Abstract:Flue dust is typical arsenic-containing material produced in copper smelting process, which is merit with valuable metals and high arsenic content. At present, treatment of flue dust is mainly focused on recovering of copper and lead, paid little attention to harmful elements such as arsenic and cadmium. Arsenic and cadmium behavior of bath smelting flue dust during leaching process was studied. The results show that both leaching ratio of arsenic and cadmium drops with increasing of reaction temperature and extension of reaction time. Initial sulfuric acid concentration is an important factor for extraction of arsenic. Extraction rate of copper, zinc, arsenic and cadmium is 99%, 98.5%, 85% and 90% respectively under the optimum conditions including initial sulfuric acid concentration of 100 g/L, L/S=3—4, and leaching at normal temperature for 1 h.