A hydrometallurgical process was used for selectively extraction of valuable metals from zinc plant residues. The process includes the following two steps. (1) The zinc plant residue is treated by sulfuric acid atmospheric leaching process with KMnO4 as oxidatant to selectively dissolve zinc while leaving most (above 98 pct) of indium and germandium in the iron residues. (2) The iron residues are treated by acidic atmospheric leaching process with NaClO3 as oxidant to dissolve indium and germanium. The valuable metals of indium and germanium in the second leaching solution can be reclaimed by further treatment. The optimum operating parameters of the first stage and the second stage were established by conditional tests. The experimental data indicated that under the conditions employed the zinc extraction in the first stage was above 95%, and the leaching percentage of indium and germanium in the second stage reached 91.6% and 90.7%, respectively.

Hydrothermal sulfidation of pure white lead with elemental sulfur has been studied in the present paper. The variables considered in the study were temperature, time, particle size and elemental sulfur fraction in the reacting mixture. Temperature and time were the most two important factors, with an increase in temperature and holding time the sulfidation extent of lead improved greatly and the constituent of products changed a lot. At temperatures above 140°C, PbS and PbSO4 were the only stable reaction products in the sulfidation of white lead. The experimental data indicated that under the hydrothermal conditions with a particle size of -58+48 μm and sulfur fraction in reacting mixture of 8% at 140 °C for 90 min, and 86% of lead sulfidation extent was achieved.

A process has been developed at the laboratory scale for leaching of vanadium from a vanadium residue using mixed hydrofluoric and sulfuric acid solutions, and NaClO as an oxidant. The extraction studies were carried out using various acid concentrations, liquid/solid ratios, addition of oxidant, reaction temperatures and leaching times. The optimum leaching conditions were then determined. Characterization of the leach residues was carried out by SEM and EDS analysis. Results indicate that the silicates can be effectively destroyed by HF, and the vanadium contained in the vanadium-iron spinel can be leached by the mixed acid solutions. The addition of NaClO enhanced the leaching process by the oxidation of V3+(s) to V4+ and V5+. The leaching efficiency was also improved by raising the leaching temperature, prolonging the reaction rime and using a higher liquid/solid ratio. A vanadium recovery of 81.8% was obtained by the direct acid leaching process

Direct flotation of zinc oxide ore is characterized by poor recovery of only around 50% of zinc. Hydrothermal sulfidation of hemimorphite with elemental sulfur resulted in the formation of stable metal sulfide compounds that would enhance zinc recovery by flotation process. The variables considered in the study were sulfur dosage, temperature, time, stirring speed and particle size. Temperature was the most important factor. The experimental data indicated that under the hydrothermal conditions with sulfur dosage 1.2, temperature 220 °C, time 180 min, agitation speed 500rpm and particle size74-106μm, and 73% hemimorphite conversion fraction was achieved.