Hydrometallurgical enrichment

The ore extracted by open cast or underground mines is coarsely ground in crushers and then finely ground, the thereby released radon being sucked off as a radiation prevention measure. The uranium content is extracted with the help of hydrometallurgical processes, in which the enrichment of uranium via ion exchange or extraction processes and a precipitation process follow the leaching step. 

The crystallization is not only a conversion of the dissolved to the solid salt, but the last purification step in the hydrometallurgical process. Most of the impurity elements still present in the process solution have much higher solubility than APT and are consequently enriched in the mother liquor. 

In general, material enrichment is conducted by physical separation processes such as density separation, magnetic separation, electrical assortment, and flotation. With complex or poorer ores where physical separation is neither possible nor economically feasible, a wet-chemical process such as leaching, precipitation or extraction is often used. Generally, the wet-chemical processing of the ore preparation is also a substantial part of the hydrometallurgical... 

Figure 6. Hydrometallurgical Flowsheet for PLATSOL Leaching of Pyrrhotite or Cu-Ni Concentrates followed by Copper Concentrate Enrichment...

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