Abstract
Ancient hydrothermal metalliferous sediments (umber) have recently attracted attention as a new rare-earth element resource. We conducted chemical leaching experiments on three different umber ores to optimize the hydrometallurgical extraction process, especially regarding the grinding process. The three umber ore samples, which were collected from Japanese accretionary complexes (Kuminiyama and Aki umber) and Troodos ophiolite (Cyprus umber), had different chemical, mineral, and physical properties, and showed different leaching behaviors. The experimental results revealed that the physical properties (density and P-wave propagation velocity) principally controlled the extent of REY (lanthanides and yttrium) extraction from the umber ore samples, and REY extraction from umber samples clearly increased with the decrease in the density and P-wave propagation velocity. The differences in physical properties of the umber samples are attributable to the pressure and thermal history of each ore sample, and it was revealed that umber samples which underwent strong metamorphism are not suitable for actual development. The results also suggested that the optimum particle size (optimum grinding level) of umber samples is simply predictable based on the physical properties. The results of this study should be valuable for future efforts to procure these important mineral resources.
Highlights
Rare-earth elements (REE) is a collective term for 17 chemically similar elements
REY data are subdivided into Y, Ce, light REE other than Ce (LREE: La, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, and Eu), and heavy REE other than Y (HREE: Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu) in these figures
It was revealed that the co-precipitation of rare-earth sulfate with calcium sulfate led to a decrease of the REY amount in the leached solution using sulfuric acid [37,38], and sulfate led to a decrease of the REY amount in the leached solution using sulfuric acid [37,38], and the dissolution behavior and the host materials of REY should be discussed based on the results of the smallest particle size fraction sample using hydrochloric acid
Summary
Rare-earth elements (REE) is a collective term for 17 chemically similar elements (lanthanides, scandium, and yttrium). Strata-bound ferromanganese deposits on land, known as umber, have recently attracted attention as a new REE resource [7,8] and are considered as analogues to oxide-based REE deposits on land [9]. These deposits are of hydrothermal metalliferous sedimentary origin and consist mainly of hydroxides (mainly iron and manganese oxide/hydroxide), volcanic glass, and adsorbed elements (REE, P, Mo, and V) from ambient seawater [10,11,12], with low concentrations of radioactive elements (Th and U)
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