Recovery of metals from their alloys with lead using consummable lance and apparatus

A method of recovering a metal selected from the noble metals and bismuth from an alloy containing lead and the metal comprising melting the alloy in a furnace having an interior and an exterior, injecting into the melt a stream of oxygen-containing gas thereby oxidizing the lead to form a lead oxide slag which stream is cooled by an annular shroud of a coolant gas, and removing the slag from the surface of the melt, wherein the oxygen-containing gas and a first coolant gas are injected into the melt through an elongate, consumable lance formed of a first elongate tube for the oxygen-containing gas and a second elongate tube, located annularly about the first tube, for the first coolant gas, wherein the consumable lance extends lengthwise of itself from the interior to the exterior of the furnace through a lance guide tube provided in a wall of the furnace and is capable of being fed lengthwise from the exterior to the interior of the furnace through the guide tube as the lance is consumed in the furnace, and wherein a stream of a second gas is injected through the guide tube into the furnace to seal the lance.