Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment
Applied Centre for Structural and Synchrotron Studies
Applied Centre for Structural and Synchrotron Studies
Project duration: 2004
Client: BHP-Billiton
Chief Investigator: Andrea Gerson
Description:
Chalcopyrite is the world’s major source of Cu; however, it is difficult
to efficiently extract the Cu from chalcopyrite. A detailed
understanding of the mechanism by which Cu leaches from chalcopyrite
would greatly aid the development of an efficient extractive process.
Synchrotron X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (Advanced Light Source) has
been applied to this task.
The Figure shows two sets of XPS data taken at two different incident
X-ray energies. This enables different depths within the partially
leached chalcopyrite surface to be probed – the higher the energy the
greater the depth of measurement. At high incident energy there is a
greater contribution of S2- (red) than at shallower measurement depths.
At shallower measurement depths the relative concentrations of S22-
(dark blue) and Sn2- (green) are greater on the surface.
