Patent ID: 8177882

Claim:
A method for selectively recovering a metal from a metal-bearing raw source material, comprising: a) mixing with an aqueous medium a metal-bearing raw source material comprising a first metal in an insoluble form, soluble and/or insoluble Cr in a Cr bearing material as a second metal, and organic and inorganic compounds to obtain a slurry comprising the first metal in an insoluble form, soluble and/or insoluble Cr in a Cr bearing material and the organic and inorganic compounds; b) adjusting the pH of the slurry to an alkaline pH sufficient to convert soluble Cr present to an insoluble form; c) adding a first oxidizer to the slurry to facilitate subsequent oxidation steps; d) selectively leaching the Cr by adding MnO 4 − in an amount sufficient to convert Cr to a soluble form while the first metal remains in the slurry in an insoluble form; e) filtering the slurry to obtain a filter cake comprising the first metal in an insoluble form and a filtrate comprising Cr in a soluble form; f) recovering the filter cake comprising the first metal in an insoluble form and/or filtrate comprising Cr in a soluble form.