30000 tonnes of a copper ore containing 6.5% chalcopyrite was mined. Calculate the theoretical yield of copper that could be extracted from this ore (in tonnes)?

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30000 tonnes of a copper ore containing 6.5% chalcopyrite was mined. Calculate the theoretical yield of copper that could be extracted from this ore (in tonnes)?

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Answer 1 · 2017-04-21T07:47:31

$Chalcopyrite$ $"Chalcopyrite"$ has a formula of ${CuFeS}_{2}$ $"CuFeS"_2$ (you should have included this formula in the question).

Explanation:

And thus percentage mass of copper in chalcopyrite is:

$\frac{63.55 \cdot g \cdot m o l^{- 1}}{(63.55 + 55.8 + 2 \times 32.06) \cdot g \cdot m o l^{- 1}} \times 100 %$ $(63.55*g*mol^-1)/((63.55+55.8+2xx32.06)*g*mol^-1)xx100%$

$34.6 %$ $34.6%$ $by mass.$ $"by mass."$

But, the ore contains ONLY $6.5 %$ $6.5%$ by mass of copper in this ore......

And thus, the mass of copper is given by............

$\frac{6.5}{100} \times \frac{34.6}{100} \times 30000 \cdot tonnes = 675 \cdot tonnes$ $(6.5)/100xx(34.6)/100xx30000*"tonnes"=675*"tonnes"$ .

And of course the rest of the starting mass will either be released to the atmosphere, or end up in a mountainous pile of tailings.

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30000 tonnes of a copper ore containing 6.5% chalcopyrite was mined. Calculate the theoretical yield of copper that could be extracted from this ore (in tonnes)?

1 Answer

Explanation:

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