Sulfides

From BioMineWiki

Metal-sulfide matrix where
a=sulfur
b=metal

Metal-sulfide matrix matrix with elemental inclusions where
c=elemental metal for example gold

A chemical compound containing sulfur and one other element or sulfur and a radical. Sulfides may be salts or esters of hydrogen sulfide, or may be formed directly by heating a metal with sulfur. Metal bearing materials like ores of copper, lead and zinc usually contain the metal sulfide.

While the leaching of metals and oxide minerals has been practised for a relatively long time, the leaching of sulfide minerals has only begun in relatively recent times. Most sulfidic minerals are treated with pyrometallurgical methods or through pyrometallurgical pre-treatment, for example by means of roasting into oxides or sulfates followed by hydrometallurgical metal extraction. Direct leaching of sulfide minerals, however, does occur on an industrial scale and there is great interest in expanding this technique.

Sulfides can be leached by many methods. Bioleaching is almost exclusively done on sulfides.

Sulfide minerals of interest with respect to hydrometallurgy
Antimony	Sb2S3	Stibnite
Arsenic	As2S3	Orpiment
	FeAsS	Arsenopyrite
Cobalt	Co3S4	Linnaeite
Copper	Cu2S	Chalcocite
	CuS	Covellite
	Cu5FeS4	Bornite
	CuFeS2	Chalcopyrite
Iron	FeS2	Pyrite
	FeS	Pyrrhotite
Lead	PbS	Galena
Zinc	ZnS	Sphalerite
Mercury	HgS	Cinnabar
Molybdenum	MoS2	Molybdenite
Nickel	(Fe, Ni)9S8	Pentlandite
Silver	Ag2S	Acanthite