Secondary Non-ferrous Metals Industry in China: Present Situation and Development Tread

The production of Secondary Non-ferrous Metals (SNM) is characterized by low investment, energy consumption and cost, less pollution as well as rather simple technology. In the past years, the SNM industry has seen relevantly rapid progress in China. Especially in the filed of clean hydrometallurgical treatment certain novel technologies for recovery and separation have successfully been elaborated, and a number of medium and small commercial plants established. On the basis of four common metals Cu, Al, Pb, Zn, and Ni, Co, this paper describes the status quo and progress of SNM industry in China, indicating that a lot of work should still be done in salvage of waste metals. It is recommended that measures for collecting and classifying SNM resource should be strengthened and the research on new technologies for scavenging such metals should be supported.