The State of Critical and Strategic Metals Recovery and the Role of Nuclear Techniques in the Separation Technologies Development: Review

Abstract

The extraction of useful minerals or geological materials from the Earth’s crust, most typically from various sources, is crucial to a country’s development and progress. Mineral-rich countries use these resources to transform their economies and propel them toward long-term prosperity. There is an urgent need for the world to increase mineral exploration efforts, improve the recycling of important metal-containing resources, and extract them using upgraded hydrometallurgical procedures with high recovery efficiency. This review paper highlights the importance of strategic and critical metals in the economy and the role of nuclear techniques in the analysis, process optimization, and remediation of metals using solvent extraction, adsorption, and chromatographic resins. Radiotracer analysis, X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA), and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) are appropriate for improving laboratory-based hydrometallurgical processes, with future technical and economic benefits. The development and installation of novel instruments to provide the real-time control of mining and mineral processing plants for improved control have the potential to aid in the recovery of a broad range of metals.

Kenya’s Mineral Landscape: A Review of the Mining Status and Potential Recovery of Strategic and Critical Metals through Hydrometallurgical and Flotation Techniques

“…The separation of the metallic compounds from the SO 4 2− mixture having 0.89 g/dm 3 of Mn, 15.9 g/dm 3 of Zn, and 24.3 g/dm 3 of Mg was evaluated. According to the study's findings, both for Zn and Mn, the extraction equilibrium was reached after 4 min, during which pH modulation regulated the extraction's selectivity [10].…”

“…Figure 1. A periodic table displaying the aspects of various types of metals and their economic status [10].…”

“…The worldwide demand for minerals is projected to progressively rise at a mean rate of approximately 3% Figure 1. A periodic table displaying the aspects of various types of metals and their economic status [10].…”

“…Agua regia was applied as a leaching agent whereas NH4Cl was used to precipitate Pt for further recovery process, Figure 6. Apart from platinum group metals, precious metals like Au have drawn a lot of interest [10]. Researchers are attempting to use new techniques in both identification and quantitative analysis.…”

Continuous precision separation of gold using a metal–organic framework/polymer composite

“…The precision separation of critical metals from complex mixtures is of both environmental and economic significance [1][2][3]. Recently, there has been a historic investment and effort in developing novel sustainable technologies to separate and purify these highly valued critical metals [4].…”