Kemetco: Extractive Metallurgy

Extractive Metallurgy

Kemetco Research offers a wide range of metallurgical process development and environmental capabilities. Our research capabilities provide our clients with competitive advantages and new business opportunities. Kemetco Research has a well equipped extractive metallurgy laboratory and experienced staff capable of carrying out metallurgical test programs ranging from simple scoping tests to complex flowsheet development and optimization.

Our engineering staff is also available to work with outside consultants carrying out feasibility studies or plant design work. In addition, Kemetco has staff who can act as Qualified Persons under NI 43-101 for the public reporting of results from metallurgical test programs. Kemetco's metallurgical testing capabilities cover most standard procedures used in the mining industry.

Service Categories

Gold and Silver Recovery

• Gold recovery by cyanidation (bottle rolls or agitated tank)
• Carbon-in-leach (CIL)
• carbon-in-pulp (CIP)
• Column (heap) leach
• Diagnostic leach
• Gold deportment studies
• Pressure oxidation
• Cyanide destruction (SO2/air, H2O2 or Caro’s acid)
• Bioleaching
• Non-cyanide leaching (thiosulfate, halides, thiourea)
• Cyanide recovery
• Preg-robbing mitigation including flotation and roasting
• Carbon circuit testing (loading, stripping, carbon regeneration)
• Cyanide recovery
• Complex process solution analysis, including free cyanide, weak acid dissociable (WAD) cyanide, total cyanide, thiosulfate, cyanate, ammonia, etc.

Battery metals (lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, vanadium)

• Atmospheric acid or alkaline leach
• Pressure leaching
• Solvent extraction
• Neutralization
• Pregnant solution purification
• Cathode material precursor precipitation
• Lithium carbonate precipitation
• Lithium carbonate conversion to lithium hydroxide
• Lithium hydroxide generation by salt splitting
• Lithium carbonate purification
• Electrowinning (Cobalt, nickel, manganese)
• Complex solution and products analysis

Hydrometallurgy

• High Pressure leaching
• Solvent extraction
• Ion Exchange
• Neutralization circuits
• Solution purification and Precipitation
• Crystallization
• Electrowinng and electrorefining
• Reverse osmosis and nanofiltration

Biohydrometallurgy

• Partial oxidation of refractory ores and concentrates to enhance precious metal recovery
• Leaching of base metal ores or concentrates
• Selective metal extraction from complex sulphide ores or concentrates
• Generation of process chemicals such as sulphides or carbonates
• Selective metal recovery from leach solutions and waste water

Pyrometallurgy

• Roasting
• Calcining

Projects Overview

• Process to recover boron and lithium from searlsite mineralization (bench scale and pilot studies)

• Process for cobalt, nickel, manganese and lithium recovery from lithium cathode materials (bench scale and pilot studies)

• Developed diagnostic leach procedure for gold tails

• More than 40 cyanide destruction bench and pilot scale studies

• Preg-robbing mitigation study including roasting, flotation and blinding

• Process for in-situ thiosulfate generate for silver recovery

• Vanadium extraction from shale mineralization

• Cyanide recovery bench scale study

• Carbon circuit studies, including carbon washing and regeneration

• Activation Carbon testing (attrition, rate of gold adsorption, loading capacity)

• In-Situ Leach Mining and Hydrometallurgical Processing to Recover Pb, Zn, Ca and Mn

• Process Development to Recover Mn from Low Grade Ores

• Mn Electrowinning Process Development

• Process Development to Recover V from Fly Ash

• Recovery of Zn from Oxide Tailings

• Solvent Extraction to Recover Co, Ni and Ag from Spent Catalyst

• Solvent Extraction to Recover Co from Co(NO3)2 Waste Streams

• Development of a Process to Recover Precious and Base Metals from E-Waste

• Recovery of Zn from Oxide Tailings

• Recovery of Ag from Refractory Ores

• Recovery and Purification of V from Waste Salt