CONSIDERATIONS IN THE EXTRACTION OF METAL FROM HEAP LEACHES

The use of heap leaching in the gold and copper industries has become widespread through out the mining world. An overview of the factors wh ich effect the performance of these heap leaches is discussed. A varie ty of factors, both at the microscopic and macroscopic scale, are exam ined. How these factors occur, their importance within heap leaching, the relevance of the different factors to the different leach systems, and the approach used to deal with these problems and considerations are examined. Also, briefly discussed is the application of determinis tic models to these heap leaching systems.