A Unified Method for the Recovery of Metals from Chalcogenides

Metal chalcogenides are ubiquitous starting materials for the extraction of metals from both primary and secondary sources. In this study, it is shown that chalcogenide compounds are electrochemically active and can be solubilized from solid powders by electrochemical oxidation in a deep eutectic solvent. Importantly, the metal ions released into solution were unaffected by the type of chalcogenide present in the initial compound, maintaining the same speciation as would be obtained from dissolution of a chloride salt. Therefore, metals can be recovered by the same process from mixtures of chalcogenides. The chalcogenides form a mixture of oxyanions in the + IV and + VI oxidation states, which are separable via standard processes.