The Advance Extractive Metallurgy course was developed as an outcome of many teachers requesting a more in depth view of mineral processing. The course was designed to allow for a more open-ended experience allowing participants to follow a flowsheet starting with an ore and finishing with a purified metal. The teachers start the day with a brief overview of copper extraction methods and then proceed to “mine” a secondary copper-containing ore by chipping off approximately a one or two kilogram sample of rock. Under the guidance of the “technical consultants” (Murdoch University Extractive Metallurgy staff), teachers first crush and grind the rock and then screen and sort the sample in the mineral processing laboratory.
After lunch, the workshop continues in the hydrometallurgy lab where participants leach the ore in a bench top apparatus and then collect the loaded solution for processing. Atomic absorption techniques are used to assay a small portion of the sample. Finally, the teachers use electrowinning techniques to produce a 99% pure copper foil sample. The day concluds with a wine and cheese social.
The costs are underwritten by CSRP, Murdoch University Extractive Metallurgy and the Parker Centre. This “advanced” professional development was offered to teachers who had completed at least one previous activity with the CSRP Teacher Program.