ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,480,178, issued on Nov. 25, was assigned to Glencore Technology Pty Ltd. (Brisbane, Australia).
"Sulphide oxidation in leaching of minerals" was invented by Paul Voigt (Brisbane, Australia).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A process for leaching minerals that contain metal sulphides and one or more precious metals or precious metal compounds, the process comprising the steps of a first leaching step to leach the minerals under oxidative conditions at a pH of less than 4 to form a slurry or pulp, the slurry or pulp comprising a solid phase containing unreacted components, solid reaction products and elemental sulphur, and subjecting the slur...