Modern Mining ›› 2024, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (02): 162-166.
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The copper-cobalt deposits in Africa are mainly distributed in the Zambia-Congo (DRC)
copper belt，with the characteristics of large reserves，high grade and complex ore properties. These copper⁃
cobalt ores can be divided into primary sulfide copper-cobalt ore，low-calcium mixed copper-cobalt ore，
high-calcium mixed copper-cobalt ore，low-calcium oxide copper-cobalt ore and high-calcium oxide cop⁃
per-cobalt ore according to the degree of oxidation and the characteristics of gangue minerals. It is pointed
out that the development and utilization process should be determined according to the factors such as ore ox⁃
idation rate，type of gangue minerals (Ca and Mg content must be paid attention to for alkaline gangue miner⁃
als)，occurrence state of copper and cobalt minerals in ores，metal recovery rate and processing cost. The
production process and production indexes of these five types of representative ores are listed. In summary，
except for the low-calcium oxide copper-cobalt ore，the direct leaching process should be adopted，and the
other types of ore should adopt the beneficiation-metallurgy combination process，but the flotation process
has its own characteristics. The research and production practice show that the key to obtain the ideal separa⁃
tion index is to select different beneficiation and metallurgy processes for different types of ores.
