Patent ID: 8377312

Claim:
A process for separating at least one first material from a mixture comprising at least one first material and at least one second material, the method comprising: (A) contacting the mixture comprising the at least one first material and at least one second material with at least one surface-active substance, optionally in the presence of at least one dispersion medium, with the surface-active substance binding to the at least one first material, to obtain a first intermediate; (B) optionally, adding at least one dispersion medium to the first intermediate obtained in (A) in order to obtain a dispersion; (C) treating the first intermediate from (A) or the dispersion (B) with at least one hydrophobic magnetic particle so that the at least one first material to which the at least one surface-active substance is bound and the at least one hydrophobic magnetic particle agglomerate, and give an agglomerate in a second intermediate; (D) separating the agglomerate from (C) from the second intermediate by application of a magnetic field; and (E) optionally, dissociating the agglomerate separated off in (D) in order to obtain the at least one first material and the at least one magnetic particle separately, wherein the first material is at least one metal compound selected from the group consisting of a compound of a transition metal, a compound of a sulfidic ore, a compound of an oxidic ore, a compound of a carbonate-comprising ore, a compound of an oxidic and carbonate-comprising ore, and a noble metal in elemental form, and wherein the mixture comprises (1) the at least one first material in an amount of from 0.001 to 1.0% by weight, based on a total weight of the mixture, and (2) the at least one second material.