# An interesting ore PGM Maybe the rock guy would help??



## amosfella (Mar 6, 2011)

A friend of mine asked if I would have a look at separating the PGMs from some slag that he had from a mine. The mine was mined for copper, and the rest of the stuff is sitting in giant slag piles. He had an xray powder diffraction assay done on it. Looking at the assay that I'll try to attach below, is it worth my time to try to process this slag??
If this ore could be ground down to micron size, would processing be easier?? I'm going to try to get him to send a pic of this slag later today.


----------



## Richard36 (Mar 6, 2011)

Hello amosfella,

Slag is probably the most difficult material to leach, so if you are going to do this, the slag will need to be crushed as fine as possible due to the fact that leaching will only recover the values on exposed surfaces of the slag, if the slag will not dissolve in water.

what leaching process did you have in mind for this material?

Sincerely, Rick. "The Rock Man".


----------



## qst42know (Mar 6, 2011)

High in both lead and bismuth. Could this be used to advantage?


----------



## amosfella (Mar 6, 2011)

Richard36 said:


> Hello amosfella,
> 
> Slag is probably the most difficult material to leach, so if you are going to do this, the slag will need to be crushed as fine as possible due to the fact that leaching will only recover the values on exposed surfaces of the slag, if the slag will not dissolve in water.
> 
> ...




I have no idea about what process to use for leaching. That's what I"m asking. I'm trying to figure out the most viable method. I haven't been able to find much about leeching PGM metals to even start making a decision...
Are PGM metals in small form hydrophobic or oliophilic?? I have something I was planning on trying that should take it down to micron size... That should make leaching easier as far as I can tell. I was wondering about using a bubbler with water and oil mixed to seperate out the metals...


----------



## amosfella (Mar 6, 2011)

qst42know said:


> High in both lead and bismuth. Could this be used to advantage?



I'm sure that could make for nice cast bullet slugs...


----------



## qst42know (Mar 7, 2011)

I think you missed my point. Page 1779 the end of the second paragraph.

With the right flux and furnace conditions reducing the lead and bismuth might be a possible way to collect your values.

http://books.google.com/books?id=GibosO9NKWwC&lpg=PA1778&ots=pCPtvGgm4D&dq=litharge%20pgm%20fire%20assay&pg=PA1779#v=onepage&q&f=false


----------



## amosfella (Mar 7, 2011)

It might be a way, but the book was vague on how that would be done. A question I have. It looks like there is arsenic in this slag. Should this be of concern if I was to smelt this slag??


----------



## qst42know (Mar 7, 2011)

Arsenic or lead proper ventilation is a must. The article shows it might be possible it wasn't meant as a process. There are slag assays mentioned in fire assay texts along with possible flux mixtures. After that maybe some reading on lead smelting?


----------



## amosfella (Mar 8, 2011)

So, the suggesting would be that using a smelting process would be better than a leach...
What kinds of leeches are available for PGM metals and silver??
I will start looking into lead smelting. Are there any recommended materials??
Is there any way to remove the arsenic harmlessly??


----------



## qst42know (Mar 8, 2011)

I don't know for certain I was just putting it out there as a possibility.


----------



## amosfella (Feb 11, 2013)

would it be possible to seperate this slag through electrochemistry??


----------



## tek4g63 (Feb 11, 2013)

I don't know much about thus subject, but I can say that it is peaking my interest! I hope to see this thread continue.

Just a thought, maybe another member here could experiment with a test batch of this material for you? Someone who has some knowledge in these types of things. 

Could it be leached like catalytic converters?


----------

