Grade Uranium Ores
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Processing of Low- Grade Uranium Ores PROCESSING OF LOW-GRADE URANIUM ORES The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN GERMANY, FEDERAL NIGERIA ALBANIA REPUBLIC OF NORWAY ALGERIA GHANA PAKISTAN ARGENTINA GREECE PANAMA AUSTRALIA GUATEMALA PARAGUAY AUSTRIA HAITI PERU BELGIUM HOLY SEE PHILIPPINES BOLIVIA HONDURAS POLAND BRAZIL HUNGARY PORTUGAL BULGARIA ICELAND ROMANIA BURMA INDIA SAUDI ARABIA BYELORUSSIAN SOVIET INDONESIA SENEGAL SOCIALIST REPUBLIC IRAN SINGAPORE CAMBODIA IRAQ SOUTH AFRICA CAMEROON ISRAEL SPAIN CANADA ITALY SUDAN CEYLON IVORY COAST SWEDEN CHILE JAMAICA SWITZERLAND CHINA JAPAN SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC COLOMBIA JORDAN THAILAND CONGO, DEMOCRATIC KENYA TUNISIA REPUBLIC OF KOREA, REPUBLIC OF TURKEY COSTA RICA KUWAIT UKRAINIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST CUBA LEBANON REPUBLIC CYPRUS LIBERIA UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST CZECHOSLOVAK SOCIALIST LIBYA REPUBLICS REPUBLIC LUXEMBOURG UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC DENMARK MADAGASCAR UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MALI BRITAIN AND NORTHERN ECUADOR MEXICO IRELAND EL SALVADOR MONACO UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ETHIOPIA MOROCCO URUGUAY FINLAND NETHERLANDS VENEZUELA FRANCE NEW ZEALAND VIET-NAM GABON NICARAGUA YUGOSLAVIA The Agency's Statute was approved on 26 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the IAEA held at United Nations Headquarters, New York; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The Headquarters of the Agency are situated in Vienna. Its principal objective is "to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world". Printed by the IAEA in Austria June 1967 PANEL PROCEEDINGS SERIES PROCESSING OF LOW-GRADE URANIUM ORES PROCEEDINGS OF A PANEL HELD IN VIENNA, 27 JUNE - 1 JULY 1966 INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 1967 PROCESSING OF LOW-GRADE URANIUM ORES (Panel Proceedings Series) ABSTRACT. Proceedings of a panel convened by the IAEA in Vienna, 27 June - 1 July 1966. The 22 specialists from 15 countries and one international organization who attended the meeting were asked to give an appraisal of the current situation with regard to the processing of low-grade uranium ores and make recommendations for a possible IAEA programme of activities. This publication covers the work of the panel. Contents: Status reports (13 reports); Technical reports (13 reports); Summaries of discussions; Re commendations of the panel. Each report is in its original language (16 English, 4 French, 2 Russian and 4 Spanish) and each technical report is preceded by an abstract in English and one in the original language if this is not English. The summaries of discussions and the panel recommendations are in English. (247 pp., 16x24 cm, paper-bound, 62 figures) (1967) Price: US$5.00; £1.15.4 PROCESSING OF LOW-GRADE URANIUM ORES IAEA, VIENNA, 1967 STI/PUB/146 FOREWORD The rapid development of nuclear power — the total capacity is now about 9000 MW(e) — is expected to lead to a great increase in the demand for uranium. This in turn will make it necessary to extract uranium from ores of lower grade than are usable at present. Since the resources of these ores are at least ten times as great as those of ores from which uranium can be extracted at current costs, the processing of such low-grade ores is of particular interest to many countries. Realizing the importance of this problem, the International Atomic Energy Agency convened a panel of experts from 27 June to 1 July 1966 at its headquarters in Vienna. A total of 22 specialists from 15 countries and one international organization took part in this meeting, which was asked to give an appraisal of the current status in this field and make recommenda tions for a possible Agency programme. This publication covers the Panel's work and includes 26 papers and reports, a summary of the technical discussions and the Panel's recom mendations. There are a number of status reports covering recent work in various countries. The technical papers are devoted primarily to pre- concentration of ores, solubilization of uranium from ores and recovery of uranium from solutions and slurries. The contributions revealed im pressive advances in processing techniques made over the past few years which may enable substantial reductions to be made in the cost of extraction from ores. It is hoped that the proceedings will be of interest to engineers and scientists working on uranium and other non-ferrous ore processing. CONTENTS STATUS REPORTS Status report from Australia 3 J. R. Stewart Status report from Canada 9 A. Thunaes Status report from Czechoslovakia 15 V. Civfn and M. Belsky Rapport sur 1'etat d'avancement des travaux en France 18 P. Sugier Status report from India 27 S. Fareeduddin Rapport sur l'etat d'avancement des travaux au Portugal 31 H. Carreira Pich Status report from South Africa 33 R.E. Robinson Informe sobre la situacion actual en Espana 37 J. M. Jos a Status report from Sweden 41 A. Peterson Доклад о состоянии вопроса в СССР 49 А .П.Зефиров Status report from the United Kingdom 58 A. A. North Status report from the United States of America 61 R. H. Kennedy Status report from Yugoslavia 63 B. Bunji TECHNICAL REPORTS Uranium processing research in Australia • 67 J. R. Stewart Recent developments in the treatment of uranium ores from the Elliot Lake district 79 K. W. Downes Processing uranium-bearing materials containing coal and loam 89 V. Civfn and J. Prochazka Recuperation de l'uranium dans les eaux de mines 96 P. Sugier Traitement par lixiviation naturelle des minerals uraniferes portugais 101 J. de Lacerda The production of high-purity uranium at a South African gold mine . 119 A. Faure, S. Finney, H.P. Hart, C.L. Jordaan, D. vanHeerden, E.B. Viljoen, R.E. Robinson and P.J.D. Lloyd Estudios de caracterizacion у concentracion fisica de cuarcitas uraniferas espanolas 143 F. de bora Lignitos radiactivos espafioles, naturaleza у solubilizacion del uranio 157 J. M. Josa, J. L. Merino у A. Villoria Lixiviacion estatica de minerales espanoles de uranio 172 G. Cordera, P. Gasds, J. L. Merino у Е. Suarez Ranstad - a new uranium-processing plant 193 A. Peterson Подземное выщелачивание - способ экономического извлечения урана из бедных руд 210 А . П.Зефиров Recovery of uranium from low-grade sandstone ores and phosphate rock 216 R. H. Kennedy Recovery of uranium from uranium mine waters and copper ore leaching solutions 227 D. R. George and J. R. Ross REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN 237 A. P. Zefirov SUMMARIES OF DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Preconcentration 241 Solubilization of uranium from ores 242 Recovery of uranium from solutions and slurries 243 General recommendations of the Panel 245 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 246 STATUS REPORTS i 1* STATUS REPORT FROM AUSTRALIA J.R. STEWART AUSTRALIAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION, COOGEE, NSW, AUSTRALIA COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION During the period 1954-59, five plants for the production of uranium chemical concentrates (yellowcake) were constructed in Australia. Only one of these is in operation at the present time, but two more have been kept on a 'care-and-maintenance' basis pending revival of the market for uranium. The other two were disbanded after completion of contract production. Brief details of each of the plants are given below. Rum Jungle Commissioned in 1954, this plant was built to produce about 200 short tons of uranium oxide per year from ores grading 5 - 8 lb UjjOs/ton1. More recently, the availability of ore with more favourable treatment characteristics has giver the plant a greater production potential but, in present circumstances, production has not been expanded. The main ore type mined in the area is finely divided pitchblende in carbonaceous slate; some secondary minerals also occur. As in the case of the other commercial producers, the mineralization occurs in rocks of Precambrian age. One of the Rum Jungle uranium deposits contained economic copper mineralization, so a base metal flotation circuit and a cementation copper unit were also provided in the plant. Until 1962, uranium ore treatment was carried out by acid leaching followed by ion exchange and magnesia precipitation. In that year, the ion exchange unit was replaced by a solvent extraction circuit. This change made possible the production of a higher grade product containing about 90% U3Og, compared with 60-70% U3Og by the ion exchange process. It also resulted in economies in plant operation. Radium Hill/Port Pirie The Port Pirie plant, which commenced operations in 1955, was capable of producing up to about 175 short tons of uranium oxide per year. Davidite ore was mined at Radium Hill and pre-concentrated at the mine site by heavy medium separation and flotation. The resulting concentrates were then railed to the treatment plant at Port Pirie. Due to the refractory nature of the ore mineral, leaching had to be carried out at boiling point with strong sulphuric acid. The uranium was then recovered by ion exchange and magnesia precipitation. Both the physical and chemical concentration plants were dismantled after completion of All tons are long tons of 2240 lb unless otherwise stated. 3 4 STEWART deliveries under the sale contract, due partly to lack of further proven ore reserves, and partly to the inherently costly nature of the treatment process. Mary Kathleen The Mary Kathleen plant was completed in 1958. An electronic sorting unit was installed in 1960 to reduce the amount of waste material fed to the mill. The plant can produce about 1000 short tons of uranium oxide per year when working at full capacity. The Mary Kathleen ore consists of a garnet-rich rock containing microscopic grains of pitch blende in allanite. The treatment process comprises acid leaching, ion exchange and magnesia precipitation. South Alligacor River Area There were two small uranium treatment plants in this general area. One had a production capacity of the order of 140 short tons of uranium oxide per year, while the output of the other was about 55 short tons per year.