Patent ID: 11884993
Assignee: JETTI RESOURCES, LLC
Field: Materials, metallurgy (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C  Y | IPC C

Claim 0:
1. A method of recovering at least one metal from an ore containing at least one metal sulfide, the method comprising:
contacting the ore with an acidic sulfate solution containing ferric sulfate and a reagent having a thiocarbonyl functional group to extract metal ions from the at least one metal sulfide, wherein the concentration of the reagent in the acidic sulfate solution is sufficient to increase the rate of the metal ion extraction relative to an acidic sulfate solution that does not contain the reagent, to produce a pregnant solution containing the metal ions;
recovering the at least one metal from the pregnant solution, wherein the at least one metal includes:
copper, wherein the at least one metal sulfide includes chalcopyrite, covellite, bornite,
enargite, a copper sulfide of the formula CuxSy wherein the x:y ratio is between 1 and 2, or a combination thereof;
cadmium, wherein the at least one metal sulfide is greenockite;
nickel, wherein the at least one metal sulfide is pentlandite, violarite, or a combination thereof; or
a combination thereof; and
wherein the method is a percolation leach.