Abstract
A clean method of extracting tungsten, yttrium, and uranium from tantalum—niobium ore located in the Muchinga province of Zambia has been developed. Tungsten is selectively extracted by roasting with alkaline at 700 and 750 °C followed by leaching in water to solubilize alkaline tungstate. The alkaline leach residue is cured with sulphuric acid to sulphate uranium and yttrium which are then leached out in acidic media. The effects of sulphation temperature, time, and particle size were studied. Yttrium was recovered from leach solution via precipitation with oxalic acid in which yttrium oxalate with purity of more than 99 wt% was obtained. Uranium was recovered from the leach solution through precipitation with sodium hydroxide. Extraction of tungsten, yttrium, and uranium from the material concentrated tantalum oxide by two times. A process flowsheet was developed based on optimised test works.
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Musowoya, M.D., Hara, Y.R.S., Chileshe, F., Mundundu, J., Parirenyatwa, S. (2023). Extraction of Tungsten, Yttrium, and Uranium from Tantalum—Niobium Ore from Muchinga Province in Zambia. In: Ouchi, T., et al. Rare Metal Technology 2023. TMS 2023. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22761-5_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22761-5_10
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