DEPORTMENT OF SELECTED MINOR ELEMENTS AT THE HBMS ZINC PRESSURE LEACHPLANT

The zinc refinery of Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co., Ltd. went thr ough a major modernization in 1993, when the roaster and the calcine a nd fume leach circuits were replaced by a new Sherritt zinc pressure l each plant. The HBMS plant, in Flin Flon, Manitoba, represents the fir st commercial application of the Sherritt two-stage zinc pressure leac h process, with 100% of the zinc concentrate feed processed in autocla ves. The process design of the new plant required definition of the de portments of elements such as antimony, arsenic, chlorine, cobalt, flu orine, germanium, magnesium, manganese, selenium, tellurium and thalli um. This paper describes the deportment of these elements in the comme rcial zinc plant during the first nine months of pressure leach operat ion, and compares these results with operations prior to the introduct ion of pressure leaching, and with the results of tests carried out in the Sherritt laboratory during the process development phase.