Extraction of PGMs from Low-grade Oxide Mineral Deposits

Abstract

The fast depletion of sulfide PGM-bearing minerals and the deteriorating socio-political environments in most primary PGM producing countries have triggered interest in exploring PGM recovery from high-chromium PGM-bearing oxidized ores which have proven to be more difficult to process by conventional metallurgical practice. A hybrid pyro-hydrometallurgical approach, that uses cheap and readily available reagents, has been developed and evaluated for treating such ores (with platinum content mineralised as sperrylite) at atmospheric pressure.