PROCESS FOR REFINING SILVER BULLION WITH GOLD SEPARATION

Abstract: The present invention concerns a process for refining silver bullion, i.e. raw silver containing generally more than 90 % silver besides Se, Pb, Au, Cu and platinum group metals (PGM) as main impurities. The process comprises the steps of: optionally removing Se as gaseous SeO2 from the molten metallic phase by injecting air, which is preferably O2 enriched, into the metallic phase at a preferred bath temperature of 1000-1100 DEG C; optionally slagging off the Pb by contacting the molten metallic phase with a silica and borax based flux at a preferred bath temperature of 1000-1150 DEG C; granulating the molten metallic phase in water, thereby forming Ag rich granules; leaching the Ag rich granules with HNO3 at a temperature above 50 DEG C, preferably in an O2 enriched atmosphere, followed by filtration, thereby separating an Au bearing residue from an Ag rich liquor; heating the Ag rich liquor, thereby evaporating H2O and forming an AgNO3 bearing melt; maintaining the AgNO3 bearing melt at a temperature of 220-350 DEG C for at least 15 minutes, thereby forming a mixture of a purified AgNO3 and of a denitration residue containing essentially all the PGM as oxides; separating the purified AgNO3 from the denitration residue. By this process, the many drawbacks of the classical electrolytic refining of silver are avoided.

Description: Process for refining silver bullion The present invention concerns a process for refining silver bullion Silver bullion is a raw silver alloy originating amongst others from lead-silver smelting containing generally more than 90 % silver besides Se, Pb, Au, Cu and platinum group metals (PG") as ma n impurities. Silver million is normally available as large castings. The present state of technology for refining silver oullion alloy is electrolytic refining: after casting anodes, the alloy is electrorefmed in an AgN0 3 -HN0 3 electrolyte. The following output streams are hereby produced- - purified Ag obtained as dendrites deposited on a stainless steel cathode sheet, - anode slime, containing Au and PGM, which is collected in fabric bags surrounding the anode; - a bleed on the AgN0 3 -HN0 3 electrolyte. The electrolyte bleed is necessary to prevent the accumulation of impurities which anodically dissolve completely as nitrates, such as Pb and Cu, or partially, such as Pd A first method for bleed treatment is the retrieval of the dissolved Ag by cementation with a less noble metal. The impurities such as Pb and Cu remain m the nitrate bearing bleed solution. A second method for bleed treatment is by denitration, also referred to as the black melt process in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 1993, vol.A24, p. 134. In this case, the water is evaporated from the electrolyte, and the anhydrous nitrate melt is heated to at least 170 °C. The nitrates of PGM decompose to insoluble oxides. Cu nitrate decomposes partially, to an extent determined by the temperature of the melt After reaction with water, the oxides are separated from the AgN0 3 bearing solution. However, if an excess of Pb and Cu has to ne removed from the electrolyte, at least part of the bleed must be treated according to the first metnod. Here again, the Ag has to be retrieved by cementation, producing an impure Pb bearing nitrate solution. Both methods tnus necessitate a rather elaborate treatment of the bleed whereby nitrate solutions are produced. Their further treatment leads to the discharge of nitrates. This disadvantage is further exacerbated when higher levels of Pb, Cu or Pd are present m the Ag bullion: a higher amount of impurities has indeed to be evacuated by bleeding a correspondingly larger quantity of electrolyte. Also, more than approximately 2 % Pd m the raw silver leads to problems as Pd then gets embedded m the refined Ag deposit. Both the electrolytic refining process and the anode slime treatment are inherently slow. Consequently, metals have a long residence time and the inventory of the refining plant is high as are the ensuing financial costs. The present invention aims at resolving the above mentioned disadvantages. Moreover, the new process produces Ag with a higher purity than the state of the art process. The invention discloses a process for refining silver bullion. The process comprises the steps of - leaching the silver bullion with HN0 3 at a temperature above 50 °C, preferably in an 0 2 enriched atmosphere, followed by filtration, thereby separating an Au bearing residue from an Ag rich liquor; - heating the Ag rich liquor, thereby evaporating H 2 0 and forming an AgN0 3 bearing melt; - maintaining the AgN0 3 bearing melt at a temperature of 220-350 °C for at least 15 minutes, thereby forming a mixture of a purified AgN0 3 and of a denitration residue containing essentially all the PGM as oxides; - separating the purified AgN0 3 from the denitration residue, either by - filtrating the mixture at a temperature above 220 °C, thereby obtaining a purified molten AgN0 3 ; or by - reacting the mixture with water, followed by filtration, thereby obtaining a purified AgN0 3 solution. The leaching operation can be greatly accelerated and thus rendered more economical if performed on granules instead of on large castings. To this end the leaching step can be preceded by the following steps: - heating the silver bullion, thereby forming a bath with a molten metallic phase; - granulating the molten metallic pnase in water, thereby forming Ag rich granules; and the leaching step is performed on the Ag rich granules. It is useful to take advantage of the above melting operation, which is needed for the granulation, to remove Se and Pb from the molten metallic phase. Se can be completely removed as gaseous Se0 2 from the molten metallic phase by injecting air, which is preferably 0 2 enriched, into the metallic phase at a temperature of 1000-1250 °C, or preferably of 1000-1100 °C. Pb can be removed from the molten metallic phase by contacting this phase with an acidic flux at a temperature of 1000-1300 °C, or preferably of 1000-1150 °C, whereby Pb is slagged off. In this way, the quantities of Se and Pb to be treated in the following steps of the process are decreased substantially. Se and Pb can be removed in either order. Cu can be completely removed by increasing the temperature during the denitration of the AgN0 3 bearing melt to 300-350 °C, thereby forming a mixture of a purified AgN0 3 and of a denitration residue containing essentially all the Cu and PGM as oxides; When purified dry AgN0 3 is obtained in the process as described above, it can be commercialized as such. It also can be further processed to metallic Ag. To this end, the purified AgN0 3 is decomposed at a temperature above 400 °C into elemental Ag and nitrogen oxides (N0 X ) which are scrubbed with H 2 0 m an oxidizing atmosphere, thereby forming HN0 3 , which is optionally recycled to the leaching step When the purified AgN0 3 solution is obtained m the process as described above, it can be commercialized as such. It also can be further processed to metallic Ag. A first method is to hydrolyze the purified AgN0 3 solution with NaOH or KOH, thereby forming an Ag 2 0 precipitate, which is separated by filtration and to decompose the Ag 2 0 at a temperature above 300 °C into elemental Ag and 0 2 . A second method is to react the purified AgN0 3 solution with HC1, thereby forming AgCl and HN0 3 , which are separated by filtration, the HN0 3 being optionally recycled to the leaching step. The AgCl is then transformed to elemental Ag and NaCl either by reacting the AgCl with an NaOH solution in presence of a reducing agent, or by heating the AgCl with a soda flux above 1000 °C. The claimed process is well suited to refine raw silver, especially when high levels of Pb, Au, Cu and Pd are present. No nitrates are discharged m the environment. Au and PGM are readily separated and recovered from the Ag stream The inventory of precious metals is thus much lower than with electrolytic refining. The mandatory and the preferred working conditions of the new process are explained hereunder . When Se is not removed before the molten metallic phase is granulated m water, it will concentrate m the Au bearing residue during the leaching of Ag with HN0 3 . This will considerably complicate the refining of Au from the Au bearing residue. During Se removal, the bath temperature should not exceed 1250 C C The higher the temperature, the lower the rate of Se removal. A temperature of up to 1100 °C is therefore preferred. The bath should in any case remain above 1000 °C, I e well above the melting point of the raw silver. It is advisable to remove any slag from the surface of the metallic bath to enhance the volatilization rate of Se0 2 . During Pb removal, tr.e bath temperature should not exceed 1300 °C. With respect to refractory wear, a temperature of up to 1150 °C is preferred. The flux used for slagging off the Pb should be of the acidic type. An acidic flux is a flux comprising phoshates, silicates or borates as essential components. A flux consisting of Sι0 2 and Na 2 B0 7 .5aq in a weight ratio between 15:85 and 20:80 is recommended. When leaching the Ag rich granules with HN0 3 , a minimum temperature of 50 °C is needed. At a lower temperature, there is a risk for the leaching reaction to slow down or even to stop temporarily, and then to resume violently. Such unstable behavior is to be avoided for obvious safety reasons. Furthermore, it is recommended to raise the temperature gradually to at least 70 °C during leaching to obtain a residue which is as rich as possible in Au . Preferably, the amount and concentration of HN0 3 are chosen so as to obtain an AgN0 3 solution with approximately 1000 g/1 of Ag and a free HN0 3 concentration of 1.5 M. In this way, the volume of AgN0 3 solution to be processed is kept low, while crystallization of AgN0 3 is avoided as long as the solution is kept above 45 °C. During leaching, it s preferred to maintain an 0 2 enriched atmosphere above the reaction mixture. To this end, the vessel might be of the closed type or of the pressurized type. An oxidizing atmosphere is indeed helpful to recycle NO x , which are a byproduct of the leaching reaction, to HN0 3 in situ. The reactions are: 2N0 + 0 2 -> 2N0 2 and 3N0 2 + H 2 0 -> 2HNO, + NO. A high 0 2 partial pressure is useful to enhance the reaction rates. The purpose of the next operation is to separate the Cu, PGM, and the residual Pb from the Ag rich liquor. A heat treatment is applied whereby most impurities denitrate, i.e. their nitrate decomposes to oxide, forming an insoluble residue In tn s step, the temperature of the AgN0 3 bearing melt should be kept between 220 and 350 °C. A hold time of at least 15 minutes is needed to ensure a sufficient denitration level. However, when Cu has to be removed down to 10 ppm or less as referenced to Ag, a higher minimal denitration temperature of 300 °C has to be maintained to fully decompose Cu nitrates. There are two methods to separate the mixture of the purified AgN0 3 and the denitration residue. The first method is the filtration of the mixture as a melt. The filtration has to be performed at a temperature of at least 220 °C so as to stay well above the solidification temperature of AgN0 3 . Purified molten AgN0 3 is obtained. The second method is to first react the mixture with water and then to filtrate the obtained slurry. For similar reasons as for those explained above for the HN0 3 leaching, the amount of water with which the mixture is reacted is determined so as to obtain a purified AgN0 3 solution with preferably about 1000 g/1 of Ag . Purified AgN0 3 or AgN0 3 solutions can be commercialized as such. However, if elemental Ag is needed, then the above process should be supplemented with a process for the transformation of purified AgN0 3 to Ag metal. To this end, any of the two methods described hereunder can be applied. In a first method, the purified AgN0 3 is injected m a furnace where it is decomposed at a temperature above 400 °C . The decomposition products are elementary Ag and N0 X . A scrubber converts the N0 X to HN0 3 which can be reused m the leaching step. Any Ag compound present m the flue dust is also converted to AgN0 m the scrubber. The decomposition can be performed below or above the melting point of Ag. The latter case lends itself more easily to continuous processing of AgN0 3 . The above method will normally be applied directly on the purified molten AgN0 3 ; it is however also applicable to the purified AgN0 3 solutions in which case water is evaporated first. A second method starts from the purified AgN0 3 solution. In a first step, an insoluble Ag compound such as Ag 2 0 is precipitated, e g. by hydrolysis of the AgN0 3 solution with KOH, or, preferably, with NaOH. In the latter case, the byproduct of the hydrolysis is an NaN0 3 solution. This NaN0 3 solution is relatively pure and can be transformed into solid NaN0 3 by a known drying or crystallization process. For example, by using fluid bed drying, granules of NaN0 3 are obtained which are similar in appearance and in composition to commercially available prills. The Ag 2 0 is optionally washed and is then thermally decomposed to Ag and 0 2 at a temperature of at least 300 °C. Sponge-like elemental Ag is obtained, which is re-melted and cast into ingots or granulated. If Pb has been removed to a large extent from the molten metallic silver bullion phase before leaching the Ag with HN0 3 , then any traces of Pb which are still present m the sponge-like elemental Ag can be removed by natural volatilization during the re-meltmg and casting of Ag, or by absorption of Pb m a relatively small amount of silica- borax based flux. However, if Pb has not been removed from the molten metallic phase before the leaching step, then it can be removed from the molten Ag by blowing air, or by absorption in a relatively large amount of silica-borax based fl-ux. An alternative to the precipitation of Ag 2 0 is the precipitation of a halide of Ag such as AgCl. This is done by reacting the purified AgN0 3 solution with HC1 according to the reaction. AgN0 3 + HC1 -> AgCl + HN0 3 Thereafter, two different reaction schemes are available to obtain elemental Ag. According to a first scheme, AgCl is transformed to metallic Ag by melting with a soda flux: 2AgCl + Na 2 C0 3 -> 2Ag + 2NaCl + C0 2 + l/20 2 . According to a second scheme, an aqueous AgCl suspension is formed which is then reduced with H 2 to metallic Ag under addition of NaOH. The reaction is: AgCl + NaOH + 1/2H 2 -> Ag + NaCl + H 2 0. Both alternatives lead to the formation of NaCl, whether as an aqueous solution or as a solid, which normally can be discharged without harm. Each essential step of the invention is further illustrated with an example . Example 1 250 kg of silver bullion is melted and brought at a temperature of 1050 °C. 550 1/hr air enriched with 220 1/hr 0 2 is blown through the molten bath. Any slag which is formed during blowing is removed well before the slag completely covers the bath surface. After 90 minutes of blowing, 10 kg flux consisting of 83 wt% Na 2 B0 7 .5H 2 0 and 17 wt% Sι0 2 is added and contacted for 20 minutes with the bath while maintaining the injection of 550 1/hr air and 220 1/hr 0 2 . After 20 minutes, the molten slag is drawn off. The addition of flux and the removal of molten slag after 20 minutes is repeated 2 more times while maintaining the same gas injection. The molten metal is then granulated m water at 50 °C . The composition of silver bullion and of the obtained Ag rich granules is reported in Table 1. This process proves to be capaole to remove Pb and Se to below 15 ppm and 4 ppm respectively. Because traces of Pb and Se remaining in the Ag are also partially removed m the next operations of the process, a refined Ag containing typ.cally 2 ppm Pb and <1 ppm Se can be expected. Table 1: Removal of Pb and Se from the silver bullion (all concentrations in ppm) Example 2 To 1 kg of Ag rich granules with a mean diameter of 4 mm, an amount of 0.9 1 of 60 % HN0 3 solution is added at a flow rate of 0.45 1/h in a water cooled jacket reactor. During addition of the ac d, the temperature of the mixture is maintained at 60 °C. Pure 0 2 is injected into the suspension at a flow rate of 40 g/h. An overpressure of 50 kPa in maintained. After addition of HN0 3 , the temperature is raised to 80 °C. Then, for 0.5 h, 0 2 continues to be injected at a flow rate of 40 g/hr. The obtained mixture of Au bearing residue and of Ag rich liquor is separated by filtration. The residue is washed with 50 ml water and dried. The compositions are shown in Table 2. It appears that the Au bearing residue has a very high Au content and that this residue tends to capture residual Se present in the Ag rich granules. No significant amount of Au is left in the Ag rich liquor. Example 3 This example illustrates the effect of the denitration of the Ag rich liquor. In this case, the denitration residue is separated from the purified molten AgN0 3 by hot filtration. 270 kg of silver bullion is purified as described in Example 1. The obtained Ag rich granules are then leached under conditions as described m Example 2. The Ag rich liquor, at a concentration of 1000 g/1 Ag, is first evaporated and then further heated to a melt at 350 °C for 2 h. Partial denitration of Pb and substantially complete denitration of Cu and PGM occurs at this temperature and the oxides of these metals form an insoluble denitration residue. Thereafter, the mixture of molten AgN0 3 and precipitated oxides is transferred to a pressure leaf filter equipped with a layered sintered stainless steel mesh with an absolute filter rating of 5 μm. The mixture is filtrated under a differential pressure of 6 bars, at a temperature of 280 °C. Table 3 shows the compositions. It is clear that the purified molten AgN0 3 is substantially free from PGM, Pb and Cu. These impurities are concentrated m the denitration residue. Table 3: Removal of PGM, Pb and Cu after denitration by filtration of AgN0 3 n the molten state Example 4 This example illustrates the effect of the denitration of the Ag rich liquor. In this case the denitration residue is separated from the purified AgN0 3 by aqueous filtration. 270 kg of silver bullion is purified as described in Example 1. The obtained Ag rich granules are then leached under conditions as described n Example 2. The Ag rich liquor, at a concentration of 1090 g/1 Ag, is first evaporated and then further heated to a melt at 350 °C for 1 h. Partial denitration of Pb and substantially complete denitration of Cu and PGM occurs at this temperature and the oxides of these metals form an insoluble denitration residue. Thereafter the mixture of molten AgN0 3 and precipitated oxides is transferred at a controlled rate of 30 kg per minute to an agitated vessel containing 160 1 of water. During the transfer of the mixture, cooling water is circulated through the vessel jacket limiting the temperature to 80 °C. After settling of the oxides, the clear fraction of the solution is drawn off from the vessel and filtrated through a cartridge filter with an absolute rating of 5 μm. The settled slurry is filtrated separately on a pressure leaf filter with a woven multi-f lament filter medium. Both filtrates are combined, forming the purified AgN0 3 solution. Table 4 shows the compositions. It is clear that the purified AgN0 3 solution is substantially free from PGM, Pb and Cu . These impurities are concentrated in the denitration residue. Table 4: Removal of PGM, Pb and Cu after denitration by filtration of AgNQ 3 in aqueous solution Example 5 Table 5 illustrates the typical level of purity obtained by the process according to the invention compared to the level obtained by a state of the art electrorefming process. Table 5: Comparison of the purity of elemental Ag (all concentrations m ppm)

Claims: Claims 1. Process for refining impure silver bullion containing metals fror the group consisting of Pb, Se, Cu, Au and PGM as impurities, compris.ng the steps of - leaching the silver bullion with HN0 3 at a temperature above 50 °C, preferably in an 0 2 enriched atmosphere, followed by filtration, thereby separating an Au bearing residue from an Ag rich liquor; - heating the Ag rich liquor, thereby evaporating H 2 0 and forming an AgN0 3 bearing melt; - maintaining the AgN0 3 bearing melt at a temperature of 220-350 " C for at least 15 minutes, thereby forming a mixture of a purified -.gN0 3 and of a denitration residue containing essentially all the PGM as oxides; - separating the purified AgN0 3 from the denitration residue, eitr.er by - filtrating the mixture at a temperature above 220 °C, thereby obtaining purified molten AgN0 3 ; or by - reacting the mixture with water, followed by filtration, thereby obtaining a purified AgN0 3 solution. 2. Process for refining impure silver bullion according to claim 1, whereby the leaching step is preceded by the following steps: - heating the silver bullion, thereby forming a molten metallic phase; - granulating the molten metallic phase in water, thereby forming Ag rich granules; and the leaching step is performed on the Ag rich granules 3. Process according to claim 2 , whereby Se is removed as gaseous Se02 from the molten metallic phase by injecting air, whicn is preferaoly 0 2 enriched, into the metallic phase at a temperature of 1000-1253 C C, and preferably of 1000-1100 °C 4. Process according to claims 2 or 3 , wnereby the molten metallic phase is contacted with an acidic flux at a temperature of 1000-1300 °C, and preferably of 1000-1150 °C, and Pb is slagged off. 5. Process according to claims 1 to 4, whereby the AgN0 3 bearing melt is maintained at a temperature of 300-350 °C for at least 15 minutes, thereby forming a mixture of a purified AgN0 3 and of a denitration residue containing essentially all the Cu and PGM as oxides. 6. Process according to claims 1 to 5, whereby the purified molten AgN0 3 is further processed to elemental Ag, comprising the steps of - decomposing the purified molten AgN0 3 at a temperature above 400 °C into purified Ag and NO x ; - scrubbing the NO x with H 2 0 m an oxidizing atmosphere, thereby forming HN0 3 , which is optionally recycled to the leaching step. 7. Process according to claims 1 to 5 , whereby the purified AgN0 3 solution is further processed to elemental Ag, comprising the steps of either - hydrolyzmg the purified AgN0 3 solution with NaOH or KOH, thereby forming an Ag 2 0 precipitate, which is separated by filtration; - decomposing the Ag 2 0 at a temperature above 300 °C into elemental Ag and 0 2 ; or - reacting the purified AgN0 3 solution with HC1, thereby forming AgCl and HN0 3 , which are separated by filtration, the HN0 3 being optionally recycled to the leaching step, - transforming the AgCl to elemental Ag and NaCl by either reacting the AgCl with an NaOH solution in presence of a reducing agent, or by heating the AgCl with a soda flux above 1000 °C. Abstract Process for refining silver bullion The present invention concerns a process for refining silver bullion, i.e. raw silver containing generally more than 90 % silver besides Se, Pb, Au, Cu and platinum group metals (PGM) as mam impurities The process comprises the steps of. - optionally removing Se as gaseous Se02 from the molten metallic phase by injecting air, which is preferably 0 2 enriched, into the metallic phase at a preferred bath temperature of 1000-1100 °C; - optionally slagging off the Pb by contacting the molten metallic phase with a silica and borax based flux at a preferred bath temperature of 1000-1150 °C; - granulating the molten metallic phase in water, thereby forming Ag rich granules; - leaching the Ag rich granules with HN0 3 at a temperature above 50 °C, preferably m an 0 2 enriched atmosphere, followed by filtration, thereby separating an Au bearing residue from an Ag rich liquor; - heating the Ag rich liquor, thereby evaporating H 2 0 and forming an AgN0 3 bearing melt, - maintaining the AgN0 3 bearing melt at a temperature of 220-350 °C for at least 15 minutes, thereby forming a mixture of a purified AgN0 3 and of a denitration residue containing essentially all the PGM as oxides; - separating the purified AgN0 3 from the denitration residue By this process, the many drawbacks of the classical electrolytic refining of silver are avoided

Inventors: BROUWER SYBOLT, VANHOUTTE DIRK, BROUWER, SYBOLT, VANHOUTTE, DIRK
Applicants: BROUWER SYBOLT, UNION MINIERE SA, VANHOUTTE DIRK, BROUWER, SYBOLT, N.V. UNION MINIERE S.A., VANHOUTTE, DIRK
Application year: 2001
Main classification: C22B11
IPC codes: C01B21, C01G5, C22B3, C22B9, C22B11