Camotite

The camotite and roscoeHte ores in the sandstones of the Colorado Plateau have been important sources of vanadium as well as of uranium. 

Australian Vanadium—Uranium Ore. A calcareous camotite ore at YeeHrrie, AustraHa, is iU-suited for salt roasting and acid leaching. Dissolution of vanadium and uranium by leaching in sodium carbonate solution at elevated temperature and pressure has been tested on a pilot-plant scale... 

Uranium, too, is widely distributed and, since it probably crystallized late in the formation of igneous rocks, tends to be scattered in the faults of older rocks. Some concentration by leaching and subsequent re-precipitation has produced a large number of oxide minerals of which the most important are pitchblende or uraninite, U3O8, and camotite, K2(U02)2(V04)2.3H20. However, even these are usually dispersed so that typical ores contain only about 0.1% U, and many of the more readily exploited deposits are nearing exhaustion. The principal sources are Canada, Africa and countries of the former USSR. 

Nearly all transition metals are oxidized readily, so most ores are compounds in which the metals have positive oxidation numbers. Examples include oxides (Ti02, mtile Fc2 O3, hematite C112 O, cuprite), sulfides (ZnS, sphalerite M0S2, molybdenite), phosphates (CeP04, monazite YPO4, xenotime both found mixed with other rare earth metal phosphates), and carbonates (FeC03, siderite). Other minerals contain oxoanions (MnW04, wolframite) and even more complex stmctures such as camotite, K2 (002)2 ( 4)2 2 O ... 

Kaufman A, Broecker WS (1965) Comparison of °Th and " C ages for carbonate materials from Lakes Lahontan and Bonneville. J Geophys Res 70 4039-4054 Kaufman A, Ku T-L, Luo S (1995) Uranium-series dating of camotites Concordance between Th-230 and Pa-231 ages. Chem Geol 120 175-181... 

Alkaline leaching is carried out by using sodium carbonate solution. In this case any U(IV) present in the ore must also be oxidized to U(VI). The uranium species soluble in carbonate leach solutions in the uranyl tricarbonate ion. The formation of this ion by solubilization of a hexavalent uranium mineral such as camotite, or a tetravalent uranium mineral such as uraninite, may be represented by the following reactions ... 

Patronite. An important commercial deposit of vanadium is the patronite of Peru, an impure sulfide containing free sulfur. This ore was first found in 1905 at Minasragra near Cerro de Pasco, Peru, 16,000 feet above sea level, and was named for its discoverer, Senor Antenor Rizo-Patron (77, 78). Vanadium is also obtained as a by-product from the exploitation of Colorado camotite for radium and uranium (77). 

For the treatment of camotite several methods are available. The method recommended by the United States Bureau of Mines2 is as follows The ore is leached with concentrated nitric acid at 100° C., neutralised with caustic soda, and barium chloride and sulphuric acid added to the solution to precipitate the radium as barium-radium sulphate. The precipitate settles in three or four days, after which time the clear liquid is decanted into tanks and is treated with excess of boiling sodium carbonate solution in order to precipitate any iron, aluminium and chromium present. The solution now contains sodium uranyl carbonate and sodium vanadate. It is nearly neutralised with nitric acid, and caustic soda is added in sufficient quantity to precipitate the uranium as sodium uranate. After filtering, the remaining solution is neutralised with nitric acid and ferrous sulphate added, whereupon iron vanadate is thrown down. By this method it is claimed that 90 per cent, of the radium, all the uranium, and 50 per cent, of the vanadium in the camotite are recovered. 

Figure 6 The uranium environment in camotite (Reproduced from M. Ross, H. T. Evans and D. E. Appleman, Am. Mineral., 1964, 49, 1603, with permission from the Mineralogical Society of America)...

Still another series of six determinations by Richards and Hall4 on lead from Australian camotite gave a mean value for the atomic weight of Pb = 206.415. 

That the atomic weight of uranium lead is extremely variable has already been shown. In order to interpret this variability its sources must be studied both geologically and mineralogically. On the geologic side of the question the uranium ore can be divided in to three principal classes, which are sharply distinct. The definitely crystallized varieties of uraninite occur in coarse pegmatites, associated with feldspar, quartz, mica, beryl, and other minor accessories. The massive pitchblende is found in metalliferous veins, together with sulphide ores of copper, lead, iron, zinc, and so forth. As for camotite, that is a secondary mineral, found commonly as an incrustation on sandstone, and often, also upon fossil wood. There may be other modes of occurrence, but these are the most distinctive. 

Being volatile, it is used to separate the isotopes 235U and 238U for nuclear fuel applications. Many other U(VI) compounds contain the Uranyl ion U02+2, a linear unit with bonding involving both 5/and 6d orbitals examples include the mineral camotite and Cs2[U02Cl4] where uranyl is complexed to four chloride ions. 

Unconformity-related deposits are found near principal unconformities. Examples include the ore bodies at Quff Lake, Key Lake, and Rabbit Lake in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, and in the Alligator Rivers area in northern Australia. Sandstone deposits are contained in rocks that were deposited under fluvial or marginal marine conditions. The host rocks nearly always contain pyrite and organic plant matter. The sediments are commonly associated with tuffs. Unoxidized deposits of this type consist of pitchblende and coffinite in arkasoic and quartzitic sandstones. Upon weathering, secondary minerals such as camotite, tuyamunite, and uranophane are formed. More information on these and other uranium deposit types is available (1). 

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