A process for leaching minerals that contain metal sulphides and one or more precious metals or precious metal compounds, the process comprising the steps of a first leaching step to leach the minerals under oxidative conditions at a pH of less than 4 to form a slurry or pulp, the slurry or pulp comprising a solid phase containing unreacted components, solid reaction products and elemental sulphur, and subjecting the slurry or pulp or solid residue from the first leaching step to a second leaching step comprising oxidative leaching at pH of at least 9.0 to thereby form thiosulphate, whereby the thiosulphate leaches precious metal from the solid residue.

A nickel recovery process capable of decreasing nickel remaining in a byproduct by recovering nickel from the byproduct of electrolytic nickel manufacturing process by chlorine-leaching, and also, capable of simplifying a cementation step simultaneously, is provided. In a nickel recovery step S60, a nickel recovery step S70 and a nickel recovery step S80, nickel is recovered in each step from S.sup.0 slurry, residue flaker and chlorine-leached residue, which are byproducts of electrolytic nickel manufacturing process by chlorine-leaching, by using an aqueous solution containing 80 g/L to 390 g/L of chlorine and 30 g/L to 70 g/L of copper.

Process for the recovery of transition metal from cathode active materials containing nickel and lithium, wherein said process comprises the steps of (a) treating a lithium containing transition metal oxide material with a leaching agent (preferably an acid selected from sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, methanesulfonic acid, oxalic acid and citric acid), (b) adjusting the pH value to 2.5 to 8, and (c) treating the solution obtained in step (b)with metallic nickel, cobalt or manganese or a combination of at least two of the foregoing.

A process for obtaining metallic lead from its compounds present in an end-of-life lead-acid battery through a direct solid-solid reaction with metallic zinc includes a) dry mixing of the mixture of lead compounds present in an end-of-life lead-acid battery with a metered quantity of metallic zinc powder; b) an addition to the mass, during mixing, of water and of an aqueous solution containing a substance capable of forming soluble zinc salts; c) a separation of the solid, essentially consisting of metallic lead, from the liquid phase in which the soluble zinc salt is present; and d) an electrolytic treatment of the resulting previously separated solution in order to recover metallic zinc suitable for reuse in the dry mixing treatment.

A process for obtaining metallic lead from its compounds present in an end-of-life lead-acid battery through a direct solid-solid reaction with metallic zinc includes a) dry mixing of the mixture of lead compounds present in an end-of-life lead-acid battery with a metered quantity of metallic zinc powder; b) an addition to the mass, during mixing, of water and of an aqueous solution containing a substance capable of forming soluble zinc salts; c) a separation of the solid, essentially consisting of metallic lead, from the liquid phase in which the soluble zinc salt is present; and d) an electrolytic treatment of the resulting previously separated solution in order to recover metallic zinc suitable for reuse in the dry mixing treatment.

A method for recovery of metals from Jarosite waste for its effective utilization wherein, the treatment of nitric acid to jarosite waste extracts the nitrates of lead, cadmium, iron, copper, nickel, zinc, aluminum, manganese, cobalt, magnesium and calcium in the filtrate; the treatment of sulfuric acid to the residue obtained from step (a) extracts the metal in the form of ferrous sulfate, aluminum sulfate, zinc sulfate and calcium sulfate in the filtrate; and the treatment of alkali to the residue obtained from step (a) extracts the metal in the form of sodium silicate and sodium aluminate in the filtrate. The silver present in the Jarosite waste as sulfate/silicate is not extracted in nitric acid, sulfuric acid or alkali. Thus, the remaining residue is enriched with silver concentration to at least 2000 ppm, where silver can be easily recoverable and has good commercial value.

Provided is a method for treating a sulfide, the method being suitable for obtaining nickel and/or cobalt from a sulfide containing copper and nickel and/or cobalt. The method relates to a method for treating a sulfide containing copper and nickel and/or cobalt, the method including pulverizing the sulfide by subjecting the sulfide to a pulverizing treatment so as to obtain a pulverized sulfide having a particle size of 800 μm or less; and leaching the pulverized sulfide by subjecting the pulverized sulfide to a leaching treatment with an acid under a condition in which a sulfurizing agent is present to obtain a leachate. For example, the sulfide to be treated is generated by reducing, heating, and melting a waste lithium-ion battery to obtain a molten body and adding a sulfurizing agent to the molten body to sulfurize the molten body.

Provided is a method for treating a sulfide, the method being suitable for obtaining nickel and/or cobalt from a sulfide containing copper and nickel and/or cobalt. The method relates to a method for treating a sulfide containing copper and nickel and/or cobalt, the method including pulverizing the sulfide by subjecting the sulfide to a pulverizing treatment so as to obtain a pulverized sulfide having a particle size of 800 μm or less; and leaching the pulverized sulfide by subjecting the pulverized sulfide to a leaching treatment with an acid under a condition in which a sulfurizing agent is present to obtain a leachate. For example, the sulfide to be treated is generated by reducing, heating, and melting a waste lithium-ion battery to obtain a molten body and adding a sulfurizing agent to the molten body to sulfurize the molten body.

Processes for producing copper granules on a surface of a reducing metal. The process can include contacting the reducing metal with an aqueous solution comprising a copper(II) salt and a halide. The molar ratio of the halide to the copper(II) in the copper (II) salt can be at least about 3:1. The granular copper can be produced on a surface of the reducing metal, and is optionally removed from the surface of the reducing metal by shaking, washing, and/or brushing, and/or optionally with stirring and/or circulating of the aqueous solution.

This invention discloses a process and its products for spent lithium-ion batteries treatment, which relates to the field of spent battery treatment technology. This process comprises: fully discharging spent lithium-ion batteries to obtain discharged spent lithium-ion batteries; crushing spent lithium-ion batteries to obtain crushed products of spent lithium-ion batteries; screening crushed products of spent lithium-ion batteries by screens to obtain an overflow and an underflow; sorting the overflow to obtain separator products, plastic products, iron products, copper foil products and aluminum foil products; mechanochemically activating the underflow to obtain activated products; acid leaching the activated products by degradable organic acid to obtain a mixture containing activated products and the organic acid leaching solution; filtering the mixture which contains the activated products and the organic acid leaching solution to obtain graphite as filter residues. Copper mud products and LiNi.sub.0.85Co.sub.0.1Al.sub.0.05O.sub.2 can be obtained after further treatments. This process can effectively recover recyclable resources in spent lithium-ion batteries, and reduce pollution of heavy metals.