| abstract |
A hydrometallurgical process is provided for the recovery of one or more target metals from a metalliferous feed material to produce one or more metal products by using ammonia leaching and solvent extraction, whereby entrained ammonia is recovered from the organic solvent by means of gas desorption with a sorption gas, preferably containing carbon dioxide and preferably low in oxygen gas content, followed by gas absorption, allowing the recovered ammonia to be recycled back to leaching or to be used otherwise. The invention comprises the selective extraction of one or more target metals such as copper, zinc, nickel, cobalt, silver, gold, platinum, palladium, rhodium, mercury, chromium, cadmium, molybdenum, and rhenium, among others, from a metalliferous feed material, such as bottom ash, metal scrap, waste, ore, concentrates, tailings, or slags, to produce one or more high purity metal products such as metal cathodes, metal salts, metal solutions, metal powder, metal pulps, or other metal compounds. |