath, with ammonia concentrations (leaching solution) of 3.0M, temperature of 50˚C, 60˚C and 70˚C, pH of 11 and for a time period of 130 minutes. Leaching tests indicated that Cu recovery increased in the temperature range 50˚C - 60˚C, however at a temperature of 70˚C Cu recovery decreases because of cementation process as nickel displace copper. The shrinking core model was used to determine if the leaching process was diffusion controlled, or chemical controlled, or even mixed controlled. It was found that the leaching process could not be determined using the shrinking core model due to the cementation process of Cu. It was concluded that an increase in temperature results in an increase in the Cu recovery however the temperature should not be too high as cementation process increase with increasing temperature.  Keywords—Cementation, diffusion controlled, Leaching, matte, recovery. I. INTRODUCTION HE extraction of copper metals from matte (mixture of metal sulphides and precious metals) has been a critical process in the refining of precious metals. Matte is produced from the smelting of sulphide ores to separate the valuable metals from the gangue (waste material). Base (copper) metals are normally recovered from the precious metals by leaching leaving behind a solid residue rich in precious metals and producing a base metal rich liquor.  Leaching is the extraction of a soluble constituent from a solid by means of a solvent [1]. Generally the leaching process can be considered by the change of phase of solute as it dissolves in the solvent, diffusion of the solute through the solvent in the pores of the solute to the outside of the particles and the transfer of the solute from the solution in contact with the particles to the main bulk of the solution. An active chemical solution known as a lixiviant or leaching solution is brought into contact with the ore (or concentrate). The transfer of a metal from ore to lixiviant constitutes a transfer from a solid to a liquid phase. Because the dissolution is selective, most of the unwanted components in the ore are unaffected by the leaching process and remain in the solid state. Consequently, the metal is separated from them when the solids are separated from the solution after the leach process has been completed. The solution that is produced is termed a pregnant solution or leach liquor. The solid product is termed the residue or tailings. II.  LEACHING AGENT Ammonia as an effective leaching agent has been widely used in a number of Hydrometallurgical processes. The main advantage is that the basic leach solution alleviates corrosion problems encountered in the acid systems. Ammonia is also advantageous in that ammonia and ammonium ion constitute a pH buffer solution. However, it has the disadvantage of operating at relatively high temperature and pressure. Extraction of copper using ammonia solutions proceeds in an analogous way as that of using acid solutions. However, it is necessary to consider metal complexing by ammonia molecules: ++ =+ 24332 )(4 NHMNHM                                         (1) Hence, the extraction can be described as: wowoww OHNHMROHHRHNHM 422243 42220)( +=+++ −+                                                                                             (2) It is possible to extract out the copper metal almost completely at a single extraction stage when using an appropriate concentration of ammonia. A combination of ammonia and ammonium salt is known to be a powerful lixiviant used in hydrometallurgical processes [2]. Fig. 1 shows the X – ray diffraction pattern for matte before and after leaching at different times.    Fig. 1 X-ray diffraction pattern for matte, (a) before leaching, (b and c) after leaching at different times  Test work has been performed using atmospheric leaching by comparing the leaching efficiency of dilute sulphuric acid-oxygen system and ferrous solution-oxygen system as leaching agents (Makhubela, 2008). Leaching with acidified ferrous solution resulted in higher Cu recovery of 60% as An Investigation into the Effect of Temperature on the Leaching of Copper-Matte  E. Muzenda, IM Ramatsa, F. Ntuli, M. Belaid, and PM Tshwabi T World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 52 2011992  compared to dilute sulphuric acid 40%. However, more information is required in terms of understanding the mechanisms and kinetics of the process before a full-scale operation is designed. III. MATERIALS AND METHODS A. Material The material used in this investigation was Cu matte from Impala Refinery. The chemical composition of the matte is shown in Table I and Fig. 2 below. The principal phases present in the matte were heazlewoodite (Ni3S2), chalcocite (Cu2S), djurleite (Cu1.9S) and nickel alloy. The leaching solution used was ammonium solution.    Fig. 2 SEM showing matte particles and major phases present  The as-received matte was wet and dried in an oven. The matte was screened to obtain the desired particle size distribution of -75μm. The temperatures investigated were 50˚C, 60˚C and 70˚C.   TABLE I CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE MATTE Element / Chemical Matte (wt %)  Al2O3 0.65 Co 0.29 Cu 23 Ni 37 Pd 0.15 Pt 0.2 S 10 Fe2O3 1.1  B. Experimental Procedure and Equipment The leaching tests were performed in a 3-litre stainless steel vessel provided with baffles, a cover, a thermometer, a pH electrode and fitted with a variable speed overhead stirrer. The stirrer had a blade type impeller and the rate of stirring was set by a tachometer. The set-up was then placed in a water bath with temperature control. Effect of temperature on the leaching of copper matte was investigated. Temperature values ranged between 50–70°C and the stirring speed was set to 106 rpm, while the particle size fractions was -75μm.  The typical experimental procedure was as follows: 3M of ammonia solution was added to the leaching vessel and heated to the desired temperature. Then 66.69g of the matte was added and the stirrer was set to the required speed. At predetermined time intervals, pH of the reaction mixture was monitored and samples taken using a pipette and immediately filtered. At the end of each experiment, the pulp was filtered. C. Analysis of Samples The samples were analysed at the University of Johannesburg: metallurgy and chemistry laboratories. The solution samples were analyzed for Ni and Cu using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) and Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS).  IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The effect of temperature on the leaching behaviour of copper matte was investigated by varying it from 50˚C to 70˚C while keeping the other variables constant and also to determine what kind of reaction involved.  The results obtained indicated that increasing the temperature from 50˚C to 60˚C increased both the rate and degree of copper recovery (Fig. 2) but however after 30min copper recovery drops and starts to increase after 45min and decrease again after 95min, this is caused by cementation process as nickel displaces copper. At temperature of 70˚C copper recovery decreases and this decrease is caused by the fact that at high temperatures ammonia starts to evaporate into the air. Fig. 4 shows the cumulative recovery of copper at different temperature and that as temperature increases recovery also increases but at temperature of 70˚C, the opposite of what is expected from the literature happens. 05101520250 15 30 45 60 95 130Cu Recovery, %Time, min50˚C 60˚C 70˚C Fig. 3 Copper recoveries as a function of leaching time at different temperatures 010203040506070800 15 30 45 60 95 130Cu Cumulative Recovery, %Time, min50˚C 60˚C 70˚C Fig. 4 Copper cumulative recoveries as a function of leaching time at different temperatures World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 52 2011993  Fig. 5 shows that increasing the temperature from 50˚C to 60˚C increased both the rate and degree of nickel recovery even though at time interval of 15min the rate of nickel recovered at 50˚C was higher than that at 60˚C. A temperature range of 60˚C to 70˚C also showed an increase in the rate of nickel recovery in agreement with literature. The nickel recovery at 70˚C started to decrease after 45min compared to that at 60˚C that decreased after 60min. This is because ammonia evaporates to the atmosphere at high temperatures. After 60min time interval all the recoveries at all three different temperatures decreased and this is because most of the nickel has been recovered Fig. 6 indicated the cementation process that took place at optimum temperature of recovery for copper.  The recovery of both copper and nickel increased with time up to 30 minutes. After 30min copper recovery started to decrease while nickel recovery continued to increase, that was due to cementation process as nickel displaced copper. Copper recovery started to increase after 45minutes. After 60min both metals recoveries decreased as they have been extracted from the matte.  0246810120 20 40 60 80 100 120Ni Recovery, %Time, min50˚C 60˚C 70˚C  Fig. 5 Nickel recoveries as a function of leaching time at different temperatures 05101520250 50 100Metal Recovery, %Time, minCu 60˚C Ni 60˚C  Fig. 6 Comparison of metal recoveries between Copper and Nickel at 60 ˚C  The dissolution kinetics of the metal was characterized with the shrinking core model using copper dissolution kinetics data obtained from the experiments conducted. The equation describing reaction controlled by diffusion [1-3(1-X)2/3+2(1-X)] through surface layer (Fig. 7a) only gave the best fit for 50˚C and not at 60˚C and 70˚C. Equation describing reaction controlled by a surface chemical reaction [1-(1-X)1/3] (Fig. 7b) only gave the best fit at 50˚C and not for 60˚C and 70˚C. Equation describing reaction controlled by a mixed controlled process [1-3(1-X)2/3+2(1-X) + a[1-(1-X)1/3] (Fig. 7c) only gave the best fit at 50˚C and 60˚C and not for 70˚C. 00.0050.010.0150.020.0250 50 1001-3(1-X)^2/3 + 2(1-X)Time, min50˚C 60˚C 70˚C Fig. 7a Plot of 1-3(1-X)2/3 + 2(1-X) vs time for the leaching of copper at different temperatures for the diffusion controlled reaction 00.010.020.030.040.050.060.070.080.090.10 50 1001-(1-X)^1/3Time, min50˚C 60˚C 70˚C Fig. 7b Plot of 1-(1-X)1/3 vs time for the leaching of copper at different temperature for the chemically controlled reaction 0501001502000 20 40 60 80 100 120[1‐3(1‐X)^2/3 + a[1‐(1‐X)^1/3]Time, min50˚C 60˚C 70˚C Fig. 7c Plot for 1-3(1-X)2/3 + 2(1-X) + a[ 1- (1-X)1/3] vs time for the leaching of copper at different temperature for the mixed controlled reaction V. CONCLUSION • The results showed copper recovery increased from the temperature range of 50˚C to 60˚C, and beyond 60˚C recoveries decreased.  • The optimum temperature is 60˚C as there   was a higher recovery of copper leached and a faster rate of World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 52 2011994  leaching obtained as compared to the temperatures of 50˚C and 70˚C.  • None of the three models fits the obtained data at all temperatures. • The deviation might be caused by the cementation process as the nickel displaces copper.  • The shrinking core model is not a suitable model when using copper dissolution data obtained from the experiment as copper undergoes cementation process. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors are indebted to the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Johannesburg for financial support.   REFERENCES   [1] F. Habashi, Textbook of Hydrometallurgy, 2nd ed., Lavel University, Quebec City, Canada,  p. 65-195, 1979. [2] K. H. Park, D. Mohapatra, B. 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An investigation into the effect of temperature on the leaching of copper-matte

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