Hydrometallurgy of base and precious metals

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Hydrometallurgy of Base and Precious MetalsThis proposal outlines a program to continue research and development in a number of important areas related to recovery and processing of base and precious metals.The pressure leaching of nickel sulfides is the first area of investigation. Pressure leaching is an alternative to conventional smelting processes and involves direct extraction of nickel and by-product metals into a water-based solution.  The metals are then recovered from solution by a number of processes.  The behaviour and control of elemental sulfur will be studied.  Surfactants can be added to disperse sulfur from mineral surfaces, allowing leaching to proceed.The recovery of metals and cyanide from gold mill effluents will be investigated.  In this work, the use of organic solutions (solvents) containing tailored chemical extractants, or ion exchange resins, will be used to selectively extract target metals and cyanide from waste solutions from gold mill effluents.  This will allow by-product metal recovery and cyanide recycle, ensuring economic and environmental benefits.The formation of iron precipitates under high temperature and pressure conditions will be studied with a view to preparation of ferric sulfate rich solutions for mineral leaching.  This approach has been developed for application at a copper processing plant in Laos.  In this work, a deeper understanding of the formation and releaching of the basic precipitate will be undertaken with a view to development of new applications in metal extraction and recovery.