FLOTATION OF URANINITE FROM OTHER MINERALS

Technical Report · Fri May 23 00:00:00 EDT 1947

OSTI ID:4307116

Murray, G Y

It is possible to float uraninite selectively from some of the gangue minerals with which it occurs. Oleic acid was found to be an excellent collector, giving over 98% recovery and a very low assay rejectable tailing. With the standard synthetic ore mixture ground to 96% minus 100 mesh, 3.2 pounds per ton of collector, in a pH range of 6 to 6.9, was found to give optimum results but good results were obtained in the pH range of 5. to 7.5. The investigation did not disclose any beneficial effect of any modifier or collector which was better than or equal to oleic acid, but further investigations indicated. A minor portion of the work was carried out with pure mineral gangues of quartz, pyrophyllite, pyrite, and hematite. Excellent differential flotation of the uraninite from quartz can be accomplished with as little as 0.2 pound per ton of oleic acid. Pyrite and pyrophyllite can be floated from the uraninite, using xanthate and frothers, respectively. More work will have to be carried out before a uraninite-hematite separation can be made. This investigation can be considered as only a start toward the solution of determining the exact conditions under which uraninite can be floated from each of the gangue minerals with which it is found. (auth)

• Research Organization: Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge. Dept. of Metallurgy
• NSA Number: NSA-12-007189
• OSTI ID: 4307116
• Report Number(s): MITG-A30
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Decl. Apr. 11, 1956. Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-58
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

CHEMISTRY
ACIDITY
ALUMINUM SILICATES
ETHYL RADICALS
FLOTATION
FOAMS
GRAIN SIZE
HEMATITE
IRON OXIDES
IRON SULFIDES
MINERALS
MIXING
OLEIC ACID
ORE PROCESSING
ORES
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
PYRITE
PYROPHILLITE
QUARTZ
RECOVERY
RESIDUES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
TESTING
URANINITES
URANIUM ORES
XANTHATES