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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

ACID LEACHING OF BERYLLIUM ORE FROM SPOR MOUNTAIN, UTAH

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:4161015
About 95% of the beryllium was dissolved from most ore samples by agitation leaching with 600 lb of H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ per ton of ore for 24 hours at 65 deg C and 35% solids. Leach slurries generally were viscous, and the limiting pulp denslty for thorough mixing was about 35% solids. Settling of the leached pulp required 0.6 to 0.8 lb of a polyacrylic flocculant per ton of ore leached with 800 lb of H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/per ton, whereas ore leached with 800 lb of H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ per ton required only 0.2 to 0.3 lb of flocculant per ton. Terminal densities of the settled pulps were about 28 and 35% solids, respectively, from leaches using 500 and 800 lb of H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ per ton. Vacuum filtration of settied pulps at 15 in. Hg resulted in a filter cake containing 50 to 59% solids. Roasting the ore at 500 deg C before leaching increased the limiting pulp density for effective mixing to 50% solids. Acid requirements, however, were not diminished, although leaching roasted ore with 600 lb of H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ per ton resulted in densification of settled pulps to about 40% solids. Filter cake from leaching preroasted ore contained about 20% less water than that from unroasted ore. (auth)
Research Organization:
Bureau of Mines. Salt Lake City Metallurgy Research Center
NSA Number:
NSA-18-000341
OSTI ID:
4161015
Report Number(s):
BM-RI-6322
Country of Publication:
Country unknown/Code not available
Language:
English