Sustainable Mining and Metallurgy

In this paper, the electrolytic experiment of a complex crude copper with high precious metal content and low copper content was carried out to realize the efficient recovery of copper and precious metals and other valuable elements. The results show that under the conditions of copper ion concentration of 45g/L, current density of 200~250A/m2, temperature of 45℃ and cycle speed of 20~40mL/min, the morphology of cathode copper is dense and smooth, and the current efficiency is more than 97%. When Ag+＜0.03g/L and Cl-＜0.01g/L in the electrolyte are controlled, the silver inclusion and surface roughness of cathode copper can be effectively avoided. Adding 0.01g/L bone glue to the electrolyte can increase the purity of cathode copper to 99.95%. The purity of cathode copper was 99.95%, and the contents of Au and Ag were 0.0002% and 0.0012%, respectively. The precious metals in the crude copper are efficiently enriched in the anode slime. The Au grade is increased to 8.43%, which is 8.3 times higher than that of the raw material, and the Ag grade is increased to 0.35%, which is 11.6 times higher than that of the raw material.