Treatment of metal ores
View Patent ↗A method of refining a metal (e.g. titanium), comprising the following steps: (a) providing ( 10 ) an oxide of the metal having a level of impurities of at least 1.0 wt %; (b) reacting ( 12 ) the oxide of the metal to form an oxycarbide by providing an electrode comprising the oxide of the metal and carbon, and electrolytically reducing the electrode in a molten calcium chloride electrolyte; (c) electrolysing ( 14 ) the oxycarbide in an electrolyte, with the oxycarbide configured as an anode; and (d) recovering ( 16 ) a refined form of the metal from a cathode in the electrolyte.
1. A method of refining a metal capable of forming an oxycarbide, comprising the following steps:
(a) providing an oxide of the metal;
(b) reacting the oxide of the metal to form the oxycarbide by:
providing an electrode comprising the oxide of the metal and carbon; and
electrolytically reducing the electrode in a molten calcium chloride electrolyte;
(c) electrolyzing the oxycarbide in the molten calcium chloride electrolyte by reversing electrolytic cell polarity such that the oxycarbide is configured as an anode; and
(d) recovering a refined form of the metal from a cathode in the molten calcium chloride electrolyte;
wherein the oxide of the metal has a level of impurities of at least 1.0 wt %; and
wherein the impurities are leached from the oxycarbide before step (c) using acid.
2. The method according to claim 1 , in which the refined form of the metal is at least 99.5% pure by weight.
3. The method according to claim 1 , in which the oxide of the metal is an ore or ore concentrate.
4. The method according to claim 1 , in which the oxide of the metal comprises oxides of silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium and/or vanadium.
5. The method according to claim 1 , in which the oxide of the metal includes at least 0.1 wt % calcium oxide and/or at least 0.1 wt % iron oxide.
6. The method according to claim 1 , in which the level of the impurities in the oxide of the metal provided in step (a) is less than 20 wt %.
7. The method according to claim 1 , in which a carbon anode is used in step (b).
8. The method according to claim 7 , in which the carbon anode is replaced with an inert electrode in step (c).
9. The method according to claim 1 , in which the metal includes titanium, scandium, chromium, manganese, yttrium, zirconium, niobium, molybdenum, lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, samarium, gadolinium, hafnium, tantalum, tungsten, bismuth and/or uranium.
10. The method according to claim 1 , in which the metal includes titanium, scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, samarium, gadolinium, and/or uranium.
11. The method according to claim 1 , in which the metal is titanium.