hydrometallurgy

ELSEVIER Hydrometallurgy39 (1995) 71-77

Zinc pressure leaching at HBMS

B.D. Krysa
Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co., Limited, P.O. Box 1500, Flirt Flon, Man. RSA 1Ng, Canada

Accepted27 June 1995

1. Introduction

Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting has operated a combined zinc and copper refinery in
Flin Flon, Manitoba, since 1930. The original zinc refinery was a roast-leach-electrowinning
operation until July of 1993 [ 1 ]. On July 2, 1993 Hudson Bay commissioned the world's
first two stage pressure leach zinc refinery and since commissioning all zinc production in
Flin Flon has been from pressure leaching, that is, various blends of concentrates were
treated in autoclaves with no roaster operation [ 2,3 ].
Hudson Bay needed to meet new government mandated sulphur dioxide and particulate
emission limits, and was able do to do so by implementing zinc pressure leaching, thereby
eliminating all sulphur dioxide and particulate emissions from the zinc refinery.
Since commissioning, the zinc pressure leach has operated well keeping the electrolytic
cell house at capacity and is currently producing at above design capacity. No major changes
have been made to the plant since start-up; however, it has been necessary to make a number
of minor changes to improve on plant flexibility and reduce maintenance costs. This paper
will endeavour to outline current plant operation and highlight some of the changes made
to improve equipment availability.

2. Process chemistry

In the zinc pressure leach process, zinc concentrate is acid leached in an autoclave at 145 °
to 150°C and in an oxygen enriched atmosphere with a total pressure of 1100 kPa gauge.
The concentrate is oxidized by ferric iron generated in the leach to produce a zinc sulphate
solution and elemental sulphur. The iron is reduced in the reaction and is oxidized again by
the oxygen atmosphere in the autoclave to leach more concentrate. Excess dissolved iron is
simultaneously precipitated as a hydrated iron oxide or as jarosite. In Flin Flon the iron is
precipitated primarily as iron oxide with only 15-20% of the iron precipitating as jarosite.
Basic chemistry for the zinc pressure leach process is as follows:

0304-386X/95/$09.50 © 1995 ElsevierScienceB.V. All rights reserved

SSDI O 3 0 4 - 3 8 6 X ( 95 )O0046-1
72 B.D. Krysa / Hydrometallurgy 39 (1995) 71-77

ZnS + Fe2(SO4) 3 - ) ZnSO4 + FeSO 4 -~-S 0

2FeSO4 + 0.502 -k-H2SO 4 ~ Fe 2(504) 3 "~-H20
Fe2 ($O4) 3 + (X + 3) H20 ~ Fe203 •XH20 + 3H2SO4
3Fe2 (SO4) 3 + 14H20 ~ (H30) 2Fe6(SO4)4(OH) ~2+ 5H2804

3. Process description

Fig. 1 shows the overall flowsheet for the Hudson Bay pressure leach plant. Concentrate,
return acid and solution from leaching an existing zinc ferrite residue stockpile are fed to
the low acid leach (LAL) autoclave. In this autoclave approximately 75% of the zinc
contained in the concentrate is dissolved before the slurry is discharged through a two step
pressure let down system. The discharge slurry is then thickened and the residue releached
in the high acid leach (HAL) autoclave to recover the remaining zinc. Leaving the HAL
autoclave the sulphur containing slurry is thickened, filtered and sent to flotation. In flotation,
elemental sulphur, gold and unleached sulphides float and are recovered as a flotation
concentrate. After washing and filtering, the flotation concentrate is treated by melting and
hot filtration to separate the elemental sulphur in the concentrate from the gold and unleached
sulphides. The cake from hot pressure filter is then sent to the copper smelter for precious
metals recovery.
Overflow from the HAL autoclave thickener is returned to the LAL autoclave for neu-
tralization. The LAL autoclave thickener overflow is partially neutralized with zinc hydrox-
ide from waste water treatment to produce a copper free gypsum residue. This solution is
then sent to copper removal where the copper is removed with zinc dust and then to iron
removal where the ferrous iron is removed by further neutralization while sparging with
oxygen. After iron removal, the solution is sent to the purification section to remove the
cadmium, cobalt and nickel.
Smelter baghouse dust and zinc casting plant dross are roasted to reduce their halogen
content, then leached and converted to zinc hydroxide sludge for use in the neutralization
of LAL thickener overflow.

3.1. Pressure leaching

The finely ground concentrate is pumped from an agitated holding tank and into the
3.9 × 21.5 m LAL autoclave by one of two positive displacement pumps. HAL overflow,
ferrite leach overflow and acid are then carefully metered into the autoclave to maintain a
predetermined overall acid to zinc ratio in the feed to the autoclave. In the autoclave,
configured to have five agitators and effectively four compartments, the concentrate is
leached until approximately 75% of the zinc is extracted. The leach slurry is then discharged
through a two stage let down system and flows by gravity to the LAL thickener. LAL
thickener overflow at 7-9 gpl acid, depending on concentrate reactivity and the amount of
iron redissolved, is then pumped to the neutralization circuit.
 B.D. Krysa / Hydrometallurgy 39 (1995) 71-77 73

Stockpiled Return
Ferrite Acid
1 1
Zinc Concentrate
~1 . . . .Fer~it? ~c!a
.........
~ T o Smelter

Feed Preparation
Sludge
Acid
First Stage Leach Oypsum Removal ~ To Tails

Acid
Zing
Second Stage Leach Copper Removal ~ To
Dust Smelter

Sludge
Sulphur Recovery Iron Removal

To Cake
Sulphur 'l-~iHngs Sulphide Zinc Purification
Cake Dust "I]reatment
To Smelter

Baghousc Dust
E]ectrowlnning~ AcidReturn
Return 1
Acid J.
Baghouse | ~ Zinc Dross • :" ~inc
Dust
Wash
Liquor J- 1
T i m e
Waste Water ~.~ Zinc
I~-~ "I~eatment ~.~."
@
7 J n e Hydroxide
Sludge

Fig. 1. Flowsheetfor the two stage zinc pressureleachprocessat HBMS.

LAL thickener underflow at 45% solids is pumped into the HAL autoclave using one of
two stainless steel positive displacement pumps. In the HAL autoclave which is identical
in size to the LAL autoclave, the remaining zinc is leached to an overall extraction in excess
of 99%. From the HAL autoclave the leach slurry is discharged through a second two stage
let down system and reports by gravity to the HAL thickener. HAL thickener overflow
containing between 35 and 45 gpl acid, depending on autoclave cooling requirements, is
stored in a 325 m 3 surge tank before being pumped to the LAL autoclave.
Temperature control of the autoclaves is accomplished by splitting of the HAL overflow
and recycle of LAL overflow in the low acid leach and by addition of additional spent to
the final compartments of the high acid leach autoclave.
74 B.D. Krysa/ Hydrometallurgy39 (1995) 71-77

3.2. Ferrite leaching

Ferrite residue produced prior to start up of the slag fuming operation in Flin Flon is also
treated as part of the pressure leach operation. Reclaimed residue is repulped to 70% solids
in a tumbling mill and then pumped to the pressure leach plant. It is leached in two agitated
atmospheric leach tanks using a portion of the spent electrolyte. Heating of the ferrite leach
is done using a direct contact condenser which utilizes flash steam from the autoclave let
down system to heat the slurry. After dissolution of the zinc and iron, the leach slurry is
then thickened and filtered to recover the gold and silver. Ferrite leach thickener overflow
is returned to the autoclave circuit for iron precipitation. A portion of the ferric and ferrous
iron containing solution from the ferrite leach is also used for arsenic fixation in the Smelter
flue dust treatment plant and to reduce the permanganate content of the spent acid reporting
to the autoclave heat exchangers.

4. Plant design

4.1. Regrind circuit

After blending in the concentrate storage area, a predetermined mixture of zinc concen-
trates is conveyed to a 535 tonne storage bin before being fed to a 3.8 × 4.6 m, 930 kW ball
mill. The discharge from the ball mill is diluted with thickener overflow to improve clas-
sification and then pumped to a bank of ten 150 mm cyclones. The cyclone overflow at 98%
minus 44 microns then reports to a vibrating trash screen before being thickened in a 8 m
diameter high capacity thickener. Thickener underflow at 70% solids is held in an agitated
slurry storage tank before being pumped to the pressure leach plant. Underflow from the
cyclones is reground in the ballmill.

4.2. Acid heating and heat recovery

In order to reduce energy costs, most of the steam from the first and second stage of
flashing on the LAL and HAL autoclaves is captured and condensed in one of three 2.4 m
diameter cascading vent scrubbers. These scrubbers are used to produce hot condensate
which is then used for process heating. Heating of the spent electrolyte for the LAL and
HAL autoclaves is done using 904 L plate and frame heat exchangers while 316 SS
exchangers are used to heat solution reporting to zinc dust purification. The cold condensate
from all these exchangers is then recycled to the vent scrubbers for reheating. Excess
condensate is bled off to the waste water treatment plant.
In addition to providing for heat recovery, the vent scrubbers also serve to scrub all the
vent gas from the autoclaves.

4.3. Sulphur separation

Depending on the gold content of the concentrates fed to the pressure leach plant, sulphur
in the pressure leach residue is either impounded with the zinc pressure leach tailings, or
 B.D. Krysa / Hydrometallurgy 39 (1995) 71-77 75

recovered by flotation and hot filtration in the sulphur recovery circuit. Here the sulphur
and gold containing residual sulphides, in the residue from the HAL leach, are recovered
as a flotation concentrate by conventional flotation. This circuit which is arranged as rougher,
scavenger, cleaner circuit uses 4.25 m 3 flotation cells in the rougher and scavenger and 1.7
m 3 cells for cleaner cells.
The cleaner concentrate which is upgraded to approximately 95% total sulphur is filtered
and pre-dried on a drum filter fitted with a steam hood. This filter utilizes waste steam from
a utility steam condensate tank as the steam source. From the drum filter the flotation
concentrate is split and melted in one of two melting cyclones. After melting the gold and
unreacted sulphides are separated from the molten sulphur by hot filtration in a 110 m 2 filter
press. The filter cake is sent to the Smelter for gold and copper recovery while the sulphur
is pumped to a block storage area located approximately 1500 m from the pressure leach
plant.

5. Autoclave operation

The pressure leach system at Flin Flon has operated well exceeding expectations for a
system which was the first two stage pressure leach plant in the world. The most significant
challenge with operation of the new pressure leach installation encountered to date, has
been dealing with larger than expected amounts of dilution water from the old tankhouse
cooling system. Starting several months after start-up, excess water from the electrowinning
section had resulted in significant dilution of the tankhouse return acid, increasing flows
through the autoclave circuit and pushing the slurry and flash steam handling systems in
the autoclave area well above design. With the increased flow of slurry and flash steam, a
significant sulphate loss to wastewater treatment resulted from pressure leach slurry carrying
over into the condensate system. The water entering the circuit through the tankhouse sumps
also restricted water addition elsewhere, limiting washing of the pressure leach residue.
This increased the sulphate bleed further. As a result of dilution and added sulphate bleed,
plant electrolyte strength decreased and at one point reached only 120 gpl zinc before the
tankhouse water problem was brought under control. This was accomplished by increasing
maintenance on the tankhouse water cooling system and by closer control of other water
addition points.
In addition to reducing the dilution taking place in the tankhouse, the pressure leach
plant's ability to deal with larger flows was also improved. This was accomplished by
increasing the diameter of the first few feet of the LAL and HAL conditioning tank overflow
piping, and by increasing the volume of the conditioning tank mist eliminators.
Despite the dilution problem and its negative impact on the autoclave energy balance and
acidity control, the autoclave operation itself remained remarkably stable.
Other challenges encountered since start up have been maintenance of the positive dis-
placement pumps used for pumping HAL underflow. These pumps proved to require fre-
quent maintenance and were eventually replaced with centrifugal slurry pumps. Another
challenge encountered was sulphur vapour freezing in the conditioning tank mist elimina-
tors. This was overcome by increasing the separation volume and eliminating the contact
surfaces.
76 B.D. Krysa /Hydrometallurgy 39 (1995) 71-77

Table 1
Quarterly average concentrate treatment rates since start up

Time period Concentrate treated (tonnes per hour) Zinc leached (tonnes per day)

3rd Quarter 1993 14.9 185.8

4th Quarter 1993 20.6 253.0
1st Quarter 1994 19.4 235.8
2nd Quarter 1994 20.5 252.2
3rd Quarter 1994 20.4 251.9
4th Quarter 1994 21.1 255.4
Ist Quarter 1995 21.1 261.2
April 1995 22.2 278.2
Design 21.6 259.2

6. Operating results

Once the tankhouse water problems were resolved and as ways to increase eleclrowinning
capacity were put into place, pressure leach throughput has increased to match tankhouse
capacity. In 1995 new rectifiers allowing higher current density are scheduled for installation
on several of the tankhouse circuits. As these are installed, it is anticipated that pressure
leach throughput will be increased further. Table 1 summarizes the concenlrate treatment
rate for the pressure leach plant since start-up.

7. On line time

The availability for the pressure leach plant, exclusive of LAL autoclave scaling, has
been quite good and at present it is approximately 98%. Usually one 12-h shut-down,
without autoclave depressurization, per month is required to do minor maintenance. Work
done during these shut-downs usually covers similar items. Sulphur or anhydrite scale is
removed from the flash tank vent lines and silencer, broken bolts on the conditioning tank
impellers require replacement and/or the conditioning tank agitator packing requires
replacement.
Under current operating practise the LAL dip pipes and discharge lines require cleaning
every three to four months and this is handled by utilizing the standby autoclave to replace
the LAL autoclave during cleaning so as to avoid production interruptions. Anhydrite scale
builds up in the dip pipes and discharge lines and must be removed. The scale in the
autoclave itself must be removed every six months. An optimum plan for scale removal is
being developed and it takes several days to remove the scale from both discharge lines.
When the LAL autoclave is shut down for scale removal, leaking valves or agitator seals
are also repaired, if required.

8. Operating parameters

Both the LAL autoclave and the HAL autoclave have generally been operated as per
design criteria at a total pressure of 1100 kPa gauge. The HAL autoclave operating pressure
 B.D. Krysa / Hydrometallurgy 39 (1995) 71-77 77

Table 2
AnalysisOf ConcentratesTreated In Flin Flon (%)

Element Trout Lake/Callinan Chisel Lake Ruttan Geco Kidd Creek

Zn 50.2 51.2 52.4 56.6 54.9

Fe 10.8 10.8 10.3 8.5 9.5
S 32.6 32.8 33.2 33.9 33.2
Cu 0.75 0.63 0.92 0.58 1.15
Cd 0.16 0.09 0.16 0.28 0.30
Co 0.003 < 0.001 < 0.001 < 0.001 0.020
CI 0.006 0.002 0.001 0.004 0.005
F 0.0099 0.0120 0.0079 0.0001 0.0001
Mg 0.14 0.14 0.08 0.04 0.05
Mn 0.002 0.183 0.155 0.146 0.009

has, however, been increased on occasion to see if increased sulphur oxidation will occur.
Results of operating at increased pressure are to date inconclusive since any increase in
sulphate production due to higher operating pressure seems to be offset by a corresponding
increase in the amount of sulphate precipitating as iron jarosite. The oxygen concentration
in the autoclaves has been kept at design, operating at an oxygen partial pressure of approx-
imately 80% oxygen on a dry basis.

9. Concentrates treated

To date the autoclave operation in Flin Flon has treated concentrates from six different
mines. These are the Trout Lake and Callinan mines near Flin Flon, Chisel Lake in the
Snow Lake area, the Ruttan mine at Leaf Rapids Manitoba, and the Geco and Kidd Creek
mines in Ontario. Table 2 outlines the chemical analysis of the concentrates from these
mines.

I0. Summary

Zinc production using two stage pressure leaching has proven to be a reliable and flexible
method of zinc production. Process upsets in other areas of the plant can be dealt with and
successful treatment of varying feed types is possible.

References

[ 1] Austin,E., McFadden,W.E.,The electrolyticzincplantof the HudsonBay Miningand SmeltingCo., Limited.

Trans. Can. Min. Met., 59:208-223 (1956).
[2] Collins,M.J., McConaghy,E.J., Stauffer, R.F., Desroches,G.J., Krysa,B.D., Startingup the Sherrittpressure
leach process at HudsonBay. JOM, 46(4): 51-58 (1994).
[3] Collins,M.J., Masters, I.M.,Ozberk,E., Krysa,B.D., Desroches,G.J., Deportmentof selectedminorelements
at the HBM&SZinc PressureLeach Plant.In: B. HarrisandE. Krause(Editor), ImpurityControland Disposal
in HydrometallurgicalProcesses. Metall. Soc. CIM, MontrealCanada,Que., pp. 291-301 (1994).