Abstract: Germanium is a kind of strategic rare metal,which plays an important role in modern industry. As the main carrier mineral of germanium,sphalerite is an important source of germanium extraction and recovery in industry. The extraction of germanium from sphalerite plays an important role in germanium resource development. In this paper,the enrichment and extraction technology of germanium resources in sphalerite is summarized and the research and industrial practice of which in recent years are systematically introduced from several aspects:occurrence state of germanium in sphalerite,flotation theory, process and reagent research of germanium-bearing sphalerite,migration and enrichment rule of germanium in zinc sulfide smelting,method and process of recovering germanium from smelting germanium enrichment. The germanium in sphalerite mainly exists in the form of endoplasmic isomorphism,which leads to the decrease of activity of copper activation and xanthate collection,and the difficulty of flotation. The industrial practice shows that the recovery of germanium in zinc sulfide concentrate can be improved to some extent by optimizing the flotation reagents and processes of the carrier mineral "sphalerite". In the common smelting process of zinc sulfide,the main germanium-containing concentrates formed are vacuum slag,leaching slag,zinc oxide dust,germanium iron slag,neutralization slag,replacement slag,etc. For the above germanium-containing enrichment, the germanium deep enrichment extraction technology based on fire enrichment,leaching,precipitation,extraction and ion exchange has been formed,among which leaching-precipitation/ solvent extraction is the most mature in development and application. Based on the analysis of the development status,it is suggested that the enrichment and extraction technology of germanium resources in sphalerite should be further developed from three aspects:improving the recovery index of germanium at the sorting stage,improving the smelting process to enhance the enrichment degree of germanium in smelting products,and strengthening the development and industrial application of germanium extraction technology.

Key words: germanium resource,enrichment and extraction,germanium-bearing sphalerite,occurrence state