Recovery of Values from Low-Grade and Complex Minerals: Development of Sustainable Processes

The book elaborates on various physicochemical properties of minerals and technological developments to improve the recovery of metals while ensuring cost-effectiveness and minimal environmental impact.

The mineral industry is undergoing significant cultural, organizational, and technological transformations to address some of the major limitations and challenges related to the environmental and productivity domains. As far as productivity is concerned, the decrease of high-grade ores has been one of the stumbling blocks toward the achievement of maximum recovery of metals while, on the other hand, the complexity of minerals therein makes it difficult to profitably extract metals using only conventional methods.

This book presents eight specialized chapters that focus on the exploration of the complexity of minerals that are likely to negatively influence the recovery of values, as well as the development of adequate technologies capable of improving the process of mineral concentration and/or metal recovery from complex minerals in a sustainable manner. It reviews the various physicochemical properties of minerals that are likely to pose a challenge during the attempt to recover values using conventional methods. It also elaborates on the recent technological development that has been considered by researchers to improve the recovery of metals from gangue-dominated minerals while ensuring cost-effectiveness and minimal adverse environmental impact.

Audience

This book will be of interest to academic researchers from the fields of mineral processing, hydrometallurgy, geochemistry, environment, chemistry, engineering, and professionals including mining plant operators, environmental managers in the industries, government regulatory bodies officers, and environmentalists.

Elvis Fosso-Kankeu, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Metallurgy, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein, South Africa. His research focuses on the hydrometallurgical extraction of metal from solid phases, the prediction of pollutant dispersion from industrial areas, and the development of effective and sustainable methods for the removal of inorganic and organic pollutants from polluted water. He has published more than 220 papers including journal articles, books, book chapters, and conference proceedings papers. He has won several research awards including the NSTF Award (National Science and Technology Forum: largest science, engineering, technology, and innovation awards in South Africa and are known as the “Science Oscars” of recent times) Engineering Research Capacity Development, in 2019.

Bhekie B. Mamba, PhD, is the executive dean of the College of Science, Engineering, and Technology, the University of South Africa. Prof Mamba is a visionary and has occupied several leadership positions including being a Professor and Head at the Department of Applied Chemistry at the University of Johannesburg, and the Director of the Institute of Nanotechnology and Water Research at the University of Johannesburg. He has published about seven book chapters, over 250 journal articles, about 12 technical reports, and over 50 papers in conference proceedings. His general research interest involves developing advanced technologies for water treatment, which include nanotechnology and membrane technology.

Antoine F. Mulaba-Bafubiandi is emeritus professor at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He is the first Head of School of Mining, Metallurgy and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and The Built Environment, and the founding chair of the Mineral Processing and Technology Research Center (MPTRC). One of his current research projects involves the use of biomass for the extraction of gold (via hydrometallurgy) and the reduction of ferromanganese ores (via pyrometallurgy).