Recovery of uranium from material containing iron, arsenic and siliceous matter
AssigneeSherritt Gordon Mines Limited
InventorsDonald R. Weir, Ian M. Masters, Roman M. Genik-Sas-Berezowsky
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Abstract
A process for the recovery of uranium values from uranium-containing material which also contains iron, arsenic and siliceous matter, includes leaching the uranium-containing material in aqueous sulphuric acid solution under conditions to provide dissolved iron present in the resultant leach solution as predominantly ferrous iron rather than ferric iron and/or to provide a sulphuric acid concentration in the leach solution sufficiently high to substantially prevent the precipitation of arsenates. Uranium values are recovered from the leach solution by solvent extraction agent which has little affinity for arsenic.
Claims8
A process for the recovery of uranium values from uranium-containing material which also contains iron, arsenic and siliceous matter, comprising leaching the uranium-containing material in aqueous sulphuric acid solution in first and second stages, carrying out the first stage at atmospheric pressure to produce a residue and a leach solution containing uranium values and ferrous and ferric ions with a ratio of ferrous to ferric ions being at least about 10 to 1, passing the residue from the first stage to the second stage, carrying out the second stage under a total pressure of at least about 230 kPa to produce a residue and a leach solution containing uranium values and dissolved iron predominantly in ferric form, recycling the leach solution from the second stage to the first stage, and recovering uranium values from the first stage leach solution by solvent extraction with a solvent extraction agent which has little affinity for arsenic.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.