Cobalt is generally isolated from byproducts in copper, nickel, and lead production. The major ores that contain cobalt is cobaltite, erythrite, glaucodot, and skutterudite. In the process which results in isolation of cobalt, the mineral ore is first heated to form a mixture of metals and their metal oxides. The addition of sulphuric acid to the mixture causes copper to come out of the mixture as a residue, and iron, cobalt, and nickel form their sulphates. The addition of sodium hypochlorite to the resulting mixture causes cobalt to precipitate out in a trihydroxide form. The trihydroxide of cobalt is then heated to form cobalt oxide and water. In the final step of isolation, the cobalt is reduced with carbon in the form of charcoal resulting in pure cobalt and carbon dioxide.
The isolation procedures of cobalt are very rarely performed in a laboratory as the process is highly inefficient and pure cobalt is available commercially.
