Unlocking Critical Elements in Base Metal Supply Chains: Challenges and Opportunities

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2024 | Viewed by 2973

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Mining and Explosives Engineering, Thomas J. O'Keefe Institute for Sustainable Supply of Strategic Minerals, Rolla, MO 65409, USA
Interests: critical minerals; rare earth metals; mineral processing; froth flotation; surface science; green chemistry
Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Interests: mineral processing; critical minerals; carbonation in mineral processing; space mining; virtual reality in mineral processing education
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Guest Editor
Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada
Interests: mineral processing of critical minerals; rare earth minerals; nickel; copper; industrial minerals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Many critical elements, such as germanium, gallium, selenium, tellurium, arsenic, bismuth, etc., are contained in mineral phases that are closely associated with base metal sulfides. As reported in many studies, most of these critical elements are lost to tailings or other process streams during the early stages of mineral processing (i.e., physical beneficiation) or during the downstream processing (i.e., extractive metallurgy). This Special Issue focuses on the characterization and recovery of critical elements in the base metal supply chain. Possible research topics may include the characterization of critical elements and their carrier mineral phases, mineral processing methods for possible enrichment, and potential extractive metallurgy techniques to recover them. Life cycle analysis associated with the processing of these elements is also considered.

Dr. Lana Alagha
Dr. Pengbo Chu
Dr. Kristian Waters
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • critical elements
  • base metals
  • extractive metallurgy
  • physical separation
  • froth flotation
  • geometallurgy
  • mine tailings

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 2987 KiB  
Article
Leaching of Nickel and Cobalt from a Mixed Nickel-Cobalt Hydroxide Precipitate Using Organic Acids
by Shokrullah Hussaini, Angela Manka Tita, Sait Kursunoglu, Muammer Kaya and Pengbo Chu
Minerals 2024, 14(3), 314; https://doi.org/10.3390/min14030314 - 16 Mar 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2208
Abstract
Nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co) are strategic metals that have found applications in a wide range of metallurgical and industrial uses. In this study, the dissolution of a mixed nickel–cobalt hydroxide precipitate using organic acids (citric, oxalic, and malic acid) was investigated. Citric [...] Read more.
Nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co) are strategic metals that have found applications in a wide range of metallurgical and industrial uses. In this study, the dissolution of a mixed nickel–cobalt hydroxide precipitate using organic acids (citric, oxalic, and malic acid) was investigated. Citric acid was found to be the best leaching agent yielding the following dissolution rates: 91.2% Ni, 86.8% Co, and 90.8% Mn. Oxalic acid resulted in low dissolution, which is likely due to the formation of insoluble metal oxalates. The impact of acid concentration, leaching time, and temperature on metal dissolution was systematically examined. The optimal dissolution conditions were identified as 0.5 M citric acid at 30 °C for 30 min, utilizing a 1/20 solid/liquid ratio and a stirring speed of 400 revolutions per minute (rpm). The attempt to use oxidants, such as potassium permanganate (KMnO4) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), to achieve selective dissolution in an organic acid environment was not successful, which was different from that in the sulfuric acid case. As for the leaching kinetics in the organic acids, it seems that the leaching of Ni correlates with the Shrinking Core Model, specifically regarding porous-layer diffusion control. Based on the experimental results, the activation energy for the leaching of Ni was estimated to be 3.1 kJ/mol. Full article
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