Hydrometallurgy Equipment: Heap Leach, SX-EW & Leach Circuits
LibertyCES carries 12 manufacturers with real, published mining and hydrometallurgical duty-class literature — heap leach irrigation through solvent extraction, electrowinning, cyanide destruction, and dewatering. Equipment and specification support only; never installation or engineering-of-record.
EPC firm or mine owner building a bidder list? See the Mining & Hydrometallurgy Bid page →
A Real, Existing Supplier Position — Not a Category Liberty Is Entering Cold
Five of Liberty's manufacturers publish dedicated mining/leaching literature — Netafim's complete heap-leach system, Schurco Slurry's mining-duty pumps, Hayward Flow Control's "True Grit" Mining Guide, AVCO Valve's dedicated mining segment page, and Richter's "Mining & Ore" named industry. Two more — Asahi/America and ProMinent Fluid Controls — run dedicated mining and hydrometallurgy segment pages naming heap leach, SX-EW, and electrowinning by name. That's a real, defensible supplier position across the full leach-circuit chain, not a category-level guess.
Six Real Process Stages, Each With Confirmed Equipment
Heap Leach Irrigation
Copper: dilute sulfuric acid dripped onto the ore heap (Cu2O3 + H2SO4 → Cu2(SO4)3 + H2O). Gold/silver: cyanide solution. Netafim's Leach Line driplines, GyroNet Turbo sprinklers, and a dedicated "MIN" (mining) valve configuration; Asahi/America's Type-57P butterfly, Type-21 ball, and Type-15 diaphragm valves plus Chem Proline PE piping.
Collection Systems
Pregnant leach solution (PLS) draining from the heap base. Asahi's Type-75 butterfly and PDCPD (polydicyclopentadiene) butterfly valves; Netafim's pH 2-13-rated disc filters and ScreenGuard strainers.
Solvent Extraction (SX)
Organic extractant strips copper from the PLS. ProMinent's dedicated Solvent Extraction page names Delta (solenoid-driven) and Sigma (motor-driven, 17-1030 l/h) metering pumps; Asahi names Type-21 ball, Type-14 diaphragm, and globe valves specifically for SX-EW; Richter's lined sealless mag-drive pumps for the "leaching reactions, electrolysis processes" its own Industries page names.
Electrowinning (EW)
Electrolytic copper cathode deposition from the loaded electrolyte. ProMinent names "Electrolytic Metal Extraction" as one of its five real hydrometallurgical processes; Richter names "Electrolysis processes" and "Acid and lye recycling" as served industries.
Cyanide Destruction (gold/silver route)
Two-stage pH/ORP-controlled process converting cyanide to cyanate to carbonate — with a real cyanogen chloride gas hazard if pH isn't raised fast enough. GF Signet's process knowledge and electrode selection; ProMinent metering pumps for reagent dosing.
Thickening, Dewatering & Tailings
Polymer flocculant dosing and high-solids underflow pumping. Schurco Slurry's 7-series pumps to 30,000 gpm name Mine Dewatering and Tailings explicitly; AVCO's 6100 Series knife gate valve for slurry isolation; ProMinent polymer metering systems.
Full raw dataset — every stage, chemistry, equipment class, and source citation — is published open (no gate) at data.libertyces.com/leach-circuit-equipment-by-stage.
Concentration and Temperature Change the Right Answer
PVDF caps at 95% sulfuric acid, not 98%
Above 98.3%, the natural sulfur trioxide (SO3) contaminant in concentrated sulfuric acid attacks and stress-fractures PVDF and Noryl. Above that concentration, spec Halar/ECTFE, one-piece flanged PTFE (never threaded — cold-flow leak risk), or Alloy 20.
Never quote a generic PE tank for 93-98% sulfuric acid
Three named vendor products handle this band correctly with three different base materials — Poly Processing's XLPE+OR-1000 (within its published "11/15 rule" — under 11,000 gal, under 15 ft), Snyder's HDLPE resin #880046 (a linear, not crosslinked, polymer), or Houston PolyTank's extrusion-wound construction. Carbon steel also passivates and is a legitimate, economical option at this concentration band.
A valve's diaphragm can be the limiting material, not the body
Netafim's own ALD70 diaphragm — used across its 75/90/100 Series mining valves — is rated for sulfuric acid to only 38°C (100°F), well below what the valve body material tolerates. Always verify operating temperature against the diaphragm rating specifically, not just the body/liner material.
Liberty supplies equipment and specification support only
Never installation, construction labor, or engineering-of-record. This applies across every stage above.
Full material-selection table — 22 real, vendor-sourced rows across tanks, piping, valves, pumps, and valve diaphragms — is published open at data.libertyces.com/hydromet-material-selection. For the full tank-vs-piping breakdown at 93-98% concentration, see the 93-98% Sulfuric Acid guide →.
Stage-by-Stage Specification Guides
What Liberty Does Not Currently Supply
A false capability claim on a bid response is worse than a missing product line. Here's what we don't carry today:
Liberty does not currently carry a filter press line. If your circuit needs one, we'll say so — and can point you toward the manufacturer landscape (e.g. McLanahan) rather than misrepresent capability we don't have.
Liberty's agitator line caps at 3 HP (drum/tote/reagent make-up scale). Real leach-reactor agitators run tens to hundreds of HP — outside Liberty's current roster.
Liberty's analytical instrumentation lines are water/wastewater-first. Purpose-built abrasive-slurry pH instrumentation is a real gap we're transparent about.
Frequently Asked Questions
What equipment does a hydrometallurgical leach circuit need?
A full copper or gold/silver leach circuit needs different equipment at each of six real process stages — driplines and control valves for heap leach irrigation, collection piping and strainers for pregnant leach solution recovery, metering pumps for solvent extraction, circulation piping for electrowinning, pH/ORP instrumentation for cyanide destruction, and slurry pumps plus knife gate valves for dewatering and tailings. See the stage breakdown below, or the full raw dataset at data.libertyces.com.
What are the principles of hydrometallurgy?
Hydrometallurgy extracts metals from ores, concentrates, or waste using aqueous solutions — primarily through leaching (dissolving the target metal into solution), purification (solvent extraction or ion exchange), and recovery (precipitation or electrowinning to produce the pure metal), typically at lower temperatures than pyrometallurgy (smelting).
What material should I use for concentrated sulfuric acid tanks and piping in a heap leach circuit?
Never a generic catalog PE tank at 93-98% H2SO4. Carbon steel (which passivates at this concentration band), or a vendor-named concentrated-acid product — Poly Processing XLPE+OR-1000 within its stated size ceiling, Snyder HDLPE resin #880046, or Houston PolyTank extrusion-wound construction. For piping and valves above 95%, PVDF is no longer sufficient — step up to Halar/ECTFE, one-piece flanged PTFE, or Alloy 20.
Does Liberty supply filter presses or leach-reactor agitators?
No. Filter presses and agitators above 3 HP are real, documented gaps in Liberty's current roster — we'll tell you honestly rather than misrepresent capability we don't have. Everything else on this page — pumps, valves, tanks, piping, and instrumentation across all six leach-circuit stages — is a real, carried line.
Specifying a leach circuit or hydrometallurgical process line?
Send LibertyCES the chemistry, concentration, temperature, and stage — we'll confirm the real equipment and material call before you spec a model.
Ready to buy or need a fast answer? Call, text, or email James directly — (559) 395-5500 · [email protected].