Short Course: Hydrometallurgical Processing of Cobalt

Background

An unprecedented increase in demand for cobalt used in energy-storage devices is expected to soon result in large deficits between supply and demand. This will inevitably lead to a global focus on Africa, particularly the African Copper Belt, as this region possesses close to half of the world’s cobalt resources. In the Copper Belt, cobalt is associated with copper production, in contrast to the second-largest global source associated with nickel production. In both cases, cobalt is recovered from solutions following dissolution of the primary metals. Hydrometallurgy technologies are therefore considered for this duty.

These hydrometallurgical technologies are the subject of this one-day short course. The topics include metal dissolution (leaching), upgrading and purification (precipitation, solvent extraction, ion exchange), and metal recovery (crystallization, electrowinning, metal salt production) processes. Each topic will be presented by a world-renowned expert in the field.

Following the overwhelming sucess of this course at the recent Copper Cobalt Africa conference in Zambia, it is being offered again in Johannesburg.

The short course will be accredited for one Continuing Professional Development (CPD) point by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA).