Method for producing valuable metal

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for producing a valuable metal from a starting material that contains waste lithium ion batteries, the method being capable of effectively obtaining a metal which has a reduced phosphorus content. The present invention provides a method for producing a valuable metal from a starting material that contains waste lithium ion batteries containing phosphorus, the method comprising: a melting step in which the starting material is melted, thereby obtaining a melt; and a slag separation step in which slag is separated from the melt and an alloy containing a valuable metal is recovered. According to the present invention, an alloy is recovered, while making it sure that the recovery ratio of cobalt from the starting material is from 95.0% to 99.6%, thereby suppressing the phosphorus content in the alloy to 0.1% by mass or less.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.