The invention relates to a hydrometallurgical process which makes it possible to selectively recover at least one heavy rare earth metal, i.e. a rare earth metal with an atomic number at least equal to 62, that is in an acidic aqueous phase resulting from the treatment of spent or scrapped permanent magnets. It also relates to a hydrometallurgical process which makes it possible to selectively recover, on the one hand, at least one heavy rare earth metal present in an acidic aqueous phase resulting from the treatment of spent or scrapped permanent magnets and, on the other hand, at least one light rare earth metal, i.e. a rare earth metal with an atomic number at most equal to 61, that is also in this acidic aqueous phase. The invention has in particular an application in the recycling of rare earth metals present in spent or scrapped permanent magnets of the type Neodymium-Iron-Boron (or NdFeB) and, in particular, dysprosium, praseodymium and neodymium, and also in the recycling of samarium present in spent or scrapped permanent magnets of the type samarium-cobalt (or SmCo).

The present invention relates to a method of separating radioactive elements from a mixture, wherein the mixture is treated with at least one alkanesulfonic acid and at least one further acid, selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, amidosulfonic acid and mixtures thereof and also the use of at least one alkanesulfonic acid and at least one further acid for separating radioactive elements from mixtures comprising these.

A process for recovering copper, uranium and one or more precious metals from an ore material, including: a. forming a heap of the ore material; b. subjecting the heap of the ore material to an acidic heap leach using an iron containing acidic leach solution in the presence of an oxygen containing gas, and producing a pregnant leach solution and a ripios; c. subjecting the ripios to flotation to produce a copper containing ripios concentrate and tailings; and d. subjecting the ripios concentrate to a smelting process to produce a smelted copper product. e. recovering copper and uranium from the pregnant leach solution.

A method for separating radionuclides from ores, ore concentrates, and tailings or mixtures of two or more thereof comprising the steps of (a) providing an ore, ore concentrate, or tailings, or a mixture of two or more thereof in which radionuclides have been liberated onto surfaces of particles of the ore, ore concentrate or tailings or mixtures of two or more thereof, (b) forming a pulp or slurry comprising the ore, ore concentrate or tailings or a mixture or two or more thereof from step (a), water or an aqueous solution, and an ion exchange resin to cause the radionuclides to load onto the resin, and (c) separating the resin from other solids present in the pulp or slurry.

The disclosure relates to a beneficiation process for uranium ore comprising a hydrocyclone step that produces an underflow fraction containing uranium values for further processing and an overflow fraction containing fine particulate waste material.

The disclosure relates to a beneficiation process for low grade uranium ore, wherein the process comprises a primary beneficiation stage comprising: wet scrubbing the low grade uranium ore to separate the low grade ore into a fine fraction and a coarse fraction; screening the fine fraction according to a size separation parameter to provide an undersize fraction and an oversize fraction, wherein the uranium predominantly reports to the undersize fraction; and separating the undersize fraction to produce an intermediate uranium concentrate. The intermediate uranium concentrate may be further processed in a secondary beneficiation stage to produce a high grade uranium concentrate.

The present invention relates to a process for selectively capturing chemical elements from a polymetallic liquid sample.

The present disclosure provides a method for numerical simulation of reactive transport during CO.sub.2+O.sub.2 in-situ leaching of uranium at a sandstone-type uranium deposit. Unlike the traditional method for numerical simulation of solute transport during in-situ leaching of uranium with consideration of only convection and diffusion, the method permits establishment of a multi-field coupled reactive solute transport model to simulate the dynamic leaching process of a sandstone-type uranium deposit in Northern China. The method provided in the present disclosure includes: creating a thermodynamic database suitable for CO.sub.2+O.sub.2 leaching of a sandstone-type uranium deposit in Northern China, and with consideration of the dynamic reaction process of uranium dissolution under combined action of oxygen O.sub.2 (aq) and bicarbonate HCO.sub.3.sup., performing numerical simulation of reactive transport during CO.sub.2+O.sub.2 in-situ leaching of uranium using a TOUGHREACT simulation technology framework.