The University of British Columbia

Research Interests

My interests lie in the area of technology development and technology transfer. The Hydrometallurgy Chair has allowed me to become intimately acquainted with “state-of-the-art” hydrometallurgical practice. I have visited virtually every major hydrometallurgical facility in Canada and many of those in the U.S. and outside North America. The Chair program has allowed me to freely discuss my ideas with Chair supporters and to learn what challenges and needs exist within the Hydrometallurgy industry. This has led to industrially oriented research projects. These projects have an end result in mind but delve deeply into the fundamental science of the field. Key results achieved by my group at UBC include;

• Development of an enhanced ion exchange method for removing antimony and bismuth from copper refinery electrolyte. Our development of a pre-reduction solution treatment resulted in a U.S. patent being granted. The process has been licensed by the University to Noranda Inc. and has undergone commercial development at the CCR Copper Refinery in Montreal, Canada.
• Development of a new process for the recovery of copper from copper matte. This process has been patented in the United States and is currently under patent application worldwide. The process has been licensed by the University to BHP Copper for commercial development and is undergoing pilot scale evaluation.
• Development of an ion exchange process for iron control in copper electrowinning operations. This process has grown out of our work on antimony and bismuth removal and has been performed in collaboration with Eichrom Industries of Darien, Illinois. This process has been patented in the United States and is currently under patent application worldwide. The first commercial installation has been commissioned at the Mexicana de Cobre operation in Cananea, Mexico. The second is about to be started at the Mt. Gordon Copper Company in Australia.
• Patenting of a new process for recovery of copper from chalcopyrite concentrates. This process has been developed in concert with Anglo American Corporation and is known as the AAC/UBC Copper Process. The process is owned by Anglo American Corporation but ½ of the royalties from licensing of the process to others are given to the University.
• Invention with others of the PLATSOL process for recovery of base and precious metals (platinum, palladium, gold, other platinum group elements). This process is under worldwide patent application and worldwide development.
• Development of a process for the recovery of gold from carbonaceous, refractory gold ores. This work began in our laboratory at U.B.C. and has since gone on to further development at Lakefield Research in Ontario. The process has been patented in the United States (2 U.S. patents) and is being evaluated for commercial development by Barrick Gold Corporation.
• The generation of new information on the oxidative pressure leaching of zinc and copper concentrates and the role of liquid sulfur and surfactants in the leach chemistry.
• Development of a fundamental understanding of the copper-antimony process for the removal of cobalt from zinc plant electrolytes.
• Development of fundamental understanding of the leaching behaviour of oxides, sulfides and arsenides leading to process improvements at INCO Limited's CRED plant in Sudbury, Canada.
• Helping Rayrock Mines understand and optimize the biological leaching of copper from secondary sulfides in a saline environment. This information was used in the development of the Ivan Mine in Chile.
• Develop a fundamental understanding of the electrochemistry of nickel plating (and hydrogen evolution) in mixed chloride-sulfate baths.
• Generally cultivate and grow a vibrant University-Industry interface in the field of Hydrometallurgy. This has led to the expansion of the group of Hydrometallurgy Chair supporters to 17 and the establishment of two new Chairs - The Industrial Research Chair in Biohydrometallurgy and the NSERC/Industry Research Chair in Aqueous Electrometallurgy.

Refereed Journal

1. Dreisinger, D.B., Hydrometallurgical Process Development for Complex Ores and Concentrates(KEYNOTE), Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (2009), 109(5), 253-269
2. Xie, F., Dreisinger, D., “Studies on solvent extraction of copper and cyanide from waste cyanide solution”, Journal of Hazardous Materials, (2009), 169(1-3), 333-338.
3. Xie, F., Dreisinger, D., “Copper Solvent Extraction from Waste Cyanide Solution with LIX 7820”, Solvent Extraction and Ion Exchange, (2009), 27(4), 459-473.
4. Xie, F., Dreisinger, D., “Study on the use of ferricyanide for gold and silver cyanidation, Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China, 29(2009), 714-718.
5. Tong, L., Dreisinger, D., “Interfacial Properties of Liquid Sulfur in the Pressure Leaching of Nickel Concentrate”, Minerals Engineering (2009), 22(5), 456-461.
6. Tong, L., Dreisinger, D., “The Adsorption of Sulfur Dispersing Agents on Sulfur and Nickel Sulfide Concentrate Surfaces”, Minerals Engineering (2009), 22(5), 445-450.
7. McKevitt, B., Dreisinger, D., “A Comparison of Various Ion Exchange Resins for the Removal of Ferric from Copper Electrowinning Electrolyte Solutions. Part I: Electrolytes Containing No Other Impurities”, Submitted to Hydrometallurgy. Hydrometallurgy (2009), 98(1-2), 116-121.
8. McKevitt, B., Dreisinger, D., “A Comparison of Various Ion Exchange Resins for the Removal of Ferric from Copper Electrowinning Electrolyte Solutions. Part II: Electrolytes Containing Antimony and Bismuth”, Submitted to Hydrometallurgy. Hydrometallurgy (2009), 98(1-2), 122-127.
9. Xie, F., Dreisinger, D., “Recovery of Copper Cyanide from Waste Cyanide Solutions using LIX 7950”, Minerals Engineering (2009), 22(2), 190-195.
10. Vaughan, J., Tu, J., Dreisinger, D., “Ionic Liquid Electrodeposition of Reactive Metals”, Transactions of the Institutions of Mining and Metallurgy, Section C: Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy (2008), 117(2), 113-117
11. Dreisinger, D.B., Murray, W., Norton, E., Baxter, K., Holmes, M. and Molnar, R., “The Boleo Copper-Cobalt-Zinc-Manganese Project”, Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly (2008), 47(3), 357-367.
12. Muñoz, J.A., Dreisinger, D.B., Cooper, W.C., Young, S.K., “Interaction Of Silver Ions With Sulfide Minerals With Special Emphasis On The Chalcopyrite/Pyrite Galvanic Couple” Canadian Metallurgical Quarterly (2008), 47(3), 259-268.
13. Xie, F., Dreisinger, D.B., Lu, J., “The Novel Application of Ferricyanide as an Oxidant in the Cyanidation of Gold and Silver”, Minerals Engineering (2008), 21(15), 1109-1114.
14. Xie, F., Dreisinger, D.B., “Leaching of Silver Sulfide with Ferricyanide-Cyanide Solution”, Hydrometallurgy (2007), 88(1-4), 98-108.
15. Liddicoat, J., Dreisinger, D.B., “Chloride leaching for chalcopyrite”, Hydrometallurgy (2007), 89(3-4), 323-331.
16. J.A. Muñoz, J.A., Dreisinger, D.B., Cooper, W.C., Young, S., “Silver catalyzed bioleaching of low-grade copper ores. Part I: Shake flasks tests”, Hydrometallurgy (2007), 88(1-4), 3-18.
17. J.A. Muñoz, J.A., Dreisinger, D.B., Cooper, W.C., Young, S., “Silver catalyzed bioleaching of low-grade copper ores. Part 2: Stirred tank tests”, Hydrometallurgy (2007), 88(1-4), 19-34.
18. J.A. Muñoz, J.A., Dreisinger, D.B., Cooper, W.C., Young, S., “Silver catalyzed bioleaching of low-grade copper ores. Part 3: Column tests”, Hydrometallurgy (2007), 88(1-4), 35-51.
19. Vaughan, J., Huang, H. and Dreisinger, D.B., “Deposition of Aluminium from the Aluminium Chloride-Trihexyl(Tetradecyl) Phosphonium Chloride System”, Journal of the Electrochemical Society (2007), Volume Date 2008, 155(1), D68-D72.

Refereed Conference

1. Xie, F. and Dreisinger, D., “Solvent extraction of metals and cyanide from waste cyanide solution by LIX 7950”, to appear in Proceedings of Copper 2010, Hamburg, Germany, June, 2010.
2. Dreisinger, D., Molnar, R., Glück, T. And Riordan, J., ”Hydrometallurgical Recovery of Cobalt from the Boleo Project”, Proceedings of SESTEC-2010 (Kalpakkam, India), February, 2010.
3. Dreisinger, D.B., Molnar, R., Mezei, A., Baxter, K. and Wardell-Johnson, M., “ The Recovery of Nickel and Cobalt from the NorthMet Deposit Using Bulk Flotation and Chloride Assisted Pressure Leaching”, Proceedings of ALTA 2010 Ni-Co-Cu Forum, Perth, May, 2010.
4. Guo, H., Lu, J., Dreisinger, D., Kuhar, L.L., Steyl, J. and Smit, J., “Zinc Electrowinning from Acidic Chloride Solutions”, To appear in Proceedings of Pb-Zn 2010 (Vancouver), CIM-METSOC.
5. Dreisinger, D., Glück, T., Marte, K., Hamm, R., Molnar, R., Lu, J. and Xie, F., “The Recovery of Zn, Co and Mn from Baja Mining Corp’s El Boleo Orebody”, To appear in Proceedings of Pb-Zn 2010 (Vancouver), CIM-METSOC.
6. Guo, H., Lu, J., Dreisinger, D., Downing, B., “Effect of Current Density on Zinc Electrowinning from Sulfate Solutions Containing Nickel Impurity”, To appear in Proceedings of Pb-Zn 2010 (Vancouver), CIM-METSOC.
7. Dreisinger, D., Cheng, C.Y., Zhang, W. and Pranolo, Y., “Development of the Boleo Process Flowsheet and the Direct Solvent Extraction (DSX) Circuit for Cobalt and Zinc Recovery”, To appear in the Proceedings of IMPC 2010 (Brisbane), AusIMM.
8. Tong, L., Dreisinger, D., and Lu, J., “Sulfur Dispersing Agents In The Oxygen Pressure Leaching Of Nickel Concentrate”, Nickel-Cobalt 2009 Proceedings, Eds. Budac, J.J., Fraser, R., Mihaylov, I., Papangelakis, V.G., Robinson, D., CIM Metsoc, Montreal, pp. 139-156.
9. Dreisinger, D., Molnar, R., Gluck, T., Baxter, K. and Riordan, J., “The Recovery of Cobalt from Baja Mining Corp’s El Boleo Project”, Nickel-Cobalt 2009 Proceedings, Eds. Budac, J.J., Fraser, R., Mihaylov, I., Papangelakis, V.G., Robinson, D., CIM Metsoc, Montreal, pp. 59-76.
10. Dreisinger, D., Baxter, K., Wardell-Johnson, M., “The Recovery of Nickel and Cobalt from the NorthMet Deposit Using the PLATSOL™ Process with Production of Mixed or Separate Nickel and Cobalt Hydroxides”, Nickel-Cobalt 2009 Proceedings, Eds. Budac, J.J., Fraser, R., Mihaylov, I., Papangelakis, V.G., Robinson, D., CIM Metsoc, Montreal, pp. 123-138.
11. Dreisinger, D., “Hydrometallurgical Process Development for Complex Ores and Concentrates”, Proceedings of Hydrometallurgy 2009, Johannesburg, March 2009, South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (INVITED PLENARY LECTURE).
12. Vaughan, J., Dreisinger, D., “Potentiodynamic Polarization of Platinum and Aluminum in AlCl3-[P14,6,6,6]Cl Melts", "ECS Transactions - Honolulu, HI" Volume 16, "Molten Salts and Ionic Liquids 16", to be published in February 2009.
13. Dreisinger, D., Norton, E., Baxter, K., Holmes, M., Molnar, R., “The Hydrometallurgical Treatment of Baja Mining’s El Boleo Project for Cu, Co, Zn and Mn Recovery”, Proceedings of ALTA Copper Conference, ALTA Metallurgical, Perth Australia, June 2008, 17 pages.
14. Dreisinger, D., Murray, W., “Metallurgical Development of the NorthMet Deposit of PolyMet Mining for Recovery of Copper, Nickel, Cobalt and Precious Metals”, Proceedings of ALTA Nickel – Cobalt Conference, ALTA Metallurgical, Perth, Australia, June 2008, 19 pages.
15. Shaw, R., Dreisinger, D., Arnold, S., Weekes, B., Tinsman, H., “New Developments of Ion Exchange in Copper Processing”, Proceedings of ALTA Copper Conference, ALTA Metallurgical, Perth Australia, June 2008, 15 pages.
16. Xie, F., Dreisinger, D.B., “Copper Solvent Extraction from Waste Cyanide Solution by a Solvent Mixture of a Quaternary Amine and Nonylphenol”, To Appear in the Proceedings of the International Solvent Extraction Conference (ISEC 2008), August 2008, CIM (Montreal), 6 pages.
17. Xie, F., Dreisinger, D.B., “Leaching of Silver Sulfide with Ferricyanide-Cyanide Solution”, To Appear in the Proceedings of the International Mineral Processing Congress, Beijing, China, September 2008, 20 pages.
18. Dreisinger, D., Norton, E., Molnar, R., Baxter, K., Holmes, M., Riordan, J., “The Recovery Of Zinc From Baja Mining Corp’s El Boleo Orebody”, To Appear in the Proceedings of Zn-Pb 2008, CIM (Montreal), 16 pages.
19. Dreisinger, D., Vaughan, J., Lu, J., Wassink. B., West-Sells, P., “Treatment of the Carmacks Copper-Gold Ore by Acid Leaching and Cyanide Leaching with SART Recovery of Copper and Cyanide from Barren Cyanide Solution”, to appear in the Proceedings of Hydro 2008 (Shoemaker Symposium), SME (Littleton, CO), 8 pages.
20. Shaw, D.R., Arnold, S., MacDonald, C.L, Dreisinger, D., Wassink, B., The Development and Commercialization of Ion Exchange Applications In Hydrometallurgy, to Appear in the Proceedings of IEX 2008, Cambridge, UK, July 2008, 8 pages.
21. Shaw, R., Illescas, J., Dreisinger, D.B., Wassink, B., “Ion Exchange for Electrolyte Purification in Copper Electrowinning and Refining”, Proceedings of Copper 2007 – Cobre 2007, Volume V, Eds: Houlachi, G.E, Edwards, J.D., Robinson, T.G., CIM Metsoc, Montreal, pp. 675-690.
22. Lu, J., Dreisinger, D.B. and West-Sells, P., “Acid Curing and Agglomeration”, Proceedings of Copper 2007 – Cobre 2007, Volume IV (Book 1), Eds. Riveros, P, Collins, M., Dreisinger, D, Dixon, D., CIM Metsoc, Montreal, pp. 453-464.
23. Muñoz, J., Dreisinger, D.B., Cooper, W.C., Young, S.K., “Interaction of silver ions with sulfide minerals with special emphasis on the chalcopyrite/pyrite galvanic couple”, Proceedings of Copper 2007 – Cobre 2007, Volume IV (Book 1), Eds. Riveros, P, Collins, M., Dreisinger, D, Dixon, D., CIM Metsoc, Montreal, pp. 309-322.
24. Dreisinger, D.B., Murray, W., Norton, E., Baxter, K., Holmes, M. and Molnar, R. “The Boleo Copper – Cobalt – Zinc – Manganese Project”, To Appear in the Proceedings of Copper 2007 – Cobre 2007, CIM Metsoc, Montreal.
25. Dreisinger, D.B., Baxter, K., Fleming, C., Ferron, J., Mezei, A., Brown, J. and Molnar, R. “Hydrometallurgical Processing of PolyMet Mining’s NorthMet Deposit for the Recovery of Cu-Ni-Co-Zn-Pd, Pt, Au”, Proceedings of Copper 2007 – Cobre 2007, Volume IV (Book 1), Eds. Riveros, P, Collins, M., Dreisinger, D, Dixon, D., CIM Metsoc, Montreal, pp. 43-60.