SIEVE TRAY COLUMN AND PROCESS FOR RECOVERY OF METAL VALUE

摘要

A sieve tray column for stripping or recovering metal values from a metal value bearing material includes an elongate column body having an upper end and a lower end and a chamber defined therein. A plurality of spaced apart sieve trays are located within the chamber at intervals between the upper and lower ends. A first inlet is located intermediate the upper and lower ends of the column for introducing a value bearing material, such as a solution or slurry thereof, into the chamber, which value bearing material is arranged to flow in an upwards direction through successive trays towards the upper end. A second inlet is located at or adjacent the upper end of the column for introducing a resin into the chamber, which resin is fluidised by the upwardly moving value bearing material and caused to flow from one sieve tray to another successive sieve tray towards the lower end of the column. As the resin and the value bearing material contact each other in a counter current manner metal values from the value bearing material are absorbed onto the resin, which metal values can e recovered from the loaded resin.