A study preliminary technician for the obtaining of concentrated de lanthanum and cerium to leave of national minerals

A preliminary technical study was carried out to obtain concentrated oxides of Lanthanum (La) and Cerium (Ce), from a radioactively anomalous local mineral. This study is part of a joint project of the National Mining Company (ENAMI) and the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission (CCHEN), Geological Investigation of Rare Earth in the Region III mountain range; which aims to diversify the production of minerals that have potential economic interest in the short term. Three sections were defined over area of 100 km2, where the rare earth bearing metallic mineral is davidite ((AB-3(O, OH)-7), with A = Fe2+ , RE, U, Ca, Na, Zr, Th; B = Ti4+, Fe3+ U, V3+, Cr 3+ and varieties of anatase with Ti, RE, La, Ce and Nd. The metallurgical research includes the following stages: leaching with sulfuric acid, selective precipitation of purities and the rare earth, evaluating the reagents sodium hydroxide and ammonium hydroxide, dissolution of the precipitates containing rare earth with nitric acid and later precipitation with oxalic acid. According to the results obtained in the laboratory tests, the best operating conditions would be: (1) Leaching R(S/L) = 1, dosage 500 kg of acid /ton mineral; 90 , (2) Precipitation of impurities Ammonium Hydroxide, pH = 4.5 at 90 , (3) Precipitation elements of RE Ammonium Hydroxide, pH 7,5 at 90 , (4) Dissolution HNO-3, 70 , (5) Oxalic precipitation Oxalic acid, pH ∼ 1,0 at 70 . The results of each stage were evaluated with the following major points: Sulfuric acid is not a good leaching agent under normal conditions of temperature and pressure. For sulfuric solutions ammonium hydroxide provides the best precipitation efficiencies. Selective precipitation with oxalic acid produces bigger lanthanide recovery at a pH of less than 1.0. By means this design a concentrate of oxides of rare earth with an approximate of 43% may be obtained