SECONDARY SOURCES OF METAL

Secondary sources of rare earth element

In addition to the primary sources and leaving aside recycling of REE from end-of-life
products as other source, tailings and other by-products from previous mining activities may
also hold significant amounts of REE. Utilization of such materials may actually help not only
to provide additional source of REE but also to environmentally-friendly solution for the
mining and processing wastes and to post-mining remediation.
these are the following potential waste materials as sources of REE :-
◦ Coal fly ash (cfa)
◦ tailings from lead and zinc ores mining and treatment,
◦ tailings from copper ores mining and treatment,
◦ tailings from sulphur ores mining and treatment,
◦ tailings from processing phosphate ore (phosphogypsum)
◦ tailings from processing alumina ore (red mud)
◦ waste rock from other mining of rocks possibly enriched with REE.(6)
 Fly coal ash as a resource of
rare earth element
With the global energy demand growing, coal is seen as a reliable and secure
energy source and many countries are increasing its consumption.
the global coal fly ash production increases and there is a pressing need of its
recycling and utilisation.
REE extraction process from fly ash is considered to be far less intensive than
that of mining a raw product.
Neumann Systems reported that their process has successfully extracted more
than 60 % of the available metals (including 14 rare earth and strategic metals)
from fly ash samples supplied by a Colorado Springs Utilities power plant.
For the complete evaluation of the coal fly ash as a raw source of REE, a number
of parameters should be taken into account, including the possibility of
beneficiation and simplicity and cost of hydrometallurgical recovery and
various environmental issues. However, for the initial evaluation, data on REE
individual contents within the investigated coal fly ash may be adequate.
 tailings from processing alumina ore
(red mud)
In this work, the extraction of selected rare earth elements from
bauxite residue by dry digestion method followed by water leaching
was investigated.
High extraction of the rare-earth elements (REEs) were achieved
with the HCl-based dry digestion method, but the concentration in
the leachate was limited to approximately 6–8 mg L−1.
About 40 wt% of scandium was recovered with a high co-dissolution
of iron, due to the occurrence of scandium(III) ions in the
lattice matrix of iron(III) oxide.
 Coal fly ash
Tailings from lead and zinc ore
Tailing of copper ore

Tailing of alumina ore Red mud Phosphogypsum

 Secondary sources

• Metallic Waste – heavy, medium and fine scrap

• Oxidised bulk waste – slag, dross
• Oxidised powder waste – anode slime, pickling sludge, oxide waste, floor dust, flue dust, spent
catalyst, effluent sludge, mine tailings.
• Liquid Waste – Spent pickling liquors, spent electroplating solutions, industrial effluent, mine water.
• Metal Scrap – Manufacturing waste from cutting, shredding and other processes
• Wires and other components from electrical goods
• Converter slag, anode slag and slime, ETP sludge, metal scraps, wires, etc which have large amounts of
pure metal are the most important secondary sources. The metal can be separated by
pyrometallurgical processes like melting, fire refining and electrorefining. Most of the other secondary
sources can be recovered by hydrometallurgical processes.
Copper Slag Copper Scrap

Copper Slime
Titanium
 SOURCES OF TITANIUM SCRAP
• While aerospace continues to be the engine driving the titanium scrap market, other key sectors, such as
industrial, medical and consumer goods have lagged. [8]
• Closed-Loop Recycling Systems: There are two factors that have altered the dynamics of the titanium scrap
market, according to Newman and other sources. First is the ongoing focus for developing closed-loop revert
programs in the aerospace business. It’s a loop that stretches from vendors to original equipment manufacturers
and includes melting, forging, machining, finishing and assembly facilities.
• Titanium scrap is generated during the melting, forging, casting, and fabrication of titanium components. It is
primarily used as an alternative to titanium sponge in the production of titanium ingot. Common forms of
titanium scrap include turnings and bulk weldables (bars, billet, cut-offs, plate trimmings, etc.).
• It is informally classified as “new scrap” when it is sourced during the production and fabrication of titanium
components, and as “old scrap” when it is recovered from used components such as old aircraft parts, heat
exchangers, submarine hulls or other titanium industry applications.
Titanium Sponge Titanium Scrap

Titanium heat exchanger

Secondary sources of Molybdenum as per
World scenario
1. Secondary mining of Molybdenum from Waste Rocks and Tailings: -
Flotation tailings from a copper-molybdenum mine contain large contents
of slimes and kaolinite. The fine particle sizes and poor locked particles of
most valuable minerals disseminated in the gangue minerals. Major mines
to look into are from Mongolia, Saskatchewan (Canada), Zhejiang (China),
British Columbia, New Mexico (USA), Questa, High Atlas Mountains of
Marrakesh (Morocco).

2. Secondary mining of Molybdenum from Other Residuals: - Selection of the

treatment scheme and preparation method for molybdenum recovery
from particular industrial residual depends primarily on the physical and
chemical form in which the residual exits. These are mostly the by-product
of Cu mines, tungsten mines and uranium mines in USA/South America
and by-product of copper mines, graphite shale containing Ni-Mo and
wulfenite (PbMoO4) in China. Armenia is the only producer in Europe.

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Secondary sources of Molybdenum as per India
scenario
In India secondary sources of Molybdenum are very small that
is it’s formed from Molybdenum bearing spent acid and scrap
material from lamp filament industry and high temperature
furnaces. All under Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai.

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Molybdenum scrap

Copper-Molybdenum
Aluminium
 Secondary production of aluminium
‘Secondary production’ of aluminium refers to the process of recycling aluminium
from aluminium scraps. These scraps can range from new production off-cuts,
machining swarf or drosses to obsolete end-to-life aluminium products. The
aluminium, thus produced, is known as ‘secondary aluminium.’[2]
Increased production of secondary aluminium has created several economic and
environmental milestones.[3]
Preparation plants are: milling and grading plants for dross, drying installations for
Aluminium Scrap machining turnings coated with oils, lubricants and separation agents, paint-stripping
plants for scrap and in particular for shredder scrap.
LEAD AND ZINC
 Sources of Lead Scrap
 Lead Scrap The principal source of lead scrap for recycling
throughout the world is lead acid batteries.

 Scrapped lead acid batteries and the associated production

plant scrap represents over 90 % of the contained lead available
for recycling.

 Spent automobile batteries represent around 85 % of the total lead acid battery scrap materials.
Other lead scrap materials for recycling include - sheaths from telephone and power cable, lead
pipe and sheet, weights (particularly automobile and truck wheel weights), printing metals, anodes,
residues, dross's, sludge's, and dusts.
 Zinc Scrap
 Zinc brings a multitude of social and economic
benefits to society.

 Man has discovered a wide range of uses for this

versatile natural element with valuable characteristics
and properties for various industrial applications.

 The most important use of zinc is in protecting steel from corrosion using hot-dip
galvanizing technique. The metal is used to prolong the durability of steel, which is one of
the most used materials on the planet.

 The 27th most common element in the Earth's crust, Zinc is completely recyclable.
According to estimates, at present, 70 % of the zinc produced originates from mined
ores while 30 % comes from recycled or secondary zinc. The level of recycling is
increasing in step with progress in zinc production technology and zinc recycling
technology.
URANIUM
 Secondary sources of uranium

1. Stockpiles(Commercial, Strategic…).
2. Re-enriched tails; another form of recycling.
3. Fuel(MOX) and Reprocessed Uranium (RepU) ; the
recycling source.
4. Down blended Highly Enriched Uranium(HEU);
from weapon grade U to civil fuel.
MOX Fuel
Highly enriched uranium

Elimination of Uranium stock piles

SILVER
Who generates silver scrap?
The prime sources of silver waste include graphic arts, industrial x-ray, photo finishing, and
metal plating industries. Silver waste comes in various forms and types, including - photographic
film, flake, paper, ash, solutions, sludge, metallic replacement cartridges, electrolytic equipment,
and lead foil.
Silver scrap is generated mainly in the industrialized nations that indicates the demand for silver
is skewed towards industrialized countries. Also, silver-bearing scrap is primarily from
photographic and electronics sources. Silverware and jewelry are of less important as a source
of recycled metal. This is crucial because in spite of high growth in demand in developing
countries, consumption of silver in photography and electronics in 2000 was still biased towards
the United States, Europe, and Japan. By contrast, demand for silver in jewelry was dominated
by India and other Asian countries where the recycling rates are conventionally very high.

Silver flake
NICKEL
 Secondary sources of nickel

• there are a number of non metallic secondary sources of nickel, Including

electroplating residues, batteries etc. Other secondary sources includes
spent catalysts, alloy scrap, sludge, fly ashes, power plants residues,
waste streams from plating plants and metal finishing industries. Some
even come from petrochemical industries, such as crude oil.

• Crude oil generally contain small amounts of nickel, molybdenum and

vanadium that can be extracted from various forms of refinery residues.
These can be accounted for recovery of nickel from a petrochemical Crude Oil
industry based on source.
PALLADIUM
 Secondary Sources of Palladium

1. Separation of Palladium from High Level Liquid Waste

The spent nuclear fuel (arising from power reactors) contains significant amount of
palladium along with other fission products and actinides. Theoretical calculations of Pd
in high level liquid waste (HLLW) obtained from reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel of a
PHWR having a burn up of 6700 MWD per te. show 165 mg/L Pd for a HLLW solution of
800 L per tonn.
Spent Nuclear Acid Fuel