Prospects for combined dressing of copper ores of the Udokan deposit

Abstract

The copper-bearing horizon of the Udokan deposit is composed of gray fine-grained quartzitelike sandstones. The principal nonmetallic minerals are quartz and feldspar. The ore complex is of bornite, chalcocite magnetite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite.The sulfide mineralization is nonuniformly distributed; together with fine disperse disseminations there are very rich sections, amounting in places to almost continuous sulfide ores. The textures of the ores are disseminated, with lens-shaped flecks, less often massive; the oxide ores are brecciated and filmy or crusty.The ores in this deposit are characterized by two main mineral parageneses, spatially separated and containing two varieties --magnetite--bornite-chalcocice and pyrite-chalcopyrite. Sulfide, mixed, and oxide types of ore are distinguished by their degree of oxidation. For working these, flotation enrichment with collective concentrate production is recommended. The quality of the concentrate from the chalcopyrite ores is less good than that of the chalcocite-bornite ones, and moreover, as the copper oxide content of the ore increases, the process of separating it gets more difficult.Analysis of the information on the distribution of components in ore varieties, obtained during surveying of the deposit, gave the following results:i) The magnetite-bornite-chalcocite ores are richer in copper; as the copper content of the ore increases, the magnetite content increases but the zircon content decreases.ii) The silver and bismuth contents of the ore increase with the bornite content.ill) The silver and gold are mainly associated with the chalcocite.iv) The h~n-tite andbarren sandstones have enhanced silver contents. v) Electromagnetic separation causes bornite to go into the magnetic fraction and chalcocite into the nonmagnetic fraction.The relations between the elements are important, and also their spatial concentration. In the deposit we can distinguish three sections containing ores of different qualities. 35Magnetite--bornite-~halcocite ores predominate in section I. In this section the relative copper oxide content is lower but its absolute content is higher.In section III we find the highest silver content; it is found that, in comparison with sections I and If, the silver content of the ore increases with the copper content.~e complex relations between the elements require us to estimate the commercial value of the extracted ore, and on the basis of the results to select the first section for working. However, in order to perform these calculations, we must devise a technology for processing the ore to give high concentration of the elements in the intermediate products and concentrates with sufficiently high extraction.Institute of Mining, Siberian Branch, Academy of Sciences of the USSR (IGD SO AN SSSR), Novosibirsk. Translated from Fizlko-Tekhnlcheskie Problemy Razrabotk/ Poleznykh Iskopaemykh, No. 2,

Minor and trace elements in bornite and associated Cu–(Fe)-sulfides: A LA-ICP-MS studyBornite mineral chemistry

“…Likewise, reliable data on the location of those elements (solid solution vs. micro-or nanoparticles) are few, despite widespread anecdotal evidence of significant correlations. Examples include the observation that Ag and Bi contents of the ore increase with bornite content, but that Ag and Au are mainly associated with chalcocite in the Udokan deposit, Siberia (Shkodin et al, 1982). The term 'argentiferous bornite' has also been used on several occasions (e.g., Stanley, 1979), although generally without supporting microanalytical data.…”