Rapid determination of copper in copper ores

Abstract

LOW grade copper ores and copper ores in association with considerable quantities of other elements such as iron, lead, zinc and vanadium, require a separational step wherein copper is generally separated as sulphide either with sodium thiosulfate1 or with thioacetamide.2 In these methods, the precipitated copper sulfide is ignited to cupric oxide, dissolved in dilute nitric acid and titrated iodometrically.In a recent method3 wet oxidation of precipitated copper sulfide is effected with nitric acid and titrated with disodium ethylene diamine tetra-acetate (EDTA). The authors' work on the beneficiation of low grade copper ores and extraction of copper from these ores has necessitated developing a rapid and accurate method for the determination of copper. A separational step wherein cupric ion could be preci-pitated as cuprous oxide has been introduced to avoid ignition of copper sulfide to cupric oxide, which is time consuming.