This book contains a selection of papers presented at the Symposium on Precious and Rare Metals, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A., 6-8 April 1988. The Symposium focused on recent advances achieved in research and development related to geology, mining, extractive metallurgy, as well as in materials aspects of precious and a number of other metals. Selected Contents: Foreword. Section I. Gold and Silver. Precious metal industries and the role of cyanide (M.E. Wadsworth). Epithermal precious metals deposits (P.I. Eimon). Mineralogy of silver-bearing ore deposits of the Western United States and Peru (W.X. Chavez, Jr. et al). A regional study of precious-metal mineralization; Chloride Mining District, New Mexico (R.W. Harrison). Precious metal content of Arizona cinder cones (B. Yarar, G. Pine). Precious metal concentrate production (D. Kirby). Mineralogical characterization of silver flotation concentrates from zinc leach residues (J.E. Dutrizac, T.T. Chen). Solution chemistry and separation processes in precious and rare metal systems (K. Osseo-Asare). Electrochemical properties of surface films on gold in sulfide solutions (S. Chander, A. Briceno).

This collection presents papers from a symposium on extraction of rare metals as well as rare extraction processing techniques used in metal production. It covers metals essential for critical modern technologies including electronics, electric motors, generators, energy storage systems, and specialty alloys. ​Rare metals are the main building blocks of many emerging critical technologies and have been receiving significant attention in recent years. Much research in academia and industry is devoted to finding novel techniques to extract critical and rare metals from primary and secondary sources. The technologies that rely on critical metals are dominating the world, and finding a way to extract and supply them effectively is highly desirable and beneficial. Rapid development of these technologies entails fast advancement of the resource and processing industry for their building materials. Authors from academia and industry exchange knowledge on developing, operating, and advancing extractive and processing technologies. Contributions cover rare-earth elements (magnets, catalysts, phosphors, and others), energy storage materials (lithium, cobalt, vanadium, graphite), alloy elements (scandium, niobium, titanium), and materials for electronics (gallium, germanium, indium, gold, silver). The contributions also cover various processing techniques in mineral beneficiation, hydrometallurgy, separation and purification, pyrometallurgy, electrometallurgy, supercritical fluid extraction, and recycling (batteries, magnets, electrical and electronic equipment).

This collection presents papers from a symposium on extraction of rare metals as well as rare extraction processing techniques used in metal production. Topics include the extraction and processing of elements like antimony, arsenic, gold, indium, palladium, platinum, rare earth metals including yttrium and neodymium, titanium, tungsten, and vanadium. Rare processing techniques are covered, including direct extraction processes for rare-earth recovery, biosorption of precious metals, fluorination behavior of uranium and zirconium mixture of fuel debris treatment, and recovery of valuable components of commodity metals such as zinc, nickel, and metals from slag.

This collection presents papers from a symposium on extraction of rare metals as well as rare extraction processing techniques used in metal production. Topics include the extraction and processing of elements such as antimony, arsenic, gold, indium, palladium, platinum, rare earth metals including yttrium and neodymium, titanium, tungsten, and vanadium. Rare processing techniques are covered, including direct extraction processes for rare-earth recovery, biosorption of precious metals, fluorination behavior of uranium and zirconium mixture of fuel debris treatment, and recovery of valuable components of commodity metals such as zinc, nickel, and metals from slag.

This collection presents papers from a symposium on extraction of rare metals as well as rare extraction processing techniques used in metal production. Topics include the extraction and processing of elements such as rare earth metals including yttrium and scandium, gold, vanadium, cesium, zinc, copper, tellurium, bismuth, potassium, aluminum, iridium, titanium, manganese, uranium, rhenium, and tungsten. Rare processing techniques covered include supercritical fluid extraction, direct extraction processes for rare-earth recovery, biosorption of precious metals, and recovery of valuable components of commodity metals such as zinc, nickel, and metals from slag.

This collection presents papers from a symposium on extraction of rare metals from primary and secondary materials and residues as well as rare extraction processing techniques used in metal production. Authors cover the extraction of less common or minor metals including elements such as antimony, bismuth, barium, beryllium, boron, calcium, chromium, gallium, germanium, hafnium, indium, manganese, molybdenum, platinum group metals, rare earth metals, rhenium, scandium, selenium, sodium, strontium, tantalum, tellurium, and tungsten. Contributions also discuss rare metals of low-tonnage sales compared to high-tonnage metals (iron, copper, nickel, lead, tin, zinc, or light metals such as aluminum, magnesium, or titanium and electronic metalloid silicon). Authors also cover biometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and electrometallurgy while novel high-temperature processes such as microwave heating, solar-thermal reaction synthesis, and cold crucible synthesis of rare metals are addressed. Also included in this collection is the design of extraction equipment used in these processes from suppliers as well as laboratory and pilot plant studies.

The resources race is on. Powering our digital lives and green technologies are some of the Earth’s most precious metals — but they are running out. And what will happen when they do? The green-tech revolution has been lauded as the silver bullet to a new world. One that is at last free of oil, pollution, shortages, and cross-border tensions. Drawing on six years of research across a dozen countries, this book cuts across conventional green thinking to probe the hidden, dark side of green technology. By breaking free of fossil fuels, we are in fact setting ourselves up for a new dependence — on rare metals such as cobalt, gold, and palladium. They are essential to electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels, our smartphones, computers, tablets, and other everyday connected objects. China has captured the lion’s share of the rare metals industry, but consumers know very little about how they are mined and traded, or their environmental, economic, and geopolitical costs. The Rare Metals War is a vital exposé of the ticking time-bomb that lies beneath our new technological order. It uncovers the reality of our lavish and ambitious environmental quest that involves risks as formidable as those it seeks to resolve.