Patent ID: 7842120

Claim:
A method of obtaining copper from sulfide ore including copper (hereinafter referred to as feedstock) comprising: providing the feedstock into acid solution, the acid solution including chloride and bromide of one of alkali metal and alkali earth metal, and one of chloride of copper and iron and bromide of copper and iron; leaching monovalent copper and divalent copper from the feedstock with use of oxidizing power of at least one of iron ion and copper ion in the acid solution, with air being blown into the acid solution under an atmospheric pressure at a temperature less than a boiling point of the acid solution; solid-liquid separating the acid solution after the leaching; blowing air into the solution after the solid-liquid separation; oxidizing copper in the solution; coprecipitating iron and impurity that are leached into the acid solution from the feedstock; extracting copper from the solution after the oxidizing from which deposition including the coprecipitate is separated; obtaining the extracted copper into sulfuric acid solution as copper sulfate; obtaining copper from the copper sulfate; and recycling hydrochloric acid generated in the extracting in another copper leaching, wherein: the step of leaching the copper includes a plurality of leaching stages in which leached residue is moved to next stage in order; the solution after the leaching of monovalent copper and divalent copper is distributed into each of the leaching stages; and each solution after the leaching is extracted and mixed, and is used in the oxidizing.