Abstract

This study emphasizes the importance of the mineralogical and textural characterization of copper oxides deposits, to determine the values of the main variables for heap leaching processes. Due to the mineralogical complexity of copper oxide deposits, the traditional analytical techniques currently used, present some deficiencies. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce other techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis, infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and electron microprobe. It is proposed in this paper, to characterize the ore minerals and barren, both mineralogically and texturally, to determine the total soluble copper and the leachable copper contained in clay species. Morphological variations and cation-anion exchange capacities should also be determined.