Deportment of selected minor elements at the HBMS zinc pressure leach plant

CIM Bulletin, Vol. 88, No. 986, 1995

M.J. Collins, I.M. Masters, E. Ozberk, Sherritt Inc., Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, B.D. Krysa and G.J. Desroches, Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co., Limited, Flin Flon, Manitoba

The zinc refinery of Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co., Ltd. went through a major modernization in 1993, when the roaster and the calcine and fume leach circuits were replaced by a new Sherritt zinc pressure leach plant. The HBMS plant, in Flin Flon, Manitoba, represents the first commercial application of the Sherritt two-stage zinc pressure leach process, with 100% of the zinc concentrate feed processed in autoclaves. The process design of the new plant required definition of the deportments of elements such as antimony, arsenic, chlorine, cobalt, fluorine, germanium, magnesium, manganese, selenium, tellurium and thallium. This paper describes the deportment of these elements in the commercial zinc plant during the first nine months of pressure leach operation, and compares these results with operations prior to the introduction of pressure leaching, and with the results of tests carried out in the Sherritt laboratory during the process development phase.

Mots Clés: Metallurgy, Zinc pressure leach plants, Leach plant, Pressure leaching.