How is cobalt mined/extracted?
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It's generally found in copper and nickel sulphide ores.  Depending on the relative amounts of cobalt and copper/nickel, cobalt can be the main ore metal, a byproduct or an unwelcome contaminant.\n\nCobalt ores are quite rare.  Southern Africa and Canada and have the best deposits.  The U.S. has a couple of lesser deposits in Idaho and Missouri.\n\nIt's mined and milled conventionally, generally with underground mining methods and froth flotation.  Hydrometallurgical methods are generally used to separate it from copper and nickel, often after a conventional pyrometallurgical smelter has been used to produce a mixed metal.
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My understanding Cobalt 60 is more precise.  It is a new technology, not available everywhere.  Radium is use more universally.  Radiation therapy works best when the cancer is caught early.  Late discovery is more difficult.
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Both of these will reduce the size of the ore, and both are used.  I think that they use crushing first.
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Platinum rarely occurs naturally on it's own & therefore must be obtained from rock ore that contains platinum & other economically important minerals.\n\nPlatinum is usually associated w/ nickel deposits.\n\nWhen the ore is mined, it is then crushed. The mineral is extracted through smelting.\n\nFor more detailed information click on the link below.
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cobalt, metallic chemical element; symbol Co; at. no. 27; at. wt. 58.9332; m.p. 1,495°C; b.p. about 2,870°C; sp. gr. 8.9 at 20°C; valence +2 or +3. Cobalt is a silver-white, lustrous, hard, brittle metal. It is a member of group VIII of the periodic table. Like iron, it can be magnetized. It is similar to iron and nickel in its physical properties. The element is active chemically, forming many compounds, e.g., the series of cobaltous and cobaltic salts and the complex cobalt ammines derived from cobaltic salts and ammonia. Cobalt yellow, green, and blue are pigments of high quality that contain cobalt; another blue pigment, smalt, is made by powdering a fused mixture of cobalt oxide, potassium carbonate, and sand; these pigments are often used for coloring glass and ceramics. Cobalt chloride, used as an invisible ink, is almost colorless in dilute solution when applied to paper. Upon heating it undergoes dehydration and turns blue, becoming colorless again when the heat is removed and water is taken up. The element rarely occurs uncombined in nature but is often found in meteoric metal. It is a constituent of the minerals cobaltite and smaltite and of other ores, usually in association with other metals. Pure cobalt metal is prepared by reduction of its compounds by aluminum (the Goldschmidt process), by carbon, or by hydrogen. It is a component of several alloys, including the high-speed steels carboloy and stellite, from which very hard cutting tools are made. It is a component of some stainless steels, and of high-temperature alloys for use in jet engines. Alnico, an alloy of cobalt, aluminum, nickel, and other metals, is used to make high-strength, permanent magnets. As an element in the diet of sheep, cobalt prevents a disease called swayback and improves the quality of the wool. A radioactive isotope, cobalt-60 (with gamma ray emission 25 times that of radium), is prepared by neutron bombardment. It is used for cancer therapy and in industry for detecting flaws in metal parts. See hydrogen bomb. Cobalt was discovered in 1735 by Georg Brandt, a Swedish chemist.
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Stillwater in Montana USA\nhttp://www.mining-technology.com/projects/stillwater/
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You would complete dissolve it in strong acids and then separate the metals by qualitative analysis techniques.  Not simple and very expensive.
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The Extraction of Iron \n \n\n\n The solid mixture of haematite ore, coke and limestone is continuously fed into the top of the blast furnace. \nThe coke is ignited at the base and hot air blown in to burn the coke (carbon) to form carbon dioxide in an oxidation reaction (C gains O). \nThe heat energy is needed from this very exothermic reaction to raise the temperature of the blast furnace to over 1000oC to effect the ore reduction. The furnace contents must be he \ncarbon + oxygen ==> carbon dioxide \nC(s) + O2(g) ==> CO2(g) \nat high temperature the carbon dioxide formed, reacts with more coke (carbon) to form carbon monoxide \ncarbon dioxide + carbon ==> carbon monoxide \nCO2(g) + C(s) ==> 2CO(g) \n(note: CO2 reduced by O loss, C is oxidised by O gain) \nThe carbon monoxide is the molecule that actually removes the oxygen from the iron oxide ore. This a reduction reaction (Fe2O3 loses its O, or Fe3+ gains three electrons to form Fe) and the CO is known as the reducing agent (the O remover and gets oxidised in the process). \nThis frees the iron, which is molten at the high blast furnace temperature, and trickles down to the base of the blast furnace. The main reduction reaction is ... \niron(III) oxide + carbon monoxide ==> iron + carbon dioxide \nFe2O3(s) + 3CO(g) ==> 2Fe(l) + 3CO2(g) \nnote, as in the two reactions above, oxidation and reduction always go together! \nOther possible ore reduction reactions are ... \nFe2O3(s) + 3C(g) ==> 2Fe(l) + 3CO(g) \n2Fe2O3(s) + 3C(g) ==> 4Fe(l) + 3CO2(g) \nThe original ore contains acidic mineral impurities such as silica (SiO2, silicon dioxide). These react with the calcium carbonate (limestone) to form a molten slag of e.g. calcium silicate. \ncalcium carbonate + silica ==> calcium silicate + carbon dioxide \nCaCO3 + SiO2 ==> CaSiO3 + CO2 \nthis is sometimes shown in two stages: \nCaCO3 ==> CaO + CO2 \nCaO + SiO2 ==> CaSiO3 \nThe molten slag forms a layer above the more dense molten iron and they can be both separately, and regularly, drained away. The iron is cooled and cast into pig iron ingots OR transferred directly to a steel producing furnace. \nIron from a blast furnace is ok for very hard cast iron objects BUT is too brittle for many applications due to too high a carbon content from the coke. So it is converted into steel alloys for a wide range of uses. \nThe waste slag is used for road construction or filling in quarries which can then be landscaped. \n \n\n\nThe Extraction of Aluminium \n \n\n\n The purified bauxite ore of aluminium oxide is continuously fed in. Cryolite is added to lower the melting point and dissolve the ore. \nIons must be free to move to the electrode connections called the cathode (-, negative), attracting positive ions e.g. Al3+, and the anode (+, positive) which attracts negative ions e.g. O2-. \nWhen the d.c. current is passed through aluminium forms at the negative cathode (metal*) and sinks to the bottom of the tank. \nAt the positive anode, oxygen gas is formed (non-metal*). This is quite a problem. At the high temperature of the electrolysis cell it burns and oxidises away the carbon electrodes to form toxic carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide. So the electrode is regularly replaced and the waste gases dealt with!  \nIt is a costly process (6x more than Fe!) due to the large quantities of expensive electrical energy needed for the process. \n* Two general rules: \nMetals and hydrogen (from positive ions), form at the negative cathode electrode. \nNon-metals (from negative ions), form at the positive anode electrode. \n\n\nThe original extraction of copper from copper ores\n \nfrom copper carbonate ores* ... \nThe ore can be roasted to concentrate the copper as its oxide. \nWater is driven off and the carbonate thermally decomposed. \ncopper(II) carbonate ==> copper oxide + carbon dioxide \nCuCO3(s) ==> CuO(s) + CO2(g) \nThe oxide can be smelted by heating with carbon (coke, charcoal) to reduce the oxid
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ore is mined, then heated very hot. the rock and metals separate. the slag is filtered off the top.
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How Stuff Works, my favorite site for things like this question.\n\nhttp://home.howstuffworks.com/metal-detector.htm
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its called a mining engineer i am actualy studying to become one they devolop ways to obtain the mineral but also collect samples to see if there are any metals in it
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Derek Lovely at University of Massachusetts, Amherst has found microbes that can precipitate solid gold.  \n\nHis research suggests some gold ore deposits gold deposits may have been formed this way.\n\nThe organisms include Pyrobaculum islandicum, Pyrococcus furiosis, Thermotoga maritima and Shewanella algae. \n\nHis research was published during 2001 in the journal "Applied and Environmental Microbiology". \n\nMy hunch is that there may also be a chemical method to extract it also, or how would we know it was dissolved in the water?
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Cobalt cyanide. Read all about it here:
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Refining of metal is a process used to extract impurities from the metal to make it "pure".  Gold, silver, and Platinum are some metals that are refined. In general ore is usually combined with a flux and then placed in a melting furnace and heated at very high temperatures until it turns into a molten material. The flux fuses with the undesired material. The flux is lighter than the precious metal and floats to the top. The molten material is poured into molds, like brick shape or an inverted cone.  The slag (the impurities) floats to the top and what you have left is a "button" of the precious metal.
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Removal and recovery of magnesium, strontium and barium \n\nMagnesium is removed from brine by contacting the brine with calcium hydroxide at temperatures above about 80.degree. C. but below the boiling point of the brine. The contacting results in the formation of magnesium hydroxide precipitate which is substantially insoluble in the mother liquor at those temperatures and strontium hydroxide which is dissolved in the mother liquor. When the contacting is carried out at a temperature above about 90.degree. C., magnesium hydroxide precipitate is fast settling and filterable; accordingly, it is removed from the mother liquor by a conventional process, such as filtering. The mother liquor is then cooled to cause the precipitation of at least a substantial part of strontium hydroxide present in the mother liquor. The precipitate of strontium hydroxide is recovered by a conventional process such as filtering. If precipitation upon cooling is insufficient, carbon dioxide gas is introduced into the mother liquor to effect the precipitation of strontium hydroxide. Barium can be removed and recovered in the form of barium sulfate by reacting the remaining mother liquor with sodium sulfate. In order to produce a faster-settling precipitate of magnesium hydroxide, the brine is contacted with a sufficient amount of a solution or slurry of calcium hydroxide in water to bring the concentration of magnesium in the resulting liquid to the range from about 0.023 mols of magnesium per liter to about 0.04 mols of magnesium per liter.
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cobalt in Ghostbusters II. Egon: Is the atomic weight of cobalt 58.9  .  also proton packs (all elements have protons), a lot of the science behind the containment units\n\nCarbon appears a few times in star wars iv-vi (carbon freeze, carbon scoring).  In THX carbon is also mentioned.\n\nUranium has an easterner looking for "nuclear wessels" at the height of the cold war in Star Trek IV KIRK: We'll divide into teams. Commanders Chekhov and Uhura are assigned to the Uranium problem.  Also in the series, Uranium is the fuel for the ships like voyager and the enterprise.  Star trek has a lot of bad chemistry...\n\nUranium is also mentioned in Superman: Man of steel.  (it's doubtful that kryptonite counts as the element krypton, because that element could be native to other planets just as easily, and its not solid on earth.)\n\nsilicon in Escape from LA (TASLIMA: They live here, used to be like us. But after too many silicon implants, their muscles turned to jelly.)\n\nAnd in total recall, the idea of how life is possible with an alteration to the air uses a chemistry explanation (it's been a while, I don't remember the quotes)  "Give the people the air"
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I found a very informative essay at the below address, which covers the removal of Alumina from Its Bauxite Ore.  The process is very complex because Alumina is not actually found in its raw state as part of the Bauxite compound.  Bauxite is heated and then through a process of chemical electrolysis alumina is extracted and forms aluminium.  More precise explanation can be found at below address.     \n\nhttp://www.patana.ac.th/parents/curriculum/Chemistry/units/LR803.html