Method for extraction of uranium from ores

A method for continuously extracting uranium from ores comprising the steps of:

• forming a slurry of ore in an acid leaching solution having a solid matter content in suspension between 800 to 1100 grams/liter;
• heating the slurry to a temperature from 150.degree. to 180.degree. C. while pumping it through a heated tube reactor having a pre-heater section and a reaction section at a velocity between 0.5 and 5 m/sec, said tube reactor having a diameter between 10 and 15 centimeters, supplying gaseous oxygen into the slurry at high pressures of at least 30 bar in an amount and at a location in the tube reactor causing turbulent flow of the slurry in the tube reactor with Reynolds numbers in excess of 1,000,000, and causing the uranium to be substantially completely oxidized into a soluble, hexavalent uranium oxide form while impurities in the slurry are substantially kept from becoming soluble in the leaching solution;
• said heating step comprising passing the slurry through said pre-heater section for less than 5 minutes and through said reaction section for approximately 10 minutes or less, said oxygen supplying step including introducing part of the total oxygen to be supplied in the pre-heater section and another part in the reaction section, the reaction section being at a higher temperature than the pre-heater section and the pre-heater section being heated by transferring heat from the outlet of the reaction section to the pre-heater section;
• and
• recovering the uranium oxide solute which is substantially free of impurities.