Recovery of Uranium and Rare Earth Elements from Western Desert Phosphate Rocks with EDTA and Nitric Acid Solutions

Abstract

Dissolution of uranium and rare earth elements from the Abu-Tartur phosphate rocks, Egypt using a mixed EDTA + nitric acid solution was studied. The effect of factors such as particle size, EDTA and nitric acid concentrations, agitation time, solid to liquid ratio, and dissolution temperature was studied, and the dissolution conditions were optimized. The optimized dissolution conditions were applied to a representative sample of the weathered rock assaying 1067 ppm rare earth elements. Before being processed, the representative sample was completely characterized using mineralogical and chemical analyses. From the obtained leach liquor, uranium was recovered by anion exchange with Duolite A 101D resin, and after uranium adsorption the rare elements were recovered by cation exchange with Dowex 50W-X8 resin.