Process for the recovery of silver values from silver-containing material which also contains iron and arsenic

摘要

A process for the recovery of silver values from silver-containing material which also contains iron and arsenic includes leaching the material under oxidizing conditions at elevated temperature and pressure in aqueous nitric acid solution to dissolve a substantial amount of silver together with substantial amounts of arsenic, iron and other metals if present. The resultant leach solution is separated from undissolved leach residue and treated with a solution containing chloride ions to selectively precipitate substantially all dissolved silver as silver chloride without significant co-precipitation of other dissolved metals. The silver chloride precipitate is then separated from the remaining solution.