Provided is a method for treating an alloy by which nickel and/or cobalt can be selectively isolated from an alloy that contains copper as well as nickel and/or cobalt, in a waste lithium ion battery. The present invention is a method for treating an alloy, by which a solution that contains nickel and/or cobalt is obtained from an alloy that contains copper as well as nickel and/or cobalt, the method including: a leaching step in which a leachate is obtained by subjecting an alloy to an acid-based leaching treatment under conditions in which a sulfurizing agent is also present; a reduction step in which a reduced solution is obtained by subjecting the leachate to a reduction treatment using a reducing agent; and an oxidation/neutralization step in which a solution that contains nickel and/or cobalt is obtained by adding an oxidizing agent and also a neutralizing agent to the reduced solution.

An integrated pressure leaching, heap leaching process for recovering copper from sulphidic feed containing iron, arsenic, and copper. Aqueous feed slurry of the sulphidic feed is pressure oxidized to form a liquid phase containing free sulphuric acid and aqueous copper sulphate, and to precipitate arsenic as solid iron arsenic compounds. Treated slurry is withdrawn from the pressure vessel and the liquid phase is separated from the solids. Copper is recovered from the separated liquid phase and generates a solution enriched in acid and depleted in copper. At least a portion of this solution is neutralized in a copper heap leach to produce a PLS containing copper and reduced in acid. At least a portion of the heap leach PLS is neutralized to produce a solution further reduced in acid, and solids containing copper precipitates, followed by a liquid solid separation. The solution further reduced in acid is recycled as process solution for the pressure leach, while the solids containing copper precipitates are recycled to combine with either the treated slurry from the pressure leach, or the liquid phase from liquid solid separation, to re-dissolve copper and other metal values. The solids from the latter step are separated and the liquid phase is fed to copper recovery.

An integrated pressure leaching, heap leaching process for recovering copper from sulphidic feed containing iron, arsenic, and copper. Aqueous feed slurry of the sulphidic feed is pressure oxidized to form a liquid phase containing free sulphuric acid and aqueous copper sulphate, and to precipitate arsenic as solid iron arsenic compounds. Treated slurry is withdrawn from the pressure vessel and the liquid phase is separated from the solids. Copper is recovered from the separated liquid phase and generates a solution enriched in acid and depleted in copper. At least a portion of this solution is neutralized in a copper heap leach to produce a PLS containing copper and reduced in acid. At least a portion of the heap leach PLS is neutralized to produce a solution further reduced in acid, and solids containing copper precipitates, followed by a liquid solid separation. The solution further reduced in acid is recycled as process solution for the pressure leach, while the solids containing copper precipitates are recycled to combine with either the treated slurry from the pressure leach, or the liquid phase from liquid solid separation, to re-dissolve copper and other metal values. The solids from the latter step are separated and the liquid phase is fed to copper recovery.

A precious metal leaching method includes providing a slurried feed, comprising (i) in the solid phase, a refractory sulfide-containing material, the material comprising at least about 0.05 oz/tonne of a precious metal, at least about 0.75 wt. % sulfides, optionally at least about 0.1 wt. % feldspar (i.e., muscovite), and at least 0.3 wt. % preg-robbing carbonaceous material; and oxidizing the sulfide-containing material at more than about 240° C. and super-atmospheric pressure to oxidize at least most of the carbonaceous material and optionally convert at least most of the sulfide sulfur to sulfate sulfur and form an oxidized precious metal-containing material, wherein at least one of the following is performed during oxidizing: maintaining a pH of at least about pH 1.5; maintaining at least about 98.5% of the feldspar (i.e., muscovite) in the solid phase; maintaining a dissolved cupric ion concentration of at least about 0.25 g/L; and maintaining the slurried feed under subcritical or supercritical water operating conditions.

A precious metal leaching method includes providing a slurried feed, comprising (i) in the solid phase, a refractory sulfide-containing material, the material comprising at least about 0.05 oz/tonne of a precious metal, at least about 0.75 wt. % sulfides, optionally at least about 0.1 wt. % feldspar (i.e., muscovite), and at least 0.3 wt. % preg-robbing carbonaceous material; and oxidizing the sulfide-containing material at more than about 240° C. and super-atmospheric pressure to oxidize at least most of the carbonaceous material and optionally convert at least most of the sulfide sulfur to sulfate sulfur and form an oxidized precious metal-containing material, wherein at least one of the following is performed during oxidizing: maintaining a pH of at least about pH 1.5; maintaining at least about 98.5% of the feldspar (i.e., muscovite) in the solid phase; maintaining a dissolved cupric ion concentration of at least about 0.25 g/L; and maintaining the slurried feed under subcritical or supercritical water operating conditions.

An ammonium complex system-based method for separating and purifying lead, zinc, cadmium, and copper, comprising the following steps: a zinc-containing raw material is leached using a leach solution to produce a leached solution; a filtrate and a filter residue are produced by filtration; the filtrate is mixed with metal lead to displace copper, undergoes a solid-liquid separation to produce a first separated liquid, is mixed with metal cadmium to displace lead, undergoes a solid-liquid separation to produce a second separated liquid, is mixed with metal zinc to displace cadmium, and undergoes a solid-liquid separation to produce a third separated liquid; and, the third separated liquid is electrolyzed to produce metal zinc, and an electrolytic solution is returned to the leaching step.

A method according to an embodiment is for recovering a valuable metal from a waste electrode material of a lithium secondary battery by using lithium carbonate. An anode-cathode mixed electrode material that has been separated by draining, crushing, screening, and sorting a waste lithium secondary battery is preprocessed. A precipitation operation performed by adding lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) to a metal melt acquired by performing sulfuric acid dissolution using sulfuric acid. A valuable metal such as nickel, cobalt, manganese, aluminum, and copper is recovered as a residue in the form of a carbonate composite, and a lithium sulfate (Li2SO4) aqueous solution including lithium is recovered as a filtrate.

A method according to an embodiment is for recovering a valuable metal from a waste electrode material of a lithium secondary battery by using lithium carbonate. An anode-cathode mixed electrode material that has been separated by draining, crushing, screening, and sorting a waste lithium secondary battery is preprocessed. A precipitation operation performed by adding lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) to a metal melt acquired by performing sulfuric acid dissolution using sulfuric acid. A valuable metal such as nickel, cobalt, manganese, aluminum, and copper is recovered as a residue in the form of a carbonate composite, and a lithium sulfate (Li2SO4) aqueous solution including lithium is recovered as a filtrate.

The present invention is a method for treating an alloy, by which a solution that contains nickel and/or cobalt is obtained from an alloy that contains copper, zinc, and nickel and/or cobalt, said method comprising: a leaching process wherein a leachate is obtained by subjecting the alloy to a leaching treatment by means of an acid in the coexistence of a sulfurizing agent; a reduction process wherein the leachate is subjected to a reduction treatment with use of a reducing agent; and an ion exchanging process wherein a solution that contains nickel and/or cobalt is obtained by bringing a solution, which has been obtained in the reduction process, into contact with an amino phosphoric acid-based chelate resin, thereby having zinc adsorbed on the amino phosphoric acid-based chelate resin.

A method of processing a black mass material feed material can include a) receiving a black mass material feed material; b) acid leaching the black mass material at a pH that is less than 4, thereby producing a pregnant leach solution (PLS) comprising at least 80% the lithium from the black mass feed material, and at least a portion of the iron and the phosphorous from the black mass feed material; providing a first intermediary solution after completing step b); and separating at least 90% of the iron and the phosphorous from the first intermediary solution to provide an output solution.