Picazo-Rodriguez, N.G.; Toro, N.; Román, ,.R.G.; Soriano, D.A.T.; Galleguillos Madrid, F.M.; Jamett, I.; Gálvez, E.; Moreno Cedillos, J.G. Cobalt Metal: Overview of Deposits, Reserves, Processing, and Recycling. Preprints2023, 2023061368. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202306.1368.v1
APA Style
Picazo-Rodriguez, N.G., Toro, N., Román, ,.R.G., Soriano, D.A.T., Galleguillos Madrid, F.M., Jamett, I., Gálvez, E., & Moreno Cedillos, J.G. (2023). Cobalt Metal: Overview of Deposits, Reserves, Processing, and Recycling. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202306.1368.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Picazo-Rodriguez, N.G., Edelmira Gálvez and José Guadalupe Moreno Cedillos. 2023 "Cobalt Metal: Overview of Deposits, Reserves, Processing, and Recycling" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202306.1368.v1
Abstract
Cobalt, like other critical elements, is gaining in importance today. The great technological advances and the deep knowledge of the physical and chemical properties of this element have allowed to enhance its applications in various fields, such as: catalysts, paints, alloys for the mechanical and aerospace industries, as well as the medical sector and in recent times, its use within the rechargeable battery industry. The main exploitable deposits are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which have economic potential due to a strong influence on their mineralization processes. However, the growing demand for cobalt and the search for less dependence on African deposits leads to targeting other regions, so it is necessary to carry out exhaustive exploration to find out the potential of its reserves for a subsequent benefit of the mineral. Generally, cobalt comes as a by-product of the extraction of other metallic minerals, mainly from Cu-Co, Ni-Co, Ni-Cu-Co deposits. From the above, a first review is carried out on the differences that exist in the geochemical, mineralogical and forecast properties that exist within the different deposits that harbor cobalt. As a second review topic, it delves into efficient processing for cobalt recovery, which is generally carried out by flotation, acid leaching, in addition to its recovery from secondary sources, such as batteries and metallurgical waste. However, generally speaking there is still a vast lack of fundamental knowledge about the processability of cobalt. Said processing has been affected from the point of view of mineralogy, that is, understanding and knowing the cobalt-bearing minerals, as well as gangue mineralogy, these aspects exercise significant control during their processing and selection of the most appropriate route. suitable for cobalt extraction (leaching and/or flotation). In this context, the document concludes with a vision of the challenges that the mining industry must implement to enter circular economy models, mainly in the creation of sustainable processes from secondary sources.
Keywords
cobalt; critical elements; beneficiation
Subject
Engineering, Chemical Engineering
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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