Process for preparing chelating ion exchanger resins and the use thereof for the extraction of metals

A process for the extraction of metals comprising extracting metal ions from an aqueous solution by passing said solution through an ion exchange resin, said ion exchange resin prepared by a process which includes the steps of (a) preparing a carrier material by amidoalkylation or imidoalkylation of a crosslinked styrene copolymer with an ester or an ether of an N-hydroxyalkylimide followed by subsequent hydrolysis of the amido- or imido-alkylation product;

• (b) reacting said carrier material with an aldehyde and 8-hydroxyquinoline and/or an 8-hydroxy-quinoline derivative and, optionally, a swelling agent and/or a solvent, said reaction occurring at a temperature of between 20.degree. C. and 100.degree. C.;
• and (c) washing the reaction product of step (b) with water and, optionally, an acid or a base and/or a solvent.