To establish a method where the used material of a catalyst for exhaust gas purification using SiC anticipated that activity will increase from now is treated, and a noble metal(s) such as gold or a platinum group comprised therein is recovered.

A noble metal(s) is recovered by a method through: a first stage where an SiC-based substance comprising a noble metal(s) such as gold and a platinum group element(s) is subjected to oxidation treatment together with molten metal copper in a first furnace, and a molten oxide layer essentially consisting of Si oxide and copper oxide as the upper layer molten layer, and a molten residual metal copper layer comprising the noble metal(s) as the lower layer molten layer are formed, so as to be separated, thus the noble metal(s) is recovered into the molten residual metal copper layer; a second stage where the oxide is subjected to reduction treatment in a second furnace, and a molten reduced metal copper layer as the lower molten layer, and a molten residual oxide layer as the upper molten layer are formed, so as to be separated; and a third stage where the molten reduced metal copper is used as the molten metal copper in the first stage, and repetition is performed.

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