Chemical Treatment of El Missikat Fluorite-Bearing ore Material, Egypt, for Recovery of Pure Yttrium Oxide

El Missikat fluorite-bearing ore material, Eastern Desert, Egypt, has been identified as containing a quantity of heavy rare earth elements (REE) such as yttrium fluorite mineral. Rare earth concentrate prepared from sulfate solution of El Missikat fluorite-bearing ore material assays 0.615% of REE. The solution was prepared from ore material by two subsequent thermal steps namely; fluorine deactivation by MgO and roasting by (NH₄)₂SO₄ .The deactivated roasted matrix was leached with hot distilled H₂O to prepare the solution which assays 0.846 g/L of REE. This solution was treated with 20 g of oxalic acid to produce impure RE oxalate cake which was ignited at 950 degree C. It was then dissolved in concentrated HNO₃ to prepare the RE nitrate solution for extracting yttrium using tributyl phosphate (TBP) in kerosene. The produced yttrium oxide was of 97.2% purity.