Patent ID: 7476308

Claim:
A method of recovering copper from a metal-bearing material, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a feed stream containing copper-containing material and acid; (b) separating at least a portion of said copper-containing material from said acid in said feed stream to yield a copper-containing feed stream comprising a copper-bearing material; (c) subjecting the copper-containing feed stream to pressure leaching to yield a product slurry comprising a metal-bearing solution and a residue; (d) conditioning the product slurry through one or more chemical or physical conditioning steps to yield a copper-containing solution suitable for electrowinning; (e) electrowinning copper from the copper-containing solution in a first electrowinning stage to produce copper cathode and a first stage lean electrolyte stream, without subjecting the copper-containing solution to solvent/solution extraction; (f) electrowinning copper from said first stage lean electrolyte stream in a second electrowinning stage to produce copper cathode and a second stage lean electrolyte stream, without subjecting said first stage lean electrolyte stream to solvent/solution extraction; and (g) recycling at least a portion of said first stage lean electrolyte stream to said pressure leaching step.