Occurence in Nature
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/6/9/19691905/9220624.jpg)
Cobalt is an abundant element at around 10 to 30 parts per million which places it in the upper third of elements according to their abundance in the Earth's crust. The most common ores of Cobalt are Cobalite, smalite, chloranthie and linnaeite. The major suppliers of Cobalt in the world are Zambia, Canada, Russia, Australia, Zaire and Cuba. Where as in the United States no Cobalt is mined.
Mining of Cobalt
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/6/9/19691905/5884764.jpg)
Cobalt is found by journeying into mines to extract the ore from the earth, which contains minerals including metal elements. Ores are mined by blasting the rocks with explosives or by digging into rocks with shovels and picks to extract the ores from the rock. The miners then process the ore to find the Cobalt by crushing the ore in cone crushers using wet magnetic separators to separate the copper or nickel. They then reduce the nickel or copper and then mesh it into ball mill, which is a mineral grinder.
Cobalt The Ore And It's Procesing
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/6/9/19691905/2038620.jpg)
Cobalt shares many properties with nickel meaning that they are processed similarly. Cobalt is often treated with pyro metallurgical techniques, which involves high temperatures that melt and separate metals from the ores in which they are found. Another way to process Cobalt ore is Hydro metallurgical. It involves chemically treating the impure metals. This process is also known as leaching. Cobalt processing may include electrowinning. This is a centuries-old technique that involves running an electric current through an electrolyte solution that surrounds the ore. The resulting Cobalt product is generally in the form of layers which are formed on stainless steel plates or small round discs. Electrowinning can yield 99.98% of Cobalt purity.
Cobalt Extraction
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/6/9/19691905/3620923.jpg)
Cobalt can be extracted in a variety of ways. One of the ways may be is that Cobalt is extracted from the nickel or copper through solvent extraction. This is the process of separating compounds based on their solubility in two im-miscible liquids, such as an organic solvent and water. Therefor it extracts the Cobalt substance from one liquid into another liquid phase. The Cobalt is then sold to a manufacturer to convert the Cobalt Sulfate, carbonate or salt derivatives.