Patent ID: 8454816

Claim:
A method for recovering zinc and manganese from a geothermal brine, the method comprising the steps of: providing a geothermal brine, said geothermal brine comprising manganese and zinc; selectively removing silica and iron from the geothermal brine to produce a substantially silica free brine; adjusting the pH of the substantially silica free brine to a pH suitable to form precipitates of zinc and manganese, such that precipitates of zinc and manganese are selectively formed and other metal precipitates are not formed; separating the zinc and manganese precipitates from the brine; dissolving the precipitates of zinc and manganese to produce a zinc and manganese containing solution; extracting the zinc and manganese containing solution with an extraction solvent to produce a first liquid phase that includes the extraction solvent and zinc and a second liquid phase that includes manganese; separating the first and second liquid phases; electrochemically recovering zinc from the first liquid phase; reducing the second liquid phase to form Mn 2+ ; supplying the Mn 2+ to an electrochemical cell and recovering the manganese by electrochemical means.