ECOLEAD® Technology

Zinc and copper concentrates available on the market typically contain significant amounts of valuable metals such as lead, silver, or indium, which accumulate in the solid waste generated by both hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical production processes.

Recovering these metals from the waste has the potential to provide refineries with an additional revenue stream, based either on the production of metal ingots or on the sale of concentrates with high market value. Furthermore, it helps reduce the volume of waste generated.

The In-House Technology Development Division (DDTP) has developed a technology for recovering lead and silver based on hot brine leaching followed by precipitation of the valuable metals. The technology is applicable to various types of metallurgical waste (oxides, sulfides, and jarosite-type waste, among others), with certain variations in the basic process flow depending on the type of waste to be treated and the target metals.

In its basic form, the technology consists of four stages and produces a lead-silver carbonate concentrate:

Leaching

With minimal engineering to enable the analysis for technology selection, determine its suitability, and obtain the key process parameters.

Develop an efficient design tailored to the project’s specific requirements and parameters, with a focus on the initial assessment of fixed and operating costs.

Precipitation

It is carried out by adding carbonate to produce an initial solid that contains all the lead and silver from the previous solution.

Product Purification

At this stage, the solid is processed to remove any remaining contaminants and produce a high-grade lead-silver concentrate with a purity that allows it to be fed directly into a smelting furnace, since it is free of chlorides and sulfates.

Brine Conditioning

This stage allows for the regeneration of the reaction medium, the closure of the hot brine circuit, and, consequently, the minimization of consumption and effluent generation. Essentially, the goal is to remove the sulfates dissolved in the previous stages, either as a liquid discharge or as solid sodium sulfate.

Depending on the starting materials and the objective, additional steps can be incorporated into the basic scheme.

The following figure shows a diagram of the technology, identifying its main stages:

The strength of ECOLEAD® technology lies in its ability to selectively recover lead and silver from complex metallurgical waste, even those with highly variable compositions. The process, based on hot brine leaching and controlled precipitation, yields a high-purity concentrate free of chlorides and sulfates, suitable for direct feeding into smelting furnaces. ECOLEAD® offers refineries a robust and flexible solution for recovering precious and strategic metals, converting waste streams into marketable products and significantly reducing the volume of waste managed. Its closed-loop design minimizes consumption and effluents, providing operational efficiency and environmental benefits compared to conventional processes.

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