Extraction of cooper from a porphyry ore by simulated in situ leaching techniques was investigated by the Bureau of Mones as a means of recovering cooper from deeply buried sulfide deposits. Effects of adding sodium chloride and nitric acid separately to sulfuric acid leaching system under oxygen pressure were studies on a bench scale to define conditions under which cooper could be extracted more effectively from porphyry ores. Changes of ore, crushed to 3/8 inch, were leached under static conditions in the range of 25° to 200° C and in the range of 14 to 400 psig oxygen. Additions of sodium chloride or nitric acid to dilute sulfuric acid leachants were found to enhance dissolution of chalcopyrite markedly. Addition of 1 weight-percent sodium chloride or 0.25 percent nitric acid increased cooper extractions obtained at 80° C with sulfuric acid alone by twofold and eightfold, respectively, under the test conditions. In addition, the Na+ ion, along with the Fe+3 and SO4−2 ions, forms a crystalline natrojarosite. precipitation of the co-dissolved iron as crystalline natrojarosite, or minerals closely related to jarosite, permits continuous contact of the leach solution with the particles of ore, purifies the pregnant solution with respect to iron, and redeposits the ferric iron contents as an innocuous mineral.