Copper & Gold Leaching from Hardrock Gold Mine

In this video @mineoperator Harry takes a high grade copper sample from a gold vein and leaches out the copper using dilute sulphuric acid.

The fun part is recovering the copper using hydrometallurgy and the reactivity series of metals to drop copper from aqueous Copper (ii) Sulphate solution using iron. We use an XRF instrument (X-ray Fluorescence) to measure the copper purity. Also, melting down the copper sponge to get physical metal to weigh and test. None of us are a metallurgist, chemist or geologist so if we speak or present a concept incorrectly, feel free to correct us in the comments we love to learn.

Enjoy watching us recover physical copper out of Chrysocolla, Chalcopyrite vein from a gold mine using simple chemistry.

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1200x Microscope used in video
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Thermo Scietific Hotplate Stirrers
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