Recovery of scandium and uranium

This patent describes a process. It comprises: dissolving a material containing metal values comprising uranium, scandium and iron and optionally other metals in aqueous mineral acid to form an aqueous solution containing the metal values, adjusting the pH of the the aqueous solution from about 1 to about 2 by the addition of sufficient alkali metal base to form a first pH adjusted solution, adding a sufficient amount of an iron reducing agent to convert any trivalent iron present in the first pH adjusted solution to divalent iron, adjusting the pH of the resulting solution that is depleted of trivalent iron to about 1.9 to about 2.1 to form a second pH adjusted solution, contacting an iminodiacetic acid cationic ion exchange resin with the second pH adjusted solution to retain a major portion of the scandium and uranium on the resin and to form a raffinate containing a major portion of the iron and a major portion of the other metal values present, rinsing the ion exchange resin having the scandium and uranium retained thereon with a dilute acid having a pH of from about 1.9 to 2.1 to remove metals other than the scandium and the uranium without removing the scandium and the uranium, eluting the resin with an aqueous solution of an organic chelating acid to remove a major portion of the scandium from the resin and to form an aqueous solution containing the scandium, thereafter eluting the resin with an aqueous solution of a mineral acid to remove a major portion of the uranium from the resin and to form an aqueous solution containing the uranium, adding a sufficient amount of an a aqueous solution of an alkali metal base to convert essentially all of the scandium in the aqueous solution containing the scandium to form a solid material containing the scandium and a first aqueous phase essentially free of metal values, separating the solid material containing the scandium and the first aqueous state