A primary study of simultaneous leaching of silver containing manganese ore and a sphalerite concentrate

It is demonstrated that a low grade, silver containing manganese deposit can be exploited by reaction with a ZnS concentrate. In the process, Mn(IV) is reduced to Mn(II) and the ZnS converted to ZnSO4. In the process, Mn and Zn are solubilized. By studying the effects of quantity of reducing agent and sulfuric acid added and of time, temperature and liquid to solid ratio on the leaching process, the optimum technological conditions have been achieved under which the amount of manganese leached was 98 %. The silver can be removed from remaining solids by adding ammonia liquor. Then by adding hydrazine hydrate, sponge silver with purity up to 99 % can be obtained with a recovery of 87 %.