Process for germanium ore upgrading
AssigneeMetaleurop S.A.
InventorsPatrick Hebert, Jean-Jacques Predali
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A process to increase the content of germanium which is found in an iron hydroxide phase of an ore of the supergene type for later recovery by solvent extraction. The process comprises the steps of first crushing the ore, converting the ore to pulp, and then subjecting the pulp to a magnetic separation to give a magnetic fraction enriched in germanium. Also, the process can be used to increase the content of gallium which is found in a jarosite phase of an ore of the supergene type for later recovery by solvent extraction.
Claims22
A process for increasing the amount of germanium recovered from supergene ore, comprising the steps of:
- a) crushing the supergene ore;
- b) converting the crushed ore to pulp;
- c) subjecting the pulp obtained in step b) to a magnetic separation which separates a magnetic fraction consisting essentially of an iron hydroxide phase containing the germanium from a non-magnetic fraction;
- d) retaining the separated magnetic fraction;
- e) subjecting the retained magnetic fraction of step d) to a second crushing step and to a second magnetic separation step which separates a second magnetic fraction consisting essentially of the iron hydroxide phase containing the germanium from a second nonmagnetic fraction;
- and
- f) retaining the second magnetic fraction for subsequent extraction of the germanium from the second magnetic fraction.
A process for increasing the amounts of germanium and gallium recovered from supergene ore, comprising the steps of:
- a) crushing the supergene ore;
- b) converting the crushed ore to pulp;
- c) subjecting the pulp obtained in step b) to a magnetic separation which separates a magnetic fraction consisting essentially of an iron hydroxide phase containing the germanium and a jarosite phase containing the gallium from a non-magnetic fraction;
- d) retaining the separated magnetic fraction;
- e) subjecting the retained magnetic fraction of step d) to a second crushing step and to a second magnetic separation step which separates a second magnetic fraction consisting essentially of the iron hydroxide phase containing the germanium and the jarosite phase containing the gallium from a second non-magnetic fraction;
- and
- f) retaining the second magnetic fraction for subsequent extraction of the germanium and the gallium from the second magnetic fraction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.