The recovery of noble metal(s) from noble-metal-containing material is generally described. The noble metal(s) can be recovered selectively, in some cases, such that noble metal(s) is at least partially separated from non-noble-metal material within the material. Noble metal(s) may be recovered from noble-metal-containing material using mixtures of acids, in some instances. In some cases, the mixture can comprise nitric acid and/or another source of nitrate ions and at least one supplemental acid, such as sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, and/or a sulfonic acid. The amount of nitrate ions within the mixture can be, in some instances, relatively small compared to the amount of supplemental acid within the mixture. In some cases, the recovery of noble metal(s) using the acid mixtures described herein can be enhanced by transporting an electric current between an electrode and the noble metal(s) of the noble-metal-containing material. In some cases, acid mixtures can be used to recover silver from particular types of scrap materials, such as scrap material comprising silver metal and cadmium oxide and/or scrap material comprising silver metal and tungsten metal.

The present application relates to methods for the simultaneous leaching and extraction of precious metals. For example, the present application relates to methods of leaching and extracting gold and/or palladium from a substance comprising gold and/or palladium such as a gold and/or palladium-containing ore in one step using a compound of Formula I: (I).

Methods of recovering precious metals from unconventional feed water sources. In approaches, the methods use a combination of one or more of ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and/or reverse osmosis membranes. The unconventional feed water source may be salt lake brines, coal-fired plant flue-gas scrubber blowdown water, high salinity brines, concentrated brine from desalination of seawater and the like sources. The recovered precious metals may include gold tetrachloride, gold sulfate, silver tetrachloride, silver sulfate, rare earth elements, or mixtures thereof.

In one aspect, the present disclosure pertains to methods of making various noble metal nanoprisms, e.g., gold nanoprisms. In various aspects, the methods can comprise incubating, under dark conditions, a growth solution comprising: (a) a plurality of gold seed structures; (b) a gold precursor, and (c) a photocatalytic intermediary, such that during the incubating step multiply-twinned gold seed structures in the growth solution are preferentially enlarged. The disclosed methods can comprise separating the multiply-twinned gold seed structures from the growth solution based upon the size of the gold seed structures to produce an enriched growth solution. In some aspects, the methods comprise irradiating the enriched growth solution to produce the gold nanoprisms. In some aspects, the disclosed nanoprisms comprise silver.

A process for recovering gold from a refractory gold ore, comprising the steps of: electrolyzing a mixture consisting of the ore particles and an aqueous bromide solution in an electrolytic cell having anode and cathode, wherein bromine is produced at the anode by oxidation of the bromide, thereby dissolving gold in the aqueous phase; separating the ore particles from the aqueous phase to obtain a leach liquor; adjusting the pH of the leach liquor to the alkaline range to produce a gold-containing precipitate; collecting the gold-containing precipitate and recycling a bromide-containing barren solution for reuse as an aqueous bromide feed solution.

The present application relates to methods for the simultaneous leaching and extraction of precious metals. For example, the present application relates to methods of leaching and extracting gold and/or palladium from a substance comprising gold and/or palladium such as a gold and/or palladium-containing ore in one step using a compound of Formula I: (I)

The present application relates to methods for the simultaneous leaching and extraction of precious metals. For example, the present application relates to methods of leaching and extracting gold and/or palladium from a substance comprising gold and/or palladium such as a gold- and/or palladium-containing ore in one step using a compound of Formula I:(I). ##STR00001##

The present disclosure provides Molecularly Imprinted Polymer (MIP) technology for selectively sequestering one or more target molecules from chemical mixtures. Also disclosed herein are MIP beads and methods of making and using thereof.

A method for processing ores containing gold or refining intermediates containing gold, the refining intermediate being obtained by subjecting the ores to a refining process, wherein the method includes: a leaching step of leaching gold from the ores or the refining intermediates using a sulfate solution containing iodide ions and iron (III) ions as a leaching solution; an adsorption step of adsorbing iodine and gold in the leached solution obtained in the leaching step on activated carbon; and an iodine separation step of separating iodine from the activated carbon while leaving gold on the activated carbon that has undergone the adsorption step.

The disclosure relates to pre-treatment of precious metal-bearing oxide ores, prior to precious metal leaching by thiosulfate. The process comprises mixing oxide ore in oxygenated water in the presence of a carbon-based material (e.g., activated carbon or other type of carbon). The carbon-based material can be separated from the ore slurry, and, the gold is thereafter leached by a thiosulfate lixiviant.