Leaching behaviors of iron and aluminum elements of ion-absorbed-rare-earth ore with a new impurity depressant
(1. Faculty of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology,
Ganzhou 341000, China;
2. Ma’anshan Institute of Mining Research, Sino-Steel Group, Ma’anshan 243000, China;
3. School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia)
Ganzhou 341000, China;
2. Ma’anshan Institute of Mining Research, Sino-Steel Group, Ma’anshan 243000, China;
3. School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia)
Abstract: Ion-absorbed rare-earth ore is an important mineral resource which is widely extracted by in-situ leaching process. And such process generates a significant amount of impurities such as aluminum and iron ions in leaching solution simultaneously. The surface characteristics and interactions by infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction were studied to optimize the leaching conditions. It is found that the environment-friendly depressant LG-01 can react with the impurity ions through the formation of a new complex on the surface of leaching residues. Thus, it reduces significantly the concentration of impurity ions in leaching solution and improves the leaching rate of rare-earth ore. Moreover, a leaching rate of 95.6% and an impurity removal rate of 92% have been achieved under the optimized conditions.
Key words: ion-absorbed-type rare-earth ore; leaching; depression mechanism; aluminum and iron impurity