The present invention relates to a method for the recovery of palladium from an aqueous solution, comprising the steps of: (A) providing a dispersion comprising an aqueous dispersing phase comprising palladium(II), at least one non-ionic surfactant and at least one compound bearing a beta-dithiocarbonyl group, so as to form a hydrophobic complex of palladium(II) with the compound bearing a beta-dithiocarbonyl group; (B) heating the dispersion resulting from step (A) to a temperature at least equal to its cloud point so as to obtain the phase separation between the aqueous dispersing phase and a dispersed phase rich in surfactant comprising at least a part of said hydrophobic complex; (C) separating the dispersed phase rich in surfactant from the aqueous dispersing phase resulting from step (B); and (D) recovering the hydrophobic complex of palladium(II) with the compound bearing a beta-dithiocarbonyl group.

Compositions are provided for heavy or precious metal separation and/or recovery applications. In some embodiments, the composition comprises lignin, in particular technical lignin, and at least one strain of bacteria capable of biosurfactant production, and/or such biosurfactant. Also provided is a method for separating and/or recovering heavy or precious metals from a crushed or milled ore comprising the metals.

A method of extracting rare metals from ore including: providing an aqueous acid-leached ore slurry; adding an organic extractive solvent to the aqueous acid-leached ore slurry; mixing an organic extractive solvent with the aqueous acid-leached ore slurry to form a mixture; and separating the mixture into at least an aqueous phase and a solvent phase. The aqueous acid-leached ore slurry may have a viscosity of less than 400 centipoise, a Newtonian or near Newtonian rheology, and a pH of less than 4.0. The organic extractive solvent may comprise an extractant, a solvent, and a modifier. Separation of the aqueous acid-leached ore slurry/organic extractive solvent mixture may result in an emulsion phase, a crud, or both in addition to the aqueous phase and the solvent phase. The emulsion phase, the crud or both may be further treated by adding a low-carbon-number alcohol.

A method for preparing an aqueous mineral suspension from an aqueous metal ore residue may include introducing into the aqueous metal ore residue a polymer (P) having a molecular mass Mw measured by GPC ranging from 2,000 to 20,000 g/mol. The polymer (P) may be prepared by radical polymerization of at least one anionic monomer (M). The suspension produced by such a method may have a Brookfield viscosity of which is lower than 1,800 mPa.Math.s or a yield point of lower than 80 Pa.

A method can prepare an aqueous mineral suspension from an aqueous metal ore residue into which there is introduced a polymer (P) having a molecular weight Mw measured by GPC of from 100,000 to 3.106 g/mol and prepared by free radical polymerization of at least one anionic monomer (m). The suspension produced may have a Brookfield viscosity greater than 2,000 mPa.Math.s and/or a flow threshold of greater than 40 Pa.

Method for recovering Cr from a pickling bath of an aqueous solution containing sulphate and Cr from a pickled metal, the method including: forming an aqueous two-phase system from a portion of the pickling bath and a polymer including an unhindered ether function, the proportion of polymer in the ternary mixture including the pickling bath, considered to be a unique chemical component, water and polymer, ranging between the line of the equation weight % of polymer=100%weight % of pickling bath and the binodal curve of the pickling bath/polymer mixture, the two-phase aqueous system including polymer and non-polymer phases; separating the respective phases; allowing precipitates containing Cr to form in the polymer phase; carrying out solid/liquid separation of the polymer phase to separate the polymer and the precipitates containing Cr; and processing the precipitates to recover the Cr. A facility is also disclosed.

A method of extracting a critical mineral cation from a composition is provided. The composition can be any type of composition having critical minerals. The method can include contacting a polyanion to a composition, wherein the composition includes the critical mineral cation. The method includes complexing the critical mineral cation with the polyanion to form a polyan-ion/cation complex in the composition. The method can include separating the polyanion/cation complex from the composition. The method can also include releasing the critical mineral cation from the polyanion.