Recovery of copper and rare earth elements from the processed Alloga carbonaceous shale, Southwestern Sinai, Egypt

ABSTRACT

The present work is concerned with the recovery of Cu and REEs from the processed Alloga carbonaceous shale (almost free from U) of Abu Zeneima area at Southwestern Sinai using H₂SO₄ acid agitation leaching method. The working processed sample assays 0.18% Cu and 0.068% REEs. The applied optimum leaching conditions realized dissolution efficiencies of 91.2% for Cu and 99.1% for REEs. For selective separation of Cu, LIX973N diluted in kerosene was used. Cu was regenerated from the loaded organic phase under the optimum stripping conditions of 12% H₂SO₄ acid with shaking time of 3 min at A/O ratio of 1/1 and then precipitated directly as Cu (OH)₂. With respect to REEs extraction, the raffinate solution left behind after Cu recovery and assayed 0.16 g/L of REEs was subjected to Dowex50 W-X8 cation-exchange resin in its hydrogen form realizing loading efficiency of 79.5%. About 99% of eluted REEs was precipitated by the addition of 10% oxalic acid at pH of 1.1. A flowsheet for the preparation of CuO and RE₂O₃ was proposed.

KEYWORDS:

• Alloga
• copper
• rare earth elements
• LIX973N
• Dowex50 W-X8
• H₂SO₄

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to express their appreciation to Prof. T. E. Amer, (NMA) for critical reading of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).