group vb group vib group viib or group vii of the periodic table which are incorporated into the slurry 110 in amounts effective for catalyzing the desired hydrotreating and or hydrocracking reactions to provide for example lower boiling hydrocarbons specific representative metals include iron nickel molybdenum vanadium tungsten cobalt ruthenium and mixtures thereof the catalytically active metal may be present as a solid particulate in elemental form or as an organic compound or an inorganic compound such as a sulfide e g iron sulfide or other ionic compound metal or metal compound nanoaggregates may also be used to form the solid particulates in some embodiments it may be desired to form such metal compounds as solid particulates in situ from a catalyst precursor that decomposes or reacts in the hydroprocessing reaction zone environment or in a pretreatment step to form a desired well dispersed and catalytically active solid particulate thus in some embodiments the slurry 110 may not comprise a solid particulate catalyst at the time it is introduced into the shc reaction zone 120 rather the solid particulate catalyst may form in the slurry 110 after introduction into the shc reaction zone 120 and exposure to the hydroprocessing conditions therein in some embodiments a catalyst precursor is a metal sulfate e g iron sulfate monohydrate that decomposes or reacts to form the catalytically active solid particulate e g iron sulfide alternatively precursors may include oil soluble organometallic compounds containing the catalytically active metal of interest that thermally decompose to form the solid particulate e g iron sulfide having catalytic activity such compounds are generally.