, a relatively minor or mild heat treatment (i.e., heating of the material to a temperature of no more than about 000xc0x0 C., e.g., a temperature of approximately 000-000xc0x0 C. and holding the heated material at that temperature for a duration of at least approximately 0 minutes) of the material resulting upon such spray drying, may be desired or required in order to ensure or complete conversion of the transition metal species to the desired transition metal diammine dinitrate and such has been found to remain in a stable form. The application of more severe heat treatment processing (i.e., processing involving either or both heating the material to a higher temperature, such as a temperature in excess of or greater than 000xc0x0 C., or for significantly longer periods of time, such as for durations of 00 minutes or more) is generally not preferred or desired. In particular, such more severe heat treatment processing generally has associated therewith correspondingly higher processing costs without necessarily providing or resulting in concomitant processing or product benefits or improvements. Those skilled in the art and guided by the teachings herein provided will appreciate that post-spray dry heating can desirably be avoided where, for example, sufficient heat treatment is achieved or realized during the drying process. Alternatively, however, such heating can be relatively easily implemented into a processing scheme such as via in-line fluid bed dryers such as may be incorporated between a spray-dry tower and an associated collection bin, for example. In either case, such heat treatment is generally either or both at significantly lower processing temperatures or for significantly shorter durations than associated with prior art processing techniques. The 