Abstract

TAMAYO SORIANO, Diego; MARTINEZ LUEVANOS, Antonia; SORIA AGUILAR, Ma. De Jesús  and  CARRILLO PEDROZA, Francisco Raúl. Extraction of ree from a mineral rich in iron oxides. Epistemus (Sonora) [online]. 2021, vol.15, n.31, pp.56-62.  Epub May 26, 2023. ISSN 2007-8196.  https://doi.org/10.36790/epistemus.v15i31.204.

Rare earths (REE) have attracted the attention of the world due to its importance for its application in advanced technologies, which has generated the optimization and development of new processes for its recovery from mine tailings, metallurgical slags and phosphorous gypsum. Globally, REE are obtained mainly from carbonatites, alkaline igneous rocks, placers, laterites and clays. Monazite, apatite, and zircons are the main minerals that REE contains. This work presents the progress of the processing of an iron ore with REE contents. Flotation was performed using fatty acid and Fe and Si depressants. The tails were processed by magnetic separation. The non-magnetic material was leached using HCl and H2SO4 in order to investigate the influence of the type and concentration of acid. The results obtained indicated that HCl is the most efficient agent.

Keywords : Rare earth (REE); Extration; Flotation; Magnetic separation; Acid leaching.