From many perspectives copper is a very important metal for the modern society. It can be found in everything from jewellery to electronics. For this reason it is very important for geologists to be able to develop efficient methods for identification, characterisation, extraction and processing of copper. One method for the identification of copper bearing minerals is ore microscopy which has been used in this paper along with a general introduction. Samples from the study collection of the Department of Earth Sciences and the area of Långban and Månhöjden have been examined, documented and described in detail. The thesis begins with an introduction to the history and geochemistry of copper along with some ore forming processes.

No description available.

This thesis describes an ion irradiation study of ordered Cu<sub>3M/sub>Au. Argon, Copper and Krypton ions of 50 and 100keV were implanted to nominal doses of 10¹¹ ions cm^-2 both at room temperature and at liquid helium temperature. The damage induced at low temperature was observed in-situ and after subsequent warming to room temperature. The collapse of collision cascades to vacancy dislocation loops was observed to occur with moderately high probability under all irradiation conditions at low temperature, with no subsequent increase in the number of loops on warming. Comparison of the collapsed fraction of cascades at low temperature with that produced by room temperature irradiation revealed that the collapse process is more efficient in the latter case. An increase in collapse probability with ion mass was also observed, although no dependence on ion energy was found over the range investigated. Quantitative analysis of the disordered zones which result in ordered Cu₃Au at individual cascade sites revealed that cascades which had collapsed to loops generally produced larger disordered zones. Additionally, increases in disordered zone size with ion mass, ion energy and irradiation temperature were identified. The observation that disordered zone sizes exceed the theoretically predicted cascade dimensions for the case of the highest energy density in this study (50keV Kr) is interpreted as evidence for leakage of energy from the cascade region to the surrounding lattice. A model is proposed which attributes the observed cascade collapse behaviour to vacancy migration during the cooling of the cascade region being systematically directed toward its centre, and accounts for the observed disordered zones in terms of extensive atomic rearrangement during the cooling. The major factors identified as controlling this vacancy and atomic motion are the initial spatial distribution of energy and vacancies within the region, and the rate at which the region cools.

Selective ligand coordination of zinc over other metals such as copper (II) and iron (III) is desirable and has potential commercial uses in hydrometallurgy. With this in mind ligands have been synthesised that impart a tetrahedral donor array. Binding to zinc which prefers a tetrahedral binding geometry may achieve selectivity over other non-tetrahedrally coordinating metals. Di-N-alkylated bisbenzimidazole-4,4'-dicarboxylic acids have been synthesised and shown by proton NMR, ESMS and IR analysis to bind zinc as an [L(_2)Zn(_2)] species with selectivity over copper, nickel, lead and cadmium. Hence a reversal of the Irving- Williams sequence is observed. Aqueous extraction tests using a lipophilic N-alkylated derivative indicated that the observed selectivity over copper and iron (III) was not reproduced under these experimental conditions. The ligand began to extract in the pH 2.3-3.8 region.2,9-Diphosphinoxymethyl phenanthroline derivatives were synthesised and shown to bind nickel, copper and zinc with similar stability constants, with only marginal enhancement over that of the parent phenanthroline. The 1:1 complexes were produced at acidities below pH 2. Increasing the length of the pendent arm donor groups by using phenylacetic acid moieties did not enhance zinc selectivity. The donor group was not ideal and [ML(_2)] species were generated (i.e. an N(_4) donor set)Two phenol substituted 12N(_3) ligands were synthesised (N-linked and β-C- linked). Complex stability order followed die Irving-Williams sequence Cu > Zn > Ni. The N-linked derivative formed a six membered chelate on binding and had larger metal-ligand stability constants than for the C-linked derivative which formed an eight membered chelate. The N-linked derivative bound the copper (II) cation in a near tetrahedral arrangement and imparted some copper (I) character to the metal

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2008.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2008.

Thesis (PhDApSc(MineralsandMaterials)--University of South Australia, 2002.