Is there Ni in my liquor? A hands-on laboratory exercise for relating chemistry to extractive metallurgy

A simple, quick, and safe laboratory exercise is detailed that provides a link between chemistry, extractive metallurgy, and hydrometallurgy. Students are provided with a scenario in which they need to "research" a procedure to selectively recover nickel from simple "ore liquors". In this context, the experiment focuses on the selective precipitation of metal ions from solution using simple chelating agents. Students work in teams to complete separate parts of the experiment, testing a possible procedure for an industry client. The teams then come together as a group to interpret and discuss the results before deciding what to report to the client. The experiment was developed to be completed in a single 40 min session and has been successfully conducted with over 200 middle- to upper-level high school students