Background of the Invention Known processes for extracting precious metal from rock ores consist of two main operations: concentration, then refining. Concentration is the separation of a metal or metallic compound from gangue of the ore; refining is the production of metal into a pure or nearly pure state suitable for use.

Concentration and refining processes can be mechanical, chemical or electrical, or a combination thereof. Mechanical separation techniques include gravity separation and flotation. Chemical separation techniques include smelting, amalgamation, and cyanidation. Electrical separation techniques include electrolysis.

One group of precious metals are platinum group metals (PGM), which consist of platinum, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium and iridium.

Known techniques for extracting PGM are among the most complex and challenging of metal separations. The classic procedure for separating PGM metals begins by concentrating the metal, typically by flotation separation.

After flotation, the concentrate is smelted in an autoclave to produce a matte that is leached of copper and nickel sulfides. The solid leach residue matte typically contains 15-20% PGM. Alternatively, gravity separation can be employed prior to flotation, resulting in a concentrate containing up to 50%

PGM, and so making direct smelting possible and making leaching unnecessary.

After concentration, the PGM can be individually solubilized to extract individual metals, or all the PGM can be simultaneously solubilzed by methods as known in the art. In these and other known processes for extracting PGM, the ores must be concentrated prior to extraction to be economically viable. Such concentration is energy intensive, incurs significant losses, and requires high capital investment for equipment infrastructure.

Also, known processes for processing concentrate require numerous complex and time consuming steps, some of which are not environmentally friendly.

It has long been known that there are also valuable metals in the oil deposits and coal deposits throughout the world, that include but are not limited to: oil shales, oil sands and conventional oil deposits. At present, there is questionable independent economic viability as to the extraction of these metals without the use of subsidies. Titanium is currently being recovered experimentally from the tailings at the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada. Russia, the United States, Great Britain, Japan and Estonia have attempted to or are extracting oil from the oil shales in those countries.

However, these endeavours are significantly subsidized.

There are, presently, two experimental methods of extracting metals from asphaltenes and other"oil deposit ores". The first is by thermal degradation whereby all of the usable oil is extracted by evaporation at high temperatures. The remaining coke is burned and the ash is then treated either chemically, utilizing aqua regia or with a similar chemical reagent to put the metals into solution from which they can be preferentially precipitated as metals. Or, if the metal is of high enough grade, it is smelted with flux and the metal compounds are reduced to a metallic state and then removed from the slag.

Some problems with thermal degradation include the cost of the heat required and losses by vaporization of elements such as osmium (osmium

tetroxide vaporizes at 140 degrees celsius). Furthermore, some of the metals are occluded and become encapsulated in slag (glass) and then cannot be recovered. Also, the cost of the chemistry to extract the metals can exceed the value of the metals gained as the treatment is labour intensive, the infrastructure is capital intensive and the reagents are costly.

The second method involves organic solvents which can preferentially absorb and concentrate the metal compounds. The solvent is evaporated and the metals are left behind to be recovered by conventional chemistry.

However, the use of solvents is expensive and can be high relative to the values of the metals extracted. As is often the case, the metal values are low thus rendering the process cost ineffective.

Summary of the Invention It is an object of the invention to provide an improved process for extracting certain precious metals, such as PGM, gold and silver, rare earths and other valuable metals and/or recovering oil from ore. Ore is hereby defined as any material containing oil and/or metal that is suitable for recovery or extraction, and includes rock, coal deposits and oil deposits such as tar sands, oil sands, and oil shales.

In particular, the improved process should be economically viable, extract a wide range of metals and/or recover oil, have a relatively low equipment infrastructure cost, be relatively simple, provide high yields, be quick, and be environmentally benign.

The invention achieves at least some of these objectives and relates in a first aspect to an improved electrochemical method for winning platinum group and incidental precious metals from ore, particularly ground rock ore.

The method utilizes a peroxide leach in combination with electricity to produce hyper-oxides and comprises the following steps: immersing ore in a solution comprising water with a selected amount of H202 and an anion source, applying a direct current to the solution while allowing the metal in the ore to leach into the solution for a selected period of time; filtering and clarifying the

leached solution from the ore to obtain a pregnant solution, and treating the pregnant solution to yield metal, metal salts or both.

The anion source can be selected from the group consisting of inorganic acids, soluble inorganic salts, and alkaline solutions. In particular, the anion source can be one of, but not limited to: HCI, NaCI, HBr, HNO3, HS04, H2SO4, H3PO4, KBr, KNO3, FeCL3, NaOH, KOH.

The length of the leaching period can be selected based on the grade of ore and type of rock being leached or based on the type of metal that is selected to be extracted. When the ore is low grade ore, the leaching period can suitably be between 1 and 6 hours. When it is desired to only extract those metals that are more reactive to the anions in the solution, then a shorter leaching period is selected. However, when it is desired to extract more of the metals in the ore, then a longer leaching period is selected.

In order to increase the rate of lixivation, the direct current can be set as high as possible without heating the solution to such an extent that the hydrogen peroxide is boiled away. A hotter solution will generally react faster and more efficiently but the hydrogen peroxide breaks down under heat.

The method can be directed at recovering platinum group metals ; in which case, the method can first be applied using HCI as the anion source, and treating the pregnant solution to recover platinum from the solution using techniques that are known in the art. Then, the method can be applied again to the remaining ore using H2SO4 as the anion source and treating the pregnant solution to recover palladium from the solution using techniques that are known in the art.

According to an alternative aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for cleaning metal-containing graphite. This method comprises first immersing untreated metal-containing graphite into a solution comprising water with a selected amount of hydrogen peroxide and an anion source; then, applying a direct current to the solution while allowing a metal in the metal-containing graphite to leach into the solution for a selected period of time; then finally, filtering the leached solution from the graphite thereby separating at least some of the metal from the graphite. The anion source can

be a chlorine-containing chemical that forms chlorine anions in the solution, and in particular, can be selected from the group such as but not limited to: HCI, NaCI, and FeCL3 or other anions as may be reactive with the entrained metals contained in the graphite.

The method can also be used to clean silica particles from the graphite ; in such case, the anion source along with HCI can also include a fluorine- containing chemical that forms fluorine anions in the solution and in particular, can also include NaF and/or KF. During the leaching, the fluorine anions form SiF4 which on contact with water forms SiO2 and H2SiF6 The method can also be used to clean organic material from the graphite; in such case, the direct current is applied for a period of time sufficient for the hydrogen peroxide to give up sufficient oxygen atoms such that the oxygen bubbles in the solution and mechanically cleans the graphite.

According to second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for recovering hydrocarbons and/or extracting certain metals, such as platinum group metals (PGM), gold, silver and other precious metals from coal deposit ore and oil deposit ore containing said metals and hydrocarbons, such as tar sands, oil sands, oil shales and conventional oil fields. This method is expected to improve economic viability, efficiently extract a wide range of metals, reduce capital costs for infrastructure, and be relatively simple, quick, and environmentally benign. The method utilizes a hydrogen peroxide leach with a selected anion, in combination with electricity, to produce metallic hyper-oxides and generate alcohols, glycols and other soluble hydrocarbons from the coal or oil deposit, and comprises the following steps: a) immersing coal or oil deposit ore in a solution comprising water and hydrogen peroxide with a suitable anion source such as NaOH or NaCI ; b) applying a direct current to the solution until metal and oil in the ore are dissolved in the solution such that the solution becomes pregnant; c) decanting and filtering the pregnant solution; d) treating the pregnant solution to yield metals, metal salts or both; then

e) extracting one or more of: metals, metal salts, and hydrocarbons from the solution.

Brief Description of the Drawing Figure 1 is a schematic side cut-away view of a leaching container for carrying out an electrochemical oxidative leach process according to one embodiment of the invention, containing a slurry comprising ground rock ore and a leaching solution.

Figure 2 is a schematic cut-away view of a leaching container for carrying out an electrochemical leach process according to a second embodiment of the invention, containing a screen containing tar sands and a leaching solution.

Detailed Description of Embodiments of the Invention According to one embodiment of the invention, an electrochemical process is provided for winning certain precious metals from ground ore, such as platinum group metals, gold, silver and incidental metals. According to a second embodiment of the invention, an electrochemical process is provided for recovering hydrocarbons and/or extracting certain precious metals from oil deposit ore. Ore is hereby defined as any material containing suitable concentrations of one or more metals and/or oil that can be profitably extracted, such as rock, coal or oil deposits such as tar sands, oil sands, and oil shales.

By extracting metals directly from the ground ore, the costly and time- consuming step of concentrating the ground ore into a matte is avoided. In the first embodiment, the process utilizes a peroxide leach in combination with electricity to produce hyper-oxides. In general, a solution of hydrogen peroxide (H202) and an anion source are mixed in solution with ground ore to form a slurry, and a low voltage-high amperage direct current is run through the slurry for a leaching period. Metals such as platinum, gold, silver and some rare earths, transitional metals and nuclear metals are lixivated from the

ore in the slurry during the leaching period, which are then extracted by methods well known in the art.

We theorize that during the process, hyperoxidation occurs and high valency combinations are formed which stay in solution and are stable as long as the current stays on. When the current is stopped and the clips carrying the direct current are removed from the electrodes, a visible reaction occurs which continues for some time and a slowly decreasing current between the two electrodes can be readily measured. When the solution is removed from the current and allowed to sit for a short time, a precipitate will often form and gas is constantly forming bubbles as some of the compounds decompose. In effect, the reaction has preference for the high value metals.

We have experimented with extracting platinum from ground ore in a solution of hydrogen peroxide and the anion source sodium chloride. We theorize that in this process, the following chemical reaction occurs: Pt + 4NaCl + 2 H202 ~ PtC4 + 4NaOH According to our theory, hydrogen peroxide is preferentially catalyzed by platinum and to a lesser degree by the other PGM, and by gold, silver, nickel, copper and the rare earth metals. At least some of the energy required to split the hydrogen peroxide is provided by the platinum entering into the reaction briefly to form platinum hydroxide Pt (OH2) which is unstable. As the Pt is left in a positive state, it readily combines with Cl ions to form PtCl2, PtCI4, and PtCI6 (and perhaps higher valencies) Such combinations are produced with the help of the anodic oxidation by the direct current and they are soluble in an acid solution. The applied direct current by means of anodic oxidation thus forces the peroxides into a hyperoxide state which in turn produces higher valence soluble metal compounds.

Referring to Figure 1, experimental testing of the process was carried out in a plastic leach container 10. Plastic is preferred as it is relatively chemically non-reactive; however other suitable materials can be substituted.

Flat plasma arc graphite electrodes 12 having dimensions of 12"by 3/4"by 1/4" were mounted inside and on opposite sides of the container 10 and were electrically connected to a low-voltage high-amperage direct current source 14. Suitable electrodes 12 can be obtained from Anachemia Ltd. Graphite or carbon electrodes are preferred because they are relatively non-reactive.

However, a metallic electrode, e. g. titanium, lead, and some forms of iron, can be used if the leaching solution is acidic, as such solution will enable to platinum to be plated out. If the solution is alkaline, then the solution must be made acidic for the plating to occur.

The ore is obtained from copper or nickel sulfide minerals, and is ground according to methods that are well known in the art. Copper and nickel sulfide minerals are particularly suitable as the subject ore in this process, especially sulfide ores such as nickel mineral pentalandite, laurite (RuS2), irasite [ (Ir, Ru, Rh, Pt) AsS], osmiridium (Ir, Os), coopertie (PtS), and braggite. Platinum minerals are usually found highly disseminated in these sulfide ores. Platinates are also found in many other different ores but are generally too poor of a grade to be economically recovered by conventional methods.

The process involves forming a leach slurry by combining the ground ore with a solution comprising water with a predetermined amount of hydrogen peroxide (H202) and an anion source. In particular, the leach slurry can be formed by placing the ground ore in the leach container 10, then adding aqueous hydrochloric acid (HCI) solution as an anion source to produce an acid solution containing chloride ions (CI-), or, adding aqueous sodium chloride (NaCI) solution as an anion source to produce an alkali solution (as the Cl is consumed, the Na forms NaOH with the water and makes the solution continuously more alkaline). The amount of water and anion source added will depend on various factors, such as the type of ore, type of minerals, whether the metals are occluded etc. Generally, it is desirable to use the least amount of anion source as possible to extract the metals from the ore in the shortest amount of time and in the most economical manner. in this embodiment, 150 cc HCI was used per 4000 cc solution per pound of ore.

Alternatively, other anion sources can be substituted for HCI or NaCI, such as: inorganic acids like HBr, HNO3, H2SO4, H3PO4, soluble inorganic salts such as KBr, KNO3, Fecal3, and alkaline solution compounds such as NaOH, KOH. In addition to being sources for chloride ions, these chemicals are sources of other anions such as S04, OH-, Br-etc. It has been found that different metals respond differently to different anions and therefore the anion source selected for the slurry will depend on the metal that is targeted for recovery; for example, it has been found that although both platinum and palladium can be picked up by either Cl-or S04-, that Cl-is more effective to pick up platinum and SO4 is more effective to pick up palladium.

Note that where possible, NH40H should be avoided as an anion source for winning PGM because so many different ammonium compounds can be formed that it becomes difficult to make any subsequent separation of the metals.

After the ground ore and aqueous anion source solution have been combined in the container 10, the DC source is turned on, and current is directed through the electrodes 12 and into the slurry. Then, the hydrogen peroxide is added to the slurry and the slurry is left to leach for a selected period of time ("oxidative leach period"). The amount of hydrogen peroxide added will also depend on various factors. Generally, it is desirable to use the least amount of peroxide as possible to extract the metals from the ore in the shortest amount of time and in the most economical manner. In this embodiment, 150 to 200 cc peroxide was used per 4000 cc of solution per pound of ore.

Optionally, the peroxide can be added to the solution before the DC source is turned on. However, if acid is to be added to a carbonaceous ore, then peroxide should be added first, then the current turned on, and then the acid should be added last in order to limit foaming when the acid contacts the ore.

The current is maintained throughout the oxidative leaching period. It is desirable to set the current as high as possible in order to achieve the fastest possible lixivation rate. Because of the direct current, the solution will

heat up and, to a point, the reaction in a warm solution will proceed at a faster rate than a reaction in a cold solution. However, each different solution conducts current at a different rate; therefore the voltage and current settings must be balanced such that a sufficiently high current is applied without heating the slurry to such an extent that the hydrogen peroxide is boiled away.

The oxidative leaching period depends on the amount of ore being leached ; larger quantities of ore require longer leach periods. For low grade ores used during this experiment, an oxidative leaching period of 1 to 6 hours was found to be adequate. However, for higher grade ore or refractory ore, a longer leaching period should be selected. However, even a longer oxidative leach period of six hours is substantially faster than leaching by cyanidation, which often takes 72 hours or more.

The selected oxidative leaching period also depends on which metals are to be recovered. Leaching for a shorter period causes only the most reactive metals to combine with the anion and enter into the solution.

Conversely, the leaching for a longer period causes more metals to enter the solution; the metals enter the solution in order of their respective rate of reactivity with the anion and their concentration in the solution. The division between one metal and another entering into the solution is not sharp. As the more reactive metal ("metal A") gets taken up in the slurry leaving fewer of its atoms per volume of slurry, the more available are the next more reactive metal ("metal B") in the slurry. As a result, both metals A and B are being taken up until eventually, nearly all of metal A has been taken up and then metal B is the metal with the most atoms going into solution.

After the oxidative leaching period has expired, the current is turned off, and the pregnant solution is filtered from the slurry by mechanical techniques well known in the art; in this experiment, a filter paper (not shown) was placed in a funnel (not shown) and the pregnant solution was allowed to filter through the filter paper. When the solution is cloudy, it can be clarified by techniques well known in the art, e. g. by using a substance that will coagulate with particles of the cloudy material which can then be filtered out.

When HCI is used as the anion source, the pregnant solution should contain mostly platinum with a smaller amount of palladium. After filtering the

pregnant solution from the slurry, the remaining ore material is subject to another oxidative leach process with direct current as described above, but instead of HCI, a leach solution with H2SO4 is used as the anion source. With S04-as the anion, the process extracts mostly palladium with a lesser amount of platinum.

The electrochemical oxidative leach process can be applied with different anion sources. to extract different metals from the slurry, such as other PGM and copper, nickel, chromium, scandium, the valuable rare earth metals and gallium, indium, germanium, as well as thorium and uranium.

Alternatively, the electrochemical oxidative leach process can be used to clean graphite. In this application, a leach solution of hydrogen peroxide, HCI and NaF is used, and the process is carried out in the same manner as describe above on graphite that is in flake or powder form. Alternatively, other chorine and fluorine containing chemicals that produce chlorine and fluorine anions in the solution can be used. Any precious metals which had been picked up by the graphite are taken into the solution as chlorides because the fluorides (from NaF) do not readily combine with platinum. Also, any silica particles attached to the graphite will form SiF4 which is soluble in water. Finally, any organics on the graphite will cause the hydrogen peroxide to give up an oxygen atom thus creating bubbles in and around the organic material. The bubbling action mechanically cleans the graphite as well as promotes the dissolution of the metals.

Example 1 Tailings from the Crystal Graphite Corporations mine near the city of Slocan, British Columbia were tested. One pound (454 g or 15 assay tons) of tailings were placed in a plastic leach container. A solution comprising 3000 cc water, 150 cc H202 and 150 cc concentrated HCI was added to the tailings to form a slurry. Two graphite electrodes were placed spaced apart into the slurry in the container, and a 12 volt 6 ampere current was applied for a period of three hours. The leached solution was then filtered; the resulting acid solution was then neutralized with NaOH so that a dark brown precipitate

formed which was then filtered out and dried. After drying, 38 g of precipitate remained which was then fire assayed and cupelled. This produced a 3.2 mg metal bead which was found by Assayers Canada to contain $52 per ton in gold.

According to the second embodiment of the invention, an electrochemical process is provided for dissolving oil deposits such as tar sands, and then by continuing the same process as described in the first embodiment, winning certain precious metals from the tar sand matrix, such as platinum group metals, gold, silver and other incidental metals and/or extracting hydrocarbons from the oil deposit. By solubalizing the oil and extracting the metals directly from the sands and the oil, the costly and time- consuming step of separating the oil from the sands and then treating them once again to make a concentrate is avoided.

The process utilizes a peroxide leach in combination with electricity to produce hyper-oxides. In general, a solution of hydrogen peroxide (H202), and a suitable anion such as chlorine, are mixed with water to form a solution into which an oil deposit such as tar sand is immersed between the two electrodes and a low voltage, high amperage direct current is run through the solution for a leaching period in which the hydrocarbons and metals dissolve into the solution. The now pregnant solution is then decanted, filtered and the metals are then precipitated out of solution by methods well known to the art. The filtrate can then be treated either by fractional distillation to separate the hydrocarbon components or treated by catalysts to convert them back to their original status using methods common to the oil industry.

This method comprises the following steps: immersing oil deposit ore in a solution comprised of water and a prescribed amount of hydrogen peroxide and NaOH (or another suitable anion source) such that the ore lies directly between the two electrodes; - applying a current to the solution while allowing the hydrocarbons in the ore to change from brown to colorless and dissolve in the solution ;

- discontinuing the current when the solution is clear or very light clear yellow or brown; - decanting the solution through a simple filter to get rid of any incidental debris; - treating the solution to yield precipitates of metal, salts or both; - filtering the solution to collect the precipitates; then, - treating the filtered solution (filtrate) with a suitable catalyst such as aluminum oxide (Al203) to remove the-OH radicals and so form alkenes.

Instead of treating with catalyst, the filtrate can be separated into its many components by fractional distillation so that the components can be reformed into desired products.

We theorize that the large molecules of asphaltenes were'cracked'by the process as they did not seem to reform under treatment by the catalyst.

The aforementioned suitable anion can be selected from a group of anion sources consisting of inorganic acids, soluble inorganic acids, and alkaline solution. In particular, the anion source can be one of, but not limited to: HCL, NaCI, HBr, HN03, HS04, H2SO4, H3PO4, KBr, KNO3, Fecal3, NaOH, KOH.

The length of leaching time is determined by how long the tars take to go into solution. When all the tars have gone into solution, then there are no more asphaltenes to hold the metal atoms and molecules so they are all in solution.

The reaction can be controlled by varying the concentration of the various constituents and by controlling the power, i. e. the lower the pH the more iron will be taken into solution, so that generally, if the solution is kept above pH 2.5, almost all metals can be solubalized with uptake of iron being kept at a suitable level. However, even at low alkaline levels while the uptake

of iron is severely limited, platinates for instance, will still react and go into solution but then tend to fall out of that solution as soon as they leave the vicinity of the anode, though often retaining their new chemical form. This may be desirable in order to limit the uptake or iron and if at the end of the action, after the power is turned off, the solution pH is lowered to around 3.5 or less, the iron will no longer be reacting, while the platinates (as chlorides for instance), will dissolve so that the platinate pregnant solution can be filtered off.

It has been found that even extremely refractory materials can be solubalized by using higher reagent concentration with more power at a temperature which is kept as high as possible without destroying the hydrogen peroxide. In one experiment, a 60 g sample of micaceous silicate holding garnets was dissolved at the rate of 4 g per hour. Although the garnets are resistant, they too eventually dissolved in another four hours.

Referring to Figure 2, experimental testing was carried out in a plastic leach container 20. Plastic is preferred because it is strong, does not shatter easily and is chemically non-reactive. Flat graphite electrodes 22 of dimensions 12"x 12"x %"were mounted on the twelve inch sides of the interior of the container 20 and were electrically connected to a variable voltage (up to 50 volts) and variable amperage (up to 10 amps) direct current power source 24. Carbon electrodes were used because they are non- reactive. Suitable such electrodes can be obtained from International Carbon Ltd.

An oil sand ore sample was suspended midway between the electrodes and was held in place by two sheets 26 of polyethylene plastic 12" x12"with plastic fly-screen inserts 4"x 4"and located in the center of each plastic sheet 26. The oil sand ore sample was placed on one sheet 26 and then the other sheet 26 was placed on top with the two sheets 26 then being held together by plastic clips (not shown). The plastic sheets/oil sand/fly mesh ensemble were placed upright between the two electrodes 22 so that the reagent passing from one electrode 22 to the other had to go through the screen. A current of seven amps and twelve volts were applied. As the tar in

the sample dissolved, the sand fell through the screens 26 to the bottom of the container 20 and thus did not occlude the remaining oil sand from the reagents.

While the reaction was in progress, a steady stream of reactants passed from one electrode 22 to the other, while from the center screen 26, larger bubbles rose steadily. If too much power was used, the solution increased in temperature which was advantageous up to a temperature of around 30 degrees Celsius as the reaction speed increased. However, at over 35 degrees, the hydrogen peroxide began to decompose. After all the oil/tar dissolved, it was assumed that all of the elements, hydrocarbons and metals were in solution. The electrodes were then disconnected and the solution was poured through a simple filter to remove any incidental debris. At this point, the solution was clear or a very light yellow or brown. When the solution was left standing for a day or two, the dissolved metals were observed to often precipitate out depending on the type of metals present. To precipitate all of the metals in a reasonable time, reactants such as sodium borohydride, sodium acid sulphide or similar reducing agents can be used depending on what metals are to be brought down and in what sequence they are to be precipitated.

Example 2 The electrochemical oxidative leach process was tested on tar sands.

A one assay ton (31.6 g) sample was used as the ore without any cleaning or removal of the tar. The sample was placed between two plastic fly screens in an upright position in the middle of a three litre plastic leach container. The screen-sandwiched sample in effect divided the container into two compartments. A carbon electrode was placed in each compartment such that a current has to pass through each screen to get from one electrode to the other. A solution was formed comprising 2. 5 litres of water, 20 g NaOH and 100 cc H202 and was placed into the container. A direct current of 10 volts and 6 amperes was applied to the solution. Within 30 minutes, all the tar was observed to have floated to the surface of the solution and the clean sand was found to have fallen through the screen to the bottom of the container.

Because the amount of precious metals was very small, the metals were not precipitated out of the solution but instead the solution was simply evaporated to leave behind a salt precipitate, which was then fire assayed then cupelled.

After cupelling, there remained a 1.4 mg metal bead that comprised mostly platinum. Neutron testing analysis revealed significant precious metals present.

Example 3: In a typical test 58.32 grams'of oil sand was used while the solution consisted of 4500cc of water and 250cc of hydrogen peroxide. A current of 12 volts and 8 amps was applied and at 30 degrees centigrade, the reaction was allowed to proceed for six hours. At that time the oil had all dissolved and it was presumed that the metals also were dissolved. The solution was decanted, filtered and the metals were precipitated and a 2mg bead was produced by fire assay. The solution, which was slippery to the touch (glycols), was then treated with Ai203 and a direct electric current with the result that the solution went brown. A centrifuge was used to try to separate the liquids but we were not successful. However, the thoroughly emulsified liquids were successfully separated by placing the container on a graphite plate and then attaching the plate to one side of a direct current source and then placing a graphite electrode, attached to the same power source, into the top of the solution in the container. The polar and non-polar liquids then separated.

Example 4: Because some of the metals in tar sands are occluded by tar/ asphaltenes, a further test was used to take the tars/oils into solution and by so doing, liberate and take into solution all metals held by the tar sands. The test was set up in a manner identical to that in Example 2, with the tar sand held in a plastic screen about halfway between the two electrodes. Then, a solution of 2500cc water and 200 cc hydrogen peroxide and less than 3 grams NaOH was then placed in the container and a direct current of 12 amps and 90 volts was applied to the solution. In a few minutes, bubbles occurred around the screen and tar floated to the surface, where bubbles continued to

evolve and the tar slowly disappeared. At the end of one hour, all of the tar and metals had dissolved in the liquid, leaving only a light, yellow coloured solution and clean sand on the bottom of the tank. The solution was then decanted through a filter to remove incidental debris and to the filtrate was added a suitable precipitant to bring down the desired metals which then collected on another film paper and fire assayed to produce a bead which was tested using atomic absorption.

On testing by a commercial laboratory of the yellow filtrate left from the precipitation of the metals, it was determined that the solution contained alcohols and glycols which, it is theorized, resulted from the following reaction: wherein, R means any alkyl group.

For economic and environmental reasons and to therefore make the process viable, it is necessary to regenerate the oils from these alcohols and glycols so that they can be readily separated from the water and sold or disposed of more easily. In ways well known to the industry, the alcohols and glycols can be dehydrated (-OH removed) by use of a suitable catalyst such as A203 and the resulting alkenes hydrogenated to produce the desired alkanes at which point the oils will then separate naturally from the water.

In the second embodiment of the invention described above, the oil in the ore is converted into glycols, alcohols, hydro-peroxides or other water soluble products before metals in the ore are extracted. There may be circumstances where it is not desirable to change the oil into glycols etc. before oil and/or metal extraction. In such case, and according to an alternative embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for separating oil and recovering metals from coal and oil deposit ore such as oil sand, comprising first immersing the oil sand in a reaction container (not shown)

having a 70 degree Celsius solution of the anion source NaOH and H202 Then, a DC current is applied to the solution, as previously described. While the current is applied, oil will separate from the sand and float to the top of the solution ; the oil is then quickly and continuously skimmed into a holding container (not shown) holding 80 degree Celsius water. Other mechanical methods of removing the oil from the solution as known in the art can also be applied. As the oil thins and spreads out in the holding container, any remaining attached sand becomes detached and falls to the bottom of the holding container. After all the desired oil has been extracted from the reaction container, the current is left on until the reaction slows considerably or stops altogether. The solution in the reaction container is then decanted and filtered and the metals dissolved therein are either electrowon from the solution or precipitated out of solution by using methods as known in the industry.

Preferably, the method should be carried out in a manner that prolongs the period at which the oil floats on top of the solution, i. e. before dissolving into solution. Factors that can assist in prolonging this period include operating the DC current at a reduced voltage relative to the voltage used in the second embodiment of the invention, maintaining the solution at an elevated temperature in the order of 60-70 degrees Celsius, and reducing the amount of sodium hydroxide present in the solution relative to concentration used in the second embodiment of the invention.

While the present invention has been described herein by the preferred embodiments, it will be understood to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and added to the invention. The changes and alternatives are considered within the spirit and scope of the present invention.