Advances , in Uranium Ore Processing and Recovery from Non-Conventional Resources
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, ADVANCES , IN URANIUM ORE PROCESSING AND RECOVERY FROM NON-CONVENTIONAL RESOURCES PROCEEDINGS OF A TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MEETING VIENNA, 26-29 SEPTEMBER 1983 ^5$/ INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, VIENNA, 1985 ADVANCES IN URANIUM ORE PROCESSING AND RECOVERY FROM NON-CONVENTIONAL RESOURCES The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN HAITI PARAGUAY ALBANIA HOLY SEE PERU ALGERIA HUNGARY PHILIPPINES ARGENTINA ICELAND POLAND AUSTRALIA INDIA PORTUGAL AUSTRIA INDONESIA QATAR BANGLADESH IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF ROMANIA BELGIUM IRAQ SAUDI ARABIA BOLIVIA IRELAND SENEGAL BRAZIL ISRAEL SIERRA LEONE BULGARIA ITALY SINGAPORE BURMA IVORY COAST SOUTH AFRICA BYELORUSSIAN SOVIET JAMAICA SPAIN SOCIALIST REPUBLIC JAPAN SRI LANKA CAMEROON JORDAN SUDAN CANADA KENYA SWEDEN CHILE KOREA, REPUBLIC OF SWITZERLAND CHINA KUWAIT SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC COLOMBIA LEBANON THAILAND COSTA RICA LIBERIA TUNISIA CUBA LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA TURKEY CYPRUS LIECHTENSTEIN UGANDA CZECHOSLOVAKIA LUXEMBOURG UKRAINIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST DEMOCRATIC KAMPUCHEA MADAGASCAR REPUBLIC DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S MALAYSIA UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF KOREA MALI REPUBLICS DENMARK MAURITIUS UNITED ARAB EMIRATES DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MEXICO UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT ECUADOR MONACO BRITAIN AND NORTHERN EGYPT MONGOLIA IRELAND EL SALVADOR MOROCCO UNITED REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA NAMIBIA TANZANIA FINLAND NETHERLANDS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FRANCE NEW ZEALAND URUGUAY GABON NICARAGUA VENEZUELA GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC NIGER VIET NAM GERMANY, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA YUGOSLAVIA GHANA NORWAY ZAIRE GREECE PAKISTAN ZAMBIA GUATEMALA PANAMA The Agency's Statute was approved on 23 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". © IAEA, 1985 Permission to reproduce or translate the information contained in this publication may be obtained by writing to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Wagramerstrasse 5, P.O. Box 100, A-1400 Vienna, Austria. Printed by the IAEA in Austria December 1985 PANEL PROCEEDINGS SERIES ADVANCES IN URANIUM ORE PROCESSING AND RECOVERY FROM NON-CONVENTIONAL RESOURCES PROCEEDINGS OF A TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MEETING ON ADVANCES IN URANIUM ORE PROCESSING AND RECOVERY FROM NON-CONVENTIONAL RESOURCES ORGANIZED BY THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY AND HELD IN VIENNA, 26-29 SEPTEMBER 1983 INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 1985 ADVANCES IN URANIUM ORE PROCESSING AND RECOVERY FROM NON-CONVENTIONAL RESOURCES IAEA, VIENNA, 1985 STI/PUB/689 ISBN 92-0-041185-1 FOREWORD With the development of nuclear power, uranium has become established as an important source of energy which augments and diversifies the world's energy resources. Nuclear power has reached a stage of maturity and reliability and currently accounts for about 12% of the world's total electricity generation. Although the uranium industry is at the present time constrained by oversupply and depressed prices, this situation is not expected to continue indefinitely. Installed nuclear power generating capacity continues to increase and there need be no doubt about the long-term importance of uranium ore processing. The technology of uranium extraction has also developed to an advanced state, compared with the early years of the industry in the 1940s and 1950s. Nonetheless, there continue to be further advances and refinements. These seek to improve uranium recovery, to reduce costs, to produce uranium concentrates of higher quality and to improve the nature of the tailings for their long-term disposal. At the same time, much effort is being directed to improving the economics of the recovery of uranium from phosphoric acid, which at the present time is only marginally competitive, and to develop processes for the recovery of uranium from non-conventional resources such as coal and natural waters, including seawater. These last processes, although technically feasible, will not be economically attractive for many years but are potentially important because they may allow access to vast uranium resources. The Technical Committee Meeting on Advances in Uranium Ore Processing and Recovery From Non-conventional Resources was convened by the Agency within the framework of its continuing activities on nuclear raw materials. The meeting was held in Vienna from 26 to 29 September 1983. A total of 64 participants from 29 countries took part and 27 papers were presented. The present volume includes 18 of these papers. The main topics covered by the technical sessions were: in situ and heap leaching, improvements in conventional acid and alkaline uranium ore processing, recovery of uranium from wet-process phosphoric acid and recovery of uranium from coal and from natural waters. The technical sessions con cluded with three panel discussions dealing with pre-concentration and beneficiation, in situ and heap leaching, and recovery of uranium from wet- process phosphoric acid. The substance of these panels is also reproduced in this volume. The Agency wishes to thank all the scientists and engineers who participated in the meeting, not only for the papers but also for the contributions to the discussions. Special thanks are due to the General Chairman, W.A. Gow (Canada) and to the Panel Chairmen, Z.M. Dogan (Turkey), W. Flôter (Federal Republic of Germany) and D. Naden (United Kingdom). EDITORIAL NOTE The papers and discussions have been edited by the editorial staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency to the extent considered necessary for the reader's assistance. The views expressed and the general style adopted remain, however, the responsibility of the named authors or participants. In addition, the views are not necessarily those of the governments of the nominating Member States or of the nominating organizations. Where papers Imve been incorporated into these Proceedings without resetting by the Agency, this has been done with the knowledge of the authors and their government authorities, and their cooperation is gratefully acknowledged. The Proceedings have been printed by composition typing and photo-offset lithography. Within the limitations imposed by this method, every effort has been made to maintain a high editorial standard, in particular to achieve, wherever practicable, consistency of units and symbols and conformity to the standards recommended by competent international bodies. The use in these Proceedings of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such, countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The mention of specific companies or of their products or brand names does not imply any endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. Authors are themselves responsible for obtaining the necessary permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources. CONTENTS REVIEW PAPER Recent advances in uranium ore processing (IAEA-TC-491/1) 3 W.A. Gow RECOVERY OF URANIUM FROM ORE Performance of Caro's acid as an oxidant at the Nabarlek mill (IAEA-TC-491/2) 17 R.J. Ring, F.E. Vautier, G. Lucas, E. Fulton, D.J. Waters Discussion 39 Uranium extraction by continuous carbonate leaching in a pipe autoclave (IAEA-TC-491/3) 41 E. S&rensen, J. Jensen Discussion 51 Development and application of solvent extraction, resin ion exchange (RIP) and liquid membrane processes for uranium recovery (IAEA-TC-491/4) 53 D. Naden, G.A. Rowden, D.J. Lunt, D. Wilson Discussion 71 Utilisation des colonnes puisées dans le traitement industriel des minerais d'uranium (IAEA-TC-491/5) 73 M. Desson, J.P. Jouin, P. Michel, C. Duchamp, E. Henry Discussion 82 Appareil automatique de dosage en ligne de l'uranium dans les usines de concentration (IAEA-TC-491/6) 83 P. Guazzoni Discussion 98 Modular plants for small deposits (IAEA-TC-491/7) 99 J.M. Josa, A. Moral, J.L. Otero, E. Sudrez Discussion 115 The acid pressure leaching process for the Key Lake Project, Canada (IAEA-TC-491/8) 117 W. Flô ter Discussion 130 L'Usine de Lodève. Un procède alcalin complexe pour un minerai d'uranium complexe (IAEA-TC-491/9) 131 R. Bodu, J.-P. Hébert, P. Lafforgue, G. Lyaudet, P. Michel, R. Vanhelleputte Discussion 167 A techno-economic evaluation of eight process routes for the recovery of uranium from Witwatersrand leach pulps (IAEA-TC-491/10) 169 W. T. Ruhmer Discussion 192 RECOVERY OF URANIUM FROM PHOSPHORIC ACID Extraction of uranium (IV) from wet phosphoric acid with a kerosene solution of nonylphenyl phosphoric acids (IAEA-TC-491/11) 197 H. Gôrecki Discussion 212 Research on uranium recovery from phosphoric acid in Israel: Progress and prospects (IAEA-TC-491/12) 215 Z. Ketzinel, Y. Volkman, M. Hassid Discussion 228 The new Uraphos process and the mobile pilot plant (IAEA-TC-491/13) 231 U.M.J. Boin Discussion 244 The D2T process of uranium recovery from phosphoric acid: A process model (IAEA-TC-491/14) 247 P. Gasôs, A. Moral Discussion 260 RECOVERY OF URANIUM FROM COAL AND NATURAL WATERS Recovery of uranium from coal ash (IAEA-TC-491/15) 263 /. Slivnik, A. StergarSek, Z. Berlin, Z. Krempl, P. Marijanovic, V. Valkovic Discussion 273 Uranium recovery as a byproduct from radioactive coal (IAEA-TC-491/16) 275 G. Morales, P.J. Nadal, J.L. Merino, P. Gasôs Discussion 287 Mise au point et qualification d'un échangeur mineral à base de titane pour l'extraction de l'uranium des eaux naturelles (IAEA-TC-491/17) 289 D. Alexandre, P.P. Vistoli Uranium extraction from seawater (IAEA-TC-491/18) 299 /. Bitte Discussion 311 PANEL REPORTS Panel I: Physical beneficiation 315 Panel II: In situ and heap leaching 317 Panel III: Recovery of uranium from wet-process phosphoric acid 319 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 321 REVIEW PAPER IAEA-TC-491/1 RECENT ADVANCES IN URANIUM ORE PROCESSING W.A. GOW Mineral Sciences Laboratories, CANMET, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Abstract RECENT ADVANCES IN URANIUM ORE PROCESSING.