Sustainable copper extraction from mixed

This paper elaborated on the sustainability of the copper extraction process. In fact, an alternative copper extraction route from mixed sulphide ores, chalcopyrite and chalcocite using mesophilic biomass consortium at 33.3 °C and ferric leaching processes were attempted. Bioleaching experiments were settled with a fraction size of -75+53 μm. Bacteria were used as the catalyst. A copper yield of 65.50% was obtained. On the other hand, in ferric leaching process, with a fraction size of -53+38 μm, when the temperature was increased to 70 °C, the copper leaching rate increased to 78.52%. Thus, comparatively, the mesophilic bioleaching process showed a more obvious advantage in copper extraction than leaching process with a high temperature. However, it has been resolved from the characterization performed using SEM–EDS, FTIR and XRD observations coupled with different thermodynamic approaches that, the indirect mechanism is the main leaching mechanism, with three transition mechanisms (polysulphide, thiosulphate and elemental sulphur mechanisms) for the mixed chalcopyrite–chalcocite ore. Meanwhile, the speciation turns into Cu2S–CuS–CuFeS2–Cu2S before turning into CuSO4.