The study recently published in Science Advances, demonstrates that a targeted electric field can be used to dissolve and then recover copper in situ from the ore.

The electric field is used to control the movement of an acid within a low permeability copper-bearing ore deposit, to selectively dissolve and recover the metal in situ, in a process called electrokinetic in situ leaching (EK-ISL).

This new technology, EK-ISL, comprises the construction (drilling) of electrodes directly into an orebody. An electric current is then applied which can result in the transport of electrically charged metal ions, such as copper, through the rock via a process called electromigration.  

The research team has now provided a proof of concept for this new technology at laboratory scale, demonstrating its applicability for a copper-bearing sulphidic porphyry ore. They are also confident that the idea will work beyond the laboratory scale as multiphysics numerical model simulations have confirmed the feasibility of EK-ISL at the field scale.

Dr Rich Crane from the Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter, and co-author of the study, said: "This new approach, analogous to ‘keyhole surgery', has the potential to provide a more sustainable future for the mining industry."

The research team includes experts from the University of Western Australia, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Technical University of Denmark and the Camborne School of Mines at the University of Exeter.

They believe that the new technique has the capability to dissolve metals from a wide range of ore deposits previously considered inaccessible, with a markedly reduced environmental footprint.