Abstract: In order to solve the pollution problem of copper-containing wastewater， a kind of carbonate copper tailing in Hubei Province was used as raw material to study on the feasibility of utilizing waste for controlling pollution by means of mechanically-activated copper tailings with stirring mill. Thepossibility of sliming tailings and releasing metal ions by mechanical activation was demonstrated. Finally， the removal mechanism of copper ions was analyzed by XRD. The results showed that:①Under the mechanical activation， the carbonate copper tailings in Hubei province effectively removed copper ions from simulated wastewater. Under conditions of the mass ratio of tailings to copper ions （provided by copper nitrate） 18∶1， the initial copper ions concentration of simulated wastewater 100 mg/L， and the reaction time for 60 min， the copper ions removal rate was 99.83%. The treatment effect of this copper tailing on the simulated copper sulfate wastewater was obviously better than that on the simulated copper nitrate wastewater.②Since the mechanically-activated intensity differed from the actual grinding process， the particle size of the copper tailings didn't decrease significantly. Meanwhile， the concentration of metal ions in the activated pulp was low， indicating that the mechanical activation didn't release heavy metal ions. ③The calcite played a major role in the process of wastewater treatment. Mechanical activation accelerated the dissolution and ionization of calcite， and the hydrolysis of carbonate ions caused an increase in the pH of the slurry， which ultimately caused precipitation of copper ions. For the copper sulfate type simulated wastewater， the precipitate generated was mainly posnjakite (Cu4(SO4)(OH)6·H2O). For the copper nitrate type simulated wastewater， the precipitate was mainly composed of amorphous copper minerals.

Key words: Carbonate tailings, Mechanical activation, Copper-containing wastewater, Calcite, Anion types, Precipitation