RECUMAN PROJECT: MANganese recovery via hydrometallurgical processes
The mining and metallurgical sector is nowadays obliged to develop increasingly efficient and sustainable production processes where the recovery of metals from minerals, including those that have traditionally been considered as impurities, is maximized. This trend is generating new opportunities for the development of hydrometallurgical processes with potentially high market value. The treatment of unconventional zinc ores with high impurity content that cannot be tackled with traditional processing is an example of these new market niches.
In the case of metallic zinc, the Roasting Leaching and Electrowinning (RLE) technology is the most established technology for its ore extraction. This technology is especially suitable for high capacity plants (100k-200k tons / year), but its process characteristics are not adapted to tolerate significant amounts of impurities. This limitation leaves zinc ore reserves with high impurity levels unexploited. One of the most common cases for zinc ores is the presence of manganese. This metal cannot be removed using the RLE process in mineral contents above a very low threshold.
To solve this problem, the RECUMAN project, funded by the Center for Industrial Technology Development (CDTI) and with a duration of 2 years, pursues the development of a flexible technology for the recovery of manganese from zinc ores in the form of a chemical species with high market value. The characteristics of this technology will be oriented to efficient processes of manganese extraction from low mineral ore contents that current technology cannot cope with.
Digital Marketing. This project has been developed by Grupo Enfoca: Inbound Marketing Alicante