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Date submitted2024-05-17
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Date accepted2024-10-14
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Date published2024-11-12
Black shales – an unconventional source of noble metals and rhenium
The content of noble metals and rhenium in the Lower Paleozoic black shales of the eastern Baltic paleobasin in Russia was estimated. Shales are enriched in platinoids (PGM to 0.12 g/t) and rhenium (to 1.54 g/t). The main accessory elements of noble metals and Re are U, V, Mo, Cu, and Ni. Black shales consist of organic (9-26 rel.%), clay (40-60 rel.%), and silt-sandy (25-50 rel.%) components and a nodule complex (2-5 rel.%) (carbonate, sulfide, phosphate and silicate nodules). Noble metals occur sporadically in the silt-sandy admixture as native forms and intermetallics: Aunat, Au-Ag, Au-Cu, Au-(Cu)-Hg, Au-Hg, Ag-Cu, Pt-Fe. Micromineral phases of noble metals were found in diagenetic sulfides: Aunat, chalcopyrite with Au admixture, pyrite with platinoid admixture. Clay fraction is 10-fold enriched in noble metals as compared to shale – to 0.28 g/t Au, 0.55 g/t Pt, 1.05 g/t Pd, and 1.56 g/t Re. Organic matter sorbs noble metals to a limited extent but accumulates rhenium. Pore space of black shales contains a colloidal salt component (submicron fraction) which is represented by particles smaller than 1,000 nm. The share of submicron fraction in black shales is 0.1-6 wt.%. The submicron fraction contains on average: PGM – 14 g/t, Au – 0.85 g/t, and Re – 4.62 g/t. The geochemical resource of noble metals (Au, Pt, Pd), Re and the accessory elements (U, V, Mo, Cu, and Ni) for black shales as a whole and their submicron fraction was estimated. Black shales are recommended as an integrated source of raw materials.
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Date submitted2021-06-15
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Date accepted2021-10-18
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Date published2021-12-16
Study on hydrometallurgical recovery of copper and rhenium in processing of substandard copper concentrates
- Authors:
- Denis S. Lutskiy
- Aleksander S. Ignatovich
Over the past decade, there has been a steady growth in demand for rare metals, with rhenium being one of the most highly demanded, but also one of the most expensive and difficult to obtain. The high demand for rhenium is due to its use as a key component of metallurgical alloys or as a component of catalysts used in the oil refining industry. The aggregate of facts causes profitability of processing of the rhenium-containing mineral resources, which also are the copper substandard concentrates obtained at processing of the Zhezkazgan sandstones. The study focuses on the processes of extraction of copper and sorption recovery of rhenium from solutions of ammonia leaching of copper substandard concentrates. Model solutions similar in the elemental composition to solutions of ammonia leaching solutions of copper substandard concentrates obtained during the processing of Zhezkazgan sandstones were used as an object of the study. The paper estimates extraction characteristics of copper recovery using LIX 84-I solution in kerosene, as well as sorption characteristics of the rhenium recovery process using the Purolite PPA100 anion exchanger. Based on the obtained characteristics the possibility of hydrometallurgical processing of ammonia leaching solutions of substandard copper-sulfide concentrates, and recovery of the obtained commercial products is shown.