Determination of Çanakkale region zinc ores leaching parameters

Keywords: Zinc, zinc ore, sphalerite, mechanical activation, anodic oxidation, leaching. Sphalerite is a zinc mineral with a zinc grade of 45-50% which is the most common source of zinc production. The current zinc production methods are divided into two main processes: pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical-electrometallurgical methods. Zinc production is carried out according to the preferred method. Although both methods have superiority over each other, harmful sulfur dioxide gasses are produced when the pyrometallurgical method is preferred. However, in the hydrometallurgical process, the emission of hazardous gas is negligible compared to the pyrometallurgical process. In addition, hydrometallurgical processes have great attention from academia and industry due to environmental concerns and economic opportunities. In this study, zinc extraction of zinc ores from Çanakkale Yenice region by anodic oxidation method was investigated. The mechanical activation process was utilized for the ores in the plenary mill after the chemical composition of the concentrates was analyzed. Then, the activated samples were extracted in sulfuric acid solution by anodic oxidation method at different parameters such as applied voltage, leaching temperature, leaching time, molarity, and solid-liquid ratios. Afterward, the zinc extraction yields of each leaching parameter were calculated from the ICP results.