Winning uranium from phosphorite - by leaching with sulphuric acid and reducing agent so gypsum and tetra:valent uranium are coprecipitated

摘要

The phosphorite (1), H2SO4 (2), and a reducing agent (3) are fed into a reactor for the coprecipitation of tetravalent U and gypsum, which are removed as a filter cake. The cake is leached with water, or an aq. soln., esp. H2SO4 soln. contg. an agent forming a complex with F, to dissolve the U. The U is then recovered from the soln. by conventional methods. The U is pref. recovered from the soln. by using either liq.-liq. extn. via. an organic liq. which is not miscible with water; or by ion exchange. For example, an Israeli ore contained 28% P2O5 and 166 ppm. U, and was treated by the invention to obtain a U yield of up to 90%.