Recovery of some valuable elements from lamprophyre dykes in the Abu Rusheid area, Southeastern Desert, Egypt

Abstract

In the Abu Rusheid area, Southeastern Desert of Egypt, polymineralized (HREEs, U, Zn and Pb) lamprophyre dykes are recently recorded. The lamprophyre dykes cut cataclastic rocks along share zones in NNW-SSE trends. The secondary U-minerals are essentially represented by uranophane, kasolite, torbernite and autunite. Experimental work was carried out on the lamprophyre dykes for the recovery of uranium and other valuable elements (e.g. Zn, Pb and Al) from 50 kg of technological sample. The optimum conditions were: 100 g/L sulfuric acid concentration, 1:5 S/L (solid/liquid) and soaking for 15 days at room temperature. The leaching efficiencies for the recovery of uranium and other elements like Al, Zn and Pb were 40, 33.6, 98.8 and 78, respectively.