Author(s)

Irfan Hafeez, Saqib Nasir^*, Samreen Zahra, Muhammad Aamir, Zahid Mahmood, Adnan Akram

Mineral Processing Research Centre, Pakistan Council of Scientific & Industrial Research Laboratories Complex, Lahore, Pakistan.

A rapid and simple process has been developed for the recovery of antimony metal from stibnite ore of Kharan area (Balochistan) of Pakistan. The ore was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique and found to contain 66% stibnite i.e. antimony sulfide (Sb₂S₃). The process parameters for the extraction of antimony were optimized on laboratory scale by varying reaction temperature from 900℃ - 1000℃, reaction time from 20 - 80 minutes and flux concentration was varied from 5 - 25 weight percent of the reaction mixture. The metal thus recovered with optimum conditions was evaluated by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique and was found to be more than 94% pure. The recovery yield calculated on the basis of stibnite present in the ore was 98.52%.

Antimony, Stibnite, Extraction, Recovery Yield

Hafeez, I. , Nasir, S. , Zahra, S. , Aamir, M. , Mahmood, Z. and Akram, A. (2017) Metal Extraction Process for High Grade Stibnite of Kharan (Balochistan Pakistan). Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering, 5, 39-48. doi: 10.4236/jmmce.2017.51004.