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Process mineralogical characterisation of the Kansanshi copper ore, NW Zambia

Kansanshi mine is the largest copper producer in Africa. The deposit is mineralogically and texturally complex due to supergene enrichment resulting in the presence of a variety of primary and secondary copper minerals. This necessitates the processing of ore through three separate circuits: sulphid...

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Main Author: Jacobs, Tamzon Talisa
Other Authors: Becker, Megan
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Chemical Engineering 2016
Subjects:
Chemical Engineering
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access_status_str Open Access
author Jacobs, Tamzon Talisa
author2 Becker, Megan
author_browse Becker, Megan
Jacobs, Tamzon Talisa
author_facet Becker, Megan
Jacobs, Tamzon Talisa
author_sort Jacobs, Tamzon Talisa
collection Thesis
description Kansanshi mine is the largest copper producer in Africa. The deposit is mineralogically and texturally complex due to supergene enrichment resulting in the presence of a variety of primary and secondary copper minerals. This necessitates the processing of ore through three separate circuits: sulphide flotation, mixed flotation and oxide leach, followed by solvent extraction and electro-winning. This study revisits the process mineralogy of the ore using modern mineralogy tools, which for such a large and complex deposit cannot but deliver significant value. Specific focus is given to copper mineralisation and the flotation of the sulphide ores in compliment to another MSc study from the Centre for Minerals Research focusing on mixed ore flotation (Kalichini, 2015). A series of hand samples and grab samples representing the variation in mineralogy and texture of the Kansanshi ore, as well as two run of mine sulphide ore flotation feed samples were used for this investigation. Process mineralogical characterisation entailed optical microscopy, XRF, QXRD, QEMSCAN and EPMA investigations, alongside a series of laboratory scale batch flotation tests of two sulphide ores at two grinds (80% passing 150 μm, 80% passing 212 μm). Copper mineralisation at Kansanshi occurs as both vein-hosted mineralisation, and to a lesser extent sediment-hosted mineralisation. Later breccia-hosted and supergene mineralisation have overprinted all previous mineralisation styles. Chalcopyrite is the main ore mineral for both vein-hosted and sediment-hosted mineralisation styles.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20490
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:26.520Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Department of Chemical Engineering
publisherStr Department of Chemical Engineering
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/20490 Process mineralogical characterisation of the Kansanshi copper ore, NW Zambia Jacobs, Tamzon Talisa Becker, Megan Greyling, Lynnette Chemical Engineering Kansanshi mine is the largest copper producer in Africa. The deposit is mineralogically and texturally complex due to supergene enrichment resulting in the presence of a variety of primary and secondary copper minerals. This necessitates the processing of ore through three separate circuits: sulphide flotation, mixed flotation and oxide leach, followed by solvent extraction and electro-winning. This study revisits the process mineralogy of the ore using modern mineralogy tools, which for such a large and complex deposit cannot but deliver significant value. Specific focus is given to copper mineralisation and the flotation of the sulphide ores in compliment to another MSc study from the Centre for Minerals Research focusing on mixed ore flotation (Kalichini, 2015). A series of hand samples and grab samples representing the variation in mineralogy and texture of the Kansanshi ore, as well as two run of mine sulphide ore flotation feed samples were used for this investigation. Process mineralogical characterisation entailed optical microscopy, XRF, QXRD, QEMSCAN and EPMA investigations, alongside a series of laboratory scale batch flotation tests of two sulphide ores at two grinds (80% passing 150 μm, 80% passing 212 μm). Copper mineralisation at Kansanshi occurs as both vein-hosted mineralisation, and to a lesser extent sediment-hosted mineralisation. Later breccia-hosted and supergene mineralisation have overprinted all previous mineralisation styles. Chalcopyrite is the main ore mineral for both vein-hosted and sediment-hosted mineralisation styles. 2016-07-20T06:57:46Z 2016-07-20T06:57:46Z 2016 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20490 eng application/pdf Department of Chemical Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Chemical Engineering
Jacobs, Tamzon Talisa
Process mineralogical characterisation of the Kansanshi copper ore, NW Zambia
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Process mineralogical characterisation of the Kansanshi copper ore, NW Zambia
title_full Process mineralogical characterisation of the Kansanshi copper ore, NW Zambia
title_fullStr Process mineralogical characterisation of the Kansanshi copper ore, NW Zambia
title_full_unstemmed Process mineralogical characterisation of the Kansanshi copper ore, NW Zambia
title_short Process mineralogical characterisation of the Kansanshi copper ore, NW Zambia
title_sort process mineralogical characterisation of the kansanshi copper ore nw zambia
topic Chemical Engineering
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20490
work_keys_str_mv AT jacobstamzontalisa processmineralogicalcharacterisationofthekansanshicopperorenwzambia

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