Recovery of cobalt values by absorption from ammoniacal solution

Abstract

The recovery of metal values such as cobalt may be improved in a hydrometallurgical recovery of metal values from metal-bearing sources such as ores and the like. The hydrometallurgical recovery process involves subjecting a metal-bearing source to a reductive roast in a reducing atmosphere after having treated said source with at least one additive. Thereafter, the reduced metal-bearing source is cooled and extracted by a leaching operation such as treatment with an ammoniacal ammonium salt solution. The leaching step is followed by a separation of various metal values by adding a solid adsorbent to the leach solution whereby selective metal ions are adsorbed thereon. The improvement of the process involves subjecting the solid adsorbent to a stripping operation with a stripping agent such as steam or a gas at an elevated temperature prior to recovery of the adsorbed metal ions from the solid adsorbent by conventional means such as acid-stripping.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.